Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Adventurer's Guide (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Adventurer's Guide (PFRPG)
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Being an adventurer is a dangerous line of work, but the rewards are well worth the risk. The smartest adventurers never go it alone—they not only bring allies to help explore the dangerous reaches of the world, but also seek aid in the form of support, supplies, and secrets from powerful organizations. With such a group to serve as a guide, an adventuring party's chances for success have never been better!

Pathfinder RPG Adventurer's Guide presents several such organizations, each with its own suite of benefits and boons to grant those affiliated with it. Designed for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and drawing upon the rich traditions of the official Pathfinder campaign setting, this indispensable guide for adventurers provides a wealth of new character options for your game.

Pathfinder RPG Adventurer's Guide includes:

  • Details on 18 different organizations that use adventurers to further their goals, including the law-enforcing Hellknights, the sinister assassins of the Red Mantis, and of course, the world-renowned Pathfinder Society itself.
  • A wealth of new player options, including feats, spells, magic items, prestige classes, archetypes, and new abilities and powers for a wide range of classes.
  • Rules and advice on how to incorporate the new options found in this book into your own game, whether it takes place in the official Pathfinder campaign setting or in a world of your own choice or design.
  • Notes on the movers and shakers of each organization—nonplayer characters who can come alive in your game as allies and advisors for the player characters.
  • AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-938-7

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription.

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Deepens My Investment in Golarion

5/5

I didn’t expect to find such a connection to this book, having not played the APs that touch on the various groups contained herein (and also just generally hating hellknights), but hoo-boy was I surprised.

The writing is lovely, the characters and organizations are vivid, and the player options are exciting and well-designed. The gray maidens chapter in particular blew me away in particular. The mechanics of their player options are a pedect combination of flavorful and mechanically effective, and have the added bonus of fitting together into a coherent and effective character build.


Great Book!

5/5

Read my full review on Of Dice and Pen.

These days, it can take a lot for a book focused on new feats, spells, etc. to impress me. I’ve reached a saturation point. There are so many options now that I can’t keep track of them all, and most new ones get forgotten soon after I read them. Adventurer’s Guide is one of the few books that stays in my mind and keeps pulling me back to it. I can’t recommend it enough!


The worst core line offering by far

1/5

The title is misleading, as was posited by many during the product preview, and mealy-mouthedly denied by Paizo. This is a Golarion book, period, which has no place in the core line, and the contents consist of an insultingly large percentage of reprints. Shameful, really.


Good Product if New

4/5

Soooo...I'm going to say that I obsessively collect Pathfinder products, and as such, much of this material is old hat for me. Emphasis here is 'for me.' With that said, I want to examine this in a vacuum.

The artwork is good, but then, it's been good. It serves more as a 'Faction Guide 2' for me than anything, giving some details about the various organizations, class options, feats, and ties. In particular, though, I like that I don't have to flip through two or three books to get character options for the factions. Hellknights in particular were always a pain due to how diffuse their rules were. I can now hand this book to a person and say "here ya go. Here's some ideas of factions in the setting."

One drawback, as has been mentioned, is spoilers for the various APs. While I use those sparingly, it can be somewhat problematic, and I'd suggest steering players away from this if that's the case.

Overall, it's a decent enough product. If you're new to the setting, it's worth picking up as a nice collected list. If you're old hat, a few options inside are interesting enough, and a few setting updates are worth examining. I'm particularly interested in the Lantern Bearers' new direction.


Solid addition with some faults

4/5

This book helps clear up and collect a lot of older material, balanced now with other released material for GMs. It also adds in a wealth of new material for factions of Adventurers across Golarion.

What's good?
A solid collection of old and new under one singular heading.

What's bad?
Some factions contain major spoilers, making it hard for a GM to just pass off to players who may be playing certain APs.

What's fun?
Inclusion of multiple races and creeds and even transgendered factions and npcs in multiple parts of the book. This book really fleshed out some factions which had little to no crunch.

What's odd?
Certain feats are fun but others are less the useable. A feat that allows a bonus on maneuvers but doesn't stack with improved maneuver feats? Those are the ones that help avoid AoO. So what's the point of the feat? Additionally a heads up to some people about the amount of reprints would have calmed an angry section of customers.

Honestly I love the book and can't wait to try out some of the new material and some of the updated versions of older (and due to other books options more unbalanced) options.

When you get past the salty tears of angry optimizers, you're left with a fine entry into the guides section with Inner Seas flavour.


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Well yes there was very little actually taken from history It was more of a build as they go and add little things here and there from what I've read. They were allowed to use crescent shaped blades something to do with the moon for that one. One reason I did hear is that traditionally iron wards of fay and spirits (and still does in PF too in a way) and a druid wants to communicate with them not ward them off. Ideally you could say they get their power from nature spirits so iron would keep them from having their powers.


This book is the largest threat to reaching August for 3 years without any new Brawler archetypes.

I already have the champagne to celebrate the anniversary so Paizo, don't you dare surprise me with any innovative approaches to the Brawler class!

There's only at least 36 archetypes in this book so the odds favor me.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Isabelle Lee said wrote:
"does anyone have a list of which organizations have been officially confirmed for this book?"

the product description names 10 out of the 18 it alleges to be there. I am glad I re-read the product description., because I personally love the idea of more Red Mantis. I've been enamored with them ever since seeing stats for their "god", Achaekek.

"the Aldori Swordlords, the Aspis Consortium, the Cyphermages, the Gray Maidens, the Hellknights, the Lantern Bearers, the Magaambya, the Mammoth Lords, the Pathfinder Society, and the Red Mantis."

on a personal note, I am kind of hoping for some juicy Night Heralds info.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I know what's in the Product Description. ^_^

I was looking to see if any had been confirmed through other threads.


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I see the school of thought of keeping a wall between the rules set and the campaign setting material.
I also see the school of thought having to do with re-tooling just about anything to fit the GM's purpose.
It is slightly different than normal to put setting material in with the RPG line. That said, it's been done both ways previous to the current era. Take for example the classic 3rd edition Book of Vile Darkness by Monte Cook. That was a core RPG book. But Greyhawk was the assumed setting for the game. They realized other people might be playing in Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Eberron (later), or any number of homebrew worlds. It didn't detract whatsoever from the usefulness of the book. Authors have typed up forwards to books until they're blue in the face about how if it's not useful, retool it. By now, we all know.
The book looks fantastic, and I'll buy it, use what I want (since I am a Golarion geek), ignore what I don't need, and add it to my collection of every-other-book-that-comes-out.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

21 people marked this as a favorite.

One thing to keep in mind regarding WotC D&D books is that unlike them, we don't have over a dozen active or inactive but potentially revived campaign settings. We have one—Golarion. And that should, in theory, make the worries about the core rules working for one setting or the other we publish irrelevant... and since we CAN'T publish for your home brew (we don't know what it's about) and CANT'T publish for other settings (they're owned by other people), then publishing the rules with the assumption they'll be used in our setting is a luxury I believe we can afford.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

The book definitely looks cool and I know that labels are ultimately meaningless in the face of quality of the material.

However, one of the things I always appreciated that Paizo does a great job organizing their product lines. Now we get a campaign setting book thrown into the core rules bucket. This is significant because core rules usually end up in OGL/PRD territory where this book will definitely not show up.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I must admit I prefer keeping the RPG line as setting-neutral as is practical. I prefer not to have to ignore or remove elements of things to fit them into my homebrew setting (something I debated previously with the folks at Fantasy Flight Games when they were doing D&D 3.x supplements). More setting-specific elements is just more stuff I have to work to remove when using something in my homebrew. I much prefer if the setting-specific elements are add-ons to the core concept, rather then central components to it.

Silver Crusade Contributor

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Cyrad wrote:

The book definitely looks cool and I know that labels are ultimately meaningless in the face of quality of the material.

However, one of the things I always appreciated that Paizo does a great job organizing their product lines. Now we get a campaign setting book thrown into the core rules bucket. This is significant because core rules usually end up in OGL/PRD territory where this book will definitely not show up.

I believe it was stated earlier in the thread that this book would be going on the PRD, and that it would even have a special appendix with setting-neutral names for the various options. Let me see if I can dredge up a link or two...

EDIT: This is what I was thinking of.


Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?


AlgaeNymph wrote:
Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?

It's not the first time this has happened - they got a trait in Armor Master's Handbook, and I believe there was another appearance before that.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I haven't looked forward to a rulebook as much as I am to this for a long time.

I keep checking the expected date and getting disappointed it's not next month.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Steve Geddes wrote:

I haven't looked forward to a rulebook as much as I am to this for a long time.

I keep checking the expected date and getting disappointed it's not next month.

I hope that you hope that the cover gets updated soon. ;-P


5 people marked this as a favorite.

I hope that the cover gets updated s... just kidding. ^_^

That said, I think the final cover for this one looks excellent. I may be biased, though, since two of the three are my sections.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Isabelle Lee wrote:

I hope that the cover gets updated s... just kidding. ^_^

That said, I think the final cover for this one looks excellent. I may be biased, though, since two of the three are my sections.

If you mean the cover with the Red Mantis Assassin, Hellknight and Gray Maiden on it, yeah it looks great. :-)

Also i find the price of $39.99 very reasonable for what´s in it. ;-)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?

Their introduction was, yes, but they are presumed to remain in the setting after that

Appearances:

Their initial appearance is in Curse of the Crimson Throne.

They appear again, though, in the Shattered Star AP - where, if I recall correctly, the PCs can help them find new resolve and purpose to move on.

There's a new NPC in the 100th issue of Pathfinder, in the section with a new NPC for each older AP.

The tool used to create their facial scars appears among the magic items in the Shattered Star AP as well, again if I recall correctly.

Liberty's Edge

Marco Massoudi wrote:
Isabelle Lee wrote:

I hope that the cover gets updated s... just kidding. ^_^

That said, I think the final cover for this one looks excellent. I may be biased, though, since two of the three are my sections.

If you mean the cover with the Red Mantis Assassin, Hellknight and Gray Maiden on it, yeah it looks great. :-)

Also i find the price of $39.99 very reasonable for what´s in it. ;-)

I wonder if the PDF will be $9,99 like the other books in this line.


Secret Wizard wrote:

This book is the largest threat to reaching August for 3 years without any new Brawler archetypes.

I already have the champagne to celebrate the anniversary so Paizo, don't you dare surprise me with any innovative approaches to the Brawler class!

There's only at least 36 archetypes in this book so the odds favor me.

here is the latest news on a brawler archetype


Paladinosaur wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Also i find the price of $39.99 very reasonable for what´s in it. ;-)
I wonder if the PDF will be $9,99 like the other books in this line.

Since this book is part of the RPG line, it wouldn't surprise me if the PDF were offered at the lower price. Another potential advantage of the line shift. ^_^


Urath DM wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?

Their introduction was, yes, but they are presumed to remain in the setting after that

** spoiler omitted **

Thing is, I remember reading that adventure paths don't happen until you actually play them (or an AP is explicitly a sequel).

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Urath DM wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?

Their introduction was, yes, but they are presumed to remain in the setting after that

** spoiler omitted **

Thing is, I remember reading that adventure paths don't happen until you actually play them (or an AP is explicitly a sequel).

So ... do you have a problem that Gray Maidens are in this book?


Gorbacz wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Urath DM wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Gray Maidens? Aren't they AP-specific?

Their introduction was, yes, but they are presumed to remain in the setting after that

** spoiler omitted **

Thing is, I remember reading that adventure paths don't happen until you actually play them (or an AP is explicitly a sequel).
So ... do you have a problem that Gray Maidens are in this book?

I don't see their inclusion as harmful, and they're certainly flavorful, but they still seem a little out of place given the circumstances of their creation.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Unless there are GMs that could use more information on the Grey Maidens when running their debut AP.


With the release of Shattered Star, wasn't that an exception to the 'we don't advance the timeline' stance?

I thought RotRL, CotCT and SD were now taken as having occurred in the Campaign Setting (Gray Maidens exist, drow are now known about, if rare and I'm pretty sure I remember reading references to the Runelords' climax in the PF Tales line).


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

"Drow are now known about".

Hm. I don't remember a lot of details from Second Darkness, but... A bunch of adventurers find a vast underground network of caverns, in which various critters, sentient and non-sentient, live. Some of the sentients are, or seem to be, distantly related to elves. The adventurers survive and eventually get back to civilization.

Even if they spread the word about the Drow, how many will believe them? How widespread will "the word" be? Ain't no Internet on Golarion, after all.

As to reference to the climax of RotRL in the Tales line, I haven't seen that, but then I haven't read them all either. Was the context "everybody knows about this" or something else?

Ask the average person something about history, even contemporary history, and ninety percent of them will have no clue. And that's with the Internet.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

When I said that drow are known about, I don't mean "it's common knowledge", I mean it appears in subsequent campaign setting books and some people in the world know about them. I fully appreciate that there's no internet on Golarion (world-spanning organisations and the ease of transfer of information implied by such are, in fact, one of my 'immersion breaking triggers' in Fantasy worlds).

The context of the Runelords climax mentioned in a novel was a character mentioning adventurers recently discovering an ancient runelord city.

I am not sure I'm right, but my point was that I believe those three APs are now deemed to have happened (in contrast to WotR, for example - the campaign setting books released from now on might reference gray maidens and the discovery of xin shalast, but they won't reference the worldwound being closed).

That is just a vague memory though, I don't have a definitive link or anything.


The first three APs are certainly considered to "have happened" for the purposes of the Shattered Star AP. I believe Steve Geddes is correct in that some of the AP events have been referred to elsewhere.

Lost Cities:
Lost Cities presents Xin-Shalast as a place with active expeditions from various places, in response to the events of Rise of the Runelords.

Inner Sea World Guide:
The Inner Sea World Guide has a timeline that includes evens in 4707 and 4708 ... the opening of Bloodsworn Vale (the events of the module Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale) and King Arabasti of Korvosa retreating from prominent to allow Queen Ileosa to be more active (prelude to Curse of the Crimson Throne).

I think the Wrath of the Righteous may acknowledge them, but not in a way that is binding for other purposes... just as WotR itself is not binding on continuity.

In the end, while I don't like putting world-specific organizations into the RPG line, I still want the book for the information on all of the organizations.. whether I use them now, or for the future, is open-ended.


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Steve Geddes wrote:

I am not sure I'm right, but my point was that I believe those three APs are now deemed to have happened (in contrast to WotR, for example - the campaign setting books released from now on might reference gray maidens and the discovery of xin shalast, but they won't reference the worldwound being closed).

That is just a vague memory though, I don't have a definitive link or anything.

Fair enough, and I expect you're right.

One thing I liked about the Harn setting (Columbia Games, Kelestia Games) was that they made a conscious decision to set everything in 720 TR, so that anything published is at worst in the present (i.e., right now), and more likely in the past of any campaign that might be running, or might be started.


This is an odd question, but will this book have any new information on the Church of Razmir? I'd normally think it unlikely, but it is covering the Grey Maidens, Hellknights, and Red Mantis, so it's already got some villainous organizations.


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I only consider the Hellknights to be about 50% villainous, for the record. But I'm used to seeing Hellknight PCs, so I may be biased. ^_^


Isabelle Lee wrote:
I only consider the Hellknights to be about 50% villainous, for the record. But I'm used to seeing Hellknight PCs, so I may be biased. ^_^

I rather like the Hellknights myself, but they most commonly show up as opposition in my experience.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Hellknights are champions of Law against Chaos but have no organizational bias in favor of Good or Evil, so they could be allies or antagonists depending on party composition and the exact situation.

Silver Crusade

David knott 242 wrote:

Hellknights are champions of Law against Chaos but have no organizational bias in favor of Good or Evil, so they could be allies or antagonists depending on party composition and the exact situation.

That greatly depends on each individual Order, there isn't some cohesive Hellknight whole aside from being armored mercenaries pushing laws.

Order of the Torrent, leans heavily toward Good.

Order of the Rack, leans heavily towards Evil (are there any non evil members?).


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Yes -- the Order involved matters too.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

I know of at least one PFS adventure involving a Hellknight team up.


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Isn't order of the Gate the most evil?


On another note, given that many of the listed organizations (Aspis Consortium, Pathfinders, Hellknights, Lantern Bearers, Red Mantis Assassins, and the Bellflower Network) appeared in the Faction Guide, and others (Cyphermages, Magaambya, Aldori Sword Lords) would be candidates for the Schools handling (introduced in Inner Sea Combat, Inner Sea Magic, Occult Mysteries, and Inner Sea Intrigue) ...

will the organizations be presented in a Prestige/Fame format for PC membership and advancement, or as Organizations (format from Ultimate Intrigue)?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

7 people marked this as a favorite.
Urath DM wrote:

On another note, given that many of the listed organizations (Aspis Consortium, Pathfinders, Hellknights, Lantern Bearers, Red Mantis Assassins, and the Bellflower Network) appeared in the Faction Guide, and others (Cyphermages, Magaambya, Aldori Sword Lords) would be candidates for the Schools handling (introduced in Inner Sea Combat, Inner Sea Magic, Occult Mysteries, and Inner Sea Intrigue) ...

will the organizations be presented in a Prestige/Fame format for PC membership and advancement, or as Organizations (format from Ultimate Intrigue)?

Neither. They're presented in more of a new format: 2 pages opener to introduce the group and 3 of its most important NPC members, 2 (or more) pages on prestige classes, 2 (or more) pages on archetypes, and 2 (or more pages on new player options like spells, feats, magic items, class options, etc. Each group gets at least 8 pages of content, and some get up to 14 (or was it up to 16?) or so. Most are somewhere around 10 pages.

The book isn't a guide to how to join an organization and rise in its ranks (there IS a very short and simple system to determine how a PC can become affiliated with a group and thus justify in-world why they have access to that group's stuff), but a book about how these organizations serve as guides to adventurers by "sponsoring" them via prestige class, archetype, spell, magic item, equipment, and other options.


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i hope a archetype for the slayer, rogue and ninja for the red mantis organisation.


When will the cover be updated?

Silver Crusade Contributor

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
When will the cover be updated?

If you just want to see the cover art, I posted a link to it here. ^_^


Kalindlara wrote:
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
When will the cover be updated?
If you just want to see the cover art, I posted a link to it here. ^_^

Wayne ?.....yes ???

Liberty's Edge

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Kalindlara wrote:
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
When will the cover be updated?
If you just want to see the cover art, I posted a link to it here. ^_^

A Hellknight, a Grey Maiden, and a Red Mantis assassin walk into a bar...


14 people marked this as a favorite.
CBDunkerson wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
When will the cover be updated?
If you just want to see the cover art, I posted a link to it here. ^_^
A Hellknight, a Grey Maiden, and a Red Mantis assassin walk into a bar...

The bartender says, "can you kill a man for me?"

"Is he a criminal?" the Hellknight asks sternly.

"Is he the ruler of a nation?" the Red Mantis asks menacingly.

"Is he someone who can finally help me have more than a highly limited purpose and one-dimensional backstory?" the Grey Maiden asks plaintively.

The bartender pauses before replying, "It's James Jacobs."

Taking no chances, the Grey Maiden kills her companions before they can respond, then stabs the bartender through the heart and rushes out to guard Mr. Jacobs 24/7, weeping grateful tears of joy.


9 people marked this as a favorite.

I endorse this version of events. ^_^


As do I! :)


Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Nice cover!

Dark Archive

Aprils products were updated on march 15th if i remember correctly.
Maybe we'll get the may products update today?
Somewhen this week most probably. :-)


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

.......Cover?

Dark Archive

zergtitan wrote:
.......Cover?

Try the link 8 posts above your's. ;-)

The hardcovers always seem to get updated last (like with Bestiary 6).
Probably between next week and the first week of may...

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