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Pathfinder Dark Archive

4.60/5 (based on 18 ratings)
Pathfinder Dark Archive
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From the fringes, the unknown beckons. Pathfinder Dark Archive contains secrets that any player or GM can use to reveal the paranormal lurking in their Pathfinder games! This spine-tinglingly secretive 224-page hardcover rulebook presents two new character classes perfect for delving into the unexplained: Unleash the untold power of your mind as the psychic or leverage supernatural secrets and mystic implements as the thaumaturge!

Beyond these new classes, eight secret case files each provide player options, GM tools, and lore into a different paranormal topic, including:

  • Strange cryptids glimpsed in the night, gear to track them, and the powers you might gain by surviving an encounter with one
  • Cults and esoteric belief, with apocryphal divine magic and the secret of becoming a living vessel for an eldritch being
  • Temporal anomalies, with archetypes that skim along the surface of time and a new mystery for oracles unbound from causality

Each file concludes with a short adventure to immerse players in the paranormal, spanning across Golarion—play all eight to uncover the inexplicable phenomena of the Age of Lost Omens!

Written by: James Case, Mikhail Rekun, Mark Seifter, Rigby Bendele, Logan Bonner, Dan Cascone, Jessica Catalan, Banana Chan, Kay Hashimoto, Sen.H.H.S., Patrick Hurley, Joshua Kim, Avi Kool, Daniel Kwan, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Liane Merciel, Jacob W. Michaels, Andrew Mullen, Quinn Murphy, K. Tessa Newton, Patrick Renie, Michael Sayre, Shay Snow, Alex Speidel, Solomon St. John, Geoffrey Suthers, Ruvaid Virk, Jabari Weathers, and Isis Wozniakowska

[Additional Web Content spoiler - click to reveal]

The following pages were distributed online after the release of Dark Archive for readers to decipher themselves. You can find them here:

[Solution to Additional Web Content - click to reveal]

The Lost Pages were discovered to lead to the following file:

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-443-7

The adventures contained within this rulebook, the "Dark Archive Case Files," are sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running these Adventures and Chronicle Sheets are available as a free download (923 KB PDF).



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

Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Pathfinder Nexus on Demiplane
Roll20 Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Available Formats

Pathfinder Dark Archive is also available as:

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

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This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO2111

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4.60/5 (based on 18 ratings)

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Had tons of fun with it

5/5 —

Very entertaining fluff an options.

5/5 —

Both Thaumaturge and Psychic are really cool. The flavor text is awesome. Some of the adventures are hit or miss, but it’s cool that they provide short adventure ideas that can be i inserted into any campaign as a side plot.

Excellent game content and the adventure material and flavor is great as well

5/5 —

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Dark Archive

5/5 —

Originally posted at Throat Punch Games, a new idea every day!

Product- Pathfinder Dark Archive
System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer- Paizo
Price- $41.99
TL; DR-New toys and adventures for things that go bump in the night. 97%

Basics- What goes bump in the night? Dark Archive focuses on all the stuff that gets thrown into your average Halloween party. It covers psychics, occult inquisitors called thaumaturges, archetypes, feats, spells, and a TON of adventures. Let’s dig in to this book!

Mechanics or Crunch- I love what’s here, but there are small problems that hurt things overall. The two new classes fit within the world of wizards, warriors, and clerics as now we have a mind wizard and an occult paladin. There may be a slight bit of power creep as these might be a bit better than the core classes, but it’s nothing absolutely game breaking. Feat, spell, and archetypes all fit solidly there as well. Interestingly enough, this book has almost MORE for the GM than the players. There are adventures and ways to upgrade monsters to add the occult feel like cryptids and secret societies. Aside from a bit of power creep, the other thing that I feel hurts this is the lack of inclusion into Pathfinder Society. PFS is the majority of the way I play an while I LOVE that adventures are included, new options that you only get when weird stuff happens to you are not given as options in the PFS documenting materials. What is here is well done, but balance and lack of inclusion into Paizo’s flagship gaming market hurt the book a bit. 4.75/5

Theme or Fluff- As a lover of ghost stories and campfire monsters, this book calls to me. I love the flavor here and the fact that crunch is being tied deeper into story. The new ways to add things like cults and monsters also helps. What’s here is amazing. I am slightly sad I didn't see much Lovecraft lore here. We can make it, but I still want my crazy horrors from beyond time and space to make more of an appearance in a book where time magic and feats get put into the system. Couple that with adventures that GMs can drop in instantly, this is a solid book on the Pathfinder occult. 4.9/5

Execution- This is a physical book and a PDF by Paizo, so I’m almost automatically going to love it. Solid layout, fonts, formats, hyperlinks make this a great book and a breeze to read. My one minor issue is this is a book with almost as many pages for the GM as the players. It would be nice to have a PDF of the maps and pictures that I can show to the players like they do with their adventure paths. But, if my criticism is that I want more, that's a good place to be in production. 4.9/5

Summary- I love me some crazy stuff, so I love me this book. I listen to too many podcasts about monsters, skepticism regarding monsters, and ghost stories to pass this book up. It has great additions to the system that might be a touch overpowered compared to things before. It has fun adventures with some amazing options that I wish PFS players could get their hands on. It has solid production, but a lack of web enhancements might hold it back a bit. What’s here is good, but I just want more ways to get at it. 97%

More Occult please!

4/5 —

I've been wanting more Occult-related content since Pathfinder 2 rolled out, and this book *mostly* delivers. The new spells and archetypes get into weird esoterica and time manipulation. The Chronoskimmer and Curse Maelstrom archetypes in particular are very flavorful and interesting archetypes that really change the feel of a character, and while I'm not sold on the current implementation of the Time Oracle from a mechanical effectiveness perspective it really does a decent job of capturing that feeling of being progressively more detached from time as your curse progresses.

The two new classes are OK. The Thaumaturge never really caught my interest mechanically.

The Psychic is a class I was really looking forward to, and while it has interesting flavor and mechanics relative to some other full casters I feel like it runs into similar traps mechanically as the Oracle where it's pretty much always going to need to be resting for 10 mins after a fight. I am however glad that they gave access to at least a couple interesting and useful flavor feats in the class feat tree, compared to Wizards and Sorcerers who have nothing or very little in their feat trees that relate back to their choices of arcane thesis, specialist school, or bloodline (the arcane / divine / occult / primal evolution feats are really quite generic) that have flavorful, more permanent effects.

Ultimately, while there are definitely some misses in this book (the layout potentially being one of them), I think there is also a lot of good content here and I'd like to see so much more of the occult realm fleshed out both in expansions to current classes, archetypes, and options (aftermath / deviant feats), and in new material.

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

My question is "how quickly will Pathbuilder and HeroLab Online get these two new classes implemented?" :-)
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

I can't imagine much later than two weeks into August? I just got my pending notice in my email ♥️
Liberty's Edge
2 people marked this as a favorite.
RiverMesa wrote:
RiverMesa wrote:

Not to do marketing's job for them, but I figured people might want to see:

The Rules Lawyer's Pacts & Curses preview
Really Dicey's Dark Archive overview+James Case interview (not much new aside from a fun piece of art)

Missed my edit window, but worth noting is that Rules Lawyer's video also previews the full table of contents, showing some additional things in the case files (plus a list of all the Incident Reports) - like cryptid feats in Cryptids (separate from aftermath feats), the Alter Ego archetype in Mirrors & Imposters, Curse Maelstrom archetype in Pacts & Curses (which gets a deep dive in the video), and the Sleepwalker archetype in Mindscapes.

These sound so good.

Like I did not even know I needed those before you mentioned them.

ME WANT !!!

Great Marketing job BTW ;-)

PDF available Jul 27
Marketing & Media Manager
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Ed Reppert wrote:
My question is "how quickly will Pathbuilder and HeroLab Online get these two new classes implemented?" :-)

Paizo does not work directly with Pathbuilder. HeroLab Online has access to our material ahead of time. I’ll get an eta.

Marketing & Media Manager
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Preview the section on mirrors with Roll 4 Initiative.
Aaron Shanks wrote:
Preview the section on mirrors with Roll 4 Initiative.

Now reflection heritage is partly shown.

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

It begins. The pdfs from subscription arrive soon! Very excited, hope I get mine early.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I'm so hyped for this book! I can finally play my weird monster hunter PC I've been meanin'to use with Thaumaturge!
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Rules Lawyer Did a Video on the Psychic
Marketing & Media Manager
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Pathfinder's Dark Archive Preview: A Deeper Look Into Cults and the Weird Side of Fantasy TTRPGs from Comicbook.com.
Marketing & Media Manager
6 people marked this as a favorite.

Enjoy the final Pathfinder Dark Archive exclusive preview, "Psychic Duels In The Theater of The Mind–Previewing Paizo’s ‘Dark Archive’" from Comicon!
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

So…anyone get their pdf today?
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
LizardMage wrote:
So…anyone get their pdf today?

I didn't yet, but it's still fairly early in the day.

LizardMage wrote:
So…anyone get their pdf today?

No one has said anything on here or Reddit, and it's a quarter to 5 Paizo time...

My guess is not today.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Real sadness hours.
Marketing & Media Manager
3 people marked this as a favorite.

But wait there’s one more Pathfinder Dark Archive preview! Get a glimpse inside Secret Societies from Really Dicey!
16 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

My book shipped~! The art in here is so good!
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
BlaireWisteria wrote:
My book shipped~! The art in here is so good!

Any new backgrounds?

1 person marked this as a favorite.

15 more days! I'm so excited for this book!
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
LizardMage wrote:
BlaireWisteria wrote:
My book shipped~! The art in here is so good!
Any new backgrounds?

Yes,

Spoiler:
there is one related to a criminal instinct, and another about a reborn soul. Possibly more but those I recall off the top of my head.
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

No pdf yet today, but I did get "The Indian Cooking Course" and "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" from Amazon so I guess those will tide me over. :-)
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Niche question for those with the book - can you tell me a little about the Land of Second Souls case file? It’s been bouncing around in my head since the name first showed on the Arcadia map in Guns & Gears.
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
keftiu wrote:
Niche question for those with the book - can you tell me a little about the Land of Second Souls case file? It’s been bouncing around in my head since the name first showed on the Arcadia map in Guns & Gears.

Spoiler:
The Land of Second Souls has the reborn background I mentioned, specifically "Reborn Soul". You get two Lores instead of the usual one, which you and your GM pick based on your previous life; you gain a free lore increase to one of these at 3rd, 7th, and 15th. The GM can give you a +1 circumstance bonus on relevant skill checks but failure stupefies you.

The case report deals with Raven’s Call, Tomalán, Arcadia.
I won't reveal the tidbits of the story presented, but the Land of Second Souls unsurprisingly deals with reborn souls. Not everyone comes back in the same way, but it sounds like everyone gets a second (but no further) chances. Psychopomps in the area seem to have no problem with the cycle here, so Pharasma seems to have no misgivings with the unique situation yet the monitors frequent the area.
After a second death, it seems as though people move on as anyone else would.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Xethik wrote:
keftiu wrote:
Niche question for those with the book - can you tell me a little about the Land of Second Souls case file? It’s been bouncing around in my head since the name first showed on the Arcadia map in Guns & Gears.
** spoiler omitted **

That’s fascinating - I really appreciate you sharing! Fingers crossed we get to see a little more of Tomalán in the future.

Dark Archive

When will this book be available at my flgc?
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Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ectar wrote:
When will this book be available at my flgc?

According to the July thread in the Announcement forum, the street date for all July subscription products is Wednesday, July 27th.

One question, I believe that even if I bought the PDF today, I would only receive it on the 27th, ok. But how do I get access before that date? Is there a pre-sale period? Grateful.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
LordeAlvenaharr wrote:
One question, I believe that even if I bought the PDF today, I would only receive it on the 27th, ok. But how do I get access before that date? Is there a pre-sale period? Grateful.

You do the subscription plan for Rulebooks. You get both products and when your book ships you get the pdf. Sometimes early sometimes street date. Depends where you are on the shipping list that release

Silver Crusade
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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

And from the office of expectation management, sometimes after street date. Subscribing is a guarantee that you are going to get a free PDF with your physical copy, not a guarantee that you're going to get it early.
5 people marked this as a favorite.

This is shaping up to be my favorite rulebook yet - I love everything I've seen so far, and am deeply satisfied with the power level and design of pretty much everything! (though mindsmith is a little disappointing on that front).
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
LordeAlvenaharr wrote:
One question, I believe that even if I bought the PDF today, I would only receive it on the 27th, ok. But how do I get access before that date? Is there a pre-sale period? Grateful.

If you check, you should see that you can't buy the PDF today. PDFs go on sale on the street date. If you are a subscriber, you get the PDF when they slap that shipping label on the box containing your order and count it as shipped.

4 people marked this as a favorite.

An interesting note: the Tree of Rebirth in Tomalán and the now-dormant Kumaru Tree in Xopatl both seem to be giant Arcadian trees as magical infrastructure. I wonder if we'll see more?
Liberty's Edge
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keftiu wrote:
An interesting note: the Tree of Rebirth in Tomalán and the now-dormant Kumaru Tree in Xopatl both seem to be giant Arcadian trees as magical infrastructure. I wonder if we'll see more?

And now I wonder if there is any link with the ultra predator of dragons who is reawakening and had something about trees too IIRC.

Not to mention Stranger Things makes trees look really disquieting. Maybe OOTS' Durkon was right about the evil of trees all along.
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I heard that the mindsmith has a ranged option. Can someone tell me more (especially what level it comes in)?
Dark Archive
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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
CrypticSplicer wrote:
I heard that the mindsmith has a ranged option. Can someone tell me more (especially what level it comes in)?

There is an 8th level feat that allows you to make ranged strikes with your weapon.

John R. wrote:
CrypticSplicer wrote:
I heard that the mindsmith has a ranged option. Can someone tell me more (especially what level it comes in)?
There is an 8th level feat that allows you to make ranged strikes with your weapon.

That sounds like a very interesting archetype.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Got my pdf, still waiting on physical book. So far, really impressed with how much the psychic has been reworked/refined from the playtest, and the effort put into the rest of the book really shows, with great art and great story. The only bit of rule weirdness is the rule for what is essentially the pyro/cryokinetic 'school', as you have to bounce between fire and cold damage/resistance every ability, and it overwrites the damage type. We're gonna need some errata or FAQ here, because it leads to questions with both one of their cantrips (it gives resistance to both fire and cold), and one of the school spells (As written, you get Resistance to Cold and Weakness to Cold from the spell). Overall though, does a much better job of being the 'cantrip based spellcaster' class.

The layout of the book overall is kind of weird, but I don't hate it. It starts with the classes, then each chapter is based around a theme, so you have character options mixed with DM stuff for each chapter. It's going to make finding stuff for reference a bit more difficult, but it makes the book a lot more interesting to read cover to cover, as well as for a DM looking for ideas.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Sounds similar to the way Secrets of Magic is laid out.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Ugh. The wait for this is killing me. I'm on the subscription, but it hasn't shipped yet. I think maybe because of the Blood Lords AP, which is in the order as well.

I neeeeeeeeeeed. D:
Lol
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ly'ualdre wrote:

Ugh. The wait for this is killing me. I'm on the subscription, but it hasn't shipped yet. I think maybe because of the Blood Lords AP, which is in the order as well.

I neeeeeeeeeeed. D:
Lol

Hang in there buddy, I'm in the same boat! I'm hoping I get mine either today or tomorrow, I'm on vacation Wed-Fri and would love to read this during that window!

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
xNellynelx wrote:
Ly'ualdre wrote:

Ugh. The wait for this is killing me. I'm on the subscription, but it hasn't shipped yet. I think maybe because of the Blood Lords AP, which is in the order as well.

I neeeeeeeeeeed. D:
Lol

Hang in there buddy, I'm in the same boat! I'm hoping I get mine either today or tomorrow, I'm on vacation Wed-Fri and would love to read this during that window!

May our watches swiftly be ended!

Watched all the preview snippets and I am super hyped for this one! This bodes well I think and looks pretty phenomenal!
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Grankless wrote:
This is shaping up to be my favorite rulebook yet - I love everything I've seen so far, and am deeply satisfied with the power level and design of pretty much everything! (though mindsmith is a little disappointing on that front).

That's sort of a shame to hear, with how much of a letdown Soulforger was I was really really looking forward to mindsmith.

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Why does the Thaumaturge continue the same error we've seen in previous classes where their weapon expertise and mastery class features don't include unarmed proficiency? That was errata'd on the core classes far too long ago for this to happen again.
VestOfHolding wrote:
Why does the Thaumaturge continue the same error we've seen in previous classes where their weapon expertise and mastery class features don't include unarmed proficiency? That was errata'd on the core classes far too long ago for this to happen again.

Did they make the same error with the Psychic?

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Woo hoo! One week from now I should be downloading the pdf!
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Gisher wrote:
VestOfHolding wrote:
Why does the Thaumaturge continue the same error we've seen in previous classes where their weapon expertise and mastery class features don't include unarmed proficiency? That was errata'd on the core classes far too long ago for this to happen again.
Did they make the same error with the Psychic?

Psychic has unarmed proficiency properly.

Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Does anyone know if we should expect any delays for international shipping?

Street date is in a week and my subscription copy hasn’t been shipped yet. Given that it normally takes around 10 days to get to me, looks like mind will arrive after actual release.

Any high level option for Reflection Heritage?

Like, getting more than one Heritage or some sort of parma fly speed...
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