I Can Call Spirits From the Vasty Deep!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Looking to see what will come when you call for it? Find the answer in our new Player Companion, Monster Summoner's Handbook!

Summoning is a popular tactic, and it's one of the few magic options that has an entire character class built around it (a class that is also one of the few to get a revision in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Pathfinder Unchained). So when we dedicate a 32-page book to the topic, we know there are a lot of expectations, and a lot of concerns. As a big fan of summoning (so much so I stepped in and wrote part of this book, as did Assistant Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer) I wanted to make sure, it provided a wide range of options.

So, to put a lot of folk's minds at ease quickly, be aware that all the summoner class options we present in this book function with both the base summoner, and the Pathfinder Unchained summoner! Second, we provided options for expanding monster summoning spells with creatures from Bestiary 2-4, without just openly boosting the power of those spells. There are also options for priests of various gods to gain access to new summoned creatures when using either summon monster or summon nature's ally.

Illustrations by Darren Waud, Katherine 'Kez' Laczin, and Ian Perks

We also added two new outsiders (one with 5 HD and one with 11 HD, filling some gaps in the list of HD for outsiders appropriate for planar ally and planar binding spells), a slew of archetypes (my favorite being the elemental ally, a druid with access to four elementals, one for each element, that function as eidolons but with just one out at a time), simple templates (for creatures from elemental planes, Plane of Shadow, and the First World) and ways to access them, a way to use summoning spells to summon the SAME guardian spirit each time, and some anti-summoning options (ranging from the counter-summoner archetype to the summon bane magic weapon special ability).

It's only 32 pages of course (efforts to summon a bigger book failed...), and I'm sure there are yet more things people would have loved to see. But I hope we managed to provide a little something for everyone, and a lot of cool options for anyone wanting to master summoning!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer

Starting to Look a Little Spooky!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Illustration by Darren Ward

In the United States and many other countries throughout Europe and the Americas (and likely beyond), the transition between October and November is a time for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and other festivals that mix spiritual significance and macabre imagery. Having grown up loving Halloween—no surprise, I suppose, given my love of playing other characters in RPGs—I like to include a spooky scenario on the schedule in October whenever possible. This year, Tom Phillips returns with his third scenario: Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Hall of the Flesh Eaters, a Tier 1-5 scenario that takes place on one of the Gloomspires, an array of ancient towers rising from the ocean west of the Eye of Abendego. This is a new feature of Tom's invention picked up from his 2012 Top 8 RPG Superstar submission (careful—there are some light spoilers in the link), and we at Paizo agreed it would be a great fit for Golarion. It's been fun giving Tom a lot of creative freedom to flesh out (har har) this location, and I know you're going to enjoy the creepy atmosphere and encounters.

The other scenario for the month is Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-07: Valley of Veiled Flame by returning author Nathan King. I really enjoy picking up old plot threads, and for years players and GMs alike have asked when they might see a use for one particular unique item that appeared on a Chronicle sheet many years ago. In this Tier 5-9 adventure, the PCs travel deep into the Zho mountains on the trail of a lost team of Pathfinders only to find an extraordinary treasure hidden among the peaks. I'd rather not spoil the plot for you, so I'll just leave you with this piece of art.

Also, you may have heard about the upcoming Occult Adventures hardcover book and seen signs about an upcoming playtest. In the past, the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign has participated in the playtest phase of other hardcover books, and we intend to continue that tradition with Occult Adventures—with a bit of a twist: We will provide a Chronicle sheet available as a free download that incentivizes testing one of the new classes and providing feedback during the playtest window based on how many times you played.

Finally, I've begun experimenting with a new type of boon. I'll say no more on the subject, but I'm interested to hear what people think when they start seeing it on Chronicle sheets. When that time comes, I strongly encourage you to discuss it with spoiler tags or noting the spoiler nature in the thread's subject line, for I would appreciate players having a chance to discover it through play and come to their own conclusions first.

John Compton
Developer