Welcome to the sprawling, sunbaked deserts of Garund. Whether you plan to raid ancient temples hidden beneath the sand for priceless treasures, venture through the endless wastes in search of rare flowers that promise everlasting youth, or smite evil cults that worship repugnant deities, the desert calls upon you to answer your destiny and claim your glory!
People of the Sands provides a player-focused, in-depth exploration of the scorching desert nations of the Inner Sea region. Each Pathfinder Player Companion includes new options and tools for every Pathfinder RPG player. Inside this book, you’ll find:
An overview of northern Garund’s perilous desert nations, including alchemy-fueled Thuvia, godless Rahadoum, and treasure-laden Osirion.
Detailed examinations of the people who populate Golarion’s harsh deserts, including the silver-tongued Keleshites, the enigmatic Pahmet, and the proud Garundi.
New magic items and equipment designed to help adventurers survive the hazards of the unforgiving desert.
New feats and spells to steep characters in the desert’s rich history, as well as two new prestige classes iconic to these harsh realms.
New rules options for characters drawn to the desert, including a new oracle archetype, a new sorcerer bloodline, a new cavalier order, and more.
This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.
Written by Shaun Hocking, Rob McCreary, and Jason Nelson.
Cover Art by Kieran Yanner.
Each monthly 32-page Pathfinder Player Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for all types of characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-601-0
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Crunch: 5/5 Stars
Flavor: 5/5 Stars
Texture: 4/5 Stars
Total: 14/15 Stars, or 4.5/5 Stars, rounded up to 5 Stars for sheer quality.
As far as I’m concerned, People of the Sands is the definitive guide to desert PCs. It feels very complete offers 32 pages of background information essential to playing a character from this region. I would have preferred the artwork to match the topics a bit better and one piece in particular heavily contributed to the product’s 4 Star rating in the Texture department, but in all this is an excellent product that makes for a strong addition to any GM or Player’s repertoire.
Originally posted on www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!
Product: Pathfinder Player Companion People of the Sands
Producer: Paizo
System: Pathfinder
Price: $12
TL;DR: An EXCELLENT PATHFINDER SUPPLEMENT! 100%
Basics: Come on down, hope a carpet and fly! People of the Sands serves as a guide book to Osirion, Rahadoum, Thuvia, and deserts in general as well as being the Mommy's Mask Players Guide. The book starts with the ancient and no so ancient history of Osirion. Then, it moves to the different types of people who live there. The centerfold of this book is a beautiful, weathered player map of Osirion. Next, the book discusses the three major desert modern day nations of Golarion. The last section of the book transitions to more player focused offerings covering two new player prestige classes, new magic and normal items, and then the players guide for Mummy's Mask.
Crunch or Mechanics: This book is full of mechanics. It full of new feats, spells, items, and two prestige classes (one of which is open to any class). While the book is mostly geared to alchemists, cavaliers, inquisitors, and sorcerers, it honestly has something for everybody. I LOVE it when supplements do that! 5/5
Fluff or story: Again, this is an amazing book. This book is full of detail regarding history, people, and the societies of the desert. It's not only "just" the standard book of facts, it's FULL of small details like sayings that different group use. That might just be filler to some people, but it helps me learn a little bit more about the people and their society. Heck, I've read a lot of Pathfinder books, and I learned new things from this book. 5/5
Execution: This book follows the standard Pathfinder Player Companion line layout: start with who the book is for/ask you GM section, then the real information. I love that and the rest of the layout. It makes the books read well. The test is broken up enough with headings and other thins often keeping the page from being just two columns/wall of text. I liked the art as it's the standard Pathfinder quality. If you ignored the text and just looked at the book, this is an example of how to layout and design a good RPG supplement. 5/5
Summary: I really liked this book. I felt it was worth my money. The book has lots of background, but it didn't skimp on the mechanics. Honestly, the book felt like a 50/50 split between the fluff and crunch. My only complaint isn't the books fault. I liked when the adventure path player guides were separate books. That part almost felt tacked on as the book covered so many different topics. However, even that section added more options for the players. When I'm working out and the bike rings to tell me I've gone far enough, but I can't put this book down so I keep going, you know you have a winner. 100%
I don't know why I continue to purchase these Player Companion releases. Very few of them have been worth my time or money. And this is another that's not worth it. The editing/layout is awfully inconsistent. It looks like different people did the layout for each page. For example, the Living Monolith Prestige Class actually says "Living Monolith Prestige Class" in its title bar, yet the Thuvian Alchemist Prestige Class just says "Thuvian Alchemist" in its title bar.
I was really hoping that the new Elemental Oracle Archetype would be worth it, but it's pretty darn mediocre. The Thuvian Alchemist actually is pretty decent if you want a healing-focused Alchemist. The Living Monolith still feels awfully powerful. I could be wrong, but it seems even better than the original one that was printed in that other book. I'll admit that there are a few traits and feats that I might consider taking for certain characters, but I wouldn't miss them if I had never purchased this book.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that region-based supplements tend to be my favourite ones, and People of the Sands certainly doesn’t disappoint. As part of the Player Companion line of products, it contains a lot of new mechanical options (as well as updates to things like the living monolith prestige class). However, it also contains a good balance of fluff, with background information on the histories and peoples of the region it covers, making it a book that is entertaining and informative to read, and useful for gameplay.
Less a players guide to the people of the sands and more of a primer for a handful of locations with little but their general climate in common. Particularly Rahadoum kind of felt out of place (and again. . .?), but with little new ground. It also seems to paint a different picture of Rahadoum than other sources?
I really hate the format (still) and especially in this book those dang Roles. And while it is not a copy/paste, there is little here outside of what has already been presented (multiple times at that) in other books such as the Inner Sea World Guide. There are two Prestige Classes, the reprinted/updated Living Monolith, (meh in my opinion) and the Thuvian Alchemist, (sort of a healer alchemist). Yet another Sorcerer Bloodline (looks like it could make a nasty NPC) and Oracle Archtype (just kind of seems thrown in here). Something I would have liked instead would be options for "desert-based" clerics, cavaliers, paladins, and other classes that are normally more Western European themed. Archtypes to help allow divine casters to be able to play in Rahadoum, or more things along those lines and usefulness.
There are a few items presented, and I'm pretty happy with those, and very surprisingly, the majority of it is actually in the price range that it might be used before Epic Level, too. The highest priced item in the book is the Flying Carpet/Tent @ 90,000 which is actually pretty dang cool, the +5 version of the Ring of the Meh coming in at 50,000, and otherwise the next highest priced gear is the oddly cool signpost at 10,000. Armor Vents are great, as is the little personal heater (burner).
A small selection of spells (mostly reprints I think, but not sure). The centerfold map is kind of cool, but at the same time, I was kind of hoping for something similar to the People of the North, with tis for surviving and playing in that climate. Something this book sadly lacks pretty entirely, and was a large part of what I was hoping for from such a book. All in all, I liked it better than People of the North, but it shares many of the same flaws.
Also, since this stupid thing won't let me edit my post, if the author of the "Hand of the Criosphynx" feat is around, I have a question:
What is the intended reaction when you mix the Two-Handed Weapon Fighter's "Overhand Chop" with "Hand of the Criosphynx"? Do you get triple Strength modifier on a charge?
I submitted feats for the Pahmet section, but they were altered during development. I had originally intended an "of the Sphinx" Feat tree that benefitted two-weapon fighting (not two-handed fighting) to give the Pahmet a specific combat schtick.
How Horn of the Sphinx works with Overhand Chop is probably a good question for the Rules Forum now.
So, regarding Storm of Blades... could a magus use a swift action to give a spare weapon an enhancement bonus, then cast the spell to give all 5 attacks a bonus to hit and damage?
Great product. I really enjoyed the artwork, discussions on the races (including the new dwarf spin off)and prestige classes. It is worth having especially if your focus is is running a campaign in northern Garund. I can't wait for the Osirian adventure path.
So, regarding Storm of Blades... could a magus use a swift action to give a spare weapon an enhancement bonus, then cast the spell to give all 5 attacks a bonus to hit and damage?
pretty sure not, since it specifies a typical sword of that type (aside from the material).
I'm actually wondering if you get STR to damage with the swords, as with thrown weapons, or anything else, or just flat dice, and also how it interacts with False Focus or mythic eschew materials. Could it just be whatever you visualize?
Also, without those feats, it amuses me to picture sorcerers carrying around a bunch of spare scimitars/falcatas/elven curveblades to use as "ammunition."
Has the whole Atheist thing become set in stone now because it was misused again in this sourcebook? We had established that Rahadoum was not an atheist nation, rather they supported Maltheism. They believe the gods exist, they just think Gods are a holes and not worth worshipping?
All in all its a good read, but it was the perfect place to correct the use of the world Atheist and replace it. Im more worried that because Rahadoum was stated in another book to be an atheist nation if you now used the correct word you would be confusing too many people.
In living monolith, it states under the 2nd level Ib Stone ability that when a spellcaster chooses an ib stone stone, they don't gain access to the greater ka stone and master ka stone abilities. Does this mean they still gain the base ka stone ability, which grants Toughness as a bonus feat and allows the use of the living monolith's class level to be used as their base attack bonus when increasing their size? My gut says yes, as the ka stone ability is something gained at 1st level and ib stone doesn't kick in until the next level, but for the sake of clarity I would like to have an official response to this query (I have an idea for a build that involves an enlightened bloodrager taking on this prestige class).
In living monolith, it states under the 2nd level Ib Stone ability that when a spellcaster chooses an ib stone stone, they don't gain access to the greater ka stone and master ka stone abilities. Does this mean they still gain the base ka stone ability, which grants Toughness as a bonus feat and allows the use of the living monolith's class level to be used as their base attack bonus when increasing their size? My gut says yes, as the ka stone ability is something gained at 1st level and ib stone doesn't kick in until the next level, but for the sake of clarity I would like to have an official response to this query (I have an idea for a build that involves an enlightened bloodrager taking on this prestige class).
The answer is no. In the soul stone ability, it says the living monolith must choose either an ib stone or a ka stone. If you choose ib stone, you don't get the ka stone, greater ka stone, or master ka stone abilities. It's not specifically called out that you don't get the 1st-level ka stone because you have to choose one or the other first, and an ib stone precludes getting any of the ka stone abilities.
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