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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures

3.80/5 (based on 14 ratings)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures
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There are things that dwell in the dark places of the world, in long-abandoned crypts or musty attics—terrible things that can destroy your body and shatter your mind. Few individuals would think to seek out such nightmares, but those drawn into the darkness often find it infecting them, corrupting them in ways both subtle and disgusting. Some believe those who die facing such horrors are the lucky ones, for the survivors are forever scarred by their experiences.

Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures gives you everything you need to bring these nightmares to life. Within these pages, you'll find secrets to take your game into the darkest reaches of fantasy, where the dead hunger for the living, alien gods brood in dreams, and madness and death lurk around every corner. Rules for players and GMs alike pit brave champions against a darkness capable of devouring mind, body, and soul. To prepare to face such torments, the heroes can take new feats, learn powerful spells, and even acquire holy relics—for they'll need every edge possible to survive!

Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures includes:

  • Corruptions that can turn your character into a powerful monster, from a blood-drinking vampire to a savage werewolf. The only cost is your soul!
  • Character options to help heroes oppose the forces of darkness, including horror-themed archetypes, feats, spells, and more!
  • A detailed system to represent sanity and madness, giving you all the tools you need to drive characters to the brink and beyond.
  • Tips and tools for running a genuinely scary game, along with an in-depth look at using horror's many subgenres in a Pathfinder campaign.
  • Expanded rules for curses, diseases, environments, fleshwarping, haunts, and deadly traps.
  • New templates to turn monsters into truly terrifying foes, from creatures made of living wax to a stalker that can never be stopped!
  • ... and much, much more!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-849-6

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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Spooky Fun, Can't Wait to Curse My Players

5/5 —

I am in love with this book. The themes for archetypes are spot on and everything goes beyond horror basics, it's much more than vampires, werewolves, and zombies (though they are included). Some of my favorite elements are the Deep One corruption (corruptions in general are sweet, this seems like a well balanced mechanic for horribly warping the PCs into monsters, while still giving them a way to fight it) and the Gingerbread Witch. The Deep One corruption is a great example of the depth of horror this book includes, this plays on a less often used horror theme of the paranoia of harming oneself (in this case, by drowning). This reminds me so much of elements from the book The Boy Who Drew Monsters, and the mom's terrible fascination with people who drowned in a shipwreck a hundred years ago. You could adopt this same corruption for vertigo or even a bodily harm thing. On a lighter side, the Gingerbread Witch made me so, so happy. It's a well thought out archetype, I'm not sure they'd be great as a player character (but there aren't evil restrictions, so have at!) but I can't wait to insert a horrible Gingerbread Witch near some unassuming town, with her creepy haunted gingerbread house and evil delicious familiar.

I just can't say enough good things about the mechanics. They are flexible enough that you don't have to have a horror specific campaign to use elements from this book. The fear and sanity rules can be used with any campaign to add realism or more of a gritty fantasy feel. If your level 1 characters just killed a person for the first time, maybe they should lose some sanity and wrestle with that emotion. If they are in a dank, creepy dungeon with skeletons, maybe some of them would be spooked. The rules for adapting fear resistant characters like Paladins are also nicely balanced and I appreciate that attention to detail - your paladins don't have to yawn at the sideline, they're vulnerable too, just in a way less debilitating way that actually paints them as more of a hero around evil and undead.

Lastly, the warning about needing consent before using this book in a campaign was a very nice touch. That totally hooked me when starting to read this book. I kind of thought I'd just have spooky themed elements, but that paragraph inspired me to try to take this to the next level. How fun would it be to have a session that turns your actual living room into a haunted house, or to be the director of the scariest experience your friends have had all year?

If Halloween is your favorite holiday or you love low, gritty fantasy, I highly recommend this book. I will be reading this one cover to cover and am excited to use its elements for many, many sessions.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5 —

This massive hardcover clocks in at 255 pages - if you take away editorial, index, etc., you still arrive at 249 pages of content, which is A LOT.

I was gifted a copy of this book for the purpose of a fair and unbiased review. My review is based on the hardcover of this book.

Now, the first thing I'd ask you to do, is to read the series of Miscellaneous Musings I wrote on horror gaming in general. Or least the last one. Why? Because it is my firm conviction that one has to establish realistic expectations in order to review a book such as this.

(The articles are fully linked on my page.)

Alternatively, if you already own it, there is a sentence in the advice chapter on running horror games that should be taken to heart: "Pathfinder is not designed with horror in mind." I'd like to elaborate on this, at least briefly. As I have established in my long, long rants on the subject matter, it is my firm conviction that you can run horror in PFRPG, even purist horror, but that the base system per se is more conductive towards playing the angle of pitting horror against the angle of heroism, of allowing PCs to have a shot against the darkness. While you can modify PFRPG to play akin to CoC, the game is simply more conductive towards the heroic angle.

It is a testament to PFRPG's versatility that horror of any way works in the first place, in spite of the focus of the game. Now secondly, I'd like to address two aspects of the game and what we can expect, with the first being character options. We are all aware of the vast array of built-options available for PFRPG and thus, it should come as no surprise that yes, we do receive a significant array of player- (or at least character-)centric options. Which would bring me to the first observation: It is my firm convictions that players should stay out of this book.

No, really. You see, quite a lot of the new class options, like the blood alchemist, elder mythos cultist, hexenhammer or medium spirit-variants like the butcher or lich (for champion and archmage, to give two examples) scream "NPC" for me. I know, it is perhaps not what you'd expect me to do, but ultimately, I consider the material here to be mostly intended for the GM. Yes, we have martyr paladins with stigmata and bloody jake slayers and serial killer vigilantes. Yes, some players will want to play these...but from my experience as a horror-GM, it may actually make sense restricting these...or simply not telling the players about the rules. Before you're asking, btw.: From a min-maxing perspective, you'll probably find better options anyways...but if that's a consideration for you when playing in a horror game, I'd strongly suggest thinking about priorities and of what makes for a fun game for everyone - see my long, long posts on the necessary contract/gentlemen's agreement between the GM and player.

That being said, there is one aspect I am holding against this book, in spite of the aforementioned previous considerations, and that would be that there is no dividing line between content obviously designed for players/good guys and that for villains - it does show in the archetype-section and, more than that, in the feat-section, where we can find REALLY cool Story-feats alongside a bunch of feats intended for evil characters or monsters - in the latter case often enhancing universal monster abilities and providing further numerical escalation - which would be less of an issue, if PFRPG didn't have this many options to gain access to precisely these abilities. In short, we are catering to a mindset here that kinda undermines the horror premise the rest of the book is trying hard to set up. In short: We also get a lot of alternate racial traits for the core races, which generally fit with the themes of horror, though the fortification they offer against these challenges don't really fit my personal vision of what I like to play in the context of such a campaign, but your mileage here may obviously vary. These are my least favorite aspects of the book.

But let's move back to the very beginning: The advice given for players when making characters for horror adventures is extremely sound and should most certainly be read carefully - the book spells pretty much out what I did, minus the advice on Achilles heels, but I guess you can't have everything. The notes on making a compelling personality etc. makes sense, and so does the advice of roleplaying fear. I am a big fan of the note that the book emphasizes conspiration and communication with the GM here.

One of my favorite parts herein would be the more diversified take on Fear: We are introduced to a 7-step progression tree of various states of fear, including rules on immunity to fear and how it should be used in conjunction with this system. It works pretty seamlessly, though I honestly wished the already widely in use cowering condition had been implemented here as well - considering the effects of the highest fear-level "horrified", the differences are not that pronounced. And yes, I am aware that this adds a bit of potential complexity to some options, but here at least, I consider the trade off worth it.

Sanity...is a bit more clunky. We get a relatively simple system: Add mental attributes together and you have the sanity score; half of that is the sanity edge. This determines the severity of the madness incurred when something exceeds your sanity threshold - which is equal to the bonus of the highest mental attribute bonus. When you incur a sanity attack and its damage exceeds the threshold, you gain a madness - simple, yes...but it does ultimately reward characters that are SAD on a mental attribute, whereas in my opinion, sanity-shattering effects often are made worse by understanding them properly, perceiving them properly, etc. The system is not bad per se, but it requires managing three scores and for that, it doesn't deliver the results I'm personally looking for in such a system. Your mileage may vary, obviously, but yeah.

The star-subsystem here would be basically PFRPG's take on dark powers-checks, so-called corruptions. These tie in with character flaws of the PC and represent a dark and malevolent stain on the character that slowly mutates them, granting benefits, while at the same time driving them further down the dark path. Where previously, in Ravenloft, you ultimately became a darklord, corruptions now have 3 stages, with the final stage usually turning you NPC. Progression along this path is via a variety of actions and they generally have a catalyst to first spring them on a character. These corruptions also feature tempting powers, so-called manifestations, which also come with a stain, a drawback, that is in relation to the behavior in question.

Now, first things first: At one point, I wrote a pretty long essay on how to tempt both players and PCs at the same time with horrific power and the psychological reasons to do so - while it has been cut and never been published, let me summarize: I argued that a weakness of the monster-transformation aspect championed by Ravenloft was, that on the one hand, the PC should be horrified by what he does, while craving the power in question. Similarly, the player should feel the same.

If there is a disjoint between player and PC, roleplaying suffers. The corruptions, when looking at them, are surprisingly tame - not in their visuals, mind you: The hive, for example, is really icky. Still, it is somewhat surprising to see the heavy penalty of corruption stage 3...and at the same time, the significant array of manifestations each corruption offers. Now, some folks have complained about the risk of being turned NPC being too high (it's a sort of game over, after all), but from a meta-design perspective it can be a motivator for munchkins to take heed.

There is another aspect to the system pretty much every review I read did not pick up on - and I don't get why. In my third essay on horror gaming, I talked about the realities of being a big publisher and not one of the underground one-man operations. I also talked briefly about the witch hunts our hobby is subject to, one that continues in some regions and circles. More than that, moral and aesthetic limitations vary within persons - more so between folks. As the big dog that Paizo is, it is pretty hard to sell "play a monstrously vile thing and the descent into evil" to a part of their demographic - though, in particularly the hardcore horror fans will want exactly that, the teetering on the edge of damnation experience, for from this precipice, the best redemption stories are woven.

Here's the beautiful thing about the corruption system: The increase of manifestations is not tied to the corruption stage progression. At all. You can retain the whole save mechanics, variants and the whole rest and just throw out the three stages. You can introduce as many stages as you'd like (perhaps 7 or 5, as previous editions of the game did - perhaps 13, if you want to go an occult angle...) - the system's validity remains. And yes, I'll confess, my kneejerk response was like that of many out there, to complain and curse about the 3 stages - but know what? This is by far the best and most detailed (and balanced) such system I have seen for a d20-based game. It covers the company and at the same time, easily allows for PCs and NPCs, for GMs and players alike, to enjoy a system I never expected to see in this shape or form from a big publisher. Now personally, I would have actually increased the potency of the corruptions if you're running with the stage-limit and NPC-threat...but, once again, that is if you're planning on playing a relatively tame campaign. The fact that each manifestation has its custom gifts and stains, completely divorced from the stages, means that you retain maximum control when tweaking the system to your needs. The fact that the save to resist progression is tied to compulsive behavior means that even it, as an aspect, remains valid, its tie to further manifestations in the save-calculation providing a roleplaying catalyst even without the presence of the threat of NPCdom.

The chapter on magic provides a wide array of thematically fitting spells that range from the subtle to the in-your-face blunt - sleepwalking suggestions, massive, gory blood effects and cursed terrain generally make sense and even otherwise pretty standard damage spells included herein sport nice visuals: Screaming flames? Yes, I can see that working. I am honestly more in love with the fact that we get a 5 pretty neat occult rituals here that all are amazing in their own way, with each having the potential to act as a proper plot-cornerstone. I wished we got more of them!

Now, I mentioned that I consider this to be a GM-book and indeed, the GM-section is a bit of a treasure trove in some aspects: We get a couple of new curses and advice on making more, as well as notes on cursed lands and items - if the topic interests you: Both Legendary games and Rite Publishing have released whole supplements dealing with curses, often in really creative ways, but that as an aside. Curse templates allow for the customization of curses herein. Now, the disease chapter gets my full-blown applause for disease templates - and e.g. the one named "incurable." It actually does what it says on the tin! (minus the usual wish/miracle-caveat) - this is amazing. I mean it. Diseases have, in pretty much every d20-based system, been afterthoughts, crippled, lame and ultimately were the lame brothers of poison. This changes that. The sample diseases like "brain moss" or "gore worms" also make me tingle and twitch in a good way.

Speaking of things I like: We get a vast number of cool terrain hazards, haunted spots and the like to add to encounters, allowing for quick and easy eerie customizations. Domains of Evil can also be found. You know. Domains. With dread fog. That modify how magic works. With hazards and potentially different flow of time. That are haunted. Yeah, let's stop teh pretense here: If you're like me and a sucker for Ravenloft, then this chapter will have you smile from ear to ear, even before the rules on nightmares and the couple of traps. These, btw., unfortunately are the roll to see and disable kind - particularly in a horror game, team effort, complex traps that require multiple tasks make for the more compelling option, but I digress.

Now, the next section of rules is something that I was looking forward to, since it had been featured, but never codified properly in rules at least not by Paizo (there are a couple of 3pp-forays into that territory)- fleshwarping! And yes, it is cool. It sports a ton of nice effects, but the system is, to a degree, a double-edged sword: On one hand, fleshwarping works really well and on the other, its price is perhaps a bit too high: Let me elaborate: Fleshcrafts can either be permanent grafts or temporary mutations, instilled by an elixir that requires succeeding a Fort-save to gain the benefits. The temporary prices and benefits and being keyed to slots etc. makes sense for the elixirs, but since the effects also sport a penalty, the price for the respective fleshcraft grafts is still pretty high when compared to magic items - baseline for the grafts seems to have been 1/2 of a comparable item's base price to make up for the drawback. Considering the disfiguring nature of these options, that may still be pretty high, though. It depends a bit. Chaotic fleshwarping mutations can also be found - and unlike the chaositech mutations of yore, these generally are detrimental.

The extensive section on haunts that follows includes templates for them (called haunt elements) as well as variants like dimensional instabilities, maddening influence, magical scars and psychic haunts. The array presented ranges from humble Cr 1/4 to CR 20, including classics like being buried alive or the twisted wish. Madnesses are codified in lesser and greater madnesses - big plus here: For once, a supplement does not confuse schizophrenia with dissociated identities. (Seriously, if I had a buck whenever I saw that being confused...)

Now, one of the most useful sections regarding GM-considerations would be the massive chapter that deals with running horror games - which not only classifies and quantifies horror sub.genres, their tropes, etc., but also mentions all the classics like lighting, music, creating an undisturbed environment, etc. - tricks for dealing with various snags, how to encourage horror roleplaying etc. - and it is sad, but obviously necessary that, beyond talking about what does and does not fly with individual players, overdoing it does not work. HOWEVER, I do actually disagree with one aspect - involving outside people. To have an unrelated accomplice like a spouse play with the light on e.g. a stormy evening - not all the time, but once or twice, can be rather effective...but I generally get why these disclaimers are here. This section, obviously, is targeted at less experienced GMs in the genre - and in particular such GMs will also appreciate the section on improvising rules for e.g. being buried alive, crumbling structures, etc.

Part II of my review can be found here!

Subpar book, mostly for GMs

2/5 —

This book has a lot of systems, mechanics, archetypes, feats, spells, environment challenges, haunts, curses, etc. While most of it is clearly presented and has enough flavor text to give you some ideas on how to use it, everything just seems to fall flat.

My two biggest gripes (I have more than just two):
1) The sanity system is horribly balanced, heavily penalizing martial characters, and it's effects are easily cured by powerful spells. Really poorly executed, why make the gap between martials and casters even worse?
2) Most of the Archetypes are realistically for GM use only, as they are very niche. I wanted to give my players a lot of cool horror themed archetypes to play with, instead they got a scant few.

This book really could have been SO much better. Disappointed.

Paizo Knows Horror and Here's Their New Toolkit!

5/5 —

Paizo reviews come in two forms: players that whine because they wanted something other than what was in the book (^^^)and then gamemasters/players that actually review the material provided. This is a review from the latter.

Paizo has created some of the best horror themed adventures for Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons over the course of their existence. In this book, they round it all up and spell out all of the tricks and tips they use to make it happen.

I have written everything from adventures to comic books to film scripts and I would easily hand this book over to a non-gaming writer that needed advice on how to create horror. This book goes to great lengths to provide players with archetypes for classes to use in horror themed adventures as well as giving gamemasters tools they need to create horror in session after session.

Players get archetypes, feats, spells and new gear with which to battle the horrific forces of the multiverse. GMs get a ton of new tools including a nifty new Bestiary that brings us Pathfinder versions of Alien-style xenomorphs called the Hive AND a nice analogue for the Slender Man called the Unknown. Horror requires more than monsters, so you also get new rules on corruptions, curses, diseases, horrific environments, fleshwarping, haunts, madness and more!

Creating horror is more than giving players more 0's they can add to their attacks. It involves setting, tone, atmosphere and management of expectations. If you want to run a game that makes your players fear for their characters lives, then pick up this book and give it a read. Follow up with the recommended reading and required viewing and you'll get a feeling for how to instill dread in everyone sitting at your table.

More Like Evil Adventures

3/5 —

This book feels more like Pathfinder's version of the Book of Vile Darkness then horror themed adventures. Also this is a very DM heavy book though I thought it would be 70% player 30% DM but is actually the other way around.

The Good
-I loved the Dread Lord, Hive, Trompe L'Oeil, Unknown, and Waxwork Creature.
-I like the Corruptions.
-I like the reprint/expanding of madness rules.
-I like some of the magic items like mantle of life, monster almanac, and elder sign.
-I liked a few archetypes like the two for witches.

The Bad
-Too many evil archetypes, spells, etc.
-Do not like the sanity rules.
-Do not like the fleshwarping rules for characters.
-Most of archetypes were lacking or unusable for players.
-Very few interesting spells that are player friendly.
-Very few interesting feats.
-Not enough character options related to specific class features like wild talents, bloodlines, rogue talents, oracle curses/mysteries, etc.

I feel this book was a missed opportunity for same great horror based player character options. Such as expanded options for void kineticist like fear effects, controlling/creating undead, etc. new psychic disciplines, sorcerer/bloodrager bloodlines, oracle curses/mysteries, hexes, phantom emotion focuses, etc. I could even see some interesting ideas for rogue talents, rage powers, slayer talents, etc. I would have been fine with reprints like the pestilence sorcerer bloodline, kineticist void element, and other fitting options from past books.

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Silver Crusade
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Just in time for my Sailor Moon inspired magical girl one-shot adventure in Nidal!
Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Archetypes needed: cultist, worshiper, sacrificus, caller (of ancient unknown evils), etc...

That being said, I am looking forward to the fleshwarping rules. Been a while since those have been printed and had to use my own. Be nice to see what someone else comes up with.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Not particularly excited about this product as I'm not into the horror thing (at least now - I've got dozens of White Wolf books from twenty years ago and even met my wife playing Vampire!) and don't fancy introducing those elements as PC options in Pathfinder, but I understand horror/zombie apocalypse fans are a sizable customer base and Paizo is going after those folks with this. I'd probably be less disappointed about learning this is what Paizo is devoting precious hardbound book development resources towards if I knew what the rest of 2016 held in store. Can we have a Faerie/First World hardbound in the near future??

I hope the corruption system will have a lot more then vampires and lycanthropes.
Dark Archive
Doug Bailey wrote:
Not particularly excited about this product as I'm not into the horror thing (at least now - I've got dozens of White Wolf books from twenty years ago and even met my wife playing Vampire!) and don't fancy introducing those elements as PC options in Pathfinder, but I understand horror/zombie apocalypse fans are a sizable customer base and Paizo is going after those folks with this. I'd probably be less disappointed about learning this is what Paizo is devoting precious hardbound book development resources towards if I knew what the rest of 2016 held in store. Can we have a Faerie/First World hardbound in the near future??

This is also for the H.P. Lovecraft inspired "Strange Aeons" Adventure Path that begins in august, where the PCs are amnesiacs that go up against Mythos creatures including a possible meeting with the Great Old One Hastur...

Personally this has me much more excited than Ultimate Intrigue.
Grand Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Can we please get a Charisma-based, point-driven insanity/madness system? The current madness rules aren't very useful.

-Skeld
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Milo v3 wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
We haven't revised any our philosophies on what content goes where starting with this product.
My worry primarily arose from Occult Adventures having a decent amount of golarion fluff in it. So I wouldn't be surprised if further "X Adventure" books had golarion fluff in them as ways to developers to advance different mechanics and stuff.

What Golarion fluff was in OA? Other than a reference to the Boneyard in the section on Esoteric planes I'm confused.

Does it mean we will finally get rules for playing Lycanthropes? If yes, SWEEEEEEET! "That Liver tasted weird."

Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
But I need this now! One of my players just got raised from the dead by Bishop Senir, and a tag along spirit come along for the ride...

You know someone who can raise dead in real life? Sorry, can't help myself with that one.

Editor-in-Chief
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
But I need this now! One of my players just got raised from the dead by Bishop Senir, and a tag along spirit come along for the ride...

Well, good luck with all THAT. O_O

Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
These corruption rules sound like the exact type I've been wanting for years, since Heroes of Horror came out. Exposure to the darkness might make you part of it... and you might not object to it at first... when it seems beneficial...

Heroes of Horror keeps coming up, and while I can't say that that product had much impact on this book, looking back it does look like some of the remits are similar. That said, there will be tons of new content in here for GMs as well as players. If you like the mixes you've seen in past "Adventures" books, particularly Occult Adventures, you'll be well served here as well.

Horror templates and archetypes sound quite appropriate as vectors of 'corrupting influences' and 'learning that which men were not meant to know'.

I request the book carry a conversion of the Archivist, Warlock, Hexblade, and Ur-Priest [as an alternate class to Cleric, like Antipaladin alternates from Paladin].

Other ideas:

Some kind of dedicated undeath caster, like the dread necromancer. Perhaps a combination of a negative energy cleric and a necromancer wizard specialist, with a dash of witch and oracle. All in all it would be the quintessential anti-druid, a caster who assaults nature rather than defends it.

Convert the old spellthief into spell stealing archetypes for sorcerer, witch, magus, oracle, or one of the hybrids. Spellcasters fear losing their spells second only to losing their life, and generally cannot be terrified of many mundane things other than powerful monsters who can shrug off their magical attacks or ignore the casters' defensive spells.
Editor-in-Chief
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Evan Tarlton wrote:
"In ways both subtle and gross," eh? Looks like someone was channeling Q while composing the blurb. I heartily approve.

Q who?

Editor-in-Chief
11 people marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:
I hope the corruption system will have a lot more then vampires and lycanthropes.

Woo. Might be hard. Hitting EVERY ANIMAL with lycanthrope options doesn't leave a lot of space in the rest of the book. We weren't initially sure whether to do this or not, but ultimately couldn't bring ourselves to leave our small but vocal were-koala audience in the lurch again.

We'll see how things shake out in editing.
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Anything Kyton related in this?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Just when I think I'm done with hardcovers. Looking forward to this one!

I'm just happy to have more horrific ideas to mine from. :)
Liberty's Edge
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:
Rules for psychopaths would be cool, maybe as a simple template since they are immune to fear and emotion effects but are good at feigning emotions so a bonus bluff checks and sense motive checks as well.

That's Hollywood science, and not how it actually works at all. People often called 'psychopaths' or 'sociopaths' in pop culture (though this isn't a recognized clinical diagnosis any more) certainly exist and have the partial or complete absence of most emotions, but anger and fear are very much intact in the majority and given that fact, any immunities seem pretty out of place. As do bonuses to Bluff and Sense Motive.

*wants bonuses for having a slavering horde of walking/running undead for a small zombie apocalypse*

Actually what I am talking about Deadmanwalking is from articles in various science magazines and possibly a time magazine as well. Also from some shows on the learning/science channels.

Will this book cover things like human sacrifice and innocent souls getting sent to the lower planes?
Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
But I need this now! One of my players just got raised from the dead by Bishop Senir, and a tag along spirit come along for the ride...
Well, good luck with all THAT. O_O

Its okay! I have a plan now that will freak him out, up til now he has been hearing voices from the conscience he didn't want. Next time he will wake up with 'evidence' that he possibly killed some people the night before. Later on he will receive a sending from some friends warning someone killed some of their members and divinations suggest the person is following him...

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:


Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
These corruption rules sound like the exact type I've been wanting for years, since Heroes of Horror came out. Exposure to the darkness might make you part of it... and you might not object to it at first... when it seems beneficial...
Heroes of Horror keeps coming up, and while I can't say that that product had much impact on this book, looking back it does look like some of the remits are similar. That said, there will be tons of new content in here for GMs as well as players. If you like the mixes you've seen in past "Adventures" books, particularly Occult Adventures, you'll be well served here as well.

I don't mean to compare this book to Heroes of Horror, it was after all a personal favorite of mine. The corruption rules in there was nice but I been wanting rules for slowly becoming a monster and these new rules seem to be what I've been wanting this whole time.

I am looking forward to this book. My players may not be. Sadly there is a good chance my dark campaign will end between now and then and a possible Iron Gods campaign beginning.
Slithery D wrote:
What Golarion fluff was in OA? Other than a reference to the Boneyard in the section on Esoteric planes I'm confused.

I'm referring to things like the Boneyard and Pharasma and the Dimension of Time in the esoteric planes section. Which is a decent amount for the RPG-Line.

Scarab Sages

Very interesting.
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
I hope the corruption system will have a lot more then vampires and lycanthropes.

Woo. Might be hard. Hitting EVERY ANIMAL with lycanthrope options doesn't leave a lot of space in the rest of the book. We weren't initially sure whether to do this or not, but ultimately couldn't bring ourselves to leave our small but vocal were-koala audience in the lurch again.

We'll see how things shake out in editing.

Increasing the page count? It's an hardcover already.

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F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
Why does Alain getting savaged by undead fill me with glee?
Good taste.

Are you saying Alex has refined discernment, or that Alain actually tastes good?

{stomach rumbles} Shush, you.
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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

When putting this book together please do not forget the sufficiently horrifying stuff from Pathfinder's 3.5 days that have yet to get an update to the Pathfinder Rules such as:

Magic Items: Weapons
Heartripper Blade: Crown of the Kobold King

Magic Items: Staves
Staff of Decay: Grove of the Mad Druid, Card 10

Magic Items: Wondrous Items
Plaguebringers’s Mask: Seven Days to the Grave
Soulspeaker: Hollow’s Last Hope (Not to be confused with Shrunken Head, a very different Magic Item)
Cloak of Nightmares: Seven Swords of Sin
Necrobinding Serum: Hungry are the Dead
Eye of Scrying: Hungary are the Dead
Cresset of Grisly Interrogation: Hungary are the Dead
Rack of Ruin: Terror in the Chamber of Pain, Card 10

Spells
Armor of Darkness: Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Blacklight: Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Flesh to Ooze: Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Recorporeal Incarnation: Endless Night
Reveal True Shape: Howl of the Carrion King
Sympathetic Wounds: Gods and Magic
Spiritual Menhir: Grove of the Mad Druid, Card 8

Artifacts: Minor
Eye of Rapture: Carnival of Tears
Necropyre Crystal: Blood of Dragon Scar
Soulstone: The Vault of the Whispering Tyrant, Card 10
Dread Portal of the Maw: Dark Elf Sanctum, Card 10
Dagger of Veils: Dark Elf Sanctum, Card 10

Equipment
Necrotic Talisman: Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Ooze Grease: Dungeon Denizens Revisited

Feats
Frightful Suggestion: Guardians of Dragonfall
Indigestible: Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Noxious Bite: Dragons Revisited
Ooze Companion: Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Ooze Whisperer: Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Scent of Fear: Classic Monsters Revisited (Not to be confused with Smell Fear which is a very different feat)
Sow Terror: Classic Monsters Revisited
Suffocating Strangulation: Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Twisted Flesh: Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Warped Mind: Pathfinder Campaign Setting

Feats, Achievement
Graverisen: Legacy of Fire Player’s Guide
Relentless Butcher: Legacy of Fire Player’s Guide

Monsters
Akaruzug: Crown of Fangs
Frosty Chiseler: Carnival of Tears
Hoary Muntjac: Flight of the Red Raven
Gutdragging Lurcher: Hangman’s Noose
Croaker: Hangman’s Noose
Son of Perdition: The Demon Within
Bonestorm: A History of Ashes
Bloodless Vessel: Blood of Dragonscar
Chained Spirit: Skeletons of Scarwall
Danse Macabre: Skeletons of Scarwall
Nightmare Bats: Seven Swords of Sin
Snowdrifter: Flight of the Red Raven

Templates
Necropyre: Blood of Dragonscar
Wyrmskull: The End of Eternity
Painted Creation: Gallery of Evil

Is this the Gen Con release?
Liberty's Edge
2 people marked this as a favorite.

If this book helps expand the the level of dread in someone games, I am most deninatly getting this. How effective is a sword or fire ball really going to be against a monster made out of wax. My guess is minimal at best, devestatingly backfire prone at worst.

"your fire ball connects and sure enough the wax creature melts quickly like a candle"
"yes victory is ours lets press on"
"as you attempt to move through the wax puddle, a dripping arm of wax grabs your leg and starts to pull itself over your body, dealing x points of fire damage"
"But I hit the thing with a fireball."
"Did I ever say you killed it? Now you have an angry wax monster climbing up your body. Have fun."
"Oh S***."
ErisAcolyte-Chaos jester wrote:

If this book helps expand the the level of dread in someone games, I am most deninatly getting this. How effective is a sword or fire ball really going to be against a monster made out of wax. My guess is minimal at best, devestatingly backfire prone at worst.

"your fire ball connects and sure enough the wax creature melts quickly like a candle"
"yes victory is ours lets press on"
"as you attempt to move through the wax puddle, a dripping arm of wax grabs your leg and starts to pull itself over your body, dealing x points of fire damage"
"But I hit the thing with a fireball."
"Did I ever say you killed it? Now you have an angry wax monster climbing up your body. Have fun."
"Oh S***."

It's probably more likely that fire simply deals double damage rather than changing it into a liquid battle mode...

Briney,

Not sure that kind of stuff will make into the book. But we'll see later in 2016.

If Wes is still visiting this thread from time to time, I would like to ask him something: what exactly is it that makes a horror-themed archetype horror-themed? Are they archetypes which excel at dealing with horror situations, or do they represent archetypes you would be likely to see in the horror genre, as either hero or villain?
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Hey Seitz, thank you for the warning. I know most of it and possibly none of it, will make it in the book but I have long championed seeing a lot of the 3.5 stuff getting updated. And the reason I do that is because a lot of it is really great stuff. So when I can I like to give Paizo a reminder of the great stuff they have waiting to be updated. Cause honestly most of that stuff is pretty horrifying if you have a chance to check it out.

I would be surprised if this wasn't a Gen Con release.

So what does the "Eye of Rapture" do?
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Dragon78 wrote:

I would be surprised if this wasn't a Gen Con release.

So what does the "Eye of Rapture" do?

Check the Archives of Nethys (archivesofnethys.com) for that item and virtually every other item in Brinebeast's post.

Briney,

I prefer Mister Seitz. :P Secondly while some of that does need updating/fixing, nagging people doesn't always encourage their best efforts.
Liberty's Edge

I wonder how some of these corruptions might come about. Would imbibing werewolfs blood, having your shadow stolen, or undergoing a dark pact with an paticularly monsterous outsider be a possible cause for corruption to slowly turn one's self into a monster?

Can it infect the mind of the player character that even the player cannot control what happens to their character once the corruption spreads far enough, like starting with the player having control over their power before they really start to lose control to their inner beast and being unable to fully control the horror that they are(if even they want to by that point give how mad it might have driven them)? Also how nightmarish can flesh warping become. Could it be a fate worse than death, and just how worse can it be?
Liberty's Edge
Dragon78 wrote:
Actually what I am talking about Deadmanwalking is from articles in various science magazines and possibly a time magazine as well. Also from some shows on the learning/science channels.

That does not make them accurate. At all. Indeed, mainstream news sources often get whole huge swathes of human psychology at least partially wrong/strongly different from the actual research.

I'm a Psychology Major in college, and I've done some research on these specific issues in scholarly journals. The version you're portraying isn't 100% wrong, but it's pretty skewed.

And anything seriously using the term psychopath is several years out of date at best.
Deadmanwalking wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Actually what I am talking about Deadmanwalking is from articles in various science magazines and possibly a time magazine as well. Also from some shows on the learning/science channels.

That does not make them accurate. At all. Indeed, mainstream news sources often get whole huge swathes of human psychology at least partially wrong/strongly different from the actual research.

I'm a Psychology Major in college, and I've done some research on these specific issues in scholarly journals. The version you're portraying isn't 100% wrong, but it's pretty skewed.

And anything seriously using the term psychopath is several years out of date at best.

What happened to the term psychopath?

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Yes! This is probably going to be my favorite book ever. I might be the only one, but I would absolutely love to see a pathfinder version of the Dread Necromancer class. Such fond memories...
Liberty's Edge
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Nighthorror888 wrote:
Yes! This is probably going to be my favorite book ever. I might be the only one, but I would absolutely love to see a pathfinder version of the Dread Necromancer class. Such fond memories...

I wonder if we might get some more spells that exploit some of the aspects of necromancy, or other schools to make a dangerous situation even more hazardous. A necromancer unleashing a wave of partially animated corpses/body parts to move around or bury opponents, manipulating the fetted plasm of a heavily decomposed body, or unleashing kamikaze skulls and body parts to explode and deal shrapnel damage to the target in a gruesome display of undead manipulation, is almost certainly more deadly than a simple reanimator of some dead bodies.

Liberty's Edge
6 people marked this as a favorite.
John Kretzer wrote:
What happened to the term psychopath?

Both psychopath and sociopath are no longer clinical definitions. There was too much confusion between the terms, and a problem with the fact that they both describe a personality type as much as a mental disorder.

Let me elaborate on that last bit: a mental disorder is defined, in the current DSM, basically as any mental or emotional problem (whether physiologically based or not) that causes inherent problems with one's mental functioning. By that definition someone with basically zero empathy but who's happy enough that way, doesn't break the law, is financially and socially successful, and generally functions perfectly well, is not mentally ill. He or she might fall well under the general label of 'sociopath' but diagnosing him or her with a mental disorder is not actually correct.

So they both got scrapped from the DSM and those who demonstrate antisocial behavior or the like co-morbid with the traits that would've gotten them labelled as sociopaths or psychopaths get diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. This bit has been true at least since the DSM-IV in the year 2000.

Now, some people even in the field obviously continue to use the term, but not generally in scientific papers. So if you're seeing it used, you're probably either getting the version 'edited for the masses' (often not very well), an obsolete version from more than 15 years ago, or something not based in the scientific literature at all. Generally speaking, anyway.
Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yes, this is the Gen Con release.
ErisAcolyte-Chaos jester wrote:

I wonder how some of these corruptions might come about. Would imbibing werewolfs blood, having your shadow stolen, or undergoing a dark pact with an paticularly monsterous outsider be a possible cause for corruption to slowly turn one's self into a monster?

Can it infect the mind of the player character that even the player cannot control what happens to their character once the corruption spreads far enough, like starting with the player having control over their power before they really start to lose control to their inner beast and being unable to fully control the horror that they are(if even they want to by that point give how mad it might have driven them)? Also how nightmarish can flesh warping become. Could it be a fate worse than death, and just how worse can it be?

Hey, some of us want the chance to play Heart-Ripping, Growling, Acid-Spewing, Baby-Eating Abobinations... why should the DMs/GMs have all the fun?

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Well Deadmanwalking, we could call it something else as long as the game mechanics is what I am looking for. Besides this is a fantasy game, if everything was real world accurate it would be a very boring game indeed.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Dragon78 wrote:
Well Deadmanwalking, we could call it something else as long as the game mechanics is what I am looking for. Besides this is a fantasy game, if everything was real world accurate it would be a very boring game indeed.

Mental disorders are serious business :/

This outsider I summoned called Szasz claims otherwise.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Deadmanwalking wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
What happened to the term psychopath?

Both psychopath and sociopath are no longer clinical definitions. There was too much confusion between the terms, and a problem with the fact that they both describe a personality type as much as a mental disorder.

Let me elaborate on that last bit: a mental disorder is defined, in the current DSM, basically as any mental or emotional problem (whether physiologically based or not) that causes inherent problems with one's mental functioning. By that definition someone with basically zero empathy but who's happy enough that way, doesn't break the law, is financially and socially successful, and generally functions perfectly well, is not mentally ill. He or she might fall well under the general label of 'sociopath' but diagnosing him or her with a mental disorder is not actually correct.

So they both got scrapped from the DSM and those who demonstrate antisocial behavior or the like co-morbid with the traits that would've gotten them labelled as sociopaths or psychopaths get diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. This bit has been true at least since the DSM-IV in the year 2000.

Now, some people even in the field obviously continue to use the term, but not generally in scientific papers. So if you're seeing it used, you're probably either getting the version 'edited for the masses' (often not very well), an obsolete version from more than 15 years ago, or something not based in the scientific literature at all. Generally speaking, anyway.

Anti-social behavior is a mental disorder? Since when, and why? What exactly is anti-social behavior, anyway?

Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ed Reppert wrote:
Deadmanwalking wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
What happened to the term psychopath?

Both psychopath and sociopath are no longer clinical definitions. There was too much confusion between the terms, and a problem with the fact that they both describe a personality type as much as a mental disorder.

Let me elaborate on that last bit: a mental disorder is defined, in the current DSM, basically as any mental or emotional problem (whether physiologically based or not) that causes inherent problems with one's mental functioning. By that definition someone with basically zero empathy but who's happy enough that way, doesn't break the law, is financially and socially successful, and generally functions perfectly well, is not mentally ill. He or she might fall well under the general label of 'sociopath' but diagnosing him or her with a mental disorder is not actually correct.

So they both got scrapped from the DSM and those who demonstrate antisocial behavior or the like co-morbid with the traits that would've gotten them labelled as sociopaths or psychopaths get diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. This bit has been true at least since the DSM-IV in the year 2000.

Now, some people even in the field obviously continue to use the term, but not generally in scientific papers. So if you're seeing it used, you're probably either getting the version 'edited for the masses' (often not very well), an obsolete version from more than 15 years ago, or something not based in the scientific literature at all. Generally speaking, anyway.

Anti-social behavior is a mental disorder? Since when, and why? What exactly is anti-social behavior, anyway?

You could just wikipedia it like I did <_< "Anti-social behaviours are actions that harm or lack consideration for the well-being of others"

Basically it doesn't mean "I don't like to socialize, I prefer being alone", anti-social action is to do something... Well, you know. Anti means against, it means opposition.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

So if you show "lack of consideration for the well-being of others" you're (at least borderline) crazy. Got it.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ed Reppert wrote:
So if you show "lack of consideration for the well-being of others" you're (at least borderline) crazy. Got it.

You do realize that sentence means "You do something harmful to others on purpose or regardless of the fact it will hurt others"? :p

Deadmanwalking wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
What happened to the term psychopath?

Both psychopath and sociopath are no longer clinical definitions. There was too much confusion between the terms, and a problem with the fact that they both describe a personality type as much as a mental disorder.

Let me elaborate on that last bit: a mental disorder is defined, in the current DSM, basically as any mental or emotional problem (whether physiologically based or not) that causes inherent problems with one's mental functioning. By that definition someone with basically zero empathy but who's happy enough that way, doesn't break the law, is financially and socially successful, and generally functions perfectly well, is not mentally ill. He or she might fall well under the general label of 'sociopath' but diagnosing him or her with a mental disorder is not actually correct.

So they both got scrapped from the DSM and those who demonstrate antisocial behavior or the like co-morbid with the traits that would've gotten them labelled as sociopaths or psychopaths get diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. This bit has been true at least since the DSM-IV in the year 2000.

Now, some people even in the field obviously continue to use the term, but not generally in scientific papers. So if you're seeing it used, you're probably either getting the version 'edited for the masses' (often not very well), an obsolete version from more than 15 years ago, or something not based in the scientific literature at all. Generally speaking, anyway.

Thanks

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