Brave, cunning, and adaptable, humanity dominates the countries of the Inner Sea. Discover the legendary history and secret ambitions of humankind, the most populous race of the Pathfinder campaign setting. With the potential to do anything they set their minds to, humans have become unrivaled heroes, infamous villains, and even deities—and now the course of humanity’s future is in your hands. Learn of the varied and distinctive ethnicities of humankind, from rugged Ulfen vikings and scheming Chelish diplomats to noble Garundi travelers and mysterious Tian merchants, and master the unique skills and traditions they use to face the dangers of a world that refuses to be tamed.
Humans of Golarion presents a player-friendly overview of the fantastical human cultures of the Pathfinder campaign setting, along with new rules and information to help players customize characters in both flavor and mechanics.
Inside this book, you'll find:
Information on the physical traits, philosophies, traditions, histories, and cultures of humans—the most populous race in the Inner Sea
Insights on each of Golarion’s major human ethnicities, designed to help players create distinctive and exciting characters ready for any adventure
A detailed map charting the historical migration for the most common human ethnicities in the Inner Sea region
Revelations about Aroden, the fallen god of humankind
Notes on the lost empires of humanity, such as Azlant, Thassilon, the Jistka Imperium, Ancient Osirion, and more
New traits, spells, and weapons for each human culture
This Pathfinder Player Companion is set in the Pathfinder campaign setting and works best with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or the 3.5 version of the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.
Written by James Jacobs, Colin McComb, Sean K Reynolds, Amber Scott, and Larry Wilhelm
Each bimonthly 32-page Pathfinder Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for social, magic, religious, and combat-focused characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-315-6
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I can understand why people would feel cheated after reading this. The problem is that it tries to cover all the ethnicities. Compared to bombs like Gnome and Orcs that provide a ton more detail (since they can really focus - their equivalents would be region describing books in this respect) it feels a bit lacking, but the book certainly does a good job portraying the ethnicities from their point of view, thus bringing them closer to the player. The other books are more about what the ethnicities look like from the outside IMO. Seill a good book, but not as great.
This book has some really good content for background material on the different races of human and historical information on the human kingdoms. While this book is rules light, it is not light in flavorful information that would help roleplaying humans and setting up background for humancentric settings.
I enjoy the companion line as supplements for player information and npc building guidelines. The drawback to the line is that they are very text heavy and have to be read to really be useful. I assume that the majority of bad reviews for a book like this has to do with its lack of rules crunch, its focus on flavor over rules, and the textheavy nature of the book. This book doesn't appear to be a quick reference but is very useful if read.
If you like books with lots of rich background and history, and lots of flavor to help roleplaying human characters and human npcs this book is worth purchasing. If you are just looking for rules, feats, traits, spells, and things to add to character builds, take a pass on this book.
Really enjoyed this book particularly the section on Aroden. Yes several parts you can find in other books but it is good to have it all in one place instead of spread out over multiple companions or Chronicle books (Many of which are far to spoilerish to just hand a player and let them read for details.
I have all the racial player companions which are perfect for my purposes and “Humans of Golarion” is no exception!
As I, the GM, am making last minute preparations before game time and some or all of the players have selected their pre-generated characters I say, “Great, I see you selected the “___________”. Here is the player companion about that race. Skim through here if you like and it will briefly explain how your character fits racially into this setting.” My players love it! Also these books are indispensable at convention games.
Now that I have “Humans of Golarion” I can now say “Great, I see you selected the Human character. There are several ethnicities to choose from to add variety in appearance, depth in character background, and some unique traits to your otherwise cookie cutter “human”.
My players do not want to read the Inner Sea Campaign Setting book, they want to "Kill things and take their stuff!" So 32 pages let’s you get right to the point. As the GM, I would love for the book to go on and on with pages of feats, spells, and traits but this book isn't for me, it is for the players.
This has inspired me to run an adventure comprised of human characters each from 4 – 6 of the 12 different ethnic groups.
Just got this (actually, it motivated me to pick up the Companion Subscription), and it delivers what it promises. It'll make a great new handout for character creation for my group, since tend to make humans and half-breeds. The traits and treatment on Aroden also are awesome to see, whilst the migration map was probably the most useful for getting a good idea of what kind of person comes from where.
Nice to see a human-centric book. Now bring on the Neutral Deities!
I want a companion about the Kellids, this will not have enough pages.
YES!!!
but that is my only real grip. Sure the spells and traits are cool. The Aroden stuff is nice. The Migration map is awesome. But I was just hoping for more info on the Ethic groups as i am playing a Kellid Ranger Beastmaster ATM and would be cool for a little more info.
I absolutely love the cover art. When my husband pulled the book out, I was having flashbacks of Frazetta's artwork. Fantastic! I was also thrilled to see an unmarked version on the inside back cover. Keep it up!
Great background information. I found the book a little superficial and missing things.
No human traits but also no weapon table?!? I know some of the weapons are in other books but there are a few new ones.
A few questions about the Magic chapter of the book:
- in the spell description the class are cited are only those of the Core book.
What spells are available to non-core classes?
Burning arec seem a good candidate for a Magus;
Cultural Adaption maybe for the Witch and Inquisitor
Summon Totem Creature for a summoner.
- Ablative Sphere:
while it is an interesting spell it is decidedly unclear.
When the sphere take damage?
From area spells?
Melee and missile attacks?
The attacks should be aimed at the sphere or at the protected guy (and the sphere is damaged when its AC bonus protect the caster)?
If you must aim to the sphere to damage it, what is its AC?
I was just checking out the burning arc spell, and noticed that it affects a primary target, and 1 additional target / 3 levels, which would affect up to 7 people, at 18th+ level (assuming that there are that many targets available within 15 ft. of the primary target).
The damage is 1d6/level (max 10d6), and is halved (round down) each time it jumps to another target.
So, at 20th level, the primary target would take 10d6, the first secondary target 5d6, the next 2d6 and the next 1d6. That leaves three 'secondary' targets technically available, but since they take 0d6, it's kind of an empty gesture...
Even 12th level, it's already failing to affect it's fourth secondary target.
Has there been any sort of errata on this, or should I just assume that it bottoms out at 1d6 damage to the 4th, 5th and 6th 'secondary targets?'
Having it always round up (instead of round down) would accomplish the same effect, and up the damage on the second and third 'secondary' targets by 1 die as well, which could be handy.
A few questions about the Magic chapter of the book:
- Ablative Sphere:
while it is an interesting spell it is decidedly unclear.
When the sphere take damage?
From area spells?
Melee and missile attacks?
The attacks should be aimed at the sphere or at the protected guy (and the sphere is damaged when its AC bonus protect the caster)?
If you must aim to the sphere to damage it, what is its AC?
I am disappointed in how this spell has not been addressed after so long. I have an NPC (and soon a PC) with this spell and the mechanics are awfully incomplete.
