Pathfinder News From PaizoCon Online

Each day during PaizoCon Online, we’re taking a look at upcoming products, revealing new art and details, and diving deep into the day’s focus with a livestreamed Marquee Event panel and Q&A session. Today’s Marquee Event panel focused on Paizo’s forthcoming Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide. This blog is a recap of some of the previews covered in that session as well as a compilation of other Pathfinder announcements from throughout the show. Don’t forget to check out the PaizoCon Online Stream Schedule to stay on top of the latest Paizo news in real time!

As we approach the end of the first year of Pathfinder second edition, we are excited to showcase some of our upcoming Pathfinder rulebooks, adventure paths, and world guides, while also announcing where the game is headed in 2021.

The panel that just concluded offers a lot of great previews of the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide, coming out at the end of July. If you missed it live, you can check it out as a video-on-demand on twitch.tv/officialpaizo and archived on our YouTube channel in the near future. We’ll also be presenting the usual series of preview blogs and media partner appearances in the coming months, but if you just can’t wait, here’s a glimpse at a few pieces of art from the book:

The book’s gorgeous cover by Wayne Reynolds, depicting Feiya, the iconic witch, and Jirelle, the iconic swashbuckler, fighting (or fleeing from?) a colossal sea serpent

A tiefling, just one of options for characters with the planar scion versatile heritage presented in the book, by Pedro Kruger Garcia

An exciting scene of an oracle fighting some hell hounds by Valeriya Lutfullina, featuring a brand new tengu iconic (you’ll get a chance to meet him soon!) Other classes included in the book are the investigator, swashbuckler, and witch.

“But what,” you may ask, “do I do if I’m not an ‘advanced player?’” Have no fear, neophyte Pathfinder, because we have you covered this fall with the Pathfinder Beginner Box! Completely compatible with the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, this all-in-one box pares down the options available to players to make their first steps into the exciting world of Pathfinder as straightforward as possible. With 4 pregenerated characters, a series of character and monster pawns, a 1st-level intro adventure, and more, this is the perfect starting point for new players of any age.

The Beginner Box’s adventure takes place in the sleepy town of Otari just a few days’ travel from Absalom, but your troubles in Otari are just beginning! Picking up at 2nd level—right where the Beginner Box’s adventure leaves off—and taking your player characters to 5th level, Pathfinder Adventure: Troubles in Otari is an anthology adventure designed to introduce new players to a variety of playstyles and ease their transition into the world of character options presented in the full Pathfinder game.

For groups looking for a longer campaign, we are proud to announce the first 3-part Pathfinder Adventure Path, The Abomination Vaults! This dungeon-based campaign, also set in Otari, takes a group of 1st-level adventurers to 10th level, and tells a parallel story to that in the Beginner Box and Troubles in Otari. The first chapter of Abomation Vaults, Ruins of Gauntlight by James Jacobs, will be available in January, 2021.

I can hear you now: “But, Paizo, you can’t do just one 3-part adventure path without throwing off your entire release schedule!” You’re right! That’s why we’re following Abomination Vaults up with a second 3-chapter adventure path: Fists of the Ruby Phoenix! This campaign starts at 10th level, allowing your Abomination Vault PCs to pick it up after that campaign concludes, or it can stand alone as its own story. We first saw the Ruby Phoenix Tournament—a worldwide test of martial arts and magic held every 10 years—in 2011, so it’s fitting that we’d check back in and see what’s happening with it on the next go-around. Look for more information on this adventure path later in the year.

A few months ago, we released the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide, and just this week the Pathfinder Bestiary 2 hit shelves and online retailers worldwide. Now, we’re thrilled to announce the Pathfinder Bestiary 3 for a March, 2021 release to fill in the gaps of any iconic Pathfinder monsters that didn’t make the cut for the first two bestiaries. Let us know what you’d like to see included after checking out the newly released Bestiary 2.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Lastly, we take a look at the future of the Lost Omens line of world guides, detailing the tumultuous Age of Lost Omens in which the Pathfinder world finds itself now. Following the release of Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide in September, we’ll next delve deep into the uncommon and rare ancestries of the setting with the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. This indispensable sourcebook for players and GMs presents new character options for the many ancestries that have appeared in rulebooks other than the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, provides everything a player needs to play a member of such fan-favorite returning ancestries as android, geniekin, and kitsune, as well as a few ancestries that have never been available to player characters in the past!

Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide cover illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

And that wraps up our week of announcements and previews from PaizoCon Online. Thanks for tuning in to twitch.tv/officialpaizo for our livestreamed panels and Pathfinder and Starfinder games, and stay tuned through the weekend with even more games. PaizoCon Online is the largest convention we’ve ever put on, and so we must send a special thanks to our many volunteer Game Masters offering adventures for players around the world, around the clock. We couldn’t have done it without you. We’ll formally close out the show on Sunday, but until then, stay safe and roll high.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy