Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide (PFRPG) Hardcover

Vic Wertz wrote:

John Kretzer wrote:

Ran into a problem....my FLGS has not got it in yet...and it will be awhile. Apperently his distributor got the shipment in and 50% to 75% had a misprint(they were upside down)....so I am going have to wait. :(

I am wonderring is his distributor is telling the truth...or just lieing? As they...always seem late with stuff. So did this misprint...or better yet mis- binding? happen?

We've tracked this down... your retailer's distributor did receive *one* copy with a binding error, but all of his other copies were just fine. They are, however, currently sold out. They've placed a reorder with us, though, so your retailer should have it soon.

That is pretty much what I thought happened. I don't like dishonest people....ansd this place is always throwing the publishers under the bus...

Like I said, Just there today, and the shelves are stacked with Inner Sea Guides.

sorry if this was covered, i cannot see where the 'search in this thread" option is.

Quick question about the new hellknight prestige class. The older version from CoT had you use your WIS mod. for the smite chaos, but now it just lists it as per the paladin ability. So its now based on CHA and not WIS?

if so, this makes me sad, I had a great idea for an INQ/ Hellknight (godclaw) character.

Correct; Hellknights use Charisma now, not Wisdom. They're more akin to paladins than any other class, after all.

Doesn't mean you cant' do an inquisitor hellknight, of course. Especially since charisma is a pretty good ability to have for an inquisitor anyway.

Solarious wrote:

sorry if this was covered, i cannot see where the 'search in this thread" option is.

Quick question about the new hellknight prestige class. The older version from CoT had you use your WIS mod. for the smite chaos, but now it just lists it as per the paladin ability. So its now based on CHA and not WIS?

if so, this makes me sad, I had a great idea for an INQ/ Hellknight (godclaw) character.

Correct; Hellknights use Charisma now, not Wisdom. They're more akin to paladins than any other class, after all.

Doesn't mean you cant' do an inquisitor hellknight, of course. Especially since charisma is a pretty good ability to have for an inquisitor anyway.

Very true. I was just thinking of the syngery of having 2 wis based classes. No matter! I will still ssmite the Chaos!

For those asking 'What's the difference?', I cross-post the following post I put on another thread. My post is a bit rough and ready, and doesn't explain specifics of things in the Inner Sea World Guide such as 'the history of Alkenstar has now changed and says xxx instead of yyy' or 'these are the new versions of firearms', but I hope nonetheless that my post is at least some use for giving an impression of how/what has changed...

In response to the requests for information on principle changes between the first edition Campaign Setting and the Inner Sea World Guide, this is what I have observed (spoiler tagged to reduce ‘wall of text’ impact on the thread):

General overview:

Spoiler:

The page count has gone up from 256 to 318 plus two pages of adverts. However there are more interior maps and artwork which eats into this additional space. Besides the double-page art spreads at the start of each chapter, there seem to me to be a good many more half page pieces of art.
In the first edition Campaign Setting I count (on a quick skim through) sixteen pieces of half-page art, six half-page maps, one half-page planar diagram, two full-page maps, and the pull-out ‘Reigon’ map at the back. There are also minor illustrations of equipment, people, heraldry, and so forth on many pages.
In the Inner Sea World Guide I count (on a quick skim through) seven double-page art spreads, forty eight half-page pieces of art, forty half-page maps, one half-page sketch-map of the world, one half-page diagram of the solar-system, one half-page planar diagram, two full-page maps, and the pull out Region map at the back. It also has an opening page which is a full page of little more than effectively art. There are also minor illustrations of equipment, people, heraldry, and so forth on many pages.
By my count that’s 49 more pages of art/maps in the Inner Sea World Guide than in the Campaign Setting. Probably slightly more, given that what I’ve referred to as ‘half-page’ maps and art in my count of the first edition Campaign Setting were probably actually less than that, and are at least half an inch shorter than their equivalents in the Inner Sea World Guide.
The maps in the Inner Sea World Guide do not appear to suffer from the ‘boundary and settlement creep’ which occurs in the first edition Campaign Setting.
The chapters in the Inner Sea World Guide are alternately colour-coded red and blue, I suspect for slightly faster at-a-glance reference.
The Inner Sea World Guide has done away with the appendices and sidebars (and much of their former content) of the first edition Campaign Setting. The double-page spread with writing/messages from the editor, Robert J. Kuntz, and R. A. Salvatore has been cut.
The first edition Campaign Setting had an introduction, five chapters (Characters, The Inner Sea, Religion, Organizations, and The World) three appendices, and an index.
The Inner Sea World Guide has an introduction, seven chapters (Races, The Inner Sea, Religion, Life, Factions, Adventuring, and Monsters) and an index.

Within the context of the general changes I outlined above I will now touch on some specifics of what’s changed in terms of the material on a chapter by chapter of the original first edition Campaign Setting basis:

Chapter One (Characters):

Spoiler:

The first couple of pages has effectively gone, the flavour text for the races has gone and the race entries been reduced from double page spreads to single pages. Shoanti now get a page as a human ethnicity. Some of the ‘other races’ information has been simply removed, whilst the rest has been moved to the ‘Monsters’ chapter of the new Inner Sea Guide. The one-class-a-page character class stuff has been removed (including the ‘variants’ concepts) and condensed down (with addition of the new base classes from the APG) to a couple of pages at the start of the ‘Adventuring’ chapter of the new Inner Sea Guide.

Chapter Two (The Inner Sea):

Spoiler:

The opening overview is gone, replaced by a brief look at waterways and by the (slightly expanded timeline). All the national entries are now four pages, although Alkenstar City is now part of the new ‘Mana Wastes’ entry, and Hermea is part of the new ‘Steaming Sea’ entry. There is a new entry for the ‘Five Kings Mountains’, and the Darklands entry (formerly in ‘The World’ chapter) has been moved here. All national entries except the Darklands entry now feature a half-page map. All national entries feature a half-page piece of art to open with (into the bottom left corner of which an appropriate national badge or emblem is often inset). Some national flags/emblems have been substantially revised.
Given the addition of artwork and/or maps, some of the content of the national entries which had four pages in the first edition Campaign Setting has been cut back on. I have specifically noticed a loss of detail in terms of personalities in the Ustalav entry, for example. I would guess that the intention here is to restrict this sort of detail to nation-specific books or Pathfinder articles.

Chapter Three (Religion):

Spoiler:

The domains presented in the first edition Campaign Setting are now gone, although there was a lot of overlap with information presented in the Pathfinder Core Rules. The only domains presented are the Scalykind and Void domains.
The twenty main deities are presented in much the same manner. There’s some shake-up of how information regarding other significant players is presented, (including the addition of information on Gyrrona and Hanspur who lost their sidebar in the River Kingdoms entry) and the addition of the fey powers and the evil elemental lords.
‘The great beyond’ is reduced from ten pages to eight, with loss of details for pre-existing entries, and the addition of new entries for areas such as the Dimensions of Dream and the First World.

Chapter Four (Organizations):

Spoiler:

This has become Chapter Five (Factions) in the Inner Sea World Guide. The Aspis Consortium has been expanded to two pages and restructured slightly. The text for the main five factions has been reorganized to some extent so that each now has a ‘public perceptions’ section.
Darklight Sisterhood, Iridian Fold, Lumber Consortium, Odeber Family, Sweettalkers, and the Old Cults are out of the minor groups (although with regard to the latter group ‘Great Old Ones’ now get a mention in the religion chapter), Hemothurges become Bloatmages, and The Eldritch Order of the Palatine Eye, Free Captains, and Lion Blades are in.

Chapter Five (The World):

Spoiler:

Quite a bit of this content has been moved into other chapters. What is left is in The Inner Sea World Guide as Chapter Four (Life). The Timeline and Darklands entries have been relocated to Chapter Two, the domain spells were all associated with domains revised or incorporated into the core rules and are all gone, the equipment section has been purged of material now in the core rules and moved to Chapter Six (Adventuring) with the firearms rules being substantially revised.
The Fauna and Flora entries have been run together and compressed to a total two pages with some creatures and plants disappearing altogether, some of the general feats are gone and the rest have been moved to Chapter Six (Adventuring) where they have been consolidated with some of the feats from the axed national entry sidebars, the Languages entry has been compressed to one page, and the Lost Kingdoms entry has been relocated to Chapter Two, with the Tar Taargadth information being folded in the Five Kings Mountains entry and the rest being expanded into a four page entry.
The Prestige Classes have been relocated to Chapter Six (Adventuring) though the Pathfinder Chronicler and Shackles Pirate are now gone. (The former class is now in the PFRPG core rules though.) The Psionics entry is gone.
The Aeromantic Infadibulum is gone from the Technology entry, relocated to the Shory part of the Lost Empires section in Chapter Two. The Clockwork part of the Technology entry has been expanded in the new entry to include adding clockwork traits to constructs. Electro-thaumaturgy has disappeared and is now replaced with Numerian Technology.
The ‘Other Worlds’ element of Time & Space has been relocated to Chapter Two and (although mention of some festivals such as Vault Day and Lust Festival have disappeared) the remaining Holidays & Festivals element expanded, including a sentence or two about what most festivals involve or are about.
The Trade entry has been compressed, with the North and South Tack being reduced to a paragraph each, and the description of other trade routes and of coinage added.
Some paragraphs on ‘Society’ have been added immediately after the Trade section.
The Weather and Climate entry has been compressed to one page with a loss of the description of some weather phenomena and all information in the two sidebars.

For the record, the index has been expanded by perhaps a third of the page and doesn’t seem to have quite the same page number problems experienced by that of the first edition Campaign Setting.

On the ‘What’s Completely New?’ front, there is the appearance of stat-blocks for several creatures (including possible PC/NPC races) in the new Monsters chapter of The Inner Sea World Guide. To a lesser extent (generalising) there is also new information in national entries which were (previously) two pages.

My overall impression is that a lot of finer detail has been axed on the basis that it’s going to end up (if it has not already done so) in another (more appropriate?) product, and what’s left has been substantially reorganised with more and better maps and a change in presentation style. Sidebars are nearly extinct. The aim of the Inner Sea World Guide seems to me to be to provide a broad general overview of the region whilst maintaining a working level of usefulness to a GM/player.

This is a good book to have. We just got it at the table and I'm going through it reading page by page. I can't wait until I am through because of the fact that it is a real enjoyable read. The only thing we really need is more cowbell and maybe a Volo's guide to the realm, even though we have 6 pages a month.

I'd give it four stars minimum.
-B

I get my first of two copies in the mail tomorrow! Can't wait two wrap my hands around the precious!

Got my copy from UPS. This is no book; it is a work of art!

For those asking 'What's the difference?', I cross-post the following post I put on another thread. My post is a bit rough and ready, and doesn't explain specifics of things in the Inner Sea World Guide such as 'the history of Alkenstar has now changed and says xxx instead of yyy' or 'these are the new versions of firearms', but I hope nonetheless that my post is at least some use for giving an impression of how/what has changed...

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

In response to the requests for information on principle changes between the first edition Campaign Setting and the Inner Sea World Guide, this is what I have observed (spoiler tagged to reduce ‘wall of text’ impact on the thread):

General overview:
** spoiler omitted **

...

Thankyou CHarles,

That is immensely helpful.

I'm a little disappointed by the amount of stuff that has been cut, I guess I'll have to cross-reference between both books to get the full picture.

I'm a little disappointed by the amount of stuff that has been cut, I guess I'll have to cross-reference between both books to get the full picture.

Well, that depends on what version of Golarion you want your home game to be. Everything that was cut from the old book is now no longer canon for the official version of Golarion and will no longer be referenced in future products. And some of the mechanics/crunch was left out because they felt it would not update well to Pathfinder rules from 3.5 rules.

I, for one, am happy that Dragons got dialed back to a less Forgotten Realms-y role in the world.

I, for one, am happy that Dragons got dialed back to a less Forgotten Realms-y role in the world.

+1

Got my copy from UPS. This is no book; it is a work of art!

Could not agree more.

I just downloaded and flipped through my copy this morning. This book is simply a thing of beauty. Just skimming through it stirred my creative juices. Well done!!

Can I send in my copy of the Golarion campaign setting to get a discount on the new improved version?

GeraintElberion wrote:

I'm a little disappointed by the amount of stuff that has been cut, I guess I'll have to cross-reference between both books to get the full picture.

Well, that depends on what version of Golarion you want your home game to be. Everything that was cut from the old book is now no longer canon for the official version of Golarion and will no longer be referenced in future products. And some of the mechanics/crunch was left out because they felt it would not update well to Pathfinder rules from 3.5 rules.

And yet SOME of those things that were cut that you refer to as not being canon in the official version, e.g. the Iridian Fold, are mentioned in other products, e.g. City of Strangers (w.r.t. the Iridian Fold), that ARE (iirc) canon...

-- C.
Sorry if that seemed a little snarky: Just feeling a little disappointed at the moment at the loss of some of the things cut - viz. Iridian Fold - but will withold final opinion once I actually get the product by the end of April... Hopefully...
(Living in Japan & the recent natural disasters have caused a little bit of havoc in the transportation of non-relief-essential goods all over the country, resulting in long delays in deliveries...)
But I'm fine, otherwise. :)

I just have a question about the low templar: its 10th level ability grants it a "planar cohort" but I can't find rules for planar cohorts anywhere in the PF SRD.

Just wondering how that works! Thanks!

I just picked this book up and all I can say is ... WOW! What a great book!

Kudos to everyone at Paizo for all the hard work - it really shows. I can't reccomend this highly enough. Even if you just get the PDF (although, honestly, the actual book is so gorgeous, I would strongly say to pop for the physical product) this is a must have.

Well done guys! Really well done!

I just have a question about the low templar: its 10th level ability grants it a "planar cohort" but I can't find rules for planar cohorts anywhere in the PF SRD.

Just wondering how that works! Thanks!

Those rules function as detailed for cohorts in the Leadership feat. That it's a "planar cohort" means simply that the cohort is some sort of outsider of the appropriate strength; there are tables at the back of each Bestiary that list several appropriate cohorts.

The goal of the Inner Sea World Guide is to present an overall view on the Inner Sea Region.

That meant that we needed to increase the "footprint" in the book for a lot of things that got glossed over in the previous hardcover (notably, all of the 2-page nations). It also meant that we decided to omit some things that didn't really make sense appearing in a book that's supposed to be about the entire region. Things like the Iridian Fold are cool and are still canon in the game... they're just not something that needs to be talked much about in a book that's attempting to cover 40+ regions of two continents in only 320 pages.

With the exception of a relatively small number of ret-cons (such as making Alkenstar a much younger country), things that were mentioned in the previous hardcover but aren't in this one ARE still in the game. Something like the Lumber Consortium in northern Andoran is still there, but they're focused on a small part of one region, and that just doesn't justify the group taking up any space in the book when we want to talk about more important elements (such as organizations that have been or likely will be playing key roles in Adventure Paths or the Pathfinder Society).

And a big part of my job as Creative Director was making all of those decisions about what did and didn't get mentioned in the hardcover.

GeraintElberion wrote:

You misunderstood the process.

He didn't buy a book that he was not interested in reading.

He bought a book, through a subscription which normally provides fantastic reading material, and discovered afterwards that the book was largely a reprint of a book he already owned.

He has no other way of getting the extra information that he did not already own, he could only buy the book. There is no other product available that prints the new information.

So, in order to learn the new stuff he wants to learn he had to also buy redundant stuff as it all came packaged together.

He now wants to know how to access the new stuff without going through the process of re-reading the old stuff that is bundled with it.

The request seems entirely reasonable to me.

He bought a subscription to save money, and should have known that the downside to subscribing is that he might not be equally interested in everything included in that service. Now he wants to have the publisher extract and collate all of the information that he wants out of the product for him personally.

This used to be called wanting to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too, and was considered somewhat contemptible.

Paizo makes products. AFAIK, they are not in the personalized service business. Maybe he has a friend who wants to read the whole thing and will highlight the stuff he wants to read for him, while reading the book. It seems downright wacky to me that he thinks Paizo would do it, though.
-Kle.

I've always found that saying odd. Want to have you cake and eat it too. Well if I have a cake I'd want to eat. Now reverse the saying to wanting to eat your cake and have it too makes more sense. You ate the cake and wish you still had it. Happen to me all the time with small cup cakes, dang their small size!

I just picked this book up and all I can say is ... WOW! What a great book!

Kudos to everyone at Paizo for all the hard work - it really shows. I can't reccomend this highly enough. Even if you just get the PDF (although, honestly, the actual book is so gorgeous, I would strongly say to pop for the physical product) this is a must have.

Well done guys! Really well done!

Same here; and I got The Haunting of Harrowstone as well! Sweet Asmodeus, The World Guide is gorgeous! I'll just echo your words, Marc: every Golarion GM should buy the book and not just the PDF, it's well worth the price!

My wife gave me this book for my birthday. A very excellent gift indeed. I have read a few sections and scanned over the book a number of times. This book is the awesome-nomicon. There is just an immense amount of flavor in this book. I would have like to have seen a traits section (did I miss it?). Other than that one minor thought, I have nothing but great things to say about this book. Please note that I do not own the previous edition, so I cannot make that comparrison. One quick question: The prestige classes in this book seem to be more on par mechanically with the base classes than prestige classes from other books. Was this more of a result of translating the existing classes from the 3.5 version or was this due to the general improvement / evolution of the prestige class generation process?

Thanks again for a great product.

My wife gave me this book for my birthday. A very excellent gift indeed. I have read a few sections and scanned over the book a number of times. This book is the awesome-nomicon. There is just an immense amount of flavor in this book. I would have like to have seen a traits section (did I miss it?). Other than that one minor thought, I have nothing but great things to say about this book. Please note that I do not own the previous edition, so I cannot make that comparrison. One quick question: The prestige classes in this book seem to be more on par mechanically with the base classes than prestige classes from other books. Was this more of a result of translating the existing classes from the 3.5 version or was this due to the general improvement / evolution of the prestige class generation process?

Thanks again for a great product.

The traits, being almost entirely a player character resource, would have been awkward to put in this book, which is mostly intended to be a GM resource.

So we put traits into the book's companion, the Inner Sea Primer instead.

Prestige classes should be on par with base classes—they should be options that allow you to specialize, not things that make you way too powerful or way less powerful than if you stuck with a base class.

My wife gave me this book for my birthday. A very excellent gift indeed. I have read a few sections and scanned over the book a number of times. This book is the awesome-nomicon. There is just an immense amount of flavor in this book. I would have like to have seen a traits section (did I miss it?). Other than that one minor thought, I have nothing but great things to say about this book. Please note that I do not own the previous edition, so I cannot make that comparrison. One quick question: The prestige classes in this book seem to be more on par mechanically with the base classes than prestige classes from other books. Was this more of a result of translating the existing classes from the 3.5 version or was this due to the general improvement / evolution of the prestige class generation process?

Thanks again for a great product.

Traits for all of the major Inner Sea regions and countries can be found in the Inner Sea Primer, from our player-friendly Player Companion line (since players are most likely to use traits).

I just picked this book up and all I can say is ... WOW! What a great book!

Kudos to everyone at Paizo for all the hard work - it really shows. I can't reccomend this highly enough. Even if you just get the PDF (although, honestly, the actual book is so gorgeous, I would strongly say to pop for the physical product) this is a must have.

Well done guys! Really well done!

+1

While messing with the new map I found these nations have a capital listed in the Inner Sea guide but are shown on the maps as "Towns":

- Mediogalti Island (Ilizmagorti)
- Mana Wastes (Alkenstar)

From reading their entries in the Inner Sea guide it looks like these are NOT capitals. James?

While messing with the new map I found these nations have a capital listed in the Inner Sea guide but are shown on the maps as "Towns":

- Mediogalti Island (Ilizmagorti)
- Mana Wastes (Alkenstar)

From reading their entries in the Inner Sea guide it looks like these are NOT capitals. James?

The Mana Wastes and Mediogalti Isalnd aren't truly nations, really. They're both wilderness regions that happen to have a very unusual organziation located there. Listing them as "capitals" is something of a misnomer, since instead, they're more accurately described as "Most important settlement in the region" but that looks really ugly as opposed to the word "capital."

Just got mine today and I thought the staff did a great job all and all. My only complaints are I found the populations on the low side so in my game I will add another zero. I was hoping for some information on troop types and how each region/nation approached warfare. In my opinion what is written is not enough for me. Thank you for including the firearms in the equipment section. All and all though I recommend this book strongly.

The goal of the Inner Sea World Guide is to present an overall view on the Inner Sea Region.

That meant that we needed to increase the "footprint" in the book for a lot of things that got glossed over in the previous hardcover (notably, all of the 2-page nations). It also meant that we decided to omit some things that didn't really make sense appearing in a book that's supposed to be about the entire region. Things like the Iridian Fold are cool and are still canon in the game... they're just not something that needs to be talked much about in a book that's attempting to cover 40+ regions of two continents in only 320 pages...

Understood. And thank you for clarifying the decision-making that went into putting the World Guide together.

Although one of the organisations that were cut from the book are no longer considered canon (the Darklight Sisterhood) IIRC, the others are all still there (they've appeared in various other books, some published relatively recently, too). Of course, there are fans of the Sisterhood that most certainly still consider the organisation canon in their Golarion. ;)

Thanks again.

-- C.

...that "If it's no longer in the Book, it's no longer Canon!"

That kind of thinking I find to be (for me) rather stifling to creativity & imagination...

And by stifling to creativity & imagination, I refer to fluff, background, color, etc.

Just being a little clearer - I hope. ^^

--C.

If and when we DO do something with them, I strongly suspect and hope that we'll do so in the framework of something like a "Guide to the Mana Wastes" or something that'll be relatively self-contained.

Don't tease me. :)

Viva Alkenstar!

Loving the book except that my Aldori swordlord has what is now a finessable long sword while I have a high strength. Think I will try to talk the DM into keeping the old one or otherwise I guess its rebuild time.

Loving the book except that my Aldori swordlord has what is now a finessable long sword while I have a high strength. Think I will try to talk the DM into keeping the old one or otherwise I guess its rebuild time.

You might also want to check the new archetype in the Inner Sea primer...

I've always found that saying odd. Want to have you cake and eat it too. Well if I have a cake I'd want to eat. Now reverse the saying to wanting to eat your cake and have it too makes more sense. You ate the cake and wish you still had it. Happen to me all the time with small cup cakes, dang their small size!

Both phrases mean the same thing.

The order of objects in a compound sentence does not imply chronology.

It is confusing though, because 'have' is such a flexible word.

Perhaps "Eat your cake and keep it" would be better?

The book is great, the title has proven to be slightly wordy in practice.

The other GM in the group who has a habit of accidentally mislabeling things, makes it a point to constantly mislabel the book. It has gained traction with the players, with Inner City Youth Guide being the current favorite. XD

But everyone loves the book,(The art and presentation getting special mention) we have two copies in our group.

voska66 wrote:

I've always found that saying odd. Want to have you cake and eat it too. Well if I have a cake I'd want to eat. Now reverse the saying to wanting to eat your cake and have it too makes more sense. You ate the cake and wish you still had it. Happen to me all the time with small cup cakes, dang their small size!

Both phrases mean the same thing.

The order of objects in a compound sentence does not imply chronology.

It is confusing though, because 'have' is such a flexible word.

Perhaps "Eat your cake and keep it" would be better?

Be careful. The cake lies.

Sledge wrote:

Loving the book except that my Aldori swordlord has what is now a finessable long sword while I have a high strength. Think I will try to talk the DM into keeping the old one or otherwise I guess its rebuild time.

You might also want to check the new archetype in the Inner Sea primer...

Its nice and all. Now if only my character was a fighter.

Was the sword considered "too good" with the x3 multiplier. Isn't the Falcata still x3?

James Jacobs wrote:

Sledge wrote:

Loving the book except that my Aldori swordlord has what is now a finessable long sword while I have a high strength. Think I will try to talk the DM into keeping the old one or otherwise I guess its rebuild time.

You might also want to check the new archetype in the Inner Sea primer...

Its nice and all. Now if only my character was a fighter.

Was the sword considered "too good" with the x3 multiplier. Isn't the Falcata still x3?

I guess so. I kinda think that we may have OVER nerfed a lot of the weapons, but it's probably better to be on the safe side, I guess.

In any event... assuming you have a generous GM, allowing rebuilds or adjusting an archetype to work for a different class shouldn't be that big a deal.

Pic of me with my World Guides. Absolutely love these! My preciouses!

Sweet poster.

Sweet poster.

You think that Twin Agate Poster is sweet? That's...nice.

Oh wait, you mean the poster.

Erik Mona wrote:

Sweet poster.

You think that Twin Agate Poster is sweet? That's...nice.

You know, I thought the exact same thing. :) Nice chuckle in the morning.

-Lisa

Sweet poster.

That's actually a banner.

VERY impressed with the book, light years ahead of the first. Amazing what having maps for every nation can do. One minor nit, though -- it would've helped greatly to have adjoining nation names on the maps as well as the names of bodies of water (like the two main lakes in Avistan). As it was I had to keep flipping back to the front (or look at the gorgeous poster map) to get my bearings. Still, wonderful book, and definitely feels like 1ed Greyhawk Folio setting.

Why the omission of a Psionics entry? Is Paizo just backing off entirely on that matter? (Leaving, yet AGAIN, another RPG line treating it like a bastard child of the game?)

Why the omission of a Psionics entry? Is Paizo just backing off entirely on that matter? (Leaving, yet AGAIN, another RPG line treating it like a bastard child of the game?)

Because we don't have any official rules for psionics for the Pathfinder RPG.

For the previous book, we did—the previous incarnation was a 3.5 product, and thus could use/reference psionics via the SRD with no problem.

We don't know if and when we'll be handling psionics in Pathfinder, but the chances of such rules working like they do in the 3.5 SRD are close to 0. If and when we do stuff with psionics, we want the flexibility to be able to do anything we want and need to do with them, and putting a section on psionics into the Inner Sea World Guide would would have not only limited our options, but would have annoyed a lot of folks since we certainly wouldn't have room to talk about HOW they work.

Psionics, in any case, ARE a part of Golarion. They're established as part of the world canon. They're mostly tied to the Darklands and Vudra, though. And if and when we do decide how they work in PFRPG, you can bet there'll be some sort of "Psionics in Golarion" book soon thereafter.

Just not before.

Sooo - half-orcs can be found both in the Lands of the Mammoth Lords and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords?

Sooo - half-orcs can be found both in the Lands of the Mammoth Lords and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords?

Lands of the Linnorm Kings and Realm of the Mammoth Lords is what that should say.

Sooo - half-orcs can be found both in the Lands of the Mammoth Lords and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords?

Yup! One half in each...

Yup! One half in each...

Oooh - now I get why they're called half orcs...