Paizo Subscriptions Update

As yet another newish GM switching over from 5e, I'd like to add my voice to those craving core pawns, especially for PCs. It's surprisingly hard for me to find a half-orc paladin pawn/mini out there. I'm not interested in painting.

I do wonder if there's some kind of plastic sleeve/holder that could be placed in a pawn base. Getting the PDF-printed pawns to stand up straight is quite the challenge. If I had, say, a pack of twenty-five pawn-sized plastic holders into which I could slide a paper pawn, I could print pawns, insert them into the plastic sleeve before the game, and have plenty of pawns. Not as convenient for storage, not as nice in the hand, perhaps, but it would work.

(With that said, I get the whole "if it's losing money, don't make more" concept. For me, though, VTTs aren't how I want to run my games, and my players want pawns and maps.)

I haven't tried them myself but I made a note a while ago of these which may suit you. They come in at least three sizes.

Eric Qel-Droma wrote:

As yet another newish GM switching over from 5e, I'd like to add my voice to those craving core pawns, especially for PCs. It's surprisingly hard for me to find a half-orc paladin pawn/mini out there. I'm not interested in painting.

I do wonder if there's some kind of plastic sleeve/holder that could be placed in a pawn base. Getting the PDF-printed pawns to stand up straight is quite the challenge. If I had, say, a pack of twenty-five pawn-sized plastic holders into which I could slide a paper pawn, I could print pawns, insert them into the plastic sleeve before the game, and have plenty of pawns. Not as convenient for storage, not as nice in the hand, perhaps, but it would work.

(With that said, I get the whole "if it's losing money, don't make more" concept. For me, though, VTTs aren't how I want to run my games, and my players want pawns and maps.)

I haven't tried them myself but I made a note a while ago of these which may suit you. They come in at least three sizes.

A belated thank you for the link. I’ve gone a bit crazy buying what’s left of Paizo’s pawn stock, but those look great. Verrrrry tempting!

Re: a PDF-only subscription

We hear you and thank you for your input. While we have nothing to announce at this time we do have a new leadership who might explore new ideas and opportunities. It’s an exciting time for innovation and the challenges of change at Paizo.

Adventures Ahead

I'd like to add a late "interested in PDF-only" to the list. I'm visually impaired, so print material isn't very useful to me anymore. I can zoom in on a PDF, and those whose vision is worse than mine could use a screen reader on one that's well-formatted for accessible navigation.

For Pathfinder Advantage, there must have been a minimum expected value which caused 4 to be the magic number of lines needed to qualify. For PDFs alone, it seems an equivalent threshold could be found.

As to pawns, my group uses theatre-of-the-mind, but maybe STL files would be a possibility for those who want to 3d print minis or add them to a 3D-VTT like Tabula Sono?

Hey, I think this comment by Aaron Shanks implies that pawns are coming back, just moved into the Pathfinder Accessories subscription now. https://paizo.com/products/btq03n0n/discuss?Pathfinder-Monster-Core-Pawn-Bo x#13

I don't know if there's ever been any other announcement or comment in clearer terms.

Hey, I think this comment by Aaron Shanks implies that pawns are coming back, just moved into the Pathfinder Accessories subscription now. https://paizo.com/products/btq03n0n/discuss?Pathfinder-Monster-Core-Pawn-Bo x#13

I don't know if there's ever been any other announcement or comment in clearer terms.

I think it may only be for flagship products. I don't recall where they said it, possibly on the monster core pawn product page, but they were clear and explicit that they do not intend to bring back pawns for APs in any form. The impression I got is that the thing that makes it too expensive/inefficient is not the materials or manufacturing so much as the artist time taking away from other projects which is why PDF only isn't really on the table either.

Perhaps Paizo could just produce a "core" pawn set that isn't bestiary specific? Have it include PC classes and races from PC/PC2, as well as a bunch of sheets of more generic monsters. For instance, half a dozen medium skeletons, half a dozen corporeal Medium size, some medium size incorporeal undead, half a dozen small quadrupeds (rats, for instance), half a dozen mediums quadrupeds (wolves/dogs?), a few oozes of various sizes, martial humanoids that could stand in for orcs/hobgoblins/city guard etc. Light on larges, even lighter on huges (like a single sheet for the real heavy hitters). Or possibly drop huges all together if that is required to keep the price down. Include bases -- as this will allow you to stop selling a ton of separate base SKUs -- and target half the size (and close to half the price; maybe $40?) of the monster core pawn box. As for art, I'm quite sure they already have nearly everything they would need for such a product.

In other words, stop trying to represent specific monsters, and instead produce an evergreen product that will serve as a base for newer players who can't afford/won't spring for minis and don't have an established collection to draw on. Call it the Pathfinder Core pawn set. Tactical play is so integral to Pathfinder 2E that there really needs to be a cost-effective, always-available point of entry product.