Pathfinder Battles Preview: Of Sins and Saviors

Friday, May 18, 2012

There's something really cool about the fifth volume of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, Stephen S. Greer's “Sins of the Saviors.” After venturing through volumes loosely themed around goblins, ghouls, ogres, and giants, this fifth installment kicks the campaign backstory into high gear, with the player characters exploring a vast dungeon known as the Runeforge, a relic from the era of the ancient Runelords themselves.

In fact, during their adventure in the Runeforge, the PCs even get a chance to meet with survivors from that distant era, making this adventure an important pivot point for the campaign, essentially shifting things into the endgame to come in the final sixth volume.

What that means in a practical sense, especially because the PCs are now 12th level themselves, is that they finally get to face off against some pretty kick-ass bad guys who pack a powerful punch. In this week's blog, I'd like to reveal two of those bad guys. While they don't quite qualify as the Big Bads of the adventure (we'll get to them next week), these guys play key roles in important encounters, and are sure to be remembered by your players for a long time to come.

Coincidentally, both also make excellent player character miniatures themselves!

First up is the Warrior of Wrath, the result of centuries of genetic breeding and intense training in the Halls of Wrath, one of the most challenging of the seven sinful sub-dungeons of the Runeforge. These angry eldritch knights are the last of their long line, so it's a good thing the player characters show up to give them a target upon which to vent their rage and aggression! Because you'll need at least 6 Warriors of Wrath to pull off their encounter, we've slotted this figure in the common rarity.

Wrath isn't the only sin to get a sub-dungeon in the Runeforge. In the Shimmering Veils, pride is the sin that rules that day, and perhaps none in all of Golarion are so prideful as the illusionist Vraxeris, once among the most trusted servitors of Xanderghul, Runelords of Pride. Through cunning and the mastery of cloning techniques, Vraxeris has managed to survive in the thousands of years since the fall of the Runelords' ancient empire. Now, his mad simulacra wander the halls of the Shimmering Veils, eager to defeat intruders and certain that they have what it takes to keep their weird dungeon free from interlopers. Vraxeris is slated at the uncommon rarity.

We're nearing the end of the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set (though a few super-awesome figures still remain to be revealed!), so I'm slowing things down a bit here in the blog, and plan to show only two figures a week from here forward. My head is already in the NEXT set, about half of which will be showing up at the Paizo offices later this afternoon for final sculpt approval.

The actual final production figures for Rise of the Runelords have started rolling into my office, and I'm pleased to report that the figures match the paint masters with amazing fidelity. Looking at these little pictures on the blog and holding the actual minis in-hand simply don't compare. I can say with honesty that I think the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set will be the best and most consistently awesome set of prepainted plastic miniatures released yet for hobby gaming.

Until we put out the next set, that is!

See you next Friday,

Erik Mona
Publisher