Explore the First World, the legendary realm of the fey, where reality reinvents itself and strange creatures peddle stranger wares to the unwary. Learn about the godlike Eldest who rule this plane, and how to navigate their fairy courts. Delve for legendary treasures in locations too weird for mortal lands, study the lost origin of gnomes, and bargain with ageless adversaries in a realm where death is seen as a game. Whatever you do, don't blink—because nothing in the First World stays the same for long.
Inside this book, you'll find:
Detailed information on all the Eldest, including overviews of their strongholds and magical boons for their worshipers.
Dozens of bizarre fey adventure locations, from the legendary Witchmarket to the Chittering Tabernacle, with secret histories, maps of prominent cities, and more.
The new feysworn prestige class, allowing you to harness the power of the fairy lords.
New spells and magic items to help you survive the First World, as well as rules for spellcasting in the fey realm and bending the landscape itself to your will.
Six new fey monsters, including the skull-headed escorite and the technology-trashing bulabar, plus a new First World template and suggestions to help you create unique fey foes on the fly.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy world.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-909-7
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For the little you get it is simply not worth the cost. There is a lot of skimming over, but not a lot of detail for my taste. Playable fey races would have been nice.
If you only buy one Pathfinder product this year...
...buy this one twice and give the extra to someone you really like.
This campaign setting guide does a fantastic job of describing the paradoxes of the First World. The descriptions of the Eldest manage to flesh them out as deities, while at the same time maintaining their maddening ambiguities and mystery. The locale descriptions are the same way--an "M.C. Escher meets Hieronymous Bosch" treasure trove of wild verbal imagery.
I've always liked the fey in Pathfinder, and this book only made me love them more.
And the artwork... wow, the artwork. Just. Wow. I wish there were poster prints available of some of the images inside.
There's stuff in here that while reading it, I'd often look away and wonder how they managed to think up something so creative. This type of high fantasy world is wonderful and there's so much contained on the relatively small amount of pages on here. I've never written a review on anything on this site, but this compelled me to do so.
The only problem is getting the players there without seeming like I'm shoe-horning it in just because I wanna play around in the First World :P
Everything about this book is great. The high level background on the First World (time, magic, fey immortality, history) is comprehensive and surprisingly detailed given the limited space they had to work with. The section on the Eldest is fascinating and sets them apart from your ordinary demigods, plus the fey obedience boons are generally very strong, inventive, and thematic. The gazetteer of First World locations provides dozens of great ideas to develop your own adventure locations, and the Bestiary adds several interesting and creative new critters to serve as allies or adversaries.
So how similar will this book be to the Books of the Damned series? Are the Eldest going to get a similar treatment to the demigods of those other books? Any new Eldest?
Been waiting for this book a long long long time :)
Feysworn...sounds like there's going to be obediences to the Eldest involved, with this prestige class being along the lines of the Demoniac/Diabolist/Mystery Cultist/Souldrinker, letting you dedicate yourself to one of them and getting the benefits early.
The fey were one of my favourite elements of the game 3.5, and my last characters under that ruleset were designed to have ties with the Seelie Court. It will be nice to be able to revisit those old concepts for Pathfinder. =)
Feysworn prestige class in particular could potentially be the first prestige class in a long time that piques my interest. Hope it's done well.
Super extra bonus points if it ties in well with the fey bloodline.
I hope everything in this book's bestiary is a creature(mostly fey) and not random people/humanoid shaped creatures with class levels unless it was a new 0HD race.
Since this book seems like one of the Books of the Damned or Chronicles of the Righteous, I doubt that will be the case, most likely we will get four to six new fey if anything.
I'm still backing "they're actually humanoid data interfaces through which the Eldest can spy on Golarion for their own entertainment, and being boring gets them deactivated." :D
So how similar will this book be to the Books of the Damned series? Are the Eldest going to get a similar treatment to the demigods of those other books? Any new Eldest?
It is very similar to the Books of the Damned and Chronicle of the Righteous. There are no new Eldest, but they each get a full write-up with obediences and such.
Das Bier wrote:
Hey LIz, is there anything here with how the fey interact with the kami and other nature spirits of the East?
There is not. The kami, while fey-like, are native outsiders and are not tied to the First World, but rather the natural places of the Material Plane. This book is really an exploration of the First World itself rather than an expansion on fey lore within Golarion.
So how similar will this book be to the Books of the Damned series? Are the Eldest going to get a similar treatment to the demigods of those other books? Any new Eldest?
It is very similar to the Books of the Damned and Chronicle of the Righteous. There are no new Eldest, but they each get a full write-up with obediences and such.
That is super excellent. I love those books and now this is a must-buy.
But I wonder Mark, if it is meant to be a sister book to the three damned and CotR, why was it not given a title that has an in-world equivalent artifact, like the rumoured Concordance of Rivals? It's current title makes it sound more like a gazetteer on the First World.
I was just lamenting the fact that there was absolutely no information on the First World or the Eldest in the entirety of the Paizo line. This will finally correct that oversight.