Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Book of the Damned (PFRPG)

Rysky, you're a stalker, but you're so totes adorbs about it, that I don't mind. For now. '-)

^w^

(Has no idea what's going on)

I have no idea either Rysky, but I DO love the new cover art. :)

Plus RITUALS! :D

Cover caption contest!

"The Iron Lord crashes the meeting after his repeated calls were answered only with 'new phone, who Dis?'"

I hope we'll get some more information on the deal Pharasma made with the Daemons and that was mentioned in their soft cover. Pharasma leaving the back door of the Boneyard open to them still surprises me.

I'm also curious if we'll get at least a new tidbit on Tabris, the author of the in-game version of the Book of the Damned.

I hope we'll get some more information on the deal Pharasma made with the Daemons and that was mentioned in their soft cover. Pharasma leaving the back door of the Boneyard open to them still surprises me.

I'm also curious if we'll get at least a new tidbit on Tabris, the author of the in-game version of the Book of the Damned.

As far as I know (first pages of the BotD3), there was no special deal between them. Pharasma simply did not have a portal to Abaddon for a long time and the daemons just kept pestering her (and threatened to steal even more souls). In the end, she realized that she could not withhold the souls destined for Abaddon forever. Thus, she gave them their portal as well (just like the portal to the abyss).

The Gold Sovereign wrote:

I'm rather curious about how are you handling Orcus in this book. Is he getting two pages with rules, flavor and art as all the others? Orcus was among the Demon Lords in Lords of Chaos, and that's why I'm asking - specially because of the illustration.

I know I might have asked this before, as illustrations are one of my favorite parts of the flavor in the book - but are all the "two pagers" getting illustrations?

Every two page entry gets its own illustration, yes. That means there'll be illustrations of all demon lords, all arch devils, the horsemen, the queens of the night, and Ahriman, along with several more illos of other fiendish demigods. Most of them are new illustrations, since we prefer not to reprint illustrations once they have appeared in other hardcovers.

From the Hardcovers specifically? Does that mean we'll be seeing reprints of Deskari's art from Wrath of the Righteous? I hope not. I'm really looking forward to new Deskari art.

I'm flattered and appreciate your compliment! I hope to do more with them in the future, but this book reveals a bit more them than we were able to do with a few Bestiary pages, so that's a good start.

Since you're almost certainly the person who would know, will there be any mention of Fluumphs in this book?

James Jacobs wrote:

The Gold Sovereign wrote:

I'm rather curious about how are you handling Orcus in this book. Is he getting two pages with rules, flavor and art as all the others? Orcus was among the Demon Lords in Lords of Chaos, and that's why I'm asking - specially because of the illustration.

I know I might have asked this before, as illustrations are one of my favorite parts of the flavor in the book - but are all the "two pagers" getting illustrations?

Every two page entry gets its own illustration, yes. That means there'll be illustrations of all demon lords, all arch devils, the horsemen, the queens of the night, and Ahriman, along with several more illos of other fiendish demigods. Most of them are new illustrations, since we prefer not to reprint illustrations once they have appeared in other hardcovers.

From the Hardcovers specifically? Does that mean we'll be seeing reprints of Deskari's art from Wrath of the Righteous? I hope not. I'm really looking forward to new Deskari art.

Adam Daigle wrote:

I'm flattered and appreciate your compliment! I hope to do more with them in the future, but this book reveals a bit more them than we were able to do with a few Bestiary pages, so that's a good start.

Since you're almost certainly the person who would know, will there be any mention of Fluumphs in this book?

From the hardcovers specifically, yes. Deskari's art in particular is reprinted from Wrath.

There are no flumphs in the book.

Stratagemini wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Every two page entry gets its own illustration, yes. That means there'll be illustrations of all demon lords, all arch devils, the horsemen, the queens of the night, and Ahriman, along with several more illos of other fiendish demigods. Most of them are new illustrations, since we prefer not to reprint illustrations once they have appeared in other hardcovers.

From the Hardcovers specifically? Does that mean we'll be seeing reprints of Deskari's art from Wrath of the Righteous? I hope not. I'm really looking forward to new Deskari art.

Adam Daigle wrote:

I'm flattered and appreciate your compliment! I hope to do more with them in the future, but this book reveals a bit more them than we were able to do with a few Bestiary pages, so that's a good start.

Since you're almost certainly the person who would know, will there be any mention of Fluumphs in this book?

From the hardcovers specifically, yes. Deskari's art in particular is reprinted from Wrath.

There are no flumphs in the book.

Awwww... I was hoping for all new art, too.

As far as I know (first pages of the BotD3), there was no special deal between them. Pharasma simply did not have a portal to Abaddon for a long time and the daemons just kept pestering her (and threatened to steal even more souls). In the end, she realized that she could not withhold the souls destined for Abaddon forever. Thus, she gave them their portal as well (just like the portal to the abyss).

That would be my reading of that text as well FWIW, though that assumes of course that the BotD and its sources for those events were telling the truth.

There's typically going to be that caveat even when the reading of the events is (as in this case) pretty solidly behind one specific interpretation, just to allow GMs the room to spin the events and the campaign ramifications thereof in their own way, to fit their own campaign plots. I personally appreciate unreliable narrators and historical ambiguity for specifically that purpose.

Yeah, there's like five different "creation of the universe"/"we came first" stories. It's very much a pick-your-own-canon situation. ^_^

*picks his cannon that James Jacobs wrote a story and then some how it sprang to life*

New image for the book. seems like the tome is currently being offered by CHARON- most powerful and oldest among the 4, NOCTICULA-a Demon-lord who seems to be potentially on the cusp of ascending to godhood, and DISPATER- The lowest in Cr of the 3(CR-27), but still one of the oldest of Asmodeus's retainers. If this was a Battle, it would become a Bloodbath very quickly.

And They are simply offering a Book who's knowledge holds such dark powers, such evil magics and potent damnation, that the in game version is only encountered in copies. and those are often primary tools used by the forces of evil for their schemes. I imagine the original is probably FAR WORSE. like good paladin must roll will save upon reading its contents, or have their alignment shift dramatically to evil.

but again, that is just my feelings about this. What the Book of the Damned is within your campaign is your choice.

So excited for this book!

I've been a fan of fiends (specifically demons) since the Demonomicon of Iggwilv articles written by James Jacobs for Dragon magazine years ago. They are (IMO) some of the best articles to have been released in Dragon. They not only tipped the balance to me becoming a D&D player and DM, but also set me upon the path of following James' work all the way to Pathfinder back in 2008.

Since then I've spent many hours having fun with friends DMing and playing Pathfinder. I've enjoyed seeing Pathfinder's take on the various fiendish races, and many other things besides. Needless to say, I'm glad that the Book of the Damned is finally getting its due. And the cover art (Nocticula by Wayne Reynolds!) is fantastic as always. While I know producing these amazing books is very much a team effort by all the great people at Paizo, I wanted to give a shout-out to James here.

SO PUMPED. GO JAMES! YOU ROCK!

Damn! Amazing cover art! I can't wait to get this!

So I guess this book won't have collection on info on evils of Celestials? : D

I'm making jokes about how Ramifications section on Artifacts and Legends states that the reason why Tabris got banished and book separated into volumes is that combined Book contained also info on angelic corruption and other evil deeds done by celestials, so I'm wondering since this is combined reprint of three volumes that it will do same thing xD

Anyway, I wouldn't really care for either way, unless it would explain why Paizo keeps trying to make Good aligned outsiders morally grey when they should be good by nature. Seriously, its confusing

So I guess this book won't have collection on info on evils of Celestials? : D

I'm making jokes about how Ramifications section on Artifacts and Legends states that the reason why Tabris got banished and book separated into volumes is that combined Book contained also info on angelic corruption and other evil deeds done by celestials, so I'm wondering since this is combined reprint of three volumes that it will do same thing xD

Anyway, I wouldn't really care for either way, unless it would explain why Paizo keeps trying to make Good aligned outsiders morally grey when they should be good by nature. Seriously, its confusing

Uh, it actually doesn't say that. The reason the Celestials wanted the book destroyed was because of how evil it was, and because how everything involved in it's creation had corrupted Tabris, it wasn't them hiding any dirty secrets.

CorvusMask wrote:

So I guess this book won't have collection on info on evils of Celestials? : D

I'm making jokes about how Ramifications section on Artifacts and Legends states that the reason why Tabris got banished and book separated into volumes is that combined Book contained also info on angelic corruption and other evil deeds done by celestials, so I'm wondering since this is combined reprint of three volumes that it will do same thing xD

Anyway, I wouldn't really care for either way, unless it would explain why Paizo keeps trying to make Good aligned outsiders morally grey when they should be good by nature. Seriously, its confusing

Uh, it actually doesn't say that. The reason the Celestials wanted the book destroyed was because of how evil it was, and because how everything involved in it's creation had corrupted Tabris, it wasn't them hiding any dirty secrets.

I can give you quote from Artifacts & Legends page 15 on ramifications of the artifact:

"Sacred Apocrypha: When the angelic hosts reviewed the works of Tabris, they expected to be confronted by all the profanities of fiends and their unholy lords. What they didn’t expect was their brother’s unflinching thoroughness when it came to the most regretful deeds of the celestial races and deities of light. The angelic scholar’s works chronicled innumerable strained compromises between celestials and fiends, instances of unholy deception, successions and sacrifices made for greater goods, occurrences of angelic corruption, massacres on divine battlefields, alliances between opposed deities, and catalogs of slain empyreal lords—in short, a collection depraved enough to undermine nearly any mortal faith. These records, not the bold confessions of fiends, were what led the folios known as the Book of the Damned to be scattered, as only when these foul pages are united is the so-called apocrypha to the book’s sister volume, the Chronicle of the Righteous, revealed."

I can see why some reviewers on some books(I remember seeing that type of complaints on Heavens Unleashed reviews for example) think that Paizo for some reasons tries to make good outsider as bad as evil ones :D

Ah, my apologies, I would have noticed that if I read the effects of the Artifact instead of just the description >_<

Looking it over I don't think it's making Good Outsiders as bad Evil ones, just pointing out their failings and the existence of Fallen ones. So f~~@-ups, yes. But by no means does those f~#~-ups make them the same as Evil Outsiders, or even close.

Ah, my apologies, I would have noticed that if I read the effects of the Artifact instead of just the description >_<

Looking it over I don't think it's making Good Outsiders as bad Evil ones, just pointing out failings and the existence of fallen ones.

I think that text kinda implies it contains info on evil deeds done by good aligned deities, which I would find very weird if that is really the case. Well, either way, does make me wonder if hardcover will touch on Sacred Apocrypha. I mean, I guess fallen celestials are almost fiends? But yeah, I kinda doubt that will get mentioned since book is fiend focused.

Rysky wrote:

Ah, my apologies, I would have noticed that if I read the effects of the Artifact instead of just the description >_<

Looking it over I don't think it's making Good Outsiders as bad Evil ones, just pointing out failings and the existence of fallen ones.

I think that text kinda implies it contains info on evil deeds done by good aligned deities, which I would find very weird if that is really the case. Well, either way, does make me wonder if hardcover will touch on Sacred Apocrypha. I mean, I guess fallen celestials are almost fiends? But yeah, I kinda doubt that will get mentioned since book is fiend focused.

The only thing on that is "alliances between opposed deities"... which could be anything. The war against Rovagug is a notable one.

And we might get stuff for Fallen Celestials since they make some of the stronger fiend demigods :3

I doubt we'll get fallen celestials in a book. Mostly because it's kind of a short list.

I doubt we'll get fallen celestials in a book. Mostly because it's kind of a short list.

Another way I could see it being touched could be short article on what makes celestial fall into evil? I mean, to be honest, it should be as weird occurrence as fiend becoming good aligned, sure evil is easier than good, but thats for mortals, when you are personification of alignment it gets weird :D

The Asmodeus section of Inner Sea Gods does mention that Asmodeus has made deals with all of the major core deities except for Rovagug and Lamashtu. How those deals would be judged would vary greatly depending on whether your source of information about any given deal is Asmodeus or the other deity.

I doubt we'll get fallen celestials in a book. Mostly because it's kind of a short list.

Asmodeus and all of his original legions is a short list?

Plausible,

It's short because I don't think many of them are left...

Thomas Seitz wrote:

I doubt we'll get fallen celestials in a book. Mostly because it's kind of a short list.

Asmodeus and all of his original legions is a short list?

Well... I'm a bit confused...

The Queens of the Night are supposed to be fallen celestials - not all the four, as at least one was a psychopomp.

Baalzebub and at least three other of the Archdevils of Hell are also fallen celestials - Mephistopheles is the first Devil, Belial was created, Geryon was an Asura Rana and Barbatos is something else...

I can't remember a demon who was once a celestial...

So, what did you mean by "no fallen celestials" Blaine? Are you talking talking about the ways to make a celestial fall from grace?

Presumably fallen celestials will just be referenced in the specific demigod article. Strikes me that a separate table of origins wouldn't be the most useful use of space for this book.

Gold,

I just meant that it wouldn't be enough to justify making a 150 page book...

There are plenty of fallen angels and the like in this book, but they're all unique individuals. That's the best way to handle this story element, in my opinion (as well as the risen fiends angle); to custom-build these characters as needed. A template cheapens the concept and normalizes it and suggests that it's a common enough occurrence that there needs to be design shortcuts to building them, so no fallen/risen template in this book or anytime soon from Paizo.

Thank you Mister Jacobs! :)

Forgive if this has already been answered, but will we be getting some of the Demigods of some of the other Fiendish races? Like the Asura Ranas, The Oni Damiyo, and the Rakshasa Immortals specifically. Those are something I am interested in seeing.

Forgive if this has already been answered, but will we be getting some of the Demigods of some of the other Fiendish races? Like the Asura Ranas, The Oni Damiyo, and the Rakshasa Immortals specifically. Those are something I am interested in seeing.

Yes, but generally not the sort of full spreads that, say, infernal dukes get. They'll get obediences that grant SLAs rather than unique abilities.

That's fine, I don't really need full spreads. I will just settle for their worshiper stats (What domains they grant, their portfolios) and I can fill in the blanks myself.

Not related to this book(since I don't think it did statting for any of the demon lords), but would be nice to have lot of nascent demon lords and infernal dukes and other such fiends in bestiary or something similar in the future. I mean, demigod fiends are cool, but they are harder to use since paizo doesn't support mythic player content much these days. Besides, 21-25 fiends don't usually have realms so no need to think about their realms for adventures were you use them : D

CrinosG wrote:

Forgive if this has already been answered, but will we be getting some of the Demigods of some of the other Fiendish races? Like the Asura Ranas, The Oni Damiyo, and the Rakshasa Immortals specifically. Those are something I am interested in seeing.

Yes, but generally not the sort of full spreads that, say, infernal dukes get. They'll get obediences that grant SLAs rather than unique abilities.

Actually, the infernal dukes will get the same treatment as the other "minor demigods" - by that I mean they are getting spells as boons.

The ones getting unique boons are the Archdevils, the Demon Lords, the Horsemen, the Queens of the Night and Ahiriman.

There are plenty of fallen angels and the like in this book, but they're all unique individuals. That's the best way to handle this story element, in my opinion (as well as the risen fiends angle); to custom-build these characters as needed. A template cheapens the concept and normalizes it and suggests that it's a common enough occurrence that there needs to be design shortcuts to building them, so no fallen/risen template in this book or anytime soon from Paizo.

Are there any Daemons who rose to start serving Pharasma? Not just in this book, but I mean, at all?

Are there any Daemons who rose to start serving Pharasma? Not just in this book, but I mean, at all?

Not off the top of my head, but that would be a fascinating character to write up or use in a campaign.

Risen fiends tend to be monstrously more rare than fallen celestials in general, but whenever I've used them in a campaign they do tend to be some of the most fascinating and complex characters, especially if they're in a transitional state of not precisely risen quite yet and still figuring out what they want, what they believe, and as a result what they truly are and will become.

I have a question about the book. Are the Rakshasa Immortals, Asura Ranas, Kyton Demagogues, Sakhil Tormentors, and Oni Daimyos featured within the ones that were namedropped in the Bestiaries?

I have a question about the book. Are the Rakshasa Immortals, Asura Ranas, Kyton Demagogues, Sakhil Tormentors, and Oni Daimyos featured within the ones that were namedropped in the Bestiaries?

More or less, yes. There's a few more than those, in some cases, but it's pretty much those lists. If I remember correctly.

Great. Those lists have been teasing me for years.

Will the previous lore sections of Asmodeus being the First alongside Ihys and all that be rewritten to be in line with the 'new lore' (cough-RET-cough-CON-cough) from HR onwards that describes him as a far less powerful, ancient, and lore-important deity that Book of the Damned Vol 1 initially set him up as?

Will the previous lore sections of Asmodeus being the First alongside Ihys and all that be rewritten to be in line with the 'new lore' (cough-RET-cough-CON-cough) from HR onwards that describes him as a far less powerful, ancient, and lore-important deity that Book of the Damned Vol 1 initially set him up as?

Probably no more than all the other "new" lore about his origins spread throughout Pathfinder's history. Azzy's got a bunch of origin stories.

Will the previous lore sections of Asmodeus being the First alongside Ihys and all that be rewritten to be in line with the 'new lore' (cough-RET-cough-CON-cough) from HR onwards that describes him as a far less powerful, ancient, and lore-important deity that Book of the Damned Vol 1 initially set him up as?

I hope not, I'm fine with Asmodeus's origin story being so obscure and confused that not even the metanarrative is consistent. He has the trickery domain, after all.

Perhaps, he is Golarion's version of the Joker. After all, if his origins are indeed obscure and confusing, I can imagine the Prince of Darkness saying the iconic lines: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes I remember it another. If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!".

So I am setup for the preorder on this, but does anyone know when the preoders ship out?

What day they charge for the preorders?

ect...

I am so ready to have this in my possession.

So I am setup for the preorder on this, but does anyone know when the preoders ship out?

What day they charge for the preorders?

ect...

I am so ready to have this in my possession.

Since the PDF becomes available September 27th, this book should ship out around the middle of September and reach you within a few days of the 27th. If you monitor the monthly shipping thread pinned to the top of the Customer Service forum, you should get an idea of the flow of events for the monthly shipments.

The final cover looks appropriately wicked!

Will there be previews for this in the Paizo Blog in the coming months?

I'm just soooo excited for this book that I'm brimming with Infernal Glee.

I'm constantly rereading the BotD Vol. 1-3 and Hell Unleashed I just love all the options and the Lore in them. It really gets the Hellfire pumping in the veins.

My Bestfriend is more for the Necronomicon and Elder Mythos

But the Book of the Damned is my baby.

I just need more tid bits to satisfy this Fiendish fix.

Will there be previews for this in the Paizo Blog in the coming months?

Certainly! But, as we're still three months away from street date, those won't be coming until later. We're excited about this book too, so don't you worry about us not crowing about it closer to release. :)