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.
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reflection shows their true self (though sometimes, after you trust them, the pool will show your friend to have been replaced by a horrific creature even if she wasn't) and godless voids where divine power can't reach.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!
Summer has arrived, convention season is at full-tilt, and in just a few short weeks Paizo staffers and gamers from all over will be heading to Gen Con 2016 in sunny Indianapolis! The show is always highly anticipated both because it's a great opportunity to get to see masses of gamers all together in one place to celebrate their hobby, and because new and exciting Paizo releases tend to drop at the show. But before we load up the trucks and ship off, let's take a look at what's coming out and what we've announced since last time we spoke.
Got Those Summertime, Those Summertime Adventures
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Summer has arrived, convention season is at full-tilt, and in just a few short weeks Paizo staffers and gamers from all over will be heading to Gen Con 2016 in sunny Indianapolis! The show is always highly anticipated both because it's a great opportunity to get to see masses of gamers all together in one place to celebrate their hobby, and because new and exciting Paizo releases tend to drop at the show. But before we load up the trucks and ship off, let's take a look at what's coming out and what we've announced since last time we spoke.
Preparations for next month's releases start really ramping up in earnest when we return to the offices on Tuesday, July 5. Given the amount of awesome that we've got to pack into boxes and onto pallets, I think you'll get pretty excited about the previews that will start up for these products too. We've got plenty of terrors lurking in Horror Adventures, the conclusion to the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, the close of Season 7 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild (as well as the start of Season 8 at Gen Con itself), and more goblins than you can shake a stick at (you probably want to grab something more effective than a stick, though)!
Illustration by Caio Maciel Monterio
from We B4 Goblins!
And, if you're a subscriber who is planning on attending Gen Con 2016, you'll want to check out our July 2016 New Release Shipping & Gen Con Pick Up thread in the Customer Service forums for instructions on how to pick up your subscription items at the Paizo booth. Opt-in for Gen Con pick up ends on July 14th, so don't delay!
Keen eyes may have noticed that we've been suspiciously quiet about Horror Adventures, but that will soon change! Starting next week we'll be creaking open its pages to deliver horrific, delightful previews on the Paizo blog. However, you're quite lucky in that I happen to have snuck away to bring you a couple teasers...
Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski, Chris Knight, Rudy Siswanto, and Dave Allsop
As soon as we know summer has come, winter will soon follow. Before I leave you, let's take a quick look at what's ahead in December and January:
It had been a few years since we returned the classic "Revisited" line of Pathfinder Campaign Setting sourcebooks, so we were really excited to delve into the depths beneath the Inner Sea in Darklands Revisited. All we had to do was narrow down what ten monsters we were going to feature in the book—a scary proposition indeed!
Illustration by Mattias Fahlberg
Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?
Thursday, February 18, 2016
It had been a few years since we returned the classic "Revisited" line of Pathfinder Campaign Setting sourcebooks, so we were really excited to delve into the depths beneath the Inner Sea in Darklands Revisited. All we had to do was narrow down what ten monsters we were going to feature in the book—a scary proposition indeed!
In the end, we left out some favorites, in part because they're all our favorites, but also because we love them so much that they might get books of their own someday. What we landed on was a nice mix of classic subterranean foes like drow and duergar; pillars of the science fiction and fantasy genres like morlocks and gugs; icons from the game's history like intellect devourers, neothelids, and vegepygmies; and two monsters introduced to the game in Pathfinder—daemon-worshiping urdefhans and their good-aligned nemeses, the psychic munavri.
It's rare that a single author tackles an entire 64-page Pathfinder Campaign Setting book, but we were lucky to get the veteran Canadian, Thurston Hillman, to put down his poutine and curling broom long enough to breathe life and adventurous inspiration into all ten creatures detailed in Darklands Revisited. The result is one of the most exciting Pathfinder Campaign Setting books I've had the pleasure of working on. I think Game Masters and players alike are going to love this book.
Illustrations by Jon Neimeister, Daniel Lopez, and Dave Allsop
Check out some of the awesome art that brings the Darklands and their deep-dwelling denizens to life! Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Darklands Revisited invades the surface world next Wednesday.
"Spooky? Do You Think I'm Spooky?" The Year in Review
Another year is in the bag, and with it, thousands of pages of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game content, ranging from new a whole new range of psychic classes in Occult Adventures to facing off against the demons of the Abyss in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Wrath of the Righteous! Here's a few highlights from 2015.
"Spooky? Do You Think I'm Spooky?" The Year in Review
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Another year is in the bag, and with it, thousands of pages of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game content, ranging from new a whole new range of psychic classes in Occult Adventures to facing off against the demons of the Abyss in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Wrath of the Righteous! Here's a few highlights from 2015.
Pathfinder Adventure Path
Yes, I was attracted in my younger years to the occult. Illustration by Emiliano Petrozzi
Deep within the Mindspin Mountains, a big problem stirred, kicking off the Giantslayer Adventure Path with "Battle of Bloodmarch Hill"! As you might surmise from the title, you face a whole lotta giants in this AP, from hill to storm and pretty much all kinds in-between. The Order of the Amber Die ran the entire Giantslayer Adventure Path in six sessions, one per volume, and we shared their exploits on the blog previously. This year also saw the start of the 17th Adventure Path with Hell's Rebels, which included the milestone 100th volume, "A Song of Silver"!
Pairing nicely along with Occult Adventures is setting-specific releases of Occult Realms and Occult Bestiary! Esoteric horrors and secrets await in those tomes, but there's also Inner Sea Races, a hardcover compilation expanding upon the many members (and possible player characters) of the Inner Sea! The Inner Sea Monster Codex gives a heapin' helpin' of new options for the game master as well (along with the return of the Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics and a redesigned Combat Pad).
Pathfinder Module
Don't rest your head. Illustration by Dave Allsop
You may not be aware of this...but we kinda like adventure 'round these parts! "Daughters of Fury" was penned by RPG Superstar 2014 winner Victoria Jaczko, while Nicolas Logue returned with "Feast of Dust", and Master of Mysticism Brandon Hodge penned "The House of Hook Street" (which just might make you afraid to close your eyes at night). If you're looking for something level- or region-specific, don't miss out on the Pathfinder Adventure Finder, which includes hundreds of adventures from Paizo and third-party Pathfinder publishers!
And in conclusion, here's some more art from this year's releases!
Illustrations by Nikolai Ostertag, Géraude Soulié, Tom Babbey, Donald Crank, Jaime Martinez, and Kiki Moch Rozky
May your next crit confirm—and if you're looking for more hidden gems, check out Know Direction where hosts Alex Augunas and Ryan Costello interview our Project Manager Jessica Price for things you might have missed this year!
This year we ventured back to Cheliax for a fight against the forces of evil in Hell's Rebels (to be followed by an accompanying foray as the forces of evil in Hell's Vengeance in early 2016), kicked demon butt in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game with Wrath of the Righteous, detailed the peoples and races of Golarion in Inner Sea Races, shook up the Pathfinder RPG with Pathfinder Unchained, as well as pulled back the veil on the world beyond in Occult Adventures. We also struck partnerships with Audible and TOR to bring you Pathfinder Tales in exciting new formats (like Kindle and Audible Audiobook), and explored the world of our iconic characters in the Pathfinder Origins comic series.
Seasons Greetings from the Paizo Crew!
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Illustration by Dave Allsop
It's that time of the year where all of us at Paizo stop to reflect. Whether it's the outpouring of support we receive from our community, customers, and fans, or the products and projects we've gotten out of our doors and into your hands—it's all these things that make our year that much more awesome.
This year we ventured back to Cheliax for a fight against the forces of evil in Hell's Rebels (to be followed by an accompanying foray as the forces of evil in Hell's Vengeance in early 2016), kicked demon butt in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game with Wrath of the Righteous, detailed the peoples and races of Golarion in Inner Sea Races, shook up the Pathfinder RPG with Pathfinder Unchained, as well as pulled back the veil on the world beyond in Occult Adventures. We also struck partnerships with Audible and TOR to bring you Pathfinder Tales in exciting new formats (like Kindle and Audible Audiobook), and explored the world of our iconic characters in the Pathfinder Origins comic series.
Our community shined bright in 2015! PaizoCon and Gen Con were amazing successes for Paizo, turning out an ever growing number of gamers, and leaving our staff in awe of the wonderful folk out there who support Pathfinder and Paizo. In fact, this year we formed a dedicated community team just to accommodate you all and plan for future community events, provide online support, and outreach through more outlets than before.
This year also meant a lot of new Paizo faces. We've added three new developers (Amanda Hamon Kunz, Crystal Frasier, and Linda Zayas-Palmer) who work on our Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Pathfinder Society, and other various lines, as well as two new editors (Jason Keeley and Josh Vogt). We also welcomed our new Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge in October!
None of the achievements we've made in 2015 would have been possible or as special to us without you. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday16 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*
Part of our "skeleton" Paizo crew over the holidays!
Thank you very much from everyone here at Paizo for the continued support! We have a great deal of folks out there traveling for the holidays, and wish them and all of you safe travels and a wonderful holiday season!
We cannot wait until you see what's coming in 2016!
Best wishes and happy gaming, The Paizo Staff
*This discount doesn't apply to backorders, downloads from other companies, preorders, or subscriptions.
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)!
This is it folks—the final matchup round for our Bestiary 5 previews, and your final chance to get in your votes and a chance to win a copy of Bestiary 5!
You Only Die Twice!
Thursday, November 12th, 2015
This is it folks—the final matchup round for our Bestiary 5 previews, and your final chance to get in your votes and a chance to win a copy of Bestiary 5!
Illustrations by Ben Wootten and Jose Parodi
Wyrmwraith CR ??
This ghostly, skeletal creature appears to once have been a dragon, but it is now something far less noble.
Special Attacks breath weapon (60-ft. cone, ?d? negative energy and 1 negative level), create spawn, ectoplasmic shift, energy drain (? levels, DC ??)
Statistics
SQ phase lurch
Ecology
Ecology any
Organization solitary or cadre (1 plus 2–4 dread wraiths)
Treasure double
Special Abilities
Create Spawn (Su) Any humanoids slain by a wyrmwraith become dread wraiths (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 281) in 1d4 rounds. Spawn are under the command of the wyrmwraith that created them and remain enslaved until its death, at which point they become free-willed dread wraiths. They don’t possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Divine Dispelling (Su) When a wyrmwraith strikes a creature with one of its claws, that creature is also affected by a targeted greater dispel magic (CL ??th) that can dispel only divine spells.
Ectoplasmic Shift (Su) A wyrmwraith can push through the ectoplasmic veil to temporarily assume a physical form made of ectoplasm. As a swift action, the wyrmwraith can become corporeal for ?d? rounds. It can return to its incorporeal form as a free action. Once its ectoplasmic form’s duration ends, the wyrmwraith can’t assume that form again for ?d? rounds. While in ectoplasmic form, the wyrmwraith loses the incorporeal ability (including its deflection bonus to AC) and gains a +?? natural armor bonus to AC, DR ??/—, a Strength score equal to its Dexterity score, and the phase lurch ability. The AC for a typical wyrmwraith in ectoplasmic form is ??. When in ectoplasmic form, its attacks are Melee bite +?? (?d?+?? plus energy drain), 2 claws +?? (?d?+?? plus divine dispelling), 2 wings +?? (?d?+?), tail slap +?? (?d?+??).
Phase Lurch (Su) A wyrmwraith in ectoplasmic form can pass through walls or material obstacles. It must begin and end its turn outside whatever wall or obstacle it’s moving through. It can’t move through corporeal creatures with this ability, and its movement speed is halved while moving through a wall or obstacle. Any surface it moves through is coated with a thin, silvery mucus that lingers for 1 minute.
Positive Energy Transference (Su) Whenever a wyrmwraith succeeds at a saving throw to resist positive energy damage but still suffers damage, the wyrmwraith can immediately transfer that damage to any dread wraith spawn of its choice with ?? feet that it controls. The wyrmwraith takes any excess damage beyond the spawn’s hit points. Even if the wyrmwraith has no spawn under its control, when it succeeds at its save against a positive energy effect that normally deals half damage on a successful save, it instead takes one quarter damage.
The Wyrmwraith tore through the Deep Merfolk like me at a sushi bar, crushing it by a 2-to-1 margin to win. With a veritable host of abilities at its disposal, not to mention the ability to phase through solid objects, the Wyrmwraith is a mighty opponent, and not one to trifle with.
Pakalchi Sahkil CR ??
Thorny vines with tiny red flowers grow from this emaciated woman and flow like a train behind her.
DR 10/good; Immune death effects, disease, fear effects, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, sonic 10; SR 20
Offense
Special Attacks bleed (?d?), entangling train, look of fear (?? ft., DC ??), spirit touch, sudden strike, thorns
Statistics
SQ easy to call, emotional focus, skip between
Ecology
Ecology any (Ethereal Plane)
Organization solitary, pair, or plot (3–7)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Easy to Call (Ex) Sahkils count as having 4 fewer Hit Dice (minimum 2) for purposes of spells or effects that call outsiders, such as planar binding. However, they receive a racial bonus equal to 1/2 their Hit Dice on Charisma checks to break free of planar binding spells and similar effects, and their spell resistance counts as if it were 5 higher for the purpose of breaking free of planar binding spells and similar effects.
Emotional Focus (Ex) Whenever a sahkil casts a spell or uses a spell-like ability or effect with the emotionUM or fear descriptors that allows a saving throw, the DC is increased by 2.
Entangling Train (Su) Creatures adjacent to a pakalchi must succeed at a DC ?? Reflex save or become entangled in its vines for ? rounds, and count as tethered. Entangled creatures take vine damage automatically each round they’re entangled. Creatures are no longer entangled if the pakalchi moves away. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Look of Fear (Su) A creature affected by a pakalchi’s gaze is panicked for ? rounds and shaken for ?d? rounds thereafter. A creature that successfully saves against this effect is only shaken for ? rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Poison (Ex) Thorns—injury; save Fort DC ??; frequency ?/round for ? rounds; effect ?d? Wis damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. A creature with Wisdom damage from a pakalchi’s poison hears paranoid whispers warning of betrayal. It can’t treat any other creature as an ally or be a willing target for a spell or effect. This is an emotionUM effect.
Skip Between (Su) Many sahkils can shift between the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane as a move action. This ability is otherwise identical to ethereal jaunt (CL ??th).
Spirit Touch (Ex) A sahkil’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, are treated as though they had the ghost touch weapon special ability.
Sudden Strike (Ex) Once per round, a pakalchi can extend the reach of one claw or thorned vine by ? feet as part of a single attack. It can use this ability to threaten additional squares to cause an enemy to provoke an attack of opportunity.
Thorns (Ex) A pakalchi can fling a volley of poisonous thorns as a standard action (make an attack roll for each thorn). This attack has a range of ??? feet with no range increment.
The power of cute was not strong enough to save the Lotus Leshy, and the Pakalchi Sahkil crushed it with the power of its floral arrangement. Against the Wyrmwraith, the Pakalchi's spirit touch will be a great aid against the incorporeal Wyrmwraith—but will it be enough?
Customer Service Representative Diego Valdez: "No contest, the Wyrmwraith wins. The Pakalchi may not be afraid of the undead, incorporeal, dragon because it is immune to fear, but it should be. It should be. A bit of damage resistance barely slows down a dragons jaws."
Designer Mark Seifter: "The pakalchi might have barely knocked off the lotus leshy, but she’s bitten off more than she can chew with the wyrmwraith. As she unloads her attacks against her foe, she finds that it’s basically immune to her entire repertoire, from fear, to mind control, to poison. Bet she wishes she hadn’t given up on that whole psychopomp thing now; she might once have been a morrigna, and then she would have stood a better chance against undead. The best thing she can do here is step between to run away and forfeit the match. Meanwhile, the wyrmwraith’s first breath attack has left her enervated and badly hurt. There’s no chance she’ll survive the wyrmwraith's full attack!"
Now that you've seen the entrants for the Final Round, head on over to the Voting Booth to place your bets! If you vote on a winning creature, you'll increase your chances to win a signed copy of Bestiary 5, or be one of four winners of a digital version! The third round of voting closes at 12:00 PM Pacific time on November 18th, 2015, and remember, each round will give you more chances to win!
With the Round 2 votes in, we're down to the final four in our Bestiary 5 previews!
Remember Remember, It's Bestiary 5 This November!
Thursday, November 5th, 2015
With the Round 2 votes in, we're down to the final four in our Bestiary 5 previews! Without further ado, let's get them in our lineup and presented for you to win a copy of Bestiary 5 with your winning votes!
Illustrations by Ben Wootten and Tomasz Chistowski
Wyrmwraith CR ??
This ghostly, skeletal creature appears to once have been a dragon, but it is now something far less noble.
Organization solitary or cadre (1 plus 2–4 dread wraiths)
Treasure double
A clear winner with over a two-to-one margin, the Wyrmwraith crushed the Thought Eater out of the competition—and given its options, I can only imagine the manner in which it did so... Wait, what is this "phase lurch" ability?
Deep Merfolk CR ??
This gaunt mermaid has a long, semitransparent tail with a vivid red crest and caudal fin.
Defensive Abilities deep dweller, semitransparent; Resist cold 5
Weaknesses light sensitivity
Ecology
Ecology any oceans (trenches)
Organization solitary, family (2–4), or tribe (10–15)
Treasure standard (spear, other treasure)
Mortal flesh meant immortal doom for the Twilight Pitri Manasaputra, and the Deep Merfolk triumphed, though not as overwhelmingly so. The outcome of this match-up between the Wyrmwraith and the Deep Merfolk is going to be in the dark—after all, they are rather sensitive to the light...
Accountant Ashley Kaprielian: "Two creatures of darkness enter this battle. Will the Wyrmwraith’s hate light the way to the merfolk’s demise? Or will the merfolk lead the Wyrmwraith down a false path and give it what it needs the most—the end of its undead existence."
Customer Service Representative Diego Valdez: "A giant green, glowing, skeleton dragon!? Good thing merfolk are good swimmers! I bet undead dragons aren’t bad swimmers themselves though, what with the being undead and not needing to breathe. Goodbye Deep Merfolk!"
Designer Mark Seifter: "It looks like the Deep Merfolk is trying to use its semitransparency ability to hide, but the Wyrmwraith’s lifesense gives it the advantage. While the Deep Merfolk might still manage to get in a lucky sneak attack, all the Wyrmwraith has to do is change from ectoplasmic to incorporeal form for a sure victory."
Illustrations by Jose Parodi and Daniel López
Pakalchi Sahkil CR ??
Thorny vines with tiny red flowers grow from this emaciated woman and flow like a train behind her.
DR 10/good; Immune death effects, disease, fear effects, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, sonic 10; SR 20
Statistics
SQ ???, ???, skip between
Ecology
Ecology any (Ethereal Plane)
Organization solitary, pair, or plot (3–7)
Treasure standard
As Mark predicted, the Su and its whelps were no match for the Pakalchi Sahkil, who tore apart their familial bonds with a whisper. Make no mistake, the Pakalchi Sahkil is poison!
Lotus Leshy CR ??
A plant whose body resembles a blooming lotus flower exudes an air of serenity.
The Lotus Leshy won out against the Roiling Oil, and is now head to head against the Pakalchi Sahkil—it's a Battle of the Flowers! The sahkil's poison won't affect the leshy, but will the leshy's aura be enough to deny the sahkil?
Ashley: "This leshy might be small, but it could be the only thing able to sooth the nightmare of this Pakalchi into a sweet dream. The Pakalchi’s thorny vines might squeeze all of the hope out of our little leshy before that’s possible though. This will be a knock-down, drag-out fight between the breaker and the unbroken!"
Diego: "The Pakalchi has those terrifying vines with all the thorns, but really, look at the Leshy. Can even an NE creature bring itself to tear apart something that adorable!? While the Pakalchi is cooing at the cuteness, the Leshy will serenely tear it to bits."
Mark: "The pakalchi is a terror in more ways than one, but the leshy is proving a thorn in her side. The cute contemplative is immune to her fear aura and dominate power, and so it's keeping its distance from her entangling train, dealing with the minor damage from her ranged thorns and pelting her with dream pollen. Eventually she’s going to fall asleep, so I’m tentatively calling this one for the leshy!”
Now that you've seen the entrants for Round 3, head on over to the Voting Booth to place your bets! If you vote on a winning creature, you'll increase your chances to win a signed copy of Bestiary 5, or be one of four winners of a digital version! The third round of voting closes at 12:00 PM Pacific time on November 12th, 2015, and remember, each round will give you more chances to win!
Free RPG Day is here! Today game stores across the world are participating in this event, bringing new and exclusive adventures to their area, and inspiring new comers and long-time gamers to new roleplaying games. This year we're contributing two new products to Free RPG Day. The first is Pathfinder Module: We Be Goblins Free!, a new adventure following the antics of select characters from the Birdcruncher goblin tribe. For Adventure Card Game fans, we've got a real tricksy treat in store: Ekkie the Goblin Cutpurse.
Free RPG Day is here! Today game stores across the world are participating in this event, bringing new and exclusive adventures to their area, and inspiring new comers and long-time gamers to new roleplaying games. This year we're contributing two new products to Free RPG Day. The first is Pathfinder Module: We Be Goblins Free!, a new adventure following the antics of select characters from the Birdcruncher goblin tribe. For Adventure Card Game fans, we've got a real tricksy treat in store: Ekkie the Goblin Cutpurse.
Want to marathon some goblin fun? Why not add We Be Goblins! and We Be Goblins Too! to your gaming arsenal? These adventures all follow the same four goblin adventurers: Chuffy Lickwound, Mogmurch, Poog of Zarongel, and Reta Bigbad.
In addition to tables of the new Pathfinder Module, participating stores will also be running demos of the current Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Base Set, Wrath of the Righteous, or the new introductory scenario Demonic Politics. You can also download Ekkie as a free PDF and drop her into your game right now!
If you'd like to jump in right away as Ekkie, we've worked up some suggested deck lists below. You'll want to pick the 12-card deck if you're playing the short demo, and the 15-card deck if you're playing a full-length scenario. Either way, should should have the Mythic Champion mythic path card.
Deck Lists
12-Card Deck
15-Card Deck
Card Type
Card Name
Card Type
Card Name
Weapon
Heavy Pick
Weapon
Heavy Pick
Weapon
Javelin
Weapon
Javelin
Armor
Hide Armor
Weapon
Mace
Item
Blood Periapt
Armor
Hide Armor
Item
Caltrop Bead
Item
Blood Periapt
Item
Nectar of the Gods
Item
Caltrop Bead
Ally
Bat
Item
Nectar of the Gods
Ally
Frog
Item
Trapsmith Gloves
Ally
Vulture
Ally
Bat
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Ally
Frog
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Ally
Vulture
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
Blessing
Blessing of Ascension
If you want to start a Wrath of the Righteous campaign and play Ekkie, build her deck by using her Cards List above after the other characters have built their starting decks. Remember that you may only use cards that have the Basic trait.
Won't get a chance to head out to Free RPG Day? No worries! Starting on July 1, we'll have We Be Goblins Free! available as a free PDF and a $5 print product while supplies last. While Ekkie will not abvailable for sale until the first day of Gen Con, you can pick up her character mat starting July 1 from paizo.com! Pathfinder Adventure Card Game subscribers will receive Ekkie in their July shipments.
Get out, game, and enjoy Free RPG Day!
Chris Lambertz Community & Digital Content Director
This Saturday, June 20th, is Free RPG Day! Participating hobby game retail locations and industry publishers will be giving away free adventures and other materials so that gamers can try new games and play exclusive content together. This year Paizo has contributed two special products. A few months ago, Tanis O'Conner introduced us to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game's special treat: the adventurous goblin Ekkie. Of course, many of you familiar with Pathfinder Society have likely met the little warrior while dealing with a certain goblin guild. I have no doubt she'll get up to even crazier antics now that she's a playable character.
We Be Pathfinders!
Monday, June 15, 2015
Illustration by Dave Allsop
This Saturday, June 20th, is Free RPG Day! Participating hobby game retail locations and industry publishers will be giving away free adventures and other materials so that gamers can try new games and play exclusive content together. This year Paizo has contributed two special products. A few months ago, Tanis O'Connor introduced us to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game's special treat: the adventurous goblin Ekkie. Of course, many of you familiar with Pathfinder Society have likely met the little warrior while dealing with a certain goblin guild. I have no doubt she'll get up to even crazier antics now that she's a playable character.
We're also debuting We Be Goblins Free!, a new adventure featuring the Licktoad tribe's champions Reta, Mogmurch, Chuffy, and Poog. As in past years, the new Free RPG Day module is also sanctioned for the organized play campaign, and we're releasing the sanctioning document today so that GMs have a chance to read over it and print out Chronicle sheets. If you're planning to play the adventure first, I encourage you not to peek and spoil the surprise, so I'll answer some of your anticipated questions now.
How many Prestige Points does We Be Goblins Free grant?
This module does have a secondary success condition of sorts, allowing someone to gain up to 2 Prestige Points for playing the adventure. Anyone playing this on Free RPG Day this Saturday automatically qualifies for the second point.
Is it bad if my goblin pregenerated character dies?
As was the case when I sanctioned We Be Goblins Too, it's still important that a deceased goblin's horribly squishy death be resolved, but doing so happens at a heavily subsidized rate: 5 Prestige Points completely clears up even the worst fate that you might inflict on your pregenerated character during the module.
Does the Chronicle sheet have lots of cool boons?
The Chronicle sheet has lots of cool boons, including one for Squealy Nord and owlbear enthusiasts.
... 2009 ENnie Voting Ends! Friday, July 31, 2009Last time I'll mention it this year, promise. Voting for the ENnie Awards ends tomorrow, so if you haven't cast your ballot yet for your favorite games and accessories, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Intimidation? Is that's what it's going to take? Fine then, I'll leave that to Dave Allsop's mite from the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Now go vote! ... Illustration by Dave AllsopWes Schneider ... Managing Editor ...
2009 ENnie Voting Ends!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Last time I'll mention it this year, promise. Voting for the ENnie Awards ends tomorrow, so if you haven't cast your ballot yet for your favorite games and accessories, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Intimidation? Is that's what it's going to take? Fine then, I'll leave that to Dave Allsop's mite from the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Now go vote!
