After surviving one deadly wilderness, the heroes emerge into
another—a land of ancient mysteries and sacred secrets known
as the Forest of Spirits. But the forest knows how to defend
itself from strangers, and its powerful and aloof guardians, the kami,
brook no harm to their eldritch home. Those who would defy the spirits of the
land have little hope of survival. Yet those who prove themselves friends to this
mystical realm and its strange inhabitants stand to gain not just great allies, but also
knowledge of a secret evil that has long festered in the forest’s heart and now poisons
all of Tian Xia.
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes:
“Forest of Spirits,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 10th-level characters, by
Richard Pett.
An investigation of the mysterious creatures known as kami, honored defenders
of the land and nature, by Mike Shel.
Insights into the ways and deadly techniques of the ninja clans of Minkai, by
Jesse Benner.
Deadly guardian geisha and a journey into one of Oda’s seedier gambling houses
in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Dave Gross.
Five new monsters, by Patrick Renie, Steve Russell, and Mike Welham.
Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-380-4
Forest of Spirits is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (532 KB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
The fourth volume of the Jade Regent Adventure Path, Forest of Spirits brings the player characters onto the continent of Tian Xia, and ever closer to their final destination of Minkai. But naturally, there are delays and obstructions that they must deal with along the way. Overall, Forest of Spirits looks to be a fun adventure, with moments of light-heartedness early on, followed by an opportunity for the PCs to make their first major strike against the central villains of the entire adventure path. Like the previous instalment, The Hungry Storm, it is very much a travel-from-point-A-to-point-B adventure, but unlike The Hungry Storm, it handles it in such a way as to give a greater sense of purpose to the PCs’ actions by tying it much more thematically to the land in which it’s set and by providing the PCs with a greater sense of accomplishment and resolution.
First I would like to note that this review is based on reading the adventure as my group has not yet reached this point.
This is the first time that the adventure actually enters the "mystic east" and the first part of the adventure is intended to give the PCs culture shock. I do recommend that if you are not familiar with Chinese and Japanese cultures to do some research before presenting the culture to the PCs.
The time spent is the city is flavor and intended to get the PCs to lower their guard before being ambushed. This will rip them out of the enchantment of Tian Xia and back to their mission.
I found that backstory presented for the pagoda to be well written and it will serve to flesh out the remainder of the encounters with the Oni very well.
The bestiary is also worth note in here because it is packed with Kami and Oni. A great resource. All in all this was a good introduction to Tian Xia.
Well got my email notice today that it would be shipping next week.
I received my email last night so lets hope I am near the top of list for first shipments to be sent out. D_M your luck seems to have been consistent lately in terms of shipments.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
the Haunted Jester wrote:
Dark_Mistress wrote:
Well got my email notice today that it would be shipping next week.
I received my email last night so lets hope I am near the top of list for first shipments to be sent out. D_M your luck seems to have been consistent lately in terms of shipments.
I got my notice last night, as well. Now the AP can really begin to delve into more of the Tian Xian cultures of Golarion. I have really been looking forward to these last three issues of the Jade Regent AP; especially the last one, but for reasons I can't go into.
Well got my email notice today that it would be shipping next week.
I received my email last night so lets hope I am near the top of list for first shipments to be sent out. D_M your luck seems to have been consistent lately in terms of shipments.
Yeah well i am fairly sure I am in the largest group of subscribers the superscripers which means that group is done first. Though occasionally I end up near the end, normally that's when i order extra stuff though.
Either way I am hope early next week to get the PDF's.
Current cover (samurai dressed in jade armor standing in front of a hobgoblin attack in the forest) is indeed the final cover. If you're seeing something else, your internet browser is acting snarky.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Dragon78 wrote:
Lucky you Ice Titan, mine will more then likely ship tuesday and get here next week.
My copy of the last module hasn't arrived yet. But I'm not panicking yet, I had it take a little over three weeks one time for the module to ship over the ocean.
Art's good. Maps are huge. I was going to make a tongue-in-cheek joke about 80 square long maps.
Spoiler:
It actually contains one that is 100.
Great looking maps, though. I alternate between loving Jared Blando for maps like this and hating him when he draws off-geometry with maps like Brinewall Castle.
The Kuwa Oni will be in Bestiary 3, not the Jade Regent AP. Forest of Spirits will probably have the Oni based on hobgoblins (Janoi?). Each of the last two adventures would then feature one of the Yai (Oni based on a giant).
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Seems like I got it yesterday, only that my notification mail didn't arrive yet.
First impressions:
- Finally some diplomacy and roleplaying-heavy encounters, in the first half of the module! Looks fun and I'll look forward to seeing how my players handle them.
- Sadly, there's once again basically nothing for our important NPC's to do. There's even nothing to indicate what the GM is supposed to be doing with them while the PC's are off in the different encounter locations. Some reasons why the NPC's aren't accompanying the PC's would have been very much appreciated, also some further guidance at which level they are supposed to be kept in respect to the PC's.
Y'know, this book went really, heavy deeply into the Oriental horror vibe. The primary dungeon has more things in to gross and horrify the characters then anything in Carrion Crown.
If you think the Oni are just some more faceless evils to beat on, this book will disabuse you of that notion quite severely.
Lucky you Ice Titan, mine will more then likely ship tuesday and get here next week.
My copy of the last module hasn't arrived yet. But I'm not panicking yet, I had it take a little over three weeks one time for the module to ship over the ocean.
Do you download the PDF's to look through? they are available probably a week before the product ships. Just DL them.
Given I'm renting now, I'm actually wondering what to do with all the paper copies when I eventually move. I love being able to pick up and read something, but I do have to say, data is a lot more portable.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Vic Wertz wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Seems like I got it yesterday, only that my notification mail didn't arrive yet.
Notification emails are sent within seconds of the order being processed (and of the PDF being attached to your account). Check your spam filter?
Paizo ain't in it. :) It's just as possible that I simply deleted it with some other mails, although that happens very seldomly. If next month the same thing happens, I'll make some noises. ^^
Paizo ain't in it. :) It's just as possible that I simply deleted it with some other mails, although that happens very seldomly. If next month the same thing happens, I'll make some noises. ^^
It does look like your email notification went out, but it's entirely possible a grue ate it. Please let us know if you have any further problems with emails from us!
Got it! Love it! Even better, I do believe I have successfully reverse-engineered the Kitsune Character Race from one of the NPCs.
The Ja Noi is the only oni entry in this issue's bestiary. The other entries are all kami.
The new NPC ally introduced in this issue does not get a romance score.
We get our first look at a Kitsune? Now I gotta get it -- okay, I had to get it in any event, but now it's a case of 'Before I buy any other Pathfinder books'.
Minor question. Oni and Kami seem to get Common as a language, sometimes their only language. I cannot believe this is Taldane, so is 'Common' now used relatively to denote the common language of an area, i.e., in this case probably Tien?
Minor question. Oni and Kami seem to get Common as a language, sometimes their only language. I cannot believe this is Taldane, so is 'Common' now used relatively to denote the common language of an area, i.e., in this case probably Tien?
In the bestiary pages for oni and kami, we use Common as a language, since that's what's in the Core Rulebook. As Tien is the "common" tongue of Tian Xia, they should definitely speak Tien instead if they're encountered there. The actual kami and oni in the Adventure Path have Tien (and other Tian languages, especially Minkaian) in their stat blocks. If a stat block in the adventure lists Common and Tien, then the creature speaks Taldane as well.
I am pre-rereading before I run this. A question;Does Li Xu (pg 17) have a xp award? if so it is not in her stat block. Just asking .
Li Xu is NG, so she does not have an XP award. As explained under XP in "Elements of a Spirit" on page 16, "The PCs do not earn XP for destroying a good spirit or a spirit that provides a boon."
PFS players as well as the PFS GMs and the PFS team have to stick to the errata, no matter wether there is another source of the item getting not errataed or not. This was a design team decision, the PFS team wasn´t involved and for PFS players there´s no way around.
Some people might want to keep the pre-errata stuff though and buy those PDFs now for this cause. So more of a not-PFS thing.