Pathfinder Secrets of Magic

And these two quotes are great for those looking for expanded options:

"Change how you cast spells entirely, with options like channeling powerful emotions as a source of magic, casting exclusively elemental spells, tying your gear directly to your soul, harnessing the magical potential of true names, and more."

"Ley lines make certain locations more magical, and pervasive magic can put magical power into every creature and place in your game world if the normal amount of magic isn’t enough!"

Yooo I wonder if "tying your gear directly to your soul" means getting scaling DCs on items as you level.

Very excited for the "ley-lines". Well, very excited in general.

Yooo I wonder if "tying your gear directly to your soul" means getting scaling DCs on items as you level.

Very excited for the "ley-lines". Well, very excited in general.

Staves & wands already scale, but I like that a talisman & some others might. I wondered if it might be similar to an occultist's implements. :)

Man I'll be so heartbroken if this gets delayed. Wish pdfs at least were released on time.

It seems a little too early to worry about July products maybe being delayed.

If May is a double up, things will be back on schedule. The physical products were delayed in transit, but there wasn't a backlog in the printers/at Paizo. So development and creation of products is continuing as is, I'd suspect they'll actually get back on schedule, once the current delays are resolved.

Is there any proof that may will be a "double up" month? I haven't seen anything on that myself

Paizo staff have been posting about the delays since April 12.

From the April & May 2021 New Releases and Subscription Shipping - UPDATED 05 / 04 / 21 thread.

Posted May 4, 2021

No news regarding April products yet. I've moved April & May together at this time and listed the dates as TBD. We will update as soon as we know more. Products may also shift around as we figure out the best solution.

Moving the April and May products together will prevent the PDFs from going up for sale tomorrow and shifts the release date to May's release date (May 26th).

Items produced overseas all come to the Paizo warehouse (via shipping containers through our local port), they arrive at our warehouse where our staff checks them in. Shortly before we ship out subscriber copies, our warehouse is busy shipping orders for our distributors. Those distributors then receive products and ship them out to the stores that purchase from them.

Secrets of Magic took extra time to complete and is now scheduled as a late August release. (There is no Gen Con the first weekend of August anyway.)

April products have been delayed at the port for weeks. The release date is unclear at this time. It may be a double release in May, but that decision has not yet been made. PDFs will not be released before the print copies are shipped. Products are shipped to distributores first, subscribers second, and everyone else third. While the rest of us are working from home, our hardworking warehouse team continues to work under pandemic protocols. Look to our pinned Customer Service thread in the Forums for updates.

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

That's alright. It is a bit sad to see the book delayed, but with plenty of stuff in other books feeling like it could be much better with just a little extra design/balance pass, I'll take a delay any day if that means a better polished product. Especially involving things as controversial as the Magus and the current state of magic in the game.

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

Makes sense, gonna be pretty good for my West Marches game due to start around then, double shot of new options!

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

This statement about the release schedule confuses me SO MUCH now. I just now checked the descriptions for each of the hardcover books in the Starfinder, Pathfinder Rulebook, and Pathfinder Lost Omens lines and according to those web pages those books are coming out in the following order:

2 in June: Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse & Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual

3 in August: Secrets of Magic (as posted above), Lost Omens The Grand Bazaar, and Starfinder Tech Revolution

1 in September: Guns & Gears

1 in October: Starfinder Galactic Magic

1 in November: Lost Omens Monsters of Myth

& I don't know when Lost Omens Absolom is coming out as there is no release date listed.

So what else has shuffled to a different month on the schedule besides Secrets of Magic?

Aaron Shanks wrote:

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

This statement about the release schedule confuses me SO MUCH now. I just now checked the descriptions for each of the hardcover books in the Starfinder, Pathfinder Rulebook, and Pathfinder Lost Omens lines and according to those web pages those books are coming out in the following order:

2 in June: Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse & Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual

3 in August: Secrets of Magic (as posted above), Lost Omens The Grand Bazaar, and Starfinder Tech Revolution

1 in September: Guns & Gears

1 in October: Starfinder Galactic Magic

1 in November: Lost Omens Monsters of Myth

& I don't know when Lost Omens Absolom is coming out as there is no release date listed.

So what else has shuffled to a different month on the schedule besides Secrets of Magic?

LO Grand Bazaar is "15 Sep 2021"

Don't look at the date around the price, this one is the date they will have it in the warehouse to start shipping to subs or something, it's rarely accurate.
At the bottom of the description, there's a "Preorder, expected approximately [DATE]" line. That one is much better.
Just look at this same page, the one near the price says "Preorder expected mid-July 2021", while the one at the bottom of the description says "Preorder, expected approximately 5 Aug 2021".
(These are the old dates, pre-delay, they have yet to update it.)

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

"Ill news is an ill guest, Aaron Stormcrow."

- Customer Wormtongue

Actually, ill news is appreciated and candid posts manage customer's reasonable expectations and assist in marketing and long-term customer goodwill. So all of this is really helpful.

And the best thing about all of this, to be perfectly honest, is that I find myself excited about both the PF2 and Starfinder releases.

I've subscribed throughout for both PF and SF, but during that time, I think it has only been in the past 3 months or so that I have come to get excited about all of these products again for both brands.

Sometimes, it takes the return of something to realize that its absence was bigger than I gave credit for.

Thanks for the updates Aaron.

Putting this here.

Ashanderai wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

This statement about the release schedule confuses me SO MUCH now. I just now checked the descriptions for each of the hardcover books in the Starfinder, Pathfinder Rulebook, and Pathfinder Lost Omens lines and according to those web pages those books are coming out in the following order:

2 in June: Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse & Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual

3 in August: Secrets of Magic (as posted above), Lost Omens The Grand Bazaar, and Starfinder Tech Revolution

1 in September: Guns & Gears

1 in October: Starfinder Galactic Magic

1 in November: Lost Omens Monsters of Myth

& I don't know when Lost Omens Absolom is coming out as there is no release date listed.

So what else has shuffled to a different month on the schedule besides Secrets of Magic?

If Erik is right...

2 in November: Lost Omens Monsters of Myth & Lost Omens Absolom (no release day listed, maybe delays)

The two in November are "Starfinder Galactic Magic" and the Absalom book.
Lost Omens Monsters of Myth is a December book.

Delays suck, but I'd be lying if the idea of being able to run an adventure with all four new classes sometime in September didn't excite me a bit.

Will there be new sorcerer bloodlines in this book?

Will there be new sorcerer bloodlines in this book?

We are not ready to start previews here, but it is a good question for PaizoCon.

How quickly do these books typically get sanctioned for Society play? I'm salivating over the new classes (particularly Summoner) and some of these magic types (Shadow Magic...my Shadow Mage may make a comeback). I'm super disappointed for the delay, but would love to hit the ground running in Society play when it does release.

I'm curious as to how many of the options are going to be allowed in pfs. Especially the class archetype casting options, as I think most are going to be uncommon? As long as they're purchasable with achievement points or what have you, I'm happy.

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Well damn, about the release being pushed back, but whatever still super looking forward to it! The August to September is gonna be insane if Guns and Gears doesn't also get pushed back, we're gonna have actual back to back rulebook releases.

I hear ya. Between Pathfinder and Starfinder we are looking at 2 hardcovers in June, 2 in August, 1 in October, 2 in November, and 1 in December. Subject to change of course.

And to clarify, I made some incorrect assumptions based on incomplete info about why it rolled. I now understand we hit our SofM deadlines and the delay was external to us. The point of the post it to confirm it rolled a month.

Which one of those is the "Kingmaker Anniversary Edition"?

I know that this is probably a question that is answered at Paizocon (hopefully), so i don't expect an answer to it. ;-)

I think it was initially intended for a july release at Gencon, but now that Gencon will be in mid-september, i think that will be the new target date.

Our group of 8 people, including one GM, would like to start the campaign (1e) in the fall, so it would super-useful to know if it will be a fall or winter release at least. :-)

How quickly do these books typically get sanctioned for Society play? I'm salivating over the new classes (particularly Summoner) and some of these magic types (Shadow Magic...my Shadow Mage may make a comeback). I'm super disappointed for the delay, but would love to hit the ground running in Society play when it does release.

PFS leadership has been really on the ball with sanctioning over the past year. Many of the new products have been sanctioned right alongside release. I suspect they'll put heavy emphasis on having this one ready as well.

Invictus Novo wrote:

How quickly do these books typically get sanctioned for Society play? I'm salivating over the new classes (particularly Summoner) and some of these magic types (Shadow Magic...my Shadow Mage may make a comeback). I'm super disappointed for the delay, but would love to hit the ground running in Society play when it does release.

PFS leadership has been really on the ball with sanctioning over the past year. Many of the new products have been sanctioned right alongside release. I suspect they'll put heavy emphasis on having this one ready as well.

Having Common, Uncommon, & Rare designations built in really helps :)

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:

Will there be new sorcerer bloodlines in this book?

We are not ready to start previews here, but it is a good question for PaizoCon.

Thanks. I usually do not go to those things though,

It's not an in person event this year at least, so if you can carve out some time during some of the reveal panels you might get a question answered. I've had luck with it in the past.

Assuming my second shot on Thursday doesn't hit me way harder than I'm expecting, I'm planning to do a live write up on it on my discord and post it on reddit shortly after the relevant streams. I actually took the weekend off for this (well that and I've been running on fumes from people being out at work lately.)

You can expect any important info we find out from the Q and A threads (if thats the structure this year) to percolate on reddit/here as well.

Admittedly, it could not matter, we have more people in this community than we did last year interested in putting the info up, so I might not even be quickest on the draw.

Not to be that guy, but there's a lot of confusion about when this is coming out; I know you had said late August Aaron, but it says august 5th on this page. Could we update this page maybe? Or is the release date as of now actually august 5th?

Assuming my second shot on Thursday doesn't hit me way harder than I'm expecting, I'm planning to do a live write up on it on my discord and post it on reddit shortly after the relevant streams. I actually took the weekend off for this (well that and I've been running on fumes from people being out at work lately.)

You can expect any important info we find out from the Q and A threads (if thats the structure this year) to percolate on reddit/here as well.

Admittedly, it could not matter, we have more people in this community than we did last year interested in putting the info up, so I might not even be quickest on the draw.

Thank you!

It's not an in person event this year at least, so if you can carve out some time during some of the reveal panels you might get a question answered. I've had luck with it in the past.

Ya, I know that. I prefer not to pay for a something I probably would not attend anyway.

You don't have to pay to watch the panels, just to join games I think.

That was not my understanding but I could be wrong.

That was not my understanding but I could be wrong.

Yeah, watching the Twitch streams is 100% free. You're only paying to play the games there. It was the same case last year as well.

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:

That was not my understanding but I could be wrong.

Yeah, watching the Twitch streams is 100% free. You're only paying to play the games there. It was the same case last year as well.

Our Twitch programming and Paizo Events Discord access are free. The $25 PaizoCon fee is only for playing games and there is even a free Demo option on Warhorn for those who just want to learn.

That said, I have not seen new sorcerer bloodlines in Secrets of Magic. Still, you might ask panelists about those "new methods of spellcasting."

I want to know about Shadow Magic and hopefully some new Witch Patrons and lessons.

Is it just me or is the cover new? I dig it.

Is it just me or is the cover new? I dig it.

Yup!

I like both, if you click on the pic it shows the old one still.

I dig it.

I think that it is awful, they should go back to the original.

Specifically, I do not like:

* it does not share the spine layout of colours of the existing books, returning to the random nonsense of the 1st edition hardback colours.

* The 2nd edition swash in the corner has been dropped in favour of a text overlay on the image

* The border around the image, I think, looks amateurish and ruins the wonderful picture

* The title font and colour, just nasty, clashing and blending into the underlying image.

The 2nd editing covers up until this point have been professional and consistent, this looks like a 3rd party knock-off.

Please, please go back to consistency and help us have nice looking shelves of books, not random colours and inconsistent styling.

I like the cover!

Is it just me or is the cover new? I dig it.

Wow i just saw and I like it! Maybe this symbols represent the megical schools. I count just 7 instead of the regular 8 schools.

The new cover design is fantastic.

Still getting the Deluxe edition though :P

How are you seeing the new cover art?
I can only see the original art with the Magus and Summoner attacking the eldritch horror coming from the gate.

Please help?

How are you seeing the new cover art?

I can only see the original art with the Magus and Summoner attacking the eldritch horror coming from the gate.

Please help?

Don't know why thats happening, but its this.

Prince Setehrael wrote:

How are you seeing the new cover art?

I can only see the original art with the Magus and Summoner attacking the eldritch horror coming from the gate.

Please help?

Don't know why thats happening, but its this.

OOOOOHHHHHH I LIKE THIS!!!!!

Thank you for posting it.

I like the new direction of the design for the Pathfinder 2nd edition books. Gives the impression that this book is not a part of the core books and is an "expansion".

Fumarole wrote:

I dig it.

I think that it is awful, they should go back to the original.

Specifically, I do not like:

* it does not share the spine layout of colours of the existing books, returning to the random nonsense of the 1st edition hardback colours.

* The 2nd edition swash in the corner has been dropped in favour of a text overlay on the image

* The border around the image, I think, looks amateurish and ruins the wonderful picture

* The title font and colour, just nasty, clashing and blending into the underlying image.

The 2nd editing covers up until this point have been professional and consistent, this looks like a 3rd party knock-off.

Please, please go back to consistency and help us have nice looking shelves of books, not random colours and inconsistent styling.

I LOVE this new style. Classy and EPIC!

Interesting. I think I dig this new style! Need to see the physical copy.