Paizo Subscriptions Update

I too am disappointed at the discontinuation of the AP Pawns.

However…there’s a solution if you have the PDF of the AP. there are programs that will extract all images from a PDF. You then take the images of the monsters you want and copy/paste them into a Word document. Print on card stock paper.

The only issue is to make them stand up. If you have access to a 3d printer or a friend who does, then it’s simple. Print a base.

If you don’t have access to a 3d printer, then do the old trick of printing two copies, cut one from the top down to the half-way mark, cut the other from the bottom up to the half-way mark and put them together.

I admit that the 3d printer option is better.

Another option that I found remarkably useful years ago when I was running APs that didn't have pawns at the time, is that you can use photoshop or Gimp to make a blank pawn template using one of the PDFs (just make a template for a page with each size, by filling the pawn outline with white. Then you can paste in monster/character art as needed and print them. What I did was make my pawn sheets like this, and then print them on sticker paper. Then use existing pawns I already had and put the stickers on them. Then you can still use the Paizo bases. And the glossy finish of the pawns make it easy to peal off the stickers and reuse later.

There's also the rather pronounced shift to VTT's as we've been in a pandemic with fewer options for in person play for over two years now.

While this -is- true, I would like to see Paizo take a more active role in supporting VTT's if that's the direction they're going to go at the expense of traditional living room play. Supporting the folks developing the Pathfinder 2e module in Foundry is a good start. I would like to see the same extended to Starfinder.

Removed some off topic, baiting and harassment posts. Discussion is good, but please keep it civil and on topic.

Related to the topic of pawns, is there any chance we might get bestiary token packs for foundry in the future? I have been running abomination vault and the tokens included in it are gorgous, and i wish that i could pull up matching tokens for any summons my players happen to come across

Related to the topic of pawns, is there any chance we might get bestiary token packs for foundry in the future? I have been running abomination vault and the tokens included in it are gorgous, and i wish that i could pull up matching tokens for any summons my players happen to come across

We don't have any announcements at this time.

Cori Marie wrote:

There's also the rather pronounced shift to VTT's as we've been in a pandemic with fewer options for in person play for over two years now.

While this -is- true, I would like to see Paizo take a more active role in supporting VTT's if that's the direction they're going to go at the expense of traditional living room play. Supporting the folks developing the Pathfinder 2e module in Foundry is a good start. I would like to see the same extended to Starfinder.

Paizo is taking an active roll in supporting VTT play. We work closely with Foundry, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds and are adding more partners. Those partners are also innovating. We are producing VTT products and selling them on the Paizo Store. Card and map accessories are available digitally at jpgs, not just PDF.

It takes time and careful planing. We have no intention of sacrificing traditional play, but a company changes its product lineup as the market changes, and as I understand it, pawns sales were weak even before the pandemic. This year has not bounced back to in-person play as much as we had hoped.

This year has not bounced back to in-person play as much as we had hoped.

The gamers in Indianapolis would like a word with you. :-D

I understand what you’re saying, Aaron, and on the issue of pre-pandemic pawn sales, I didn’t realize they were weak - that’s why I was perplexed at how many sets had been produced for 1e. My thought was that if the sales were poor, they wouldn’t have made as many sets as they had previously. But, I get it - companies don’t make products that don’t sell.]

We have no intention of sacrificing traditional play…

Thanks for explicitly saying this - that’s reassuring. I get that a lot of gaming has gone online and there will be players that won’t come back to a physical table. For those who will play in person (many of whom prefer to do so), there has to be something for them. That’s why I hope Paizo might decide to continue to at least produce .PDFs of the pawns, even if they don’t produce the physical product. But that’s also a time and cost vs. reward analysis, and maybe the reward isn’t there.

Thanks for clarifying - much appreciated!

PF Coop wrote:

I too am disappointed at the discontinuation of the AP Pawns.

However…there’s a solution if you have the PDF of the AP. there are programs that will extract all images from a PDF. You then take the images of the monsters you want and copy/paste them into a Word document. Print on card stock paper.

The only issue is to make them stand up. If you have access to a 3d printer or a friend who does, then it’s simple. Print a base.

If you don’t have access to a 3d printer, then do the old trick of printing two copies, cut one from the top down to the half-way mark, cut the other from the bottom up to the half-way mark and put them together.

I admit that the 3d printer option is better.

Another option that I found remarkably useful years ago when I was running APs that didn't have pawns at the time, is that you can use photoshop or Gimp to make a blank pawn template using one of the PDFs (just make a template for a page with each size, by filling the pawn outline with white. Then you can paste in monster/character art as needed and print them. What I did was make my pawn sheets like this, and then print them on sticker paper. Then use existing pawns I already had and put the stickers on them. Then you can still use the Paizo bases. And the glossy finish of the pawns make it easy to peal off the stickers and reuse later.

First, thanks for your helpful and constructive response - I appreciate it!

Second, I currently make my own pawns from the PDFs when I need extras of monsters in a set (PFS scenarios notoriously and frequently require more of a creature than come in a set of pawns.). I use 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of sticker paper, attach the to chipboard and cut them out. So, i can still do that - that’s why I asked if they could at least produce the .PDFs. I don’t always have time to go find art and create the actual pawn itself before printing them.

But, thanks again!

Dennis Muldoon wrote:

I'm going to miss the AP pawn sets. I've found them very convenient.

As someone who has poured a ton of time, money, space, and energy into gathering a collection of Pathfinder Pawns and keeping them well organized, I am INCREDIBLY frustrated with this move.

I'm sure it has to do with overall sales and costs of materials, but I want Paizo to know this is a huge slap in the face to someone who has leaned into this line heavily to maintain consistency and immersion in games without a need to invest in much more expensive and space consuming miniatures.

The cynical side of me wonders if this is just a means to push more sales of the awful blind box and lackluster Battles miniatures line.

I will reconsider before EVER investing in another Pathfinder accessory line, as it's now clear that Paizo will drop product lines that customers rely on with less than zero notice (this was hinted at long ago, but Paizo refused to announce it until now).

Thanks for nothing, Paizo.

This is a complete and utter failure by Paizo. So disappointed in them.

Saddened to see the sunset of the pawns line, as that was one of my favorites, I like having the mini's available for the exact bestiary entry. I had even recently suggested that Demiplane add the pawn box numbers next to their monster entries. I do a mix of digital and physical. Digital maps physical pawns for players and monsters.

Hopefully this changes in the future.. even if it just changes to the acrylic format

Removed further posts for baiting, harassment, and off topic.

Just so I am clear, regarding Pawns (which seems to be the majority of the posts in this thread), when/if PF (2nd ed) Bestiary 4 or SF Alien Archive 5 come out, there will not be Pawn sets, correct? But as long as people still buy them, the previous Bestiary/Alien Archive sets will still be produced?

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

I see. So, is the model for new creatures like that of Book of the Dead - a mix of lore and related creatures?

Unrelated to pawns, I noted that Pathfinder Rulebook Special Edition subscription is not listed above. Is that intentional or a mistake?

Unrelated to pawns, I noted that Pathfinder Rulebook Special Edition subscription is not listed above. Is that intentional or a mistake?

No I believe that’s an error. I’ll get that corrected on this blog and our frequently asked questions.

As long as we still get art for each creature, I'm ok. I remember being very excited that I finally had an image for Sod Hounds when the Bestiary Pawns pdf released.

Will the battle cards still be a thing?

And will Legacy Subscribers to the Adventure Path still get the Advantage discount?

As long as we still get art for each creature, I'm ok. I remember being very excited that I finally had an image for Sod Hounds when the Bestiary Pawns pdf released.

Will the battle cards still be a thing?

And will Legacy Subscribers to the Adventure Path still get the Advantage discount?

Battle Cards are still a thing, with great art and sold in print, digital PDF & jpg.

I have am not aware of any changes to Legacy Subscribers.

So let me get this straight: you decided to keep stuff like NPC cards or Equipment/Bestiary cards and scrapped the pawns line...?

That's... silly, to say the least. You can get more uses from pawns than from cards. Pawns can be used in plethora of systems, not just Pathfinder. Cards are useless for someone who plays, let's say, Savage Worlds or 5e. I mean, I'm not into details of the sales of Paizo products so I don't know if that's more affordable, but common sense tells me, that more people are buying miniatures than some little spell cards boxes (correct me if I'm wrong).

Obviously the decision was already made, but it's extremely disappointing, as you were the lead in the affordable flat miniature market, offering enormous collection and now it's gone. Not a fan.

Typically only a GM buys minis in any great quantity. But GMs and players buy spell cards.

So let me get this straight: you decided to keep stuff like NPC cards or Equipment/Bestiary cards and scrapped the pawns line...?

That's... silly, to say the least. You can get more uses from pawns than from cards. Pawns can be used in plethora of systems, not just Pathfinder. Cards are useless for someone who plays, let's say, Savage Worlds or 5e. I mean, I'm not into details of the sales of Paizo products so I don't know if that's more affordable, but common sense tells me, that more people are buying miniatures than some little spell cards boxes (correct me if I'm wrong).

Obviously the decision was already made, but it's extremely disappointing, as you were the lead in the affordable flat miniature market, offering enormous collection and now it's gone. Not a fan.

I mean I've gotten just as much use out of the cards for purposes of importing the images into foundry for creatures that don't have art in the bestiary as I have from running combats from them. I too will miss the pawns, but the cards are just as useful, more so even for someone who has transitioned to almost fully VTT play

I do like the battle cards

Wzrd wrote:

Due to the cost of international shipping, I would had of loved to see the ability to subscribe to just the PDFs.

If there was a PDF subscription, would it change your print buying habits?

I'll be honest, it would for me.

I would keep Lost Omens & AP products as physical books, as I enjoy reading over those and engaging with the art and lore more. I sit over them with a cup of coffee on a sunday morning, reading cool things.

When it comes to the rulebooks, I think I would go purely PDF. I generally inhale those books, and start spinning out characters, concepts, upgrading my players planned progressions, etc.

I sub to support Paizo, but when it comes to the rulebooks, I rarely look at my physical copies and they just take up space on my bookshelves. The only physical rulebooks I ever bring to IRL sessions is the core, and thats so people can do quick rules check-ups between turns.

I just consume the two types of media in different ways.

So I would change my sub habits to reflect this.

However, I also like the subscription service because of the chance of early release. I love getting my stuff asap, say what you will, but instant gratification of an online purchase is generally the norm these days. On the flip side however, I also hate people get their stuff before me and there is no option or service which allows me rectify that. It just annoys me when there is no amount of money I can pay to get an equal service.

So if there was a PDF subscription, I would also push that all PDF's are fulfilled on the same day as physical orders start being dispatched. That way all customers get the same level of service.

So let me get this straight: you decided to keep stuff like NPC cards or Equipment/Bestiary cards and scrapped the pawns line...?

That's... silly, to say the least. You can get more uses from pawns than from cards. Pawns can be used in plethora of systems, not just Pathfinder. Cards are useless for someone who plays, let's say, Savage Worlds or 5e. I mean, I'm not into details of the sales of Paizo products so I don't know if that's more affordable, but common sense tells me, that more people are buying miniatures than some little spell cards boxes (correct me if I'm wrong).

Obviously the decision was already made, but it's extremely disappointing, as you were the lead in the affordable flat miniature market, offering enormous collection and now it's gone. Not a fan.

Common sense and business sense have surprisingly little in common. What is "obvious and no-brainer" for customers is "complicated and not viable" for business more often than not.

So let me get this straight: you decided to keep stuff like NPC cards or Equipment/Bestiary cards and scrapped the pawns line...?

That's... silly, to say the least. You can get more uses from pawns than from cards. Pawns can be used in plethora of systems, not just Pathfinder. Cards are useless for someone who plays, let's say, Savage Worlds or 5e. I mean, I'm not into details of the sales of Paizo products so I don't know if that's more affordable, but common sense tells me, that more people are buying miniatures than some little spell cards boxes (correct me if I'm wrong).

Obviously the decision was already made, but it's extremely disappointing, as you were the lead in the affordable flat miniature market, offering enormous collection and now it's gone. Not a fan.

I am a GM and a player, and even as a player, I make use of the cards. My Druid can summon animals, so I grab the cards for the animals he can summon and ta-da - have the stat blocks in front of me without having to haul around an entire book.

So for me, the cards have tremendous value as a player.

Also, pawns are really a primarily tabletop-only product that is mostly lost on VTT players, while cards can be very useful for a VTT MG. A big chunk of PF gaming moved online due to the pandemic and will likely stay there, so this particular product demand took an extra hit recently.

I get that they're not useful for people running other systems, but at the end of the day, Paizo is primarily going to be concerned about making things that are useful to THEIR system.

Snarfburger wrote:

Just so I am clear, regarding Pawns (which seems to be the majority of the posts in this thread), when/if PF (2nd ed) Bestiary 4 or SF Alien Archive 5 come out, there will not be Pawn sets, correct? But as long as people still buy them, the previous Bestiary/Alien Archive sets will still be produced?

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

Correction, there will be Kingmaker Pawns.

Oh good, I didn’t add on the pawns so I was worried there wouldn’t be extras on the store after pledges were fulfilled.

So let me get this straight: you decided to keep stuff like NPC cards or Equipment/Bestiary cards and scrapped the pawns line...?

That's... silly, to say the least. You can get more uses from pawns than from cards. Pawns can be used in plethora of systems, not just Pathfinder. Cards are useless for someone who plays, let's say, Savage Worlds or 5e. I mean, I'm not into details of the sales of Paizo products so I don't know if that's more affordable, but common sense tells me, that more people are buying miniatures than some little spell cards boxes (correct me if I'm wrong).

Obviously the decision was already made, but it's extremely disappointing, as you were the lead in the affordable flat miniature market, offering enormous collection and now it's gone. Not a fan.

These are good arguments that should be told to the customers. Not to Paizo.

The customer base is the one that is not buying enough.

I am sure Paizo loves publishing products that sell well and make money.

While this -is- true, I would like to see Paizo take a more active role in supporting VTT's if that's the direction they're going to go at the expense of traditional living room play. Supporting the folks developing the Pathfinder 2e module in Foundry is a good start. I would like to see the same extended to Starfinder.

The best way for Paizo to go for supporting VTT use is to sell the high-quality images themselves. Such as for the Pawns lines, you'd be buying a zip of PNGs. Then you can use them with any VTT of your choice (including offline ones like MapTool). Paizo wins because it's less work and they get a bigger cut (without "marketplaces" taking more out), and we win by not having vendor lock-in.

(I will never buy anything that is VTT-specific or otherwise DRMed or vendor locked-in. And Roll20 technically allows a vendor to check "allow download" or something like that, but it's such a pain and one-at-a-time that it may just as well not exist.)

Saddened to see the sunset of the pawns line, as that was one of my favorites, I like having the mini's available for the exact bestiary entry. I had even recently suggested that Demiplane add the pawn box numbers next to their monster entries. I do a mix of digital and physical. Digital maps physical pawns for players and monsters.

It sounds like you work like I do. When I don't have a printed map that works, and it's too complex to draw out on a grid, I have a TV that goes flat on the table that becomes my battlemap (and use pawns on it).

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

Aaron Shanks wrote:

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

I don’t know if it means Paizo is doing that poorly, or just those particular products. How many monster books do we need, after all?

I’m not big on VTT, but if Paizo produced high quality maps for use on VTT you better believe I’d buy them! Flip mats are fine, but scaling up maps in APs usually is frustrating for me.

emky wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

I don’t know if it means Paizo is doing that poorly, or just those particular products. How many monster books do we need, after all?

Its also part of the pivot/strategy, I think, of avoiding "GM-only" books and trying to ensure all books are marketable/interesting to players and GMs. Bestiaries/Alien Archives were almost pure GM books which decreased their audience.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

That's a really rude thing to say. Since when does the success or failure of a franchise depend on how many Bestiaries they make?

I don't want another Alien Archive. I think 4 is enough.

Its also part of the pivot/strategy, I think, of avoiding "GM-only" books and trying to ensure all books are marketable/interesting to players and GMs.

Meh. That just makes it harder browse/find/remember-where things. PF/SF being completely OGL with online reference helps that a little bit, but not entirely.

Since when does the success or failure of a franchise depend on how many Bestiaries they make?

It's often a side of troubles when companies go canceling long-running lines of products, which this post and thread has lots of. (I wish they'd said for Pawns instead "paused until paper and shipping issues make it affordable again", or if they truly thing it's a worthless product.)

And like others have said, it's a pivot not an ending. Book of the Dead has 100 pages of monsters. It's just not ONLY monsters. That makes things more accessible to everyone at the table, which in turn sells more books.

I like pawns, they are a neat addition to my tabletop. I don't play online really (though I have a foundry license and the beginner box addon) as I prefer face to face games, so the pawns and mini's are great for me.

I don't however subscribe to the pawns which now that I think about it, I should have, just to help to keep the line alive.

I can see how this is a decision made by the current trends and understand it, but it's a shame as others have stated, the Paizo pawns are of top quality.

emky wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

I don’t know if it means Paizo is doing that poorly, or just those particular products. How many monster books do we need, after all?

I do not think it's "Paizo doing that poorly" but rather I think they're just shifting to more 3rd-party content through Infinite. For D&D 5e, you do not see official Adventurer's League content anymore as they've focused more on the 3rd-party content.

It's also just plain technically true that there have been no announcements of new Bestiary/ Archive products, so Aaron's response doesn't necessarily reflect any particular strategy pivot.

It's often a side of troubles when companies go canceling long-running lines of products

Paizo has cancelled multiple product lines in the past (Planet Stories books, non-Pathfinder board games, vodka shot glasses, the entire GameMastery brand, most of card sets, small flip-mat pakcs) yet here they are.

*cries in the Tales line of novels*

I believe Paizo is still interested in Tales if they can find a way to make them profitable.

Planet Stories? Dead and buried.

Mark Stratton wrote:

emky wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

There are no more Bestiary or Alien Archive books planned. There will be new creatures. There are no plans for new pawns. Paizo is keeping the basics in stock for as long there’s enough demand.

EEK! I didn't know Paizo was doing that poorly. I thought Starfinder was being moderately successful.

I don’t know if it means Paizo is doing that poorly, or just those particular products. How many monster books do we need, after all?

I do not think it's "Paizo doing that poorly" but rather I think they're just shifting to more 3rd-party content through Infinite. For D&D 5e, you do not see official Adventurer's League content anymore as they've focused more on the 3rd-party content.

While they are allowing Infinite, they're not really shifting away from creating their own content either. We still get multiple Society scenarios a month (their equivalent to Adventurer's League), monthly PF AP books, bimonthly SF AP books, quarterly rulebooks and Lost Omen books. They're still pumping out lots of content. They just stopped making a line of pawns that's not selling well enough to justify the paper in a time of global shortage.

It would be cool if print-on-demand for something like pawns was a feasible option, but also totally makes sense that it isn't feasible.

Nobody misses vodka shot glasses. Do you even call yourself gamers. This is sad. Back in my day...