It's in Your Blood!

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Soon Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Ancients will be hitting shelves worldwide and the digital bookshelf of paizo.com as a PDF. If you're looking to have your character gain knowledge from the ancient cultures of Golarion, this is the book to check out!

Blood of the Ancients kicks off with a section that allows you to tie your character to the traditions of the ancient cultures of Golarion in a similar manner that a worshipper of a god follows an obedience. These traditions grant characters special abilities like spells and bonuses to skills.

Illustrations by Alyssa McCarthy and Kent Hamilton

The book then continues with sections on various ancient cultures such as the ancient Azlant, Imperial Lung Wa, and Ninshabur. Each section features new options that allow aspects of these ancient cultures to survive to present day Golarion. Some of these new options include the Hinyasi brawler archetype from the Abendego Gulf, which focuses on fighting with improvised weapons, and the dwarven scholar bard that can teach her allies the ancient fighting styles of the dwarves of Tar Taargadth.

We have more than just archetypes in this book, though! Maybe you're interested in the astrological wonders of the Saoc Brethren. Perhaps you've wanted to tap in to the arcane secrets of the Poleheira of the Jistka Imperium or follow the ancient paladin code of Wadjet. There are many things your character can learn from the past and Blood of the Ancients is the best way to do so!

Illustrations by Alyssa McCarthy and Lucas Durham

Luis Loza
Developer

Happy Holidays from the Paizo Crew!

Friday, December 22, 2017

Another year is coming to a close, and 2017 has been a landmark year for us at the Paizo office! In the last few weeks, we've begun reflecting on and collecting memories from the last 12 months, and the support that you, our community of amazing fans, have given to our projects. We're blown away by it all, and before we begin our recap blogs for the year, we want to take a moment to say: thank you!

These "adorable" little skittermanders are ready for the winter festivities!
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

The release of a new roleplaying game is an all-hands-on-deck effort, and it is no understatement that the reception for Starfinder has exceeded our expectations many times over. While we plan on recapping our projects from this year in another blog, it's notable that the gamers we've seen at conventions, organized play events, game stores, and patronizing paizo.com seem to really enjoy this crazy, wonderful, spacey adventure we've put so much work into. The next year is definitely going to be full of even more Starfinder (and of course, Pathfinder) excitement to come.

This widening community of gamers is what makes it possible for everyone at Paizo to keep aspiring for bigger and better goals. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday18 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Once again, and we can't say it enough, thank you! We wish you all safe travels, critical hits, and all the adventure that the holiday season brings!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*The holiday18 code stacks with Pathfinder Advantage. This discount does not apply to subscriptions, backorders, preorders, or third-party downloads.

Pick Your Poison—Or Potion

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

In a couple of weeks, Pathfinder Player Companion: Potions & Poisons will be available in stores worldwide and as a PDF here on paizo.com. If you've got a character that uses poisons, brews potions, or has poisonous racial tendencies, this is the book for you!

Potions & Poisons starts off with a section providing feats and archetypes for gripplis, nagaji, and vishkanyas like the swamp poisoner, venomblade, and disciple of the forked tongue. There's also a scorpion bloodline for those sorcerers who trace their power back to these venomous arachnids.

The book goes on to provide player options for character classes that frequently make use of poisons, such as the alchemist, rogue, witch, and investigator. Some of these new options include the fermenter alchemist, venom siphoner witch, and the rotdrinker rogue, as well as new alchemist discoveries, witch hexes, rogue talents, and investigator tricks.

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton

Deeper into this Player Companion, readers can put poisons away for a bit and read about potions. There are new feats for characters who brew potions, spells that aid in potion brewing, and a table of spells that are viable for potions and oils.

Pathfinder Player Companion: Potions & Poisons continues with a section on interesting elixirs and nonmagical alchemical concoctions usable by everyone. The last part of the book provides 10 new poisons, 12 new drugs, a dozen items frequently used by character who incorporate poison use into combat, and a dozen items used by those who either treat poisons or fight against toxic creatures and characters.

There's plenty in there for everyone! So, take your antitoxin before diving in and watch out for any needles, weird fluids, or strange-smelling gasses.

Just Dropped In

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Look, we tried to get rid of goblins in Starfinder, we really did. We tossed them down the garbage chute alongside some broken pipes and used batteries and OH GOD they have laser pistols and grenades and starships now! What have we done?!

Starfinder's space goblins are pests, to be sure, whether they are hiding in the ventilation systems of Absalom Station or establishing their own "empire" on a tiny asteroid in the Diaspora. But their antics can be amusing, especially when it isn't you standing at the business end of a makeshift junklaser. To that end, we have continued the fine tradition of the Pathfinder RPG Condition Cards by showing space goblins having various conditions inflicted upon them in the Starfinder Condition Cards.

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton

In addition to providing a handy summary of a particular condition, each two-sided card is illustrated by Kent Hamilton with a space goblin demonstrating that condition. From being entangled with wires to being grappled by alien tentacles and from blinding himself with his own flashlight to being fascinated by a shiny datapad (which I assume is running a space goblin's favorite gaming app: Angry Owlbears), these space goblins are both informative and hilarious!

So take home a deck of Starfinder Condition Cards—and all its space goblins—today. Please. These goblins have already tipped over the office fridge and are starting to gnaw on boxes of Flip-Mats. Oh no! I think they've made it to the serv—

Jason Keeley
Developer

True Masters of Elemental Power

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook is just about to coalesce from the elements to land in your hands, so it's time to let you know what it's about! This book is a player-focused look at wielding elemental powers. Whether your PC studied elemental forces as a route to power, was born with an inherent connection to these primordial forces, or became cursed with an affiliation to one entity at the expense of vulnerability to another, this book is for you. Whether or not your GM plans to provide you with planar adventures, such by using the recent Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Planes of Power, you'll find this book to be invaluable!

Elemental Master's Handbook is broken up into several sections. First up are four long sections about air, earth, fire, and water. Each of these sections provides one or two new archetypes, such as the firebrand gunslinger archetype, who uses dragon pistols effectively but recklessly, or the storm caller summoner archetype, who can hurl lightning. These sections also present a variety of additional rules elements like new magic items, rogue talents, and bloodlines. All these rules are infused with elemental flavor: for example, desperation is a new spiritualist phantom focus to reflect a death by drowning or suffocation. Tragic? Yes. But also cool. Each elemental section concludes with a look at a few places on Golarion where your PC may have been steeped in elemental power, including a new feat for each. For example, the following new feat fits characters with a connection to the dwarven Sky Citadel of Kraggodan.

Kraggodan's Stance (Combat)

You have learned one of the secrets of Kraggodan's defenders and can lock your armor and shield into an impenetrable barrier.

Prerequisites: Con 13, proficiency with heavy armor and shields.
Benefit: As a move action when wearing heavy armor and using a heavy shield or tower shield, you increase the bonus to AC granted by your armor and your shield by 1 each until you move or are moved from your current square. You must be in contact with solid ground to gain this benefit. You can never increase an armor or shield bonus to AC by more than 1 each in this way.

"Good? Bad? I'm the kid with the stick."
Illustration by Graey Erb

The rest of Elemental Master's Handbook contains several shorter sections, each touching on a different facet of elemental mastery. There has been some public speculation about whether this book will have kineticist content—of course it does! In addition to rules items scattered throughout the book that kineticists will find invaluable, there's an entire section devoted to kineticists alone. This section includes new infusions, utility wild talents, and feats—like this one.

Mobile Gathering

You can gather elemental energy while walking slowly.

Prerequisites: Kineticist level 7th, kinetic blast class feature.

Benefit: While taking a move action to gather power, you can move up to half your base speed, and while taking 1 full round to gather power, you can move up to half your speed on the turn you begin the full round of gathering power. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity, and you can't use Acrobatics checks or other abilities to attempt to negate them, as you're concentrating on gathering power (nor can you use Acrobatics to balance, jump, or do anything else that requires a skill check). It's harder to concentrate on gathering power while using this feat; if you take damage during or after gathering power and before using a kinetic blast that releases it (including from an attack of opportunity provoked by the movement), the concentration check DC to avoid losing the gathered power increases by twice the blast's effective spell level.

An advantage—or a curse, I suppose, depending on how you look at it—of being in one of my home games is that I'll sometimes introduce new rules items I'm writing or developing. The kineticist player in my Hell's Vengeance game already uses some of these rules items to blast paladins and angels with wanton abandon.

Another section of Elemental Master's Handbook presents elemental augmentations, which permanently alter a portion the recipient's body by infusing it with primordial powers. An augmented body part is forever altered; the elemental augmentation remains until the body part is removed, which can have some unfortunate side effects. Elemental augmentations come with some powerful advantages, but also carry some corresponding weaknesses that tend to be more flavorful than debilitating. What? You don't follow? Is this some trick to get an example out of me? Okay, done.

"My master wishes you some serious harm, and I'm pleased to grant it."
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Quicksilver Blood Price 62,000 GP

Slot none; CL 9th; Weight —

Aura moderate transmutation

This recipient's blood is infused with liquid metal that is magically bound to the recipient's system. When the recipient bleeds, the metal clings to itself and turns a bright silver color. The recipient automatically stabilizes when at negative hit points and is immune to continuous damage from bleed attacks (including weapons with the wounding special ability) and ability damage from blood drain. The recipient is considered a ferrous creature for the purposes of spells and effects such as rusting grasp and a rust monster's attack.

This elemental augmentation cannot be applied to a creature without blood.

Construction Requirements Cost 31,000 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, adhesive blood^ACG, lesser restoration, creator must have 9 ranks in Knowledge (planes)

There's more neat stuff here than I can get into, such as a new oracle mystery that blends elemental powers together, the aether elemental school for wizards, and the new genie eidolon subtype that can improve its own powers only in response to its summoner uttering a wish. Elemental powers for any PC can be yours!

As a final note, the first bardic masterpiece has a missing title. Although I briefly considered inviting readers to propose their favorite name for this masterpiece, I'll just tell you: it's Blazing Rondo (oratory, percussion).

Ron Lundeen
Contributing Developer

A Deeper Dive with Undersea Characters

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

We're on the cusp of releasing Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Sea, and I wanted to provide a glimpse beneath the surface at its contents. I think this product's existence isn't a huge surprise: a player focus on underwater adventuring naturally follows the recent Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures and the upcoming Ruins of Azlant adventure path (Pathfinder Adventure Path #125: Tower of the Drowned Dead takes place entirely underwater, with an exception I hope people find as awesome as it is unexpected). I also think this product's structure isn't a huge surprise: as with other Player Companion volumes such as Blood of the Beast and Blood of Shadows, you'll see PC races highlighted and expanded. What will surprise most people is how awesome and useful Blood of the Sea really is.

First, the book was penned by Amber Scott, a long-time contributor for Paizo who devotes as much attention to flavor as rules. Amber's text was a delight to develop. She took a close look at several aquatic races and added innumerable roleplaying touches; for example, the notoriously lawful tritons are often asked to serve as mediators by other aquatic races, many aquatic elves are incorrigible treasure-seekers, and quite a few locathahs like potatoes. She also provided cool race-specific mechanical options for each, including archetypes, feats, and gear. For example, merfolk are deeply connected to musical expression and therefore have new bardic masterpieces and the song-bound oracle curse.

In addition, Blood of the Sea provides racial trait lists for races that didn't have them—such as locathahs, sahuagin, tritons, and more. These traits span a wide range to suit many campaign types: locathahs and tritons have the same power level as existing PC races (10 RP and 11 RP, respectively), while other races are slightly more powerful but fit perfectly into an underwater campaign. Like an octopus-person? Yes!

Look at this stuff—isn't it neat?
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Cecaelia Racial Traits (23 RP)

As cecaelias are unusual and powerful monstrous creatures, you should play one only with your GM's permission. Cecaelias normally have racial Hit Dice, skills, and other abilities. PC cecaelias, however, calculate these benefits based solely on their class. Note that these abilities are only an approximation of the cecaelia monster from Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 and may not match exactly. PC cecaelias have the following racial traits.

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Intelligence: Cecaelias are nimble and have a canny insight, but they tend to be flighty.

Monstrous Humanoid: Cecaelias are monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype.

Medium: Cecaelias are Medium creatures, and they have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Darkvision: Cecaelias have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Tentacle Sense (1 RP): While swimming and not grappled or grappling, a cecaelia can spread her tentacles wide to form a sensory net around herself as a swift action. This grants blindsight to a range of 10 feet and lasts as long as the cecaelia concentrates or until the cecaelia attacks with a tentacle or moves.

Natural Armor: Cecaelias have a +2 natural armor bonus.

Normal Speed: Cecaelias have no trouble moving about on land using their tentacles and have a base speed of 30 feet.

Swim Speed: Cecaelias have a swim speed of 40 feet.

Jet (1 RP): Cecaelias can swim 200 feet backward as a full-round action. A cecaelia must move in a straight line when jetting and does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she uses jet.

Tentacle Attacks (3 RP): Cecaelias have two tentacle attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage. These attacks are primary natural attacks and have a reach of 10 feet. This extended reach only applies to the cecaelia's tentacle attacks and not to any other attacks she makes.

Amphibious: Cecaelias are amphibious and can breathe both air and water.

Ink Cloud (3 RP): Once per hour as a standard action, a cecaelia can emit a 10-foot-radius sphere of ink while underwater. This ink cloud provides total concealment and persists for 1 minute.

Stable Tentacles (4 RP): Cecaelias cannot be tripped.

Languages: Cecaelias begin play speaking Aquan and Common. Cecaelias with a high Intelligence score can choose from the following: Aklo, Celestial, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Gnome, and Halfling.

Blood of the Sea isn't just about aquatic races; it's also extremely useful for land-bound races venturing beneath the waves. You'll find several archetypes, magic items, and spells useful for undersea exploration, such as the tempest tamer archetype (a druid that transforms into air or water elementals rather than animals or plants) and the suspend drowning spell. A useful magic item for PCs with little critters is the familiar bubble. Useful how? Take a look!

Did someone say there were sahuagin PCs down here?
Illustration by Alyssa Davis

Familiar Bubble Price 2,500 GP

Slot none; CL 3rd; Weight 1 lb.
Aura faint conjuration

A familiar bubble looks like nothing more than a pair of reinforced leather straps designed to fit over the shoulders—until it is worn. Once the straps are donned, a bubble of force forms on the wearer's back, large enough to hold a Tiny or smaller creature and 1 pound of items (usually food for the creature). The bubble is transparent and continuously generates fresh, breathable air within. While the bubble keeps air in and water out, it is permeable to other objects. Spells and weapons can target the creature in the familiar bubble normally.

As a standard action, the familiar bubble's user can designate a specific creature within 30 feet that can pass freely in and out of the bubble. All other living creatures find the bubble impenetrable. This selection remains until the wearer chooses a different creature or removes the familiar bubble (which causes the bubble to disappear). Normally, the user selects a creature in order to get it into the bubble and then selects himself so he can retrieve the creature, if needed.

Construction Requirements Cost 1,250 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, air bubble^UC

Blood of the Sea also discusses the roleplaying elements that can confront landwalker PCs, such as why aquatic disguises can be difficult to pull off and why Common is hard to speak underwater. It also discusses the most useful and relevant magic items and spells that already exist. I'll conclude with a personal story: in an adventure path I'm playing, our group needed to embark on a lengthy underwater excursion. While the other players scoured the Core Rulebook and Ultimate Equipment to see how best to pull it off, I just consulted page 29 of Blood of the Sea and noted that cloaks of the manta ray were probably our cheapest effective option, and that we should carry back-up potions of water breathing as well. Useful advice! The journey went well, although my hobgoblin druid was slain by our party's oread monk who had been dominated by—whoops, spoilers. But any way you look at it, Blood of the Sea brings new depths to underwater adventuring!

Ron Lundeen
Contributing Developer

Identify, Approach, Kill, Repurpose

Friday, March 17, 2017

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

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

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

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

Illustration by Forrest Imel

Identify

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

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

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

Approach

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

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

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

"MNYARRR! I'M A YETI!"

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

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

Kill

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

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

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

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

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

Repurpose

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

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

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

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

Final Exam

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

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

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

As Aeons End

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton

This month the Strange Aeons Adventure Path wraps up, and by the time this blog goes live some subscribers will have already dug their claws into the adventure while others have to wait for stores to put them on the shelves next Wednesday.

Over the course of this Adventure Path, readers have seen how subtle corruptions can boil over into dangerous territory, leaving those that witness them to gestate further horrors in their own minds that can threated the world at large. Within this Adventure Path, we got a look at the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods that make up the Elder Mythos. We explored Hastur's cult and had a glimpse into what might happen if that Great Old One was to rise as an Outer Gods. We got to look deeper into the vile evil of the Necronomicon, and explored the strange world of the Dreamlands. We ventured to forgotten locations in Golarion and stepped beyond the gap between worlds to set foot on lost Carcosa. In the Adventure Path bestiary, we got to show you new statistics for a Great Old One in each installment, as well as a double handful of other Mythos creatures throughout. It's been a strange journey to say the least.

I'm terrible at picking favorites, be it a favorite color, favorite song, favorite food, whatever. However, since I had so many great writers on this Adventure Path, I felt the need to pick my favorite thing that they created in each of the six adventures. Like always, it's difficult picking my favorite things that I liked about each one, so in some cases I just went with my gut when picking from my lengthy lists. Here goes!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity

Favorite Thing: The whole first act.

The starting encounter with the PCs asleep and encountering the Tatterman and the fugue state set up of the whole AP seemed challenging in the outline, but Wes Schneider killed it in a way that was better than I could imagine.

Honorable Mentions: That attic whisperer illustration; the Argus Wall; and Red Destiny.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #110: The Thrushmoor Terror

Favorite Thing: Thrushmoor's weird townsfolk.

Tito Leati is great at writing character that interconnect, so I loved his backstory of Nemira Lowls and how she tied in with Clymes Prett and the history of Thrushmoor's leadership, as well as the other characters he introduced.

Honorable Mentions: Fun Star Stelae mechanics; the Hastur article; and meeting Weiralai the first time.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #111: Dreams of the Yellow King

Favorite Thing: The adventure's entire structure.

I love that this adventure takes place in two worlds during a long river journey, and with most of it in the Dreamlands Ron Lundeen was able to give out powerful treasure and present some nearly impossible fights (I'm looking at you, Bokrug).

Honorable Mentions: Abdul Alhazred; Skywin Freeling as a breath of fresh, positive air; and fighting yourselves.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #112: A Whisper Out of Time

Favorite Thing: Creepy derro madness.

Rich Pett is a master of the weird and unsettling, and I really adored what he did with Miacknian Mun's house (and his weird experiments that look like him).

Honorable Mentions: The derro leader Twain; the weirdness of the Mysterium; and betrayal and blood in Okeno.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within

Favorite Thing: The strange allies you encounter.

This trip into a forgotten and inhospitable location in Golarion was made extra fun and interesting with the rich characters John Compton introduced. I adored Hoshbagh, the otyugh tome eater occultist and the frightening Mother Grim Moon, as well as the broken soul manu and the Saffron Prince.

Honorable Mentions: The return of Weiralai in her advanced form; the Necronomicon article; and the child of Yog-Sothoth template.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon

Favorite Thing: Packing varied locations into one adventure.

It was a tough challenge to show different parts of Carcosa in such a tight space, but Jim did a great job of it. I especially liked seeing the Paris element of Carcosa, but getting to see Azlanti vampires and an elder thing "ghost town" was delightful as well. Man, I really love this cover.

Honorable Mentions: The cast of familiar characters like Erich Zann, Cassilda, and the Pallid Mask.

The Sounds of Madness

Today we're also excited to announce that our partners at Syrinscape have released the first Strange Aeons SoundPack! Ben has, yet again, worked his magic on bringing "In Search of Sanity" alive in all of its delightfully creepy beauty. After listening to it at my desk, I nabbed Wes so he could get a chance to hear the demented sounds of his adventure. This SoundSet really captures the fear and uncertainty of trying to survive an asylum that has descended into monstrous chaos. I loved hearing the sounds for the argus wall, and the encounter with what Debis Lieklan has become is especially unnerving. Listening to this also made me realize that I need to put more dialog in adventures, as it was great hearing the NPCs in this adventure come to life.

The first volume in the new Strange Aeons Adventure Path, "In Search of Sanity", is a fantastically intense and ghastly adventure needing equally fantastic and horrible sounds. You can get a peek at the process behind how the Syrinscape team worked their magic to bring this adventure to spine tinglingly disturbing 3D life on our YouTube channel. (Who would have thought you could voice a Nightgaunt with a fur seal?)

With the In Search of Sanity SoundPack you'll be able to carefully and finely tune your player's discomfort. Subtly ramping up or down from one so-called "Tension Level" is simply a matter of touching a single button. Your players probably won't even notice just how intensely immersed and involved they've been in the adventure session. Not until you stop Syrinscape to take a break and the mood weirdly drains from the room will they know just how you've been masterfully you've been controlling the ebb and flow of this horror adventure with a few subtle mostly subliminal tones.

Watch the demo below and grab the first Strange Aeons SoundPack here! If you're looking for more creepy sounds, check out the whole range of Syrinscape products.

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

Illustrations by Miguel Regodón Harkness

Crossing the Streams

For those of you who want more Call of Cthulhu chocolate in their Pathfinder peanut butter (or vice versa—it's your metaphor to manipulate as needed), James Jacobs worked up a clever system in the Continuing the Campaign article to merge your Strange Aeons characters with investigators working against the sinister machinations of the Mythos in this final Strange Aeons Adventure Path volume, Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon.

When using this system, at the climax of the Adventure Path, the PCs don't return to Golarion, but instead a magical vortex opens in Carcosa that blasts their consciousness out to the stars where they arrive in the minds of humans on a planet with a strong connection to Carcosa—Earth.

This provides an option to play adventures with the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game where the investigators have the spirit essences of the characters the players controlled throughout the Strange Aeons Adventure Path inhabiting their minds on Earth. These spirit essences want to return to Golarion, but can't make the transition until they achieve some goals on Earth such as preventing the rise of eldritch forces and fighting against Mythos influence. With enough successes, the characters' spirit essences are freed from the human investigators and can safely return to their selves on Golarion.

This is an interesting approach to merging two different games and campaigns, and I'm interested in seeing how folks use it.

This month's Pathfinder Adventure Path closes out the Strange Aeons Adventure Path and I hope that you've enjoyed the weird ride as much as we've enjoyed bringing to you. Stay tuned to this blog for deeper looks into the Adventure Path as we bring you more reports from the Order of the Amber Die as they run marathon sessions of the remaining adventures in this campaign. You're not getting this Adventure Path out of your head that easy.

Adam Daigle
Developer

Happy Holidays from Paizo!

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

What a year 2016 has been! The latter half of the year is always a time where we reflect upon the wonderful support of our community, customers, and fans. And while many of us are still hustling to get the outstanding last-minute goblins in check before taking a much-needed break, we realize that without you, it wouldn't be nearly as awesome!

While we plan on recapping this years releases in another blog, some of the highlights of 2016 include: journeying back to a much-loved Adventure Path in the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, beginning sanity-bending adventures in Strange Aeons and Horror Adventures. And in the summer, we announced our next great adventure in gaming with the upcoming Starfinder Roleplaying Game for release in August 2017!

The most amazing experience of 2016 had to have been February's Humble Bundle benefitting Extra Life and Camden's Concert. At launch, members of our Creative staff pushed through a 12+ hour gaming marathon to raise awareness of the bundle, and words cannot express the palpable excitement and awe as we watched the amount of people who participated tick ever higher over from the start of the stream and over those two weeks. Members of our Community, Customer Service, Tech, and Warehouse teams pulled out all the stops (and many hard hours) to provide support this initiative, and we are so grateful to everyone who chipped in to support both organizations. This effort brought many new faces to our community, saw the launch of our new Twitch channel, and opened the door for new opportunities for our games.

You are what makes it possible for everyone at Paizo to keep reaching for bigger and better goals. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday17 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Once again, thank you! We wish you all safe travels, natural 20s, and all the wonders that the holiday season brings!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*The holiday17 code stacks with Pathfinder Advantage. This discount does not apply to subscriptions, backorders, preorders, or third-party downloads.

Down the Path of Madness

Thursday, December 15, 2016

With this month's release of The Whisper Out of Time the Strange Aeons Adventure Path is two-thirds of the way through a twisted journey through horror and uncertainty. By the time the PCs begin this month's adventure, they have reclaimed their lost memories and figured out what happened to them—something that will hopefully motivate them to track down those responsible. Let see what mind-shattering dangers await the PCs as they move into the last two volumes of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path.

In Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within (written by our own John Compton), the PCs journey to the mysterious and (mostly) abandoned alien city of Neruzavin where they hope to catch up to Count Lowls, but they have to survive a dangerous desert trek and the otherworldly dangers within if they hope to be successful. In addition to the adventure, this volume contains an article about the Great Old One Xhamen-Dor as well as a look into the blasphemous Necronomicon.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon (written by Jim Groves) brings the PCs to dreaded Carcosa as they frantically attempt to unravel the tendrils of the city that grip Golarion and seek to draw it into its alien bulk. Will the PCs draw the attention of Hastur before they can complete their task or will they remain forever shattered in lost Carcosa? This volume also contains a number of ways to continue the campaign—in strange ways—as well as the final installment of the Pathfinder's Journal (written by yours truly).

Illustrations by Mikael Leger

Illustrations by Alexandur Alexandrov, Kent Hamilton, and Jorge Fares

There's still more to come in Strange Aeons, so keep your eyes open for the final two adventures. I'll leave you with a few art teasers of what to expect for the final third of the campaign. Best of luck to all the PCs in this Adventure Path!

Adam Daigle
Developer

Walk the Path of Virtue

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

So, earlier in the year, the ebb and flow of product workflow had me swooping in to serve as the lead developer for a few installments of the Pathfinder Player Companion line. Two of these products (Haunted Heroes Handbook and Divine Anthology) had already been outlined and assigned to authors, but one of them was completely up in the air and left to me to create. I kicked around a few ideas, but time and time again those ideas were pretty much 100% inappropriate for a player-facing product (they may or may not some day see the light of day in the Campaign Setting line or elsewhere). And then I had an epiphany.

We hadn't done a book about prestige classes in ages.

I love prestige classes.

And so Paths of the Righteous was born. My overwhelming preference for prestige classes is that they should tie into world flavor and reward players for actually bothering to invest in said world's flavor. I knew I didn't want to build a book that just randomly threw unrelated prestige classes out there (since I'd already built that book with Paths of Prestige), and tying the flavor to various religions made a lot of sense, since I've long been a champion of the concept of "every religion should have its own specialized class."

Prestige classes are the perfect solution to this, and so in Paths of the Righteous I decided to focus on the good-aligned faiths of the campaign setting. All of the good aligned core deities got a prestige class, along with two of the good-aligned "other gods"—Kurgess and Milani. That left five spots for prestige classes associated with empyreal lords (of which we had more than enough to choose from!). Once I had the 14 faiths chosen, I also wanted to make sure that these classes would work with as many different character themes as possible. That meant building several prestige classes that suggest non-divine spellcasting classes—there's options for wizards and fighters and swashbucklers and much, much more in this book!

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton and Graey Erb

But enough about the words... what about the arts? As a preview, here's images for the Devoted Muse of Shelyn, the Sacred Sentinel of Torag, and the Sphere Singer of Desna! Oh... and the Stargazer of the empyreal lord Pulura, because KITTY!!!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Villains Everywhere!

Friday, October 21, 2016

Pathfinder RPG: Villain Codex is double-dealing, backstabbing, and betraying its way into your hands next month! The book contains 20 different villainous organizations, and we're going to reveal five of those organizations each week, with themes of mystical villains, wilderness villains, civilized villains, and enigmatic villains.

Arcane Society

Our focus group this week is the Arcane Society. This group seems to be a benevolent multinational mage's guild, led by the beloved philanthropist known as the Eminent Spellqueen. Of course, things aren't always what they seem...

Illustration by Nemanja Stankovic
"Sweet Shelyn, what is going on there!?"

The Eminent Spellqueen's protective wards have prevented us from revealing more of her dark personal secrets here in this blog, but we managed to get the scoop on her equally-powerful right hand, the grand caller. The information bellows includes a slightly alternate set of prepared spells and additional facts to enhance the grand caller in your game!

Grand Caller

The Grand Caller is mentally insatiable but physically lazy, preferring the use of minions to perform his tasks. He provides extraplanar minions for the arcane society, including a marilith with whom he has a dangerous relationship.

Grand Caller CR 14

XP 38,400

Human conjurer (teleportation^APG) 15

CE Medium humanoid (human)

Init +10; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., true seeing, Perception +16

Defense

AC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 natural, +4 shield)

hp 171 (15d6+116)

Fort +17, Ref +15, Will +18; +4 vs. mind-affecting

Defensive Abilities contingency (teleport), death ward, fickle winds, freedom of movement, getaway; Immune dimensional anchor, fear

Offense

Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)

Melee mwk dagger +11/+6 (1d4-1/19-20)

Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 15th; concentration +23)

8th—maze, mind blank, moment of prescience

7th—greater teleport, mage's magnificent mansion, project image, summon monster VII

6th—getaway^APG, greater dispel magic, greater heroism, quickened dazing aqueous orb^APG (DC 24), true seeing

5th—dazing persistent aqueous orb^APG (DC 24), fickle winds, magic jar (DC 23), overland flight, summon monster V (2)

4th—dimension door, dimensional anchor, enervation, greater false lifeUM, summon monster IV, telekinetic charge^UC

3rd—countless eyes^UM, daylight, fly, haste, heroism, invisibility sphere, stinking cloud (DC 23)

2nd—bear's endurance, command undead (DC 20), darkvision, glitterdust (DC 22), invisibility, mirror image, resist energy

1st—comprehend languages, grease (DC 21), mage armor, protection from evil, protection from good, shield, unseen servant

0 (at will)—detect magic, ghost sound, mage hand, prestidigitation

Opposition Schools evocation

Illustration by Nemanja Stankovic

Tactics

Before Combat On a previous day, the grand caller set a contingency to teleport to a safe house whenever someone tries to attack him. He casts mind blank, getaway, moment of prescience, greater false life, mage armor, overland flight, countless eyes, darkvision, true seeing, fickle winds, greater heroism, bear's endurance, and shield and uses his scrolls of freedom of movement, death ward, and spell immunity (choosing dimensional anchor).

During Combat The grand caller summons appropriate minions for the situation to bolster those he has already called or created. He uses shift to keep mobile, dazing aqueous orb to control the battlefield, and telekinetic charge to help his marilith ally achieve full attacks.

Morale The grand caller rarely exposes his true self to danger, preferring to use spells like magic jar to control other bodies when he must be personally present. He flees whenever in true danger but fights to the death in a disposable body.

Base Statistics Without his spells, profane gift, and familiar, the grand caller's statistics are Senses no all-around vision, darkvision, or true seeing; AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 11; hp 100 (15d6+45); Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +14; Speed no fly speed; Defensive Abilities no defensive abilities; Immune no immunities; Melee mwk dagger +7/+2 (1d4-1/19-20); Con 14, Int 24; CMB +6; Skills all 4 lower, Fly +5.

Statistics

Str 8, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 26, Wis 12, Cha 10

Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 19

Feats Augment Summoning, Dazing Spell^APG, Dimensional Agility^UC, Greater Spell Focus (conjuration), Improved Initiative, Opposition Research^UM (necromancy), Persistent Spell^APG, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (conjuration), Spell Perfection^APG (aqueous orb), Superior Summoning^UM, True Name^UM (marilith)

Skills Bluff +22, Diplomacy +22, Fly +20, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana) +27, Knowledge (history) +27, Knowledge (planes) +27, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +27, Use Magic Device +22

Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Celestial, Common, Infernal, Terran

SQ arcane bond (familiar, compsognathus), shift (11/day, 35 ft.)

Combat Gear reach metamagic rod (lesser)^APG, scroll of death ward, scroll of freedom of movement, scroll of spell immunity; Other Gear mwk dagger, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of incredible dexterity +2, circlet of persuasion, cloak of resistance +4, headband of vast intelligence +4, ring of protection +1, statuette for contingency, 282 gp

The grand caller is the Spellqueen's trusted right hand, an arrogant and paranoid man who acts like a chessmaster with the world as a board, manipulating or forcing others into acting as his pieces. He has numerous countermeasures in place, from a clone spell to a contingency escape plan, and he generally has several outsider allies called by greater planar binding at any given time. The grand caller has a bizarre relationship with the marilith whose true name he holds. In contrast to the normal hatred in such a situation, she is unusually fond of him, but she resents his loyalty to the Spellqueen. The marilith has granted him a profane gift from one of her succubus minions, and she hopes this will help corrode his ties with the Spellqueen. In a serious fight, the marilith will always be at the grand caller's side, but he doesn't use her frivolously as he does his lesser minions.

Death Cult

The death cult of Urgathoa, and its leader the Reaper, believes that death is the ultimate form of equality and an end to suffering in a world full of oppression. While they do want to spread killer plagues, they're equal-opportunity employers, even if you opposed them before you died. In fact, one of the Reaper's most trusted advisors was once an adventurer who helped kill the Reaper.

Demon Knights

The demon knights are a military force of pure destruction, each modeling themselves after a particular type of demon. For instance, their general is the mighty Merciless Balor, an antipaladin who fights with a blade and a flaming whip. While their training techniques generally kill their new recruits, the fallen recruits provide not only a good example for the others but also a nourishing meal.

Brutal Slavers

The brutal slavers are double-dealing and sadistic scoundrels, led by the silver-tongued slave master, who works as a lobbyist in favor of slavery in general and his own organization in particular, and the horrifying experimenter, who uses slaves as living test subjects with the goal of mastering the secrets of fleshwarping to create a more powerful version of mongrelmen with the strengths of every humanoid race. Someone needs to be around to tend to injuries that would prevent the slaves from performing labor for the slavers or selling well on the open market, so of course the slavers brought in a sadistic cleric of Zon Kuthon because that can't go wrong.

Diabolical Church

In a town suffering upheaval and tragedy, who wouldn't be happy to see a new lawful church enter town and donate their spellcasting services for free, healing the sick, fighting off marauding monsters, and helping build infrastructure? Never mind who secretly started that upheaval, the point is that the church of Asmodeus is just misunderstood. Surely nothing can go wrong if you accept your new protectors, and it's not like those favors you've started to owe them are going to amount to anything important...

Illustrations by Jose Parodi, Damien Mammoliti, Matt Forsyth, and Kent Hamilton

Stay tuned next week for a taste of wilderness villains!

Mark Seifter
Designer

New Adventures Against the Crimson Throne, Part 2

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Last week, I started running down my favorite new additions to the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne—and this week I'll be doing more of the same! This time, I look at some of my favorite new additions to the campaign that appear in the final two chapters of the Adventure Path, as well as explore the contents of the extensive appendix that rounds out the book.

Chapter 5: Skeletons of Scarwall

Filling Up Scarwall

Scarwally is one of the largest dungeon crawls to ever appear in a Pathfinder Adventure Path. So large, in fact, that in its original incarnation I ended up having to cut several encounters and replace them with generic and uninteresting storerooms and kitchens and the like. When I started developing the text for the hardcover version, I went back to Greg's original turnover and found all sorts of old encounters that got cut for space. And so of COURSE I put them back in! Now, the saga of the undead orc chieftain Ukwar is there for your PCs to unravel, along with several other restored encounters. But even putting all of those encounters back in didn't do the trick; there were still empty rooms! And so I made up several brand-new encounters to spice things up even more, including a new category of haunt called a phantasm. I'm eager to see how folks react to phantasms, since they exist primarily to both fill in backstory and provide hints to solve the castle haunting, but also to mess with the players themselves, so they never no exactly what's going on. Phantasms generally ask that the GM have a specific player roll a skill check or saving throw or other die roll, but then advice the GM to make a show of noting the result without saying why. Other phantasms cause a PC to experience a vision that other PCs don't, but suggest the GM impart this information individual to players so the players themselves don't have the benefit of knowing the full picture of what's going on. It's a pretty meta way to handle haunts, and should help to infuse Scarwall with a sense of dread that will put even the most hardened players on edge.

As an example, here's a sample phantasm taken directly from the text:

Phantasm: The first PC who moves to investigate the strip of cloth must attempt a Will save. When you know the result, write it down and tell the player (regardless of the result) that his character feels a sudden panic at being caught in the arrow slit while trying to escape a murderous orc that's right behind him! Of course, there is no orc, and the Will save has no significance beyond being an attempt to unsettle the players.

(This particular phantasm is a haunt left behind by a castle servant who was indeed chased by an orc; when the servant tried to escape by squeezing throw an arrow slit, he got stuck and then murdered by the orc. In this way, the phantasm gives the players a brief glimpse into one of the numerous atrocities that occurred in Scarwall in the past, but also tinkers with their sense of safety and comfort by having a player roll a Will save that has no obvious immediate result.)

As noted early in the chapter, not all tables will be entertained by phantasms, and in fact I suspect some players will be more frustrated than entertained by them—and as such, you should feel free to omit them from your game if you see players reacting with frustration at their inclusion. They're meant to add to Scarwall's overall sense of haunting menace, but removing them won't cripple the plot at all.

Chapter 6: Crown of Fangs

Bolstering the Opposition

Unlike Castle Scarwall, Castle Korvosa was fully detailed in its original publication. It helped, of course, that Castle Korvosa wasn't intended to be a hyper-detailed dungeon crawl, but an active and occupied castle meant for several swift strikes rather than meticulous exploration. There's not a lot of new content in Castle Korvosa, as a result, but in the last part of the adventure I did add a few brand new encounters, both to mix things up a bit and to give Queen Ileosa more allies to call upon if things go bad. Among these additional threats in the Sunken Queen are two entities that have eldritch links to Runelord Sorshen—a scarlet walker (an extraplanar menace first detailed in the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords) and an immortal ichor that formed not from a god's blood but of seepage from the Everdawn Pool. And of course, there's one more monster at Ileosa's side in the final encounter!

Appendix

We've seven appendices in this book, each of which is intended to help the GM run her Crimson Throne game, or to expand it beyond the scope of the adventures as written.

Appendix 1: Continuing the Campaign

This short appendix suggests seven additional plots that can be expanded by you, the GM, to continue your Crimson Throne game, including one variant that sees Ileosa come back as a vampire! (And yes, of course we gave you art of vampire Ileosa!)

Appendix 2: Korvosa and Beyond

The adventures themselves present all the information about Korvosa you'll need to run encounters key to Crimson Throne's plot, but as in any urban game, your PCs will wander. This appendix presents a detailed gazetteer of Korvosa as it exists under Ileosa's rule, and serves as an expansion to the original Guide to Korvosa we published long ago. While owning that book will certainly help you run a Crimson Throne campaign, I strived to include enough information in this appendix that it's not necessary. In addition to all sorts of adventure hooks and location descriptions for the city, this appendix presents multiple city stat blocks for Korvosa as it undergoes numerous changes during the course of the campaign (from a healthy city to one on the edge of anarchy to one in the grips of a plague to one under martial law). Nearly three pages of rumor tables will help you drop hints to your players to foreshadow upcoming events, and advice on places where the PCs can rest and recuperate, shop for magic, or secure spellcasting services rounds the appendix out, along with some additional notes on the surrounding lands (including the Cinderlands themselves).

Appendix 3: The Harrow

The Harrow has always held a powerful role in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and this appendix not only provides you advice on how to use Harrow readings in your game and a mechanic for the PCs to use those harrow readings to influence fate, but also includes a list of what every single card in the Harrow deck symbolizes in the context of Curse of the Crimson Throne, so that when you pull a card during a reading, you'll know precisely what that card means for the PCs and their destiny.

Appendix 4: Blood and Pain

This short chapter is a sort of catch-all—here you've got rules for the plague that wracks Korvosa, but also rules for a kyton eidolon subtype. Why the subtype? Well, in the original version of the Adventure Path, we had an NPC named Shadowcount Sial, who had levels in a prestige class called "thaumaturgist"—a class that allowed a character to gain the services of an extraplanar minion. This prestige class, alas, was not one we updated into the Pathfinder rules, and while I initially toyed with doing so in this book, I settled on something better. I translated Shadowcount Sial into an unchained summoner, which gave me the perfect opportunity to give rules for kyton eidolons—something that there was no room to include in Pathfinder Unchained but which I know many folks have been asking for!

Appendix 5: Equipment and Magic

There's a few new items of equipment and many more new magic items to be found in this campaign—and they're all presented in this appendix. While some of these are updates from the original campaign (such as the third eye, Zellara's Harrow Deck, or the Crown of Fangs itself), others are brand new or have been quantified as items for the first time, including full details on the Everdawn Pool and rules for the strange poison known as "fool's leprosy" that Ileosa uses on her husband!

Appendix 6: NPC Codex

Curse of the Crimson Throne relies heavily on its NPCs, be they villains or allies. This appendix begins with an index that lists all of the significant NPCs in the adventure, along with their role and the page number you can find their stats on. But the meat of this appendix are the twelve significant NPCs presented in two-page formats. Here's where you'll find information on key NPCs like Laori Vaus, Blackjack, and Ileosa herself, along with a few newcomers—we've included statistics for Kazavon himself, for example, in case your PCs are unfortunate enough to let the mighty blue dragon come back to life! Many of these NPC entries include additional rules options utilized by these characters, such as new spells or feats—and if the PCs play their cards right, they'll be able to learn these new options from NPCs they encounter!

Appendix 7: Bestiary

Finally, we've got the bestiary. Here, we've provided several random encounter tables for you to roll up wandering monsters to spice up play, but have also presented full stat blocks for several new monsters: the soul-powered akaruzug, the tragic chained spirit, the malevolent danse macabre, the immense and alien havero, the plucky house drake, the pain-infused pharmakos, the lumbering red reaver, and two types of vermin that infest the city of Korvosa: drain spiders and dream spiders.

More Art!

And of course, I don't want to leave you without showing off some more of the new art we ordered for the hardcover edition. Check out these new interpretations of classic fights from the original adventures!

Illustrations by Caio Maciel Monteiro, Subroto Bhaumik, and Kent Hamilton

And that's enough for this week—tune in next week the last of our Crimson Throne blog previews, where I'll provide a player-friendly post that lists many of the faces of Korvosa—NPCs your characters can expect to encounter or at least hear about during the campaign. Of course, I'll leave it to your actual game play experience to find out which of these NPCs is your friend or foe!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Building Horror

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Just three short weeks until Horror Adventures emerges from the shadows! This week, I'm going to focus on the material in the book that helps GMs enrich horror games, from rules to advice.

New rules for a more nuanced fear track with seven levels, as well as for sanity and madness, allow your group to play around with the psychological consequences of the terrible events that are all too common in a horror game. The fear track has a split between lesser fear (which can cause increasing weakness but doesn't make you lose control of your character) and greater fear (where your character is so frightened that they can't help but act on it). Sanity is a sort of mental pool of hit points, and losing too much at once exposes you to a new madness (of increasing severity if your current sanity is below half your maximum). Of course, even if you lose sanity a little at a time, losing all your sanity causes you to completely lose your grip on reality.

The environments section contains 30 different creepy locations and hazards, each with their own rules. Locations include pools where a creature's reflection shows their true self (though sometimes, after you trust them, the pool will show your friend to have been replaced by a horrific creature even if she wasn't) and godless voids where divine power can't reach. Hazards range from weak threats witch lights that lead you into a trap and grasping undergrowth that actively impedes you, to major dangers like an honest-to-Desna bottomless pit and the dread apocalypse fog, which animates all corpses within into zombies. Environments also includes rules for domains of evil, dark pockets of supernatural activity embedded in a plane, plus a few horrific traps and a brief look at nightmare dreamscapes.

We also have sections for you on curses and horrific diseases, providing a variety of new twists on both topics, including curse templates like death curse and generational curse, disease templates like incurable, magic-resistant, plague, and virulent, tips on creating your own curses. There's even new diseases that all follow their own tracks of progression, like Unchained diseases, but much more personalized and gruesome; for instance bloody end causes blood to seep through your skin as you become prone to fits of rage.

The fleshwarping rules are the most PC-friendly of the bunch, at least if the PCs are evil enough to use them. They allow for three sorts of neat fleshwarps: true fleshwarping, where you make a new creature from several old creatures, fleshcrafting, where you graft tentacles, antennae, tails, and more onto a creature, and fleshwarp mutations, which are usually unintentional results of failed experiments, radiation, or other mutagenic experiences.

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

The haunts section is one of the true gems of the entire book. First of all, it contain delightfully twisted haunts from CR 1/4 all the way to the incredibly deadly CR 20 twisted wish haunt (pictured here, as Valeros wishes for more ale). It also has new haunt elements like elusive and latent. But the coolest part is probably the variant haunts, which shows how to use the haunt rules to create experiences other than hauntings from dead souls that are dealt with in ways other than positive energy. The variant haunt types are dimensional instabilities (places where the veil between the Material Plane and another plane is thin), maddening influences (tied to the reality-warping influence of eldritch beings and defeated with dangerous Knowledge), magical scars (places where dozens of powerful spells were hurled together), and psychic haunts (gatherings of emotional energy that can be defeated by calming them down with Diplomacy). Each variant also comes with an example haunt.

Illustration by Dave Allsop

In terms of monsters, we have a template for dread lords who rule evil domains, three hive creatures to go with the hive corruption, the Jason-like implacable stalker template (Vorhees, not Bulmahn) that can appear behind you and resurrect itself in your nightmares, the apostle kyton template for those transfigured by kytons, the trompe l'oeil (a creature that emerges from a painting), unknown (a fey that feeds off mental energies and erodes others' psyches until they too become unknown), and the waxwork creature template for creatures made of wax. There's simple templates associated with the theme of each corruption, in case you need to quickly and efficiently create a chimera whose dragon head is a construct, a dragon that turns into a tyrannosaurus rex every full moon, a vampiric unicorn, or a vegepygmy possessed by the spirit of the creature it once was. There's also two variant types of werewolves and the familial lich, which uses its own family line as a phylactery.

The "Running Horror Adventures" chapter, by master of horror Wes Schneider, is another of the books gems, particularly for me, as I've always wanted advice on how to make my horror games work out better. The chapter highlights the challenges of running horror games in Pathfinder before leading out with a preface about out-of-character consent to run horror games. It then explores subgenres of horror (body horror, cosmic horror, dark fantasy, ghost story, gothic horror, psychological horror, and slasher horror), explaining in each case how to tell those sorts of stories (and whether they are particularly easy or hard to tell in Pathfinder) and what sorts of threats and plots work best in a Pathfinder game themed around that subgenre. Afterwards, there's plenty of storytelling and atmospheric tips, tricks, and techniques, both in-character and out-of-character, that can keep both players and their characters on their toes. Finally, there's some suggestions on how to improvise rules for unusual horrific situations, with examples including being buried alive or burned at the stake.

With all these new rules at the GM's fingertips, I'm actually a little frightened to play in Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer's next game (she wrote the haunt section, so soon you might be too!). And of course, the book is a perfect companion for those of you looking to check out the Strange Aeons Adventure Path. Next week, we'll be back with a very special composite preview where a bunch of us share our favorite new toys from Horror Adventures!

Mark Seifter
Designer

Pawn Parade, PaizoCon Preview, and (P)Art (P)Spoilers!

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Greetings, Pathfinders!

How's everybody doing? Sitting down with your Barbarian, Oracle, and Alchemist Class Decks and getting blown up by goblins in Season of the Runelords? Well, keep sitting down, 'cause I've got lots of goodies to share. But before I do, go and vote in the PACG accessory contest!

Pathfinder Society Pawn Pwnage

I squeed briefly about this product last week, but I've got a little more space to expand on my happiness. Several months ago, Paizo Project Manager Jessica Price came to the Pathfinder Society team and said, "We've got a whole Pathfinder Pawns product just for PFS. What do you want to put in it?" After the cackling and rubbing of hands died down, John Compton, Mark Seifter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer started coming up with lists of characters. And lists, and lists, and lists. Then we rochambeau'd for who got to put in how many of their favorites. I won a lot, because I fight dirty. Mark's still a little afraid of me.

Illustrations by Jorge Fares and Kent Hamilton.

All three of the promo goblin characters are in the set! Even Tup the Terrible, who hasn't even been released yet (Free RPG Day, June 18th, at a game store near you)! All the non-iconic bards, clerics, fighter, rangers, rogues, sorcerers, wizards, monks, druids, paladins, barbarians, oracles, alchemists, inquisitors, witches, and gunslingers from their respective Class Decks are in this pawn collection. If I did my math right, that's 42 tokens for your Adventure Card Game characters! You can't beat the savings! (The iconics are in the NPC Codex Box and the Inner Sea Pawn Box.)

PaizoCon Event Preview

Those of you attending PaizoCon this year are in for a treat. In addition to a special event in which I put you through the woodchipper ACG Open 2016, forum stalwarts and Venture-Officers cartmanbeck and Theryon Stormrune have teamed up to bring you a very unusual opportunity: a convention-exclusive custom version of the We Be Goblins trilogy. Theryon and I will be running special tables of cartmanbeck's new design during the afternoon slots, so keep your eyes peeled when the lottery goes live. (There will be a pouring-out of one for cartmanbeck, who isn't able to join us at the show this year.) Players will receive a one-off PFSACG reward whose potency depends on how long they live.

New Recurring Thing: Art Preview!

Now that we're sending the current batch of Class Decks to the printer, I am swimming in oceans of absolutely tremendous art that I can't wait to share with y'all. Each week, I'll give you a glimpse at one of my favorite pieces from an upcoming ACG product. This week, it's the Blessing of the Eternal Rose, from next month's Inquisitor Class Deck.

Illustration by Felipe Escobar

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Do You Think Flattery Will Keep You Alive?

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Only one creature could be the winner in this Bestiary 5 throwdown, and with it, five winners of our latest Pathfinder Roleplaying Game hardcover!

Dominating against the Pakalchi Sahkil, the Wyrmwraith emerged the victor in our battle royale! This CR 17 incorporeal undead has a terrifying array of powers at its command, making you long for the days of "just" fighting a dragon for its wealth. Not even dragons are safe from the wyrmwraith, for as much as this undead hates the living, it hates those that remind it of what it lost the most.

Many of you voted in our elimination contest, leading the Wyrmwraith to victory, and for your votes, we promised a signed copy of Bestiary 5, and I'm happy to announce that Thyrion is the winner! We'll be contacting you shortly, and the four winners of the PDF copy are: BelkarBitterleaf, fuzbuckle, Paladinosaur, and Drexer!

And following tradition, here's the complete table of contents for Bestiary 5!

Aatheriexa 7 Abrikandilu (demon) 74 Aerial servant 11 Aether elemental 106–107 Aether wysp 282 Ahkhat 14 Ahool 15 Air veela 264 Air wysp 282 Akaname 16 Amarok 17 Amphiptere 18 Android 19 Anemos 20–21 Animate hair 26 Annihilator (robot) 206 Anunnaki 28–29 Apallie 30 Apkallu 32–33 Apostate devil 78–79 Astomoi 37 Astral dragon 88–89 Bagiennik 40 Balisse (angel) 22 Bat plague swarm 193 Bisha ga tsuku 42 Blightspawn 43 Blood caterpillar 51 Blue whale 276 Bone ship 44–45 Boroboroton (tsukumogami) 252 Brain mole 46 Brain mole monarch 47 Caligni (dark folk) 66 Caller in darkness 48 Cambion (demon) 75 Cameroceras 49 Capramace 50 Celedon 52 Ceratosaurus (dinosaur) 83 Cervinal (agathion) 12 Cerynitis 53 Cetus 54 Chalicotherium (megafauna) 170 Cherufe 55 Chicken (familiar) 112 Choral (angel) 23 Chuspiki 56 Clockwork familiar 57 Corpse lotus 60 Crone queen 61 Crystal golem 126 Cuero 62 Cursed king 63 Cytillipede 65 Danava (titan) 246–247 Death coach 67 Deep merfolk 172 Deep one 68 Deep one hybrid 70 Delgeth 71 Devastator 77 Digmaul 82 Dire polar bear 41 Domovoi (house spirit) 142 Doppeldrek 85 Dragonkin 98 Dream dragon 90–91 Duppy 101 Dvorovoi (house spirit) 142 Dwiergeth 102 Earth veela 264 Earth wysp 282 Echeneis 103 Eclipse giant 121 Egregore 104–105 Elder deep one 69 Emotion ooze 108–109 Empyrean (angel) 24–25 Encantado 110 Esipil (sahkil) 213 Ether drake 99 Etheric dragon 92–93 Etiainen 111 Exscinder (archon) 34 Fastachee 114 Fext 115 Firbolg 116 Fire veela 265 Fire wysp 283 Flying fox (familiar) 112

Flytrap leshy 156 Frog father 117 Gancanagh (azata) 38 Gate archon 35 Gearsman (robot) 207 Gegenees 118 Ghoran 119 Giant assassin bug 36 Giant mantis shrimp 232 Giant muckdweller 175 Giant scarab 221 Giant termite 242 Glaistig 124–125 Goliath frog 117 Gravebound 128 Gray 129 Gray goo 130 Great assassin bug 36 Griefgall 133 Grim reaper 134–135 Grimslake 136 Grioth 137 Gristly demodand 72 Guardian scroll 138 Gunpowder ooze 139 Hag eye ooze 140 Heikegani 141 Heresy devil 80 Hobkins (gremlin) 131 Horn caterpillar 51 Hundun 144–145 Hunter urchin (sea urchin) 223 Ichthyocentaur 146 Isonade 147 Jungle drake 100 Kabandha (cyclops) 64 Kaprosuchus (megafauna) 170 Karkadann 148 Kasa-obake (tsukumogami) 252 Kawa akago 149 Ketesthius 150 Khala 151 Kikimora 152 Kimenhul (sahkil) 214–215 Knight ant 27 Koto-furunishi (tsukumogami) 252 Kurobozu 153 Lamhigyn 154 Lead golem 127 Leechroot 155 Leng ghoul 120 Lesser death (grim reaper) 134 Liminal sprite 158 Lipika (aeon) 8–9 Living mirage 159 Locust plague swarm 192 Lotus leshy 157 Lotus tree 160 Lusca 161 Maharishi manu (manasaputra) 164 Makara (vahana) 262 Manu (manasaputra) 163 Megapon ant 27 Megaprimatus (ape) 31 Mngwa 173 Moa (megafauna) 171 Moon dog 174 Moon giant 122 Muckdweller 175 Mummy lord 176–177 Muse 179 Mutant 180–181 Myrmidon (robot) 208 Narwhal (whale) 276 Nemhain 182 Nightmare dragon 94–95 Ningen 183 Nulmind 184 Nuno (gremlin) 132 Occult dragon 96–97 Ophiotaurus 185 Orang-pendak 186 Ostovite 187 Othaos (aeon) 10 Ovinnik (house spirit) 143 Pakalchi (sahkil) 216 Papinijuwari 188 Penguin (familiar) 112 Peuchen 189 Pharaonic guardian 191 Plagued beast 194

Plankta 195 Plesiosaurus (dinosaur) 83 Polar bear 41 Polong 196 Psychemental 197 Psychepore 198 Putrid ooze 199 Pyrausta 200 Qolok (sahkil) 217 Raelis (azata) 39 Ramidreju 201 Rat plague swarm 192 Red panda (familiar) 112 Reptial (agathion) 13 Reptoid 202 Rhu-chalik 203 Riftcreeper 204 Rishi manu (manasaputra) 165 Roiling oil 210 Rope dragon 211 Sangoi 219 Saxra 220 Scarab swarm 221 Scitalis 222 Seal (familiar) 113 Seilenos 224–225 Seraptis (demon) 76 Sha 226 Shabti 227 Shadow collector 228 Shasalqu 229 Shen 230–231 Skinwalker 233 Solar pitri (manasaputra) 166–167 Somalcygot 234 Spear urchin (sea urchin) 223 Sphinx colossus 58 Storm hag 235 Stormghost 236 Stranglereed 237 Stringy demodand 73 Su 238 Sun giant 123 Swamp mummy 178 Syricta 239 Taxidermic creature 240–241 Termite swarm 242 Terraformer (robot) 209 Therizinosaurus (dinosaur) 84 Thought eater 243 Thriae constructor 244 Thriae dancer 245 Tiyanak 248 Tizheruk 249 Trench mist 250 Trilobite (familiar) 113 Troodon (dinosaur) 84 Tsaalgrend 251 Tulpa 254–255 Turul 256–257 Twilight pitri (manasaputra) 168–169 Uintatherium (megafauna) 171 Undigested 258 Undigested swarm 258 Unfettered phantom 190 Uraeus 259 Urannag 260 Ursikka 261 Vahana 262 Ved 263 Vescavor queen 266 Vescavor swarm 267 Vilderavn 268–269 Vishap 270–271 Vukodlak 272 Wakandagi 273 Warmonger devil 81 Warmonger wasp 274 Water leaper 275 Water veela 265 Water wysp 283 Wihsaak (sahkil) 218 Witchcrow 277 Wizard's shackle 278 Wolliped 279 Wood colossus 59 Wyrmwraith 280–281 Xiao 284 Yangethe 285 Zygomind 286–287

Of course, we won't stop—can't stop—with previewing the amazing art in Bestiary 5!

Illustrations by Wayne England, Ben Wootten, Kent Hamilton, and Jorge Fares

Thank you to everybody who participated in the contest, and until we meet again...

Liz Courts
Community Manager

It's in Your Blood!

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

In a few weeks, Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Ancients will be hitting shelves worldwide and the digital bookshelf of paizo.com as a PDF. If you're looking to have your character gain knowledge from the ancient cultures of Golarion, this is the book to check out!

Blood of the Ancients kicks off with a section that allows you to tie your character to the traditions of the ancient cultures of Golarion in a similar manner that a worshipper of a god follows an obedience. These traditions grant characters special abilities like spells and bonuses to skills.

Illustrations by Alyssa McCarthy and Kent Hamilton

The book then continues with sections on various ancient cultures such as the ancient Azlant, Imperial Lung Wa, and Ninshabur. Each section features new options that allow aspects of these ancient cultures to survive to present day Golarion. Some of these new options include the Hinyasi brawler archetype from the Abendego Gulf, which focuses on fighting with improvised weapons, and the dwarven scholar bard that can teach her allies the ancient fighting styles of the dwarves of Tar Taargadth.

We have more than just archetypes in this book, though! Maybe you're interested in the astrological wonders of the Saoc Brethren. Perhaps you've wanted to tap in to the arcane secrets of the Poleheira of the Jistka Imperium or follow the ancient paladin code of Wadjet. There are many things your character can learn from the past and Blood of the Ancients is the best way to do so!

Illustrations by Alyssa McCarthy and Lucas Durham

Luis Loza
Developer