“Don’t play near the water by yourself or the kushtaka will get you!”

“Don’t wander into the trees by yourself or you’ll be taken by the little-men-in-the-woods!”

Samo had heard such warnings her entire life, repeated in fireside tales and stories told to pass the hours when her people left the summer fishing camps to travel to their inland lodges closer to Icemark’s caribou herds for the winter. Samo was spirit-touched, born with the mark of the elk, an angel’s golden eyes, and unusual insight. The cautionary stories always seemed to be directed at her, specifically, when it was her father’s turn to tell the tales, as though her gifts would be more likely to lead her astray than the other children. Perhaps there was some merit to that worry.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the stories on that summer day when she crept down to the shoreline by herself. Her father and uncles had been gone for several weeks now, taking her grandmother to Seer’s Home, where the elderly woman would live out the rest of her days among the Varki elders, now that her aged hips and back could no longer handle the nomadic migrations between fishing camps and hunting lodges. Samo wanted to be the first to greet her father on his return, and she was twelve years old now, nearly an adult by her reckoning, and she was accustomed to the little spirits warning her of dangers before others ever became aware of them.

Thus, it was particularly surprising when a cold, slimy paw wrapped in dank fur clutched her from behind, covering her mouth. Her screams were completely muffled, and all she could do was struggle in terror as she realized what had grabbed her: a kushtaka! Part man, part otter, the soulless creatures would drag her back to their village where they would cast her soul from her body and transform her into one of them! Worse yet, there were nearly twenty of the fearsome creatures quietly slipping from the waters around her. An entire kushtaka raiding party had come, doubtless here to take the encampment and disappear with them before anyone could so much as raise an alarm.

Despite all the terror she already felt, Samo discovered that things could still get worse. For every kushtaka that slipped from the waves, the insubstantial, sad-eyed form of a human walked beside them. Among the lost souls, she saw her father and uncles. Thrashing desperately, Samo thrust her small hand out towards her father’s spirit, and the ghostly figure reached out to her in response. As their fingertips brushed, it felt like lightning struck.

The kushtaka holding Samo screamed in agony, the sound finally awakening the people in the nearby fishing camp. Her father’s ghostly figure was nowhere to be seen, but the monster’s body changed and contorted, its otter’s fangs and fur falling away as its bones stretched to reveal her father’s features.

Samo used the opportunity to run towards the camp, where she snatched up one of the nets laced with dog bone that had been left there to repel just such an incursion. Dashing towards the kushtaka, she saw the spirits of the lost Varki moving to aid her, and she swung the net about, pulling the spirits together with the soulless bodies that had once belonged to them, triggering transformations like the one that had happened with her father. The sounds and cries of battle finally drew the rest of the village to her side, and Varki men and women with spears and daggers did what they could to fend the remaining kushtaka away while herding as many as they could towards Samo and her net.

Though over half of the kushtaka escaped back into the waves, Samo managed to save her father, her uncles, and a handful of other Varki from neighboring encampments. As Samo’s people gathered around, her father knelt down before her. “You do not belong here anymore, beloved. Your gifts must be nurtured by those who understand them.”

Samo, the iconic animist. Art by Wayne Reynolds.

Samo joined her grandmother at Seer’s Home and helped care for the Varki elders there while they taught her everything they knew of her people’s legends, traditions, and magic. In her early twenties she had a brief, passionate love with a handsome young man named Nankou who also resided at Seer’s Home for a time, but their duties called them apart more often than they drew them together.

Samo’s ability to see what others could not made her into a healer and counselor, the person others called on when they suspected that unusual events were the doings of unquiet spirits. When fires raged, she spoke to the spirits of flame and calmed them. When people disappeared along the coastline, she would accompany the hunters who sought out the kushtaka villages hidden nearby, speaking to the apparitions that dwelt in the rivers and ocean waves to help guide them to those enclaves of lost souls.

It seemed to Samo that hardly any time at all had passed between that day on the beach where she returned her father and uncles from the kushtaka and the day when she looked into a small hand mirror and realized that many silver strands now danced amid the raven-wing black of her hair. Where had the days gone? Samo did not regret her service, but she envied the stories she heard of her old friend Nankou and his adventures slaying linnorms and rescuing would-be heroes.

One night, Samo sat amid the grove of Seer’s Home. Her grandmother had passed almost twenty years before, but the woman’s spirit still lingered in that peaceful grove, appearing to Samo’s eyes as a majestic elk woven from the leaves and grasses of the grove itself. That evening, they conversed as they had so many times before, but unlike those previous occasions, their conversation was interrupted by a spectacular and terrifying sight.

Two great figures battled in the sky, gods of the southern lands. One, covered in armored spikes, was struck down, his body ripped asunder. As red and silver droplets rained from the sky, Samo’s spiritual sight and physical sight crashed together.

As the god died above, she saw another battle: a powerful young man from a distant land fighting a fearsome demonic owl, until both were struck by the droplets of falling god-blood. The twined pair were spun a great distance through the air until Samo’s spirit sight faded and she saw that they were both truly there, in the flesh, crashing to the ground on Icemark’s shores.

A Calling thrummed within her. She knew this was a moment where all that she was and all that she had learned would be tested, when her choices and actions would determine not just the future of Icemark, but perhaps that of all the Inner Sea. Perhaps more.

She dashed to her home, and pulled on her well-used armor of bone, hide, and driftwood. She slid her clan hat down over her antlers, so that whoever she met would know that they faced a Varki woman of standing and power. Her grandmother’s apparition flowed into her, filling her with the peaceful magic of healing and quiet places.

Moving swiftly towards the shoreline and the fallen figures, her grandmother’s thoughts echoed her own. Let us go, the women thought. This Calling is for us, this time is ours, and whatever may happen next, the world will know the power of the women of the north.

Michael Sayre (he/him)
Director of Rules & Lore

Samo’s class, the animist, appears in Pathfinder War of Immortals alongside the exemplar class and tons of mythic options for characters of all classes. Follow the events of the Godsrain—the deific cataclysm of Gorum’s death—as pieces of his armor, blood, and divine essence spread mythic power and war across the multiverse. With myriad options for your favorite player character, countless plot hooks to inspire exciting new campaigns, and a glimpse into the implications of the event across the Lost Omens setting, it’s time to follow a Calling of your own! Pathfinder War of Immortals is available for preorder now in hardcover, special edition, and pocket editions, and will also be available as a retailer-exclusive sketch cover while supplies last.

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on August 28, 2024.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Immortal Influence*

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-02: Rain Falls on the Mountain of Sea and Sky*

Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #20: The Dacilane Academy's Show Must Go On

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-05: The Day the River Died*

*part of a subscription

Gen Con Recap

We're back from Gen Con, and at this point we’re just about caught up on sleep!

During the Best Four Days in Gaming, we ran:

• 415 Pathfinder Society tables
• 129 Starfinder Society tables
• 198 tables of the Starfinder Playtest
• 115 demo tables of Pathfinder and Starfinder Second Edition

You can read more about Gen Con in last week’s recap blog!

Sanctioning Updates

Pathfinder Player Core 2 released at Gen Con, and sanctioning has been posted on the Character Options page! As it is now after August 12, the Remaster Guidelines take effect for all characters as well. Please be sure to review them and leave any questions in the remaster thread; once my travel schedule calms down I intend to go through and figure out what problems we’ve discovered that need guidance from the OP team.

The Wardens of Wildwood Adventure Path is also sanctioned at this time! We’re working on Pathfinder Adventure Prey for Death now, so don’t speedrun the adventure too quickly (though I wouldn’t blame you, it’s a lot of fun). Also on our upcoming radar are the Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide, followed by the Curtain CallAdventure Path and Pathfinder War of Immortals.

Starfinder Playtest

The Starfinder Playtest has begun! The Starfinder Playtest tracking sheet is now available at starfinderplaytest.com, ready for you to track your participation in the two playtest scenarios as well as the published softcover adventures. Let us know what you think in the playtest surveys!

GM Recognition

As Gen Con is our biggest stage, we took the time to do quite a bit of recognition of our volunteers!

Order of the Wayfinder

In addition to the Campaign Service Coin, we also have one other award: the Order of the Wayfinder. This award is given out only once per year, and it recognizes a member of the community who has provided exceptional service. Typically, we give this award to individuals who have taken on a particular project and knocked it out of the park. Previously, this award has been awarded to the head of our Additional Resources review team and our Regional Venture-Coordinator for the Online region, among others.

This year’s recipient, awarded at Gen Con, was Lucas Servideo. Lucas is a longtime volunteer with Paizo Organized Play and currently serves as the Regional Venture-Coordinator for the Northeast region. Over the past several years, Lucas has been dedicated to the Pathfinder Academy program, which is our program for younger players and new Pathfinders. Bringing new players into the program is crucial, and Lucas is a warm, welcoming, and dedicated first point of contact for our youngest Pathfinders. He has been a crucial advocate for this program, and I was thrilled to award him with the Wayfinder this year while he was dressed as his contemplative character. That’s just how we do things around here.

Campaign Service Coins

Additionally, I awarded two Campaign Service Coins at Gen Con! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:

David Malkiewicz, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #908

Darrel Curry, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #909

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

5th Star (PFS1): Jason Belter

5th Glyph (PFS2): John Brinkman, David Malkiewicz, Mykal Merrill

If you believe you’ve completed your 5th rank but haven’t been announced yet, please email me at organizedplay@paizo.com.

That’s quite enough from me! I’m off to PaizoCon Europe to eat cheese and chocolate—and probably do some gaming somewhere in there. Until next time: Explore! Report! Cooperate! And enjoy the summer sunshine (or winter sunshine, for our southern hemisphere friends)!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

After all the excitement of Gen Con—including the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest—we thought we’d remind you we have a new Humble Bundle available now, featuring that very same playtest! With the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle, you can get everything you need to participate in the playtest, as well as a ton of Starfinder First Edition material to help set the stage for the new edition! The bundle also includes accompanying assets in Hero Lab Online, all while helping a worthy cause: Girls Who Code!

At the base level of a $5 donation, you’ll receive everything you need to participate in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, including: the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, Starfinder Second Contact, two Starfinder Playtest Scenarios—Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came from the Vast!—the Living Starship and Jungle World Starfinder Flip-Mats used in those scenarios, Starfinder Field Test #5, and the Hero Lab Online Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Character Creation and Vault Content package.

For just $10 more, at the $15 tier, you’ll also unlock a plethora of Starfinder First Edition material to round out your existing collection or help you familiarize yourself with the game’s prior edition. This includes (asterisks indicate products with Hero Lab Online character creation material unlocked alongside the PDF): Starfinder Beginner Box, Starfinder Core Rulebook*, Starfinder Alien Archive*, Starfinder Alien Archive 2*, Starfinder Alien Archive 3*, Starfinder Alien Archive 4*, Starfinder Pact Worlds*, five Starfinder Society Scenarios—Fragment of the 4th, Planar Bloom, Ghost Level Delve, Drift Scars, and the multi-table special scenario, A Time of Crisis—along with 7 Starfinder Flip-Mat products used in these adventures: Crashed Starship, Desert World, Drift Crisis, Forest Moon, Giant Starship, Space Colony, and Space Station, plus the Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Alien Planet Starter Set and Alien Planet Ruins Expansion.

At the $30-or-more digital tier, you’ll also receive two complete Starfinder Adventure Paths themed around the Drift Crisis, which was the first major cross-product meta-event Paizo ever produced, the precursor to such events as Pathfinder’s current War of Immortals event, or the sweeping setting changes coming to Starfinder with the advent of Second Edition. This tier includes the following (asterisks indicate products with Hero Lab Online character creation material unlocked alongside the PDF): the entire Drift Crashers Adventure Path (Starfinder Drift Crashers Player’s Guide, The Perfect Storm, Nightmare Scenario, and Masters of Time and Space), the entire Drift Hackers Adventure Path (Starfinder Drift Hackers Player’s Guide, A Light in the Dark, Clockwork Demons, and Into the Dataverse), Starfinder Drift Crisis*, Starfinder Adventure: Drift Crisis Case Files, Starfinder Near Space*, Starfinder Ports of Call*, and Starfinder One-Shot: Before the Storm.

That’s a $666 value (a coincidence, we assure you!) in digital products alone, including over $120 in Hero Lab Online character creation assets, all for $30! If a discount of more than 95% weren’t enough to entice you, consider the $40 physical tier: a hardcover copy of Starfinder Drift Crisis. This book retails for $44.99 by itself, so not only are you getting the book at a discount, but you’ll get all the digital content as well. When you redeem your Humble Bundle codes on paizo.com, the book will be added to your cart at no cost; you simply pay shipping and handling at checkout.

So whether you’re new to Starfinder and want to get in on the ground floor for the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, or you’re an old pro with the system and want to fill out your Starfinder First Edition collection, you won’t want to miss the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle. Support Girls Who Code now, get your Starfinder PDFs, and start up Hero Lab Online and see what amazing adventures in the Pact Worlds await!

Back the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle today!

Introduction

Last year, we released an exclusive module called the Pathfinder Tokens: Bestiaries, a token pack that offered high-quality portrait and token artwork for all 1207 actors in the three Bestiaries released for Pathfinder Second Edition. We were overwhelmed by the positive response to that module and we’ve been eager to follow it up with another token pack ever since, even as we’ve been working on other projects. Since then, we’ve been hard at work on new modules, like our conversion of the Pathfinder: Kingmaker adventure path, all while continuing to push the potential of the core software even further forwards, with the release of Foundry VTT Version 12 bringing in a whole new suite of exciting features.

In that time, a lot has changed in the Pathfinder ecosystem too: the Pathfinder system has been remastered, playtesting has begun for a Starfinder Second Edition, and Paizo recently released a Monster Core token pack, which expands on the Pathfinder Tokens: Bestiaries module by providing artwork for the new creatures released in the remaster.

However, for all that’s changed, one thing hasn’t—the need for more tokens! And so we’re incredibly excited to announce the release of a brand new token pack, the Pathfinder Tokens: Character Gallery, which is planned to release on Wednesday, August 21.

In this blog post, I thought I’d start by introducing the Character Gallery, and talk about some of the reasons we’re so excited for it to release, as well as share a few behind-the-scenes peeks at the development of the module.

Module Features

Pathfinder Tokens: Character Gallery is a brand-new token collection, comprising ~1200 unique portraits, each accompanied by a hand-crafted character token. Our intention is for this pack to cover a wide range of playable ancestries, making it an ideal tool for filling the ranks of previously faceless NPCs, or for picking out the perfect portrait for a heroic adventurer.

The module includes:

• ~1200 high-resolution portraits and tokens depicting characters of a variety of ancestries, professions, and classes, including high-profile named characters from the world of Golarion
• Seamless compendium image replacement for ~100 actors from the Pathfinder Second Edition game system
• Built-in support for Foundry VTT's Dynamic Tokens functionality
• A bespoke new application that can be used to browse and filter the artwork from within Foundry, searching for assets by name or filtering by tags like ancestry, equipment, or armor
• Integration with the Pathfinder Tokens: Bestiaries module, allowing it to add its artwork to the Character Gallery application when both modules are active, with the potential for this integration to be used by other modules in the future
• Detailed datasheets filled out with relevant metadata for each imageset, facilitating their sorting and filtering by the application

The format and scope of the module should be readily familiar to anyone who knows our previous token project, the Pathfinder Tokens: Bestiaries module. The new pack features about as many tokens as the Bestiary pack, and we were delighted to bring back Ian Hildebrandt as our artist, ensuring that the tokens are created to the same—or better—standard that you’ve come to expect.

We’ve also taken full advantage of some new core innovations to push the features of the module even further. For instance, at release, the Character Gallery tokens will be fully configured for use with Foundry VTT’s new Dynamic Token Rings framework, which means they’ll be readily compatible with any special features or visual effects that other content creators and module developers might implement.

Perhaps of greater significance to the average user, though, is a brand-new custom application, developed specifically for this module, which provides a means to search and filter the collection of artwork with ease from within your game world. For more information on the features of the Character Gallery application, you can check out the module’s package page, but I thought I might also share some behind-the-scenes stories of how we first began designing and implementing the feature!

Story Time: Creating the Character Gallery Application

Ever since working on the Bestiaries token pack last year, we’ve been considering various ideas for what a follow-up token pack might look like. The idea of an NPC-focused pack was always one of our favourites, but one obstacle we had to solve before we could justify it was finding a way to deliver the art in a convenient and user-friendly way, from within the application. With the Bestiaries, we could map the artwork straight to the creatures inside the system compendiums, all configured and available without any effort required, but with an NPC or PC-focused pack, we weren’t initially sure how to provide a similar level of quick access. We didn’t want the module to just be a folder of assets—even incredibly gorgeous assets—that the user had to organise and manually assign to characters themselves. We needed a better solution.

The idea that ended up becoming the Character Gallery application first was actually first explored when working on our module for the Pathfinder: Kingmaker adventure path. When we were implementing the settlement-building subsystem, I had developed a very simple application that users could use to browse the different building assets and place them onto a scene to represent their growing village. The idea struck me as a good way to solve the very similar problem with delivering NPC artwork, so I worked on a quick, hasty mock-up during our next Free Project Friday—a team-wide tradition where, on the last Friday of each month, we work on individual passion projects or crazy ideas and pitch them to the rest of the team.

Just for fun, I thought I’d share a rare screenshot of that initial prototype as it looked after only one day of work. As you can see, the idea of a central grid view where the artwork thumbnails were displayed in big “cards” was always a core part of the vision—I wanted you to be able to see what you were picking. The filtering functionality on the left-hand side, meanwhile, was inspired by Pathfinder’s own traits mechanic, and echoes some aspects of the PF2E system’s compendium browser.

If you can look past the rough exterior, and the fact that many of the buttons didn’t work, it showed promise—and it’s kind of remarkable, now, to see simultaneously how little and how much the application changed in its journey to the final product we have today.

Where does that data come from?

All the metadata about each piece of art—the tags, the source, the label—are loaded from a datasheet, provided by the module, which contains a range of useful information about each imageset. These datasheets are what allow the app to filter and search the entire collection for the exact piece of art you need at any moment.

As you can see, the application also has a tab for searching for artwork of companions, as well as player characters. For the Character Gallery, that mostly means the sprites and leshies, but for users with the Bestiaries token pack installed, they’ll see various animals, crawling hands, and other creatures populating that tab as well!

This is possible thanks to a hidden but powerful feature of the application—it can load more than one datasheet at once, allowing other modules to create a datasheet of their own which allows their artwork to be loaded into the application. It’s our hope that, by including module support in this way, we’re creating opportunities for future modules—both ours and those developed by other creators—to integrate with the Character Gallery. In fact, the ease of module development on the Foundry VTT platform means that this functionality is in reach of many end users, as well, if they’re interested in creating and loading their own custom datasheets into the module.

I could go on, but I should save some surprises for the module’s release. I’m very excited for people to get their hands on it, and I hope that it lives up to the vision we set out with! If anyone has any questions, I or some of my colleagues will surely be replying in the comments, and there’s also an FAQ on the module’s page on our website with a little more information.

Viviane Charlier (Cora),
Foundry VTT Content Development Team

Wow! What a Gen Con!

Hello everyone! It’s been over a week since Gen Con wrapped up and the Starfinder Playtest went public. What a year these past two weeks have been, eh?

First off, the Starfinder team wants to extend our most sincere appreciation to everyone who’s engaged with the playtest since its release. Along with tables diving right into A Cosmic Birthday, we’ve also got feedback streaming in from those of you who’ve taken part in Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came From the Vast!. There’s really nothing quite like seeing hundreds of tables participating in demos and playtest games at the show and knowing even more are happening at tables across the world. So once again, thank you all for your participation!

In the coming weeks we’ll be providing some additional FAQs and Errata, as well as more blogs detailing our thoughts on how the playtest is going and some directions that we’re looking to steer components of the game into. We’re not going to dive into any of those today, as we’re still eager to get some unvarnished feedback on the game as we’ve released it, but expect more content in the coming weeks as we identify critical issues.

For now, please keep submitting your feedback about the next edition of Starfinder over at the surveys listed on StarfinderPlaytest.com. Even if you don’t have answers for everything now, you can always go back into your surveys right up until the playtest period ends at the end of December.

For a little bonus, for those of you who missed our Starfinder Keynote panel at Gen Con, we wanted to once again reveal the cover art for Starfinder GM Core, done by Paizo’s own Kent Hamilton. Starfinder GM Core is set to release in 2025 as part of the full Starfinder release. We’re so excited to dive into the future (of Starfinder)!

—The Starfinder Team

Get a swarm of Starfinder First Edition PDFs plus Starfinder Playtest content on Humble Bundle! Proceeds benefit Girls Who Code.

We're back from Gen Con, and at this point we’re just about caught up on sleep! [editor’s note: okay, at least one of us is still in Indiana under quarantine, but we didn’t know that when we wrote this blog]

During the Best Four Days in Gaming, we ran:

• 415 Pathfinder Society tables
• 129 Starfinder Society tables
• 198 tables of the Starfinder Playtest
• 115 demo tables of Pathfinder and Starfinder Second Edition

During our Starfinder Society special on Friday night, 38 tables fled an awakening Swarm horde! On Saturday night, 71 tables of Pathfinders braved the Eye of Abendego to stop a fiendish plot.

We also recognized outstanding volunteers! David Malkewicz and Darrel Currey received campaign coins for their service to Paizo Organized Play. Additionally, Lucas Servideo was awarded this year’s Order of the Wayfinder for outstanding service to the Pathfinder Academy program.

The Sagamore ballroom also hosted demos of our Foundry offerings, a character creation station from our friends at Pathfinder Nexus, and even a satellite booth for extra shopping!

We had such a wonderful time at Gen Con this year, and we hope you did too. If you want to join the best group of volunteer GMs in the business, applications will go live in January.

Only 364 days until Gen Con 2025!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Greetings, Starfinders and Pathfinders, and welcome to Gen Con 2024! Whether you’re joining us at the show or following along at home, we’re thrilled to share the Best Four Days in Gaming with you!

Missed the Gen Con 2024 Paizo Keynote? Catch up NOW!

Join us over on youtube.com/@PaizoInc right now for our Gen Con 2024 Keynote Address, hosted by Erik Mona! Creatives across the Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Paizo Board Games lines give some updates and behind the scenes sneak peeks at upcoming Paizo games!

Paizo at the Show!

If you missed our blog earlier this week, hop over here to see all the amazing panels, show exclusives, and games we’ll be hosting at the show! For a snapshot overview:

• Come pick up Pathfinder Player Core 2, the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Prey for Death, convention exclusives, and so much more at Booth 203 in the Exhibit Hall!
  • Get your Core Rulebooks signed by Wayne Reynolds and your Playtest Rulebook signed by Kent Hamilton, their respective cover artists, at our booth!
• Join us in Bays 3, 4, and 5 of the Sagamore Ballroom for Organized Play, Digital Character Creation, Starfinder Second Edition Playtest demos, and a satellite store stocked with essentials for Organized Play!
• Stop by our demo booth in Hall C or the Syrinscape booth in Capitol Concourse for short Pathfinder and Starfinder demos!
• Dive into Pathfinder and Starfinder with our on-site panels and a special Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Liveshow!

All of our on-site panels will be recorded and shared on our YouTube channel after the show, so don’t worry about FOMO!

Paizo.com Gen Con Sale!

For everyone at home, we’ve got a sale happening on paizo.com! Use code GenCon2024 for 20% off your whole purchase on paizo.com! This sale is not valid on preorders, backorders, subscriptions, and third-party PDFs.

Whether you’re sitting in on our streams and forums or joining us at the show, we hope you have a wonderful Gen Con weekend

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is finally here! This labor of love wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated work of an incredible team here at Paizo and the feedback we’ve received during the Field Test stage as we conduct the most open playtest process in Paizo’s history! Check out our playtest scenarios and learn how to playtest blogs, download the freeStarfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, and start playing Starfinder Second Edition today!

We have made some small corrections to the Playtest Rulebook since it was sent to the printers. Most of these tweaks will have minimal impact on your games and are meant to clarify our intent with certain abilities or serve as editorial reminders before we begin collecting feedback from all your awesome adventures. The errata are posted alongside our Starfinder 2nd Edition Playtest FAQ.

We look forward to all your input and feedback as we launch this new edition of our favorite game!

—The Starfinder Team

Among piles of stacked books, Marbrook heard the tingle of the front door chimes. The front door whose OPEN sign clearly faced inward. The pair of entrants, a goblin in goggles and a human with a coat and cane, made themselves at home browsing the bookstore’s shelves. Or they were casing the joint to rob. If they were going to rob her later, they would be the second most audacious thieves Marbrook had ever witnessed. The most audacious thieves, meanwhile, were those the two would be if they were to rob her in this very inconvenient moment.

The bookseller suppressed a huff, feeling her bleaching subside from the annoyance. There were greater challenges at hand. Ages ago, someone had rearranged her entire store’s inventory. While it was a hilarious prank, Marbrook would rather eject her soul back to the First World than run her shop out of alphabetical order. This created her current impasse: ignore the intruders or stop replacing the books momentarily.

The choice was obvious. Marbrook let the intruders be, as they were entranced by the books floating about the store and seemed to pose little immediate threat. The spectral assistants responsible for that spectacle, which she remembered neither hiring nor requesting, were both a blessing and a curse. They were handy at keeping the shop tidy, and less so in put the books back in order.

The human of the pair waved at the spectral figures. “Hello! Pardon our intrusion.” The spirits said nothing back. “I don’t think they can help us,” the human concluded, stroking a trimmed beard.

“Not for talking. For cleaning, maybe?” the goblin guessed.

“The store is spotless. Maybe she planned a holiday,” said the human. “They are moving the books about rather… unnecessarily, however.”

The goblin pointed to the corner furthest away. “Fumbus will start over there.” The human watched Fumbus skitter away before realizing the goblin meant to search for the source of these ethereal spirits. Following his example, the human strolled to the other far corner. With this division of labor, Marbrook reckoned she had three minutes before she needed to decide which of the two tomes immediately at hand would best suffice as a weapon: the Revised History of Taldor, 28th Edition, or Encyclopedia Chelaxia, volume 18.

Long before that time came, Marbrook heard the familiar squeak of the floorboard from the center of the shop. She did not suppress her huff this time. She meant to fix that loose board, except books happened.

“Quinn!” Fumbus shouted, probably meaning the human. Quinn strode over, footsteps crisp and measured. This was followed by whispers, then the rustling of a backpack, then the groan and splintering of floorboards. Quinn vocalized dismay. Fumbus oopsed.

Marbrook stood like a war god roused to battle. She watched from behind her book pile as Quinn reached into the new hole in her precious floorboards to pull out a bowl of… blue stuff. Marbrook had not put that bowl there. Or rather, she did not remember doing so. Maybe her bleaching caused a memory lapse, but somehow, that blame felt misplaced.

“A ritual.” Quinn drew a sharp breath. “For… spirit custodians?”

“It can last a year.” Fumbus poked the inside the bowl and made a face at the squish. The goblin then sniffed the bowl, and made a different face. Finally, Fumbus licked the blue stuff. A wide smile appeared. “This one is fresh. Three months.”

“That lines up. Now, until the duration expires, the spirits continue their task unless ordered otherwise. If I recall correctly, it usually gave you one, two, three…” Quinn trailed off. There were only three assistants to count. “Fumbus, have you heard any gossip lately?”

Marbrook did not know why Quinn changed the subject, but she did sheathe her inner war god. Reorganizing the books had kept her indoors and away from the gossip on the street for too long. Long enough she suspected she had bleached a shade. If these intruders were about to share some juicy secrets, she would very much like them to continue. She might even forgive them for the floorboards.

When Fumbus replied “I have. I saw some,” Marbrook rejoiced. The bookseller crept out of her book fortress, adjusting a small pile of rummaged paperwork as she passed.

Quinn sounded equally delighted. “Excellent! What have you heard?”

“Orange worms!”

The goblin looked expectantly at his companion, whose blank stare rivaled Fumbus’s own emotionless goggles. It gave Marbrook time to settle in for a good view, and put more paper away. “You don’t say?”

“Yes, while you were talking to the jeweler about whatever, I was listening to the gardeners tending the shop’s flower box. And do you know what Fumbus heard? The orange worms are back, and that means the ebon rooks will be back, and you know what that means!” Quinn clearly didn’t, but while he had initially tried to ignore his yammering companion, the passion with which Fumbus recounted the tale pulled him away from his distractions. Marbrook was equally rapt. What could the goblin be going on about?

For the better part of five minutes, the goblin barely paused to take a breath as he led Quinn and Marbrook down a roundabout stream of consciousness—some overheard, some observed, and much seemingly coming from the random recesses of his overactive mind. Rooks. String. The best cucumbers to pickle in this part of the country this time of year. An annoying Isgeri folk song stuck in his head. Some alternate lyrics to that song. Something about soil composition. Bird droppings (employing rather rude language, if Marbrook was being honest).

When he reached what seemed the logical conclusion of his line of reasoning, he once again stared intently at Quinn. After a long, expectant moment, Quinn said, “Yes, I see.”

Fumbus’s mouth gaped open. “You do not see, Quinn! The orange worms mean the soil is especially rich in phosphorus, and the droppings—” (again with the language) “—of the rooks after they eat the worms makes the perfect reagent for longer burning fire.”

“Ah,” Quinn interjected, clearly hoping this was the end of it. Marbrook got the sense that this was not the sort of “gossip” he’d had in mind when he inquired, and it certainly wasn’t what she’d hoped to overhear.

“But!” Fumbus jabbed a finger at his friend. “This isn’t the first time Quinn has missed something so obvious to Fumbus.”

Quinn, clearly wanting to escape the conversation, held up the bowl. “So, rituals need help—"

Fumbus and Quinn investigate the nature of some helpful apparitions in this illustration by Christoph Peters from Pathfinder Player Core 2

Fumbus, like a flame running out of fuel, lowered his arm and deflated, finally pausing to catch his breath. “Was… that enough?”

“More than enough. You did great.” Quinn squeezed out an assurance. “I think we know now which one of our friendly spirits here is the gossip-loving grandmother. I saw some papers instead of books being moved.” Quinn turned and looked straight at Marbrook. Into Marbrook.

“Also flinched when I swore.” Fumbus too met her gaze. The red-tinted googles reflected… nothing. No bleachling gnome, nor gossip-loving elderly bookseller. Just red glass with a spot of ethereal blue light.

A blush of embarrassment, of being caught eavesdropping, washed over Marbrook. Then came an emptiness—ethereal, spirit, void, death. Cold reality sank, disbelief hollowed. Blurred emotions unnamed, the swirl reverberated like a bell toll echoing dead, dead, dead in crescendo.

Marbrook screamed.

---

Goosebumps ran up Quinn’s arm as the moan crawled under his skin. Beside him, Fumbus strangled a shriek. The ghost of Marbrook the bookseller, now in her shape in life, closed the distance. Quinn saw a missing eye, a slashed throat, and through the translucent body, a stab wound in the back. Such death would make a ghost of anyone, and make them want to forget it happened.

Crash! Glass shattered upon the ghost. Drops sizzled on the floor. Fumbus had retreated a distance, then improvised some acid from among his carried reagents to throw. Quinn was thankful the alchemist’s aim spared him, still beside the ghost, from collateral damage. He was also thankful Fumbus didn’t throw his usual alchemist fire. Not that it mattered against the ghost. Neither would have worked.

Quinn made his own retreat, thinking. They were ill-equipped and without backup. No blessed weapons, no holy water, no cleric. How do you fight a ghost under such circumstances? An intimately familiar voice in his mind answered, “you don’t fight if you can help it; you try talking.”

What should one talk to a livid ghost about? Hello there, may I inquire why you are a ghost? What tragedy befell you? With this bookstore, there were no signs of a struggle, no blood suggesting violence, not even a corpse. The shop was immaculately clean without even a speck of dust— unless it had not always been so.

The custodians. Their erratic shelving of the books. Quinn looked for the spirits. All three were gathered about the acid damage and broken glass, prodding at the stains and sweeping. Fumbus was right. The ritual was for cleaning. Cleaning up evidence, specifically. What “clean” means beyond stains and messes can be ambiguous. In some languages, clean also conveyed “to tidy” or “to organize”. One command, and you could not only erase evidence of a crime, but also make a store look as if its owner was still about, just… reorganizing inventory.

This was no normal crime, nor an average criminal. This was a professional.

Across the room, Fumbus shrieked with a gurgle, running away from a pursuing Marbrook as he downed a vial of red liquid. Quinn stowed the rudimentary criminal profile away. The plan for the immediate moment: One, talk Marbrook down from violence; two, ask questions without prolonging her suffering; three, leave this place alive with Fumbus.

Just in case, Quinn made an alternative plan which skipped to step three. There were some rook droppings he needed to make sure Fumbus had a chance to collect.

About the Author

Sen H.H.S. is a Taiwanese TTRPG freelancer and one of the winners of the Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program in 2023. Her works with Paizo include Rage of Elements, Pathfinder Adventure Path #196: The Summer that Never Was, and the Tian Xia World Guide. She has upcoming contributions in the Tian Xia Character Guide as well as the Curtain Call Adventure Path.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Players who want to pick up the investigation where Fumbus and Quinn’s adventure leaves off need look no further than Pathfinder Player Core 2, which remasters eight Pathfinder Second Edition classes including the alchemist and investigator. Among the many existing and new character options for members of all classes found within, you’ll find the phantasmal custodians ritual responsible for the fastidious apparitions in this story. Pathfinder Player Core 2 is available for preorder now, and will release in hardcover, special edition hardcover, retailer exclusive sketch variant hardcover, and PDF on August 1, 2024, and in pocket edition softcover in October.

Hail and well met, Finders! The dawn of Gen Con heralds a host of our best releases, including the final remastered Pathfinder Core rulebook, the Starfinder Playtest, and more!

Get these releases on paizo.com, at Booth 203 on the show floor, in the Sagamore Ballroom, and at your FLGS!

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories. Subscribers get a free PDF with purchase, early access to game content, and exclusive discounts on paizo.com!

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Pathfinder Player Core 2

VENTURE BEYOND!

Survival in a world beset by magic and evil takes more than a lucky roll of the dice. Pathfinder Player Core 2significantly expands the options available to Pathfinder players, giving you the edge to take on any adventure. Look inside to find everything you need to create a wide array of new characters ready to take on the world. Eight new classes, new ancestries and versatile heritages, a massive number of diverse archetypes, and tons of feats, spells, and alchemical items provide a near-endless array of exciting options for every Pathfinder character!

Pathfinder Player Core 2 is available in standard hardcover, as a deluxe faux leatherette Special Edition with metallic foil debossing, as well as hobby-retail exclusive Sketch Cover and PDF formats!

Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook

TEST PILOT THE LATEST UPGRADE!

The Starfinder Playtest Rulebook brings Starfinder into a new age of compatibility as Starfinder switches to using the same rules engine that powers the popular Second Edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Inside this playtest for the new edition, you’ll find six new classes, 10 ancestries, new skills, new feats, futuristic equipment including augmentations and upgrades, new science-fantasy spells, and more!

Get involved with the playtest at starfinderplaytest.com.

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook is available for purchase as a softcover book or available to download as a FREE PDF. (Note: You will need Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core, or the rules reference on Archives of Nethys, to participate.)

Pathfinder Adventure: Prey for Death

A FINE DAY TO SLAY

The Red Mantis assassins are known and feared throughout the world for their relentless devotion to the task of murder. Those slain by these assassins tend to stay dead, but those who have come to rule rightfully need not fear them. In this adventure, the players take on the role of a group of assassins, favored agents of the ruler of the Red Mantis, who have been sent on a dangerous mission to assassinate an upstart whose warmongering actions have finally attracted the wrong kind of attention! Prey for Death is an adventure for 14th- to 17th-level characters.

Pathfinder Adventure: Prey for Death kickstarts the War of Immortals meta event and is available in standard hardcover, as a deluxe leatherette bound Special Edition hardcover, and PDF formats.

Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A nascent cosmic entity stirs deep within one of the Pact Worlds planets. As the entity’s emergence sends psychic anomalies and strange phenomena through space, a group of heroes becomes trapped in the Ghost Levels of Absalom Station! Within this liminal pocket dimension, they learn that devoted followers of this cosmic being are searching for a power source strong enough to aid its birth. As dangerous creatures and ominous power surges threaten the station, the heroes must team up with the residents of Little Akiton to investigate these horrifying new foes, stop their meddling—and stay alive!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #204: Stage Fright (Curtain Call 1 of 3)

WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS

Your group has faced many foes and dangers during your adventuring career, but one enemy in particular has gone on to inspire stories. Now, a famous director wants to transform your previous adventures into an extravagant new opera, and you’ll be there to help! First, though, you’ll have to address rumors that your old foe has returned to plot revenge against you! The Curtain Call Adventure Path begins with “Stage Fright,” a complete adventure for 11th- to 13th-level characters.

Get the digital deluxe experience with Stage Fright (Curtain Call 1 of 3) on Foundry VTT!

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Second Edition Playtest Multi-Pack

Playtest the new edition of Starfinder in style with this collection of two double-sided Flip-Mats featuring four key encounter areas from not one, but two Starfinder Playtest Adventures: A Cosmic Birthday and Empires Devoured! One Flip-Mat features a futuristic space station and a science-fantasy cityscape that are abandoned and ready for investigation! The other features a dense fungus jungle and a futuristic settlement bordering the jungle, for exciting sci-fi adventures on the borderlands!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Village Assault

SAVE THE VILLAGE!

Raze the Village! During their adventuring careers, heroes will surely find themselves saving a small hamlet or invading a town of miscreants. Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Village Assault sets the scene for both! One side of the Flip-Mat shows a small village centered on a meeting hall or chapel, and the other side depicts the same village amid fiery turmoil as it is attacked. Spread one side down to plan the attack and flip it over to take part in the action!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet

A Starfinder Second Edition Playtest adventure designed for 1st-level characters.

For millennia, Birnam’s Bubble has been a planet untouched by outsiders, fully encapsulated in an impenetrable shield of unknown energy and protected by powerful automated defenses. Through this barrier, explorers and surveyors have glimpsed pristine settlements, verdant flora, and inexplicable magical emanations—yet no fauna or citizens populate the world’s surface.

As in many other parts of the galaxy, the Drift Crisis changed everything. Now, the energy barrier surrounding Birnam’s Bubble cracks like shattering glass, and shards of this solidified energy have begun to fall through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface, causing significant destruction. Enter the breach and uncover the secrets of the lost civilizations of Birnam’s Bubble before they're lost forever!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!

A Starfinder Second Edition Playtest adventure designed for 5th-level characters.

Countless derelict and abandoned starships litter space, some damaged beyond repair, some containing valuable cargo, and others empty save for the dead. The Xenowarden starship Bloom is one such ship. During a routine survey mission to a newly discovered dwarf planet in the Vast, the crew of the Bloom collected a variety of biological and environmental samples, secured the samples for further study, and departed, plotting a course through the Drift to a mobile research laboratory in the Pact Worlds.

The Bloom that emerged in Pact Worlds’ space was much changed—unresponsive, careening out of control, and with no sign of the ship’s crew. Explore the biomechanical corridors of the Bloom to uncover the fate of its missing crew and face off against a dangerous, alien predator that can’t be allowed to survive.

The Bloom is haunted. That’s the least of your problems.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-20: The Rakshasa’s Court

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

With clues from around Jalmeray and Niswan, Venture-Captain Safa has been able to determine where the mysterious Benefactor lives in the city. It's up to a group of Pathfinders to break into the enormous mansion to confront her, all while avoiding her underlings and trying to find evidence of her wrongdoings. A secret plot to undermine the powers that be in Niswan is discovered, and there's only one place left to corner her: her private quarters.

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-04: Inheritors of Gadrathar

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.

Tabrid Minor is a planet on the brink of devastating ecological collapse. While the planet’s government refuses to alter course or change policy, hope is not lost. The Coenocopi Foundation works hard to rekindle ancient copaxi magical traditions in the belief that their spread would cause many citizens to adopt a more ecologically responsible way of life, turning the tide of destruction. Unfortunately, these magical traditions have been lost to time and government erasure.

Enter the Starfinder Society! Explore the rotating ruins of Gadrathar Fortress, a shattered citadel floating many miles above the surface of Tabrid Minor, while on a quest for ancient wisdom and magical secrets.

Foundry Releases!

Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Deluxe Adventure Path (Foundry VTT)

Uncover the secrets of an ancient and mysterious civilization before they're lost forever! Explore the biomechanical corridors of a derelict starship to uncover the fate of its missing crew and face off against a terrifying alien predator! Witness the birth of an alien god and defend Absalom Station from a horde of cosmic horrors! All these escapades and more await you in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Deluxe Adventure Pack, a collection of six thrilling tales carefully designed to mix classic dungeon crawling and narrative-rich sandbox adventures while introducing players to the new Starfinder Second Edition Playtest rule system!

This all-in-one package, exclusive to Foundry VTT, includes the three Starfinder Second Edition Playtest adventures: A Cosmic Birthday, Shards of the Glass Planet, and It Came From the Vast. Empires Devoured, Wheel of Monsters, and Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine are scheduled to be added as free updates when they release in Fall 2024. Experience these adventures using the full suite of Foundry VTT features, using maps, tiles, tokens, sounds, and much more to bring you content that truly cannot be experienced in the same way anywhere else!

Pathfinder Tokens: Monster Core (Foundry VTT)

Every creature, every variant, and every portrait tokenized and ready for use!

A comprehensive collection of portrait and token artwork for almost 500 creatures, including subtypes and variants! This new premium module, exclusive to Foundry VTT, assembles all the artwork from the Monster Core book for Pathfinder Second Edition Remastered into a complete set of creature tokens and portraits that are ready to be dropped into your games. Crafty caligni, duplicitous devils, deadly dragons, genial genies, lively leshies, nightmarish niliths, perplexing proteans, ruthless rakshasas, slithering serpentfolk, and unrelenting undead—no creature goes unrepresented!

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API, or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer a part of PaizoConnect and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

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Bring Pathfinder wherever you are, be it in person or online! If you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table. Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Hello, ‘Finders! Gen Con opens in two short days, and we’ve got a host of exciting announcements about what we’ve got going at the show, from show floor exclusives to live shows, panels, and more!

Places!

Coming to Gen Con? There are a variety of places to find Paizo at the convention—whether you’re looking for demos, Organized Play, signings, or good old fashioned shopping!

Paizo is happy to be returning to Booth 203 in the Exhibitor Hall! We’ll have tables and shelves stocked with products new and old—including print copies of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook and sketch covers of all four remastered Pathfinder Core rulebooks! And, with Wayne Reynolds and Kent Hamilton on-site at the booth, you can get those books signed by their cover artists at Gen Con!

Looking for Organized Play? Paizo has an even bigger slice of the Sagamore Ballroom this year, taking Bays 3, 4, and 5 to offer over 80 tables of Pathfinder Society, Starfinder Society, Paizo Board Games, and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios! Build characters using Demiplane’s Pathfinder or Starfinder NEXUS at our Digital Character Creation Station and jump right into a game! Play a demo of Pathfinder Second Edition or the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest on Foundry VTT! Also, we are excited to announce that there will be a satellite retail space in the Sagamore Ballroom this year, stocked with Core books, flip mats, minis, and more!

If you want to dip your toes in a shorter game, Paizo has demo tables in Hall C, as well as tables at Syrinscape’s space in the hallway between the ICC and Lucas Oil. Drop by any of these tables for a short, sweet introduction to Pathfinder or Starfinder!

Products!

It’s not a convention without convention exclusives! This year, our friends at Fanroll Dice have crafted some wonderful metal goblin dice!

On the subject of Wayne Reynolds’ beautiful artwork and sketches—our partners at Gamehead have designed a Gen Con exclusive playmat featuring the Player Core, GM Core, and Monster Core cover sketches! Get this playmat at our booth and have it signed by Wayne himself!

Panels and More!

Excited for announcements and engaging content? Great news—Paizo is bringing panels to Gen Con physically and virtually! See the full schedule of our content below:

Thursday, August 1^st

Gen Con 2024 Keynote – 10 a.m. EDT on twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Join Erik Mona and a variety of creatives across Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Paizo Board Games as they give a sneak peek at upcoming products and announce exciting new books!

A Drift Through Space Time – 2 p.m. EDT on Gen Con’s Main Stage and twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Starfinder Managing Creative Director Thurston Hillman leads a mixed party of Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition characters—played by B. Dave Walters, Mark Meer, Jenny Jarzabski, and John Compton—through a Starfinder Second Edition Playtest extravaganza!

Friday, August 2^nd

Building Worlds and Stories: Pathfinder Lost Omens Panel – 10 a.m. EDT on twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Luis Loza and the developers of the Pathfinder Lost Omens line discuss worldbuilding—from the wide scale of an entire universe to the minute details of an individual city. Learn tips and tricks from Pathfinder’s master lorecrafters.

Starfinder Second Edition Roadmap Panel – 1 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

Thurston Hillman and Jenny Jarzabski reveal the roadmap of Starfinder Second Edition, announcing upcoming books and giving a look behind the curtain as work progresses on Starfinder Player Core, GM Core, and Alien Core.

Godsrain & Bloodshed: Pathfinder War of Immortals – 2 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

With Pathfinder Prey for Death releasing at Gen Con, the War of Immortals meta event has begun, and Golarion’s landscape will be changed forever! Learn more about how this meta event is sparking change across the rulebook, Lost Omens, and adventure lines!

Saturday, August 3^rd

Playtest Makes Perfect (What Makes a Good Playtest) – 2 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

With the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, the Starfinder team is thrilled to get player feedback on the rules. This panel will elaborate on how design choices were made for the playtest, what the design team is interested in hearing about, and how your feedback helps shape the future of Starfinder Second Edition!

Pathfinder: A Remastered Retrospective – 3 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

The release of Pathfinder Player Core 2 at Gen Con concludes the remastering of the core rules engine for Pathfinder Second Edition. Join the Pathfinder design team as they discuss the remastering process and what’s coming up for Pathfinder.

*All panels taking place on-site at Gen Con will be recorded and uploaded on our YouTube channel after the show!

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at Gen Con this year—in person or online!

Everyone on the Starfinder team agrees that the setting is our favorite part of the game. As stewards of Starfinder, we’re more interested in preserving and expanding lore than we are in reinventing it, but a new edition is the perfect time to update our beloved setting. Here are a few exciting changes you can look forward to in Starfinder Second Edition!

Aucturn explodes! That’s right, everybody; we’re kicking Starfinder Second Edition off with a bang and blowing up one of the Pact Worlds! For those who weren’t keeping up, Aucturn is the most distant, mysterious planet in the sun’s orbit (kind of like Pluto), except it has a toxic atmosphere and is crawling with monsters like orocorans and carrion wheels. Yikes! To make things worse, most people who live on Aucturn are cultists of eldritch gods. That said, though it was a pretty weird place, nobody expected it to explode!

Many people in the Pact Worlds believed Aucturn was really an egg. There was even a cult dedicated to nurturing the eldritch being inside it, and it’s rumored that the planet’s ruler drank his power from the unborn monstrosity. Well, it turns out they were right—Aucturn is an egg, and it just hatched. As you can imagine, this immediately caused problems in Pact Worlds space and across the whole galaxy. Magic went haywire, planets got knocked out of orbit, people experienced bizarre visions, and a strange new god called the Newborn emerged into cosmic consciousness. The weirdness isn’t going to end anytime soon, but it all starts with the playtest. PlayA Cosmic Birthday, a playtest module for 1st-level characters, if you want to experience the disaster/miracle of the Newborn’s emergence firsthand. 

Pulonis declares independence! Pulonis (formerly known as Vesk-6) was defeated and occupied by the Veskarium for a long time, but its war for freedom never truly ended. While Veskarium forces were stretched thin during the Drift Crisis, Pulonis finally achieved independence. Soon after, Pulonis joined the Pact alliance as the first full member not located in the Pact Worlds system. Starfinder Second Edition is celebrating Pulonis by adding pahtras as a core ancestry and Meyel the Dancing Fury (their patron god) as a core deity. Surely this won’t upset the Veskarium, right? Well, speaking of that…

Azlanti Star Empire challenges the Veskarium! It’s the war we’ve all been waiting for—let them fight! The Pact Council must have been feeling pretty smug about the Veskarium getting distracted right after the stunt they pulled with Pulonis, until they realized that an interstellar war has far-reaching consequences even for those who aren’t involved. If you want to be part of Starfinder history and experience the beginning of this war, playEmpires Devoured, a playtest module for 10th-level characters.

New gods join the core pantheon! You’ll notice that old favorites like Oras and Triune have been joined by some new divine faces. We’ve added the patron gods of the Azlanti Star Empire and Pulonis, as well as two completely new deities that emerged after recent cosmic events, to the list of core deities. Now your character can be a rune-scourged follower of Lissala, a graceful warrior of Meyel, study the enigma of the Newborn, or channel pain into art for Zon-Shelyn. You can read more about all the gods, old and new, in theStarfinder Playtest Rulebook.

 If you’re still curious about setting updates and want to find out about new Starfinder content, keep an eye on GenCon news next month. Not only will we be launching the first public Starfinder Second Edition playtest, we’ll also have plenty more news to share that you won’t want to miss.

—The Starfinder Team

Hello, Starfinders!
This month we’re dispatching agents to Tabrid Minor, home of the copaxis! During our last visit, a team of heroic Starfinders forced the planet’s government to realize an important truth: to save Tabrid Minor and prevent a devastating ecological collapse, they would need to cease industrialization and dedicate time and resources to the healing of their world. Surely the government took our advice and the planet is taking the first steps toward a brighter, healthier future! Right? …Right?

No? They ignored us completely? (heavy sigh) Figures.

Sounds like it’s up to us! Meet up with Zigvigix and our friends at the Coenocopi Foundation—I hear they’ve got a plan. Something about an ancient flying fortress? I’m sure you’ll handle it! No pressure, Starfinders!

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-04: Inheritors of Gadrathar is an adventure for 5th- through 8th-level characters written by Mike Bramnik.

Illustration by Quinn Colvin

Big news hitting the infosphere, Starfinders! The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest launches next week! To support the playtest, we’re releasing four Starfinder Playtest Scenarios—short, 2-3 hour digital adventures written by members of the Starfinder team! Two of these scenarios will release at the end of this month, on August 1st! Buckle up Starfinders, and let’s take a peek into the future!

First—disaster strikes the planet of Birnam’s Bubble, as the impenetrable energy shield that surrounds the world begins to shatter. As shards of this solidified energy fall through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface, causing significant destruction, the Church of Weyden dispatches surveyors and historians to the mysterious planet’s surface.

Sounds like they could use some help! Enter the breach and uncover the secrets of the lost civilizations of Birnam’s Bubble before they're lost forever!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet is a first contact themed adventure for 1st-level characters written by Mike Kimmel.

Illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

When the Xenowarden biomechanical starship Bloom is discovered careening uncontrolled through space, it’s up to a team of brave spacefarers to enter the starship and uncover the fate of its missing crew.

Did I forget to mention the Bloom is haunted? Don’t worry, that’s the least of your problems…

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast! is a horror themed adventure for 5th-level characters written by Jessica Catalan. (Hey, that’s me!)

Illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

Have fun out there, Starfinders! Happy playtesting!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

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Hello Pathfinders, and welcome to yet another heat-filled summer month!

(At least for those of us in the northern hemisphere.)

(How’s your winter going, southern hemisphere?)

Anyway! As we’re preparing for Gen Con and the start of the Year of Immortal Influence, we don’t have too much to show off, which means that our finale scenario of the Year of Unfettered Exploration takes center stage!

This month we’re returning to Jalmeray and infiltrating the manor home of the Benefactor, a rakshasa mastermind who seems to have several plots up her beautiful, billowing sleeves! The Pathfinders must search her home during a gathering of her underlings, looking for evidence of any future plans and schemes. Rather quickly, one scheme becomes very obvious: a notable figure in Niswan is in big trouble, but also the list of artifacts that the Benefactor seems to own is disturbing yet tantalizing.

Illustration by Leonardo Santann

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-20: The Rakshasa’s Court is an adventure written for 7th- through 10th-level characters by Erin Roberts!

That’s all for this month, Pathfinders! Enjoy your infiltration and we’ll see you at Gen Con!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

You step hesitantly into a musty cellar crowded with alchemical glassware, stone crucibles, and the occasional metal antenna crackling with electricity. Strange-colored fluids in uncovered beakers bubble and smoke near jars that hold the remnants of failed experiments floating in formaldehyde. A man stands in the center of the room, hunched over a table. His hair is wild, and his once-white lab coat has been stained with various chemicals. He looks up as you approach, and you can see that his table is strewn with papers splotched with ink. He barks out an overexcited laugh, followed by a half-choked cry of “The Remaster! Is Finished!”

Hello! Pay no attention to the man in the intro. He was laughed out of the university for his unorthodox research. But his theories—and some healthy doses of mutagenic mixtures—have led the way for a Remastered version of the alchemist class coming in Player Core 2!

The alchemist can craft chemical concoctions that can aid in all manner of situations. From deadly poisons to life-saving elixirs to explosive bombs, an alchemist can whip up the perfect item, provided they have the formula. The Core Rulebook version of the class had limited resources each day that could be used in multiple ways. However, while this was flexible, it created very complex decisions based on guesswork, which often ended up disappointing. We wanted to smooth out these choices while retaining the core functions of the class.

To that end, instead of having a large batch of infused reagents at the start of the day that require the alchemist to choose how many they are using with advanced alchemy and how many to save for Quick Alchemy, these two resources are now separate. Infused reagents are gone! At the start of each day, an alchemist makes a certain number of alchemical items that they can keep for themself or hand off to friends; remember that these items are only good for 24 hours, so be sure to use them!

Fumbus, the iconic alchemist, blows stuff up real good.
Art by Federico Musetti

In addition, an alchemist also has a number of what we’re calling versatile vials, which are small mixtures of fast-acting chemicals that can be easily turned into other consumables. On their own, versatile vials can be thrown as acidic bombs, and with the Quick Alchemy action, an alchemist can turn a versatile vial into an alchemical consumable they know the formula for; this item remains potent until the start of the alchemist’s next turn. Each research field presents a unique way for the alchemist to use their versatile vials. For example, a mutagenist can drink one of their versatile vials to temporarily suppress the drawback of one mutagen they are under the effects of. And a chirurgeon can hurl a versatile vial at a willing ally within 20 feet for some distance healing!

The number of versatile vials an alchemist has isn’t a finite daily resource. They can replenish their vials over time as they gather alchemical ingredients during exploration mode. If things start going poorly, an alchemist can also whip up a temporary versatile vial using Quick Alchemy, though it can’t be used to make a different kind of item. And the 2nd-level Improvise Admixture feat allows the alchemist to scrounge together enough materials for a few extra ready-to-use versatile vials once per day as a single action.

We found the space in this book for toxicology, a research field that was introduced in the Advanced Player’s Guide. It’s included here in all its noxious glory, and poisons created by such an alchemist deal acid damage instead of poison damage if that would be more detrimental. The toxicologist’s 13th-level greater field discovery causes a victim of one of their injury poisons to spray that toxin onto an adjacent creature, exposing them to the same poison. Not a fun time for the toxicologist’s enemies!

Finally, we know a lot of you are curious to hear more about the alchemist’s attack proficiencies. Some of the other designers didn’t want me to tell you this, but I’ve slipped some soporifics in their morning coffees, so they won’t even notice. Alchemists are still getting their alchemical weapon expertise at 7th level, but they now also receive alchemical weapon mastery at 15th level. Get those bombs ready!

We are very excited for you to see the class when Player Core 2 releases… soon! So soon, it’s making me a little anxious. Perhaps one of these mysterious elixirs left behind by that scientist will calm me down… Oh no, what have I done? I feel… What is happening to me?!?

Regurgitate Mutagen [one-action] Feat 4

Alchemist, Manipulate
Requirements You are under the effects of a mutagen.

You redirect a mutagen within your body to spit a stream of stomach acid at a foe. A creature within 30 feet takes 1d6 acid damage for every 2 levels you have, with a basic Reflex save against your class DC. On a failure, the creature is also sickened 1 (or sickened 2 on a critical failure). The mutagen’s duration immediately ends.

Jason Keeley (he/him)
Senior Designer

With Gen Con right around the corner, we’d like to shine a spotlight on one of the recipients of funds from this year’s Gen Con Charity Auctions—the Rose Gauntlet Foundation.

The Rose Gauntlet Foundation aims to provide a platform that grants access to education, networking, and resources for individuals who wish to pursue a career in the tabletop gaming industry. They are committed to promoting diversity and equity in the gaming community by supporting and amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups.

At Gen Con, the Rose Gauntlet Foundation hosts the BIPOC Lounge—a social, recharge, and networking space for BIPOC at the largest gaming convention in America. First introduced in 2022, the BIPOC Lounge has become an official, convention-supported feature of Gen Con. As part of the BIPOC Lounge festivities, Rose Gauntlet also hosts a BIPOC Social Mixer, Mentorship Meetings, and more!

Outside of Gen Con, the Rose Gauntlet Foundation continues doing phenomenal work to help underrepresented groups in the games industry. At PAXU, they host “Big Gay Dinner,” a social and networking event for LGBTQIA+ industry professionals. Formerly at Origins and making a space this year at PAX West, “Game Changers” focuses on women in board and roleplaying games.

Paizo is proud to support the Rose Gauntlet Foundation through our Gen Con Charity Auctions. Keep an eye out for those auctions as we get closer to Gen Con.

If you’re interested in volunteering or donating to the Rose Gauntlet Foundation, take a look at the opportunities on their site!

The Starfinder Playtest and the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook are coming soon! On behalf of the entire Starfinder team, we’d like to thank you for your time, dedication, and enthusiasm for the next edition of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. The upcoming playtest is a vital part of making sure Starfinder Second Edition will be the best possible game it can be! Your feedback is indispensable to our process, and we literally couldn’t do it without you!

Illustration by Alexander Gorbunov

How We Playtest

The easiest way to playtest is to explore the material, cooperate with other players, and report back using our surveys! There will be four surveys: the Class Survey asks specific questions about your character choices and experiences, the Class Open Response Survey that allows for more freeform feedback about each of our six classes, the Game Feedback Survey that lets you provide feedback about any other material in the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, and the Adventure Feedback Survey where you can share your experiences and feedback about our playtest adventures! 

You can find the playtest and all supplementary information at StarfinderPlaytest.com

When We Playtest

The Starfinder Playtest Second Edition Rulebook, our first two playtest adventures, and the playtest surveys go live on August 1 at 10 a.m. EST. The Playtest Rulebook PDF is free and the necessary rules from Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core can be found online with our partners at Archives of Nethys. The playtesting period lasts until December 31, 2024, when the surveys officially close. You can go back and modify your survey at any point during the playtest period, so don’t wait until the last minute thinking you’ve tried every class or run every adventure.

What We Playtest

We’re releasing two Starfinder adventures and four scenarios during the playtest period that help support the playtest itself. These adventures and scenarios feature a wide variety of challenges and encounters as the playtests focus on player facing options. We won’t spoil anything here for our players who want to avoid spoilers, but you can read more about each adventure on their accompanying product pages!

Playtest Scenarios are one-shots that should take roughly 2 hours to play, but can be used as a launching point or side quest during a longer ongoing campaign.Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet by Mike Kimmel is a 1st-level scenario,Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast! by Jessica Catalan is a 5th-level scenario,Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters by Dustin Knight is a 10th-level scenario with variable encounters coming out September 25, and Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mineby Jenny Jarzabski is a 15th-level scenario coming out late October.

Playtest Adventures are longer self-contained adventures that should take multiple sessions to complete and take characters across multiple levels. These adventures are great introductions to the Starfinder setting and help players experience two major events taking place in our setting.Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday by Jenny Jarzabski begins at 1st level, and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured by Thurston Hillman begins at 10th-level and will be released in October.

Home game data will be immensely helpful during the playtest process. GMs are highly encouraged to use monsters and other threats from the playtest adventures or Pathfinder Second Edition sources like Pathfinder Monster Core. Additional guidelines to running adventures during the playtest can be extrapolated using Pathfinder GM Core. We suggest avoiding variant rules during the playtest period, such as free archetype rules or proficiency without level.

Who We Playtest

When building characters, stick to the official character creation guidelines as much as possible. We will have pregenerated characters for every class available during the playtest, with character sheets you can print out at home that include all the information you need to play each character.

Players should avoid using Pathfinder Second Edition ancestries, backgrounds, classes, equipment, and feats that aren’t explicitly included in the playtest. Note that most of the skill feats and some class feats from Pathfinder Player Core have been included in the skill feat tables and are part of the playtest. Spells should be selected from the Playtest Rulebook and Pathfinder Player Core. While these options are available, we encourage players to try the new feats and spells from the Starfinder Playtest Core Rulebook to provide us with new data.

Where We Playtest

Gen Con and other major conventions, both in person and online, provide ample opportunity for playtesting. Finding a local or online Starfinder Society lodge is a surefire way to find people interested in playtesting, and you can find out how all these adventures fit into our Organized Play Program here.

Why We Playtest

The entire team is grateful for everyone’s enthusiasm and excitement as we venture into this new era of adventure! Paizo has a long tradition of playtesting new material, and the data you provide playing our games is critical to our process and morale (after all, nothing encourages a game developer like hearing about people playing our games)! While we prioritize the data we get from the playtest surveys, the Starfinder team actively reads and welcomes your thoughts on many social media platforms and communities including our own Second Edition Playtest Forum!

—The Starfinder Team

Today, we’re excited to launch a new landing page featuring all the information fans, content creators, and other publishers need to legally use Paizo’s intellectual property—game rules, setting details, artwork, logos, and other copyrights and trademarks—in their own products. Whether you’re looking to make an online rules database using the ORC license, a setting compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition, an adventure set in the Pact Worlds system, an actual play podcast, or a series of handmade plushies of iconic heroes like Valeros, Seoni, and Lem, we’ve got everything you need at paizo.com/licenses.

Along with this new hub of information, we also made a few updates and revisions to our existing licenses, both for ease of use and to bring them up to date with the current state of our games and brands. You can find out more about these specific licenses on their respective pages on the site.

Paizo Compatibility License

With Pathfinder (and soon Starfinder) in its second edition, we were starting to get a bit of a glut of system-specific compatibility licenses. So, we consolidated what was previously two distinct Pathfinder RPG Compatibility Licenses and a Starfinder Compatibility License into a single Paizo Compatibility License. Using the new license, a publisher can declare compatibility with any of our games and use the appropriate logo, and we don’t have to constantly maintain the list of products and game systems you can use it for.

We also got rid of the registration process by which publishers had to inform us they were using the license. Now, you agree to the license when you publish something using it, the same way you do for the OGL or ORC. Your use of one of the Compatibility Logos or our proprietary Pathfinder-Icons font aren’t locked behind any red tape. Just create your content, ensure you’re following all the rules of the license, and you’re ready to go.

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite

In October, on the eve of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project launch, we announced that the ORC license wouldn’t be usable on our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite community content publishing platforms. While this initially caused a bit of confusion, in the months since, we’ve seen publishers continue using both platforms with great success, accessing Paizo’s IP via the Infinite License alone.

Next month, with the release of Pathfinder Player Core 2, we’ll have completed the 18-month task of divesting our core game from the OGL, and thus, starting on September 1, 2024, publishing of new OGL content on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite will cease; publishers wishing to release game content on either platform will need to use the Infinite license exclusively.

This means that until Starfinder Second Edition is officially out in just over a year, Starfinder content on the platform is going to need to be free of rules (setting lore, fiction, art assets, etc.) but once the new edition of the game is out, we plan to relaunch Starfinder Infinite in style. It also means that Pathfinder First Edition content, or Pathfinder Second Edition content based on OGL material, will also sunset from the platform in just over a month. So, if you have a Pathfinder product in the works featuring chuuls, the eight schools of magic, or yes, even drow, you have until the end of August to release them. We won’t be removing OGL-based content from the marketplace in September, but you won’t be able to release new material using the OGL after that point.

The Infinite FAQ and End User Licensing Agreement on the marketplaces will be updated closer to the date of the actual change, but consider this your fair warning.

Fan Content Policy

As of today, Paizo’s Community Use Policy has been replaced by the Paizo Fan Content Policy, which serves a similar role, but with different provisions.

First, the Fan Content Policy will allow you to sell merchandise using our IP. Yes, for money. You will also be able to monetize other content using Paizo’s IP, like putting a live play of one of our Adventure Paths behind a Patreon paywall. There are restrictions to this, however, so make sure you read the license carefully before you put in your order with the factory to make high-end poster maps of Golarion. Anything you sell needs to be made by you and sold directly by you to the consumer. You can’t upload a bunch of our art to one of those print-on-demand shops that will let anyone put the art on whatever hat or mug or shirt they want. You can screen print shirts or sew your own plushies and sell them on an Etsy storefront you operate or at conventions, but not mass produce either or sell them through external services or storefronts. But those Pathfinder Society faction dice bags you have been making because you love them? You can totally start selling those now instead of just giving them away for free.

Most of what you could previously do with the Community Use Policy is still permitted under the Fan Content Policy except for making RPG products, which you’ll need to release through the Pathfinder or Starfinder Infinite storefronts (even for free if you want) from now on. So, you can’t use art from the blog or setting material from Golarion to make your own rulebook or adventure under this license. If you’re currently using the OGL or ORC in conjunction with the Community Use Policy, in order to be compliant with the new Fan Content Policy you’ll need to either remove any game rules that would require you to use cite those licenses or remove any non-rule content you accessed via the Community Use Policy.

We know that all this legal stuff can be intimidating and confusing for many fans, and for that, we apologize. It’s our hope that these changes largely improve the community’s ability to create and engage with our brands, our games, and each other, even if they’re different than what we’ve offered in the past. Be sure to check out each license’s FAQ for more information, or pose your questions in the forums or comments below. We’ll do our best to answer them in as timely and clear manner as possible.

Now go out there and start creating! We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

<Incoming transmission from the Starfinder team… >

Hello, Starfinders!

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is ready for launch—but before we begin the countdown (t-minus two weeks and counting!) we’re sending out a transmission across the galaxy. The Pact Worlds needs those most celebrated heroes: playtesters! Are you ready to answer the call?

When the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook releases at GenCon 2024, we invite you to hop right into the action. Get your hands on the playtest rulebook, roll up some characters, and get playing! To support the playtest, we’ve got three tools waiting on standby! Download pre-generatedcharacters, play the demo at a convention, and purchase the Starfinder Playtest Scenarios!

Pre-generated characters (better known as pregens) are official sample characters available as a free download on starfinderplaytest.com. These pregens encompass all six of our playtest classes and are available at level 1 and level 5. Each pregen includes a character sheet and accompanying reference sheet which includes all the details a player needs to play that character. Our playtest pregens include: Navasi the human envoy, Chk Chk the shirren mystic, Iseph the android operative, Dae the pahtra solarian, Obozaya the vesk soldier, and Zemir the human witchwarper.

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Demo is a short, 45-minute to 1-hour demo adventure to be run at special events, including GenCon 2024! This demo adventure showcases the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest in a fun, engaging way. All players will use 1st-level pregens. So, grab your pregen and hop aboard a shuttle for Golarion World! That’s right! Excitable skittermander Novadorio needs your help to save his best friend, Prisma, from a group of vicious raiders infiltrating an unopened part of the amusement park! This delightful demo adventure uses Starfinder Flip-Mat: Amusement Park.

Novadorio, a skittermander whose friend is in peril!
Art by Ksenia Kozhevnikova

Ready for more adventure? Set course for Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios! Each Starfinder Playtest Scenario is a short, single-session adventure designed to be played in 2–3 hours and written by a member of the Starfinder Team. Participants in our Organized Play Programs should also download a copy of the Starfinder Playtest Sheet from starfinderplaytest.com to unlock additional rewards in our OP campaigns! (More information available here). Two Starfinder Playtest Scenarios release on August 1st, 2024, with one additional scenario releasing in late September and one in late October.

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet is a first contact–themed adventure for 1st-level characters written by Mike Kimmel! In the wake of the Drift Crisis, the impenetrable energy field surrounding the planet Birnam’s Bubble is shattering, and shards of this solidified energy have begun to fall through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface, causing significant destruction. Enter the breach and uncover the secrets of the lost civilizations of Birnam’s Bubble before they're lost forever!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast! is a horror-themed adventure for 5th-level characters written by Jessica Catalan! When the Xenowarden biomechanical starship Bloom is discovered careening uncontrolled through space, it’s up to a team of brave spacefarers to enter the starship and uncover the fate of its missing crew! The Bloom is haunted. That’s the least of your problems.

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters is a combat-heavy adventure for 10th-level characters written by Dustin Knight! Step right up, come on down, and ready your laser pistols… You’re the next contestants on Zo!’s Wheel of Monsters, a thrilling game show that pits contestants in lethal combat against dangerous creatures collected from across the galaxy. Don’t worry, contestants, there’s a big prize if you make it out alive!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine is a rescue mission and dungeon delve for 15th-level characters written by Jenny Jarzabski! Meanwhile, in the Veskarium, inexplicable disasters and sudden riots are breaking out in shimmerstone mines all across the frigid planet of Vesk-8. While many corporations react with attempts to sweep these events under the metaphorical rug, Shim-Tek desperately seeks outside agents to visit their shimmerstone mine, investigate the disturbance, and rescue any imperiled miners still on site.

Famesworn, one of the many dangerous creatures you might face on the Wheel of Monsters!
Art by Max Roche

Of course, we’ve got a few other adventures waiting in the wings. (A Cosmic Birthday and Empires Devoured, anyone?). But that’s a blog for another day!

The website starfinderplaytest.com is the place to watch for news and information about the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest and feedback process. We’ll have more Starfinder Second Edition news—and the playtest itself—at GenCon 2024!

Happy playtesting!

—The Starfinder Team

Illustration by Bruno Cesar

Nixret looked over the sides of the rickety fishing boat and sighed before quickly remembering how much she hated ocean voyages, quickly bringing her gaze down to the wooden deck before another wave of nausea could overwhelm her. The captain of the small boat, Masuhei Okonase, was deftly navigating the relatively calm seas on the way to Kayajima from Sakakabe in Minkai. Despite this, even the slight motion of the Auspicious Pearl on the waves left Nixret reeling. “Kobolds were not meant for sea travel,” she opined miserably in her head. Of course she wouldn’t voice any such complaints. That’s not what heroes did.

Last year she was saved by the real deal, when that weird planar nexus had trapped the Tskikha iruxi enclave along with some Pathfinder initiates–herself included. It was all she could do to keep her wits about her in that crisis, but the agents sent to rescue them did more than that–they got everyone home. After that she had redoubled her efforts, achieved her confirmation, and was even recognized by Kreighton Shaine for her part in helping those Pathfinder agents resolve the Blackwood Crisis. She nervously grasped the wayfinder he’d gifted her, feeling its weight. “And now I’m the hero,” she thought to herself.

Illustration by Giorgio Falconi

Of course, heroism would have to wait. Newly confirmed agents were rarely sent on the most dangerous of missions and this was no different: routine maintenance on the leylines of Kayajima to keep the Three Gates Lodge properly protected. Still, she could hope. She risked another bout of nausea as she glanced around at her fellow Pathfinders. A few—like Kisuke, a kitsune sorcerer, and Tara, a human with aspirations to be a swordlord—were well known to her. Their goading was at the root of most of her misadventures resulting in angry lectures or extra chores during her time as an initiate. The tanuki sitting with them, Mochi, was apparently field commissioned after some incident in the Maze of the Open Road. Nixret didn’t really know the details, but wilder rumors spoke of a dance-off, and that couldn’t be right.

Noting her gaze Kisuke gave a grin, “Didn’t think kobold scales changed color, but I swear yours are looking even greener.” Nixret shot the kitsune a withering look, but the sight of the horizon bobbing up and down behind him sent her stomach reeling. Though her friend meant well, she was not enjoying this part of adventuring. Where were the dragons? The beasts barring her path? The artifacts of power they all would need to race to collect? She sighed and gave voice to her thoughts. “Weren’t we supposed to be adventuring, not doing cleaning and maintenance over some leylines that our predecessors already made safe?”

Her three companions nodded in understanding, but Tara calmly noted, “we can hardly be expected to be handed responsibility right after our Confirmations. I’m sure greater challenges will come. Besides, the task is important or else Venture-Captain Mukai wouldn’t have requested our help.” Nixret envied her friend’s ability to remain calm and composed–even when egging Nixret on to break curfew–but had to admit that she had a point. Besides, who knows when a routine mission could turn into a crisis? If nothing else, the events back in the Blackwood Swamp proved that without a shadow of a doubt. “Sometimes I just wish these routine tasks could turn into something much more epic,” she said with a sigh.

Illustration by Enrique Barajas

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

“Fire,” the professor whispered. His hands shook as he traced the runes etched onto the walls.

The Taldan scholar—bald and stooped, somewhat like a pale turtle—had intricate tattoos coiling up his arms, neck, and cheek, like her own but of a different style. On their first night together, she had asked about the markings. Irezoko, he said they were called, borrowed from her own Varisian tradition and a sign of his rank in Absalom’s College of Mysteries, the rank of enigma.

Seoni frowned and scanned the long tunnel. Various support beams of the same smooth stone as the walls buttressed its length, and script she did not recognize covered the entirety. The symbols were old and worn, done long ago, but she looked for inhabitants anyway. There were no signs that the lizardfolk or giant beasts from the surface had found this place.

“The runes?” her tengu companion Korakai asked, prancing forward with a hop. As he did so, the various vials, scroll cases, paper talismans, totems, and baubles affixed to his robes and chain shirt clinked and slapped musically. An orb of liquid blue light followed at his shoulder. Korakai cocked his corvid head one way then the other, peering at the writing. “They say ‘fire,’ do they? How ominous. What else do they say?”

“It—it will take days,” the scholar said with awe, “perhaps weeks, to decipher. This is ancient script, you understand. More than ancient. From the Age of Serpents, I suspect!” He turned to them dramatically, his voice echoing in the tunnel.

At his declaration, Korakai tilted his head back the way, and Seoni stared unmoved. None of them spoke for several heartbeats. The professor sighed in disappointment at their reactions and turned back to the wall. “But see here,” his knobby finger tapped one rune. “This says ‘fire,’ I’m sure of it. And look there, and there, and here. It’s repeated, see?”

“Fire, fire, everywhere,” Korakai chuckled nervously. His robes and feathers fluttered in the faint breeze that always surrounded him. He tapped the butt of his elaborate staff on the floor. The oracle’s fidgeting made noise incessantly. “What do you think it means, Seoni?”

“That is why we have the professor,” she said simply, shrugging.

If the old man, Enigma Rodos, heard her, he was too preoccupied to respond. Muttering, hands touching each symbol reverently, he combed over the walls everywhere Korakai’s light illuminated them.

“He’s a funny one, isn’t he?” The oracle tapped his staff and jingled his way over to Seoni’s side. She thought he was smiling, but it was difficult for most humans to decipher a tengu’s expressions, even after several weeks together. As Korakai drew nearer, the breeze surrounding him plucked at her cloak and skirts.

“Indeed. As I told you, we did not need to bring Valeros for this part. The perils were in getting the professor here. Other than dying of boredom, I do not see any danger from these forgotten tunnels. No need to fear, Korakai.”

“If you say so, Seoni,” her companion looked left and right, tap-tap-tapping with the staff, which was topped by a stylized, silver eye. “Embrace life’s mysteries, yes? Even when they’re in a dark, unexplored ruin. It will be fine, you say.” He did not sound convinced.

Seoni nodded once, and the two of them watched Enigma Rodos work. After several minutes, the professor paused to deliberately pull a parchment, quill, and inkwell from the pockets of his robes.

“Do you really think it will take days?” Korakai whispered.

“Mmm.” She frowned. “Perhaps we can light a torch and leave him to it. He paid us to find this place and we have done so. We have no expertise here. Let him do…” she made a vague gesture with one tattooed arm, “whatever it is scholars do.”

“Oh, yes, yes, leave this place, good,” Korakai jangled as he unshouldered his backpack and began rummaging through it. “I have one. Professor! We are going to light you a torch and head back to camp, yes? You can find it easily enough? We will be close if you need anything.”

Rodos looked up, confused and blinking, as the words slowly sank in. “Yes, that will be fine.”

“Flint and steel, here we are,” Korakai said, balancing his staff in the crook of one arm. With taloned hands he struck once, twice, three times, and a spark lit the animal fat on the end of the wooden torch.

As soon as the flame ignited, several of the runes around them flared in bright orange light. Then others, spreading out like an infection.

Or perhaps a wildfire.

Rodos gasped. “What—what did you do?”

“Fire?” Korakai laughed anxiously, waving the torch. “You must be right on that translation! Keep up the good—Aaaiiiggghhh!” He jumped back on four-toed taloned feet.

Flames filled the chamber with a great WHOOOSH! Rodos scrambled away on hands and knees, nearly engulfed. As Seoni watched, wide-eyed, the flames coalesced into distinct shapes, each moving independently while still part of the same conflagration. It took her a heartbeat to realize that she faced not one raging blaze, but a dozen smaller ones, each in the shape of a halfling-sized humanoid. The fiery figures prowled forward, moving like a pack of wolves.

“Professor! Away!” she barked. “Get Valeros and the others, quickly!”

Seoni dashed to one side of the tunnel, her arms weaving symbols in the air. Instinctively she plunged her consciousness inward, where a roiling mass of memories awaited her. Images and voices from experiences before her birth flooded her mind. In her childhood, this sort of bombardment threatened to overwhelm her. Now, she utilized her tattoos; for her they were not a sign of rank but instead a map, a reminder of her ancestral blood and the thousand generations of spellcasters who preceded her. Power flowed through her. Power and knowledge. And Seoni channeled it through the detailed patterns across her skin, focusing the chaos into her spells.

“Frost and ice!” she called to Korakai. “Quench the flames!” As she said the words, an orb of biting cold formed around one of the fiery figures. Steam filled the tunnel as the elemental screeched like a teakettle.

“You mean to fight?!” the oracle gasped. “But… oh, bother.”

Korakai tamped his staff to the ground and the silver eye atop it flared. Geometric sigils, triangles and circles of blue light, spun around the head of the oracle’s weapon and, as they did, his free hand swirled with liquid, azure energy. The tengu had explained to Seoni that he could glimpse the First Storm that existed before creation, when the planes were nothing more than a roiling sea of lightning, wind, and rain. It was these fleeting glimpses, he speculated, that allowed the many gods and goddesses of weather to grant him their blessings.

The oracle reached out with his tempest’s touch, the water leaping from his outstretched talon to the nearest figure. More steam and high-pitched screeching let Seoni know that Korakai’s attacks were as deadly to these creatures as her own orbs of frost.

Korakai and Seoni fight fire with ice in this illustration by Gunship Revolution from Pathfinder Player Core 2.

Small arcs of lightning etched at random intervals across his robed form, and he moved to attack again. The breeze surrounding him was now a gale, buffeting Seoni’s hair and clothes. For all his fear, a true force of nature raged, barely contained, within her companion.

Their opponents breathed gouts of flame in response. The collective experience of Seoni’s ancestors guided her every movement as she raised a round shield of energy. Arcane sigils around her hands glowed blurrily in the steam. To her right, in a divine battle cry, Korakai let forth a mighty crow’s call as the tempest around him roared in response.

Seoni smiled fiercely, the light of fire dancing in her eyes.

About the Author

Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar was a founding columnist for Magic: the Gathering’s official website, which he wrote weekly for five years (along with various other gaming columns). During that time, he also penned several Kamigawa block web stories for Wizards of the Coast. He is a lifelong tabletop roleplaying gamer, frequent GM, and currently part of a fiction writers’ group in Oakland, CA. His serialized novelization of the Age of Ashes Adventure Path is available on Pathfinder Infinite.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Korakai’s and Seoni’s classes—the oracle and sorcerer—appear in Pathfinder Player Core 2, which remasters eight Pathfinder Second Edition classes and presents a vast array of existing and new character options for members of all classes, including the chilling spray and tempest touch spells the pair cast in this story. Pathfinder Player Core 2 is available for preorder now, and will release in hardcover, special edition hardcover, retailer exclusive sketch variant hardcover, and PDF on August 1, 2024, and in pocket edition softcover in October.

Now that the dust of battle has cleared and all your survey responses are in, we can examine the intel you’ve given us to help refine and perfect the commander and guardian classes. We appreciate all your feedback, and while we’re still sifting through the more detailed notes, we can give you some quick insights into some ways we’ll be moving forward.

First, Michael Sayre will talk about the commander, and then Jason Keeley will fill us in on the guardian.

The Commander

Michael Sayre here, talking about where we might be headed with the commander class post-playtest.

One of the big things we saw in the playtest feedback was that by and large, people were really happy with the class as it stands. When we see numbers like this, one of the takeaways is that we want to focus on polishing what we’ve got rather than taking apart something that people are already really enjoying.

With that in mind, there’s a few things I think we’re highly likely to be doing going forward.

• Tactics: A big thing we want to do, obviously, is adding a bunch more tactics, especially in the expert, master, and legendary tiers. For the playtest, we had two tactics to choose from at each of these tiers, and we’re looking to increase that number significantly. With more tactics to choose from, we have room to expand the number of tactics the commander can have in their folio, and we can look at giving them a slight bump to the number of tactics they can have prepared. In addition to modifying the number of tactics available (both while building your commander and while playing them), we’re looking at some adjustments to the tactics themselves. In particular, making the master tactics all function on a once-per-10-minutes frequency and the legendary tactics all function at a once-per-day frequency can help make deciding when and how to deploy the various tactics in your folio a bigger part of your strategies across the day, without raising the cognitive load of play too high.
• Traits: The use of “banner” as both a class item and as a trait was sowing a bit of confusion, so we’re looking at replacing the banner trait with a “brandish” trait to make it a bit clearer that those abilities require you to have your banner held in hand and able to be waved about.
• Feats: We’re not anticipating a lot of changes here, but we’re looking at some opportunities to polish and expand some of the functionality presented in the commander’s feats. One of the possible changes we’re considering is swapping out the commander’s mount for a more versatile “mascot” pet and adding in a class-specific capstone feat for said mascot.

We know that folks really loved this class during the playtest, so hopefully this opportunity to polish and elevate it further makes it even more satisfying when the final iteration rolls out with the release of Battlecry! next year!

In the shadow of a mountain range, Amiri and Harsk lead an army of soldiers to war. Art by Jorge Jacinto.

The Guardian

The majority of you felt that the concept of the guardian was worth exploring but needed a little more polish to really sing. We couldn’t agree more. Some of the class’s main features might be able to interact with one another more cleanly, and we might be able to present them in a way that shows that the guardian’s abilities are a set of tools that each have their particular uses. We’re considering some larger overhauls to ensure that the guardian is fun and exciting to play.

• Intercept Strike: Many of you responded that needing to be adjacent to an ally to protect them could sometimes be difficult to engineer. We’re thinking about adding some mobility to this core reaction, allowing to the guardian to move a little bit before getting the in the way of the blow; after all, who doesn’t want to fling themselves at the frail wizard as an archer’s arrow flies toward their heart, dramatically screaming “Nooooo!”?
• Taunt: We wanted to test an extreme version of this ability so we could get your opinions, and we got them! In the current version, the bonus the target gets to attack the guardian essentially negates the advantage of their increased armor proficiency; for the less extreme revision, we’re considering focusing the ability on the penalty it confers to attacking the guardian’s allies. Whether or not this final version operates off of a saving throw or something else depends a lot on the specific implementation, so we’ll be reviewing some possible directions.
• Armor Specialization and Resistances: The concept of armor specialization might seem to fit the guardian very well, but that game element was designed to mesh with the abilities of other classes. After playtesting and going through the feedback, we feel it could be a little confusing that the resistance granted through Intercept Strike was different than the armor specialization resistance, so we’re looking at giving the guardian their own generalized resistances that apply in multiple situations!
• Feats: With the changes noted above (and some others we’re working on), some of the guardian’s feats will need a bit of reworking and recontextualizing to cohesively fit together in the final version. And, yes, I know Hampering Sweeps is too good for this world! But I’m hoping the idea of it will live on...

Of course, there will be other tweaks that we’ll make to the class as it goes through its post-playtest revisions. We’re sure that the final guardian will be fun and exciting to play for all of you who want to portray a character who goes to great lengths to protect their allies in a fight!

Jason Keeley (he/him)
Senior Designer

Michael Sayre (he/him) )
Design Manager

It’s time to celebrate! Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday is the first full-length playtest module for Starfinder Second Edition, and it tells the story of a disastrous surge of eldritch energy that disrupts Absalom Station and threatens to throw a community into chaos! The player characters are going about their typical adventuring lives when they suddenly find themselves shunted to the Ghost Levels, a strange dimension filled with occult threats and mysteries. Can they find other survivors and escape the Ghost Levels? And, if they manage it, what will they find once they return to Absalom Station? Things aren’t going so well for the people of the Little Akiton district. The PCs have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to help the community back on its feet, learn the truth behind the strange power surges, and get things back to normal!

It wouldn’t be a very good cosmic birthday without a cosmic birthday party!
Illustration by Ivan Koritarev

Playing this adventure, you’ll not only be directly involved in a major event in the Starfinder setting, but you’ll have a chance to playtest characters (or GM encounters) using the brand new Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook! You’ll start by creating a level 1 PC, and you should reach level 4 by the end of the adventure—and we want to hear all about your play experiences! Keep an eye on the Starfinder Playtest website for more news about our playtest feedback surveys, which we’ll use to help fine tune the final version of the Starfinder Second Edition rules.

A space station gremlin is here to… help?
Illustration by Pixoloid Studios

A Cosmic Birthday, by Jenny Jarzabski, is an epic adventure that tells the story of our heroes as they battle occult horrors, explore the community of Little Akiton, investigate strange occurrences, and ultimately confront a dangerous cosmic being that threatens Absalom Station. This softcover adventure module takes PCs from 1st to 4th level and includes a mix of new and iconic Starfinder creatures, memorable characters, and bonus content related to the creation of a new core Starfinder deity: the Newborn.

Make your mark on Starfinder history by playing the adventure and participating in the feedback process. Happy birthday!

— The Starfinder Team

Hello again from the Starfinder team! With the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest right around the corner, it won’t be long until you can dive in, build characters, and try the new classes for yourself. Still, we couldn’t resist one last, brief glimpse into the sixth class from the Playtest Rulebook: we’re talking, of course, about the witchwarper!

Zemir, the iconic witchwarper
Art by Kent Hamilton

Witchwarpers are reality-bending spellcasters whose lives are defined by a paradoxical event that forever warped their existence. Origins in an alternate reality? A trip along a parallel timeline? A quantum experiment gone awry, or a malfunctioning alien device? The Gap itself? Whatever the cause, each witchwarper’s exposure to paradoxical reality has given them tremendous magic abilities.

Beyond affecting reality with mere spellcasting, witchwarpers can create a reality-warping quantum field. In another reality (which is to say, in Starfinder First Edition, insert wink emoji here), witchwarpers had to expend spell slots to use their reality-altering infinite worlds ability. Witchwarpers had to choose between altering reality through spells, or through infinite worlds. Later, in Starfinder Enhanced, the enhanced witchwarper gained additional spell slots to use for infinite worlds.

While a witchwarper’s spellcasting and quantum field are still mechanically intertwined, we’ve taken a new approach. In Starfinder Second Edition, witchwarpers can use the Warp Reality action as often as they want. This brings their quantum field into existence, and the effects of this quantum field depend on the paradox that defines the witchwarper’s magic power. Witchwarpers gain additional abilities through their paradox (and feat selections) that allow them to manipulate or interact with their quantum field, whether by moving it, applying additional zone effects to it, or targeting creatures inside it with reality-altering powers.

Of course, warping reality requires focus. While witchwarpers can create their quantum field as often as they like, they must Sustain it if they want it to stick around. Thankfully, witchwarpers have a new option at their disposal: abilities with the anchoring trait, such as a witchwarper’s focus spells, signature spells, and certain feats, automatically sustain the quantum field in addition to any other effects they may have.

If you think you’ve heard the concept of an “anchor” somewhere in Starfinder before—you’d be correct! An anchor was an important part of the time-bending precog class from Starfinder First Edition. Precog is part of the witchwarper class now—in fact, precog is one of the paradoxes you can choose for your witchwarper character! Anchors aren’t just for precogs anymore: every witchwarper has an anchor, which is a memory, concept, or object that keeps them grounded in true reality. A witchwarper can sustain their quantum field through a special “anchoring action” granted by their anchor, granting them greater flexibility from round to round, rather than forcing them to sustain their quantum field by casting specific anchoring spells. Witchwarpers can even gain the ability to anchor their quantum field through their Strikes!

Witchwarpers have a big impact. Conjuring zones of otherworldly darkness. Infusing spells with energy from another reality, or even borrowing spells and ancestry feats from other realities. Altering the flow of time. Erasing enemies from existence. When every reality is at your disposal, the possibilities are infinite.

We’re especially keen to receive your feedback on the witchwarper class, as it’s gone through multiple different realities during the course of development. The Starfinder Playtest site is the place to watch for news and info about the playtest and feedback process, and we’ll have more Starfinder Second Edition news at GenCon 2024. Which is to say—quite soon!

— The Starfinder Team

OPC Musings

It’s July, and convention season is in full swing! I just had a whirlwind couple of weeks, visiting our Great Lakes team at Origins and then turning right around to go to the American Library Association Expo in San Diego! I got to hang out with our community and play games, then talk about the upcoming Godsrain novel to librarians. Now it’s just a few short weeks until Gen Con! Where did the year go?

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on July 31, 2024.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-20: The Rakshasa's Court*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-04: Inheritors of Gadrathar*

These adventures will be available on August 1, 2024.

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!

*part of a subscription

Starfinder Society Playtest

This month, Jessica released the rules governing rewards for participating in the Starfinder Playtest this fall! Players will be able to earn rewards for all three active and future programs when they complete the Starfinder Playtest Scenarios and Adventures. Full details are available in the blog! We hope you’re all looking forward to this playtest; we can’t wait to see it hit the table in just a few weeks.

Sanctioning Updates

Errata Updates

At the end of May, the Pathfinder design team issued a new batch of errata. We’ve finally had time to look through this and make updates to the Pathfinder Character Options page! Largely, this is removing some clarifications that are now enshrined in the errata, but a couple of options, like the magnetic suit from Guns and Gears, are now available. Enjoy!

Free RPG Day

We hope you all enjoyed the lovely poppet adventure at this year’s Free RPG Day! Sanctioning documents for that adventure will be posted with the product page whenever it goes live. Remember, you cannot run the adventure until July 22, 2024, as part of our agreement with Free RPG Day. After that day, release the poppets!

Wardens of Wildwood

Unfortunately, due to our incredibly busy summer schedule, we missed street date sanctioning for the Wardens of Wildwood Adventure Path. We’re hard at work on it now and should have it out to you soon! Rest assured that the adventure will be sanctioned, and you’ll be able to get access to all sorts of new nature-themed options for playing it as usual.

Player Core 2

Gen Con sees the release of Player Core 2 and the eight newly-Remastered classes! As I write, we’re working on the guidelines for adjusting your characters based on the new classes, and we’ll do our best to get those to you as far ahead of Gen Con as possible. You can expect it to follow a similar format as the first Remaster guidelines; you’ll be able to use your old characters without updating them, or rebuild characters into the Remaster rules using your previously granted rebuild. We’ll have guidance on how to handle some trickier situations once we finish going through the rules ourselves.

Convention News

Gen Con

Have I mentioned Gen Con is coming up soon? We’ve got a few last-minute holes we need to fill due to late GM drops, so if you’re going to Gen Con and want to join us as a GM for a slot or two (or seven…), contact us at genconleads@gmail.com and let us know your availability. We’d love to have you!

All our scenarios will take place in the Sagamore Ballroom as normal. This year, we’ve been given additional space and are now taking up the entire center third of the ballroom! We’ve got nearly 80 tables for Pathfinder, Starfinder, and board game play, along with a Character Creation Station and ancillary booth. It’ll be a ballroom jam-packed with Paizo fun!

PaizoCon Europe

If gaming in the garden is more your speed, why not join us for PaizoCon Europe? The event will be held August 15-18 2024 outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Come join me and the European community for four days of casual Pathfinder and Starfinder gaming on the banks of the river! More information is available in last week’s blog.

We’re still putting the finishing touches on the fall convention schedule, so stay tuned for more convention news soon! You can expect to see us at PAX Unplugged as well as a few other conventions in the back half of the year.

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

This month, a new Campaign Service Coin was awarded at Origins! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:

Angie Valente, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #907

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had four GMs earn their 5th rank!

5th Glyph (PFS2): Jim Fleury, Cordell Kintner, Mike Bramnik

5th Star (PFS1): Jason Kelly

Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate! And stay cool out there!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

I see it in the flickering of my monitor. I hear it in the cawing of the seagulls fighting over a bagel outside my window. I smell it in my coffee from down the street (not the coffee from up the street—the coffee from the other street, or the coffee from the corner; this is Seattle, after all). For the oracle, coming in Pathfinder Player Core 2, is Remastered.

Oracles are divine spellcasters who draw their power not from prayer or devotion to a deity, but from a firsthand connection to the great mysteries of the universe. This connection is a double-edged sword, though, as gazing too deeply into these mysteries results in terrible backlash in the form of a divine curse. While this unique relationship with the divine and its “power at a price” theme offer strong and appealing roleplaying hooks that are very Golarion (what is the role of an oracle in a world where prophecy is lost?), the original oracle was often thought of as intimidatingly complex or as a class that made the player jump through hoops to unlock its potential. The Remastered oracle has been changed in ways both large and small to reduce its complexity and pain points, while still allowing players who want to risk fate to draw upon their curse to gain power.

The big change: instead of an oracle’s curse giving them a large suite of abilities, some of which are buffs, some of which are debuffs, and some of which might go either way, the oracle’s curse now just strictly debuffs the player. We’ve done it—no, no, no, come back; I promise this made the class stronger!

Art by Christoph Peters.

Because the classic oracle’s curses boosted some stats while lowering others, it could be unclear whether being cursed was a benefit you were trying to get ASAP or a price you had to strategically work around. In the Remaster, they’re always a price, which lets us significantly dial up the power that you get for paying it and keeps the trade-off simple to understand: “Cheat the rules of creation for power, and you get cursed.” The new oracle’s cursebound trait appears not on their focus spells, but instead on specific feats and other actions that have a notable advantage over similarly leveled feats, like cheating the action economy, letting you automatically learn about your target without a skill check, or other similar benefits. Each mystery grants a cursebound ability at level 1 to let them draw on this power, like Foretell Harm.

Foretell Harm [free-action] — Feat 1

Cursebound, Divine, Oracle
Frequency Once per round
Requirements Your previous action was to Cast a non-cantrip Spell that dealt damage.

Your magic echoes ominously as you glimpse injury in the target’s future. At the beginning of your target’s next turn, it takes damage equal to twice the triggering spell’s rank as a seemingly random and minor misfortune finds it. The damage and type of misfortune is of a type matching the spell; for instance, if you dealt fire damage, a flame might spontaneously ignite on them or they might burn a hand on their torch. The target is then temporarily immune to Foretell Harm for 24 hours.

However, whenever you use a cursebound ability, your cursebound condition increases in value. This is a unique condition that appears only in the oracle class. As your cursebound condition increases, the deleterious effects of your curse increase as well, like giving you a penalty to certain saving throws or a weakness to certain damage types. Like the classic oracle, the remastered oracle can tolerate higher and higher cursebound values as they increase in level, letting them use more cursebound abilities.

While most of these curse effects are relatively simple, we do know that a lot of oracle players enjoyed the more disruptive curse effects that could really throw variety into your battle. We’ve kept many of these as cursebound feats, like Meddling Futures (where sprits vie for control over your body) or Thousand Visions (where visions of the future grant you great perception within a short range, but overwhelm your senses beyond it), which are now selectable by any mystery. Now, oracle players who want to opt into this complexity can do so, and oracles who want more straightforward benefits can keep it simple.

Other Changes

We’ve also made several smaller changes throughout the oracle! In no particular order:

• We’ve made it easier to tailor your oracle's spell list to your mystery. Each mystery now grants three thematic spells to an oracle’s repertoire, and all oracles automatically gain a divine access class feature about halfway through their career that lets them expand this list further.
• We’ve doubled the number of available domains for oracles who want to harness domain magic. All mysteries now grant four related domains—now your battle oracle might gain the destruction domain, or your cosmos oracle the star domain!
• We’ve added dashes of ominous, portentous, delirious flavor throughout the class to really make you feel like you’re channeling otherworldly powers.
• With more streamlined mysteries and curses, we had room to add a greater number of unique oracle feats, a thing that was often cited as lacking in the classic oracle. Take a look at a unique feat for ancestors or battle oracles: The Dead Walk!

The Dead Walk [two-actions] — Feat 10

Cursebound, Divine, Oracle
Prerequisites ancestors or battle mystery

You beseech warrior spirits to come forth and aid you. Two ghostly warriors manifest within a 30-foot emanation of you and each attempt a Strike against an adjacent enemy, using your spell attack modifier, and then disappear. The warriors’ Strikes each deal 4d6 spirit damage, and the warriors can flank with one another and with you and your allies. If you are cursebound 2 when you use The Dead Walk, you instead summon three warriors, and if you are cursebound 3, you instead summon four warriors. The warriors disappear at the start of your next turn.

We’re getting close to the release of Player Core 2, with ancestries, archetypes, and more, so be sure to subscribe to the Rulebook line, pre-order the book, or make a note to swing by our booth at Gen Con to check things out—and keep an eye on the future for the last of our Remaster class previews!

James Case (he/him)
Lead Developer, Rules and Lore

Greetings Starfinders! While everyone is excited about the future of Starfinder, including the exciting continuation of the Year of Era’s End, our Mechageddon! Campaigns, and the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, we have some last minute housekeeping in the archives that includes a pre-GenCon round of Starfinder FAQ and Errata!

We have a plethora of little changes that'll make your games run more smoothly than ever. These include but are not limited to:

• Clarification that you cannot use lethal grenades and missiles non-lethally by just taking the standard penalties.
• Many clarifications to Starfinder Enhanced, including narrative starship combat, the enhanced Solarian, explosive danger, concentrated cloud, and how living holograms stow items.
• Clarifications and changes to gear, including a 24-hour immunity clause added to timeskip crystals and attablossoms, clarification on the skipshot pistol, the radiation of abysium ammunition, degenerator weapons, robe of communalism, and if you don't like the new gear changes, the draining finisher gear boost and tech smasher archetype!
• Updates to Alien Archive, including the requirements to wield dragon glaives.
• Updates to magic, including the void whispers and grasping branch spell, junk armor spell, the school spirit spell, the hive mind connection, esotericist, and the expert artificer.

Most of these changes are minor housekeeping that shouldn't impact how most games are run but help ensure less variation across multiple tables and clarify the intent of our design. This should help make it easier for players transitioning from one group to another or who want to try out fun character options in organized play!

Dustin Knight
Starfinder Developer

You’ve fought ghosts and goblins, dragons and demons, and so much more in your storied careers as adventurers, yet now you face what may be your most daunting challenge yet—creating an opera based on your heroic legacy!

The city of Kintargo has a long tradition of art, even when it chafed under the oppressive rule of House Thrune. Now that its nation of Ravounel has seceded from infernal Cheliax, though, the time is nigh for the artists and performers of Kintargo to step up to the grand stage that is the Inner Sea region. While politicians maneuver complex plots and merchants work to secure new trade, it falls to a band of famous heroes fresh off a legendary adventure to bring what might be the Next Big Thing to the stage.

Surely, things will all go according to plan.

Surely, something unexpected won’t happen.

Surely, you’ll all soon be stars!

In the Curtain Call Adventure Path, your characters are asked by a famous director to aid in translating your adventures into an opera—a production that could well bring even greater fame and fortune to your group, but only if it’s done exactly right. Of course, there’s more afoot in the town of Kintargo than what’s coming soon on stage, and as the production swings into high gear, unexpected and dangerous complications are sure to make themselves known. Fear of performing on the stage will soon be the least of your worries!

Inside the Curtain Call Player’s Guide, you’ll find player-friendly, spoiler-free information and tips to help you make an exciting new 11th-level character perfect for the Curtain Call Adventure Path. Welcome to show business!

This player’s guide contains:

•  Character suggestions, including recommendations for ancestries, classes, languages, skills, and feats well suited for this Adventure Path.
•  Eight new Persona traits your PCs can take to indicate how the public regards you—do they see you as a struggling underdog, a relentless flirt, a troublemaking scoundrel, or something else? Your character’s Persona trait doesn’t have to match your character’s actual personality or role in the party, but it does give you a handy narrative hook to explore during play—and perhaps, once in a while, could even grant you unexpected opportunities as the Adventure Path unfolds!
• Eight new backgrounds tailor-made to contextualize your character’s larger-than-life theatrical role, building upon the eight Persona traits and providing advice for how (and why) your character might want to see themselves portrayed on the stage.
• A gazetteer of the city of Kintargo, including an exhaustive list of the dozens of NPCs your group might encounter during the campaign.
• A step-by-step guide for your group to develop a legacy worthy of transformation into an opera, in the event that you’re creating brand-new characters and not bringing in heroes from an already completed campaign.

Download The Curtain Call Adventure Path Player's Guide Today!

Hello everyone! Starfinder team here and ready to give you a sneak peek into Starfinder Second Edition by giving you a preview of the solarian class! We’re sure you can’t wait to playtest it yourself once the Starfinder Playtest Rulebookreleases this August, but in the meantime, read on!

Dae, the iconic solarian
Art by Kent Hamilton

Of course, we can’t talk about solarians without shining the spotlight on Dae, the new iconic solarian. In fact, Dae has already had their blog debut, and you can read all about them in our Meet the Iconics: Dae post from June. They’d appreciate it if you like, comment, and subscribe.

Solarians are solar knights who harness the powers of light and gravity to manifest powerful armaments in their quest to understand the cosmic forces of the universe.

Designing solarians for Starfinder Second Edition presented the team with an opportunity to reexamine the solarian toolset. In Starfinder First Edition, solarians had a key choice at first level when selecting whether their solar manifestation would be armor or a weapon. As the solarian leveled up, they chose stellar revelations, special powers they could use while attuned to gravitons or photons. Some powerful revelations could be used only if the solarian spent enough time building up their attunement points to become “fully attuned.” To match the mechanics to solarian beliefs about the cosmic cycle, First Edition solarians were encouraged to select an equal number of graviton and photon revelations.

With Starfinder Second Edition’s three-action economy in mind, the team took a new approach to solarians. We wanted the narrative of the Cycle to continue to match the mechanics while still offering solarians flexibility, both in their character build and in their round-by-round action economy. To that end, solarians in Second Edition don’t have to choose between armor or a weapon: from level 1, they can manifest a solar flare (ranged attack), solar nimbus(defensive reaction), and solar weapon (exactly what it sounds like—a melee attack). Each of these manifestations has a different function based on whether the solarian is graviton-attuned or photon-attuned.

So, what major choice do Second Edition solarians make at level 1? That’d be their solarian arrangement! All solarians have personal beliefs, practices, or training that cause them to gravitate (pun intended) toward a specific aspect of the Cycle, whether that’s gravitons, photons, or balance. This arrangement grants them revelations, which (like in First Edition) are special abilities that interact with the different states of attunement and, in many cases, interact with their targets’ Hit Point totals, enemy positioning, the solarian’s mobility, and so on.

Okay, so if solarians choose a solarian arrangement that focuses on gravitons, are they going to spend all their time attuned to gravitons? Doesn’t that go against the narrative of the “Cycle” and balance between stellar forces? This is where we’ve made what is possibly the biggest change to solarians: their attunement works differently now. Gone are the days of tracking attunement points: you’re either attuned to gravitons, photons, or neither. Furthermore, we’ve introduced a new type of ability: those with the cycle trait, which—you guessed it—cycle your attunement! Using a cycle ability while graviton-attuned means that you resolve that ability (applying any additional effects from being graviton-attuned), and then immediately become photon-attuned. If you want to be graviton-attuned again, you’ll need to use another cycle ability or take the Attune action, which attunes you to your favored attunement state. If you want to play a solarian who does lots of attunement swapping and has greater attunement flexibility, you’ll want the “balanced” solarian arrangement, because (among their other fun abilities) the Attune action lets you pick either graviton or photon!

This round-by-round decision-making process based on each ability’s unique attunement effects has played out quite well in both internal and public playtests, and we can’t wait for you to try it out. Players seem to enjoy the rush of cycling between graviton and photon attunement, and the “combos” they can create with a solarian’s abilities. You might not need to take the Attune action during combat at all if you’re intentional about how and when you use your cycle abilities, but if you really want to make an impact, you’ve got another exciting new type of ability: actions with the disharmony trait have a big effect, then completely end your attunement. You’ll need to spend an action to Attune again after using a disharmony ability—otherwise, you can’t manifest your solar shot, nimbus, or weapon. Then again, by that point, the battle might be over!

Okay, we’ve talked about the cool things solarians can do, but one big question we get a lot is how solarians will work as primarily melee-focused characters in an otherwise ranged-combat “meta.” We’ve mentioned their solar flare, a fun way to attack enemies at a short distance; it’s a great ability to fire off while closing the gap. Speaking of closing the gap, solarians have a plethora of options when it comes to battlefield positioning, whether that’s gaining a big speed boost or taking a more direct approach and moving enemies around with gravity powers. You might need to work a little harder than the sniper in your party when it comes to tactical positioning, but the cinematic combos you can pull off while getting into position will be a blast! If you’re worried about what might happen to your Hit Points while you’re moving in, you’ve got options there, too: Solar Shield, a level 1 feat, allows you to manifest a stellar shield that floats nearby. You’ll also likely have a decent AC and a fair number of Hit Points to rely on. Because your key attribute is Strength and the damage of your primary ranged attack (solar flare) uses Strength as well, you’ll likely be able to make room in your build for attribute boosts to Dexterity, Constitution, or both!

We’re excited to see what kinds of solarian builds you create during the playtest. In our own internal playtesting, we’ve built solarians who focus on big speed boosts to get in close and deal tons of damage, others who stay in the front lines to fight like a tank, and still others who pin enemies down as masters of battlefield control. Every solarian we’ve playtested has felt different. Most importantly, though, each of them has felt very much like a solarian.

Remember to keep an eye on the Starfinder Playtest site for more news and info about the playtest and feedback process. We’ll have lots more Starfinder Second Edition news to announce at GenCon 2024, when you’ll finally be able to purchase the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook (or download the free PDF)!

— The Starfinder Team

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

May’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Blood & Sigils

Unravel untapped powers slumbering within your blood and alter space around you by using mystical sigils with two new classes for Pathfinder 2nd Edition with Blood & Sigils! With more than150 feats and 16 new spells, be the bloody hero or the special sage you’re meant to be, and go discover even more hidden secrets all over Golarion!

Kitsune of Golarion Remastered*

Providing an in-depth expansion of Pathfinder Second Edition's vulpine ancestry, Kitsune of Golarion Remastered provides players and GMs alike with everything they need to make this vibrant ancestry of shape shifting fox folk feel at home in the Age of Lost Omens. Based on Gold Best-Selling product Kitsune of Golarion, this product aims to not only remaster, but redefine the content from this original offering into an indispensable product for the entire table, tailless or not.

The NPC Omnibus

The NPC Omnibus presents GMs with 36 new NPC's to use in their Pathfinder Second Edition Games. From chronomancers to knights to warrior poets, these stat blocks are perfect for any GM that needs a quick NPC! You can also find quick customizations for different ancestries inside!

Oceans Unleashed

From the powerful bards who harness the song of the abyss, to rangers who hunt leviathans alongside their aquatic companions, there are countless watery adventures waiting to be unleashed and brought to your table. With the recent release of the Athamaru and Merfolk ancestries from Pathfinder: Howl of the Wild, there's no better time to jump right in!

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Pathfinder Player Core doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a Cleric spy, a swaggering Rogue, or a Druid with a will of Steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core 1.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

The Adamantine Bastille: The Once Unbreakable Prison of the Starfinder Society*

The Adamantine Bastille: The Once Unbreakable Prison of the Starfinder Society offers a futuristic, science-fantasy prison setting for your next Starfinder adventure or campaign!

Whether you are looking for a supplement to use for a Starfinder Society Organized Play scenario set within the Adamantine Bastille, an evening's one-shot adventure, a side-trek for a campaign set on Absalom Station, or a detailed, dynamic, and decidedly thought-provoking setting for your next campaign, The Adamantine Bastille setting book gives you all the tools you need.

Elemental Experts

In the far future, spells and weapons tech alike put the power of the elements and other destructive energies in the palm of your hand! But some, whether they are modern-day elementalists, scientists or other experts in certain energy types, or simply enthusiasts, take this further and bring out the best in their chosen element.

Presented within are 5 archetypes dedicated to the 5 major energy types in the game, enhancing weapons and spells alike!

Enhanced Mechanic*

Experience the new Enhanced Mechanic.

A new version of the Mechanic, revised to make it more balanced and easier to play.

Several new (and revised) mechanic tricks, drone chassis, and drone mods.

Flumph Gate – or – Undulations Across the Infonet

In celebration of Paizocon 2024, here is the means to introduce the setting's original inspirational entertaining educators into the future that they never meant to happen.

This single page PDF is designed to print out and slip into any GM's binder for a dangerous rainy day and includes:

• A monster stat block representing a typical flumph that can be easily augemented with class templates into a wide variety of NPCs!
• Stats for allowing players to create a Flumph PC of their own!
• Three potential plothooks to introduce flumphs into a campaign set in space or planetside!
• VTT token artwork!

Monstercology Galacica: Autumn Aliens*

The Monstercology Galatica is an attempt to catalog and describe all of the many and varied creatures that we share the galaxy with. We understand that with millions of stars and billions of worlds – plus those that visit the galaxy from other planes – this is a nearly impossible endeavor. But if we do not try it, then we can never succeed. This is but one small excerpt of the greater Monstercology Galatica, focusing on creatures most often seen during the later parts of the year.

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Hoerm – An Odd Jobs encounter for Pathfinder Second Edition.
• Kineticist: The Element of Flesh – A new elemental gate for kineticists. (content warning for body horror)
• Abominations Under Absalom – A continuation of Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults for levels 11^th through 20^th
• Summoners+ - An expansion of the summoner class, now with Foundry and Pathbuilder support.

Thorny points menaced Jirelle from all directions. Her buckler and dagger turned them away for what felt like the hundredth time in half as many steps. Sadly, these were not enemy blades, which she would have preferred by far. Those she could beat, parry, catch, disarm, and finally answer with her own winning thrusts. Not so these hanging, coiling vines and branches. So lazy, yet so stubborn! Where was the energy, the impassioned back-and-forth between skilled players? This wasn’t daring play, but pure drudgery.

Of course, even if the trees did rise to the challenge, she was hardly prepared to meet them in a duel. Not an impressive one, at any rate. A swordless lunge lacked a certain something.

Blasted belaborin’, an old shipmate might’ve said. Damnable detour!

With those thoughts, she gave the thicket a moment of undeserved, unrequired mercy and turned on her companion instead. The rebuke she’d swallowed several times over finally made its escape. “You realize I may never forgive you for this?” she said, only half-joking.

Sajan was probably less penetrable than the jungle. The monk appeared indifferent to the grabbing flora and buzzing flies. Not even the yellow paint on his shaved head ran in the humidity. Still, Jirelle’s comment managed to hoist his brow a bit.

“Charging inland was not my idea,” he reminded her.

No, his idea had been to make peace with their losses. Adapt and carry on while the impertinent thieves carried off their shiny treasures. By the time he’d relented and joined in the pursuit, the criminals had a fair head start. The aiuvarin swashbuckler and qi-fueled monk rivaled one another in swiftness, but not even they could chase a winged quarry up waterfalls. Hence their current climb through choking roots and broadleaves.

But before all that… well, yes. Maybe if she had taken Sajan’s advice to ignore them, the creatures swarming the riverboat like seagulls might have, in fact, lost interest. Instead, she became defensive when the nosy things started hopping and flapping around the party’s gear. Sajan had retained his characteristic focus, gently accusing Jirelle of attaching too much importance to her possessions. It was possible he had a point. In trying to drive the thieves away, she had only fanned their interest. Curious picking and prodding became bold, giggling pilfery. Jirelle could appreciate a bit of provocative showmanship… when she was the one onstage. The role of an inactive audience didn’t suit her, let alone that of a helpless victim.

“Well, it’s clear I value my sword more than you value yours,” she sniffed before pressing on.

“Possibly,” he said as he padded quietly behind her. “Although you shouldn’t mistake my calm for indifference. I do feel frustration; I just deny it control. In time it diminishes, like an unfed fire.”

“Then I’m merely… feeding… my frustration?” Jirelle gasped, wrestling with the green creepers. They clung to her ankles and threaded through her slashed sleeves. Surely, she’d stumbled into an actual snakes’ nest! Thank the Lucky Drunk she’d left her cape behind.

“Which do you value greater?” the monk continued, arms relaxed behind him as if this were a beachside stroll. “Your favorite sword or the commission that awaits us?”

“Rather difficult to protect that nervous venture-captain without our weapons.” Jirelle paused before a particularly solid knot of branches blocking their way. She sighed. “Or to cut through these bloody tangles.”

“Hmm,” Sajan purred through a ghost of a grin. Clearly, he sensed another opportunity to impart some sage wisdom—or what his companions had taken to calling “Sajan advice.”

Jirelle decided to head off another lecture. “I suppose you want to move with the forest rather than against it. Glide across the top, perhaps?” That couldn’t be too terribly dissimilar to a masts-and-rigging balancing act, come to think of it. Climbing aloft might not be a bad idea.

Sajan considered this, too, then surprised her by shaking his head and stepping up to the natural barrier. She motioned for him to be her guest. He planted his feet in a wide, low stance and cupped his fingers like claws. His breath went in and out with a blur of motion too fast to follow. Sharp cracks rang in Jirelle’s ears, but only after the twisting arms of wood exploded away, splinters flying. Soon the debris settled; the path was clear. The monk turned and offered a bow, meaning both you’re welcome and after you.

Jirelle smirked at the showiness, but he couldn’t fool her. Swagger was her style, not his. His approach was direct, practical, and purposeful… not to mention effective. Clearly losing a favored weapon hadn’t hindered him to the extent it had her.

“Why don’t you go first?” she said with strained sweetness.

“Again, this particular detour was not my idea.”

“So it wasn’t. Then when we find our swords, I suppose you won’t be claiming yours?”

There was that hint of a smile. “Touché, madam.”

Jirelle laughed.

Soon they breached the worst of it and hastened their pace. A gap in the foliage and the undergrowth exposed dewy sky, and the jungle noise gave way to a low, distant rumble. They had returned to the river above the cataracts, which they’d overshot. This was only a small tributary to their vessel’s waterway.

“Must drop off ‘round the bend there,” Jirelle said, pointing left along a rocky bank. She searched right. The river wandered down from a purple fog of mountains. The landscape was peaceful, still, undisturbed. She doubted the thieves had fled any further inland, but they were nowhere to be seen. Might they have doubled back to the main river, followed it back to sea? That made sense. All while Sajan and she stumbled through the forest.

Blasted belaborin’!

A strange, spicy odor tickled her nostrils then, tempting a sneeze.

“Oh dear,” she heard her companion say, and found him staring almost sheepishly at his open hands, slick with something moist. A little apprehensively, Jirelle sniffed her own and recoiled quickly, eyes watering. Even her buckler wafted a hot stink.

“Monkey tree oil!” she gagged. “Must’ve run afoul of it back there. Better wash it off before it draws every predator in half a league.”

Sajan chuckled, apparently impressed that the forest had fought back.

The river’s current wasn’t too strong or deep and the water not at all cold, but its bed was slippery with moss and stones. They picked their way to the middle to give any oil on their feet a good rinsing. Then they scrubbed their forearms. Jirelle was just about to suggest they immerse themselves completely, for good measure, when a wet sound reached her over the rumbling downstream, a splashing that hadn’t come from them. Sajan went alert, too.

They realized they now had a better view around the bend. White spray indicated the tributary’s drop-off, but it was split by a wedge of moss-blanketed boulders. The sound had come from the tiny creatures crowding that wedge. They leaped into it from the water like flying fish bouncing off a ship’s hull, then flapped around like yellow bats, only to dive and start the process over again.

Jirelle and Sajan had found the thieves!

“Why are they acting like that?” the monk wondered softly.

These annoying, aquatic, fin-headed gremlins usually kept to the sea and the coast, but Jirelle assumed they’d been drawn in by the riverboat. Now the bright green, almost glowing boulders distracted them. Why didn’t interest her, because there were their weapons, her rapier and the monk’s temple sword, momentarily forgotten among the rocks.

Sajan must have sensed her coiling like a spring. “Remember what happened last time.”

“I know. If they think I want it…”

“Yes. And we’re too exposed here. Too slow. Better to slip around.”

He began to do just that, then looked back with an expectant stare. Are you coming?

There came a sickening metallic scratch. Downstream, Jirelle’s rapier was slipping, soon to fall into the spray and probably down the falls. Sajan’s expression was one of pity, but she felt her own resolve form into a confident smile. She decided her companion had had the right idea before when he cut through the trees.

The direct approach.

Her first few strides were indeed slow. Grounded. But soon she picked up speed and momentum, feeling lighter and lighter. Her feet touched shallower and shallower, recovering faster and faster, until they were completely free of the water, slapping the surface rapidly as she raced across it.

Sajan’s strangled grunt of surprise was extremely gratifying.

Jirelle strides across the surface of the water in this illustration from Pathfinder Player Core 2 by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Jirelle bent forward, focused only on reaching her property before it disappeared or the gremlins grabbed it again. A timely somersault carried her off the water and over her sword; her hand closed inside the guard. Landing gracefully on the wedge of boulders, she flourished the blade with an extravagant bow of her own.

Sajan nodded back, his head tilting only slightly toward her: Impressive!

Satisfied, Jirelle figured it was high time they rejoined their riverboat party. If that venture-captain’s fear of vengeful Aspis agents proved warranted, it wouldn’t do to miss out on the fun—or the commission.

There was no need to menace the gremlins, whose strange fascination with the boulders broke under Jirelle’s demonstration. They scattered and dove down the cascading steps of the falls. Jirelle wished them good riddance and stooped to recover the monk’s sickle blade from the rocks—which moved.

She froze. Looking closer, she realized the moss under her feet wasn’t just moss, but a scaly hide lit like a lantern from within. The heavy weight underneath shifted again, then began to rise. A long neck emerged, dripping from the stream. A face like a horse’s skull turned to inspect its passenger, sharp teeth flared hungrily

Jirelle’s dismount was far less graceful. She backpedaled upstream, kicking big splashes this time, until Sajan was by her side again. The river monster, even larger than it had seemed, greeted them with a crocodilian hiss. It lashed its tail and gave off a stronger greenish glow than before. Jirelle was glad they had their weapons back, though she had the horrible notion she was about to understand those gremlins’ dangerous enthrallment.

Damnable detour!

About the Author

Andrew Bud Adams learned to dungeon crawl before he learned to walk (and he has yet to learn to water sprint). When not pestering family and friends to play yet another tabletop adventure, he bides his time teaching college English, painting miniatures, and writing stories. His work has appeared in the Paizo Blog, in short story anthologies, and in the Malifaux universe by Wyrd Miniatures.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Jirelle and Sajan’s classes—the swashbuckler and monk—appear in Pathfinder Player Core 2, which remasters eight Pathfinder Second Edition classes and presents a vast array of existing and new character options for members of all classes, including the Water Sprint feat employed so deftly by Jirelle in this story. Pathfinder Player Core 2 is available for preorder now, and will release in hardcover, special edition hardcover, retailer exclusive sketch variant hardcover, and PDF on August 1, 2024, and in pocket edition softcover in October.

Chk Chk (he/him), formally named Chkoresk*, is no stranger to the galaxy’s perils. His father Keskodai was a traveling priest of Pharasma who wielded mystic powers. Keskodai carried baby Chk Chk in a fortified cradle-jar when he left his home on Verces to visit as many incredible worlds as possible—and experience even more incredible adventures. One such adventure got a little too incredible, smashing open Chk Chk’s container during an emergency landing. Fortunately, Chk Chk was safe, but Keskodai felt the existential dread of losing his child and realized it was time to return home and be with their loving throuple.

Chk Chk the Shirren Mystic. Art done by Kent Hamilton

Keskodai’s adventures and beliefs had a profound impact on the larval Chk Chk. As a child, the aesthetics and rituals of Pharasma’s faith awed him. As he grew older, he practiced his father’s faith but felt a restless yearning for something different (ironically, Chk Chk’s questioning mirrored his father’s adolescent rebellion many years ago). As Chk Chk stood on the cusp of self-discovery, the universe provided a brutal catalyst that would change his life forever.

When Aucturn exploded, every telepath under the Fullbright** sun suddenly lost control of their psychic projections. Every intrusive thought, destructive impulse, and damning secret became public as a mysterious psychic contagion spread. Chk Chk was sipping a cappuccino and shopping at the local market when he heard the screams. People all around him–some of them friends and neighbors–were screaming and venting their psychic stress or fighting each other with fists and makeshift weapons.

Panicked, Chk Chk began a prayer to the Lady of Graves but couldn’t recall the sacred words. Keskodai burst into the shop and Chk Chk felt the psychic whiplash of doubt and fear pouring from his father’s spirit. He felt Keskodai remember the pain of believing he’d lost his only child in the crash-landing long ago mixed with his current dread at seeing their neighbors wracked by fear and pain. Instead of resisting the intense feelings, Chk Chk embraced the emotional hemorrhage. As the pain washed over him, he mentally composed a poem. When someone tore the shop’s roof off, the harsh sun brought Chk Chk’s shadow into harsh relief. His shadow changed and spread, growing into tendrils that protected him and his father from the glaring sun. Chk Chk spoke another stanza, and soothing shadowy arms wrapped around his panicking neighbors. Thanks to Chk Chk’s unconventional prayer, the chaos calmed as quickly as it began.

That’s when Chk Chk realized there’s more to the soul’s journey than life and death. Destruction and creation, pain and healing, light and shadow–these dichotomies exist in every spirit. Chk Chk stayed up night after night studying philosophy, listening to music, and writing poetry in his sacred journal, driven to compose a pure expression of the beauty of contradicting unity.

Chk Chk broke his social isolation to join a group of artists he met at a nonstop café in Takoris. At first, Chk Chk got a job as a barista so he could attend the meetings without attracting attention. As he improved his skills at writing dark poetry and brewing dark roast (both topped with colorful sprinkles), Chk Chk gradually became the spiritual glue holding the group of misfit artists together. One night during a midnight jam, the group had a religious experience, feeling a surge of bliss as Zon-Shelyn Embraced them and their work. Zon-Shelyn called on Chk Chk to become their minister by nurturing creativity and creating a safe space for artists to gather. The tiny cafe was consecrated as one of Zon-Shelyn’s first temples (they still serve coffee), but Chk Chk was inspired by the idea of ministering in a new place, feeling the same wanderlust as his father before him.

With his father’s letter of recommendation in one hand and his poetry journal in the other, Chk Chk got an internship with the Starfinder Society at the busy Lorespire Complex. Being on Absalom Station expanded his social horizons, too. He found a new coffee shop to sling beans at, quickly meeting others who felt the Embrace of Zon-Shelyn. He learned how to use a painglaive from a sculptor who creates impressive wood carvings with the weapon.

Chk Chk met his best friend Dae at a pop-up dance party in the Vesk Quarter. The pair bonded the first time they met. Dae’s performance inspired Chk Chk to write a poem***. The poem didn’t do the dance justice, so Chk Chk tore the page from his notebook and threw it away, but Dae found the discarded poem, read it, and confronted its moody author. Now Chk Chk always wears the friendship bracelet Dae gave him. Since meeting Dae, Chk Chk’s opened up about sharing his art with others—you can read part of one of his poems below!

*Chk Chk only lets members of his mystic bond call him Chkoresk, and usually prefers Chk Chk. After all, Chkoresk is the full name his family used when discussing serious or unpleasant matters.

**Fullbright is the scorching, rural desert region of the tidally locked planet Verces. Chk Chk’s family lives in a shaded encampment in Fullbright.

***The following is a part of the poem Chk Chk wrote after dancing with Dae.

A prismatic kaleidoscope burns the shadow patchwork wrapped around my heart.

We are dancing lights that shine within a cold and empty void, eternal.

Will your searing brilliance chase away my shadows?

Or will your light be eclipsed by my spirit’s umbral shroud?

Your warm silhouette reaches for my neck,

Only to wipe away my bloody tears.

— The Starfinder Team
-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Happy Pride, ‘Finders!
Each year, the United States celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June in honor of the protests that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a queer club in NYC. The first Pride was a riot, and every Pride going forward is a protest. We’re here, we’re queer, we have always existed, and we will always exist.

This year’s theme for Pride Month is “Reflect. Empower. Unite.” with a focus on coming together as a community, standing up for ourselves and each other, and learning from the trials of our predecessors. Support has always been a central pillar of queer communities, and as we face new waves of bigotry and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, lifting each other up is more important than ever.

We’ve invited LGBTQIA+ Paizo employees and contributors to share their words with us for this community blog!

Also, Paizo is proud to be participating in Seattle Pride this Sunday, June 30^th! If you’re in the area, come to the parade and cheer on the Paizo kobolds in the parade!

---

Zigvigix (they/them), host shirren and faction leader of the Advocates.

Alex Speidel (he/him), Organized Play Coordinator

be gay form unions

that’s it that’s the submission. what more can I say.

Avi Kool (they/he)

Hi all, I’m lead editor at Paizo and a nonbinary trans man. Being queer has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, even if I didn’t have words for it when I was young. As time has gone on, being queer exposed me to the world of social justice and activism, and I am a firm believer that no one is free until we all are free. Queer people are actively under attack in our current political climate. This is why it’s so important to me to center queer experiences in my work. At Paizo, we have the opportunity to spread awareness of queer identities to a large number of people, as well as making queer people feel seen in our books. So Paizo will continue to be queer as heck, and I’m proud to be part of that.

Basil Wright (he/they/xe)

I know that the fight for equality, freedom, and safety by my Indigenous community in the States is being echoed elsewhere, whether it's in Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, or in the United States of America. As Juneteenth goes by, I am reminded about the power of community, of the strength of those who stand beside you and uplift you and work towards a common cause. We are all stronger together. More often than not, I have found community with Indigenous creators, with Black creators, with queer creators (and many of us holding all these identities together, such as myself). I want to continue to create games and stories that highlight the importance of community, of belonging, of togetherness. We are better, together.

If you'd like to support my work, two of my games best exemplify the theme of community: Mouseia and Well Wishers, which you can find on my Itch.io page (https://kobanya.itch.io). I also have a Ko-Fi (ko-fi.com/kobanya).

Kofusachi (he/him), the pansexual god of joy and prosperity.

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

In honor of reflecting over this past year, in 2023 I wrote that it gave me strength/I was jealous that my World of Darkness character was doing multi-gender polyamory better than me. This year I am happy to report that we are now equals! I would like to give a very special thanks to my partners for giving me their love and their time whenever able.

Looking at the year ahead, you will be able find my upcoming work as developer for the Welcome to Night Vale RPG by Renegade Game Studios. Things are about to get weird.

Caryn DiMarco (she/they)

I'm Caryn DiMarco (she/they) and you can find some of my recent work in books like Lost Omens Highhelm and Howl of the Wild. I'm proud to be a contributor to those books, and to a world like Golarion where LGBTQ+ stories, themes, and characters are the norm. TTRPGs have always been an escape for me, and seeing my identity and experiences reflected in the pages of my favorite gaming system is a comfort and a joy. 

Thank you to all my fellow authors, our wonderful devs at Paizo, and the many gamers I share tables with for coming together to show that diversity is natural and equality is attainable. Our real-life magic may be the stories we tell together, and our real-life dragons look more like bills and endless to-do lists, but the possibility of a better world is not a fantasy. Sitting down to play (or run) games with my community always reminds me of the potential within every one of us. 

Hao Jin (she/her), asexual sorceress.

Connie Chang (they/he/she)

Happy Pride, Paizo! Connie Chang here (they/he/she). I wrote Quain for the Tian Xia World Guideand a flash fiction about gay Grandmasters. Outside of Paizo, I'm the Game Master for Transplanar RPG, an all-transgender, people of color-led dark fantasy actual play channel telling stories in a noncolonial, antiorientalist multiverse. Transplanar is an ENNIE-nominated, CRIT Award-sweeping channel that has been featured in Polygon, Dicebreaker, and Gizmodo and discussed on NPR, The New York Times, and Dropout TV.

I'm thrilled to announce Transplanar's first-ever IN-STUDIO series, GODKILLER: LAST HOPE! LAST HOPE is a two-person, eight-episode show about Litany, the titular Godkiller forged for a single purpose: to slay the Immortal Emperor of Heaven—and their mother’s sister. After a monumental failure, Litany teams up with a heroic cultivator and travels across a richly layered fantasy world inspired by my diasporic Chinese heritage, learning what it means to truly become.

LAST HOPE utilizes my original holypunk duet game, GODKILLER, which is being published by Evil Hat Productions. If you're a fan of Tian Xia's Asian fantasy setting and/or queer interrogations of divinity, then tune in June 29 for the premiere of GODKILLER: LAST HOPE on Transplanar RPG's Twitch or YouTube!

Behind the scenes images from GODKILLER: LAST HOPE.

David N. Ross (he/him)

Being a gay man has always been important to my experience of RPGs. Not only has gaming been an activity I shared with my gay friends and even my now husband, but living outside gender and relationship norms has been a common experience connecting me to many fellow game designers.

My most recent Paizo work has yet to be announced, but you can get the 5e version of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path now. Outside Paizo, I have recently been bringing adventures for Tom Cartos and the DM Lair to Pathfinder rules, and collaborating with my husband on a cooperative storytelling card game under the working title Pax Ad Astra.

Honora Tren (she/her) and Zupisha Loralu (she/her), lovers and New Valor Defense Force Guardians.

Dustin Knight (he/him)

Pride is a protest. All love is valid. Nothing I expose here can come close to supplanting these powerful words, but in the past year I’ve felt such a deep connection to these two ideas as I’ve grown to learn more about what I am and what it means to be a part of both the LGBT+ and Paizo community. You must learn to love yourself before you can properly love another. And that means being proud of yourself and your accomplishments, even though it feels like you are fighting a voice deep inside you that hates you for what you are. All love is a valid form of protest. And learning to love yourself despite what the world’s hate has planted deep inside is the ultimate act of defiance, and one I have only been empowered to face thanks to the unity of this incredible community.

Proud to Love Myself.

James Beck

Hello! My name is James Beck, I am a freelancer whose work you'll primarily find over on Pathfinder Infinite, where I have several Infinite Masters titles with Eldritch Osiris Games. One thing that I absolutely love about Golarion/the Pact Worlds is how much I can see myself in it. I love seeing fellow LGBTQ+ people that populate the world! I've been out and proud about my identity since 7th grade and one of the big draws of Pathfinder/Starfinder has always been how welcoming it is to me. Not only have the universes of Paizo been welcoming but so has the Paizo community, from fellow freelancers to Paizo staff and the broader community at large. I wish everyone across the world a happy pride! Be yourself!

Link to Eldritch Osiris Games: https://www.eldritchosirisgames.com

Arshea, Spirit of Abandon. Nonbinary deity of freedom and sexuality.

James Jacobs (he/him), Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director

The previous 12 months since last year’s Pride blog have been busy as we’ve navigated the frenzied switchover of Pathfinder from OGL content to the Remastered rules. That’s mostly all behind us now from an in-house production standpoint, and it’s a relief to be back on track exploring brand new stories. One of those tales I’m really delighted to see hit the shelves, though, isn’t an adventure or even a game. I’m talking about Liane Merciel’s upcoming novel, Godsrain. It’s the first novel Paizo’s published in a long time, and it’s helping to kick off the War of Immortals plotline, but the part I’m delighted most by is that my favorite iconic Merisiel and her wife Kyra are front and center to the plot. Bisexual representation is something I’ve been passionate about since the start of Pathfinder, with Merisiel being my chosen heroine for this quest. I can’t wait for you all to see what adventures she and the others up to while they’re also saving the world!

Katina Davis (she/her)

Representation is important year-round, but during Pride month I feel especially compelled to step forth from the shadows like a bisexual vampire to celebrate queer stories. I don’t always feel qualified to speak on queer topics because I’m married to a man and could easily be mistaken for straight. Then I remember how I once felt under-represented and less sure of my identity, and how isolating that can be. It’s taken me years to understand myself enough to find peace and joy in who I am. If I can reflect that queer joy back to even one person who might feel lonely and confused, that’s worth it to me. Just imagine the power of entire communities full of that energy!

My years working and freelancing for Paizo have been instrumental to my queer identity because they’ve introduced me to a diverse and supportive group of people that I’m incredibly grateful for. It makes sense given that we’re all tied by our love of a cooperative game—this community is one big adventuring party. We roll initiative together.

You can find my freelance credits, social media, and other links here: https://katinadavis.carrd.co/

Wat Ryshel (he/him), trans ysoki butler.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello, all! I'm Kendra, frequent Paizo contributor. You might have spotted my name most recently on Howl of the Wild and Treasure Vault. I've also got two Adventure Path volumes coming up that I'm excited to see hit people's tables: Singer, Stalker, Skinsaw Man for Curtain Call and Destroyer's Doom for Triumph of the Tusk. Part of what helped encourage me to be open about being queer was seeing others in the TTRPG community do the same, especially those whose identities more easily fly under the radar. "Unite" is the last part of the blog theme for this year, and every time I see (or write!) a queer NPC in an adventure or lore book, it gives me a sense of belonging. We're here, we're not going away, and as in any good adventuring party, it's important to have each other’s backs. Happy Pride!

Kyle Raes (he/she)

My name is Kyle Raes (he/him, she/her) and I’m pansexual and bigender. I’ve been contributing on and off again to Pathfinder for years alongside maintaining my daily blog that analyzes the various options available to characters in both Pathfinder and Starfinder.

It was seeing the sort of community that Paizo has attracted through these games that actually helped afford me the self-reflection to realize my own preferences and identity.

This community, both the players and even the writers and other staff at Paizo stayed true to themselves even with pressures out there trying to deny them that, and for that I am forever grateful, rocky times and all.

Right now, I’m between major projects, but I just this past month published my first submission on Starfinder Infinite!

Elemental Experts is a book with five archetypes for Starfinder giving both casters and non-spellcasting classes a way to go all in and specialize in a particular damage type as masters of that element! The book has all commissioned art by absolutely brilliant artists!

You can find my blog at https://dailycharacteroption.tumblr.com/

My Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Kyle_Raes_Daily_Character_Option

And also check out my very first published homebrew on Starfinder Infinite! Elemental Experts - Paizo | Starfinder Infinite

Tiya/Tiyo Stories (she/he), genderfluid legendary wayang storyteller.

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

It’s impossible to talk about my queerness without talking about games, because they’ve been interwoven from the outset. I was introduced to TTRPGs by an actor friend (now spouse) who’s been playing and running games since the 1980s. Sure I’d love it, he invited me to join his upcoming campaign. I was hooked almost immediately.

I was alsostarting to come out to myself around this time.

All the characters I’ve played have explored queerness in some fashion. As I say in Thom James Carter’s book They Came to Slay: The Queer Culture of D&D, games—specifically, inclusive games with good queer rep—gave me a safe space to figure myself out and unpack years of comphet.

Icon Marsha P. Johnson said, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” This month, I’m part of Queer Games Bundle 2024—a bundle of nearly 500 games, software, and zines from 271 queer creators across itch.io. The organizers put it best: this bundle is a direct action that you can take right now to support queer people in a life-changing way, and help nurture the diverse queer games community.

Find me on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social) and Twitter (@Lynne_M_Meyer).

Ixthia the Unbreakable, the nonbinary faction leader of the Exo-Guardians.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe), Marketing & Media Specialist

It’s me, your friendly local nonbinary circus goth! Over the last fifteen years, I’ve cycled through a variety of labels—nonbinary lesbian, ace lesbian, nonbinary bisexual, trans man, nonbinary trans man, the list goes on—but through all of that change, I have had the love and support of my partners, my close friends and family, and my community. Queer community is vital—in some cases, it is literal lifeblood when bigotry causes institutions to abandon us.

Love is powerful. Love in a world that tries to shame you and hide you away is a protest. And love is a fire that cannot be snuffed out.

Last year’s Pride blog was one of the first projects I took point of here at Paizo, and I’m proud and elated to have continued the tradition through our various community and culture blogs full circle back to Pride. Even “small” acts of solidarity like this give hope and voice to people who have historically been silenced.

Keep up with me on the internet: https://twitter.com/ilananight13, https://bsky.app/profile/ilananight.bsky.social, and http://ilananight.space!

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And, for a special Pride preview, have a sneak peek at one of the items coming in Player Core 2: the Elixir of Gender Transformation! This item was written by Avi Kool, Lead Editor.

Elixir of Gender Transformation Item 1+
Alchemical, Consumable, Elixir
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] (manipulate)

This clear, bitter liquid can be ingested to change certain secondary sex characteristics. Different formulations create different changes—for example, one variety might cause the voice to deepen and promote body and facial hair growth, while another might cause fat redistribution around the hips and the growth of breasts. These changes tend to be accompanied by shifting of the fat in the face, sometimes dramatically or sometimes more subtly changing the user’s appearance. Changes from this elixir take place gradually over the course of months or years, depending on the type.

Type lesser; Level 1; Price 1 gp
The elixir must be taken every week, and changes occur over the course of a year or more.

Type moderate; Level 3; Price 8 gp
The elixir must be taken once a month, and changes occur over the course of a year.

Type greater; Level 6; Price 35 gp
The elixir must be taken once, and changes occur over the course of 6 months.

From our tables to yours, happy Pride from Paizo!

Bonjour Pathfinders and Starfinders,
It's time to officially announce PaizoCon Europe 2024 and PaizoCon Online Europe 2024! Both events will be held from August 15 to August 18, 2024. I’ll be attending the physical event in Geneva, and I hope to see some of you there!

Please read on for more information from our European volunteers about the events.

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

The European Organized Play volunteers have joined together and are pleased to invite you to four days of Pathfinder and Starfinder gaming. Games will be offered in various languages, both in person in Geneva, Switzerland, and across multiple online VTTs, hopefully with something to suit everyone.

The event will feature the current season’s specials for both Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder:

• PFS #6-00: Salt of the Ocean (levels 1-8)
• SFS1 #6-99: The End Awakens (levels 1-4)

In addition, there will be a range of games across Pathfinder Second Edition, Pathfinder First Edition, Starfinder First Edition, and the playtest adventure for Starfinder Second Edition.

We will use two parallel events with two separate Warhorn events:

For the in-person event : https://warhorn.net/events/paizocon-europe-2024

For the online event: https://warhorn.net/events/paizocon-online-europe-2024

If you want to GM or HQ:

For the physical event, please contact us directly at paizoconeurope@gmail.com

For the online event, please complete this form: https://framaforms.org/volunteering-for-paizocon-online-europe-2024-1718885600

Important Dates:

• 27 June: GM and staff signups open
• 13 July: Early GM signups open; GMs may sign up for one player seat per slot they are scheduled to run
• 15 July (1900 CEST/1300 Eastern time): Player sign-ups open
• 12 August: Warhorn will be closed to sort tables
• 15-18 August: PaizoCon Europe 2024

We look forward to sharing these four days of play with you!

From the Organizers,
Benoît Gros
RVC Francia

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is set to launch midsummer at GenCon 2024! Full details about this open playtest, which is focused on the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, will be announced in July 2024. Six Starfinder Second Edition adventures will be released to support the playtest, including two softcover adventures* and four short digital-only scenarios**.

We’ve written each playtest adventure and playtest scenario to be like the adventures you’ve come to love from Paizo. They feature narratives and encounters that showcase how we can use the new Second Edition rules to create evocative stories in the Starfinder setting. These include all-new art and major setting events, and it’s our hope that these adventures remain relevant long after our playtest is over and we’re well into the new edition.

That said, these adventures are not specifically built for Organized Play. So how does Organized Play fit into all of this?

So happy you asked!

Illustration by Sophie Medvedeva

When the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest launches, visit starfinderplaytest.com and download the Starfinder Playtest Tracking Sheet. Each time you play one of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventures or Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios listed on this sheet, check off the associated box. By checking off these boxes, you’ll unlock rewards in our Organized Play campaigns! Earn Achievement Points in Starfinder Society (first edition), gain access to exciting alien ancestries from the wider galaxy in Starfinder Society (first edition) and Pathfinder Society (second edition), and gain access to campaign-exclusive backgrounds themed to the events of these adventures in Starfinder Society (second edition). No need to select which rewards you want most—you get them all!

For the purpose of Starfinder Society (first edition), these adventures are considered repeatable, meaning players and GMs will earn Achievement Points every time they play or run them. Characters do not earn in-game rewards such as credits or XP for these adventures.

We hope this encourages players engaged in our Organized Play campaigns to enjoy these adventures and to participate in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest!

I look forward to charting our course into the future with all of you!

Jessica Catalan
Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)

* Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured.

** Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet, Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!, Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters, and Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine.

The swashbuckler is swinging into Pathfinder Player Core 2 with a fresh coat of paint to show off their style and swagger like never before!

Swashbucklers fight fast on their feet with flair. They dart between foes, gaining and expending panache to execute powerful and flamboyant finishers. When a swashbuckler hits their stride and lands their rolls, they create wonderful, memorable moments on the battlefield. However, this could be difficult to do consistently based on the encounter. In some low-threat encounters, swashbucklers easily dance around the battlefield, able to gain and use panache freely, but in severe and extreme fights, they often struggled to gain panache and use their class abilities. Additionally, many swashbucklers heavily relied on Tumble Through as their primary way to obtain panache, which led to less satisfying uses of Tumble Through instead of an exciting way to move dynamically around the battlefield.

Our primary aim with the swashbuckler’s remaster was therefore to increase the consistency of the class to allow for more stylish moments.

Jirelle, the iconic swashbuckler, fights an angry dwarf. Art by Luis Salas Lastra

One way we’ve done this is through the new bravado trait, which you’ll see in several places in the class. Bravado is not only a bit more reliable for getting into panache, but the trait also lets us give more actions the ability to grant panache, allowing for more diverse options in combat. For instance, many of your swashbuckler styles might state that certain actions gain the bravado trait.

Bravado: Actions with this trait can grant panache, depending on the result of the check involved. If you succeed at the check on a bravado action, you gain panache, and if you fail (but not critically fail) the check, you gain panache but only until the end of your next turn. These effects can be applied even if the action had no other effect due to a failure or a creature's immunity.

Not all swashbucklers fight with honor, though. We’re introducing the new rascal swashbuckler style in the remaster! Rascals aren’t afraid to use underhanded tactics on the battlefield to show off their skills and thoroughly embarrass their foes with a Dirty Trick or two. They do what they need to do to gain the advantage and are happy to let their opponents drop their guard before striking fast, leaving their foes in their dust before finishing them off, perhaps with a Twirling Throw.

Twirling Throw [one-action] — Feat 4

Finisher, Swashbuckler
Prerequisites Flying Blade
Your thrown weapons seem to defy physics as they soar through the air and spin back to you after a strike. Make a thrown weapon attack, ignoring the penalty for making ranged attacks within the second and third range increment. The weapon returns to your hand after the attack unless you critically failed on the attack roll.

Pathfinder Player Core 2 is full of exciting remastered ancestries, classes, spells, and more to allow you to truly make the most of your games. Look forward to more previews of other remastered classes in the near future!

Joshua Birdsong (he/him)
Designer

Hail and well met, ‘Finders! This month’s new releases bring remastered accessories to your table, make our monsters pocket-sized, and send Starfinders to an earthquake-wracked Aucturn!

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories.

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Pathfinder Monster Core Pawn Box

The formidable foes and colorful characters of Pathfinder Monster Core come alive on your tabletop with this collection of more than 400 creature pawns for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or any tabletop fantasy RPG! Printed on sturdy card stock, each double-sided pawn contains a beautiful full-color image of a creature from Pathfinder Monster Core. Each pawn slots into a size-appropriate plastic base, making them easy to mix with traditional metal or plastic miniatures. The Pathfinder Monster Core Pawn Box is the best way to ensure you’ve got the perfect monster on hand for every Pathfinder Roleplaying Game encounter!

Pathfinder Monster Core Pocket Edition

FIGHT FOR GLORY!

Intense battles call for intense monsters! Inside Monster Core, you’ll find over 400 creatures, including fantasy classics like elves, ogres, and all-new dragons; wild animals from giant ants to ferocious wolves; and unique monsters that threaten the world of Pathfinder, like sinspawn and noxious needlers. These creatures cover all levels of play, from the slow and mindless zombie shambler to the ultrapowerful demonic Treerazer! This collection is an ideal resource for Game Masters planning their next battles and player characters looking for monstrous allies to summon.

The pocket edition presents the same contents as the standard edition in a smaller sized softcover for a lower price and better portability.

Pathfinder Core GM Screen

ACCELERATE YOUR GAME!

Keep crucial rules on hand and protect your notes and die rolls from player eyes with the Pathfinder Core GM Screen! This beautiful four-panel, landscape-style screen features stunning artwork from Mirco Paganessi on the players’ side, and a huge number of charts and tables on the GM’s side to speed up play and reduce time spent leafing through rulebooks in search of key modifiers or results.

The Pathfinder Core GM Screen gives you the tools you need to keep the game fast and fun: conditions, death and dying rules, tables for setting DCs, creature elite and weak adjustments, summaries of actions, and more. Constructed from ultra-high-grade hardcover book stock, this durable screen is perfect for travel, convention play, and repeated regular use.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #203: Shepherd of Decay (Wardens of Wildwood 3 of 3)

STRIKING AT THE HEARTWOOD

Having neutralized the Wildwood Lodge’s new weapons, the PCs and their allies assault it directly to oust its murderous despot. Yet after recruiting local allies and besieging living fortresses, they discover their foe has fled to an unfamiliar realm: the Plane of Wood. Can the PCs stop this villain from recruiting a demigod of decay to devastate the Verduran Forest? The Wardens of Wildwood Adventure Path concludes with “Shepherd of Decay,” a complete adventure for 11th- to 13th-level characters.

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-03: Aucturn Asunder

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

Perched on the edge of the Pact Worlds, the planet Aucturn is an inhospitable place with a foul reputation, believed by many of its fanatical inhabitants to be a massive, alien womb. After receiving conflicting reports of strange psychic and cosmic phenomena occurring on the planet’s surface, the Starfinder Society dispatches a team of experienced agents to travel to Aucturn and investigate. As the Starfinders strive to unravel the source of these occurrences, persistent tectonic activity rocks the planet.

Aucturn is hatching! The end is nigh!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-18: Equal Exchanges—Tapestry of the Mind

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 9th- through 12th-level characters.

Her identity finally revealed to the Pathfinders, the Waterfall makes a final request: have a group of senior agents travel into the mindscape attached to her and extract whatever it is that ties her to entities unknown. With any hope, this will give her the privacy and security she so desires and deserves after her life. Within her mindscape, strange aberrations lurk, and even stranger are their motivations and how they plan on keeping the Pathfinders away from the center of her cerebral maze.

This adventure is the final part of the four-part Equal Exchanges metaplot arc in the Year of Unfettered Exploration. This arc began in PFS2 #5-04: Equal Exchanges—Necessary Introductions and continued in PFS2 #5-09: Equal Exchanges—Skymetal Hoard and PFS2 #5-11: Equal Exchanges—The Hidden Current.

Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #19: The Elsewhere Feast

A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters, playable in 2-3 hours.

The enigmatic being known simply as the Thane, one of the more powerful denizens of the First World, on rare occasions grows weary of solitude and holds a grand party. Invitations are scattered throughout the planes, and simply interacting with one in any manner will suddenly see a “guest” whisked away to the feast. Further, the Thane warps time in their realm, making each day last a decade. The celebration continues for a week of these decades. Mortals taken find themselves seventy years older with only a week having passed outside, if they even survive decades of partying.

Recently, the Thane has again become bored and sent out invitations. Some citizens of Jol unfortunate enough to have stumbled upon these were whisked away. It’s up to the PCs to free them—and likely the PCs themselves— before even more years pass in the twisted time of the Thane's realm.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-19: Demonic Afterparty

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

A demonic cult recently performed a ritual to great success, part of its leader's greater schemes. Her work near Nerosyan complete for now, she left a token force to guard the site, no longer needing it, and prepared to travel elsewhere for grander plans. This activity, though, has been noticed. The ritual site was supposed to be completely abandoned, but a group of traveling merchants became aware of the strange activity. This was reported to the Nerosyan leadership, who in turn have pressured Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury to get involved. Jorsal has decided to send the PCs to investigate the site itself, assuming that a place so near the city likely isn’t much of a threat.

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API. Or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer a part of PaizoConnect and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

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Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

When Quinn needed to work, he liked to get out. It was amazing what a walk, a chat with a neighbor, or a fresh environment would do to dislodge stray thoughts or connect fresh insights. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason Quinn found himself at his usual corner at Amberlight, his table covered in ledgers, timetables, and a map of the city. The Merrymead Menace had struck again. There were only a few more days until the festival, and the thief was taking it upon themself to rob a different restaurant or inn every night.

Not that they’d bother hitting here, Quinn thought. Target pattern: establishments with occupancy over one-hundred-twenty-five guests, catering primarily to out-of-town clientele. The exact opposite of this cozy cafe. The Merrymead Menace was clearly looking to separate some wealthy tourists from their valuables, then blend back into a crowd. If it weren’t for their seemingly impossible scale of activity and a certain flair for the dramatic—last night’s inn had seen every single safe box emptied, jewelry and gold and letters of banking replaced by a single dull copper coin in each—they’d would hardly stand out against the lost purses that inevitably happened around the winter holiday’s raucous pub crawls and outdoor parties.

With one last look around the room for his favorite barista—Odd... New scent in the air.—Quinn turned back to his work, tapping his pen against the alchemical flask sitting on the table in the hope the damn thing would change colors. No luck. He scratched another region off the map. Not from the Looms, either, then. While Quinn appreciated knowing he wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the day canvassing up and down the clothing district’s notorious hills, he’d have preferred to know where to look, rather than where not to. A bit of flattery and a fresh lemon cake from the local bakery had bought Quinn a favor with the local constabulary’s evidence department, but he’d been able to borrow only enough of the mud collected from a windowsill to run one more test. Quinn furrowed his brow as he shook another vial.

He always was better at this sort of thing. Quinn split his thoughts, setting the majority of his mind on the notes in front of him. But with one part, Quinn drifted to the past. He’d met Arlo right when he’d been getting his start as a freelance detective. He’d needed a consult on the case of the vanishing coins, and several recommendations had pointed him in direction of a talented forensic chemist. Frankly, Quinn had disliked the man when they first met, with his adherence to protocol, but he’d identified the solvent used in the case with nothing more than a cursory glance, so Quinn resolved to work together.

Time and shared ambitions have a way of bridging the gaps between even the most different people. Waiting for lab work or a long stakeout left plenty of time to talk. Talks of the theater turned into a date to see Echoes of Everfall; talks of the virtues of Taldan white wines compared to Chelaxian reds flowed into a weekend getaway to the vineyards of Carpenden. Talks of a longer partnership turned naturally into a marriage, and for a time, everything was perfect.

But time can separate two ambitious people when their aims begin to diverge. First it was a canceled dinner here or there, spurred on by a breakthrough in a case (both men understood that you had to strike when a breakthrough came). Then it was a few weeks’ deployment to investigate this village or that town. When they did talk, it was less and less of theater or wine, more and more of work. By the time Arlo was scouted by the Qadira division of the Society of the Scales and Quinn had received that offer in Andoran, there wasn’t any doubt that it was a parting. They were two brilliant detectives at the height of their careers—they could deduce how things were going to end.

Quinn remains focused while working on the case of the Merrymead Menace.
Art by Kiki Moch Rizky.

A footstep to Quinn’s left, intentionally loud enough to be audible but not so much to be alarming, pulled him back to the present. Without turning his eyes from his notes, Quinn smiled as he moved his hand to clear a spot on the table. “Quinn, you know the only person I let do alchemy in my establishment is the chef.” Rhys placed a cup of (unordered) coffee on the table. “I can’t be making exceptions, even for my favorite customer.”

Quinn hastily noted the color in the vial before moving it back to his bag. “They have me on the case of the Merrymead Menace,” the investigator said as he attempted to piece together some numbers in a ledger before he became too distracted. Rhys nodded. “This residue narrows the culprit down to either the riverbanks, central square, or old ironworkers’ quarters, but there’s too many establishments to cover.”

“Maybe you could investigate during the festival?”

Quinn shook his head. He tried to keep business and pleasure as separate as possible, these days—and turned to Rhys. “By that time, the culprit—"

Apron steamed two days earlier than normal. Fresh haircut. That same floral scent.

“Roses.” Quinn didn’t need to look behind the man’s back to notice the bouquet. “You’re going all out decorating this year, aren’t you?”

Rhys coughed a bit, taking the bouquet out from behind his back. “I… thought they’d look nice along the bar?”

Slight flush. Eyes turning to door. A charming vocal hitch. “Or maybe they’re for a gentleman you’re planning on asking to a Merrymead party?”

Rhys laughed, and the sound warmed the cafe. “Really, Quinn, nothing gets past you. I enjoy the big night out with the group as much as the next guy, but I was thinking a quieter festival for two might be nice this year.”

Quinn agreed—he was about the same age as Rhys, and by now a quieter Merrymead for two sounded nicer than a loud party. Two people enjoying a walk along the river, two cups of spiced wine, two… Quinn bolted to his feet. “Say that again.”

Rhys stood up, smoothing out his apron and running a hand through his hair, tightening his grip on the bouquet slightly enough that even Quinn’s finely honed senses didn’t notice. “I was saying a quiet festival for two might—"

But Quinn was already shoveling his notes into his bag. “Exactly! For two—two of them! That’s how they’re covering that much space. Identical build, height, weight as well—it’s the Extrina Twins back in town, I’m sure of it!” He dashed for the door “Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Thank you!”

It was only when the chill of winter’s air touched Quinn’s face that something clicked in his mind, something obvious that he should say. He opened the door again, locking eyes with the barista.

“Good luck on your date!”

Rhys sighed to himself as the master investigator’s coat swept out into the streets. “Really, Quinn, nothing gets past you.”

About the Author

James Case (he/him) is lead developer for the Rules and Lore team at Paizo. His recent projects include the Lost Omens Tian Xia books and Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, and he’s very proud to work with so many awesome queer creators in this hobby where we write about adventurers and archmages and monsters and lasers. Happy Pride!

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

I’ve known Gorum longer than anyone else. Although he’s changed and developed in ways I never considered, he was created for my homebrew setting back in the very early 90s, as I was rounding out my campaign setting in preparation for a big campaign I was going to run for several friends in my college dorm.

He wasn’t the first, second, or third divinity I created for my setting (those honors go, in order, to Yamasoth, Treerazer, and Desna), but he was part of the larger group of two-dozen or so gods I invented once the world-building bug bit me. I wanted a deity in my setting who was someone like Crom, someone non-clerics like Conan could pray to or curse to before, during, and after a fight. Unlike Crom and Conan, though, I wanted this god of war to be fully armored and armed in iron and steel. And so the idea of a god who presents as an animated suit of armor was born into my setting.

When it came time to build Golarion, we were very pressed for time. We had to simultaneously close out the magazines and then jump right into producing our own RPG content without skipping a month, due to the realities of the subscription-based promises and methods Paizo had been built on. It’s very difficult to build an adventure in a world without proper nouns. You can make that up as you go, but that runs the risk of rushing an important job. So as I was put in charge of the Pathfinder Adventure Path line, I made the decision to draw from my then 15-year-old setting for much of that lore. Which included the deities.

We wanted to do 20 “core deities” from the start because it was a fun number to aim at (this being a d20 game), but also because that allowed us to create two different types of deities for each of the 9 alignments, with 2 left over to pad the numbers (one of those went to Neutral to create a “best choice” deity for druids, and one of those went to Lawful Good to create a “best choice” deity for paladins).

Gorum ended up making the jump from my homebrew at that stage into the public by being one of the two chaotic neutral deities chosen, and for the next 17 years, he would serve as Golarion’s god of war.

Illustration by Maichol Quinto

Roleplaying the Grim Reaper

When we decided it was time to shake things up in the Lost Omens setting, the death of a god made the most sense. We’d done this at the dawn of the campaign with the death of Aroden—even though his death took place a century earlier, it still was a huge part of our world’s lore. But killing off someone no one knows about is very different than killing off someone who some folks have known for 17 years (or in my case, closer to 34 years). We had a lot of discussions about which of the core 20 deities we wanted the metaphorical Grim Reaper to visit. We didn’t want to kill off an evil deity, since that would have less emotional impact, but we also didn’t want to take out a deity we had strong plans for in the future, or whose role in the setting was significantly load bearing.

In my homebrew in the early 2000s, I killed off Abadar as part of a plot where the world was slipping into entropy and the PCs had to step up to help prevent more gods from being killed, and he was thus my first nomination. But he’s also someone who’s a handy non-evil villain to have around, and beyond that, he had a role in the future in Starfinder. Other folks suggested other deities, but in the end, we all settled on Gorum. Here was a god who wasn’t evil, who was part of the core 20 but didn’t have a particularly strong role in the lore, didn’t represent a specific ancestry or character class, but who was still popular enough that his death wouldn’t feel hollow. It would still sting. It would still be noticeable. And it would absolutely change the setting—especially when we decided that the death of the god of war wasn’t going to make war go away, but instead let war run rampant.

llustration by Kendal Gates

Witness Him!

Unlike Aroden’s death, which was and will remain shrouded in mystery, we aren’t being coy about Gorum’s death. The specific methods by which he dies will be spelled out in print, and your PCs will be able to take part in multiple adventures impacted by the event—an event known as Godsrain, and which begins a period historians will refer to as the War of Immortals. We’ll have information about what your clerics of Gorum can do next, particularly in adventures where the event takes place after you’ve already potentially started playing clerics of Gorum. We hope the specific details of how and why will resonate with everyone in the same way they do with me and everyone on the editorial team at Paizo!

During PaizoCon last month, we revealed more details about where and when Gorum dies, as well as how you can read those details as a GM, how your PCs can take part in those details as they play out in the course of play, or how you can experience them in the form of fiction. Those who want light spoiler information about where you can find out more, read on. Those who want to be surprised about the event when it happens in your game—I’ve already said too much!

SPOILERS

Gorum’s death is described in detail in the upcoming standalone adventure, Prey for Death. Where that event takes place during the adventure, I won’t say more now, but GMs who read the adventure will find that information front and center. How much the players learn, and when that learning happens, depends on the choices they make during play, of course!

The Curtain Call Adventure Path will be starting in a world before these events take place, but by the end of that three-part, high-level campaign, Gorum will be dead. While the direct impact of this will be less than it was in Prey for Death, other developments rising from the event will be on full display. Again, the timing of where and when Godsrain falls during Curtain Call isn’t something we’ve revealed, but it will become obvious once the first volume (and its short summary of the campaign’s three chapters) is published.

After that, War of Immortals presents additional information about the rules involved with these events, Lost Omens Divine Mysteries spends some time exploring the way the gods of the setting are changing, and the novel Godsrain chronicles some in-world fiction involving some familiar iconic heroes as they experience certain developments caused by the death of Our Lord in Iron.

Illustration by Mark Tarrisse

After these, we’re not simply going to let the topic go, of course. The Godsrain may be over, but the War of Immortals is only beginning. And while we’ll soon reveal the exact event in which Gorum dies in print for you to read, there are other new mysteries that event sets up. Mysteries we have plans for. These events—Gorum’s death and other still-unrevealed-complications that death creates—will continue affecting the Lost Omens setting from this point forward, much in the same way that the re-introduction of the runelords in the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path continues to have ripple effects, the closing of the Worldwound allows for the exploration of new stories, and the secession of Ravounel sets up brand new narratives to experience. The War of Immortals is larger in scope and scale than all of those, though, make no mistake. You’ll see the aftermath of the Godsrain play out in the Triumph of the Tusk Adventure Path later this year, and it has some ripple effects that help kick things off in next year’s just-announced Spore War Adventure Path as well. Not every adventure will be focused on these events—the one after Spore War won’t, for example—but just as we’re still telling stories about runelords or the aftermath of the Worldwound or the fate of Ravounel, what goes down during the War of Immortals is here to stay.

Unlike Gorum.

But do not weep for him! Instead, maybe the next time your PC slays a dragon, defeats an evil warlord, or simply earns a new weapon or suit of armor, raise a sword in his memory.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Creative Director of Narrative

Hello, Starfinders!
Following reports of unusual activity in the skies over Aucturn, faction leader Ixthia the Unbreakable dispatches a team of experienced Starfinders to investigate. Psychic phenomenon, powerful earthquakes, dangerous cults, quarreling gods, and an intelligent weapon? What’s the worst that could happen?

Buckle up, Starfinders! The end is nigh!

(Wait, Zon who?)

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-03: Aucturn Asunder is a world-shattering adventure for 7th- through 10th-level characters written by Christopher Wasko.

Illustration by Alexander Ngo

Best of luck, Starfinders! I hear it’s rough out there!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

---

Greetings, Pathfinders!
The Pathfinder Society has been so busy lately, including carrying out various missions for the Waterfall as they search into her past. The last time we heard from her, she revealed her original identity to a select few Pathfinders and was ready to step forward into her future. But first, a group of senior agents must travel into her mindscape to eliminate her final connection to her captors. But a strange cloth flaps in the wind of a mysterious library, sending shivers down the spines of all who look upon it.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-18 Equal Exchanges – Tapestry of the Mind is an adventure for 9th- through 12th-level characters written by Ivis K. Flanagan. This is the final part of the four-part Equal Exchanges metaplot, previously explored in Pathfinder Society Scenarios 5-04, 5-09, and 5-11.

Left to right: illustration by Bruno Mello and Rodrigo Gallo

Meanwhile, we turn to Sarkoris and Nerosyan.

A group of traveling merchants have noticed strange lights and sounds near a warehouse outside the city, one that has been completely abandoned for as long as anyone remembers. Given that demonic threats still linger, city leadership turned to Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury to investigate. He’s turned to you. It’s probably nothing, right? No need to be concerned at all. Certainly not the aftermath of a strange ritual.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-19: Demonic Afterparty is an adventure for 3rd- through 6th-level characters written by Michelle Y. Kim.

That’s all for now!

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

A cool autumn breeze blew across the woodlands, its scent carrying the promise of snow that was, for now, still trapped in distant mountains. The wind rustled leaves across the ground, shaking a few remaining bits of gold and crimson foliage from their branches. Birds sang in the background, but the clearing was otherwise silent, except for…

“Amiri, can you please lie still,” Seelah’s voice was firm, and only a touch strained, “for just a few minutes more? Once I have finished the rite of the blade, I can heal you again, and then recite the prayer of—”

“I’m fine.” Amiri’s voice was laced with frustration. “You don’t need to finish any rites, and I certainly don’t want to wait for one of your endless prayers. I don’t need any more healing than you’ve already provided, Seelah. I’m ready to take on whatever else is out here.”

Seelah shook her head and continued her rite. She had already cleaned her longsword with the eleven small cloths she carried for that purpose and now needed to put it all away mindfully, treating the cloths and her sword with the honor and respect they deserved as instruments of justice.

“We don’t know that, because we don’t know what’s out here.” Seelah kept her tone even and her eyes focused on what she was doing. “Certainly, more giant ticks like that one,” she indicated the two halves of the monstrous insect that had attached itself to Amiri before the duo had cut it apart, “could have either killed the hunting party or sickened them enough they can’t make it back to the village. But they’re locals, and the villagers called these ticks a common threat; I wouldn’t expect a well-equipped party of four men and two hunting dogs to have been overwhelmed so easily.”

Amiri shrugged but managed to lie still, screwing her eyes shut to block out distractions. “All true,” Amiri said, “but no one and nothing likes ticks—especially ticks the size of badger-hounds. So, since they thrive here, these woods are unlikely to have anything tougher than them in them, or that tougher thing would have killed off the ticks. It’s one reason I insisted on coming and checking this hunting trail while the others waste time looking through the village records.”

Seelah tried to suppress a smile.

“Yes, and since you insisted on coming out here, someone had to come with you in case you needed backup. And as your backup, I want you fully healed before we get any deeper into the woods.” Seelah carefully placed her ritual kit next to her backpack, then laid her sword on the ground within arm’s reach. “Now, are you going to allow me to ensure you are at your best?”

Amiri took a deep breath and forced herself to relax.

“Oh, go ahead. We might as well, at this point.”

Seelah knelt next to her ally and placed her left hand over where the vile tick had dug into Amiri and begun draining her blood. “Inheritor,” Seelah prayed silently, “please heal this mighty warrior whom I have seen face the greatest foes with valor, and ready her to stand against injustice in all its forms.”

A golden light formed around Seelah’s hand and silently poured into Amiri’s remaining wounds like glowing, liquid amber. The puncture mark from the tick’s attack, already half closed from Seelah’s first effort at healing it, disappeared entirely, leaving no sign the wound had ever existed. Amiri’s eyes popped open, and she grinned at Seelah.

Seelah heals Amiri with Iomedae’s holy power in this illustration by Christoph Peters, from Pathfinder Player Core 2.

“Right, now let’s get the rest of the way up the trail and—”

Seelah shook her head.

“I know I’ve already strained your patience, Amiri, but if you just wait a little longer, I can—”

“Shh!” Amiri interrupted, holding up a finger. “Listen.”

Seelah stopped talking and cocked her head to pick up whatever noise Amiri had heard. The woods were filled with susurrant shuffling, the sound of dead leaves brushing over thick grass and, farther away, bird noises that seemed more like short, concerned chirps rather than the songs they’d been singing earlier.

Seelah shook her head. “Other than some bird sounds, I don’t hear anything but the rustling of leaves.”

Amiri stood, lifting her enormous sword into a ready stance. “Yes, the leaves are rustling… but the wind has died.”

Seelah’s eyes widened in realization, and she quickly turned to strap her shield firmly to her forearm. Amiri was right, of course: the wind had stopped, but the sound of rustling leaves was growing louder and closer. Amiri leaped off the ground, already ten paces ahead by the time Seelah was standing and fully ready, but she swiftly stopped her advance, large sword held high as she peered into a dark copse of trees that seemed to be the source of the rustling. Seelah knew her eyes were not as keen as Amiri’s, and she carefully glanced around them as she closed the distance to her companion. It would not do to be caught unaware if a threat attacked from another direction.

From the dense woods to the side of the hunting trail, figures shambled toward them. Three were humanoid in shape, but moved with a slow, unsteady gait. As they stumbled into the light, their faces came into view, showing rictus grins and sagging, yellowed flesh. The arms and legs of each were twisted and curled, as if locked in awkward positions they could only barely control.

Beside the shuffling corpses, two smaller figures moved jerkily forward, crawling on all fours. Once, they had clearly been hunting dogs, but jagged wounds ran the length of one’s ribcage, and the other’s throat was missing. Both had blank, white eyes.

Amri turned to Seelah, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

“What in iron are those?!”

Seelah’s expression darkened. “Zombies. Freshly risen, from the looks of them.”

“But zombie… dogs?!” It was clear from Amiri’s tone that she felt such abominations were worse than the bipedal undead shambling along beside them.

Seelah nodded grimly. “Anything living can be perverted to undeath one way or another. This is almost certainly the missing hunting party. Whatever killed them visited this further indignity upon their corpses, an indignity I will not allow to go unche—”

Amiri bellowed a challenge, charging the nearest zombie hound. Seelah knew that cry and the expression of pure fury on Amiri’s face.

There would be no retreat in this battle.

Amiri’s charge brought her to within reach of the zombies, and a single swing of her massive sword felled one of the undead hounds. Seelah rushed to protect Amiri’s flank as the zombies clumsily surrounded her companion. Their slow movement kept the undead from overwhelming Amiri, but the remaining zombie hound bit at Amiri’s boot and tried to pull her to the ground.

Seelah hefted her shield as she reached the once-dog,. She slashed it with her own sword, watching as the blade peeled its flesh apart as easily as a canvas sail. Amiri was exchanging blows with the zombie hunters, and just as the undead hound collapsed, one of them caught her with a powerful blow to her chin. Blood flew, and Seelah whispered a hasty prayer to Iomedae to lessen the attack while ducking under Amiri’s massive sword to split the zombie’s skull with her gleaming longsword.

A fist smashed Seelah’s shield, cracking the wood and bruising her arm, but then suddenly there was only one zombie left. Seelah deflected another blow with her shield, then she and Amiri struck it as one, dropping the corpse back to the earth, skewered and sliced by the pair’s steel.

Seelah saw Amiri scanning the woods and trusted her to be alert for any danger, while the paladin ensured all the undead were truly destroyed.

“Well, ticks didn’t do that,” said Amiri.

“No,” Seelah agreed. “Whatever created these horrors is either new to the area or willing to make itself known in a way it hasn’t before. Unless it has, which is a thing that might be recorded in the village’s records.”

Amiri frowned, then nodded. “All right, so we should go back and see if the others have found anything. Right after we take whatever time you need to heal us both. But I’m going to stay standing this time.”

Seelah began unstrapping her shield, assessing the damage it had sustained during the fighting in the process. “And why is that?”

Amiri grinned grimly. “Because the villagers said four hunters went missing, and this only accounts for three.”

A cold wind blew from the woods, bringing a chill that no longer felt tied to any natural season.

About the Author

Owen K.C. Stephens is a veteran game designer and writer with more than 25 years of experience. A former Paizo developer, he worked extensively on the Pathfinder Player Companion and Starfinder lines and remains a fan of Golarion and all of Paizo’s games. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 and is delighted to be back to doing some professional writing. He regularly releases new content on his Patreon and has a GoFundMe campaignto help cover the costs of fighting cancer. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter/X, and BlueSky.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Hail and well met, Pathfinders!
Paizo’s offices are closed today in honor of Juneteenth National Independence Day (Juneteenth). This holiday celebrates the true end of chattel slavery in the United States, when the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced in Texas at the end of the Civil War.

Juneteenth celebrations date back to 1866—the first year following the freeing of slaves in Texas. Beginning with Texas in 1938, Juneteenth was eventually recognized as a state holiday by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day became a federally recognized holiday in the United States.

Black communities around the United States and Mexico celebrate Juneteenth in a variety of ways, from rodeos and picnics to poetry readings, music festivals, and more. Above all, Juneteenth is a celebration of Black art, music, culture, and freedom.

To see if a Juneteenth event is happening near you and get involved, take a look at the Worldwide Event Listings on Juneteenth.com.

If you can, donating time, money, or other resources to a Black-focused organization is a great way to celebrate Juneteenth! Here are some recommended organizations actively working to support Black communities:

• National Black Child Development Institute
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
• Color of Change
• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
• The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
• National Black Justice Coalition

Take a moment today to reflect on what freedom means—and how that freedom was granted to different groups of people over time. In the words of Black feminist and activist Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

In solidarity,

Rue Dickey
Marketing & Media Specialist

Once, very long ago, a traveler walked a lonely road, lost and afraid. Though the path seemed to stretch on forever, they could not say where it took them, nor were they entirely certain of where they hoped it might go. All they knew was that they could not stay where they had begun.

They had set out with purpose, but the hardships they faced had worn their spirit down, leaving them weary and alone. As the night grew darker still, the traveler ruminated on the trials of the world, their own and those of others, and despair settled around their shoulders like the heaviest of mantles.

As they climbed a tall and wooded hill, each strained step slower than the last, they gradually became aware of a gentle sound: shh, shh, shh. The weary traveler peered ahead, unable to make out anything in the feeble starlight, and gripped their walking staff tighter in case of trouble.

A small, white butterfly ghosted across the path before them and flitted up over a fallen menhir they hadn’t yet noticed in the dark. A delicate tune floated back in its wake. Their fear assuaged and their exhaustion temporarily muted by curiosity, the traveler clambered over the stone slab and followed the butterfly’s path to the top of the hill.

They didn’t expect the scene that awaited as they emerged from the trees. Several rough stone pillars, arrayed in what might once have been a circle, ringed the summit of the grassy hill. Nestled against the biggest stood a wide, flat stone platform covered in many colors of faded threadbare cloth that were surely vibrant long ago. Small rock cairns, candles burnt to their wicks’ ends, a bedraggled feather, and a few other small tokens littered the rock’s surface.

It might have looked forlorn and abandoned, save for the three women merrily tending to it. One, a Tian woman with pale skin and short, dark hair, was setting out fresh candles, the flame reflected in her dark eyes. The second, a Varisian woman with warm brown skin and multicolored ribbons threaded through her long, wavy hair, was the source of the tune that echoed into the trees; she continued to hum cheerfully she painted the stone pillar with delicate designs. The third figure, a Garundi woman with skin nearly as dark as the night around them, danced as she swept the ground around the shrine, the beads in her cloud of black hair like miniature sisters of the stars. Shh, shh, shh, the broom whispered to the stones.

The third woman—clearly a priestess of Desna—spotted their guest first as the ghostly butterfly alit on a nearby cairn. “Welcome, traveler,” she called with a smile, her warm voice gentle as she set the broom aside.

The first woman—surely a priestess of Sarenrae—rekindled a dwindling log with a gesture. “You look cold,” she said, her voice strong and clear. “Come, share our fire.”

The second woman—undoubtedly a priestess of Shelyn—ceased her song and beckoned the traveler closer. “You are welcome among us.”

The traveler, overwhelmed at their kind and unexpected greeting, assented with quiet thanks, sitting near the now-blazing campfire and accepting a warm mug of tea from Shelyn’s acolyte.

“You look troubled, friend,” said Sarenrae’s priestess as she sat down across from the traveler.

The traveler looked into their tea for a long moment before meeting her gaze. “The road has been long, and uncertain,” they said, and soon found themself telling the women all about their struggles, from the personal queries of identity and belonging to the endless communal work toward justice and liberation.

“I’m afraid I’m tired, and lost,” they admitted. “I see a brighter future, but I don’t know how to get there. It’s hard not to feel hopeless, and alone. Though I guess I’m less so, at the moment.”

Desna’s acolyte smiled again, looking to her companions. “We are always ready for unexpected friends,” she said, and the others nodded. “And as for being lost or unsure, the only step in any journey that matters is the next one.”

“The dawn brings new light,” Sarenrae’s acolyte added. “You may find you see more clearly after rest. There will always be good causes to fight for, but we cannot do so alone and weary. Even the boldest among us must seek rest and community to nourish our spirits.”

“I find creation helps,” offered Shelyn’s acolyte, gesturing to the paintbrush now tucked behind her ear. “Love and beauty belong to all, and help to keep hope alive in each other when we might otherwise falter.”

“But everything has changed!” cried the traveler. “So many are suffering, and nothing is as I expected it to be. How are we supposed to cope with the uncertainty?”

“Change is unavoidable,” said the priestess of Sarenrae. “But it brings new opportunities to right old wrongs. We must face change head-on. Together, we can find courage.”

“Change is beautiful,” said the priestess of Shelyn. “Instead of fearing it, we can learn to dance with it.”

“Change is the only way we see new horizons,” agreed the priestess of Desna, smiling at her companions and taking their hands in hers. “But as the union of the Radiant Prism has shown us, even in the face of change, some things endure.”

As the women joined hands, the traveler saw a new scene before them. Instead of a dark hilltop, there was a peaceful woodland glade with a small creek warmed by afternoon sunlight. Three women rested together in the soft grass, but they were not the acolytes—or had they been the acolytes all along? Two of the women now had wings, one the thin veined membranes of a butterfly, the other the powerful feathers of an angelic raptor, her hair now shining gold as if it contained the sun’s own light. The third woman was crowned in flowers. She sang softly, a comforting ballad of loves’ triumphs, her long hair now threaded with all the colors of the rainbow.

Desna, Sarenrae, and Shelyn together are worshiped as the Radiant Prism. Illustration by Klaher Baklaher

The traveler slept then, the cares of the road eased, for a while. When they awoke on the hilltop, the women were gone, but they no longer felt quite so alone. The embers still glowed in the fire, and a wren’s morning song filled the air. Above them, starlight twinkled in the friendly dawn sky.

About the Author

Simone D. Sallé (she/they) is a senior editor at Paizo. Her writing credits include the Paizo blog’s Zoetrope Logs, Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, Starfinder Bounty #12: Under Pressure, and more. She can often be found exploring divine woodland glades in the Pacific Northwest with her spouse and dog.

About the Windsong Testaments

On the northern reaches of Varisia’s Lost Coast stands Windsong Abbey, a forum for interfaith discussion tended by priests of nearly twenty faiths and led by a legacy of Masked Abbesses. At the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, Windsong Abbey suffered as its faithful fought and fled, but today it has begun to recover. A new Masked Abbess guides a new flock within, and the Windsong Testaments—parables about the gods themselves—are once again being recorded within the abbey’s walls. Some of these Testaments are presented here as Golarion’s myths and fables. Some parts may be true. Other parts are certainly false. Which ones are which is left to the faithful to decide.

Hail and well met, ’Finders! It’s that time of year again—Free RPG Day is just around the corner! Paizo is excited to once again be participating in Free RPG Day and supporting FLGS around the world!

This year, Paizo is offering a Pathfinder one-shot adventure and a collection of preview creatures for the Starfinder Playtest!

Pathfinder Adventure: The Great Toy Heist

DON’T TOY WITH US!

There’s always someone up to no good in the Chelaxian capital of Egorian, and this time it hits a little too close to home! A corrupt banker discovered there was something magical about The Terrific Toyshop beyond just the magnificent creations within. Greedy and unprincipled, this wealthy noble found a loophole in the diabolically complicated laws of the city and exploited it to seize the deed to the toyshop and threaten to boot the toy maker and his lovely creations out on the streets. What are sentient toys to do in the face of such reprehensible actions? Break in and steal the deed back, of course!

In The Great Toy Heist, you take on the role of one of four unique poppets—living toys with strong wills of their own. While your gentle creator is beside himself with worry, you and your friends enact a risky plan to save your home and livelihoods with stealth, subterfuge, and no shortage of luck!

Starfinder Second Contact

THE EVOLUTION STARTS HERE

Experience the evolution of the Starfinder roleplaying game with over a dozen iconic creatures fully compatible with the upcoming playtest and your existing Pathfinder roleplaying game campaigns! Inside you’ll find friends and foes, ranging from the whimsical asteray to the classic cybernetic zombie. This dossier also includes previews of spells, weapons, and even a squox companion to help you face extraterrestrial threats. Get started today and prepare your players for out-of-this-world adventure in the second edition of the Starfinder roleplaying game!

Free RPG Day takes place on Saturday, June 22^nd, 2024.
Find a participating retailer near you: https://freerpgday.com/gamers

Greetings, players! In today’s blog we’d like to recognize the talented freelance authors who contributed to our most recent slate of Starfinder Society adventures. Some of these authors have been writing for us for years, while others saw their names in print for the very first time!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Joseph Blomquist (he/him)

SFS1 #6-03: Project Dawn and SFS1 Special #6-99: The End Awakens

This season, I had the opportunity to put my stamp on two adventures that couldn’t be more different.

For the first one, Starfinder Society Scenario #6-03: Project Dawn, I was given the chance to dive back into the nostalgia of my gaming youth when Shadowrun was my game of choice. Project Dawn is truly intended to be a standard espionage run against an evil corporate entity and was a ton of fun to write. Jess even let me bring back an NPC from my first ever SFS adventure! In all honesty, using a simple subsystem to create tension while sneaking around the Dayside Inc. head office was a treat unto itself.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-99: The End Awakens brought entirely different obstacles and opportunities. As a special, its needs were far different than a standard SFS adventure. Fortunately, I was working alongside the dev of some of my favorite PFS adventures, Mike Kimmel. While our styles are very different, they complement each other well, which just shows Jess’s high Wisdom score in pairing us together. One of my goals was to bring a lot of the big moments and decisions back to the table instead of solely allowing the house to have all the fun. And we got away with it! We had forking paths, aid tokens based on table decisions, and even a big moment to understand Krethiskar that occurred at a table level! But more importantly, I got to return to terrorizing Starfinders with bugs, as happened in my somewhat infamous adventure Illegal Shipment from four seasons ago. Starfinder tears really do taste so sweet…

Anyway, for more about me, check out the blog I never update at www.UnderwearOnTheOutside.com or on social media under the name DoctorMono. Or better yet, pick up Mechageddon! and get to know what makes me tick (spoilers: Mechs vs. kaiju).

See you in Second Edition!

Charlie Brooks (he/him)

SFS1 #6-09: Ridgerock Rescue

Hi everyone! My name is Charlie Brooks, and my pronouns are he/him. I had the privilege of writing Starfinder Society Scenario #6-09: Ridgerock Rescue, which was my first Starfinder publication and an opportunity to engage with this season’s metaplot by revealing the truth behind the Organization.

My gaming group loves “adopting” cute and unusual creatures. Since I was going to involve them in the playtest for this scenario, I made sure to add some elements that would make them smile. A big piece of that picture was the skittermander Baazo and his “burnydooms.” Jessica Catalan provided sage advice in crafting this encounter, leading to a sidebar with sample “chitter-chatter” and placing Baazo in a control center so particularly quick groups wouldn’t wipe him out in a single round. In playtesting, the encounter went exactly as I hoped, which is a rare thing in any game for me.

Writing a revelation scene in an RPG adventure is different from doing it in a novel, since you don’t have control over the characters and their reactions. The end of Ridgerock Rescue features a lot of exposition about the Organization. I tried to use Ongie’s voice in a compelling way so players felt like they were unraveling a mystery.

Outside of the RPG sphere, my recently-released novel Meddling Heroes mashes up a hard-boiled detective story with Silver Age super-heroics. You can find more about that and my other projects at www.ChBrooks.com.

Alison Cybe (they/them)

SFS1 #6-10: The Death of Kortus IV

In The Death of Kortus IV, your characters enter a region to evacuate citizens facing the threat of genocide, proactively interceding against the forces trying to destroy them. Starfinders are not a military faction, but they possess enough strength, expertise, and allies to be a positive force for change in the galaxy.

The Starfinder Society has been shown to possess corruption, and no small number of agents have gone rogue; this isn’t a utopian setting. But at the same time, they’re the protagonists and can act heroically.

And I don’t believe that any true hero, any group on the side of good, would stand by idly while an entire country or planet is subject to genocide. At the time I wrote this adventure, that wasn’t a heavily political statement to make. Things have changed. My position has not. All genocides are an act of raw, unfiltered evil and must be acted against unilaterally.

I’m aware that the adventures I’ve written are highly political; I include transgender characters where I don’t have to and make political stances very clear. I strongly believe gaming can be used as a means to discuss, explore, and unify ourselves. I’m also well and able to make a load more of these; ask the devs, loudly and repeatedly, to give me more. You do that, you’ll get more queer and political adventures like this.

https://www.facebook.com/alisoncybe

https://x.com/A1IS0NCYI3E

https://bsky.app/profile/alisoncybe.bsky.social

https://cybeswebsite.com

Jeremy Corff (he/him)

SFS1 #6-11: Gifts Ungiven

Hello! I’m Jeremy Corff (he/him) and I wrote Starfinder Society Scenario #6-11: Gifts Ungiven. Inspired by a few antics from my own childhood, as well as classics like Home Alone, I tried to set a light tone while still keeping to the “well-meaning disaster” theme. Without giving away spoilers, I think my favorite part of the adventure is the running gag of Big Cherry Goo-gurt (tm). No doubt available at all respectable space ports in the Pact Worlds and beyond! I just hope folks have enjoyed the scenario half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

If you’d like to find out more about other projects I’ve worked on, you can find me on Blue Sky at @solorunstudio.bsky.social or at my Starfinder blog https://solorunstudio.com/ where I post weekly homebrew Starfinder content.

Hilary Moon Murphy

SFS1 #6-12: Yesteryear’s Hope

Hello, I’m Hilary Moon Murphy, also known as Hmm. I wrote Starfinder Scenario #6-12: Yesteryear’s Hope, a whimsical and hope-filled repeatable adventure that can be summed up as a party on a bug planet. It takes the Starfinders back to Elytrio, home of two very thought-provoking early scenarios by Jason Keeley (#1-03 Yesteryear’s Truth and #1-21 Yesteryear’s Sorrow).

There are so many things to mention about this scenario. I had a chance to return to the delightful ghibrani and give them a brighter future, while showing Elytrio in all its radiation-blasted glory. Fans of the earlier scenarios will find many callbacks to the earlier storyline.

Shortly after getting the scenario assignment, my dear friend, Jack Brown, died. I made a request to my developer, Jessica Catalan. Could I write Jack’s favorite PC, Lucius, into Yesteryear’s Hope as a special tribute? She said yes (with the approval of Jack’s family). The scenario is dedicated to his memory. In writing this story, I felt that I had come full circle. Yesteryear’s Truth was the first Starfinder Scenario that I GMed, and Jack and I had prepped it together for GenCon, learning the starship combat system as we did. I think Jack would be very happy to see Lucius returning to the planet where his career had gotten its start.

Linda Zayas Palmer (she/her)

SFS1 #6-16: Dawning Fate

Hi folks! I’m Linda Zayas-Palmer (she/her), former development manager for the Organized Play team and current full-time freelancer. I was delighted to have the opportunity to write Starfinder Society Scenario #6-16: Dawning Fate, the epic finale to the machinations of the villainous Order of Dawning Fate. Jessica Catalan and the authors of previous scenarios stretching all the way back to the Order’s first appearance in Starfinder Society Special #3-00: The Last Bite gave me plenty to work with. Storming the stronghold of an organization that has been reading and twisting fate for over a century is no easy task, but the Starfinder Society isn’t going to back down. To avoid spoilers, my favorite parts of the adventure are the lasers and the timey-wimey stuff. I’m excited to see what people think!

You can find me on my twitch stream Arcane Mark [link] twitch.tv/arcanemark [/link] on Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern and Saturdays at 1pm eastern, and on the Arcane Mark Discord [link] tiny.cc/arcanemark [/link]. My next project is a Pathfinder Second Edition conversion of Dr Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs, which will launch soon on Kickstarter [link] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/palaeogames/pathfinder-second-ed-dr-dhrolins-dictionary-of-dinosaurs [/link]. Produced by paleontologists, it features detailed and scientifically accurate information alongside dozens of new stat blocks for Mesozoic dinosaurs and reptiles, plus plenty of new player content.

Sara Jeffers (she/they)

Starfinder Bounty #10: Those Who Were Taken

‘Way! Hello! I’m Sara Jeffers (she/they), and I’m the author of Starfinder Bounty #10: Those Who Were Taken. I really enjoyed pulling inspiration from personal experiences and cultural influences to create a banal evil, a thoroughly unremarkable force that can permeate quietly—something that has directly impacted my lives and the lives of my family. It was freeing to channel that, and now I can repeatably defeat it in a variety of exciting ways! The anacites are one of my favorites in the whole game because the idea of self-modification to become who you truly are and need to be is something I feel to my core. The idea that each individual is not only allowed to but is celebrated for their uniqueness is something I staunchly and stubbornly support. You can catch me on Twitter @BabaYagaQuest, Discord @babayagacreative, and on Twitch with Enchanted Sorcery Productions in a Murder Mystery Monster of the Week game set in Thedas. End of Love airs all summer on Thursday at 7:30 PM Pacific!

Basil Wright (he/they/xe)

Starfinder Bounty #11: The Aucturn Dilemma

Inspiration:The Aucturn Dilemma was somewhat inspired by Henrietta Lacks and the unethical usage of her cells.

Favorite Part: The orocoran encounter when the players enter the laboratory for the first time. I also really enjoyed getting the chance to employ the sci-fi trope of broken screens displaying a spooky message.

Social Media: https://twitter.com/Kobanya_kana & https://bsky.app/profile/kobanya.bsky.social

With Pathfinder Player Core 2 releasing at the start of August, we know players are anticipating the remastered versions of some of their favorite classes! In a series of blogs starting right here, we’ll be alternating between talking about the changes to four of the classes and showing off some fun fiction and art starring the iconic characters of Player Core 2.

The champion is the premier divine warrior, with some of the best armor and defenses in the game. They’re devoted to their deity and their tenets. One of the major changes to the remaster was dropping alignment, which the champion has always featured heavily, so we know everyone expects big changes to the class!

We’ve already put basic compatibility rules for the champion in the Pathfinder FAQ—see Pathfinder Core Rulebook Errata (Remaster Compatibility)—but the Player Core 2 version will present a much more thorough overhaul. So what do fans of this class have to look forward to?

Seelah, the iconic champion, battles a tyrant devil. Art by William Liu.

Before the remaster, a champion’s alignment and their choice of champion cause established a strict set of hierarchical rules to be followed. Each good and evil alignment had a cause tied to it, like the lawful good paladin, chaotic good liberator, and neutral evil desecrator. The remastered version still has a cause, but the focus has shifted away from being so strict and static. Now we use edicts and anathema tied to different character choices to guide your roleplaying.

Let’s take the paladin as an example. They used to follow the two tenets of good, two tenets of the lawful good paladin cause, and any edicts and anathema for their deity. A champion under the remastered rules would choose the justice cause. They would follow the edicts and anathema of their deity, plus the following from the cause of justice.

Edicts follow the law, respect legitimate authorities or leadership

Anathema take advantage of another, cheat

More emphasis on edicts rather than an unbendable code loosens some of the restrictions on their roleplaying to allow more well-rounded, nuanced characters. There’s a better balance over “should nots” instead of all “must nots.”

A champion can optionally choose a sanctification. If you’ve read Pathfinder Player Core, you’re familiar with holy and unholy sanctification—a choice based on your deity that lets you commit yourself to the battle for souls between the holy planes and unholy planes. Champions can choose sanctification based on their deity, though unholy sanctification is an uncommon option. Each sanctification gives you another edict and anathema, and adds the holy or unholy trait to all your Strikes.

Some, but not all, champion causes require a certain sanctification. Justice, mentioned above, does not. The Player Core 2 causes are justice, liberation, and obedience (open to all); desecration and iniquity (open only to unholy champions); and redemption and grandeur (open only to holy champions). If you are already playing a champion and want to update them to the new options, you’ll probably be able to keep the core of that character. Though you can always shake things up with the new grandeur cause, which is based on the brilliant splendor of celestials.

Other Changes

This class has seen a huge number of other changes we think will make it more satisfying to play, but we don’t want to keep you here all day with one blog post. So here’s the short version!

• You now have a defined champion’s aura for your reactions, aura feats, and other abilities, which lets other rules alter and refer to the range of your divine abilities more easily.
• The divine ally ability has been changed to blessing of the devoted, and the mount has moved to a 1st-level feat. You can instead choose the blessed swiftness option to move faster—whether you’re mounted or not.
• Feats saw a ton of change, like the new Defensive Advance feat and updated structure for Mercy. We focused on broadly useful feats plus maintaining some backward compatibility, but we did run out of room. You’ll see oath feats moved to Lost Omens Divine Mysteries. We’re hoping to find a book in which it would make sense to remaster litanies at some point, but we don’t have one that can hold them yet.
• You choose a focus spell based on your deity’s divine font options. As before the remaster, you can choose lay on hands if your deity allows the heal divine font or touch of the void (formerly touch of corruption) if they allow the harm divine font. However, there’s also a new option for a deity with any font, specially made for defense-minded characters. Introducing shields of the spirit!

Shields of the Spirit [one-action] Focus 1

Uncommon, Champion, Concentrate, Focus, Sanctified, Spirit
Requirements You are wielding a shield.

You Raise your Shield, causing ephemeral spirit shields to float within your champion’s aura. The shields last until the start of your next turn or until you’re no longer raising your shield, whichever comes first. While one of your allies is in your champion’s aura, the shields grant them a +1 status bonus to AC, and each time an enemy makes an attack against the ally, the enemy takes 1d4 spirit damage (even if it misses).

The benefit applies only while an ally is in your aura, ending for any ally that leaves and applying to any that enters later. As normal, you don’t count as your own ally and therefore don’t get the benefits of the spirit shields yourself.
Heightened (+2) The damage increases by 1d4.

Logan Bonner (he/him)
Pathfinder Lead Designer

Ten hut! Fall in! There’s less than two weeks remaining in the Battlecry! playtest for the new commander and guardian classes, so if you haven’t had a chance to register your feedback, report to https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest to download the PDF and find the links to the surveys. There’s been a lot of interest in the playtest so far—it was downloaded more times than the original Pathfinder playtest in the first few days!—but we can use every last one of your forward reports. Of course, the boffins back at home base have been paying attention to what you’ve had to say so far in the surveys and on the forums and are starting to formulate ways to make these classes even better.

We’ll have a lot more intel from the feedback front once the playtest closes. It’s too early to note what exactly we’ll be tweaking and how we’ll be changing it, but here are a couple little tidbits of information.

• The commander will receive more tactics for a diverse set of playstyles, especially master and legendary tactics!
• We saw that there was some confusion about the Hardness and statistics for the commander’s banner, so we’re already looking to make sure that will be clarified.
• Similarly, we have noticed a few wording issues with the guardian’s threat technique and have flagged that class feature for future work.
• We’re also closely examining the numbers of the guardian’s Taunt ability, with the hopes of creating something that will really sing.

Two armies clash in the forests of the River Kingdoms. Art by Rogier van de Beek.

I’d also like to share a couple of anecdotes from my own playtests of the guardian! The first, which occurred over PaizoCon weekend, saw a 4th-level party dealing with a “swamp witch,” who was just an ogre glutton and a boggard swampseer working together. The guardian of that party used Area Cover to turn a successful basic Reflex save into a critical success, preventing the group’s fighter from taking any damage! For the second playtest, we put together some 16th-level characters to face an ancient adamantine dragon! The guardian’s ability to withstand damage was put to the test, but he stood firm against the threat and even managed to grapple the fearsome opponent for a round. Overall, these playtests have allowed me to see the classes in action and better understand how people might play them, which will help the team better refine their mechanics.

We don’t yet have sketches for our new iconics but rest assured that Wayne Reynolds is in the trenches producing his usual stellar art. Personally, I’m so excited about what we’ve got in store for these two characters. Now, you might be able to guess some facts about one of the iconics, but I’m certain you’re going to be surprised by the other one! If you’ve got some theories, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Jason Keeley (he/him)
Senior Designer

Happy Pride! The Starfinder team would like to introduce you to our newest iconic character, Dae!

Dae (they/them)* is a sparkly celebrity from a free planet in the Veskarium, a nearby star system ruled by a warlike empire. Dae was born on Pulonis, the pahtra** homeworld—a magical jungle world wracked by intense magnetic storms that degrade technology and bless the planet with spectacular aurora displays. Born last in a large litter from a remote agrarian village, Dae has always loved to make a dramatic entrance, and their birth was no exception.

A magnetic storm raged over Pulonis during Dae’s birth, and coils of lavender, rose, and golden light fractured the sky over their village in slow, chaotic waves, shutting down power in every household and scrambling comms as tech infrastructure suddenly failed—a disaster for a pahtra ending a long labor by delivering a runt the midwife thought might be stillborn.

Dae asked the old folks about it later, and they said the storm was Meyel tearing the sky apart as she danced for joy.Dae fought through the storm of the century alive, dragging a souvenir of the event with them: a tiny orb of starfire that blazed like a miniature sun.

Dae is a solarian. At the time of their birth, they miraculously manifested a stellar mote. At first, Dae’s family believed they’d imagined seeing it, as the mote was a speck and appeared for only a second; it was surely a trick of the light. Then the spark emerged when Dae cried out in hunger, or flared into being when the baby woke up alone in their cradle. Somehow, it could never be captured on video, even when everybody thought they had seen it.

Dae’s mote became more stable as they grew. Soon they learned how to command it, shaping it into armaments: a dazzling sword of starlight, a flaming ribbon, a shield made from the aurora they were born under. As Dae practiced forging their mote into new shapes, they discovered its attunement with gravitic energies. Cycling between these extremes helped them keep control of the reckless stunts they performed, using their mote as an anchor to keep balance or as a flashlight to see down dark tunnels.

Dae is a famous performer, and they have wanted to be seen from the moment they scrambled out into the world. From dancing to executing dangerous stunts and elaborate dramatic scenes, Dae has always been down for whatever it takes to draw a crowd. Showing off was always the norm for them (their aunties and littermates could tell you some wild stories), and they grew up performing at local cultural festivals and winning awards at regional talent shows.

For a long time, Dae uploaded their vids for a small but loyal following on local infospheres. Then serendipity—or Meyel herself—struck again: they met Miiyu, a pahtra celebrity pop star. Scrambling to dodge the paparazzi, Miiyu ducked into a local café, ran for the back door, and nearly smacked right into Dae, who was performing a stunt in the café’s back alley in view of their live-recording camera drone. After recovering, clocking the live feed, and seeing Dae’s dance moves, Miiyu invited them to costar in a music video. The video was a hit, and Dae later joined Miiyu as a backup dancer for her sold-out world tour.

Miiyu’s no-strings-attached endorsement boosted Dae’s career. But that was months ago, and Dae’s only just begun to shine. Next up, they want to see the galaxy outside the Veskarium. They’ve used their pay from Miiyu’s tour to book their own personal “tour” to the Pact Worlds system, starting with the space station at the center of the galaxy.

Now, Dae’s a rising star hoping to do fame their way. They’re not looking to line the pockets of some greedy exec or get tied down with fine print; they care about putting on a show and exploring the galaxy, which is why they vibe so well with Chk Chk. After meeting as interns working for the Starfinder Society, the pair became the best of friends. They’ve even traded friendship bracelets (Dae wears theirs every day) and have shared a mystical bond that lets them speak straight into each other’s minds (with permission).

Where will Dae go next? That’s up to you! Stay proud and playtest. <3

*Dae, like many pahtras*, is agender, a nonbinary gender identity that isn’t male or female. Dae uses they/them pronouns. So, when you see “they” and “them” used in place of gendered pronouns like “she” or “him” referring to Dae, that’s why.

Dae is an alien stellar knight and space pop star who doesn’t care what you think of their gender, but real people with agender and/or nonbinary identities do care if you maliciously misuse their pronouns or make fun of their gender expression, so please act in the spirit of fun and kindness when gaming with people in your community.

**Pahtras are bipedal felinoid aliens (they’re alien cat-people who walk on two legs) from Pulonis, a planet in the Veskarium whose people have been fighting a brutal war for independence from the vesk-run empire. Pulonis recently achieved freedom and joined the Pact Worlds, a federation of independent planets dedicated to maintaining peace and prosperity in the galaxy. The Veskarium is currently at war with the Azlanti Star Empire and has yet to retaliate against the former colony.

— The Starfinder Team
-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! With Father’s Day coming up, we wanted to give you a guide for the best Father’s Day gifts for the Paizo gamer in your life—and showcase some Dad Creators!

Starfinder Beginner Box

Learn the rules of Starfinder while you play through the Starfinder Beginner Box! Dungeons With Dadrecommends this as a great starting point for playing Starfinder with the kids! The pre-generated characters and a dungeon that teaches you skills as you progress make for a great game night.

Pathfinder Beginner Box

Newly remastered, the Pathfinder Beginner Box teaches you the ropes of Pathfinder Second Edition as you solve the mysteries of the Menace Under Otari! Paul Benson from GeekDad reviewed the original Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner Box back in 2020—calling it a great resource for players, veteran and new alike!

Pathfinder Elemental Stones

Harness the power of the elements with this Pathfinder board game! Designed in-house by Paizo Games Lead Designer and proud board gaming Dad, Joe Pasini! Elemental Stones is a pattern-building game with a secret role element to keep you on your toes. Great for family game nights!

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults

Give Dad a chance to continue the adventure of the Pathfinder Beginner Box with Abomination Vaults! This best-selling megadungeon adventure path is a great follow-up to Menace Under Otari, taking adventurers deep into the dungeons of Belcorra Haruvex! Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults is available in hardcover for Pathfinder Second Edition and Fifth Edition.

It wouldn’t be a Father’s Day blog without tipping our helmets to Keskodai, the Iconic Mystic from Starfinder First Edition! Keskodai is such a dedicated father; he keeps his child with him in a protective cylinder.

Follow Keskodai’s child, Chk Chk, into Starfinder Second Edition, where he will be stepping up as the new Iconic Mystic! Keep up with the Starfinder Playtest at starfinderplaytest.com!

OPC Musings

Happy June, everybody! Convention season is in full swing. I’m writing this update on the last day of PaizoCon Online, where we’re going to clock in at nearly 400 tables run online. We’ve also had nine successful PaizoCon@ events running dozens of tables, and ran two interactive specials totaling over 100 tables! A successful event, if I do say so myself.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be headed out to Origins in Columbus, with a quick turnaround afterwards to attend the American Library Association Expo in San Diego. Once I get home from those two trips, it’ll be time to pack the pallets for Gen Con in Indianapolis! And then I’m off to PaizoCon Europe! What a whirlwind. I hope the cats remember who I am in September!

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on June 26, 2024.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-18: Equal Exchanges – Tapestry of the Mind*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-19: Demonic Afterparty*
Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #19: The Elsewhere Feast

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-03: Aucturn Asunder*

*part of a subscription

Sanctioning & New Options

We’ve got a whole mess of new player options for both campaigns this month, let’s take a look!

Sanctioned Content

Howl of the Wild and Mechageddon! were both released last month, and both are now sanctioned for use in their respective campaigns! Boons are available for Howl of the Wild ancestries and other uncommon content, and sanctioning for Mechageddon! is posted on its product page. This marks the last content release for Starfinder first edition, but the playtest is just around the corner!

New Boons

Both campaigns also have new boons available! In Pathfinder Society, we’ve created an Avid Collector boon for uncommon items from the GM Core. We’ve also created a new Special Materials Access boon, which will allow your characters to purchase or craft items, armor and weapons of a special material. Full text of both of these boons is available on the Pathfinder Society FAQ.

Starfinder Society also has two new boons to celebrate the launch of Year 7! Starfinders can now have finitrium augmentations installed, unlocking new abilities, and can become First Ones Scholars which should be useful in our upcoming Year of Era’s End. Check them both out on the Starfinder Society FAQ and in the boon store.

Release the Poppets!

Finally, as announced in our Organized Play Updates panel at PaizoCon, all Pathfinder Society players now have access to the poppet ancestry! This comes just in time for our upcoming poppet-themed Free RPG Day adventure, releasing later this month. Previously-purchased poppet boons also have gained the traditional free resurrection ritual.

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

This month, a new Campaign Service Coin was awarded! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:
Kate Baker, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #904

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had three GMs earn their 5th rank!

5th Glyph (PFS2): Philip Newton, Travis St. Ames, Travis Zimmerman

Until next time - Explore! Report! Cooperate! And I’ll see you on the road!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Check out this guest blog submitted from our friends at the Order of the Amber Die! This is part 6 in their adventures in the Abomination Vaults. Find previous entries in the links below.

The Black Powder Cadre met its match!

It took eight levels of the Abomination Vaults to finally run into something that not only exposed a severe weakness in our party, but also exploited it. Again, and again. Let’s see, what could possibly shut down a party of mostly human gunslingers? Magical darkness should be near the top of the list. Make it heightened darkness, just to mess with those darkvision elixirs. How about a community of creatures that can throw darkness back at our desperados like a box of bang snaps? Well, the caligni we encountered on level eight did exactly that, and hit us from so many directions in the dark that we had to snag a high Perception DC just to find our own wounds. Then we learned there was another community of caligni below us on level nine. Yeah, this was a rough marathon.

To get to level nine we had to get past level eight, and we were in new territory here. We had switched authors from Vanessa Hoskins to Stephen Radney-MacFarland—a grizzled veteran whose plethora of work in this industry takes us back to when our own veterans had a lot more hair. In fact, level eight of the Abomination Vaults paid homage to an adventure module that carries plenty of nostalgia around our table: Against the Cult of the Reptile God. We first played it in ‘96, and our GM liked it so much that he ran it again for us in 2005 and 2009. Level eight of the Vaults even hinted at some of our favorite scenes from the soggy, humid dungeon we remember: the infamous “mud room,” the off-limits door with a very clear warning on it, boats to traverse the level, and even the naga boss you can only reach by water.

If you need to catch up on this project:

• Introduction
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

For this marathon we were joined again by Joe O’Brien from the Glass Cannon Network, rocking the same Beast Gunner archetype as before. Joe wanted more of our typical marathon experience this time, which means playing fourteen or more hours in a day, crashing on an air mattress near the table, then doing it all over again at 6:00 a.m. when Adam blasts our soundtrack to wake the team. You’ll eat well though, and there’s always a bonfire at the end of the weekend. To Glass Cannon fans, we’ll say that Joe handled the extreme playtime pretty well, and is starting to stack up some session hours for that Order of the Amber Die membership!

• Adventure: Eyes of Empty Death
• Marathon Length: 62 hours, 30 minutes
• Session Hours: 38 hours, 30 minutes

Highlights from Marathon 6:

□ On level eight we found ourselves surrounded in a temple by caligni stalkers and their endless darkness. Put it this way: we got good at flat checks. As if things couldn’t get worse, something called an owb showed up. A creature with a background as shadowy as the caligni themselves, this thing can turn you from our cadre’s shared blue colors to drab gray—and even turn your gun gray, which is where we drew the line. Joe came through with the Beast Gunner, landing a couple of devastating shots from his drake rifle that allowed us to walk away alive and most importantly, blue.

□ If you’ve followed our projects over the years, then you know we despise gugs, in-game and out. We came across another one, which held something called a fulcrum lens that we unfortunately needed. One of our snipers, Mazatl, practicing the Way of the Spellshot and wearing what Erick calls “dungeon camo,” crept into position. Erick is even known to wear a ghillie suit at the table to mimic his cloak of elvenkind. Can you find Mazatl in the photo? The sniper aimed for the head and landed the first shot, but the gug still tore into us for six rounds before we put it down.

□ Think you can predict what a Pathfinder megadungeon has in store for you? Enter level nine, with its 10-foot scale in the original version of the adventure. We’re going to have to lay this one out on the patio to get a full pic for the next blog. It’s also level nine where you really get a sense of just how interconnected this megadungeon is to the Darklands that surround it, which is evident as the worked stone in the levels above has now shifted to caverns. Since we’ve delved The Emerald Spire and measured its square footage, we can say that level nine is what helps the Abominaton Vaults achieve its title as the largest megadungeon in Pathfinder history!

□ A massive dungeon level just meant more reach for our shooters. We’d been waiting nine levels to see the 150’ range on both the harmona and arquebus truly rip, and honestly, in a dungeon we never thought we’d see it. When Breen spotted four ceustodaemons on some kind of guard duty, it just meant long range fun. We opened initiative, and one was on the ground before they heard the shots.

□ Level nine was full of towering bioluminescent fungi, which meant breaking out the blacklights for the truest experience. It also meant getting ourselves into a fungal forest firefight with reaper skull puffballs. Don’t be fooled by the name like we were; these things are badass. Go look at the illustration inside Eyes of Empty Death and tell us that the miniatures we had to represent them weren’t darn near perfect, too. Better yet, an exploded puffball is worth 150 gp! Zoric, the cadre’s Unexpected Sharpshooter, scored both money shots and made it rain.

Character Deaths

□ None, but everyone in this party owes another thank you to Breen, Way of the Pistolero. When you’re surrounded by hostiles and bleeding out, it’s our pistol phenom that will pull you to safety and cauterize your wounds—popping off rounds in the process.

The Arsenal

Order of the Amber Die doesn’t have a session zero before our campaigns begin. We start somewhere around session negative eight. In one of those meetings, our player captain had us brainstorm ways that we might cause awkward encounters throughout an Adventure Path by making an entire party of gunslingers. No one suggested anything close to what we came across on level eight of the Vaults. We encountered some drow who took us to their outpost on the level below, packed with none other than the Darklands equivalent of our own gunslingers: the Drow Shootist archetype and their repeating crossbows. We hit it off almost instantly, and soon we were sharing stories over a game of cards, including tales of the best and luckiest shots we’ve landed during our time in the Vaults. Even the art for Quara, their leader, showed her with a bandolier and a set of dueling boots that matched plenty of members in our cadre. She also had a scar across her face from—guess what—a gug. Naturally, we ended up at their firing range, where they allowed Vlai to have his dwarven scattergun (with large bore modifications) for a friendly competition. With all three targets destroyed in a single 15’ radius hit, we won.

Best Quote from Marathon 6

(fierce battle in a caligni temple)

Adam: “Caligni stalker is near death, cornered, attacks Axayaca. Gotta go to the Amber Die for this one.”

Matt (to Joe): “This is when the Amber Die usually goes off.”

Joe: “...”

Adam: “First attack hits… Second attack… 20! Attack you again, agile, -8 penalty… NATURAL 20!”

Current Situation

Well, we’ve made it to the final game of the season—this next marathon is the last one either way. We’re trying not to let the pressure get to us; we keep telling ourselves it’s just another marathon. If we do succeed in defeating Belcorra, then drow aid must be accounted for. Not only are they a source of items, trade, and safety, but the drow have become our friends—we certainly don’t have many on the surface. From conversations with their scouts, we’ve learned of a dragon’s lair on level nine. The drow avoid it. Which, of course, meant that we took a party vote to fight it. Come on, you know it’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any Pathfinder player to slay a dragon with a party of gunslingers!

More Content

Our table was brought to life with the help of Blue Table Painting for the miniatures, and Black Bard Studios for custom adventure-specific miniatures/terrain.

Follow Order of the Amber Die:

-Facebook
-Instagram
-X (Twitter)
-YouTube
-The Abomination Arsenal thread

Hello, Pathfinders!

So, I’ve been pulled back and forth in a million directions this season! First, I was assigned all the way up in Irrisen to look at some new gadget or something, so I was trying to find a fashionable winter coat, until I was informed that I was “desperately needed” on the grounds of Absalom.

Which, let’s be honest, isn’t Absalom where I do my best work?

Alright, news on the street:

First of all, the Knights of Lastwall are BROKE. Like B-R-O-K-E, broke! At least, that’s what it says on all of the posters put up around the city centers advertising a charity dinner and upcoming carnival. There have been some preemptive donations made toward the campaign to fund them against the Old Baphy war, but according to my insider source in the Coins District, someone recently made a HUGE contribution from a strange account in the north. Maybe Ulthun’s new girl?

Illustration by Christoph Peters

Next, it looks like we’ll finally have some new leadership over in Nirmathas! As I was sorting out archival mail, I learned that Agents Anemone, Bog’s Companion, and Pattypan of Gold Bits have been filling out paperwork and starting to help get everything back into shape after Oraiah left. Good for them!

And for a very serious note, one of my sources says there’s been strange movement at the docks, with ships coming in from Mediogalti Island. There’s only ever a bare bones crew, and they seem to have no idea what’s stored in the bright red crates. The crates are collected by a different person each time, and they sign with a stamp that sort of looks like a scythe, but also looks like a messed-up bug, but also looks like a squashed book. It’s a pretty bad stamp.

Art by Giorgio Falconi

I’ll find out more information and update all of you as soon as I can!

See you next time, Pathfinders!

With adoration,
Your Beloved Venture-Gossip

Explore! Report! Cooperate! Gossip!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

It is with a heavy heart that Paizo announces the passing of longtime software developer Gary Teter. Gary was a pioneer in the development of the Paizo website and its core behind-the-scenes software systems that have helped to deliver Pathfinder and Starfinder products for more than 20 years. He was integral in the creation of our subscription programs, forums, and more–all at a time when such technology didn’t exist.

Our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time.

We’ve asked the Paizo team to share their thoughts below, and we encourage members of the community to do the same.

Thanks again for all your hard work to make Paizo the success it is today, Gary. You will be missed.

-Erik, Jim, Lisa, Maggie, Mike, Rei, and Vic

Gary Teter came to Paizo way back in 2004 at a pivotal point in the company’s history. We started off as a magazine company, and the process of inputting subscriptions and renewals was eating up the small profit that magazines made back then, so we decided to try to do it through a website. But this was in 2004, and there just weren’t any website options you could purchase, so we considered building it ourselves, which was a daunting task.

Gary was brought in as we were struggling to figure out what to do. He brought vision and hard work to the table, and lo and behold, we launched paizo.com and brought subscriptions online. Once the magazines went away, that same subscription service morphed into one of the financial backbones of the company. I’m not sure Paizo would be here today if Gary hadn’t started working for us. Since then, he kept the machine going for twenty years!

Gary also brought a sense of humor to Paizo. Remember “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” when Gary made it so everything you posted turned into pirate language? Or the secret Smurf thing where your avatar changed into a Smurf whenever you mentioned them in a post? That was Gary.

I loved working with Gary during those early years of paizo.com. The website was a blank page, and we could dream about what we wanted it to be. Some things were instant successes, like side carts. Others were left on the cutting room floor (I’m looking at you, Paizooties). But through it all, Gary had a love for the customer and did his best to make their experience on paizo.com a great one. He would spend late nights trying to shave off shipping costs just to save folks a little more money.

Gary will be missed at Paizo.

Lisa Stevens
CEO

Gary Teter was never among the most well-known employees at Paizo, but if you’ve ever interacted with paizo.com in any way, you’ve felt his influence. And if you’ve ever noticed some feature here that no other website has, Gary almost certainly played a major role in creating it.

Gary was Paizo’s third-longest tenured employee, after Erik Mona and James Jacobs. Paizo’s original webmaster, Rob Head, hired Gary in March 2004, while Paizo was still just publishing magazines.

When we hired him, paizo.com was mainly a collection of static pages, one for each of our magazines, plus a sidebar for brief news updates. You could subscribe, purchase back issues, and not much else. Twenty years ago, Gary was working furiously on changing that, adding message boards in August, and launching a real web store offering thousands of gaming products in November. While the site has evolved over the years, the paizo.com you know today is still built on the foundations Gary and Rob created two decades ago.

But as important as Gary’s contributions to the website were, his role in shaping the paizo.com community was in many ways even more impactful. With the launch of the message boards, Gary took on the role of “PostMonster General,” acting not just as the community’s first moderator, but helping to set the tone for all interactions on paizo.com.

Gary was serious about his work and always interested in the ways that evolving technology could be used, from the utterly confusing construction that is ents and loaves to using a chatbot to turn an ordinary deck of cards into a mystery game to play with his son.

Gary strongly believed in doing things the right way with a customer-first attitude. Whenever I would approach him with a complicated idea that I thought our customers would appreciate, he would explain the inherent difficulties that kept every other website from doing it, and then he’d figure out how to make it happen, and he’d usually do it quickly and do it well.

Gary also always approached things with humor. He once demonstrated a new feature in our back-end software to our sales manager, who flippantly complained that it had one flaw: not enough pancake bunnies (referencing a then-current meme involving a Japanese rabbit known for balancing baked goods on its head). So Gary added “Pancake Bunny Mode” to the tool, in which lines of animated rabbits loaded up with syrupy goodness marched across the screen—a feature that you could toggle on or off… unless you were the sales manager, in which case there was no off switch.

Gary was occasionally courted by companies that offered him much more money that Paizo ever could, but he genuinely loved paizo.com and the paizo.com community, and he told me several times over the years that he never wanted to work anywhere other than Paizo for the rest of his life. Gary’s contributions to Paizo were foundational and crucial, and I’m greatly saddened that he won’t be here to help guide paizo.com into its third decade.

Vic Wertz,
Chief Technical Officer (Retired)

I remember the change that crept through Paizo after Gary came aboard so many years ago. From over in the editorial department, his influence was subtle at first, but then Smurfs started showing up on the message boards. To me, those little blue gremlins were probably the most visual (and unexpected) of the manifestations of the glory that was Gary. But beyond the boards and the machinery of the virtual world, Gary was someone I always felt welcome to chat with, be it a happenstance greeting in a breakroom that developed into a full-on conversation, a discussion at a work gathering about the intersection of internet and gamer culture, sharing quirky cat-themed anecdotes, or just some good old reminiscing about the early days of Paizo. His presence in the very early Paizo chat rooms was always welcome and comforting, as was his sense of humor. He put humanity into Paizo’s infrastructure in ways I expect I’ll still be discovering, marveling at, and appreciating for years to come. I’ll miss you, my friend.

James Jacobs
Creative Director

I first met Gary, like many who interacted with him, online. I first found my way to this community through the message boards, and Gary was the guy running the show back then. He had an interesting way of moderating conversations and keeping the community entertained and on point. It was this community and the people in it that led me to freelancing, and though it sounds weird for someone in the tech side of the company being responsible for a word jockey starting his career, that’s the case. Gary was not only fun to chat with, he was also supportive. In the way-back times, a few of us started a chat room that served as a somewhat real-time version of the message boards where regulars would hang out and keep up with each other. I was in that chat room all the time and so was Gary, who was the first Paizo staffer we asked to join. It was in that chat room where I really got to know Gary. From the Smurf “prank” to the odd threads and experiments that went way over my head, Gary was always up to something interesting, and I swear, half the time you could see the twinkle in his eye even through text. When I finally joined the company and moved out here, it was nice seeing a familiar face in the office that was outside of my immediate department. We even lived in the same apartment complex, so I’d see him around outside of work too. Gary was a delightfully strange man, with a head full of concepts, ideas, and plans that I couldn’t even fathom with my puny word-focused brain. So, thank you for all the education and entertainment. We’ll miss you, Gary!

Adam Daigle
Director of Game Development

Gary Teter was a passionate developer with a soft spot for retro hardware and clicky keyboards. When we were still in a physical office, it wasn't unusual to see Gary rolling by my window atop his Solowheel on his way home at the end of the day. Once we all started working remotely, Gary lamented the loss of the day-to-day impromptu conversations that would happen just by virtue of having desks near each other. Those conversations could be about anything from how we might solve a particular technical challenge to why we didn't have more (or any) pneumatic tubes in the office.

Professionally, Gary loved solving complex or tricky problems and took great delight in a satisfying solution. He made a lasting impact with his creativity and dedication to his work. I especially appreciated the sense of whimsy he injected into our daily conversations and many of the things he did. His depth of knowledge and creative ideas will be missed. He was a one-of-a-kind personality who will always be remembered at Paizo.

Rei Ko
Vice President of Technology

It's difficult to share memories of a coworker and feel like you did them justice. Working together is such a specific context that you can spend years with someone and never feel like you got the full picture of who they truly were. So I will resist the urge to lay out some sort of comprehensive, definitive statement on Gary Teter. I’m not qualified to do that. I will simply tell what I can, in the hopes that others will fill in the gaps in my telling to form a more complete picture.

Gary was a wizard. If you told him you needed something built, he would go read the book on that thing and come back having built it. He would build his own tooling so he could have exactly what he needed to get his job done. He would cast magic with code.

Gary was one of the most customer-oriented colleagues I've ever worked with. Regardless of the other factors in play, he was always deeply grateful to the people who purchased Paizo products—the people who enable so many of us at the company to do what we love for a living. Every feature he implemented had an eye towards surprising and delighting customers, as well as treating them fairly and honestly, whether they found out about it or not. It was a matter of personal principle. He couldn't not do that.

Gary believed that learning was a lifelong process. Twenty years into working on the code-base for Paizo, he was still researching new algorithms, frameworks, and techniques—either for use on the job or just for fun. He always had a handful of pet projects at home to work on after he'd signed off for the day: an audiophile amplifier here, a spectrum analyzer there. A few years prior to the pandemic he learned to ride an electric monowheel because, in his own words, "I just decided that I wanted to be the kind of person who could ride a wheel, mostly because it looked awesome, and I’ve always thought that sort of thing would be impossible for me, and that it was time I let go of preconceived notions about what I could and couldn’t do."

Gary was a trailblazer. If you needed to get 30 people from here to there across all manner of difficult terrain, he’d figure out the exact route to take. Perhaps someone else would have to arrange the provisions, and another person would need to load and balance the wagons, and a third person would keep the caravan together along the way. But the path itself? The guy with the machete hacking through the underbrush 50 yards ahead, shouting back, "It's this way!"? That was all Gary. It wasn't until I reached the end of this paragraph that I realized that there's another name for that person:

Gary was a Pathfinder. And now he's gone.

And Paizo is the lesser for it.

Brian Bauman
Software Architect

Gary was one of the first people I spoke to on my first day at Paizo, and I distinctly remember thinking, “Oh, right, I work in the TTRPG industry now. Of course I’ll be working next to a bespectacled, bearded ponytailed guy named Gary with an esoteric sense of humor.”

That was only my first impression, of course; over the next six years, he made countless others. He was an old-school geek who embodied the absolute best of classic weird online and programmer culture. He was the owner of a desk that resembled the Iron Throne if it had been built from 20 years of Paizo products. He was the guy in our weekly Zoom meetings who always had a wall of oscilloscopes or something that looked like a half-built robot on a workbench behind him somewhere. And, like others have said, he was an incredibly smart and talented coder who cared tremendously about his work and what it meant to the Pathfinder and Starfinder communities. It didn’t matter whether he was working on code to save customers money by shipping in as few packages as possible, an uncheatable die roller for the play-by-post boards, banishing spambots to an endless Sartre-esque digital labyrinth, or some shamelessly goofy forum feature; he approached every projects with the same level of deadly seriousness and took enormous pride in ensuring that it was done right, no matter how ridiculous it was.

It's hard to imagine a paizo.com without Gary and his contributions, and his passing will leave a tremendous void not only on Paizo’s tech team, but in the company as a whole. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones, and I am proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him for as long as I did.

Andrew White
Digital Products Lead

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This encounter is a prequel for the Mechageddon! Adventure Path that represents the player characters’ (PCs’) ongoing training after enlisting in the New Valor Defense Force. Run this encounter after completing Simulation 1: Valko Derby, after the PCs have leveled up and created their own mechs (or upgraded the mechs from Simulation 1 to tier 2).

THE LAST STAND OF KARNATH! — CR 6

After catching Firefight’s notice playing Valko Derby, the PCs were invited to step out of the valkopods and become the real huzkars by joining the New Valor Defense Force. NVDF training is comprehensive for all recruits, regardless of prior vocation, to prepare them for military duties and potential challenges from combat training and mech repair to physical fitness and aircraft piloting. All potentially dangerous training occurs in simulated environments utilizing some of the galaxy’s best virtual reality technology. As a result, NVDF training pods are a familiar sight to every NVDF recruit, even if they aren’t offered many chances to train in the simulated valko cockpits. But with the placement exam schedule communicated well in advance, the prevailing mood is a flux of excitement and anxiety as everyone hopes for the chance to prove themselves. Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene.

Commander “Raptor” Wano’s voice issues a disembodied message as his training assistant, Lieutenant Bastian-5, helps the recruits into individual cockpits in the training center’s testing chamber. “Recruits! Today is your placement exam. Do well and you might find yourself in the 3rd battlegroup as the 13th, 14th, or even 15th Valko squadron under my command! Thanks to an agreement with Storyteller Productions, today’s exam will feature colossi from the popular Kaiju Riot holovid series. As you know Lt. Bastian-5 is a huge fan of those movies—time to make them proud. Today you get to be the heroes!”

Art by Guilherme Olivieri

Culture or Profession (Charisma-based) (Recall Knowledge)

The Kaiju Riot! series of films is well-known on Daimalko and has small cult followings all over the galaxy. NVDF recruits have likely seen one or more of the films and that film knowledge could help them in the upcoming simulation. For more benefits of watching these films, see Trivial Knowledge, below.

10+: The Kaiju Riot! series follows the often-terrible exploits of a lone colossus, Gadrakor. In early films, Gadrakor brutally destroyed several Daimalkan settlements. Critics applaud these early films for teaching the benefits of environmentalism through cinematic media. Eventually, Gadrakor became a hero, defending Daimalko against unspeakable horrors.

15+: Pop star Jollys Vass got her start with the hit Don’t Fall, a ballad written from the perspective of two damai lovers who were separated during Gadrakor’s rampage in Kaiju Riot! 1. In that film, Gadrakor’s characteristics were based on questionable information about an illusive colossus called a drakogor. In the years since, groundbreaking field research about real drakogors has provided new material for the sequels.

20+: In Kaiju Riot! 3: The Doom from Beyond, Gadrakor teams up with a nearly invulnerable mechanical version of himself from the previous film, Mechagadrakor, to face a demonic version of himself, the space emperor colossus King Gadrakor.

25+: Gadrakor and his iterations have all the same abilities as a real drakogor: they can absorb energy attacks to power their breath weapons, which deal sonic damage, and have a hardened mantle that adds to their natural armor. Encourage the PCs to swap out their simulated mechs’ weapons to avoid giving the enemy an advantage.

The Mission

The PCs’ simulated mechs begin in the center of Karnath, an ancient Daimalkan city lost to colossi attacks long ago. The simulation completes almost instantly, finalizing the holographic details of a breezy spring afternoon with streets empty except for the PCs. A Daimalkan orb rests in a hollow built into the bronze statue the PCs’ mechs are positioned around. Four wide streets wind in all four cardinal directions leading away from the monument. Tall office buildings and empty residences line each block except for the planetary transit landing pad northwest of the PCs.

When the PCs are ready to begin, Commander Wano’s voice gives the final orders before the simulation begins. “The Gadrakors have only one goal: Destroy the orb. To pass this exam, you only have to stop them. Defeat all your enemies and protect the orb. Good luck, recruits.”

PCs and Mechs: This encounter is designed for four level 2 PCs. As part of their ongoing training at the NVDF Academy, the PCs have been learning the ins and outs of various mech configurations to better prepare them to their assignments as huzkars in the new modular Apex valkos, or as support crew for others who are assigned that role. As a result, players should create Tier 2 mechs for their PCs using the rules in Starfinder Tech Revolution.

Map: This simulation uses the monument side of Starfinder Flip-Mat: Metropolis. The PC’s mechs begin the encounter huddled in the middle of the map around the monument. 1 square represents 10 feet of terrain.

Trivial Knowledge: Watching the Kaiju Riot! film series has given the PCs prior knowledge of their opponents’ capabilities. The PCs can attempt the normal Recall Knowledge checks to identify their foes’ abilities prior to the beginning of the encounter. They may attempt these checks using Culture or an appropriate Profession skill instead, using the same DCs.

Creatures: The three holographic colossi the PCs face are inspired by the popular holovid, Kaiju Riot 3: The Doom from Beyond. The three kaiju begin the encounter near the edges of the map and have a single goal in mind: destroy the orb at the center of the monument the PCs are protecting. The colossi act well as a team, contrary to their adversarial roles in Kaiju Riot 3. King Gadrakor relies on its roar and fearsome presence to throw the PCs off, while Gadrakor tries to draw them away from the monument or take them out with its breath weapon. Mechagadrakor is the key to their strategy. If nobody attacks Mechagadrakor, it moves adjacent to the monument and spends the next two turns attacking the orb. The other two eventually attempt the same tactic until the PCs target them with attacks. All three colossi fight until they are destroyed.

Gadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
N Huge magical beast (colossus)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sense the masses; Perception +8
Aura frightful presence (80 ft., DC 12, shaken 1d4 rounds)

DEFENSE HP 40
EAC 14; KAC 16
Fort +7; Ref +7; Will +4
Defensive Abilities Resistances electricity 5, fire 5

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d6+7 P; critical burn 1d10) or claw +12 (1d6+7 S; critical bleed 1d6) or tail slap +12 (1d8+7 B; critical knockdown)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d4-3 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 E&F, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), living battery, roar (DC 12)

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con +2; Int +0; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Battery (Ex) Drakogors recharge their breath weapons by consuming energy attacks. When a drakogor takes at least 10 damage from any weapon that targets its EAC, as a standard action on their next turn they redirect the energy into a breath weapon dealing the same type of damage as the attack.

Roar (Su) Gadrakor’s roar creates unsettling vibration. Gadrakor roars as a standard action. Creatures within 100 feet must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save or become sickened for 1d4 rounds. Creatures who are shaken from Gadrakor’s frightful presence are panicked for 1 round (no save). Once a creature has been exposed to Gadrakor’s roar, it cannot be affected by any other drakogor’s roar for 24 hours. This is an emotion, fear, mind-affecting, and sense-dependent effect. Other drakogors are immune.

Mechagadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
NE Huge construct (colossus)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8

DEFENSE — HP 40
EAC 15; KAC 17
Fort +3; Ref +3; Will +0
Defensive Abilities hardened mantle; Immunities construct immunities

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d4+7 P; critical burn 1d10) or claw +12 (1d4+7 S; critical bleed 1d6)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d8+5 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60 ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 So, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), living battery

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con –; Int +1; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8
Other Abilities unliving

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Battery (Ex) Drakogors recharge their breath weapons by consuming energy attacks. When a drakogor takes at least 10 damage from any weapon that targets its EAC, as a standard action on their next turn they redirect the energy into a breath weapon dealing the same type of damage as the attack.

Hardened Mantle (Ex) Mechagadrakor has a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against critical hit effects. In addition, it reduces the damage it takes from a critical hit by 3 to a minimum of 1 unless reduced by other means.

King Gadrakor” Art by Sophie Medvedeva

King Gadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
LE Huge magical beast (colossus)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sense the masses; Perception +8
Aura frightful presence (80 ft., DC 14, shaken 1d4 rounds)

DEFENSE HP 40
EAC 14; KAC 16
Fort +7; Ref +7; Will +4
Defensive Abilities ferocity; Resistances fire 10

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d6+7 P plus grab) or claw +12 (1d6+7 S plus grab) or tail slap +12 (1d10+7 B; critical knockdown)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d4 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 A, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), roar (DC 14)

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con +2; Int +0; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deadly Grasp (Ex) When King Gadrakor succeeds at a combat maneuver to maintain a grapple, it can make a tail slap attack as a move action.

Roar (Su) King Gadrakor’s roar creates unsettling vibration. King Gadrakor roars as a standard action. Creatures within 100 feet must succeed at a DC 14 Fortitude save or become sickened for 1d4 rounds. Creatures who are shaken from King Gadrakor’s frightful presence are panicked for 1 round (no save). Once a creature has been exposed to King Gadrakor’s roar, it cannot be affected by any other drakogor’s roar for 24 hours. This is an emotion, fear, mind-affecting, and sense-dependent effect. Other drakogors are immune.

Development: The orb has 100 Hit Points. If it takes enough damage to reduce it to 0 or below, the orb is destroyed and the simulation ends in failure. If the PCs manage to defeat their foes, the simulation ends in victory the moment the last Gadrakor falls and the opening chords to Jollys Vass’ triumphant Don’t Fallstart to play.

CONCLUSION

If the PCs successfully protect the orb, when the simulation ends they are formally offered spots in the NVDF’s 3^rd Battlegroup as huzkar recruits. The next step in their training will be piloting brand new Apex mechs! If the simulation ends in failure, the PCs can enter remedial training before attempting the placement exam again, or accept positions in Valko Support, Infantry, Tank command groups, or even as Skywatch air support pilots. At this point, the group is ready to level up once more and begin their Mechageddon! campaign.

Map by Damien Mammoliti

Welcome to PaizoCon Online 2024, the celebration of all things Paizo, which begins today! Join us for free, fun panels at twitch.tv/officialpaizo. Meet friends and network on our Discord, with prizes, activities, staff AMAs, and more!

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Hello, explorers!
Pathfinder Howl of the Wild is now officially out! I hope everyone’s been having fun making new characters, whether they’re minotaur druids, centaur wild mimics, or awakened koi witches with the Ripple in the Deep patron who navigate on land in enchanted supramarine chairs that double as their cauldrons! I hope, too, that you’re enjoying some new animals to throw at your PCs, or just having fun reading the tale of Baranthet and the Zoetrope’s crew as they fly about Golarion!

Of course, this book had its own crew in the form of wonderful writers and designers who each brought a taste of the wild to the project and were sure to keep the writers’ room well supplied with animal gifs and links to nature documentaries. Get to know some of them below and feel free to shout out any bits you enjoy!

Light writer plate of crew upon returning from their journey, from official Zoetrope expedition logs. (Art by Ivan Koritarev)

Rigby Bendele (they/them)

When James pitched Howl of the Wild, I was immediately hooked! I want to bring a sense of embodiment to TTRPGs so that players and GMs have tools to understand what it might be like to live in a world so fantastic, so I was looking forward to focusing an Attenborourgh-style lens on Golarion’s natural world. While working on my sections—the athamaru ancestry, holdfast, some of the big game siege weapons, and the Warden of Caverns and Burrows—I hoped to make the world seem fantastical from its skies to its lowest depths. This book is going to be a great tool as I continue to run my own games and design adventures, and I can't wait to see how everyone uses it in their games.

Chris Bissette (he/they)

Hello! I'm Chris Bissette, a game designer from the UK. Writing for Pathfinder has been a dream of mine for over a decade at this point, and I'm delighted to have finally had the opportunity on Howl of the Wild. Monsters were my first love in RPGs and getting to put together the dischorans for this book was some of the most fun I've had writing games.

When I'm not writing for Pathfinder, I can usually be found working on my free and very imaginatively titled dungeon crawler A Dungeon Game. On socials, you can find me on Bluesky @loottheroom.bsky.social.

Jeremy Blum (he/him)

I wrote the ostilli host archetype for Howl of the Wild, the anti-behemoth weaponry (anybody catch the Godzilla reference in there?), and the decapod dinghy, which is basically Catbus as a giant crab. Contributing to this wonderful celebration of nature's finest offerings was a nice shift, as it immediately followed the work I did to redesign Linvarre for the Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide, which should now be in everyone’s hands. I've also penned some rad stuff for the Tian Xia Character Guide and have several unannounced Pathfinder contributions in the pipelines.

Outside of the Paizo sphere, my biggest project is Mappa Mundi: An Exploration + Ecology RPG for Three Sails Studios, a small three-man company based in the UK. It's a TTRPG about mapping the wilderness, studying monsters like a biologist instead of fighting them, and returning the art of storytelling to a voiceless world. Our recently released playtest could be used in conjunction with Howl of the Wild to run a gorgeous, monster-observing campaign that spans Golarion and beyond, since the themes are quite similar! Mappa Mundi's full release will crowdfund in 2025, so if you're interested, please follow me on Twitter and Bluesky for the latest news.

The ethereal rift chameleon (art by Adam Shafi) and the lithivorous stony bat (art by Maichol Quinto)

Brite Cheney (he/they)

Hey folks! I’m Brite (pronounced Bright), a TTRPG freelancer and prop maker. You might have seen my recent Pathfinder Quest, The Winter Queen’s Dollhouse, among other works. I had a blast writing a narrative section for Howl of the Wild and trying to capture Baranthet’s unique voice. He is so inquisitive and adventurous, yet simultaneously levelheaded. I hope you all enjoy meeting the crew of the Zoetrope and all the other wonders hidden in this book. I also hope your players “enjoy” the marp and its adorable gold-eating habits.

When not writing for or playing games, I make and sell hand-crafted props and accessories for TTRPG, cosplay, and LARP. You can find links to all my work, including where to contact me for custom commissions, at https://linktr.ee/mrgwillickers. I can also be found on Blue Sky, Mastodon, Instagram, Twitter, and all other socials @MrGWillickers.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Hello, hello! I've been around the Paizo blog quite a bit this past year since joining the marketing team, but I'm super excited to be dropping myself into this blog—because Howl of the Wild is the first Pathfinder project I’ve ever written for! A thousand thanks to James Case for scooping me out of the river for this project and giving me an opportunity to work on Pathfinder. It's opened a number of doors for me, and I love getting to be a part of the game I love (and market, haha). For Howl, I worked on the hexmoth and the zoophonia muse, and I look forward to seeing what everyone does with the cool stuff in this book! Please feel free to @ me on socials about your Howl stuff. I want to see it!

Twitter: @ilananight13
Bsky: ilananight.bsky.app
Website: https://ilananight.space

Matthew Fu (he/him)

Hi everyone! I first wanted to say that it was a fantastic experience to be able to work on this project alongside so many other talented writers. Getting to see so much positive feedback on the creatures that I wrote (apothecary bee and hardhead mole) has already done numbers to lift my spirits, and seeing someone refer to my beastmaster feats as "swanky AF" really made my day. I wanted to give a quick shoutout to James Case and the rest of the Paizo team for having me on this project and allowing me to pour my heart and soul into this project. I can't wait to see what kind of characters my friends and the community at large come up with given the sheer quantity of high-quality work that can be found in this book.

Also, be sure to check out some of the other Pathfinder 2E material that I've written alongside other fantastic authors at Eldritch Osiris Games!

A centaur bard (art by Wilmar Ballespí Escarp) and a surki warrior (art by Ivan Koritarev)

Steve Hammond

Hello everyone! I'm Steve Hammond, and I wrote a few beast items, the tardigrades, and had the distinct pleasure of writing the surki ancestry! They are the first ancestry I've written, and my time working on them was really special. The response to them so far has been great, and I can't wait to see more of the characters you create with them!

I'm not really on social media these days, but I pop up in a few books here and there. Most recently, I worked on War of Immortals. Thank you all for your lovely words and praise for the book. Everyone on this team did incredible work, and I cannot wait to work with them again.

Dustin Knight (he/him)

Greetings, Pathfinders! I'm Dustin Knight, Starfinder developer and proud freelancer for the incredible tome of beasts and critters that lies before you! Working on the swarmkeeper archetype was a blast and fulfilled one of my long-time bucket-list entries of designing an insect-themed archetype. While I've yet to incorporate my own swarm of creepy-crawlies, I'm a big fan of bugs, especially bees! If you'd like to help your local pollinators, you can find resources such as Lawns to Legumes that can help turn your yard into a pollinator's paradise.

I also wrote some of the spells in Howl of the Wild, including antlion trap, summon stampede, and summon warden of the wild. You can catch me on dozens of different Paizo-adjacent Discord servers, including my own for Pathfinder Infinite creators and fans under the username KitsuneWarlock. You can also catch me at PaizoCon on the Paizo Events Discord where I'll be answering questions, posting memes, and participating in some panels! I'd love to answer as many of your questions as I can and hear about the insects you'll be using with your future swarmkeepers!

Christiana Lewis (she/her)

Greetings and salutations! This was my first ever TTRPG writing experience, and I’m so grateful to James Case and the whole team for their support. I had the unique privilege of writing up the Zoetrope’s design and seeing it be brought to life by the artists was an incredible experience I’ll never forget. Working with Paizo really set the standard for what I expect as a freelance writer. I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on this special book.

I’m currently working on some other TTRPG projects, all of which will be announced in time on Twitter. You can find me at @carpechristi on all socials. In the meantime, I love streaming TTRPG Actual Plays with my friends (which, let’s be real, are just paid opportunities to flirt with each other), collecting special edition novels, and crocheting absurdly long scarves.

The spell-eating hexmoth and the spell-singing virtuosic lyrebird (art both by Vira Linevych)

Jonathan "Ryomasa" Mendoza (any)

Howdy! I'm Jonathan, and I wrote the rumindrol and the beast guns for Howl of the Wild! This book was my first experience writing for Pathfinder and Paizo in general, and I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed the creative spirit and collaborative nature of working on this book alongside so many talented people! I hope you use the rumindrol to remind players who think nothing of stepping into the dark, forbidden places of the world that there is a reason we fear the unknown, and I hope that the beast guns help you attain the gunslingin', yeehawin', fantasy-anime-nonsense vibes so many of us enjoy. You can find me nerding out and/or yeehawing over on Twitter (I will never call it anything else) or reach out through my website.

Dave Nelson (he/they)

Dave Nelson is a queer and neurodivergent freelance writer and editor with multiple credits for Pathfinder. This time, he put his degree in Classics to work to bring you the minotaur ancestry and the bestiary section on hydras. They also spent hours throwing cat toys while writing the clawdancer archetype, and they watched nature videos of birds for the winged warrior archetype. He also managed to write a few new spells, like divine beasts and albatross’ curse.

You can find him lurking on Bluesky at @davicthegrey.bsky.social and an updated list of their credits at https://davicthegrey.carrd.co/.

Mikhail Rekun (he/him)

Здравствуйте, уважаемые читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and I’m a Russian-speaking Ukrainian-American historian, educator, and author. I’m also a Pathfinder author of long standing—if you’ve suffered at the hands of a kholo, been lost in the Dark Archive, or had to dodge a laser-bear, that is my fault. I regret nothing.

In this particular venture, I was responsible for writing the merfolk ancestry, the sky fisher, and the character of my beloved buggy protégé, Ten. The merfolk ancestry was a particularly interesting challenge—usually, the trick with ancestries is filling them out, but here, we had a veritable buffet of myth, legend, and pop culture to choose from. If you want to weep tears of pearl, lure sailors to their doom with your voice, or merely stroll down the harbor walk with your new pair of legs, Howl of the Wild has you covered.

And if you like the sky fisher, well, would you like to know where you can find even more horrific beasties? It just so happens that I am also the creative director for the Luminant Age Campaign Setting, and we have a small bestiary of vampire dogs and teleporting rats over at https://luminant-age.itch.io/. Check it out!

A merfolk fighter (art by Ivan Koritarev) and an awakened turtle kineticist (art by Damien Mammoliti)

Kai Revius (he/they)

Hello everyone! I’m Kai, and contributing to the Howl of the Wild team as a freelancer was my first foray into professional writing. I had a blast and hope to do it again in the future!

It was my joy and privilege to help bring Dr. Gulnara Pom to life, as well as provide some new animal companions, beast armor, and beast armaments. As a child, I was heavily influenced by Brian Jacques’ Redwall series and jumped at the opportunity to create my very own badger. As a Forever DM/GM, my approach for the items and animal companions was to provide players with interesting or surprising things that I would love to see at my own table. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing art of a giraffe in full barding or anything flying squirrel related! As far as items go, my favorite was a particularly stinky maul. I love when I can utilize a piece of equipment for roleplaying! The best place to find me is @KeenKoala on Twitter/X.

Simone D. Sallé (she/they)

Hi, fellow nature enthusiasts! I'm so excited for you all to tag along with Baranthet and the crew of the Zoetrope on their quest for the wardens of the wild. This has been my favorite book to work on so far, both as a writer and an edit lead, and I can't wait for everyone else to dive in (or burrow, if that's more your Speed). In addition to co-creating Baranthet with James, I got to write Baranthet's narrative introduction, conclusion, and the climactic chapter of the crew's adventure! I also upheld my contractual obligation to seed mushrooms into everything I do by way of the primal witch patrons. There are such fun new creatures, lore, and player options in this book, and I know I'm not the only one ready to build at least six new PCs.

I'm difficult to track down on social media these days, but you can always send notes to Almas University, c/o Baranthet Zamendi—he'll know where to find me.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello! I’m Kendra, frequent freelancer for Paizo (credits at klspeedling.com). For Howl of the Wild, I did the bio for Charikleia, the Techniques and Tricks story, the sharks (my favorite ocean creatures!), and the Warden of Peaks and Skies.

When writing, I had to decide the type of contest to choose the new warden. A sky race made sense for flying creatures, but I didn’t want it to be that straightforward. I thought about what qualities the wardens might value, and one that jumped out to me was the interconnection of the natural world; while nature can be harsh and unforgiving, nothing within it exists in isolation, and I felt the wardens would be mindful of that. Maybe the true test would be the candidates’ willingness to aid others and accept help in turn. I wondered if it was too trite, too saccharine. But I decided that if I often need the reminder that assistance isn’t cheating or failure, just a part of existence, well… maybe someone else might need that, too.

The storm’s rough out there. Help others fly if you can, and don’t begrudge yourself the need to shelter under someone else’s wing for a while.

The powerful ascendant griffon (art by Damien Mammoliti) and the shocking magnetic gecko (art by Maichol Quinto)

Kyle Tam

Hello everyone! I'm Kyle, a writer from the Philippines, and this is my first time writing for Paizo! For this book, I had the pleasure of introducing everyone to your favorite navigator, Lythea, and writing the thunder snake! I've written my own tabletop RPGs as well as writing for other people’s games, and I've also published my fair share of short stories, all of which you can find at https://whatkylewrites.carrd.co/.

I LOVE mermaids, so it is with absolute joy that I took on the task of bringing Lythea to life! She's basically the kind of character I'd love to play in a campaign of exploration, at one with the land, sea, and sky thanks to adaptive technologies giving her the best of all worlds. The thunder snake concept came to me by looking at electrical cords and adjustable lamps, watching the way coils and wires moved—so you can imagine it like a giant electrical plug!

Thank you so much for supporting Howl of the Wild!!!

Ruvaid Virk

Good day, friends! Ruvaid Virk, sometimes Paizo contributor, here. It's so wild that they keep letting me on these books, but I'm super grateful for it. First, I'd like to say how proud I am to have contributed to this cool book alongside other fantastic authors. Field biology was one of my favorite undergrad classes, and seeing this book come together has brought me an untold amount of joy. Only one thing could make this better for me, and that's if all of you would share your favorite parts of the book. Now, maybe you're wondering, "That's cool, Ruvaid, but what did you work on?"

Surprise, dear reader, for I have seeded a trail to answer that very question—one that can be found by tracing steps back through these sentences of mine.

That's right, it was the griffon section! Well, that, and some of the beast armaments and alchemical items.

I hope you guys enjoy this awesome book. There's a ton of cool things in here that I can't wait to play with for myself.

Should you want to know more about me or my works, you can follow me on the bird site at @Darth_Ruvaider or the sky site @darthruvaider.bsky.social. I've got plenty of exciting announcements to make this year, so stay tuned!

Andrew White (he/him)

Hello! I’m Andrew, Paizo’s digital products lead and contributor to such projects as Book of the Dead, Rage of Elements, and the first volume of an Adventure Path that just so happens to go great with all of the new character options you’ll find in Howl of the Wild! For this book, I had the amazing opportunity to write a bunch of weird new alchemical items, the ethereal wildlife section, six new dinosaurs, and the werecreature archetype. I absolutely loved working on this project, and I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the designers who not only gave me all these awesome assignments but who also let me put a devil T-Rex that shoots unholy fire beams out of its eyes into their nature book.

You can find me on Twitter and slightly-less-awful-Twitter at @plaguecontrol and @plaguecontrol.bsky.social respectively, and my freelancer portfolio at https://andrewwhite.carrd.co.

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Lastly, to celebrate Baranthet’s long journey to find the wardens of the wild, we leave you with a glimpse of their majesty, just beyond the spoiler text below:

[To gaze upon the wardens of the wild, click here]

The Warden of Caverns and Burrows & the Warden of Forests and Meadows (art by Mirco Paganessi)

The Warden of Oceans and Rivers & the Warden of Peaks and Skies (art by Mirco Paganessi)

That is all, dear readers!

Until another day,

James Case
Senior Designer

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! This month’s new releases take you on a tour of Golarion’s wilds, dive into the Abomination Vaults once more (this time in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition), and ask you to suit up and save Daimalko!

Don’t forget, this weekend is PaizoCon 2024—our community celebration of all things Paizo! Join us on twitch.tv/officialpaizo and hop into the paizo.events Discord server to get in on the excitement!

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories.

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Pathfinder Howl of the Wild

A WILD ADVENTURE!

A sound echoes across the world’s farthest wildernesses: the howl of countless animals and beasts! This all-new, 224-page Pathfinder rulebook dives deep into the wilderness like never before! With new ancestries, character options, animal companions, wilderness foes, and more, Howl of the Wild provides a traveler’s pack worth of value for players and Game Masters alike!

Pathfinder Howl of the Wild is available in standard hardcover, Special Edition faux leatherette bound hardcover, and PDF formats. Don’t forget to check your FLGS for the hobby retailer exclusive sketch cover!

Starfinder Adventure Path: Mechageddon!

SUIT UP, SAVE THE WORLD!

On a rugged planet crawling with colossi, terrifying kaiju that demolish cities with fearsome power, courageous mech pilots battle monsters to protect the world’s people. As the war for control of planet Daimalko rages on, a mysterious third power plots to use an ancient artifact to purge the planet of all life. It’s time for Daimalko’s defenders to suit up against a new threat!

Starfinder Mechageddon! is available in standard hardcover, Special Edition faux leatherette bound hardcover, and PDF formats.

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults (5E)

One of Pathfinder’s most popular and exciting campaigns comes to D&D Fifth Edition at last!

When the mysterious Gauntlight, an eerie landlocked lighthouse, glows with baleful light, the people of Otari know something terrible is beginning. Evil stirs in the depths of the Abomination Vaults, a sprawling dungeon where a wicked sorcerer attempted to raise an army of monsters hundreds of years ago. The town's newest heroes must venture into a sprawling dungeon filled with beasts and traps to prevent a spiteful spellcaster from rising again!

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults (5E) is available in standard hardcover, Special Edition faux leatherette bound hardcover, and PDF formats.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #202: Severed at the Root (Wardens of Wildwood 2 of 3)

Under surprising new leadership, the Wildwood Lodge begins a campaign of violence. Shocked, the PCs and their allies form a new lodge in exile to oppose this new regime. As they recruit new friends to their cause, the PCs must deny the Wildwood Lodge a powerful relic created by the renegade druid Ghorus, all while investigating the strange, primal magic the Wildwood Lodge has uncovered. If the PCs are to prevail, they will need to track down one of the Verduran Forest’s most dangerous inhabitants and convince her to aid their cause—or ensure she cannot aid their enemy.

Keep your campaign going with the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription and get a free PDF when your copy ships!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Treasure Trove

A wealth of riches!

To some, adventuring is all about getting treasure and Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Treasure Trove sets the scene for a haul of legendary scale. Each side of the Flip-Mat presents one of two treasure-laden locations adventurers can explore to get their loot. One side presents a fortified temple vault protecting priceless relics, while the other shows a secluded cavern lair of a dragon or other large and covetous beast. Spread this map out at your table and enrich your experience!

Pathfinder Battles: Leshy Window Boxed Set

Delight your tabletop with the Pathfinder Battles: Leshy Window Box Set! This set features eight charming miniatures representing a veritable grove of nature spirits from the Pathfinder role-playing universe.

This set includes eight types of Leshy, such as the fanged Flytrap Leshy, the prickly Cactus Leshy, the adorable Gourd Leshy, and even the cheery Fruit Leshy, to name a few.

Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Era’s End

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

Under the watchful eye of newly elected First Seeker Sarmak, the Starfinder Society travels to the machine planet of Aballon to undertake an archaeological survey of the ancient city of Eternity. Using a relic known as the Eternity Drive, the Starfinders launch initial explorations, uncover long-forgotten information about the fabled First Ones, and clash with a violent faction of anacite extremists named Those Who Call.

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-02: Zo! vs. Zo

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

Objection!

For years, Zo (the city) and Zo! (the bombastic undead media mogul) have been engaged in a legal dispute over their shared name. Finally, both parties have agreed to a trial on the planet of Triaxus to put the matter to rest for good. In a bold move, Zo! calls in a favor from the Starfinder Society, requisitioning a team of Starfinders to represent him in the trial. Make your case to the jury, ready your counterargument, participate in a trial by combat against a team of crack combat-lawyers, and smile for the camera in the live broadcast of the decade!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-16: A Lie Told to Strangers

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

Poorer citizens of Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers, have been going missing, and while many think they've simply left to emigrate to New Thassilon, a purported haven for outcasts, an independent journalist feels that there's something unsavory going on. Kaer Maga doesn't have much in the way of authorities, and those who hold any power aren't taking her seriously, so she's turned to the Pathfinder Society. The PCs need to figure out what's going on, and if it is unsavory, perhaps put a stop to it.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-17: Stranded on Yesterdays’ Tide

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

The Pathfinder Society has heard reports of a ship sighted over and over, apparently following the same path before vanishing each week. This unfortunate ship is stuck in time, repeating the same week over and over. The crew has tried everything to escape this fate, and gave up years of the same week ago. The PCs must find a way to return things to normal and save the crew from an eternity of this single week.

Starfinder Society Special #5-99: Battle for the Bulwark

A Starfinder Society Special designed for 1st- through 8th-level characters (subtiers 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 & 7-8).

The Exo-Guardians faction once maintained an impressive fortress known as Sangoro's Bulwark. Years ago, mysterious forces attacked the bulwark, and the fortress was lost. Now, under the command of Ixthia the Unbreakable, the Starfinder Society launches a massive operation to reclaim Sangoro’s Bulwark, rescue any survivors, and destroy the foul forces that dared take the lives of the Starfinders stationed there. The battle for Sangoro’s Bulwark has begun!

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API. Or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer a part of PaizoConnect and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

Pathfinder Remastered Core Collection – Brazilian Portuguese Translation

Our translation partners New Order Editora are currently crowdfunding to translate the remastered Core Rulebooks into Portuguese!

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Guest Blog by Meredith Gerber (she/her) | DriveThruRPG Partner Relations Manager

The Infinite Masters Program with Pathfinder Infinite and Starfinder Infinite is a group of skilled and incredibly creative individuals. Over the years, the Infinite Masters have provided some of the best-in-class titles to pair with your adventures.

“One of my greatest joys each month is getting to write a blog showcasing the top performing and newest releases on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite. The Infinite creators have such amazing ideas, and I’m always looking forward to what they’re cooking up next.” –Rue Dickey (they/he/xe) | Marketing & Media Specialist

The Infinite Masters Program is currently by invitation only; DriveThru and Paizo take suggestions from the community about who would be great fits for the program. Infinite Masters offer support to one another, giving suggestions and constructive criticism, and fostering collaboration that has been part of our best sellers in recent years.

“Despite the vast amount of content for Pathfinder and Starfinder we generate at Paizo, our long production timelines and resource limitations mean that we can neither be as nimble or prolific as our community sometimes demands. Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite allow the community to meet their own demands for MOAR! and with much more responsive timelines. Seeing the professional and inspired creations of the Infinite community are a great joy, and provide an incredible amount of encouragement to all of us here at Paizo.” –Mark Moreland (he/him) | Director of Brand Strategy

There is no end to the Infinite community’s imagination; Masters continue to surprise us with every single release. The group has grown since its inception, with new creators invited every few months. They generate some of the coolest content to pair with your Pathfinder and Starfinder adventures and we’re grateful for not only their creativity, but their willingness to be so communicative and open about their hopes about the program.

While this is only a handful of Infinite Masters in this Infinite Masters Spotlight, we hope that you check out all the Infinite Masters and take their incredible releases with you on your next journey!

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Foam and Fortune: Adventures In Soap Scum Cove

“I enjoy writing for Pathfinder Infinite because it allows me to create intricate and immersive products with endless possibilities, engaging both players and GMs with rich storytelling experiences. Paizo's support and diverse products enable me to create varied narratives to explore wide ranging themes, energizing my creativity and passion for writing.” –Tom Robinson (he/him)

Player Core 1 Expanded

“Pathfinder Infinite is a place for me to share my love for the game we play, and its history, with others who might feel the same way. That leads to chances for great collabs like this, where we push each other to expand what it means to be part of a class” –Arkon (he/him)

Ruins of the Enigmatic

“The inclusivity of the Pathfinder Infinite community is a highlight when writing as a Pathfinder Master. Paizo offers a rich world of lore in which to base any campaign not only including Golarion, but the planes and even the gods themselves!” –Simon Hunter (he/him)

Godsrain Contingencies

“The Pathfinder Infinite program started at an interesting time in my life, proving people could enjoy what I wrote, helping with income during some financial straits, and getting on the ground floor of several burgeoning creatives. Writing can be lonely, so I love how we've tried to make a collaborative and uplifting space, and I'm going to continue to try and help—so any of you thinking about it, come in, the water’s fine, we want to support you! The Godsrain Contingencies were inspired by the Godsrain Prophecies released in the lead up to the War of Immortals. I already wished I could do something for the event but knew I had to wait for materials—but then this stellar story by Erin Roberts came out. Weekly I thought, just a little each week and somehow it ballooned into a two-month wild ride of 38 pages. I still can't wait to see what comes next.” –Heleve Savore (she/her)

Together with Elements Archetypes

“I like writing for Pathfinder Infinite because of the supportive community of authors and players. This community is what led to a collaborative project, Together with Elements Archetypes, where several writers have contributed archetypes to bring the power of the elements to all sorts of characters. Everyone's creative strengths shine with support from the community-based writing process that went into this title.” ­W. Brian Lane (he/him)

Combination Weapons Unleashed

“I really enjoy writing and creating content for Infinite since it lets me flex a lot of my creative muscles as I engage in the process of layout editing, drawing art assets for my work, and collaborating with others. Pathfinder 2e is such a huge game that there are tons of ideas just begging to be expanded upon and explored, which is what led me to make many of my products, especially Combination Weapons Unleashed. Opening up more ways to enjoy the game we all love in creatively fulfilling ways is why I continue to create!” –Conner Berkheiser (he/they)

Golarion Unseen: Ancestries

“Pathfinder Infinite gave me an opportunity to contribute to the lore that fascinates me and let others enjoy it as well. My work, Golarion Unseen: Ancestries, is my passion for these four Ancestries coming to the forefront for you all to see.” –John Holmes (he/him)

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We welcome anyone to come create within the Pathfinder Infinite and Starfinder Infinite playground! Infinite Masters are not the only ones allowed to make releases! If you’re ever interested in designing for the program, check out our Get Started article and start making! We will see you on Infinite!