Embrace the Unnatural: Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands

Monday, October 24, 2022

A war between two undying wizards once raged here for over a thousand years. Though peace has since reigned for millennia, the ghosts of wartime atrocities still haunt every corner of the lands they touched. People go about their day-to-day lives in a land that defies logic, praying the specters of history won’t rise again to plunge them back into chaos and carnage.

Explore a world where cities are built on foundations of genies and wishes, where undead legions clash against titanic war engines forged from flesh. Travel a region where magic still writhes and roils from the wounds inflicted upon it—from the cavern depths where all spells lie dead to the scarred desert where the slightest arcane spark can erupt into a maelstrom. Can your heroes make their mark on a land ruled by the cruel egos of so many others, in the heart of the Impossible Lands?


Pathfinder Second Edition: Impossible Lands


Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands reveals new secrets and game rules connected to one of the most intriguing and in-demand regions of Golarion. It includes five new player character ancestries and works in concert with Pathfinder Book of the Dead and Pathfinder Guns & Gears, the recent Pathfinder Second Edition rules expansions. It’s also the region in which the Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path and Blood Lords Adventure Path are set. This is Pathfinder’s third regional setting hardcover expansion, after The Mwangi Expanse and Absalom, City of Lost Omens.

To better imagine the Impossible, discover the following excerpt from the Introduction.

There’s a land where the dead toil in the fields, where a mortal can walk alongside bleached-bone skeletons and pale and hungry ghouls, where the quick and the dead live under one roof. It’s a land where a goddess once ruled, a ghost now reigns, and blood is currency. It’s a land where forever has a different meaning entirely, and eternity is a matter of law and not luck. Impossible? Not in Geb.

There’s a land where wizards build things of steel and sinew and spell, where great colossi of otherworldly metals guard the gates to a city of wonder, where monsters walk and talk and trade on the streets. It’s a land of piercing spires and spiraling stairways, skewering the heavens and shattering reality. It’s a land where things live that shouldn’t live, lakes and weapons and stranger things besides. Impossible? Not in Nex.

There’s a land where one can learn to speak with the moon and the stars; where flame and iron, wind and wave are courses of study for the devout and the dedicated. It’s a place where genies dwell and wishes become wonders; where the elements are matters of heritage and experience, not merely philosophy. It’s a land of curses and cycles, where all things come round once more. Impossible? Not in Jalmeray.

There’s a broken land where magic runs wild and rampant, or else dead and stagnant. It’s a land where the souls of armies still shamble in misery, and where storms of broken glass and poisonous fog arise without warning. It’s a land where there’s life without wizards, and also a land where wizards broke the world in their wars. It’s a land where, on a clear night, you can see through the great spell-storms and look across a hundred worlds. Impossible? Not in the Mana Wastes.

There’s a city where artisans make weapons that can kill gods and demons. It’s a city in the shadow of an ancient fortress, but it’s a place of new things and new ideas, where new people make new wonders and new horrors. It’s a city of guns and cannons, from little pistols to great, belching bombards, as powerful as any archmage. Impossible? Not in Alkenstar.

The Impossible Lands aren’t. But they might seem so to outsiders.

New People of the Impossible Lands

“Residents sometimes boast that the Impossible Lands have more strange and diverse peoples living there than anywhere else in the world, and there’s certainly a grain of truth to this claim.”


Artist: Sophie Medvedeva - A green and blue plant-like humanoid wearing a green and purple dress with gold accents

Artist: Sophie Medvedeva


GHORAN (RARE)
These intelligent plant people, created by a long-dead druid, possess a sort of immortality through their seeds—unless these are destroyed by external events beyond the mere ravages of time.


Artist: Vladislav Orlowski - A short grey humanoid with rhino-like facial features, red tattoos, and a red crystalline horn

Artist: Vladislav Orlowski


KASHRISHI (RARE)
Kashrishi make their homes in remote areas of the world. These quiet beings have stout, durable frames and distinctive crystalline horns. Their inherent psychic abilities make them natural empaths, but also occasionally burden them with the unceasing thoughts of their neighbors.


Artist: Sophie Medvedeva - a humanoid figure with a serpentine head, wearing dark robes with a florally decorated sash

Artist: Sophie Medvedeva


NAGAJI (UNCOMMON)

With humanoid figures and serpentine heads, nagaji are heralds, companions, and servitors of powerful nagas. They hold a deep reverence for holy areas and spiritual truths, an aspect many others find as intimidating as a nagaji’s appearance.


Artist: Mary Jane Pajaron - A monkey-like humanoid with short fur, a long tail, and dressed in a long red robe and turban with gold accents

Artist: Mary Jane Pajaron


VANARA (UNCOMMON)
Vanaras are inquisitive and mischievous monkey-like humanoids with short, soft fur, expressive eyes, and long, prehensile tails. A varied and thoughtful folk, their divine heritage inspires them to seek a balance between mischief and virtue.


Artist: Maichol Quinto - a, ophidian humanoid, with dark skin, dressed in red and purple robes, with jeweled gold accents and hairpiece.

Artist: Maichol Quinto


VISHKANYA (RARE)
Vishkanyas are ophidian humanoids who carry potent venom within their blood and saliva. Largely misunderstood due to old tales of their toxicity and natural finesse, vishkanyas work to grow into more than just what stories paint them to be.


Possible Adventures

Find your path to 20 levels of adventure in the Impossible Lands in the Blood Lords Adventure Path. The undead nation of Geb gains most of its trade from the export of food grown on zombie-worked farms, but one farm has been the site of a series of strange occurrences. The Blood Lords Adventure Path is a six-part, monthly campaign in which the characters rise from skilled troubleshooters to join the Blood Lords who rule a land of the dead.

The Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path offers Western, steampunk-inspired Pathfinder play. A ragtag band of gunslinging outlaws get their hands dirty in the greasy alleyways and whisky-soaked saloons of Alkenstar, the City of Smog. To get revenge on the mogul who destroyed them, the renegades will have to stick up an illicit bank, foil a crooked shieldmarshal, and escort a reclusive inventor to safety.


Pathfinder Second Edition Lost Omens Impossible Lands Special Edition


Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands also gets an all-new, gorgeous collectible edition. This deluxe special edition is bound in faux leather with metallic deboss cover elements and a bound-in ribbon bookmark.

Details

PZO9314: Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands
Price: $59.99
Writers: Mariam Ahmad, Saif Ansari, Alexandria Bustion, Basheer Ghouse, Michelle Jones, TJ Kahn, Matt Morris, Dave Nelson, Shiv Ramdas, Mikhail Rekun, Michael Sayre, Tan Shao Han, Ruvaid Virk, Jabari Weathers, and Brian Yaksha.
Size: 8.5 x 11
Page Count: 344
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 2022
PZO9314-SE: Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands (Special Edition)
Price: $79.99


Brave the Impossible Lands today!

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Tags: Pathfinder Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition

10 people marked this as a favorite.

This book is literally chef's kiss top to bottom. Just when you think the Lost Omens team can't outdo themselves, they do it again

I knew so little about the impossible lands before this book and now I can't wait to run a whole game there.


13 people marked this as a favorite.

Incredibly excited for this one. Paizo walking the walk about diversity with two Garund-based setting books in 2e, full of killer lore and great art, is just such a mind-blowing treat. In my feverish dreams, a Golden Road update rounds out the trio… but that sentiment can wait!

The Nagaji and Vishkanya look gorgeous! I imagine I’ll roll a lot of both up.

Verdant Wheel

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Ghorans are back! Love the new art, and I look forward to exploring the region. :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Ridiculously excited about this and all the new art of the ancestries looks fantastic!
The Lost Omens team have been on fire and I don't expect this to be any different :D

Wayfinders Contributor

5 people marked this as a favorite.

Excited to see both Ghorans and Vanara again. Also, new lore is exciting!


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Ah this looks incredible. We are so excited ^^


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Sign me up for kashrishi, nagaji, and vanara! Lots of ideas for characters

Director of Marketing

11 people marked this as a favorite.

I confess, this blog only scratches the surface.

Grand Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I LOVE that the vanara's art doesn't have the cliché "monkey king" look. :3
Heck, the art as a whole looks really swell.

Silver Crusade

6 people marked this as a favorite.

Oh [expletive] THAT NAGAJI OVERHAUL!!!!


5 people marked this as a favorite.
keftiu wrote:

Incredibly excited for this one. Paizo walking the walk about diversity with two Garund-based setting books in 2e, full of killer lore and great art, is just such a mind-blowing treat. In my feverish dreams, a Golden Road update rounds out the trio… but that sentiment can wait!

The Nagaji and Vishkanya look gorgeous! I imagine I’ll roll a lot of both up.

Or…instead of North we-we could like go South maybe?

To Holomog and….DROON!


7 people marked this as a favorite.
VerBeeker wrote:
keftiu wrote:

Incredibly excited for this one. Paizo walking the walk about diversity with two Garund-based setting books in 2e, full of killer lore and great art, is just such a mind-blowing treat. In my feverish dreams, a Golden Road update rounds out the trio… but that sentiment can wait!

The Nagaji and Vishkanya look gorgeous! I imagine I’ll roll a lot of both up.

Or…instead of North we-we could like go South maybe?

To Holomog and….DROON!

I'm all for seeing Southern Garund, but if it was a choice between that or polishing up a lot of problematic old canon for the single remaining Garundi meta-region in the core setting, I'm taking the latter.

My preference for leaving the Inner Sea behind is Arcadia, but I'm not opposed to visiting Droon, Eihlona and all the rest someday.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

This is my favorite group of ancestries in quite some time. I also didn't expect the kashrishi to be so short, I kinda love that.


8 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I'm super excited to see a lot of writers who I don't recognize and a few I do. Cant wait to see this book! Also, the nagaji looking distinctly snakey really helps seperate them from Iruxi and gives them such a strong identity. So excited to see more.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
keftiu wrote:
I'm all for seeing Southern Garund, but if it was a choice between that or polishing up a lot of problematic old canon for the single remaining Garundi meta-region in the core setting, I'm taking the latter.

What was the problematic old canon?


9 people marked this as a favorite.
Ravingdork wrote:
keftiu wrote:
I'm all for seeing Southern Garund, but if it was a choice between that or polishing up a lot of problematic old canon for the single remaining Garundi meta-region in the core setting, I'm taking the latter.
What was the problematic old canon?

This thread has my long-form thoughts and is probably a better venue for this topic, but in brief: much of the Golden Road's sources are from the edgy days of early 1e, with a fixation on slavery and not much care given to how it reproduces Orientalist tropes uncritically. Between that and much of the region being kind of one-note in what we have so far (Atheism Land, Alchemy Land, Ancient Egypt Land, etc), it's desperate for a more intentional retouch with a lot of MENA talent, akin to what the Mwangi book had.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Really excited for the jalmeri heavenseeker archetype Reprint that is supposed to be in there. Love the archetype but it has problems, lol.

The nagaji also look amazing, I love the Art.

Very excited for this book.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like

But yeah, I think I overall prefer Nagaji actually looking like snakes (it was bit annoying how 1e art said nagaji don't have eyelids, but first art of them clearly looked like it did). On otherhand them not looking like snakes did give them unique appearance for ophidian people(and kinda fitting with how weird naga are), but them looking like snakes is just cooler

Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Love the look of the kahsrishi, can't wait to learn more about them!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

How would we differentiate between Nagaji and Serpentfolk? Is it going to be cultural or also physiological?


5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
keftiu wrote:
...it's desperate for a more intentional retouch with a lot of MENA talent, akin to what the Mwangi book had.

That'd be great. I would love to keep the high-quality-of-the-Mwangi-Expanse-ball rolling.

Thanks for the clarification.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:
I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like

Dude... You can't just say stuff like this online. XD

More seriously: Everything here looks incredible. Can't wait to read up on my new stout rhino friends.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

It's interesting that the nagaji seem to be leaning more towards a look that makes them more closely resemble the serpentfolk in appearance! If it turns out that the serpentfolk and nagaji are essentially the same people who went down different spiritual paths it wouldn't surprise me...I don't know if that's the direction Paizo is going in, obviously, but I think it might be a cool idea at least...

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

In P1 Nagaji were originally human servants of Nagas that went through an apotheosis.


Who is the sphinx on the cover?


CorvusMask wrote:

I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like

But yeah, I think I overall prefer Nagaji actually looking like snakes (it was bit annoying how 1e art said nagaji don't have eyelids, but first art of them clearly looked like it did). On otherhand them not looking like snakes did give them unique appearance for ophidian people(and kinda fitting with how weird naga are), but them looking like snakes is just cooler

For what it's worth, it looks like we now have Vishkanya for "ophidian people who don't look like snakes"


SkyGremlin9255 wrote:
Who is the sphinx on the cover?

Large winged one? Four dark skinned, winged, guards are hard to identify.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I just wanna play a clearly-snakey snake person 'v'


5 new ancestries? Awesome.

Director of Marketing

7 people marked this as a favorite.

Cover art by Ekaterina Gordeeva.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Coordinator

5 people marked this as a favorite.

If you want a sneak peek of the Impossible Lands, this month's Pathfinder Society release, PFS #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was, takes you to Quantium! The capital of Nex, this city is flowing with magical potential. You'll get to ride a magic carpet, visit some of Quantium's most famous landmarks, and maybe even meet a golem!

The adventure is for 1st- through 4th-level characters, so you can jump right in and experience the city without any prior PFS experience!

Paizo Employee Marketing and Licensing Coordinator

10 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:

I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like

But yeah, I think I overall prefer Nagaji actually looking like snakes (it was bit annoying how 1e art said nagaji don't have eyelids, but first art of them clearly looked like it did). On otherhand them not looking like snakes did give them unique appearance for ophidian people(and kinda fitting with how weird naga are), but them looking like snakes is just cooler

Alfa/Polaris wrote:
I just wanna play a clearly-snakey snake person 'v'

I was only allowed to pick one picture, so I went with most-interesting (to me, personally), but stay tuned! The Nagaji are extremely varied! :D

Director of Marketing

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
It's interesting that the nagaji seem to be leaning more towards a look that makes them more closely resemble the serpentfolk in appearance! If it turns out that the serpentfolk and nagaji are essentially the same people who went down different spiritual paths it wouldn't surprise me...I don't know if that's the direction Paizo is going in, obviously, but I think it might be a cool idea at least...

We picked 1 piece of art for each ancestry. There are heritage variations.

Wayfinders

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Aaron Shanks wrote:
Cover art by Ekaterina Gordeeva.

The full-width version featured in the tweet for this blog post looks gorgeous - any chance of a slightly higher-res version being made available at some point? It would make a great wallpaper...

Radiant Oath

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Rysky wrote:
In P1 Nagaji were originally human servants of Nagas that went through an apotheosis.
Aaron Shanks wrote:
We picked 1 piece of art for each ancestry. There are heritage variations.

Correct, and obviously yes.

It's just that many people on these forums have wanted serpentfolk to become a playable ancestry for years now, and part of me is concerned that with nagaji such as this it obviates the possibility of that occurring, which those prospective serpentfolk players may find disappointing.

You know, like a "Paizo, may we please have playable serpentfolk?" "We have playable serpentfolk at home" kind of situation?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Rysky wrote:
In P1 Nagaji were originally human servants of Nagas that went through an apotheosis.
Aaron Shanks wrote:
We picked 1 piece of art for each ancestry. There are heritage variations.

Correct, and obviously yes.

It's just that many people on these forums have wanted serpentfolk to become a playable ancestry for years now, and part of me is concerned that with nagaji such as this it obviates the possibility of that occurring, which those prospective serpentfolk players may find disappointing.

You know, like a "Paizo, may we please have playable serpentfolk?" "We have playable serpentfolk at home" kind of situation?

Well, a lot of people were interested in serpentfolk because they had a cool design much more snake-like than PF1 nagaji. If nagaji also have a cool design much more snake-like than PF1 nagaji, then it might not be too many disappointed folks.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I hope you're right. I wasn't really too invested in that myself, but I'd hate to see the people who were be sad.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Saedar wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like
Dude... You can't just say stuff like this online. XD

? I was wondering about these since this nagaji clearly doesn't have some sort of lizard talons. (sidenote, discovered answer to sekmin question by checking nethys art: most of them are covered by robes, but one of aopophs clearly has iruxi like talons, but other aapoph has weirdly human like toes just scaly)

Sanityfaerie wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:

I'm now wondering, what does nagaji/sekmin toes look like

But yeah, I think I overall prefer Nagaji actually looking like snakes (it was bit annoying how 1e art said nagaji don't have eyelids, but first art of them clearly looked like it did). On otherhand them not looking like snakes did give them unique appearance for ophidian people(and kinda fitting with how weird naga are), but them looking like snakes is just cooler

For what it's worth, it looks like we now have Vishkanya for "ophidian people who don't look like snakes"

Honestly though, in my case its this weird realization is that I always would have preferred nagaji to look more snake like, but I got used to them looking kinda like turians that I kinda got attached to it and didn't realize it until now :D

Director of Marketing

3 people marked this as a favorite.
RiverMesa wrote:
Aaron Shanks wrote:
Cover art by Ekaterina Gordeeva.
The full-width version featured in the tweet for this blog post looks gorgeous - any chance of a slightly higher-res version being made available at some point? It would make a great wallpaper...

Working on it. A series of "The art of..." blogs would be good for the holiday season when we want to give you gifts of gratitude, remind you to buy what you might have missed, and let us take some time off. :)


6 people marked this as a favorite.
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

It's just that many people on these forums have wanted serpentfolk to become a playable ancestry for years now, and part of me is concerned that with nagaji such as this it obviates the possibility of that occurring, which those prospective serpentfolk players may find disappointing.

You know, like a "Paizo, may we please have playable serpentfolk?" "We have playable serpentfolk at home" kind of situation?

Leshies didn’t stop Ghorans from coming, and Androids didn’t rule out the addition of Automatons and Poppets, so I’m honestly not too worried about this particular bit. The horned viper Nagaji in this blog post looks very Sekmin, but their Bestiary entry art and the cobra-like Nagaji art previewed for this book previously both look very distinct.

Other than both being snake-y, the two are super different: Nagaji enjoy an entire surface nation and are pretty accepted by the other peoples around them in other lands, while Sekmin are a broken and feared people, largely driven into their own Darklands ruins. The archetypal Nagaji is probably something like a Champion of Nalinvati, strong and true, while the archetypal Sekmin is probably a bitter, reclusive Psychic.

I’m not worried.


I saw somewhere on Reddit, (and I'm too lazy to look...), that showed the attributes of these new ancestries. Does anyone have it on hand?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
LordeAlvenaharr wrote:
I saw somewhere on Reddit, (and I'm too lazy to look...), that showed the attributes of these new ancestries. Does anyone have it on hand?

It was on the product page here, originally.

All five of them are +one stat +Free, with no Flaw; Ghorans and Kashrishis get Con, Nagaji get Str, and Vanaras and Vishkanyas are both Dex.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
keftiu wrote:
LordeAlvenaharr wrote:
I saw somewhere on Reddit, (and I'm too lazy to look...), that showed the attributes of these new ancestries. Does anyone have it on hand?

It was on the product page here, originally.

All five of them are +one stat +Free, with no Flaw; Ghorans and Kashrishis get Con, Nagaji get Str, and Vanaras and Vishkanyas are both Dex.

Thanks!


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

We had been hoping for a charisma boost for Ghorans but the Con one feels appropriate.


9 people marked this as a favorite.
pixierose wrote:
We had been hoping for a charisma boost for Ghorans but the Con one feels appropriate.

It makes them good Kineticists, which is a fun bit of potential flavor. Wood is the obvious element, but a Ghoran brave enough to wield Fire could be a blast.

Grand Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
keftiu wrote:
pixierose wrote:
We had been hoping for a charisma boost for Ghorans but the Con one feels appropriate.
It makes them good Kineticists, which is a fun bit of potential flavor. Wood is the obvious element, but a Ghoran brave enough to wield Fire could be a blast.

They just need to be prudent and not burn out. :O


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
keftiu wrote:
pixierose wrote:
We had been hoping for a charisma boost for Ghorans but the Con one feels appropriate.
It makes them good Kineticists, which is a fun bit of potential flavor. Wood is the obvious element, but a Ghoran brave enough to wield Fire could be a blast.

Oh yeah we're totally gonna play a Ghoran Kinetecist at some-point. Maybe in kingmaker at some point.(Would have to explain how they got to the river kingdoms. A traveler searching for a place to settle down maybe. Maybe with a desire/goal to set up a place where all sentient plants could be comfortable.)

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

That is a handsome cover. Really breathtaking!

Really looking forwards to nagaji - the horned desert viper is a very cool look!


love the cover

Wayfinders Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Alex Speidel wrote:

If you want a sneak peek of the Impossible Lands, this month's Pathfinder Society release, PFS #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was, takes you to Quantium! The capital of Nex, this city is flowing with magical potential. You'll get to ride a magic carpet, visit some of Quantium's most famous landmarks, and maybe even meet a golem!

The adventure is for 1st- through 4th-level characters, so you can jump right in and experience the city without any prior PFS experience!

Oh, that sounds wonderful!

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