Pathfinder Lost Omens: Absalom, City of Lost Omens

Although I find it unlikely, is there any mention of Jubilost Narthropple?

Not according to my search.

Can you tell us the chapter names?

So any mentions of minotaurs in general or that one mad scientist troll?

Can we get a final page count?

There are 15 mentions of minotaurs.

The PDF has 402 pages.

The chapter names are ABSALOM, GUIDE TO THE CITY, ASCENDANT COURT, THE COINS, THE DOCKS, EASTGATE, FOREIGN QUARTER, IVY DISTRICT, PETAL DISTRICT, PRECIPICE QUARTER, THE PUDDLES, WESTGATE, WISE QUARTER, THE UNDERCITY, WALLS, GATES, AND KEEPS, THE OUTSKIRTS, NPC GLOSSARY and ADVENTURE TOOLBOX.

I am REALLY looking forward to this

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

I understand the answer probably is no but might as well ask, is there more info about the Starstone Test in some detail or is that a thing Paizo want to keep as vague as possible?

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

I believe 2e is following in 1e's footsteps and not assuming any of its APs are canon until the edition is over.

KaiBlob1 wrote:

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

I believe 2e is following in 1e's footsteps and not assuming any of its APs are canon until the edition is over.

I guess it is more of a nod but there is a reference to the events of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix in Strength of Thousands.

keftiu wrote:

KaiBlob1 wrote:

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

I believe 2e is following in 1e's footsteps and not assuming any of its APs are canon until the edition is over.

I guess it is more of a nod but there is a reference to the events of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix in Strength of Thousands.

The Radiant Festival is described as upcoming.

Does book talk about Radiant Festival a lot? :O We starting this week edgewatch so wonder if there would have been anything relevant to right beginning of the adventure

Does book talk about Radiant Festival a lot? :O We starting this week edgewatch so wonder if there would have been anything relevant to right beginning of the adventure

It references it a handful of times. It won't change the AP, only expand the setting.

KaiBlob1 wrote:

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

I believe 2e is following in 1e's footsteps and not assuming any of its APs are canon until the edition is over.

There were several APs in 1E that presumed the events of other APs happened. The Runelords trilogy, Jade Regent; they just didn't codify all of them until the edition change.

So does this book run on the state of Precipice Quarter being completely uninhabitable and filled with monsters and undead before the reconstruction that other setting books used, or is it going off Agents of Edgewatch where it was filled with the poor and homeless and were forced out for the festival and gentrification?

So does this book run on the state of Precipice Quarter being completely uninhabitable and filled with monsters and undead before the reconstruction that other setting books used, or is it going off Agents of Edgewatch where it was filled with the poor and homeless and were forced out for the festival and gentrification?

Not the former, but not that later either. It speaks of a glimmer of hope, how many of the remaining Knights of Lastwall are working to purify the quarter of its evil, and that the Precipice Quarter will be the next site of Absalom’s centennial fair. It mentions "industrialist investors" and both excitement and skepticism from the public at large. So a GM can take it where they will.

Not a heartening answer, but I thank you for the answer all the same, Aaron. Much appreciated.

So I know this is probably a long shot, but are there any details on the Test of the Starstone?

So I know this is probably a long shot, but are there any details on the Test of the Starstone?

The Test of the Starstone is mentioned 22 times, mostly in histories. There is no entry that says, "This it what the test is." Personally, I think that would be like saying, "This is what the Gap is." It is meant to stay a mystery.

I'm bit confused since I started today playing Edgewatch and precipe district seems like the usual "undead monster place" with more focus on paladins having cleaned the place from undead mostly ._. But maybe implications of poor being cleared away comes later? dunno don't spoil me if its spoiler x'D

I'm bit confused since I started today playing Edgewatch and precipe district seems like the usual "undead monster place" with more focus on paladins having cleaned the place from undead mostly ._. But maybe implications of poor being cleared away comes later? dunno don't spoil me if its spoiler x'D

I don't want to put words into anyone's moth, but understandably, some players don't want to be even remotely associated with the Edgewatch, an organization that could be seen as participating in forcing the poor and homeless out for the festival. Things like that are historical and happen to this day with things like the Olympics and that is indeed not heartening. I feel like that is a Lawful Neutral action, personally. Others may see it differently. I feel like that moral and ethical debate is a fun and challenging part of RPGs with friends who consent. Therefore, each group needs talk about the AP at their table and our Editors wrote an extended CONTENT WARNING AND PLAYER CONSENT section in the Pathfinder Adventure Path: Agents of Edgewatch Player's Guide PDF. In an effort to make sure that future readers are aware, and that I'm not sweeping anything under the rug, Paizo also posted an Agents of Edgewatch Update about the ways in which we fell short.

I think what we know is that, as I quoted above, Pathfinder’s Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path starts where Pathfinder Lost Omens: Absalom, City of Lost Omens leaves off. Home-brewers and Pathfinder Infinite authors can use this book to tell different, hopefully even better stories. I'd hype those.

I have a few more thoughts on the whole Starstone thing. I wrote the Starstone Losers "Starstone Aspirants" article for Agents of Edgewatch AP 160: Attack on Hunting Lodge Seven, and I came up with some unofficial rules for aspirants taking on the test as I was writing this article.

Here they are:

1) You never are going to pass that test if you try to copy another God's schtick. Strike new ground.

2) Your first step is to cross the chasm to the Starstone Cathedral. It's best to find an original and thematic way to cross, but do try to consider whether your attempt to cross the chasm is likely to end badly. You don't want to end up like Thaldei, the goddess of explosive alchemy, who shot herself out of a cannon and arrived on the other side in a bunch of tiny pieces.

3) As for the Starstone test itself, it changes depending on who is taking it. There was an entire episode of Pathfinder Friday where Dan Tharp interviewed Eric Mona about it.

Jessica Catalan wrote up a summary of it here.

Eric Mona talked about it being a personalized dungeon that could be winnable (but mostly losable) whether you are Level 1 or Level 20. It is not just testing your character sheet, but also your character. Are you truly representing the essence of what your godhood would be about?

★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★

Still want more? Dustin Knight came up with a Starstone Ascension card game for Pathfinder Infinite. I haven't bought it, but I watched the video he made to advertise it, and it looks cool.

Hmm

I have a few more thoughts on the whole Starstone thing…

Hmm

This is gold. Thanks!

Awww, thank you Aaron!

Have the gillmen taken the place of aquatic elves?

Have the gillmen taken the place of aquatic elves?

No, the 'gillmen'/azarketi are human descendants. Aquatic elves have been mentioned in multiple 2e lost omens books and still exist in the setting, we just don't have rules for playing them yet.

While waiting for the book, question for my character's backstory: is
The Brine prison still a hellhole prison in 2e? I went with assumption "if it turns out it isn't flooded and sewer water infested prison where most prisoners die out from disease and cold" anymore then that is because my character was there years ago before they fixed up the place, but I'm still curious about that

(anyway, I'm mostly just confused about precipe quarter thing since I'm not sure where that info comes from. GM gave us the radiant festival article to read so I'm curious if its mentioned in another article, backstory of article or comes up during adventure itself. But I guess if it comes up during adventure itself that would be spoiler hmmm. But overall radiant festival article treats Precipe quarter as if it had been the previously mentioned "unhabitated ruin district inhabitated only by undead and monsters" so I kinda feel like other evidence to contrary is probably error or single example?

either way, I can comment on first session that our observation as party is "wow, absalom town guard is casually highly corrupt and legally basically encouraged to be even worse". Like SERIOUSLY, its dark how the law basically encourages town guard to take much more from people breaking the law than they would actually need to because you don't have otherwise any daily wages. :'D It kinda feels like paizo accidentally made realization "corrupt system produces corrupt cops" without thinking about it because they just wanted to make gameplay be as close to normal pathfinder as possible.

We are pretty much playing anti corruption party(LG, LN, NG times three) so we have multiple times avoided taking more loot than the actual value of fines perpetrator should pay for and once had to be like "well we don't know who this was stolen from so let's keep it at district in case somebody arrives there to report crime and fits description of the stolen stuff")

Oh I got another question, this time silly one:

does Geb have embassy in Absalom?

While waiting for the book, question for my character's backstory: is

The Brine prison still a hellhole prison in 2e? I went with assumption "if it turns out it isn't flooded and sewer water infested prison where most prisoners die out from disease and cold" anymore then that is because my character was there years ago before they fixed up the place, but I'm still curious about that

(anyway, I'm mostly just confused about precipe quarter thing since I'm not sure where that info comes from. GM gave us the radiant festival article to read so I'm curious if its mentioned in another article, backstory of article or comes up during adventure itself. But I guess if it comes up during adventure itself that would be spoiler hmmm. But overall radiant festival article treats Precipe quarter as if it had been the previously mentioned "unhabitated ruin district inhabitated only by undead and monsters" so I kinda feel like other evidence to contrary is probably error or single example?

either way, I can comment on first session that our observation as party is "wow, absalom town guard is casually highly corrupt and legally basically encouraged to be even worse". Like SERIOUSLY, its dark how the law basically encourages town guard to take much more from people breaking the law than they would actually need to because you don't have otherwise any daily wages. :'D It kinda feels like paizo accidentally made realization "corrupt system produces corrupt cops" without thinking about it because they just wanted to make gameplay be as close to normal pathfinder as possible.

We are pretty much playing anti corruption party(LG, LN, NG times three) so we have multiple times avoided taking more loot than the actual value of fines perpetrator should pay for and once had to be like "well we don't know who this was stolen from so let's keep it at district in case somebody arrives there to report crime and fits description of the stolen stuff")

You did well and your GM should check the AP's forum for ways other GMs used to avoid this pitfall of looting the suspects.

Oh I got another question, this time silly one:

does Geb have embassy in Absalom?

It/he does not.

That surprises me, with Geb being the bread basket of Absalom.

(This little fact has spurred my duskwalker, Tess, to always poke at Bread suspiciously while in Absalom. "Is your wheat ethically sourced?")

Hmm

While waiting for the book, question for my character's backstory: is

The Brine prison still a hellhole prison in 2e?

Yes. Very much so. There's a fair amount of information about the Chelish house (Tevineg) that runs the place, as well.

So any mentions of minotaurs in general or that one mad scientist troll?

Nuar Spiritskin gets a write up, the history section contextualizes minotaurs within the Starstone Isle a bit better (First Siege warlord Voradni Voon is identified as a minotaur, for example), and there are small bits about some minotaur stuff going on in the wilderness.

The mad scientist troll, Dr. Bensi Skule, is a major character in the city underworld and gets a pretty extensive write-up.

are the effects of agents of edgewatch/the radiant festival discussed in the precipice quarter chapter or elsewhere in the book?

There are a couple of sidebars with references to the campaign. The book is written with the assumption that this campaign has not happened yet, so while there are references to the city forming the Edgewatch to help prepare for the festival and some information about the festival itself, most of that is left to the AP.

Not a heartening answer, but I thank you for the answer all the same, Aaron. Much appreciated.

I'm not sure what answer you were looking for, but the focus of the Precipice Quarter section is much more on hauntings and monsters and adventure locations than it is focused on poor squatters. I don't think there's anything about pushing out poor people one way or the other. I could be wrong and it appears in a line or two, but it is definitely not the focus of the book or the section.

Thankies Erik. The backmatter of Devil of the Dreaming Palace had retconned the status of the Precipe District, changing it from a monster infested wasteland that no one lived in, voluntarily or not, into a refuge for the poor and homeless that had been forced out because of the renovations, so that’s what I was concerned with.

CorvusMask wrote:

So any mentions of minotaurs in general or that one mad scientist troll?

Nuar Spiritskin gets a write up, the history section contextualizes minotaurs within the Starstone Isle a bit better (First Siege warlord Voradni Voon is identified as a minotaur, for example), and there are small bits about some minotaur stuff going on in the wilderness.

The mad scientist troll, Dr. Bensi Skule, is a major character in the city underworld and gets a pretty extensive write-up.

My hope is for Minotaurs to be playable in 2e someday.

Mine too!

Erik Mona wrote:

CorvusMask wrote:

So any mentions of minotaurs in general or that one mad scientist troll?

Nuar Spiritskin gets a write up, the history section contextualizes minotaurs within the Starstone Isle a bit better (First Siege warlord Voradni Voon is identified as a minotaur, for example), and there are small bits about some minotaur stuff going on in the wilderness.

The mad scientist troll, Dr. Bensi Skule, is a major character in the city underworld and gets a pretty extensive write-up.

My hope is for Minotaurs to be playable in 2e someday.

And Centaurs!

Thankies Erik. The backmatter of Devil of the Dreaming Palace had retconned the status of the Precipe District, changing it from a monster infested wasteland that no one lived in, voluntarily or not, into a refuge for the poor and homeless that had been forced out because of the renovations, so that’s what I was concerned with.

Just looked over the chapter again. There's really none of this in there. I'd have to assume that the Precipice has more than its fair share of squatters, but the Absalom book itself doesn't really touch on that aspect much, if at all.

*nods* Thankies Erik.

I was being vague in order to do the research as to what was cannon and what was not. ;) But you all have it sorted. It’s always good when the author drops by! We are back Monday.

Huh, weird to learn more about the precipe quarter backmatter stuff ._. I wonder how that came to be

That surprises me, with Geb being the bread basket of Absalom.

(This little fact has spurred my duskwalker, Tess, to always poke at Bread suspiciously while in Absalom. "Is your wheat ethically sourced?")

Hmm

Ya plus it would have been good opportunity to establish skeleton PCs in absalom ;D

Wonder if Patrick Renie or James Sutter came up with that bit, since it doesn't seem to be the idea of the development lead. (Writers of book 1 adventure and Radiant Festival article)

Available for preorder! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

can we preorder the PDF while it’s on sale?

Precipice Quarter / Beldrin’s Bluff
Poor and Homeless / Monsters and Undead

I wanted to research this a bit and see what I could find. My results are below.

Something I noticed is that on the Absalom city map, the Precipice Quarter is much larger than the map of Beldrin’s Bluff in “Hangman’s Noose.” And the map of the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds in “Devil at the Dreaming Palace” seems about the same size as the map of Beldrin’s Bluff in “Hangman’s Noose.” Beldrin’s Bluff (now the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds) is a neighborhood within the Precipice Quarter. As a neighborhood within the Precipice Quarter, Beldrin’s Bluff was a very dangerous area filled with monsters and undead. At the same time those parts of the Precipice Quarter that are father out from Beldrin’s Bluff and closer to East Gate and the Docks are likely to be less dangerous and could reasonably provide a place for the homeless to find limited shelter, if not safety.

I think the quotes below clearly indicate that the Precipice Quarter had become home to vagabonds, squatters, delinquents, and thieves. For me, I feel that I can reasonably infer that this population is significantly comprised of the poor, destitute, homeless, and desperate. At the same time the Precipice Quarter (and perhaps especially Beldrin’s Bluff) was a very dangerous place. Undead seem to have especially been a problem throughout the Quarter, and they continue to remain an issue.

“…and this year they are especially crammed with the numerous delinquents that had heretofore squatted in the ruins of the Precipice Quarter.”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 68

“…one of the least policed parts of the festival, and hundreds of squatters and displaced Precipice Quarter residents have already set up camps around the hills to the east.”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 70

“Thieves, killers, and vagabonds sometimes seek refuge here…”
-Guide to Absalom, pg. 39

“While most of Beldren’s Bluff remains deserted and forlorn, a few areas remain occupied, and extremely dangerous.”
-Hangman’s Noose, pg. 28

“…and a platoon of paladins and priests destroyed and consecrated swaths of haunted land.”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 68

“In many places, undead roam freely, and no one is allowed to cross into neighboring districts from dusk until dawn.”
-Guide to Absalom, pg. 39

“The original blueprints showed the fairgrounds extending all the way to Absalom’s eastern curtain wall, but workers didn’t make it past Jasper Avenue, and instead cordoned off the undead-infested eastern ruins of the Precipice Quarter…”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 68

The Precipice Quarter offered a dangerous and risky refuge for the poor and homeless and the area of Beldrin’s Bluff offered no refuge at all. How the City handled moving the homeless out of the Precipice Quarter during it’s clean up and restoration is something that has not been detailed. Looking at the map, if the overall area of what I think is the Precipice Quarter, actually is the Precipice Quarter, than it’s a reasonable chunk of the city. I find it very likely that a number of organizations, guilds, businesses, churches, and city departments, not mention the homeless, had a hand in the process of its clean up. However, the goals and interactions of these different factions were likely to have varied widely. This could be a very interesting campaign: Maybe the City worked with the homeless and various churches to establish housing and opportunities for work, or even opportunities to start local businesses. Maybe predatory corporations, aristocrats, and the wealthy elite took advantage of the situation, made land grabs, and passed laws that favored their interests. For the in world campaign setting I find it likely that all sides and interests had some wins and losses. I personally hope the poor and homeless got more wins than what we are initially seeing.
Now I may be a little off on my timeline, but if I understand where Agents of Edgewatch starts, we are past the bulk of the cleanup phase, especially for the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds, and presumably for whatever routes are used to access the fairgrounds. Looking at the map of the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds it appears there is a road leading to the fairgrounds from Eastgate and a road from the Docks. That leaves a lot of the Precipice Quarter where we don’t know what the current situation is, or what happened to the people that were/are living there. Also, looking at the Edgewatch section in the “Guards of Absalom” article, the Edgewatch is currently fairly limited in their actual duties. They seem mainly focused on serving the needs of the Radiant Festival and less about the needs of the Precipice Quarter. What direction the Edgewatch has moved in in terms of offering community, guard, and watch services has yet to be detailed. Hopefully the PCs had a big influence and the Edgewatch has leaned heavily into providing services that aid the community, especially the poor and homeless.

Katina Davis wrote:

Available for preorder! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

can we preorder the PDF while it’s on sale?

It has never been possible to preorder a PDF from Paizo.

Dmgreywolf wrote:

Katina Davis wrote:

Available for preorder! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

can we preorder the PDF while it’s on sale?

It has never been possible to preorder a PDF from Paizo.

Now, although it is not available for preorder, one had been able to buy the pdf yesterday, when filtering for „on sale“; must have been an oversight now fixed.

Precipice Quarter / Beldrin’s Bluff

Poor and Homeless / Monsters and Undead

I wanted to research this a bit and see what I could find. My results are below.

Something I noticed is that on the Absalom city map, the Precipice Quarter is much larger than the map of Beldrin’s Bluff in “Hangman’s Noose.” And the map of the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds in “Devil at the Dreaming Palace” seems about the same size as the map of Beldrin’s Bluff in “Hangman’s Noose.” Beldrin’s Bluff (now the Radiant Festival Fairgrounds) is a neighborhood within the Precipice Quarter. As a neighborhood within the Precipice Quarter, Beldrin’s Bluff was a very dangerous area filled with monsters and undead. At the same time those parts of the Precipice Quarter that are father out from Beldrin’s Bluff and closer to East Gate and the Docks are likely to be less dangerous and could reasonably provide a place for the homeless to find limited shelter, if not safety.

I think the quotes below clearly indicate that the Precipice Quarter had become home to vagabonds, squatters, delinquents, and thieves. For me, I feel that I can reasonably infer that this population is significantly comprised of the poor, destitute, homeless, and desperate. At the same time the Precipice Quarter (and perhaps especially Beldrin’s Bluff) was a very dangerous place. Undead seem to have especially been a problem throughout the Quarter, and they continue to remain an issue.

“…and this year they are especially crammed with the numerous delinquents that had heretofore squatted in the ruins of the Precipice Quarter.”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 68

“…one of the least policed parts of the festival, and hundreds of squatters and displaced Precipice Quarter residents have already set up camps around the hills to the east.”
-Agents of Edgewatch: Devil at the Dreaming Palace, pg. 70

“Thieves, killers, and vagabonds sometimes seek refuge here…”
-Guide to Absalom, pg. 39

“While most of Beldren’s Bluff remains deserted and...

Great research.

Today, the product description has been updated to reflect the expanded book.