I come to you from the Pathfinder side of things with the question in the title.
Iron Gods is what got me into Pathfinder, and Distant Worlds is one of my favorite books they ever released for PF1. I've really enjoyed PF2's few jaunts to other planets in Adventure Paths, and greatly appreciated that each has come with a gazetteer. There's a PF2 Society scenario with an alien in it that's very, very cool, and Androids are my favorite Ancestry in the game.
But I've found Starfinder's lore surprisingly slippery... which is odd, because I like sci-fi a lot more than fantasy in most cases! It might just be the novelty of the sword-and-planet Pathfinder iterations, but I've honestly not been able to chew on any SF1 books well enough to see if I even like the lore or not. So far, I've mostly just caught a lot of glimpses of vague corporations all over the place.
So I come to you with my request: what stands out to you as exciting in the core part of the Starfinder setting? I'm tentatively bought in on its version of Aballon, but would love to be sold on more of the rest.
That Polygon article on Battlecry! has confirmed that Andoran and Cheliax are coming to blows soon, with an in-setting conflict called the Inner Sea War and a metaplot event called the Hellfire Crisis. Everything we know so far points to this spiraling out into something larger than just those two nations brawling, so it's time for all of us to don our armchair general's hats and do our best sports draft impressions:
Who will cling to the skirts of the infernal empress? Who will rally behind the armies, spies, and privateers who declare for democracy? Who is too ideologically-opposed or otherwise occupied to take a stand with either?
Make your guesses known now, so we can all feel smart/stupid once the book comes along!
Complete with a shiny Wargamer article, we now know we're getting a further dose of school stuff!
The framing narrative is that a Sarkorian group called the Academy of the Reclamation are hosting a Grand Convocation of other scholars, seemingly with a focus on restoring their Worldwound-blighted homeland. Those others are Cobyslarni (named for its founder, an enormous elephant who wanders the First World), Kitharodian Academy (training grounds for many of Taldor's Lion Blades spies), the Magaambya (Golarion's oldest school of magic, based in the Mwangi Expanse), the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves (a Jalmeri House of Perfection devoted to elemental water), the University of Lepistadt (Ustalav's foremost place of alchemical, occult, and scientific learning), and some representation of New Thassilon's infamous Runelords.
Are folks excited for a big dose of post-Remaster magic? I'm hoping we get some substantial new Sarkoris/Sarkorian lore, though I don't dare hope to hear about Jormurdun's dwarves here.
The book's now finally out for general sale, and we've got our proper introduction to Pathfinder's Asia-inspired continent in 2e! With 30 regions covered (to say nothing of the rest of the book), it's quite a feast for all the lore fans. I wanna know what jumps out to YOU!
On a first skim, I've really fallen for Songbai (formerly Shokuro). I'd complained in the past that 1e's take on Tian Xia had "three Japans," with Shokuro as one of them, but the work done here to reinterpret what was already true is fascinating. The way ethnic and national divides are so realistically messy in the war's aftermath, and just how fragile, fraught, and fundamentally compromised the current peace is... all of it comes together into a surprisingly grounded palette for war- and politics-heavy campaigns with primarily-Human casts. I also quite like that even the most salt-of-the-earth Songbainese peasant isn't getting away clean, as it's all stolen Kitsune land. Complex, compelling stuff!
We now know that this is the shape Mythic is taking in War of Immortals, and that two of them are Apocalypse Rider and Eternal Legend. That leaves us with seven slots to fill and a lot of time to do it... any brave guesses?
There's bloodshed between the gods, with more than one of them dying. Animists speak to the many spirits of the world, from the mortal dead to the incarnations of city, sea, and sky. Exemplars carry tiny sparks of divinity in their souls, forging new legends that may one day shake the foundations of the heavens themselves.
It's a Pathfinder playtest, and as our resident story and setting nerd, I wanna know - who are you making?
With all the excitement around the announcement and what's currently in the first Field Test, it's easy to overlook what's a little further out... but this compatibility means we're getting some really fascinating new classes! With all the clamoring for a faux 4e Warlord over the years, the chance for the Envoy - as a non-magical support/"face" character - is filling in one of the most essential remaining gaps in the roster.
The chance to do some battlefield command and allied buffing without having to play a loathsome Bard has me giddy! A lightly-armored character zipping around to offer help, potentially swinging a blade or snapping off a few shots... it's a really fun playstyle. Anyone else excited to see them come along, on either side of the system line?
The Starfinder side of things has never done much for me, but the Field Test's compatibility has gotten me to peek over the line... and I really like what I see! The Soldier feels like what I'd wanted the Gunslinger to be, while having an identity distinct from both that and the Fighter that I really enjoy. Folks often underestimate the challenge of making a mechanically-straightforward martial interesting, but I think they've done exactly that!
With previews beginning to flow and the book around the corner, PF2's about to get a huge injection of primal goodies - and I want to know what you're doing with it all! Kineticists of six elements, Elemental Barbarians, Wood and Metal Geniekin, and who knows what else... but mechanics are less fun to me than the stories folks tell with them. Got a PF1 character you're finally bringing forward, or a 'bender' you've been sitting on impatiently?
I want to preface this both by acknowledging that Player Core 2 is a long ways away, making this discussion entirely speculative, and also by politely begging everyone not to turn this into an Alignment debate.
What do we think Champion options will look like in the future?
As it stands right now, we have six options pegged to the former Good and Evil alignments. There’s long been concerns about the balance and party-friendliness of the Evil Champions (Antipaladin, Desecrator, Tyrant), while the Good options (Liberator, Paladin, Redeemer) are generally well-liked out of concerns that no longer exist in the Remaster. The most simple option would be to swap Tenets from Alignment to Sanctified (Holy/Unholy) and just let the Causes be subclasses… but given the overhauls to the Wizard, I expect something more interesting.
Swapping Antipaladin out for a straightforward Cause of battle could be fun, for Champions of all the many war deities. I could easily see Tyrant loosened up some from “conquer everyone and be a jerk” to a more Hellknight-y “enforce pitiless judgment.” The fandom has wanted an anti-Undead Cause for a long time, which could work well if they follow Wizards in having more specific flavor - and throw a bone to Neutral divinities.
Today was the last day of this year's PaizoCon, and the 'Into the Darklands' was one that understandably drew a lot of attention. I strongly recommend watching the Twitch VOD on Paizo's channel for yourself, and while I am deeply grateful for The-Magic-Sword's live writeup, I wanted to include some spelling, additional Discord info, and spelling corrections. I hope this is useful!
In brief: much of the classic Underdark stuff inherited via the OGL had to go, either getting reworks to become distinct or being replaced with more uniquely-Golarion things in their role. Sky King's Tomb #3 has a backmatter article that gives an overview of what 2e's Darklands will be focused on going forward, though they do warn that it isn't especially long. This article apparently namedrops
We won't see much of the Drow anymore. The Sekmin are firmly stepping up as the primary antagonistic Ancestry in the Darklands, occupying many of the great cities - though Zirnakaynin (the demonic Drow's capital city) is now instead an ancient ruin even the serpentfolk avoid. James Jacobs wants the serpentfolk to firmly be bad guys, at least for now, but would want any dissent/redemption to be a result of 'on-screen' play.
Cavern Elves - or in their language, Ayindilar - are some of the friendlier faces we can expect to find below. They aren't replacing the Drow or inheriting elements of their culture, but that mechanical option now truly is what we have for Elves from below. Ayindilar live in small settlements (meant to act as places of refuge for PCs), with some moving as nomads between them.
Svirfneblins (another OGL casualty) and Umbral Gnomes (a Heritage) are one people, the Drathnelar, who are in the more sympathetic camp alongside Ayindilar. Munavris are original to Pathfinder, and so get to remain. James Jacobs says he sees them as the "good guys" of Orv, alongside the Ayindilar for Nar-Voth and the Drathnelar for Sekamina.
Duergar have been renamed the Hryngar, and much of their lore looks the same; they're who the other Dwarves left behind on the Quest for Sky, falling into Droskar's worship and a crueler way of life. With the move away from slavery and OGL, their innate magic has changed, and they're now paranoid, selfish jerks who believe in exploiting others for personal gain. There was mention of them potentially stealing tech from Dongun Hold.
Fleshwarps may well rise in prominence to fill some of the role of Drow, as weird changed horrors of the deep that folks are afraid of. There's definitely still some link between the Elves who went underground to avoid Earthfall and Fleshwarps. Xulgaths are sticking around. The Ghouls of Nemret Noktoria aren't going anywhere. Caligni are distinct enough from their OGL roots to stay. Intellect Devourers are now Xoarians, gross brain-octopi that crawl inside skulls to puppet corpses. Neothelids are probably catching a rename, Conqueror Worms and Seugathi remain in canon.
A Lost Omens: Darklands "feels inevitable," but needs to find the right place on the schedule.
There's a chance Second Darkness is removed from canon or hit with retcons, but it hasn't been decided yet.
I think that's everything!
The last thing I want to remind everyone is: the existing Drow stats for PF2 enemies and NPCs will be completely compatible with the Remaster, so you can continue using them going forward if you're very attached to them! A lot of these changes are prompted by legal stuff, but have given the writers a chance to really make this part of the setting feel more original, and that excites me greatly.
From today's PaizoCon streams, we got some very interesting news: both of these are presented in Player Core under a 'Mixed Ancestries' section... and are no longer restricted to being Half-Human! They've also got Golarion names of their own, Aiuvarin and Dromaar, plural Aiuvarins and Dromaars.
I am ecstatic about this change!
So many character concepts are opened up by this! Dwarf Dromaars face a deeply complicated context in/beneath Avistan, but may well be favored diplomats in Arcadia's plains or the Mwangi Expanse. I've certainly got ideas for Fleshwarp Aiuvarins... and if we get Drow or Lashunta as playable Ancestries down the line, you can bet I'll make those, too!
Figured this was exciting enough to get a thread of its own. What does everyone think? Who are you all going to make?
I've shared this sentiment in a few threads, and I figure the discussion might be worthy of one unto itself, so:
Rarity as it currently stands in PF2 is both a measure of lore commonality (usually with the general Inner Sea as a base - Dwarves are easier to come by than Androids) and of compliance to baseline mechanical expectations (things like flight or teleportation, which can trivialize some storylines, or Rare Backgrounds, which "break the rules" of baseline Background benefit assumptions), and I think those two definitions are at war with one another.
Several years into the edition, the misconception that higher Rarity equates to greater power persists, in no small part because the label is pulling double duty in this way. There's also a degree of arbitrariness - should we really believe Inventors are harder to find on Golarion than Psychics? - that's never quite fit right in my head.
The Remaster is probably too small of a shakeup for this to be caught, but in this time of changes and re-examining, I figure it's a topic worth tackling.
These books are going to be incredible. After decades of this stuff being mishandled in the tabletop sphere by every big name imaginable, I’m excited to see a diverse team get so much support behind them for doing it right.
This AP promises a plunge into dwarven history and Darklands peril, and so demands some very unique heroes for its run. I know we’re a few months out from a Player’s Guide still, but I’d love to hear who folks bring to this one!
I’m really curious about the potential place of Orc PCs. I’d even bend canon to allow a Dwarf Half-Orc at my table! It’s just a shame we don’t have Drow or Rivethun (Shamans) yet…
Most of the Remaster talk I’ve seen has been about Alignment or Class changes, but I’ve seen surprisingly little chatter about some really exciting news: with the shift away from OGL material, there’s going to be eight new dragons (two for each of the four traditions) in the spotlight! Golarion-specific stuff is always a joy to see, and I think this framework is a novel grouping for them.
Adamantine, Diabolic, Fortune, Mirage, and Omen Dragons have all been namedropped, giving us just over half the set… I can’t wait to meet them!
Alignment has gone the way of the Dodo! It's decided, and this isn't the thread for debating it - please, feel free to make your own.
The cosmology is intact as we're familiar with, but mortals with strong beliefs now express that through Edicts and Anathema, and the potential to be either Holy or Unholy-aligned. I love all that! It's an easy swap out in either direction for the Good/Evil classics.
What was significantly quieter in today's streams was talk about Chaos and Law. Both are thorny subjects (again, not something I want to fight about here!), but enough people have specifically asked after it that I figured it deserved a thread to itself. Do folks expect a pretty simple trade for Anarchic/Axiomatic (or a different pairing that's functionally the same), like we've seen with Holy/Unholy? Presumably the Aeons and Proteans haven't gone anywhere - if anything, they're better-defined than their OGL equivalents by miles!
Pathfinder's famous for its Hellknights and all manner of Chaotic rebels... I'm super curious to see how this bit of the Remaster is treated.
Easy to miss across all of the excitement, but this point felt like it was worthy of a whole thread! What used to be Aasimar, Tieflings, and the like are now Lineages of a common Versatile Heritage, one that WotC can't sue them over. It's a change that doesn't mean a whole lot (the average table is still calling a devilspawn adventurer a Tiefling, I bet), but keeps them safe and cuts back on mechanically-redundant options.
With the announcement that we're getting a World Guide, Character Guide, and 4-book AP as a lavish 2e treatment of Tian Xia, I've been bouncing off the walls thinking about what a fresh palette for adventure that continent provides! While the books are a ways off still, a good number of Tian options are already in 2e, and 1e veterans had plenty of time to potentially touch the continent.
This thread is for everybody who calls the place home: everything from Kitsune pickpockets and Oni-blooded assassins to your Wayang pirates and gun-slinging Nagaji agents. Did you escort Ameiko to her throne, or win the Ruby Phoenix tournament? I want to see them!
I'm *shocked* these still don't exist! I had assumed this was something that would've snuck into Treasure Vault, so I didn't bother checking before now. Why the bias against hacking and thwacking?
Human, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Orc - everybody in the corebook has a name that stands as a self-label other than these two, which describe them relative to the height of a 'normal' humanoid. We've seen a bunch of other Ancestries advance their endonyms recently, but do these two really stand alone?
It's no secret that Pathfinder has a fondness for ladies with redemption arcs: Arazni, Nocticula, and Shensen are all iconic 1e characters with a lot of lore and actual play behind them. Compared to them, I reach for guys with similar heroic turns... and my mind comes up blank other than Ragathiel, whose redemption is a matter of ancient myth (and also, somewhat shaky). There's not a big male AP villain I can remember switching to the side of good, but I also don't have total knowledge of older lore - and so, I turn to you all!
I want to be clear that I'm not alleging any kind of agenda or outrage-baiting, just genuinely trying to get some sort of mental tally. If it's really an underserved niche, I'll be sure to write some myself!
For no particular reason, our greenish-grey friends are on my mind today, and it's got me wanting to hear from our lovely community here: tell me all about the Orcs and Half-Orcs you've played!
Golarion's Orcs have a surprisingly unique palette beneath the traditional fantasy tropes; it looks like Sky King's Tomb is set to wrestle with the genocidal crusade that drove them out of the Darklands, while the Mwangi Expanse's Matanji are heroic demon-slayers devoted to a jaguar goddess, and Arcadia's Orcs are instead trusted allies of the Dwarves. Even in more 'classic' places like Belkzen, interesting nuance and unique faiths add texture that marks them as part of Pathfinder's setting. What have you made with those pieces?
The intro to Lost Omens: Impossible Lands mentions that the nation of Nex has contact with other planets, but the book itself makes no further mention of such a thing. Is there prior lore touching on this? Failing that - anything fun we can imagine in the blank spaces?
There's been a fair amount of chatter around what a Mythic-equivalent system for PF2 might look like, and with the runaway success of 2e's Archetypes, I think there's a fair chance that's the shape Mythic might take in this edition. It makes good sense; in the same way that you can be a Viking or a Ghoul on top of whatever else you have going on, so too could you model a squirt of god-like power.
Owlcat's videogames are largely off doing their own thing, but their WotR's version of Mythic (with you taking on the abilities and eventually becoming one of numerous possible planar beings) has been very popular. It feels good for a Cleric to become a truly holy Angel, or for a LN character to lean into the harsh, impartial judgment of an Aeon - but the game also has a few alternatives (the wholly-mortal Legendary Hero, the ability to instead become a Lich, Swarm-that-Walks, or Golden Dragon) that could all certainly tempt PF2 characters.
So that's where this thread comes in; assuming 2e's Mythic looks something like how Archetypes broadly work already, what kinds of Mythic Archetype would get you most excited?
I honestly think I've made a thread asking after this in the past, but can't find it now, and have been puzzled by this particular issue since Book of the Dead dropped.
By RAW, can a PC with the Ghost Archetype make melee attacks against corporeal creatures? It forbids Strength-based skill checks against the living... but is a melee Strike a skill check? The next line implies that they can't - why specify melee Strikes as something that works normally for you against other incorporeal beings otherwise? - but I want to make sure I'm not parsing this incorrectly. Is it just slightly ambiguous wording?
Iron Gods presented Casandalee as a "build-a-goddess," with a more options for customization than any canon iteration could possibly cover in full. 2e placed her firmly in the center of the Alignment grid, not allowing any of the four corner 'extremes' for her followers... but what are Casandalee's Neutral Evil followers up to? "Edict: encourage understanding between artificial and organic life" and "Anathemas: treat artificial life as lesser than organic life, foment distrust between artificial and organic life" feel pretty strictly non-Evil to me.
This question brought to you by me yet again wishing she had Champion options other than Redeemer and Desecrator, neither of which fit too well - but while Redeemer is merely imperfect, the Desecrator feels totally out of left field. She's not SHODAN, y'know? Her ascent to godhood is literally the story of her and some heroes surviving two other Evil AIs - it's strange to think she'd empower that, especially with such progressive religious ideals. Desecrators being obliged to "subvert or corrupt everything in your path that is pure and good, and sow doubt among those upholding such ideals" feels like it doesn't fit with the above.
While Ra may be King of the Heavens, the cosmos greater than any one being can safeguard - even a god cannot see everywhere at once. The Eye of Ra is a guardian against chaos, tasked with finding and destroying any threats to the sanctity of the pantheon, the proper order of the universe, and their solar monarch. Like the King, the Eye of Ra burns with the power of the sun, its purity banishing deception and burning the judged.
The role traditionally falls to a goddess of the Osirian pantheon, and often acts as a counterbalance to Ra's typical fixation on unflinching Law; Sekhmet is infamous for her desire to take the fight to the foe, while Bastet and Hathor prefer to safeguard the realm and the home. It's unclear when or why the position changes hands, leading some to believe that the three may even be many faces of one divinity; at this suggestion, the three old goddesses merely smile.
Edicts protect the weak, destroy unnatural evil, enjoy intoxication and music
Anathema become lost to intoxication, go a full day without thanking the sun
Areas of Concern slaying fiends and other monsters, guarding families, revelry, the sun
Follower Alignments CG, CN, NG
Pantheon Members Bastet, Hathor, Sekhmet
Divine Ability Strength or Charisma
Font Harm or Heal
Skill Performance
Favored Weapon claw or spear
Domains family, sun, passion, protection
Alternate Domains destruction, trickery, wealth
Cleric Spells 1st: pest form (cat only) 2nd: flaming sphere 3rd: threefold aspect
///
A brief note: closer names to the proper Ancient Egyptian for these three are Bast (the -et is redundant) and Het-Heru, with Sekhmet being the only one not mangled by the Greeks.
This interpretation of these three has historical precedent - and, not coincidentally, is the framework I use for my own private worship. On Golarion, this Pantheon is probably long-forgotten by most folk in Osirion today, but fits the region's Amurruns - allegedly created to "hunt evil spirits" at the dawn of time - like a glove, though they probably interpret Het-Heru as being feline like the other two. With the fondness for cats in LOIL, you might even sneak some small cult of the Eye of Ra into Dongun Hold.
With me begrudgingly accepting that the explicitly Kemetic elements of Osirion aren't going away, it seemed fitting to throw this together; I hope folks like!
Pathfinder lore is, at this point, over a decade long and thousands upon thousands of pages deep, offering fertile soil for nerdy minds to take root. Countless NPCs exist only for one or two brief appearances, questions are raised and never answered, and plenty of deities and demigods are completely unknown to the average player; maybe you like a weirdo Ancestry that's not even in 2e yet, or there's a single named spot well beyond the Inner Sea's familiar shores that you're dying to visit.
I want to hear about them! What do you all have tucked away in the most esoteric, indulgent corners of your Lost Omens love?
With the release of the new Impossible Lands book, we now have 2/3 Garundi microregions thoroughly explored in the current edition's lore. What's there is already so much more than any one campaign has any hope of possibly getting to, I think there's a lot of potential in considering the continent as its own context, independent of their northern neighbors.
Trade is the obvious link for the places we know well - Alkenstari gunpowder, Gebbite grain, Thuvian potions, Katapesh's endless hungers, Kibwe's commerce, Mbe'ke trade goods, pirate booty - threading distant lands together with gold, offering an easy framework for a traveling campaign. God-hating alghollthus and asuras might make common cause, while undead-slayers have two separate unnatural kingdoms to rally against. Ancient Osirion's legacy lives on in the domains of the archmages it spawned. The Padishah Empire of Kelesh lurks, just to the east, impossibly massive and with its nearest extent led by a barely-leashed satrap. Murderers stalk the high seas, mountain passes, and dark alleyways. Cursed ruins of the long-dead cyclopes and serpentfolk endure, full of Evil. Magical and scientific learning are ascendant, internationally. Ships sail to Arcadia and Vudra.
While I'd love any and all thoughts on the topic and story or campaign ideas, what I really want to ask is folks' thoughts on Rarity for such a project! The honest germ of this whole idea is thinking that Iruxi would be Common and core if Garund stood alone, given their prominence in multiple regions across the continent, and things spiraled from there. Things skew different from what we usually see centered; outside of the proud Mualijae nations and the wandering Vourinoi, Elves are fairly scarce, as are Goblins outside the occasional wasteland mutant or monkey-tailed sailor. Geniekin are the central planar scions, seen more often than the like to the north, and those touched by fiends instead bear the blood of asuras, divs, and rakshasa over devils. It's a fun shift in palette!
One of PF2's greatest strengths is the greater depth of culture it affords all of the people in its setting, where not only do humans refuse to be painted with a broad brush, but even people like orcs and catfolk can get multiple ethnic identities! Not every Ancestry was fortunate enough to get a treatment in the Character or Ancestry Guides - and likewise, many are hurting for more Feats and Heritages, on top of being thirsty for a little more lore.
By my count, there's 36 playable Ancestries in the edition at present. If you could wave you magic wand and bless one with more detail - pages of new Feats and meaty lore - who gets the spotlight?
I'll freely confess: threads on this topic have made before, but they've derailed pretty hard and all pretty old at this point. I figure a clean break and a following in format of the previous Lost Omens threads for fervent wishing and animated discussion. There's no hiding that I have a particularly keen interest in Pathfinder's stand-in for the Americas, as a platform and a palette for telling indigenous and latinx fantasy stories... but I want to hear from you!
In the cold north, Ulfen immigrants bond with the local Mahwek folk and seek glory in mythic Valenhall, their settlement in Port Valen slowly growing. Segada, one of Degasi's great cities on the northeastern coast, puts the abundant skymetals of the Land of Northern Lakes to use in the form of great outdoor elevators. Ancient Razatlan once lorded over most of the continent, leaving behind mummy-haunted ruins - and modern Razatlan in the continent's center, seemingly a friendly enough neighbor to demigod-shaped Xopatl. Gunslingers and honest folk make do in the scrubby desert of the Deadshot Lands, handily beating Alkenstar at its own game. Of the Land of Second Souls, the Primal League, and the Salt Stretch - or indeed, almost anything I don't mention here - there's little to be said at all presently.
Dwarves and Orcs are ancient allies here, while Gnomes and Halflings make lives on the Grinding Coast - alongside Wyrwoods, clever constructs who fled Azlanti servitude ages ago! Cruel, owl-like Syrinx considers themselves superior to all others, while the Sahkils, fear-fiends, clash against celestial Couatls for the hearts of mortal creatures in the name of Ohachtsik. These lands know heroes empowered by incredibly powerful spirits and armed with guns forged by fey hands - or of beast souls.
Obviously, there's a lot to like... and a lot we don't know. If you could wave your magic wand, what would you put in between the covers?
Howdy, folks! I'm hope I'm not breaking a rule against self-promotion here; the mods should feel free to can this thread if it does.
I recently fell in love with the 2400 anthology, a collection of 3-page microgames that all share a core system, but each have unique premises and mechanics. The engine it runs on, 24XX, is open for use, and I've spent the last month refining and releasing my 199X Trilogy, three 24XX games based on old-school cyberpunk media and tabletop games.
SHUTDOWN casts you as punks, hackers, and scared survivors trapped within a corporate arcology with a mad AI; it adds cybernetic Hardware and hacking Software to 199X, if you're lifting mechanics from all three for use as a toolkit! INFEST is about wasteland freaks walled into a radioactive ruin with alien Bugs, adding psychic Powers and mutant Twists to your 199X PCs. COMPLEX puts you into the shoes of elite troubleshooters for the factions that rule your sprawl, empowered with robotic Drones and the ability to Sway those factions for favors.
If you're into old editions of Shadowrun and the original Ghost in the Shell OVA, or you just like the idea of a retro-future where wireless tech is almost magic, I hope you check it out! Character creation can be done in under five minutes in every game, and the 24XX format is so compact that they really lend themselves to one-shots.
I've recently fallen into a bit of obsession with Pathfinder's take on Shamans and their potential to return as a 2e class, and obviously one can't properly exist without the spirits they're defined by associating with! Pinning down what, precisely, that means, however, has proven remarkably elusive.
CRB definition of the Spirit Trait wrote:
Spirits are ephemeral creatures defined by their spiritual self and often lacking a physical form.
Spirits are often intangible, which makes good sense - that's how hauntings and the like usually are. It takes a little digging into the magical Essences to understand the former part:
CRB definition of Spirit Essence wrote:
Also called soul, ethereal essence, or spiritual essence, spirit is an otherworldly building block that makes up a being's immaterial and immortal self. The spirit travels through the Ethereal Plane and into the Great Beyond after the death of the physical body. The spirit is most easily affected by divine and occult spells. Spirit spells are usually of the divination or necromancy schools.
So it would seem that Spirits are essentially incarnate soul-stuff/Spirit Essence, rather than being tethered to an organic body, which likewise makes good sense. From there, "Spirit" is a pretty big tent, covering an awful lot of things!
Intangible undead (like ghosts!) are probably the most well-known of the bunch - but certain folks have made clear dealing with them might feel strange for certain Shamans, an opinion I'd love further thoughts on. Hantu are interesting in that they're Occult nature spirits, distinct from the Primal ones we see as Spirit Guides. Phantoms are mortal souls gone strange, denied their final judgment but distinctly *not* undead. Gliminals are natives of their Positive Energy Plane. Kami, interestingly, are some of the only non-undead Divine spirits we've seen in 2e, bonded protectors of chosen items and natural sites. 2e Oracles make fascinating mention of 'ancestor spirits beyond the cycle of reincarnation,' a juicy lead worth following.
That breadth gets even wider when you get into older canon: the Rivethun dwarves and certain Amurrun consider the gods to 'merely' be great spirits, while Old Sarkoris (most famous for Spirit Guides' honored place in their society) likewise entreated with all sorts of fey, elementals, and other planar creatures as 'spirits.'
Does the term "Spirit" have all that much inherent meaning in Pathfinder? Should a Golarion Shaman have all of these within their theoretical wheelhouse? I'd welcome whatever thoughts you have to spare :>
Vudra reveres Embaral and Obari, twin deities of the oceans that flank the subcontinent, and it just dawned on me that I’m surprised there isn’t something similar for the others that I know of. Is there any canon out there about worship of the Arcadian or Okaiyo oceans? It seems so obvious that I’m surprised to have not noticed its absence earlier.
One of the most-requested features people ask to have return from 1e is something equivalent to Mythic, a mechanical framework for building up player characters to demigod-like levels and allowing them to tackle exceptionally potent threats. 1e's Mythic heroes were able to close the Worldwound, solving a nation-sized threat on the face of Golarion, which is the kind of impact many expect to match with a 2e storyline on the same tier.
Obviously, Tar-Baphon needs to get smacked down, likely as the climactic end to the edition - which opens the door to other storylines! We've heard that Iblydos (and its famed hero-gods) needs something like Mythic before PF2 ever sets foot there, while the return of Nex (which has been imminent for years now!) and all-but-certain resulting war with Geb would similarly demand something greater than level 20 heroes.
But I've obviously heard my ideas - tell me about yours!
I obviously understand from a meta perspective that Alkenstar exists to be a steampunk Wild West fantasy, and so draws on the language and visual stylings of both Victorian Britain and the American westward colonization, but it's always bugged me that it doesn't seem to be diegetic at all.
Alkenstar is located in northeastern Garund, sandwiched between Nex and Geb, with the Mwangi Expanse over the mountains to the west and Jalmeray due east over the sea... so where are folks getting their fashion, which looks to be much more in the style of Taldor and Galt? I don't imagine Ancient Osirion left the region with a long history of saloons or cowboy hats, yet they're all over here. Ancil Alkenstar himself hailed from Nex, which has radically different looks, and doesn't seem to have any other duchies - so where the heck does any of this spring up from?
This came up some around the topic of Taldane being the Common suggested for Outlaws of Alkenstar, but it's been on my mind long enough (and feels topical enough, with the imminent Lost Omens release) that I wanted to actually voice this. Excited to hear your thoughts!
The debate over the place of Drow in the world has been done to death, and any further begging for their inclusion isn’t likely to do much for Paizo either way - so I wanted this thread to be something else entirely! If an official Drow Ancestry dropped tomorrow (in whatever form you’d like), what would you do with that?
I want to know about your Drow characters! I want to hear campaign ideas where such a thing would fit well! It’s easy to have the abstract “Drow would be nice,” but I figure something more concrete is a little more entertaining.
It's been a little while since we've had a general wishes thread, and it's always fun to get a temperature check on what the perceived holes are in PF2 as it currently stands. A good chunk of the most loved PF1 classes are back, with the recent confirmation of the Kineticist crossing off one of the options that consistently came up, and likewise there's been a steady stream of new and returning Ancestries. The Lost Omens line largely seems to prioritize the unexpected, with the imminent Impossible Lands taking us to under-loved locales and the just-announced Highhelm is a deep dive somewhere we've never been in depth.
You could play PF2 as it currently stands for a decade before touching all of its content! I don't want to ever appear greedy or insatiable, and that's worth making explicit. But it's always fun to know: if you could wave your magic wand, what would you have them make next?
As has now become tradition, I figure it's only fair to start the Gatewalkers subforum off with the usual thread: who are you bringing to this as your paranormal investigator? It's a 1-10 AP with a vibe of alien mystery and lost memory, bouncing across a number of far-flung locations but apparently starting in Ustalav. Both of the classes from Dark Archive (but especially the Psychic!) seem like natural fits here, but I imagine almost anyone can be swept up into the strange proceedings.
I have an Elf Psychic, Ithuriel, who's a naïve diplomat from Kyonin with ties to distant Sovyrian, and the opening book's apparent interest in Sevenarches has me very curious how elven PCs fit into things - to say nothing of the curious choice of background article mentioned on the store page. A pointy-eared telepath with a fondness for portal-based travel and an endless well of curiosity feels about as on-theme as I can manage, and yet I've had her since before Dark Archive released! Got lucky with my daydreaming there.
Pathfinder burst onto the scene with an iconic new spin on tired old Goblin tropes, making them into vicious horse-fearing pyromaniacs beloved enough to earn a softer treatment as the edition went on and a place in the new edition’s core.
We come into 2e and get a visual redesign on Kobolds, a greater focus on them as buddies to other Ancestries (joining the Pathfinder Society in Absalom, living openly among the Mbe’ke dwarves). It’s anecdotal, but I feel like I see a dozen Kobold PCs for every one Goblin.
So I have to ask: are the Kobolds the next big Pathfinder success story? Should we expect to see them in the PF3 corebook, if such a thing comes to pass? How do you feel about the little dragons and their increased spotlight as 2e continues?
As it came up in another thread, I realized today: Mesmerizing Gaze, an 8th level Feat from the Psychic Playtest that clearly evoked the 1e Mesmerist class, didn't end up making it into Dark Archive! I spent so much time with the playtest that I missed its absence in the final release.
There was some fretting about Mesmerizing Gaze during the playtest, but I don't know that I've seen much talk about it not making the cut, or indeed about a 2e Mesmerist class at all. I came in as a new fan with 2e, for the most part - do folks think it has legs as a full class in this edition? Would you be upset with a more robust Class Archetype for the Psychic that imitated its abilities and flavor? Did the Mesmerist even have 1e fans?
Pathfinder is rich is gods, demigods, Eldest, demon lords, Horsemen, mythic beings, and all sorts of other divinities who meddle in mortal lives and compel the souls of their faithful... so many so, in fact, that it can be a bit overwhelming! Amid the endless ranks of the holy and the profane, I want to know - who's the best of the bunch?
Whether you love what they stand for or adore the villains in their service, once played their most pious Cleric or their most devoted Inquisitor, tell me all about the god of your choice!
Thank you for this lovely blog, and for the amazing work you all do! I’m a white girl myself, but I’ve never lived outside the American Southwest, where Latinx people and culture are inescapable and vital. It’s overdue that such rich histories, traditions, and languages get an equal spotlight; I’m glad Paizo has such cool people on board to make it happen someday.
Carlos, thank you for the calaca and the guitar both! Santana was beloved in my childhood home.
Assuming a Kingmaker 2e party is angling to be Good and merciful, as one might expect, Nyrissa likely survives the events of the Adventure Path, has her missing ability to love restored, and is no longer beholden to or pursued by the Eldest. Given that she's level 23 before being made whole again and was formerly powerful enough to at least somewhat challenge the Eldest, what are the odds of her being a demigod nowadays?
I'm looking to sketch out some notion of what Narland might look like in 2e, and having a divine fey patron would be a really cool way to reflect the impacts of the original campaign. Having such a figure for the other fey of the Stolen Lands to look to as a paragon of mortal cooperation could be really cool!
Any thoughts from other Kingmaker alumni or folks with their hands on the 2e book?
It makes good sense to me that a deity, archdevil, psychopomp usher, and the like can call grant divine spells to followers, being divine beings themselves, but how does that work for other powers? The Eldest (being fey) and the Elemental Lords can all have Clerics sworn to them, and despite being primal beings themselves, the magic they grant is divine. Any thoughts?
We've had official word that the Kingmaker kingdom in the Stolen Lands will remain canonically undefined, as to allow tables to insert their own proud creations there, but I figure with the 2e re-release it might be fun to take a swing at imagining such a thing! As the title warns, again: this thread will contain Kingmaker spoilers!
The "Kingdom in the Background" sidebars offer brief glimpses at a default option: Narland, with its capital of Shrikewall built over the fort of the fallen Stag Lord. We can imagine that, like all 1e APs, the player characters were successful - so Narland survives its trials, incorporates Varnhold and Pitax (as well as Olegton and Tatzlford), and presumably enjoys peaceful relations with the Nomen centaurs. There's a chance Narland has kobold citizens, and at a stretch may even be home to some iruxi and trolls. With the introduction of Jamandi Aldor's prologue and the heavy Brevoy slant of the official Backgrounds, Narland is likely allied to some degree with Aldori and Rostlander factions within that nation, perhaps enough to cause escalating tensions with the ruling Issians.
What else am I missing? What would you like to see from a Narland on the map?
I've always been fond of collaborative forum threads like 101 Thaumaturge Connections, and one of my preferred ways to pass the time is to write and roll up characters that I'll probably never play. Golarion provides a rich enough palette, and enough endless variety, that I'm pretty much never bored!
So that's the premise for this thread: I'm going to be dropping parties of four characters, each aligned around a Meta-Region and some core theme, and you're invited to do the same! I'd love to see your characters, and I hope mine can provide some inspiration for you all.
