Creative Director
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It's the spider-things from the Irespan - nice cover! Go Seoni!They're called Shriezyx and were statted up in Dungeons of Golarion. Complements of a past Runelord of Wrath's fleshwarping experiments. Seoni's making an excellent choice using fire magic...
They also get a proper bestiary-style entry in this book too, which is nice.
Very much looking forward to this book. Magnimar is most definitely my favorite city in Golarion, and I'm planning to run "Shattered Star" after I finish my "Rise of the Runelords" campaign.
One weird thing-- at the moment, this product isn't listed under the "Preorder" or "Unavailable" tabs of the Campaign Setting section of the site. In fact, there don't seem to be any links to it at the moment. (I found the page with a product search.)
Thanks for the heads-up. It should be in the right place now.
So how many monsters are we getting in this one?
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Reading the comments above about the Empyreal Lords having a lot of influence in Magnimar has just increased my interest in the city several orders of magnitude. One of my biggest reservations about Golarion has always been the relative lack of particularly "GOOD" cities/nations. (Andoran was pretty much the only one I could name off hand. Feel free to point out any others. 8^)
Now I really can't wait for this book to come out! 8^)
So how many monsters are we getting in this one?There are 13 statblocks, though seven of those are NPCs, so—five.
What's the 13th, then? :)
THE IRESPAN
(Andoran was pretty much the only one I could name off hand. Feel free to point out any others. 8^)
Now I really can't wait for this book to come out! 8^)
Andoran
KyoninLastwall
Mendev
Nirmathas
...based on the Campaign Setting book. :)
What's the 13th, then? :)So how many monsters are we getting in this one?There are 13 statblocks, though seven of those are NPCs, so—five.Like, in order?
The one with a name that starts with the letter furthest back in the alphabet. :)
Sorry.. humor failed.
Where I come from, 13 - 7 = 6, not 5. Your math only accounted for 12 of the 13, so I asked "what's the 13th, then?"
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Director of Narrative
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Sorry.. humor failed.
Where I come from, 13 - 7 = 6, not 5. Your math only accounted for 12 of the 13, so I asked "what's the 13th, then?"
Ha! I'm the goof.
But my count was still accurate on the monster end of things, just turns out I miscounted the NPCs. (And did crummy simple math.)
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I'm really eager to see how folks respond to the map of Magnimar in this book; it's a pretty different style than we usually do maps. Let us know if you love or hate it!
Well, my first reaction was "This looks just like the map in (the new) "Rise of the Runelords" (well, not strictly true - my very first reaction was that the shape of the city was more than a little reminiscent of Waterdeep).
Looking a little closer, though, I see several differences. Not just a few differences in content - there's a big change in the overall appearance, most noticeably in the water. Of the two, I definitely prefer the look in the Campaign Setting book.
Comparing these maps to even older examples (such as the maps of Absalom found in either the Guide to Absalom, or in First Steps Part I) I find both the newer maps to be much clearer and easy to read.
So count me as in the "Love It!" camp.
I'm really eager to see how folks respond to the map of Magnimar in this book; it's a pretty different style than we usually do maps. Let us know if you love or hate it!
It's a pretty cool map. At first, I was surprised it wasn't drawn by the usual two cartographers (Lazzaretti or Blando), but the style blends in nicely with the usual Paizo style, and I imagine it's easier to have more than two cartographers on the roll call given the amount of stuff you are putting out. So… I like it. :)
Is that Daigle any good? ;-)
I almost purchased this at PaizoCon, but Death's Heretic and the Runelords book won out.
Love the new map! Love how each entry has it's own mini map as well (you've done it else where, but I love it each time you do). I'm super excited to get my hands on a hardcopy of this.
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Creative Director
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I just recently started reading the campaign setting books, and the number of high level NPCs in this small city of 8,000 irked me a little. I counted 5 that were 12 or higher. Is this par for the course?
Yes... but there's more than double 8,000 people in the city of Magnimar (it's population number is in fact 16,428).
Golarion is not a low magic world. There are high level NPCs out there.
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Creative Director
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scale is off on the irespan. the columns are described as 100 ft diameter an the bridge as 300 ft wide. so either the entries are wrong, or the columns are drawn too small, or the bridge is drawn too wide. looks closer to 500-600 ft wide on the map.
Yeah... there was a scale adjustment at the last minute, but looks like one of the older scales snuck through.
The map is correct. The pilings are indeed 200 feet wide.
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scale is off on the irespan. the columns are described as 100 ft diameter an the bridge as 300 ft wide. so either the entries are wrong, or the columns are drawn too small, or the bridge is drawn too wide. looks closer to 500-600 ft wide on the map.
Yeah... there was a scale adjustment at the last minute, but looks like one of the older scales snuck through.
The map is correct. The pilings are indeed 200 feet wide.
That just increases the scale discrepancy in the map image, and makes no sense. If the pilings are 200 feet wide, they would be overlapping 50 feet of each other under a 300 foot wide Irespan. If the pilings are 200 feet wide, then the Irespan itself would need to be on the order of 1000 feet wide, looking at the image.
Just wondering are monsters at the back of the book or in each chapter. Thanks
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I found the statblocks for each city district to be interesting. The differences in modifiers give each a feel of being fairly distinct from the overall tone of the city, and from each other.
I am curious as to how they were determined, though. The GMG provides the mechanics for setting the overall values for the city, but some of the district modifiers are very different. For my own use, I had considered two approaches toward doing the same thing: one, that the city modifiers reflected the average of those of the districts, and two, that the city modifiers represented the extremes of the individual districts. Since neither of those seem to be the case here, I am curious as to the method.
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Ashava is my favorite too. I blame James (I think) That's why I made the mystery cultist a cleric of Ashava and linked the azata to her.
Heh, that entry caught my eye too in the short time I had the book in my hands before work. Really liking the idea of benign mystery cults getting some play. :)
The city-stat breakdown by district popped out too. I'm really digging that approach now.
Eager to get to sit down an actually read the book.
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Creative Director
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I found the statblocks for each city district to be interesting. The differences in modifiers give each a feel of being fairly distinct from the overall tone of the city, and from each other.
I am curious as to how they were determined, though. The GMG provides the mechanics for setting the overall values for the city, but some of the district modifiers are very different. For my own use, I had considered two approaches toward doing the same thing: one, that the city modifiers reflected the average of those of the districts, and two, that the city modifiers represented the extremes of the individual districts. Since neither of those seem to be the case here, I am curious as to the method.
For the district breakdowns, I basically just swapped points around on all the values as made sense for the district. AKA: If I reduced one value by 2, I made sure to increase a different one by 2.
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Creative Director
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scale is off on the irespan. the columns are described as 100 ft diameter an the bridge as 300 ft wide. so either the entries are wrong, or the columns are drawn too small, or the bridge is drawn too wide. looks closer to 500-600 ft wide on the map.
Yeah... there was a scale adjustment at the last minute, but looks like one of the older scales snuck through.
The map is correct. The pilings are indeed 200 feet wide.
That just increases the scale discrepancy in the map image, and makes no sense. If the pilings are 200 feet wide, they would be overlapping 50 feet of each other under a 300 foot wide Irespan. If the pilings are 200 feet wide, then the Irespan itself would need to be on the order of 1000 feet wide, looking at the image.
Well... you don't just increase the pilings... you increase EVERYTHING by that amount. AKA: The scale on the map is correct, and a few unfortunate measurements in the text are off.
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Oh snap.
Page 40. U5, The Harpy.
1. Well that explains that long running (5 years!) gag!
2. That is one hell of a hook waiting to be exploited.
3. Scratch that, this screams huge plot just waiting to explode all over the place, especially combined with how widespread this character's footprint is by now.
:D
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Creative Director
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| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh snap.
Page 40. U5, The Harpy.
1. Well that explains that long running (5 years!) gag!
2. That is one hell of a hook waiting to be exploited.
3. Scratch that, this screams huge plot just waiting to explode all over the place, especially combined with how widespread this character's footprint is by now.
:D
** spoiler omitted **
"She" sort of has a cameo in an upcoming adventure...
... but yeah... there's more going on with her and her sculptures that, some day, we'll explore more of.
I'm really, really loving this book. The magic monuments are a nice touch (although I think some of the skill DC are too high). The Yama is really cool and the art is very good, but the book could have used something like the "landscape" picture in the Rise of Runelords Magnimar article.
I think I found some mistakes:
page 17 Aeryn Darvengian: rouge -> rogue
page 18 shouldn't the brothel and the No-Horn tavern be in the relaxation section?
page 23 Deadeye Lodge: this section lacks the period (i think that's how it's called...).
page 30 the Osprey Club is exclusive of the most prestigious magnimarian families, not sea captains.
page 32 Arvensoar, Commander Ismeir Odinburge: honest but inflexible, man -> honest but inflexible man.
page 43 in one place Miior Duvanti is a LE bard 13 and on another she is a NE rogue 6.
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Creative Director
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I'm really, really loving this book. The magic monuments are a nice touch (although I think some of the skill DC are too high). The Yama is really cool and the art is very good, but the book could have used something like the "landscape" picture in the Rise of Runelords Magnimar article.
I think I found some mistakes:
page 17 Aeryn Darvengian: rouge -> rogue
page 18 shouldn't the brothel and the No-Horn tavern be in the relaxation section?
page 23 Deadeye Lodge: this section lacks the period (i think that's how it's called...).
page 30 the Osprey Club is exclusive of the most prestigious magnimarian families, not sea captains.
page 32 Arvensoar, Commander Ismeir Odinburge: honest but inflexible, man -> honest but inflexible man.
page 43 in one place Miior Duvanti is a LE bard 13 and on another she is a NE rogue 6.
Thanks for the comments!
The monument DCs are intentionally high—they're supposed to be things that if you get them at low levels you should be cheering in triumph, and so when you get them easier at high levels you can think back on how hard they used to be to get and now they're not an as a result you feel like you've accomplished something for betting to be high level.
There really wasn't a good place to do a landscape picture of Magnimar in the book... but there's a GREAT one coming up in the Varisia Player's Guide.
And yeah... errors creep in. Most of the ones you note are pretty obvious and non-game-impacting errors, at least. The last one is one of the only actual game errors I've found in there... she's a bard 13. As with several other bad guys in the book, she's intended to be a long-term nemesis whom the PCs finally get to tangle with once they are themselves above 10th level.
For the district breakdowns, I basically just swapped points around on all the values as made sense for the district. AKA: If I reduced one value by 2, I made sure to increase a different one by 2.I found the statblocks for each city district to be interesting. The differences in modifiers give each a feel of being fairly distinct from the overall tone of the city, and from each other.
I am curious as to how they were determined, though. The GMG provides the mechanics for setting the overall values for the city, but some of the district modifiers are very different. For my own use, I had considered two approaches toward doing the same thing: one, that the city modifiers reflected the average of those of the districts, and two, that the city modifiers represented the extremes of the individual districts. Since neither of those seem to be the case here, I am curious as to the method.
So a net 0-sum change within the district. Thanks!
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I'm going to second the notion there seemed to be a lot of higher level NPCs inhabiting the city. Though it may be because I've been in a E6 gritty mindset lately.
The ISWG does say there are only a few NPCs higher than level 10 or so per nation, so I guess it's not completely out of whack but seems like a lot. Between the major cities in Varisia and the NPCs within, one would think there is no need for adventurers.
But then, I'm also not a fan of the Pathfinder Society in-universe. Unionized adventurers strikes me as...weird. Why go on adventures? There is always a group of Pathfinders roaming around to take care of that.
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Creative Director
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I'm going to second the notion there seemed to be a lot of higher level NPCs inhabiting the city. Though it may be because I've been in a E6 gritty mindset lately.
The ISWG does say there are only a few NPCs higher than level 10 or so per nation, so I guess it's not completely out of whack but seems like a lot. Between the major cities in Varisia and the NPCs within, one would think there is no need for adventurers.
But then, I'm also not a fan of the Pathfinder Society in-universe. Unionized adventurers strikes me as...weird. Why go on adventures? There is always a group of Pathfinders roaming around to take care of that.
In a city of about 15,000 people... having a handful (maybe a dozen or so—if that) of NPCs who are higher level than 10th constitutes less than a fraction of 1 percent of the total population... which to me counts as there being "only a few NPCs of higher than level 10 per nation."
The amount of high level NPCs in Magnimar are pretty much on-par... even low... compared to the amount of high level NPCs we do all the time in our Adventure Paths.
Golarion, it's important to remember, is NOT a low-magic world where there are no high level characters. The high level characters exist... usually in the form of possible NPC antagonists or to justify where higher level spellcasting comes from in a city.
But then, I'm also not a fan of the Pathfinder Society in-universe. Unionized adventurers strikes me as...weird. Why go on adventures? There is always a group of Pathfinders roaming around to take care of that.
For the same reason that smaller non-union companies (PC parties) exist, to get a piece of the market without having to deal with the politics/issues that you might not agree with that come with being part of large unions (Pathfinder Society). I think the main reason it could seem odd is that it plays a more visible role in both the campaign setting and product line side of things unlike what has been produced by other companies in the past.
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I'm going to second the notion there seemed to be a lot of higher level NPCs inhabiting the city. Though it may be because I've been in a E6 gritty mindset lately.
The ISWG does say there are only a few NPCs higher than level 10 or so per nation, so I guess it's not completely out of whack but seems like a lot. Between the major cities in Varisia and the NPCs within, one would think there is no need for adventurers.
Just because someone else is capable of doing "great" things does not mean they will. Also, while the PCs are the focus of their story does not mean that their's is the only story happening. In other words, those "high" level NPCs have better things to do. Just my opinion.
But then, I'm also not a fan of the Pathfinder Society in-universe. Unionized adventurers strikes me as...weird. Why go on adventures? There is always a group of Pathfinders roaming around to take care of that.
The Pathfinder Society is not a do-gooders league. They are Treasure Hunters. They steal the treasures and artifacts of other people and shove them in a giant warehouse for "safe-keeping".
A question prompted by your statements. Do your Players only adventure because if they don't do it no one else will? Because you are implying above that that is the only reason to adventure.
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The Pathfinder Society is not a do-gooders league. They are Treasure Hunters. They steal the treasures and artifacts of other people and shove them in a giant warehouse for "safe-keeping".Like Warehouse 13, I hope they have their own Claudia. :)
Considering some of the stuff floating around Golarion, it's a wonder they haven't gone full-tilt into SCP Foundation territory by now.
I was a bit upset there weren't any half-orc NPCs in the book, but that's okay, it's still giving me plenty of ideas for plot hooks in an upcoming adventure. I think I still preferred the layout of Guide to Korvosa though, especially with the NPC appendix in the back, and the section on history.
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^^^^yeah, I just noticed that I hadn't seen any anywhere. Was hoping to see a few and how they fit into the city, since it's the most egalitarian organized city in Varisia.
Reading further, really want to use the Golemwalk Parade in a number of ways.
It has me wondering a bit at the other sorts of regulations they might have beyond ensuring safety. Like, if flesh golems made from donated cadavers aren't outlawed, would they still be forbidden from the parade on the grounds of "public decency" or at the very least PR? Not that many golemmakers would bother with it considering the other (much more marketable and aesthetically pleasing) material they have to work with in the area.
Imagine Brigh has quite a following in Magnimar...
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Creative Director
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I was a bit upset there weren't any half-orc NPCs in the book, but that's okay, it's still giving me plenty of ideas for plot hooks in an upcoming adventure. I think I still preferred the layout of Guide to Korvosa though, especially with the NPC appendix in the back, and the section on history.
That's more or less by design—half-orcs don't have a big role in Magnimar at all.
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Kaer Maga: ~8,000 population, 400 half-orcs (5% of total), 4 half-orc NPCs mentioned (City of Secrets)
Magnimar: ~16,000 population, 160 half-orcs (1% of total), 0 half-orc NPCs mentioned (City of Monuments)
One or two mentioned NPCs might have been appropriate, but really, James's point is supported by the numbers here.