Lost Coast Now Shipping!

Friday, November 14, 2014

The newest full set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic gaming figures is NOW SHIPPING from the paizo.com warehouse in advance of the set's formal November 19th release date. This is your first opportunity to enjoy the new Ongoing Case Subscription Benefits like 30% off cases, singles, and other Pathfinder Battles releases, as well as 75% off the limited-edition case incentive Shemhazian Demon figure.

The Shemhazian Demon is among the largest (and heaviest) Pathfinder Battles "Gargantuans" that we've produced so far, and he's filled with all kinds of fantastic details.

Because we're not quite ready to show off images from the next set yet, here are a couple of rough shots I just composed in my office to show the final production-run Shemhazian Demon next to some other figures, for a size comparison.

Here we have the Shemhazian Demon next to the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon from Skull & Shackles and the Gargantuan Blue Dragon from Shattered Star. This is one really big demon!

The iconic heroes from the Beginner Box Heroes set will need all the 20s they can roll as they face off against the giant Shemhazian Demon. Perhaps these versions of the iconics are worried about the newer, better versions coming out next year in the Iconic Heroes sets?

I'll have something else cool to show you next week. In the meantime, get ready for The Lost Coast to arrive, and set up your Ongoing Case Subscription to make sure you don't miss a single figure!

Erik Mona
Publisher

PS: Yes, I know it's past time to dust my office, thank you.

One Last Look at the Lost Coast

Friday, November 7, 2014

With The Lost Coast set releasing in about a week and a half, things are really picking up on the Pathfinder Battles front. I've already showed off the entire The Lost Coast set in several of my recent Friday blogs. I've also revealed the first twelve figures in our upcoming Iconic Heroes Sets. The other figures for following sets are still in development, and will appear in this space when they are ready.

WizKids has not yet announced the NEXT set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures, so while I've got a bunch of images from that set ready to show off, they're going to have to wait at least another week.

In the meantime, to help everyone get in The Lost Coast spirit, here's a photo of the very first booster pack I opened in my personal case (pictured here are the Small Water Elemental, Lamashtu Cultist, Sinspawn Champion, and Troll).

And here's a complete setlist for The Lost Coast to help you keep track of who is who and what is what in the set!

• Common
• 1  Goblin Snake
• 2  Goblin Druid
• 3  Small Air Elemental
• 4  Small Earth Elemental
• 5  Small Fire Elemental
• 6  Small Water Elemental
• 7  Id Stalker
• 8  Lamashtu Thug 1
• 9  Squealy Nord
• 10  Firepelt Cougar
• 11  Lamashtu Cultist
• 12  Green Hag
• 13  Lamashtu Thug 2
• Uncommon
• 14  Shifty Noble
• 15  Gnome Eldritch Knight
• 16  City Watch Sniper
• 17  Elf Archer
• 18  Goblin Mutant
• 19  Brodert Quink
• 20  Shoanti Gladiator
• 21  Sinspawn Champion
• 22  Boggard Warrior
• 23  Leaping Boggard
• 24  Half-Elf Haughty Avenger
• Uncommon Larges
• 25  Malagus Kreeg
• 26  Conna the Wise
• 27  Forest Drake
• 28  Giant Frilled Lizard
• 29  Leucrotta
• 30  Troll
• 31  Fire Giant King
• 32  Hill Giant Chief
• Rares
• 33  Alhazra, Human Oracle
• 34  Damiel, Elf Alchemist
• 35  Medium Brass Dragon
• 36  Etainia
• 37  Justice Ironbriar
• 38  Lord Mayor Grobaras
• 39  Thelsikar
• 40  The Forest Shadow
• Large Rares
• 41  Lamashtu
• 42  Pazuzu
• 43  Large Green Dragon
• 44  Large Bronze Dragon
• Gargantuan Case Incentive
• 45  Shemhazian Demon

That's it for this week. Tune in next week, when I hope to be able to show off some of the amazing digital sculpts from our next set!

Until then,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Improving the Iconics

Friday, October 10, 2014

I'm writing today's blog from Times Square in New York City, where I'm staying while taking in New York Comic Con. NYCC is one of my favorite events of the year. For starters, the convention is the second largest event of its kind, bringing in more than 100,000 fans from all over the world. The show floor is like a marketplace out of a geek's dreams, filled with action figures old and new, original comic art, wandering nerd culture celebrities, back issues, original art, you name it. It's like four Gen Cons smooshed together, with an artist's alley off to the side that fills a room that could host most conventions. There aren't, alas, a lot of tabletop (or even video) game companies exhibiting at the show yet, but the fandoms are very, very similar and of course there's a ton of crossover with gamers. For me it's a chance to visit with East Coast business partners like Dynamite, publishers of the Pathfinder Comics range, as well as most of our book business distribution partners.

It's also among my favorites because it's the final convention of the year. For 2014 that makes it sixteen conventions or trade shows for me, and I have to admit I am exhausted. I always try to jam all of my business meetings into the first couple of days of the show, so I can enjoy wandering the floor as a fan myself. After focusing all of my convention attention on business from January until the end of October, it's important for me to spend a little while checking out all of the stuff that I geek out over. It's fun to get in touch with my own fannish soul, and at the very end of the convention season, just when I should be running out of gas, I find that New York Comic Con invigorates me, recharging my batteries for the year ahead.

NECA, the parent company of WizKids, have an awesome Pathfinder Battles display in their NYCC booth,
complete with some Lost Coast figures including the case incentive Shemhazian Demon!

Among the things that most tickle my nerdy fancy? Miniatures, of course! So let us turn our giggling, geeky hearts to three more paint masters for the upcoming Iconic Heroes Set #1!

Here we have Seelah, Human Paladin, our favorite champion of law and good. Seelah received one of the earliest representation of an iconic character in our regular Pathfinder Battles line, appearing in the very first set, Heroes & Monsters. That figure was fine—even impressive—for that early stage in the product line, but I never felt that it quite lived up to the early high standards set by the Beginner Box Heroes set, which predated Pathfinder Battles itself by a few months. It also had a bit of a scaling issue relative to other human figures, and came across as a bit small, not quite the imposing, powerful warrior we were hoping for.

I'm pleased to report that this new version of Seelah more than fits the bill. This version is considerably different from her original presentation, most notably in that the paladin wears her helm in this incarnation. That helm plays an important part in Seelah's origin story, so we thought it fitting to send the warrior into battle in her full regalia.

The shield appears white for now, but will soon get a tampo stamp with a crisp image of the holy symbol of Iomedae, Seelah's honorable goddess.

Sajan, Human Monk is another example, in my opinion, of improving a figure on the second attempt. The original Sajan figure looked pretty cool and didn't have any major flaws like scaling issues, but this new pose is so much better it automatically gives the newer model the edge. I love his battle-ready pose, and even his expression impresses.

While quality control at the production facility—something both WizKids and Paizo have repeatedly stressed for the Iconic Heroes line—will tell the tale when the final paint is applied, the new digital sculpting process allows for much finer and more interesting facial details than practical sculpts. From Valeros's smirk to Seelah's combat expression to Sajan's glare, these guys have real expression in their faces. It feels like a step forward for the line.

We last met Lini the druid's snow leopard, Droogami, in the Legends of Golarion set, where it was called simply Snow Leopard. Since then, we've given Lini's feline friend a sweet set of armor. We've also given it a somewhat realistic face—a first for the many great cats produced so far in the line, most of which seemed to end up with slightly comedic faces, like scary animals mixed with breakfast cereal mascots. I think this is a step up.

So there you have it. Three new figures, three improvements on their original appearances. I call that a win, and look forward to showing off the next set!

But before we can do THAT, we've got one matter of outstanding business for November's The Lost Coast set! I forgot to preview one last figure for the set. I'd held off because I didn't think the picture did the figure justice. Then I saw the replacement picture, which was blurry and even worse. Then I went back to the original picture.

Here she is:

This is the Elf Archer, who looks better in person than she does in our photo. She's based on one of my favorite pieces of art from the NPC Codex. She's a nice addition to our fairly limited ranks of elves in Pathfinder Battles so far. And if you're going to have an elf, it seems natural to make it an archer. The Elf Archer is a Medium, common figure.

And with that, I'm heading back to the convention! Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are, and we'll see you back here in a week for more exciting reveals!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Iconic Heroes Paint Masters

Friday, October 3, 2014

I've already spoken at length about our plans for the monthly series of Iconic Heroes Boxed Sets that begin in January. I've mentioned that WizKids intends to produce these figures at the highest possible standards, with premium sculpts and paint jobs.

I've even shown digital sculpts of some of the new figures. I've mentioned how digital sculpts give us as Paizo a lot more opportunity to ensure that details are exactly right (we just sent 17 sculpt comments for a single figure yesterday). But until now, all you've had beyond digital renders is my word that they're going to be awesome.

That changes today, as I reveal the paint masters for three figures from Iconic Heroes Set #1, the very first set that will hit in January 2015. WizKids factory painters will do everything they can to replicate these paint jobs exactly, so these figures should be an excellent preview of what you can expect from the final production run.

They are, however, missing some finishing details. Super-detailed work like complex patterns on clothing and pupils are applied via a stamping process called a tampo during the production run, so these elements often do not appear on paint masters. Try to imagine Seoni's tattoos and some of the dress detail work and you'll have a better idea of how the final figures will look.

Here we have the Valeros, Human Fighter like you've never seen him before. I think the face says everything you need to know about the power of digital sculpting over traditional practical methods, and the quality of all of his little pieces of adventuring gear really pushes it over the edge. Check out that tankard! Look at the bedroll on his back! I can't wait to get this figure for my own collection.

Valeros has a gnome buddy, and her name is Lini, Gnome Druid. Frankly, I really like the original Lini figure from The Lost Coast, but this one comes with a slightly more action-oriented pose and puts a little more focus on her sickle. We'll show off Lini's riding cat animal companion, Droogami, in next week's preview.

Seoni has always been one of our most popular iconic characters, and was one of the originals to appear on the covers of our Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, the very first appearance of the Pathfinder brand. Along with Valeros and several others, she stars in the Pathfinder Comics produced by Dynamite Entertainment, where she is coming into her own as the leader of the iconic adventurers. Like Lini, Seoni got a fantastic figure in an earlier set. The speed with which that figure sold out was one of the things that convinced us that we needed a better option for iconic character minis, and I think the pose on this new version is significantly more interesting than her original sculpt (which I also really liked). Of the six figures included in Iconic Heroes Set #1, Seoni has by far the most tampos still to come, but I think she's off to a great start.

Iconic Heroes also includes Sajan, Iconic Monk; Seelah, Iconic Paladin; and Droogami, Lini's snow leopard animal companion. Each of the sets also includes six unique Pathfinder Adventure Card Game cards specific to the included adventurers and animals. These cards are available exclusively in Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes sets, and are not part of existing Pathfinder Adventure Card Game subscriptions.

Swing by next week for a look at the paint masters of the other three figures in this set. In the meantime, check out the WizKids Pathfinder Battles items we've added to our annual Great Golem Sale, including Shattered Star boosters for $11.99, $10.00 off White Dragon Evolution, and more!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Catching Up

Friday, September 26, 2014

I was out sick last Friday, so we’ve fallen a bit behind on our scheduled previews of new figures from The Lost Coast set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures, which is set for a November release. I’ve got six figures to show off today, so let’s not waste time!

All of these figures (and any that are left after this) were the victims of bad photographs way back in the paint master stage. In the meantime, WizKids sent us actual production run figures, so everything you see from The Lost Coast from this point forward are actual production figures, not paint masters.

Here we have the Goblin Druid, who is based off the much-hated druid Gogmurt from the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path Anniversary Edition hardcover. He easily doubles as any goblin spellcaster. If you want, you can pair him up with the Firepelt Cougar we previewed a few weeks back to complete the official Gogmurt encounter. The Goblin Druid is a Small, common figure.

And this is the Green Hag, your basic hag from page 167 of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. She’s an effective but pretty simple figure in terms of sculpt and paint scheme, so we slated her at the common rarity. The Green Hag is a Medium figure.

This is the Shifty Noble, which we drew from page 56 of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Magnimar, City of Monuments. I’m not certain the picture does this figure justice. With one hand held forward in a come-hither pose and the other behind her back clutching a deadly dagger, this is one untrustworthy scion you do not want to cross. The Shifty Noble is a Medium, uncommon figure with a great sense of “three dimensionality” to her.

Look out, it’s the Sinspawn Champion! We pulled this nasty critter off the cover of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Dungeons of Golarion. He makes a great boss for the two Sinspawn already in the Rise of the Runelords set, or you can put a bunch of him with a bunch of them to fill out the ranks of a Sinspawn horde. The Sinspawn Champion is a (fairly tall) Medium, uncommon figure.

We already produced a Boggard back in Shattered Star, but he was more of a chieftain/mystic sort of guy. This Boggard Warrior is your run-of-the-mill amphibious humanoid fighter type. He’s a Medium, uncommon figure.

And this guy is the Leaping Boggard, his jumpy companion! You might not understand why until you’re holding him in your own hands, but I think this guy may be my favorite in the entire set. I love his tongue, his weird eyes, and especially his pose. Looking at him just makes me laugh, a quality I’ve always liked in my frog-people. The Leaping Boggard is a Medium, uncommon figure.

And Now, the Bad News

Last time we met with WizKids, they brought in samples of the repainted Feiya and King Irovetti, two figures from previous sets that did not get the paint application they deserved and hence resulted in a lot of justified complaints. I’m happy to say that King Irovetti looked fantastic. Amazing, even.

I’m unhappy to say that Feiya still looked pretty bad, especially in the face department. WizKids was very up front about this before we ever saw the figure, but the end result is that after testing several different repainting options, WizKids has come to the conclusion that the problem with the Feiya miniature is in fact the sculpt, in particular the lack of deep detail on the face that leads to the paint obscuring most of what detail is actually there.

That means that the existing Feiya sculpt is not going to work for the proposed replacement figures that were set to be inserted into The Lost Coast. WizKids is going back to sculpt on the figure. They’ll now create a new Feiya sculpt with their current digital sculpting tools, with a pose that attempts to match as closely as possible the original figure, but with a better face sculpt.

That means that the Feiya and King Irovetti replacement figures will not appear in The Lost Coast, and will instead be inserted into the next set we do after that. We apologize for the delay, but I for one am impressed with WizKids taking the initiative to fix the problem. None of us needs more bad Feiya figures.

So, yeah, mild disappointment there, but they are still committed to creating replacement figures, and I’m confident that the new sculpt will be amazing.

Why am I so confident in the quality of WizKids’s new digital sculpts? Why, because they also brought in the paint masters for the first Iconic Heroes set (January 2015), and they are by far the best-looking Medium-sized figures I’ve seen from them to date.

But you’re going to have to take my word for it for now, as I am holding those photos for next week’s preview!

See you then!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Three for the Road!

Friday, August 29, 2014

I’m currently at Dragon Con in Atlanta with Jason Bulmahn, attacking the Southern Front while several Paizonians are defending the homeland at PAX Prime in Seattle. The last long weekend of the summer means conventions, conventions, conventions, so in the interest of making it to my next panel on time and letting the Paizo web team get to PAX, I’m going to keep things short and sweet this week.

We've got three more minis to reveal, all from November's The Lost Coast set.

City Watch Sniper

This figure fulfills a couple of items on my wishlist. Here we have another City Watch officer to go with the two in our debut set, Heroes & Monsters. The Sniper also gives us a good crossbow figure, and a female crossbow figure to boot. The colors don’t match the rank-and-file officers exactly—the Sniper lacks the tan base color of the previous guards, but she’s a cooler-looking figure in general and is more likely to match additional City Watch figures in the future (there’s at least one more coming next year). The City Watch Sniper is a Medium, uncommon figure.

Firepelt Cougar

The Firepelt Cougar is one of the first original Pathfinder animals ever invented, appearing way back in Pathfinder #1. It’s also the animal companion of the goblin druid Gogmurt, from the same issue. Accordingly, I’ve wanted it in the Pathfinder Battles line from the beginning. In a way, it’s a slot-filler for a Runelords figure we missed the first time around, but given that it’s a pretty basic great cat, the figure should see high utility all around. That said, I think Pathfinder Battles probably has enough great cats for a few sets, so don’t expect to see too many of them in the future. The Firepelt Cougar is a Medium, common figure.

Pazuzu

Here we have Pazuzu, one of the jaw-dropper minis in the set. When WizKids first brought in this demon lord to the office, our very own James Jacobs—long a thrall of the Lord of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms—prostrated himself on the conference room floor and immediately began chanting Pazuzu’s name. He only said it three times before he disappeared in a blast of black fire. We haven’t seen him since and really need his help to finish the Iron Gods Adventure Path, so if any of you are in the Abyss this weekend and see James, please tell him we miss him. The Pazuzu figure is the perfect match for his consort, Lamashtu, who also appears in The Lost Coast set. Pazuzu is a Large, rare figure.

And that’s it for this week. I’m off to Dragon Con, where the gaming is fierce and the cosplay is absolutely incredible. I have not seen so many Zardoz’s since the movie Zardoz. Wow.

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Feeling Iconic

Friday, August 1, 2014

As of this morning, we've officially crossed over into August, which means that Gen Con Indy is THIS MONTH. Please pardon me while I go curl up in a fetal position in the corner of my office and suck my thumb for a bit.

There, that's much better. As we march toward the Big Show, we've still got plenty of figures from November's The Lost Coast set of prepainted fantasy miniatures to reveal. Since we've been spending so much time previewing new iconic characters for the Advanced Class Guide these last few weeks, I've got iconics on the brain. So it seemed like a great time to preview the THREE iconics in this set.

Up first this week is Damiel, Iconic Alchemist. This wily elf enjoys brewing potions, throwing bombs, and morphing his body. WizKids did a fantastic job on the sculpt. While you can't quite make out his full backpack in this photo, I can assure you that it is just as complicated as the original Wayne Reynolds illustration. Lots of clear tubes and bottles on this guy, as well. Damiel is a Medium figure slated at the rare rarity.

Here is our iconic oracle, Alahazra. The image posted above is the paint master, so it's missing a lot of the intricate detail work that is stamped on during the factory process (this is called a "tampo"). Most of the really intricate sigils and designs on our figures are tampos, and it's always a little difficult to know how the final figure will look from the paint master.

Here's an in-production shot of Alahazra's tampo. Notice how this version of the figure contains a lot of design elements on the robes that the paint master lacks. Given the intricate designs on Alahazra's robes I was a bit worried about how this one would turn out, but I think it looks great. Alahazra, Iconic Oracle is a Medium, rare figure.

And, because YOU demanded it, here's our iconic pig, Squealy Nord. Old Nord figures in our "classic" (?) Free RPG Day adventures We Be Goblins! and We Be Goblins, Too!, and makes the perfect addition to the We Be Goblins Pathfinder Battles Builder Series we released last year. Squealy Nord is a Small, uncommon figure.

Minimate Update!

I've mentioned on previous Friday Previews that, in addition to four goblin promo figures we'll have at Gen Con, we'll also be releasing four Minimate 2-Packs featuring Pathfinder characters and monsters. Together, these 12 figures serve as an official "Preview" of the Pathfinder Iconic Heroes Boxed Set to be released in October.

This put me in the unique position to build the 2-Packs out of whatever creatures I wanted. You'll never guess who I picked first!

Here we have the unkillable OSTOG THE UNSLAIN VS. CAIRN WIGHT 2-Pack! Careful readers of paizo.com will no doubt recognize Ostog the Unslain as my own personal Pathfinder RPG player character, from James Jacobs's in-office Pathfinder campaign. Ostog's early stats appeared in the Pathfinder Chronicles: NPC Guide, and he recently featured in the backstory I wrote about his brother, the iconic skald Hakon. You might think it's corny for me to use my own player character as one of the Minimates, and you'd be right. What good is absolute power if you don't abuse it once in a while?

Facing off against Ostog is the Cairn Wight, a nasty undead variant creature from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Both Ostog and the Cairn Wight come with swords. The Cairn Wight comes with a removable helmet and a shield. If you really want, you could give Ostog the Cairn Wight's helmet and give the Cairn Wight Ostog's hair, because all Minimates parts are interchangeable. Just don't tell Ostog you got the idea from me, ok? We need to remain friends if he's to keep his "Unslain" title for four more levels until he retires...

The last set I'll reveal today is the HUMAN RANGER VS. LAMIA MATRIARCH. The Human Ranger was an early design prototype our partners at Diamond Select Toys put together, and when the time came to put together the preview set, I snatched him out of oblivion. Sure, he doesn't have a proper name, but he does have a cool hooded cloak, some sweet, sweet stubble, a bow, a quiver, and three arrows.

The Lamia Matriarch is probably responsible for more player character deaths in the Rise of the Runelords campaign than any other creature, so I just had to include her here. She comes with two curved swords, bracelets, and an amazing snake body.

I'll reveal the next two Minimates 2-Packs in next week's Friday Preview. Until then, I leave you with an image of the Godhead to watch over and bless your player characters for the rest of the week.

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: All Hail Lamashtu!

Friday, July 25, 2014

This evening the entire Paizo crew is headed to a local winery for our annual summer party, and everyone at the office right now is either diligently working nose-to-desk to finish that last bit of work before the weekend or goofing off counting down the hours until a bacchanal of all-you-can-drink wine. It's a tough life, folks, I have to tell you.

I'm one of the nose-grinders today, alas, so before I dip my cup into the well of wine and wishes, I'd like to take a few minutes to reveal three more figures from November's The Lost Coast set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures!

As I've mentioned before in previous Friday Preview blogs, The Lost Coast does not take its inspiration from a specific Adventure Path like many of our previous miniature sets, but rather draws inspiration from the Lost Coast region of Varisia. That's allowed us to sneak in cool figures from campaigns like the Rise of the Runelords as well as some more "generic" creatures that work in any environment, but it's also given us the opportunity to include some figures based off another Varisian story—the Pathfinder Comic Book.

All three of today's previews involve the treacherous Cult of Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters. Two of them come directly from the comic's first two volumes. The last figure, alas, comes exclusively from the warped mind of our Creative Director, James Jacobs, by way of Mesopotamian mythology.

Up first this week is Etainia, the primary villain of the comic's first arc, Dark Waters Rising. Befitting her role as a priestess of the goddess of monstrous births, Etainia sports a distended belly filled with some hideous unborn creature. She's also got cool gauntlets, a nice fur-lined cloak, and a haughty demeanor. You can also pair her with the Lamashtu Cultists we previewed in our very first Lost Coast reveal to build a truly terrifying adventure against Lamashtu's hideous cult. Etainia is a Medium figure slated at the rare rarity.

Etainia and her cult have many grim allies in the region surrounding Sandpoint, and few are as fearsome as Thelsikar, the evil mystic who serves as the primary antagonist of the Pathfinder comic's second story arc, Of Tooth and Claw. Thelsikar stands ready with a deadly potion or bomb (your choice), very much as he appears on the cover of Pathfinder #11. Interestingly, that story arc takes its inspiration from the adventures contained in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, making Thelsikar an interesting pick-up for GMs looking to add some oomph to that boxed set. Thelsikar is a Medium, rare figure.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the goddess Lamashtu herself! (Or, rather, a manifestation of her form suitable for doing battle with your player characters—or simply terrifying them). We don't actually have official statistics for fighting gods in the Pathfinder RPG, but that should make it even more frightening when you plop this miniature down in front of your players. I'd probably re-skin a high-level demon to look like Lamashtu, and watch as my "heroes" run for the exits. With all the Lamashtu fun already packed into the Lost Coast, I simply couldn't resist inviting the lady herself. I hope you'll forgive me (because I just know her enemy Pazuzu never will!). Lamashtu is a Large, rare creature.

FEIYA UPDATE: While some details remain to be ironed out, I can reveal that WizKids intends to replace any unsuitable Feiya figure with a brand new, higher-quality version through their normal figure redemption service. The replacement figure will be the same sculpt, with an improved paint job. The text on the bottom of the base will be identical. These replacement figures are currently in production, so I can't reveal exactly WHEN they will be ready, but I can publicly confirm that this is the plan, and that the plan is in motion as you read this. We'll reveal more in future updates as I get more information, but I wanted to at least confirm that anyone who wants a replacement figure will (relatively) soon be able to get one through the normal figure replacement channels.

And that's it for this week. I'm off to drink some wiiiiiiiiiiiiine! (For my health!)

See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Three Giant Reveals

Friday, July 18, 2014

With the recent PaizoCon announcement of next year’s Giantslayer Adventure Path, it’s safe to say that we have giants on the brain here at Paizo HQ. November’s The Lost Coast set of prepainted fantasy miniatures from our partners at WizKids gave us the perfect opportunity to add a few more giants to the growing ranks of Pathfinder Battles Large monsters. The set is technically “generic” in that it does not support a specific Adventure Path, but as I’ve mentioned in previous Friday blogs, the Lost Coast location gives us plenty of opportunity to revisit some familiar characters and concepts.

First up this week we have Conna the Wise, a semi-major character in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and our first ever female stone giant miniature! Conna is an interesting character in that she is presented as either a friend or a foe, and I always wanted to include her back when we did our dedicated Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set, but there just wasn’t room (or, at the time, an appropriate illustration). I think she goes very well with her stony brethren in that set. I hope to eventually produce female giants of all of the standard giant types, and Conna is just the beginning of that trend (or maybe more of the middle, if you consider the Storm Giant from Rise of the Runelords). Conna the Wise is an uncommon, Large figure.

Here we have the Fire Giant King, a mega-impressive figure I’ve been waiting to unleash on the world since he was cut from the Shattered Star set due to too many awesome Larges. Ironically, the image we used as reference for this figure did not appear in the Shattered Star Adventure Path, but from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Giants Revisited. Specifically, he is Orynox Marchelin, king of the fire giant realm of Kragnaroth in the Mindspin Mountains east of Varisia. The figure is cast in clear plastic, giving his hair a cool “on fire” effect. The Fire Giant King ended up at the uncommon rarity, meaning those of you buying cases might want to consider him more of a “Fire Giant Noble.” He is, of course, a Large figure.

This Hill Giant Chief originally appeared in the Kingmaker Adventure Path, where he is a wandering giant called Munguk. I like to think his political fortunes increased as he traveled west to the Lost Coast, to the point at which he now rules a small, dim-witted tribe of fellow Hill Giants. The actual story is that I fell in love with the picture and didn’t really care that this NPC doesn’t really live in the Lost Coast region of Varisia. If you don’t tell anyone, I won’t, either. Because, hey. Sweet mini. The Hill Giant Chief is a Large, uncommon figure.

And that’s it for this week’s previews! Please join me next week as we take a look at some more exciting images from The Lost Coast!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Of Strong Character

Friday, July 11, 2014

It's hard to believe that PaizoCon is just a week behind us. In the mad rush to ship files for the product catalog and the Pathfinder RPG Monster Codex to the printer by the end of the day today, this week has been every bit as busy as the one preceding the convention, if not a little bit busier.

But, as I've said many times before, being busy is no excuse for not showing off some Friday afternoon goodness, and this week we've got some VERY good things to show off, or at least three figures that could very well have "good" in their alignment.

All three are from November's upcoming The Lost Coast set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures. It's a set that's shaping up to be one of my favorites, as the general theme allows me to simply select miniatures based on fantastic art and the potential for lots of use at the table. After several sets based on specific characters from our Pathfinder Adventure Paths (which I obviously also love), it's a refreshing change.

Enough preamble. Let's take a look at this week's reveals!

Here we have the fantastic Haughty Avenger, from page 113 of the Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex. This remarkable half-elf makes a perfect player character for any well-dressed Medium female adventurer, and she's "generic" enough that she could also work as a guard or rank-and-file mook in a group of upper-class enemies. The Haughty Avenger is an uncommon, Medium figure.

That sound you hear is the crowd cheering for the Shoanti Barbarian, whose earthbreaker weapon is ready for service against friends or enemies, depending on the whims of the Game Master. This particular race/weapon combination has been on our personal wishlist for a long time, as Shoanti show up in several Pathfinder products, particularly those set in the realm of Varisia. He works great as a player character or as an enemy (in the arena or otherwise). The Shoanti Gladiator is a Medium, uncommon figure.

This gentlemen prefers to be called "The Forest Shadow," the name under which he appears as a sample NPC in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. When I was putting together the set list for this set, my boss Lisa Stevens asked that I make sure to include some elves—so I included perhaps my favorite elf image we've produced to date. This figure is amazingly three-dimensional and awesome, and I think you're going to love him. I predict many, many, many players using The Forest Shadow as their player character. The Forest Shadow is a Medium, rare figure.

And that's it for this week. I still don't have an update on WizKids' plans to address the "Sad Feiya" issue from Reign of Winter, but I do know that they are moving forward with an equitable solution that should please just about everyone who was underwhelmed by that figure (which I imagine is just about everyone). The details of how to pull off what they're planning are complicated, however, and they've asked me to keep them hush-hush until they are absolutely certain with the details. I urge you to be patient—I think you'll find that patience will pay off in this case.

Until next week's preview, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher

PaizoCon 2014 Announcement Round-Up

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Missed the annual PaizoCon Preview Banquet? Enjoyed too many cocktails while there to remember what we showed off? This post is your one-stop shop for all the important announcements you may have missed!

After a brief greeting from company founder Lisa Stevens and an introduction of the staff by Publisher and Master of Ceremonies Erik Mona, Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn took over the podium to share some juicy details on upcoming books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line.

Advanced Class Guide

Jason kicked things off with an overview of August's Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide, the RPG line's major release of 2014. The book contains 10 new base classes, each of which combines two existing classes to create a new hybrid that better serves a given character concept. The brawler, for example, mixes mechanical elements of the monk and fighter to create a scrappy martial fighter without all of the mystical elements or armor focus of its parent classes.

Jason's tour took us through eight spreads of the book, revealing details on the shaman class as well as arcanist archetypes like the elemental master, occultist, school savant, spell specialist, unlettered arcanist, and white mage. He also gave a preview of the book's numerous skald rage powers, a look at its feats, spells, and magic items, and finally a glimpse at the character class design guidelines included in the volume.

Monster Codex

He then continued with a tour of the Pathfinder RPG Monster Codex, a treasury of stat blocks, cultural details, and special rules for 20 of the Pathfinder RPG's most commonly encountered creatures. After a look at the fire giant chapter, Jason showed off several illustrations of the various creatures represented within, which are reproduced below.

Illustrations by Jason Rainville

Check out more monsters from the Monster Codex!

Illustrations by Roberto Pitturru

Illustrations by Alexandre Chaudret

Illustrations by Ben Wootten

Illustrations by Maichol Quinto

Illustrations by Jason Engle

Pathfinder Unchained

The big announcement for the RPG line came when Jason pulled back the curtain on Pathfinder Unchained, the spring 2015 hardcover that will take Pathfinder into exciting new directions. This tome of optional rules revisits the barbarian, monk, rogue, and summoner classes with entirely revised versions designed to improve their overall play at the table. The book also will include an optional (and much simpler) action economy for the game, as well as new ways of designing monsters and treasure on the fly that we think players are going to love. We'll have much more to say about this book going forward, but for now it's probably enough to say that we've been conducting some mad experiments here at Paizo Central, and we can't wait to share them with you!

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Following Jason's presentation, we were joined by Pathfinder Adventure Card Game designers Mike Selinker and Tanis O'Connor, who revealed more details about August's Skull & Shackles Base Set and the upcoming Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Organized Play program. The highlight of the card game presentation was Mike's announcement that the NEXT Adventure Card Game base set will be Wrath of the Righteous, scheduled for a February 2015 release! We'll have full product pages for the whole path up shortly!

Sketch by Wayne Reynolds

Giantslayer Adventure Path

Following the Adventure Card Game presentation, Erik announced the name of the next Pathfinder Adventure Path: GIANTSLAYER! More details about the campaign will be announced at the Adventure Path team's Sunday seminar, and will hit the Paizo Blog in short order.

Licensed Products

Following the AP talk, I focused on a raft of upcoming Pathfinder licensed products, most so new that they do not even have product pages on paizo.com yet! They are:

• A metal Sihedron Medallion from our partners at King of the Castle/Campaign Coins.
• A look at the upcoming Rise of the Runelords soundsets from Syrinscape.
• Pathfinder Comics hardcovers for Volume 2: Tooth and Claw and the popular Pathfinder: Goblins! limited series.
• Pathfinder Iconic Heroes Minimates figurines.

Pathfinder Battles: The Lost Coast

The next section of the Preview Banquet focused on the Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted plastic figures we produce in cooperation with WizKids. In addition to showing off several of the already-revealed figures, Erik finally revealed the set's titanic case incentive figure—the mighty Shemhazian Demon.

Pathfinder Online

Following the annual presentation of our Volunteer of the Year Award (co-awarded to PaizoCon UK founders and masterminds Dave Harrison and Rob Silk), we invited Pathfinder Online executive Ryan Dancey to close out the ceremony with a look at the Alpha version of Pathfinder Online, which went live just last week. It's still very much a work in progress, but there has been a TON of progress in recent months, and it's been really cool to see people playing the game and having fun with it. Ryan and his team have been running demos all weekend, and it's become a great part of the PaizoCon experience to see the game grow from year to year.

Here's a look at the video.

And that's it for new announcements this year! We'll have a lot more to say about these products in the weeks and months to come. If you're at PaizoCon, it's been fantastic getting a chance to chat with and game with you. If you couldn't make it this year, here's hoping you get a chance to attend in the future!

Keep rolling 20s, everyone!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Friday Publisher Preview: Erik Trolls the Internet

Friday, June 27, 2014

We're less than a week from PaizoCon, and the office is exploding with activity required to get ready for the Big Show. I'm franticly working on the Preview Banquet presentation in another window, we've just sent the on-site book to the local printer, and the warehouse team is packing up the products that will appear in our on-site Paizo Store. Upstairs, our CEO Lisa Stevens is playing the just-released Alpha Build of Pathfinder Online, and the editorial team is, as usual, working nose to the ground to hit its regular deadlines.

In short, it's chaos as usual here at Paizo, and everyone has Big Things on their minds at the moment. But that's no reason to keep us from our regularly scheduled Friday Publisher Preview!

This week we take a peek at three new reveals from November's The Lost Coast set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. The Lost Coast covers a wide variety of figures that represent common enemies, specific NPCs, and appropriate player characters from the Lost Coast region of Varisia. That region has played home to Adventure Paths like Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star, as well as numerous Pathfinder Modules and Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios.

But today's miniatures aren't from any of that. Rather, they're of the "fits the region" variety, and each was chosen for a different reason that had nothing to do with Adventure Paths.

Up first this week is a little critter we like to call the Id Stalker, directly from page 180 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. These hideous Darklands creatures embed themselves in the empty brainpans of their victims, using them like puppets to do evil in the world. They've also been crying out for a good miniature representation for a long time. The Id Stalker is a Small, common creature, so you'll be able to attack your player characters with a small horde of them.

Continuing the theme of "great things come in Small packages" is the Gnome Eldritch Knight, pulled from page 221 of the Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex. This little guy exists mostly because I think he looks cool, but also because I want to fill the ranks with characters wielding interesting weapons—in this case a warhammer. My biggest regret with this guy is that the factory couldn't work in his hair-thin cigarette holder, but even when the Gnome Eldritch Knight is a bit more health conscious, he still looks fantastic in his fine purple suit. The figure is a Small, uncommon figure. He was originally a rare, but the relatively simple sculpt saw him switch places with a more complicated figure—something that upsets my "perfect" proposed rarities once or twice every set. He's cool enough that I hope folks end up wanting more than one of him.

Finally, finally, FINALLY we get a standard Pathfinder Troll at the correct size with The Lost Coast set. Many of you probably remember the severely undersized Troll from our first set, Heroes & Monsters. Many gamers now semi-effectionately refer to this little guy as the Troll Whelp because he's so small. In sets since then we've managed to produce an appropriately sized Sea Troll, two appropriately sized Ice Trolls, and a deliberately oversized Troll Champion, but the regular Troll has been waiting impatiently for a return to the spotlight. Our first "generic" set in a while gave me the perfect opportunity to rectify the Original Sin of Pathfinder Battles, and I'm absolutely thrilled with how he turned out. Size-wise, he's between the Sea Troll and the Troll Champion, which is right where he should be. I am very, very happy with how this guy turned out. The Troll is a Large, uncommon figure.

Before I leave you today, I also wanted to draw attention to the special promotional figure we'll be giving FREE to all PaizoCon attendees. Here he is!

This is the Bloodbriar Goblin Raider, straight from the set of Emerald Spire promotional figures we produced for the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter effort of last year. We've just started fulfilling the Emerald Spire miniatures sets to backers, and wanted to share this figure in particular with our hardcore fans—along with the other cool free swag that has made the PaizoCon gift bag a legend among PaizoCon attendees!

Speaking of PaizoCon and miniatures, I hope all minis-fiend attendees will join me Sunday at 2:00 PM for my official PaizoCon Miniatures Trading Afterparty in the hotel bar. I'll be bringing lots of Pathfinder Battles doubles along with tons of unpainted metal and unwanted plastic figures from other companies, and will be trading them for a few hours with other like-minded folks over beers to officially wind down the convention. This event has happened every year at PaizoCon, and it's become a really fun tradition. I urge all attendees to leave a little extra room in their suitcases for unwanted minis. It's a great opportunity to return home with a similar space filled with figures you DO want, and I look forward to chatting and trading with you in just over a week's time.

Finally, I'd hoped to be able to share a bit this week about WizKids' plan to make good on the production errors that effectively ruined the Feiya, Iconic Witch figure from the recent Reign of Winter set. The mini was a huge disappointment for everyone involved, and while I unfortunately cannot yet reveal any details, I am confident that WizKids will go above and beyond to make up for the mistakes made on this figure. I'm both surprised and impressed by what they have in mind—it's somewhat elaborate, so they need to make sure everything is in place before announcing their plans, but I wanted to make sure that you all know that those plans ARE moving forward, and I think you'll be pleased when you learn what they are—something I very much hope to be able to reveal next week.

Until then, or at least until PaizoCon, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher