Art of the Damned!

Friday, September 29, 2017

In previous blogs about Pathfinder RPG Book of the Damned, I went over some of the rules elements in the book as well as some of the lore regarding the fiends that work against the actions of mortals. Today I want to share a few pieces of the gorgeous art found in this book. Enjoy—at your own risk!

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

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Tags: Book of the Damned Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

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When I see references to both Doctor Who and Princess Mononoke on the same page, I'm intrigued to say the least.

Silver Crusade

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Some of that is absolutely horrifying... in the best possible way!

Paizo Employee Managing Developer

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I don't know Dr. Who at all, so I'm not seeing that reference, but I can tell you that the nucol is not related to Princess Mononoke. :)

Liberty's Edge

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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Adam Daigle wrote:
I don't know Dr. Who at all, so I'm not seeing that reference, but I can tell you that the nucol is not related to Princess Mononoke. :)

Ex-ter-min-ate the her-e-tic! Ex-ter-min-ate the her-e-tic!! EX-TER-MIN-ATE THE HER-E-TIC!!!!

Spoiler:
The kyton comprised of a flensed face is eerily similar to a Doctor Who villain who was a sheet of skin and who needed constant moisturising. So much so that I thought it was an homage to that idea as well. Although this is much more horrific than the one on Doctor Who.


He's talking about the season of the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston (my favorite! Tenant is next fave.). The character's name was Cassandra--supposedly the last remaining human.

Love the art, particularly the cover and the horsemen.


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Moisturize me!


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Tabris needs a hug, look how emaciated he looks.

What kind of angel was he before he went on his journey? He doesn't really look like what I imagined, even ignoring the emaciation.


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*sings* The Horsemen are drawing nearer! On leather steeds they ride! They've come to take your life! On through the dead of night, With the Four Horsemen Ride, Or choose fate and die!


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Glad to see the Four Horseman having a good time out on the town. They have to get away from work sometime right?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Having worked with Wes to design the kyton demigod, I can assuure you that it was Clive Barker who inspired our thinking and not Dr. Who, since neither of us know anything about Dr. Who.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if whoever came up with that design for Dr. Who was also inspired by Clive Barker, assuming the Dr. Who reference came about in the 80s or after. He's a pretty inspiring fella after all.

And Tabris was a unique creature, not a specific type of angel before his fall.

Silver Crusade

Was he an Empyreal Lord?


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*thought he'd get some love for that little one about the Horsemen*

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Rysky wrote:
Was he an Empyreal Lord?

No.


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Gads, I hope this is what I get for my birthday.

Silver Crusade

Okies, Thankies for the response :3


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I was waiting so much for the Horsemen picture to be previewed here. It's so awesome! Look at how the apocalypse horses are so unique... And, wow, Charon is just terrifying!

Contributor

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The combined picture of The Four is just amazing :D


I wonder who would win, these Horsemen of the Apocalypse or the Horsemen of the Apocralypse?


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I have to say, I think the "masked man with a nice hat" works better as a look for Charon than "extremely grumpy old man".


I give the Horsemen pic the nod as the best, though the hellscape is also awesome. I just keep wondering what Nocticula is thinking as she looks up at Azzy :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lathiira wrote:
I give the Horsemen pic the nod as the best, though the hellscape is also awesome. I just keep wondering what Nocticula is thinking as she looks up at Azzy :)

It's actually Dispater on the cover. (The three demigods on the hardcover are the three who appeared on the previous 3 softcover books of the damned...)

And she's thinking, "What a chummmmmmmmmP."


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Todd Stewart wrote:
The combined picture of The Four is just amazing :D

It's my personal favorite. It's also now my desktop background! :)


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Thomas Seitz wrote:
Todd Stewart wrote:
The combined picture of The Four is just amazing :D
It's my personal favorite. It's also now my desktop background! :)

That was one of my first thoughts on seeing it. Not exactly work appropriate though. :)


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Lemartes,

This is why I work for myself. :p ;)


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Urrgh, that art of Mazmezz might as well be titled 'Arachnophobia in One Picture'.

For some reason it feels odd to see Nocticula looking so very seductive. Maybe because she's vamping Dispater? And him a happily married archdevil too.

Great art of the Horsemen too, though Apollyon and Trelmarixian's steeds look a little on the healthy side.

The Kyton demagogue -- are those two skeletons part of her, or just for decoration?

Really, all the art for the book is great. I cant wait to get my hardcopy version!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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I'm not sure why folks are picking up that Nocticula is checking out Dispater... she doesn't have pupils, so you can't really tell where she's looking. She COULD be checking out Charon, for all we know!


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Heh, ah they probably wouldn't care. Might get a few odd looks though. ;)

Can't wait to pick this up. Also, I really like the hellscape picture.

Edit: @Thomas.

Damn ninjas!


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James Jacobs wrote:
Lathiira wrote:
I give the Horsemen pic the nod as the best, though the hellscape is also awesome. I just keep wondering what Nocticula is thinking as she looks up at Azzy :)

It's actually Dispater on the cover. (The three demigods on the hardcover are the three who appeared on the previous 3 softcover books of the damned...)

And she's thinking, "What a chummmmmmmmmP."

Don't know why I keep thinking that image is Asmodeus. I own said books, love them, know who they all are.

Nocticula's my favorite of our three here though.


Hmm what layer of hell is that in the hellscape picture?


Lemartes wrote:
Hmm what layer of hell is that in the hellscape picture?

This just an assumption/guess, but I think it's Avernus. Dis looks different.


James Jacobs wrote:

Having worked with Wes to design the kyton demigod, I can assuure you that it was Clive Barker who inspired our thinking and not Dr. Who, since neither of us know anything about Dr. Who.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if whoever came up with that design for Dr. Who was also inspired by Clive Barker, assuming the Dr. Who reference came about in the 80s or after. He's a pretty inspiring fella after all.

And Tabris was a unique creature, not a specific type of angel before his fall.

Is there any plan to ever stat him up? A unique angel that's not an Empyreal Lord sounds pretty cool, fitting a niche design space.

Thanks for the response!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I guess lot of folks ship demigods? :p Or find Dispater to be more attractive than Nocticula.


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CorvusMask wrote:
I guess lot of folks ship demigods? :p Or find Dispater to be more attractive than Nocticula.

Obviously, personal preferences are important. Such people should reevaluate as we all know Nocticula is the patroness of the Succubus in a Grapple thread!


Can someone link the Clive barker face, because I instantly thought of Doctor Who when I saw it too. I suspect there are a lot more people familiar with Doctor Who than Barker as well, so the common opinion will be that this is an homage to that, even if it isn't true.


Running a Google Image search of Hellraiser Cenobite won't bring up that exact face, but will bring up lots of similar imagery.

IIRC, the Hellraiser stuff was books first, comics and movies later.


Huh. I'm not seeing it. Most of those cenobite pictures are really goofy looking. I see a trend of pulling flesh away from stuff to show the body underneath. But nothing where the skin is it's own thing.


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I saw the Dr. Who connection immediately.
That said, I can totally see the "Artistic Style" of it for a Kyton mindset.
Just think of how much fun they can have with the flesh side with salt, vinegar, iodine,.....

EDIT ADD
I so want a new Drum Set now!


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When all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse enter the fray, it's game over!


Game over man!

Dark Archive

I would think it would be far worse when all 8 Archdevils enter the fray


ulgulanoth wrote:
I would think it would be far worse when all 8 Archdevils enter the fray

Unless the planet is filled to the brim with mythic-level celestials and/or mythic-level good-aligned dragons then both situations are pretty much apocalyptic events for said world.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well horsemen come with 4 cr 25 horses, so 8 archdevils vs 4 horsemen + 4 horses evens it out a bit? :P


Original blog post wrote:

{. . .}

http://static3.paizo.com/image/content/PathfinderRPG/PZO1139-Chapter1.jpg {. . .}

Ooooo . . . can we get a Starfinder version of this?

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
I'm not sure why folks are picking up that Nocticula is checking out Dispater... she doesn't have pupils, so you can't really tell where she's looking. She COULD be checking out Charon, for all we know!

When you look at the full size image, it is pretty obvious that she is looking at the viewer, just like the other demigods do.

But when it is reduced to screen size, the eye on the left appears whiter (because she has dark hair in front of the iris of the eye on the right) and thus focuses the attention to the left and makes it appear as if she was looking at Dispater (because her eyes form an oblique line that goes in this direction).

It is merely an optical illusion, a trick of the light ;-)

Dark Archive

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I love how Wayne Reynolds incorporated his signature into Nocticula's wing amongst the runes. Then again I love most of the art in the book, not just his.

Contributing Artist

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The Raven Black wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
I'm not sure why folks are picking up that Nocticula is checking out Dispater... she doesn't have pupils, so you can't really tell where she's looking. She COULD be checking out Charon, for all we know!

When you look at the full size image, it is pretty obvious that she is looking at the viewer, just like the other demigods do.

But when it is reduced to screen size, the eye on the left appears whiter (because she has dark hair in front of the iris of the eye on the right) and thus focuses the attention to the left and makes it appear as if she was looking at Dispater (because her eyes form an oblique line that goes in this direction).

It is merely an optical illusion, a trick of the light ;-)

I depicted Nocticula looking directly at the viewer. Sometimes my subtle shading doesn't get picked up in reduced - sized versions

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Wayne Reynolds wrote:
The Raven Black wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
I'm not sure why folks are picking up that Nocticula is checking out Dispater... she doesn't have pupils, so you can't really tell where she's looking. She COULD be checking out Charon, for all we know!

When you look at the full size image, it is pretty obvious that she is looking at the viewer, just like the other demigods do.

But when it is reduced to screen size, the eye on the left appears whiter (because she has dark hair in front of the iris of the eye on the right) and thus focuses the attention to the left and makes it appear as if she was looking at Dispater (because her eyes form an oblique line that goes in this direction).

It is merely an optical illusion, a trick of the light ;-)

I depicted Nocticula looking directly at the viewer. Sometimes my subtle shading doesn't get picked up in reduced - sized versions

*zooms in more closerly*

Ah okies, yeah I can make that out now with the way the sclera is shaded.

And I just found the signature too, neat!

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