Greetings, ‘Finders, and thank you for a stellar Gen Con 2025, featuring the launch of Starfinder Second Edition and the first-ever use of skirmish rules in Pathfinder Second Edition!

Starfinder Second Edition Launch!

An intergalactic welcome to Starfinders new and old as we usher in a new era of science-fantasy roleplaying! Gen Con saw the launch of Starfinder Second Edition with the release of Starfinder Player Core, Era of the Eclipse, Murder in Metal City, and a plethora of accessories!

In addition to product releases, we also celebrated the beginning of Starfinder’s new era with some amazing announcements—including the upcoming Starfinder Afterlight CRPG from our partners at EpicTellers!

You can follow the campaign for Starfinder Afterlight on Kickstarter or wishlist the game on Steam!

For those who couldn’t make it to the show, we’ve recorded a version of our Starfinder Launch Panel to cover all the announcements! Plus, settle in for a wild ride with our celebrity game, recorded live at Gen Con!

Pathfinder Battlecry! & the Hellfire Crisis

Get ready for battle! Gen Con also marked the release of Pathfinder Battlecry!, the latest rulebook for Pathfinder Second Edition. This book introduces two new classes: the commander and the guardian, as well as skirmish rules, player options, siege rituals, and so much more!
<hellknight hill GMs>

Gen Con also bore witness to the opening salvo of the Hellfire Crisis—The Battle of Hellknight Hill! This special Pathfinder adventure made use of the new skirmish mechanics, giving players the opportunity to marshal their troops and storm the Hellknight citadel!

Sending up a special thank you to our Hellknight Hill GMs, as well as BJ Hensley, Thurston Hillman, Mike Webb, and our friends at Titan Forge, My Mini Factory, and Dwarven Forge for the stunning miniatures and terrain!

Organized Play

Gen Con was another astounding year of gaming for Pathfinders and Starfinders alike! Over the course of the weekend, over 1,100 games ran in the Sagamore Ballroom with over 5,000 players! The energy in the ballroom was electric­—nothing beats the excitement of hundreds of people diving into adventure together!

For a snapshot of the hard work our Organized Play GMs, HQ volunteers, and organizers put in over Gen Con, we’ve collected some fun stats:

• Over 70 tables and 350 players for the Starfinder Second Edition Launch Special
• Over 80 tables and 450 players for the Pathfinder Second Edition Multi-Table Special
• Over 450 characters built at our character creation stations
• Over 100 tables of Hellknight Hill
• Over 200 volunteer GMs, HQ, and info desk workers

Whether this was your first time playing with us or you’re a veteran of the Sagamore Ballroom, thank you for joining us for another wonderful year of Pathfinder and Starfinder at Gen Con!

Pathfinder Quest

A new adventure is on the horizon! With Pathfinder Quest launching on BackerKit on September 16th, we kicked off the Launch Party at Gen Con 2025!

Throughout the weekend, we ran demos of Pathfinder Quest in the Sagamore Ballroom and at our demo space in Hall C! We also streamed a special demo session on Gen Con TV, featuring Krystina Arielle!

Join the party today to participate in trivia challenges, access exclusive updates, and receive a free metal coin when you pledge!

Drifter’s End

Paizo partnered with the newly remodeled Bar Cardinale at the Omni Severin to bring Drifter’s End, a Starfinder-themed bar, to life!

It was wonderful to see Drifter’s End full of friendly faces throughout the weekend! Let us know if you tried the Strawberry Machine Cake or any of our special themed drinks!

We can’t wait to see you all next year for The Best Four Days in Gaming!

Digital Adventure Releases

The following adventures will be released on August 27, 2025, and may be run at events beginning on that date.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Intro to the Year of Battle’s Spark—Enough is Enough*

Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-02: Shipyard Sabotage*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-03: Disaster at Dreamlink Labs*

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: The Great Absalom Relay*

Gen Con Recap

Gen Con 2025 was a rousing success! The Sagamore ballroom was packed to the gills 18 hours a day with Pathfinder and Starfinder Society games, Pathfinder Quest and Infinity Deck demos, and the Battle of Hellknight Hill! We ran over 1100 games for nearly 6000 players during the weekend, and it was wonderful to get to game with all of you again.

If you’d like to join us in 2026, look for a call for volunteers here on the blog in January of next year. Only 352 days until Gen Con!

Photos by Gen Con Committee Member bigrin42

Starfinder Society News

The Gen Con launch of Starfinder Society (second edition) was a stellar success! We ran nearly 600 tables of Starfinder Society (second edition), and everybody had a blast (off—okay we’re done doing puns now).

Prior to the convention, we launched our updated landing page, Character Options page, Guide to Organized Play and a new Player’s Guide for the Invasion’s Edge storyline. We know there are still some hiccups and bumps to be smoothed out on some of these pages, but we’re working hard to get everything corrected. If you see any issues with broken links or outdated language, please let us know and we’ll get things fixed up!

One thing I realized we didn’t communicate very effectively ahead of time was our sanctioning process for Starfinder (second edition) adventures other than scenarios. We do not intend to issue chronicle sheets for these adventures, outside of special exceptions like Free RPG Day adventures and other single-session adventures. Players are still free to use the character options in these adventures, provided they own a physical or PDF copy of the product, but there won’t be Organized Play credit for playing or GMing these non-Society adventures.

Pathfinder Society News

We’ve got some new character options for Pathfinder Society this month! Our newest release, Pathfinder Battlecry!, is now sanctioned for use. All Pathfinder Society players who own a copy may play as a jotunborn, a commander and/or a guardian, and many other options are available through boons in the boon store. You can find full details on the Character Options page as usual.

We’ve also released some brand new boons for expanded wizard schools! Add more spells to your wizard’s curriculum from non-core books with the boons, available for just 10 Achievement Points each.

As a reminder, you have three weeks before the September 5th deadline to register your first Starfinder Society (second edition) game and unlock a skittermander character in Pathfinder Society! To help our our play-by-post community, this applies specifically to games begun on or before September 5th.

Finally, we invite all Pathfinder Society members to tune into Paizo Live this Friday, August 15 for news on upcoming adventures in 2026! You can expect to hear some intriguing news about Pathfinder Society scenarios from some of our editorial staff, so join us at 4pm Pacific time on our Twitch channel.

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

At Gen Con, several new Campaign Coins have been awarded! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:

Greg Garcia, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #912

John Kaufeld, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #923

and Kurt Wasiluk, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #924

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month we had three GMs reach their fifth rank!

5th Glyph (PFS2): Randy Cronin, Daniel Hutchinson, James Reeves

If you believe you’ve completed your 5th rank but haven’t been announced yet, please email me at organizedplay@paizo.com.

Conventions

Gen Con may have ended, but fall is chock full of local events! Check out the Conventions calendar for upcoming events in your area and be one of the first to experience Starfinder Society (second edition). I’ll be joining the local community at GalaxyCon San Jose this weekend, as well as Hurricon in Orlando in October. Later this month we’ll have a call for volunteers for PAX Unplugged (November 21-23), so stay tuned for that!

Until next time: Explore! Report! Cooperate! And good luck in the Great Absalom Relay!

Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Manager

Pathfinder Battlecry! is now available! We enlisted a whole platoon of authors to bring you the most up-to-date intelligence from the front in the form of new backgrounds, classes, archetypes, spells, items, and more!

Pathfinder Battlecry! covers in all their glory. Art by Wayne Reynolds.

Commanding this motley crew is me, Jason Keeley, Senior Designer and the design lead on Battlecry! It all began with an idea for a book about the mortal wars occurring in the wake of Gorum’s death and the eventual clash between Andoran and Cheliax that is the Hellfire Crisis. While this is a book that focuses heavily on fighting and has a lot of options for martial characters, I wanted to make sure most other character types could join the battle. I wrote the guardian class and the story of Arianna Dreth’s encounters with Ulka Oathshriek and Grimmyr (with prodigious help from our more journalistic-minded editors). (Fun fact: The name Arianna Dreth came from an anagram of “Dan Rather” with some extra letters thrown in.) I’ve already been hearing a lot of positive buzz about the book—thank you so much! You can find me on Bluesky @herzwesten.bsky.social if you want to chat about games, books, and dogs!

Now it’s time for our battle-tested authors to sound off!

Rigby Bendele (they/them)

I was excited to contribute the field propagandist archetype to Battlecry! Archetypes like the dandy have always been my favorites, so it was a delight to put my spin on a similar type of design (hat tip to the dandy's designer, Jessica Redekop!). I hope you enjoy playing with it at the table.

Tineke Bolleman (she/her)

Hi, I’m Tineke (she/her), and I’m from the Netherlands. I have been active in the Paizo Organized Play sphere for years, and many of you may know me from the Pathfinder and Starfinder scenarios I have written. For Battlecry!, I brought many of the marvelous troops in this book to life for you. It was amazing to work with others to bring you challenging and diverse enemies to face on the battlefield. I hope you enjoy them!

Jessica Catalan (she/her)

Hi, I'm Jessica Catalan (she/her), Senior Developer on the Starfinder team here at Paizo, head of the Starfinder Society, and frequent freelancer for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs. For Battlecry!, I worked on character options for existing Pathfinder classes, which is a space I always enjoy exploring. I hope you enjoy taking to the battlefield as a summoner with a swarm eidolon, a thaumaturge with a shield implement, or testing out some new feats astride your beloved mount as a champion or cavalier.

Take care out there, folks!

Alain and his mighty steed leap over an enemy encampment. Art by Christoph Peters.

Jeremy Corff (he/him)

Hello! I’m Jeremy Corff (he/him). You may remember me from Starfinder Society Scenario #6-11: Gifts Ungiven, or the Kingmaker Anniversary Edition Companion Guide, Absalom, City of Lost Omens, as well as other work. I was thrilled to have the chance to contribute to Battlecry! My sections included the siege weapons, as well as held magic items and some work on the war mage archetype. Did you know a shocking array of musical instruments played a key part in armed forces before the advent of radio and more advanced communication technology? I did my best to provide a broad selection!

You can see more of my work in the upcoming Revenge of the Runelords Adventure Path, as well as yet-to-be-announced projects.

If you’re hungry for more, you can find me on Bluesky at @solorunstudio.bsky.social or at my Starfinder blog where I post weekly Starfinder content.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe) is Paizo's Marketing & Media Manager and a frequent freelance author, designer, consultant, and editor for TTRPGs. They take great joy in designing the macabre and the mysterious alike, and can be found at all hours holding his giant black cat, Belladonna. You can see some of Rue's handiwork in Battlecry!'s siege rituals and the necrologist archetype!

John Godek III (he/him)

Hi! I’m John! Besides Battlecry! I contributed to the Lost Omens Tian Xia Character and World Guides, as well as over a dozen other projects for Paizo, Legendary Games, Evil Robot Games, and Evil Genius Games, including Starfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Collision’s Wake, a special kicking off the release of Starfinder Second Edition at Gen Con this summer. For Battlecry! I wrote the war backgrounds, magic armor, and battle vehicle sections. As a veteran and former sailor, I am particularly excited by several of the entries I contributed. I loved trying to capture the attitude of grizzled soldiers with the veteran background, while the martial musician was inspired by my time in marching bands and drum & bugle corps. Working endless hours in the frigid conditions of Antarctica inspired the creation of the frost furs magic armor, while the eagle wing armor was something I wished I had while flying in helos over Greenland translocating musk oxen. I probably was most excited to bring the ice breaker into Pathfinder after working on three ice breakers all over the globe! Look for me at Gen Con, or reach me at https://knowdirectionpodcast.com/, on YouTube, @johngodek.bsky.social, or at johngodek.com.

Glide with grace while wearing eagle wing armor. Art by Roman Kierszenbaum.

Dennis Muldoon (he/him)

Hello! I'm Dennis Muldoon (he/him). I've been a Paizo contributor since 2019, and in that time, I've contributed to numerous projects across nearly every line Paizo publishes. For this book, I wrote the munitions master class archetype, as well as some magic ammunition and siege ammunition. I'm really excited for folks to get their hands on this book and to see what sort of epic adventures result! You can find more of my recent work in the Starfinder Galaxy Guide (the kalo ancestry), Starfinder Society Scenario #7-13 Ratrod's Revenge, and Starfinder Mechaggedon!

Mikhail Rekun (he/him)

Приветствую, уважаемые читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and I’m a Russian-speaking Ukrainian-American historian, educator, and author.

Now, I’ve been writing for Paizo for a while, so you might say I have a bit of a reputation—the sort that leads our esteemed Jason Keeley to write me out of the blue and ask if I wanted to write ten thousand words on military gaming. I said yes. Actually, I think said something more like “YES!!!” Exclamation marks were involved.

In my professional life, I teach a lot of military history—mostly post-industrial stuff (ask me about trench warfare!), but I can expound on most anything at least a bit. This was the perfect assignment in which to inflict military doctrine upon an unsuspecting public, only with added reincarnating harpies and depressed lich-queens. I hope you find it fun, I hope you find it interesting, and hey, maybe even a tiny bit educational.

By the by, if you want to see more of my writing, you should head on over to the Luminant Age Campaign Setting", where I am Creative Director. It’s cool, we’ve got teleporting mice.

Kendra Leigh Speedling

Hello, all! I'm Kendra Leigh Speedling, frequent contributor to Paizo. For Battlecry! I did the guerrilla and Iridian choirmaster archetypes; I had fun trying to map particular fighting styles and techniques to game mechanics and updating the Iridian lore a bit for Pathfinder Second Edition. I hope people who liked sniping duo will also like that one! I also got to do the whetstones, little magic items designed to give martials something magical to do with their weapons in a fight. My favorite is the key of unwinding, which lets its user rewrite time itself to avoid enemy attacks. Battlecry! has a lot of other cool stuff in it, also, and I'll be excited to see how folks use it in games.

If you're interested in my future projects/art reposts/cat photos, you can follow me at BlueSky @kendrarara.bsky.social.

Andrew White

Hello, I’m Andrew White! I’m the Digital Products Lead here at Paizo and a frequent contributor to neat books like Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, Pathfinder Guns & Gears, Pathfinder Book of the Dead, Pathfinder Rage of Elements, Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, and numerous others! For Battlecry!, I wrote up a bunch of exciting new battlefield-ready magical weapons as well as a whole slew of new troops to throw at your PCs, and I would like to thank Jason Keeley not only for hiring me for this project, but for not immediately deleting my turnover and never hiring me again when I pitched him a weapon called the chain of command. [Keeley’s note: I flipped a coin, and you got lucky, mister!] You can find me (infrequently) reposting smarter, funnier people on Bluesky @plaguecontrol.bsky.social.

Don’t even try to break the chain of command. Art by Roman Kierszenbaum.

Linda Zayas-Palmer (she/her)

Hi! I’m Linda Zayas-Palmer, former development manager of the narrative team at Paizo. I’m now a full-time freelance author writing TTRPG content, primarily for Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder. For Battlecry!, I wrote the follower rules, including the captain archetype, as well as some of the new troops. Both sections were good fun, but I especially enjoyed the process of distilling down the feel of iconic character tropes into mechanics that fit into Pathfinder’s companion framework. My most recently released work includes Pathfinder Second Edition conversion of Palaeogames’s Dr Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs and the living spell, bogey, and kraken ancestries for Roll for Combat’s Battlezoo Ancestries: Titans. I stream twice a week on YouTube as Arcane Mark, together with my game designer husband Mark Seifter. You can also find me on the Arcane Mark discord.

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Rally your troops and prepare for war at hellfirecrisis.com! Subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription to be among the first to join the ranks with Pathfinder Battlecry!

"What did I tell you about these cheap knockoff sonic plugs?” Quig takes the charred scrap in his paw, turning it in front of Iseph so they can see. “They tear like paper under a little arcanospheric turbulence!”

Iseph’s expression is always rigid, courtesy of its metallic composition, but now it’s utterly blank, like they didn’t even hear.

Quig tries again. “What? That rough landing get to you? You? Hunter of adamantine? Just breathe—wait, no—circulate your arc coolant and loosen up those radial connector bolts.”

“You’re rambling,” Iseph observes, “so you’re fine.”

Their metallic voice almost sounds annoyed with Quig. Weird. They must really be shaken up, Quig figures. Iseph trudges past the landing pod, shrugging off the orbital dive gear to make their customary initial survey for hostiles.

The mysterious Gate of Altyris consumes the horizon with its diameter, framing Quig’s android companion and the rest of the empty landscape. They don’t really know why it exists or where it leads, only that the whole system is counting on them to activate it before the incursion.

“Still no idea what this old tech is made of,” Quig says as he scampers after Iseph, his rig clanking away. “But whoever built that big ring sure did carve out all the good alloys from the planet, didn’t they? This ground’s got more holes in it than I’ve drilled into the ship over the years, and that’s saying something.”

“Probably unstable,” Iseph mutters. “Watch your step. Not flying down for you again.”

“Please. Who do you think you’re talking to, buddy? This magnetic hover field is so good it’ll send you flying if you get too close!”

Quig flips a switch on his boots. His jump jets make a soft humming sound, buffeting him a few scant inches off the ground.

“Well—maybe not flying,” Quig admits. “But you’ll feel it—oooohhhhh! Look at this!”

He skates over the broken earth and stops his momentum only by grabbing hold of a fantastic console webbed with circuitry and control runes, only some of which he recognizes. Sure, there are also beautifully crafted ancient statues standing around it, but those are just decoration. Not his thing.

 Iseph asks, “Is that the on button?”

“Well, it’s made of the same alloy. Scan can’t identify it.” Quig has already made the attempt and stashed his hand-scanner back in his rig. As fast as he can run his mouth, his brain always runs faster. “Similar design. Lemme just pry this panel off—oh, good! That didn’t break anything! Yup, I can see the connector here. Then down that channel, and—yup. Binocs confirm it, straight to the ring. Kinda reminds me of your sub-neural network. You ever mess with the settings on that?”

When Quig looks up, he’s surrounded by spare parts and loose hardware strewn across the ancient alien platform where the console sits. Iseph eyes him the way Quig might eye a passing astral leviathan—with increasing concern the longer it lingers.

“Well, have you?”

Iseph blinks. “Have—what? No? Why—”

“Ohhh. That might explain why your joints erode so fast, ‘Seph. I’m not kidding about loosening up those radial connector bolts.”

Iseph shook their head. “Makes my combat form imprecise.”

“Yeah, yeah, obviously not for combat! But you can swap between modes, you know! Had to learn that myself.” Quig returns to the console, crawling inside to clear out the grime and replace the rusted parts. “When I said goodbye to Scout—boy, I hope he’s okay—I’m sure he is, he’s a clever bot ever since I figured out how to get him sentient—he’ll do great out there, he will, but I think about him sometimes, you know—hand me that spark rotator, will you? No, the spark—oh right. You wouldn’t know what that is—I invented it. That spiky one with the whoosh doohickey over there—no, the—yeah, that one—so, as I was saying, when I designed Munchkin, I realized she’s gotta be adaptable, modular, ready to switch things up at—”

An alarm beeps in his helmet. Munchkin springs from Quig’s rig. The turret unfolds behind him and deploys a quickly-heating barrel in seamless parallel.

“—a moment’s notice!”

Quig rolls into Munchkin’s shadow before an arc ray can blast his tail off. The next shot traces him but strikes Munchkin’s armor plating instead.

“See? Zero-latency combat mode initiation!”

Only then does Quig poke his nose out from behind Munchkin.

The statues surrounding the console step off their platforms, shedding dust from their joints. Under the grime, Quig now sees they’re made of the same alloy as the console.

Iseph unloads their guns on one of those mechanical guardians, precise as always, though its chassis absorbs most of the damage impressively.

Quig licks his tall front teeth. “Oh, I want some of that scrap when we’re done here!”

 Iseph shouts, “Can you activate the gate or not?!”

Quig tries to finish his repairs, but in his haste, his paw slips, slamming his rotator into a panel. A puff of sparks and ozone-flavored smoke blooms into his helmet.

“Oops.”

Iseph rounds on him, so Quig clarifies quickly.

“Uh, the control panel is in better shape than I expected, but the power core is fuzzed!”

Iseph’s opticals snap to the gate the size of a space station. “We have to power that?!”

“Oh, not the gate! That’s fine! It’s just the controls—Oi! Could you big hunks of scrap sit still for a sec? I’m working here!”

Quig draws his arc pistol to fire at a guardian with a glowing arc blade marching too close for comfort. Nigh simultaneously, Munchkin returns fire at a guardian with a zero cannon, firing frosty energy rounds without prompting.

The guardian with the blade shakes off Quig’s shots and advances. That’s when it trips Munchkin’s motion sensor. She swivels a secondary reaction cannon, stopping it in its tracks with an opportunistic blast.

“Ha! See? I told you to sit still!” Quig fires again, but this time, he observes how the armoring alloy reacts. His brain races through possible methods to pierce it even as he generates ideas for powering the console. “Maybe with repairs, the landing pod engine could power the console—what do you think, ‘Seph—”

The blade guardian closes the distance and swings down at Quig’s head. He blocks with his arc pistol, but the guardian is over twice his weight. Quig topples onto his back. The blade burns, searing his eyeshield hotter and hotter the closer it bears down.

One of Munchkin’s frost rounds strikes the cannon guardian in a leg joint, and it wobbles and trips into the chasm. Quig’s round ears perk up at the receding sound of the alloy hitting stone—down—down—down…

“Nice lucky shot, Munchkin,” Quig grunts, “but I think you’ve got a better tool for the rest of this job!”

Munchkin activates her array shift in response to the neural command from Quig’s exocortex. The blazing barrel recedes, replaced by a barrel with self-protective vibrational dampeners. When her next round strikes the blade guardian, the tip of the ammunition shell clicks and a thunderclap detonates.

Sonic ripples vibrate through the guardian’s chassis and crack it at the weakest joints. Then Quig hears a hundred tiny internal mechanisms shattering under sonic shock.

It wheels back from Quig and slumps over the console, powering down.

Quig springs back up to his hindpaws. “Sonic damage! Great! I can always be louder!” He reaches into his rig for an electromag grenade. “Let’s just make a few adjustments here…! How you doing over there, ‘Seph?”

The only response Quig gets is a flurry of gunshots.

“You know, you’re not a great conversation partner, ‘Seph.” Quig sticks a thin tool into the grenade’s casing. “I feel like we never talk. I mean, I’d usually chat like this with Navasi or Dae, but this arcanosphere’s sent the comms to the cats—that’s why I didn’t tell you I had it all under control, see, when the pod went down—could’ve saved you a trip—”

“We!” Iseph takes another shot. “Are in combat!”

“Yeah! What about it?”

Iseph doesn’t answer and instead swings around to fend off a guardian approaching from behind.

“Must have lost their train of thought,” Quig mutters. “Happens to me all the time! Anyway, I’m glad you didcome, ‘Seph, in these circumstances.”

Iseph’s gunshot shatters one of the statues’ headplates. They lift their head, heartened...

Quig pulls the pin on the grenade. “Who would I talk to if you weren’t here? Sure, there’s always you, Munchkin, I like talking to you, but it’s nice when someone quips back. You know?”

Iseph’s face snaps back into a grimace.

“Yeah! See? Munchkin says she wants to get to know you better too, ‘Seph. You can talk to us anytime.”

“Chuck it!” Iseph shouts at him.

“Cheese Louise! You could just say no—oh. Chuck the grenade.” He tosses it over his shoulder just as it starts beeping rapidly. “I was getting there! We were in the middle of—”

The words “a heartfelt conversation” vanish beneath an explosion of sound.

An earsplitting cacophony buries the following sentence as the vibration of the sonic grenade shudders through the unstable terrain. Cracks lace the ground, each setting off a chain reaction in the rock. Everything apart from the ten-foot-square around the console crumbles, slabs of earth careening into the abyss like dominoes.

The guardians still standing plummet into the maw of the planet. Iseph leaps to the console just in time to avoid the same fate, and Quig hits Munchkin’s emergency recall switch, prompting her to fold back into his rig.

For the first time since they arrived, they stand in utter silence.

That lasts until Quig opens his mouth again.

“Phew! That was close!” Quig pats Iseph on the shoulder, now that they’re within reach. “That turned into a bit of a clusterfuzz, didn’t it?”

Iseph gives him a withering look and wipes dirt from their opticals.

Quig himself frowns, turning toward the open console. “Now, how am I gonna run big enough power cables across that chasm from the pod…?”

His eyes rise to the guardian slumped over the console.

“Hold on. You must have an independent power source…”

Quig yanks the console’s power cables out of its case and pries open the glowing casing over the guardian’s power core. With a few adjustments and an adapter, he plugs it straight into the body.

The console lights up, and Quig begins the activation sequence for the gate.

“Just like that! Easy cheesy!” Quig smiles at Iseph.

Iseph, however, stares at the corpse of the constructed guardian that their companion has fashioned into a battery. “That’s horrifying.”

Quig glances between them.

“Oh! Sorry! I guess it is, kinda! I didn’t…” Quig points a thumb at the body. “You want me to disconnect and…?”

“No. It’s practical,” Iseph says. “So are most of your suggestions. Practical and disturbing.”

“Oh.” Quig nods. “Just let me know if I ever, you know, bother you.”

Iseph shakes their head. “You just talk too much.”

“Probably.” Quig can’t argue with that.

Iseph’s internal servos spin.

Quig asks, “Seriously, if you’re not comfortable, you can just tell me to shut up—”

“I,” Iseph interrupts him. Quig lets them talk. “I… would like your help… with my radial connector bolts. The zero-latency mode shift is impressive. I’d like that edge. But I don’t know how to…”

Quig’s whiskered face stretches into a toothy grin. “I’ll show you! Every sentient should get to know their own hardware! Even us meaty ones! I tell you, even my knees have been telling me a lot lately. Everything’s got something to say! If you know how to talk to it, the whole universe opens up to you!”

The gate blooms to life on the horizon beyond.

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About the Author
Gene Markey is an AuDHD New England writer, artist, and long-time GM. When not rolling 20-sided dice or writing about games, they provide graphics to small organizations promoting third spaces and local community.

About the Iconic
Quig (he/him) is a male ysoki mechanic who recently parted ways with his best friend, Scout, after helping the drone develop into a true artificial intelligence. Now, he’s tinkering with a new prototype—a customizable turret. The mechanic class uses an electric implant or device known as an exocortex to control a powerful mechanical ally—a drone, turret, or deployable mines. Learn more at starfinderplaytest.com!

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.

The mechanic class is still a work in progress, but you can learn more about ysoki 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!

Hello, Paizo community! With the launch of Starfinder Society Second Edition, I figure it’s the perfect time to issue a call for new volunteers interested in serving as venture officers for Paizo Organized Play. Whether you’re excited about the new science-fantasy future of Starfinder, dedicated to the classic fantasy of Pathfinder, or ready to mix the two together, we’ve got an incredible worldwide community of more than 700 volunteers ready to welcome their nufriends!

What Venture Officers Do

Illustration by Marko Horvatin

Our volunteer venture officers (VOs for short) serve a variety of functions for the program. Most are involved with organizing games at their local stores and supporting their communities. While this call is geared towards in-person play, we also follow the same structure for our online region and have venture officers focused on virtual tabletop or asynchronous play as well.

Venture Agents (VAs) are the store-level coordinators and often oversee scheduling games at one or two stores. They work with the store owner and employees to share information and speak with their communities to find out what adventures they’d like to play.

Venture Lieutenants(VLs) supervise Venture Agents, often overseeing a city or town. They also typically take up lead positions for local conventions, helping to schedule games and organize GMs for these events.

Venture Captains (VCs) and Regional Venture Coordinators (RVCs) are our top-level organizers. They supervise large cities, states, or multi-state or country regions and help to advise the OP staff on how things are going in their assigned areas.

We also have a rich community of online play, both in the independent online region as well as online offerings from many of our primarily in-person lodges. Whether you’re running online or in-person, there’s a role for you in our organization.

Venture officers can also join task forces focused on specific objectives, such as the Onboarding Task Force, which creates new player resources, or the Guide Team, which maintains the Guide to Organized Play. Joining one of these groups isn’t required but is another way to support our program if you have the skills and interest.

Benefits of Volunteering

Illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

On top of being part of our incredible community, venture officers receive perks depending on their rank.

All venture officers, regardless of rank, receive free PDFs of every Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenario we’ve ever published. No matter what your community wants to play, you’ll have access to that adventure! Venture Captains and Regional Venture Coordinators also receive PDFs of all Paizo products as a thanks for their hard work and time spent with the program.

Venture officers also qualify for the convention reimbursement program, where they can receive a limited number of Paizo vouchers for organizing conventions in their areas. These events often take more time and effort than simple in-store play, and so we want to be sure volunteers are properly rewarded.

At certain major conventions, such as PaizoCon and Gen Con, venture officers also qualify for increased rewardsbased on their rank. Typically, this takes the form of additional vouchers or earlier qualification for rewards like GM badges, but this varies by show.

All venture officers are invited to our special Discord server! This is used to disseminate information to all volunteers, as well as provide them access to certain resources like images for signs and advance knowledge of scenarios for planning purposes.

How to Become a Venture Officer

If you’re interested in volunteering your services, reach out to us! You can find your local Regional Venture Coordinator’s email on this page; contact them with your information and where you’re located, and they can connect you with any local networks in the area.

You can also start organizing on your own at your local game store! Work with them to find a time that works, post signups, and recruit new players! Anybody can be a store coordinator as long as you’re following the Guide to Organized Play and reporting your games back to us.

Finally, if you don’t have any game stores or volunteers near you, reach out to me! Email me at organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com, and I’ll get you in touch with whoever’s closest to start building out your local network.

Organized Play Foundation

The Organized Play Foundation (OPF) is the 501(c)3 organization we partner with to protect our volunteers. They support the gaming community of volunteers and players by providing resources and experiences that are fun, safe, and inclusive. When you volunteer as a Venture Officer, you’re helping the OPF accomplish their mission of bringing gaming to people worldwide and supporting their values of transparency, honesty, inclusiveness, and non-exploitation.

If you have any questions about what we do, drop them in the comments or reach out to me. We’d love to have you join us as we build out the best organized play programs in the industry. Until next blog—Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Manager

Joganer's head pounded, all memories of last night's party washed away. He knew he should've gotten the Sopeth liver scrubber to go with his ultimate cardio mod system. Maybe after this paycheck, he could hit the clinic for another upgrade.

His comm chirped.

"Manticore One, I want her alive and talking." His handler's garbled, grating voice didn't soothe his throbbing head. "You copy?"

Joganer grunted. "Solid. We're loaded up with stunners."

He scanned the darkened, twisting pipes around him, sensors rendering their outlines clear as day cycle into his HUD. The refinery's heat exchange was a labyrinth: low ceilings, exposed ducts, lots of places an intruder could hide.

"Her signal is coming from the control box, next junction."

Joganer's HUD highlighted a spill of dim light through the pipes beyond. He checked the ammo readout on his weapon and switched off the safety. "Manticore Team, stack up on my position."

Shadows slipped from every corner of the room, power armored, elite mercenaries slinking in his direction—all Sopeth grafted for maximum lethality. They silently formed a line behind him, the nearest member placing a hand on his back to signal readiness.

Joganer raised his weapon. "Move in on three... two... one..."

The team burst into the clearing to find a damaya lashunta crouched over an open panel, the luminous blue tips of her antennae waving gently. She didn't look like much of a threat, but she fit the description they'd been given: short, a fetish for green with a fashion sense like a huffed-out raver. The target wore armor, though nothing anyone might take seriously. The stuffed green plush makiri in her hand matched the accents of the pistol at her hip.

"Woooooow..." She looked them up and down. "It's like Operation Ultra Force over here!"

Joganer knew the infosphere show well. He hated it.

He engaged his helmet intercom. "Raia Danviri, interlace your fingers behind your head and—"

"No." She fastened her makiri's hands behind her neck like a kid about to take her favorite stuffie to school and whispered something to it. Then she met Joganer's gaze. "Why don't you tell me who sent you?"

"You're not in a position to make demands."

She shrugged. "Just trying to do what's best for all of us."

With a flick of her fingers, a spell gem appeared in her hand. A word from her lips, and thick grease bubbled up beneath the fireteam's boots. Manticore Three and Four slipped to the ground instantly. Joganer stumbled out of the puddle as Raia snapped the spent crystal into her pistol, grinning wide.

"Alaka-blam, boys!"

The shockwave of pure force sent Joganer's prone colleagues skidding away on snail trails. Laughing, Raia threw a flare into the grease, turning the path between them into a bonfire. The rest of Manticore Team scrambled backward, terrified to be caught in the flames.

Joganer took a shot at Raia as she fled into the shadows, but his stunner rounds only dented the nearby pipes. Fire suppressors popped out of every surface, spraying everyone down with fluorescent blue retardant. The powder clung to Raia's grease, leaving Manticore Team caked up and pissed off.

"Get up! She's getting away! Let's go, let's go!" Joganer pulled his struggling team to their feet and wiped his visor. "Two, Three, take left. Four and Five, take right. I'm headed up the center. Do not shoot me."

"If you let her get away," came the handler's voice in Joganer's ear, "the consequences will be swift."

He sneered as he pressed into the darkness. "She won't. We've got the whole place locked down."

Manticore Team moved into the jungle of pipes, rifles at the ready. Their friendly transponders pinged in the distance, flanking alongside Joganer. They were ready this time; she didn't stand a chance.

You could just tell me who sent you. Raia's voice spilled into his mind like a whisper. No need to get hurt.

Joganer shook off her distraction. It was nothing more than an old lashunta trick: get him to give away his position without revealing her own.

Two pops rang out in the darkness followed by screams from his left flank. Joganer barged through the tangled walkways to find a pair of comrades writhing on the ground, powered joints seizing and visors strobing. Their armor had stopped the shots, but it hadn't mattered. Joganer knelt and tried to free them from their helmets, but the security systems on their gear were totally fried—some kind of virus.

Two more shots echoed from the stoneward side of the complex. Four and Five screamed before their comms succumbed to static.

"Manticore, sound off!" Joganer stayed frosty, moving away from his fallen friends. "Who's still up?"

Just us now, came Raia's cheery mental voice. Why not shout out the name of whoever sent you, and I can be their problem instead?

A signal pinged his acoustic scanner, and Joganer swept his muzzle toward it. Then came another ping and another, resolving into the pattern of a cartoonish, smiling face. She must've hacked his HUD somehow, turning it into a liability.

Snarling, Joganer shut down his suit. His limbs dragged like high-grav, but his employer's grafts were more than strong enough to finish the mission. That little pistol of hers couldn't do anything against his composite plating, so the advantage was still his.

It'd been so long since he'd hunted another person without the cheats of trackers and scanners, trusting only the purity of his augmented senses. Without stealth compensators, his footfalls hit harder, his gear rustled. Joganer's heart thundered, electrified to finally have a chance to test his newest implants.

He laid eyes on Raia, crouched near a junction and mostly obscured by a breaker assembly. She didn't spot him, and he only needed to get closer for a clear shot at the dead center of her back. Joganer advanced, restraining a smile.

Last chance, she spoke into his mind. Disarm and hand over your boss.

Cocky little thing. Finally in range, he imitated her spoiled tone with a sneer. "No."

Raia turned, bemused, and gave him a finger wave—

—then disappeared into the console with a digital whoosh.

"Damn it!" He dashed to her position, frantic, and stopped dead when he heard a second whoosh in his wake.

Raia's pistol hammer clicked into place behind him as a barrel thunked against the back of his head.

"Want the inside of your helmet cleaned out?" He could hear the smile in her voice against the rising whine of her gun.

Fine. Let her shoot. It wouldn't penetrate. She couldn't hack his gear without power, and Joganer could probably take her in hand-to-hand.

He was about to spin and put her down, but the charging whine grew ever louder. Orange sunlight washed the immediate area, and the back of his neck seared beneath the shielded plates of his armor. Something inside his helmet stank of baking composite.

What in the name of the gods was she pointing at him?

"Overclocked. Enough to turn your face into nothing more than a bad memory and a worse smell," she said. "Now tell me who sent you before I have to ask your next of kin."

"Sorry, Manticore Team," came the voice of the handler. "Can't have that."

"What?" Joganer grit his teeth.

"You're terminated, immediately. No payout. Thank you for your service."

If they weren't going to pay, then he might as well give them up.

"Well?" Raia asked.

Joganer tried to answer, but his breath wouldn't come. It was like his diaphragm had simply stopped, and the air was stuck inside his lungs. He could only form the S sound, opening and closing his mouth. Terror seized his chest as all of his grafts slackened simultaneously—arms, eyes, lungs.

Raia bonked the back of Joganer's helmet with the pistol as he swooned from the lack of air. "Hey. Say something."

He slowly turned to her, blurry red shapes forming at the edge of his vision. Judging from the way she recoiled, he didn't look good.

"Ss... ss..." He dropped his rifle and groped at his throat before reaching for her.

Raia grabbed him and shook him. "Hey! What? No dying!"

Joganer's armor grew heavier. Dizziness overtook him. Parched lips and failing tongue curled into formation as he concentrated with all his might. He sank to his knees, desperate to utter one sound before the jaws of death closed about his mind.

Raia eased him to the ground, rolling him onto his back. "Look, if you want revenge, you're gonna have to spit it out!"

His eyes failed him, and a rattle pushed one final word from his mouth:

"Sssopethh..."

He listened intently for her response. It was the last thing he could do. In the intimate moment of his passing, Joganer found himself wishing Raia would say something, offer any kindness or justice to rest his soul.

Her response was short. "Sorry, I… I didn’t understand that."

Joganer gave up.

Illustration by Kevin Sardinha

---

About the Author
Alex White (they/them) is one of Disney’s go-to Alien writers, having penned the VR action-horror game Alien: Rogue Incursion and two Alien novels (THE COLD FORGE, INTO CHARYBDIS). They also wrote a Star Trek DS9 novel (REVENANT) and the critically acclaimed Starmetal Symphony and Salvagers trilogies for Orbit Books. Alex is a well-regarded moderator and performer, entertaining ballrooms from DragonCon to San Diego Comic Con, and has been interviewed by Variety, Digital Trends, IGN, and more. For fun, they write music on synthesizers and make knives on an anvil. Never at the same time, but maybe with some practice…
Check out their website at AlexRWhite.com.

About the Iconic
Raia (she/her) is a female damaya lashunta technomancer who’s got the smarts, spells, and style for any problem. The technomancer class blends magic and technology. Learn more at starfinderplaytest.com!

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.

The technomancer class is still a work in progress, but you can learn more about lashuntas in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, 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!

Hail and well met, ’Finders! Today is the beginning of Gen Con 2025, the beginning of an all-new era for Starfinder, and the beginning of Pathfinder’s Hellfire Crisis! With so many important launches and new beginnings, we wanted to give you a one-stop guide to everything happening this weekend!

Gen Con Digital Sale!

Today through Monday, August 4^th at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, take 20% off all PDFs released 6 months ago or older! This offer includes Pathfinder First Edition, Starfinder First Edition, Pathfinder Second Edition, and Starfinder Playtest content. Offer does not apply to Foundry VTT modules, third-party publications, and non-Paizo PDFs.

New Releases

Today marks the release of our August 2025 products! In lieu of a traditional release day blog, we’re highlighting the big kickers here!

Starfinder Player Core

Starfinder Player Core is the definitive entry point for Starfinder Second Edition, with everything a player needs to learn how to play the game! Choose from 10 ancestries, six character classes, and hundreds of feats and spells to create unique characters ready to take on a ruthless galaxy awash with magic and opportunity. Starfinder Player Core brings the Starfinder RPG into its new edition and is now 100% compatible with the acclaimed Second Edition of the hit Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Along with StarfinderGM Core and Alien Core, these books provide a new foundation for the future of tabletop gaming!

Starfinder Player Core is available in standard hardcover, the paizo.com and hobby retailer exclusive retro video game–inspired hardcover, and Special Edition faux-leatherette bound hardcover editions, as well as PDF format!

Pathfinder Battlecry!

Report for duty! When diplomacy between nations fails and neither side backs down, war is the inevitable result. From border skirmishes to large-scale invasions, conflict comes in many forms—the perfect chance for heroes to win glory! And war has come to the world Golarion, embroiling the nations of the Inner Sea in a conflict that will forever change the Pathfinder setting.

Pathfinder Battlecry! is available in standard hardcover, the paizo.com and hobby retailer exclusive sketch edition hardcover, and Special Edition faux-leatherette bound hardcover editions, as well as PDF format!

Starfinder Murder in Metal City

Murder in Metal City is a deluxe introductory boxed set adventure for four 1st-level Starfinder Second Edition characters containing numerous tools to assist GMs, including player and creature tokens, an immersive poster-sized double-sided battle map, investigation handouts, item cards, NPC cards, and a GM reference sheet and investigation tracker—everything required for a premium adventure experience!

Era of the Eclipse: a Starfinder novel

From Hugo Award–winning author Tim Pratt (City of the Fallen Sky, Reign of Stars, Liar’s Blade) comes the definitive starting point to the science-fantasy galaxy of the award-winning setting of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Experience firsthand the days after the Gap when history disappeared and follow in the footsteps of Starfinder’s newest iconic characters as they rush to uncover the truth of Starfinder’s greatest mystery!

Starfinder Infinity Deck

Even seasoned spacefarers need a break sometimes, and those in the Starfinder galaxy often turn to the Starfinder Infinity Deck for some light entertainment.

The original rules for this ubiquitous deck of 65 suited playing cards, found in virtually every cantina and corner store in the Pact Worlds, were lost to the Gap, an infamous period of missing memory. Since then, countless alien species, cultures, and worlds have invented their own rules using this versatile deck.

Other releases this month include:

• Starfinder Combat Pad
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #217: Death Sails a Wine-Dark Sea (Myth-Speaker 2 of 3)
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Siege

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Paizo at Gen Con!

If you’re in Indy this week, stop by any of the following spaces, events, and shows to say hello to Paizo!

Booth 203

Paizo’s main booth in the Gen Con exhibitor hall is Booth 203! Pick up the latest releases, snag some convention exclusives, and meet the designers of Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Paizo Games!

Sagamore Ballroom

Come and game with Paizo in the Sagamore Ballroom! We’ll be running Pathfinder Society, Starfinder Society, demos, and more throughout the weekend! Need to grab something quick before your gaming session? The Sagamore Ballroom will also have a satellite Paizo booth, selling core products, flip-mats, accessories, and more!

Hall C

Looking to try out Pathfinder, Starfinder, Pathfinder Quest, or the Starfinder Infinity Deck? Drop by Paizo’s tables in Hall C, where we’ll be running demos all weekend! Pathfinder Quest demos are played on tables courtesy of Carolina Game Tables.

Drifter’s End

Paizo and the Omni Severin Bar Cardinale are pleased to welcome you to Drifter’s End, a bar on the edge of the universe! Join us at Drifter’s End for Starfinder-themed drinks, small plates, music, and more!

Panels & Events

For full descriptions of Paizo’s panels and events, please refer to last week’s blog! All times below are listed in Eastern Daylight Time.

• Crafting Quarterly Adventures: Thursday, July 31^st from 3:00 P.M. to 3:50 P.M.
• Starfinder Second Edition Live!: Friday, Aug 1^st from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.
• Starfinder Second Edition Launch Panel: Saturday, Aug 2^nd from 10:00 A.M. to 10:50 A.M.
• Pathfinder Battlecry! & the Hellfire Crisis: Saturday, Aug 2^nd from 6:00 P.M. to 6:50 P.M.
• Reaction! Pathfinder/Starfinder Rules Crossover Q&A: Sunday, Aug 3^rd from 11:00 A.M. to 11:50 A.M.
• Monster Mash! Pathfinder & Starfinder Creature Creation: Sunday, Aug 3^rd from 1:00 P.M. to 1:50 P.M.

Gen Con at Home!

Can’t make it to the show? Don’t fret, Paizo has a collection of streams and videos launching throughout the weekend to keep you in the loop! And don’t forget—to see our major product announcements for 2025, check out our PaizoCon Keynote Address!

Some of our content creators have coordinated content to release for Gen Con centering around Starfinder Second Edition, Pathfinder Battlecry!, and other key releases! All times below are in Eastern Daylight Time.

Wednesday 7/30

3:00 P.M.: Roll for Combat
Join Mark Seifter and Stephen Glicker of Roll for Combat as they discuss all the new releases at Gen Con with Associate Publisher Thurston Hillman and Starfinder Creative Manager Jenny Jarzabski. (Livestream)

Thursday 7/31

9:00 A.M.: Digital Divination: Murder in Metal City
The Digital Divination team will be reviewing Murder in Metal City with adventure author and Starfinder Creative Manager Jenny Jarzabksi!

11:00 A.M.: ThrabenU Starfinder Class Guides
ThrabenU is releasing in-depth strategy content and guides for Starfinder Second Edition, starting with guides for each of the classes! (Recorded)

1:00 P.M.: NoNat1 Pact Worlds Guide
Explore the Pact Worlds with NoNat in “The World of STARFINDER is Crazy…”

5:00 P.M.: Pathfinder Quest Demo on GenConTV
Rue Dickey and Alex Speidel run a learn-to-play demo of Paizo’s upcoming board game Pathfinder Quest for Maya Coleman and Krystina Arielle!

9:00 P.M.: Know Direction Beyond: Starfinder Player Core
Join Starfinder Designer Dustin Knight and the hosts of Know Direction Beyond as they go over Starfinder Player Coreand give out some prizes!

Friday 8/1

11:00 A.M.: ThrabenU Starfinder Class Guides
For those who missed Thursday’s video, ThrabenU is again releasing in-depth strategy content and guides for Starfinder Second Edition, starting with guides for each of the classes! (Recorded)

2:00 P.M.: Starfinder Second Edition Live on GenConTV
Jenny Jarzabski leads a stellar cast through a Starfinder Second Edition adventure, streamed live from Gen Con 2025!

7:00 P.M.: Convo on the Couch Gen Con 2025 Edition
Join Starfinder First Edition designer Owen K.C. Stephens and Starfinder Second Edition designer Dustin Knight along with cartoonist Stan! as they share stories, discuss game design, and whatever else comes to mind!

Saturday 8/2

10:00 A.M.: Starfinder Launch Sequence Panel
The Starfinder team takes us on a tour of the launch products—plus some special announcements!

12:00 P.M.: Horizons of the Vast Second
Join Bramblebear to meet the administrators of New Harmony, a planet in the untouched frontier of the Vast, as they work to urbanize this newly discovered world while facing threats from the Aspis Consortium, the Azlanti, and even a nefarious entity from the Netherworld.

4:00 P.M.: Phoebe Bane Reviews Starfinder Second Edition with Developer Dustin Knight
Join Phoebe Bane and Chk Chk (Dustin Knight) as they review all the new goodness and gobness in Starfinder Second Edition and give out some prizes!

6:00 P.M.: Pathfinder Battlecry! and the Hellfire Crisis Panel
Join Jason Keeley and Logan Bonner as they break down Pathfinder Battlecry! and give a look ahead to the coming Hellfire Crisis!

Sunday 8/3

9:00 A.M.: Mythkeeper Guide to Magical Academies
Mythkeeper is releasing a new video on his channel about the magical academies of Pathfinder. Drawing heavily from Pathfinder Lost Omens Rival Academies, Mythkeeper tries to cover the exhaustive list of all the major magical academies across the Inner Sea and beyond. Go check it out, and let him know if he missed any!

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Whether you’re joining us in Indy or tuning in at home, we look forward to sharing Gen Con 2025 with all of you!

For more Paizo news, mark your calendars for our next live stream: August 22nd at 4 P.M. Pacific on twitch.tv/officialpaizo!

Hello, Starfinders!
As I pack my bags to head to GenCon for the launch of Starfinder Society and Starfinder Second Edition, I have one last gift to bestow upon you.

The Invasion’s Edge Player’s Guide!!!

Dive right into Starfinder Society by downloading the Invasion’s Edge Player’s Guide! This free PDF is a quick-start guide to Starfinder Society Organized Play, containing all the information you need to get into the program, create characters, and dive right into a game! So whether you’re an experienced fan or a newcomer to Starfinder, download your copy now!

In addition to information on the Starfinder Society Organized Play Program and some handy links for both GMs and players, the Invasion’s Edge Player’s Guide contains in-setting details on the Starfinder Society, including its leadership, training, base of operations at the Lorespire Complex, and current events. Chief among these events is news of a massive starship called the Wreck of the Returned that crashed onto the planet Akiton—the focus of our Invasion’s Edge metaplot scenarios—but that’s not all that the Starfinder Society is digging into this year. (There’s a whole galaxy of adventure out there, after all!)

Illustration by Renan Maurilio

The Invasion’s Edge Player’s Guide also contains brand-new player options!

There’s over 20 new backgrounds packed in these digital pages, such as Dataphile, Exo-Guardian, Forum Aspirant, and Lorespire Archivist. Starfinders looking to help explore the Wreck of the Returned will find the campaign backgrounds particularly useful, such as Akitonian Explorer, First Ones Scholar, and Robot Adversary. Fans who participated in the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest can additionally take backgrounds tied to their adventures, such as Alien Hunter, Party Crasher, War-Hardened Hero, and Wheel Winner!

There’s also two new ancestries you won’t find anywhere else: lizard-like ikeshtis and giant, four-armed shobhads! Both are native to the planet Akiton and make a great addition to the Starfinder Society for Invasion’s Edge.

I don’t know about you, but I see an ikeshti magitech specialist witchwarper in my future…

Left to right, illustrations by David Franco and Rustan Curman.

Thank you for joining me for the launch of Starfinder Society Second Edition and Invasion’s Edge! I hope you enjoy your time among the stars!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a starship to catch!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Download Invasion’s Edge Player’s Guide now!

The Inner Sea is home to a variety of fantastical regions with varying themes. Last month’s Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms gave us a chance to look at the classical fantasy found within the Shining Kingdoms region. From courtly intrigue to valiant knights to deadly beast, the Shining Kingdoms hold the potential for unlimited adventure. Of course, a region like the Shining Kingdoms doesn’t come to life without the help of the authors of this book! So, we’ve taken some time to let the wonderful authors of this book talk about themselves.

Illustration by Roena Rosenberger

Sen H.H.S.

Hi all, Sen H.H.S. here, and thank you all for your support of Lost Omens: Shining Kingdoms! For those of you who don't know me, I'm a Taiwanese TTRPG freelancer (she/her) who has written for Paizo numerous times, from all the way back in pre-remaster Bestiary 3 to more recent works like Tian Xia World Guide and Character Guide, and a couple of Adventure Paths. For Lost Omen: Shining Kingdoms, I had the privilege of writing the section of Taldor. Alas, one does not simply venture into Taldor without wading into the history of the entire southern coast of Avistan, so the work was more challenging than imagined. I hope you enjoy what we managed to compile of existing lore, as well as any new or revised content-- be it items, archetypes, or lore. If you want to stay updated on where you can find my writing next (or currently), you can follow me on Bluesky at senhhs.bsky.social, or keep an eye on my website at https://senhhs.carrd.co. I definitely suggest you keep an eye out during the Gen Con season bec-- *NDArted*

Laura Lynn Horst (she/her)

As a lover of high fantasy since watching my dad perform as Mordred in Camelot when I was 5 years old, I was thrilled to contribute to the lore of the Shining Kingdoms. This is my third publication for Paizo (that I can talk about) and I'm absolutely thrilled with the positive feedback the book has received. I was especially excited to see that my contribution of Ulon being at the heart of a new pantheon (The Tides of Chaos) got turned into a meme! You can't keep a mysterious Azlanti god down. I also contributed to the section on Beliefs of the Shining Kingdoms as well as the 2E revamps to the Goldpebble (who I hope my GM never puts in front of me as I'm absolutely terrified of snakes) and Vovorak in the bestiary. Happy reading all! You can find me on instagram and bluesky: @lauralynnhorst (Insta) @nyxfromstyx77.bsky.social (Bluesky)

Illustration by Luis Salas Lastra

Derry Luttrell (he/they and this/that)

Hey all! I'm Derry Luttrell. I'm the host of Dice Will Roll, the Queerest Pathfinder Podcast on the Planet, and a writer, illustrator and founder of Team+, the 3pp PF2 publishing group behind bestsellers like Witches+, Archetypes+, and Tian Xia+. Shining Kingdoms was my first writing credit, and I could not be more grateful for it! I was behind the Shining Kingdoms Today section, the Factions of the Shining Kingdoms, and the Beirean Frosthunt monster. Being able to write about the factions in the Shining Kingdoms was huge for me; first and foremost, I had crazy fun coming up with the dragon-slaying dwarven mech-pilots and salesmen in the Steelwrought Striders, and fleshing out groups like the Lion Blades with Sen and Eagle Knights alongside Matt was fantastic. I was able to help bring firearms into Andoran, which I'm so excited about! But the thing I'm most pleased with is the Wylderhearts; I pitched and developed the original idea, which Michelle baked into an incredible archetype later on. The Wylderhearts are a love letter to my own culture, taking heavy inspiration from the Fianna, the faoladh (an Irish analogue to benevolent werewolves) and Cú Chulainn. TTRPG settings often take Irish ideas and tropes without really paying attention to their origin, so being able to make something authentically Irish was really important to me— and the end result really was special. I hope you enjoy playing wylderhearts as much as I enjoyed making them!

Matt Morris

I’m Matt Morris, and I’ve been lucky enough to do freelance writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder for several years now, working with Paizo and a few 3rd-party companies. I'm currently awaiting the launch of my first Kickstarter, a TTRPG called Remnant Years: Tales of a Ruined Land. I was lucky enough to traipse through Andoran for this book, and it was exciting to see what's brewing now in the Birthplace of Freedom. (Turns out: Lots of plot hooks, some Eagle Knights, and a bucketful of internal conflict.) Andoran is a great place for adventure when you want to explore what it means to be good, how to hold to principles in difficult circumstances, and what happens in the generations after revolutionaries become the establishment. I hope you enjoy creating stories there! I keep an up-to-date list of my work on my Paizo profile, and I’m always looking for interesting projects, so feel free to contact me if you are looking for a reliable writer! When not writing, I’m teaching high school English near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Luis Loza (he/him)
Creative Director (Rules & Lore)

Illustration by Nikolai Ostertag

“OK, self,” Dae said to their reflection without realizing they were speaking out loud. “You’re about to knock the socks off this planet! You’re one lucky cat, you know, but you’ve also got nerve and plenty of raw talent—the makings of a real star! Now let’s get out there and make Miiyu look even more amazing than she already is!”

The pahtra performer closed their eyes for just a moment and took a deep breath, attuning to the vast power of the stars that filled them with inner light. After a long and deliberate exhale, they checked their outfit one last time. Would adding more glitter to their fur would be overdoing it? No, there’s no such thing as too much glitter. They did one more spray, spinning around in the cloud as it covered their guard hairs in iridescent splendor. Beyond the walls, they could hear the crowd chanting for Miiyu in unison with steadily increasing excitement. It didn’t matter that the chant wasn’t for Dae; the energy alone was enough to make them feel as though they could fly. They absently adjusted the woven bracelet on their left arm, smiling widely as they slinked to the curtain, opening it ever so slightly to steal a peek at the audience—

—and drew in a sharp breath.

There, standing in the front row, was a lizard-like humanoid that was clearly trying to blend in and failing spectacularly. It wasn’t that vesk were unknown or completely unwelcome on this planet; it was her body language that caught Dae’s attention. While she tried to appear as excited as two ysoki hanging off the railing to her right, the expression never quite reached her eyes, which were darting around as she took stock of her surroundings. That’s when Dae noticed the outline of a weapon under her jacket, and a shoulder bag brimming with something that could have been eggs but were more likely to be some sort of explosive devices. A flash of light reflected off what Dae had initially clocked as a piece of jewelry. It was a three-pronged imperial sigil, sharp as the claw of their cruel war god.

“A Veskarium trooper in the front row? Oh, come on!” Dae muttered.

Another vesk joined the first. He was doing a better job of blending in, but not by much. He’d had the sense to hide his sigil, but he’d shown up with his admittedly stunning black jacquard silk pants tucked into military issue boots, and he was wearing battlegloves with clawed metal joints. The fur on Dae’s neck stood up as they scanned the crowd and spotted another probable vesk trooper entering the theater on the right-hand side of the stage, blending in considerably less than the two directly front and center. This one hadn’t even bothered changing out of their uniform.

They look out of place and they look armed, Dae thought. They must be after Miiyu! Everybody knew about Miiyu’s rebel activities during the Veskarium occupation of Pulonis. If imperial troopers were here, they probably weren’t fans. There were no security guards in sight, and Dae wouldn’t risk raising an alarm this close to curtain with everyone packed in here.

Dae needed a plan that would protect both the star and the audience while avoiding panic. An idea flared up immediately. With absolute confidence, they stepped out from behind the curtain and sashayed toward the crowd. The cheers that burst forth simmered to a buzz as it became clear that Dae wasn’t Miiyu.

“Hey, posers!” Dae shouted, directly addressing the two vesk sitting front and center, who looked around at the others in their row as if they hadn’t been directly pointed at. One of the ysoki pointed at himself in utter confusion before pointing at the vesk to his left, who shot him a withering glance before scowling up at Dae. “First of all, there’s no replica weapons allowed at this venue, and second of all, they don’t even match your outfits,” Dae accused. “Not to mention Imperial vesk attire is terminally out of style.”

“We’re just here for the show,” the latecomer replied. She wasn’t convincing at all.

“Speaking of shows, this one’s about to start!” Dae was pleased when the spotlight landed on them. They began tapping their foot in a steady rhythm as a ribbon of pulsing midnight unspooled from their finger—the manifestation of their solar weapon in graviton mode. Dae flicked the ribbon with a sound like spring thunder and snatched the female vesk’s shoulder bag, pulling it up on stage and spilling its contents. A jumble of wired pipes gleamed under the stage lights. As always, Dae’s instincts were on point.

The vesk imposters immediately gave up on their ruse. The man cracked his knuckles and scrambled onto the stage, hefting his bulk in slow motion with a bestial grunt. The woman pulled a baton from under her jacket and squeezed. The baton elongated into a triple-bladed polearm—a doshko with a collapsible design created for smuggling into secure venues like this, used for assassinations ordered by Veskarium military leaders with grudges. Miiyu was in danger.

Sparks reflected in Dae’s goggles as they attuned with the blazing creative energy at the heart of every star, turning the dark ribbon into a whip of fire. Dae leapt high into the air with deceptive ease, swirling their ribbon behind them in blazing circles. They landed on the opposite side of the doshko-wielding vesk, smiling as they spun around and lashed the ribbon out like a solar flare. The crowd screamed and cheered as the vesk was engulfed in flames. She staggered stage left and fell to her knees, where black-clad crew tackled her with fire blankets.

The male vesk dashed forward, punching wildly with clawed fists as his wicked tailblade sliced the air. Dae gracefully dodged the swings. Every slash, duck, and weave became part of an elaborate dance made up on the spot.

Then Dae missed a step. Pain hit Dae like a truck as one of the vesk’s underhanded punches slammed into their face. A second later the vesk shoved Dae hard with both hands. The crowd booed and Dae stumbled back awkwardly, pinwheeling their arms. A tongue of flame shot out as Dae’s nimbus reacted to the assault, but they were already off-balance, their dance streak was ended, and the crowd was beginning to rumble with panic.

Meyel, help me pretend that didn’t happen, Dae prayed. A comforting warmth spread through them. Dae cartwheeled and called their solar flare, which appeared like an extra spotlight hovering overhead and blasted the vesk who’d shoved them with a ray of sunlight. He tried to flee then, but Dae streaked forward, leaving a contrail of hypnotic light in their path and twirling the burning ribbon like a lasso.

By now Dae was getting bored with this interruption and was ready to take on the last target. Though it wasn’t necessary, they couldn’t help but add a few flourishes to their movements—a quick flick of the left wrist in this direction, a more dramatic swoop of the right arm that way. Their left leg swept forward, leading the rest of their body in a graceful slide. Small motes of light first emerged from their core and then glittered down around their body before beginning to gather around their elegantly outstretched hands, quickly compounding into a glimmering, dynamic brightness that drew cheers from the audience. Seconds later, a blast of solar energy erupted from their outstretched hands, firing a searing beam of light into the group of soldiers. Two of the three enemies cried out in shock and pain as the light burned through their defenses. At the same time, Dae felt the deep shifting of the stars within them as photon became graviton, and fire extinguished into pulsing dark.

Dae landed with grace, seamlessly going down on one knee in a dramatic bow. Becoming the opening act was completely unintentional. They felt electrified, like they could dance for the next week straight.

On cue, the theater went dark. Dae exited the stage and found their position for the main show. The Veskarium saboteurs had been dealt with without any innocent bystanders getting hurt, and the audience was clearly entertained. The night was off to a fantastic start and was sure to only get better.

“Nice work,” Miiyu purred as she breezed past Dae. Dae felt as if they smiled any larger, their face would break open.

In front of them, the curtain rose as neon pink and teal lights danced over Miiyu. The diva strutted on stage in a shimmering holofiber gown custom made for this song only. The crowd erupted in deafening, delirious cheers. It was going to be a phenomenal show.

Illustration by Pixoloid

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About the Author
Danielle Cavanagh is an artist, writer, and designer living in the Pacific Northwest with her partner and their two cats. Her life is a work in progress.

About the Iconic
Dae (they/them) is an agender pahtra solarian whose literally flashy and magnetic dance moves command attention on and off the stage. No matter how famous they get, Dae always has time for an adventure with their bestie Chk Chk.

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 solarian 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!

Hello, Starfinders!
The end of July approaches, and that means it’s time to officially launch Starfinder Society for Starfinder Second Edition!

What, you may ask, is our first major storyline for the Starfinder Society? Eyes to the skies, Starfinders! Invasion’s Edge is here!

Emerging suddenly from deep space, a vessel traveling at speeds that should have cracked a planet in half slowed long enough to crash into the Sloughscar Hills of Akiton. Curious explorers and opportunistic salvagers descended upon the wreck, among which was a mercenary team in the employ of the Starfinder Society. Within hours, the starship’s automated defenses activated, driving out the explorers and unleashing dangerous monsters and magical effects into the region, including the dreaded illumantula, a terrifying monster of magic, technology, and light. This starship was soon dubbed the Wreck of the Returned.

Believing the Wreck of the Returned has a connection to the mysterious First Ones and is but the first step in a devastating invasion of the Pact Worlds, First Seeker Sarmak works to establish a Starfinder lodge in the surrounding Sloughscar Hills. Now, Sarmak has put out a call for brave Starfinders willing to help establish and defend this fledgling lodge and explore the Wreck of the Returned.

Illustration by Kevin Sardinha

Our story begins with Starfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Collision’s Wake, a special double length scenario for 3rd-level pregenerated characters written by John Godek III. This adventure is a prequel to Invasion’s Edge and casts you in the role of a team of Akitonian mercenaries hired by the Starfinder Society to keep a wary eye out for any strange occurrences or signs of alien invasion. When a strange starship crashes into the nearby Sloughscar Hills, you’re among the very first on the scene to investigate the wreck. So grab yourself a pregen, ready your laser pistol, and take a peek at what lies within the Wreck of the Returned! We wish you luck escaping alive!

Illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-01: Invasion’s Edge is the first adventure in the Invasion’s Edge metaplot! A new Starfinder lodge is being built in the Sloughscar Hills and you’re among the first Starfinders on site. As rookie Starfinders, you’ll lend a hand in establishing the lodge then head out into the wilderness to examine a piece of nearby debris. This intro adventure is written by Michael Bramnik and is designed for 1st- and 2nd-level characters.

Left to right; illustrations by Fabio Di Bernardi and Lucas Fernando

Finally, we leave Akiton behind and travel into the Vast to explore a frozen moon in Starfinder Society Scenario #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon! Initial scans of the moon indicate there are no sapient inhabitants, but there are some artificial structures—an intriguing mystery! What’s more, this moon could prove the perfect jumping off point to explore the surrounding solar system… This delightful adventure is written by Solomon St. John and is designed for 1st- and 2nd-level characters.

That’s all for now, Starfinders, but we’ve got plenty more exciting adventures on the way!

Tune into the Paizo blog on Monday, July 28th for one final treat from me to you, for the launch of Starfinder Society!

Enjoy your time among the stars!

Jessica Catalan
Senior Developer (Starfinder Society)

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Hellooooo, Pathfinders!

Things are heating up this month, and not just because we’re reaching the high point of summer. We’re also rapidly approaching the final scenario of the Year of Immortal Influence!

The Pathfinders found out more about the strange past of Hesla Embersplitter and put a stop to the horrific monster she created out of Deskari’s corpse, ensuring that the people of the small town of Pimatsih in Sarkoris were safe. Her plans to destroy Riftcarver were uncovered during a raid on her home, prompting the Society to relocate the corpse of Deskari’s fallen father, Ingalor, to the Grand Lodge under Zarta Dralneen’s safekeeping. Now it’s finally time to destroy the corpse once and for all, and Zarta’s calling not only on the Knights of Lastwall for assistance, but also every Pathfinder agent within Absalom!

Illustration by Felipe Fornitani

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-20: The Overthrow of Ambition is an adventure for 9th- through 12th-level characters written by Ivis K. Flanagan.

That’s all we have for you this month, Pathfinders!

Remember: Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Good day, ‘Finders! With only a week to go until the biggest weekend in gaming, we’re excited to share some of the exciting ways you can spend the show with Paizo!

Starfinder Second Edition Live! – Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern

Join Starfinder Creative Manager Jenny Jarzabski as she leads our star-studded cast (Mark Meer, Krystina Arielle, B. Dave Walters, and Mark Hulmes) through a special Starfinder Second Edition one shot, live from Gen Con’s Streaming Stage!

Get your tickets here!

Not at the show? Watch the stream via twitch.tv/gencontv

Panels

Paizo is hosting a collection of panels on site at Gen Con!

Crafting Quarterly Adventures – Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern

What goes into outlining, assigning, designing, and developing Paizo’s quarterly Adventure Paths? Paizo developers break down Adventure Paths and talks about Paizo’s upcoming adventure releases!

Launch Sequence: Starfinder Second Edition – Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern

Starfinder Creative Manager Jenny Jarzabski and the Starfinder team take you on a tour of the stars! Delve into the design of Starfinder Second Edition and be the first to hear about exciting upcoming books and adventures.

Pathfinder Battlecry! and the Hellfire Crisis – Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern

Join the Pathfinder rules, lore, adventure, and fiction designers as they rally for the Hellfire Crisis! We’ll explore the effects of the Hellfire Crisis meta event across Pathfinder product lines and throughout the world of Golarion.

Reaction! Pathfinder and Starfinder Rules Q&A – Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern

Having a compatibility crisis? Bring your Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition rules questions to this interactive Q&A! Learn how to mix science fiction into your high fantasy (and vice versa) from the developers and designers of both systems!

Note: This panel is not a space for inquiring about upcoming errata or past design decisions. No official rules calls will be made during this panel—only advice!

Monster Mash! Live Creature Building – Sunday at 1 p.m. Pacific

It’s alive! Paizo designers and freelancers build creatures based on audience ideas and suggestions. Get a look behind the curtain of developing monsters and leave the panel with a fun new encounter for your table!

Drifter’s End at The Omni Severin Bar Cardinale

In celebration of the launch of Starfinder Second Edition, the Omni Bar Cardinale will transform into Drifter’s End for Gen Con weekend! Stop by this intergalactic hot spot for themed drinks, small plates, game demos, and more!

Plus, pick up a special Omni Bar exclusive Paizo button!

Gaming at Gen Con!

Paizo is once again returning to the Sagamore Ballroom for Organized Play, game demos, and more! For a more in-depth look at Paizo’s gaming offerings, check out Alex’s blog about Org Play at Gen Con!

In addition to the Sagamore Ballroom, Paizo also has drop-in demo tables of Pathfinder Second Edition, Starfinder Second Edition, Pathfinder Quest, and Starfinder Infinity Deck in Hall C!

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We can’t wait to see you at Gen Con 2025 for the launch of Starfinder Second Edition! May the dice roll ever in your favor!

Hey there, Starfinders! You might have heard elsewhere, but we’ve got exciting news for you. Paizo is proud to work with Digital Extremes to create a Warframe-themed Starfinder adventure, Operation: Orias, coming October 2025.

In this adventure you play as four Protoframes sent to rescue a spy from a Corpus facility on Orias. Operation: Orias is a taste of the Warframesetting using the Starfinder Second Edition rules, designed to play with friends around the tabletop! Gen Con attendees can stop by our demo area to play a snippet encounter of this full adventure.

I’ve been playing Warframe off and on for many years now (11 years, according to the fun sigil I have in game), and I’ve always had a great time with it. There’s not anything quite like jumping around at intense speeds, slamming down with Rhino’s stomp, and completely obliterating a dozen enemies in the span of two seconds. It’s those moments that keep me coming back again and again.

I don’t know what possessed me to contact Rebb Ford on that random Monday evening, but I suddenly felt a compulsion to reach out. I’m a Creative Director. She’s a Creative Director. Maybe, just maybe, we could link up and make something cool happen! I was floored with how excited she was by me contacting her. A small meeting occurred shortly thereafter, and I could feel that we were all giddy and excited to come together to make something happen. The only question was what we would be able to make.

We wanted something out as quick as we could, but our publishing schedules weren’t built with an unexpected collaboration in mind. Something could happen, but it would have to be slim and precise. We landed on a brief little taste for the universe of Warframe, a mashup between Starfinder and Warframe.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to write a little adventure for this collaboration, and I got to work with the inimitable Kengineer to make something cool happen. Bringing Warframe to the tabletop was a fun challenge and I’d like to think that I was able to translate the feel of being on an in-game mission pretty well. Overall, this has been a super exciting and rewarding experience. Working with DE has been nothing but a dream so far, and I hope that everyone enjoys what we’ve put together. Until next time, Tenno!

—Luis Loza, Creative Director (Pathfinder)

Hiya, it’s Jenny, Creative Manager of Starfinder. I’m not the one who came up with this awesome idea or clenched the deal with Rebb, but Starfinder is my department so I had to get involved at some point. Thurston and Luis arranged the collaboration then suddenly told me they needed me to develop a super-secret crossover project. Of course I was like, “OMG YES! I’m in!” See, Thursty and I have played Warframetogether quite a few times in the past. If you’re curious about my history with Warframe, I’m a filthy casual with about 300 hours played with friends on and off over a few years. I play Fashionframe, so I choose Warframes based on aesthetic and vibes just as much as playstyle. My favorites are Garuda, Jade, and Yareli. Anyway! I never imagined I’d get to work with Digital Extremes to create an official crossover for their game. It makes perfect sense though—Starfinder Second Edition and Warframe really mesh! I can’t wait for you to play what Luis cooked up for you and experience Warframe in tabletop form, combined with Starfinder Second Edition rules.

—Jenny Jarzabski, Creative Manager (Starfinder)

Thurston Hillman, Paizo Associate Publisher here! In Warframe, I’m a longtime Caliban main. (This is an inside joke; I actually was a Valkyr main for years but started saying this as soon as Caliban released.)

So, there I was, at Gen Con chatting with Luis when he mentioned this fun idea of reaching out to Rebb Ford at Digital Extremes about doing something with Starfinder and Warframe. I said “Absolutely, you should go and do that!” Cut to a few months later, when I’m sitting in a call with Rebb and others from Digital Extremes, and excitedly chatting about potential opportunities together. Hearing that several creative leads at Digital Extremes were in the same Rise of the Runelords campaign brought it full circle, as many of us at Paizo are avid fans of Warframe.

From that initial meeting onwards, this collaboration has been a joy to work on, with both sides sharing our excitement of our respective properties. We’ve worked together to make this product that we can’t wait to share with both our communities.

—Thurston Hillman, Associate Publisher & Longtime Caliban Main

Join us in celebrating this collaboration with Digital Extremes today on twitch.tv/officialpaizo at 4 P.M. Pacific!

The fifth time he saw the same grey-furred ysoki hawking her basket of cosmic cratannes (laser-fried dough, hot off the therm, dipped in some kind of sugared orange), Zemir had to admit he was hopelessly lost. No matter the path he decided to walk, all roads in the Spike seemed to bring him back here – the same makeshift food stand in a nook off an alley, the same would-be chef touting freshness and flavor, the same bits of dough stacked tight in a basket that smelled like his kind of delicious. Maybe he’d buy some to bring back upside. Once he figured out where he was in the station. In this version of it, anyway.

Most realities had their own Absalom Station, and there had to be one he could draw on for help, ideally where the resident Zemir had some sense of where he was going. Maybe one where the Spike led back up to the Freemarkets, connected by a daisy chain of hatches, vents, and ladders. Or one where part of the Spike was the hub of the station, with signs and vendors everywhere, and if you paid attention you could find a quick way through. He could almost see himself there – confident stride, cloak trailing behind him, trading nods with passersby who respected his age-whitened hair. All he had to do was glance a bit past the here and now, pull from something beyond the world he currently stood in, and—

stomach lurching, nerves on fire

A station just like this one, the hallways bitter cold,

filled only with the echoed sound of dying

A station where the ground beneath his feet

was devoured by the emptiness of space.

A station where a little girl reached for a snack

before something splintered and ripped her apart,

turning everything to debris.

Zemir blinked the other realities away—once, twice, three times—and did his best to ignore a tiny bit of moisture threatening the corner of his eye. He couldn’t help that girl, he knew he couldn’t, no matter how much he wanted to. He’d learned that lesson years ago, the night he lost his team—his friends—to some trap of reality he would never reach again. Maybe not so different than whatever stalked him now.

A feeling of something wrong had been hanging in the air for weeks, sloshing deep inside his guts, making his skin feel too tight— It was what had brought him down here, walking through the maze that was underneath the station, hoping he would figure out where it came from and why. But that flash of realities? That spinning, dizzy whirl of worlds? That was something stronger than the creeping sense of ill at ease. That sent a wave of sick and spin crashing into his body that only his long years of discipline in times of chaos kept him from spilling back out in bits of bile onto the metal ground.

Zemir tapped at his chest, felt for his anchor. A small piece of obsidian, singed but unbroken. All that remained from a former life. Touch something real, he thought as it danced beneath his fingers. Shake off the fear and steel yourself. You know that you can do it.

It was time to go home.

Zemir bore right at the next set of hallways, ignoring the ones that slipped out of his vision, filled with the voices from some other dimension, thick and indistinct and always a touch out of tune. Left, then right, then right again, feet firmly beneath him, until the last hallway ended in an unexpected alcove, sparse but still in use, with a cot on the floor and a chair at the wall and clothes hanging from a spigot. The light was dimmer here, somehow, and the air hung stale and heavy, as if it had been folded up and shoved into a corner, waiting for someone to stumble into its maw.

skin crawling, hard to breathe

The air thick with a poisonous haze

curled around a family’s remains

their hands reaching for relief

that isn’t going to come

The air bitter cold, stealing the breath

from huddled bodies grasping tight

Leaving nothing but frozen arms

And frost-drenched tear-stained faces

The air, smells of burning

and then, something else.

Something delicious.

Something warm and hearty and fried.

“You really should have tried the cratanne.”

The ysoki was there again, behind him. She smiled wide as she offered the basket of fried dough. “They’re best when they’re fresh, you know. Everyone says so. Might have kept you out of some trouble.” Her voice sounded odd. Minor key, a touch out of tune.

Zemir grabbed for power before thinking to do it, a gesture as natural as taking a breath, bringing his quantum field to life with the ease of years of practice. Other Zemirs were with him now, flickering in and out of the alcove, in and out of this reality. Some close enough in look to be his twins, at least at a cursory flash of a glance; others, dressed up like they owned the place, and still others looking bruised and beaten by a life of struggle he’d never known. But they were all there, facing down the ysoki chef who still stood in the doorway her teeth bared half between snarl and smile.

“Who are you?” Zemir let the voices of all the other Zemirs echo like thunder. No two of them sounded quite the same. Some voices spoke sharp with harsh demands, some were soft and curious, but all were a little out of tune and hollow as struck bells. Just the way the ysoki’s voice sounded. He cleared his throat and began again. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“The real question is, who are you?” asked the ysoki. “A guard patrolling? A rival shopkeeper snooping?” She backed away as she spoke, trying to get past the reach of his spells.

He did not understand, but Zemir knew that he had to take some expanded precautions. Zemir let his quantum field slowly expand as he spoke, putting the ysoki back in its reach. If she noticed, she didn’t let on.

“You’ve been following me,” the ysoki said. “Every time I pick some new alcove down here, try to sell my goods in peace, there you are. I’m just trying to find a place to sell my cratannes. I don’t have anywhere else to go. Please just leave me alone!”

The more the chef spoke, the more Zemir was sure. She was from Absalom Station, not from this reality. He’d heard of witchwarpers who fully displaced their bodies, or who anchored themselves in someone else’s reality, but usually there was deep magic involved, and it was always dangerous. Sometimes it wasn’t voluntary.

Zemir kept his voice calm to mask himself reaching out for more power, casting detect magic to see what it told him. He followed the potentials in his mind—haste and fly would get him out of here if she was dangerous, or lightning bolt if all else failed. But all he detected was a pulse of something warm inside the basket filled with food that she still held. There was more in those cosmic cratannes than fat and fry and flavor.

“I wasn’t following you,” he said, though it didn’t seem to matter now. “I just kept running into you. It felt like something drew me toward you. Perhaps those snacks you’re so insistent I enjoy.” Zemir could feel his voice grow tense. He clenched fingers to unleash a bolt in case she moved against him, but something flashed across her face and before he could decide to cast, he saw her in some other place. Some same but different version of this station.

swallowed laughter, sudden pain

She is in a kitchen laughing

Smells of food and talk of flavors

Promises and joking threats

Recipes passed down

She is in a closet hiding

Lights are flashing, klaxons blaring

Smoke chokes out the sound of screaming

Hands that held her, forced to stillness

She is all alone

She is trapped but won’t go easy

Reaching out for some new power

Pulled to somewhere safe but different

Recipe scrap in her pocket

Nothing left of home

Zemir inhaled sharply as the images—her memories—left his mind, a truth within them that erased whatever he was planning. The quantum field faded. The other Zemirs disappeared. He wondered if one of them was from wherever she came from, and if that version still survived.

“Why show me this?” he asked. “Why draw me to your food stand?” Perhaps this was the only way she knew to ask for help.

“I didn’t,” said the chef, in a small voice, clear but shaky. “I only tried to put some of the place I’m from into my food. The orange sugar is confectionary from my home. It’s just a bit of magic to connect you to the ones who you break and share your bread with. I can’t go home now so… it’s the next best thing.”

“And the visions? The smoke?” He had a feeling she had caused them. She must have some kind of hidden talent. Some reason she’d survived.

“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to show you what happened. That’s it’s all gone.” It wasn’t an apology. It wasn’t a challenge. It was the plain and simple truth of things.

Zemir thought back to the feeling of loss, the spinning lack of center, the sickness roiling around in his stomach for weeks. Whatever she had done had hit him harder than intended, but something told him he’d have to search somewhere else to find any way to help her. Or himself.

There were questions to be answered, but not in the here and now. He forced his face into a smile, tried to inhale the scent of the treats that she was carrying. They did still smell like his kind of delicious.

“I understand,” he said. “About those cratannes… I can introduce you to some people who will buy the whole lot off you right now if you come to breakfast. How do you feel about coffee?”

Illustration by Bastien Jez

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About the Author
Erin Roberts (she/her) is a writer of stories and games whose work for Paizo includes the fiction series The Godsrain Prophecies and contributions to 10+ books, including Lost Omens: Rival Academies, Lost Omens: Travel Guide, and Interstellar Species. In addition to her work for Paizo, she freelances across the TTRPG world (and was selected as a 2023 Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program Winner along the way) and talks about fiction writing every week on the Writing Excuses podcast. You can find her on Bluesky as @nirele and on Linktree at linktr.ee/erinroberts.

About the Iconic
Zemir (he/him) is a male human witchwarper who casts powerful magic spells and warps reality, using a simple souvenir from home to keep him grounded in the vast multiverse.

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 witchwarper 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 Lost Omens lore solidified early in Pathfinder’s first edition, the distant islands of Iblydos appeared briefly and rarely—often just a mention listed among other realms or an apocryphal sidebar pondering the origins of minotaurs. As a reader, I could tell Iblydos wanted to evoke classical Greek culture and myth, yet there was precious little to find. Thankfully, I didn’t just get to read about Iblydos; I wrote the gazetteer for Aelyosos, a major port city and fans’ first window into what makes this archipelago special. And now a decade later, we’ve returned in a big way: the Myth-Speaker Adventure Path, a mythic campaign for 1st-level characters!

If you’ve boosted your own Lost Omens Lore proficiency over the years, you might already be familiar with Iblydos. If not, don’t worry! Let me share some trivia to catch you up and get excited.

Classical Inspiration, not Replication

I mentioned before that classical Greek myth and history inspired Iblydos, so are we getting stats for Zeus? Not quite like that. When pitching and developing Iblydos, I considered what concepts and themes make ancient Greece exciting before considering how those ideas might manifest on Golarion—especially in a way that integrates with surrounding lands Vudra, southern Casmaron’s coast, and the Obari Crossing sailing route.

So what might you find?

• City-States: Much as Athens, Sparta, and others tried, nobody united classical Greece for long. For much of its history, myriad city-states jostled for influence and even hegemony. Likewise, nine major city-states have ruled Iblydos for centuries, with at least one having collapsed dramatically in the Age of Lost Omens. Some city-states feel strongly Greek-inspired, and that means plenty of other city-states break the mold in exciting ways.
• Hubris, Hospitality, and Metamorphosis: Flip open Bulfinch’s Mythology to a few random myths, and you’ll inevitably find some combination of a mortal being braggadocious, a god in disguise being inadvertently snubbed, and that god then transforming the mortal into something ironic. Arachne’s a classic example, and Baucis and Philemon are iconic counterexamples. Iblydos has no shortage of transformation and cautionary tales, even shaping some of the recommended ancestries for this campaign—including awakened animals, beastkin, and more! You’ll also find these themes echoing throughout Myth-Speaker’s narratives.
• Mythological Creatures: Some of the oldest Pathfinder lore credits Iblydos as the birthplace of myriad creatures like harpies and minotaurs. If there’s a prominent Greek myth about it, the creature’s likely making at least one appearance. In fact, cyclopes play a major role in most cities, having joined forces with humanity ages ago.
• Glory: That many fearsome creatures require equally courageous heroes! Homeric heroes chased after kleos, the kind of glory that comes from doing amazing things and ideally being immortalized in stories. Even if the average Iblydan doesn’t intend to wrestle a hydra, they still strive toward excellence in their chosen craft, profession, or other pursuit.
• Demigods: Classical myth boasted more than a handful of immutable deities. The Olympians, titans, and sundry other gods often philandered with mortals, resulting in a host of demigods. Over time, Greek myths and religion evolved and became regionally personalized, such as Artemis of Delphi diverging from Artemis of Ephesus (causing fandom battles worthy of the modern internet). What really sang to me were these demigods and regional mystery cults, each a unique yet doomed to fade from memory eventually. How might Iblydos achieve that same flavor?

Myth-Speaking

And that’s where myth-speaking arose. Iblydos doesn’t have local, full-power deities like Desna, Shizuru, or Kazutal. Instead, most Iblydans revere hero-gods—local demigods who were born mortal but obtained mythic power. When a mortal shows exceptional promise, a city’s cyclopes invite them to join a divinatory ritual called myth-speaking. With their magical foresight, the giants prophesy what great deed the mortal might achieve. If the mortal follows through and succeeds, they attain mythic power like the rules you’ll find in War of Immortals. Those same hero-gods grant spells for a lifetime or three before passing away, making room for new hero-gods.

At least, that’s how it’s worked for millennia. The Age of Lost Omens undermines cyclopean prophecies, and myth-speaking has become less reliable each year. At this point, Iblydos would experience a record scratch double-take worthy of an Adventure Path if approximately four player characters were to attain mythic power all at once. 

The Myth-Speaker Adventure Path

Oh hey, did you hear the Myth-Speaker Adventure Path is a mythic campaign for 1st-level PCs?

Yep, even though your characters won’t start the game with mythic power, they’ll attain it during the first volume! From there, they’ll navigate the political excitement that comes from new hero-gods on the scene, wrestle with the mythic power coursing through their bodies (because their bodies weren’t made for so much energy), and unravel the strange circumstances that led to them being the latest additions to Iblydos’s dwindling pantheon. Expect monster-slaying, mythic problem-solving, and voyages throughout the islands (and into realms where no simple ship would sail).

To help get the ideas churning, check out the Myth-Speaker Player's Guide, a free download full of setting lore, new backgrounds, character design tips, and more spoiler-free content.

Set sail!

John Compton
Lead Developer

The village was scared, that much Grimmyr could sense. While by now he was used to many of the peoples of Golarion being intimidated by his towering form, this fear had nothing to do with him. It had clearly seeped into the community long before he arrived. The faces of the townsfolk were pale and tired. Their movements were slow and languid, as if a heavy weight pressed down upon them. It even seemed to affect the atmosphere—dark clouds gathered overhead, and the flowers ringing the small stone plinth at the center of the village green were wilted and dying. Grimmyr’s heart ached to see such distress.

Grimmyr ducked under a hanging sign painted with a tankard of ale and opened the door to what he hoped was a tavern or inn. While his people had no such formal meeting spaces in the Fray, he had learned that these businesses were good places to gather information. Inside, he drew the stares of several residents and a pair of individuals who were as armed and armored as himself.

“A fellow mercenary!” shouted the taller of the two, waving over to Grimmyr. Her skin was tanned from long hours in the sun, her blonde hair was cut roughly, and her friendly grin showed more than one missing tooth. “Come to protect the fine people of Northfork from the monsters?” she asked.

“Of course he is, Aliss,” said the other. He was stout and bearded, the long reddish hairs twisted into two neat braids. His eyebrows were less groomed, as if left to cover the missing hair on his head. “Look at the size of ‘im.”

“Monsters?” Grimmyr asked, his voice surprisingly soft.

“Aye,” said the one named Aliss. “Scaly buggers that crawl up out of the well just outside of town from time to time. No one knows what’s drivin’ them into a frenzy, but his holiness Mordruk and me are only gettin’ paid to kill them.” She winked at a scowling Mordruk.

“Only been here about a week,” said Mordruk. “But it’s been getting worse and—” he was cut off by the ringing of a bell outside and shouts of “They’re here!”

With a chuckle, Aliss picked up the longsword leaning against the wall and strode toward the door. “Best hold your breath, new guy,” she said. Mordruk raised the hood of his white cloak and followed without offering an explanation.

Outside, panic gripped the town. From behind closed doors, Grimmyr could hear children crying and furniture being moved to form makeshift barricades. Aliss and Mordruk hurried eastward, alongside farmers armed with pitchforks and shovels, toward the sound of guttural snarls. As Grimmyr passed by the plinth, the sight of the dying flora sent a foreboding chill down his spine.

Grimmyr smelled the creatures before he saw them. It was a terrible, musty odor of sweat and stale air that crept into the nostrils and down the back of the throat. He gagged briefly but pushed through the nausea. Some of the farmers weren’t so fortunate, as they stopped to retch. Aliss and Mordruk had already rounded a corner ahead of him, and as Grimmyr followed, he was taken aback by the number of creatures emerging from the well past the edge of town. Will there be no end to them? he thought. Mordruk uttered a desperate prayer under his breath, and Grimmyr sensed that he and Aliss had not yet faced a force of such size here.

The creatures were reptilian humanoids with mottled gray scaly hides and bony protrusions the length of their spines made more prominent by their hunching posture. Their heads and tails resembled those of cave lizards, and they wore rudimentary hides and wielded simple clubs, if they carried any weapons at all. Each and every one of them exuded that earthy stench. Many wore necklaces of stone chunks on leather cords; Grimmyr found them familiar but couldn’t place why.

The next hour was a grueling struggle against the odds. The townsfolk fought the best they could, holding back the monstrous tide, but it was clear they would eventually be overwhelmed. Aliss cleaved through torsos with her blade, smirking all the while until Grimmyr could see her arms growing weary. Mordruk called down divine magic to keep her and the farmers standing, though even Grimmyr knew such power would not last forever. For his part, Grimmyr waded into the throng of creatures, swinging his flail in wide sweeps and relying on his armor to turn aside claw, tooth, and club. The field became littered with piles of corpses of the creatures… and sadly, more than a few villagers.

A bellow drew everyone’s attention back to the well, where something struggled to emerge. Though this new creature shared some similarities to the ones they had been fighting, its hide was the red of fresh clay and it towered over the others, only a foot or two shorter than Grimmyr. It dragged a stone maul behind as it stomped toward a villager.

Grimmyr protects a villager from a xulgath spinesnapper. Art by Pixoloid Studios.

“No! Face me!” bellowed Grimmyr, knowing a strike from that hammer could crush a skull. That got the creature’s attention, and it came charging toward him. He blocked the first blow with the haft of his own weapon, but the second hit him square in the chest, almost winding him. With a grunt, Grimmyr swung his flail in an upward motion against the creature’s chin, snapping its neck. The maul fell to the ground, and the grass around the weapon’s head began to turn brown almost instantly.

Grimmyr knew what he needed to do next.

He sprinted back into town, toward the village green. With a mighty strike from his flail, he shattered the stone plinth. A small explosion of force sent him stumbling backward. He lost his balance and fell, hitting his head against a tree stump and knocking him out.

When he awoke, Aliss and Mordruk were standing above him. “What did you do, new guy?” Aliss asked.

“The stone. It was calling to them.”

“The fight left ‘em as soon as you smashed it,” Mordruk said. “The townsfolk must have dredged it up out of the well. How did you know?”

Grimmyr smiled weakly, the aches and pains of the battle catching up to him. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’m here to keep you all safe.”

Jason Keeley (he/him)
Senior Designer

---

Rally your troops and prepare for war alongside Grimmyr at hellfirecrisis.com! Subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription to be among the first to join the ranks with Pathfinder Battlecry!

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!

Digital Adventure Releases

The following adventures will be released on July 30, 2025, and may be run at events beginning on that date.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-20: The Overthrow of Ambition*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Special #1-00: Collision's Wake

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-01: Invasion's Edge*

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon*

*part of a subscription

Campaign Updates

Pathfinder Society

As the war against Cheliax kicks up, new Pathfinder agents find themselves called to join! As of May 23, 2025, the following updates have gone into effect:

• The strix ancestry (Lost Omens Ancestry Guide 132) is now available to all Pathfinder Society characters. Players who have previously purchased a strix ancestry boon from the boon store can re-download the file to gain access to a free resurrection for their strix character(s).
• The boon for the automaton ancestry (Guns & Gears 36) has been reduced in cost from 160 Achievement Points to 80 AcP.

Additionally, at or before Gen Con we hope to add new boons to the Achievement Points store which will allow wizards to expand the spells accessible through their schools. Stay tuned for more information as we have it!

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society (second edition) launches at Gen Con 2025! In the next few weeks, we should get the Guide to Organized Play out to everyone, along with updates to our landing pages and Character Options pages. In the unlikely event that any of this misses that date, however, I wanted to compile everything you’ll need to know to get started.

• All Starfinder Society (second edition) adventures are repeatable. Players may play them as many times as they like with a different character each time. A character may never have more than one Chronicle from the same adventure, as this breaks the timestream and the hounds of Tindalos start showing up.
• Starfinder characters may begin their adventuring career at 1st, 3rd or 5th level. Regardless of level, a new character begins with 0 XP. Characters may be freely rebuilt until they reach 12 XP and are played at their next session.
• Players have access to all options in any Starfinder rules source they own, regardless of rarity. Exceptions include any Unique items, and any options specifically restricted on the Starfinder Society Character Options page.
• The Starfinder Player Core is the only “core source” for the campaign. Players are not required to own the Player Core to use the options contained within it. Players must own other books, such as the Starfinder Galaxy Guide, to make use of their options.
• Starfinder Society character numbers start at -2701.

Please read our series of launch reveal blogs for more information on what’s to come!

Sanctioning Updates

Since our last blog, the following rulebooks and adventures have been sanctioned for Pathfinder Society play & use!

• Pathfinder Treasure Vault (Remastered)
• Lost Omens: Shining Kingdoms
• Shades of Blood Adventure Path
• Gatewalkers Adventure Path Compilation

You can find out more on the Pathfinder Society Character Options page.

Free RPG Day

This year’s Free RPG Day adventures have also been sanctioned for play! Please note that per our agreement with Free RPG Day, these are not permitted for play until July 22, 2025; as such, I have disabled reporting for these adventures until that date.

The Scourge of Sheerleaf || Battle for Nova Rush

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

In the past few months, several new Campaign Coins have been awarded! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:

Bret Indrlee, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #873

and Randy Cronin, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #910.

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month we had three GMs reach their fifth rank!

5th Star (PFS1): Redelia

5th Nova (SFS1): Ed Emmer, Kishmo

If you believe you’ve completed your 5th rank but haven’t been announced yet, please email me at organizedplay@paizo.com.

Conventions

Gen Con is just on the horizon, but it’s also time to start planning your fall schedule! Check out the Conventions calendarfor upcoming events in your area and be one of the first to experience Starfinder Society for second edition.

Until next time adventurers - Explore! Report! Cooperate! It’s off to the stars with us!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Greetings, Gamers! In the April Tech Update blog, I promised to give you a breakdown of how the upcoming loyalty program will work. Today, I’m here to tell you that at its core, Paizo Plus operates similarly to the current program: spend money with Paizo and unlock free products and discounts.

Under today’s Paizo Advantage program, if you subscribe to 4 different lines, you unlock either Starfinder Society or Pathfinder Society subscriptions for free; subscribe to all 6, and you get both for free. Subscribing to 4 lines also unlocks a 15% storewide discount on most Paizo products. Paizo Advantage will be replaced by Paizo Plus when the new store launches.

The Paizo Advantage program was designed to be laser-focused on subscriptions, and it has served Paizo subscribers well for many years. However, as our product catalog has grown, we’ve realized that we need a more robust system that better rewards all our shoppers for their dedication in various ways. We needed a program that was more flexible and easy to understand, as well as one that we could modify as we learned what consumers valued most. That’s how Paizo Plus was born, and we can’t wait to share it with you when we launch!

The Basics

When the new store goes live, you’ll need to opt in to the new loyalty program to start earning gold. If you’ve opted in to receive emails from Paizo, you’ll receive an email about the new program when we launch. And you’ll be able to earn gold right from the start:

• Join Paizo Plus: You’ll earn 25 gold upon joining!
• Leave a Review: 5 gold with an initial limit of 1 per week (260 gold/year if you write a review every week). You can only write reviews of products you have purchased through Paizo.
• Birthday Reward: You’ll earn 25 gold on your birthday. Happy Birthday!
• Follow us on Social Media: Up to 25 gold if you follow us on all 5 platforms.
• Gold on Purchases: You’ll earn 1 gold for every dollar you spend, and the amount of gold you earn increases as you advance in reward level. More on that below. 

Legal details will be available in an updated Terms of Use when the new store launches. 

Refer-a-Friend

Another way to earn gold is by recruiting friends to make purchases from Paizo. Each time someone takes advantage of your referral by spending $20 or more at Paizo, you’ll earn 25 gold. 

Spending Gold

So, on Day 1 if you take advantage of all the ways you can earn gold you’re sitting with 65 gold in your account. What can you get with it? To start, we’ll be offering: 

You’ll see that you can get a Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society scenario for $10 off, which will make most scenarios you choose free. You can also see that Paizo is tilting the scales in favor of the gold value for Society purchases, because we genuinely believe that this is an essential program for our players and want to encourage more players to participate. 

Our goal with the new Paizo Plus is to maintain the same value as the Paizo Advantage program. Paizo Plus is slightly better than Paizo Advantage, and these starting values allow us to monitor the program and expand it in the future once we see how everyone is earning and spending their points. 

Reward Tiers

We adapted the proficiency system from Pathfinder Second Edition (and now Starfinder Second Edition) and used it as the basis for the tiers that build the programs around. 

Legendary Loot: From time to time, Paizo will release items that are exclusively available to Legendary reward members. They might cost gold pieces, dollars, or a combination of both. They will likely be available in very limited quantities and for short periods of time.

We value our Experts and Masters and will ensure additional rewards are available for all tiers that require both gold and a dollar cost, as well as those that require only gold or other qualifying factors. 

Questions and Answers

Here are a few answers to some of the most common questions I anticipate. For the complete legal rules (which take precedence over this Q&A), you’ll need to wait until we launch. 

Will I keep my free subscriptions to Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society when Paizo Plus launches?
No, but you will be able to purchase Society scenarios for free using gold.

How is gold calculated?
Paizo Plus takes the cart total after all discounts have been applied (but before taxes and shipping) and multiplies that amount by your gold multiplier (1, 1.25, or 1.5). For example, if you buy a hardcover book for $60 and use a $20 off coupon, you’ll earn gold based on the $40 purchase (40, 50, or 60 gold depending on your tier). 

Can I spend the gold I would be earning from a purchase during that purchase? 
No, you can only spend gold after it has been earned. 

How long do I stay in a membership tier? 
When you achieve a new tier, you stay in that tier for 12 months. At the end of 12 months, Paizo Plus recalculates your tier.

When I reach a new tier, do I need to wait a year before I can advance to the next one? 
No, when you reach a higher tier, you will be upgraded, and a new 12-month calculation will begin. 

Do I reach a new tier by accumulating gold or spending money?
Only by spending money. Gold and dollars are two different pools.

Does gold expire?
Yes, after 12 months. You always spend the gold with the closest expiration date first. We’ll send an email to notify you about expiring gold if you’ve opted in to receive emails from us. 

Can I earn gold for past purchases? 
No. Only purchases made after Paizo Plus goes live and you’ve opted in to the program count. You can, however, write reviews for purchases over the last 5 years and earn gold on those reviews.

Will Paizo give away free gold?
That is a distinct possibility if you’re reading our fantastic emails and following us on social media!

What happens if I terminate my account? 
All gold is removed and cannot be returned. 

Can I give gold to a friend? 
No. Gold is for your use only and is limited to your account.

Does gold have any cash value?
No.

Do the discounts offered in Paizo Plus stack with store sale discounts?
No. You’ll receive the single highest discount available.

Sneak Peek of the Store

Here’s a brief look at what the team has been working on in the new store. Still subject to change, of course. Isn’t it pretty?

Concluding the Adventure

We look forward to unveiling the new store and Paizo Plus in the very near future! We're much closer to launch now than we were in my April blog, but we still have some work to complete before we’re ready to announce a specific date. 

Thank you again for your support of Paizo. We look forward to welcoming you to the new store soon!

Good Gaming! 

Jim Butler
Chief Executive Officer

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

Hail and well met, ‘Finders! This month’s new releases entice you into mysterious gates, map the Shining Kingdoms, and welcome new heroes to Iblydos!

A reminder – the scenarios listed here are June’s scenarios, which released last Wednesday, June 25th! 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 moving forward!

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: Gatewalkers Compilation

GO BEYOND THE GATE!

On the night of the Missing Moment, thousands stepped through portals across Golarion, seemingly against their will. These so-called gatewalkers returned with strange, paranormal powers but no memory of where they had gone. Can the heroes unravel the mystery of the Missing Moment before the source of their newfound power consumes them? This hardcover compilation includes all three adventures of the Gatewalkers Adventure Path, a worlds-spanning, mind-bending campaign for 1st- to 10th-level characters.

Gatewalkers is available in standard hardcover, Special Edition faux-leatherette bound hardcover, and PDF formats, as well as a deluxe Foundry VTT module!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #216: The Acropolis Pyre (Myth-Speaker 1 of 3)

BECOME THE LEGEND!

The port of Bailax hosts lavish funeral games for a recently deceased hero, inviting all to compete for prizes and glory. When the adventurers investigate an ominous omen that interrupts the festivities, what they find won’t just transform them into mythic hero-gods, but will also incite Bailax to violent revelry and arson. Can the new hero-gods save the city from self-destruction? The Myth-Speaker Adventure Path begins with “The Acropolis Pyre,” a complete adventure for 1st- to 3rd-level characters.

The Acropolis Pyre is also available as a deluxe Foundry VTT module.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms Map Archive

YOUR GUIDE TO THE KINGDOMS!

The Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms Poster Map Archive presents seven huge, lavishly illustrated double-sided full-color poster maps depicting important cities and the Shining Kingdoms region. With this map archive, your adventures can take you to the port city of Augustana, the mercantile hub of Kerse, the temple-caverns of Larrad, the post-rebellion rebuilding of Isarn, the magic-infused Iadara, and the opulent metropolis of Oppara.

Presented in a durable box for easy storage and retrieval, the Shining Kingdoms Poster Map Archive charts the path to endless adventures in the Shining Kingdoms or any fantasy RPG campaign!

Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure

Fill any magic shop or dragon’s hoard with ease using the Deck of Endless Treasure! Draw and combine any four cards from this deck to generate a brand-new magic item ready for play, each with its own distinct powers, quirks, and story hooks. With over 100 million possible combinations, you’ll never be without a unique treasure for your game!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Districts Multi-Pack

TAKE IT TO THE STREETS!

Big, crowded cities teem with adventure, so give your players something to see while they’re out and about the town. This Flip-Mat Multi-Pack shows a street view of four different districts in a fantasy metropolis, each with busy intersections, persuasive vendors, and danger in the alleys waiting to prey on those who walk the streets. When you need a good city scene in your adventures, Pathfinder Flip-Mat: City Districts Multi-Pack has you covered!

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Cityscapes Multi-Pack

IT ALL HAPPENS IN THE CITY!

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Cityscape Multi-Pack includes two double-sided tactical maps, with each map face depicting a different district in a sprawling futuristic city! One side features a modern city square with holographic displays. Another presents a maze of crisscrossing alleyways and rooftops perfect for intrigue. A third offers a residential district and major apartment complex, while the fourth side unveils the heart of a vibrant commercial district, with a maglev station to serve as the perfect departure point for any number of destinations and adventures. The ideal maps for any futuristic or near-modern game, this set has you covered for almost any urban encounter!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-18: Symposium on a Fallen God

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

Taldor responded to the Godsrain, the death of the war god Gorum, with an attempt to draw in the finest minds in magical study. They've invited scholars from across Golarion to attend a symposium on the Godsrain and the warshards, pieces of Gorum fallen from the sky, and the Pathfinder Society has decided to present their findings from some unique warshards they recovered in hopes of gaining insight from others across the world. The Aspis Consortium, though, finds this an excellent opportunity to gain valuables in the theft of research materials and to harm the Pathfinders by framing them for the theft. The Pathfinders must deal with the Aspis and clear their names lest they leave the symposium not with new knowledge but with a reputation dragged through the mud.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-19: What Walks Again

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 11th- through 14th-level characters.

Strange earthquakes have been rocking the small town of Pimatsih in Sarkoris, and it seems to coincide with the arrival of Hesla Embersplitter and her newest acquisition: Riftcarver, the scythe that was once wielded by Deskari, the demon lord who ripped open the Worldwound. As the PCs arrive to investigate and help secure the town, a demonic incursion begins, and they must work to help bring the Sarkorians together to keep the town and its inhabitants safe. However, lurking behind the horde, the Split Ember has made the Lord of Locusts walk again, and he turns his hungry gaze and maw toward the Pathfinders.

Pathfinder Society Quest (Series 2) #25: The Greengold Dilemma

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

Greengold, a port city within the elven nation of Kyonin, is recovering from a disaster, and this gives the Pathfinder the perfect opportunity to set up a lodge within the Elven nation. To do so, though, they must convince some of the leaders and most important people within the Elven nation. The Society has sent a team of its leadership to handle these negotiations, but they've also sent some newer agents to help make an impression of the potential training with the Society can provide. Of course, the Aspis Consortium, longtime enemies of the Pathfinders, have been trying to make inroads in Greengold, and some overzealous agents decide that the PCs would make excellent targets.

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.

---

Bring Pathfinder and Starfinder to where you are, in person or online, by having books delivered right to your door with a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every group! 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!

It was with supreme regret that Ulka concluded the younger Blackjackets were looking at her with admiration. Not a revelation she wanted to have on the battlefield, especially while splattered with ghoul blood. She grimaced and wiped the flecks of crimson sludge off her arm, tinting streaks of her green skin black. The length of her polearm usually kept the mess at bay, but these rotbags were full of more fluids than she was used to, and they tended to burst.

It would take hours of scrubbing to kill any chance of an undead infection, and Lake Encarthan’s waters were probably just as tainted as the battlefield she stood on. Hell on a pike. Where? Where had she gone wrong? The Blackjackets were infamous for their loyalty to Druma and nothing else, and their masters knew the worth of that devotion. High pay, respect and prestige, the best equipment and training, pressed and fitted uniforms made of sturdy cloth, and thick leather boots to ward off the mud. The fashion wasn’t to Ulka’s taste, but she couldn’t complain about the quality. Not even Andoran’s army provided their irregulars with anything close. The skinflints in Druma even managed to keep a decent supply line running, and the Blackjacket’s civilian caravan had done a solid job of handling logistics...

The caravan! Screw the gods sideways, that was it, wasn’t it? She and her regulars just had to barge to the rescue when those shadowy forms had descended upon the civilian caravan. Dammit, dammit, dammit! She just had to look the hero, didn't she? She just had to feel a twinge in her black, shriveled lump of a heart at the thought of families and children getting slaughtered by something they couldn’t even touch! Ulka hated the fact civilians were even out here to begin with, but it was inevitable with mercenary groups this large. The fighters weren’t patriots, you couldn’t convince them to put up with the lonely hardships of a mere soldier.

Why did it have to be shadows? The caravan might not have needed her help against zombies or skeletons. They had a bold few who’d put up a resistance—Ulka made a mental note to circle around to that sullen little dwarven fletcher when this mess was done—but what could knitting needles and laundry lines do against something with no flesh?

Ugh, had she saved someone's husband? A daughter? That wasn’t the kind of devotion she could scare off with her usual tactic of being brutish and blunt. The very last thing she needed was more fresh-faced, bright-eyed whelps deciding they wanted to run along at her heels. From a moral standpoint, they weren’t that much better than the undead they were fighting. War camp hangers-on tended to be the kind of people who would smash in a dying widow’s nose in the rush to loot her family jewel box. But they were still people, and people always made things messy. She’d hear them sing songs around the campfire, watch them toss treats to the dogs, see one dance a little jig with his son. They’d save her the prime cuts of bacon at breakfast, ply her with bottles of Belkzen gin. They’d laugh at her stern grumbles and idle threats. They’d likeher. They’d rush to save her on the battlefield and take an arrow straight to the throat.

Ulka ground her teeth against the back of her tusks. There was still a fight to be won.

She let out a howl that ripped across the battlefield, an undulating cry that an Andoren soldier had likened to a shepherd’s call sung by a wolf. Her scattered soldiers marched up, spears out, to form up around her in the brackish muck.

“These ghouls want flesh?” she yelled. “Rip their damned feet off their damned legs and cram them down their damned throats!” Her soldiers laughed as they charged into the fray, like the rotten rat bastards that they were.

Ulka followed behind them, assessing the situation. Barring reinforcements from the lake, the battle wasn’t likely to last much longer. The Tyrant might have unfathomable horrors at his command, but those weren’t here. These were nothing more than offal Tar-Baphon had thrown at a hapless village to clear out space in his barracks. Her mercenaries and the Blackjackets would obliterate them, along with anything else unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

Though perhaps not without casualties. There was a sudden roar from somewhere out on the water, as one of the stilted houses nearby exploded into flames. The shockwave sent the seasoned warriors onto the wrong foot; even Ulka stumbled. A minor error, speaking to their military discipline, yet the dead were not so easily stunned. The ghouls pounced.

Ulka gave a shrill whistle, using her polearm to gesture to the caravan behind her. “Artillery fire! Retreat inland!” she commanded. That had almost certainly been a volley from one of the Tyrant's skeletal warships, not that Ulka could see far enough in this quadruple-damned sunlight to confirm. May Sarenrae find a dead rat in her most holy breakfast. If Ulka ever met the goddess, she'd pluck that sunbird like a pheasant and string her up in the larder.

The ghouls loped into the Blackjacket front lines as the soldiers began to fall back, rusted blades and rotting nails seeking gaps in their targets' armor. A Blackjacket youth stepped wrong in the loose earth, stumbling as the reedy grass caused his boot to slip. Ulka stepped up beside the man—a boy, in truth—and, in a single smooth motion, swung her polearm up in an arc that ripped through the ground. She ran on swift, simple instinct, the kind that must be earned if one wanted to ply the trade of war and live past twenty. It came with enough force to rip the ghoul’s legs clean off its torso.

Ulka cleaves a ghoul in two. Art by Pixoloid Studios

Ulka snorted as the disparate pieces thudded into the ground, baring her teeth and lowering her spear. A quick glance to the side confirmed her fears. The youth wasn’t just looking at her admiringly anymore. His gaze had gone past awe and settled just on the wrong side of devotion.

The orc snarled up at the quintuple-damned sunny sky, where she could only imagine the gods were laughing at her. “I'll hang the lot of you for this,” she mumbled.

Eleanor Ferron (she/her)
Senior Developer

---

Rally your troops and prepare for war alongside Ulka Oathshriek at hellfirecrisis.com! Subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription to be among the first to join the ranks with Pathfinder Battlecry!

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

---

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

---

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

Kia Ora everyone! We are pleased to announce PaizoCon South Pacific 2025!

It’s been a while since New Zealand hosted the event, with the previous event being in Matamata in 2017 (Hobbiton!). This year we’re hosting PaizoCon South Pacific from September 5–7, 2025 at the Don Rowlands Centre, Lake Karapiro.

We’re running the second editions of both Pathfinder and Starfinder along with two multi-table special scenarios. We intend to begin GM signups in July, with player signups following in August on Warhorn.

To keep up-to-date with event details as they’re announced, head over to our Discord server or inquire via email. Announcements will also be posted on our Facebook event page.

Net sale proceeds from the event go toward conservation of the kākāpō, a critically endangered bird native to New Zealand.

See you there!

“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.

---

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!"

“Freedom is the state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty.”
—Oxford English Dictionary

Salutations to all intrepid Pathfinders and Starfinders!

The Paizo offices are closed today, June 19th, to pay respects to a crucial day in African American history. Many of you may have associated America’s criminalization of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, and this would be partly true. The painful and more devastating truth is that after January 1st, 1863, for 901 more days, thousands of slaves remained in bondage, most completely unaware that these changes were happening mere miles away from them. News regarding the end of the Civil War was intentionally blocked from entering Confederate states, and the slaves in those states were not informed of their freedom until Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas on June 19th, 1865. That day, colloquially known as Juneteenth, marked the true end to slavery in America and the beginning of a new life for every African and African American on this soil. Although we and other marginalized groups like ours still show resilience daily in our uphill battle for civil rights, we celebrate Juneteenth as one step among many towards true equal rights and equal opportunity.

Juneteenth is more than just an automated notification on your calendar. It’s more than just a portmanteau created and maintained in a culture of resistance. Juneteenth means freedom.

A great way to show solidarity and to support Juneteenth and our community is by donating time, money, or other resources to a black-focused organization. Here are the ones we recommend:

• Color of Change
• The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
• National Black Child Development Institute
• National Black Justice Coalition
• NAACP, or The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • Please refer to them as the NAACP only if you are non-black.
• SPLC, or Southern Poverty Law Center

To learn more about Juneteenth and why we celebrate it, check out Juneteenth.com.

As a black employee here at Paizo, I’m honored to have the opportunity to educate our space about this significant moment in history that often goes unnoticed.

Thank you and Happy Gaming!

Maya Coleman (xe/xem/they/them)
Community and Social Media Specialist

Hellooooo, Pathfinders and welcome to summer and Pride Month and warmth!

Illustration by Vlada Hladkova

And speaking of warmth, let’s start off with a quest in Kyonin, where the Pathfinders have finally received some warm welcomes after years being on the outs with elven leadership. Between helping deal with a demon problem (apart from Treerazer) in #4-99: Blessings of the Forest, and offering to help in the cleanup of Greengold in the aftermath of Treerazer’s attacks (during the Spore War adventure path), the Pathfinder Society has won no small amount of gratitude in Kyonin, along with the approval of Queen Telandia. They’ve decided to build a lodge in Greengold, but it’s not enough to have the queen’s blessing, the Pathfinders must win over several influential figures in order to get approval for the most suitable sites. The impression your PCs make will determine the quality of the lodge that we end up with. Of course, nothing is ever straightforward when it comes to the Pathfinders. Our old friends the Aspis Consortium are trying to covertly set up shop during the rebuilding efforts, and I imagine they’ll have something to say about the Society setting down roots in the elven kingdom.

Pathfinder Society Series 2 Quest #25: The Greengold Dilemma is an adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by Glen Parnell.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

And now for scenarios. We’ve got a couple great ones this month.

First, the Godsrain has left no small amount of chaos across Golarion. Taldor, though, has taken it upon themselves to become a center for scholarly research into the aftermath of Gorum’s death, and the warshards made of his shattered armor that fell to the planet on the day of his demise. They've invited scholars from across Golarion to attend a symposium on the Godsrain and the warshards, and the Pathfinder Society has decided to present their findings from some unique warshards they recovered in hopes of gaining insight from others across the world. The Aspis Consortium, though, again won’t let things be too easy for us. They find this an excellent opportunity to gain valuables in the theft of research materials, and to harm the Pathfinders by framing them for the theft. It’ll be up to you to deal with the Aspis and clear their names lest they leave the symposium not with new knowledge but with a reputation dragged through the mud.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-18: Symposium on a Fallen God is an adventure for 3rd- through 6th-level characters written by Shan Wolf.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

Directing your attention ever so carefully to the small town of Pimatsih in Sarkoris, we find the Pathfinder Society returning to investigate the strange earthquakes that coincidentally began when Hesla Embersplitter returned to the nation with her newest toy: Riftcarver. Having learned more about her and her intentions during an investigation in Embersplitter Manor, the Society is wary of what plans she may get up to, and what corpses she may resurrect during her time around the Worldwound.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-19: What Walks Again is an adventure for 11th- through 14th-level characters written by Scott D. Young.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Like many of his kind, Grimmyr is unable to return home.

Grimmyr was born to a family of iivlar keepers of Clan Idrun, one of many small nomadic jotunborn communities within the Fray, that sub-planar realm that lies between the mortal Universe and the Ethereal Plane. A place of silver, shifting sands and insubstantial copies of geographic features and animals of the Universe, the Fray has been the realm of jotunborn and their progenitors for millennia. Grimmyr—and indeed all jotunborn—was told since before the time of his weavingday about the responsibility bestowed upon their ancestors by the gods so long ago: to watch over the mortal Universe that they helped create. This stewardship has been passed down throughout the generations, and during times of chaos and strife, jotunborn must venture to the mortal realms to lend their aid.

Grimmyr knew the stories, knew that he might be called upon to redirect a river or replant a forest, but he never expected that it would actually happen. He was happy tending to his family’s colony of iivlars, watching them spin their silk, shepherding them to patches of ethereal grass where they could feast, and gently pushing aside their claws when they got a little too curious. He could see his life’s path stretching before him. He would meet a pretty girl from a passing clan, fall in love, and be joined. They would have a child, and Grimmyr would teach them the ways of iivlar-keeping. Perhaps one day, he would be considered a clan elder and resolve disputes between neighbors and guide the community through the Fray.

But then, a god died.

The cosmic upheaval of Gorum’s death was felt across the entire multiverse, and the Fray was no different. All jotunborn could feel the havoc being wrought in the mortal Universe deep in their souls, like a spiritual itch that needed to be scratched. Grimmyr was out in a field when the ground began to tremble. Something began to tug at his soul, and he instinctively knew that he was being called elsewhere to fulfill his ancestral duty. Time was short, but the insectile iivlars couldn’t be left unguarded, so he quickly shepherded them back to the clan. His mother and father were waiting there for him. He could see in their eyes that they also knew.

The goodbyes were solemn but not despairing. All three of them understood the weight of this obligation, and while a jotunborn leaving the Fray could be gone for weeks or even months, Grimmyr’s parents believed they would see him again soon. His father presented him with a pair of sturdy gauntlets made of molted iivlar shell to keep him safe, and his mother said a brief prayer to Skode, the giant goddess of heroism. Another violent shudder ran through the ground, as if the Fray was impatient for Grimmyr to fulfill the covenant. Grimmyr nodded silently to his parents and gave in to the pull on his soul.

Grimmyr appeared among lush jungle greenery, the most plant life he had ever seen in one place at a time. It was night, so he concentrated on the silk woven through his skin, creating a soft glow by which he could see. As he began to get his bearings, he smelled the smoke. He pushed past broad leaves and enormous flowers to find a fishing village on a river, one of its huts engulfed in flames. Before he could react, an arrow pierced his shoulder. Several brown-skinned elves—presumably residents of this settlement—trained their bows upon him, with one nocking another projectile. He held up his hands in a gesture of supplication, but his enormous size and glowing skin must have confused and frightened them, so they loosed a full volley at him. He barely dodged out of the way, an arrow glancing off his gauntlets as he shielded his face.

Grimmyr, the iconic guardian.
Art by Wayne Reynolds

Grimmyr’s flight brought him closer to the river, where other elven village folk formed a line to move buckets of water from the shore to the burning building. They froze in fear at the sight of him, but that allowed Grimmyr to notice what he first thought was a log slide closer to a villager knee-deep in the river. The mud-brown crocodile suddenly surged forward, but Grimmyr had already pushed the villager to one side, and its jaws clamped down on Grimmyr’s arm instead. Prying the crocodile off him, he hurled it back into the river, where it swam off to find easier prey.

Though they were initially wary of Grimmyr, they didn’t stop him from carrying barrels of water from the river to help put out the fire. Later, a white-haired elven elder tended to his wounds. She spoke a few words of Grimmyr’s language, and through their conversation, he learned where he was: a settlement on the Vanji River in the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse on the world of Golarion. The elder explained how a piece of burning sky fell from above to cause the fire, a piece of something larger plummeting down far to the southwest.

Since then, Grimmyr has been tracking that fallen star, certain that it is the key to what brought him to Golarion. Other fragments of it scattered along its trajectory, causing minor disasters where they landed. After following one such piece to the hideout of a band of river pirates, Grimmyr realized he required more protection than just his gauntlets and pieced together a suit of armor to fit his frame from various sources. Some he purchased, some he scavenged. To defend himself, he added several striking heads to a stone maul, hoping that its intimidating appearance would deter otherwise aggressive foes.

Despite all this, Grimmyr hasn’t forgotten about home. He believes that whatever powers brought him to Golarion will be able to return him once he has dealt with the catastrophe he was sent to correct. Until then, he will continue to protect those that need it, much in the same way he kept his iivlars safe.

Jason Keeley (he/him)
Senior Designer

Rally your troops and prepare for war alongside Grimmyr at hellfirecrisis.com! Subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription to be among the first to join the ranks with Pathfinder Battlecry!

Located halfway along the Obari Crossing sea route that connects the Inner Sea to wondrous Vudra, the archipelago of Iblydos boasts millennia-old city-states guided by ascended hero-gods. At least that’s how society used to operate; the Age of Lost Omens ruined prophecies’ reliability, and cyclopean prophecies were essential in creating new hero-gods. As attrition and age kill off the remaining hero-gods, Iblydos perseveres, made rich by trade yet dreading the demise of its pantheon.

In the Myth-Speaker Adventure Path, the player characters visit the city-state of Pol-Bailax as it mourns the death of an exceptional citizen—one who would have become a hero-god in better times. Yet Iblydans don’t simply weep; they celebrate a life well lived. The PCs’ arrival coincides with spectacular funeral games to celebrate this hometown hero, and it’s a perfect time to join the festivities, discover Iblydan history, and begin the PCs’ own legend. As they do, mythic power is reawakening in Iblydos as not seen in ages. It’s all fun and games for now, but the PCs soon attain mythic power of their own. Will they become the hero-gods Iblydos has long sought? And what is this mythic power, why does it emerge now, and what is the cost of this power?

Inside the Myth-Speaker Player’s Guide, you’ll find player-friendly, spoiler-free tips and advice to help you create an exciting and engaging character ready to take on what awaits. Contents include:

• Character suggestions, including recommendations for ancestries, classes, languages, skills, and feats well suited for this Adventure Path.
• Six new backgrounds designed for adventurers in Iblydos, such as the Student of Apotheosis who studies the hero-gods of old and the Beast Seeker who dreams of confronting the legendary monsters that call the islands home.
• An overview of the remaining hero-gods to inspire your own journey or even empower your divine spellcasters.

Download the Myth-Speaker Player’s Guide

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.

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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.

Introduction

Order of the Amber Die here, still going strong as the years roll on! In case you aren't familiar with our work from past projects, we'll repeat the staccato version. We only play published adventures. We use the complete rules set. We've had the same GM since our founding: 1987. We like to push the envelope of tabletop roleplaying. We only play marathon sessions—days at a time. We play on location. Our GM isn't afraid to kill characters or TPK us; he'll do it in front of the community, too. Imagine us like a roleplaying team, complete with a Captain and Ref position to help the players. We revere one d20 above all others, and that is the Amber Die. It doesn’t roll more 20s than it should, but it chains them when it does, and doubters have always been converted. After more than 170 adventures, we've even gotten rid of RPG absolutes: yeah, we'll split the party.

Past Pathfinder Projects

The Emerald Spire Project, 2014

The Giantslayer Endeavor, 2015

The Strange Aeons Experiment, 2016

The Azlant Odyssey, 2017

The Pathfinder Playtest, 2018

The Slithering Salve, 2020

The Abomination Arsenal, 2022

The Sky Scions, 2025

The Scions

In our previous projects we’ve always put our own spin on things. For The Abomination Arsenal, we tried to reach the bottom of Pathfinder’s largest megadungeon with a party consisting entirely of gunslingers. With The Strange Aeons Experiment, we assembled a team of Pathfinder players who knew nothing about Lovecraft or the Elder Mythos, and sent them through the Strange Aeons AP to see what would happen. The list goes on, but we’ll let you check out each project as you may.

The years have gone past and we’ve come far enough to be able to look back across the ground we’ve covered. We’ve grown older together, added new members, said hard goodbyes, and finally stopped to look back at ourselves. This has been a personal journey for us as members of Order of the Amber Die, just as much as it has been a journey through adventure paths in front of the community.

This project won’t just be a playthrough of Sky King's Tomb Adventure Path , it will focus on appreciating time and family. The Sky Scions is about a dwarven family in-game, and Order of the Amber Die as a family ourselves. For this project, Adam has dialed up some of the oldest members of the Order. In each marathon you’ll see a cameo from as far back as 1987, when three 10-year-olds sat in mom’s basement and dreamed up a club centered around their favorite die.

We’ve always stuck to the complete rules set, never deviating. As the years went by, our inbox filled with messages asking what house rules we would employ if we ever chose to. With the release of Pathfinder Second Edition and Remaster, we also received requests asking which optional rules we would utilize from the GM Core if we ever chose to. The answer was always simple and quick, but the Will DC increased with each passing year. Around the fire pit at our headquarters, Fort Rannick, we looked at the time visible on each other’s faces and finally decided to go for it.

As our house rule for this project, age modifiers from Pathfinder 1E will be adapted to Pathfinder 2E. A player’s age in real life determines their age category (and thus their adjusted attribute modifiers) in-game. We broke down our membership by decade, so the “venerable” age category in-game consists of players that are 50-59 years old out of game, as those are our oldest members. 40-49 in real life is considered “old,” and 30-39 is marked as “middle-aged” for modifiers. While we acknowledge that there are plenty of exceptions to these modifiers in real life, we wanted to create something that distinguished us by age at the table. Each marathon will feature different rosters of dwarves (therefore ages) from the clan. Still, it’s our first house rule across all these years. We must be getting old.

As a variant rule in addition to our house rule, we will be employing the “free archetype” from the GM Core. After reading through the Highhelm hardcover, we were reminded of how faith is one of the fundamentals of dwarven culture. We wanted to feel the dwarven pantheon as an ever-present part of our story; thus, we all have the same free archetype: Blessed One. We purposely spread the deities among the characters, so we’ll have a variety around the table at each marathon.

Meet Clan Firecask

We are all playing strong-blooded dwarves of Clan Firecask, a Goldhilt clan from the greatest of the dwarven sky citadels: Highhelm. Our main colors are orange and green, and amber features in various ways, of course. Our accent color is blue topaz, and each of our clan daggers is adorned with the matching stone.

We’re not just members of Clan Firecask, we’re directly related to Clanleader Perhill Firecask herself. Which in turn means we’re related to one another, of course. On your left at the table might be your in-game grandparent, and across from you could be your own child or even a sibling. This should make for some interesting roleplaying, and we’ll include a section in each blog to let you know how it goes along the way. When it’s your great-grandchild who just dropped to dying 2 across the battlefield, you might make different decisions than you normally would. As for family spats? Expected.

While the Ironhilt and Steelhilt clans of Highhelm might consider us “soft hands,” our dwarven hands are always busy—busy making beer! This wouldn’t be an Order of the Amber Die project without a high level of immersion, but it was a bit tricky trying to figure out how to approach this vital piece of Clan Firecask’s identity. We came up with this: what if we brewed our own beer out-of-game, and learned the process together as a group the same way our dwarves have spent their lives doing? We ran it by one of our friends, Brandon Gillam of Runehammer, since he was joining us periodically throughout the adventure path. Brandon offered to up things a notch: what if we contacted a brewery and had our own unique beer for this project, label and all? This is where Sacred Vice Brewing in Philadelphia got involved. Brandon drew the label, Sacred Vice made the beer, and our GM dropped the release of Clan Firecask’s newest beer—Battle Axe—right into the actual storyline of our campaign!

Highlights from Preparing Sky King’s Tomb:

• Knowing that Highhelm would feature heavily in our launch marathon, our GM worked closely with Black Bard Studios to make sure the city appeared as one of our best setups over the years. We’re excited to show you more!
• Some of our friends from over the years will make an appearance. Ready to see Joe O’Brien of the Glass Cannon Network as a dwarf from Clan Firecask? How about Brandon Gillam as Renck, the wise bard and keeper of clan recipes? You might even recognize Brandon’s expert hand as the artist of the portraits in this blog. Stay tuned.
• Elemental Stones is one of the most popular games of Highhelm. Our GM has already told us to learn it, as he’s making sure it will feature directly in this campaign. You know us by now, so we’ll stop the session and play a real game every time it comes up.
• Another thing we still love about being around the table is our props. Dwarven coins from Norse Foundry? Pile ‘em up. A dwarven helmet, some quality wooden mugs, and custom clan daggers? Yup. Beard extensions for those of us who dare? Let’s go for it. Growing your actual beard for a year in advance? Jody did it.
• It’s been a while since we played on location, and how awesome would it be to experience the Darklands in an actual cave? Pennsylvania has quite a few caves that are managed for tourists, so our plan is to find one that will let us spelunk in and set up our Pathfinder game!

What’s Next

We’ll drop a blog for every marathon we play, with a plan to finish this AP in six or seven marathons. As Adam likes to remind us, a TPK ends the project. Expect to hear from us again soon with part one!

Follow Order of the Amber Die:

Our table was brought to life with the help of Blue Table Painting for our miniatures, and our marathons would have faltered long ago without Critical Hit Cookies.

-The Sky Scions thread

-Facebook

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-YouTube

Hail and well met, ‘Finders! This month’s new releases invite you to explore the Shining Kingdoms, remaster Valashinaz’s vault of treasures, and attempt your final Starfinder assessment!

A reminder—the scenarios listed here are April’s scenarios, which released last Wednesday, May 28th! 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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Pathfinder Treasure Vault (Remastered)

VENTURE INTO THE VAULT!

Pathfinder Treasure Vault reveals the glittering hoard of a terrifying dragon, as presented by the creature’s plucky kobold assistant. This 224-page hardcover rulebook presents a catalog of new gear from nearly every category of equipment and magic item available in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game while introducing entirely new categories of items. Give your character the perfect tool for the job with signature weapons, customizable relics, and wondrous items to fit your every need while preparing for any eventuality with potions, elixirs, wands, and more!

Pathfinder Treasure Vault (Remastered) is available in standard hardcover, retailer and paizo.com exclusive sketch hardcover, and faux-leatherette bound Special Edition hardcover, as well as PDF format!

Pathfinder Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms

COURTS AND CAMPAIGNS

The nations at the heart of Avistan were once bastions of chivalry, faith, and history. Now their most iconic god is dead, the empires are crumbling, and the knights are often bigger monsters than the dragons they once fought. The drums of war thunder like cavalry on the horizon. It remains to be seen if these kingdoms and former kingdoms can shine once more or collapse under the weight of history. Don your armor and polish your shield, for bloodstained battlefields and courts alike await! This gazetteer looks at the history, cultures, and current events of Andoran, Druma, the Five Kings Mountains, Galt, Kyonin, and Taldor, accompanied by character details and options to prepare any character for the trials soon to come.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Shining Kingdoms is available in standard hardcover and faux-leatherette bound Special Edition, as well as PDF format!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #215: To Blot Out the Sun (Shades of Blood 3 of 3)

... AND BRING ENDLESS NIGHT

On the trail of Nizca, the vampire who orchestrated the plan to shroud the sun in shadow, the PCs must ascend the tower from within, fighting past deadly guardians and strange Azlanti magic and machinery to reach the tower’s top where Nizca races to repair their device and blot out the sun. The Shades of Blood Adventure Path wraps up with “To Blot Out the Sun,” a complete adventure for 7th– to 10th–level characters.

“To Blot Out the Sun” is also available as a deluxe Foundry VTT module.

Pathfinder NPC Core (Pocket Edition)

POPULATE YOUR WORLD!

Devotees of the gods, cunning mercenaries, fun-loving performers, crafty engineers, devious villains and more all have roles in your game with Pathfinder NPC Core! Over 250 stat blocks for NPCs let you drop all kinds of characters into your game, from servants and farmers to masters of magic and martial arts. The NPCs are crafted to be fun and easy to use, with sets of adjustments to quickly change their ancestry, level, and more. You'll also find a trove of NPCs specific to non-human ancestries, like a dwarf general, goblin get gang, and kobold egg guardian. Each section of NPCs is themed and includes lore, custom rules, and random tables to spice up your gameplay. Never find yourself making up statistics on the fly again—you can find everything you need in Pathfinder NPC Core!

Pathfinder NPC Core (Pocket Edition) brings the same contents as the standard edition in a smaller-sized softcover for a lower price and better portability.

Pathfinder NPC Core Pawn Box

Soldiers and spellcasters! Criminals and courtiers! Allies and villains! The vast variety of characters from Pathfinder NPC Core come alive on your tabletop with this collection of more than 350 creature pawns for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or any tabletop fantasy RPG!

Printed on sturdy cardstock, each double-sided pawn contains a beautiful full-color image of a creature from Pathfinder NPC Core. Populated primarily with highly useful characters like pirates, farmers, and innkeepers, these pawns also include sets of non-human characters—elves, dwarves, lizardfolk, and more. You’ll even find plentiful pawns to represent troop NPCs, such as military units or town guards, placed on large pawns to show off their multi-character illustrations.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Remote Villas

A place to get away!

Everyone needs an out-of-the-way respite, and this Flip-Mat provides two such locations. One side features a spiraled keep perched high on a precarious mountain cliff, while the other side shows a cozy lodge sitting deep in a wintery valley. Whether your characters are in need of a retreat or they’re storming a rival’s secure estate, Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Remote Villas has you covered!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-16: The Heart of the City

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

Word from a missing Pathfinder agent makes its way to Decemvirate leadership, revealing that Hesla Embersplitter has not only staffed her manor home with cultists of the deceased demon lord, Deskari, but that she's also received an ominously large shipment from an unknown shipping merchant recently. Unable to convince the High Council of Absalom of Hesla's ill intentions, they turn to their agents to look into what's happening at Ember Manor in the Eastgate District and determine what this ancient artifact is and what she could be planning. Once inside the manor, agents quickly learn that the object is what remains of demonic corpse, protected by Hesla's fanatical Cult of the Screaming Grub!

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-14: Final Assessment

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 11th- through 14th-level characters.

Years ago, the Starfinder Society suffered a monumental setback during a mission into the region of space known as the Scoured Stars. After a year of rebuilding, the Society returned to the Scoured Stars and rescued its surviving agents, only to be pushed out by an aggressive species known as the jinsuls. Over the course of the next year, the Society built a coalition of allies and defeated the jinsul menace, scattering them and stopping the divine herald Dhurus from consuming the energies of the Scoured Stars’ awakening deity, Kadrical.

In the years since, former First Seeker Jadnura has patiently waited within the Scoured Stars onboard his starship, the Perfect Silence, acting as a self-appointed steward of the system and communing with the god Kadrical through deep meditation. Now, a potent celestial event is about to occur within the Scoured Stars—an alignment of the stars and planets poised to create a strong metaphysical bridge that could further empower Kadrical and allow the deity to take another step into reasserting itself within the cosmos. Jadnura has invited the Society’s most senior agents to witness the monumental event alongside him, aboard the Perfect Silence. When disaster strikes, the Starfinders experience echoes from the Starfinder Society’s recent past and endure an encounter with the divine.

Will you survive the final assessment?

Return to the Scoured Stars in the final adventure for Starfinder First Edition!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-17: The Devil in the Details

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

The Pathfinder Society, like many other organizations and governments, seeks to collect the fallen shards of the dead war god Gorum, the warshards. They have devised a means of detecting some, and using this an expedition of veteran Pathfinders is assembled, but their tracking ritual leads them strait to a secret Chelaxian weapons laboratory. The site's defenses trap the PCs ship, and while the other members of the expedition hold off the Chelaxian forces, the PCs must infiltrate the laboratory to discover what the Chelaxians are fighting so desperately to keep secret, and why the warshard-finding ritual is leading the PCs here.

Starfinder Society Special #6-99: The End Awakens

A Starfinder Society Special designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters (subtiers 1–2 & 3–4).

The Szandite Collective is an alliance of seven planets spread across four adjacent star systems in Near Space, connected by a psychic network of szandite crystals. Although the Collective has consisted of seven planets for all of its post-Gap history, long ago, it once numbered eight, as the planet Krethiskar failed to reconnect following the Gap. With only an approximate idea of where the planet existed in relation to the rest of the Collective home worlds, Krethiskar is lost, and progress on its rediscovery is painfully slow.

Palivhar Chooser of Hues, a respected scholar, astronomer, and member of the Starfinder Society’s Forum, is a citizen of the Szandite Collective and has long sought the missing planet Krethiskar. After decades of sifting through psychic echoes stored within szandite crystals, leveraging potent divinations, and cross referencing the Starfinder Society’s vast galactic databases—all to meet with failure—Palivhar experienced a vivid, recurring dream of a voice, reaching across time and space, to guide them to Krethiskar. Following their dreams into the unexplored reaches of Near Space, Palivhar discovered the very planet that had eluded them for so long: Krethiskar.

Now, Palivhar leads an expedition of Starfinders to Krethiskar’s surface, to survey the planet, locate its szandite crystals, and determine what happened to the citizens of this lost collective. Unfortunately for the Starfinder Society, Krethiskar is a huskworld consumed by the voracious Swarm in ages past. Palivhar’s survey expedition is doomed to become a desperate fight for survival, as the hibernating Swarm awaken. Can you escape the planet alive?

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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 Battles: Adult Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature

Expand your Pathfinder collection with the Adult Adamantine Dragon, featured on the cover of the Pathfinder Monster Core book!

The adamantine dragon—one of the skymetal dragons—got its name due to the adamantine covering its body. The magic that flows through them draws adamantine to their bodies like a magnet. These dragons can burrow through solid stone, emerging from the ground to ambush their prey. Instead of a typical dragon breath, adamantine dragons belch up huge boulders they consume while burrowing.

The adult adamantine dragon is also available as an unpainted Pathfinder Deep Cuts: Adult Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature.

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Ulka knew the warmth of family for less than an hour. Her first cries were a wail of grief for her parents, slaughtered alongside the rest of her hold in a brutal raid by rival orcs. The murderers left the orphaned child untouched among the corpses, prey for wolves or the elements to take, chortling and sporting among each other for their cruelty. Empty Hand scouts found the babe not long after, screaming in defiance at the heavens, as if daring the gods themselves to answer for their sins.

The Empty Hand had come to recruit Ulka's people to the banner of their leader, Grask Uldeth. A tiny bundle swaddled in boar skin was not the prize they sought, but they obeyed their orders all the same. Ulka grew up a sullen child in Urgir, troubled and quiet except for outbursts of unprovoked ferocity. Far from considering this inappropriate, the orcs who raised Ulka were impressed by her ferocity, encouraging her to turn her anger into a blade upon the battlefield. Ulka resented them all for this, loathing those who saw her pain as an opportunistic tool. Of course, this bitterness only made her tutors and caretakers prouder.

Ulka does not remember how she fell in with Grask’s second-in-command, Ardax the White-Hair. All she recalls is that Ardax had little interest in her temper or even her prowess in combat. Instead, Ardax would ask her questions she didn't have the answer to or challenge her to seemingly simple games that were far more complex than they first appeared. While this led to quite a few tantrums from young Ulka, she appreciated these mental challenges far more than any other lessons the Empty Hand inflicted on her.

She was eventually adopted and raised by Ardax’s militant enforcers, the Closed Fist. This upbringing focused on developing her martial prowess, with Ardax personally seeing to her instruction in lessons of strategy and leadership. Ulka excelled in all categories, though she could never quite match the older man’s uncanny prescience. Even now, though Ulka scoffs at the thought of fate or prophecy, she wonders if Ardax sought her out because he sensed something about her. For a while, she even dared to believe she had found her place with him, her future.

Perhaps Ulka might have one day commanded her own orc hold. Yet once again, death came to call upon her. Once again, it strode past her without a nod and took everything away from her.

Ulka Oathshriek, the iconic commander.
Art by Wayne Reynolds.

It came on an evening like any other, when Ulka was standing watch. As the moon hung high overhead, she began to feel a nagging doubt in the back of her mind, so she checked on Grask Uldeth to discover the warlord dead. His body was left on his throne, impaled on multiple swords. Guarding was meant to have been a simple task, and yet she had seen nothing, heard nothing. Such supreme failure, even if the assassination had been the result of powerful magic, would lead to only the direst of consequences for her.

Ulka knew her limits. She had no chance of unraveling the truth in her current position, with her current skills and knowledge. Rather than let herself be used as a pawn, to let others make her pain into another tool, she chose to flee Urgir. Ulka would gather allies, finding plenty of orcs and others who were as cast aside and wronged by the world as she was. She would build her power until an opportunity to avenge Grask and reclaim her reputation presented itself.

Mercenary work sustained her. It was plenty, and it was Hell. Together, she and her followers clawed a living from troughs of bloody ground. Despite her stern orders and brutal punishments, her efforts left too many orphans, yowling babes left to lament the world's cruelty just as she had. Ulka refused to let her rage consume her, as the Empty Hand had urged her in her youth, but she felt whatever passed as her soul grew scabs and scars. Her commands became louder, more demanding, more vicious. Her troops gave her the surname Oathshriek for her battle cry, which promised violence to her enemies and even greater violence to her gods should she fall in battle.

Death came to her again, this time laden with rewards. While orcs could face prejudice among the people of the Inner Sea, many were happy to hire orc mercenaries to slay their foes. Ulka proved herself over and over, earning renown with Nirmathi irregulars, Druman Blackjackets, Isgeri border patrols, and even Andoren Eagle Knights. Her victories soon preceded her, presenting new opportunities with prestigious mercenary groups and local militaries alike. Money flowed into her pockets, and bright young soldiers flocked to her flag. She sent them into combat to their deaths, and they cheered her for it.

Gorum's death brought further riches and ruin. Ulka is in high demand, able to pick and choose her jobs as she likes. She knows she could even ride back into Urgir if she wanted, to be welcomed back with open arms. Yet why should she? Nothing different awaits her there, only more bloody battles as Belkzen fights with Tar-Baphon and traitorous holds of orcs. More and more, Ulka knows the only home for her is among the bones and ashes. The fighting blackens her soul, but to lay down her arms would be cowardice. To refuse to fight for the helpless, to let others be slaughtered like her family, would be immoral. And to find peace, to find a home, is impossible. Nowhere in the world escapes the specter of war. Nowhere in the world is far enough to run.

Ulka fights, surviving when others fall, waiting for the day a foe finally strikes true and pierces her heart. She waits for the day she can finally spit her dying breath at Pharasma's feet.

Eleanor Ferron (she/her)
Senior Developer

& Michael Sayre (he/him)

Rally your troops and prepare for war alongside Ulka Oathshriek at hellfirecrisis.com! Subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription to be among the first to join the ranks with Pathfinder Battlecry!

Happy Pride, ’Finders! For our Pride Contributor Blog this year, we’ve welcomed some of our queer staff and contributors to share their stories with us! The theme for this year’s Pride is “Queer Joy as Resistance,” a spotlight on how joy and hope are active protests against oppressive systems.

James Beck (any/all)

Hello! My name is James Beck (any/all) and I’m a Paizo freelancer, infinite master on Pathfinder Infinite, co-founder of Eldritch Osiris Games, and all-around a geeky person! I know times are particularly tough around the world, especially for those who identify as LGBTQ+, but queer people have always existed and will always exist. I truly believe in a future where everyone can be who they wish to be. Something that I love about Pathfinder and Starfinder is how diverse the people of the setting are. I can always find someone whom I can identify with, which always fills me with joy. As Jews, we are taught about the value of Tikun Olam, to repair the world. While I might not be able to cast a spell and make everything right in the world, I believe we must all strive for a better tomorrow, where everyone is safe to be who they are. With much love - James Beck

Rigby Bendele (they/them)

Hey, you. Yeah, you in the corner thinking about what it means to be queer in 2025. You, thinking about if it's worthwhile to come out. I'm here to say: yes, it is. Living my life openly and unabashedly as a trans person makes it vibrant, joyful, and worth living. I spent too much time in the closet and too long detransitioned to say otherwise. It's beautiful, even if I find myself having to carefully manage my exposure to the news to handle my stress.

For those of you who are allies, especially cis allies of trans people: I'm not going to chide you or berate you. I've seen too many people want to be lectured for failing to live up to their values. That's for you to manage. Instead, I want you to celebrate with trans people. Give the flowers to the trans people in your life now. Understand that being part of our joy is part of helping us survive. I don't want anyone to look at my work and think that reading it is like taking a gross medicine to help counter transphobia. It's supposed to be fun!

When I sit down and design games for you (yes, you, the person reading this!), I think of it as a gift. I'm trying to make the game work as smoothly as possible for you, with as many delightful surprises as I can fit onto the page, and open up an experience that we share across time and space. I can only tell the stories that I can tell. I hope that it's an invitation to understand a bit more about the world, or to explore something you haven't explored before. Even if you don't know me (especially if you don't know me!), my work is an attempt to say "Hello, let's play a game together." I hope that you have fun.

Rigby Bendele is a trans writer and tabletop game designer from Richmond, VA. Their work includes the third chapter of Starfinder Adventure Path: Mechageddon!, the third chapter of Pathfinder Adventure: Claws of the Tyrant, and the Relationships subsystem that appeared in Pathfinder NPC Core.

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

It is so important right now to stand up for who you are and to protect the ones you love, and if that means just standing in the middle between the people that make you feel safe, that’s okay too.

I have the fortune to share my life right now with multiple partners. One of them is gay, one of them intersex, and one of them trans (all shared with permission). I don’t see any of them as often as I would like, but I would still stand for each of them if any one of them were feeling threatened.

I hope you do too, but I’ll stand for you as well if you don’t have the spoons.

Maya Coleman (xe/xem/they/them)

An avid musician and graduate from Oberlin College & Conservatory with a degree in Film Music Composition, Maya has used their skills in organization in combination with a weaponization of their OCD and OCPD (literally) to flourish in the tabletop industry for nearly ten years. Starting as the sole employee at Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, managing community for the board game Secret Hitler since its inception, they’ve gone on to manage communities at Skybound Tabletop, run projects on Kickstarter such as Trogdor!! The Board Game! and Trial by Trolley, and are now the Community and Social Media manager here at Paizo.

When they are not working in the industry, Maya is an avid crafter and gamer. Their plushie collection is vast, from sweaters for their loyal service dog, Avalon, to d20, like from their panel at PaizoCon, to enormous snowflakes and Hatsune Miku! They’re also a huge fan of Pokemon, and, despite never having finished a single game, they’ve played each one released (their favorite pokemon is Gardevoir, by the way)! Maya is also your go-to resource for obscure film and soundtracks, and is happy to geek out about either at any given time!

You can find Maya at the following links:

• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MayagurumiCo (My pattern for the crocheted d20 is here!!)
• Battle.net (Mercy Main. Still. Somehow. Yes, they are tired.): britmus309#1905
• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/britmus309

Hiromi Cota (they/she)

This Pride, I’m proud of a variety of things, but I’ll narrow down to just two. Firstly, I recently celebrated my peoples’ (Indigenous Okinawan & Yaeyaman) cultures by getting hajichi, traditional hand tattoos. They are traditionally women’s tattoos, usually done in stages to mark important milestones toward adulthood. They were also legally banned when Japan colonized our islands. But, as a trans femme and nonbinary person, me getting hajichi isn’t just a celebration of my Indigenous heritages or a rejection of Imperial Japan’s colonizer anti-tattoo laws; it’s also a celebration of my femininity and a visible assertion of my status as a femme Uchinaanchu & Yaimapitu.

Secondly, I’m so happy that I’ve been performing in shows as a femme performer. I’m an actor-combatant who regularly acts and fights in large shows at Renaissance Faires. And, a year ago, I switched from playing masculine characters to femme ones. It has been thrilling to show large, cheering crowds who I am.

Happy Pride!

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Pride holds more meaning for me this year than it has in years prior, given the circumstances in the US and beyond. As systems work to erase hundreds of years of trans history and queer culture, it falls to us to hold those memories and stories within us. By sharing our stories, playing games, building worlds, and imagining futures where trans joy is a staple, not an exception, we lay the foundation for a better world—not only for those of us here now, but for the queer and trans people who follow after.

My great joy on a yearly basis now is running TTRPGs for Trans Rights, an itch.io-based fundraiser that benefits trans-focused charities in hard-hit states (Texas, Florida, West Virginia, and Ohio have all been recipients). As one trans person, there’s only so much financial help I can provide, but with the power of community organizing, we can make huge strides! This year’s fundraiser pulled in over $80,000 for TransOhio and Kaleidoscope Youth Center, putting our organization’s total over the $1 million mark, and giving those organizations a much-needed funding boost to continue their important work. Organizations we’ve supported in the past like Latina Trans Texas and Transinclusive Group (Florida) still make use of the funds raised via our program, or programs and infrastructure built using those funds. From an idea in my living room, we built a grassroots fundraising initiative that is making life-changing amounts of money for queer organizations.

Beyond the fundraising, it’s also important for me to show queer and trans people in those hard-hit states that they do have community. People care about you and want to see you thrive, even if you don’t get that kind of support locally. And knowing that there is a world out there that loves you as you are is life-saving.

Rue Dickey is Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist, as well as a 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.

James Jacobs (he/him)

I’ve never been a big fan of parties or conventions or parades or other big social gatherings, and that includes things like organized protests and the like—I just get really awkward and uncomfortable when I’m around a lot of people. I know I’m not the only one with this little quirk, but for those out there who are leading the charge in more obvious and wide-reaching forms of resistance by spreading love and acceptance, thank you. That said, there’s still lots of ways to use stories of queer love, joy, and celebration to protest against oppression, even if in the grand scheme they’re pretty subtle. LBGTQ+ representation in Paizo’s Adventure Paths is one of the ways I’ve been working to share this joy—it was a very deliberate choice in the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path I wrote, “Burnt Offerings,” to include Jasper Korvaski as a local paladin who also happens to be gay, to put into print in the first volume proof that alignment is irrelevant to the discussion. Since then, we’ve included SO many more stories of queer joy and I’m proud of them all. A lot of them are much higher profile than one relatively minor paladin in a small town on the Lost Coast, but even these small stories are important ways to spread love and acceptance. So… thank you to all the amazing writers and developers and designers and editors and artists and more who’ve helped keep Paizo’s games filled with characters and stories that I’m immensely proud to have been a part of all this time!

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

Lin Codega’s article “Playing Games Amidst the Revolution” echoes in the back of my mind a lot these days. I’m a fifty-something queer, chronically ill, invisibly disabled, autistic femme; everything is just so much, the weight of the world so heavy, that some days, simply getting out of bed is a victory. Joy does not come easily.

But queer joy matters. It’s how we survive. So I seek joy, do my best to cultivate it, and try to help spread it wherever I can. Games are part of how I do that. My most recent game (which I proudly included in the recent TTRPGs for Trans Rights bundle on itch.io) takes its inspiration from queer history—the tea dance, a non-alcoholic, queer event when same-gender dancing was illegal at venues selling alcohol. The tea dance was defiance wrapped in community and joy.

Dan Savage, reflecting on the worst days of the AIDS crisis, talked about going from burying friends in the morning, to protesting in the afternoon, and then out dancing at night. “The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for,” he explained. “It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.”

I would add: keep playing. Tell your stories, imagine better worlds, laugh with your friends around the gaming table—and know that you’re not alone.

Come say hi on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social).

Shay Snow (they/them)

It’s 2012. I live in Texas. My partner lives in Washington. I propose at the Seattle Waterfront. They say yes and we share a pack of McDonald’s french fries and a Coke to celebrate. Queer love tastes like salt and carbonation and sea spray.

We get married in 2014, before it’s federally legal. We arrive back in Texas, wearing wedding rings and calling each other wife. We lose our few state benefits due to discrimination.

We transition in 2016. We look funny, we dress funny, we don’t fit the gender norms. We’re yelled at on the sidewalk outside of the one GAC clinic in Texas.

We don’t care. Queer love tastes like fries and carbonation and sea spray. Queer strength feels like freedom and shoulders back and arms that hold and love you forever.

Shay Snow is an agender two-spirit queer Native. They use they/them pronouns and can be found as spellsinsugar on Bluesky and Reddit.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello, all! I’m Kendra Leigh Speedling, queer writer and frequent contributor to Paizo. Some of my recent work includes the Cobyslarni section in Pathfinder Rival Academies, Pathfinder Adventure Path #209: Destroyer’s Doom, and the Verces section and space pirate archetype from Starfinder Second Edition’s first published book, Starfinder Galaxy Guide!

Over the years, RPGs have helped me explore my own identity, and being a part of the queer Paizo community has been a big part of that. With every casual reference to a queer relationship in an adventure, every trans NPC, and every post of the “make it gayer” meme in a Paizo project server, I’m reminded that there a lot of us out there, and we’re not going anywhere. If someone picks up a book with a queer character I made and feels that sense of recognition or belonging, I’ll be proud of that. Pride is a riot—and we’ll need that spirit now more than ever—but Pride is also a party, because who we are is worth celebrating.

Alex Speidel (he/him)

This is not a hypothetical story.

There is a game store. It’s on the outskirts of a midsize city. It’s the passion project of its owner, and it’s probably just barely staying afloat, but that’s not what we’re focused on right now.

The game store is small, cluttered, does a roaring trade in trading cards, but one night a week, it hosts roleplaying games. Like most game stores, its clientele skews toward cis white dudes. But gaming is for everybody, and the player base has expanded.

The thing is, this game store, this midsize city? Politically, they are not in a great place for people who are not cis white dudes. Conservative, in whatever flavor fits the locale. And so you’d think there wouldn’t be any queer people there, because why would there be?

But you’d be wrong. Because we’re everywhere. We’re in that town. We’re in that store. And most of the time, you wouldn’t even know we’re there.

But every once in a while, you would. Because a Pathfinder scenario asks you to help an NPC get their hands on a serum of sex shift. Or a Starfinder scenario casually has no binary NPCs and a whole host of agender and nonbinary characters using neopronouns. And that queer person? That kid, that teen, that adult who’s just figuring themselves out? They light up. They feel seen, they feel understood, they feel joy, for just a few minutes.

This is a story I’ve heard dozens of times. Every time I do, it stokes the flame in my heart just a little bit, and reminds me why I do this.

Because I know, every time I hear this story, that the worst people in the world are absolutely frothing mad about it. They are so incensed at the idea of queer joy that they will whip themselves into a frenzy, destroy their lives and livelihoods in a futile effort to snuff out that joy, go roaring into the dustbin of history with nothing to show for it.

And we’ll just laugh and keep on. Because if the worst people in the world are mad at you, I think you’re doing just fine.

---

Paizo is proud to have brought queer stories to our tables since the beginning, and we look forward to the wonderful stories our contributors will continue to tell! We welcome our community to share their queer joy and hope in the comments as well. Happy pride!

It’s that time of year, ’Finders! Today marks the start of PaizoCon 2025—our annual celebration of all things Paizo! Whether you’re joining us virtually for PaizoCon Online or visiting one of our PaizoCon@ Partner Locations, we can’t wait to share a weekend of festivities with you!

Keep reading for an overview of everything happening at PaizoCon—and don’t forget to join in the fun on Discord and Twitch!

Panel Schedule

Beginning with our Keynote Address, we have a wide variety of panels taking place over the weekend on Twitch. For a deeper dive on these panels, take a look at paizo.com/paizocon for descriptions.

Anyone can join in the Twitch chat for panels, but PaizoCon badge holders get special access to our post-panel Q&A sessions in the Paizo Events Discord!

Gaming

Beginning at 4pm Pacific today, PaizoCon has game blocks running all weekend long. From Organized Play to community gaming, there’s something for everyone at our virtual tables! Plus, take part in the special interactive specials for Pathfinder and Starfinder Society!

Learn more about the gaming offerings in our prior blog and sign up via Warhorn.

Discord Activities

Badge holders can join us on the Discord server for AMAs, portfolio reviews (art and writing), post-panel Q&As, and giveaways. Even without a badge, you can hang out in our general channels and participate!

PaizoCon Sale

For the duration of PaizoCon (Friday, May 23rd to Monday, May 26th at 11:59 P.M. Pacific), use code “PAIZOCON25” to get 20% off of a single order on paizo.com. This discount code does not apply to backorders, pre-orders, subscriptions, or non-Paizo products.

Plus, our Asian Fantasy Humble Bundle has been extended through May 31st! Get over $800 worth of Pathfinder rules, adventures, and more and support Stop AAPI Hate!

We’re excited to see you at the table for PaizoCon 2025!

Hello, Starfinders!
Here we are. This is it. The time has come. The end is nigh.

This month marks the release of the final Starfinder Society Scenario for Starfinder First Edition. In a few short months, we’ll be celebrating the launch of Starfinder Society Second Edition, but for now, let’s focus on the end.

When it came time to plan the finale for Starfinder Society, there’s nothing I wanted more than to go back to the beginning, with Scoured Stars. And who better to take us there than Thurston Hillman, fan-favorite author, mastermind behind the Scoured Stars, father of the Starfinder Society itself, and the very first person to hire me as a freelance author, giving me the chance to write for the Starfinder Society. Funny how the tables have turned. Today, Thurston’s our Associate Publisher here at Paizo, but I’ve lured him back into the freelancer seat to pen this final adventure.

Thurston’s written an exciting, challenging adventure for high level characters that’s both a retrospective on the Starfinder Society and a capstone adventure to bring your favorite Starfinder’s story to a close. This adventure has the potential to permanently end your adventuring career, even if you survive. You have been warned.

So, buckle up. Former First Seeker Jadnura is waiting for you to join him on his starship, the Perfect Silence, in the Scoured Stars. Don’t keep him waiting.

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-14: The Final Assessment is an adventure for 11th- through 14th-level characters written by Thurston Hillman.

It’s been an honor, Starfinders
I’ll see you in the future.

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Max Roche

Hello, Pathfinders!
Throughout this year, Absalom has been in an absolute frenzy over Lady Hesla Embersplitter, but with her recent actions in Sarkoris, the Pathfinder Society has more incentive than ever to get to the bottom of her seemingly nefarious plans. While our beloved Venture-Gossip is missing and held for ransom, she was able to have something smuggled to Zarta Dralneen: a shipping manifest signed by the Lady Embersplitter, and from the vague details remaining on the note, it seems that she ordered something… enormous.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-16: The Heart of the City is an adventure for 5th- through 8th-level characters written by Rue Dickey.

Illustration by Zach Causey

Meanwhile, the hunt for warshards, the pieces of the dead god Gorum fallen to Golarion, has really heated up. Nations and large organizations alike (the Pathfinder Society included) have been gathering up whatever they can wherever they can. Of course, the Society has devised a way to find certain warshards, and that ritual has led them to a location within the Inner Sea, off the coast of Cheliax.

Both illustration by Zach Causey

You’ll be part of the expedition of veteran Pathfinders assembled to recover the warshard, but nothing can ever be easy when the Pathfinders are involved. The tracking ritual is leading you straight to a secret Chelaxian weapons laboratory. The site's defenses trap your ship, and while the other members of the expedition hold off the Chelaxian forces, it’ll be up to you and your companions to infiltrate the laboratory to discover what the Chelaxians are fighting so desperately to keep secret, and why exactly the warshard-finding ritual is leading the PCs here.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-17: The Devil in the Details is an adventure for 7th- through 10th-level characters written by Sen H.H.S.

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Maichol Quinto

Hail and well met, ‘Finders! As the seasons change into summer, we’re looking ahead to Father’s Day here in the United States, and giving you an easy guide to gaming gifts for dad!

Core Rulebook Pocket Editions

Help dad game on the go with Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2 Pocket Editions! Whether you’re grilling, camping, or sitting on the porch, these Pocket Editions are easy to carry and great for a quick reference!

Pathfinder Claws of the Tyrant

If your dad likes to GM but needs some shorter adventures to relax between big campaigns, consider Pathfinder Claws of the Tyrant! This adventure anthology features two adventures working to thwart the Whispering Tyrant, and one where players get to work as his servants—perfect for parties who like to walk on the dark side every now and then!

Starfinder Galaxy Guide

Take dad on a tour of the cosmos with Starfinder Galaxy Guide! This book contains everything needed to start planning adventures ahead of Starfinder Player Core’s release at Gen Con 2025. Help dad get ahead on his intergalactic puns with a view into the planets and places of Desna’s Path!

Has dad been a gamer all along? Consider getting him the retro videogame-inspired paizo.com and hobby exclusive cover!

Combat Pad

Every GM needs a way to track their encounters; give dad the gift of a Pathfinder Second Edition or Starfinder First Edition Combat Pad—or pre-order the Starfinder Second Edition Combat Pad for delivery in August! Help dad keep track of initiative in style!

Pathfinder Battles: Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature

Releasing just in time for Father’s Day, the Adamantine Dragon Boxed Miniature is a hefty, premium figure for a formidable foe! Whether it’s for sliding out from behind the GM screen during a game or sitting on a shelf as a display piece, the adamantine dragon is sure to make dad smile!

Does dad love to paint? The Adamantine Dragon is also available as a Pathfinder Deep Cuts unpainted miniature!

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Get dad all of these gifts and more at paizo.com!

Hello Pathfinders and Starfinders! Are you ready for the launch of Starfinder Second Edition and Pathfinder Society Year 7?

Signups for all Gen Con events open today at noon Eastern time, and based on past years, tickets to our events will sell out fast. We don’t want you to miss out, so today we’re highlighting some of our most exciting events for you to wishlist! If you have general questions about registering for events at Gen Con, please visit their website.

Gaming

As always, all our gaming will take place in the Sagamore Ballroom! Visit us on the second floor for nearly 100 game tables, a character creation station, a VTT demo area, and even a satellite booth!

You can view all our gaming offerings at this link. Here are some of our featured spotlight events!

Starfinder Second Edition

Gen Con 2025 is the host for the launch of Starfinder Society (Second Edition), and we’ll have hundreds of games available for you!

We’re launching Starfinder with four brand-new adventures. Each one takes 2–3 hours to play and is fully repeatable, allowing you to bring your own character or play a pregenerated adventurer. Get in on the ground floor with these four exciting scenarios!

• SFS2 Intro: Invasion’s Edge
• SFS2 #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon
• SFS2 #1-03: Disaster at Dreamlink Labs
• SFS2 #1-04: The Great Absalom Relay

Join us on Thursday night at 8 p.m. for our launch special, Starfinder Society #1-00: Collision’s Wake. Play one of our eight pregenerated 3rd-level characters as you explore a crashed alien starship on the surface of Akiton. This adventure is a direct prequel to our first year’s storyline, Invasion’s Edge!

Our Starfinder Academy offers fun for the whole family! Kids from age 5-18 can join our experienced GMs for Starfinder Society adventures and learn how to adventure with the best of them!

• View all Starfinder Academy adventures here.

Illustration by Kevin Sardinha

Pathfinder Second Edition

At Gen Con, we’ll be closing Year 6 of Pathfinder Society with our finale adventure for high-level characters. We’ll also be launching Year 7: Year of Battle’s Spark with two brand-new scenarios! Bring your new Battlecry! characters and jump right into the action!

• PFS2 #6-20: The Overthrow of Ambition, for 9th- to 12th-level characters
• PFS (2e) Intro to the Year of Battle's Spark: Enough is Enough, for 1st- to 4th-level characters
• PFS2 #7-02: Shipyard Sabotage, for 1st- to 4th-level characters

Our Pathfinder Special is always a packed house, and this year we’ll be teaming up with some old foes! Characters from 1st- through 8th-level can join us for our Saturday night marquee event. This event absolutely will sell out, and while we’ll try to seat as many walk-ups as possible, we make no guarantees. Note that we have pregenerated characters only up to 5th level, so those playing at 7–8 tables must bring their own characters or be reseated.

• PFS2 #6-99: Under the Eye of the Mantis, for 1st- to 8th-level characters

New this year, we’re running a brand-new style of event! Join the Battle of Hellknight Hill, a one-hour fast and furious event where you’ll take control of an army of Andoran soldiers trying to break a Hellknight siege. All experience levels are welcome, just watch out for the three-headed dragon!

• Pathfinder Special Event: The Battle of Hellknight Hill

Our Pathfinder Academy offers fun for the whole family! Kids from 5-18 can join our experienced GMs for Pathfinder Society adventures with custom kid-friendly pregenerated characters and learn how to adventure with the best of them!

• View all Pathfinder Academy adventures here.

We’ll also be offering a limited number of Pathfinder Quests! These shorter adventures have more seats reserved for walk-up players, though we have some early tickets on sale as well. Dip your toe into Golarion and join us at one of these tables!

• View all Pathfinder Quests here.

Illustration by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

Starfinder First Edition

As Starfinder launches into its second edition, there are plenty of first edition events left to play! Race against an old rival, visit old friends, and undertake your final assessment in these capstone events for Starfinder Society (first edition).

• SFS1 #7-13: Ratrod’s Revenge, for 5th- to 8th-level characters
• SFS1 #7-14: Final Assessment, for 11th- to 14th-level characters

Board Games

More of a board gamer? No worries! Paizo’s board game offerings will also be on offer at Gen Con! Check out our upcoming board game Pathfinder Quest before our crowdfunding campaign this fall or mix things up with the Starfinder Infinity Deck!

• Pathfinder Quest
• Starfinder Infinity Deck

We can’t wait to see you at Gen Con this summer! Expect more information about all our programming as we get closer to the show.

Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Coordinator

Greetings, ‘Finders! Paizo is proud to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by showcasing some of our AAPI contributors and creators. We have invited these contributors to talk about their culture, heritage, and how to support their work!

As part of our celebration, we are also currently running the Pathfinder Asian Fantasy Humble Bundle, with proceeds benefitting Stop AAPI Hate. Get everything you need for adventuring in Tian Xia and help support AAPI communities with this bundle!

Left to right, illustrations by Kent Hamilton and Wayne Reynolds

Eren Ahn (they/them)

안녕, 여러분! I’m going to take this chance to celebrate my mother. While not a leader in any professionally acknowledged way, she’s always encouraged me to approach life unflinchingly and fight for what I stand for. My mother has professionally translated accounts of Korean comfort women, teaches immigrants how to speak English, and, in her youth, was one of many students fighting for the democratization of South Korea. Even now, she’s working on a Ph.D. in linguistics (her second, if you want to know the shoes I’m expected to fill) on the development of DEI language over the past ten years— and she’s told me if the administration attempts to clothesline her work anymore than it has already, she’ll drop the degree immediately. 

I like to joke that, unlike other Korean American kids, I don’t have a mom who wants me to be a doctor or a lawyer. Instead, I have one who pushed me to understand the weight my words carry and who even now encourages me to focus on writing— which is why I get to write for this blog post to begin with! Thanks, 엄마. I’m doing my best to make you proud.

Hiromi Cota (they/she)

This year for AANHPI Month, I have a pair of things I’d like to highlight, and one’s not even a game! I recently celebrated my peoples’ (Okinawan & Yaeyaman) parallel cultures by getting tattoos! In the Ryukyuan cultures, women get hand tattoos to mark milestones towards adulthood, and men get forearm tattoos. As a non-binary & femme person, I got my right hand tattooed with a mix of Okinawan and Yaeyaman styles to celebrate both parts of my Indigenous Islander heritage.

The other thing I want to highlight is Tian Xia+, a third-party expansion to the Tian Xia World & Character Guides by Team+. Most of the people working on the book were people of Asian descent—some of the same folks who worked on the official Tian Xia books, in fact. I gave the sai some love, as it’s a traditional Okinawan weapon that’s near and dear to my heart. You can find this sai goodness under the Three-Finger Fist archetype. I also worked on the Minatan Warrior archetype, which was heavily based on Filipino Martial Arts, and the expansion of the Tsukumogami Poppets, because I love those little guys, too!

Happy AANHPI Month!

Left to right, illustrations by Nicholas Phillips and Mylene Bertrand

Matthew Fu (he/him)

content warning: death

Hi everyone! I'm Matthew, a Chinese American chemist by day and freelance writer and GM by night. I don't have anything else to promote since the release of NPC Core, but I wanted to take a moment to celebrate and reflect on the lessons that my Po Po (grandmother) instilled upon me. She recently passed, and I have her to thank for who am I as a person. She was generous, kind, and patient, and she showed her love through example, always putting her family before herself.

I've always struggled with coming to terms with my heritage, but she always presented Chinese culture in a welcoming and inclusive manner, never pressuring me to accept it if I didn't want to. It's something that I am still at odds with even to this day, but I am eternally grateful for her exposing me to many wonderful customs that I might have disregarded elsewise. Regardless of what I make of it, I can rest easy knowing that her love will always stay with me.

Thank you for letting me share my story.

John Godek III (he/him)

Hi! I’m John, a multi-ethnic Filipino American gamer, gamemaster, freelancer, and podcaster. I spent my early childhood in Hawai'i and the Philippines and later sailed the seven seas as I started my career.

Over the past 5 years, I have written 20 freelance TTRPG projects, including several scheduled for release later this year! I’ve worked mostly for Paizo, but also for Legendary Games, Evil Genius Games, and Evil Robot Games. I produce two podcasts on the Know Direction Network: Digital Divination, with Paizo Senior Designer Jason Keeley and D&D Designer Ron Lundeen, and Intrepid Heroes, an RPG actual play where we play mostly Starfinder adventures (currently A Cosmic Birthday). Previously, I produced Presenting - Gamers Making Games, where I interviewed over 100 game designers, developers, artists, and editors about their journey into the industry. I’m presenting a summary of these interviews at Gen Con this year. In my non-gaming life, I do university research and teaching on entrepreneurship and social enterprise. This summer, I am researching the effects of TTRPGs—feel free to reach out if you are interested in helping!

You can reach me at https://knowdirectionpodcast.com/, on YouTube, @johngodek.bsky.social, or at johngodek.com.

Illustration by Gunship Revolution

Michelle Y. Kim (she/her)

I can’t express the joy and excitement I felt upon realizing that Yoon had a Korean name, and that her heritage was, in fact, my own. Being Korean as a kid was frustrating—I’d always be asked if I was Chinese and where Korea was, anyway. (The 90s were tough.) But things have changed. K-pop, Korean dramas, and barbecue have shaken things up, and I hope to do the same with RPGs. Not just for myself, but for everyone who’s felt a little on the wayside. All my love to everyone who’s had to explain where their country is or answer ignorant questions about their heritage. You matter, and we’re with you.

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We are proud of the stories our AAPI contributors bring to the table—this month, and every month! We also welcome other AAPI folks in the community to share their experiences and their joy in the comments!

In Solidarity,

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

Hello Heroes!
My name is Meredith Gerber, and I am the Partner Marketing Manager for Demiplane, DriveThruSites, and Roll20. It’s wonderful to be back as a guest blog poster, especially when I have some incredible news to share with you all.

Demiplane x Roll20 Integration

In case you missed it, we announced at the top of this year that we would launch several Roll20 x Demiplane Integration phases. 

The Alpha Release allowed us to pull Starfinder Character Sheets from Demiplane into the Roll20 VTT. Additionally, Paizo was kind enough to unlock Cross-Platform Sync, which means if you unlock some game material on Demiplane that also exists on Roll20, you unlock it in both places for no additional cost (and vice versa). 

Our Beta Release followed quickly last month, allowing all Demiplane Character Sheets to be pulled into the Roll20 VTT for a dynamic all-in-one experience.

• Connected Play, Realized: For the first time, your Demiplane characters aren’t locked in the Demiplane platform. These characters can now exist on Demiplane and Roll20 – all ready to roll! No exporting or rebuilding. Link your account and you’re in!
• Breaking Down Barriers for More Adventures: We introduced the Cross-Platform Sync and Shared Subscription benefits because we believe players should be able to dive into the fun part without any hassle. These two benefits have been live since February, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. No more jumping through hoops – just more gaming, everywhere, all at once!
• Built for Every Table: Whether you prefer in-person games using Demiplane, virtual games on Roll20’s virtual tabletop, or a mix of both, today’s release has been designed to seamlessly fit into any existing game. We already have a campaign in the works, but if you want to try one of the new sheets, it's just a matter of connecting or creating a Demiplane account and linking your characters alongside existing character sheets.
• A Strong Foundation for What’s Next: This Public Beta isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning. We're thrilled about the opportunity to bring characters to where you play. We’re excited about the potential of combining Demiplane’s ability to onboard new game systems, rapidly implement and support new game mechanics, and launch new character sheet capabilities. The future is bright, and we can't wait to share it with you.

A New Pathfinder Experience

This integration is beneficial to all players, but especially, right now, to Pathfinder Second Edition players. Pathfinder is one of the most popular systems on either platform. Because of this, we wanted to ensure that you have a seamless, elevated experience that gets out of the way and lets you (and your GM) focus on what makes your games epic. 

• Character Tools: Demiplane offers the most comprehensive, accessible character creation experience, whether you play online or in-person. With cross-linked digital companions, tooltips, and an accessible search, the Pathfinder NEXUS gives you everything you need. Create your heroes from the ground up, with brilliant, beautiful, intuitive character tools. 
• Most Up-to-Date: Demiplane’s patches and releases usually happen on the same day Paizo releases new content, or very soon after, meaning players can always access the newest mechanics, lore, and errata. There's no waiting for releases or information!
• Expansive Library: The digital Pathfinder Second Edition library on Demiplane is second to none, and it includes not only rulebooks and sourcebooks, but also the latest adventure paths! 
• Cross-Platform Sync: No more purchasing content at full price in multiple locations, and no more switching back and forth. Thanks to Cross-Platform Sync, you can unlock your content once and enjoy it on both Roll20 and Demiplane. It's an integrated experience designed to make your gaming life easier. 
• Connected to Roll20 VTT: With the power of the Demiplane Character Tools for Pathfinder NEXUS and Starfinder NEXUS, plus Roll20's recent upgrades like Jumpgate and Foreground Layer, we are thrilled to have you experience this effortless adventure.
• New Features and In-Sheet Purchases: We recently implementedfeat pre-requisities, variant rules support, and equipment purchasing. Our incredible dev David has given you the ability to purchase new items and content directly from the sheet in your Pathfinder and Starfinder games! From the item sidebar, click “buy with coin” to enable the option.

These updates and features are just the beginning. Our Demiplane development team works tirelessly to bring you more all the time, including exciting GM Tools. 

Stay tuned for a sneak peek of what's to come at our upcoming panel (details below)!

PaizoCon 2025

We are honored to be participating once again at PaizoCon 2025!

30% Off Sale

From today until the end of PaizoCon, we're excited to offer you a 30% discount on over 10,000 titles. This sale includes official Paizo titles from our Paizo Pals, community content from the Infinite Community, and graphic novels. With such a diverse range of titles, there's something for everyone! 

Now's the perfect time to start prepping for your PaizoCon 2025 games and beyond:

• Pathfinder NEXUS*(use code: PAIZOCON30 at checkout)
• Starfinder NEXUS* (use code: PAIZOCON30 at checkout)
• DriveThruRPG(third-party hits with new creators to explore)
• Pathfinder Infinite / Starfinder Infinite (brilliant works created by the Infinite Community to take your games to new horizons)
• Roll20 VTT (official Paizo titles ready to play inside the VTT and with Integration, an unforgettable experience)
• DriveThruFiction(over 30+ new titles were added, including discounted bundles of your favorite character stories)
• DriveThruComics(lore-packed graphic novels from Dynamite Entertainment) 

* excludes bundles and Galaxy Guide (it just came out last week!)

Transverse Demiplane Panel

Join us for an exciting panel launch on the main stage at PaizoCon, May 24th at 4:15 PM Pacific. Our very own Mellie Doucette (Head of Content), Dom Kelly (Principal Game Builder), and Peter Romenesko (Demiplane Lead) will be there to share their insights and answer your questions. These three are experts on the official digital companion for Starfinder and Pathfinder – and they’re just a lot of fun to boot! 

This panel is not just a review of our progress in the past year, but a chance for you to be part of shaping the future of Demiplane and Roll20. It will be a live recording, so you can ask your questions of a team that loves Pathfinder and Starfinder just as much as the community. 

Your voice matters to us, and we can't wait to hear your thoughts.

OPC Musings

Happy PaizoCon to you all! Whether you’re attending PaizoCon Online, a local PaizoCon@ event, or both, we hope you’re looking forward to a weekend full of gaming and community. I’m so excited for everyone to experience our new releases and all the fun reveals we’ve got planned!

May is truly the start of convention season proper for us here in Organized Play. We’ve got PaizoCon this month, UK Games Expo and Origins in June, and then of course Gen Con in August (and, for some of us, July). I hope you’ve all got exciting plans this summer to meet up with the players in your area!

In some personal news, I’ve recently been promoted to Paizo’s Convention and Organized Play Manager! I’m very excited to take on more responsibility for our convention appearances going forward.

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on May 28, 2025, but you can play them early at PaizoCon Online or PaizoCon@ events!

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-16: The Heart of the City*

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-17: The Devil in the Details*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-14: Final Assessment*

*part of a subscription

Upcoming Seasons

Two weeks ago we announced Pathfinder Society Year 7: Year of Battle’s Spark! Launching at Gen Con, this year’s storyline will take you onto the front lines as Golarion erupts into all-out warfare. Read more and get ready for Gen Con with Shay’s blog.

We posted our fifth and final blog in our Starfinder Society (second edition) rollout last week, featuring the announcement of the first year’s storyline: Invasion’s Edge. Check this out, along with the previous four blogs announcing the program rules, at this link.

Sanctioning Updates

The Starfinder Galaxy Guide is available now! While Starfinder Society is still a couple of months away, two ancestries are available in Pathfinder Society to those who participated in the Starfinder Playtest. More details are available on the Character Options page. Additionally, sanctioning documents for Claws of the Tyrant are available for download on the product page! Get Pathfinder Society credit for playing through this adventure anthology with your local groups.

2025 Major Conventions

PaizoCon Online and PaizoCon@ are next weekend! Sign up for your last-minute seats online on Warhorn, and check with your local PaizoCon@ event for their signup methods. We can’t wait to see you all online for panels, Discord hangouts, gaming, and more!

We are still accepting applications for reserve GMs for Gen Con Indianapolis. If you’re looking to squeeze a slot or two of Pathfinder or Starfinder in amongst everything else at the show, we’d love to have you! Visit the link below to learn more about our GM rewards and apply.

Gen Con Information

GM Recognition

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month we had one GM reach their fifth rank!

5th Nova (SFS1): James Anderson

If you believe you’ve completed your 5th rank but haven’t been announced yet, please email me at organizedplay@paizo.com.

Conventions

Summer, and convention season, approach with great haste! Check out the Conventions calendar for upcoming events in your area.

The day after PaizoCon I’ll be hopping on a plane to Birmingham for UK Games Expo; if you’re across the pond, I’d love to see you there! Looking for a Paizo staff visit this fall? Drop me an email and let me know about your event; my contemplative gunslinger just might stop by!

Until next time adventurers—Explore! Report! Cooperate! We’ll see you at PaizoCon!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Starfinder Society

Hello, Starfinders!
Gen Con is on the horizon, so it's time to talk about the special events the Organized Play team has in store for you!

This year, we’re starting in space with the launch of Starfinder Society Second Edition! Alongside our four initial scenarios, we’re releasing a special, double-length adventure that serves as a prequel to our Invasion’s Edge storyline.

Emerging suddenly from deep space, a vessel traveling at speeds that should have cracked the planet in half slowed just enough to crash into the Sloughscar Hills of Akiton. You, lucky adventurers, are members of a team of local Akitonian mercenaries and the first to investigate the collision site, explore the alien starship, and plunder its secrets.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Collision’s Wake is a 4-5 hour long scenario for 3rd-level pregenerated characters written by John Godek III. Join us at Gen Con to play this adventure concurrently with other tables and experience the launch of Starfinder Society Second Edition! After Gen Con, purchase this adventure and run it yourself!

For more information on Invasion’s Edge and the other Starfinder Society adventures releasing at Gen Con, check out the Starfinder Society Second Edition rollout blogs.

See you at Gen Con!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Nicholas Phillips

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Pathfinder Society

Hello, Pathfinders!

Debuting at Gen Con 2025, Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-99: Under the Eye of the Mantis is an interactive special for 1st- through 8th-level characters written by Joseph Blomquist and Michael Bramnik.

While adventuring in Sarkoris, Pathfinder Agent Khione Thidos went missing, and a strange ransom note that detailed that she’d been taken by the Red Mantis assassins was sent to the Grand Lodge via a unionized printing press. The request for money and the misspelling of the name of the Mantis’s own god was unusual, though, to say the least. Just as Society leadership was preparing a missive to the mysterious guild, however, a member of the Vernai appeared in Ambrus Valsin’s office demanding to speak with Zarta Dralneen and Eando Kline about a favor they didn’t know they owed her.

Both illustrations by Josef Kucera

The Pathfinders quickly learned of a strange shipping company based on an island off the coast of Mediogalti Island known as the Red Mantis Dispatch. This organization is run by two extremely secretive leaders, Sotroz and Rowan the Whispering, who have recently started accepting assassination contracts, including on targets the Red Mantis assassins have previously turned down.

Talk about killer competition, Pathfinders!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Finally, we have something entirely new that we’ve never done before!

With the release of Battlecry!, we’ll have official skirmish rules for leading armies, and how better to showcase those rules than by letting you take command of the vanguard in the war to come?

The Order of the Rack Hellknights have taken over the town of Breachill, in Isger (a town you may remember from the very first Second Edition Adventure Path, Age of Ashes), and are executing citizens to root out what they believe are dissidents hoarding warshards, powerful pieces of the dead god Gorum. The population is terrified. When the Hellknights kill an Andoren citizen attempting to find out what the Hellknights are up to, the country decides to put a stop to these tyrants.

Illustration by Leonardo Borazio

You will control an Andoren army attempting to free Breachill and retake Citadel Altaerein. The Hellknights have an army of their own, though, and have even called forth a diabolic dragon after conducting some infernal rituals. It won't be an easy fight, but the Andoren forces you’ll be controlling are certainly up to the task!

Illustration by Felipe Fornitani

The Battle of Hellknight Hill is an adventure for 5th-level pregenerated troops, designed to run for 1 hour and really showcase what these rules can do. At Gen Con, we’ll have real battle terrain to showcase these fights. It’ll be amazing and unlike anything we’ve done before. I really hope people have a blast with it.

Illustration by Felipe Fornitani

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

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Panels and Events!

In addition to these amazing Pathfinder and Starfinder games, Paizo will also be holding several panels, seminars, and special events! Join us for panels on Pathfinder, Starfinder, creature creation, and more!

Not attending Gen Con? Don’t worry—we’ll have virtual content throughout the weekend as well!

Looking forward to seeing you all at Gen Con 2025!

Rue Dickey
Marketing & Media Specialist

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

It’s that time of year again when the weather outside gets nicer and board gamers gather inside to raise money for charity. This year is no exception, as Paizo will proudly be returning to the table for another day of games and giving at the 11th annual Gauntlet charity board game tournament!

On May 18th, Mox Bellevue will welcome teams of Seattle-area nerds for a day of friendly competition for a good cause. Funds raised will be going towards the Gamers Engaged Play-it-Forward fund, a low-barrier grant program for nonprofits. We have a treat cooked up for you this year, with the theme of “Feast!” celebrating all things food.

Allow me to introduce Team Paizo 2025!

• Katina Davis—Webstore Coordinator
• Matt Byrd—Warehouse Manager
• Pasha Jurgensen—Accountant
• Whitney Chatterjee—System Administrator
• Lyle Borders—Director of eCommerce (team alternate)

On tournament day, we’ll be playing two games that we’ve been allowed to practice, along with a trivia round and a thematic mystery finale which is usually concocted by local game designers. The two announced games this year are Diced Veggies and Sweet Mess Pastry Competition. The former is a snappy game of strategically wielding your cleaver to chop off vegetable dice from the bunch to prepare your recipe cards. Sweet Mess PastryCompetition is a bit longer and crunchier, with elements of open drafting and set collection as you try to prepare recipes first to win awards for your top-shelf creations.

So, how can you participate? I’m glad you asked! There are multiple ways to join in the Feast. Firstly, you can donate now, either to Team Paizo as a whole or to a group member’s individual fundraising campaign. Donations are open through the day of the tournament, and besides going toward the nonprofit grants, they also help our team gain power-ups which we can use for boosts during the games.

You can also show your support by watching the tournament! If you’re in the Bellevue area, you can stop by Mox from 11am–7pm to cheer us on. Folks who shop in-store on tournament day and donate to Gamers Engaged at the register will get a 25% coupon as well. If you can’t make it in person, the best way to watch the tournament is online. Streaming will be hosted by BoardGameGeekTV on gauntletofgames.org throughout the entire event. 

We can’t wait to mix it up with the rest of the teams on tournament day and we are incredibly grateful to our generous gaming community for every crumb of support we receive along the way.

See you at the tourney!

Katina Davis
Webstore Coordinator

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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Hello,Starfinders!
Welcome to the fifth and final blog in our Starfinder Society rollout! Last week, Alex discussed adventure rewards. This week, I’m here to discuss the storyline that will be the focus of the first season of Starfinder Society.

Emerging suddenly from deep space, a vessel traveling at speeds that should have cracked a planet in half slowed long enough to crash into the Sloughscar Hills of Akiton. Curious explorers and opportunistic salvagers descended upon the wreck, among which was a mercenary team in the employ of the Starfinder Society. Within hours, the starship’s automated defenses activated, driving the explorers out and unleashing dangerous monsters and magical effects into the region, including the dreaded illumantula, a terrifying monster of magic, technology, and light. This starship was soon dubbed the Wreck of the Returned.

Believing the Wreck of the Returned has a connection to the mysterious First Ones and is but the first step in a devastating invasion of the Pact Worlds, First Seeker Sarmak works to establish a Starfinder lodge in the surrounding Sloughscar Hills. Now, Sarmak has put out a call for brave Starfinders willing to help establish and defend this fledgling lodge and explore the Wreck of the Returned.

Welcome to Invasion’s Edge!

Illustration by Kevin Sardinha

Starfinder Society Second Edition launches at GenCon 2025 (July 31–August 3) with the release of a special launch adventure and four Starfinder Society Scenarios.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Collision’s Wake

Our story begins with Starfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Collision’s Wake, a special double length scenario for 3rd-level pregenerated characters written by John Godek III. This adventure is a prequel to Invasion’s Edge and casts you in the role of a team of Akitonian mercenaries hired by the Starfinder Society to keep a wary eye out for any strange occurrences or signs of alien invasion. When a strange starship crashes into the nearby Sloughscar Hills, you’re among the very first on the scene to investigate the wreck. So grab yourself a pregen, ready your laser pistol, and take a peek at what lies within the Wreck of the Returned! We wish you luck in escaping alive!

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-01: Invasion’s Edge

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-01: Invasion’s Edge is the first adventure in the Invasion’s Edge metaplot! A new Starfinder lodge is being built in the Sloughscar Hills and you’re among the first Starfinders on site. As rookie Starfinders, you’ll lend a hand in establishing the lodge then head out into the wilderness to examine a piece of nearby debris. This intro adventure is written by Michael Bramnik and is designed for 1st- and 2nd-level characters.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon

Every year, the Starfinder Society learns of thousands of newly discovered planets, planetoids, moons, and other stellar bodies, many of which sustain life. Each location is closely catalogued, with the most promising marked for future study. The frigid moon of Luvoth is one such location.

Known to the Starfinders only as Vast-723-Arctic-Moon, or VAM-723 for short, Luvoth is one of four small moons in orbit around an unexplored gas giant in the Vast. Initial scans of the moon indicate there’s no sapient inhabitants, but there are some artificial structures—an intriguing mystery! Believing VAM-723 could be the perfect jumping off point to explore the local stellar bodies and surrounding system, the Starfinder Society dispatches a team of agents to perform initial surveys of the moon and investigate the structures.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-02: Mystery of the Frozen Moon is a first contact adventure for 1st- and 2nd-level characters written by Solomon St. John.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-03: Disaster at Dreamlink Labs

When a nascent godling called the Newborn was birthed from the planet Aucturn in 324 AG, chunks of its planetary womb and embryonic fluids were cast across the Pact Worlds. Most of this debris—called aucturnite—collected at the outer rim of the system, in a region known as the Gelid Edge. This forlorn field of ice and technomagical debris is a realm of occult power, haunted starship wrecks, and unknown horrors. Yet, for all its dangers, the Gelid Edge is a frontier of new discoveries and forbidden knowledge, and many Newborn evangelists, anomaly hunters, and occult researchers have flocked to the region to learn its secrets.

When the Starfinder Society is contacted by scientists from Dreamlink Laboratories, who claim to have made an important discovery in the Gelid Edge, Venture-Captain Arvin dispatches a team of agents to investigate. Unfortunately, something has invaded Dreamlink Labs… and time is running short for the lab’s survivors.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-03: Disaster at Dreamlink Labs is a horror adventure for 1st- and 2nd-level characters written by Caryn DiMarco.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: The Great Absalom Relay

The Starfinder Society is one of a dozen prominent organizations invited to participate in the Great Absalom Relay, a live-streamed relay race across Absalom Station and the most anticipated charity event of the year! Charm the audience and upstage your competition as you overcome obstacles and compete in challenges in this showcase of Absalom Station’s hotspots. Win or lose, the spotlight’s on you!

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: The Great Absalom Relay is a social adventure for 1st- and 2nd-level characters written by Alex Speidel.

Onward, to the Future!

Thanks for following along with our Starfinder Society Second Edition rollout blogs! A link to our previous blogs is below.

• April 8 - Welcome to SFS2
• April 15 - Scenario Structure
• April 22 - Character Creation
• April 29 - Adventure Rewards

I look forward to joining you in the future, with Starfinder Society Second Edition!

Until next time - Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

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

Today marks the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander Month here in the U.S., and Paizo is proud to celebrate with the launch of the Pathfinder Second Edition Asian Fantasy Bundle, available now. This bundle benefits Stop AAPI Hate, a U.S.-based coalition dedicated to fighting racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, striving to advance the multiracial movement for equity and justice by raising awareness about anti-AAPI hate, working in solidarity with allied communities, and advocating for comprehensive solutions that tackle the root causes of race-based hate. You can learn more about Stop AAPI Hate at stopaapihate.org.

At the base level of a $5 donation, you’ll receive a $75 value in entry-level Pathfinder Second Edition PDFs, including PathfinderCore GM Screen, Pathfinder Remaster Iconics Pregenerated Characters, Pathfinder Character Sheet Pack,Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner Box: Remastered Edition, the Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Player’s Guide, Pathfinder Society Scenario #1–06: Lost on the Spirit Road, Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Village Square, Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Forest Starter Set, and Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Forest Perils Expansion!

For $15 or more, you’ll get everything in the $5 tier, plus PDFs of Pathfinder Player Core; Pathfinder GM Core; Pathfinder Bestiary, Bestiary 2,and Bestiary 3; Lost Omens Legends; Lost Omens Monsters of Myth; the Tian Xia-set Pathfinder Tales novel; Master of Devils and its prequel novella, Husks; all four Pathfinder Society Scenarios in the “Equal Exchanges” series (#5–04, #5–09, #5–11, and #5–18); and six Pathfinder Flip-Mats to aid you in running those adventures (Ancient Dungeon, Jungle Multi-Pack, Alien Ruins, Hospital, Twisted Caverns, and Underground City Multi-Pack)—an additional $267 value.

For $30 or more, you get everything above plus another $288 in value, including PDFs of the entire Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Adventure Path (both the individual installments from the pages of Pathfinder Adventure Path and the single-volume omnibus), as well as the Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Battle Cards and Pawn Collection; Pathfinder Monster Core; Pathfinder Dark Archive; Lost Omens Travel Guide; Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide; Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide; Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Silver Bark; Golden Blades; and two Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics (Falls & Rapids and Thieves’ Guild). That’s a total of more than $630 in PDFs, but the deal doesn’t end there!

For an additional $15 (for a total of $45) we’ll throw in the sketch hardcover variant of Pathfinder Player Core, while supplies last. Redemption of the code on paizo.com will add the book to your cart at no cost, and you’ll just need to pay shipping and handling on checkout.

The Pathfinder Second Edition Asian Fantasy Bundle runs from now through 11 a.m. (PDT) on Thursday, May 22. Don’t miss this opportunity to get nearly every piece of Asian-inspired fantasy released for Pathfinder Second Edition, all while helping a great cause!

Back the Pathfinder Second Edition Asian Fantasy Bundle today!

As the Year of Immortal Influence comes to a raucously loud close, the leaders of the Pathfinder Society turn their attention to a question that’s been gnawing at the back of their minds since early in the machinations of the past year:

Why did Queen Abrogail Thrune II order the destruction of Greensteeples?

Though the question was seemingly unimportant as Pathfinder agents were contending with the rise of a demon lord, it’s returned to the focus just long enough for Venture-Captain Brackett over in Almas, Andoran to receive a missive for assistance from Andira Marusek.

It’s time for war.

Illustration by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

Welcome to the Year of Battle’s Spark!

With the Inner Sea War beginning to spread across Avistan, it’s time for the Pathfinder Society to decide that enough is enough from Cheliax and to take a stand against them and the tyranny they represent. Throughout this upcoming year, we’ll be exploring the effects of this war across Golarion, with the metaplot arcs of Battle’s Spark and the Hellfire Crisis! These seven metaplot scenarios will be marked with a special metaplot icon on the cover. For more information about the metaplot, upcoming specials, and other new changes, please tune into the News from Organized Play panel at PaizoCon 2025!

Illustration by Rodrigo Gonzalez

The metaplot of the Year of Battle’s Spark kicks off with Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Battle’s Spark—Enough is Enough, an adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by Matt Duval! This scenario takes us back to the hometown of Pathfinder Second Edition’s first Adventure Path, Breachill, as the Pathfinder Society assists the Steel Falcons with rescuing the innocent civilians from the town before launching an attack on the Hellknights that have taken cover in Citadel Altaerein! This scenario debuts at Gen Con 2025, alongside the Pathfinder Society special events and one other Pathfinder Society scenario!

We can’t wait to see you there, Pathfinders!

Remember: Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

So, you’ve built your character and played through an adventure. What do you get from it? What wonderful treasures will your characters earn along the way? That’s the topic of today’s blog, the fourth in our Starfinder Society rollout!

Chronicle Sheets

After completing an adventure, you’ll receive a Chronicle Sheet, either physically or digitally. Your Chronicle Sheet will contain a summary of the adventure you just completed, along with the following rewards:

• Experience (XP): What your character needs to level up! Each Starfinder Society Scenario awards 4 XP. Every time you earn 12 XP, your character levels up!
• Credits: In the Starfinder universe, credits are exchanged for goods and services. Your character will earn the same number of credits for every scenario, based on their level. This represents the Starfinder Society paying you for your efforts. Your character also gets to keep any treasure they find along the way. A first-level character will earn 140 credits for the successful completion of a scenario, and a second-level character will earn 220 credits. A full table for all character levels will be made available in the Guide to Organized Play upon release.
• Downtime: Starfinder Society characters earn eight days of Downtime after completing an adventure. This can be used for any Downtime activity in the rules, including Earning Income, Retraining, or Crafting.
• New Character Options: Each Starfinder Society scenario will award your characters new bespoke content tailored to the adventure! This could be anything: a new feat you can take to represent your time in the wilds, a magic or tech item gifted to you by a NPC, or anything else our authors and developers can dream up.

Achievement Points

Upon completion of an adventure, you (the player) will also earn Achievement Points (AcP). This is a meta-currency that is tracked on our website after an adventure is reported. For each scenario, players will earn 4 Achievement Points, and GMs will earn 8. Playing or running games at supported events such as conventions or your local game store may also apply a multiplier to these points, allowing you to unlock rewards even faster.

Achievement Points are spent in our online boon store on new rewards and options. Some of the rewards will include:

• Legacy Ancestries: Starfinder Player Core and StarfinderGalaxy Guide contain a whole host of alien ancestries, but we know many of you want to venture into space as an elf, dwarf, or other classic fantasy ancestry. At launch, some of these ancestries will be available in the Boon Store for just 8 Achievement Points, which means that GMing just one session lets you blast off as a space goblin!
• Condition Removal: Get hit with a nasty curse? Did an akata implant eggs in your character’s stomach, or did you die in the final boss fight? Achievement Points can be used to remove negative conditions after an adventure and even bring your character back to life!
• Pathfinder Options: Versatile heritages, archetypes, and even classes will be made available over time through the use of Achievement Points. Your solar kineticist is just a few GM sessions away from your grasp!

We’re always looking for new ways to let you spend your Achievement Points. If there’s something you want, whether it’s a specific option or a whole category of possible rewards, let us know. We just might make it happen!

Illustration by Joshua Wright

Changes from Previous Programs

Those of you who have been with Organized Play for a while will notice a couple of conspicuous absences. We wanted to address those upfront and explain why we’ve made the decision not to include them.

First, Starfinder Society (Second Edition) does not have factions. You’re a Starfinder, and that’s it—you’re not a member of some secondary subgroup as well. For years, factions have existed as a vestige of old systems, and at the current time, the Starfinder team is more interested in telling the story of the Society as a unified group rather than as a collection of special interests in a holo-trenchcoat. Removing them also eliminates another Organized Play-specific element that new players have to learn about.

Additionally, Starfinder Society will not have a GM ranking system akin to the previous system of stars, glyphs, or novas at launch. This will return at a future date in some form, though not necessarily the one you may be used to. We do want to make sure we’re rewarding our dedicated GMs and recognizing those who go above and beyond for the program. However, what we don’t want to even tacitly encourage is the practice of rushing to that top rank and being one of the first GMs with the highest recognition. We’ve seen too many GMs in Pathfinder Society burn themselves out and drop shortly after achieving this goal, and the easiest way to prevent it, in our minds, is simply not to put it in front of you until a later date.

Also, to be honest, I’m just not sure what to call this new rank. Rings? Comets? Moons? Donuts? Naming things is hard, so I’m procrastinating.

Retail Incentive Program

Now more than ever, it’s critical to support the game stores and venues who host our games. Starfinder Society (Second Edition) will feature a Retail Incentive Program (RIP) just like previous editions. This program will provide characters with additional durability and healing based on the amount of money the table has spent at the venue during the session. About to lose your final hitpoint? A last-minute dice purchase might just give you the tools you need to survive!

Illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

Player’s Guide

You know how our Adventure Paths have a free Player’s Guide, available for download here on paizo.com? They’re great; they have primers on the campaign, recommendations for what to play, and even campaign-specific content like new backgrounds. Those are neat! We decided we wanted one, so we’re doing it.

Prior to the season launch (likely in July), we’ll be publishing the first Starfinder Society Player’s Guide. Contained within will be everything you need to get started with Starfinder Society, including:

• An overview of the campaign rules and a brief history of the Starfinder Society
• Exclusive backgrounds, written just for Starfinder Society’s first story arc
• Playtest backgrounds, available exclusively to players who participated in the Starfinder Playtest adventures
• Two new ancestries, hot off the presses and immediately (and always) available for use in Starfinder Society!

This will be a free PDF download here on paizo.com. We’ll also have printed copies available at Gen Con for all attendees. This will not replace the full Guide to Organized Play on the Lorespire Wiki, which contains the full rules and regulations for the program. Rather, it is intended to be a primer for new and experienced players alike. We hope this will help bring new players into the fold and provide everyone with exciting new options for the campaign.

Tune in next week for our final rollout blog, where Jessica will announce our first Starfinder Society storyline for Second Edition! I can’t wait to discover the mysteries of—oops, said too much, gotta go!

Follow along with our SFS2 rollout blogs:

• April 8 - Welcome to SFS2
• April 15 - Scenario Structure
• April 22 - Character Creation
• May 6 - Year 1 Storyline

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

With this year’s spring showers comes a shower of errata. Well, more of a sprinkle, as the number of changes is pretty light—especially compared to last year’s fall errata. The new errata and clarifications are up now on the FAQ page, identified with “Spring 2025” and the printing of the book they apply to. For example, “Rival Academies (Spring 2025, 1st Printing).” We aren’t repeating the details of the errata process here, but you can find them in the Fall Errata Updates 2024 blog.

Pathfinder Player Core had small fixes to ensure Learn a Spell adds a spell to a wizard’s spellbook as intended and to clean up some jump-related feats.

Pathfinder Player Core 2 also had jump-related feats changes, plus some other minor changes.

Pathfinder Rage of Elements has updates to its troops to reflect the Pathfinder NPC Core troop rule changes, updates references to Pathfinder Lost Omens Gods & Magic to new references in Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries.

Pathfinder War of Immortals mostly got some fixes to errant action symbols and prerequisites, but included more substantial changes to the exemplar’s victor’s wreath ikon and to actions Silence the Profane and Disrupt Opposed Magic in the avenger and vindicator archetypes.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Rival Academies had changes to the runelord archetype to fix a spell appearing at the wrong rank and to make it clear how their arcane bond and personal rune work.

A gennayn brings you the Rage of Elements errata you wished for! Art by Mirco Paganessi.

We’ll see you again in the fall with another update, which we hope will be small as well!

The Pathfinder Designers

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!

Hello, Starfinders!
Big news on Absalom Station today as famed junkracer Ratrod has challenged the Starfinder Society to a race at his personal track. Ratrod, who suffered through a multi-year losing streak after being beaten by trash talking Laboni and her fellow Starfinders, is calling this race the “grudge match of the century.” Word on the infosphere claims Ratrod has invited all those racers who beat him during his slump to this junkrace to prove he’s back in top form. Leader of the Starfinder Acquisitives faction, Radaszam, who fielded Laboni and her team at the previous race, has yet to reveal which agents he’s picked to participate…

Starfinder Society Scenario #7-13: Ratrod’s Revenge is an adventure for 5th- through 8th-level characters written by Dennis Muldoon.

On your marks, get set, go!

Get racing, Starfinders!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Left to right: illustration by Michele Giorgi and Sammy Khali.

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Hello, Pathfinders!
Way back at the beginning of the Year of Immortal Influence, a very gorgeous, talented, amazing Pathfinder agent by the name of Khione Thidos offered to help look into the strange background of Lady Hesla Embersplitter. Well, her research is finally paying off as she’s located a small settlement by the name of Pimatsih out in Sarkoris that seems to have a small amount of information about Hesla, her background, and her whereabouts. A healer knows that the Cult of the Screaming Grub is responsible for her rise, but it’s up to the Pathfinders to go into the badlands of Sarkoris and search out the ominously named cave system Deskari’s Gullet and see what Hesla’s been up during her absence. However, the agents may find that she’s more prepared to handle cultists than they are...

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-14: Twice in Steel is an adventure for 7th- through 10th-level characters written by our very own Alex Speidel!

Illustration by Sammy Khalid

Meanwhile, way out in the Arcadian Ocean we’ve got a follow-up to Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-16: A Lie Told to Strangers. At the end of that scenario, the Pathfinders were faced with a mysterious door that could not be opened beneath Kaer Maga. Well, someone believes they may have located a key to that door. A self-proclaimed runelord and scholar of all things Thassilonian and Azlanti, Zinthyra Tannol, a sprite granted a field commission for her numerous contributions, believes an ancient Azlanti scholar sealed that door long before Earthfall. She also believes she’s located the laboratory where the key was stored. This contribution, when added to all her previous accolades, would be enough to propel her to the seat of venture-captain, but it’ll be up to you if her mission succeeds. As a test of her abilities, she’s in charge of directing a group of Pathfinder agents, as any venture-captain would be. Will you help the sprite’s dreams come to fruition, or will whatever dangers that were left in the long-forgotten Azlanti laboratory thwart your efforts?

Illustrations by Sammy Khalid

Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-15: Lost and Forgotten is an adventure for 5th- to 8th-level characters written by Alison Cybe, the same author of the excellent 5-16 mentioned above.

And finally, dear Pathfinders, we go back to Minkai, clear on the other side of the world from both of the above adventures. In Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-12: Mischief in the Maze, a connection from a Tanuki village to the Maze of the Open Road—the interdimensional hedge maze that the Society can use to cross vast distances incredibly quickly—was formed due to elemental instabilities and the tanuki throwing whatever magic seemed interesting at the planar fissure. Now the Pathfinder Society wants to establish a lodge in southern Minkai within that village, but they need to get all the proper permissions. The tanuki are amenable, but the Society needs to help them out with some issues first. Of course, that falls to you and your companions. Before all of this is done, perhaps you’ll even save the village from a danger none were aware of.

Illustration by Anselmi Hyytinen

Pathfinder Series 2 Quest #24: Tanuki Trouble is an all-ages adventure for 1st- to 4th-level characters written by Hiromi Cota.

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Welcome back to our Starfinder Society rollout! Last week, Jessica talked to you about Starfinder Society scenarios. Of course, in order to play these adventures, you’ll need a character or three, so today let’s dive into character creation!

Character Creation Basics

In general, you’ll follow the rules as outlined in the Starfinder Player Core to create a player character (PC) in Starfinder Society. For a preview of these rules, check out the Pathfinder Player Core. The following steps will augment these character creation rules:

• When creating your character concept, remember that you are a member of the Starfinder Society. They must be able to work with any other Starfinder and abide by the Society’s motto: “Explore, Report, Cooperate.”
• Characters may use any ancestry, heritage, background, and class from the Starfinder Galaxy Guide or Starfinder Player Core.
  • Players who participated in the Starfinder Playtest will have access to exclusive backgrounds based on these adventures. Additionally, all Starfinders will have access to campaign-specific backgrounds in addition to those found in hardcover material.
• Characters must be adults for their ancestry, and cannot be sanctified to unholy.

Starting at Higher Levels

In Starfinder Society (second edition), characters may be created at 1st-, 3rd-, 5th- or 7th-level. While we encourage all players to start their first character at 1st-level to help them learn the system, we believe this flexibility will allow for greater ease of scheduling across the board. Characters who participate in an entire plotline from the very start will also find that later scenarios will reward having participated in earlier adventures.

Pregenerated characters will be available at 1st-, 3rd-, and 5th-level, though we want to caution you all that 5th-level content won’t appear until close to the end of our first season of play.

When creating a character at a higher level, you may select starting equipment using either the lump sum or permanent items as found in the Character Wealth table (Starfinder GM Core 59).

Level Cap

We do not intend to publish adventures for characters above 10th level. As scenarios get into higher level ranges, we see diminishing table counts. These high-level adventures are also significantly more involved to design and develop. We’re announcing this cap now to set expectations and to ensure you’re all aware of our plans from the start. We’d hate for you to create a character whose build comes online late in the game, only to find out that you won’t have a chance to play them in the campaign.

Those who are interested in play above 10th-level should look to our other published Adventure Paths and Adventure content. Organized Play is a great way to find other players you enjoy gaming with for these additional experiences!

Illustration by Renan Maurilio.

Character Options

Our plan, with a handful of exceptions, is to make as much of our published Starfinder content available to all Starfinder characters without purchasing boons or completing certain adventures. This means that at launch all ancestries, classes, and other options in the StarfinderGalaxy Guide, StarfinderPlayer Core, and StarfinderGM Core will be available for all characters, and future products will see similarly permissive access. Starfinder Society will not use variant rules such as Free Archetype or Automatic Bonus Progression.

Additionally, players will be permitted to use the technomancer and mechanic classes from the Tech Playtest until their release in a future hardcover book! We will have full guidelines for converting your character once we get closer, but expect that any technomancers or mechanics will be required to rebuild into the final rules once they are released.

We want you to purchase a Paizo product and be able to use that content immediately, without restriction. One of the core appeals of Starfinder is the cantina of alien options available, and we believe that’s a key component of our Organized Play program as well.

With that in mind, what might Achievement Points be used for? And what other rewards might scenarios unlock? Join us next week for more on adventure rewards and other program elements!

Follow along with our SFS2 rollout blogs:

• April 9 - Welcome to SFS2
• April 15 - Scenario Structure
• April 29 - Adventure Rewards
• May 6 - Year 1 Storyline

Until next time - Explore! Report! Cooperate! And start crafting those Starfinder characters!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

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!

Salutations, ’Finders! With Mother’s Day right around the corner here in the United States, we wanted to make gift-giving easy with this mom-approved guide of books, games, and more to spoil the gaming mom in your life!

Illustration by Israel Maccari Dionisio

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Pathfinder Core GM Screen

Let mom GM with style and rules support! The new Pathfinder Core GM Screen has updated art and rules references for Pathfinder Second Edition Remastered!

Pathfinder Phunny Plush

Add some adorable flair with the Pathfinder Phunny Plush line, featuring goblins, kobolds, Droogami, Whirp, Tuku, and the Gourd Leshy!

Pathfinder Guns & Gears (Remastered)

Pathfinder Guns & Gears (Remastered) reminds us all that moms can be adventurers too! Nhalmika, the iconic gunslinger, juggles heroic endeavors abroad and raising her family at home!

Pathfinder Elemental Stones

Bring family game night home for Mother’s Day! Pathfinder Elemental Stones is a casual pattern-building game for 2–4 players, with secret role mechanics to spice things up!

Starfinder A Cosmic Birthday

What better adventure to celebrate Mother’s Day than the birth of a new god? Help the denizens of Absalom Station prepare for the hatching of Aucturn and get involved with Starfinder Second Edition!

Starfinder Galaxy Guide

Help Mom get ready for intergalactic adventures with Starfinder Galaxy Guide! This 176-page setting primer gives you everything you need to know to start planning your Starfinder Second Edition campaign!

Starfinder Skittermander Plush Dice Bag

Every mom could use some extra hands! How about six extra-helpful skittermander hands? The Skittermander Plush Dice Bags are cute, cuddly, and capable of holding several sets of dice!

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Looking for a gift that keeps on giving all year round? Consider a Pathfinder or Starfinder subscription for Mom this Mother’s Day!

Take a breath of fresh air, ‘Finders! To celebrate Earth Day and the dawning of Spring here in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve got a special elemental sale for you! From rulebooks to maps, this sale covers all your bases for primal play!

While this blog highlights some of the best deals in the Earth Day sale, we couldn’t fit all the savings in one spot! Shop the full sale and soak in the savings!

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Pathfinder Rage of Elements—25% Off!

Harness the overwhelming power of the most primordial forces of nature with Rage of Elements, a 224-page rules resource for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game focused on the fundamental building blocks of reality itself!

The elements are yours to control with the all-new kineticist class, which brings one of fantasy’s most popular hero types to Pathfinder. New elemental spells and gear provide tons of additional element-themed options for all character classes, and an extensive gazetteer provides an overview of the majestic elemental planes—including two new ones: the decaying Plane of Metal and the vast and orderly forests of the Plane of Wood.

Pathfinder Howl of the Wild—25% Off!

A sound echoes across the world’s farthest wildernesses: the howl of countless animals and beasts! This all-new 224-page Pathfinder rulebook dives deep into the wilderness like never before! With new ancestries, character options, animal companions, wilderness foes and more, Howl of the Wild provides a traveler’s pack worth of value for players and Game Masters alike!

Pathfinder Battles: Leshy Window Boxed Set—25% Off!

Delight your tabletop with the Pathfinder Battles: Leshy Window Box Set! This set features eight charming miniatures representing a veritable grove of nature spirits from the Pathfinder roleplaying universe.

This set includes eight types of Leshy, such as the fanged Flytrap Leshy, the prickly Cactus Leshy, the adorable Gourd Leshy, the cheery Fruit Leshy, and more!

Gourd Leshy Phunny Plush—25% Off!

The Gourd Leshy is one of a number of nature spirits granted material form by a druid or similarly powerful magic user. Though they are independent, many leshies form strong bonds with their creators. This Gourd Leshy wants to join you on your adventures! This adorable plush companion sits at 7" tall and is made with the softest premium materials and lots of love.

Elemental Stones—40% Off!

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!

Maps & More!—25% Off!

A cartographer’s hoard of maps and map tiles are 25% off for the duration of this sale! Fill out your collection of Pathfinder and Starfinder flip mats, and stock your shelves with endless environments for combat and exploration!

Our Earth Day Sale runs April 17 through April 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time!
Shop now and save!

Hello, Starfinders!
Welcome back to our Starfinder Society rollout! Last week, Alex and I announced Starfinder Society Second Edition. This week, I’m here to discuss the adventures you’ll play as a member of the Starfinder Society: Starfinder Society Scenarios!

What is a Starfinder Society Scenario?

Starfinder Society Scenarios are one-shot adventures designed to be played in the Starfinder Society Organized Play Program. Each scenario is 2–3 hours in length and can be played by groups of 4–6 characters within a specified two-level range. As self-contained adventures, each scenario has problems to solve, villains to combat, challenges to overcome, and a clear ending. Many Starfinder Society Scenarios are also interconnected and form a larger story. While some of these stories are small and span two to three scenarios, others are the focus of many more. The “largest” story of each season is often referred to as the metaplot.

Scenario Cadence

Starfinder Society Second Edition launches at GenCon 2025 (July 31–August 3). The launch scenarios and adventures will be available on paizo.com on August 1, and organizers may begin scheduling events as soon as the convention ends on August 3. During this first month, we’re releasing four Starfinder Society Scenarios plus a special launch adventure—for more information on this launch adventure, be sure to drop by and read the Organized Play blog on May 8, 2025. Every month afterwards, we’re releasing two Starfinder Society Scenarios, for a total of 26 scenarios during our first year of the campaign!

Scenario Presentation

Starfinder Society Scenarios are Starfinder adventures.

In the past, we created a lot of additions and exceptions for Starfinder Society Scenarios which resulted in scenarios including information, rules, and deviations that other Starfinder adventures did not have. These deviations increased the barrier to entry for people interested in participating in Starfinder Society Organized Play and increased the time staff had to pour into each scenario. Going forward, we’re avoiding unnecessary deviations whenever possible and leading with simplicity and synchronicity. If you know how to read and run a Starfinder adventure, you’ll be able to read and run anyStarfinder adventure, from the shortest Starfinder Society Scenario to the longest Starfinder Adventure Path. This change frees us up to create more adventures and more content for Starfinder Society.

Of course, some deviation is required! For example, GMs can easily adjust the difficulty of a scenario to be easier or harder using the Adjusting Difficulty sidebars found throughout Starfinder Society Scenarios. This empowers GMs to accommodate and adapt to tables of varying sizes, levels, and experience—a necessity for Organized Play!

(To preemptively answer a question many fans of Pathfinder Society Second Edition are likely to ask: Starfinder Society Scenarios in Second Edition do not include appendices, challenge points, treasure bundles, or scenario tags.)

Scenario Levels

Each Starfinder Society Scenario is designed for a specific two-level range. During the first year of Starfinder Society Second Edition, you can expect a lot of scenarios to be level 1–2 adventures or, later in the year, level 3–4 adventures. If your character is either of a scenario’s listed levels, you can play the scenario with that character! If you don’t have a character of the appropriate level, you can still play if you use a newly created character or a pregenerated character. (Yes, you read that right! More on that next week!). You can play every Starfinder Society Scenario as many times as you like, earning full rewards for playing, so long as you play with a different character each time. GMs can also assign credit to a new character each time they run a scenario.

You’re always welcome to play a Starfinder Society game!

What’s Next?

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be unveiling more information about the Starfinder Society Organized Play program, focusing on a different aspect of the program in each blog. You can follow along with our schedule below:

• April 9 - Welcome to Starfinder Society
• April 22 - Character Creation
• April 29 - Adventure Rewards
• May 6 - Year 1 Storyline

Venture-Captain Arvin, illustration by Rodrigo Gallo

Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate!

We’ll see you in the stars!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Greetings, ‘Finders! We’re just over a month out from PaizoCon 2025, and we’re excited to announce the schedule of panels and events for this year’s celebration of all things Paizo! Remember: PaizoCon tickets are on sale now, and you must purchase a ticket to participate in Organized Play, Community Gaming, Discord Activites, and more!

PaizoCon Stream Schedule

We have a ton of panels, games, and announcements scheduled for PaizoCon! All of the panels below will be streamed on twitch.tv/officialpaizo! We hope to see you in the Twitch chat, and in the post-panel discussion on Discord!

Friday

PaizoCon Keynote – Friday, May 23^rd at 10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Paizo Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Erik Mona and a host of Paizo’s creative project leads welcome you to PaizoCon! Get the scoop on everything new coming from Paizo in 2025!

Pathfinder Hellfire Crisis – Friday, May 23^rd at 12:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

War has boiled over between Andoran and Cheliax, and the world of Pathfinder will never be the same! Learn about the next meta event coming up for Pathfinder Second Edition!

Get Started with Organized Play – Friday, May 23^rd at 1:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join Paizo’s Organized Play team for a look at the adventures to come! This panel will provide an introduction to Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society, as well as reveals for the upcoming seasons!

Adventures Across the Cosmos – Friday, May 23^rd at 2:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

With the launch of Starfinder Second Edition on the horizon, the Starfinder team has plenty of adventures up their sleeve! Stay tuned for details about the upcoming Murder in Metal City deluxe boxed adventure, Starfinder Guilt of the Grave World, and more!

A Stellar Preview! Starfinder Actual Play – Friday, May 23^rd at 4:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Jenny Jarzabski leads a star-studded cast through a quick Starfinder Second Edition romp!

Saturday

Fantasy Grounds 101 – Saturday, May 24^th at 9:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Learn how to run and play Pathfinder and Starfinder on Fantasy Grounds VTT. Plus, get an inside look at Fantasy Grounds’ affiliate programs, new accessories, features, and more.

Paizo Digital Products – Saturday, May 24^th at 10:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Paizo Digital Products Lead Andrew White takes us on a tour of the upcoming Foundry VTT assets for Pathfinder Second Edition and the launch of Starfinder Second Edition!

Starfinder Release Starmap! – Saturday, May 24^th at 11:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The Starfinder Team walks us through the upcoming books for the launch of Starfinder Second Edition! Get a preview of the system with Starfinder Galaxy Guide, and learn more about Player Core, GM Core, Alien Core, and more!

Romancing the Tome – Saturday, May 24^th at 12:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Looking to bring a little love to your tables? A panel of Paizo authors and freelancers discuss romance in RPGs!

World of Lost Omens – Saturday, May 24^th at 1:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time.

Take a delve into the world and culture of Golarion! The Pathfinder Lost Omens team cracks open the vault of knowledge for the upcoming Lost Omens books!

Creating Cinematic TTRPG Experiences – Saturday, May 24^th at 3:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Our partners at Syrinscape showcase their immersive soundscaping tools for your table!

Transverse Demiplane – Saturday, May 24^th at 4:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Learn about building Pathfinder and Starfinder characters with Demiplane and taking those characters directly to your Roll20 VTT games!

Narrative Declaration: Mutton King Express – Saturday, May 24^th at 5:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The cast of Narrative Declaration joins us for a special, pre-recorded Pathfinder Second Edition adventure!

Sunday

BKOM: Exploring the Abomination Vaults – Sunday, May 25 at 9:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join the team at BKOM for an exclusive preview of their upcoming action roleplaying game Pathfinder Abomination Vaults.

Adventures in Golarion – Sunday, May 25^th at 10:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The Pathfinder Narrative Team takes us on a tour of the upcoming adventures! From Iblydos to Thassilon, there’s a wide variety of mythic adventures on the horizon for Pathfinder Second Edition!

Make it Dice! A Cozy Crafting Panel – Sunday, May 25^th at 11:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Ever wanted to crochet your very own D20? Paizo’s Community and Social Media Specialist Maya Coleman has built a pattern and is ready to stitch through it with the audience!

Mini Painting AMA – Sunday, May 25^th at 12:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

BJ Hensley, Erik Mona, Thurston Hillman, and Magellan Mulligan join us for a special mini painting extravaganza. Bring your brushes and your questions!

Education and Therapeutic Play – Sunday, May 25^th at 1:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join professionals in the fields of mental health and education as they discuss safe, empowering ways to use RPGs in education and therapy!

Creature Feature! – Sunday, May 25^th at 3:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Pathfinder and Starfinder designers talk about designing monsters—from concept to mechanics, art orders, and more!

The Gallant Goblin Presents: Pathfinder Kingmaker - Sunday, May 25^th at 4:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Build your kingdom and watch it rise—or fall! The Gallant Goblin’s Actual Play of Pathfinder Kingmaker launches at PaizoCon!

Organized Play

Paizo has Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society games running around the clock for PaizoCon 2025! Join us for one of the Interactive Specials or simply drop in to a scenario or two!

The full PaizoCon gaming schedule is as follows. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.

• Block 1 Friday, May 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 2 Friday, May 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 3 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 4 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 5 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 6 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 7 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 8 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 9 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 10 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 11 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 12 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 13 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM

Play-by-post games will begin after the convention concludes and finish no later than Tuesday, July 22.

In Block 4, we will be offering Pathfinder Society Special #3-99: Fate in the Future, and in Block 8 we will be offering Starfinder Society Special #3-99: Perils of the Past. Help reunite two adventurers stranded across time and space in our first crossover event between Pathfinder and Starfinder, using the rules for Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder First Edition!

Community & Staff Games!

In addition to Organized Play games, there are also a selection of community gaming sessions—games submitted by PaizoCon attendees—and staff-run games!

Blood of Bastardhall – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Taily-Po: An Appalachian Folktale – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Swing Shift – Sunday at 10:00 A.M.

Blood of Bastardhall – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

D20 Cthulhu: Site 8 – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

Staff Games

SFS 7-11: Breaking the Crucible with Ivis Flanagan – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 9:00 A.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 2:00 P.M.

Getting the Band Back Together with Josh Foster – Saturday at 4:00 P.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 5:00 P.M.

SFS 7-11: Breaking the Crucible with Ivis Flanagan – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

The Cluckening Begins: Run by Shay Snow – Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M. - Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M

Wheel of Monsters Audience Zo!-Op!: Run by Dustin Knight – Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M.

Wheel of Monsters Audience Zo!-Op!: Run by Dustin Knight – Monday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M.

Community Gaming Signups!

We’re also now opening signups for Community Gaming! If you’re interested in running a game outside of Organized Play at PaizoCon Online, we’d love to have you join us. This can be anything: a homebrew Pathfinder or Starfinder adventure, something you’re working on for Infinite, even a non-Paizo roleplaying or board game! Just fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch about scheduling your game.

PaizoCon Online Community Gaming Submissions

PaizoCon@

PaizoCon@ is our initiative to offer an in-person experience during PaizoCon Online around the world. This year we’ve nearly tripled our in-person PaizoCon offerings, which means even more of our players and GMs will be able to experience PaizoCon at their local game stores or conventions!

All PaizoCon@ locations will be running Pathfinder and Starfinder Society games during the weekend, including exclusive runs of our May releases. Highlights include the finale of Starfinder Society Year 7, as well as participation in our interactive specials.

A full list of our locations and conventions is in this blog, or visit this Google Map of the locations. We’d love to see you in-person this year!

We look forward to seeing you at PaizoCon 2025, at home or at one of our PaizoCon @ locations!

A long time ago in a July far away, I let you all know about Paizo’s plans to improve its tech infrastructure. While that has been a slower process than any of us have liked, here's an update on where we’re at and where we’re going.

The Foundation

Paizo began work on modernizing its backend infrastructure in 2023 to allow us easier and faster access to the boring business analytics and insights that we’ve historically had to assemble by spreadsheets over the years. When completed, it will greatly improve our ability to ensure that we have the right products available at the right time and in the right quantities for our customers, send more timely reports to our business partners, and overall streamline internal processes that are stretched across several systems.

Part of this core infrastructure is the rollout of a new warehouse management system. The first part of this is live today, with orders to our hobby and book distributors being picked and shipped from the new system. The next step will be when the new ecommerce store goes live. From your side, you’ll see faster and more accurate orders and trackable shipping details. In addition, Paizo won’t need to shut down for a week every year to do inventory. Instead, the system has us run mini-inventories every week throughout the year.

The New Store

The team is hard at work on a brand-new store experience, reorganizing the entirety of Paizo’s products into more coherent and easier-to-find locations, extracting data from our legacy system, and more.

Much of what you see on Paizo.com today has been built internally over the years and is affectionately known as Presto. Back when Paizo began, ecommerce software to handle subscriptions didn’t really exist, so we built our own solution from the ground up. Presto currently does the heavy lifting for the ecommerce store, forums, shipping and package tracking, and more. It also provides a variety of reports that the finance team imports into their accounting software, the sales team uses to track sales, etc.

The new store will replace all of the shopping pages on the site: product pages, category pages, and store landing pages–including the subscriptions landing page, providing a more modern, streamlined shopping experience for customers, including a single-page checkout!

Areas that will stay the same for now will be the forums, Organized Play reporting, the blog, and a dozen or so landing pages. Here’s a brief rundown of the new things you’ll see at the Paizo Store when it launches.

Paizo Plus Loyalty Program

The Paizo Advantage is our current loyalty program. It gives subscribers access to free Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society releases if you subscribe to 4 lines and both if you subscribe to 6 or more. It also grants 15% off most of your Paizo.com purchases.

The new Paizo Plus program will give you more choices for your rewards. You’ll earn virtual gold on your purchases that you can use for things like coupons for society scenarios, $5–20 off coupons, and the top tier will grant 15% off all your purchases just like today. You’ll also be able to earn gold by writing reviews of your purchases, by referring your friends to the new store, by following Paizo on social media, by joining the new program, and on your birthday!

There will be changes vs. how we do things today, of course, but we’ve worked hard to create a program that lets you keep what you want from today’s loyalty program and expand it out to something even better. We’ll be sharing more details on the new Paizo Plus in an upcoming blog.

Library

We’re very excited to be unveiling a new file library when the new store launches as well. This replaces your Digital Content portal that exists today and offers more streamlined search capabilities using filters and a search box, a new look, the ability to download multiple products at once, and more! Everything you currently have in your current Digital Content will migrate to the new Library.

New Payment Methods

We will be expanding payment methods with the new store. Here are a few that we are targeting for launch.

Credit Cards: American Express, Aura, Diners Club, Discover, ELO, Hipercard, JCB, Mada, Mastercard, RuPay (India), UnionPay, Visa.

Digital Wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal.

Online Bank Transfers: Sofort

Some of these payment methods are region specific (like Hipercard for Brazil or RuPay for India), so you won’t be flooded with options when you checkout. Not all payment methods can be used for subscription payments because some providers don’t allow recurring payments, but you’ll see available options as you go through checkout for subscriptions.

New Subscription Portal

Starting with the launch of the new store, subscribers will be able to manage their subscriptions directly from their dashboard. This will allow you to skip, cancel, or suspend a subscription without the need to contact the customer service team.

Subscribers will be able to continue to “sidecart” products into their upcoming subscriptions through what’s now called combined shipping. This is largely the same functionality we have now, but the process for adding items to your sidecart are a bit different. We’ll cover that in a future blog.

So… When?

The date for this launch was written during the Gap and is currently lost to human knowledge. Triune predicts that the date is soon(™), but I dare not tempt the machine gods by uttering a specific date.

Stay tuned!

Jim Butler
President