Goblins Invade Free RPG Day!

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Goblins have returned for this momentous occasion—Free RPG Day is here! Free RPG Day is a worldwide gaming event, aimed to bring new and exclusive adventures to local game stores to inspire new comers and long-time gamers alike. This year Paizo has contributed two new offerings for the event: Pathfinder Module: We B4 Goblins! by Crystal Fraiser and Tup the Terrible for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

If you're running We B4 Goblins! at your local store, or if you've just picked it up and want to try it out, you can download the pregenerated goblin characters for your players right now. This module is also sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. If you're planning on playing at your local game store, there's a Free RPG Day exlusive boon for your Pathfinder Society character—you can learn more about that in last Monday's blog.

Illustrations by Kiki Moch Rizky

Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

Ready for a goblin marathon? We B4 Goblins is the fourth Pathfinder Module to feature our band of miscreant goblin adventurers: Chuffy Lickwound, Mogmurch, Poog of Zarongel, and Reta Bigbad. You can follow their other harrowing encounters with horses, dogs, and other large monsters in We Be Goblins!, We Be Goblins Too!, and We Be Goblins Free!

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Goblin fans can pick up Tup the Terrible at game stores today, too! Tup is a Rise of the Runelords ACG character with just as much of an affinity for fire as his RPG companions. You can add Tup into your game right away, too! We've put together his character sheet below that you can drop into your own game below. And if you've got a hankering for more goblins in your game, check out Ranzak and Ekkie, or preorder a Goblins Burn! or Goblins Fight! Class Deck (due out this summer).

Download Tup's Character Sheet (108kb zip/PDF)

Won't get a chance to head out to Free RPG Day? No worries! Starting on July 1, we'll have We B4 Goblins! available as a free PDF and a $5 print product while supplies last. Tup will not available for purchase until the first day of Gen Con 2016, however, but you'll be able to preorder his promo pack soon!

Get out, game, and enjoy Free RPG Day!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Download Standard | Download Widescreen | Download Mobile
Illustrations by Wayne Reynolds.

Inside Pathfinder #100

Friday, December 18, 2015

Illustration by Matias Tapia

Last week, James gave a run down on the path to Pathfinder #100 in this blog. Now I'm here to talk a bit about the contents of this special volume—Pathfinder Adventure Path #100: A Song of Silver.

First off, since James wrote the adventure for this volume, we needed someone to develop it and I was the man for the job. Normally we don't sub in another developer for an adventure in an Adventure Path in order to maintain continuity, but when the developer running the Adventure Path is the adventure's author it makes it easy for someone to step in. I'm pretty sure James knew the story he wanted to tell, and he was readily on hand for any questions I had.

The next cool thing about this volume of Pathfinder—at least for me—was that I had the chance to get the publisher to write an article for me. He's a busy man, but I managed to convince Erik Mona to pen the Aroden article. It's a good thing too. If he didn't agree we wouldn't have run the article, because as Aroden's creator, Erik was the only man for the job.

The biggest new addition to this volume is the Friends and Foes section where we present an NPC inspired by every Adventure Path we've done so far—from Rise of the Runelords to Giantslayer. These NPCs provide a GM with a new character to introduce to their campaigns, and the write up gives plenty of suggestions for the NPC's role in other Adventure Paths than the one they are primarily associated with. Best yet, I made sure to get some of your favorite Adventure Path writers to create these NPCs. It was a lot of fun wrangling all these authors to present this special retrospective. Be sure to check out the introduction to see who wrote which character.

Illustrations by Dave Allsop, Eric Belisle, and Dmitry Burmak

Finally, since James indulged himself and put one of his characters into the adventure, I decided to do something similar and nab half of the bestiary for myself (James did the other two monsters). At this past PaizoCon, I ran a game that featured a monster that I designed especially for the adventure. I also was on a panel with artist Jason Engle and the art team where we talked about monster design while Jason sketched up a new critter based on the conversation. When we were done with the panel I was shocked by how much what he drew looked like the monster I designed for my adventure, and I knew what I had to do. I talked with Sarah Robinson, and we ended up getting Jason to turn the sketch into final art so that we could use the art for my monster that I suddenly planned to inject into this volume. And that's how the telgrodradt ended up in Pathfinder Adventure Path #100.

Illustration by Jason Engle

I've only been on staff since the first part of Skull & Shackles, but I've been a fan (and charter subscriber) since "Burnt Offerings." Getting to Pathfinder #100 has been a long and fun road, and it's a great accomplishment for any monthly publication. I'm proud to be on the team that gets these books into your hands every month. Here's to the next 100 (and much, much more)!

Adam Daigle
Developer

A Cold Day in Hell and Infernal May-hem!

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Illustration by Matias Tapia

As I write this blog, I can hear the sounds of the warehouse busily unloading the 100th volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path—a milestone that in the early days of Pathfinder we were not sure we would ever reach! It's time for a roundup of our newest releases as well as letting you know more about our May 2016 books!

December 2015 Releases

Illustrations by Wayne Reynolds, Dmitry Burmak

It's been a long road to get here—over eight years ago, Paizo released "Burnt Offerings", the first part of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. Roughly 9,504 pages later, here we are at the super-sized 100th volume in "A Song of Silver," with 132 pages of content for your perusal and gaming pleasure. In addition to the 10th-level adventure penned by Creative Director James Jacobs, new monsters, and the Pathfinder Journal by Stephanie Lorée, we've added extra content for this volume. Publisher Erik Mona opens up and tells of the faith of the god Aroden, whose death over one hundred years ago caused catastrophe after catastrophe in the Inner Sea (and beyond). Each of the previoius Adventure Paths have one of their NPCs detailed and given further background, such as Garavel from Legacy of Fire!

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #100—Hell's Rebels (4 of 6): A Song of Silver
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Cheliax, the Infernal Empire
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Agents of Evil
• Pathfinder Module: The House on Hook Street
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Winter Forest
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Druid
• Pathfinder Comics—Hollow Mountain #1
• Pathfinder Legends—Mummy's Mask #3: Shifting Sands
• Pathfinder Tales: Bloodbound

May 2016 Annoucements

In May, you'll be asking yourself if you brought a flag with the fourth part of the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path! Written by resident antipaladin Designer Stephen Radney-Macfarland, "For Queen and Empire" will give your characters a chance to really get their hands dirty: by entering into the politics of the imperial court and earning the personal favor of Queen Abrogail herself. And don't forget—May 27 through 30th is PaizoCon 2016, where you'll be getting a chance to sit down and game with Paizo staff, chat with us about what you want to see in Pathfinder, and above all, have four great days of gaming with not only staff, but other Paizo fans as well!

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #106—Hell's Vengeance (4 of 6): For Queen & Empire
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Intrigue
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Magic Tactics Toolbox
• Pathfinder Pawns: Bestiary 5 Box
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Hamlet
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Witch

Until next time, may you be able to act in the surprise round and may your feasts be heroic,

Liz Courts
Community Manager

FAQ on Errata

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

As many of you are probably well aware, we have had a number of update documents drop in the past few weeks, correcting a wide array of issues with some of our rulebooks. Seeing that some of these have caused some controversy among players and GMs alike, I thought I would take a moment to talk about the process of creating these documents and give you all some insight on how we decide on the changes made to the game.

No book is perfect. It's an unfortunate reality of the publishing industry. Despite all of our best efforts and countless hours spent poring over proof copies and making corrections, every time we send a book to the printer, it is with the nagging knowledge that there are at least a few mistakes lurking in its pages. Almost without fail, we spot one within a week of getting the first printed copies shipped to our office, well after it is possible for us to fix it. At this point, the first internal correction file is made. As the staff here at Paizo starts using the book, we usually find a few more, and the file grows. Then the book ships out to the public and the questions begin in earnest.

After that point, we primarily rely on the FAQ system and forum threads to point out errors in our books that need to be addressed. When people on the forums notice problems, post threads, and click the FAQ button, we get notified through our system. About once per week we take a look at some of the most pressing issues, answering them as needed and noting many of them in our corrections file.

Finally, when it comes time for us to actually assemble the updates document that you see for each printing of our books, we get together as a team to discuss each issue. While many of the problems are straightforward mistakes that are easy to fix, some require us to rework a rule or make an adjudication on how it actually works in play. These can be contentious issues, both on the forums and internally, but we are always trying to do what is in the best interest of the game. Which brings me around to the most recent update document that is releasing today, making more corrections to Ultimate Combat.

And the Crane Wing feat.

Many of you might remember the conflict over this feat when Ultimate Combat was first released. We felt it was just too good for a heavily defensive build, so when the second printing of the book was released, we made changes to bring it more inline. Some people on the forums let us know that they felt we went too far in "nerfing" the feat and at the time, we said that we would keep an eye on it and see if it required further adjustment.

As it turns out, the feat did need some work, so we changed it so that it provides a +4 bonus to AC until you are missed by 4 or less (at which point it turns off until the start of your next turn). You can still use it to deflect an attack when taking the total defense action. This is an improvement and one that we hope makes the feat a more viable choice.

Of course, this is only one of a number of changes we made to various rules in Ultimate Combat. There were changes to the Musket Master and Pistolero archetypes, removing an ability that allowed them to ignore misfires at 13th level and double-barreled guns saw a change to balance them as well. The Myrmidarch and Titan Mauler both saw changes that strengthened them, allowing them to work better as originally intended, while the Master of Many Styles was altered a bit to make it more rewarding to those that stuck with it, as opposed to just dipping into the class for quick benefits. You can download the appropriate update document below, or from the Free Downloads or product page.

• First Printing to Third Printing (v1.1)—Download (2.3MB zip/PDF)
• Second Printing to Third Printing (v2.0)—Download (2.3MB zip/PDF)

The process of updating our books is never simple and it is a job we take very seriously. We know that many of you are invested in these rules and the characters that rely upon them. Hopefully this gives you a little bit of a better understanding about the process of updates. If you have any thoughts or comments about the most recent Ultimate Combat update, please post them in this thread (as opposed to making a bunch of individual threads) and we will try to answer your questions.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Wrapping Up Iron Gods

Saturday, January 24, 2015

The Iron Gods Adventure Path wraps up this month with Pathfinder Adventure Path #90: The Divinity Drive and the Giantslayer Adventure Path is set to launch next month with Pathfinder Adventure Path #91: Battle of Bloodmarch Hill, so to tie things off we'd like to share a few pieces of the excellent artwork that appeared throughout Iron Gods. Enjoy!

Illustrations by Kari Christensen and J.P. Targete

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak, Tatiana Vetrova, Brynn Metheney, and Miguel Regodón Harkness

Adam Daigle
Developer

The Giants Are Coming!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

It's nearly February, which means it's almost time for the next Pathfinder Adventure Path, Giantslayer! And it all kicks off with Pathfinder Adventure Path #91: Battle of Bloodmarch Hill. Fans of the orc hold of Belkzen should get kick out of this first installment, which starts in the human town of Trunau in Belkzen, and while you'll see plenty of orcs at the beginning of this Adventure Path, we move into giantslaying territory pretty quickly. In fact, the PCs will have to face their first giant before the Battle of Bloodmarch Hill is finished!

The Giantslayer Adventure Path features an almost bewildering variety of Brobdingnagian foes for your PCs to battle and slay, from old favorites like hill giants, stone giants, frost giants, fire giants, cloud giants, and storm giants, to less common colossi like cave giants, marsh giants, slag giants, and ash giants, not to mention cyclopes, ettins, ogres, trolls, and more. We've even got a couple of all new giants—the mongrel giant and the tomb giant—making appearances in Giantslayer, so be sure to take a look at the bestiaries for this AP.

Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak, Miguel Regodon Harkness, Maichol Quinto

So get ready! In just a few short weeks, the Giantslayer Adventure Path arrives! And keep an eye on this blog for the Giantslayer Player's Guide, which will be here soon, featuring a gazetteer of the town of Trunau (previously featured in Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Towns of the Inner Sea) and all sorts of tips and tricks to make the best giantslaying character out there! Until then, check out some of the art that will appear in the Giantslayer Adventure Path.

Rob McCreary
Senior Developer

Clash With the Lords of Rust

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Illustration by Johan Grenier

As the release date for Pathfinder Adventure Path #86: "Lords of Rust" nears, I thought I'd share a few details on what readers can expect. I don't want to spoil too much about the adventure itself, so I'll mention that it takes place in a giant junkyard and the PCs have to navigate all sorts of dangers and complicated relationships between various gangs. It was also written by a maniac. Most people know him by his human name, Nicolas Logue.

This volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path also answers some questions that have been on people's minds for a while. An article about the Technic League, written by Jim Groves, resolves some questions about how that unscrupulous organization's history and talks a bit about how the group operates. Something else people have shown interest in over the years is the faith of Brigh, so we got Sean K Reynolds to cover the topic in a deity article about the goddess of clockwork, invention, and time. I'm really happy with how the article turned out and I can't wait until readers get their own copies of "Lords of Rust" in their hands. The volume is rounded out with the usual collection of monsters and the continuation of Amber E. Scott's Pathfinder Journal.

To sate your hunger until you can grab a copy, enjoy some of the wonderful art pieces of Brigh, her holy symbol, and a worshiper that shows up in this adventure. (I threw in a bonus dead technician just for the fun of it.)

Illustrations by Johan Grenier, Migueal Regodón, and Dmitry Burmak

Adam Daigle
Developer

What's In the Box?!

Thursday, May 15 2014

Illustration by Milivoj Ceran

When we decided to make this month's Pathfinder Campaign Setting volume, Occult Mysteries, the development team had perhaps the most fun I can remember in almost 4 years at Paizo coming up with the different setting-specific mysteries we wanted to explore in the book.

One of the largest challenges was determining what, in a world where magic, gods, divination, and the afterlife were demonstrably real, constituted the "occult." In our world, research into demons and devils is certainly occult, but is it in a world where one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea is openly and proudly in cahoots with the legions of Hell?

In the end, we decided that "occult" in Golarion meant anything that wasn't known to the general population. So while your average commoner pig farmer doesn't know how to cast a spell, he's aware that magic exists. He's not, however, likely to know that some magicians can augment their spellcasting by quickly analyzing the mathematical constants that bind reality together, or that if the stars are in the right alignment certain types of magic are more potent than normal.

As much as we wanted to reveal a lot of the hidden truths behind some of Golarion's longest standing mysteries (Why did the gnomes leave the First World? Who created the multiverse? What's the deal with the Aucturn Enigma countdown clocks in Osirion?) we also wanted to maintain the mystery that has inspired players, GMs, and ourselves and our writers to use these mysteries as jumping-off points in their own adventures. Thus, we made sure that every answer we provided left another (sometimes several) in its place.

Subscribers have already started getting their copies of Occult Mysteries, and the discussions about what reveals they're most excited about and what questions these revelations have raised are exactly what we'd hoped for. Make sure you pick up a copy of Occult Mysteries and see what lies hidden just below the surface of the Pathfinder campaign setting.

Illustrations by Helge C. Balzer and Dmitry Burmak

Mark Moreland
Developer

Enhance Your Game with the Shattered Star Face Cards!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

I'm a big fan of Face Cards. In my own games I have used cards from multiple sets both to depict NPCs and to inspire creatively blocked players during character generation. Face Cards add a lot of depth and color to any game. The Shattered Star Face Cards, available now, are no exception! These cards depict notable characters from the Shattered Star Adventure Path, but the faces are also intriguing and evocative even if, like me, you haven't had the chance to play though Shattered Star yet.

But enough of my jabber, here's a sample of some the awesome art found in this 54 card set:

Illustrations by Miguel Harkness, Dmitry Burmak, and Dmitry Prosvirnin

I hope you find these cards as useful as I do!

Jay Loomis
Editorial Intern

All the Legs!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

There's something I'm sure many of you don't know about our Art Director Andrew Vallas. He has a thing for creatures with multiple limbs—multiple legs, specifically. At least six to be sure. To keep our awesome Art Director happy, I made sure to order a few multi-legged creatures for the Bestiary in Pathfinder #69: Mother, Maiden, Crone for his enjoyment. Not that the whole bestiary is a chorus line of horrible monstrosities, mind you. (There are only really two monsters that fit the bill, but considering the centaurs of the Dvezda Marches in Iobaria are each bringing four legs to the party, there are a lot of legs to make a bipedal creature jealous.)

First up to represent additional limbs is the kokogiak. When I first presented the idea of a ten-legged polar bear the reaction was close to, "Really, Daigle?" But then I supported my brief dip into mania by explaining that I got the idea from Innuit myth (also spelled qupqugiaq), and that it's a creature that makes a person think that their loved one is lost out in the snow in order to lure the target out of safety and into its jaws. Next up is the svathurim. That is what you get if Thremyr made a frost giant into a centaur-like creature and infused them with insatiable hatred. Jason Nelson did a great job designing these two (and two other monsters in the Bestiary), so pick up Maiden, Mother, Crone to see what else is to be found in the wilds of Iobaria.

Illustrations by Milivoj Ceran

Welcome to Whitethrone!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Illustration by Jason Rainville

Enjoy the splendid weather! Taste the local flavor!* Meet new and interesting people!

Anyone who said Whitethrone isn't safe is just spreading some sort of propaganda. All are welcome in Whitethrone. Ice trolls, goblins, and winter wolves walk the streets and the White Witches make sure that everything runs smoothly. The only thing to be careful of are rabble-rousers and dissidents.**

Subscriber's shipments are on their way and before long GMs and players all over can eagerly dig into The Shackled Hut, the second volume of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, for all their witch-fighting fun!

Illustrations by Miguel Regodón and Dmitry Burmak

Adam Daigle
Developer

* On second thought, you should probably stick to your rations. You brought rations, right?
** PCs should disregard this. Instead, be careful being the rabble-rousers and dissidents. There's a world to save and we don't need any PCs dying on us.

Bundle Up!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

As we ease into February, we're getting ready to launch the Reign of Winter Adventure Path and we thought we'd share a bit of art with everyone from the first volume, "The Snows of Summer" by Neil Spicer. I've been filled with anticipation for this Adventure Path's release, and I can't wait for all of you to see it too. The overall look of the AP is amazing, and credit for this goes to the Art Department and their stable of excellent artists. I'll talk a bit more about the Adventure Path as a whole a little later when we release the Reign of Winter Player's Guide, so keep your eyes open for that announcement here on the blog. For now, feast your eyes on these wonderful pieces of art!

Featured here are a few of the creatures and characters your PCs can encounter in The Snows of Summer.
Illustrations by Dmitry Prosvirnin and Dmitry Burmak

Feiya, Imrijka and Lini are among the featured Iconic characters in the Reign of Winter Adventure Path.
Illustrations by Robert Pitturru

Adam Daigle
Developer

Illustration by
Dmitry Burmak

Week of Free!*

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Earlier this week we gave you the Pathfinder RPG: Beginner Box Transitions download and now we present you with something else with a "free" price tag.

For those of you who have Curse of the Lady's Light (either in your paws or downloaded onto the digital perusal device of your choice) you might have read James's foreword where he mentions something about a free web enhancement. In that foreword, he explains how a chunk of Mike Shel's adventure needed to get scrapped to fit the deity article on Torag (which we missed putting in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path). This isn't something we normally do, but we had the art and James really liked the extra social interaction encounters. This is GM-focused bonus material that provides a few more encounters and helps move the story from Magnimar to the Lady's Light—so stay out players!

But for everyone else, enjoy your time with the new characters you'll meet in this free supplement and use it to bring more fun to your Shattered Star campaign!

Download the Web Enhancement! - (1.9MB zip/PDF)

Adam Daigle
Developer

* Blog title restricted to reference two days only.

Strategic Redesigns: Bestiary Box Preview

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

When planning for the Bestiary Box, we knew there were a few monsters that needed new art. They either didn’t fit in the pawn format, they were monster variants, or they were just missing art. There were also a handful of monsters that just deserved new art.

Sure, the old art was suitable for the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, but we knew that sometimes it’s good to shake things up and do them over. There are many reasons to do this: It adds value to the box. We knew that you would want new art because... well... new art is flipping cool. Sometimes our ideas about the monster in question have evolved, and we wanted to express that evolution graphically. Other times we just thought we could do better.

For our last Bestiary Box preview, we thought we would share these somewhat random shots of new pawn art. This isn’t all of the new art in the box, but it gives you a good idea of some of the cool new renderings you’ll find when you get your paws on this exciting product.

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak and Eric Belisle

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Designer

Familiar Foes

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Having written several of the monsters for Bestiary 3 during my long-ago days as a freelancer (I can’t believe it’s almost been 6 months since I started work as a developer!), I have a lot of reasons to be excited for its upcoming debut. While it was fun working on the beasties from various mythologies, I would be lying if I said all of my favorites came from that background, because this book is simply so packed with monsters both new and old. For example, check out these four creatures, some sinister beings hinted at in the Pathfinder campaign setting, others beasts of RPG legend finally updated for the Pathfinder RPG. Recognize any favorites? Discover or rediscover more than 300 legendary monsters when Bestiary 3 releases later this month!

Illustrations by Jean-Baptiste Reynaud, Tyler Walpole, Carolina Eade, and Dmitry Burmak

Patrick Renie
Developer

Illustration by Dmitry Burmak and Daryl Mandryk. Widescreen version here.

For Glory, Not Gold!

Friday, September 2, 2011

A lot of folks have long been clamoring for more Norse-inspired gaming goodness, and we've got that coming for you to the axe-hilt in the upcoming Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of the Linnorm Kings. To get you in that northern Inner Sea mood in the meantime, here's an awesome Linnorm Kings wallpaper featuring the art of Dmitry Burmak and Daryl Mandryk.

Christopher Carey
Editor

Ultimate Combat Preview #2

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

During the preview banquet at PaizoCon this year, I boasted that Ultimate Combat had a gigantic feats chapter, which started off with a seven-page table, summarizing all the feats. While that is impressive, I realized later that I made a mistake—the feats table is nine pages long!

This week we're going to take a look at the feats chapter a bit more closely, since it is such an important part of this book. This chapter contains 256 feats, suitable for characters of every race and class. There are feats to grant bonuses with nets, feats that let you mix a hex with an unarmed strike, and feats that nearly let you rip off your opponents head! While many of them are combat feats, there are a few new feat categories as well. Grit feats modify and amplify the abilities of the gunslinger class, while style feats represent fighting forms and techniques, primarily employed by martial art masters, such as the monk. Take a look at this chain of style feats.

Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

Crane Style (Combat, Style)
Your unarmed fighting techniques blend poise with graceful defense.
Prerequisites: Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +2 or monk level 1st.
Benefit: You take only a –2 penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively. While using this style and fighting defensively or using the total defense action, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to your Armor Class.

Crane Wing (Combat)
You move with the speed and finesse of an avian hunter, your sweeping blocks and graceful motions allowing you to deflect melee attacks with ease.
Prerequisites: Crane Style, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +5 or monk level 5th.
Benefit: Once per round while using Crane Style, when you have at least one hand free and are either fighting defensively or using the total defense action, you can deflect one melee weapon attack that would normally hit you. You expend no action to deflect the attack, but you must be aware of it and not flat-footed. An attack so deflected deals no damage to you.

Crane Riposte (Combat)
You use your defensive abilities to make overpowering counterattacks.
Prerequisites: Crane Style, Crane Wing, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +8 or monk level 7th.
Benefit: You take only a –1 penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively. Whenever you use Crane Wing to deflect an opponent's attack, you can make an attack of opportunity against that opponent after the attack is deflected.

This is one of the easiest style feats to qualify for, but the trick with these feats is that you cannot utilize more than one style feat at a time, and you cannot use the other feats in the chain unless you are using the base style feat as well. While this means you can get some pretty good abilities if you just focus on one chain, getting into multiple chains forces you to make decisions about which abilities you want on a given round.

Of course, the chapter also features some new teamwork feats and a new classification of feats called Performance feats, which give you an edge when fighting in an arena or other theater of blood. Take a look at these two, one from each category.

Shake It Off (Teamwork)
You support your allies and help them recover from crippling effects.
Benefit: When you are adjacent to one or more allies who also have this feat, you gain a +1 bonus on saving throws per such ally (maximum +4).

Murderer's Circle (Combat, Performance)
After savaging your foe, you circle like a hunter ready for the kill.
Prerequisites: Dodge, Acrobatics 4 ranks.
Benefit: When you spend a swift action to make a performance combat check after scoring a critical hit or performing a combat maneuver, and you are adjacent to the target of the critical hit or combat maneuver, you can move to any other space that is adjacent to the target without provoking attacks of opportunity. You must have a clear path to that space and the ability to reach it by spending a move action. If you end this move in any space other than the one where you started, you gain a +2 bonus on the performance combat check.

I must admit, I picked those two to show off due mainly to their awesome names. There are a lot of really great feats in this book and I would love to show off all of them to you, but you'll just have to check them out for yourself when the book releases next week. For our final preview, we're going to take a look at some of the great new rules systems found in this book, including vehicle combat!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Illustrations by Yngvar Asplund and Dmitry Burmak. Widescreen version here.

Don't Be Late for Your Very Important Date with the Harrowing!

Friday, June 24, 2011

It's no surprise that our childhoods influence who we are today. That's especially true for writers, since everything we do gets stored in our brains to be mashed together and filtered through our experiences, ready to jump out when the Muse strikes. The Harrowing, an adventure written by Crystal Frasier and designed for 9th-level characters, is such a mash-up: one part Time Bandits, two parts Alice in Wonderland, with a dash of a David Bowie-styled Labyrinth. In this adventure, the long-dead bard Sonnorae feared that her collection of stories would be lost when she died, and so she created a demiplane within her personal harrow deck to contain them. Over time, these stories took on lives of their own, and melded with the images on the cards themselves. But not all stories have happy endings, and the storykin who live in the Harrowed Realm have their own motivations and plots for power and some have even escaped into the real world. When the PCs find themselves drawn into the Harrowed Realm in search of a disappeared scholar, they must use all their wits and steel to navigate the landscape and politics of this strange wonderland and make it home again.

This adventure features an entire plane of fanciful locations and characters inspired by the popular harrow deck of the Pathfinder campaign setting. In addition, you'll find a brand-new monster and an optional rules subsystem allowing players to bend reality to their wills by using all 54 cards in the optional Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Harrow Deck to manipulate the strange demiplane in which they adventure.

We'll be shipping this adventure next month but until then, we hope this wallpaper fills you with Wonder.

Hyrum Savage
Marketing and Organized Play Manager

Golarion Day: Prepare to Get Harrowed!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

So, we just shipped The Harrowing off to the printer. An adventure where you get sucked into a magical deck of harrow cards and end up interacting with some of the strangest characters we've published yet! Check 'em out! (Those of you who are familiar with the Harrow Deck will probably recognize these three folks...)

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak

Also, you can tell when I forget to write a blog post until we get to a point where I have only 20 minutes to do a blog before heading into a supersized meeting that'll take up the rest of the day, can't you? Cause there's not many words? Guess I should put up a third picture from The Harrowing to further distract you from the lack of words... hope it works!

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak

James Jacobs
Creative Director