Enter the Jungle of Despair!

Monday, January 22, 2018

Greetings, Pathfinders!

It's been a while since the last Pathfinder Battles preview blog, in part because the blog, like the proverbial torch, has passed to a new patron: Me! As Paizo's Franchise Manager, I work closely with all of our licensors to ensure that their products are the highest quality and accurately reflect both the Pathfinder and Starfinder brands. This includes, of course, the Pathfinder Battles line of pre-painted plastic miniatures from our longtime partner, WizKids!

And what better debut blog content than the announcement of a new set?

In May, WizKids and Paizo will be releasing the fourteenth (!) full set in the line: Pathfinder Battles: Jungle of Despair. This set features 44 randomized figures, plus six new pieces of set dressing, all themed around jungle exploration, ancient ruins, and (mostly) natural threats. As with past sets, those fans who purchase a full case of Jungle of Despair will be eligible to purchase a Huge case-incentive figure, and man is this one fun!

Hydras are a classic jungle threat, dating back to ancient Greek mythology, and we're happy to introduce the legendary beast to Pathfinder Battles with this incredible figure. While it's impressive on its own, what really makes this sculpt exciting are its interchangeable heads. That's right. When your neophyte adventurers chop one of the beast's five heads off without proper application of fire to the writhing stub, you can simply replace the single head with two, representing in exquisite plastic detail the growing threat facing the poor player characters. Check out both the 5- and 10-headed versions of the Hydra!

The hydra isn't the only serpentine threat found in Jungle of Despair, either! The featured villains in this set are none other than the sinister, ancient serpentfolk, who ruled the world for thousands of years before the advent of pesky, warm-blooded humanity. The Serpentfolk Cleric, below, is just one of the new serpentfolk figures in the set (stay tuned for previews of the rest in the coming weeks). The Serpentfolk Cleric is a Medium uncommon figure.

Not all serpentine threats in the set are members of the psychic ophidian race, however. Some, like the Hollow Serpent, are undead monstrosities the serpentfolk create to defeat their foes. Animated from the sloughed-off skin of a giant snake, the Hollow Serpent is a perfect high-level threat for any serpentfolk-based campaign (including the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path). The Hollow Serpent is a Large Rare figure.

The jungle also serves as home to countless natural inhabitants, including innocent animals and vermin just trying to get by in a harsh, unforgiving world. Take this Giant Leech, for example. It doesn't mean you any harm, really. It's just hungry. Why'd you have to go swimming through that murky water in the first place? You had it coming, honestly. The Giant Leech is a Medium Common figure, meaning you're likely to get a few of them in your collection, and you can fit eight of them around the typical player character for some bloodsucking fun.

Finally, we have the mischievous Tanuki—raccoon-like monstrous humanoids inspired by Japanese mythology and common in the temperate forests of Tian Xia. While they often appear in disguise as other creatures (especially when infiltrating sake-filled festivities in human civilizations), this figure represents the creature as it's most likely to appear in combat against the player characters. The Tanuki is just one of several protectors of the natural world found in Jungle of Despair, but certainly the cutest! The Tanuki is a Medium Uncommon figure.

That's it for this week's preview! Fans with max ranks in Perception may note that WizKids previewed all of these figures last fall when they announced the set, but have no fear! Next week it's all new reveals — When Plants Attack!

Pathfinder Battles: Jungle of Despair releases in May 2018 and can be preordered now!

Until next week,

Mark Moreland
Franchise Manager

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Jungle of Despair Jungle of Despair Licensed Products Pathfinder Battles

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I LOVE the hydra with its swap out heads! Great idea!


The hydra makes waiting for a huge water and earth elemntal tolerable for another set. What a great piece. And hooray for more serpentfolk. I like the giant leech, but with those teeth it’s more like a giant lamprey.


Oh, and welcome to our new Pathfinder Battles blogger, Mark. Any and all previews are welcome diversions from otherwise monotonous weekdays!

Dark Archive

Welcome and gratulations to being the new franchise manager, Mark! :-)

It´s great to finally have someone again doing the previews who knows what he´s talking about!

The Serpentfolk Cleric is the only image i havn´t seen yet, but it´s great of you to say that there are more in this set, so we know one can build a war-band of this very dangerous evil race.
Although the Legends of Golarion set already had two Serpentfolk (and the Degenerate), more are very welcome.
I believe, the art is from the Monster Codex, which also has the
-"Serpentfolk Bone Prophet"
-"Serpentfolk Illusionist"
-"Serpentfolk Spell Blade"
-Serpentfolk Spy"

I guess we´ll get three of these as well. ;-)

One more mini i know of being in the set is the

:
Pixie

If i had to speculate which other minis COULD be in this set:

Bestiary:
-Ant, Giant
-Assassin Vine (L)
-Ape, Dire (L)
-Boar
-Couatl (L)
-Dinosaur,Pteranodon (L)
-Familiar, Lizard, Monkey, Toad OR Viper (s)
-Girallon (L)
-Mantis, Giant (L)
-Shambling Mound (L)
-Shocker Lizard (s)
-Tiger, Dire (L)
-Vegepygmy (s)
-Yellow Musk Creeper

Bestiary 2:
-Aranea
-Dinosaur, Compsognathus (s)
-Grippli (s)
-Krenshar
-Lycantrophe, Weretiger
-Mandragora (s)
-Mosquito, Giant
-Xtabay (s)

I´m looking forward to more plants next monday!

Grand Lodge

Dangit, I just wrapped up our Serpent's Skull AP, too!!!


Aw man, I just got out of the swamp of ennui and now this?!

Grand Lodge

Welcome to the minis blog, Yoda!

These look pretty awesome. I really want that hydra.

Silver Crusade Contributor

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Glad to have you on the minis blogs!

I love hydras, so I'm very excited for this. ^_^


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We are getting Tanuki before we get any Wayangs?

Come on Paizo, help us play our playable characters. Please.


Oh, I am so loving this set, more and more the more you tease it. Ssssserpentsss! Yes! I may not be able to spring for a subscription or a whole case, but am awfully tempted to go halvies...plus the incentive! I'm playing through Tomb of Annihilation in 5th Edtion, and have quite a few jungle-appropriate minis myself that I'm lending to the DM... But more will always be welcome, especially as I gear up to run the Shackled City - with extensive additions - this summer. I'd thought about dipping into Serpent's Skull as well for more dimensions, but don't have any personal experience with it, as player or reader. Was that the main inspiration for this set? Or is it useful for/in Ruins of Azlant as well?

Paizo Employee CEO

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One thing Mark forgot to mention in the blog is that the hydra also has charred stumps that you can swap out for the heads if your adventurers are prepared and have that torch to cauterize the wound.

-Lisa


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

AWESOME!

Primitive-garbed *pre-painted* VESK for Starfinder!

...the hydra seems cool, too, but terrified I'd break it somehow...

Silver Crusade Contributor

Lisa Stevens wrote:

One thing Mark forgot to mention in the blog is that the hydra also has charred stumps that you can swap out for the heads if your adventurers are prepared and have that torch to cauterize the wound.

-Lisa

This sounds amazing! ^_^

Paizo Employee Franchise Manager

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Lisa Stevens wrote:

One thing Mark forgot to mention in the blog is that the hydra also has charred stumps that you can swap out for the heads if your adventurers are prepared and have that torch to cauterize the wound.

-Lisa

I thought I'd included that image in this blog as well, but I guess I didn't. But, now I can show it off as a future bonus preview... which was the plan all along! Yeah, that's it!


If you reveal your Master Plan before you action it, then people will know your Master Plan.

How can you complete your Master Plan if everyone knows it and is prepared for it?

And... then we won't get the chance to hear the soliloquy.

Paizo Employee Franchise Manager

wackyanne wrote:
I'd thought about dipping into Serpent's Skull as well for more dimensions, but don't have any personal experience with it, as player or reader. Was that the main inspiration for this set? Or is it useful for/in Ruins of Azlant as well?

Serpent's Skull wasn't the exclusive inspiration, or we'd have called the set something more closely tied to the AP (either straight up "Serpent's Skull" or a name more along the lines of the recent "Crown of Fangs", which was one chapter in the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP).

We noted that we had covered a lot of adventure tropes in past sets, from dungeon exploration in Dungeons Deep to urban themes in The Rusty Dragon Inn, but had yet to do a lot with jungle creatures except in the Legends of Golarion set. So we looked at Serpent's Skull, Heart of the Jungle, and other material set in the Mwangi Expanse or similar environments for inspiration, without focusing on just one.

In the end, people running Serpent's Skull will find a lot of the minis in this set useful, but not to the extent that folks running other jungle adventures will have a ton of specific NPCs or monsters they can't use themselves.

As for Ruins of Azlant, that takes place in a more subtropical climate, so it doesn't have a ton of jungle monsters in it.


Welcome Mark! And don't be shy, join the crusade to bring us PPMs featuring long lasting battle spells like Walls of Something (modular perhaps?), Guy's Hands, Great Magic Weapon Cutting Things and the like, the ancients will be pleased.

Ehi, one can hope...


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Every time I see one of theses blogs I get hopeful that one of the reveals will be a card game character. Alas, not this time.

I'm really hoping you find a way to convince WizKids include some non-iconic Card Game Characters in some part of the Pathfinder Battles line. I snatched up Radillo, Meliski, and Ranzak in the Rusty Dragon Inn. I'd do the same to any box set or singles that contained card game characters.

Dark Archive

Here is a list of creatures which appear in the "Serpents skull" AP, but havn´t been done as Pathfinder Battles minis before:

BOOK 1:

-Ochre Eurypterid (small crab-like aquatic vermin)
-Bluetip Eurypterid (large crab-like aquatic vermin)
-Yellow Musk Creeper
-Yellow Musk Zombie
-Lacedon (aquatic ghoul)
-Vegepygmie (small plant)
-Vegepygmie Boss (fighter)
-Dryad (green palm tree-like hair)
-Thrunefang cannibal (human barbarian)
-Monkey Familiar (small animal)
-Monitor Lizard
-Giant winged chupacabra (medium)
-Water Mephit (small)
-Degenerate Serpentfolk Skeleton
-Soulbound Doll (tiny/small)
-Ningyo (small aquatic monstrous humanoid)
-Dimorphodon (medium flying pterosaur-like animal)
-Giant Sea Urchin (large aquatic vermin)

Most likely are imo:
-Yellow Musk Creeper
-Vegepygmie
-Monkey Familiar

Dark Archive

BOOK 2:

-Kelpie (medium aquatic fey, looks like an elf made out of seaweed)
-Tropical ercinee (large stormbird)
-Chemosit (large magical beast, cross between Bear & Ape)
-Geier (large advanced vulture)
-Young elasmosaurus (large animal)
-Hippopotamus (large animal)
-Dire Ape (large animal)
-"Eloko" Spriggan (small or large humanoid, gnome)
-Charau-Ka cleric (small humanoid)
-Mitral Cobra (small construct)
-Serpentfolk Enchanter (medium monstrous humanoid)
-Girallon (large magical beast)
-Biloko (small fey)

Most likely are imo:
-Dire Ape
-Serpentfolk Enchanter
-Girallon

Dark Archive

BOOK 3:

-Pteranodon (large flying animal, dinosaur)
-Crocodile (large animal)
-Angazhani (large magical beast, more intelligent Girallon)
-Shadow (medium undead)
-Greater shadow (medium undead)
-Rakshasa with crocodile head (medium outsider)
-Vegepygmie rogue (small plant)
-Camulatz (large parrot-like magical beast)
-Serpentfolk Ghast (medium undead)
-Tribal Totem (medium construct)

Most likely are imo:
-Pteranodon
-Crocodile
-Vegepygmie rogue
-Tribal totem (as Dungeon Dressing)

Dark Archive

BOOK 4:

-Dire Tiger
-Kech (medium humanoid, look like ape-men)
-Sabosan (medium monstrous humanoid, looks like a man-bat)
-Gray Nisp (large aquatic fey, looks like fishmen with big maw)
-Ooze mephit (small outsider)
-Serpentfolk Seeker (medium monstrous humanoid, red with long tail & neck)
-Fungal Crawler (medium abberation from Bestiary 2)
-Ogre Mage (large outsider)
-various variant Charau-Ka (small humanoid)
-Impundulu (medium Thunderbird)
-Popobala (medium cyclops with bat-wings)

Most likely are imo:
-Dire Tiger
-Kech
-Serpentfolk Seeker
-Charau-Ka variant

Dark Archive

BOOK 5:

-Morlock (medium humanoid)
-Skaveling (large undead bat)
-Drider (large abberation)
-Drow rogue (medium humanoid)
-Daemon, Piscodaemon (large frog-like outsider)
-Half-fiend urdefhan cleric (medium native outsider with wings & tail)
-Serpentfolk duelist (cobraheaded medium monstrous humanoid)
-Serpentfolk evoker (female medium monstrous humanoid)
-Serpentfolk ghost sorcerer 8medium undead)
-Degenerate serpentfolk rogue (male monstrous humanoid)

Most likely are imo:
-Morlock
-Serpentfolk evoker
-Serpentfolk rogue

Dark Archive

BOOK 6:

-Hydra (huge magical beast) CONFIRMED ABOVE
-Baregara (large outsider, demonic ape with second mouth in chest)
-Hollow serpent (large undead) CONFIRMED ABOVE

Dark Archive

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Nice ideas for Dungeon Dressings (which appear in the AP) would be:
-Rope Bridge (1 square wide & 3-4 squares long)
-Tribal hut (large 2 squares high, wide & long)
-Totem mask (small)
-Glass bottle with head in it (medium)
-Totem pole (medium)


Question: How is it possible for a Hydra to have 10 heads?
Spoiler warning: It's not, it's mathematically impossible. Hydras can only have odd numbers of heads. Every time Heracles cut one off, three grew back. Net gain of 2 and it started with 7.

Silver Crusade

Hydra wrote:
You can make more powerful hydras by increasing their Hit Dice—each added HD increases the hydra’s statistics as appropriate, but also gives it one additional head and a +1 increase to its natural armor. A hydra’s CR increases by +1 for each Hit Die it gains.
Regenerate Head (Ex) wrote:
When a hydra’s head is destroyed, two heads regrow in 1d4 rounds. A hydra cannot have more than twice its original number of heads at any one time. To prevent new heads from growing, at least 5 points of acid or fire damage must be dealt to the stump (a touch attack to hit) before they appear. Acid or fire damage from area attacks can affect stumps and the body simultaneously. A hydra doesn’t die from losing its heads until all are cut off and the stumps seared by acid or fire.

Dark Archive

It looks like i was right with some of my predictions:

Jungle of Despair booster

:

-Vegepygmy (small)
-Morlock (medium)
-Tiger (large)

CONFIRMED!

I would have expected a Dire Tiger instead of a normal one, but this is cool too (maybe cooler).
The "in-jump" pose looks dynamic enough to work and the generation 2.0 clear poles are a lot better than the fragile thin ones.

The naming seems also to suggest, that we´ll get more than one version of

:
Vegepygmie & Morlock
, which is great!


nice to have the tiger, I'll probbably mod it down to earth for use as companion.

Dark Archive

DropBearHunter wrote:
nice to have the tiger, I'll probbably mod it down to earth for use as companion.

Great idea, i think i'll do that too (with one of them).

The normal version is actually better suited as animal companion than the Dire version.
I also expect it to be uncommon, so 3-4 should be in a case - awesome.
I really miss normal animals like camel, donkey, boar & pony.
I hope (and think) this set has a large ape & a small monkey. ;-)

Looking forward to this weeks preview (hopefully today) & it's plant reveals.
I hope for a yellow musk creeper personally, but Vegepygmies, a dryad, a shambling mound or Assassin vine would also be great.


I’m up,for more plants! especially ones there is no previous coverage for.

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