Our release dates are accelerating in anticipation of the holidays! Just two weeks ago we posted about the New Releases Coming October 2020 and today they are here! Let’s take a look inside the first few pages of our biggest release, the Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide.
Here are a few excerpts:
Introduction
Founded by a loose fellowship of like-minded adventurers, the Pathfinder Society began as a social club for showing off treasures and captivating peers with daring tales. The organization’s grown considerably since then, evolving into a global operation of explorers, historians, and thrill-seekers that number in the thousands, with thousands more support staff in the Society’s employ. In the course of more than four centuries, the Society’s power has grown to the point that its field agents don’t just preserve the past—in many cases they influence the course of history through their deeds and discoveries.
Of course, any misguided adventurer can ransack a temple and claim they’re an archaeologist. But the Pathfinders hold themselves to a much higher standard, ensuring that they document their discoveries, hide partially explored sites to discourage looting, and extract finds in a way that minimizes both damage to the sites and disrespect to the people who lived there. Attaining the skills necessary for this is difficult, with most Pathfinders undergoing three or more years of training at the Grand Lodge, the Society’s headquarters in the metropolis of Absalom. Only after demonstrating their mastery do these initiates achieve full field agent status, joining the Society’s rank-and-file. Unaffiliated yet accomplished explorers who have already surpassed an initiate’s coursework can skip this training, qualifying for membership through their past deeds alone and earning a field commission. No matter their path, a true Pathfinder carries a wayfinder—a magical compass that acts as a badge of office—that guides them to great discoveries.
Field agents travel far and wide, surveying uncharted regions, cataloging languages, recording stories, unraveling eldritch mysteries, discovering points of interest, and recovering the treasures and texts that can preserve the past. Between expeditions, field agents convene at the Society’s official bases of operation, known as Pathfinder lodges. Typically operated by leaders called venture-captains, these lodges provide secure lodging, maps, library access, basic supplies, and a meeting place for other adventurers seeking assistance with their own projects. Most valuable of all, the lodges are invaluable stores of local knowledge, often including detailed reports of unexplored sites and unresolved mysteries just waiting for a skilled and interested agent to
investigate further.Yet this exchange goes both ways. For all the support and operational intelligence a field agent enjoys, they’re expected to aid the Society in times of need, help nearby lodges as necessary, and report back to the Grand Lodge periodically to share their discoveries—both their written reports and their material treasures. In turn, the Grand Lodge periodically publishes its agents’ greatest findings in the Pathfinder Chronicles, a centuries-old journal of formal travelogues, dashing adventure, and anthropological excellence. This is all the motivation that some Pathfinders need, driving them to seek out bigger and bolder discoveries in the hope of being featured.
Overseeing the entire Society is the Decemvirate, a body of 10 leaders who have maintained anonymity for centuries—at least until recent years, when reforms led one to shed her mask to introduce more openness and help restore organizational trust in these directors. Known as “The Ten,” these figures rarely intervene in the Society’s day-to-day operations, instead serving as judges of errant agents, visionaries who guide the Grand Lodge’s overarching goals, and overseers of the Society’s health and activities. Given the Decemvirate’s distant leadership style, the Pathfinder Society maintains a number of semiofficial factions and fellowships within the organization. Each faction represents a particular passion shared by many field agents, advocates for specific changes in Society policy, or just provides a greater and more intimate sense of community in such a world-spanning operation.
Pathfinder Society Organized Play
Just as the Pathfinder Society travels all over Golarion, so too can you participate in Pathfinder Society adventures anywhere in the world! As part of an organized play campaign, you explore a shared campaign setting with tens of thousands of others, and your actions contribute to the setting’s ongoing stories and events.
Participate in organized play at home, at game stores, in libraries, at conventions, or online. Adventures come in a variety of lengths to accommodate different playing environments. Each adventure grants your characters experience points, treasure, and more. Take your characters and rewards between games and venues freely, continuing the campaign with players from across the world!
Organized play emphasizes community and flexibility, allowing you to meet new friends and play at whatever pace suits you. The format includes a few additional rules that help facilitate a shared world and experience, and there are hundreds of friendly venture-officers ready to help you find games. Find out more at pathfindersociety.club!
Pathfinder Society In Golarion
As the Pathfinder Society is one of the largest adventuring organizations in the Inner Sea, many player characters either know of it or are among its members. For more information on playing a Pathfinder in a campaign, see the organization’s full write-up in Lost Omens Character Guide 106–115.
New backgrounds include archaeologist, pathfinder recruiter, spell seeker, trailblazer, and translator. You will find a wide range of options any adventurer can use, including more gear, feats, spells, locations, magic items, and of course NPCs, timelines, lore, and more lore! And you will also discover inspiring art on nearly every page.
We know people play Pathfinder with our published adventures, in Golarian with their own adventures, and in worlds of their own creation—and that these groups overlap and evolve over time. So this hardcover holds inspiration and crunchy options for us all. It is sure to be an evergreen favorite, bringing together both veteran and new players in the Society for years to come. And it is a great addition to every homebrew player’s collection in creating a richly detailed world-spanning organization!
Adventures Ahead!
Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager
Your Social Club for Life-long Adventure!
Wednesday, October 14, 2020