My watch's begun!
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Galaxy Guide was a fun read! Excited for this new era ^^
Ooo more Iblydos! Fun year for me
So excited to get my hands on this later!
My watch is over ^^
Do we have any news about AP or Bestiary? I'm more interested in a Bestiary to adapt some AP from the first edition... Alien Core (like Monster Core) is confirmed if that’s what you mean. No page yet though.
The Starfinder Galaxy Guide is part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Special Edition subscription? It's a typo. If you click on the link, it says it's part of the Starfinder Special Edition subscription, and the Pathfinder Special Edition subscription doesn't include it.
Dragons are a staple of fantasy and rpgs can we get more of them? The January PaizoLive established that we’ll be getting a cinder dragon later (I believe this year). Unsure about other dragons with whatever that might come alongside with, because if memory serves correctly, said dragon wasn’t going to be in Lost Omens: Shining Kingdoms. Then there’s of course the Starfinder dragons (the akashic dragon is on the Player Core cover and should be in Alien Core). I would also enjoy more dragons though in Pathfinder in particular, even if I personally care more about the kinda weird occult dragons. So I hope the cinder dragon is accompanied by some other dragons too. I hope that kinda answers your question? TLDR; yes, we know at least one is coming for Pathfinder later this year, maybe more will be alongside it.
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 see there's going to be a starfinder novel coming out in the summer is there going to be anymore pathfinder novels? I don't think it's up on here yet, but if you check out the Battlecry! article from Polygon, Operation Hellmouth by Chris Jackson is an upcoming novel.
This one necessitates a tiny bit of a spoiler. Divine Mysteries spoiler:
So, in the book, it establishes that Abadar had a brother named Llod who was a god of greed and hoarding, and who robbed him when Abadar was away battling Rovagug after being charged with protecting the First Vault from intruders (ironic). In response, Abadar was able to slowly unravel him; it says in the book that he convinced mortals that Llod never existed at all. It’s almost described that Llod fell apart at a glacial pace over the course of centuries, long before recorded history on Golarion. Anyway, considering this is extremely NOT well-known knowledge, I do think gods around in the time like Calistria and so on knew him, even if only vaguely for some. And I think gods like Asmodeus and Pharasma would be aware of what Abadar had done. The Totally Not Malicious At All Why Would You Think That? question remains for Asmodeus: how did you do it, and would it be possible for you to do it again? To that, Abadar’s answer always seems to be a firm no. Not because he doesn’t have enemies - I mean, Rovagug is right there - but because he can’t. However he pulled it off, it’s not something he could readily replicate in this current time.
I've been lurking on this thread for a bit in an attempt to figure out what makes sense to share. I like thinking about the gods, so I have a lot of HCs. I'll just share 3 for now though, which are mostly inspired by Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries. 1. Since I don't think Aleth has an explicitly stated origin story, I like to think the nature of her existence is yet another mystery her followers tell stories about. She doesn't really comment one way or another on any of them, allowing them all to exist as competing narratives. I've jotted down different in-universe theories for this biography project I have with her. One is that she is speculated to be one of Dou-Bral's children; her own portfolio changed when he became Zon-Kuthon. Note that I don't really think that's how godhood works in the divine canon sense of things, but it's a story told in part to justify the actions of her worshippers in Nidal. 2. Just like how 'runtboss' (lmao) hobgoblins are able to effectively guide (well. Coerce) goblins into battle, a similar - though more equitable - dynamic exists between Genzaeri and Zugero. The latter is often depicted as trying (often futilely) to get her hobgoblin counterpart to relax, and there are comedic songs about the lengths Zugero goes to make this possible. Their actual interactions aren't necessarily like this, because Genzaeri does acknowledge the wisdom of resting the body and mind, but the trope persists. 3. One of my players has a Pharasmin cleric character and has been fascinated with the Boneyard and psychopomp ushers ever since. The Bones Land in a Spiral is, of course, the main religious text for those who ardently follow Pharasma, but in discussing their PC, we've also thought about how children raised in the faith would also hear more simplified stories that nonetheless communicate similar principles in said book. How The Pale Horse Came to Serve Pharasma and stuff like that. there's definitely a few about Pharasma, Mrtyu, and Atropos and that's all for now!
Oh, I also have the Divine Mysteries book, but I forgot to check it. It does say that, odd. In terms of chaotic good followers though prior to the loss of alignment, I don’t think that’s exceptionally weird; it’s a common enough trope to be a ‘folk hero’ pirating crew, regardless of the actual morality of piracy. Also I’d assume that’d be partially bc some people might want to play Besmarans who are Firebrands or something similar. In another vein, her page in Divine Mysteries says that she’s worshipped by “the vilest of high-sea murderers and the privateers who seek them out”. While my vague knowledge of nautical history suggests that privateers mainly worked for governments to raid ships during times of explicit war, I can also see said groups being directed by the governments they are hired by to attack pirates who are targeting said government’s commercial interests. Higher up, it does say that her followers tend to go against laws that restrict personal freedom, but I guess that could also be an indicator that those who tend to be most devout are ones whose personality are more in line with Besmara’s, while those who are less so lean more towards slightly heretical means of viewing her or more token displays. Again, I don’t know for sure, this is mostly rambling. I think it’s an interesting debate though in terms of which one is meant to be accurate and why Besmara might be more chill about ‘nice’ followers than her own personality and area of concern would suggest.
I don’t really have much commentary to give on this, but I checked the Divine Mysteries Web Supplement and her sanctification says “can choose unholy” so it’s either no sanctification or unholy sanctification; there’s no option for holy sanctification with her. She does allow heal, but I assume that’s just part of being able to maintain crew health. Nor do I think that indicates holiness when Lamashtu apparently also allows harm or heal as a divine font. Dunno if that answers your question though.
My watch also has ended! Wahoo.
So this isn't part of the subscription? I would need to manually pre-order it? If it's similar to how things worked with the Guns and Gears remastered, they removed it from the subscription because people complained about being charged for the same book, but if you already had the PDF, they replaced it with an updated version.
This is something I like to think about, especially because at times details for the services of churches show up in 1e and 2e materials. There’s a lot of deities though, and more are made over time, so not all of them have material for me to build off of. Off the top of my head though… I don’t think of Aleth’s followers necessarily always having a physical church, like what you might find for Abadar or Iomedae. So,I think in devout areas people involved in the faith tend to rotate whose house they’ll hold service at. It’s always at night. There’s focus on being a good host and guest, and probably speculation about mysteries left to search out and prayers to Aleth are thrown in. Izuyaku’s described as expecting followers to both exercise the body and rest/relax to avoid harm, and temples to them seem to be around hot springs and saunas. So I feel like in my head I’ve ended up picturing services that resemble hot yoga lmao. I feel like a lot of religious services would focus a lot on maintaining and improving physical and emotional wellbeing, both in yourself and for others. I think clerics for Izuyaku though would also see the physical and emotional needs of the worshippers they tend to as very individualized and not a one size fits all sort of recommendation thing. So there’d probably be a mix of bigger and more personal services too That’s what comes to mind right away anyway.
Epic name, epic cover, epic contents! Very excited for this one!
Blood's back on the menu!
The submission form will allow you to pick what kind of sample your writing is - narrative/fiction, rules, lore, etc. The main qualifiers are that the sample be 1000 words or less and that it isn't written using generative AI. Thank you! That's helpful to know.
This all is super neat! I'll have to keep an eye out for when the portfolio review stuff opens up, though I'm curious about what kind of writing is generally the best to show for those. Statblocks? City/nation write-ups? Short stories? Regardless, the hype is real
It's kinda alluded to in the article with them saying "technically you’re going to have 16 ancestry options available to you in August", but the Starfinder Player Core releases that month. I assume beforehand you can use the 2e playtest book or just modify PF core books as you say if you're really desperate for Starfinder 2e play before all the core books drop near the end of the year.
Any word on Starfinder's GM Core? It was mentioned in a stream some of the Starfinder devs did recently. From what I recall, it’ll be out in September?
[QUOTE ="Elfteiroh"] Am I the only one who is a tiny bit nervous about the Pathfinder Society collecting the broken pieces of a dead God? o_o I personally would be more nervous if it was the Aspis Consortiums, or Abrogail Thrune II... Ah! Only a foolish one wouldn't expect them to... >_>Unfortunate to say, but War of Immortals/Organized Play:
Abrogail’s already stated to be collecting a bunch of warshards and seizing them from citizens who found them, which is also apparently being used as a pretense for general raids for artifacts on houses. I think The Devil in the Details scenario is meant to build on that plot thread. No idea for the Consortium though.
My watch has ended!
Has anyone's Watch ended? Not yet for me personally, but that's fine. I think I've been spoiled by being near the front of the queue the last few months lmao I can wait
I know it’s probably gonna be a while before we know anything more about the commander and guardian iconics, but can’t wait to learn their names and backstories. They look really neat on the cover here and in a bit of art previewed by Polygon.
Very hype for this! I love khizars and I'm pretty interested in the tech faiths, win win.
Specifically interested in Reymenda. Are there any updates beyond what was in P1e Chronicle of the Righteous and P1e Inner Sea Gods? Examples might include official art for the holy symbol or art for the Empyreal Lord or their followers? Written Exposition or the like? Reymenda has a blurb that explains herself, her expectations for her followers, and their general behavior. It's about 3 paragraphs long. In the supplemental table for the book, her holy symbol and other things are given, but we don't have art of her or that. I don't exactly remember what was said about her in 1e stuff, so I can't really say if anything has changed, but most of the empyreal lords didn't get art in the book bc they were in like a section together rather than having individual pages like some of the other gods do.
Also what is this thing that Lepidstadt made? It sounds halfway between a radio, a computer and a Fortunetelling machine. According to a Wargamer article, I think they’re referring to the part about the ‘Astonishing Engine’, which… Lepidstadt experiment:
is apparently a machine filled with human brains that can answer questions only due to, and I quote, “the collective intelligence of these brains that have been cut apart and cobbled together” according to Landon Winkler. So no wonder they have to deal with people trying to exorcise it lmao
All of this not only sounds very useful if you're like me and pretty interested in various magical schools (though my itch with the Magaambya was scratched with Strength of Thousands to a degree), but also just fun to read! Can't wait.
Will the Player's Guide for this include advice for playing a necromancer or runesmith in this? A runesmith seems like a natural fit for this sort of story, and I've been thinking about some sort of pyre-tender necromancer, what with the focus in the blurb on funeral rites and cremation. While I agree, the only reason I don't think so is bc, at least judging from previous patterns, new classes generally aren't included in a Player's Guide until the finalized classes are out in their book. While we don't know much about the book the runesmith and necromancer are in, it's probably at earliest a late 2025 book but more likely a 2026 one. I'm new, but from what I've seen, most playtests seem to happen about a year before the classes come out? War of Immortals' playtest went from September to October of 2023, and the book came out October 2024. Battlecry! went from April to June of 2024 and it's coming out around August this year to my knowledge. The Impossible Playtest is still going on but started in December and wraps up this month. So I'd assume it's for a 2026 book from that pattern. I'd definitely guess that commander and guardian would be in the player's guide if just bc Battlecry! seems like it'll release during this adventure path's run. But I'd be surprised to see runesmith and necromancer included just yet. If anything, once they're out, you could also bring them backwards 'in time', as it were. This is all just speculation though, so would be happy to be wrong.
Heard about this in Paizo Live and even more hype for it now! Hero-gods! Myth-speaking! More Iblydos lore! My dream come true...
Is there any lore from older books, then, that might suggest other ways they serve the faithful and their neighbors beyond ritual and... walking? I checked 1e's Inner Sea Gods because I was sure it talked about different jobs and duties Desnan priests have or have done. Her church is described there as "extremely disorganized", seemingly by design, but it does have some details that are relevant to you. In the book, it says that the few temples she does have, especially those that are large enough, often double as observatories. They also keep libraries with astronomical and astrological charts, so you can assume right there that there has to be at least a few astronomers and astrologers involved in the church. Both Inner Sea Gods in 1e and Divine Mysteries in 2e state that she's worshipped by entertainers and bards, which is definitely influenced by the sheer amount of music in her services and rituals. In Inner Sea Gods, it says specifically, "Worshipers with performance skills share them regularly at festivals, local venues, and celebrations such as weddings." Finally, again in the 1e book, it mentions fortune-tellers, many of which specifically interpret dreams for clients. They're also said to help treat insomnia. I don't think any of this has been de-canonized per se, just that the wandering priest is pretty key to the faith as well. There's probably other places that delve into the church, but I can't remember right now.
All of the art in this is, of course, gorgeous. I thought I knew which school I'd find most interesting from reading older materials but honestly, all of them are. I can see a lot of different characters coming from the schools mentioned here. Excited to see more previews later on!
Nin time! Excited to see them as a patron for a villain so soon after they've entered the setting. "reveals unsolved mysteries" is a nice touch to me, personally, for backmatter knowing about Nin's sphere of influence. overall pretty eager for this adventure path and hype to know what the next one starting in July will be about.
Deeply loving the cover on this one. The backmatter sounds fun too - first Camazotz, now Zura. I wonder if that new vampire god Nin will be part of the backmatter for the third book? Who knows. Can't seem to comment on book 3's product page, but I was right about Nin!
Let's goooo, so delighted about this.
Checked the supplementary gods table really quick. Mammon could potentially fit if you effectively argue that "gather new wealth" (or perhaps even "gain financial control of others", both edicts of his) is in accordance with the thieves' guild's actions. His divine skill is also Thievery. After skimming the infernal dukes (both 1e and 2e), while I don't think a lot of them fit, depending on how flashy the thieves' guild is, you could potentially work in Ussharassim. but that's just kinda dependent on the flavor of the group, not really due to any connection to thievery.
Can confirm that he features in Faiths of Golarion. I'd say that it's the most informative document on him right now. While I think some of his 1e domains don't exist anymore in 2e and so on and so forth (though his updated domains are in the Divine Mysteries supplement table), it's still a good resource. The wiki says a lot from there, but not everything. In terms of hunting demons:
He was deeply upset by Treerazer's corruption of forests in Kyonin, being a god of forestry. The article claims that he led some archers specifically to drive Treerazer further back, though I don't know how canon that second detail is today. That's why his anathema is so anti-Treerazer; he wants him completely gone from Golarion. His faith (the dedicated priests at least) is supposed to meet every first full moon to confirm Treerazer is still 'trapped'. (Uh... don't tell them-) In terms of the Spore War Player's Guide:
While not mentioned in much detail, if you look at where they say "Competitive hunting events, such as safaris, in which animal are killed purely for spectacle or gratification, are regarded as shameful and criminal.", I believe that is both elven culture and Ketephysian culture. In Faiths of Golarion, the only trophy hunts he accepts are that regarding demons and undead. Every other hunt must be done in a means that deals with sustainability. Fun fact about him that might be helpful:
When he strikes animals with an arrow, they survive (and are unharmed) with a crescent moon mark. This mark protects them from dangers, and also uses them as a network to observe threats. Seeing one could be used as a sign of his presence in a campaign (or his favor!) I'm not sure if that all is pushing it, but I hope this is helpful.
I'm curious to know why that's a surprise, but that said... in 2nd edition, we've pretty much fully adopted a stance of setting the Adventure Paths in the same corresponding year to the one in which they are published. How LONG the events take to play out we generally don't encode, but there are sometimes exceptiosn (such as Season of Ghosts, which is designed to take a year in-world to play out). Oh, I see! I’m pretty new to Pathfinder so I didn’t actually notice that before. I just thought it was surprising because Triumph of the Tusk was said to start in late spring of 4724 and it felt more like a large jump in time to me than it actually is.
It's here!!! Kinda surprised it takes place in 4725 and not 4724, but that's chill.
Thank you for the transparency! Excited to see Spore War begin soon.
Thank you to everyone for your hard work! I’ve been scouring various threads and interviews about points of inspiration for various gods (both new and old, though newly interpreted), and it’s provided a lot of inspiration for me in terms of character crafting and future stories. Excited to see more from the authors here in the future!
so obsessed with the baba yaga hut train
Anything fun in the back matter? I enjoyed the lore in the Belkzen Faiths section personally. provides some clarifications, adds some mysteries, gives room for more orc deities in the future outside of a huge event shake-up. but I'm a huge theology fan, so that's my bias speaking lol
Hey! I want to say that I remember reading some stuff about noble titles and families in Cheliax, the Infernal Empire from 1e. The Cheliaxan ethnicity section in 1e’s Inner Sea World Guide at first glance doesn’t seem helpful but at least a few of the surnames listed there are noblility’s surnames like Thrune and Charthagnion. In Godsrain, they reference House Tanessen and Grulios. I vaguely know one of the Cheliax APs has an article on House Thrune specifically, but I don’t know what else they might say about other noble lines there. I hope this is remotely helpful!
Kinda curious why Lubaiko and Mother Vulture are affected when they don't seem to have died? I don't play PFS though, so maybe there's a reason I'm just not privy to.
Does anyone know what time the stream will be tomorrow? |