Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the High Court (PFRPG)

Thank goodness.

My chap with the Extremely Fashionable trait despairs at the state of his slovenly fellow PCs. They haven't changed out of their free 1st level clothing yet.

Hopefully this book will keep the riff-raff out.

I'm surprised this one hasn't gotten more discussion - must be all the congregation around the dragon book.

In any case, I'm excited. ^_^

Dragon78 passed on this one, so we're not getting the weekly "I hope the cover gets updated soon" post ;-)

Well, I'm surely not going to end my subscription because of this book, but it's not all that highly interesting to me, I think.

"everything you need to take your adventures into the royal courts and noble houses of the Pathfinder campaign setting"

Well, maybe. It seems to me that a discussion of armory, or more popularly heraldry (the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated) would be a natural for a book like this, but based on James Jacobs' statements that there is little interest, if any, in the subject at Paizo, I'm betting there won't be much, if anything, on it in this book. OTOH, maybe that won't disappoint any customers, except for me. :-)

"everything you need to take your adventures into the royal courts and noble houses of the Pathfinder campaign setting"

Well, maybe. It seems to me that a discussion of armory, or more popularly heraldry (the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated) would be a natural for a book like this, but based on James Jacobs' statements that there is little interest, if any, in the subject at Paizo, I'm betting there won't be much, if anything, on it in this book. OTOH, maybe that won't disappoint any customers, except for me. :-)

Look, you need to hire a history major to do this right, else Jake the OCD heraldry fan will drown the forum in raging flame about how the coat of arms of House Jeggare is a BLATANT RIPOFF of the CoA of Drusecu family (Romania, XIII century) and also how it fails to follow the established Eastern European tradition of having griffons stick out their tongue while present on the arms. I can why Paizo thinks the return of investment on this is crappy.

That said, some pointers on how the elite distinguishes itself from the common people in the various cultures of the Inner Sea (and beyond) would be great to more faithfully create and play high society adventurers ;-)

Good point Raven Black. It´s a player companion though and that could at least be 50% in a campaign setting.
To avoid misunderstandings, this is not a call for Inner Sea High Courts!

Next Inner Sea book should be: "Inner Sea Immigrants" featuring immigrants from Tian Xia, Arcadia, Casmaron and elsewhere. Eox and the black dominion if need be.

Jake's arguments would be irrelevant, of course, since Golarion is not Earth.

Jake's arguments would be irrelevant, of course, since Golarion is not Earth.

Sure it isn't, but it draws enough from Earth cultures as to invite comparisons. See: every argument about how a Golarion creature that is lifted from Earth myth/folklore/cryptozoology is or is not true to the source material.

Will there be an Uptown Girl archetype for any class?

Gah. Another Joel song that will be stuck in my head. You truly are the embodiment of evil! :p

Also still think evil princesses and linnorms will be involved...

Gah. Another Joel song that will be stuck in my head. You truly are the embodiment of evil! :p

Also still think evil princesses and linnorms will be involved...

Will it be stuck in your head...for The Longest Time?

That said, some pointers on how the elite distinguishes itself from the common people in the various cultures of the Inner Sea (and beyond) would be great to more faithfully create and play high society adventurers ;-)

Money. Or, rather, gold. And power.

-Skeld

It's probably too late to introduce this to Golarion cannon, but I always liked the idea of "high" court languages and "low" regular-people versions. Like "High Taldane" spoken by anyone who is anyone in Oppara, and "Low Taldane," aka "Common" spoken by riffraff around the Inner Sea.

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Gah. Another Joel song that will be stuck in my head. You truly are the embodiment of evil! :p

Also still think evil princesses and linnorms will be involved...

Will it be stuck in your head...for The Longest Time?

If I knew where you lived Luthorne I'd be at your door right now...

(note to hug him, not kill him)

The Raven Black wrote:

That said, some pointers on how the elite distinguishes itself from the common people in the various cultures of the Inner Sea (and beyond) would be great to more faithfully create and play high society adventurers ;-)

Money. Or, rather, gold. And power.

-Skeld

I was thinking of the little things that show in an adequate fashion that you do possess these and indeed belong to the elite (vs both the plebs and the parvenus)

For example : tastefully arranged smears that would be cleaned by Prestidigitation to show that you have actual servants taking care of your wardrobe

The problem with this is that, just like in the real world, class gives such incredible advantages that party balance should be destroyed.

The Golarion equivalent of Prince Harry begins play with a+5 flaming burst longsword, +5 celestial armour, similarly awesome other items, permanent buffs from a level 18+ caster... And a squad of 20 level 10+ rangers to protect him.

PCs have to play down-on-their-luck nobles who somehow lacks the networking and background experiences/advantages. So, not-really-nobles...

The problem with this is that, just like in the real world, class gives such incredible advantages that party balance should be destroyed.

The Golarion equivalent of Prince Harry begins play with a+5 flaming burst longsword, +5 celestial armour, similarly awesome other items, permanent buffs from a level 18+ caster... And a squad of 20 level 10+ rangers to protect him.

PCs have to play down-on-their-luck nobles who somehow lacks the networking and background experiences/advantages. So, not-really-nobles...

Based on most statblocks in the campaign setting, Prince Harry of Golarion also has 5+ levels in PC classes ;-)

And his royal grandma is level 10+ :-))

I hope the cover gets updated soon...

Ah, this work was in Andoran, Birthplace of Freedom. Kind of ironic you should use this art as a place holder for a High Court book when Andoran doesn't truly have a High Court as it is a democracy.

Hmmm. No "High Court" politics a democracy. When I think of all the deal brokering and shenanigans that occur in the White House it seems that a whole campaign based on intrigue could be founded in a democratic nation.

I want something for DROW in this.
Nowhere is more intrigue than in drow noble houses.

Well, I love these types of adventures, so I'm interested. But I'm also worried. Are there going to be a lot of Rumermonger-esk "stuff you thought you could do automatically now requires two feats"?

Ben,

I don't think that will come into play. At least I doubt it.

Marco,

I don't think drow will be in this since I don't think this will deal much with the Darklands.

It's the "High" Court, not "Dark" or "Low" Courts. Drow live BELOW the surface, remember? No high court there.

I think that's been established Four...

It's the "High" Court, not "Dark" or "Low" Courts. Drow live BELOW the surface, remember? No high court there.

We have seen what you did there, and we have recorded it in the High section of the underground portion of our Registry.

I can't tell you all how excited I am for this book. ^_^

I can't tell you all how excited I am for this book. ^_^

Boy those contributor NDAs are *strict*

*is excited for Isabelle too*

If only because maybe now we'll see blood thirsty princesses keeping captive linnorms and their treasure. ;)

Isabelle Lee wrote:

I can't tell you all how excited I am for this book. ^_^

Boy those contributor NDAs are *strict*

I can neither confirm nor deny the strictness of the contributor NDAs.

This looks pretty interesting. Could of used something like this a while ago actually.

I'm getting a weird feeling that we will be getting a new oracle mystery in this. Possibly something like a Passion one.

Good point Raven Black. It´s a player companion though and that could at least be 50% in a campaign setting.

To avoid misunderstandings, this is not a call for Inner Sea High Courts!

Next Inner Sea book should be: "Inner Sea Immigrants" featuring immigrants from Tian Xia, Arcadia, Casmaron and elsewhere. Eox and the black dominion if need be.

Okay, then I'll call for an Inner Sea High Courts book. Although, I do have to admit that an "Immigrants" book sounds interesting, too.

Dragon78 passed on this one, so we're not getting the weekly "I hope the cover gets updated soon" post ;-)

Okay, I'll do it then.

I hope the cover gets updated soon!

However, I cannot promise to repeat this post every week until it happens -- in fact, I probably won't. ;)

Mariel Uth Kaldar wrote:

This looks like it will be a neat book. One of the things I liked in the 3.5 Dragonlance setting was the use of the noble class. Is there something similar in Pathfinder?

The vigilante's social identity and the phantom thief rogue archetype both do a decent job, in my opinion. ^_^

In addition, the noble scion prestige class (noted earlier) is an option as you level up.

Very nice! Thanks for this information.

I will join in.

I hope that the cover gets updated soon.

Me too; really looking forward to this book!

I'm sure we'll get updated by December.

Also I still support evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms and making them fight for sport! ;)

If we are still in time to get a longsword/medium armor Brawler in this book, plz freelancers.

If we are still in time to get a longsword/medium armor Brawler in this book, plz freelancers.

You are way, way too late to affect this book's contents, I'm afraid. ^_^

Am I too late to ask for evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms?

I'm quite excited for this book, just as I was for ultimate intrigue, an my birthday is on January 11th, so I was wondering if the pdf will be available for purchase then (it's a Wednesday this year, and that's usually when these go on sale)?

So far the january products are scheduled for january 25th... ;-(

Am I too late to ask for evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms?

You can never be too late to ask for that.

Am I too late to ask for evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms?

I keep telling people, we already have one.

Her name is White Estrid.

Very interested in this, as are my players.

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Am I too late to ask for evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms?

I keep telling people, we already have one.

Her name is White Estrid.

CB,

We need more. Plus White Estrid isn't evil.

CBDunkerson wrote:

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Am I too late to ask for evil princesses kidnapping poor linnorms?

I keep telling people, we already have one.

Her name is White Estrid.

CB,

We need more. Plus White Estrid isn't evil.

The linnorm might disagree with you on that point.

John,

Maybe but I think I'd rather see evil princesses.