Iseph pulled their hand away from their side. Their fingers were sticky and purple with their own synthetic blood. The android winced and calculated the odds of completing the contract: 67.3%. Suboptimal.

This bulk freighter was supposed to be derelict, but the corridors were crawling with bone troopers and starving vacc ghouls. A bone trooper, grinning with its whole skull, perched at the controls of a turret and shot Iseph down as they tried to land in the cargo bay. The android’s integrated force field took the brunt of the impact, but a jagged bit of wreckage pierced Iseph’s side. A medpatch relieved the discomfort of severed processors. A few rounds from their semi-auto pistol took care of the bone trooper.

Iseph dashed down gloomy corridors toward the reactor core, a satchel of explosive charges swinging from their shoulder. The priest of Pharasma on Lucent Station who’d hired Iseph was right—this was a rogue Corpse Fleet vessel, locked on a collision course with the tiny asteroid settlement. An invasion? If so, cracking the reactor apart would prevent untold loss of lives.

Iseph found the blast door to the reactor sealed. A grinning skull icon sneered from the display. A quantum pick from their infiltrator kit and a good shove persuaded the cranky door to open. A deep hum throbbed out from the murky reactor chamber and a strong whiff of void energies tickled Iseph’s olfactory sensors. This was no derelict freighter.

Three grated catwalks, stacked one above the other, surrounded the hemispherical reactor far below. The blast door spat Iseph out onto the middle deck. Radiation flared the operative’s built-in force field. Levels just below redline, but that wasn’t the problem. The starving pack of vacc ghouls on the catwalk above was. 

Recalculating. There is now a 53.5% chance of successfully completing the contract. Lucent Station required better odds.

An emaciated ghoul dangled from the cables above, waving a cutlass-shaped grindblade. Iseph sighted it through the sniper scope and blew it screaming to the reactor pile below. Another pair dropped in front of them waving grindblades. Iseph batted one slash away, gritting their teeth as dermal plating took the blow. That ghoul staggered out into midair and vanished. The android flipped their rifle around and bashed the second one, then drew their pistol and fired three rounds into its head. A third ghoul clambered like a spider along the underside of the catwalk right into the last sniper round.

Recalculating…75% chance of success. 

Iseph’s next target was a tangle of vapor-swaddled conduits that rose up from the core, braided through the catwalk levels. A coffin-like emergency shunt sat on the deck nearby. An explosion there would reverberate up and down the conduits, maximizing a chain reaction.

Iseph gripped their side as they limped towards the shunt. A hulking creature emerged from the vapor clouds. Tall as a standard human, but twice as broad, it was composed of hunks of oozing flesh. A blue-and-silver armored coat festooned with the rank badges of an admiral barely contained its squirming flesh. The admiral grinned at Iseph with sharp, rotten teeth and swung a massive grindblade to the ready. A pair of rigor mortics, constructs of raw flesh and armor plating with integrated shields, lumbered into flanking positions.

Recalculating…50% probability of success.

Predictably, the rigor mortics charged forward shields first to shove Iseph off the catwalk. The admiral advanced behind them, wheezing in sharp, lungless gasps that the android hypothesized were an attempt at laughter.

Iseph grabbed one of the shields and yanked it clean from the rigor mortic’s bony grip, then plunged the zero knife into a visual organ. Silvery-black ichor streamed from the wound. Iseph slammed the pistol to its forehead, pulled the trigger, and sent the undead plunging headless into the reactor.

Iseph vaulted over the other rigor mortic, slicing a bundle of cables that festooned the deck. The cut cables vented steam and coolant, twisting on the deck like live serpents. The hapless rigor mortic became entangled in the coils. The android emptied the entire magazine of their pistol into its bulbous head, spattering gore across the deck.

Ammo depleted. Odds at 52%.

Snarling at the demise of its rigor mortics, the admiral lunged at Iseph with the heavy grindblade. Iseph hurled the zero knife and the cold blade buried itself deep in the admiral’s neck. Pus boiled from the wound, but the monster just laughed as it continued to advance.

Iseph grabbed one of the cut cables and swung out over the abyss. The grindblade whooshed through the empty radioactive gloom where Iseph had been only moments before.

45%.

Momentarily clear of the catwalk, Iseph unclipped the incendiary grenade at their belt with a free hand and pulled the electronic pin. Then they tossed the grenade at the admiral. The brute vanished in the explosion, leaving behind only jagged pieces of bone and metal. Iseph swung back to the catwalk and landed safely on deck.

Increasing probability of success: 89%.

Iseph approached the emergency shunt, reaching for a charge. They stopped short at the flow viewport. Inside, instead of a reactor feed there was a humanoid face. The humanoid was young, and softly glowing vermilion arcs traced across their features. An android. Distorted black veins of void energy pulsed in parallel swirls alongside their circuitry. The necrotization of tissue indicated a 35% chance the android was a borai or some other type of undead.

Iseph stepped back, still clutching the charges. This “shunt” was nothing more than a sarcophagus hooked up directly to the reactor. What kind of being would need to draw that much power?

There was a high probability this android was a necrovite waiting to be reborn in undeath. The android’s eyelids flew open and met Iseph’s searching gaze with their own. Their curious expression melted to pure terror. Though the operative couldn’t hear their cries through the thick portal, the meaning was clear: Help me!

Iseph glanced at the explosives in their hands. They could help free the android one way—or another. Was this a ruse? Processing new directive.Odds for success: Unable to calculate. Iseph placed the charges in standby and back in their bag. They toggled the latches on the sarcophagus. Clouds of vapor smelling like decaying plant matter spilled from the hatch.

The creature dropped to their knees and gasped. Trailing wires and tubes kept them connected to the machinery in the sarcophagus. “Thank you,” they whispered.

Iseph visualized half a dozen martial strikes to neutralize the kneeling android, but remained still, curiously moved by their stark vulnerability. “What were you doing in there?”

The other shrugged. “They t-took me.”

“Who took you?”

“Don’t remember. But I didn’t w-want to go.” The other’s voice was shaky, indicating confusion and anxiety. Iseph considered that. They, too, had once woken up not remembering.

“I have a directive to destroy this place,” Iseph advised.

The necrotized android regarded Iseph warily. They stood as the umbilical tubes detached with wet pops and examined themself as if for the first time, another familiar act. Something stirred in Iseph. 

“Do w-what you must. I won’t stop y-you,” the other said.

“You won’t,” Iseph agreed, strangely conflicted about that answer. They set a charge against the power coupling of the sarcophagus and armed it. Shunt or not, the device was still connected directly to the reactor.

94% chance of success.

“I’m Avel.” The other’s eyes glimmered with vermilion light.

“Iseph. You should come with me.”

Avel arched a glowing brow. “Are you sure? I don’t know to what purpose I’ve been set.”

Iseph shook their head and set the rest of the charges. “Then find your own purpose. Everyone should have that chance.” Avel looked around at the cavernous ship of the dead, considering. Calculating their own odds, maybe? Iseph checked their remote detonator and set it on standby.

“Let’s leave this wretched place, Iseph,” Avel said with a shudder. They found the escape pods three decks above. No bone troopers or rigor mortics impeded them. Perhaps Avel was repelling them with a secret signal. Iseph opened the pod’s hatch and ushered Avel inside. The other android hesitated.

“Will they accept me where we’re going?” Avel asked. Iseph shrugged. The Pharasman priest would likely need to be persuaded. Iseph could handle that.

A huge shadow crashed into Iseph, knocking them to the deck. The detonator skittered from their hand. The admiral towered over Iseph, its flesh charred and suppurating from the grenade blast. Its jaw hung loose, enhancing its vicious grin. It held the splintered ends of the grindblade against Iseph’s throat. Avel stepped over to the detonator and picked it up. Was this betrayal after all? Iseph began to calculate the probability. Avel smiled and thumbed the button. 

The deck shook and the admiral toppled back. Iseph kipped up to their feet, feeling their medpatch—and the artificial flesh beneath it—tear open in a new arc of fire. Iseph ignored the painful sensory stimulus and shoved Avel into the pod. They crawled in after, sealing the hatch.

The admiral’s howling face appeared at the viewport. Iseph slammed the launch trigger and the escape pod blasted into space. In the distance, the freighter’s hull spasmed as explosions in the reactor tore it apart. Lucent Station, still just a speck of spinning rock in the forward viewport, was safe.

Mission Complete. Or was it? Avel stared at their destination, expression tight.

“I don’t know what they did to me, Iseph. I could be a danger to the ones you saved.” Avel said. Iseph shook their head, wondering at this unexpected deviation from their mission. Avel had not been part of their calculations before, but they certainly were now.

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

---

About the Author
A. Penn Romine teaches animation and VFX, following a career working in Hollywood on award-winning films and television. His first novel, The Mosquito Fleet, is available now from Broken Eye Books. His stories have appeared in Lightspeed, FUNGI, HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY, and BY FAERIE LIGHT. He lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys mixing cocktails and watching terrible movies. You can find him all over theinternet.

About the Iconic
Iseph (they/them) is a nonbinary android operative who has cybernetically modified their body into the perfect precision weapon. Iseph swaps between their trusty pistol, rifle, and zero knife (plus other gear looted off their take-downs) and knows how to aim to deal the most effective damage to a target.

About Iconic Encounters
Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Learn more about the operative class in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, on paizo.com, and at your friendly local game store! Be the first to play Starfinder Second Edition by subscribing to the Starfinder RPG or Starfinder RPG (Special Edition) lines and receive a free PDF when your book ships!

This was, Navasi decided, the third worst date she’d ever been on.

It wasn’t her datemate’s fault this time, though; things had been going pretty well with Pakelia considering they’d met on Shelyn’s Boudoir. Navasi wasn’t usually one for dating apps, but she’d been recommended that one by Quig, of all people. Probably he was just sick of hearing her complain about her disaster of a love life.

So she’d nabbed a reservation at Angelfish, Absalom Station’s hottest new seafood restaurant, and to her surprise, Pakelia turned out to be a real person, not a scambot—and a charming one at that. They’d already moved past small talk by the time their server brought them their menus.

Then everything went to hell.

As another explosion rattled the chandeliers, Navasi tugged Pakelia further into the cover of their overturned table. The verthani woman’s shoulders were a taut line, soot staining the green silk of her dress; her gaze darted around, seeking an exit. They’d been seated in the back corner, and the attackers were between them and the panicked crowd of diners and staff fleeing out the front door.

Navasi glared at the menu lying on the floor by their broken cocktail glasses, its scrolling display of the day’s specials replaced by a sigil of a cat’s paw clutching a scimitar. She knew that sigil. And if Trace was here, it wasn’t because she’d lucked into a table.

As the dust cleared, she heard, “Navasiiiii!” echo from the extemporary exit Trace’s grenade had blown in the wall, and any hope she’d had of Pakelia not identifying her as the target of this chaos evaporated. She glanced over but couldn’t read any emotion in Pakelia’s ink-black eyes.

A hail of electrical bolts singed holes in the wall behind them. That was definitely Trace’s first mate, Arvann. Navasi muttered a word that would have made her childhood etiquette tutor revoke her vidgame privileges for a week and fished her laser pistol out of the thigh holster strapped under her skirt.

“They’re after you?” Pakelia asked, glancing briefly at the gun, then away. Navasi sighed, cursing Trace’s timing. Her lifestyle could be risky, and Pakelia was an accountant, for Besmara’s sake. An accountant she’d inadvertently dropped into a firefight. Oh, I am so not getting a second date.

“Yeah,” she said. “Sorry. It’s… complicated.”

“A soap opera plot is complicated,” Pakelia said. “This is what I’d call a problem.” She peeked over the table. “They’ve got all the exits covered.”

Was it her imagination, or had Pakelia’s posture relaxed?

“Navasi!” Trace’s voice rang out. “Get out here before I ventilate this ceiling!”

“Because you’ve done the décor so many favors already,” Navasi retorted. Disproportionate was the key word for Trace’s reactions to pretty much anything. She’d found it intoxicating, once, before she’d gotten tired of feeling like a moth crisping itself on a flame. She scanned the restaurant for options. Trace’s tendency to bombard first and ask questions later had worked to their advantage in one way, at least; there were plenty of broken chairs and tables to use as cover, and luckily, everyone else seemed to have escaped already.

“Dare I ask?” Pakelia murmured in her ear. The scent of her perfume, floral and subtly sweet, cut through the acrid tang of electricity, and Navasi spared a moment of wistfulness for lost opportunities.

“Don’t date a Free Captain,” she answered. “And if you do date a Free Captain and then break up with them, don’t take a protection job on her route and foil a score she’s been planning for months.”

“Might I suggest,” Pakelia mused, “that perhaps you shouldn’t have let her know who did it?”

“My ship’s pretty distinctive,” Navasi said, wondering if she was imagining the hint of amusement dancing on the edges of Pakelia’s voice. She tilted her head at the panorama windows on the other side of the restaurant, which provided a beautiful view of Jatembe Park below. “Okay. See those windows?” The table shielding them disintegrated, another grenade boom echoing through the air. Navasi grabbed Pakelia’s arm and yanked her away from the wreckage. The two scrabbled toward the next overturned table.

“They’re our exit,” Navasi finished, brushing splinters off her dress. The purple satin was shredded and stained, probably beyond nonmagical repair. “Damn it, Trace!” she yelled over the table. “This dress was expensive!”

“I like your blue one better!” Trace called back. “What happened to the blue one?”

Navasi contemplated taking a deep breath and counting to ten. Instead, she popped up long enough to fire a few warning shots.

“You borrowed it,” she shouted, in between laser blasts, “and spilled nitro fuel on it. Remember?”

“Is that why you broke up?” Pakelia asked.

“No,” Navasi admitted, “but it should have been. Would have saved me some time and trouble.” Trace’s response to that was another grenade. Navasi hissed in surprise as Pakelia slid an arm around her shoulders and swept her along to new cover as their second table met the same splintery fate as the first.

“Is she trying to kill you?” Pakelia asked. As they ducked behind table number three, her knee only narrowly avoided skidding across the remains of someone’s mango shrimp. The question wasn’t incredulous, but neutral, a mere clarification of fact stated in the exact same tone she’d used to ask their server whether the Castrovelian glowfish sauté had nuts in it. She was handling this better than Navasi would have expected.

“Probably not,” she said. Trace had a temper, but she wasn’t that extreme. “If I had to guess, I’d say she just wants to knock us out, steal all our valuables, and call it even.”

“Well,” Pakelia said. “I’m fond of this necklace—and also my skull—so I’d prefer to avoid that.” She inclined her head toward the far wall. “Making a break for the windows it is. I assume you’ve accounted for the main problem?”

“That we’re five stories up?”

“That’s the one.”

“Did you see that tattooed vesk guy out there?”

“I tend to notice people blasting arc emitters at me, yes.”

“He’s got an autograppler on his belt.”

“You want us to fight past your angry ex and her crew, snatch an autograppler off one of them, and then dive out of a five-story window?” Pakelia asked.

“Pakelia,” Navasi began, her stomach sinking. “I’m sorry I—” She wasn’t sure how she planned to end the sentence—ruined our date? have a chaos gremlin of an ex? am totally cursed when it comes to relationships?—but before she could try, Pakelia grinned.

“Sounds fun,” she said, giving Navasi a wink. “I’ll cover you.”

With what? Navasi opened her mouth to say, when Pakelia made a graceful motion, her forearm unfolding to reveal a pistol. She decided to file her many questions away for when they weren’t under attack. Time to go. She stood, pointing at Arvann. “Get him!” she called, aiming a laser blast at his arm to punctuate her directive. She didn’t want to kill any of them, but Arvann was sturdy; he could take a few hits.

Pakelia sidled around the table, shooting off covering fire as Navasi made a dash for the overturned chair closest to the window. Trace’s vertical pupils were narrowed and her fur bristling, her ears pinned back against the top of her head. Oh yeah, she’s mad.

“You got in my way!” Trace hissed. “That score was supposed to set us up for years.”

“I just took a job!” Navasi said. “How was I supposed to know you were the one after that ship?”

“Like it would have changed anything if you’d known!” Trace lobbed another grenade, but this time Navasi dodged out of the way, nearly tripping on the silverware scattered across the floor.

“So what if it didn’t?” Navasi demanded. “You don’t get immunity just because we used to date!”

“I’ll keep that in mind should I decide to get up to anything nefarious!” Pakelia called, executing an impeccable tuck and roll to the table on Navasi’s other side. Her shots stayed perfectly steady throughout the entire maneuver.

“And,” Trace snarled, her pupils retracting to a line, “you still have my favorite Strawberry Machine Cake t-shirt!”

“Seriously? That’s why you’re blowing up the restaurant?”

Giving up on reasoning with Trace, Navasi made a dash toward Arvann. She only got halfway there before Trace’s gyrojet pistol unleashed a rocket, slamming her into the wall. Her dazed mind registered the incongruous view in the security cams—the restaurant’s mural of an angel holding a platter of fried calamari overlain by her in her ruined dress, two elegantly painted wings extending outward behind her—before she fell to the ground. She shook her head unsteadily, then looked up in time to see Arvann raise his arc emitter again.

“Watch out!” she called to Pakelia, but it was too late; his shot struck her in the leg. Pakelia stumbled, muttering a curse in Vercite under her breath.

Illustration by Emanuel Pantaleon:

Oh, that is it. “Leave! My! Date! Alone!” Navasi snapped, scrambling to her feet. She grabbed Pakelia’s wrist, towing her along. Still clumsy from the electrical blast, Pakelia faltered, her ankle turning under her next step.

“Hey,” Navasi said, deciding that getting out of here overrode any concerns about being affectionate during a first (calamitous) date. “He barely grazed you.”

As they ran toward Arvann, she kissed Pakelia on the cheek. The effect was immediate: Pakelia’s gait quickened, the burns on her leg somehow no longer hindering her. This time, Trace’s shot whizzed past them, obliterating an unfortunate potted plant in the corner. Arvann steadied his stance as they neared him, no doubt expecting Navasi to try to bowl him over—

She let go of Pakelia, but she’d needn’t have; her date backflipped right along with her. She snagged the autograppler as Pakelia grabbed one of the overturned chairs and flung it through the window glass. In unison, they swan-dived, Navasi shooting the grappler at the exterior wall and grabbing Pakelia around the waist in one smooth motion.

“Navasi!” she heard Trace snarl. “You’ll regret this!”

“I’ll mail you your shirt!”

The wind rushed past as they dropped, the lights from the surrounding buildings blurring to streaks around them. As soon as the two hit the ground, they both collapsed, sprawling onto the grass. The ceiling’s vid display of a night sky twinkled peacefully above them, in marked contrast with the clusters of bedraggled restaurant patrons and staff gathered on the lawn, patching up minor injuries and calling the Stewards on their comms. In the distance, approaching sirens wailed closer. Navasi knew Trace and her crew would be long gone before they arrived; wiggling out of trouble was what she did best.

Navasi took a deep breath, the adrenaline rush fading from her veins. Replacing it was the sense of warmth radiating from Pakelia beside her…and the newfound certainty that her date was no ordinary accountant. “So,” she said. “Do I get to know why you’ve got a hideaway limb with a gun in it?”

Pakelia smiled. “I think that’s more of a second date conversation, don’t you?”

Second—?

Relief swept through her. Maybe Trace hadn’t ruined everything. Maybe Navasi had found someone who wouldn’t cut and run at the first sign of trouble.

And maybe this date was one of her better ones after all.

“Since seafood’s off the menu,” Navasi said, sliding her hand closer so their little fingers brushed, “I know this great noodle place in Sparks…”

---

About the Author
Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her) is a frequent contributor to Paizo. Her recent projects include work on Starfinder Galaxy Guide and StarfinderAlien Core, as well as some exciting, yet-to-be announced publications! She has a lifelong love of space, pirates, and space pirates, which made Navasi's little tale here a dream assignment. In addition to her RPG work, she writes fiction, with several published short stories and a novel currently in the agent-querying process. She lives with her partner and their polydactyl cat, Milly, who has a bottomless appetite for shrimpie treats.

About the Iconic
Navasi (she/her) is a female human envoy who gave up her plush upbringing for love and a life of piracy—same old fairy tale—until that life ended. Now she’s wheeling and dealing around the galaxy with her crew, always ready with a directive or well-timed quip. But when talking doesn’t work, she goes in guns blazing.

About Iconic Encounters
Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Learn more about the envoy class in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, on paizo.com, and at your friendly local game store! Be the first to play Starfinder Second Edition by subscribing to the Starfinder RPG or Starfinder RPG (Special Edition) lines and receive a free PDF when your book ships!

As many of you know, Diamond Comic Distributors declared bankruptcy on January 14th. Hundreds of game publishers, including Paizo, have partnered with Diamond to sell their products into the book trade (Barnes & Noble, Ingram, Booktopia, and others). Diamond has also sold Pathfinder and Starfinder into Amazon for us.

Paizo has stopped shipping products to Diamond. This means that our August releases will not be widely available at major bookstores or on Amazon. While these sites will likely continue to list products for sale or preorder, most orders for these titles will not be able to be fulfilled. To stay up to date with your collection, please stop by your favorite local game store and ask them to order our upcoming releases, purchase them directly here on paizo.com, or sign up for one of our subscriptions.

We expect Pathfinder and Starfinder products to remain unavailable through book trade channels for several months as Paizo determines our next steps and this matter works its way through the bankruptcy court. The best thing you can do to help Paizo and the 100+ publishers caught up in the Diamond bankruptcy is to order from them directly or go to your local game store and ask them to preorder upcoming releases so you’ll have them on launch day.

Here are the Paizo products impacted for August and September.

August Releases (available July 31st)

• Starfinder Player Core
• Starfinder Player Core Retail Edition
• Starfinder Player Core Special Edition
• Starfinder Combat Pad
• Starfinder Murder in Metal City Deluxe Adventure
• Starfinder Infinity Deck Card game
• Era of the Eclipse, A Starfinder Novel (hardcover)

• Pathfinder Battlecry!
• Pathfinder Battlecry! Sketch Edition
• Pathfinder Battlecry! Special Edition
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #217: Death Sails a Wine-Dark Sea (Myth-Speaker 2 of 3)
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Siege

September Releases (available September 3rd)

• Starfinder GM Core
• Starfinder GM Core Special Edition
• Starfinder GM Core Retailer Edition
• Starfinder Galaxy Guide Pocket Edition
• Starfinder Player Character Folio
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Garage Warehouse

• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Command Center
• Pathfinder Treasure Vault (Remastered) Pocket Edition
• Pathfinder Game Night: Dawn of the Frogs (Deluxe Adventure)
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #218: Titanbane (Myth-Speaker 3 of 3)

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of Paizo!

Jim Butler
Chief Executive Officer

Greetings, Starfinders!

Time flies in the Drift, huh? It seems like just yesterday we released two new classes for you to play around with, and it’s already past time for a wrap up! The Starfinder Second Edition tech class playtest featuring the mechanic and technomancer formally concluded on May 30th. Since then, the Starfinder team has been eagerly and diligently reading every word that’s been submitted on the playtest surveys. And remember: even though the playtest is over, you can still use the playtest mechanic and playtest technomancer until the two classes are officially released, including in Starfinder Society Organized Play.

Illustration by Pixoloid Studios

The mechanic was overall a hit, but we have some tune-ups planned for the class before the final release. We noticed players had trouble using mines and turrets when fighting flying enemies and in zero gravity environments, so we’re looking into ways to make them a little more three-dimensionally compatible. Many players were confused about how and when turrets can be repaired, deployed, and deactivated and we will be looking into options to make sure that if your turret is stolen by a disgruntled enemy, you can still participate in the fight to retrieve your little buddy. We are also looking into sprucing up mods, potentially opening ways to affect allies’ weapons and making mods last a little longer, but we need to run more internal testing before we can make any promises!

Technomancer requires some significant changes to make the class easier to play, less action starved, and add in more class features they can use with technology. We are currently looking at retooling Overclock Gear, perhaps combining it with more versatile Magic Hacks to highlight each programming language’s gear and shifting the focus of some of its class features away from spellshapes. We are also introducing minions called minibots you can purchase with credits as early as level 1. Minibots can help adventurers of any class with simple tasks, like recording video or carrying a single small item.

These are just a few of the potential changes we’re planning to test out internally. We’ve had a blast reading your feedback and hearing about your playtest experiences. Thanks again for your participation in the Starfinder tech class playtest!

—The Starfinder Team

“Victory is the outcome of a divine equation whose clauses are simple to solve for: which side has the greater skill; what side has the greater force(s); who has the advantage of position; which side is more disciplined; for whom are the consequences of failure greater. To the more favored goes the victory.”
—The Lost Sage

THE RESERVE, NOW

By the time the transport’s wake lights up the drop off point, Obozaya’s already disappeared into the trees.

The pilot—a former squad-mate named Sozulak from her cadet days— had clicked his tongue against his teeth in amusement but kept his peace when she commissioned the flight. She read the smug superiority in the way he tilted his head, and while it irked her, expending energy on anything but her mission was a foolish waste.

The angry buzzing of the ship breaking atmo gives way to the deceptively gentle hum of semi-sentient flora and megafauna deeper in the jungle, and Obozaya can’t help the shiver of anticipation that ripples through her.

She has 12 hours before Solzulak returns. First order of business for the hunt is evening the playing field.

She allows herself to be fully armed as she digs the hole, deep and even with sides reinforced with thick branches she collected around the perimeter of the rendezvous. But when that is done, off come the weapons and armor, until she is left in cloth barely thick enough to keep the cold from stiffening her joints, and a doshko made for vesk who still had their egg-teeth.

Next, setting up the endgame.

The mechanism is as elegant as it is simple, though setting up the tripwire is difficult. The chill of the damp twilight air makes her feel sluggish. It galls her a bit, but she has to admit to herself that she has become accustomed to temperature-controlled environments. This operation, beyond being a tying up of loose ends, is a good reminder to work on lapsed training.

Finally, the seeds of victory are sown, and all there is left is to wait.

THE RESERVE, THEN

A hunter’s moon crawling with bred and imported monsters from across the known galaxy, the Reserve was legend to all vesk.

Though hazing was officially frowned upon, any cadet wanting to come into active service with some glory to their name was welcome to face the wilderness for 12 hours. Surviving meant well-earned bragging rights, and Obozaya Ymeros’s secret visions of being a battle saint were enough to make up for any holes in her armor.

The rules were simple: walk into the jungle and survive until rendezvous, with just your doshko and your wits.

When Obozaya took her turn, it was the wet season.

As soon as the transport was clear, Obozaya ran into the clearing, shouting as hard as her lungs will allow. The rain was coming down hard enough that she worried maybe nothing would hear her call, but within less than 20 minutes it was clear her worries were unfounded.

A whiskered renkroda—female and young but large and vibrating with aggression—leapt from a nearby tree without preamble and nearly knocked Obozaya’s head off. Pivoting toward the change in heat above her, the vesk cadet’s foot slipped in the mud and the claws meant to kill only gouged, and ripped away a small horn.

Bleeding and surprised, Obozaya was still a lethal warrior. She managed to slice the beast across the face with her weapon, opening a wound that swallowed one of its eyes.

The renkroda was like a demon possessed, and Obozaya was nowhere close to being a battle saint. The fighting went on for an hour in the rain, felling trees and obliterating rocks in the fury of their clash, and Obozaya was forced to do something she had never even considered before: retreat.

The beast was not done with Obozaya though, and stalked her for hours, slashing and bleeding her at every turn, until all the vesk could do was use the remains of what must have once been a supply drop to barricade herself into a cave and wait for pick up.

The renkroda paced back and forth in front of the barricade, pawing at the debris and huffing aggressively. Obozaya was dead sure it would break in, but as the moon set, they locked eyes, and after a few tense moments, the beast snorted and loped away.

When the transport came, though she technically achieved her directive, Obozaya felt that she had left whatever honor she brought with her down on the surface of the hunter’s moon.

The bitter truth of the Lost Sage’s words echoed in her mind: To taste of victory, first you must dine on defeat.

THE RESERVE, NOW

Obozaya makes a fire and breaks out her rations. She takes a long, deep breath.

Closing her eyes, she reminds herself of the soldier’s guiding principle. For a warrior, the composure of the spirit and the calm of the mind should never be disturbed by the passions of the body.

When the food is done, and she has stretched her muscles loose, Obozaya stands, cracking her knuckles, and takes up her simple doshko.

Her voice is exponentially louder now as she bellows into the night. Just like the first time she set foot on the Reserve, she does not have to wait long until her call is answered.

A horrible hissing growl is all the warning she gets before a shadow descends from the trees, quick as a lightning strike.

THE RESERVE, THEN

While it wasn’t unheard of for a soldier to return for a go at the Reserve, it was incredibly rare, and always as a sort of confirmation of purpose to the Empire.

When Obozaya returned, it was barely more than a week after taking her Soldier’s Due, bristling with wounded pride and armed to the teeth with the best gear she could afford.

Plasma doshko in hand, bandoleers of incendiary and frag grenades on her armored chest, magnetar rifle slung across her back, she was a vision of righteous vengeance. And if her roar of challenge wavered in the middle, it must have been a trick of the wind.

The renkroda that appeared was huge and bold. It prowled into the clearing and met her gaze with one remaining eye.

Obozaya grinned and readied her weapon; she knew this beast. “Glad to know it’s personal for us both.”

The renkroda lunged and they fought bitterly, splintering trees and chipping rocks. This time though, it was the renkroda who ran, having suffered the loss of a talon and the tip of its tail.

Obozaya was relentless in her pursuit, lobbing incendiary grenades to force its path back towards her, shooting into its hide with her rifle to try and slow it down. She set the jungle on fire with her fury and her weapons, showing no mercy.

In the end, the renkroda, exhausted and gravely wounded, could do nothing but lie panting on the ground. Standing over her prey, Obozaya raised her humming doshko high, catching her reflection in the creature’s single, frightened eye.

Backlit by the fires raging around them, Obozaya looked to herself like a terrible demon towering over a helpless lesser being; it stopped her cold. The words of the Lost Sage came to her mind then: The honor of an action is directly weighed against the cost of that action—with great difficulty comes great honor. No honor can be gotten from ill-intentioned action.

“There is no honor here.”

And, shaking her head, Obozaya gently lowered her doshko.

THE RESERVE, NOW

Claws strike metal, throwing sparks into the air.

Teeth close around flesh, tearing skin and muscle, just missing shearing bone.

Heavy bodies thud together with enough force to uproot trees.

They lock up for what feels like days, titans of war, and when they come together, the sound of it is like thunder. Their battle rips through the trees and rolls over hills, until they reach the dark heart of the jungle.

When they separate, Obozaya understands there is something different about the renkroda. It has the same scarred face, the same scattering of marks where bullets bit into its side, same stunted tail. But there is a nervous frantic energy to the beast now. The renkroda puffs up its body, lunging and retreating, as if to drive Obozaya back towards the path they had carved through the trees—to drive the vesk away.

The trap Obozaya laid earlier was behind the beast, though, and while the soldier was enjoying herself this time around, it was time to bring the game to a close.

“Sorry, girl.”

Straightening to her full height, Obozaya lets out an almost joyful, if menacing, laugh. With a high-pitched scream, the renkroda skitters backwards. Then it turns and runs away at full speed.

“Three, two, one—”

Thwup!

The snare stops the renkroda so fast it runs in mid-air for a whole second.

Stretching a kink out of her shoulder, Obozaya approaches the swinging, shrieking animal. It sounds furious, hissing and swiping at the vesk as she stands just out of reach.

“You let me get you at the end there, didn’t you? Are you tired of the game?”

The renkroda pants, glaring with its one eye, but seems to calm down as Obozaya walks around it.

“Interesting.”

Obozaya walks back around, and the beast howls again, swiping at her, then attempting to lunge and bite through its own feet to escape the snare.

“Huh…”

Looking around, Obozaya sees that just to her left is a felled tree, as big around as she is tall, with a hollow sizable enough to crawl in. She crouches down beside it to peer in, and the renkroda goes berserk.

The soldier has an idea of what she’ll find inside, and she is not surprised to see a clutch of half a dozen eggs.

Looking back at the bucking and screaming renkroda, Obozaya can’t help but chuckle and shake her head.

The nest was well hidden enough that she had missed seeing it when she set up the trap. Incredible.

Obozaya doesn’t hesitate. With a heavy sigh, she walks around to the far side of the trapped beast, avoiding its wild claw strikes as she raises her doshko and prepares to strike.

Bzzzz!

Her doshko buzzes as she swings and severs the line stretched taut above the renkroda.

She backs away as the renkroda lands on her clawed feet. The predator glares back at Obozaya and hisses, but she’s no longer attacking. She’s limping to her eggs. The two predators acknowledge that this is a ceasefire.

“Next time.”

When Solzulak picks Obozaya up, he is relentless about mocking her lack of trophy.

Once again, the words of the Lost Sage come to her mind: The songs that are sung of us are what others claim to know about us, but the honor we gain when no one watches is what we know of ourselves.

Obozaya says nothing as they shoot up and out among the stars. That she knows is enough.

“There is no smooth nor easy path to the peak of the mountain known as Honor.”
—The Lost Sage

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About the Author
Vita Ayala (they/them) is a trans non-binary Afro-Puerto Rican writer born and bred in New York City, where they grew up dreaming dreams of dancing on far away worlds, fighting monsters on the block, and racing fish along the bottom of the sea.

Vita writes both comics and prose fiction, and has written for publishers such as: Abrams (Song of the Lioness: Alanna), Black Mask Studios (The Wilds), DC (Static), Image Comics (Finders//Keepers), Marvel (New Mutants), Vault Comics (Submerged), and more!

About the Iconic
Obozaya (she/her) is a female vesk soldier who protects her allies with big guns, heavy armor, and her menacing presence. She’s never afraid to swap to her doshko and go one-on-one with an enemy whenever honor demands.

About Iconic Encounters
Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

"Learn more about the soldier class in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, on paizo.com, and at your friendly local game store! Be the first to play Starfinder Second Edition by subscribing to the Starfinder RPG or Starfinder RPG (Special Edition) lines and receive a free PDF when your book ships!"

Greetings, players! In today’s blog we’d like to take a moment to recognize our talented freelance authors who contributed to the final batch of Starfinder Society (First Edition) scenarios. Some of these authors have been writing for us for years, while others saw their names in print for the very first time! No matter what, this era of Starfinder might be ending, but I’m sure it won’t be the final time you see their names.

Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Manager

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Jenny Jarzabski (she/her/xe)

SFS1 #7-02: Zo! vs. Zo

This adventure started out as a conversation in Starfinder team chat. We knew we wanted to create an adventure starring Zo!, so we started brainstorming potential themes and hooks. My colleague Dustin has always wondered about a specific detail of the Starfinder setting: Why does the undead celebrity Zo! share a name with the magnificent Triaxian port city of Zo? Is it coincidence, or some deeper lore? This question was on his mind as we tossed out weird ideas for another televised adventure.

Eventually, he brought it up.

And the rest is history.

Beyond this wacky conversation, my inspiration for Zo! vs. Zo included too many hours of Judge Judy, listening to a friend’s retellings of Ace Attorney games, and simply imagining what a TV court drama would look like on a planet with real dragons and semi-legal combat between residents. Triaxus (the planet) has lots of high fantasy themes, so I started thinking about what a typical fantasy concept like trial by combat would be like in Starfinder. I decided literal legal battles would probably be fought by combat lawyers hired to represent their clients. From that, another idea formed: What if the player characters act as Zo!’s combat lawyers in his legal case against the city? I thought that sounded truly outrageous, so that’s how I designed the adventure. If you’d like to experience more of my work, my favorites are Mechageddon!, a Starfinder First Edition Adventure Path about playing a squad of mech pilots defending their home world from kaiju, and A Cosmic Birthday, a Starfinder Second Edition adventure about surviving a disaster on Absalom Station. You can also check out Starfinder Second Edition, launching now with StarfinderGalaxy Guide!

Katrina Hennessy (she/they)

SFS1 #7-06: Archives of Eternity

I am thrilled to have once again contributed to Starfinder Society adventures with 7-06:Archives of Eternity. I am also, as ever, grateful for the wonderful team who took my submission and improved it in so many ways. It is always amazing to see the art that is produced, as well as what the development and editing teams contribute. This was my first time designing a map, and the difference between what I submitted and the full art version was astounding. Metaplot adventures have their own challenges and bring their own joys. It is fun to be part of a bigger storyline while also writing a complete and independent adventure. Trying to think like and design for an alien culture that I don’t know or understand pushed my creativity. I look forward to the possibility of contributing to the new campaign when the time is right. Happy gaming everyone.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

SFS1 #7-08: Envar’s Awesome Rescue

Hello, all! I’m Kendra Leigh Speedling, frequent contributor to Paizo. For Starfinder Society this year, I got to return to everyone’s favorite(?) disaster influencer, Envar Tamm, in SFS #7-08: Envar’s Awesome Rescue! Envar’s been plaguingdelighting the Society for a while; my first outing with him was in 5-12: Envar’s Expeditions, and it was fun to see how he’s grown (or not, sometimes!) over the years. I do have a soft spot for the guy, even when his judgment is questionable. My favorite parts of Envar’s Awesome Rescue are 1) Envar critiquing the kidnappers’ ransom note and 2) a certain encounter where the scenario’s villain goes old school damsel-tied-to-railroad-tracks on Envar’s poor body double. The scenario was a blast to work on, and I hope you all have enjoyed playing it as much as I did writing it.

I also got to co-write 7-11: Breaking the Crucible, where Starfinder agents have to stop a group of Hellknights from carrying out terrible experiments against a captive population, which brought back some familiar faces as well! Finally, I helped out with development on 7-09 through 7-14, and it was fun to work on things from the dev side for once. The authors for those all did a fantastic job, giving First Edition Starfinder Society a fitting sendoff!

If you’re interested in seeing more about my upcoming projects (and sometimes cat photos), you can follow me on BlueSky @kendrarara.bsky.social.

Matt Duval (he/him)

SFS1 #7-09: Clutches of the Vault Lord

Back in 2019 when Thurston asked me to work on Future’s Fall I had no idea it would turn into me writing a multi-adventure tale, and I’m so grateful that he and Jessica let me be a part of it. I have so much admiration for Tom Phillips’ iconic Gloomspires story and this felt like getting to do my own echo of that.

Clutches of the Vault Lord pulls together all the threads and characters of Salvation’s End in one climactic confrontation with the tyrant. There are callbacks to almost every NPC we’ve met along the way, more mishaps and bizarre vault experiments, a singing and dancing living cartoon complete with theme song, and a final(?) clash with the Vault Lord. I hope the adventure captures all the wacky, imaginative sci-fi we’ve come to expect from Salvation’s End while giving the Starfinders a chance to demonstrate their heroism against a classic villain who delights in their own wickedness. And if that villain leaves no trace of a body in their last moment, rest assured the echoing laughter you hear is only in your imagination…

If you’d like to see more of my work, the Pathfinders get to thwart Hellknight schemes this August in Pathfinder Society Intro to the Year of Battle’s Spark—Enough is Enough!

I’m online on Bluesky at sleepyfelixthecat.bsky.social.

Solomon St. John (any)

SFS1 #7-10: Rasheen’s Requiem

Howdy folks. The name’s Solomon St. John—Sol to my friends, any pronouns are fine—and, in addition to being Paizo’s editing lead for both Starfinder and Pathfinder Society, this season I got to write Starfinder Society Scenario 7-10: Rasheen’s Requiem. Helping wrap up a storyline that’s been running since season one felt like a satisfying send-off to the first edition, even though there were half-a-dozen scenarios to edit between it and the true finale.

I’m always excited when I get to use my obscure master’s degree (in “Northern Studies,” a multidisciplinary cultural studies program from the University of Alaska) on the job, which I got with 7-10—the frontier settlement of Requiem Falls is essentially a sci-fi twist on Alaskan bush communities. The NPCs you meet there, Elarora and Naeyri, are likewise amalgamations of a few people I knew while living in Fairbanks, with some science-fantasy twists. The “razor roc” on the cover, meanwhile, is only loosely based on the birds up there, who will fight you but are thankfully much smaller.

My next adventure, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon premiers at GenCon at the end of July with the rest of the Starfinder Society Second Edition kick-off; as you can probably guess from the name, that one also takes some cues from my degree, but you’ll have to wait to find out exactly what. 

For more of my upcoming and personal work (and photos of my three cats), you can find me on BlueSky @stjohnsol.bsky.social.

Brent Bowser (he/they)

SFS1 #7-12: Those Who Call

Writing the finale to the season 7 metaplot, #7-12: Those Who Call, was exciting and flattering, but also stressful because I knew I had to really stick the landing. Sarmak, Kinpopo, and Hope-01 have been active participants in the players adventures, more so than the usual quest giver or escort NPC, so I wanted to make them feel like a part of the story while not taking spotlight and agency away from the players.

I wrote Those Who Call to be like a multitable special. I wanted players to choose their adventure and feel the impact of the other team of Starfinders on the mission. I also wanted it to feel like an action movie with a high sense of urgency and mustache-twirling evil villains melodramatically monologuing. 

My favorite part of the scenario was designing the factory itself. They say write what you know, so I may have brought a sense of soullessness to a corporate military industrial complex. It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’m fine. Hopefully the setting reinforced just how evil the First Ones are. If you’ve not played yet, I recommend tackling the Logistics and Planning room.

When I’m not writing for Starfinder or managing IT projects, I perform stand-up and improv comedy. My debut stand up special, I Think I Get It Now, is on my youtube channel @BrentBowser1337. And let me know what you think of The Swarm in Starfinder Alien Core.

BlueSky & Threads

“Hey. You up?”

Chk Chk’s antenna vibrated as he sent a telepathic message to the group. He could have sensed Dae and Obozaya through their linked vitals, but the whirl of the protection-class security robot’s gripper arm demanded his focus. One moment he’d been chattering with Dae while feeling for secret panels and inscriptions along the wall. The next thing he knew, a robot was waving mechanical pincers in his face.

Chk Chk drew his painglaive and repositioned himself further down the cramped corridor, away from the door. He wasn’t ready for another battle. There had been no time to rest since Dae blasted the last of the swarm of observer-class security robots that had chased them through the (allegedly) abandoned space station’s corridors. Less than a minute ago, Obozaya had slammed the butt of her rifle against an escape pod’s electronic lock. Percussive maintenance, she’d said. Then the wall popped open and revealed two robots nestled among the wiring—dormant, then jerking to life. Now one robot blocked Chk Chk’s view of his friends with its hulking white chassis.

He stepped back and thrust the painglaive between the machine and his body. The robot’s gripper rhythmically spread and shut, a blunt claw smooth and heavy with thousands of pounds of reserved force. Reserved for his delicate bones. His heel hit a wall, bending polymer with his weight. Not stable enough to push off from, but solid enough to pin him as that claw came for his throat.

“Chk Chk, you can’t ask that! What will my fans think if this chat leaks?” Dae’s lighthearted response interrupted as he dodged to the side and away from the attack. Suddenly Dae cut the theatrics: “I’m up. Obo’s not.”

The answer was obvious once Chk Chk took a second to scan their interconnected vital signs. Dae pulsed with the rise and fall of the sun, while Obozaya’s vitality signs had dulled and slowed. Still alive, but unconscious and wounded. He focused on Obozaya—and the claw crushed his shoulder.

He tried to pull away, but it held tight and squeezed. Pain exploded and pulsed down his upper arm. The robot stopped crunching his carapace and raised him into the air. The mechanical groans deepened with the effort of lifting him, but his path up remained smooth and constant. As his feet left the ground, he kicked wildly at the robot’s metal chassis, hoping to break something. Even in danger, the grunts of the machine reminded him of a deep bass line somebody could dance to. Before he knew it, his foot was kicking in time to the beat.

The pain in his shoulder escalated every moment the claw grabbed him, spiking when he swung in its grasp. A crunch came from his back. He screamed.

“Chk Chk!” screamed Dae’s outside voice. Their pitch warbled higher and louder than normal, as though they were moving toward them from far away at incredible speed.

And they were!

Dae flew across the tiled floor at the speed of a meteorite impact, crashing down in a halo of sparks and broken tile. Their sun-etched arm slammed into the robot’s back. Hydraulics released with a hiss as Dae dragged it backward in an explosion of gravity, ripping the air around Chk Chk and popping the sensors in all his auxiliary antennae at once. The claw opened. Chk Chk fell. He grabbed for a pipe jutting from the wall and missed, scrabbling at smooth metal with his own weak claw, another keeping hold of his weapon.

He landed on his back and floundered for a moment. If Dae kept this footage, he swore he’d delete this scene later. But he was out of the robot’s agonizing grip, and at last he could help. Obozaya, slumped in her armor, draped over the twitching body of the other robot. Dae ripped the arm that had just crushed Chk Chk’s shoulder out of his attacker in a spray of sparks, then waved it at the camera drone floating overhead with a cheeky grin.

Chk Chk felt for Obo’s vitals. She was safe and stable, but she still needed help. As he scrambled over tiles now slippery with leaking oil, he popped his crumpled shoulder back into place. No time to worry about that. A second shadow was forming under Obozaya where her blood had pooled. Chk Chk’s bond showed him her injuries as though they had been inflicted upon his own body.

Blunt force to the head, he assessed, laceration on the forehead and possible concussion.

The edges of Obozaya’s shadow stretched toward him as he pulled her pain into himself. His forehead stung until it felt wet with blood, though it was only the transference of her suffering to him. The wound wasn’t real, but the pain was. Meanwhile, Obozaya’s shadow trickled into her wounds. Flesh grew into scabs and bone fused. Chk Chk sensed her pain vanish, felt the blood returning to her numb limbs. His pain would heal his friend, so he could take it.

Obozaya’s eyes shot open.

Her lungs opened with a gasp.

Chk Chk held her gaze as the dull ache of a head injury melted away from her and into him. Obozaya shifted upward, stood, and walked toward him. She loomed tall as ever, but now he could sense her body was full of pain. Old injuries. New injuries. But she always kept going. So would he.

“Chk Chk, you’re getting sloppy,” she bellowed, though she ended with laugh. “Try to keep up!”

Chk Chk smiled. He released the pain, laughing weakly at Obozaya’s cheerful bravado. Time began again for him. During the fight, the world hung suspended. No thoughts, no time to process his adrenaline response, nothing. Now, the exhaustion crept into him, deeper than he expected.

 “I’ll make it up to you,” he responded, too winded to speak. “How about coffee?”

 “Deal.” She said.

“Don’t forget me!” Dae added, barely looking up from the robot they were assessing. “Remember, I drink graviton style.”

Chk Chk smiled as he pulled his setup from his bag. Dae liked their beans darker than a black hole with zero sweetness or additives, while Obo’s drink of choice was a pepper-and-honey latte, heavy on the honey and steamed milk. As he pulled out his gear, he tested his shoulder by rotating it in the socket. Sore, but not unbearable. He’d apply a medpatch first, enjoy its anesthetic numbness and sharp scent of peppercorns, then he could get to grinding.

Brewing coffee in his tiny field press was one of his favorite tasks. He didn’t need to perfectly execute the string of commands Raia taught him to jailbreak the deluxe nanopress machines favored by most cafés. Here, he could tune out and slip into the elegant simplicity of the ritual. Dae and Obozaya had already launched into a post-mortem discussion of their break-in, analyzing the successful approach followed by the accidental activation of hidden security robots, and ending in a blow-by-blow commentary about the fight.

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

The grinder growled as Chk Chk inhaled, halfway hearing their talk, which was more technical than he ever wanted to delve. Why spend so much time trying to avoid pain? He didn’t get it, but then again, Obozaya didn’t understand why he sought out mosh pits. And after the dance, or the fight, his calming ritual was to unspool the grinder, measure out and place the beans, then grind any excess adrenaline into fine coffee for the press.

Brewing coffee contained the rhythm of a song, with its precise timing and variety of sounds. Growls, plinks, and drips kept the brew moving. Kept his friends going.

“Hey, Chk Chk.” Obozaya interrupted his thoughts again, just as he started to visualize how this moment would fit into a music video. “What happened back there? Did you get lost or something?”

“I was distracted,” he responded telepathically. His throbbing shoulder grated at his attention, making speech undesirable. “It’s my fault. I ended up on the wrong side when the robots ambushed us.”

Dae cleared their throat, then looked down. Yeah, he had been too busy joking with them to notice the robots lunge at him and Obozaya. A few more seconds and they would’ve been a unified team when the robots popped out from their hiding place.

No time to dwell on it. He tipped the beans into the press and activated a quick-heat pouch of water. Perfect temperature in seconds. As it warmed, he placed it over the med patch.

“I thought you priest types were good at paying attention,” Obo kept talking, though her eyes were fixed on the waiting press and its steady drip of coffee. “Try to keep that from happening again.”

He nodded. The water was warm enough now, though he let it linger on his shoulder for just a second longer. It poured into the upper chamber of the coffee maker, then slowly dripped downward. He unscrewed the metal cups from his mess set, added instant milk to one, and set them to self-heat. At the bottom of his pouch was the bottle of syrup he made before setting out. An ounce into the milk, and all that was left was to wait.

“Look at this, bestie!” Dae said, interrupting his reverie by waving the robot arm in his face to show off its twisting knotted snake logo. “Aspis parts.”

“You’ll be Aspis parts if you knock the coffee over,” Obozaya grunted. “Good find, Dae.”

The press pinged, quieting Dae and Obo with the promise it was finished. Chk Chk poured two drinks, before he set to making his own. Black with a pinch of glitter magically coaxed into color by the drinker’s current mood. It was his favorite barista trick learned in Takoris. He brewed his coffee Fulldark black with extra syrup, the surface swirled with shifting opalescent fire—the sheen of Zon-Shelyn’s sacred gown, and the myriad colors of the Drift, or the colors of his changing heart.

He sighed at the bitter aroma and sipped sweet, warm comfort. Soon, they would all be back on their feet and charging through the next door as a team. Until then, coffee.

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About the Author
Rigby Bendele (they/them) writes in Richmond, Virginia as a TTRPG designer, fiction writer and erstwhile poet. They focus on strange, fantastic and embodied experiences. You can find their work in Starfinder Adventure Path: Mechageddon!, Pathfinder Adventure: Claws of the Tyrant and other fine Starfinder and Pathfinder books.

About the Iconic
Chk Chk (he/him) is a male shirren mystic with the shadow connection who worships Zon-Shelyn, the god of therapeutic art and self-expression. Chk Chk casts powerful spells, heals his allies, and expresses his emotions through dark poetry—when words fail, he channels his feelings by smacking enemies with his painglaive, a powered polearm sacred to his deity.

About Iconic Encounters
Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

"Learn more about the mystic class in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, on paizo.com, and at your friendly local game store! Be the first to play Starfinder Second Edition by subscribing to the Starfinder RPG or Starfinder RPG (Special Edition) lines and receive a free PDF when your book ships!"

Greetings, ’Finders! Next Saturday, June 21st, is Free RPG Day! Paizo is proud to once again be a participating publisher, with adventures for both Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition! Check to see if your friendly local game store is participating at freerpgday.com!

Starfinder Adventure: Battle for Nova Rush

Welcome to Free RPG Day 2025! Take the leap into Starfinder Second Edition as prisoners of a nefarious pirate captain. When the ship comes under attack by the Corpse Fleet, it’s time to seize your chance to escape! Battle space pirates for control of the Nova Rush, befriend a chipper virtual intelligence, and escape the Corpse Fleet alive in Battle for Nova Rush!

This short adventure for 1st-level characters puts players in the role of four iconic Starfinder heroes: Chk Chk the mystic, Dae the solarian, Iseph the operative, and Navasi the envoy! Each character comes with complete pregenerated stats and roleplaying tips for the adventure—and they’ll need to use every tool at their disposal to liberate Nova Rush and their new friend, Captain Concierge, from dastardly space pirates!

Pathfinder Adventure: The Scourge of Sheerleaf

The quiet village of Sheerleaf has always been a place of peace and prosperity, but the rolling hills and herds of sheep have caught the eye of a vicious dragon who demands their subservience. Though they’ve tried to stand against the villainous monster, the village is helpless to fight him when he takes hostages. But Sheerleaf hasn’t given up hope; even if no one in the village is strong enough to take on their foe, surely some traveling adventurers can help!

The Scourge of Sheerleaf is a short adventure for 10th-level characters where you take on the role of one of four unique dragonblood characters—people who have special abilities in their lineage granted by a powerful connection to a type of dragon. This adventure sets the dragonblood heroes on a mission to defeat a powerful dragon and save the village he’s been tormenting! The four pregenerated characters provide all the information needed to jump right into this Free RPG Day adventure; all you need are your dice and your friends!

If you’re planning to run The Scourge of Sheerleaf, we recommend picking up a Pathfinder Battles: Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature to end your adventure in style! Prefer to paint your own? Pick up the Pathfinder Deep Cuts: Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature and break out those brushes!

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Paizo’s Free RPG Day adventures will be available on paizo.com 30 days after Free RPG Day! PDFs of these adventures will be free, while limited physical copies will be available for $5.

Are you ready for the glow up?
Illustration by Gunship Revolution

Howdy, nufriends and old pals! Everybody’s favorite helpful virtual intelligence is back to show you what’s coming up in Starfinder Player Core for Second Edition!

Howdy, nufriend! I’m Captain Concierge, your friendly virtual intelligence guide to Player Core and everything else

Starfinder Player Core has everything you need to launch a new Starfinder campaign or blast your Pathfinder game into outer space. Starfinder Player Core explains how to create a player character (PC), choose their gear, and prepare them to start in your very own sci-fantasy space epic. Note that all content in this book is compatible with the Pathfinder Fantasy Roleplaying Game. You’ll recognize some familiar rules if you’ve played Pathfinder before, but don’t worry—Starfinder Player Core is packed full of fresh content and rules!

So, what’s in the book? Let’s start with the ABCs of character creation: ancestry, background, and class.

• 10 new ancestries, which are also called species in Starfinder.
• Two versatile heritages, which you can mix with any ancestry!
• Tons of new backgrounds for characters in the Starfinder setting, like icon and vidgamer!
• Six new classes designed to help you play your own sci-fantasy hero.

But wait, there’s more! Starfinder Player Core also contains:

• New skills, plus futuristic Lores.
• New feats!
• New equipment!
• New spells!
• Rules for playing the game.

You and your friends can play out countless hours of adventure with tarfinder Player Core!
Illustration by Pixoloid Studios

New Ancestries
Let’s deep dive into those 10 ancestries, shall we? I love meeting alien nufriends!

Android: Play a synthetic humanoid with an artificial body and a real soul. Androids have enjoyed a few upgrades since the era of Lost Golarion, so even if you’ve already played an android in Pathfinder, you should check out the new options!

Barathu: Have you ever wanted to become an enigmatic alien with a bizarre form? How about a floating blimplike entity that can merge with other creatures and rewrite their own genetic code? Barathus got you covered for weird and wonderful.

Human: These adaptable survivors from Lost Golarion are a legacy ancestry with new options. What more do I need to explain? You’re a human, right? (Aren’t you?)

Kasatha: These traditionalists traveled aboard a worldship called the Idari from a faraway home world. Instead of colonizing the worlds they found, they remained aboard the Idari. Kasathas have four arms, always cover their nose and mouth in public, and sometimes carry puzzleblades, a traditional weapon that’s ritualistically assembled each day.

Lashunta: If you like the idea of playing a humanlike alien, consider a lashunta. They’re psychic humanoids who choose how they evolve at puberty, becoming a burly warrior or graceful enhanced scholar—or perhaps becoming someone entirely different and unpredictable.

Pahtra: Pahtras are cat people from a rebel planet who are known for their achievements in magic and music. Their home world Pulonis just declared independence from the Veskarium empire and joined the Pact Alliance. I’ve heard they don’t put up with any imperial nyansense nowadays.

Skittermander: That’s me, Captain Concierge! We’re energetic, six-armed people with colorful fur who love to give our allsix helping our nufriends and old pals every day! You’ll never regret having a skittermander on your team!

Vesk: Vesk are scaled humanoids with a powerful physique and warmongering reputation. They even think they conquered the skittermander home world, Oeddertchonk, but who are they kidding? I know a lot of vesk who defy that reputation—they can be anyone they want to be, just like you.

Ysoki: Pathfinder players might recognize the clever, flexible ratfolk who tend to love tinkering with technology. Their small bodies make them really comfy with space travel—just like us skittermanders!

Versatile heritages are special heritages characters of any ancestry can take. Anyone can become a borai or prismeni.

Borai: Created by botched resurrections and necromantic experiments, a borai is an undead soul attached to a living body. In addition to fitting in at every goth club in the galaxy, they get creepy abilities from their connection to the grave.

Prismeni: Prismenis are touched by the energy of the Drift, a recently discovered hyperspace plane, or have a deep connection to spectra, the elusive “Drift Angels” who are native to hyperspace. Most of them have rainbow hair, flighty personalities, and become ace pilots.

Starfinder is a team game. Your party should have a mix of different classes, feats, and skills.
Illustration by Pixoloid Studios

New Classes

One of the most exciting parts of any game is trying out new classes! Here’s who you can be in Starfinder Second Edition.

Envoy: You’re the face of the party and the self-proclaimed battle leader (or cheerleader, mascot, boss, whatever)! Boost your friends and trip up your enemies by giving out directives, then lead by example to grant your team extra buffs.

Mystic: You have a connection to a primeval force of the universe, and you channel powerful magic and healing through bonds with your allies. You are a healer and spellcaster, with classic Pathfinder spells plus new magic from the future.

Operative: You have a deadly aim and a keen set of tactics to take down powerful enemies. You’re likely a scout, infiltrator, or spy for your party, and you’re a primary damage dealer.

Solarian: You cycle between the powers of gravity and light, manifesting solar weapons and unleashing stellar energy in flashy attacks. You’re a close-quarters combatant relying on your mobility to stay out of danger.

Soldier: You unleash heavy weapons on foes while protecting your allies. Soldiers are close-quarters combatants who use powerful area weapons or two-handed weapons and wear heavy armor.

Witchwarper: You’re a living paradox who can warp reality with powerful spells and manifest the infinite possibilities of the multiverse in your current reality. You’re also a powerful spellcaster with access to familiar favorites from Pathfinder and flashy new magic from the future.

Archetypes:Player Core brings you archetype options for each class, plus a new archetype that lets you become a galactic explorer with the famous spacefaring society: Starfinder Field Agent!

But what about tech classes?

I get it, you want drones and magic hacks and deployable mines! The Starfinder Tech Playtest (April 21^st to May 30^th) features the mechanic and technomancer classes. Mechanic and technomancer will be appearing in a future book which the StarFriends haven’t told me about yet.

Navasi’s player is really glad she took the Battle Medicine feat.
Illustration by Emanuel Pantaleon

New Skills

If you’re going on an adventure in outer space, you need a starship, and it doesn’t hurt to know your way around a computer console. That’s why we’re introducing two new skills, Computers and Piloting, to represent taking control of a starship or hacking into a secure computer system. Starfinder has a bundle of new Lore skills too—Fashion Lore, Junker Lore, Vidgame Lore, and Technology Lore are some of my favorites.

New Feats

The Starfinder team had fun coming up with cool feats to show off how skills work in Starfinder Second Edition. You can create your own temporary Barricade on the battlefield, become a Phreaker and learn to hack without a toolkit, gain a free augmentation with Augmented Body, and more! Plus you’ll notice many of your favorite feats from Pathfinder Second Edition, like Battle Medicine and Toughness.

Get geared up with Starfinder Player Core!
Illustration by Gunship Revolution

New Equipment

Starfinder Player Core contains an armory of new gear to outfit your character for their galactic adventures. Instead of using magical runes to upgrade your items, in Starfinder Second Edition tech equipment follows an improvement system we like to call CTASEUP. Most characters start out with commercial gear, but gradually upgrade to tactical, advanced, superior, elite, ultimate, and paragon versions.

Tech Gear: Whatever you need for exploration, we’ve got you covered with medical supplies, adventuring equipment, entertainment devices, and more. Chug a sharpshooter serum to improve your aim, use your comm unit as a flashlight, or slap a medpatch on an injury.

Armor:Player Core has all kinds of neato options like kyokor plating—that’s armor made from the scaly hide of a kaiju.

Shields: Raising a shield is always a solid tactic on any planet, and you’ll enjoy checking out tech like the retractable irising shield or hardlight phase shield.

Weapons:Player Core has everything from laser rifles to dueling swords. There’s some wild weapons in here—a neural lash you control psychically, a cutlass glimmering with stolen lives, a singing spear, and a nasty little number called the painglaive, a motor-powered fangblade mounted to a polearm.

Upgrades: Most armor and weapons are customizable, with slots for one or more upgrades. Upgrades include everything from environmental protections to jetpacks or magical holoprojectors that change your gear’s appearance. Solarian crystals are a special type of upgrade that boost a solarian’s solar weapon attacks.

Grenades: Grenades are consumable items that explode in a small radius, dealing different types of damage and creating different effects. In Starfinder Second Edition, throwing a grenade doesn’t require you to make an attack roll. Instead, you chuck it at the target, and any creatures in range make a Reflex save against your class DC. Just be careful where you throw those electromag grenades. They cause tech creatures to glitch out and that could be a problem for your friend Captain Concierge.

Magic Items: Have you ever wanted a special contact lens that lets you peer into the record of all mortal experience? What about a crystal diva’s microphone that amplifies your voice and performance? A pocket dimension in a backpack? Starfinder magic items can do all this and more.

Augmentations: Augmentations are a special type of gear surgically implanted into your body that modifies your anatomy. If you want to breathe fire, just head down to the clinic and get a dragon gland implanted in your throat. Flying is no problem with ultralight wings installed into your arms or other alien appendages. There are different types of augmentations in this book: biotech, magical, magitech, and tech. Augmentations also include apex items that permanently increase your attributes.

New Spells

With two new spellcasting classes in this book, you’ll find a trove of brand new spells plus many of your old favorites from Pathfinder. In this chapter, you can give yourself a glow up or summon a phantasmal fleet of starships to bombard your enemies.

Phantasmal Fleet
Illustration by Emanuel Pantaleon

Playing the Game

Most importantly, StarfinderPlayer Core teaches you how to play Starfinder Second Edition and acts as a reference for play sessions. Starfinder GM Core has even more information about environment rules, hazards and traps, vehicles, and more—but that’s a topic for another time! Keep your eyes and other sensory organs on this space for the next blog,

—The Starfinder Team

An arc of electricity shorted whatever communication device the void-eyed figure was wearing as Seltyiel’s sword slid through it, cutting yet another one down. Black shadows clung to his blade, dulling its shine. His face morphed into a mask of disgust for a moment before the sound of shattering glass drew his attention.

“I’d like to ask again—where are we and what the hell are these things?” He hissed.

“Whenever we have a moment to breathe, I’ll work on an answer.” Kyra’s voice was cool and calm with an edge of humor to it—Seltyiel could tell from the curve of her mouth that she was teasing him in that friendly way of hers. But there was worry in her expression too as she burned a hole through another of the empty-eyed creatures, leaving a smoking, shimmering ember in its core as it fell.

“Tsk.” With a snort and a click of his tongue, Seltyiel accepted her answer. The creatures’ faces were identical, and while their bodies seemed solid enough, they melted into shadow when he cut them down. “Copies are never a good sign.”

“Neither is this.” Kyra gestured down the hallway the creatures had slunk down, drawing his attention to the path of draining color everywhere they had touched, the imprint of their footsteps growing by inches and degrees. “Especially not if we are where I think we are.”

“Oh, you’ve got that answer? That might be the best news I’ve heard since we got here,” Seltyiel quipped. He adjusted his grip on his sword, watching the door at the end of the hall, hearing the distant crashes of destruction.

A sigh escaped Kyra’s lips as she uttered a quick prayer, watching the bleached skin melt off one of the foes she’d blasted, revealing a shadowy mass underneath. “Normally, I would agree with you. This place is special—if I am right—and I would be thrilled to find myself here. But to see what these monsters are doing to the Radiant Palace of Possibility? It makes me sick.”

The words brushed against a thread of memory: a book on a table years ago, candlelight barely warming the words on the page. A mythological place, said to have been spun into existence by the Radiant Prism themselves, an intersection at the point where all threads of reality met and reflected each other. A boundless demiplane ruled only by love. A horrible place to be shattering under the invasion of same-faced undead.

“Divinity’s not much my business—I’ll leave that to you. But I agree that this needs to be stopped.” Seltyiel was not entirely sure how to stop a seemingly endless onslaught of copycat ghosts, though.

Find their source and rout them out.

The whispers on the edges of his consciousness urged him forward down the hall, closer to the source of the sounds. Gritting his teeth, Seltyiel gestured with his blade. “Something’s happening over there.”

Following the trail of sapped color as panes of iridescent crystal turned dull, murky gray, Seltyiel led the way further into the palace, Kyra watchful at his back. As they approached, the sounds of destruction grew louder, crashing off the walls.

So focused on hunting the trail that the whispers were guiding him toward, Seltyiel bit his tongue in shock when Kyra pulled him back behind a pillar of crystal as hurried footsteps approached. She hid them just in time. A priestess, garbed in robes of rainbow silk that seemed to be losing color with each step, streaked out from behind cover and ran for the doorway. She stumbled and was caught by the two ghosts behind her. Her starknife clattered to the floor and she screamed.

Before either Seltyiel or Kyra could react, the undead pulled her face from her body, her skin slithering up the figure’s arm to settle atop its own skull, framing the void eyes with the priestess’s final expression of terror.

“Join us. Welcome to the fleet. We are one, we are all,” the monster wearing her face said in a thousand voices.

The voices that came from the creature’s mouth spoke in unison without feeling. The priestess’s stolen face turned empty and blank as the monster reached down, shadows and void energy pouring into her corpse. The void slid over her body, consuming her and erasing the marred flesh of her face into an empty space.

The two creatures pulled her to her feet, one of them handing her another mechanical device—a firearm, but not like one Seltyiel had ever seen—and marching her back to the central chamber. She was now a member of their ranks.

“Everlight, keep us safe while we rescue the servant of your beloved Starsong.” Kyra’s prayer was quiet and whispered, her hand gently touching Seltyiel’s shoulder and carrying with it the soft warmth of sunlight. He knew she meant to fight. But first they needed to know more about the enemy.

Taking a breath, Seltyiel drew a sigil with his free hand, his body shimmering out of view as he snuck into the central chamber, scoping out the field. A large airship—far more technologically advanced than anything he had ever witnessed—dominated the center of the room, surrounded by dozens of uniform-clad undead wearing the same masked face over empty eyes. Closest to the ship, presumably giving the orders, were several floating heads in glass baubles held aloft by a tiny propeller, with no bodies save for the spindly metal limbs that hung down from their chassis. Strange, angular runes shimmered down one of their limbs as the floating head hissed a spell in a language that sounded suspiciously like Necril, the tongue of undead on his world.

The faceless creatures awaited their orders, some platoons already set on destroying the shaped crystal and mirror glass, leaving colorless clutter in their wake. Blood splattered on the floor was the only sign remaining of any resistance, their corpses recruited to join in the very destruction they hoped to prevent.

Seltyiel returned to their hiding spot behind the crystalline pillar, expression grim. “I don’t like our odds. Two of us, hundreds of them—and they can just keep making more.”

“The surest way to lose is to give up before we’ve started. We are in a holy place—there is power here those creatures cannot hope to understand. We need only reach out and tap into it.”

Seltyiel bit back a snarky remark as a shockwave rattled the chamber. One of the crystalline chandeliers collapsed into millions of shards—crushing an entire squad of faceless troopers. None of them flinched. After all, units were expendable in pursuit of the overall goal.

“Don’t let those things take my face when I die.” Seltyiel shifted his weight back and forth, adjusting his grip on his sword and waiting for Kyra’s nod before hurrying into the room, leaping into a platoon of the faceless.

The glowing arc of Kyra’s scimitar cut through a line of undead as she followed suit, each of them now surrounded by encroaching hordes of empty-eyed, hollow masked creatures with blank smiles on their faces.

“Abandon yourself. Become one. Become us. You are nothing. We are all.”

The words came from nowhere and everywhere and made Seltyiel’s stomach turn, anger flaring up in the pit of his stomach as he feinted left and swung right, slicing directly through one of the creatures and watching it dissipate into nothing.

They were wrong—he wasn’t nothing. But two individuals against a sea of endless copies could only hold out so long.

“Looks like we’re late to the party!”

An unfamiliar voice sounded from a balcony above. The faceless turned to seek out the new life force, giving both Seltyiel and Kyra an opportunity for a quick series of blows and a moment to breathe.

A human woman in sleek diamond armor and a catfolk figure dressed in wildly colorful garb stood on the balcony. Somehow, Seltyiel knew the catfolk wasn’t an amurrun from his world, but a pahtra from somewhere else. The human pointed another strange firearm down at the faceless horde and the pahtra cracked what appeared to be a ribbon made of fire. The glee in their catlike face was unmistakable, sharp teeth flashing in a grin. “Come and get me, Corpse Fleet clones! First one to the mirror gets an autograph!”

The pahtra jumped off the balcony with a graceful flip, landing on their feet in front of a trio of mirrors. The moment they landed a rainbow aura surrounded them, making it almost impossible to look away as thousands of different reflections appeared in the mirrors’ faces.

Beams of red fire streaked down from above as the human shot her gun—a laser pistol, Seltyiel thought, but how did he know that?—and pointed at her ally’s position with her free hand. “Get over there!”

Under the cover of laser fire that singed the air like a spray of blazing bolts, Kyra and Seltyiel dashed across the room past dazed faceless to the mirrors where the pahtra stood. “I’m Dae, that’s Navasi. You look like hot garbage, but I love your ‘fits,” the pahtra said cheerfully. “Are they vintage? Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, but I’m recording right now.” They beamed at a tiny mechanical device hovering overhead that Selytiel had only just noticed.

Seltyiel faced the mirror to see what Dae was talking about. He and Kyra were panting, cut up, and bloody. Color had been sapped from their torn clothing. His hair was disheveled and not in a fetching way. Their reflections looked a mess for a moment, but then the images in the mirror began to change.

“My name is Seltyiel,” he said. “We appreciate your intervention.”

“I am Kyra.” Kyra clasped Dae’s hand. “I can see the Everlight shining in you. Thank you for your help.”

The warping visions of himself pulled Seltyiel’s eyes back to the mirrors, and he didn’t notice Navasi dash over to the group, pursued by more faceless undead.

“The mirror—” he started to say, but it was already too late. As each hero turned to face the multifaceted, multidimensional crystal wall, they were shocked by what they saw. The mirrors showed more than just their reflections. Infinite versions of themselves borrowed from memories and dreams and other realities fractalized in the shining crystal.

Navasi watched herself cock her gun with a wicked smile in one facet, clench bloody credsticks in a robotic fist in another, and press a kiss to a blue-skinned woman’s cheek in a third. In yet another facet, she walked beside a handsome diplomat dressed to the nines as his security detail and date all in one. The many versions of Navasi were all equally complicated and stunning, and she watched with delight as a troupe of her other selves talked their way into—and out of—infinite situations.

Every Dae was in the spotlight. They performed old-timey canticles clad in spectacular costume at Golarion World, backflipped into a ribbon spiral in front of a cheering audience, sunned themself in the viewport of a solar yacht, and seamlessly rescued a crowd of fans from armed attackers without missing a step of their dance routine. And of course, Dae’s kaleidoscope included their moody bestie. In one mirror, the two piloted a mech together cutting down colossi with a gigantic chainsword and powered glaive.

Seltyiel bit back a sneer as he made eye contact with the many broken, beaten versions of himself—past, present, and future. But there were more facets behind that. He saw a proud man holding an ornate blade, electricity arcing up and down its length; there was a cozy candlelit chamber, Seltyiel’s reflection bent to a book as a beautiful yet unfamiliar man fell asleep beside him, snuggled against his side; Seltyiel stealing a last sharp kiss from a lover turned enemy, her dagger gleaming across his cheekbone as he pulled away to toss a ball of gleaming magic, its trail pointing directly to the heart of the devil it struck. Power, magic, anger, affection, and more feelings than Seltyiel had words for coursed through him as he grappled with his many reflections.

Kyra’s mirrored selves were all limned in fire. The Everlight illuminated a glimpse of every world that she had the luck and joy to live in: simple, humble Kyra who served a rural temple in threadbare robes; a radiant woman touched with godhood, fire in her hair and sunlight pouring from her eyes; her scimitar cutting through a ghoul just as Merisiel’s blade found its head, pulling the creature’s body in two directions; Kyra as a blushing bride in ceremonial robes joining hands with the same, now her wife. Though the images had no sound, Kyra could hear Merisiel’s precious laughter in her memory. “Here, you are all infinite. Now you can become every version of yourself.” Kyra recognized the Voice speaking—her goddess Sarenrae, the Everlight, who formed the Radiant Prism with goddesses Desna and Shelyn as a divine expression of their romantic relationship.

Curious and compelled, Seltyiel watched Dae, Kyra, and Navasi touch the crystal mirrors. Rainbows swirled around them and their forms blurred. He’d rather die alone than become part of the shadow army pillaging this palace, but those weren’t his only choices. He reached for the mirror. For a moment, all witnessed a sight most mortals could only dream of. The reflections melted away and were replaced by a trio of goddesses, fingers intertwined as they held hands. Anyone in the Universe would know them—Sarenrae, a burning star forged into a woman’s form; Desna, a moth-winged alien with elfin ears and a fickle smile; Shelyn, beauty made flesh with rainbow hair and a tender smile.

They blew the heroes a triple kiss that floated on butterfly wings, exploding into a visual cacophony of sparks and mirrors. All the reflections of the heroes poured into them, filling them with light and power.

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

The Radiant Prism was gone but their power thrummed in Seltyiel’s veins. He and his allies turned from the mirrors feeling stronger than ever before. Where their footsteps fell, the gray, conforming magic of the invaders was pushed back, replaced with radiant color.

Defiant grins on their faces, Seltyiel, Kyra, Navasi, and Dae held their weapons aloft, free hands ready to cast or block. Their very silhouettes seemed to shift and morph, vibrating with the power of their alternate selves as they clashed with the faceless troops, tearing through them with ease. Copies are never a match for the real thing.

Seltyiel grinned as the last foe dissolved in a wisp of smoke. Only the bodies of the doomed priestess and siblings of her order remained, slumped on the floor and already stirring as color leeched back into their garments and their faces reformed from emptiness. The airship—or starship, as Dae would correct him later—had blinked out of space, leaving a hole in the palace wall that was already starting to repair itself. Gentle music replaced the harsh sounds of battle and conquest.

Seltyiel’s eyelids fluttered as the same music soothed over his mind, returning him to sleep where his body and spirit could slip out of the Radiant Palace of Possibility back to his own home, his own time. Later he’d ask Kyra about the dream, and she’d remember it the same way, down to the last detail. He couldn’t ask Dae and Navasi, but he was sure they were out there somewhere, changed by their adventure.

He was sure they must feel it too—the echo of the encounter lingering, a thrumming mantra in his mind.

In the face of conformity, there is no greater power than being yourself.

---

About the Author

Rue Dickey is Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist, as well as an award-winning freelance tabletop game designer, author, editor, and cultural consultant. Their independent work is driven by a desire to see more queer joy, rage, and power on the world stage.

Punch ’Em All (Severe 7)

Designed by Jenny Jarzabski

This encounter takes place on a planet deep in the Vast that’s currently occupied by Azlanti Star Empire forces. Talk to your players about why their characters are there. They might be rebel forces infiltrating or attacking an imperial base, prisoners of war escaping a holding facility, spies sabotaging an imperial operation, or deserters who have decided to strike back against their former empire. Playing these roles isn’t required, but might inspire some fun table banter.

The forces occupying this world are Sihedron guards: faceless troopers encased in sleek purple armor who serve their fascist empire without question, cruelly subjugating the peoples of the star systems they conquer. They can’t be negotiated with, and they always shoot first. The Sihedron guards fight to the death to defend their twisted ideology and maintain what they incorrectly believe is their natural superiority.

This encounter occurs after a lull in the battle. The PCs know that a Sihedron squad is converging on their position. Prompt the PCs to get into position and set up for battle, then have everyone roll initiative, choosing skills based on how their characters approach preparing for combat. 

Map: Use the urban side of Starfinder Flip-Mat: Enormous Battlefield for this encounter.

Creatures: An elite Sihedron commander leads a squad of 8 Sihedron guards into the fray. Starting positions for this battle can be anywhere, but enemies should begin the encounter at least 100 feet away from the PCs. When combat begins, the commander Leads the Charge, ordering a group of Sihedron guards (one per player at your table) to advance. The other Sihedron guards hang back and attack from a distance, repositioning after the frontliners fall with the help of their commander’s Rally the Troops ability.

Adjustments: If you have six or more players at your table, you’ll likely want to add at least two more Sihedron guards to this encounter. These reinforcements begin by hanging back and sniping from a distance. If the party takes out the other targets too quickly, the backup snipers advance into range of the PCs’ abilities. Another squad of Sihedron guards (using the same statistics) patrol the base. If all the players are having fun and want to keep playing, they can ambush the patrol by succeeding at Stealth checks against the squad leader’s Perception modifier (+16), or alternatively, the patrol ambushes the PCs as they’re trying to carry out their mission!

Design Notes: This encounter is intended to test out the tech playtest classes while providing an open map where ranged attacks, distant spells, turrets, and mines can shine. The encounter provides plentiful enemies to give characters a chance to try out using area attacks and spells against a group. Please let us know in the comments or forums how this encounter played out for your group!

SIHEDRON GUARD COMMANDER / CREATURE 7
[Medium, human, humanoid]
Perception +16; darkvision
Languages Azlanti, Common, Vesk
Skills Acrobatics +13, Athletics +17, Deception +16, Diplomacy +16, Intimidation +16, Society +11, Stealth +13, Warfare Lore +11
Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +3
Items Sihedron guard armor (as tactical shotalashu armor; darkvision visor), advanced dueling sword, advanced boom pistol (2 tactical batteries)
AC 24; Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +16
HP 115

Reactive Strike [reaction] Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using; Effect You lash out at a foe that leaves an opening. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike.
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] dueling sword +18 (analog, versatile P), Damage 2d8+7 slashing
Ranged [one-action] boom pistol +16 (boost 1, expend 2, mag 20, range increment 40 feet, reload 1, tech), Damage 2d6+3 sonic
Terrifying Takedown [free-action] (emotion, fear, mental) Trigger The commander reduces an enemy to 0 Hit Points or critically hits an enemy with a Strike; Effect The commander makes a gruesome spectacle of their brutal hit. They attempt an Intimidation check to Demoralize all enemies within 30 feet.
Lead the Charge [two-actions] The commander Strides twice. If they end this movement within melee reach of at least one enemy, they make a melee Strike against that enemy. The commander’s allies gain a +1 circumstance bonus to attack the target of this Strike and ignore any cover the commander provides the target.
Rally the Troops [two-actions] (auditory, concentrate, mental) The commander issues an order for their allies to regroup. All Sihedron guard allies within 120 feet of the commander can use a reaction to Stride up to their Speed. Any Sihedron guards who end their movement adjacent to another Sihedron guard gain 5 temporary Hit Points that last 1 minute, or double that number of temporary Hit Points if they end their movement adjacent to the commander. The commander can’t Rally the Troops again for 1d4 rounds.
Tactical Strike [one-action] (auditory, mental) Frequency once per round; Effect The commander calls out an enemy within 60 feet then makes a Strike against that enemy, dealing an additional 1d6 precision damage on a hit. If the hit is successful, the commander changes the tide of the battle, inspiring their allies to greater feats of military prowess. All sihedron guards within 60 feet of the commander gain a +1 status bonus to attack and damage rolls until the beginning of the commander’s next turn.

Illustration by Sol Devia

SIHEDRON GUARD TROOPERS (8) / CREATURE 3
[Medium, human, humanoid]
Perception +6; darkvision
Languages Azlanti, Common, Vesk
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +6, Intimidation +6, Stealth +9, Warfare Lore +5
Str +1, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +1
Items commercial Sihedron guard armor (as commercial shotalashu armor; darkvision visor), commercial aeon rifle (consumed aeon stone; 2 commercial batteries), commercial pulse gauntlet (1 commercial battery)
AC 18; Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +6
HP 42
Elusive Maneuver [reaction] Trigger The trooper takes damage from a ranged Strike or spell; EffectThe trooper Steps or Takes Cover.
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] pulse gauntlet +8 (agile, free-hand, powered, tech), Damage 1d4+3 sonic
Ranged [one-action] aeon rifle +11 (aeon, caster, expend 1, mag 10, range increment 60 feet, reload 1, tech), Damage 1d8+2 fire
Coordinated Fire After the trooper attempts a Strike against a target (regardless of success or failure), the next Strike one of the trooper’s allies makes against the same target gains a +2 circumstance bonus to the attack roll. If a Strike with a bonus from coordinated fire hits, the target becomes suppressed until the end of the attacking ally’s next turn.
Sharpshooter When the trooper makes a ranged Strike against a target with an AC bonus from lesser or standard cover, they reduce that AC bonus by 1 for that Strike.
Show No Mercy The trooper gains a +2 circumstance bonus to damage rolls against suppressed targets.

Thanks for playing!

---The Starfinder Team

Since Starfinder Second Edition is preparing for launch, now’s a great time to meet the people behind the game!

Jenny Jarzabski (she/her)
Creative Manager

Hi! I’m Jenny, Starfinder’s Creative Manager, which means I’m the captain of this starship. I’m one part creative director, leading the creative vision for Starfinder as a game and brand; one part manager, coordinating the efforts of the badass crew of designers and developers who call ourselves the StarFriends; and one part developer, concepting, creating, outlining, and writing content for Starfinder, plus upgrading work done by talented freelance contributors. 

I’ve written a ton of adventures for various tabletop games over the years, and I’ve contributed to many Paizo books, but we’re not here to tally my credits. I’m really proud of my latest long-form adventures, A Cosmic Birthday and Murder in Metal City, and I can’t wait for you to get a taste of my (our!) setting work in Galaxy Guide. You can reach me at jenny.jarzabski@paizo.com. 

But now it’s time to introduce you to the fantastic team helping me bring the galaxy of Desna’s Path to life.

Jessica Catalan
Senior Developer

Hello everyone! I’m Jessica Catalan (she/her), senior developer on the Starfinder Team and head of the Starfinder Society. This month we’re releasing the final Starfinder Society Scenario for first edition, and in a few short months, we’re launching a brand-new program for Starfinder Society second edition! I hope you join us as we bring first edition to a close and embark on this exciting new adventure into the future!

In addition to working at Paizo full time, I’m a frequent freelance author for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs, with over 50 writing credits for Paizo, and many more for other companies and games.

I’m Metis and I live in wonderful Winnipeg, Canada. I spend my free time with my family: my husband, daughter, son, and pet rabbit. I love to play TTRPGs, TCGs, and board games, collect far too many sets of dice, and read. (Yes, of course I’ll read all those books on the shelf one day, and yes, I definitely need more…).

You can find me on most social media and Discords as d20diaries. If you’re interested in writing a Starfinder Society Scenario, reach out to me at jessica.catalan@paizo.com.

All the best, folks! Take care of each other out there.

Mike Kimmel
Senior Developer

Hello! I’m Mike Kimmel (he/him), Senior Developer for Starfinder Second Edition. You may recognize me from my prior work as an Organized Play Line Developer for Pathfinder Society, from my freelance contributions to Pathfinder and Starfinder, or as the founder of the Freelance Forge forum community. I’m a proud father, former educator, and author of many adventures. Since joining the Starfinder team in 2023, I’ve been hard at work on our core rulebooks, creating playtest adventures, items, classes, spells, new rules, lots of aliens, and all the other things a science-fantasy game might need. I’ve also taken the lead on some exciting adventure content that we’ve got planned for the new edition. I’m sure you’re already looking forward to the release of our premium box set module, Murder in Metal City, as well as our Free RPG Day adventure, Battle for Nova Rush—I know I am. If possible, I’m even more excited about the other adventures I’m working on, but I’m not allowed to say much on that front yet. We’ll have to keep it a secret… for now.

Dustin Knight
Designer

Greetings Starfinders! I’m Dustin Knight, Starfinder designer! I’ve always wanted to be a tabletop game designer, so being able to announce that I’m now officially one is literally a dream come true! That said, in the process of becoming one I’ve learned the only real requisite is designing a game, so I do fervently implore anyone reading this who wants to pursue the same career path to start writing now! Wait, let’s read the rest of the blog first! Then make some tea. Then go write.

My career really took off with Organized Play. You may have played my first game, Wayfinder Origins, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. Or Sundered Waves, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. I’m still writing the occasional adventure, like Wheel of Monsters, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. But my specialty and focus lie in player-facing mechanics like ancestries, backgrounds, and classes. I love the back and forth conversation between mechanics and lore in a class and level driven game that both inspires and develops multifaceted characters and adventures to create these immersive moments between friends where we play out these fantastic stories. Please feel free to tell me about your characters and the incredible moments, because those memories are worth more than anything I can graph out in excel.

Outside of work I’m often described as exactly the kind of nerd you’d expect with my job title. I spend my free time sorting tens of thousands of Magic cards into grossly organized binders. I play TCGs online using official apps and Discord. I watch at least five or six new anime a season, on top of trying to tackle my ever-growing watch list. And I love to cook, with my favorite dish still being okonomiyaki. My world travels and conventions have been on hiatus for the past five years, but I’m looking forward to hanging out virtually with everyone during PaizoCon and Gen Con. I’m in an ongoing Starfinder campaign and working to restart my personal Pathfinder campaign. And realizing with each sentence I’m inching closer and closer to talking about Paizo again!

You can catch me on any number of social media platforms as Dustin Knight or kitsunewarlock, including Discord and Bluesky. You can also email me at dustin.knight@paizo.com. Thank you all for continuing to play our game, and I wish you all love and peace.

And last but not least, allow me to introduce our newest StarFriend!

Aras Yazgan (he/him)
Designer

Hello everyone! I’m Aras Yazgan, a Turkish-American game designer by vocation, computer engineer by training, artist by dedication, and forever GM by choice. Gosh, there’s an awful lot of you reading this, huh…? I think I might have page fright! I haven’t had the chance to publish much of anything thus far, but I’ve been working on little else other than TTRPG design for the last two years. My training arc is over and I’m ready to show off the results!

It’s difficult to express how excited I am to be working with the incredible Starfinder team. We’ve got some tantalizing projects in the pipeline that I can’t wait to get my mitts on…!

You can find my art on Cara @Sketching101. You can reach me at aras.yazgan@paizo.com!

From all of us, thanks again for playing Starfinder. We can’t wait to hear about all your adventures in spaaaaaaaaace!

--The Starfinder Team

Greetings, ‘Finders! This month’s new releases take you on a tour of the galaxy, stock your pockets with gear, and invite you to the feast hall! A reminder—the scenarios listed here are April’s scenarios, which released last Wednesday, April 30th! As we have shifted our physical product release to the first Wednesday of the month, we will be highlighting the digital releases from the previous month!

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories! Subscribers get a free PDF with purchase, early access to game content, and exclusive discounts on paizo.com!

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Starfinder Galaxy Guide

YOUR GUIDE TO THE GALAXY… AND BEYOND!

Blast off into Starfinder Second Edition with a star chart of the galaxy and a thrilling tour of adventuring locations across the vastness of interstellar space! Starfinder Galaxy Guide is a 176-page primer designed for new and experienced players that explores popular types of science fantasy campaigns—galactic exploration, horror, war-torn space opera, and more—giving GMs and players tools for playing out those types of stories in their Starfinder game.

The Galaxy Guide also introduces several powerful galactic factions as potential friends or foes, including AbadarCorp’s holy corporate empire, the infernal orders of the Hellknights, and the world-preserving Xenowardens. Each major faction includes a new archetype players can use to create a character with ties to that faction. The galactic tour ends with a database of playable alien ancestries including a telepathic mega-brain with an atrophied body (contemplative), a friendly shapeshifter with a secretly bizarre true form (astrazoan), and more!

Starfinder Galaxy Guide is available in standard hardcover, Special Edition faux-leatherette bound hardcover, and retro video game–inspired hobby retailer and paizo.com exclusive hardcover!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #214: The Broken Palace (Shades of Blood 2 of 3)

COLD WAS THE GROUND!

Delving deeper into the prison, the PCs make their way through ruined cell blocks before finding themselves in what appears to be an idyllic village. The clueless villagers are being preyed upon by their vampire masters, and the PCs need to break the spell and ascend into the Broken Palace to remove the threat of Lady Nalushae once and for all. The Shades of Blood Adventure Path continues with “The Broken Palace,” a complete adventure for 4th- through 6th-level characters.

Pathfinder Guns & Gears (Remastered) Pocket Edition

GEAR UP AND THROW DOWN!

When sword and spell just won't be enough to win the day, it's time to power up your game with clockwork gears, lightning coils, and black powder! Guns & Gears (Remastered), the latest rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, brings the excitement of firearms and fantasy technology to your tabletop, updated to work perfectly with the remastered Pathfinder Second Edition rules!

The pocket edition of Pathfinder Guns & Gears (Remastered) presents the same content in an affordable, easy-to-transport softcover!

Godsrain: A Pathfinder Novel (Softcover)

Gods are not meant to die. They’re supposed to be immortal, too powerful to be struck down or wither to dust like the people of Golarion. It has been more than a century since Aroden, god of humanity, met his mysterious doom, and his death ushered in a new era of uncertain prophecy and turmoil—the Age of Lost Omens. Now another god has died, his death broadcast across the skies in a metaphysical projection of his murder, reverberating over any world on which he was worshipped. And from his rent corpse falls the Godsrain, a torrent of the god’s blood and divine essence. Those touched by this rain are blessed—some would say cursed—with a god-spark that imbues them with mythic power.

Get Godsrain: A Pathfinder Novel in easily transportable softcover format!

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Derelict Starships

THESE SHIPS DON’T SINK, THEY JUST FLOAT FOREVER.

Explore the husks of abandoned starships in Starfinder Flip-Mat: Derelict Starships. One side of this mat recreates a classic starship used by intrepid adventurers across the cosmos, only long after they’ve been forced to abandon it. You can even use this side as a battle-damaged version of the classic starship featured on Starfinder Flip-Mat: Starship: Sunrise Maiden. The other side of the mat shows the shorn-off section of a larger warship, where active battles could still be taking place! Both sides work as the setting for a full session of exploration in the depths of space.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Feasthall

A NEED FOR MEAD!

A good feasthall in a fantasy roleplaying game can be a place for the party to regroup and relax… until something bad happens. This flip-mat shows an expansive feasthall, a place where magnates and chiefs can dine, drink, and discuss politics. One side shows the feasthall in working order, and the other side shows the same hall after a violent dispute broke out and wrecked the place. Whether you need a good location for adventurers to rest and celebrate their victories or a scene of brutal disagreement, Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Feasthall has you covered!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-14: Twice in Steel

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

The Pathfinders travel to the demon-torn Sarkoris Scar in search of more information about Hesla Embersplitter, who's been rumored to have connections to a cult in the area known as the Cult of the Screaming Grub. The agents in the area will need to explore the desolate wasteland to find Deskari's Gullet, a cave system filled with strange connections to other planes. It's there that the Pathfinders will find Hesla's treasure and maybe catch a hint of her ultimate goal, while frosty eyes watch them from afar, counting on their success.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-15: Lost and Forgotten

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.

Last year, Pathfinders found teleportation circles within Kaer Maga. They've learned the Azlanti wizard Lesolethe created these long ago. She had uncovered a structure older than even Kaer Maga, but abruptly left without warning, magically sealing it all.

The up-and-coming agent, self-proclaimed Runelord Zinthyra Tannol, a sprite obsessed with all things Azlanti and Thassilonian, has discovered the key to this lost structure—or at least where to find it.

The Decemvirate will promote her to venture-captain if she can successfully direct this mission. Captain Eras will evaluate her. They sail towards Lesolethe’s main lab, hidden in shattered Azlant. If the PCs can find the key, it will grant access to an incredibly ancient site, and the newest venture-captain will owe them big time.

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-13: Ratrod’s Revenge

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.

Eight years ago, famed junk racer Ratrod was beaten on his own track by agents of the Starfinder Society, tarnishing his reputation and leading to a years-long losing slump. Now, Ratrod’s back and determined to get revenge—by winning a junkrace against everyone he lost against! It’s time to customize your junk racer, buckle up, and show racing fans everywhere that the Starfinder Society still has what it takes to win!

When it becomes clear someone's out to get the competition, it's up to you to determine who's to blame! A racer determined to win at all costs? An obsessed fan? Or is Ratrod's revenge a little deadlier than expected?

Welcome to the grudge match of the decade!

Pathfinder Society Quest #24: Tanuki Trouble

A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters, playable in 2–3 hours.

During the Year of Unfettered Exploration, the reappearance of the Planes of Metal and Wood destabilized the Maze of the Open Road, the extradimensional maze the Pathfinder Society uses to transport personnel and goods across vast distances. In trying to stabilize itself, new entrances and exits appeared, one in a Tanuki village in Minkai. The tanuki had some fun pranking travelers in the maze until some Pathfinder agents defeated them at their own games. Now the village is on good terms with the Society, but the Pathfinders would like to have a lodge in the village to oversee this new exit. The tanuki are amenable, but only if the Pathfinders do some favors for them first. Of course, the PCs are the ones tasked with these favors.

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API. Or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer part of PaizoConnect and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

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Bring Pathfinder to where you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table! Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Greetings, Starfinders!
We’d like to thank our entire community from the bottom of our hearts for the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception we’ve seen for the Starfinder Tech Class Playtest! The playtest is still ongoing, and you can fill out (and modify) your feedback surveys until May 30th.

We know you’re eager for new adventure content to playtest with, so we’ve cooked up a little bonus encounter for you to run for mechanics, technomancers, and their allies! Check that out at the end of this blog!

Additionally, the team has already received tremendously useful feedback, and we’ve spotted some irregularities in our code that might cause your exocortexes or spell databases to glitch. So before you take off on your next adventure, make sure your mechanic and technomancer are properly patched and updated with the newest addition to the Official Starfinder Playtest FAQ. We’ve included a summary and explanation of some of the changes below:

Illustration by Yun Huai Huang

Mechanic

• Modify Possession: Some Starfinders have expressed concern that Modify doesn’t work with grenades, thrown weapons, and exocortexes that leave your possession when used. To fix this, under "Modify" on page 4, replace the line "or leaves your possession" with "or a character other than you, your drone, or your turret attempts to use the item."
• Modify Drone: You need the Modify Drone feat in order to modify the weapons on your drone. Remove "and any weapons it wields" from the first sentence of the third paragraph under Drone on page 5.
• Deploy Mine: Using an extra action to deploy a mine should only change whether or not you can deploy it in an unoccupied square, not how far away you can deploy it. Replace the text of Deploy Mine with the following: “You deploy a mine, planting it in an unoccupied square within 30 feet. You can increase the number of actions you spend Deploying a Mine to two to instead plant the mine in an occupied square within 30 feet. When you Deploy a Mine, you select whether it will deal fire damage or piercing damage when detonated.”
• Aucturnite Ammunition: Transmutative Casing (feat 8) allows you to deal damage as if you were using aucturnite. Aucturnite ammunition and weapons gain the critical (mental) trait.
• Advanced & Elite Drone Prerequisites: Change the prerequisite of Advanced Drone (feat 14) to Refined Chassis. Change the prerequisite of Elite Drone (feat 18) to Advanced Drone.
• Convertible Chassis: Replace the text of Convertible Chassis (feat 14) with the following: “Your drone easily converts between different forms. During daily preparations, choose two different chassis for your drone. You can select a different chassis as a 1-hour activity with the concentrate and manipulate traits. Your drone gains the Mobile Reconfiguration action. Mobile Reconfiguration [two actions] Your drone changes itself from one of its chassis to another.”

Robot Companion

· Robot Companion Skills: Like animal companions, robot companions are always trained in Acrobatics and Athletics, so they don’t need those skills as bonus skill proficiencies. Replace the Agile Chassis robot companion's skill with Stealth, and the Powerful Chassis and Tank Chassis robot companion's skill with Survival.

· Graceful and Burly: Graceful robot companions use the same adjustments as a nimble animal companion. Burly robot companions use the same adjustments as a savage animal companion.

Technomancer

· Defensive Measures: Change the technomancer feature Defensive Measures to increase your proficiency rank in unarmored defense and light armor to expert.

· Electrotether: The spell electrotether is the updated version of the gravity tether spell from the Starfinder Playtest rulebook. It uses the same statistics as gravity tether, except it has the electricity trait and can target up to two creatures (even if it’s not heightened).

· Spell Transfer Protocol: The magic hack spell transfer protocol was cut during development. The advanced magic hack for the ServoShell programming language is hardlight simulacrum.

While publishing errata for a playtest is unusual, we feel some of these changes dramatically changed how these classes were played and needed to be addressed early on in the playtest process. And if you’re still looking for opportunities to playtest these classes, stay tuned to this blog and check out the games being offered at this year’s PaizoCon!

Artificial Anomalies and the Awkward Attack on Actors (Moderate 1)

Designed by Aras Yazgan

This encounter takes place on Akiton, along a trade route between the city of Arl and the settlements of Golden Bay. Talk to your players about what their characters are doing in the area. Some likely options are bandits, performers, or vigilantes patrolling the road. Playing these roles isn’t required, but might inspire some fun table banter.

The encounter takes place soon after the emergence of the Newborn (during the events of A Cosmic Birthday). A traveling theater troupe called the Aspiring Acting Aggregate has just started its yearly trip between the cities of the Ridgelands. On the way to Booster City, they were attacked by a group of robots experiencing an existential awakening due to psychic energy released by the Newborn. The robots draped themselves in fabric to appear human, then fired a turret at the troupe to scare them into abandoning their bus.

If the PCs talk to the troupe, an older woman named Madame Garvino (indignant female human stage manager) explains the situation: “Some upstarts set up a scheme just on the edge of Arlkari Plateau. The gall! They robbed us blind, not only of credits, but of our cloth, our smoke machines… Our everything was in that bus! We’re ruined.” She describes the ambush, explaining how snipers shot at them from a distance while two hooded figures ordered them to leave their bus, commenting, “The youth these days have no respect!”

When the PCs investigate the ambush site described by Madame Garvino, they find bits of cloth strewn atop the rocks, made to look like ambushers. An abandoned tour bus with AAA’s logo on the side is parked behind the rocks, emptied of valuables. As they investigate, the PCs notice electronic chittering and movement from the ruins to the northwest.

Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene:

Two twig-thin rusty robots are moving electronics. One stops abruptly and yells, “Darling! Darling! Rumbled! That is what we are!” The other responds with: “You wanna get my kiddo, you’re gonna have to go through me, bucko,” a famous line from an old audio theater show. They drop what they were holding and take aggressive stances.

Map: Use the desert map from Starfinder Flip-Mat: Alien Ruins

Creatures: Two repair-class security robots have been newly awakened into Sentient Robotic Organisms (SROs), but they lack the emotional regulation and sophistication to communicate properly. Each robot starts barely within the view of the PCs arriving from the southeast, one up north and the other to the west. The robots reposition around the rocks to lure the PCs into the turret’s range, which is placed on the slightly elevated plateau surrounded on three sides with rocks. If the PCs attack the turret, the robots desperately try to protect it. If the turret breaks, one stops attacking, drops prone, and spends all its actions yelling “Nooooo!” while the other attacks the PC who last dealt damage to the turret in a frenzy.

Adjustments: If the robots are put out of commission before they can act or lure the players to the turret, one or two more robots emerge from the ruins to keep the battle going.

Hazards: A laser turret is set up behind the wall, hidden by the rocks. It’s surrounded by random knickknacks from the AAA bus.

REPAIR-CLASS SECURITY ROBOTS (2) / CREATURE –1

[small, construct, robot, tech]

Perception +8; darkvision
Skills Acrobatics +4, Athletics +2, Computers +2
Str +1, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +0
AC 14; Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +2

HP 8; Immunities bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, mental, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, unconscious; Weaknesses electricity 1

Exigency [reaction] Frequency once every 10 minutes; Trigger A creature targets the security robot with an attack; Effect The robot overclocks its processing power to attempt to avoid an attack, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to its AC against the triggering attack.

Speed 25 feet

Melee [one-action] slam +4, Damage 1d4+1 bludgeoning

Ranged [one-action] welding torch +5 (range increment 30 feet), Damage 1d4+1 fire

Fire Suppressor [two-actions] The robot sprays a torrent of water that functions as hydraulic push (DC 16). The robot must refill its tanks after using this ability.

LASER TURRET / HAZARD 1

[complex, hazard, tech, trap]

Stealth +10 (trained)
Description A concealed turret pops up and fires a laser when intruders enter a secure area.
Disable DC 18 Computers (trained) to reprogram the turret, or DC 17 Crafting (trained) to cut power to the turret, or DC 16 Thievery (trained) to disable the turret

AC 16; Fort +10, Ref +4
Hardness 5, HP 24 (BT 12); Immunities critical hits, object immunities, precision damage

Laser Blast [reaction] Trigger A creature moves within 30 feet of the turret; Effect The trap makes a laser Strike against the creature. The trap then rolls initiative.

Routine (3 actions) The trap makes a laser Strike against up to three creatures in range, or multiple Strikes against one creature in range if it has no additional targets.

Ranged laser +9 (range increment 90 feet), Damage 1d6+3 fire

Reset The trap resets after 1 minute.

Development: A PC who succeeds at a DC 14 Computers or Crafting check realizes the robots are displaying complex behaviors that suggest they have developed emotions, higher thinking, and possibly even free will. A DC 18 Occultism or Religion check correctly determines that the robots have developed souls. The robots aren’t responsive to attempts at diplomacy during the battle, but afterward, they might be repaired and counseled rather than simply scrapped. The AAA troupe’s missing property is scattered around the rocks, set up haphazardly to resemble a crude stage.

If the PCs return the bus and equipment to Madame Garvino, she rewards them for their help (or pays handsomely to buy back her goods, if the PCs are less charitable). If the robots were repaired and counseled, she warily agrees to take them on as apprentice actors, admitting that their “performance” was quite spectacular.

Thanks for playing!

--The Starfinder Team

With Starfinder Galaxy Guide’s release right around the corner, we’re looking forward to seeing the adventures you all embark on in Desna’s Path! Whether you’re planning a fantasy, horror, dystopian, or weird campaign, Galaxy Guide has locations laid out for every adventure!

As a special sneak peak, we’re excited to share the opening spread of one of these genre-based chapters: High-Tech Adventures!

High-Tech Adventures put technology and magitech at the center! These adventures can be set in technologically advanced cities or space stations—like Absalom Station—or on planets like Aballon, where everything you see is a machine.

Characters in high-tech adventures, whether player characters or NPCs, may have a higher likelihood of being androids or having a variety of cybernetic enhancements and augmentations. Classes like the technomancer and mechanic (from our currently-running Tech Class Playtest) are spectacularly well-suited for high-tech adventures, but there’s more than enough space in the augmented reality court for operatives, witchwarpers, soldiers—or maybe even a rogue or ranger, transported from Golarion and left in awe of the technology around them!

As you’re building a high-tech adventure, campaign, or character, here are some questions to ask:

• How does technology improve lives for people in this world? Conversely, how is technology making lives difficult?
• Are the player characters working with or against the technology? Is it a tool in their arsenal or an impediment in their way?
• Is a new (or newly rediscovered) piece of technology changing the world—for better or worse?
• What happens when technology that everyone relies on goes awry?

Install your cybernetics, hack into the mainframe, and get ready for high tech adventures and so much more, coming in Starfinder Galaxy Guide!

Preorder Starfinder Galaxy Guide, available in standard hardcover,special edition faux-leatherette and foil bound hardcover, or hobby retail and Paizo.com exclusive retro-inspired hardcover editions! Or, subscribe to the Starfinder Roleplaying Game or Starfinder Special Edition Rulebooks lines to guarantee your copy—with a free PDF when your order ships!

Welcome to the playtest for the mechanic and the technomancer! These two new classes will be released in a future technology-themed book, but first, we need your feedback from playing them in your games! Additionally, after the playtest ends, these versions of the classes will be available to play at the launch of Starfinder Second Edition, including in Starfinder Society Organized Play.

The mechanic is a versatile martial class that uses item mods in tandem with an exocortex, which allows them to control a robot companion, remotely fire a turret, or plant explosive mines!

The technomancer is a prepared spellcaster who overclocks their gear and casts powerful magic hacks!

Illustration by Sammy Khalid
Help tune up the tech classes along with Quig and Raia

How to Playtest

We’ll be collecting feedback on the playtest until May 30th, 2025! You can play the mechanic and technomancer using the resources on our Playtest Homepage, such as the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook and errata found on the Playtest FAQ page. We’re looking for your feedback and comments regarding these classes, but we’re focusing our attention on feedback from play, both online using virtual tabletops (VTTs) or play-by-post and offline, at your friendly local gaming store, convention, or wherever else you can safely play. We recommend using our existing playtest adventures to test out these classes, or even trying out Pathfinder adventures for an out-of-this-world anachronistic saga! Our friends at Demiplane will also be hosting a free preview of their online character-building tools, allowing you to build playtest mechanics and technomancers online! You can visit them at https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/starfinder2e/sources/tech-class-playtest.

We will be watching the results of this playtest carefully and might even change the fundamentals of these classes based on your feedback. We are unlikely to release any supporting errata for this class playtest unless we find a feature that is so overwhelming that it skews the data.

Once you’ve had a chance to try these classes, you can submit your feedback in a few ways:

• Surveys: Head to http://www.starfinderplaytest.com to find the playtest material and take surveys that will allow us to gather your responses. These surveys will remain open until the end of the playtest.
• Forums: On paizo.com, you’ll find playtest subforums for the mechanic and technomancer, with threads for discussion and announcements. When you post, look for existing threads on your topic before starting a new one. Remember that every poster is trying to make the game better for everyone, so please be polite and respectful. We will attempt to monitor other channels online, such as subreddits and discord discussions, but paizo.com is the dedicated space where you can be sure we can see your reports.

We’d like to thank you for participating in the Starfinder Tech Class Playtest. We look forward to seeing what you think and using your feedback to make these classes the best they can be!

The Starfinder Team

Download The Tech Class Playtest Today!

On March 20th, a contingent of Paizo staff visited the Washington State Capitol to run some games for state legislators and their staff. Logan Bonner and I received an invitation to the Legislative Game Day from the office of Steve Hobbs, our Secretary of State. Steve is a big nerd and recognizes that Washington state is the tabletop game capital of the world. When it comes to industry in this state, most people think of aerospace or agriculture. While those two sectors drive much of our state’s economy, you’d be remiss to sleep on the games industry, as Washington has the highest concentration of game companies in the country.

These Legislative Game Days bring together some of our state’s tabletop game companies, game stores, librarians, and others who use games in their work, such as using therapeutic gaming for veterans suffering from PTSD, youth programs, and those incarcerated in the state. Secretary Hobbs and his staff organize these events to get those in the games industry to sit down with state legislators and their staff so they can learn more about our industry, the games we make, and the concerns and challenges we have within our industry.

At this gathering, Logan and I were joined by Cosmo Eisele, John Compton, and Jenny Jarzabski. We had two tables set up running brief demos of both Pathfinder and Starfinder. I even brought Elemental Stones, but we were out of table space. We were joined by some of our friends at Green Ronin, Ravensburger, Wizards of the Coast, TinkerHouse Games, and Heart of the Deernicorn, as well as numerous local game stores like The Mystic Game Shop, Around the Table Games, and Mox, and other organizations such as Evergreen State College of Game Design. We were also able to make connections with others in the community, such as talking with the state library rep about how to better incorporate tabletop games into library collections and programming.

It was an evening of fun and camaraderie as we got to show off our games to lawmakers and their staff and to catch up with others in the industry. Events like these really help highlight not only the economic and community impact our companies have on the state, but also the importance of exporting fun to the rest of the world.

Adam Daigle
Director of Narrative

"Strap in for a tour of the galaxy!”

Greetings, nufriends and old pals! It’s your buddy, Captain Concierge, here, explaining the great mysteries of Starfinder 2 Electric Skibididoo! Don’t worry, that’s not really what it’s called. I just made that up! I’m a virtual intelligence, so I get to do that. Now let’s get back to the facts!

“Howdy, nufriend! I’m Captain Concierge, your friendly virtual intelligence guide to the galaxy and everything else.”

If you’re excited about playing Starfinder Second Edition, you probably want to learn more about the setting–the fictional universe the game takes place in. Galaxy Guide is a tour of Starfinder’s setting that’s sure to inspire countless games. It’s also a sourcebook full of tools for Game Masters (GMs) and players, whether you’re planning to play a prewritten adventure or create a homebrew campaign of your own! 

Starfinder Galaxy Guide builds on existing lore from Starfinder First Edition, providing updates to the setting following major events like the Drift Crisis and the recent explosion of Aucturn, which featured in A Cosmic Birthday. Epic struggles are unfolding between the despotic Veskarium and the ruthless Azlanti Star Empire, beginning with Empires Devoured and sparking consequences that ripple across the galaxy—and that’s only a taste of the dramatic events in StarfinderGalaxy Guide that might shape your Starfinder games!

This book is packed full of exciting new lore, including some wacky sectors of space you’ve never explored before. Get ready to launch into Kazmurg’s Absurdity, an unexplored sector of the galaxy created by former Starfinder Managing Creative Director Thurston Hillman. Kazmurg’s Absurdity is a vast, magically warped territory that can only be traversed using traditional maps. The Absurdity contains realms full of rich resources and bizarre cultures warred over by conniving empires, cruel daemons, and ruthless megacorporations. It’s the perfect place for an adventuring party interested in exploring uncharted space and discovering new worlds filled with ancient secrets and unimaginable treasures.

Starfinder Galaxy Guide is designed as a toolbox to help GMs tell different kinds of stories using the Starfinder rules and setting, but it’s full of content for players, too. Six new ancestries and six new archetypes provide plenty of options for creating characters. Get to know the most powerful and influential factions in the galaxy, tour major ports of call where you might spend downtime in your campaign, and visit local hot spots where narrative hooks to draw characters into the setting wait around every corner. StarfinderGalaxy Guide is your preview of the Starfinder galaxy–it is fuel to launch your campaign into Second Edition, or to blast your Pathfinder campaign into strange new worlds.

Still with me? I should sum it up, gree? StarfinderGalaxy Guide contains….

• A 2-sided poster featuring a political map of the Desna’s Path galaxy and an infographic of the Pact Worlds system, designed by Kyle Hunter.
• Tools for telling common types of stories (like dystopian and horror) in your Starfinder campaigns and incorporating common elements such as high fantasy or advanced technology into your Starfinder or Pathfinder adventures.
• Tons of new backgrounds designed for characters from the Starfinder galaxy!
• Introduction to major and minor factions in the galaxy.
• Six new archetypes.
• Six new playable ancestries.
• Gorgeous art, new lore, and inspiration for countless adventures!
• The answers you’ve been waiting for about special topics like what happened to those corporate dark elves that lived on Apostae. (And perhaps other burning questions about the new ORC space frontier!)
• AND THE BEST PART: All the rules in this book are fully compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition!!! That’s right; get ready to send your Pathfinder party through a portal to a faraway planet, or to give your Starfinder group a time machine. Or maybe you’d rather crash another spaceship into Golarion, Numeria style. The galaxy’s your oyster now.

Still not enough for you? Okay, then let’s take a closer look at some of the content in this book and show off some spoilertastic art!

Ancestries

There’s six new ancestries in this book. That’s right, that means that technically you’re going to have 16 ancestry options available to you in August, not to mention the two versatile heritages and Pathfinder legacy ancestries you can choose. Not bad, huh? Let’s talk a little more about those ancestries.

“You know how some characters in your party don’t have two braincells to rub together? This contemplative doesn’t have that problem.”)

Astrazoan: A shapeshifter who physically reshapes their own anatomy using specialized musculature rather than using magic to change forms. Sometimes they don’t get all the details of the change quite right—see if you can spot all the astrazoans in this book!

Contemplative: An engorged brain with a vestigial body whose ultimate tools are a superior intellect and psychic powers. Contemplatives live underground on Akiton where they ponder mathematical and metaphysical questions or convene in psychic forums.

Dragonkin: A humanoid dragon hybrid who can form a deep spiritual bond with one other creature. Dragonkin come from Triaxus and are the heart of the Skyfire Legion, a troop of bonded warriors who defend their planet alongside dragon allies.

Kalo: A graceful aquatic humanoid from Kalo-Mahoi, a watery moon orbiting Bretheda. An average kalo is both athletic and creative, and most are known for their outrageous but practical fashions.

Sarcesian: A humanoid spacefarer with energy wings who can survive in the void of space. Sarcesians live in isolated communities in the Diaspora or travel solar streams to distant locations.

Vlaka: A wolflike nomad from Lajok with an incredible sense of smell and unusual sensory adaptations. Vlakas who witnessed the rebirth of their dying sun, Sota, are marked with starburst patterns that match their natural blessing to kindle light.

Archetypes

If you think the factions in Starfinder Galaxy Guide are really cool, this book also contains six archetypes that let you play as a member of one of them! Here’s what the Starfinder team cooked up.

“This pahtra is a member of the Xenowardens faction, who is also trained as the xenodruid archetype. The spell they’re casting is verdant code, a spell that calls forth living flora from machinery.”)

AbadarCorp Rep: Climb the corporate ladder as an AbadarCorp rep—if you think you have what it takes for the job.

Space Pirate: Pillage and plunder as a spacefaring freebooter! You’re probably one of the Free Captains, but you might be a lone captain or a lowly deckhand dreaming of commanding your own crew.

Hellknight: Become a ruthless warrior as fearsome as Hell itself and live by the Measure and the Chain. As a Hellknight, you belong to an ancient institution from Lost Golarion, but you’re free to embrace modernity, especially heavy armor and munitions.

Knight of Golarion: Protect your companions and unleash your righteous spirit while preserving the history and cultures of Lost Golarion. You might be a follower of the god Iomedae, a gallant knight, or a historian obsessed with pre-Gap antiquity.

Xenoarcheologist: Explore and catalog ancient ruins and priceless artifacts. Many xenoarchaeologists work for the Starfinder Society, but some are free agents or have ties to other factions.

Xenodruid: Form a mystic bond with a planet and unlock nature’s potential. Most xenodruids are pledged to defend the galaxy’s wilds as a Xenowarden.

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That’s all I got, folks! If you want to know more, check out Starfinder Galaxy Guide here or at your friendly local gaming store!

—The Starfinder Team

Happy New Year, ’Finders! As we dive into 2025, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate our best books and games of 2024!

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When the war god Gorum dies, his divine essence and war-infused blood rain across all existence in an event known as the Godsrain. This precipitating event leads to the birth of monsters and mythic heroes alike, shaking the world of Golarion to its very core. This meta event crossed the Pathfinder rulebook, adventure, and lore lines—plus saw a return to published fiction!

Pathfinder War of Immortals

A god has been slain and nothing shall ever be the same again! As war and destruction spread across the world, new heroes must rise to the occasion and take up arms to protect its mortal inhabitants. Two brand-new classes provide new ways to engage with mythic themes! Lay claim to your own spark of divinity and charge into battle as a mighty exemplar, or call upon the power of spiritual allies as a wise animist. Alongside these new classes are rules for running mythic games, archetypes for playing legendary characters, and a wide array of new items, spells, and monsters to tell stories straight out of myth and legend that fit perfectly into the remastered Pathfinder rules! 

Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries

The influence of all-powerful deities is felt in every corner of the Lost Omens setting. Whether you're a valorous champion calling the righteous power of your patron down upon wicked foes or a sneaky rogue asking the god of thievery for a blessing on your next heist, faith and the forces behind it are key to every character's identity. Within this volume, you'll find details on the gods and non-deific faiths of the Age of Lost Omens from the perspective of their clergy and lay worshippers. The book also grants a glimpse into the machinations of a god, exploring how a new god rises, why a god takes worshippers in the first place, and what occurs when a god dies.

Godsrain: A Pathfinder Novel

Four veteran adventurers—the barbarian Amiri; the wizard Ezren; the cleric Kyra; and her wife, the elven rogue Merisiel—witness calamity, and with their newfound mythic power find themselves on the trail of fell forces looking to capitalize on the chaos. Using their unique skills, nascent god-sparks, and even the firsthand blessings of one of Golarion's most potent deities, they must race against time and fate to prevent the greatest threat to Golarion and beyond from escaping an impenetrable prison.

Starfinder First Edition went out with a bang, not a whimper! Starfinder First Edition’s final Adventure Path was a hardbound collection of three volumes of mech pilot mayhem. Fight colossi and demonic forces, befriend (or romance?) your rival pilots, and save Daimalko!

Starfinder Mechageddon! Adventure Path

On a rugged planet crawling with colossi—terrifying kaiju that demolish cities with fearsome power—courageous mech pilots battle monsters to protect the world’s people. As the war for control of planet Daimalko rages on, a mysterious third power plots to use an ancient artifact to purge the planet of all life. It’s time for Daimalko’s defenders to suit up against a new threat!

From Paizo Games Designers Jason Bulmahn and Joe Pasini, Pathfinder Elemental Stones is a pattern-building game with hidden role mechanics! Play as an elemental lord seeking to control the board with patterns of your element—and learn the cycle of the elements as you play!

Pathfinder Elemental Stones

Take on the role of an elemental sovereign, shaping the very nature of reality in this fast-moving board game!

2 to 4 players take turns to draft and play colorful (and colorblind-friendly) hexagonal tiles to match specific patterns and meet their own secret objective. With several dozen pattern cards, variable objectives, and a game state that's constantly in flux, you'll never play the same way twice. Simple setup, easy-to-learn rules, and a short play time of around 30 minutes means there's always time for one more game…

Named one of Polygon’s Best TTRPG Books of 2024, Starfinder Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday is a fun cosmic-horror romp for 1st-level characters! Save Absalom Station from the workings of a cult who await the birth of their new god!

Starfinder Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday

A nascent cosmic entity stirs deep within one of the Pact Worlds planets. To aid the god’s birth, its most devoted followers search the Ghost Levels of Absalom Station for a sufficient power source—a strange pocket dimension existing alongside the hub of the Pact Worlds. As the entity’s emergence sends ripples across space-time, a group of heroes becomes trapped in the Ghost Levels! With dangerous creatures and ominous power surges threatening the station, the heroes must team up with the residents of Little Akiton to investigate these horrifying new foes, stop their meddling—and stay alive!

Explore the continent of Tian Xia, a land of magic and wonder! An own-voices exploration of Asian fantasy settings, Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide was also named one of Polygon’s Top TTRPG Books of 2024, along with winning the Gold ENNIE for Best Setting at this year’s ENNIE Awards! Build characters based on Asian myths, fantasy, and folklore with the expanded character options in the companion book, Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide

Dragons once served as the stewards of this land, commanded by Heavenly decree. Can you live up to their lofty expectations, or will you flounder and fail like countless kingdoms before you? Prophecy is dead and history hangs on a feather; even the slightest breath might change the course of peoples and nations. Strike out and seize your destiny in an uncertain future!

Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide

The boundless continent of Tian Xia features innumerable peoples, each with their own rich history and practices. Bring your character to life with this 136-page guidebook crammed full of everything a player might need to build a hero hailing from or journeying through these vast lands.

In March of 2024, Paizo celebrated 200 Adventure Path volumes with a special double-sized adventure: Seven Dooms for Sandpoint! This adventure takes Pathfinder back to where it all began—the town of Sandpoint, which is under attack from a variety of evils both new and old!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #200: Seven Dooms for Sandpoint

The town of Sandpoint has seen more than its fair share of danger and trouble over the years, including harrowing fires, prolific serial killers, goblin raids, and attacks by giants and dragons, but what faces the so-called Light of the Lost Coast now is its greatest threat yet! Something sinister has been manipulating events all along, and now a new band of heroes must step in to save this legendary small town from seven deadly dooms!

This year, we rounded out the collection of remastered rulebooks with Pathfinder Monster Core and Pathfinder Player Core 2. Joining Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core from November 2023, these two volumes remaster over 400 monsters and expand the remastered options for player characters with 8 newly remastered classes, dozens of archetypes, and more!

Pathfinder Monster Core

Heroes are defined by their foes! From shambling skeletons to terrifying dragons, each enemy leaves a mark on their growing legend. Make your legends memorable with foes from the new Pathfinder Monster Core rulebook for Pathfinder Second Edition! This 376-page hardcover book is packed with a wide range of monsters useful to all Pathfinder campaigns, giving the Game Master plenty of threats to throw at their adventurers, at any level of experience.

Pathfinder Player Core 2

Survival in a world beset by magic and evil takes more than a lucky roll of the dice. Pathfinder Player Core 2 significantly expands options available to Pathfinder players, giving them the edge to take on any adventure. This 320-page hardcover rulebook remasters 8 classes from Pathfinder Second Edition, providing everything you need to create a wide array of new characters ready to take on the world. It also includes more than 40 archetypes, expanded ancestries, and tons of feats, spells, and alchemical items to provide a near-endless array of exciting options for every Pathfinder character!

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As we look ahead to an exciting 2025—with Starfinder Second Edition and some big Pathfinder reveals on the horizon—we can’t wait to bring you even more great books like these!

Greetings, Starfinders!
Thank you all so much for your participation in the Starfinder Second Edition playtest. We’ve had an immense number of downloads, which has led to some great commentary and feedback from our community. The entire Starfinder team has been carefully sifting through mountains of invaluable survey data (which you can still submit until December 31 at starfinderplaytest.com!). Whether you were a GM, player, or a passionate fan dissecting our playtest rulebook, every Starfinder should be proud of their contributions as they disembark this incredibly successful playtest!

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

While the entire team is heads down analyzing your contributions and reactions, we wanted to share some of the changes we’re currently implementing to help give you a sample of the comprehensive improvements you’ll find in Starfinder Player Core (coming this summer). These notes assume you have been following our errata, all of which can be found on our FAQ page and the latest of which are summarized here.

Adventures!

We’ve learned a lot about how certain effects work in our adventures. One thing you’ll see is that the team will be judicious in the use of creature resistances and Hardness in adventures. We’ve also seen some good feedback on shorter adventures for Organized Play and are excited to explore the 2–3 hour time slot more. Expect to hear more on the adventure front in the months to come.

Ancestries

Good news for skittermanders who want to jump rope and wield a flamethrower at the same time: you are now going to be able to perform actions and use items with your other hands, but you can only wield items (such as shields and weapons) with your active hands.

Traversal

One new element we'll be introducing is the traversal trait. This new trait mostly applies to player-facing rules that reference Stride. When it applies, traversal allows the use of alternative movement types (burrow, fly, and swim) to be used in place of land Speed, akin to how Sneak works. Expect to see this greatly impact some abilities used by the envoy and solarian (to name a few).

Weapons

Most weapons have been… upgraded *puts on shades*. These include bigger magazines and damage, along with lower prices, bulk, and expend values. Some weapons have adjusted functions, including using modular as a way to switch traits on the fly, and a modular weapon with a nonlethal configuration.

Envoy

Envoys are becoming even more tactically diverse, with bespoke directives for each leadership style. Oh, and after analyzing the reaction to our bold experiment, we’ve decided that Get ’em! should be a bonus instead of a penalty—flanking’s back on the menu!

Mystic

We have streamlined the mystic experience by removing the transfer cost from most feats, and introduced a scaling cap to Transfer Vitality that helps balance the amount of healing you can provide. We’ve heard your requests and are also switching out some connection-granted spells!

Operative

Operative is a solid class, but we've made a few changes and buffed many specializations. We also took away Hair Trigger's ability to disrupt actions, and it's now a 6th-level feat. But operatives will be happy to see we’ve also buffed many specializations!

Solarian

Solar Flare is now a martial ranged weapon in the brawling weapon group that doesn’t take up a hand and will scale with solarian weapon crystals instead of by level. We’re also going to shift the solar nimbus into something that helps take the place of the very enticing Reactive Strike.

Soldier

We are exploring new ways to allow close quarters combat soldiers to use all those nifty area fire feats with their melee weapons. The changes we mentioned about weapons are going to have a big impact here, and we’re excited about where soldiers are headed.

Witchwarper

Quantum fields are now bigger, and all witchwarpers get Quantum Pulse at level 1, allowing them to Warp Reality as a free action when they roll initiative. We’re also building Quantum Transposition into the early level class abilities instead of as a feat you need to select. Instead of anchoring actions, anchors now provide automatic benefits when you Sustain your quantum field. Overall, the changes make quantum fields more effective and easier to use.

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There are so many other exciting changes in our final edition of the game, both detailed and broad! Be sure to stay alert so you aren’t caught off guard! The new edition of the game launches this summer at Gen Con 2025, and our first Second Edition book, Starfinder Galaxy Guide, is available this spring.

—The Starfinder Team

Hail and well met, ‘Finders! This month’s new releases take you from an idyllic coastline into the quicksand sea of Drowning Sands! As we transition into a new year, Paizo’s physical product release dates will be moving to the first Wednesday of the month (barring holidays). Our digital products, such as Pathfinder and Starfinder Society Scenarios, will maintain their later release dates.

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories! Subscribers get a free PDF with purchase, early access to game content, and exclusive discounts on paizo.com!

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #209: Destroyer’s Doom (Triumph of the Tusk 3 of 3)

NO MERCY FOR TRAITORS.

Against all odds, the fractious orcs of southern Belkzen have united, thanks in part to the PCs’ insight on how to subdue the region’s terrifying ancestor storms. Now Belkzen has mustered an army to quash an undead uprising and punish the treacherous orcs who enabled it. The PCs must in­filtrate the enemy city of Wyvernsting before the siege begins. Only then will they uncover the undead apocalypse’s true master. “Destroyer’s Doom” is an orc-focused Pathfinder adventure for four 9th-level characters.

“Destroyer’s Doom” is also available as a deluxe Foundry VTT module.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Coastline

NOT A DAY AT THE BEACH!

When you’re an adventurer, heading to the coast doesn’t mean a vacation. Pathfinder Flip‑Mat: Coastline can help you set the scene for an adventure without having to draw the map yourself. Whether the heroes are fighting to save a quaint fishing cove or defending a storm-lashed lighthouse from terrors of the sea, this Flip-Mat has your adventures covered!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Upon Wheels and Rime

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

Within Irrisen, Queen Anastasia has spent the better part of a decade testing the boundaries of her rulership and seeing where she can and cannot make change. After enough research and discussion with fellow leaders, she's finally decided full steam ahead on the first of many plans she has developed to help bring her new home to the forefront of Avistani politics. Seeking insights from those who have to travel over a wide variety of landscapes, she's called upon the Pathfinder Society for their opinions on the platform of her new venture. Her meeting with Society agents and contractors goes off the rails, however, when a group of frost goblins looking to let off some steam launch an attack conducted by a disappointed fey. The Pathfinders will need to catch those goblins and defeat the fey in order ensure that Queen Anastasia's plan doesn't get derailed!

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-09: Clutches of the Vault Lord

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 9th- through 12th-level characters.

Ever since the Starfinder Society first established a presence on the false moon of Salvation’s End, its agents have continued to slowly but surely uncover new information about the megacomplex’s internal machinations and the dangerous Guiding Intelligence seemingly at its head. But they’re not the only ones interested in Salvation’s End…

Deep within the false moon, the tyrannical Vault Lord conquers vault after vault, spreading their influence and subjugating the residents of every vault in their path. Now, the free residents of Salvation’s End have come to two conclusions: the Vault Lord must be stopped, and they’ll need to work together to defeat them.

Join the Starfinder Society, the free citizens of Salvation’s End, and the mysterious Guiding Intelligence in a joint attack against the Vault Lord within the very heart of their realm: the vault of Xin-Tsalash!

Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #22: Friends in Need

A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters, playable in 2-3 hours.

The Tskikha iruxi enclave has long been a staunch ally of the Pathfinder Society. Their enclave's location near some elementally attuned Azlanti ruins has given the Society a wealth of research opportunities while allowing them to protect the iruxi from the dangers in the ruins, which have a tendency to cause trouble. Recently they seem to have attracted some elemental scamps, which are causing mischief and chaos throughout the enclave. The Tskikha have once again called upon their allies for help.

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API, or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer a part of PaizoConnect, and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

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Bring Pathfinder to where you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table! Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Greetings, ‘Finders, and welcome to one of the most perilous adventuring seasons of all—holiday shopping! But don’t fear, we’ve got a fantastic Black Fireday Sale to take the edge off those spending sprees!

All products featured in our Black Fireday Sale are physical-only—the discount does not extend to PDFs, Foundry modules, or other digital assets.

Save Big!

Get stellar books for a magical deal! Select products including Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, Pathfinder Guns & Gears, Starfinder Drift Crisis, and more are 40% off!

Deck the Halls!

Pathfinder and Starfinder reference card decks make great stocking stuffers! From the Deck of Endless NPCsto the Deck of Many Worlds, get all legacy (non-remaster) Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder First Edition card decks for 30% off!

Loot the Lost Omens Lore Vault!

Dive deep into the worlds and cultures of Golarion with Pathfinder Lost Omens lore books! Any and all Lost Omens line books published before 2024 are 30% off—including Pathfinder Lost Omens Highhelm, Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide, Pathfinder Lost Omens Legends, and so much more!

Stock up on Starfinder!

As we give a fond farewell to Starfinder First Edition and look to the bright stars of the future, we’re excited to put the entire Starfinder rulebook and supplement collection on sale at 25% off! Plus, get your hands on the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, A Cosmic Birthday, and Empires Devoured to start a Starfinder Second Edition game this winter!

Adventure Beyond!

Starting a new campaign in the new year? We’ve got you covered with a selection of Pathfinder and Starfinder Adventure Paths on sale 25% off! Venture into parallel worlds in Gatewalkers or save Destiny itself from ruin in Stolen Fate! Join a pack of roguish space traders in Fly Free or Die or explore the aftermath of the Drift Crisis with Drift Crashers and Drift Hackers!

Games and Accessories!

Give your GM the gift of combat made easy with a pawn collection or combat pad! A wide variety of pawns and other accessories are 20% off—making planning new encounters a steal!

Used to waiting on a player or two for game night? Pick up Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight and Pathfinder Elemental Stones to pass the time—also for a sweet 20% discount!

This blog is just a peek into the exciting treasure vault of savings—check out the full Black Fireday Sale collection to see it all!

Paizo’s 2024 Black Fireday Sale runs from 12:01 A.M. Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 27^th through 11:59 P.M Pacific on Monday, December 2^nd—plus, keep your eyes peeled for some Cyber Moonday specials!

Advent Giveaway and Sale

For some bonus cheer this holiday season, Paizo will be running 24 days of giveaways and sales from December 1^st thru December 24^th! Each day, a different product will be given away on Paizo’s socials (Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram)—ranging from rulebooks and adventures to licensed partner products and more! Plus, the item of the day will also be on sale on paizo.com, giving everyone a chance to save!

Shop The Black Fireday Sale!

Hail and well met, ’Finders! This month’s new releases take a deep dive into divinity, stand strong amid the ancestor storms, and lay out maps of extraterrestrial splendor!

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories! Subscribers get a free PDF with purchase, early access to game content, and exclusive discounts on paizo.com!

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Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries

TEST YOUR FAITH

Gods are unknowable beings, but their in­fluence is exceedingly evident. Worlds rise and fall through the will of the gods, and it’s through their followers that the greatest miracles are born. Path­finder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries takes a look at all things divine. From learning what it takes to become a god, to how gods grant power to their worshippers, and even the ways a god might die, this tome offers everything the would-be faithful could want. The book also includes details on hundreds of gods and philosophies common throughout the Lost Omens setting and exciting character options for adventurers of all types, regardless of their divine gifts, so you can take up the weapons and magic of your deity!

Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries also releases in a Special Edition with faux-leatherette binding in December.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #208: Hoof, Cinder, and Storm (Triumph of the Tusk 2 of 3)

AGENTS OF THE ORC HORDE

Though they traveled to Belkzen as dignitaries to a harsh land, the PCs have proven their strength and earned a place on Belkzen’s war council. Now they must protect the aurochs herds that feed a nation, overturn a tyrannical coup in a city of seven mines, and clash with invaders hoping to capitalize on Belkzen’s moment of weakness as the ancestor storms continue raging overhead. “Hoof, Cinder, and Storm” is an orc-focused Pathfinder adventure for four 6th-level characters.

This volume also includes an overview of Shoanti culture, a series of exciting side quests in Belkzen, new magical items, terrifying creatures, and more!

Hoof, Cinder, and Storm is also available as a deluxe Foundry VTT bundle with all of the assets you need to run this adventure on Foundry!

Pathfinder Divine Spell Cards (Remastered)

Call down the might of the gods with Pathfinder Divine Spell Cards!

This essential accessory features the full pantheon of divine spells from Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder Player Core 2. Honor the higher powers with over 160 spell reference cards!

Pathfinder Focus Spell Cards (Remastered)

Unlock the potential of your inner magic with Pathfinder Focus Spell Cards!

This must-have accessory for characters with that little extra bit of magic features all of the focus spells from Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder Player Core 2 on over 220 reference cards. Tap into your inner power!

Pathfinder Occult Spell Cards (Remastered)

Discover the mysteries of the occult with Pathfinder Occult Spell Cards!

Featuring all of the occult spells from Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder Player Core 2 on over 240 reference cards, this is a vital accessory for those who dabble in the esoteric arts. Open your mind to the unknown!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Occult Dungeon

DELVE THE SUPERNATURAL!

Whether your players are poring through libraries for occult texts or invading an otherworldly redoubt for a crucial secret, no Game Master wants to spend time drawing sites for their occult encounters. Fortunately, with Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Occult Dungeon, you don’t have to! This line of gaming maps provides ready-to-use and captivatingly detailed fantasy set-pieces for the busy Game Master. Place this map on your table and don’t delay your players on their investigation into the paranormal!

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Planetary Terrain Multi-Pack

Every planet is just a map away!

With four unique maps each bringing a science-fantasy planet to life, Starfinder Flip-Mat: Planetary Terrain Multi-Pack has what you need to take your Starfinder campaign to new worlds. One mat in this dual set displays a winter forest perfect for frigid worlds like Triaxus. The other side of this map depicts the desert of a red planet, with a perfect ambush point. The second map begins with a cratered surface great for lunar adventures or the surface of lifeless worlds like Apostae or Eox. The second side of this map showcases a brilliant blue and purple gas giant, with orbital platforms to let your adventurers fight in new dimensions. Push the boundaries of space with new worlds to explore and new maps to bring them to life!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Rotten Apples

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

Deep in the Fangwood Forest in war-torn Nirmathas sits an isolated leshy village called Compost Watch surrounded by a sacred leshy graveyard: the Compost Forest. Working in tandem with the Ashfall Lodge, Compost Watch has kept up their vigil and maintenance of the primal space for generations. However, after a recent distress signal from the trees of the Fangwood, no one's heard from the little town. It's up to the PCs to enter the Compost Forest and see what's upsetting the balance of life, death, and nature!

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-08: Envar’s Awesome Rescue

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

Envar Tamm is in crisis! Or, more accurately, his body double is. Envar is a friend of the Starfinder Society and host of the popular extreme travel v-log Envar’s Expeditions. Days ago, mercenaries mistakenly kidnapped Envar’s body double while filming reshoots, rather than Envar himself. Possessing more bravery than good sense, Envar immediately hatched a plan to rescue his double and stream the footage.

Worried that Envar is going to get himself killed, Ilia Tamm, Envar's mother and CEO of Arch Energy Consortium, has contacted the Starfinders to bail him out. The mission? Accompany Envar on his absurd rescue mission and ensure he survives. While you’re at it, you might as well rescue Envar’s body double.

It’s time for Envar’s Awesome Rescue!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-07: A God Falls Where Magic Fails

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

When Gorum died, shards of his divine being rained down. One of these warshards landed in an ooze being transported outside of Oenopion. The newly empowered creature escaped its confines and headed south toward the Mana Wastes. The Nexian forces haven't be able to deal with it, and have turned to hiring mercenaries. The Pathfinder Society learns of this chance to get their hands on another warshard, and has an arclord ally get them on the short list of candidates.

The PCs must prove their mettle over the other candidates before tracking this newly divine war ooze along the borders to the waste. What's more, the Mana Wastes aren't going to make this mission any easier, and since no one yet understands the full impact that warshards might have on creatures, there's no telling the capabilities of this war ooze.

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20* are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API. Or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

*Roll20 is no longer a part of PaizoConnect and discounts and complimentary PDFs do not apply.

Pathfinder Replica: Goblin Baby Life-Sized Figure

There's nothing cuter than a baby, and the same is true for baby goblins! This adorably mischievous goblin is 8" tall and made from soft foam that's hand painted to show off each tiny claw and sharp tooth. This figure is ready to wreak havoc and is sure to attract attention in your home or game room!

Give this baby goblin a place of honor on your bookshelves or tabletops! 

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Bring Pathfinder to wherever you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table. Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide.

Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Greetings, ‘Finders! We’re about a month out from PAX Unplugged, and we’re excited to give you a sneak peek at everything Paizo will be doing at the show this year!

Organized Play

Paizo Organized Play will be running two-hour quests and four-hour scenarios for Pathfinder Society (second edition), as well as demos and two-hour scenarios for the Starfinder playtest! Quests and Starfinder playtest scenarios are available on a first-come, first-served walk-up basis. Early signups for our four-hour PFS2 scenarios are available on our PAX Unplugged Warhorn; signups begin on November 18 at 9 a.m. Pacific time.

All our games are new player friendly; we will have pregenerated characters, including the new animist and exemplar iconics, and we’re ready to get you playing in no time! Paizo’s game space is booth 56A in the Gaming Hall, just to the left of the main queue area.

Board Game Demos

Interested in giving Pathfinder Elemental Stones or Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight a try? We’ll have demo tables in our play area running games of both!

Plus, get an exclusive first look at Pathfinder Quest! Pathfinder Quest is a cooperative dungeon crawling game for 1–4 players, crowdfunding in Spring 2025. PAX Unplugged attendees will have the opportunity to be the first to play Pathfinder Quest at our demo tables!

Sign up on BackerKit for our pre-launch mailing list to get an exclusive metal coin with your pledge!

Book Signings

Paizo is excited to be bringing Liane Merciel to PAX Unplugged for exclusive book signings at our retail partner’s booth! During select time windows each day (times to be announced), come by Card Titan’s booth to meet the author of Godsrain: A Pathfinder Novel and get your copy signed!

• Friday December 6th – 4-5pm Eastern
• Saturday December 7th – 11am-12pm Eastern & 3-4pm Eastern
• Sunday December 8th – 10am-11am & 2-3pm Eastern

Bring your copy from home or purchase a copy at Card Titan while supplies last!

Retail Partner

We’re partnering with Card Titan as our PAX Unplugged retailer once again! Find Pathfinder and Starfinder essentials like the remastered Core rulebooks, Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder War of Immortals, Godsrain: A Pathfinder Novel, and more at Booth 3202!

Something Impossible…

Mark your calendars for December 4^th! Paizo will be hosting a special stream announcing something Impossible….

We look forward to seeing you all at PAX Unplugged! Be sure to stop by our play space, join us for a book signing, and say hello!

With the holiday season coming up, what better way to surprise the GM in your life than with a Paizo subscription? And while you’re at it, get one for yourself too! Paizo offers a variety of subscription options across our brands for rulebooks, adventures, accessories, and more.

How Do Paizo Subscriptions Work?

Paizo Subscriptions ensure you receive every release in the lines that matter most to you! When you subscribe to a line, you are given the option to start with the current release (the most recently released book) or the next release in that sub. You won’t be charged for your subscription until the product ships—giving you ample time to skip a release if you need to!

Some subscription lines, like Pathfinder Adventure Paths, release monthly, while others release on a slower schedule, usually 3–4 products per year. If you need to step back, Paizo Subscriptions can be canceled at any time by contacting Customer Service.

Subscription Benefits

Paizo values our subscribers as the backbone of our business, and we want to ensure they feel appreciated! We offer a number of perks for subscribing—with greater benefits applied for each sub you have.

• Early access and free PDFs: Subscribers receive free PDFs of any book they subscribe to. These PDFs are granted to their paizo.com account when the physical product ships—sometimes as early as two weeks before the street date!
• 20% off Society Scenarios: Pathfinder and Starfinder Society subscribers get 20% off the cover price of scenarios when they subscribe.
• 30% off Pathfinder Battles: Pathfinder Battles subscribers receive their miniatures at a 30% discount off Paizo’s prices.
• Subscribing to four or more lines gives access to Paizo Advantage!

Paizo Advantage

Paizo Advantage is a 15% discount available to anyone subscribing to four or more qualifying lines. Paizo Advantage also includes a free subscription to either Pathfinder Society Scenarios or Starfinder Society Scenarios—with both Society subscriptions included for free if you subscribe to six or more lines!

Subscription Spotlight!

Paizo offers a host of subscription options—you can see the full list here! Below are some of our favorites.

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription

The Pathfinder Rulebook line gives you the tools to start and enhance your campaign. This subscription includes rulebooks, monster and stat block volumes, as well as rules-focused supplements.

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription

The Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription brings fresh adventure content to your door every month! Paizo releases four three-volume Adventure Paths each year with a wide variety of themes and ranging levels.

Starfinder Rulebook Subscription

The Starfinder Roleplaying Game line of products gives you the tools to personalize your own campaign, including rulebooks, volumes of aliens, and strange worlds to keep your game fresh.

Starfinder Adventure Subscription

Starfinder Adventures are the premiere resource for your science-fantasy roleplaying campaign! If you're looking for galactic adventure, the Starfinder Adventures line has you covered! What's more, every Starfinder Adventures volume includes bespoke NPCs, new monsters, and supporting articles to run these adventures.

All hardcover subscription lines also have the option to upgrade to Special Edition subscriptions! Get the deluxe faux-leatherette cover version of Pathfinder Rulebooks, Pathfinder Lost Omens books, Starfinder Rulebooks, Starfinder Adventures, and more!

Give the gift of gaming with a Paizo Subscription today!

Greetings Starfinders! We’ve received a starship-load of data thanks to your feedback and continued participation in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest! This exciting evolution in our game’s future includes some of the feedback we’ve received in the surveys that will remain up for submissions and edits until December 31st.

A Pahtra Sniper Operative, our first preview art from Starfinder Player Core.
Art by Cagdas Demiralp

Below are the highlights of this errata, but make sure to check out the Second Edition Playtest FAQ for the details of each change:

Chapter 2: Ancestries

• Barathu: Manifold Evolution only lets you select lower level feats.
• Opportunistic Hug: You can use Titan Wrestler to hug big friends.
• Skittermander and Kasatha: You can Climb using inactive hands.

Chapter 3: Classes

• Envoy: Effortless influencer is higher level, and Distant Feint gives Feint the emotion trait.
• Mystic: You know the Hit Points totals of your bonded allies, you regain all your Vitality Network when you Refocus, Transfer Vitality always heals void creatures, you become expert in Perception at level 11, Group Chat now gets you Network Spell (and it’s stronger), Force Connection is now a feat, shadow connection works against darkvision, Adaptive Defense has a transfer cost, and elemental mystic’s elemental weapon spell now scales properly.
• Operative: You begin Expert in Will, Snipers now ignore unwieldy all the time, Strikers can now use unarmed Strikes and should be able to use their melee weapons with most Operative features and feats, Hair Trigger now only applies to your last Aimed enemy, Relentless Aim now ricochets, Double Draw Twin Draw gives you an Aim, and you can no longer quality for Twin Shooter with an Ancestry feat.
• Solarian: Let there be the light trait (while photon-attuned). You can also pick up two-handed solar weapons, your class DC scales better, and Black Hole/Super Nova no longer cycle. You also no longer get armor specialization.
• Soldier: Primary target now Strikes before you hit with an area attack or automatic fire, decreasing the target’s successful save into a failure. Run Hot will overheat your gun. Hammer the Nail now knocks prone.
• Witchwarper: Witchwarper gets Quantum Pulse as a class feature at 1st level. Restorative Recollection has been revised. Infinite Magic can’t be used with 10th-rank spells.

Chapter 6: Equipment

• Weapons: Neural lash has the analog trait. Force needle has 1 upgrade slot. Crossbolter is in the crossbow group.
• Armor Upgrades: Explosive Defense unit grants resistance instead of non-stacking save bonuses.
• Weapon Upgrades: Nothing can stop you from deploying your advanced tripod as much as you want.
• Augmentations: Cardiac Accelerator and Speed Suspensions have been fixed.
• Medical Items: The cost of elite and ultimate hypopens has been fixed.

Chapter 7: Spells

• Adhere: We have separated the Reflex save from adhere.
• Akashic Revival: Akashic revival is a ten minute spell.
• Analyze Target: Analyze target grants a status bonus.
• Atomic Blast: Atomic blast uses a basic Reflex save, and the radiation uses your Spellcasting DC.
• Void Whispers: Void whispers uses all three actions to move.
• Vibe Check: After checking its vibe, we’ve removed the incapacitation trait from vibe check.
• Elemental Weapon: Elementalweapon now scales properly.

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We know there are other areas that need attention, but some of those require more systemic changes that aren’t appropriate midstream and need tinkering “in the workshop.” Here are some elements on our radar we want people to know about but aren’t not quite ready to act on yet:

• reviewing overall mechanics for grenades and missiles
• envoy getting some abilities to Size Up in combat
• solarian Solar Shot becoming more like a weapon that works alongside weapon crystals; change to range increment instead of range
• punching up effectiveness on Disharmony trait abilities for the solarian
• looking at the size of the quantum field, as well as baking in Transposition to be part of the base class chassis

Thank you again for all your help with our playtest—we can’t wait to see more survey data! And once you’re ready to explore some higher level play, check out Empires Devoured and Rescue at Shimmerstone Minereleasing at the end of October, and Wheel of Monsters available today!

—The Starfinder Team

The Second Playtest Adventure

Hey Starfinders!
It’s been a bit since we checked in, but today we’re excited to provide some further details on the soon-to-be-released Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured written by… uh, me! Me being Thurston Hillman, Associate Publisher and creative head for Starfinder.

There’s going to be some spoilers ahead, so BUCKLE UP! (Also, have some cool art.)

Illustration by Ivan Koritarev

Empires Devoured is our mid–high level adventure that starts at 10th level and places the PCs right at the signing of a peace treaty between the Azlanti Star Empire and the Veskarium on the conflicted world of Kehtaria in the city of Atuity (somewhere showcased in Starfinder Ports of Call). It’s a historic moment, with the PCs arriving in system on the acclaimed Sunrise Maiden starship to act as observers from the Pact Worlds. Everything is going great… until it’s not.

See, there’s been some upheaval in the Star Empire, and as the adventure progresses, the PCs quickly learn about a new Azlanti leader. This leader (a fellow we’ve previewed on the Starfinder GMCore cover) doesn’t quite have intergalactic peace as part of their grand vision, and they unleash their armada and armies to put an end to the peace treaty. It’s up to the PCs—well, when is it not up to them, really?—to step up and protect Atuity from attackers.

Some diehard Pathfinder First Edition fans might notice some similarities between a particular creature summoned by the Azlanti and a divine herald confronted long ago during a notable Pathfinder Society Scenario. What can I say, I love a good lore deep cut.

Illustration by Renan Maurilio

Of course, protecting a world from the nascent war of two interstellar powers isn’t enough. No, there’s a lot more going behind the scenes that the PCs are going to need to suss out and then confront head on. That threat might want to explode a chain of suns, so it’s a BIG deal.

However, along the way, there may be casualties… pour one out for everyone’s favorite starship.

Illustration by Ridell Apellanes

That covers it for big spoilers for the adventure. StarfinderEmpires Devoured is about setting up the future for Starfinder in Second Edition, as well as giving the players a chance to be “big damn heroes” during a major galactic event.

As part of the playtest period, this adventure is also a chance for us to get more people playtesting Starfinder Second Edition. Speaking of which, stay tuned for tomorrow, when the Starfinder team will be unleashing the next wave of errata, along with more extensive updates focused around some of the classes—can you say, hello two-handed weapon solarians?

Thanks all! I really hope you enjoy this monumental adventure that I got to write.

Thurston Hillman
Associate Publisher

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

What is Infinite?

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

August’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Abominations Under Absalom

Belcorra has been defeated, but the question of what the Haruvexes may have left behind in Absalom has driven your heroes to the Haruvex Estate. There they investigate rumblings of renewed activity within the long-abandoned mansion and find a gathering of fiends, clockworks, and, of course, abominations. Their investigation leads them to a mystery in the basement below that may yet threaten Absalom.

Continue your Abomination Vaults adventure in this exciting sequel for 11th through 20th levels!

Blood & Sigils*

Unravel untapped powers slumbering within your blood and alter space around you by using mystical sigils with two new classes for Pathfinder 2nd Edition with Blood & Sigils! Unravel untapped powers slumbering within your blood and alter space around you by using mystical sigils with two new classes for Pathfinder 2nd Edition with Blood & Sigils! With more than150 feats and 16 new spells, be the bloody hero or the spatial sage you are meant to be with Blood and Sigils, and go discover even more hidden secrets all over Golarion!

Kitsune of Golarion Remastered*

Providing an in-depth expansion of Pathfinder Second Edition's vulpine ancestry, Kitsune of Golarion Remastered provides players and GMs alike with everything they need to make this vibrant ancestry of shape-shifting fox folk feel at home in the Age of Lost Omens. Based on the Gold Best-Selling product Kitsune of Golarion, this product aims to not only remaster, but redefine the content from this original offering into an indispensable product for the entire table, tailless or not.

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Player Core 1 doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a Cleric spy, a swaggering Rogue, or a Druid with a will of Steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core 1.

Smoke and Sail: A Pathfinder 2e Naval Warfare Sourcebook*

Few environments conjure feelings of excitement and trepidation more acutely than the ocean, with its endless rhythm of churning waves and all its possibilities for adventure. Tenacious crews sailing ships of all sizes make perilous journeys across the majestic vastness that stretches from horizon to horizon, certain that their vessels will carry them to shore under any sky and over any sea.

This sourcebook provides a comprehensive ruleset for running such a vessel and engaging in thrilling, ship-based combat encounters.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

Mechageddon! Unleashed: 3^rd Battlegroup

This supplement for the Starfinder: Mechageddon! Adventure Path details the members of three squadrons and the command officers of the New Valor Defense Force's 3rd Valko Battlegroup. Each NPC is given individual stat blocks and backgrounds for new rivals, friends, and even possible lovers for your huzkars.

Mechageddon! Unleashed: Greenlight

When Storyteller Productions requests NVDF assistance for their newest film shoot in the Kaiju Riot! series of films, the New Valor Defense Force is happy to send its best.

Greenlight is a Side Job for Starfinder First Edition and is intended to be played as part of the Mechageddon! Adventure Path.

Simple Starship Combat

A streamlined and simplified rules system for starship combat in Starfinder First Edition.

Space Cowboy’s Arsenal

A certain type of adventurer resides in the vast frontiers of space—wayfarers and drifters, hunters whose next meal rides on their cunning, their aim, and the price on their bounty's head. They carve out their existence beyond the fringes of civilization; the easy life is as alien to them as another man's gun, and just as fickle. They prefer the unpredictable and uncharted, far from prying eyes and folks what ask too many questions. Never tied to one place, these vagabonds stay strange and savvy, doing what they can to keep alive. When the galaxy needs a job done, they call for the rough and tumble Space Cowboy.

The Swarm Beneath the Hive

The Swarm: Beneath The Hive, is a science fantasy novella set in the world of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

The story follows a vesk, sent on a mission to scout a planet in a rival star system near to his own. Things take an unexpected turn when deadly invaders from a far-away realm launch an assault, forcing the vesk out of his comfort zone in order to survive in the foreign world he now finds himself in.

For the Good of The Rogue Genius!

From the same team that brought you The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands comes The Traveler’s Guides to the Eye of Abendego—a collection of player options, magical items, creatures, hazards, and more! All proceeds from this product benefit Owen K.C. Stephens as he continues his battle with cancer.

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Starflung Tripkees of Tian Xia – Tripkee ancestries for regions of Tian Xia.
• Arcane Vexer – A new rogue racket.
• Feats+ – The latest from Team+ with over 330 new feats!
• The Stolen Prototype – A Starfinder First Edition adventure for 8^th
• Playing Around – Theatrical class options to pair with the Curtain Call Adventure Path.
• Remastering the Revolution – Champion causes and feats for a changing world.

Greetings Starfinders! I’d like to extend a special thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest! Our team of diligent developers have uncovered a number of rules elements that need fixing to ensure a proper playtest experience, all of which can be found alongside our initial errata on our Starfinder Second Edition Playtest FAQ page. Many of these errata are meant to clarify designer intent and should not heavily impact your playtest experience.

For the sake of simplicity, we will go ahead and list summaries of the most notable changes to each chapter here. Check out the Second Edition Playtest FAQ for the details of each change:

Chapter 2: Ancestries

• Barathu: Base Speed is 5 feet.
• Ysoki: Feats that can be taken by both ysoki and ratfolk use the same wording as Pathfinder Player Core 2.
• Skittermander and Kasatha: double draw has been updated for clarity.

Chapter 3: Classes

• Mystic: Mystic gets weapon specialization at level 13. Viral Order xenodruids get the toxic cloud spell as its 5th-rank bonus spell, instead of stardust plague.
• Operative: The ghost operative’s exploit applies to targets you are undetected by. Note that if you are unnoticed you’re also undetected.
• Soldier: Whirling swipe and offensive defense also get follow-up Strikes using Primary Target.
• Witchwarper: Witchwarper gets Weapon Expertise at level 11.

Chapter 6: Equipment

• Environmental Protections: Level 0 armor protects you for 1 day.
• Armor Improvements: Shift the chart for armor improvements such that Tactical armor no longer provides the Resilient trait, Superior armor provides Resilient +1, and Ultimate armor provides Resilient +2.
• Mobile Bulwark Shield: This shield has a heft value of +2.
• Traits: The deadly trait has been updated to increase at elite- and paragon-grade. The professional trait has been clarified to allow operatives to make better use of card slingers.
• Weapons: The painglaive is martial and has the boost 1d4 trait. The bone scepter does 1d6 damage. The doshko is no longer unwieldy. The seeker rifle is in the sniper group, has volley (60 feet), and has a magazine size of 1 projectile. Magnetar rifles can hold 20 bullets per magazine. Grenade launchers get upgrade slots. Our sonic weapons do sonic damage.
• Ammunition: 1 credit now gets you 10 pieces of projectile ammunition.
• Upgrades: All damage modules are now worded to work with area attacks. Scopes do not work with area attacks.
• Augmentations: Apex augmentations and moodskins do not count against your implant limit.

Chapter 7: Spells

• Carcinization:Carcinization has evolved to lose the incapacitation trait.
• Selective invisibility:Selective invisibility does not have the concentrate trait. It has the illusion, manipulate, and subtle traits.
• Share pain: Share pain has the mental trait.
• Quantum negation: Quantum negation is a two-action spell.

Chapter 8: Rules

• Suppressed: Suppressed gives a 10-foot Speed penalty.

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Thank you for helping us find some of these problems. We’d like to thank everyone for their involvement in the playtest so far. We know there are other areas that could use some attention, but we want to ensure that the data we receive from the feedback remains consistent at this stage. We’ll be issuing some later errata in the future to address some directions we’re leaning and some other concerns (like a certain Hair Trigger issue). Please continue filling out surveys as that is the best way to ensure we hear you, and remember you can continue submitting and revising submitted surveys for the Starfinder Playtest until December 31st!

—The Starfinder Team

After all the excitement of Gen Con—including the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest—we thought we’d remind you we have a new Humble Bundle available now, featuring that very same playtest! With the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle, you can get everything you need to participate in the playtest, as well as a ton of Starfinder First Edition material to help set the stage for the new edition! The bundle also includes accompanying assets in Hero Lab Online, all while helping a worthy cause: Girls Who Code!

At the base level of a $5 donation, you’ll receive everything you need to participate in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, including: the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, Starfinder Second Contact, two Starfinder Playtest Scenarios—Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came from the Vast!—the Living Starship and Jungle World Starfinder Flip-Mats used in those scenarios, Starfinder Field Test #5, and the Hero Lab Online Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Character Creation and Vault Content package.

For just $10 more, at the $15 tier, you’ll also unlock a plethora of Starfinder First Edition material to round out your existing collection or help you familiarize yourself with the game’s prior edition. This includes (asterisks indicate products with Hero Lab Online character creation material unlocked alongside the PDF): Starfinder Beginner Box, Starfinder Core Rulebook*, Starfinder Alien Archive*, Starfinder Alien Archive 2*, Starfinder Alien Archive 3*, Starfinder Alien Archive 4*, Starfinder Pact Worlds*, five Starfinder Society Scenarios—Fragment of the 4th, Planar Bloom, Ghost Level Delve, Drift Scars, and the multi-table special scenario, A Time of Crisis—along with 7 Starfinder Flip-Mat products used in these adventures: Crashed Starship, Desert World, Drift Crisis, Forest Moon, Giant Starship, Space Colony, and Space Station, plus the Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Alien Planet Starter Set and Alien Planet Ruins Expansion.

At the $30-or-more digital tier, you’ll also receive two complete Starfinder Adventure Paths themed around the Drift Crisis, which was the first major cross-product meta-event Paizo ever produced, the precursor to such events as Pathfinder’s current War of Immortals event, or the sweeping setting changes coming to Starfinder with the advent of Second Edition. This tier includes the following (asterisks indicate products with Hero Lab Online character creation material unlocked alongside the PDF): the entire Drift Crashers Adventure Path (Starfinder Drift Crashers Player’s Guide, The Perfect Storm, Nightmare Scenario, and Masters of Time and Space), the entire Drift Hackers Adventure Path (Starfinder Drift Hackers Player’s Guide, A Light in the Dark, Clockwork Demons, and Into the Dataverse), Starfinder Drift Crisis*, Starfinder Adventure: Drift Crisis Case Files, Starfinder Near Space*, Starfinder Ports of Call*, and Starfinder One-Shot: Before the Storm.

That’s a $666 value (a coincidence, we assure you!) in digital products alone, including over $120 in Hero Lab Online character creation assets, all for $30! If a discount of more than 95% weren’t enough to entice you, consider the $40 physical tier: a hardcover copy of Starfinder Drift Crisis. This book retails for $44.99 by itself, so not only are you getting the book at a discount, but you’ll get all the digital content as well. When you redeem your Humble Bundle codes on paizo.com, the book will be added to your cart at no cost; you simply pay shipping and handling at checkout.

So whether you’re new to Starfinder and want to get in on the ground floor for the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, or you’re an old pro with the system and want to fill out your Starfinder First Edition collection, you won’t want to miss the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle. Support Girls Who Code now, get your Starfinder PDFs, and start up Hero Lab Online and see what amazing adventures in the Pact Worlds await!

Back the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Primer Bundle today!

Wow! What a Gen Con!

Hello everyone! It’s been over a week since Gen Con wrapped up and the Starfinder Playtest went public. What a year these past two weeks have been, eh?

First off, the Starfinder team wants to extend our most sincere appreciation to everyone who’s engaged with the playtest since its release. Along with tables diving right into A Cosmic Birthday, we’ve also got feedback streaming in from those of you who’ve taken part in Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came From the Vast!. There’s really nothing quite like seeing hundreds of tables participating in demos and playtest games at the show and knowing even more are happening at tables across the world. So once again, thank you all for your participation!

In the coming weeks we’ll be providing some additional FAQs and Errata, as well as more blogs detailing our thoughts on how the playtest is going and some directions that we’re looking to steer components of the game into. We’re not going to dive into any of those today, as we’re still eager to get some unvarnished feedback on the game as we’ve released it, but expect more content in the coming weeks as we identify critical issues.

For now, please keep submitting your feedback about the next edition of Starfinder over at the surveys listed on StarfinderPlaytest.com. Even if you don’t have answers for everything now, you can always go back into your surveys right up until the playtest period ends at the end of December.

For a little bonus, for those of you who missed our Starfinder Keynote panel at Gen Con, we wanted to once again reveal the cover art for Starfinder GM Core, done by Paizo’s own Kent Hamilton. Starfinder GM Core is set to release in 2025 as part of the full Starfinder release. We’re so excited to dive into the future (of Starfinder)!

—The Starfinder Team

Get a swarm of Starfinder First Edition PDFs plus Starfinder Playtest content on Humble Bundle! Proceeds benefit Girls Who Code.

Greetings, Starfinders and Pathfinders, and welcome to Gen Con 2024! Whether you’re joining us at the show or following along at home, we’re thrilled to share the Best Four Days in Gaming with you!

Missed the Gen Con 2024 Paizo Keynote? Catch up NOW!

Join us over on youtube.com/@PaizoInc right now for our Gen Con 2024 Keynote Address, hosted by Erik Mona! Creatives across the Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Paizo Board Games lines give some updates and behind the scenes sneak peeks at upcoming Paizo games!

Paizo at the Show!

If you missed our blog earlier this week, hop over here to see all the amazing panels, show exclusives, and games we’ll be hosting at the show! For a snapshot overview:

• Come pick up Pathfinder Player Core 2, the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Prey for Death, convention exclusives, and so much more at Booth 203 in the Exhibit Hall!
  • Get your Core Rulebooks signed by Wayne Reynolds and your Playtest Rulebook signed by Kent Hamilton, their respective cover artists, at our booth!
• Join us in Bays 3, 4, and 5 of the Sagamore Ballroom for Organized Play, Digital Character Creation, Starfinder Second Edition Playtest demos, and a satellite store stocked with essentials for Organized Play!
• Stop by our demo booth in Hall C or the Syrinscape booth in Capitol Concourse for short Pathfinder and Starfinder demos!
• Dive into Pathfinder and Starfinder with our on-site panels and a special Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Liveshow!

All of our on-site panels will be recorded and shared on our YouTube channel after the show, so don’t worry about FOMO!

Paizo.com Gen Con Sale!

For everyone at home, we’ve got a sale happening on paizo.com! Use code GenCon2024 for 20% off your whole purchase on paizo.com! This sale is not valid on preorders, backorders, subscriptions, and third-party PDFs.

Whether you’re sitting in on our streams and forums or joining us at the show, we hope you have a wonderful Gen Con weekend

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is finally here! This labor of love wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated work of an incredible team here at Paizo and the feedback we’ve received during the Field Test stage as we conduct the most open playtest process in Paizo’s history! Check out our playtest scenarios and learn how to playtest blogs, download the freeStarfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, and start playing Starfinder Second Edition today!

We have made some small corrections to the Playtest Rulebook since it was sent to the printers. Most of these tweaks will have minimal impact on your games and are meant to clarify our intent with certain abilities or serve as editorial reminders before we begin collecting feedback from all your awesome adventures. The errata are posted alongside our Starfinder 2nd Edition Playtest FAQ.

We look forward to all your input and feedback as we launch this new edition of our favorite game!

—The Starfinder Team

Hello, ‘Finders! Gen Con opens in two short days, and we’ve got a host of exciting announcements about what we’ve got going at the show, from show floor exclusives to live shows, panels, and more!

Places!

Coming to Gen Con? There are a variety of places to find Paizo at the convention—whether you’re looking for demos, Organized Play, signings, or good old fashioned shopping!

Paizo is happy to be returning to Booth 203 in the Exhibitor Hall! We’ll have tables and shelves stocked with products new and old—including print copies of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook and sketch covers of all four remastered Pathfinder Core rulebooks! And, with Wayne Reynolds and Kent Hamilton on-site at the booth, you can get those books signed by their cover artists at Gen Con!

Looking for Organized Play? Paizo has an even bigger slice of the Sagamore Ballroom this year, taking Bays 3, 4, and 5 to offer over 80 tables of Pathfinder Society, Starfinder Society, Paizo Board Games, and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios! Build characters using Demiplane’s Pathfinder or Starfinder NEXUS at our Digital Character Creation Station and jump right into a game! Play a demo of Pathfinder Second Edition or the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest on Foundry VTT! Also, we are excited to announce that there will be a satellite retail space in the Sagamore Ballroom this year, stocked with Core books, flip mats, minis, and more!

If you want to dip your toes in a shorter game, Paizo has demo tables in Hall C, as well as tables at Syrinscape’s space in the hallway between the ICC and Lucas Oil. Drop by any of these tables for a short, sweet introduction to Pathfinder or Starfinder!

Products!

It’s not a convention without convention exclusives! This year, our friends at Fanroll Dice have crafted some wonderful metal goblin dice!

On the subject of Wayne Reynolds’ beautiful artwork and sketches—our partners at Gamehead have designed a Gen Con exclusive playmat featuring the Player Core, GM Core, and Monster Core cover sketches! Get this playmat at our booth and have it signed by Wayne himself!

Panels and More!

Excited for announcements and engaging content? Great news—Paizo is bringing panels to Gen Con physically and virtually! See the full schedule of our content below:

Thursday, August 1^st

Gen Con 2024 Keynote – 10 a.m. EDT on twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Join Erik Mona and a variety of creatives across Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Paizo Board Games as they give a sneak peek at upcoming products and announce exciting new books!

A Drift Through Space Time – 2 p.m. EDT on Gen Con’s Main Stage and twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Starfinder Managing Creative Director Thurston Hillman leads a mixed party of Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition characters—played by B. Dave Walters, Mark Meer, Jenny Jarzabski, and John Compton—through a Starfinder Second Edition Playtest extravaganza!

Friday, August 2^nd

Building Worlds and Stories: Pathfinder Lost Omens Panel – 10 a.m. EDT on twitch.tv/officialpaizo

Luis Loza and the developers of the Pathfinder Lost Omens line discuss worldbuilding—from the wide scale of an entire universe to the minute details of an individual city. Learn tips and tricks from Pathfinder’s master lorecrafters.

Starfinder Second Edition Roadmap Panel – 1 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

Thurston Hillman and Jenny Jarzabski reveal the roadmap of Starfinder Second Edition, announcing upcoming books and giving a look behind the curtain as work progresses on Starfinder Player Core, GM Core, and Alien Core.

Godsrain & Bloodshed: Pathfinder War of Immortals – 2 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

With Pathfinder Prey for Death releasing at Gen Con, the War of Immortals meta event has begun, and Golarion’s landscape will be changed forever! Learn more about how this meta event is sparking change across the rulebook, Lost Omens, and adventure lines!

Saturday, August 3^rd

Playtest Makes Perfect (What Makes a Good Playtest) – 2 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

With the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, the Starfinder team is thrilled to get player feedback on the rules. This panel will elaborate on how design choices were made for the playtest, what the design team is interested in hearing about, and how your feedback helps shape the future of Starfinder Second Edition!

Pathfinder: A Remastered Retrospective – 3 p.m. EDT at Gen Con*

The release of Pathfinder Player Core 2 at Gen Con concludes the remastering of the core rules engine for Pathfinder Second Edition. Join the Pathfinder design team as they discuss the remastering process and what’s coming up for Pathfinder.

*All panels taking place on-site at Gen Con will be recorded and uploaded on our YouTube channel after the show!

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at Gen Con this year—in person or online!

Everyone on the Starfinder team agrees that the setting is our favorite part of the game. As stewards of Starfinder, we’re more interested in preserving and expanding lore than we are in reinventing it, but a new edition is the perfect time to update our beloved setting. Here are a few exciting changes you can look forward to in Starfinder Second Edition!

Aucturn explodes! That’s right, everybody; we’re kicking Starfinder Second Edition off with a bang and blowing up one of the Pact Worlds! For those who weren’t keeping up, Aucturn is the most distant, mysterious planet in the sun’s orbit (kind of like Pluto), except it has a toxic atmosphere and is crawling with monsters like orocorans and carrion wheels. Yikes! To make things worse, most people who live on Aucturn are cultists of eldritch gods. That said, though it was a pretty weird place, nobody expected it to explode!

Many people in the Pact Worlds believed Aucturn was really an egg. There was even a cult dedicated to nurturing the eldritch being inside it, and it’s rumored that the planet’s ruler drank his power from the unborn monstrosity. Well, it turns out they were right—Aucturn is an egg, and it just hatched. As you can imagine, this immediately caused problems in Pact Worlds space and across the whole galaxy. Magic went haywire, planets got knocked out of orbit, people experienced bizarre visions, and a strange new god called the Newborn emerged into cosmic consciousness. The weirdness isn’t going to end anytime soon, but it all starts with the playtest. PlayA Cosmic Birthday, a playtest module for 1st-level characters, if you want to experience the disaster/miracle of the Newborn’s emergence firsthand. 

Pulonis declares independence! Pulonis (formerly known as Vesk-6) was defeated and occupied by the Veskarium for a long time, but its war for freedom never truly ended. While Veskarium forces were stretched thin during the Drift Crisis, Pulonis finally achieved independence. Soon after, Pulonis joined the Pact alliance as the first full member not located in the Pact Worlds system. Starfinder Second Edition is celebrating Pulonis by adding pahtras as a core ancestry and Meyel the Dancing Fury (their patron god) as a core deity. Surely this won’t upset the Veskarium, right? Well, speaking of that…

Azlanti Star Empire challenges the Veskarium! It’s the war we’ve all been waiting for—let them fight! The Pact Council must have been feeling pretty smug about the Veskarium getting distracted right after the stunt they pulled with Pulonis, until they realized that an interstellar war has far-reaching consequences even for those who aren’t involved. If you want to be part of Starfinder history and experience the beginning of this war, playEmpires Devoured, a playtest module for 10th-level characters.

New gods join the core pantheon! You’ll notice that old favorites like Oras and Triune have been joined by some new divine faces. We’ve added the patron gods of the Azlanti Star Empire and Pulonis, as well as two completely new deities that emerged after recent cosmic events, to the list of core deities. Now your character can be a rune-scourged follower of Lissala, a graceful warrior of Meyel, study the enigma of the Newborn, or channel pain into art for Zon-Shelyn. You can read more about all the gods, old and new, in theStarfinder Playtest Rulebook.

 If you’re still curious about setting updates and want to find out about new Starfinder content, keep an eye on GenCon news next month. Not only will we be launching the first public Starfinder Second Edition playtest, we’ll also have plenty more news to share that you won’t want to miss.

—The Starfinder Team

The Starfinder Playtest and the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook are coming soon! On behalf of the entire Starfinder team, we’d like to thank you for your time, dedication, and enthusiasm for the next edition of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. The upcoming playtest is a vital part of making sure Starfinder Second Edition will be the best possible game it can be! Your feedback is indispensable to our process, and we literally couldn’t do it without you!

Illustration by Alexander Gorbunov

How We Playtest

The easiest way to playtest is to explore the material, cooperate with other players, and report back using our surveys! There will be four surveys: the Class Survey asks specific questions about your character choices and experiences, the Class Open Response Survey that allows for more freeform feedback about each of our six classes, the Game Feedback Survey that lets you provide feedback about any other material in the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, and the Adventure Feedback Survey where you can share your experiences and feedback about our playtest adventures! 

You can find the playtest and all supplementary information at StarfinderPlaytest.com

When We Playtest

The Starfinder Playtest Second Edition Rulebook, our first two playtest adventures, and the playtest surveys go live on August 1 at 10 a.m. EST. The Playtest Rulebook PDF is free and the necessary rules from Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core can be found online with our partners at Archives of Nethys. The playtesting period lasts until December 31, 2024, when the surveys officially close. You can go back and modify your survey at any point during the playtest period, so don’t wait until the last minute thinking you’ve tried every class or run every adventure.

What We Playtest

We’re releasing two Starfinder adventures and four scenarios during the playtest period that help support the playtest itself. These adventures and scenarios feature a wide variety of challenges and encounters as the playtests focus on player facing options. We won’t spoil anything here for our players who want to avoid spoilers, but you can read more about each adventure on their accompanying product pages!

Playtest Scenarios are one-shots that should take roughly 2 hours to play, but can be used as a launching point or side quest during a longer ongoing campaign.Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet by Mike Kimmel is a 1st-level scenario,Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast! by Jessica Catalan is a 5th-level scenario,Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters by Dustin Knight is a 10th-level scenario with variable encounters coming out September 25, and Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mineby Jenny Jarzabski is a 15th-level scenario coming out late October.

Playtest Adventures are longer self-contained adventures that should take multiple sessions to complete and take characters across multiple levels. These adventures are great introductions to the Starfinder setting and help players experience two major events taking place in our setting.Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday by Jenny Jarzabski begins at 1st level, and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured by Thurston Hillman begins at 10th-level and will be released in October.

Home game data will be immensely helpful during the playtest process. GMs are highly encouraged to use monsters and other threats from the playtest adventures or Pathfinder Second Edition sources like Pathfinder Monster Core. Additional guidelines to running adventures during the playtest can be extrapolated using Pathfinder GM Core. We suggest avoiding variant rules during the playtest period, such as free archetype rules or proficiency without level.

Who We Playtest

When building characters, stick to the official character creation guidelines as much as possible. We will have pregenerated characters for every class available during the playtest, with character sheets you can print out at home that include all the information you need to play each character.

Players should avoid using Pathfinder Second Edition ancestries, backgrounds, classes, equipment, and feats that aren’t explicitly included in the playtest. Note that most of the skill feats and some class feats from Pathfinder Player Core have been included in the skill feat tables and are part of the playtest. Spells should be selected from the Playtest Rulebook and Pathfinder Player Core. While these options are available, we encourage players to try the new feats and spells from the Starfinder Playtest Core Rulebook to provide us with new data.

Where We Playtest

Gen Con and other major conventions, both in person and online, provide ample opportunity for playtesting. Finding a local or online Starfinder Society lodge is a surefire way to find people interested in playtesting, and you can find out how all these adventures fit into our Organized Play Program here.

Why We Playtest

The entire team is grateful for everyone’s enthusiasm and excitement as we venture into this new era of adventure! Paizo has a long tradition of playtesting new material, and the data you provide playing our games is critical to our process and morale (after all, nothing encourages a game developer like hearing about people playing our games)! While we prioritize the data we get from the playtest surveys, the Starfinder team actively reads and welcomes your thoughts on many social media platforms and communities including our own Second Edition Playtest Forum!

—The Starfinder Team

Today, we’re excited to launch a new landing page featuring all the information fans, content creators, and other publishers need to legally use Paizo’s intellectual property—game rules, setting details, artwork, logos, and other copyrights and trademarks—in their own products. Whether you’re looking to make an online rules database using the ORC license, a setting compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition, an adventure set in the Pact Worlds system, an actual play podcast, or a series of handmade plushies of iconic heroes like Valeros, Seoni, and Lem, we’ve got everything you need at paizo.com/licenses.

Along with this new hub of information, we also made a few updates and revisions to our existing licenses, both for ease of use and to bring them up to date with the current state of our games and brands. You can find out more about these specific licenses on their respective pages on the site.

Paizo Compatibility License

With Pathfinder (and soon Starfinder) in its second edition, we were starting to get a bit of a glut of system-specific compatibility licenses. So, we consolidated what was previously two distinct Pathfinder RPG Compatibility Licenses and a Starfinder Compatibility License into a single Paizo Compatibility License. Using the new license, a publisher can declare compatibility with any of our games and use the appropriate logo, and we don’t have to constantly maintain the list of products and game systems you can use it for.

We also got rid of the registration process by which publishers had to inform us they were using the license. Now, you agree to the license when you publish something using it, the same way you do for the OGL or ORC. Your use of one of the Compatibility Logos or our proprietary Pathfinder-Icons font aren’t locked behind any red tape. Just create your content, ensure you’re following all the rules of the license, and you’re ready to go.

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite

In October, on the eve of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project launch, we announced that the ORC license wouldn’t be usable on our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite community content publishing platforms. While this initially caused a bit of confusion, in the months since, we’ve seen publishers continue using both platforms with great success, accessing Paizo’s IP via the Infinite License alone.

Next month, with the release of Pathfinder Player Core 2, we’ll have completed the 18-month task of divesting our core game from the OGL, and thus, starting on September 1, 2024, publishing of new OGL content on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite will cease; publishers wishing to release game content on either platform will need to use the Infinite license exclusively.

This means that until Starfinder Second Edition is officially out in just over a year, Starfinder content on the platform is going to need to be free of rules (setting lore, fiction, art assets, etc.) but once the new edition of the game is out, we plan to relaunch Starfinder Infinite in style. It also means that Pathfinder First Edition content, or Pathfinder Second Edition content based on OGL material, will also sunset from the platform in just over a month. So, if you have a Pathfinder product in the works featuring chuuls, the eight schools of magic, or yes, even drow, you have until the end of August to release them. We won’t be removing OGL-based content from the marketplace in September, but you won’t be able to release new material using the OGL after that point.

The Infinite FAQ and End User Licensing Agreement on the marketplaces will be updated closer to the date of the actual change, but consider this your fair warning.

Fan Content Policy

As of today, Paizo’s Community Use Policy has been replaced by the Paizo Fan Content Policy, which serves a similar role, but with different provisions.

First, the Fan Content Policy will allow you to sell merchandise using our IP. Yes, for money. You will also be able to monetize other content using Paizo’s IP, like putting a live play of one of our Adventure Paths behind a Patreon paywall. There are restrictions to this, however, so make sure you read the license carefully before you put in your order with the factory to make high-end poster maps of Golarion. Anything you sell needs to be made by you and sold directly by you to the consumer. You can’t upload a bunch of our art to one of those print-on-demand shops that will let anyone put the art on whatever hat or mug or shirt they want. You can screen print shirts or sew your own plushies and sell them on an Etsy storefront you operate or at conventions, but not mass produce either or sell them through external services or storefronts. But those Pathfinder Society faction dice bags you have been making because you love them? You can totally start selling those now instead of just giving them away for free.

Most of what you could previously do with the Community Use Policy is still permitted under the Fan Content Policy except for making RPG products, which you’ll need to release through the Pathfinder or Starfinder Infinite storefronts (even for free if you want) from now on. So, you can’t use art from the blog or setting material from Golarion to make your own rulebook or adventure under this license. If you’re currently using the OGL or ORC in conjunction with the Community Use Policy, in order to be compliant with the new Fan Content Policy you’ll need to either remove any game rules that would require you to use cite those licenses or remove any non-rule content you accessed via the Community Use Policy.

We know that all this legal stuff can be intimidating and confusing for many fans, and for that, we apologize. It’s our hope that these changes largely improve the community’s ability to create and engage with our brands, our games, and each other, even if they’re different than what we’ve offered in the past. Be sure to check out each license’s FAQ for more information, or pose your questions in the forums or comments below. We’ll do our best to answer them in as timely and clear manner as possible.

Now go out there and start creating! We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

<Incoming transmission from the Starfinder team… >

Hello, Starfinders!

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is ready for launch—but before we begin the countdown (t-minus two weeks and counting!) we’re sending out a transmission across the galaxy. The Pact Worlds needs those most celebrated heroes: playtesters! Are you ready to answer the call?

When the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook releases at GenCon 2024, we invite you to hop right into the action. Get your hands on the playtest rulebook, roll up some characters, and get playing! To support the playtest, we’ve got three tools waiting on standby! Download pre-generatedcharacters, play the demo at a convention, and purchase the Starfinder Playtest Scenarios!

Pre-generated characters (better known as pregens) are official sample characters available as a free download on starfinderplaytest.com. These pregens encompass all six of our playtest classes and are available at level 1 and level 5. Each pregen includes a character sheet and accompanying reference sheet which includes all the details a player needs to play that character. Our playtest pregens include: Navasi the human envoy, Chk Chk the shirren mystic, Iseph the android operative, Dae the pahtra solarian, Obozaya the vesk soldier, and Zemir the human witchwarper.

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Demo is a short, 45-minute to 1-hour demo adventure to be run at special events, including GenCon 2024! This demo adventure showcases the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest in a fun, engaging way. All players will use 1st-level pregens. So, grab your pregen and hop aboard a shuttle for Golarion World! That’s right! Excitable skittermander Novadorio needs your help to save his best friend, Prisma, from a group of vicious raiders infiltrating an unopened part of the amusement park! This delightful demo adventure uses Starfinder Flip-Mat: Amusement Park.

Novadorio, a skittermander whose friend is in peril!
Art by Ksenia Kozhevnikova

Ready for more adventure? Set course for Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios! Each Starfinder Playtest Scenario is a short, single-session adventure designed to be played in 2–3 hours and written by a member of the Starfinder Team. Participants in our Organized Play Programs should also download a copy of the Starfinder Playtest Sheet from starfinderplaytest.com to unlock additional rewards in our OP campaigns! (More information available here). Two Starfinder Playtest Scenarios release on August 1st, 2024, with one additional scenario releasing in late September and one in late October.

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet is a first contact–themed adventure for 1st-level characters written by Mike Kimmel! In the wake of the Drift Crisis, the impenetrable energy field surrounding the planet Birnam’s Bubble is shattering, and shards of this solidified energy have begun to fall through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface, causing significant destruction. Enter the breach and uncover the secrets of the lost civilizations of Birnam’s Bubble before they're lost forever!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast! is a horror-themed adventure for 5th-level characters written by Jessica Catalan! When the Xenowarden biomechanical starship Bloom is discovered careening uncontrolled through space, it’s up to a team of brave spacefarers to enter the starship and uncover the fate of its missing crew! The Bloom is haunted. That’s the least of your problems.

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters is a combat-heavy adventure for 10th-level characters written by Dustin Knight! Step right up, come on down, and ready your laser pistols… You’re the next contestants on Zo!’s Wheel of Monsters, a thrilling game show that pits contestants in lethal combat against dangerous creatures collected from across the galaxy. Don’t worry, contestants, there’s a big prize if you make it out alive!

Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine is a rescue mission and dungeon delve for 15th-level characters written by Jenny Jarzabski! Meanwhile, in the Veskarium, inexplicable disasters and sudden riots are breaking out in shimmerstone mines all across the frigid planet of Vesk-8. While many corporations react with attempts to sweep these events under the metaphorical rug, Shim-Tek desperately seeks outside agents to visit their shimmerstone mine, investigate the disturbance, and rescue any imperiled miners still on site.

Famesworn, one of the many dangerous creatures you might face on the Wheel of Monsters!
Art by Max Roche

Of course, we’ve got a few other adventures waiting in the wings. (A Cosmic Birthday and Empires Devoured, anyone?). But that’s a blog for another day!

The website starfinderplaytest.com is the place to watch for news and information about the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest and feedback process. We’ll have more Starfinder Second Edition news—and the playtest itself—at GenCon 2024!

Happy playtesting!

—The Starfinder Team

It’s time to celebrate! Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday is the first full-length playtest module for Starfinder Second Edition, and it tells the story of a disastrous surge of eldritch energy that disrupts Absalom Station and threatens to throw a community into chaos! The player characters are going about their typical adventuring lives when they suddenly find themselves shunted to the Ghost Levels, a strange dimension filled with occult threats and mysteries. Can they find other survivors and escape the Ghost Levels? And, if they manage it, what will they find once they return to Absalom Station? Things aren’t going so well for the people of the Little Akiton district. The PCs have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to help the community back on its feet, learn the truth behind the strange power surges, and get things back to normal!

It wouldn’t be a very good cosmic birthday without a cosmic birthday party!
Illustration by Ivan Koritarev

Playing this adventure, you’ll not only be directly involved in a major event in the Starfinder setting, but you’ll have a chance to playtest characters (or GM encounters) using the brand new Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook! You’ll start by creating a level 1 PC, and you should reach level 4 by the end of the adventure—and we want to hear all about your play experiences! Keep an eye on the Starfinder Playtest website for more news about our playtest feedback surveys, which we’ll use to help fine tune the final version of the Starfinder Second Edition rules.

A space station gremlin is here to… help?
Illustration by Pixoloid Studios

A Cosmic Birthday, by Jenny Jarzabski, is an epic adventure that tells the story of our heroes as they battle occult horrors, explore the community of Little Akiton, investigate strange occurrences, and ultimately confront a dangerous cosmic being that threatens Absalom Station. This softcover adventure module takes PCs from 1st to 4th level and includes a mix of new and iconic Starfinder creatures, memorable characters, and bonus content related to the creation of a new core Starfinder deity: the Newborn.

Make your mark on Starfinder history by playing the adventure and participating in the feedback process. Happy birthday!

— The Starfinder Team

Hello again from the Starfinder team! With the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest right around the corner, it won’t be long until you can dive in, build characters, and try the new classes for yourself. Still, we couldn’t resist one last, brief glimpse into the sixth class from the Playtest Rulebook: we’re talking, of course, about the witchwarper!

Zemir, the iconic witchwarper
Art by Kent Hamilton

Witchwarpers are reality-bending spellcasters whose lives are defined by a paradoxical event that forever warped their existence. Origins in an alternate reality? A trip along a parallel timeline? A quantum experiment gone awry, or a malfunctioning alien device? The Gap itself? Whatever the cause, each witchwarper’s exposure to paradoxical reality has given them tremendous magic abilities.

Beyond affecting reality with mere spellcasting, witchwarpers can create a reality-warping quantum field. In another reality (which is to say, in Starfinder First Edition, insert wink emoji here), witchwarpers had to expend spell slots to use their reality-altering infinite worlds ability. Witchwarpers had to choose between altering reality through spells, or through infinite worlds. Later, in Starfinder Enhanced, the enhanced witchwarper gained additional spell slots to use for infinite worlds.

While a witchwarper’s spellcasting and quantum field are still mechanically intertwined, we’ve taken a new approach. In Starfinder Second Edition, witchwarpers can use the Warp Reality action as often as they want. This brings their quantum field into existence, and the effects of this quantum field depend on the paradox that defines the witchwarper’s magic power. Witchwarpers gain additional abilities through their paradox (and feat selections) that allow them to manipulate or interact with their quantum field, whether by moving it, applying additional zone effects to it, or targeting creatures inside it with reality-altering powers.

Of course, warping reality requires focus. While witchwarpers can create their quantum field as often as they like, they must Sustain it if they want it to stick around. Thankfully, witchwarpers have a new option at their disposal: abilities with the anchoring trait, such as a witchwarper’s focus spells, signature spells, and certain feats, automatically sustain the quantum field in addition to any other effects they may have.

If you think you’ve heard the concept of an “anchor” somewhere in Starfinder before—you’d be correct! An anchor was an important part of the time-bending precog class from Starfinder First Edition. Precog is part of the witchwarper class now—in fact, precog is one of the paradoxes you can choose for your witchwarper character! Anchors aren’t just for precogs anymore: every witchwarper has an anchor, which is a memory, concept, or object that keeps them grounded in true reality. A witchwarper can sustain their quantum field through a special “anchoring action” granted by their anchor, granting them greater flexibility from round to round, rather than forcing them to sustain their quantum field by casting specific anchoring spells. Witchwarpers can even gain the ability to anchor their quantum field through their Strikes!

Witchwarpers have a big impact. Conjuring zones of otherworldly darkness. Infusing spells with energy from another reality, or even borrowing spells and ancestry feats from other realities. Altering the flow of time. Erasing enemies from existence. When every reality is at your disposal, the possibilities are infinite.

We’re especially keen to receive your feedback on the witchwarper class, as it’s gone through multiple different realities during the course of development. The Starfinder Playtest site is the place to watch for news and info about the playtest and feedback process, and we’ll have more Starfinder Second Edition news at GenCon 2024. Which is to say—quite soon!

— The Starfinder Team

Greetings Starfinders! While everyone is excited about the future of Starfinder, including the exciting continuation of the Year of Era’s End, our Mechageddon! Campaigns, and the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest, we have some last minute housekeeping in the archives that includes a pre-GenCon round of Starfinder FAQ and Errata!

We have a plethora of little changes that'll make your games run more smoothly than ever. These include but are not limited to:

• Clarification that you cannot use lethal grenades and missiles non-lethally by just taking the standard penalties.
• Many clarifications to Starfinder Enhanced, including narrative starship combat, the enhanced Solarian, explosive danger, concentrated cloud, and how living holograms stow items.
• Clarifications and changes to gear, including a 24-hour immunity clause added to timeskip crystals and attablossoms, clarification on the skipshot pistol, the radiation of abysium ammunition, degenerator weapons, robe of communalism, and if you don't like the new gear changes, the draining finisher gear boost and tech smasher archetype!
• Updates to Alien Archive, including the requirements to wield dragon glaives.
• Updates to magic, including the void whispers and grasping branch spell, junk armor spell, the school spirit spell, the hive mind connection, esotericist, and the expert artificer.

Most of these changes are minor housekeeping that shouldn't impact how most games are run but help ensure less variation across multiple tables and clarify the intent of our design. This should help make it easier for players transitioning from one group to another or who want to try out fun character options in organized play!

Dustin Knight
Starfinder Developer

Hello everyone! Starfinder team here and ready to give you a sneak peek into Starfinder Second Edition by giving you a preview of the solarian class! We’re sure you can’t wait to playtest it yourself once the Starfinder Playtest Rulebookreleases this August, but in the meantime, read on!

Dae, the iconic solarian
Art by Kent Hamilton

Of course, we can’t talk about solarians without shining the spotlight on Dae, the new iconic solarian. In fact, Dae has already had their blog debut, and you can read all about them in our Meet the Iconics: Dae post from June. They’d appreciate it if you like, comment, and subscribe.

Solarians are solar knights who harness the powers of light and gravity to manifest powerful armaments in their quest to understand the cosmic forces of the universe.

Designing solarians for Starfinder Second Edition presented the team with an opportunity to reexamine the solarian toolset. In Starfinder First Edition, solarians had a key choice at first level when selecting whether their solar manifestation would be armor or a weapon. As the solarian leveled up, they chose stellar revelations, special powers they could use while attuned to gravitons or photons. Some powerful revelations could be used only if the solarian spent enough time building up their attunement points to become “fully attuned.” To match the mechanics to solarian beliefs about the cosmic cycle, First Edition solarians were encouraged to select an equal number of graviton and photon revelations.

With Starfinder Second Edition’s three-action economy in mind, the team took a new approach to solarians. We wanted the narrative of the Cycle to continue to match the mechanics while still offering solarians flexibility, both in their character build and in their round-by-round action economy. To that end, solarians in Second Edition don’t have to choose between armor or a weapon: from level 1, they can manifest a solar flare (ranged attack), solar nimbus(defensive reaction), and solar weapon (exactly what it sounds like—a melee attack). Each of these manifestations has a different function based on whether the solarian is graviton-attuned or photon-attuned.

So, what major choice do Second Edition solarians make at level 1? That’d be their solarian arrangement! All solarians have personal beliefs, practices, or training that cause them to gravitate (pun intended) toward a specific aspect of the Cycle, whether that’s gravitons, photons, or balance. This arrangement grants them revelations, which (like in First Edition) are special abilities that interact with the different states of attunement and, in many cases, interact with their targets’ Hit Point totals, enemy positioning, the solarian’s mobility, and so on.

Okay, so if solarians choose a solarian arrangement that focuses on gravitons, are they going to spend all their time attuned to gravitons? Doesn’t that go against the narrative of the “Cycle” and balance between stellar forces? This is where we’ve made what is possibly the biggest change to solarians: their attunement works differently now. Gone are the days of tracking attunement points: you’re either attuned to gravitons, photons, or neither. Furthermore, we’ve introduced a new type of ability: those with the cycle trait, which—you guessed it—cycle your attunement! Using a cycle ability while graviton-attuned means that you resolve that ability (applying any additional effects from being graviton-attuned), and then immediately become photon-attuned. If you want to be graviton-attuned again, you’ll need to use another cycle ability or take the Attune action, which attunes you to your favored attunement state. If you want to play a solarian who does lots of attunement swapping and has greater attunement flexibility, you’ll want the “balanced” solarian arrangement, because (among their other fun abilities) the Attune action lets you pick either graviton or photon!

This round-by-round decision-making process based on each ability’s unique attunement effects has played out quite well in both internal and public playtests, and we can’t wait for you to try it out. Players seem to enjoy the rush of cycling between graviton and photon attunement, and the “combos” they can create with a solarian’s abilities. You might not need to take the Attune action during combat at all if you’re intentional about how and when you use your cycle abilities, but if you really want to make an impact, you’ve got another exciting new type of ability: actions with the disharmony trait have a big effect, then completely end your attunement. You’ll need to spend an action to Attune again after using a disharmony ability—otherwise, you can’t manifest your solar shot, nimbus, or weapon. Then again, by that point, the battle might be over!

Okay, we’ve talked about the cool things solarians can do, but one big question we get a lot is how solarians will work as primarily melee-focused characters in an otherwise ranged-combat “meta.” We’ve mentioned their solar flare, a fun way to attack enemies at a short distance; it’s a great ability to fire off while closing the gap. Speaking of closing the gap, solarians have a plethora of options when it comes to battlefield positioning, whether that’s gaining a big speed boost or taking a more direct approach and moving enemies around with gravity powers. You might need to work a little harder than the sniper in your party when it comes to tactical positioning, but the cinematic combos you can pull off while getting into position will be a blast! If you’re worried about what might happen to your Hit Points while you’re moving in, you’ve got options there, too: Solar Shield, a level 1 feat, allows you to manifest a stellar shield that floats nearby. You’ll also likely have a decent AC and a fair number of Hit Points to rely on. Because your key attribute is Strength and the damage of your primary ranged attack (solar flare) uses Strength as well, you’ll likely be able to make room in your build for attribute boosts to Dexterity, Constitution, or both!

We’re excited to see what kinds of solarian builds you create during the playtest. In our own internal playtesting, we’ve built solarians who focus on big speed boosts to get in close and deal tons of damage, others who stay in the front lines to fight like a tank, and still others who pin enemies down as masters of battlefield control. Every solarian we’ve playtested has felt different. Most importantly, though, each of them has felt very much like a solarian.

Remember to keep an eye on the Starfinder Playtest site for more news and info about the playtest and feedback process. We’ll have lots more Starfinder Second Edition news to announce at GenCon 2024, when you’ll finally be able to purchase the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook (or download the free PDF)!

— The Starfinder Team

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

May’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Blood & Sigils

Unravel untapped powers slumbering within your blood and alter space around you by using mystical sigils with two new classes for Pathfinder 2nd Edition with Blood & Sigils! With more than150 feats and 16 new spells, be the bloody hero or the special sage you’re meant to be, and go discover even more hidden secrets all over Golarion!

Kitsune of Golarion Remastered*

Providing an in-depth expansion of Pathfinder Second Edition's vulpine ancestry, Kitsune of Golarion Remastered provides players and GMs alike with everything they need to make this vibrant ancestry of shape shifting fox folk feel at home in the Age of Lost Omens. Based on Gold Best-Selling product Kitsune of Golarion, this product aims to not only remaster, but redefine the content from this original offering into an indispensable product for the entire table, tailless or not.

The NPC Omnibus

The NPC Omnibus presents GMs with 36 new NPC's to use in their Pathfinder Second Edition Games. From chronomancers to knights to warrior poets, these stat blocks are perfect for any GM that needs a quick NPC! You can also find quick customizations for different ancestries inside!

Oceans Unleashed

From the powerful bards who harness the song of the abyss, to rangers who hunt leviathans alongside their aquatic companions, there are countless watery adventures waiting to be unleashed and brought to your table. With the recent release of the Athamaru and Merfolk ancestries from Pathfinder: Howl of the Wild, there's no better time to jump right in!

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Pathfinder Player Core doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a Cleric spy, a swaggering Rogue, or a Druid with a will of Steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core 1.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

The Adamantine Bastille: The Once Unbreakable Prison of the Starfinder Society*

The Adamantine Bastille: The Once Unbreakable Prison of the Starfinder Society offers a futuristic, science-fantasy prison setting for your next Starfinder adventure or campaign!

Whether you are looking for a supplement to use for a Starfinder Society Organized Play scenario set within the Adamantine Bastille, an evening's one-shot adventure, a side-trek for a campaign set on Absalom Station, or a detailed, dynamic, and decidedly thought-provoking setting for your next campaign, The Adamantine Bastille setting book gives you all the tools you need.

Elemental Experts

In the far future, spells and weapons tech alike put the power of the elements and other destructive energies in the palm of your hand! But some, whether they are modern-day elementalists, scientists or other experts in certain energy types, or simply enthusiasts, take this further and bring out the best in their chosen element.

Presented within are 5 archetypes dedicated to the 5 major energy types in the game, enhancing weapons and spells alike!

Enhanced Mechanic*

Experience the new Enhanced Mechanic.

A new version of the Mechanic, revised to make it more balanced and easier to play.

Several new (and revised) mechanic tricks, drone chassis, and drone mods.

Flumph Gate – or – Undulations Across the Infonet

In celebration of Paizocon 2024, here is the means to introduce the setting's original inspirational entertaining educators into the future that they never meant to happen.

This single page PDF is designed to print out and slip into any GM's binder for a dangerous rainy day and includes:

• A monster stat block representing a typical flumph that can be easily augemented with class templates into a wide variety of NPCs!
• Stats for allowing players to create a Flumph PC of their own!
• Three potential plothooks to introduce flumphs into a campaign set in space or planetside!
• VTT token artwork!

Monstercology Galacica: Autumn Aliens*

The Monstercology Galatica is an attempt to catalog and describe all of the many and varied creatures that we share the galaxy with. We understand that with millions of stars and billions of worlds – plus those that visit the galaxy from other planes – this is a nearly impossible endeavor. But if we do not try it, then we can never succeed. This is but one small excerpt of the greater Monstercology Galatica, focusing on creatures most often seen during the later parts of the year.

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Hoerm – An Odd Jobs encounter for Pathfinder Second Edition.
• Kineticist: The Element of Flesh – A new elemental gate for kineticists. (content warning for body horror)
• Abominations Under Absalom – A continuation of Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults for levels 11^th through 20^th
• Summoners+ - An expansion of the summoner class, now with Foundry and Pathbuilder support.

Chk Chk (he/him), formally named Chkoresk*, is no stranger to the galaxy’s perils. His father Keskodai was a traveling priest of Pharasma who wielded mystic powers. Keskodai carried baby Chk Chk in a fortified cradle-jar when he left his home on Verces to visit as many incredible worlds as possible—and experience even more incredible adventures. One such adventure got a little too incredible, smashing open Chk Chk’s container during an emergency landing. Fortunately, Chk Chk was safe, but Keskodai felt the existential dread of losing his child and realized it was time to return home and be with their loving throuple.

Chk Chk the Shirren Mystic. Art done by Kent Hamilton

Keskodai’s adventures and beliefs had a profound impact on the larval Chk Chk. As a child, the aesthetics and rituals of Pharasma’s faith awed him. As he grew older, he practiced his father’s faith but felt a restless yearning for something different (ironically, Chk Chk’s questioning mirrored his father’s adolescent rebellion many years ago). As Chk Chk stood on the cusp of self-discovery, the universe provided a brutal catalyst that would change his life forever.

When Aucturn exploded, every telepath under the Fullbright** sun suddenly lost control of their psychic projections. Every intrusive thought, destructive impulse, and damning secret became public as a mysterious psychic contagion spread. Chk Chk was sipping a cappuccino and shopping at the local market when he heard the screams. People all around him–some of them friends and neighbors–were screaming and venting their psychic stress or fighting each other with fists and makeshift weapons.

Panicked, Chk Chk began a prayer to the Lady of Graves but couldn’t recall the sacred words. Keskodai burst into the shop and Chk Chk felt the psychic whiplash of doubt and fear pouring from his father’s spirit. He felt Keskodai remember the pain of believing he’d lost his only child in the crash-landing long ago mixed with his current dread at seeing their neighbors wracked by fear and pain. Instead of resisting the intense feelings, Chk Chk embraced the emotional hemorrhage. As the pain washed over him, he mentally composed a poem. When someone tore the shop’s roof off, the harsh sun brought Chk Chk’s shadow into harsh relief. His shadow changed and spread, growing into tendrils that protected him and his father from the glaring sun. Chk Chk spoke another stanza, and soothing shadowy arms wrapped around his panicking neighbors. Thanks to Chk Chk’s unconventional prayer, the chaos calmed as quickly as it began.

That’s when Chk Chk realized there’s more to the soul’s journey than life and death. Destruction and creation, pain and healing, light and shadow–these dichotomies exist in every spirit. Chk Chk stayed up night after night studying philosophy, listening to music, and writing poetry in his sacred journal, driven to compose a pure expression of the beauty of contradicting unity.

Chk Chk broke his social isolation to join a group of artists he met at a nonstop café in Takoris. At first, Chk Chk got a job as a barista so he could attend the meetings without attracting attention. As he improved his skills at writing dark poetry and brewing dark roast (both topped with colorful sprinkles), Chk Chk gradually became the spiritual glue holding the group of misfit artists together. One night during a midnight jam, the group had a religious experience, feeling a surge of bliss as Zon-Shelyn Embraced them and their work. Zon-Shelyn called on Chk Chk to become their minister by nurturing creativity and creating a safe space for artists to gather. The tiny cafe was consecrated as one of Zon-Shelyn’s first temples (they still serve coffee), but Chk Chk was inspired by the idea of ministering in a new place, feeling the same wanderlust as his father before him.

With his father’s letter of recommendation in one hand and his poetry journal in the other, Chk Chk got an internship with the Starfinder Society at the busy Lorespire Complex. Being on Absalom Station expanded his social horizons, too. He found a new coffee shop to sling beans at, quickly meeting others who felt the Embrace of Zon-Shelyn. He learned how to use a painglaive from a sculptor who creates impressive wood carvings with the weapon.

Chk Chk met his best friend Dae at a pop-up dance party in the Vesk Quarter. The pair bonded the first time they met. Dae’s performance inspired Chk Chk to write a poem***. The poem didn’t do the dance justice, so Chk Chk tore the page from his notebook and threw it away, but Dae found the discarded poem, read it, and confronted its moody author. Now Chk Chk always wears the friendship bracelet Dae gave him. Since meeting Dae, Chk Chk’s opened up about sharing his art with others—you can read part of one of his poems below!

*Chk Chk only lets members of his mystic bond call him Chkoresk, and usually prefers Chk Chk. After all, Chkoresk is the full name his family used when discussing serious or unpleasant matters.

**Fullbright is the scorching, rural desert region of the tidally locked planet Verces. Chk Chk’s family lives in a shaded encampment in Fullbright.

***The following is a part of the poem Chk Chk wrote after dancing with Dae.

A prismatic kaleidoscope burns the shadow patchwork wrapped around my heart.

We are dancing lights that shine within a cold and empty void, eternal.

Will your searing brilliance chase away my shadows?

Or will your light be eclipsed by my spirit’s umbral shroud?

Your warm silhouette reaches for my neck,

Only to wipe away my bloody tears.

— The Starfinder Team
-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is set to launch midsummer at GenCon 2024! Full details about this open playtest, which is focused on the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, will be announced in July 2024. Six Starfinder Second Edition adventures will be released to support the playtest, including two softcover adventures* and four short digital-only scenarios**.

We’ve written each playtest adventure and playtest scenario to be like the adventures you’ve come to love from Paizo. They feature narratives and encounters that showcase how we can use the new Second Edition rules to create evocative stories in the Starfinder setting. These include all-new art and major setting events, and it’s our hope that these adventures remain relevant long after our playtest is over and we’re well into the new edition.

That said, these adventures are not specifically built for Organized Play. So how does Organized Play fit into all of this?

So happy you asked!

Illustration by Sophie Medvedeva

When the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest launches, visit starfinderplaytest.com and download the Starfinder Playtest Tracking Sheet. Each time you play one of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventures or Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Scenarios listed on this sheet, check off the associated box. By checking off these boxes, you’ll unlock rewards in our Organized Play campaigns! Earn Achievement Points in Starfinder Society (first edition), gain access to exciting alien ancestries from the wider galaxy in Starfinder Society (first edition) and Pathfinder Society (second edition), and gain access to campaign-exclusive backgrounds themed to the events of these adventures in Starfinder Society (second edition). No need to select which rewards you want most—you get them all!

For the purpose of Starfinder Society (first edition), these adventures are considered repeatable, meaning players and GMs will earn Achievement Points every time they play or run them. Characters do not earn in-game rewards such as credits or XP for these adventures.

We hope this encourages players engaged in our Organized Play campaigns to enjoy these adventures and to participate in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest!

I look forward to charting our course into the future with all of you!

Jessica Catalan
Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)

* Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday and Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured.

** Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet, Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!, Starfinder Playtest Scenario #3: Wheel of Monsters, and Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine.

Hail and well met, ’Finders! It’s that time of year again—Free RPG Day is just around the corner! Paizo is excited to once again be participating in Free RPG Day and supporting FLGS around the world!

This year, Paizo is offering a Pathfinder one-shot adventure and a collection of preview creatures for the Starfinder Playtest!

Pathfinder Adventure: The Great Toy Heist

DON’T TOY WITH US!

There’s always someone up to no good in the Chelaxian capital of Egorian, and this time it hits a little too close to home! A corrupt banker discovered there was something magical about The Terrific Toyshop beyond just the magnificent creations within. Greedy and unprincipled, this wealthy noble found a loophole in the diabolically complicated laws of the city and exploited it to seize the deed to the toyshop and threaten to boot the toy maker and his lovely creations out on the streets. What are sentient toys to do in the face of such reprehensible actions? Break in and steal the deed back, of course!

In The Great Toy Heist, you take on the role of one of four unique poppets—living toys with strong wills of their own. While your gentle creator is beside himself with worry, you and your friends enact a risky plan to save your home and livelihoods with stealth, subterfuge, and no shortage of luck!

Starfinder Second Contact

THE EVOLUTION STARTS HERE

Experience the evolution of the Starfinder roleplaying game with over a dozen iconic creatures fully compatible with the upcoming playtest and your existing Pathfinder roleplaying game campaigns! Inside you’ll find friends and foes, ranging from the whimsical asteray to the classic cybernetic zombie. This dossier also includes previews of spells, weapons, and even a squox companion to help you face extraterrestrial threats. Get started today and prepare your players for out-of-this-world adventure in the second edition of the Starfinder roleplaying game!

Free RPG Day takes place on Saturday, June 22^nd, 2024.
Find a participating retailer near you: https://freerpgday.com/gamers

Happy Pride! The Starfinder team would like to introduce you to our newest iconic character, Dae!

Dae (they/them)* is a sparkly celebrity from a free planet in the Veskarium, a nearby star system ruled by a warlike empire. Dae was born on Pulonis, the pahtra** homeworld—a magical jungle world wracked by intense magnetic storms that degrade technology and bless the planet with spectacular aurora displays. Born last in a large litter from a remote agrarian village, Dae has always loved to make a dramatic entrance, and their birth was no exception.

A magnetic storm raged over Pulonis during Dae’s birth, and coils of lavender, rose, and golden light fractured the sky over their village in slow, chaotic waves, shutting down power in every household and scrambling comms as tech infrastructure suddenly failed—a disaster for a pahtra ending a long labor by delivering a runt the midwife thought might be stillborn.

Dae asked the old folks about it later, and they said the storm was Meyel tearing the sky apart as she danced for joy.Dae fought through the storm of the century alive, dragging a souvenir of the event with them: a tiny orb of starfire that blazed like a miniature sun.

Dae is a solarian. At the time of their birth, they miraculously manifested a stellar mote. At first, Dae’s family believed they’d imagined seeing it, as the mote was a speck and appeared for only a second; it was surely a trick of the light. Then the spark emerged when Dae cried out in hunger, or flared into being when the baby woke up alone in their cradle. Somehow, it could never be captured on video, even when everybody thought they had seen it.

Dae’s mote became more stable as they grew. Soon they learned how to command it, shaping it into armaments: a dazzling sword of starlight, a flaming ribbon, a shield made from the aurora they were born under. As Dae practiced forging their mote into new shapes, they discovered its attunement with gravitic energies. Cycling between these extremes helped them keep control of the reckless stunts they performed, using their mote as an anchor to keep balance or as a flashlight to see down dark tunnels.

Dae is a famous performer, and they have wanted to be seen from the moment they scrambled out into the world. From dancing to executing dangerous stunts and elaborate dramatic scenes, Dae has always been down for whatever it takes to draw a crowd. Showing off was always the norm for them (their aunties and littermates could tell you some wild stories), and they grew up performing at local cultural festivals and winning awards at regional talent shows.

For a long time, Dae uploaded their vids for a small but loyal following on local infospheres. Then serendipity—or Meyel herself—struck again: they met Miiyu, a pahtra celebrity pop star. Scrambling to dodge the paparazzi, Miiyu ducked into a local café, ran for the back door, and nearly smacked right into Dae, who was performing a stunt in the café’s back alley in view of their live-recording camera drone. After recovering, clocking the live feed, and seeing Dae’s dance moves, Miiyu invited them to costar in a music video. The video was a hit, and Dae later joined Miiyu as a backup dancer for her sold-out world tour.

Miiyu’s no-strings-attached endorsement boosted Dae’s career. But that was months ago, and Dae’s only just begun to shine. Next up, they want to see the galaxy outside the Veskarium. They’ve used their pay from Miiyu’s tour to book their own personal “tour” to the Pact Worlds system, starting with the space station at the center of the galaxy.

Now, Dae’s a rising star hoping to do fame their way. They’re not looking to line the pockets of some greedy exec or get tied down with fine print; they care about putting on a show and exploring the galaxy, which is why they vibe so well with Chk Chk. After meeting as interns working for the Starfinder Society, the pair became the best of friends. They’ve even traded friendship bracelets (Dae wears theirs every day) and have shared a mystical bond that lets them speak straight into each other’s minds (with permission).

Where will Dae go next? That’s up to you! Stay proud and playtest. <3

*Dae, like many pahtras*, is agender, a nonbinary gender identity that isn’t male or female. Dae uses they/them pronouns. So, when you see “they” and “them” used in place of gendered pronouns like “she” or “him” referring to Dae, that’s why.

Dae is an alien stellar knight and space pop star who doesn’t care what you think of their gender, but real people with agender and/or nonbinary identities do care if you maliciously misuse their pronouns or make fun of their gender expression, so please act in the spirit of fun and kindness when gaming with people in your community.

**Pahtras are bipedal felinoid aliens (they’re alien cat-people who walk on two legs) from Pulonis, a planet in the Veskarium whose people have been fighting a brutal war for independence from the vesk-run empire. Pulonis recently achieved freedom and joined the Pact Worlds, a federation of independent planets dedicated to maintaining peace and prosperity in the galaxy. The Veskarium is currently at war with the Azlanti Star Empire and has yet to retaliate against the former colony.

— The Starfinder Team
-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! With Father’s Day coming up, we wanted to give you a guide for the best Father’s Day gifts for the Paizo gamer in your life—and showcase some Dad Creators!

Starfinder Beginner Box

Learn the rules of Starfinder while you play through the Starfinder Beginner Box! Dungeons With Dadrecommends this as a great starting point for playing Starfinder with the kids! The pre-generated characters and a dungeon that teaches you skills as you progress make for a great game night.

Pathfinder Beginner Box

Newly remastered, the Pathfinder Beginner Box teaches you the ropes of Pathfinder Second Edition as you solve the mysteries of the Menace Under Otari! Paul Benson from GeekDad reviewed the original Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner Box back in 2020—calling it a great resource for players, veteran and new alike!

Pathfinder Elemental Stones

Harness the power of the elements with this Pathfinder board game! Designed in-house by Paizo Games Lead Designer and proud board gaming Dad, Joe Pasini! Elemental Stones is a pattern-building game with a secret role element to keep you on your toes. Great for family game nights!

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults

Give Dad a chance to continue the adventure of the Pathfinder Beginner Box with Abomination Vaults! This best-selling megadungeon adventure path is a great follow-up to Menace Under Otari, taking adventurers deep into the dungeons of Belcorra Haruvex! Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults is available in hardcover for Pathfinder Second Edition and Fifth Edition.

It wouldn’t be a Father’s Day blog without tipping our helmets to Keskodai, the Iconic Mystic from Starfinder First Edition! Keskodai is such a dedicated father; he keeps his child with him in a protective cylinder.

Follow Keskodai’s child, Chk Chk, into Starfinder Second Edition, where he will be stepping up as the new Iconic Mystic! Keep up with the Starfinder Playtest at starfinderplaytest.com!

By Joe Blomquist
This encounter is a prequel for the Mechageddon! Adventure Path that represents the player characters’ (PCs’) ongoing training after enlisting in the New Valor Defense Force. Run this encounter after completing Simulation 1: Valko Derby, after the PCs have leveled up and created their own mechs (or upgraded the mechs from Simulation 1 to tier 2).

THE LAST STAND OF KARNATH! — CR 6

After catching Firefight’s notice playing Valko Derby, the PCs were invited to step out of the valkopods and become the real huzkars by joining the New Valor Defense Force. NVDF training is comprehensive for all recruits, regardless of prior vocation, to prepare them for military duties and potential challenges from combat training and mech repair to physical fitness and aircraft piloting. All potentially dangerous training occurs in simulated environments utilizing some of the galaxy’s best virtual reality technology. As a result, NVDF training pods are a familiar sight to every NVDF recruit, even if they aren’t offered many chances to train in the simulated valko cockpits. But with the placement exam schedule communicated well in advance, the prevailing mood is a flux of excitement and anxiety as everyone hopes for the chance to prove themselves. Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene.

Commander “Raptor” Wano’s voice issues a disembodied message as his training assistant, Lieutenant Bastian-5, helps the recruits into individual cockpits in the training center’s testing chamber. “Recruits! Today is your placement exam. Do well and you might find yourself in the 3rd battlegroup as the 13th, 14th, or even 15th Valko squadron under my command! Thanks to an agreement with Storyteller Productions, today’s exam will feature colossi from the popular Kaiju Riot holovid series. As you know Lt. Bastian-5 is a huge fan of those movies—time to make them proud. Today you get to be the heroes!”

Art by Guilherme Olivieri

Culture or Profession (Charisma-based) (Recall Knowledge)

The Kaiju Riot! series of films is well-known on Daimalko and has small cult followings all over the galaxy. NVDF recruits have likely seen one or more of the films and that film knowledge could help them in the upcoming simulation. For more benefits of watching these films, see Trivial Knowledge, below.

10+: The Kaiju Riot! series follows the often-terrible exploits of a lone colossus, Gadrakor. In early films, Gadrakor brutally destroyed several Daimalkan settlements. Critics applaud these early films for teaching the benefits of environmentalism through cinematic media. Eventually, Gadrakor became a hero, defending Daimalko against unspeakable horrors.

15+: Pop star Jollys Vass got her start with the hit Don’t Fall, a ballad written from the perspective of two damai lovers who were separated during Gadrakor’s rampage in Kaiju Riot! 1. In that film, Gadrakor’s characteristics were based on questionable information about an illusive colossus called a drakogor. In the years since, groundbreaking field research about real drakogors has provided new material for the sequels.

20+: In Kaiju Riot! 3: The Doom from Beyond, Gadrakor teams up with a nearly invulnerable mechanical version of himself from the previous film, Mechagadrakor, to face a demonic version of himself, the space emperor colossus King Gadrakor.

25+: Gadrakor and his iterations have all the same abilities as a real drakogor: they can absorb energy attacks to power their breath weapons, which deal sonic damage, and have a hardened mantle that adds to their natural armor. Encourage the PCs to swap out their simulated mechs’ weapons to avoid giving the enemy an advantage.

The Mission

The PCs’ simulated mechs begin in the center of Karnath, an ancient Daimalkan city lost to colossi attacks long ago. The simulation completes almost instantly, finalizing the holographic details of a breezy spring afternoon with streets empty except for the PCs. A Daimalkan orb rests in a hollow built into the bronze statue the PCs’ mechs are positioned around. Four wide streets wind in all four cardinal directions leading away from the monument. Tall office buildings and empty residences line each block except for the planetary transit landing pad northwest of the PCs.

When the PCs are ready to begin, Commander Wano’s voice gives the final orders before the simulation begins. “The Gadrakors have only one goal: Destroy the orb. To pass this exam, you only have to stop them. Defeat all your enemies and protect the orb. Good luck, recruits.”

PCs and Mechs: This encounter is designed for four level 2 PCs. As part of their ongoing training at the NVDF Academy, the PCs have been learning the ins and outs of various mech configurations to better prepare them to their assignments as huzkars in the new modular Apex valkos, or as support crew for others who are assigned that role. As a result, players should create Tier 2 mechs for their PCs using the rules in Starfinder Tech Revolution.

Map: This simulation uses the monument side of Starfinder Flip-Mat: Metropolis. The PC’s mechs begin the encounter huddled in the middle of the map around the monument. 1 square represents 10 feet of terrain.

Trivial Knowledge: Watching the Kaiju Riot! film series has given the PCs prior knowledge of their opponents’ capabilities. The PCs can attempt the normal Recall Knowledge checks to identify their foes’ abilities prior to the beginning of the encounter. They may attempt these checks using Culture or an appropriate Profession skill instead, using the same DCs.

Creatures: The three holographic colossi the PCs face are inspired by the popular holovid, Kaiju Riot 3: The Doom from Beyond. The three kaiju begin the encounter near the edges of the map and have a single goal in mind: destroy the orb at the center of the monument the PCs are protecting. The colossi act well as a team, contrary to their adversarial roles in Kaiju Riot 3. King Gadrakor relies on its roar and fearsome presence to throw the PCs off, while Gadrakor tries to draw them away from the monument or take them out with its breath weapon. Mechagadrakor is the key to their strategy. If nobody attacks Mechagadrakor, it moves adjacent to the monument and spends the next two turns attacking the orb. The other two eventually attempt the same tactic until the PCs target them with attacks. All three colossi fight until they are destroyed.

Gadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
N Huge magical beast (colossus)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sense the masses; Perception +8
Aura frightful presence (80 ft., DC 12, shaken 1d4 rounds)

DEFENSE HP 40
EAC 14; KAC 16
Fort +7; Ref +7; Will +4
Defensive Abilities Resistances electricity 5, fire 5

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d6+7 P; critical burn 1d10) or claw +12 (1d6+7 S; critical bleed 1d6) or tail slap +12 (1d8+7 B; critical knockdown)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d4-3 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 E&F, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), living battery, roar (DC 12)

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con +2; Int +0; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Battery (Ex) Drakogors recharge their breath weapons by consuming energy attacks. When a drakogor takes at least 10 damage from any weapon that targets its EAC, as a standard action on their next turn they redirect the energy into a breath weapon dealing the same type of damage as the attack.

Roar (Su) Gadrakor’s roar creates unsettling vibration. Gadrakor roars as a standard action. Creatures within 100 feet must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save or become sickened for 1d4 rounds. Creatures who are shaken from Gadrakor’s frightful presence are panicked for 1 round (no save). Once a creature has been exposed to Gadrakor’s roar, it cannot be affected by any other drakogor’s roar for 24 hours. This is an emotion, fear, mind-affecting, and sense-dependent effect. Other drakogors are immune.

Mechagadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
NE Huge construct (colossus)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8

DEFENSE — HP 40
EAC 15; KAC 17
Fort +3; Ref +3; Will +0
Defensive Abilities hardened mantle; Immunities construct immunities

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d4+7 P; critical burn 1d10) or claw +12 (1d4+7 S; critical bleed 1d6)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d8+5 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60 ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 So, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), living battery

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con –; Int +1; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8
Other Abilities unliving

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Battery (Ex) Drakogors recharge their breath weapons by consuming energy attacks. When a drakogor takes at least 10 damage from any weapon that targets its EAC, as a standard action on their next turn they redirect the energy into a breath weapon dealing the same type of damage as the attack.

Hardened Mantle (Ex) Mechagadrakor has a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against critical hit effects. In addition, it reduces the damage it takes from a critical hit by 3 to a minimum of 1 unless reduced by other means.

King Gadrakor” Art by Sophie Medvedeva

King Gadrakor — CR 3
Unique Variant Drakogor
XP 800
LE Huge magical beast (colossus)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sense the masses; Perception +8
Aura frightful presence (80 ft., DC 14, shaken 1d4 rounds)

DEFENSE HP 40
EAC 14; KAC 16
Fort +7; Ref +7; Will +4
Defensive Abilities ferocity; Resistances fire 10

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d6+7 P plus grab) or claw +12 (1d6+7 S plus grab) or tail slap +12 (1d10+7 B; critical knockdown)
Ranged particle laser blast +9 (1d4 F; critical burn 2d6; range 60ft.)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Offensive Abilities breath weapon (60-ft. cone, 4d6 A, Reflex DC 12 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), roar (DC 14)

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +1; Con +2; Int +0; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +13, Intimidate +8

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deadly Grasp (Ex) When King Gadrakor succeeds at a combat maneuver to maintain a grapple, it can make a tail slap attack as a move action.

Roar (Su) King Gadrakor’s roar creates unsettling vibration. King Gadrakor roars as a standard action. Creatures within 100 feet must succeed at a DC 14 Fortitude save or become sickened for 1d4 rounds. Creatures who are shaken from King Gadrakor’s frightful presence are panicked for 1 round (no save). Once a creature has been exposed to King Gadrakor’s roar, it cannot be affected by any other drakogor’s roar for 24 hours. This is an emotion, fear, mind-affecting, and sense-dependent effect. Other drakogors are immune.

Development: The orb has 100 Hit Points. If it takes enough damage to reduce it to 0 or below, the orb is destroyed and the simulation ends in failure. If the PCs manage to defeat their foes, the simulation ends in victory the moment the last Gadrakor falls and the opening chords to Jollys Vass’ triumphant Don’t Fallstart to play.

CONCLUSION

If the PCs successfully protect the orb, when the simulation ends they are formally offered spots in the NVDF’s 3^rd Battlegroup as huzkar recruits. The next step in their training will be piloting brand new Apex mechs! If the simulation ends in failure, the PCs can enter remedial training before attempting the placement exam again, or accept positions in Valko Support, Infantry, Tank command groups, or even as Skywatch air support pilots. At this point, the group is ready to level up once more and begin their Mechageddon! campaign.

Map by Damien Mammoliti

This encounter serves as a prequel to the Mechageddon! Adventure Path, framed as the player characters (PCs) trying out an arcade game that doubles as a recruitment tool for the elite Daimalkan mech corps known as the New Valor Defense Force. Run this encounter during downtime when the PCs are exploring a space station or city. The PCs might be invited to play through a Valko Derby simulation at an arcade, a recruitment center, a festival, or a resort on Daimalko or anywhere in the galaxy—whatever makes the most sense for your campaign.

Valko Derby — CR (varies)

Valkopods—more often called mech pods in the Pact Worlds—are specialty game consoles found at high-end arcades, military recruitment centers, trade shows, and in the homes of some affluent collectors. The 6-foot half-globe pods are constructed of durable plastics with transparent aluminum and structural steel frames. The pods are programmed to simulate the experience of being in the cockpit of a mech, starship, or other war vehicle. Hyper-realistic terrain and foes generated by the simulation provide a challenge for the operator, and the simulation provides a score based on the operator’s reactions and maneuvers.

Valkpods aren’t just for fun. A form of this technology is used for military training in the Pact Worlds, Veskarium, and on Daimalko, where the tech was initially tested. Networking connections allow many pods to sync simulations for large-scale experiences while the simulated feeds are broadcast to viewing terminals, betting houses, and infosphere sites. Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene.

---

Holos blast a hypercolored message above a row of globular arcade cabinets, each large enough for a person of any conceivable anatomy to fit comfortably inside. “Mech pods—Play Now!” The signs repeating flash is accompanied by booming music and the roar of simulated laser cannons. A humanoid pilot dressed in a red and white suit stands outside the massive cabinets. A crowd of excited people bustle around her. “Hey there! Ever ride in a mech before?” She calls. “Now’s your chance. Our sponsor, Apex, installed this set of networked valkopods—you call them mech pods in the Pact Worlds. Apex engineers programmed a special simulation just for today: A demolition derby! Want to play?”

---

Art by Denis Medri

Resa "Firefight" Prosst (LN female ifrit) is a decorated pilot. After acing her training, she was promoted quickly to squad leadership and earned a role as DCVG (Deputy Commander Valko Group) of the 3rd Battlegroup of the New Valor Defense Force, a military sworn to protect the city of New Valor from rampaging colossi. She’s not just here for public relations—she’s tasked with recruiting high-scoring players to join up with the NVDF.

On Daimalko, huzkars (the local name for mech pilots) are minor celebrities as well as military personnel. Most Daimalkans regard mech pilots as heroes since many are injured or even perish defending cities from colossi, terrifying monsters that move through populated settlements like unstoppable forces of nature. Without mechs, Daimalko would be unlivable; in fact, the entire planet was decimated by the colossi’s first emergence many years ago. Rebuilding has only been possible because of organizations like the NVDF.

Derby Rules

Once the derby program loads, the PCs find themselves virtually piloting humanoid-shaped Daimalkan mechs within a massive digital stadium divided into zones by glowing markings. Each team begins the match in the goal zone that matches their team’s colors. The PCs are blue and begin in the southern zone. Enemy players’ mechs are red and begin in the northern zone.

As soon as the starting siren sounds, the teams can move around the map and engage their foes. Roll initiative to determine the order in which players and enemies act. Teams score points in two ways. If a mech makes it to the opposing goal, the pilot scores 2 points for their team. If a pilot scores a final blow on an enemy mech (destroying it), they score 4 points for their team. If a mech is destroyed, it cannot score points even if it is already inside the enemy goal, and that player (PC or enemy) is out of the battle for the remainder of the match. During the match, a glowing holographic display above the simulated stadium displays each team’s current score. Once all mechs on one team have been defeated or six rounds have passed, the match ends. The entire field glows in the winning team’s colors as a victory celebration and final scores are displayed.

The Map: This simulation uses the digital side of Starfinder Flip-Mat: Stadium. One square on the map represents 10 feet to accommodate the Huge combatants. The programmed terrain simulates a massive sports arena. Once the match begins, the tiered bleachers are filled with a simulated audience. Any mech that moves into (or is forced into) spaces outside the play area and into the crowd suffers an automatic system failure based on the chart found in Starfinder Tech Revolution page 114. Enemy mechs forced into the crowd are staggered until they return to the play area.

The glowing circle in the middle of the arena temporarily boosts a mech’s movement speed. Whenever a mech begins its turn inside the circle, the mech’s base speed increases by 10 feet.

PCs and Mechs: This encounter is designed for four 1st-level characters. The mech pods are programmed to use simulated representations of dozens of different mechs, but for this program, all players use the same type of mech: the duello class valko. For the duration of the simulation, the PCs’ mechs have blue glowing stripes to differentiate them from their opponents, which are red. If you’d prefer to adapt the simulation for different mech models, the PCs can instead build tier 1 mechs using the rules in Tech Revolution.

The basic duello class mech is detailed below.

Duello Class Valko — Tier 1

Huge skirmisher
Operators 1; PP 1 (2/turn, max 6)
Speed 60 ft.
Senses blindsense (vibration) 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision

DEFENSE
HP 19; SP 5; Hardness 0
EAC 19; KAC 20
Fort +3; Ref +4
Immunities construct immunities

OFFENSE
Base Attack Bonus +8
Melee scythe (upper limb—1d6+5 S)
Ranged laser rifle (frame—1d6+1 F; critical burn), missile battery (frame—1d4+1 F&P)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (20 ft. with scythe)
Strength +4

Creatures: The simulation always pits teams against their each other in even numbers. So, for each PC, one opposing duello mech appears with red glowing stripes inside the opposing goal. The enemy mechs are piloted by other players in their own valkopods networked together with the PC’s valkopods.

As soon as the sirens denote the start of the derby, the two duello opponents on the outside edges of the opposing team run up the sides of the arena. They intend to get to the blue goal as fast as possible and lend fire support to their allies from there. The remaining enemy mechs choose individual targets, focusing on PCs who lead the charge across the arena. They use up as much ammo as possible from a distance before switching to scythes for melee combat. All enemy mechs fight until destroyed.

Red Team Duello Mech — CR 1

XP 400
N Huge construct
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +5
DEFENSE HP 20

EAC 12; KAC 14
Fort +1; Ref +1; Will -1
Immunities construct immunities

OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee scythe +9 (1d6+5 S)
Ranged laser rifle +6 (1d6+1 F; critical burn 1d4) or missile launcher +6 (1d4+1 F&P)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (20 ft. with scythe)

STATISTICS
Str +4; Dex +2; Con -; Int +1; Wis +0; Cha +0
Skills Athletics +10, Piloting +5
Languages Common
Other Abilities unliving

Development: If either team moves all surviving mechs into the opposing goal zone, the simulation ends and that team wins. If either team defeats every enemy mech, they win by default. If both teams end the derby with an equal number of combatants in the opposing goal, the simulation resets, allowing all players to return and try again.

When the match ends, the PCs exit their valkopods and notice a crowd watching a holovid of their match. Firefight’s eyes are intent on the screen as she takes notes on a datapad. She gets the PCs’ attention as soon as she notices them.

GREETINGS HUZKAR! YOU HAVE BEEN RECRUITED BY THE NEW VALOR DEFENSE FORCE

Firefight takes note of players who show enthusiasm and skill during the simulated battles. She sees the PCs’ potential and eagerly tries to recruit them. If the PCs beat their opponents, she plays to their egos, praising them and saying that “New Valor needs your help,” or “all of Daimalko is in danger!” If they lost the match, she asks if they’d like another shot at winning, but “for real this time.” She answers the PCs’ questions about her organization, explaining that they’re a military corps who defend the city of New Valor from colossi attacks. They’re based on the distant planet Daimalko (unless the PCs begin this encounter on Daimalko, they’ll need to take a shuttle there for further training). If the PCs are interested in joining, she sets up an appointment for them at a nearby recruiting office where they can fill out formal applications and complete their physical assessment.

VALKO DERBY COMPETITIVE PLAY

If players are interested in using the Valko Derby rules for PVP matches, replace the NPC mechs with even teams of players. If there’s an odd number of players, include an NPC to fill the empty slot.

Map: Firefight specifically programmed this Valko Derby to reference her love of the sport kaijuball, but any map can be holographically recreated for a battle. Throwing in cover and level-appropriate hazards or traps isn’t just an option, it’s encouraged!

Mechs: The duello class valkos are perfect mechs for low-level PCs, but if your players want to customize their own, build mechs appropriate to the average level of the PCs using the rules in Tech Revolution. Both sides should build their mechs with the same amount of Mech Points in their pool and should limit movement to ground based for a fair challenge.

Map by Damien Mammoliti

The Mechageddon! Adventure Path tells the story of the New Valor Defense Force, a group of brave mech pilots who battle massive monsters to defend their city on the wasteland planet, Daimalko. The players take on the role of new recruits looking to join up and become heroes. As the player characters (PCs) complete missions defending New Valor, their reputation grows. They become local heroes, then galactic celebrities! Eventually, they gain permission to take on exciting offworld missions from wealthy sponsors. But while the heroes are enjoying the perks of fame, an ancient doomsday clock ticks down to disaster back home… unless they can stop it!

RAPTOR

Commander Vadien “Raptor” Wano (LN male damai soldier) acts as commanding officer for the PCs and Tempest Squadron during their training and throughout their careers as huzkars—the Daimalkan name for a mech pilot or operator. Raptor is a seasoned huzkar, having piloted his mech against colossi and on mercenary missions in local systems. He was one of the first pilots selected for the launch of the program that became the New Valor Defense Force. Raptor is one of eight huzkars who fought every skirmish in the Month of Fire campaign and survived.

THE ENEMY

Daimalko has been under attack by colossi—the Daimalkan name for kaiju, or giant monsters—for generations since the Awakening devastated the planet. Colossi come in a variety of forms, some more vicious and destructive than others. Recently, there seem to be more frequent attacks; something is causing aggressive behaviors to increase across species of colossi. Perhaps finding the cause will give your heroes an upper hand in the battle to save Daimalko?

THE TECH

But Raptor doesn’t expect you to fight alone! Throughout this campaign, you level up two characters: your hero and your mech—known on Daimalko as a valko! Eventually, you might add a starship form to that list. Most encounters inMechageddon! are designed for mechs, but there are plenty of opportunities to show off your pilot’s abilities, too.

Everyone begins with a basic mech, choosing one of the lynkor models provided by the NVDF or a fully custom version if you prefer. Check out the Mechageddon! Player’s Guide for more information about creating a hero, choosing a mech, and picking a callsign and squad name!

Starfinder: Mechageddon! is a high-octane epic telling the story of our heroes (and their mechs!) as they battle monsters and help rebuild a broken world. This hardbound adventure path takes PCs from 3^rd to 18^th level with bonus content—side jobs, adventure seeds, and more—to customize and extend your story.

Get Starfinder: Mechageddon! in PDF, standard hardcover edition, or faux leatherette bound Special Edition. Starfinder: Mechageddon! is also part of the Starfinder Adventure Path Subscription. Mechgeddon! features the mech combat rules introduced in Starfinder Tech Revolution, available in hardcover or PDF.

Hiya, Starfinders! It’s Jenny Jarzabski, Starfinder Senior Developer and Sparkly Space Princess. It’s no secret that Mechageddon! was my dream project, but I’m not the only one who feels that way. A group of amazing authors teamed up to make this project a reality, much like the squad of mech pilots you’ll be playing in your Mechageddon! campaign. What we created together is special not just because of its epic story, unforgettable characters, gorgeous art, high CR encounters, and new rules content; it’s special because the whole team is so passionate about Mechageddon! and poured their hearts and souls into its creation.

This passion was evident in the extracurricular hangouts, playtests, and planning meetings the authors scheduled with and without me. To prepare for the writing phase, the writing team got together for a few movie nights. We watched a lot of epic anime and cheesy 80s movies, bonding over our shared passion for mecha media. It was important to us to highlight certain tropes and themes, and our time together created synergy between the adventures and backmatter articles. But don’t worry, Mechageddon!isn’t all anime sparkles and action movie schlock. (Not 100%, anyway.) The authors each brought their own perspectives to the project, pulling inspiration from their lived experiences, favorite media, and more.

On the surface, a tabletop campaign like Mechageddon! is a fun way to pass the time playing a game with your friends. But for many of us, it’s also a way to escape our problems and worries for a few hours. The magic of tabletop storytelling is that it can be a way to explore our dreams, desires, and fears in a safe setting, or a way to play out scenarios that imagine better worlds or tell cautionary tales of timelines gone wrong. In that respect, Mechageddon! can be whatever you want it to be, but here’s what it means to us.

Art by Miguel Regodón Harkness

Joseph Blomquist (he/him)
Adventure 1 Author

I was ten years old, the ideal age for mecha indoctrination, when Robotech hit American shores. Sure, I’d already enjoyed Americanized anime in Battle of the Planets, Voltron, and Tranzor Z, but Robotech was different. For the first time, there was character-driven, dramatic storytelling in an animated show about alien attacks and giant robot combat, and halfway through the first season, my favorite character died! This was a big change for cartoons in the states, and I was sold—hook, line, and sinker.

From there, my media interests changed. I immersed myself in the anime that were the basis of Robotech: Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, Genesis Climber Mospeada, and most importantly, Super Dimension Fortress Macross. My interests grew to encompass the Fang of the Sun Dougram and Gundam. While my friends identified with their heroes from He-man, GI Joe, and Thundercats, my tastes involved giant robots piloted by the types of heroes that propaganda movies could be made about. And don’t even get me started on kaiju!

My interest in games followed suit with a love of BattleTech, Mekton, and Heavy Gear taking up a great deal of my playtime. So, when my D20-based RPG of choice began building towards mecha stories, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. But I was lucky; I’d already written for Starfinder, and I had been running games for Paizo Organized Play since the beginning—I was a known quantity. Regardless, when Jenny asked if I would be interested in contributing to the project, there was nothing that could have kept me away.

Mechageddon! is one of the most fun projects I could ever have hoped to be a part of. For “research,” I watched a lot of movies, like Pacific Rim and Robot Jox, in addition to diving deep into some of the anime I’d missed over the years—especially the later Macross stuff (oh, how I missed you, Macross). There was a timely renewed interest in BattleTech, Heavy Gear got a new edition, and I had the opportunity to seed some of the tropes and brilliance of the shows I loved into my writing.

Mechageddon! is a love letter to the anime, films, and media that came before it. The adventure is full of dramatic moments and enough giant robot combat to whet any appetite. It’s an adventure where the people you meet matter and where encounters are harrowing and full of meaning, dropping hints and plot points for the future. It’s like no Adventure Path you’ve seen before. For my part, I worked alongside two of the best authors in the Paizosphere, and the three of us even met outside of our shared server to put together something of a story bible to inform our tale that could seed dozens more adventures! I envy you, fearless reader, for the journey you will get to experience and the stories you will tell.

Until that day, New Valor stands!

Oh, and I can be found rarely ever writing on my blog, or on social media under the name DoctorMono.

Dennis Muldoon (he/him)
Adventure 2 Author

Mechaggedon! Oh, what a joy! Over the last few years, I’ve written for nearly every line Paizo publishes, but this is without a doubt the biggest, most challenging, and most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. I love how Starfinder allows us to tell so many different types of stories, and the mech rules are one of my favorite tools in the GM toolbox. My own love for mechs dates to my childhood watching Transformers, Voltron, and of course, that seminal classic, Robot Jox.

For Mechaggedon!, I wrote the middle volume, the space where the plucky heroes get to catch their breath after the initial rush, take stock of their new careers as mech pilots and heroes of New Valor, and find their place in the wider universe. What could go wrong? This volume presents the players with choices to make, opportunities to build relationships and earn allies, and space to truly make their mechs their own. I’m particularly proud of the variety of missions presented in this volume, as they draw inspiration from sources ranging from space operas to westerns to real-world corporate labor politics, before ultimately tying together to lead to something bigger. I can’t wait for you all to play it!

Rigby Bendele (they/them)
Adventure 3 Author

I wish I could sit down and tell you every little detail I included in my volume of Mechageddon! However, since I wrote the final book, that mean sharing major spoilers for the plot. Since I can't do that, I'd instead talk about my inspirations!

Devilman is one of the most influential works of art I've ever experienced. It is also deeply weird and even unenjoyable at points, with a complex lore and timeline that honestly hurts my head to think about too much. For my adventure, I drew much on what I found meaningful about Devilman, from its corruption narratives, to the feelings of apocalypse it conveys, to downright weird demon designs. Mechageddon! (at least my section) is also deeply informed by my experience as a queer person, my relationship to religion, and the strange ways that religion might function in a world where you could meet many of the gods. My volume is in part about trying to fight an apocalypse you don't want to be in, but also about what it means to want love from a god who will never love you back. In that way, it's also about work, and about how many people believe that a job you love can never love you back.

Mech stories are also tied into stories about bodies. I finished writing Mechageddon! the day before I underwent gender-affirming surgery. In my section, there's many kinds of bodies and relationships to them: kaiju bodies, bodies that have changed (positive), bodies that have changed (negative), big robot bodies, and more. You also may be thinking, "Wow, Rigby, that's doing a lot!" Well, yes—but this adventure is also a deep dive into the mech genre and will be hopefully played across hundreds of hours with your friends. Many of these things end up naturally intertwined. The demands on the body are often the demands of capitalism, or the demands of patriarchy, or the interpolation of white supremacy into our own desires.

Okay, okay, that's the big philosophy. It's also about punching demons while being in a mech suit, the relationship you have with other pilots, and saving the world! The point is this: it’s going to be fun,it's going to be big, and it's going to be a story you'll remember!

Kate Baker (she/her)
Contributing Author

Hello! I’m Kate Baker, and I can’t wait for you to experience Mechageddon! I couldn’t resist contributing to an Adventure Path that lets the PCs run around in giant mechs. What could be better? I enjoyed watching Pacific Rim, Robot Jox, and even the dubious Robot Wars (on MST3k) to get inspiration. I worked on backmatter, creating both a mech that you’ll encounter and a Side Job you can go do for some extra cash. Just don’t forget to bring your mechs! You can follow more about what I’m up to on BlueSky at @katebakerGM. 

Anthony Dollinger (he/him)
Contributing Author

Mechs are rad.Anyone who’s known me for any amount of time knows that I am a mecha fan, so taking part in Mechageddon! was an opportunity I immediately jumped at. I can distinctly remember walking into a bookstore in New Orleans in 1995, seeing this cool mech book on the shelf, and realizing that MechWarrior was more than just a one-off of the distant past. Many years later, a resurgent Macross’ newest series helped to remind me that everyone loves giant robots no matter what flavor they come in. They have a magic to them that can be used to tell unique stories and lift spirits. In that way, Mechageddon! was something of a dream come true to work on, especially as I was able to design new mechs and had the opportunity to bring the city of New Valor to life. I hope that what we’ve put together can lift your spirits, wherever you are, and help you to remember love as you strive to defend New Valor.

Mikko Kallio (he/him)
Contributing Author

Hey there! I'm Mikko, a cloud architect by day and a game designer when the stars come out. My journey as a Paizo freelancer began in 2014, and since then, I've left my creative mark on around 50 fantastic products. For Mechageddon!, I wrote a Side Job in which you and your trusty mechs venture to a planet of dinosaurs. Get ready for high-speed thrills, breathtaking views of wind-kissed hills, steamy jungles, and fiery volcanoes, plus a hearty dose of head-banging riffs courtesy of Abysshead—the undisputed overlords of the Pact Worlds music scene. Hope you have a blast playing it!

My fascination with mechs and towering robots goes way back. My earliest influences came from shows like Power Rangers and Transformers, and who could forget that iconic moment when Ellen Ripley hops into a power loader and takes on a xenomorph queen? Legendary stuff. A newer fascination of mine is Scythe, a world that seamlessly weaves diesel-punk mechs into a reimagined 1920s setting.

Let me wrap up with a story. Flashback to 2017, when Paizo presented me with an intriguing challenge: writing an interactive special named Assault on Absalom for the Pathfinder Society. One of the missions in that adventure involved unearthing an ancient weapon, and my imagination was on fire. What if this weapon took the form of a gargantuan construct? What if the players could pilot it, controlling distinct limbs and weapons? And so, Gulgamodh emerged—a sentinel that dutifully guarded Absalom and perhaps inspired the seeds of future mech wonders.

Chris Wasko (he/him)
Contributing Author

I had a ton of fun writing an alien, a mech, and a Side Job for Mechageddon! The first came easily after I found a video of a starfish walking along the beach. The creature's form was so familiar and yet so alien, so I thought of how I'd stat it if I turned it upside down and made it mech-sized. Considering its environment reminded me of the long history of otyughs as both violent monsters and a source of curious social encounters, a perfect fit for my armored junkyard behemoth. The latter two took some time, and ultimately became homages to my online Roll20 campaigns that withered as life got complicated.

My Mummy's Mask campaign fell off right after Book 5, when the PCs encountered the flying pyramids of ancient Osirion. Not having those mythical structures as some form of airborne vehicle in the Starfinder setting's distant future struck me as a ripe design space, especially for a book about mechs. Meanwhile, my Fly Free or Die campaign wound down in the middle of my own installment, Crash and Burn. The party was composed of eight people with variable schedules that usually led to split sessions of four PCs each, so I would write concurrent homebrew adventures alongside the published content so the two groups could swap stories offline. One of those original adventures involved an ecological mission to Osoro to study the irokirois, one of my favorite Alien Archive creatures, which I adapted into what appears in Mechageddon! I hope you enjoy our work!

Nick Wasko (he/him) and K. Fox (they/them)
Contributing Authors

Nick and Fox have been writing together since Nick Wasko won Paizo's RPG Superstar Season 9 contest. Nick inspired Fox's interest in Pathfinder and Starfinder, and together they enjoyed creating new mechs for this Adventure Path. Nick and Fox drew upon their backgrounds in health care for the idea of the Hecatomb, which draws upon the operator's life force to function. High-level characters have plenty of health, so sacrificing hit points to power a mech made a better thematic and mechanical fit for a high-risk, high-reward playstyle among low-level players.

Meanwhile, the Terrotodile started out as a thought experiment for mechs designed for purposes other than combat. Its original intent was to protect laborers mining for resources, but like so many inventions meant for the betterment of society, it was repurposed for battle. Nick and Fox enjoyed this opportunity to explore a departure from the high-powered war machines often seen in this genre. Since they’ve recently struggled to make time for tabletop gaming, they are especially excited for the opportunity to contribute to this project. You can find more of Nick's work with Paizo here, or his academic writing here. For more of Fox's innovations outside of tabletop gaming, check out their adaptive clothing designs.

(Jenny’s Note: DO IT! The fits are super cute AND MOST OF THEM HAVE POCKETS!!!!)

Diego Valdez (he/him)
Contributing Author

I’ve always enjoyed robots and mechs. I’ve been a huge Transformers fan since I was small, and I regularly build Gundam models (as well as watch the shows), so creating a mech was an opportunity I was excited for. I wanted to make something a little more unique, different from a robot with a theme. One of the best toy lines on the market, in my opinion, are the Diaclone Reboot figures. They’re super modular, so it’s easy to swap parts and make your own creations. I really like that, so I wondered: What if I could do that for a Starfinder mech? With that, the Mobile Disunion was born. Just like the Diaclone Reboot figures, the Mobile Disunion can be customized by players and their characters. Swap out the legs, the arms, the head—whatever you want! Like with a Transformer, you can even change the configurations in combat. I hope everyone enjoys playing with the Mobile Disunion as much as I enjoyed creating it (and playing with some of my toys while I did)!

Jenny Jarzabski (she/her/xe/xem)
Narrative Lead and Contributing Author

Mechageddon! is a love letter to one of my favorite things in all the universe: mechs. But you knew that. Now listen up, because I’m about to tell you a secret! I wasn’t really into mechs growing up. I know, I know; it’s SACRILEGE! But listen, the mecha media in the United States at that time targeted a more masc audience, and I was more of a princesses and ponies type of kid. If Sailor Moon had summoned a sparkly mech and fired its moon tiara magic laser, I would’ve been all in, but alas, that wasn’t on offer at the time. It wasn’t until much later in life that I discovered the joy of mechs that transform and power up to catchy music using the power of friendship.

One day a friend showed me a video clip from what would become my favorite mecha anime, Macross Delta. In the video, a group of magical girls team up with military mech pilots to defend a city from an alien attack, and they do it by singing. I desperately wanted more context for this video, so I dove into the show headfirst. Fast-forward to now: I’ve become a Macrosssuperfan, a player of MechWarrior, a builder of model kits, and an all-around mecha enjoyer. 

What really draws me to mechs, though? First and foremost, mecha as a concept is inherently both badass and ridiculous, and there’s as many wonderfully absurd gems out there as there are epic, grimdark treatises on the realities of war and the nature of humanity. But I’ve identified some themes most mecha media shares, regardless of where they fall on the spectrum from military drama to super sentai. I’m inspired by these themes of friendship, loyalty, courage, and hope in the face of doom. And who among us wouldn’t hop into a gigantic robot and help their friends save the world if they had the chance?

Now’s your chance!

I should clarify that we’re not actually saving the world, but that we are going to save a planet in a TTRPG adventure. And for the record, while saving the real world isn’t part of this campaign, I encourage you to do your best at that, too.

From all of us on the writing team, we truly hope you enjoy the book we made for you! Use it well.

Welcome to the fifth Starfinder Second Edition Field Test!

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is coming soon—but for some, August isn’t nearly soon enough! To give you some insight into the process of creating a new edition of Starfinder, the Starfinder team has released four Field Tests so far. These small snapshots of our work in progress have previewed three classes (the envoy, mystic, and soldier) as well as new ancestries. For our fifth Field Test, we’re doing something a bit different: encounters! So, it’s time to make some Starfinder characters, if you haven’t already. These Corpse Fleet raiders and Aeon Guard soldiers aren’t going to fight themselves! (However entertaining that would be…)

Who needs regular zombies when we’ve got cybernetic zombies?
Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

Field Test #5 includes two encounters, one for 1st-level characters and one for 5th-level characters. Each encounter includes everything a GM needs to throw their party right into the action: a basic narrative setup, a battle map, multiple enemy stat blocks, and enemy tactics. We’ve even included the text of our new weapon traits so you know how the enemies’ weapons work, and some discussion of our encounter design principles so you can see what we’re going for.

The first encounter tasks the player characters with defending a data center from Corpse Fleet privateers. If the initial encounter isn’t enough for you, there’s a bonus stat block for groups who want an extra challenge against a tough enemy! (Spoiler alert: some of you may die.)

This Aeon Guard trooper wants you to make a character. For target practice.
Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

You’ll need 5th-level characters for the second encounter, which pits the player characters against a group of Aeon Guard troopers. Careful! Rumor has it that they’ve got some sort of ferocious beast protecting them. I’m sure it’ll be fine, though. You’re going to make an amazing Field Test character. And they totally absolutely won’t die. Definitely not!

In all seriousness, please feel free to use this content in whatever way you like. The Field Tests are only snapshots, and we realize that you can’t really create a full Starfinder party yet, unless you double up on some of the classes we’ve previewed so far. That’s okay! This content is meant as a preview. Have fun with it. Mix it up. Maybe give enemy stat blocks to the players and let them play out a Corpse Fleet vs. Aeon Guard battle royale!

What’s next? When’s the playtest?!
It’s only a few short months until Gen Con 2024, when we’ll officially be releasing the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook! The PDF of the rulebook will be a free download, and you’ll also have the option of buying a softcover print book if you prefer a physical format for your playtest rules! We’re printing a limited quantity, so if you want a piece of Starfinder history, consider grabbing a copy.

Along with the rulebook, we’re releasing two playtest scenarios (Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came from the Vast! ) and a full 64-page module, A Cosmic Birthday , filled with more encounters and lore. Watch this space for news about more scenarios and another adventure module releasing in the following months. Finally, on June 22, 2024, you can pick up even more free Starfinder Second Edition Playtest stat blocks in our Free RPG Dayproduct!

I’m sure you can’t wait to make characters, play the adventures, and provide playtest feedback. We’re not quite there yet—but we will be soon! In the meantime, check starfinderplaytest.com for the latest news and information about Starfinder Second Edition, enjoy Field Test #5, and be sure to check out our Starfinder panels and play some games at PaizoCon Online 2024! (Alas, we don’t have an entire panel dedicated to the many benefits of making attack rolls against Aeon Guards, but it’s on our bucket list.)

Starfinder PaizoCon Panels

Friday 5/24
Keynote: 10–12 p.m. (PST)
Starfinder Second Edition: 12–1 p.m. (PST)
StarFriends Live Playtest Extreme!!: 4–6 p.m. (PST)

Saturday 5/25
Transitions from Starfinder First Edition to Second Edition: 12–1 p.m. (PST)

Sunday 5/26
Mechageddon!: 4–6 p.m. (PST)

Download Starfinder Field Test #5

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Happy Mechsgiving! Welcome to Mechageddon!, a hardcover Adventure Path for Starfinder First Edition featuring mech combat rules from Tech Revolution. In this Adventure Path, a group of new recruits suit up to protect their city from vicious kaiju called colossi. This blog features the free Mechageddon! Players Guide, in which you’ll learn more about creating your hero and building your own custom mech!

Art by Miguel Regodón Harkness

Download the Mechageddon! Players Guide Here

Hyped about your hero? Looking for a team? Join us on discord at https://discord.gg/wWFGWtfm87 to connect!

Guest blog from Ben Loomes, Syrinscape CEO and Creative Director

Hello! Ben, the CEO and Creative Director of Syrinscape here. My favorite adventure of all time is Red Hand of Doom, which I've run four times—once in its original 3.5 system, and three times adapted for Pathfinder. The first and second SoundSets I ever built for Syrinscape are named "Bugbear Battle," after the very first encounter in Red Hand, and "Witchwood," after the spooky dangerous forest where much of the opening adventure takes place.

I am VERY excited to run Seven Dooms of Sandpoint! This amazing adventure was co-written by James Jacobs. I'm a not-so-secret über-fan of James, so I’m always excited to see new stuff from him.

Let’s jump from the first two Sandpoint SoundSets created for Syrinscape to the latest two. Number 1,081 (“Bones and Ashes”) and Number 1,082 (“Strange Times in Sandpoint”) were built to support the opening of this fantastic NEW adventure. Nowadays Syrinscape has a few more content creators than just me; while it’s still much of my music in there, Chris Körding built these sounds AND contributed even more rich evocative music of his own.

Back in 2009, Chris was playing Rise of the Runelords when, as he describes it, "Syrinscape came along and released the official soundscapes (SoundSets) for the adventure I was playing and I was blown away by the richness and textures and what it provided to the gaming table. Needless to say, Syrinscape became a permanent addition to every gaming session.”

Chris adds, “Fast forward to 2024 and Adventure Path 200! But this time I get to bring it to life for Syrinscape. Expanding from the original adventures and sounds, what could I do to propel it to the roaring 20s?" Nowadays, Syrinscape is more powerful—it can run more channels of sound, with individual reverb units set for every channel, and run sounds which are positioned binaurally for an increased sense of immersion. So, what has Chris done with these new capabilities? He’s had fun, that’s what!

Syrinscape supports all the key locations in this “new” Sandpoint with specifically crafted ambiances. Traps and dramatic events are meticulously crafted for maximum shock and affect. Encounters feature dramatic music to help keep everyone focused and specifically voiced creatures to trigger all those subconscious fears! And of course, as always, Syrinscape is 100% customizable.

When it comes to the music we have created, Chris says, “Don’t want piano hits? Just stop the element. Need some extra choir sounds? Just hit play on THAT element and you have your angelic voices. All of this can easily be done with the power Syrinscape puts into your hands.” With a SuperSyrin sub, you can even compose your own music and upload it to play along with the ambiances we designed. Syrinscape’s support for the Seven Dooms for Sandpoint Adventure Path is rich, specific, and immersive.

If you haven’t used Syrinscape at your table before, now might just be the time to give it a go! And if you are playing remotely with a team of headphone-wearing warriors, Syrinscape has you sorted with our new Web Player, which lets you share your audio with any of your friends ,wherever they are, with just a simple link they can open in any browser. We hope you love what we have built for this adventure. We believe that using Syrinscape in your Pathfinder and Starfinder games will deliver a world-class gaming experience so everyone in your game will have an amazing time, including you!

Ben Loomes
Syrinscape CEO and Creative Director

A one-page game jam designed for the Infinite community!
Guest Blog by Meredith Gerber | Partner Relations Representative at DriveThruRPG

Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and Paizo are thrilled to welcome you to the PaizoCon 2024 Game Jam!

What is a game jam?
A game jam is an event designed to create something from scratch during a timed period. In this case, all entries will be due no later than May 1st, 2024.

What is the game jam theme?

The theme marries with the PaizoCon 2024 theme: Educate, Entertain, and Inspire!

Who can participate?
Anyone! All you need is a customer account for DriveThru sites.

Why should I participate?
Aside from it’s a blast to jam together with the community, you’ll get promotions from Paizo, DriveThruRPG, and Pathfinder/Starfinder Infinite; you will be providing a very cool option for GMs to bring to their table; and you’ll be challenging yourself as a creator or bringing an idea from your table to life.

What are the rules?

• Must fit one page, double sided. (Technically, it will be two pages of a single-page PDF or a two-page spread. When someone prints it out, they’ll have one sheet with information front and back)
• Must be uploaded to Pathfinder Infinite or Starfinder Infinite before May 1st, 2024.
• Must follow the Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite Guidelines
• When you’re finished setting up your title, please keep it private. We will turn all of them to be available for purchase slightly before PaizoCon.
• Email meredith@roll20.net with a link to your private URL, your customer email, and a two-sentence synopsis.

Do you have a font size restriction?

No. You’re welcome to make the font any size you’d like, but we recommend at least 9.5 for readability.

Do I have to put artwork in?

Not a requirement! We recommend keeping it simple so people can easily print it out. You’re welcome to also make a printer-friendly version to upload alongside your submission (so, two files!) if your submission needs color, art, and flourish!

I submitted my title. Now what?

Pathfinder Infinite/Starfinder Infinite will notify you when it is live and when Paizo posts a “round up” promoting it the week of PaizoCon.

Can I make changes? Won’t that cause problems for the URL I send?

You are welcome to make changes to your submission—the PDF(s), the description, title—at any time.

Can I charge for this?

Absolutely! Infinite Masters are recommending at least 99 cents. You are not required to charge but we always recommend it because you should charge for the work you did! 

We cannot wait to see what you create!

We’ve mentioned before that every now and then, someone makes a typo and realizes that they’ve accidentally created a pun or joke so bad that they must immediately drop it into their team’s work chat, triggering a wave of snickering when we were in office, and now a wave of reaction gifs via the office chat. We’ve even statted them up for previous April Fools’ Day posts.

It’s been so fun that I’ve started stashing anything I’ve deemed April Fools–worthy, to the point where if someone else deems it worthy of The List, I’m summoned to add it immediately. Around a month ago, I added to the goblins’ ever-full dance cards by releasing The List into the wilds of the Paizo Chat. So with a year’s worth of out-of-context inspiration, the goblins responded to me with this year’s foolish wonders!

Maryssa Mari
Web Content Manager

Wordsmith

With every strike of a wordsmith’s hammer, a new onomatopoeia is formed. They swiftly grab the word as it flies off the anvil before nailing it to the pages of our favorite comics. POW! WHAM! SPLAT! The hammer crafts each and every sound. The humble wordsmith is often overlooked by their artisan peers, whose pictures are the primary focus of readers. However, many don’t realize that while pictures can be sent to the printing press, sounds are not captured so easily on the page and must be hammered into place by a skilled wordsmith.

While most wordsmiths are content to forge their words out of sight of the public, they are fierce defenders of their work and are quick to fight anyone who belittles it. They know the pen is mightier than the sword, but the hammer is mightiest of all, and they use it mercilessly to SMASH! through their foes.

Though many wordsmiths are dwarves, they come from all kinds of backgrounds, each bringing their own unique sounds and noises from their culture. Tengu wordsmiths particularly favor onomatopoeias similar to bird calls like cawfor crows or okalee for red-winged blackbirds. Meanwhile, leshy wordsmiths favor sounds inaudible to most non-plant creatures, such as the tr-tr-tr that reflects the sound of a plant growing.

Wordsmith Creature — 4

Medium, Dwarf, Humanoid
Perception +10; hearing (precise) 60 feet
Languages Common, Dwarven; truespeech
Skills Athletics +10, Crafting +14, Occultism +10, Scribing Lore +12
Str +4, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +2

Items anvil and hammer (sterling artisans’ toolkit)
AC 19; Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +11
HP 70; Resistances sonic 7

HP 70; Resistances sonic 7
Word Warp [reaction] (auditory, occult) Trigger The wordsmith is the target of a linguistic effect; Effect The wordsmith twists the words and attempts to counter their foe’s utterances with their hammer (counteract +16, 3rd rank).
Speed 25 feet

Melee [one-action] hammer +14 (forceful, occult, sonic), Damage 2d6+4 bludgeoning damage plus 1d6 sonic plus forge onomatopoeia

Ranged [one-action] TWANG! +13 (range 60 feet, occult, sonic), Damage 2d4+4 sonic damage

Occult Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; 2ndnoise blast, ventriloquism (at will); 1stcommand; Cantrips(2nd)figment, message; Constant(5th)truespeech

Forge Onomatopoeia (occult, visual) The wordsmith slams their hammer against a creature, creating a visual onomatopoeia like CRACK! or SMASH! that flies off at the site of impact. The target of the strike must attempt a DC 24 Will save.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature is stupefied 1 for 1 round.
Failure The creature is stupefied 1 for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The creature is stupefied 2 and gains weakness 1 to sonic damage for 1 minute.

Mightier than the Sword (occult) Any hammer gains the forceful trait, can’t be disarmed, and becomes a +1 striking hammer while the Wordsmith wields it.

By Felix Dritz
Editor

---

Moowhip

Disarm, Finesse, Grazing, Professional (Cook), Reach, Tech
Price 10 credits; Damage 1d4 S; Bulk 1
Hands 1
Type Melee; Category Advanced; Group Flail

Moowhip: The self-replicating nanites in this handheld weapon can use the kinetic energy of your swings to turn air into interwoven monofilament sharp cheddar cheese fibers capable of cutting through any enemy or any hunger.

Grazing: If you Strike with this weapon and your next action is to use an ingested consumable or Interact with the weapon to eat some of the generated food, restore 1 Hit Point per weapon damage die.

Professional: A weapon with this trait can be used as a tool for the listed skill. Add the weapon’s item bonus to attack rolls as an item bonus to skill checks using the listed skill. Your proficiency with this weapon is equal to your proficiency with the listed skill (up to your proficiency in simple weapons).

By Dustin Knight
Starfinder Developer

---

Chain Letters of Golarion

Armiger Khelum,
If this letter comes across my desk one more time, I’ll be reporting you to Lictor Stought. I understand the fear one carries when confronted with the possibility of hags, but I can reassure you that the Bloddey Glass Hag is not one to fear because she does not exist.

“You are now cursed!! You must copy this letter and send it on or you will be killed!!! In a fortnight at twilight the Bloddey Glass Hag will crawl out from under your mattress! This isn’t a joke! She will stab your chest and pull out your eyeballs with a fork and if you don’t have eyeballs she will pull out your liver and if you don’t have a liver she will pull off your skin and use it to make a newe dress! And then she’ll take your corpse and she’ll stuff it under your bed or she’ll put you in the closet! What will your Maralictor tell your family??? It won’t be funny then! Send this letter to ten other Hellknights to break the curse! Remember, the Bloddey Glass Hag is watching you sleep!!!”

This is ridiculous, armiger.

I’ve sent copies of this to my fellow Paralictors, the Master of Blades, the Maralictors, and the Paravicar of our Order, just so they also have copies of this... ghost story of yours. I don’t want to see it again.

Signed,
Paralictor Shudi Osra

---

Kreighton,
Never let it be said that I’m not grateful for the random bits and bobs that you’re able to submit to the archive that tell us more about pre–Age of Darkness Kyonin. But this one does seem a little... strange. Perhaps you could provide more context?

— Gorm

“I was dining with my youngest child at the Viridian Crystal, and we had the most wonderful little cakes. I asked the chef’s familiar if we might have the recipe and the little jay twittered and said that while he couldn’t give away the lady’s recipe, I would be able to purchase it. Of course, being quite sensible I requested the price and was told ‘two pieces.’ This seemed very reasonable, so I accepted, and I was told it would be added to my bill.

The next day, I was going through my letters and found my bill from the Crystal, and I was being charged two platinum, 32 silver. Of course, 20 silver for dinner, 12 silver for the lovely crystal tiara I purchased for my child, but apparently the two platinum were for the recipe for the little cakes! Well, I threatened to take this up with the Edasseril family, only to be told that I could put the recipe wherever I wanted, so here I am. I’m sharing this recipe with everyone I know and hoping that they’ll send it to everyone they know, and I hope that Chef Avie Vandlade enjoys her comeuppance!

Viridian Crystal Cakes

• 1 and a quarter cups flour, weighed
• Three-fourths cup and two tablespoons fine white sugar
• Three-fourths teaspoon baking powder
• One-fourth teaspoon baking soda
• One-fourth teaspoon salt
• Six tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
• Two tablespoons oil (vegetable)
• One whole egg and one egg yolk, at room temperature
• One and one-half teaspoons vanilla
• One-half teaspoon butter flavor
• One-half cup soured cream, room temperature

Activate your fire elemental and put your oven at cake temperature. Well grease a half-foot round pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt gently in a medium bowl. Add softened butter and oil and mix until it looks like delicate sand.

In a small bowl, combine egg, yolk, vanilla, butter flavor, and soured cream. In batches of three, add the wet to the dry and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl for any pockets of dry goods and make sure everything is fully combined. Once all thirds are in, beat for another half-minute until fully incorporated.

Pour into round pan, bake for around 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes clean. Cool in the pan for ten minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Cut into small circles or squares. Top with chocolate frosting.”

Dearest Gorm,
Yes, of course, I realize this letter was slightly obtuse. Cake temperature is 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
With care,
Kreighton

---

Do YOU want to be RICHER than ABADAR? Do YOU want to be PRETTIER than SHELYN? Do YOU want to be STRONGER than KURGESS?

Send my letter to your TEN CLOSEST FRIENDS and YOU will receive the BLESSINGS OF THE GODS!

If you THROW THIS LETTER OUT then YOU will find NORGORBER in YOUR HOME in ONE WEEK!

By Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Since Starfinder’s initial release in 2017, a larger-than-life mystery has loomed over the setting. What happened to Golarion? How did Absalom Station come to be? And what was stolen from the memories of everyone who lived through the period of time known only as The Gap?

Triune has long worked to keep these secrets hidden, but with a new edition on the horizon, the Starfinder team is ready to pull back the curtain…

Under the supervision of Managing Creative Director Thurston Hillman and Senior Developer Jenny Jarzabski (and snuck under the nose of Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Erik Mona), The Gap is a Starfinder book like no other! Learn the secrets of the most mysterious time in the Pact World’s history—but you’d better act fast! This book is only available today, and in very limited quantities.

Buy The Gap now to unlock the history of the universe before Triune silences the whispers that echo through space and time!

Note: Starfinder The Gap is an April Fool’s Day limited-run product. Please read the product description on the webstore page before purchase. This book was printed in extremely limited quantities and is only available while supplies last.

Learn The Secrets Of The Gap Today!

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

What is Infinite?

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

February’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

The ABCDs of Edicts and Anathema*

Dive deeper into the new system of Edicts and Anathema from the Pathfinder Second Edition remaster. Over 700 edicts and anathemas for the ABCD of character creation: Ancestry, Background, Class, Deity.

Faith’s Reward—Nethys

The All-Seeing Eye is often derisively referred to as the "god of wizards." While that's not entirely wrong, it isn't exactly right, either. Faith's Reward—Nethys examines the influence of Nethys as the god of magic, including new spells, new feats, new items, new archetypes, and a new spell research subsystem to allow you to build or modify spells!

Godsrain Contingencies

When Yivali held death in her talons, she feared delivering such terrible warning without also hope. Included in her annotations was research into what the world might become if each god’s death were to occur, and thus what contingencies could be made.

This product contains a handful of player options for each scenario. While there is a primary focus on the fall out for followers of each god, there are options for many types of players. The centerpiece is the return to service ritual and how each god’s death leads to which potential successor gods, what that new relationship looks like, and providing which potential benefits.

Kitsune of Golarion Remastered*

Providing an in-depth expansion of Pathfinder Second Edition's vulpine ancestry, Kitsune of Golarion Remastered provides players and GMs alike with everything they need to make this vibrant ancestry of shape shifting fox folk feel at home in the Age of Lost Omens. Based on Gold Best-Selling product Kitsune of Golarion, this product aims to not only remaster, but redefine the content from this original offering into an indispensable product for the entire table, tailless or not.

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Player Core 1 doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a Cleric spy, a swaggering Rogue, or a Druid with a will of steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core 1.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

A Lurker’s Subclasses, Vol III*

A wide variety of subclasses, feats, and alternate class options—whether it comes from mastering the use of sound to bringing religion to the more physical classes. And let us not forget options of various levels of technology, from Steampunk, to tech which is science fiction even to Starfinder, to bringing forward old favorites from Pathfinder.

Enhanced Mechanic*

Experience the new Enhanced mechanic—revised for balanced and easier play. This expansion includes several new and revised mechanic tricks, drone chassis, and drone mods.

Starfinder Infinite Adventure Card Game—Core Set

This is a brand-new adventure card game core set based on the award-winning first Starfinder adventure path, Dead Suns. This game uses the basic ruleset of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Core Set, but expands upon it in several ways, with new card types, mechanics, and characters. This download includes all of the rules necessary to play the Starfinder Adventure Card Game, a set of eight characters designed to be used with the game, and three full adventures based on the first three books of Dead Suns. 

Starfinder Mission 1: Only Trying to Help

When the lights go out somewhere in Absalom Station, station staff already stretched thin find themselves unable to cope with a forced entry into the maintenance passages. Will the player characters be able to find out what went wrong and start to set things right?

A Tail of Betrayal

In this standalone adventure, the players find themselves as prisoners trying to clear their name. They start their adventure competing in the fighting pits of Akiton in order to survive. Given a mission, will the heroes be able to purge their record of any wrong deeds and escape? What is the mission? How will they complete the task? Can they be sure others will keep up their end of the bargain? Can they track down the real criminals responsible and bring them to justice? bargain? Can they track down the real criminals responsible and bring them to justice?

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Clerics+—The expansion on Clerics from Team+ is now remastered!
• Foam and Fortune: Adventures in Soap Scum Cove—A Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure for 5^thlevel characters.
• Interstellar Species: Ogeir (Space Ogres)—A new playable species for Starfinder First Edition.
• Together With Elements Archetypes—12 new archetypes, 123 feats, and a bunch of elemental options!

Welcome to the fourth Starfinder Second Edition Field Test!

As the Starfinder team prepares for the launch of the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest later this summer, we’re releasing small snapshots of our work in progress. So far, we’ve previewed the soldier class, a couple of ancestries, and the mystic. Be sure to check out those Field Tests if you haven’t already! We appreciate all the discussion and hype around the Field Tests, which energizes and motivates our creative processes even more than coffee does (if you can believe it).

Speaking of motivation, Field Test #4 previews Starfinder’s “team player” and “party leader” class, the envoy! Inside, you’ll find our thoughts on the envoy’s role and capabilities, and an alpha version of the first 5 levels of the class, just like our earlier class previews. While you may have seen the envoy in action during the Starfinder team’s livestream playtest in October, or perhaps you were lucky enough to play a demo at a recent convention, this is your chance to see the actual draft of the class!

Oh, and did I mention new art? I’m sure you’ve met our iconic envoy, Navasi!

llustration by Kent Hamilton
The Iconic envoy, Navasi, is ready for the field test!

So, what’s the envoy all about? They’re a Charisma-based class, and the Starfinder team generally thinks of envoys as “support” characters, though they’re quite likely to play a leadership role, whether as a mover and shaker in your campaign, as a “party leader” or “face” for the rest of the player characters, or all the above! For envoys in Second Edition, we’re trying a brand new mechanic in the form of “envoy directives.” These abilities—some of which you get automatically, and others which you can select as envoy feats—give some direction to the envoy’s allies and grant the envoy and their allies a small benefit for following through on the orders. Directives have a variety of uses, from singling out targets with “Get ‘Em!” to hustling the team into a better tactical position with “Get in There!” Envoys can also “lead by example,” following their own directive to grant everyone an additional bonus for the round. Combined with numerous other feats that grant envoys combat options (like doling out temporary Hit Points, buffs, and debuffs), the ability to wield awesome sci-fi weapons, and several unique reactions, envoys have a satisfying and flexible action economy. Every team will be happy to have an envoy along, and your ability to build an envoy character to fit a variety of party roles means your envoy will always have a team to call their own!

Illustration by Alexey Chernik
Navasi lends a helping hand at a diner.

Envoys must be ready for anything, from performing community service to battling whatever horrifying creatures Thurston decides to throw at the rest of the team during internal playtests! So far, we think envoys are a blast to play. They almost always have time to get into a good position on the battlefield while consistently dishing out damage, granting benefits to their allies, and tackling unexpected situations with their variety of skills and adaptive skill feats. Sometimes a single turn for an envoy has a major impact on a fight, such as by repositioning the entire team after a nasty ambush. We’d love your feedback on how envoys play at your table, especially in different team compositions—or with multiple envoys in the same party!

So, what’re you waiting for? Get in there and read that field test! Finally, if you’re hoping to catch more snippets of the playtest, stay tuned for announcements about future playtest livestreams. We’ve still got more to show you between now and the playtest release at GenCon!

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Download The Fourth Starfinder Field Test Here!

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

January’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

The ABCDs of Edicts and Anathema

Dive deeper into the new system of Edicts and Anathema from the Pathfinder Second Edition remaster. Over 700 edicts and anathemas for the ABCD of character creation: Ancestry, Background, Class, Deity.

Eldritch Expansions—Rainbow of Elements*

A kineticist expansion from Eldritch Osiris Games. With 8 new elements, you can become a master of the elemental energies of: aether, awareness, light, shadow, spirit, time, vitality, and void! In addition, you can find expansions for the elements of: air, earth, fire, metal, water, and wood as well as composite elements and expansions to the monk class and houses of perfection!

Kitsune of Golarion Remastered

Providing an in-depth expansion of Pathfinder Second Edition's vulpine ancestry, Kitsune of Golarion Remastered provides players and GMs alike with everything they need to make this vibrant ancestry of shape-shifting fox folk feel at home in the Age of Lost Omens. Based on the Gold Best-Selling product Kitsune of Golarion, this product aims to not only remaster but redefine the content from this original offering into an indispensable product for the entire table, tailless or not.

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Player Core 1 doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a Cleric spy, a swaggering Rogue, or a Druid with a will of Steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core 1.

Shattered Omens of Golarion*

The reality of Golarion is coming undone after the loss of one of its greatest deities, and it's up to heroes like you to hold it together. Shattered Omens of Golarion is a collection of over 2 years of work consolidated into one tome. Inside, you'll find over 185 pages of Remastered player options, including new ancestry and class feats, backgrounds, heritages, spells, and magic items. 

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

A Lurker’s Subclasses, Vol III

A wide variety of subclasses, feats, and alternate class options—whether it comes from mastering the use of sound to bringing religion to the more physical classes. And let us not forget options of various levels of technology, from Steampunk, to tech which is science fiction even to Starfinder, to bringing forward old favorites from Pathfinder.

Creatures from the Drift*

Creatures from the Drift is a supplement for Starfinder players and GMs, introducing a vast array of new foes from the depths of the Drift. Ranging from Cybernetic Fae to Drift-warped animals, these beings are unlike anything seen in the Pact Worlds. But thankfully there are also new feats, themes, and a plethora of companion pets to help you survive the mysterious entities from the Drift—including a whole new playable race!

Enhanced Mechanic

Experience the new Enhanced mechanic—revised for balanced and easier play. This expansion includes several new and revised mechanic tricks, drone chassis, and drone mods.

Galactic Magic: The Feats Chapter

A slew of feats for spellcasters of any class and some love for new classes, designed by Owen K.C. Stephens, Dustin Knight, and Sasha Laranoa Harving.

Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual*

Towering mechs, ancient elementals, territorial kaiju, and many more mech-scale threats can be found in Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual! Inside, you’ll find a spread of the latest mech creations of the Outer Sphere, deadly carnivorous mechform mimics, oozes that can slip inside a mech to throttle the operator or take over the machine entirely, and more. This book provides a variety of themed threats for use in mech combat at all levels of play, and all mechs within were made in accordance with the recommended alternative rules for creating NPC mechs from Starfinder: Tech Revolution. 

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• The Godsrain Contingencies—Player options based on the Godsrain Prophecies, including archetypes, feats, new deities, and more! Updating with each prophecy.
• The ABCDs of Edict and Anathema—Updated feats and character creation information to expand on edict and anathema.

Hi everyone! We at Paizo love to do community creator shout-outs, and our friends over at Infinite have an amazing team we want to spotlight. So without further ado, we present the February Infinite Team+ spotlight!

Bringing The Flavor
What makes a good meal good? This is the direction from which you should approach any TTRPG writing. After all, it’s not far from the truth! You’re serving up a meal for people, and you have two goals to make sure it pleases your clientele.

First off, you have to make sure the meal doesn’t poison them and kill them. Dead clients will not buy your food again, nor will they try your homebrew, third-party publisher (3pp) work, or original writing! In our cooking metaphor, this is the role of mechanics; it’s what provides your meal/TTRPG writing with a healthy structure and makes it “good for you.” It is, fundamentally, the most important part of what you’re making. Without good balance, your feat, item, spell, or whatever it is that you’re making will fall apart. People will look at what it grants, say “this seems busted,” and make a snap judgment on whether the rest of the project is worth checking out. But is a passable structure enough?

Absolutely not. Adding something extra transforms a merely digestible offering into one that’s delicious. And that something extra in both the world of food and writing is flavor.

Flavor text is a crucial ingredient that often goes uncelebrated, but it makes the difference between incredible and bland. But to make the flavor pop, you need to know—what do people like? In this context, I’m going to speak from my personal experience. I write books for the Classes+ series, a line of 3pp books that focuses on expanding existing classes, like witches, clerics, magi, etc. I’ll talk about things I’ve found that have helped me write flavor text that keeps people coming back, and how to give them a go yourself.

First off, you want your flavor to be consistent. This goes for any piece of text, of course, but it’s one that’s often overlooked in fantasy TTRPGs. You want your content to fit into the world within which it’ll exist or most likely be used. For Pathfinder, a lot of people are either going to be playing in Golarion or in a homebrew world most likely based in fantasy tropes. That’s just the kind of setting that Pathfinder most easily lends itself to; the sword and sorcery aspects are the biggest selling point. So, when writing a new option, you want it to be something that can seamlessly fit into this world without breaking its established rules. For example, when writing Archetypes+, we wanted to create something that would expand existing options and add new ones too. One of the new archetypes we decided to make was a clown. This was difficult, because most people have one of two very specific ideas when it comes to clowns: a red-nosed guy in a funny wig, or a murderous slasher with smeared white makeup. While there are places where these could feasibly fit in Golarion, they don’t fit everywhere. Indeed, a standard party with a fighter, wizard, cleric, and then a classic clown might not look right. It’s noticeably “other,” and it had the potential to make people turn up their noses at the product and not include it in their game. So how did we lessen the otherness of it?

That’s where our next point comes into play. Research! This may come as a surprise, but you are not an infinite sponge of all knowledge ever. You need to look up what you’re writing on, give yourself a brief lesson on the topic, and then return to it. So, continuing with clowns: how did we make clowns fit? Pathfinder’s setting ranges from prehistoric times (with the Mammoth Kings) to 1800s-analogous Absalom. As it turns out, clowns have a long history between prehistoric times and the late 1800s! The first clowns were priest-clowns in Ancient Egypt, over 4,000 years ago. Then, throughout the medieval era, there were jesters, who acted as advisors to nobility. In the 16th century, commedia dell'arte was popularized in Italy. These theatrical sketch shows involved masked character archetypes like the daring Harlequin and the glum Pierrot. Finally, in the early 1800s, Joseph Grimaldi introduced face paint, colorful costumes, and all the tropes we associate with the common clown. Once we knew that clowns did exist during the timeframe that Pathfinder likes to play with, we could make something fitting for it! But now, the next question is… how did we make it unique?

One’s work needs to stand out on its own. Yes, the mechanics might be unique, but the dressing over the mechanics needs to be something unlike anything else the game has to offer presently… while, crucially, feeling exactly like something else the game has to offer. It’s extraordinarily easy to go overboard here and quickly go from “Here’s a fun idea” to “What if the clown can use three actions to become a clown elemental?” Mechanically, maybe that’s fine, but it’s a strange idea that breaks the existing lore of the world. The implication of an elemental plane of clown, while itself horrifying, also completely ignores the Golarion setting’s rules and, most likely, the rules of any other setting missing an elemental clown plane.

But then, what if you don’t go far enough? Perhaps clowns can pull tricks to inspire their allies in combat! But… that’s just the bard, another entertainment-focused character option. If you don’t go far enough, your writing will feel unsure of itself. You really need to solidly hit that middle ground. What’s something that’s like existing content, but not so similar as to lack identity, and not so different as to become nonsensical in most settings?

Clowns are meant to be ridiculous, so some of our ideas were naturally going to be a little more comedically toned, but we wanted them to fit most worlds. The feat Rubber Body is a good example of our process—it’s a feat that plays with the raw physicality of clownish performances, which often include over-the-top slapstick. The feat gives the clown resistance to damage as a reaction while also knocking them back 15 feet and rendering them prone. Another feat, Uncanny Legerdemain, allows clowns to seemingly magically transport items from one closed hand to another, or one sleeve to another. This feat not only allows a character to pull off classic magic tricks, it also offers good roleplay opportunities like smuggling, stealing, and otherwise storing items in an extradimensional space in a comical fashion. All of these fit the clown without being too out there, and without feeling exactly like anything presently in the game.

So, that’s what it comes down to. It seems like a daunting task—have the idea, make sure it fits into the world you’re writing for, research it, and then make sure it isn’t too much or too little. It’s not easy to pull off, but you need to be sure to put in the appropriate work here. It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest mechanics in the world—dry oats may be healthy, but they don’t taste great. Thankfully, once you get used to writing flavor, it starts getting easier. It’s like standing in front of an oven and smelling the aroma of the food waft up to you; you’ll feel like there’s no stopping you, and pretty soon, you’ll have made something people won’t forget!

Derry Luttrell (they/he) is an animator, illustrator, and writer from Kildare, Ireland. They are the host of Dice Will Roll, an award-winning Pathfinder Second Edition podcast which has recently passed 400,000 downloads and started its 1970s-inspired run of Abomination Vaults, complete with synth music, VHS sounds, and classic dungeon crawling fun. It was while running Dice Will Roll that Derry decided to make a book of homebrew witch patrons. This eventually bloomed into Witches+, brought to life by an impromptu teamup between Derry and Tony Saunders. Thousands of sales later, Team+ is the most successful duo on Pathfinder Infinite—the first of their brand-new products to reach the mithral and platinum ranks. In Team+ projects, Derry largely tackles flavor and illustration. Their heavily stylized art decorates each release, inside and out. Derry is open for commissions; find them on Discord as @derryzumi.

In the next few months, Derry will be launching Safe Haven: A Weird West Tale, a 200-page book for Pathfinder Second Edition and D&D 5e, with a western-themed adventure that goes from Level 5 to Level 10 and features a setting splatbook for a world where magic has died and the age of the gunslinger is upon us.

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest products revealed.

Hello everyone! As some astute fans have already noticed, we’ve uploaded the first products related to the upcoming Starfinder Second Edition Playtest. For those of you who’d like to learn more, the team thought it wise to provide additional context on what to expect!

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

The first product we’ve announced is the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook. This 264-page softcover playtest book contains a figurative ton of new Starfinder content using the Pathfinder Second Edition rules as a foundation. You’ll notice right away that this book requires the use of Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core. The reason for this is because we wanted to provide as much new content as possible without reprinting massive sections of rules that already exist in Pathfinder rulebooks and on our online PRD at Archives of Nethys. All relevant rules will be reprinted in full for our 2025 release.

Inside this rulebook, you’ll find six classes (including the Envoy, Mystic, Operative, Solarian, Soldier, and Witchwarper)*, new ancestries, new feats, new spells, a new equipment system, and more! The idea is to provide as many tools as possible for a Starfinder game, along with some of the new systems and tweaks necessary for running a science-fantasy game. When 2025 rolls around, we’ll be splitting this content (and more) into appropriate player- and GM-facing books. Please note, the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook will not have any special edition covers or hardback editions and is intended to be released as a softcover book. The PDF for this product will be made freely available at launch.

While many of you have heard about the playtest rulebook already, you probably haven’t heard about our playtest modules and the associated flip-mat. So, let’s talk about those!

Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: A Cosmic Birthday, written by Paizo senior developer Jenny Jarzabski, is the first of two playtest adventures that we’ll be releasing during the playtest window. This adventure takes place on Absalom Station and is meant to introduce new 1st-level characters to the setting of Starfinder. You’ll explore the station as a setting-shattering event occurs: the hatching of the planet Aucturn and the emergence of a new deity into the Starfinder core pantheon! We’ll have SO much more to share about this in the coming months!**

Illustration by Ignacio Bazán Lazcano

Our similarly announced Starfinder Flip-Mat: Second Edition Playtest Multi-Pack also has a bit of a spoiler which we’ll talk BRIEFLY about…

Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Adventure: Empires Devoured (product page coming soon!) is our second and final playtest adventure. Written by Thurston Hillman (that’s me!), this 10th-level adventure takes place on the distant world of Kehtaria during the signing of a historic peace accord between two galactic superpowers…let’s just say that things don’t go entirely as planned.

We’ve written each playtest adventure to be like the adventures you’ve come to love from Paizo. These won’t involve slogging out wave-based encounters to stress test combat, but instead, they’ll have narratives and encounters that showcase how we can use the new Second Edition rules to create evocative stories in the Starfinder setting. These include all-new art and major setting events, and it’s our hope that these adventures remain relevant long after our playtest is over and we’re well into the new edition—after all, we need to know where your character was when Aucturn hatched!

Again, we’ll have SO much more to explain in the coming months about all these products. For now, enjoy a quick art preview of what to expect in Empires Devoured…

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

Thurston Hillman
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)

*Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten the Technomancer and Mechanic and will share our plans as soon as we can!

**You might even get some early hints if you’re involved in Starfinder Society Organized Play…

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

What is Infinite?

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

December’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Apocryphal Archetypes: The Magus and Sorcerer

This expansion on the magus and sorcerer classes includes a whole host of new content! Turn the pages on a new class archetype for the magus that focuses on inherited power—the eldritch scion. Or build a sorcerer from one of eight new bloodlines—two for each tradition of magic. This expansion also has new feats for each class, and Foundry VTT support!

Eldritch Expansions—Rainbow of Elements

A kineticist expansion from Eldritch Osiris Games. With 8 new elements, you can become a master of the elemental energies of aether, awareness, light, shadow, spirit, time, vitality and void! In addition, you can find expansions for the elements of air, earth, fire, metal, water, and wood as well as composite elements and expansions to the monk class and houses of perfection!

Player Core 1 Expanded*

Has inspiration struck, but Pathfinder Player Core doesn't have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a cleric spy, a swaggering rogue, or a druid with a will of steel, you will find myriad options within, made by 4 Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster! Feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Pathfinder Player Core.

Shattered Omens of Golarion*

The reality of Golarion is coming undone after the loss of one of its greatest deities, and it's up to heroes like you to hold it together. Shattered Omens of Golarion is a collection of over 2 years of work consolidated into one tome. Inside, you'll find over 185 pages of Remastered player options, including new ancestry and class feats, backgrounds, heritages, spells, and magic items. 

The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands*

Golarion is a fantastical place, full of wonder and the unknown. In The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands, join Alphonse Lord Tabbington in an exploration of the Darklands, a place of untold beauty amid fearsome dangers.

From the pen of an all-star crew of Pathfinder designers, players and GMs alike will find options to bolster their adventures to the darkness below.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

Enhanced Mechanic

Experience the new enhanced mechanic—revised for balanced and easier play. This expansion includes several new and revised mechanic tricks, drone chassis, and drone mods.

Fright Finder: The Radiating Abyss*

A research facility named DMEI-4 has gone dark. This derelict space station contains room after room of nightmares, the unfortunate aftermath of research without morals. If you need to put the fear of the gods into your players, or just want to show them what horrors magic and science can truly create, then introduce them to The Radiating Abyss.

Monstercology Galacica: Autumn Aliens*

The Monstercology Galatica is an attempt to catalog and describe all of the many and varied creatures that we share the galaxy with. We understand that with millions of stars and billions of worlds—plus those that visit the galaxy from other planes—this is a nearly impossible endeavor. But if we do not try it, then we can never succeed. This is but one small excerpt of the greater Monstercology Galatica, focusing on creatures most often seen during the later parts of the year.

Space Cowboy’s Arsenal*

A certain type of adventurer resides in the vast frontiers of space—wayfarers and drifters, hunters whose next meal rides on their cunning, their aim, and the price on their bounty's head. They carve out their existence beyond the fringes of civilization; the easy life is as alien to them as another man's gun, and just as fickle. They prefer the unpredictable and uncharted, far from prying eyes and folks what ask too many questions. Never tied to one place, these vagabonds stay strange and savvy, doing what they can to keep alive. When the galaxy needs a job done, they call for the rough and tumble space cowboy.

Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual*

Towering mechs, ancient elementals, territorial kaiju and many more mech-scale threats can be found in Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual! Inside, you’ll find a spread of the latest mech creations of the Outer Sphere, deadly carnivorous mechform mimics, oozes that can slip inside a mech to throttle the operator or take over the machine entirely, and more. This book provides a variety of themed threats for use in mech combat at all levels of play, and all mechs within were made in accordance with the recommended alternative rules for creating NPC mechs from Starfinder Tech Revolution. 

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

 Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Born of Impossibility—Volume 2: Crystevolved – A versatile heritage and thirty-two ancestry feats.
• Starfinder Planet Sheet – A reference sheet for keeping track of visited planets.
• Heroes of Omen: The Vanguard – A conversion of the Starfinder class of the same name for Pathfinder First Edition.
• Witches+ (Remaster Update) – A remaster-compatible update for Witches+. If you already own this supplement, get the update for free!

Here’s a look behind the scenes at our PAX Unplugged demo!

Hiya, it’s me Jenny Jarzabski (Senior Developer) reporting in from the field! I got to spread some Veskmas cheer by running the playtest demo at Pax Unplugged, and I’m here to tell you all about it! This playtest is an encounter designed to test out some of the basic rules of Starfinder Second Edition. Reading on might spoil the demo’s content, so for those of you planning to attend Owlcon (in February) or Norwescon (in March) where some Starfinder team members might be running this demo, you’ve been warned!

Here’s Jenny GMing for one of many amazing demo tables at PAXU!

PAXU Demo
Map: Starfinder Flip-Mat: Mining Operation
Character Level: 3rd

The goal of this demo was to test out what we’ve been working on internally with a wider pool of players and see some early reactions from the community. I won’t be going into extreme detail about everything we tested in the demo, especially since some of those rules may have changed after we implemented feedback and prepared the Playtest Rulebook for the printer over the past two weeks! If you want the full experience, you’ll have to find me or one of my teammates at an upcoming convention or wait for the next batch of demos we’ll no doubt be cooking up for GenCon!

Players chose from the following premade characters:

• Envoy
• Mystic
• Operative
• Solarian

The Fight
The players approached from the north of a seemingly abandoned mining site strewn with cranes, vehicles, crates, and other large objects providing that sweet, sweet cover. A massive pit in the center of the map created an obstacle for characters favoring melee combat styles. But these lucky gamers were playing a game that favors ranged combat (YEEHAW!) so they all had a ranged damage option in the form of guns! Pew pew pew! Even so, some attacks and abilities perform better in closer quarters. The solarian’s playstyle focuses on getting close to enemies and hitting them with powerful attacks from their solar weapons, and some of the mystic’s spells don’t work from too far away—so not everyone thought it was a good idea to camp out at the edge of the map behind the safety of cover. (Just the operative. Always. So tacticool.)

As the players investigated the mine, a trio of pirates popped out from behind cover and fired the first shots of the battle. These pirates were packing guns of their own—machine guns! This meant they could shoot from a distance or get close and unleash a rain of bullets on multiple targets with automatic fire. The pirates’ tactics were to shoot once from a distance, then move in and switch to spraying auto-fire to pew pew as many of their enemies as possible.

Tactics and Playtesting
Changing the pirates’ tactics changed the encounter. I experimented with some different tactics and eventually settled into a routine of two pirates following their normal tactics, while a third perched behind a toolchest (cover) on top of the crane. Sometimes, it was like running two battles in one: a sniper fight between crane guy and the operative, and the chaos of machine gun space pirates versus everyone else. Other times, the players disrupted this setup—they gravity welled crane guy off his perch, attacked him with his own shadow, and more! Poor crane guy!

The point is, different groups always used different tactics. Patterns emerged, of course. Generally, the operative hung back and kept in cover while sniping, while the mystic slung spells and pew pew’d from a medium distance. Sometimes the mystic even got into melee and used their painglaive to share their emotions with the enemy on a more personal level. The solarian usually charged into battle, either going after the sniper (RIP crane guy) and using abilities to try to drag him off his perch or intercepting the gunners on their way toward the party. The envoy had a lot of choices between shooting and giving directives like Get in There! to boost everyone’s speed, or Kiss It Better to “heal” someone with temporary HP. No two groups I GM’d for used exactly the same combination of actions. Considering each premade character only contained a snapshot of the rules we’ll be playtesting later this year, you should expect a lot of fun choices when you build your first playtest characters.

A Note About Pregens
he StarFriends (as we members of the Starfinder team call ourselves) each designed one of the premade characters available for the demo. Dustin created the mystic, Jessica whipped up an envoy, Mike crafted a solarian, and Jenny built an operative. Thursty designed the encounter, so we gave the boss a pass this time!

Here’s Jenny CRITTING that amazing demo table! Oh no!

Bonus Encounter
If the players ROFLstomped the pirates, say with a string of crits, the demo had a second encounter loaded in the chamber so the demo wouldn’t run disappointingly short. A fourth pirate gunner and his hacked robot ally emerged from a building and attacked the party right after they defeated the pirates. The robot advanced and went pew pew pew with its laser rifle while the pirate crept up behind it, using her hacked tank-bot as mobile cover until she reached spray-and-pray range. The robot might power down at half HP or use its healing nanites to keep fighting longer, depending on the group. Only a handful of groups played the bonus encounter, including the Cosmic Critters. More about that in a minute.

A Veskmas Miracle
Playing games with nufriends in the community is always a great time. Thanks to all you gamers at PAX: Unplugged who wandered over to the Paizo tables to try Starfinder 2. Thank you to the GMs who volunteered their time to run demo tables—y’all are some space badasses!

Speaking of space badasses, in addition to the public playtests, I had the honor of playing the demo with the wonderful casts of Atomless, Cosmic Crit, and No Quest for the Wicked. They really kept me on my toes with their rolls and roleplay. You can listen to the Cosmic Critmas demo here; my sessions with Atomless and No Quest are coming soon!

But I Want More!
Do you want more teasers about the playtest rules? Are you looking for spoilers before release? Interested in more detailed notes about our internal playtesting? Stay tuned to this space for more news from the StarFriends SOON™!

Jenny Jarzabski
Senior Developer (Starfinder)

Happy New Year! Welcome to the exciting reveal of our third Starfinder Second Edition Field Test.

It’s a new year and a new Field Test release! The Field Tests include early, behind-the-scenes previews of rules the Starfinder development team is playtesting internally in preparation for the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook release later this year. Our latest offering includes a preview of two ancestries appearing in the Playtest Rulebook, as chosen by community vote. We’re excited to announce the winners of that vote and the ancestries we’ll be featuring in today’s Field Test: the android and vesk!

Ancestries are the updated version of what were known as species (also called races in older products) in Starfinder First Edition. Ancestries are an important part of Starfinder’s “cantina feel,” a term referring to the sci-fi trope of a spaceport bar packed with all kinds of aliens. In this context, it means players get to create and play as alien characters, and every planet or space station in the setting is teeming with weird and wonderful sapient lifeforms that player characters might interact with. Our goal is to keep the cantina open, so to speak, while we update existing Starfinder ancestries to be compatible with the new edition. 

Starfinder ancestries might look familiar to those of you who play Pathfinder Second Edition. Starfinder First Edition players might notice the new ancestries are a bit of a departure from what you’re used to, but don’t panic! In Starfinder Second Edition, each ancestry entry includes more content than the small sidebar allotted to them in Starfinder First Edition.

In existing Starfinder books, you’ll often see a species boiled down to a list of statistics with a handful of abilities. Presenting species this way allowed the Starfinder team to introduce many playable options right away, but there was little players could do to define their character’s progression—via their species—beyond the initial selection. In some specific cases, a species was so numerically superior that they were the obvious “best” choices (we’re looking at you, SROs!). This was fantastic for certain players but didn’t always reward players interested in exploring different options. In the new edition of Starfinder, we want to create deeper meaning and context for ancestries that you’re going to play or feature in your campaigns. This means including more space for narrative lore related to each ancestry and information on how it fits into the setting, as well as progression-based selections to help further customize a character of that ancestry.

In addition to a set of starting adjustments and abilities, ancestries in Second Edition get access to ancestry feats. A character gains an ancestry feat at 1st level and then another at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th-level. Ancestry feats explore different paths within each ancestry and grant more powerful abilities as a character progresses—allowing you to customize your character beyond what was possible in Starfinder First Edition. The team’s been experimenting with some interesting new options, like expanding lashunta psychic powers or introducing a type of shirren that grows wings!

Illustration by Sophie Mendev

Today’s Field Test focuses on the constructed androids and the reptilian vesk. Androids and vesk are both staple ancestries in Starfinder, but each represents a very different part of the design spectrum. Androids already exist in Pathfinder Second Edition (see Pathfinder Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide), so the Starfinder team updated the ancestry to be compatible with the “ancient androids” who once walked lost Golarion while creating new options to represent the changes in culture and technology that separate the Starfinder setting from its distant past.

Meanwhile, vesk is an ancestry that’s never appeared in Pathfinder Second Edition, giving us a blank canvas to work with. Our intent was to keep the spirit of the First Edition vesk while exploring new build types, from movement-based shenanigans to different forms of natural melee attacks, and more.

The team is excited to see what you think of our initial foray into ancestry design for the new edition. We also strongly suggest you read the foreword in this document, which may reveal some important news related to what ancestries you can expect to see in the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook releasing this summer!

Stay tuned for our upcoming Paizo Live! where members of the Starfinder team will further discuss the Field Test, as well as give more hints about what we have planned for the new edition of Starfinder.

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

What is Infinite?

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

For more info on Pathfinder Infinite, Starfinder Infinite, and how to get started, check out the FAQs!

November’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Eldritch Expansions—Rainbow of Elements

A kineticist expansion from Eldritch Osiris Games. With eight new elements, you can become a master of the elemental energies of aether, awareness, light, shadow, spirit, time, vitality, and void! In addition, you can find expansions for the elements of air, earth, fire, metal, water, and wood, as well as composite elements and expansions to the monk class and houses of perfection!

Kitsune of Golarion*

Living clandestinely among Golarion’s ancestries, kitsune make formidable foes and canny heroes. Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of this ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe. An expansion on Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide penned by the same authors who pen the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Player Core 1 Expanded

Has inspiration struck, but does Pathfinder Player Core not have a subclass to fit? Whether you are looking for a cleric spy, a swaggering rogue, or a druid with a will of steel, you will find a myriad of options within, made by four Infinite Masters and specially tuned for the PF2e Remaster! Browse feats, subclasses, focus spells, and more for the classes of Player Core within!

Shattered Omens of Golarion

Golarion’s reality is coming undone after the loss of one of its greatest deities, and it's up to heroes like you to hold it together. Shattered Omens of Golarion is a collection of over 2 years of work consolidated into one tome. Inside, you'll find over 185 pages of Remastered player options, including new ancestry and class feats, backgrounds, heritages, spells, and magic items. 

The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands*

Golarion is a fantastical place full of wonder and the unknown. In The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands, join Alphonse Lord Tabbington in an exploration of the Darklands, a place of untold beauty amid fearsome dangers.

From the pen of an all-star crew of Pathfinder designers, this guide provides options to bolster the adventures of players and GMs alike as they explore the darkness below.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

Absalom Drift: Turbocharged

Every hero needs friends. And every group of friends needs a set of engines. How else will you race off to the edges of the galaxy and save the day? Too bad you can’t afford them on your own.But one of your old friends has picked up a lead on a starship that you just might be able to "acquire." What's the harm in hearing them out?

Absalom Drift: Turbocharged is a special starting adventure for Starfinderwhere the heroes obtain their first ship through a starship heist, potentially leading them into either the Dead Suns or Drift Crashers Adventure Path.

Deep Space Adventurers: Eldritch Emissaries

Eldritch emissaries are known by many names. Depending on who is being referred to, these include terms such as champion, channeler, hand, invoker, legate, paladin, pledgemage, proctor, voice, and warlock.

Wielding ancient knowledge and mystical power, eldritch emissaries are individuals who have made deals and agreements with otherworldly forces that often stay hidden in the fabric of the multiverse to fulfill their own ends, but they are in turn manipulated by those same forces.

Space Cowboy’s Arsenal*

A certain type of adventurer resides in the vast frontiers of space—wayfarers and drifters, those hunters whose next meal rides on their cunning, their aim, and the price of the bounty their heads. They carve out their existence beyond the fringes of civilization; the easy life is as alien to them as another man's gun, and just as fickle. They prefer the unpredictable and uncharted, far from prying eyes and folks what ask too many questions. Never tied to one place, these vagabonds stay strange and savvy, doing what they can to keep alive. When the galaxy needs a job done, they call for the rough and tumble Space Cowboy.

Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual*

Towering mechs, ancient elementals, territorial kaiju, and many more mech-scale threats can be found in Starfinder Infinite: Mech Threat Manual! Inside, you’ll find a spread of the latest mech creations of the Outer Sphere, from deadly carnivorous mechform mimics to oozes that can slip inside a mech to throttle the operator or take over the machine entirely, and more. This book provides a variety of themed threats for use in mech combat at all levels of play, and all mechs within were made in accordance with the recommended alternative rules for creating NPC mechs detailed in Starfinder: Tech Revolution. 

Starship Maps III*

This set of ship maps features hover trains, wheeled transports, and ships of all kinds, asl well as asteroids and space stations. There are lots of places for the party to explore and many ships to pilot. All come in grid and gridless maps.

New & Exciting from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• Witness the Pale Festival—A spooky encounter based on the Night of the Pale holiday celebration.
• Tools of the Elements—Over 50 new items connected to the six elemental planes!
• Warfare Lore—A new class, new archetypes, and new character options for tactical combat.

Season’s greetings, Pathfinders and Starfinders! It’s December, which puts us right in the middle of a whole host of holidays and celebrations. We’ve reached out to our staff and contributors to ask about their favorite traditions for the winter (or, in the case of our southern hemisphere friends, summer) holidays!

---

Eren Ahn (they/them)

Hello! I’m Eren (they/them, primarily), and you’ll see some of my work in the upcoming Lost Omens Tian Xia books for Pathfinder Second Edition. My family didn’t have too many winter traditions growing up (I got presents on Christmas for the first ten years of my life and tteokguk (rice cake soup) on New Year’s after that), but since I started living on my own, I adapted some traditional dongji rituals to celebrate the solstice. For me, this means making patjuk (red bean porridge) and leaving a small bowl of it on my windowsill overnight for any wandering spirits. I’m fond of winter, cold snaps and polar vortexes and all, and it’s a calming ritual to look forward to in my generally fast-paced life.

James Jacobs (he/him)

I’m James Jacobs (he/him), Narrative Creative Director for Pathfinder, and for me, the winter holidays are traditionally when I wander some 800 miles south to spend time with my family and to relax in my hometown of Sandpoint/Otari/Point Arena. There were a few years there during the pandemic when this tradition got interrupted, but things are mostly back to normal there. Bad weather might step in to keep me here in Washington (as it has a few times in the past), but otherwise the long journey south beckons with its promises of hanging out with family, relaxing in the redwoods of Northern California, visiting some local landmarks (during Thanksgiving I visited the Point Arena Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse on the west coast of the United States, and which you’ve also seen if you watched movies like Forever Young or Need for Speed), and hoping for a bigfoot sighting or two.

Joshua Birdsong (he/him)

Hi everyone, I’m Joshua Birdsong. I am a designer for Paizo. I am very excited and humbled to be part of such an amazing team, and I look forward to helping create some awesome books for all of you! My favorite holiday tradition is consuming an entire container of chocolate hazelnut pirouline wafers on Christmas day! If you need to get in touch, you can find me on Twitter at @impr0phet. Don’t forget to be awesome!

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

Hello! I’m Lynne (she/they), the newest member of Paizo’s editing team. I’m pagan but grew up in a Protestant family. My holidays aren’t complete without pfeffernusse, a traditional German spice cookie. When I was growing up, my German grandmother lived with us and taught me to bake. She had pfeffernusse every Christmas—and only at Christmas. I looked forward to it every year.

When she passed, the tradition stopped. Years later, when I started dating the man who’d become my husband, I decided to bring it back. I even used my grandmother’s antique measuring cups.

It turned out that pfeffernusse is his favorite cookie! Pfeffernusse became my signature bake. Pre-pandemic, I’d make as many as ten dozen to share with our families. Times are different now, and those celebrations are happy memories. Circumstances make it difficult to see our families in person, and I’ve since lost my father as well as a brother.

Yet pfeffernusse remains part of my Yule. It’s the one holiday tradition I keep without fail. It ties me to my past and my present with love. Every year, when the aroma of anise hits me, I’m a little girl again, celebrating Christmas with my family.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Growing up and living in a very mixed-culture household means I celebrate a wide variety of holidays during December (Christmas Eve with my in-laws, Chanukah, the Solstice, and “Witch-mas” with my mom—Christmas day, but it’s goth and we make hot chocolate and exchange gifts). One tradition that transcends all of these holidays, though, is making fudge!

I use my grandmother’s fudge recipe (included below), which has been handwritten, photocopied several times, and taken a picture of via a phone to wind up in my hands. It makes 5 pounds of fudge—no more, no less, and no ratio editing allowed. And now you can make it too!

Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups of white sugar
• 2 cubes (8 oz) of butter
• 1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped)
• 1 (7 oz) jar of marshmallow fluff
• 2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Steps

1. Cook the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and vanilla over medium heat until the mixture comes to a slow boil.
2. Beat with electric mixture for seven (7) minutes, continuously.
   1. My wife and I take turns holding the mixer for this step, as it can start to ache.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Add in chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, and nuts (optional).
5. Stir until all ingredients are well mixed.
6. Pour into 13” x 9” baking pan and chill in fridge until set (about 2 hours).
   1. If you’re like me and want to eat hot, kind of un-set fudge, half an hour on the counter is enough to make it cool enough to eat, but still warm and soft.
7. Cut into cubes and enjoy.

(Makes five pounds)

Tomas Gimenez Rioja (he/him)

Tomas (he/him) has written for Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries.

Here in Argentina the holidays are during summertime. In the coast city in which I live, we usually spend the days going to the beach, and resting at home after that. Some card and board games are often played as well. On Christmas and New Year's Eve I meet with my family, and many others from my father's family, and get some asado (fantastically grilled meat from here). After midnight, once presents are opened, or exchanged, or a toast is made if it's New Year's Eve, it's time to meet with friends, where we spend the rest of the night playing games, might get a holiday-themed one-shot going, and go see the sunrise together when it comes.

Whatever you’re doing for the holidays this season, we hope you have a wonderful season! And to sweeten things up a bit, Paizo is offering our annual midwinter holiday sale!

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Holiday Sale!

From now (Friday 12/15) through Monday, January 15, take 10% off a single order* on Pathfinder and Starfinder products at the Paizo Store using the code holiday24 at checkout.

* The holiday24 code stacks with Paizo Advantage and other discounts. Not valid on subscriptions, preorders, backorders, Foundry VTT products, or non-Paizo downloads. Code expires at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on January 15.