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Pathfinder Battles Preview: Of Sins and Saviors

Friday, May 18, 2012

There's something really cool about the fifth volume of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, Stephen S. Greer's “Sins of the Saviors.” After venturing through volumes loosely themed around goblins, ghouls, ogres, and giants, this fifth installment kicks the campaign backstory into high gear, with the player characters exploring a vast dungeon known as the Runeforge, a relic from the era of the ancient Runelords themselves.

In fact, during their adventure in the Runeforge, the PCs even get a chance to meet with survivors from that distant era, making this adventure an important pivot point for the campaign, essentially shifting things into the endgame to come in the final sixth volume.

What that means in a practical sense, especially because the PCs are now 12th level themselves, is that they finally get to face off against some pretty kick-ass bad guys who pack a powerful punch. In this week's blog, I'd like to reveal two of those bad guys. While they don't quite qualify as the Big Bads of the adventure (we'll get to them next week), these guys play key roles in important encounters, and are sure to be remembered by your players for a long time to come.

Coincidentally, both also make excellent player character miniatures themselves!

First up is the Warrior of Wrath, the result of centuries of genetic breeding and intense training in the Halls of Wrath, one of the most challenging of the seven sinful sub-dungeons of the Runeforge. These angry eldritch knights are the last of their long line, so it's a good thing the player characters show up to give them a target upon which to vent their rage and aggression! Because you'll need at least 6 Warriors of Wrath to pull off their encounter, we've slotted this figure in the common rarity.

Wrath isn't the only sin to get a sub-dungeon in the Runeforge. In the Shimmering Veils, pride is the sin that rules that day, and perhaps none in all of Golarion are so prideful as the illusionist Vraxeris, once among the most trusted servitors of Xanderghul, Runelords of Pride. Through cunning and the mastery of cloning techniques, Vraxeris has managed to survive in the thousands of years since the fall of the Runelords' ancient empire. Now, his mad simulacra wander the halls of the Shimmering Veils, eager to defeat intruders and certain that they have what it takes to keep their weird dungeon free from interlopers. Vraxeris is slated at the uncommon rarity.

We're nearing the end of the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set (though a few super-awesome figures still remain to be revealed!), so I'm slowing things down a bit here in the blog, and plan to show only two figures a week from here forward. My head is already in the NEXT set, about half of which will be showing up at the Paizo offices later this afternoon for final sculpt approval.

The actual final production figures for Rise of the Runelords have started rolling into my office, and I'm pleased to report that the figures match the paint masters with amazing fidelity. Looking at these little pictures on the blog and holding the actual minis in-hand simply don't compare. I can say with honesty that I think the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set will be the best and most consistently awesome set of prepainted plastic miniatures released yet for hobby gaming.

Until we put out the next set, that is!

See you next Friday,

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Liberty's Edge

Fantastic

I am so looking forward to my 3 subscription cases arriving!!!!!!
Dark Archive Contributor
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Curse your transparent and successful attempt to claw back my freelance money.

Now that the production figures are starting to show up, any possibility of getting that Karzoug Statue size comparison pic?
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
MythicFox wrote:
Now that the production figures are starting to show up, any possibility of getting that Karzoug Statue size comparison pic?

That's a great idea. There are also some minis that have improved noticeably since they were shown in the blogs, so I expect we'll revisit some already-announced minis with new photos... but probably *after* we finish debuting the remaining figures.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

What Vic said.
Grand Lodge

Simply awesome!

My group is beginning Book 5 next weekend. I dont suppose you guys would send me a couple figs to use early to use in the game? I promise to take pictures and send them to you. :P
Sczarni

Warrior of Wrath - Yawn I have hundreds of minis that fit that role, at least it is general enough to be used as a mook somewhere. Would have been better as a rare, I would want 0-1 of these, and the 1 only because I'm a completest.

Vraxeris - dressed differently than most other humanoid minis, this is useful for a wider variety of sources. Shadowy enough to be gang member in osirion or ketapesh I'd take more than 5 of these

Wow, I get to see 2 more awesome minis, *AND* I learn the plural form of simulacrum!!! Best. Blog. EVAR.

The figures look great and I'm still amazed you can offer figures with so many paint steps at such low prices. I'm also happy to have more unique pc/npc figures -- especially ones that can be used in a non-Runelords campaign.

The set is coming together nicely:
www.pathfinderminis.com

The Warrior of Wrath looks like a Wayne Reynolds drawing; I mean that in the best way. It's very dynamic. Vraxeris is also cool; he'll do nicely as a pc/npc caster or rogue.

Regards,

V
Vic Wertz wrote:
MythicFox wrote:
Now that the production figures are starting to show up, any possibility of getting that Karzoug Statue size comparison pic?
That's a great idea. There are also some minis that have improved noticeably since they were shown in the blogs, so I expect we'll revisit some already-announced minis with new photos... but probably *after* we finish debuting the remaining figures.

I'm cool with waiting on the size comparison, but could we get it as a panoramic shot showing say a sinspawn, Karzoug Himself, The Karzoug Statue, and the Rune Giant, just so we can get a real feel for the scale of them?

Both are solid looking, whether for the AP or as PCs/NPCs. Nice!
Grand Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Yawn I have hundreds of minis that fit that role,

I don't, so I'm glad to see this get made, especially at the common rarity.

-Skeld

I agree with Skeld's sentiment. My gaming group is just getting our mini collection started, so we are very short on PC minis.

Our group has a halfling fighter, so we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a halfling mini. Any halfling mini. He is currently being represented by the Gnome fighter.

-Aaron

To a certain degree it is always better to err on the side of over-supply. If Paizo only ever puts out minis that have never been done before, there will be more dissatisfied people than if they allow overlap.

I'm finding these wonderful, despite having lots of DMMs.
Sczarni
Anguish wrote:

To a certain degree it is always better to err on the side of over-supply. If Paizo only ever puts out minis that have never been done before, there will be more dissatisfied people than if they allow overlap.

I'm finding these wonderful, despite having lots of DMMs.

I think it's just because of my perferred play style (even if finding actual games in that style can be hard)

A lot of my issue with it is the same with my issues with Golarion. I love it, but it is too human centric for my tastes. If I wanted to fight humans, I'd play a modern game. The most memorable games for me are in settings where humans are extinct.

I think this is because of the amount of modernization many people put into their human characters, while they get much more into 'how would this race think?' when roleplaying other races.
Grand Lodge

The Warrior of Wrath in multiples will make for a nice encounter. I agree that Vraxeris would make a good Rogue or MU, beyond the AP. I counted at lease eight paints steps for this Uncommon piece. That is just awesome. If the production piece is in line with the review, that will be a nice mini to have.

Looking forward to the next review.

Later,

Mazra
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Mazra wrote:
I counted at lease eight paints steps for this Uncommon piece. That is just awesome.

I think you might be confusing "paint steps" with "colors." Not everything that's the same color is done in a single step; I suspect that Vraxeris' actual number of paint steps is in the low dozens.

How come some minis have their feet pads counter sunk into the base while others have them glued on top? The flush base style seems so much better.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

There aren't actually any that are countersunk. The particular sample of the Harsk mini we photographed *looks* like that, but it turns out that's just paint. We do have WizKids looking into that possibility for future sets, though.
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