Introducing the Shades of Blood Player’s Guide

Interesting to see the comment suggesting avoiding picking aquatic ancestries because the presumed focus of water in the campaign is incorrect! That makes me more interested in this one :)

Return of S T A R G A Z E R trait

Maybe I missed it, but I'm surprised there's no mention of what to do if one of your players wants to play an undead ancestry/archetype.

Maybe I missed it, but I'm surprised there's no mention of what to do if one of your players wants to play an undead ancestry/archetype.

I’m kinda just summarizing from memory, which is unreliable, but from the stream that mentioned Shades of Blood, undead ancestries were asked about. I don’t think it’s an intentional oversight, but it sounded like it just wasn’t considered as a possibility by accident. There were some jokes about a skeleton being a research assistant and how you’d put that on an application, but nothing else. Of course, that does little for if you actually want to play one, but I don’t really have an answer on if it’s appropriate or not bc I can’t really remember a yes or no being given.

I have an answer, but it's a boring one that doesn't generally satisfy people. The answer:

Talk to your GM!

Playing in this Adventure Path as an undead character is not the assumed baseline. There's nothing specific to the set up for the adventure or the assumed entry point for new characters that suggests playing as undead. There's not an undead population in Talmandor's Bounty and it's unlikely that an undead character would be chosen to work as a research assistant, selected from the Andoren population, for an astronomer. So, with it being a corner case, it's best handled as a conversation with your GM. Maybe the undead character you want to play had someone vouch for them in the selection process or maybe it was done under the table? Maybe there is some lone undead character living in the jungles of Ancorato that makes their way to town in this time of need? These are all things that the GM will have to adapt for, so having the conversation with them will help ensure that things work best for you, the GM, and the rest of the party.

Wait, when did Augustana became Andoran's capital? Or is this an error in Player's Guide? I'm pretty sure Almas is the capital of Andoran.

Interesting to see the comment suggesting avoiding picking aquatic ancestries because the presumed focus of water in the campaign is incorrect! That makes me more interested in this one :)

I included that part because I was worried that anyone who read or played Ruins of Azlant might think that since this was in the same region that it'd be a swimmy undersea Adventure Path like that one. Now, there's nothing preventing someone playing an aquatic ancestry character, and there's a sizeable population of athamarus in town, but there's also nothing in this Adventure Path that makes playing an aquatic ancestry particularly shine.

Wait, when did Augustana became Andoran's capital? Or is this an error in Player's Guide? I'm pretty sure Almas is the capital of Andoran.

Just a brainswaptypo (too many "A" names in that nation, if you ask me.). You'll see that it's accurate in the following paragraph.

Lost Omens: Travel Guide and Blood Lords both mentioned the Arcadian Triangle as a thriving trade route, but this PG calls out the Arcadian Wake as the link Talmandor's Bounty benefits from. Is the Wake part of the Triangle, or a separate thing?

EDIT: Oh, y'know what, I bet that trade route was renamed to avoid parallels with the trade triangle of slaves and goods IRL. I like the Wake as a new name, in that case!

Is it just me or is this adventure plot somewhat similar to Second Darkness (except instead of the Drow (who aren't Pathfinder cannon anymore right?) now it's vampires correct?)?

Is it just me or is this adventure plot somewhat similar to Second Darkness (except instead of the Drow (who aren't Pathfinder cannon anymore right?) now it's vampires correct?)?

Camazotz actually first appears in Second Darkness Book 6.

I so love the Hunted by the Night background. The idea of starting a campaign that everyone at the table knows damn well will be all about vampires just to rock up with a character who will at some point go "DAMMIT I DIDN'T KNOW THERE'D BE VAMPIRES HERE TOO!"

I just tried clicking the download link to see if it'd send me to a page to buy it, but it's free! I really want to thank you and the entire team at Paizo for making such an awesome game available to us all regardless of our financial situation and I'm looking forward to the day where I can buy a full collection of all the 2e books!

I just tried clicking the download link to see if it'd send me to a page to buy it, but it's free! I really want to thank you and the entire team at Paizo for making such an awesome game available to us all regardless of our financial situation and I'm looking forward to the day where I can buy a full collection of all the 2e books!

The Player's Guides to APs are always free PDFs! The APs themselves, not so much, but hey, they need to pay their employees somehow

Good to have some free Shades of Blood player's guidin' stuff out there for PF2e+, Paizo. :)