Pathfinder Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse

Still going through it but this is really great so far! One thing I noticed--judging by the described size of the Mwangi Jungle and the scale on the world map, I think the scale bar on the map in this book should be 300 miles or so instead of 150. That fits perfectly with the part saying the Mwangi Jungle is 800 miles across and half as wide.

Not saying anyone should go back to fix that, it's a BIG book so it makes sense a few details might be missed. Just putting it here in case anyone was wondering why the Mwangi Expanse seemed smaller than before.

I think there may have been a mistake in the History section, with some events that are listed on the sidebar as happening during the age of enthronement being written under the header of the age of destiny (overthrow of Mzali is listed as 3967 AR, end of the rastel-xatramba war is 3705 AR, and we known from the slithering that Xatramba isnt even founded until 3699). I'm assuming the sidebar dates are the correct ones because they line up with information we have from previous sources.

Nonetheless a fantastic book, easily one of the best I've ever read from pathfinder and I've read nearly everything from 2e and a couple things from 1e. I hope all of these new authors you've found will continue to be used in projects going forward!

I've been excited for this book for some time now as I'm running a campaign in the Mwangi Expanse. Just a shame I have to wait a couple more weeks before I can get it in Canada for some reason. I really want to delve into the deeper lore.

The book is gorgeous. Good job art team.

I've also found myself loving the content that has caught my eye and caused me to browse.

Haven't browsed a rpg book like this in a long time.

Excellent work all around.

Absolutely loving this book so far. I have a few desires for further books like this in the Lost Omens line; but I'll hold those opinions to see what happens in further books.

I do have one eensy, tiny, miniscule question to ask. A question that I expected answers for here, but to no avail. A small questions nonetheless. Nothing huge. It is of little real concern. But.... can someone tell me what in the world happened to Girallon?

Now, don't get me wrong, I realize that the Angazhani are quite literally the High Girallon. But I mean more of what was the reasoning for writing them out? I assume it is because the Girallon have ties to D&D and that they are kind of a redundant stop gap for the more interesting and powerful Angazhani. Was just curious on the why really. I'm not bothered by it otherwise honestly. Also curious to see what this might mean for their possible origins from Akiton.

Angazhani replaced the Girallon, they’re not the “High” version anymore, from my reading anyway.

News from Roll20:

“Mwangi Expanse is the first book of the Lost Omens line to come to the Roll20 Marketplace - but not the last! Over the next few months, we will be rolling out additional support to the much-requested Lost Omens line for our Pathfinder 2 players.”

Angazhani replaced the Girallon, they’re not the “High” version anymore, from my reading anyway.

That was badically my interpretation as well. I'm just curious about the why of the change. I'm pretty sure it's the Girallon having their roots in D&D and Paizo wanting to detach itself from its predecessor by dropping Wizards own setting ideas in liue of their own. Just left me with a few other questions in regards to their lore moving forward.

I expected a line or two in there that maybe said something like "The Angazhani were once referred to as the Girallon by the more civilized Ancestries of the Inner Sea; a name they detest, as it minimizes their relationship to the Ravenous King. Many also classified them into two castes: the more bestial lower caste of common Girallon, and the more intelligent "High Girallon". This actually wasn't the case, however, and the Angazhani simply took pleasure in the unbridled fear their bestial appearance and behavior inspired in their prey."

Rysky wrote:

Angazhani replaced the Girallon, they’re not the “High” version anymore, from my reading anyway.

That was badically my interpretation as well. I'm just curious about the why of the change. I'm pretty sure it's the Girallon having their roots in D&D and Paizo wanting to detach itself from its predecessor by dropping Wizards own setting ideas in liue of their own. Just left me with a few other questions in regards to their lore moving forward.

I expected a line or two in there that maybe said something like "The Angazhani were once referred to as the Girallon by the more civilized Ancestries of the Inner Sea; a name they detest, as it minimizes their relationship to the Ravenous King. Many also classified them into two castes: the more bestial lower caste of common Girallon, and the more intelligent "High Girallon". This actually wasn't the case, however, and the Angazhani simply took pleasure in the unbridled fear their bestial appearance and behavior inspired in their prey."

It might be better to do what they did, making a clean division, rather than pretending the old lore makes sense as just mistaken rumours. It gets weird to go "Oh yeah, those animals you slaughtered, they were really intelligent, but just pretending not to be."

Also that eats up a lot of word count for what benefit?

Almost everyone who sees the white furred four armed murder gorilla knows what it is :3

I'm loving this book, but I'm curious, will the file per chapter PDF be properly reorganized? Right now it breaks up in a terribly unintuitive manner unlike the past lost omen books.

I love this book, though I am disappointed with the wording of the Gnoll Weapon Familiarity feat.

The art is breathtaking. So much happiness involved it. Now to get my hands on Strength of Thousands.

Has this source been approved for the PFS 2E?

Has this source been approved for the PFS 2E?

I don't think so, but Paizo Organized Play posts every Thursday. Look for new sanctions.

Has this source been approved for the PFS 2E?

It was sanctioned on release date! You can always check the status on the Character Options page.

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:

Has this source been approved for the PFS 2E?

It was sanctioned on release date! You can always check the status on the Character Options page.

I knew I should have waited for you to answer! lol.

Also that eats up a lot of word count for what benefit?

Almost everyone who sees the white furred four armed murder gorilla knows what it is :3

Girallon is someone I do not love to meet.

Precisely :3

I absolutely adore this book but I do have one quibble: why doesn't the map of the overall Expanse include the new locations? Where in the Terwa Uplands is Cloudspire? What about Matakali?

And the Mbe'ke are fighting their Corsair War with the pirates, but...where are their ports? There's the Shackles to the west/northwest and Bloodcove to the southwest, I don't see where the Mbe'ke would be fitting their ports/shipyards.

The new lore is magnificent, the artwork is excellent, but a little more detail on the region map to reflect these new sites would be appreciated.

I agree, I was expecting a more zoomed in map for each of the subregions in the geography section with more labels but we didn't get that unfortunately

I love that they have a whole bunch o non metallic or chromatic dragon lore in here as well as the new deities.

I have a dwarf in my party for Age of Ashes and they just arrived in Akrivel and now he asks the only real important question to him:

"Do the Ekujae have beer?"

LOL

I have a dwarf in my party for Age of Ashes and they just arrived in Akrivel and now he asks the only real important question to him:

"Do the Ekujae have beer?"

"And if they do, will they share it?" is also worth asking.

I absolutely adore this book but I do have one quibble: why doesn't the map of the overall Expanse include the new locations? Where in the Terwa Uplands is Cloudspire? What about Matakali?

And the Mbe'ke are fighting their Corsair War with the pirates, but...where are their ports? There's the Shackles to the west/northwest and Bloodcove to the southwest, I don't see where the Mbe'ke would be fitting their ports/shipyards.

The new lore is magnificent, the artwork is excellent, but a little more detail on the region map to reflect these new sites would be appreciated.

I agree 100% with your post . I went completely mad trying to find some of the locations that you mentioned on the map

CrusaderWolf wrote:

I absolutely adore this book but I do have one quibble: why doesn't the map of the overall Expanse include the new locations? Where in the Terwa Uplands is Cloudspire? What about Matakali?

And the Mbe'ke are fighting their Corsair War with the pirates, but...where are their ports? There's the Shackles to the west/northwest and Bloodcove to the southwest, I don't see where the Mbe'ke would be fitting their ports/shipyards.

The new lore is magnificent, the artwork is excellent, but a little more detail on the region map to reflect these new sites would be appreciated.

I agree 100% with your post . I went completely mad trying to find some of the locations that you mentioned on the map

Fair enough. But read the opening paragraph again. ;) I tease.

kayman wrote:

CrusaderWolf wrote:

I absolutely adore this book but I do have one quibble: why doesn't the map of the overall Expanse include the new locations? Where in the Terwa Uplands is Cloudspire? What about Matakali?

And the Mbe'ke are fighting their Corsair War with the pirates, but...where are their ports? There's the Shackles to the west/northwest and Bloodcove to the southwest, I don't see where the Mbe'ke would be fitting their ports/shipyards.

The new lore is magnificent, the artwork is excellent, but a little more detail on the region map to reflect these new sites would be appreciated.

I agree 100% with your post . I went completely mad trying to find some of the locations that you mentioned on the map

Fair enough. But read the opening paragraph again. ;) I tease.

Good answer. For me, this is one of the best RPG books that i ever read. But i would love a highly detailed map of the Mwangi Ezpanse. .

it would be cool if they release a poster map like the world guide one or the one coming with absalom but just of the mwangi expanse, bigger and with more locations specified. I would love that.

Maybe Strength of Thousands will have some more region specific maps?

Maybe Strength of Thousands will have some more region specific maps?

A few, yes! The inside front cover of each volume is an overview map relevant to that volume (sometimes a city, sometimes an overland area).

Cloudspire not being on the map stings, definitely.

The Cloud Dragons keep moving it.

I think this has been already mentioned but the scale presented in the map of the Mwangi Expanse is wrong. Its 300 miles not 150 miles.

To see this , read the description of lake Ocota.

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

I can see how that might be frustrating.

Personally, it was such a welcome surprise to me. I've been getting a bit of design monotony on my shelf with all the rulebooks matching, all the Lost Omens matching, etc. Heck, I even dropped my rulebook sub from deluxe to normal just because everything is the same red and gold. Breaking it up a bit is adding some nice life to my bookshelf!

I think we all want and expect different things visually sometimes. Probably makes things annoying for publishers, haha.

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

This brought up before. There was no hard response, but a suggestion that the region books might be going with this look

The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

This brought up before. There was no hard response, but a suggestion that the region books might be going with this look

I can't find the quote right now (from either Sarah Robinson or Erik Mona), but the alternate spine is intentional to distinguish our 10 meta-regions from the other Lost Omens books. Grand Bazaar will return to the standard spin.

thejeff wrote:

The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

This brought up before. There was no hard response, but a suggestion that the region books might be going with this look

I can't find the quote right now (from either Sarah Robinson or Erik Mona), but the alternate spine is intentional to distinguish our 10 meta-regions from the other Lost Omens books. Grand Bazaar will return to the standard spin.

Nice! Since 9 further meta-region-books are now officially confirmed, I want to ask: will the books on Arcadia, Tian Xia, Azlant and Casmaron also follow this design? :)

I hope we get some of the farther-flung regions mixed in with the inner sea stuff, so we dont have to wait at least another ~3 years to get something like arcadia or casmaron

I would not consider them "confirmed". I would rather consider them "possible, maybe probable". They are not confirmed until they are announced and right now they are not announced. Right now they are something we might see in the future and IF we do we kinda sorta know how their spines will look like.

Aaron Shanks wrote:

thejeff wrote:

The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

This brought up before. There was no hard response, but a suggestion that the region books might be going with this look

I can't find the quote right now (from either Sarah Robinson or Erik Mona), but the alternate spine is intentional to distinguish our 10 meta-regions from the other Lost Omens books. Grand Bazaar will return to the standard spin.

Nice! Since 9 further meta-region-books are now officially confirmed, I want to ask: will the books on Arcadia, Tian Xia, Azlant and Casmaron also follow this design? :)

None of those are in the 10 metaregions. See pages 42-429 of the CRB. That's not to say the creative team doesn't have plans for them.

I would not consider them "confirmed". I would rather consider them "possible, maybe probable". They are not confirmed until they are announced and right now they are not announced. Right now they are something we might see in the future and IF we do we kinda sorta know how their spines will look like.

Exactly. The majority of these are in the "a gleam in Erik Mona's eye" stage.

masda_gib wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

thejeff wrote:

The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

... well this is super disappointing. The spine has changed from being uniform and themed to having the art wrap around it. (Especially as the art from the product page shows oherwise)

Really bad design choice this far into the line imo, I will have to consider if I will just get the pdf copies in the future instead of print and PDF. It won't bother everyone, but it is a shame imo.

This brought up before. There was no hard response, but a suggestion that the region books might be going with this look

I can't find the quote right now (from either Sarah Robinson or Erik Mona), but the alternate spine is intentional to distinguish our 10 meta-regions from the other Lost Omens books. Grand Bazaar will return to the standard spin.

Nice! Since 9 further meta-region-books are now officially confirmed, I want to ask: will the books on Arcadia, Tian Xia, Azlant and Casmaron also follow this design? :)

None of those are in the 10 metaregions. See pages 42-429 of the CRB. That's not to say the creative team doesn't have plans for them.

I think they were asking if those were being made in addition to the hypothetical meta-region books, but yeah.

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I've noticed something that could use some errata. Osibu offers primal spellcasting services of a higher level than its settlement level, and from the context it's clear the level of the spellcasting services refers to spell level. Nantambu likewise offers spellcasting services of a higher level than its settlement level, but the level of the spellcasting services is given as a character level/settlement level. (e.g. on the 1-20 scale rather than 1-10)

As far as I know, these are the only two instances in print where the level of spellcasting services is enumerated separate of settlement level, so either could conceivably be be correct. Whatever the system going forwards is established as, one of them should be corrected.

Nantambu does have a magic school, which could explain its higher level of available spellcasting services. I am not sure about Osibu, but some similar explanation may apply.

Nantambu does have a magic school, which could explain its higher level of available spellcasting services. I am not sure about Osibu, but some similar explanation may apply.

You misunderstand; the higher level of available spellcasting services is 100% intentional and good. The way these statuses are being communicated in the text of the two settlement entries is contradictory and confusing.

Ive read and reread the book and it mentions ceramic armor, but there are no stats that i found for it. Either as a special material or specific armors.

What size should the pdf of this be? I just got it and the pdf download I get is 176 MB, which seems high. So I tried downloading the file per chapter version and all the "chapters" files are less than 10MB each except for pages 122-145 pdf is 112MB! So it seems like those pages were not properly compressed? Is this a problem with all of the pdf's or just the watermarked version I'm getting? I clicked the "problem downloading this file" and had it redo the files and they came back out the same.

okay, I split the pdf, most pages are less than 1MB per page, but here are the offending pages:
130 is 17MB. It's a full color page, so it should be a larger size, but this is still more than it needs to be compared to other full color pages.
138 is 35MB, this is too large given what is on the page.
141 is 19MB, this is too large given what is on the page.
144 is 35MB, this is too large given what is on the page.

Likely the art assets for these were put in at full resolution and not compressed. I find it hard to believe no one has pointed this out and fixed it in the months its been out?