Onward To Adventure!

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

February has the tendency to sneak up on you when you least expect it, and fly right by! This first month-and-a-bit of 2017 has been chock full of exciting projects and new announcements, including our latest Humble Bundle initiative in partnership with Dynamite and our lineup of Starfinder products launching at Gen Con 2017. Since it's been a minute (or two... possibly three) since we've given folks an update on our product schedule, let's take a look at what the next few months have in store.

The next Pathfinder Adventure Path kicks off in just a few weeks with the first two volumes of the Ironfang Invasion—Pathfinder Adventure Path #115: Trail of the Hunted and Pathfinder Adventure Path #116: Fangs of War. The Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path calls back to classic adventures, focusing on exploring the unknown and confronting the fantastic, all to stop a monstrous enemy from wiping out the good people of Nirmathas and Molthune. The PCs will delve into dungeons, siege well-guarded keeps, explore the wilderness, and battle some of the most iconic creatures from the 40-year history of fantasy RPGs.

Speaking of "iconic creatures", how many of you are excited for even more monsters? This April, pick up Bestiary 6! This sixth monstrous-tome for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game includes over 200 monsters like archdevils, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, play-character-suitable races, and even the creepy and horrific Krampus himself. While previews for Bestiary 6 are still a few weeks away, I snuck some artwork out for you to feast your eyes upon...

Illustrations by William Liu, Jorge Fares, Jim Pavelec, and Roberto Pitturru

But there are more options for your Pathfinder campaign rolling through! For me, summer means backpacking and in the months leading up to it, geeking out over the latest gear. What better than to prep your next character or tailor your next campaign with with the Adventurer's Guide releasing this May? And, if you're trying to cut gear weight like me, we just announced that both the GameMastery Guide and Advanced Player's Guide will be available in the travel-friendly Pocket Edition format.

To recap, here's the lineup of Pathfinder products releasing March:

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #115: Trail of the Hunted
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #116: Fangs of War
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Mummy's Mask Adventure Deck #6
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Forbidden Jungle
• Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom
• Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-17: Refugees of the Weary Sky
• Pathfinder Legends—Curse of the Crimson Throne #3: Escape from Old Korvosa

August 2017

If you're heading to Gen Con later this summer, you can expect a full compliment of Pathfinder and Starfinder excitement! To get more details about the Starfinder products in this list, you'll want to read James L. Sutter's blog about their announcement. And of course, since this is months in the future, titles are subject to possibly shifting (or being added) to this list.

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #121: The Lost Outpost, the first volume in the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Magus Class Deck
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Village Sites
• Starfinder Core Rulebook
• Starfinder Adventure Path #1: Incident at Absalom Station
• Starfinder GM Screen
• Starfinder Player Character Folio
• Starfinder Core Pawn Collection (and Base Assortment)
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Starfield
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Terrain

As we begin the slow-roll into a jam-packed convention season, more announcements are sure to come! Keep your eyes out, and until next time!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

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

Embrace Elemental Might!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

From the Jade Regent Adventure Path and Dragon Empires Gazetteer that drove the Year of the Ruby Phoenix to the Iron Gods Adventure Path and Technology Guide that inspired the Year of the Sky Key, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild has borrowed heavily from upcoming Pathfinder literature when designing a new season's setting and feel. About two years ago, the organized play program set a course for storylines independent of the ongoing Adventure Paths, and the elemental planes were always that under-appreciated portion of the campaign setting's cosmology where the Pathfinder Society could make its mark. We're making that happen in the new Year of the Stolen Storm!

Illustrations by Nikolai Ostertag

The trouble is that by divesting our metaplot from the Adventure Paths, we'd entered fairly undocumented territory. The Great Beyond provides valuable information upon which Blood of the Elements built, but we had still written fewer words about these nigh-infinite planes than we had about most countries in the Inner Sea region! This time, rather than react to and incorporate other product lines, the Pathfinder Society team pitched Planes of Power, secured it a spot on the schedule, and outlined it so that players, GMs, and authors alike could learn more about the elemental planes we're featuring over the next year.

Planes of Power also provided us with an opportunity to make the elemental planes stand out as the truly bizarre, wondrous, and primal places that they are. We aimed much higher than simply describing the Plane of Fire as a place that's hot or the Plane of Air as a floating realm. Rather, the nuances of each plane are lovingly detailed in 10-page chapters, which describe the realms' unique histories, inhabitants, places of interest, political intrigues, and more. Each chapter also includes a section of ground-level details about a planar metropolis.

Rounding out the book are chapters full of planar beasts and character options, including tools to help PCs explore the elemental planes and wield elemental energies no matter the setting. We're excited to say that Planes of Power also provides a look at the elemental lords, including the unholy symbols for the evil lords shown above.

Aside from this breadth of information, the book flat out looks gorgeous. From its dynamic cover to its thematic page elements to its beautiful illustrations, we hope that Planes of Power's visuals inspire readers with infinite ideas for planar characters and adventures.

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski, Helge C. Balzer, Roberto Pitturru, and Jorge Fares

Take a look at the illustrations above for a taste of what we mean!

John Compton and Amanda Hamon Kunz
Developers

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

Unleashing Unchained!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Alright everyone, this is the last blog before Pathfinder Unchained hits your local stores! Many of you have heard so far that with Unchained, we’re encouraging you to really experiment and play around with the system, so we thought we’d end with a bang and release information about two of the pieces of Unchained that we hadn’t previewed yet as well as give you even more content! That’s right, Unchained was so full to the brim with exciting rules changes and optional subsystems, that it couldn’t even fit it all. So let’s take a look at what we’ve got.

Illustration by Jorge Fares

First up is Automatic Bonus Progression. If you’re like me, you’ve probably been annoyed at some point or another that your characters more-or-less need to purchase certain magic items to keep up with the game’s math, and those items are super-generic and just add numbers. Why not take out the middle man and just give you what you need to keep up with the numbers, thus letting you be creative with where you spend the rest of your wealth, on fantastic and truly wondrous items. As the newbie designer, one of the first things I added to any of our books was a subsystem to do just that, and the subsystem in the book is an excellent addition to games that have low magic items as well! There are even rules to explain how automatic enhancement bonuses on weapons and armor will interact with special properties, like flaming. The system in the book is simple to adjudicate and curbs some of the potential problems with things like buying tons of different weapons with different iterations of the bane property (or making special qualities the workaround to boost your numbers ahead of everyone else, since you wind up making a trade-off). Take a look at this alternate approach, which allows you to follow the same mathematical progression for special properties, in exchange for using the table below.

Magic Weapons and Armor

Magic weapons and armor using this system never grant an enhancement bonus but instead grant only special qualities (up to a maximum of +5). Any quality that costs a flat amount is unchanged, but qualities that have an enhancement bonus equivalent use a slightly modified pricing system.

In this system, independent magical effects on weapons and armor can sometimes interfere with the process of attuning to the item. Therefore, each magic weapon and armor has a capacity, from 0 to 5, which indicates how much of a character’s attunement can apply to that weapon or armor. Any character who attunes to a magic weapon or armor gains an enhancement bonus equal to the minimum of her attunement and the item’s capacity. Increasing a weapon’s capacity requires a crafting cost of 2,000 gp x the total enhancement bonus of the weapon’s special abilities (and a market price of twice that). Upgrading a weapon that has a capacity greater than 0 requires paying the difference in the cost of the capacity. So for instance, a flaming weapon with capacity 0 has a crafting cost of 1,000 gp. Upgrading its capacity to 3 would cost 6,000 gp. If the crafter later wanted to upgrade the capacity 3 flaming weapon to flaming burst, it would cost 3,000 gp to upgrade flaming to flaming burst and an additional 6,000 gp because the capacity’s cost increases when the weapon’s enhancements increase for a total of 9,000 gp. In total, this weapon cost 16,000 gp to make and has a market price of 32,000 gp. Armor works exactly the same, but all costs are half as much.

Weapon Prices
Enhancement	0 capacity	1 capacity	2 capacity	3 capacity	4 capacity	5 capacity
+1	2,000	6,000	10,000	14,000	18,000	22,000
+2	8,000	16,000	24,000	32,000	40,000	48,000
+3	18,000	30,000	42,000	54,000	66,000	78,000
+4	32,000	48,000	64,000	80,000	96,000	112,000
+5	50,000	70,000	90,000	110,000	130,000	150,000

Illustration by Daniel Jiménez Villalba

Armor Prices
Enhancement	0 capacity	1 capacity	2 capacity	3 capacity	4 capacity	5 capacity
+1	1,000	3,000	5,000	7,000	9,000	11,000
+2	4,000	8,000	12,000	16,000	20,000	24,000
+3	9,000	15,000	21,000	27,000	33,000	39,000
+4	16,000	24,000	32,000	40,000	48,000	56,000
+5	25,000	35,000	45,000	55,000	65,000	75,000

But wait! There’s more! Early in the Unchained process, we decided to give you tons of sample monsters that use the new system. Later on, we realized that it would be even cooler if we also gave you step-by-step explanations of how we built them, to maximize your ability to make more of your own. You can guess what came next—explanations made each monster longer, so we had to cut a bunch of monsters. Well, the mighty tarrasque has something to say about that. It will not be chained. And while you read its mighty stats, here’s a flumph with laser beams!

Tarrasque CR/HD 25

Init +6; Perception +45 (low-light vision, scent)
Aura (DC 28) frightful presence (300 ft.)
Size Colossal (30 ft.); Speed 40 ft.; Special Movement rush

DEFENSES

AC 45 (touch 19, flat-footed 39); Fort +26, Ref +26, Will +21; CMD 58 (62 vs. grapple); SR 36
hp 616; regeneration 40 (cannot be suppressed, automatically rises from death after 3 rounds); DR 15/epic; Immune ability damage, ability drain, acid, bleed, daze, disease, energy drain, fire, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, permanent wounds, petrification, poison, polymorph, staggered
Defensive Options carapace

ATTACKS

Melee bite (reach 30 ft.) +38 (4d8+19/15–20/3 plus improved combat maneuver [grapple]), 2 claws (reach 30 ft.) +38 (4d8+19), 2 gores (reach 30 ft.) +38 (4d8+19), tail slap (reach 60 ft.) +33 (4d6+9)
Ranged 6 spines (range 120 ft.) +30 (2d10+22/19–20/3)
Attack Options (DC 46) critical striker, defense breaker, pounce, swallow whole (10d6+29 plus 10d6 acid), trample (12d8+51); CMB +56 (+60 grapple)

STATISTICS

Str +16, Dex +6, Con +12, Int –4; Acrobatics +45 when jumping
XP 1,638,400; N magical beast

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Carapace (Su) The tarrasque’s carapace deflects cones, lines, ranged touch spells, and magic missiles automatically, with a 30% chance to reflect them onto the caster.
Rush (Ex) Once per minute, the tarrasque can increase its speed to 150 feet for 1 round. This also doubles its bonus on Acrobatics checks when jumping.

The mighty tarrasque has a special DR type of epic, and a slew of special immunities. As it is the tarrasque, it has many more combat options than normal, and it has its own non-standard suite of attacks based on the expected damage (for instance, the 6 spines each do 1/3 of the damage for 2 primary natural attacks). The tarrasque’s spines and bite have a ×3 critical multiplier, and the bite has a natural 18–20 threat range before adding the critical striker option. The tarrasque also has two master skills instead of one master and two good (and one of the two is only at master level when jumping).

Well, that about wraps up our previews for Pathfinder Unchained! This book is shipping to subscribers now, and you should be able to find it in your local gaming store next week! Pick it up and unchain your game!

Mark Seifter
Designer

The Usual Suspects: Class Decks Preview

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Gather round, Pathfinders. I've got some secrets to share with you. It's the story of an unlikely group of adventurers whose journeys took them into the Eye of Abendego, out to the Worldwound, and beyond. How does the story end? Well, that's up to you to decide...

The Courtier

Graceful, talented, and beautiful, Siwar has ingratiated herself into the highest courts of the River Kingdoms. She is knowledgeable in topics ranging from art to politics and is highly schooled in etiquette. Though her talents might lead an observer to think that she is too delicate for the adventuring life, Siwar is happy to make eye contact with that observer, smile impishly, and direct him to do her bidding.

Siwar Illustration by Florian Stitz

The Scholar

In the city of Oenopion, Zarlova is a well-known professor at the Hive, an academy of wizards and clerics working in concert to unravel mysteries left by the god Nethys. A master of The Book of Magic, Zarlova routinely ventures from the halls of academe to spread knowledge among the unenlightened. Her mastery of offensive magic makes her a valued ally on any adventure.

Zarlova Illustration by Tim Kings-Lynne

The Legbreaker

Tontelizi's rough-and-tumble past began with a stint as an enforcer in his family's shady business. Because of his short stature, some mocked him with the nickname "Legbreaker." They soon found their ability to walk severely compromised. After retiring from daily enforcement detail, Tontelizi found himself missing the simple pleasures of maiming and intimidation. He now wields his polearm as a mercenary for fun and profit.

Tontelizi Illustration by Jorge Fares

The Gamekeeper

Dwarves laboring in the mines of Kalsgard have limited exposure to the animals of the forest, but Agna has trained in the wilderness, and she's introduced many beasts to the lands below the earth. Ready to fight with a weapon in either hand, Agna can make you think she's your biggest threat, right before a trained bear attacks you from behind.

Agna Illustration by Eva Widermann

The Death Whisperer

Wu Shen loves death as if it were an actual person. She speaks of death as "her lover," and listeners may mistakenly believe she is referring to a mortal. Each time she brings a monster to its grisly end, she savors a moment of hope that death will acknowledge her as its favorite. To add spice to her devotional gifts, Wu Shen often chooses unique or difficult ways to complete her kills.

Wu Shen Illustration by Alex Tooth

The Trickster

Qualzar's heritage includes mischievous fey who curdle milk, tie shoelaces together, and generally make nuisances of themselves. He claims to not understand why others find his humor malicious, but in truth, he doesn't care. He's willing to hurt others for the sake of a pun or a punch line, and he's got a book of plucked fairy wings to prove it. His mind-melting spell blasts and mesmeric powers are almost always turned on enemies, so it's probably safe to adventure with him.

Qualzar Illustration by Kostja Schleger

The Necromancer

The power of the dead courses through Darago's thin veins. It's a rare wizard who can traffic with the unliving and retain most of his soul, but so far, Darago has resisted the baser desires of most necromancers. Still, his chilling voice and devilish sense of humor will surprise even the most hardened mercenary. After all, he will happily battle at the side of any adventure while she lives... and perhaps for a short time thereafter.

Darago Illustration by Diana Martinez

I hope you've enjoyed this preview of some of the new characters and cards found in the Class Decks. Preorder one now and get ready for the Adventure Card Guild, launching in just two weeks!

Also, make sure you check out Erik Mona's Publisher Preview on the Paizo blog this Friday. (It's a weekly blog that mostly talks about Pathfinder Battles pre-painted plastic miniatures.) Pathfinder Adventure Card Game players, be they miniatures lovers or not, are going to want to read this week's installment.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Clockworks and the End of the Emerald Spire, with Rich Baker and James Jacobs

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Cartography by Rob Lazzaretti

All good things must come to an end, and this week we look at the end (or at least, the lowest level) of the Emerald Spire. Of course, the end of a superdungeon is something a lot of players never get to see (as Erik Mona discussed a bit in his teaser last week), so we also thought we might expand this sneak peek to include two maps from the adventure.

When discussing the fact that every dungeon level had to fit on a Flip-Mat, Erik briefly mentioned that this requirement drove our authors to find creative ways to get the most out of the space available. One good example of this is The Clockwork Maze, which has sections likely to initially confuse the players and that are certain to force players to work harder than a typcial ten foot wide corridor. We don’t want to give away the whole secret of the level, but a glance at the map is a pretty big hint why the level has "clockwork" in its title.

Other levels use the available space on a Flip-Map in a more traditional way, but include multiple environments, hazards, and unusual geometry to increase the variety available in the dungeon experience. The final level of the dungeon, The Emeral Root, is a good example of this kind of creative map.

Of course even a great map isn’t very useful if you don’t have enounters to fill it with. To learn a little more about these levels and how they came to be, we we spoke to the CEO and Publisher of Sasquatch Game Studio LLC, Richard Baker, and our own Creative Director, James Jacobs.

How do you define a "Superdungeon"? What is your favorite dungeon or superdungeon experience in your personal gaming history?

Rich To me, a superdungeon is any adventure that you could reasonably base a whole campaign around. It will provide months and months of play, characters will level up a good 8 or 10 times in the course of the game, and the players are up against an epic threat or fighting their way through a truly amazing setting. I suppose I might further refine that by saying that a super-dungeon does that all in the context of a single sprawling underground maze (you can certainly have super-adventures that do the same thing but across multiple locales). So, it's a particular flavor of super-adventure, I guess.
My personal favorites were Undermountain—really the gold standard of superdungeons, even if a lot of the map was left for the DM to populate—and more recently City of the Spider-Queen, which is probably more of a superadventure. When I was developing that adventure, we had James Wyatt (the adventure author) run it for us with a great group of players, and we had a blast.

James I define a Superdungeon as a dungeon that you can run an entire campaign in. My favorite superdungeon is Greyhawk’s Maure Castle, which was featured several times in Dungeon magazine back in the day. On Golarion, though, my favorite superdungeon is Hollow Mountain, and I hope to some day get to personally design and develop that site into a significant adventure location. At which point I can see it supplanting Maure Castle as my favorite. Unless I do the same for the Crimson Citadel first, that is.

Illustration by Jorge Fares

What is your level of the Emerald Spire Superdungeon called? What theme, if any, does the level have?

Rich My level of Emerald Spire is the Clockwork Maze. This is the lair of the first major villain in the Spire, the Numerian wizard Klarkosh. As you might expect, it has a strong clockwork theme—the entire dungeon configuration can be altered by using control levers in different spots. In fact, the players will have to do just a little bit of puzzle-solving to figure out how to change the dungeon geometry to navigate through the level. The monsters are mostly constructs of different kinds, since Klarkosh was previously described as a master of making constructs.
I also wrote the description of Fort Inevitable that begins the adventure, and did most of the coordination and direction for the whole project. I got to see each author's contribution as they came up with it!

James My level of the Emerald Spire is the final one—the "Emerald Root." It’s theme is hard to divulge without revealing a lot of spoilers, since it contains the source and reason and history of the Emerald Spire itself, but it goes beyond that and reveals some key bits of information about the Darklands—particularly the vaults of Orv. In fact, the opportunity to explore some of the mysteries of these vaults is the primary reason I pounced on designing the lowest level of Emerald Spire in the first place.

What where the inspirations you drew on for your Emerald Spire level, and what are you hoping players get out of it?

Rich My primary inspiration was really just delivering on what had already been said about the Spire. In the Thornkeep sourcebook we mentioned a few key facts about the Spire, so I took it upon myself to make sure the Emerald Spire superdungeon delivered on those teasers. For the villain, I admit I was thinking of Tharok, the half-robot leader of the Fatal Five, the arch-enemies of the Legion of Superheroes. Klarkosh is kind of a magical version of Tharok.

James There’s a fair amount of Lovecraft inspiration in my level of Emerald Spire, both in the monster mix and in the story beyond what’s going on in that level, but that also ties in to some of the deep continuity of the history of Orv and the Darklands themselves. And by "Lovecraft" in this case, I’m not talking about Cthulhu and tentacle monsters, but about the idea that humanity was not the first to rise to power on this ball of dirt (Earth) or that ball of dirt (Golarion) hurtling blindly through the uncaring gulfs of space.

We really appreciate our Creative Director and the Chief Sasquatch (Editorial Note, Rich told me to call him this) taking time out of their busy schedules to share some of the Emerald Spire with us!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer

Art Blog: Inner Sea Gods

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Welcome to the first monthly blog post directly from the art department. This first preview is for Inner Sea Gods coming out soon. Enjoy!

Illustrations by Roberto Pitturru

Illustrations by Yu Cheng Hong, Jorge Fares, Maichol Quinto

Sarah Robinson
Managing Art Director

Welcome to the End of the World

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Illustration by Fabio Gorla

It's no secret that demons are pretty much my favorite monsters in the game. When we were brainstorming ideas for regions to include in Golarion, the concept of a realm where the demons had invaded and now ruled was near the top of the list. In fact, we ended up with two regions where the demons are in charge—the smaller of the two being Tanglebriar in southern Kyonin (a region more or less transplanted directly from my homebrew world), and the much larger Worldwound itself. Whereas Tanglebriar was basically the work of one nascent demon lord, and as such was relatively limited in the scope of its area, the Worldwound was the work of a full-on demon lord, Deskari, and the resulting demon blight is correspondingly much more massive.

We've tinkered here and there with the Worldwound over the past few years, but with the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, we're finally diving into the deep end of the demon-haunted pool. Which means the time is finally write to head on into old Sarkoris and explore it. Aptly titled The Worldwound, this 64 page Campaign Setting book aims to do exactly that. Of course, it covers the entire demonblighted region—even though Wrath of the Righteous remains pretty tightly focused along the northeastern border, The Worldwound has a lot more secrets to reveal.

There's plenty of new demons and monsters lurking in the Worldwound, as well as in the pages of this book, as evidenced by the creepy monster pictures that grace this post, but even the plants in this realm want to kill you. Take, for example, the following excerpt from the book's chapter about Adventures in the Worldwound:

Leechweed (CR 3 hazard): These plants cluster thickly in the muddy marshes of the western Worldwound, typically growing in a 5-foot-square patch. A single plant is slightly smaller than a human hand, and consists of a mass of dark green leaves from which a single feeding stalk extends. The tip of this stalk contains a small, lancet-like protrusion that can pierce flesh with ease. Spotting a patch of leechweed before blundering into it requires a DC 17 Knowledge (nature) or DC 22 Perception check. A living creature that comes into contact with a patch of leechweed swiftly learns the source of the plant's name, as dozens of feeding stalks suddenly stab and slash at any bits of exposed flesh. As soon as a creature is in contact with leechweed, the plant attempts an attack against it with a +9 bonus. The attacks continue at the end of each of the creature's turns if it doesn't move away from the plant. On a hit, the plant deals 1d4 points of damage and 1d6 points of bleed damage. Fire kills leechweed, as does holy damage or any magical effect that specifically harms plants (such as blight).

Illustrations by Jorge Fares and Damien Mammoliti

That, in a nutshell, is the Worldwound for you—a place where even the grass wants to kill you.

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Blood of the Night: Sate Your Hunger, Part 2

Saturday, December 22, 2012

This past Thursday we gave you a glimpse into the brand-new Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Nightand offered up some pointers on playing your favorite bloodsucker. Now it's time for dhampirs and the dauntless vampire hunters.

So You're Playing a Dhampir...

Half-breed vampires, the dhampir first appeared in Bestiary 2 and were further embraced in the Advanced Race Guide (page 96, which begins 6 pages of new traits, archetypes, magic items, and more). Blood of the Night expands on those options, bringing these tainted souls fully into the Pathfinder campaign setting. If your GM is allowing dhampirs in her game, its time to decide if playing one of these accursed souls is right for you.

Illustrations by Diana Martinez

1. Begin with the Basics: Start on the inside front cover to get a run down on what it means to be a dhampir. All of the racial benefits and abilities of this mysterious breed appear right up front. Check these out and see if it seems like a dhampir character is right for you.
2. Know Your Ancestors: Dhampirs aren't their own full-fledged race, they're half-breeds. Just as elven culture impacts half-elves and orc society shapes half-orcs, dhampir characters stand to be shaped by their parentage just as much as any of these other races. With that in mind, players with dhampir characters should check out the overview of the vampiric bloodlines of the Inner Sea on the inside cover, and there more detailed write-ups on pages 6 to 12. This might also be a good time to decide your general feelings about full-blooded vampires, as dhampirs have a reputation for being among the greatest vampire hunters.
3. Know Yourself: The details of life as a vampire, secrets of this rare race, and suggestions for creating dhampir characters are presented on page 18 and 19. Now that you've chosen to be a dhampir, learn what that means and let that help shape the character you're planning on making. Additionally, now that you know a thing or two about your ancestry, decide whether or not you want to further connect yourself to Golarion's vampire bloodlines by selecting one of four variant dhampir racial options—the jiang-shi-born ru-shi, the moroi-born svetochr, the nosferatu-born ancient-born, or the vetala-born ajibachana.
4. Create Your Character: Now that you know what a dhampir is and how your vampiric heritage has affected you, it's time to make your character. Numerous character options can be found throughout the book in the form of new feats (28 and 29) and traits for dhampirs (19, 20, 21). If you've chosen to be an enemy of vampire kind, the various roles for vampire hunters on pages 26 and 27, as well as several of the spells and magic items on pages 30 and 31, can also help set your character's path.
5. Add Campaign Details: Although rare in the extreme, dhampirs can be found in many places throughout the Inner Sea Region. Learn about where your dhampir and the vampires of your bloodline fit into the Pathfinder campaign setting on pages 24 and 25. Additionally, if you're looking for vampires to hunt, check out the inside back cover for an overview of places in the Inner Sea Region (below, and beyond) in need of vampire hunters.
6. Consider Optional Rules: Even though many of the options in Blood of the Night are themed for vampires, dhampirs straddle the line between the worlds of the living and the dead. A dhampir character interested in highlighting his vampiric urges might work with the GM to employ the rules for hunger on page 22. Characters with a strong tie to a particular vampire bloodline might also find traits suggested for vampires that work well for them, and players should ask their GM if she'll permit them. Dhampirs are exceptionally rare individuals and norms for this race are few, so work with your GM to create the half-vampire hero or antihero of your darkest dreams.

Illustration by
Jorge Fares

So You're Not Playing a Bloodsucker...

Vampire hunters face a daunting, immortal foe, but fortunately Blood of the Night can help them in their quest to beat back the creatures of the night. Aside from many of the secrets and best-known details of Golarion's various vampire breeds, the Hunting Vampires section (page 26 and 26) presents four distinct ways to make a variety of vampire hunters, from spell-slinging arcane slayers; undead-killing bards, monks, and rogues; divine-focused hunters; and classic martial slayers. These builds direct players toward some of the strongest vampire-hunting options in the Pathfinder RPG, including more than a few options you might have never guessed work great against the undead. To really get the edge on the servants of darkness, Blood of the Night also presents a host of new feats designed specifically for vampire hunters (page 28), new spells (page 30), new magic items (page 31), and, of course, a hit list of lands in the Inner Sea where a vampire hunter can ply her trade. You don't just need to be playing the Carrion Crown Adventure Path to play a vampire hunter anymore—let Blood of the Night be your guide to hunting Golarion's deadliest hunters wherever your campaign and character concepts take you.

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

NPC Codex Art Preview

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex is set to release on tomorrow, Wednesday, November 21. Each of the NPC Codex's pages features a full-body illustration by one of many Paizo artist favorites. Here's a sneak peek at some new characters to add to your Pathfinder game!

Illustration by Jorge Fares Stage magicians use their skills to entertain nobles in theaters and crowds of commoners on street corners.	Illustration by Scott Purdy There are few things more terrifying than a half-orc barbarian with a double axe.
Illustration by Jason Rainville A gruff, no-nonsense sort, a constable prefers a stern warning to violence, but doesn't hesitate to crack a belligerent nuisance over the head.	Illustration by Chris Seaman Nimble for a dwarf, an iron duelist excels at hit-and-run tactics.

Sarah Robinson
Senior Art Director

Advanced Race Guide Art Preview

Thursday, May 24, 2012

It's time for another art preview from the Advanced Race Guide, hitting stores near you next month!

While I think we can all agree on how awesome the wayang and ifrit are, for me this entire book is made complete by the wide-eyed grippli. I usually try not to make inflammatory statements on the blog, but I feel comfortable saying that anybody who isn't inspired by the adorable courage of this bold amphibian archer is a little bit dead inside.

Illustrations by J. P. Targete, Jorge Fares, Ben Wootten

James Sutter
Senior Editor

An Accounting of Abbadon

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Illustration by Jorge Fares

Considering the date, a preview of a more sinister sort seems in order. A while back I put together a listing of the devilish denizens of Hell (one you can complete with the CR 14 gylou and CR 19 puragaus in Bestiary 2). But with the upcoming release of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the third volume in our Book of the Damned series which focuses on the pure evil fiends known as daemons, it seemed appropriate to give daemonkind the same treatment. So here you go, a daemon for every dark deed and nearly every CR.

CR	Daemon	Source
2	Cacodaemon	Bestiary 2
3	Lacridaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
4	Vulnadaemon	Bestiary 3
5	Venedaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
6	Ceustodaemon	Bestiary 2
7	Suspiridaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
8	Hydrodaemon	Bestiary 2
9	Leukodaemon*	Bestiary 2
9	Sangudaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
10	Piscodaemon	Bestiary 2
11	Erodaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
11	Meladaemon*	Bestiary 2
12	Derghodaemon	Bestiary 2
13	Thanadaemon*	Bestiary 2
14	Temerdaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
15	Crucidaemon	Bestiary 3
16	Astradaemon	Bestiary 2
17	Phasmadaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
18	Purrodaemon*	Bestiary 2
19	Obcisidaemon	Horsemen of the Apocalypse
20	Olethrodaemonn	Bestiary 2

Ushering in his brethren, we have Jorge Fares's vile venedaemon, just one of the new breeds of daemonkind revealed in Book of the Damned 3. Also, before any one asks, no we haven't done this sort of listing for demons yet, but considering all the sources on the list above, maybe that would make a fine Bestiary 3 preview in the coming weeks. Only time will tell.

Horsemen of the Apocalypse hits store shelves next month.

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

* Deacon. If you don't know what this is, learn all about it in Horsemen of the Apocalypse.