Pathfinder Lost Omens: Travel Guide

Golarion has astrolabes, sextants, and a variety of time keeping devices.

Then traders should have no need to hug the coast all the time.

On the other hand, the Inner Sea probably does have a lot more sea monsters than our Mediterranean does. That rather than navigation issues would be a good reason to stay near the coast if possible.

Also selling to the people living on the coast.

SOLDIER-1st wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

Leon Aquilla wrote:

The sea routes hug the coast a lot more tightly, which makes sense if you don't have a compass.

Three essential tools for open ocean navigation (at least until you get GPS): chronometer, sextant, compass. Of these the compass is least important. Knowing which way you’re going won’t help much if you don’t know where you are. Astrolabe was an early substitute for the sextant. Not sure where Golarion’s tech is on these things.

Golarion has astrolabes, sextants, and a variety of time keeping devices.

In the real world, tools for precise time measurement to determine longitude were the most difficult of those to construct. Golarion has the Time Sense cantrip for extremely precise time measurement. They'd just need a way to compare the time on board the ship to the time at a reference location whose longitude was known.

Absalom ?

Absalom ?

Any place will do, but you need a way to compare times in the two locations. In the real world, that was accomplished by having a really good clock on board the ship.

Let's say that you are in London. You set your clock to noon, and one day when the sun is at its highest point you start your clock. Your clock is now set to the 'true' astronomical time in London. You take it with you on a voyage, and a few days later you notice that when the sun is at its highest point your London clock doesn't read noon.

The discrepancy is because you've traveled East or West from London. The bigger the time difference the larger the distance, so you can use the time difference to calculate your longitude relative to London's. But this depends both on your clock being reliable enough to keep accurate time over long periods and on your ability to determine when the sun is at its zenith — something that can be difficult in stormy weather, for example.

If Golarion has really good portable clocks, then people there could take the same approach, but someone on board could use the Time Sense cantrip to determine local time at will instead of having to wait for the sun to be at its peak. That's convenient, but what I was suggesting was something that actually makes the clock unnecessary.

If you have a magical means of instantaneous long-distance communication, then someone at a known location could use Time Sense and transmit that accurate-to-the-second local time to someone on the ship. The person on the ship could then use Time Sense to determine their local time to within a second and compare the two times to get an absurdly accurate value for their current longitude. You'd basically have GPS level results for longitude with no satellites or clocks needed. You'd still need to make astronomical measurements to determine your latitude, of course, but that's comparatively easy.

I'm not sure whether my physics background or my sailing experience is to blame, but this application was the first thing that occurred to me when I read the description of Time Sense. :)

If you have a magical means of instantaneous long-distance communication, then someone at a known location could use Time Sense and transmit that accurate-to-the-second local time to someone on the ship. The person on the ship could then use Time Sense to determine their local time to within a second and compare the two times to get an absurdly accurate value for their current longitude. You'd basically have GPS level results for longitude with no satellites or clocks needed. You'd still need to make astronomical measurements to determine your latitude, of course, but that's comparatively easy.

I'm seeing a "Sea Traffic Control Tower" somewhere in Absalom, where mages work around the clock providing accurate time readings to ships at sea. Provided, of course, that you or the ship owner has subscribed to that service.

Gisher wrote:

If you have a magical means of instantaneous long-distance communication, then someone at a known location could use Time Sense and transmit that accurate-to-the-second local time to someone on the ship. The person on the ship could then use Time Sense to determine their local time to within a second and compare the two times to get an absurdly accurate value for their current longitude. You'd basically have GPS level results for longitude with no satellites or clocks needed. You'd still need to make astronomical measurements to determine your latitude, of course, but that's comparatively easy.

I'm seeing a "Sea Traffic Control Tower" somewhere in Absalom, where mages work around the clock providing accurate time readings to ships at sea. Provided, of course, that you or the ship owner has subscribed to that service.

A Golarion Positioning System? ;)

Gisher wrote:

If you have a magical means of instantaneous long-distance communication, then someone at a known location could use Time Sense and transmit that accurate-to-the-second local time to someone on the ship. The person on the ship could then use Time Sense to determine their local time to within a second and compare the two times to get an absurdly accurate value for their current longitude. You'd basically have GPS level results for longitude with no satellites or clocks needed. You'd still need to make astronomical measurements to determine your latitude, of course, but that's comparatively easy.

I'm seeing a "Sea Traffic Control Tower" somewhere in Absalom, where mages work around the clock providing accurate time readings to ships at sea. Provided, of course, that you or the ship owner has subscribed to that service.

...and thus, the "Ship's Mage" position became synonymous with "Navigator" on Golarion. :)

And navigation is considered an esoteric skill.

Quick and admittedly silly clarification question: on Page 91 (Religious Iconography), it describes the practice among Ulfen priests of Gozreh to use ceremonial ice picks to break ice for their rituals, but the accompanying illustration instead appears to depict an ice axe. I presume this was just a miscommunication between the writers and artists, but which is the correct interpretation if, say, I wanted to roleplay one of those Ulfen Gozrans, and wanted to depict their ceremonial tool accurately?

I think what the intent was there was for ice axes used in mountaineering. They look kinda like a pickaxe and I assume that someone just said "Ice pickaxe = icepick"

I can't really picture folks from the Land of the Linnorm Kings using a tiny little icepick.

Woo for finally this book being out :3

I think its safe to say officially that paizo has shifted from regions being "meta game names for areas" to "they are actually recognized as regions in universe"

The character options in this book are now sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society play!

Any reason why this new product doesn’t show on the homepage under new releases? Or why Lost Omens products in general are so hard to locate using the menus on the homepage?

It is as if you need to be active on the forums to find them.

Any reason why this new product doesn’t show on the homepage under new releases? Or why Lost Omens products in general are so hard to locate using the menus on the homepage?

It is as if you need to be active on the forums to find them.

Because the update is manual, not automatic and the people whose job it is were focusing on Kingmaker backer PDFs, but I’ll pass the note along. It’s been available for 24 hours, thanks for being so attentive!

The lost omens line has its own dedicated modal on the Pathfinder landing page. We can’t feature every product line on the home page, only the newest Pathfinder and Starfinder rulebooks, which have the broadest appeal.

Fun little fact regarding calenders in Golarion.

Queen Anastasia introduced Earth's calender to Irrisen.

"A more recent invention is Irrisen’s new Stasian
calendar, which sets itself 2,700 years behind Absalom
Reckoning for reasons that, though still unknown, may
be tied to Queen Anastasia’s mysterious origins."

Fun little fact regarding calenders in Golarion.

Queen Anastasia introduced Earth's calender to Irrisen.

"A more recent invention is Irrisen’s new Stasian
calendar, which sets itself 2,700 years behind Absalom
Reckoning for reasons that, though still unknown, may
be tied to Queen Anastasia’s mysterious origins."

Uh... It should be -2795, -2700 give us our current year, but earth's year in Lost Omen is 95 years behind ours (so now in Pathfinder, it's 1927 on earth). And to get 1927 from 4722, you need to do -2795.

(Still very interesting proposition... :O )
Note: This is based on the year on earth in the one product where Anastasia was introduced to Pathfinder for the very first time, and its date of publication.

Russia under the late Tsar still used the Julian Calendar, which is what Anastasia Romanov would have been familiar with. The Soviet Union implemented the Gregorian calendar the year of her martyrdom. Which means that inevitably Irrisen will be months behind the rest of the world when Starfinder occurs.

Irrisen living in "Anno Domini" is an amusing prospect.

"Majesty, why does our Calendar say A.D.?"

"Because 1900 years ago God died for all of humanity."

"...you mean Aroden?"

"...No."

It's interesting to see a few bits suggesting the events of Age of Ashes have taken place. I'm all for that, rather than the 1e approach to AP canon.

Just noticed that in the What People Know chapter, it seems like the events of Night of the Gray Death are acknowledged as canon as well.

zezia wrote:

Fun little fact regarding calenders in Golarion.

Queen Anastasia introduced Earth's calender to Irrisen.

"A more recent invention is Irrisen’s new Stasian
calendar, which sets itself 2,700 years behind Absalom
Reckoning for reasons that, though still unknown, may
be tied to Queen Anastasia’s mysterious origins."

Uh... It should be -2795, -2700 give us our current year, but earth's year in Lost Omen is 95 years behind ours (so now in Pathfinder, it's 1927 on earth). And to get 1927 from 4722, you need to do -2795.

(Still very interesting proposition... :O )
Note: This is based on the year on earth in the one product where Anastasia was introduced to Pathfinder for the very first time, and its date of publication.

Breaking the 4th wall.

Quick and admittedly silly clarification question: on Page 91 (Religious Iconography), it describes the practice among Ulfen priests of Gozreh to use ceremonial ice picks to break ice for their rituals, but the accompanying illustration instead appears to depict an ice axe. I presume this was just a miscommunication between the writers and artists, but which is the correct interpretation if, say, I wanted to roleplay one of those Ulfen Gozrans, and wanted to depict their ceremonial tool accurately?

I notice that the Wikipedia page that you linked to for the ice axe identifies one of the main components of an ice axe as "the pick."

So perhaps in this context the term "ice picks" is meant to include the picks on the ice axes as well as the more standard ice pick design?

The lost omens line has its own dedicated modal on the Pathfinder landing page. We can’t feature every product line on the home page, only the newest Pathfinder and Starfinder rulebooks, which have the broadest appeal.

Ah I see - they are called “World Guides”. I was looking for “Lost Omens”.

There are things that could be minor errors in book but in universe presentation means it could be in universe writers research error xD

(the said thing I'm talking about is Thamir Gixx being referred as that and not just Thamir since he is currently in between names ;D Assuming Edgewatch doesn't canonize new primarch being official and Thamir taking his name, don't tell me if it does I'm still playing it)

Aaron Shanks wrote:

The lost omens line has its own dedicated modal on the Pathfinder landing page. We can’t feature every product line on the home page, only the newest Pathfinder and Starfinder rulebooks, which have the broadest appeal.

Ah I see - they are called “World Guides”. I was looking for “Lost Omens”.

Good feedback. Hmmmm.

Russia under the late Tsar still used the Julian Calendar, which is what Anastasia Romanov would have been familiar with. The Soviet Union implemented the Gregorian calendar the year of her martyrdom. Which means that inevitably Irrisen will be months behind the rest of the world when Starfinder occurs.

Irrisen living in "Anno Domini" is an amusing prospect.

"Majesty, why does our Calendar say A.D.?"

"Because 1900 years ago God died for all of humanity."

"...you mean Aroden?"

"...No."

This is legit something that I didn't think about! Thanks!

Oh gosh, now that I think of it, that means Golarion and Earth are not exactly in synch with their calendars, because in 2400 on earth it will be a leap year, but not on Golarion cause 5100 is not divisible by 400. (lol, as if that will change anything for us. ;) )

Getting back on track: So yeah, maybe she remembered that the calendar was recently fixed with the "need to be divisible by 400 if divisible by 100", OR she could have just changed the year and the names, without changing anything else of the rules already in place.
Note: I have not read the book yet, and still waiting on my shipment. So there could be more details in there that would break my guesses.
Still interesting to think about.

I take back what I said about wanting the Lost Omens books to have all lore and no player options - the new astrology backgrounds in this book are amazing.

One of my favorite books Paizo has ever put out! Thank you!!

If you like it, review, subscribe, ring a bell for notifications...

I did in fact review it.

Dear Golarion's Finest,

I've recently purchased your newest guide, and I was quite impressed with the wide array of writers! How did you manage to get a Rakhasha and a former Assassin to write for your newest book?

Best,
-An inquistive reader.

I have to say, this book just makes me rabid for a proper write-up on boundball and the international league for it in Arcadia. An archetype for being a boundball player would be the cherry on top!

Knowing where you are is not the only reason to hug the coast on a ship. Even modern ships in the Mediterranean tend to hug the coast, and they have satellite GPS. This is especially true for trade ships, who will want to fill their itinerary with as many ports as possible to get/unload trade goods, minimize hold room for fresh supplies, maintain crew morale, and establish contacts with businesses in as many ports as possible to keep the hold as full as possible between ports. There's also some coin to be made transporting people from port to port.

Dear Golarion's Finest,

I've recently purchased your newest guide, and I was quite impressed with the wide array of writers! How did you manage to get a Rakhasha and a former Assassin to write for your newest book?

Best,
-An inquistive reader.

*Innocent whistle noises*

How much of this book is mechanics and how much of it is setting/lore?

What I'm trying to find out is how much of this book is useful to someone who uses the Pathfinder setting but doesn't use Pathfinder2e mechanics?

How much of this book is mechanics and how much of it is setting/lore?

What I'm trying to find out is how much of this book is useful to someone who uses the Pathfinder setting but doesn't use Pathfinder2e mechanics?

99% lore, 1% mechanics.

How much of this book is mechanics and how much of it is setting/lore?

What I'm trying to find out is how much of this book is useful to someone who uses the Pathfinder setting but doesn't use Pathfinder2e mechanics?

You will find a wealth of goodness.

Folks,

I am happy to report that content from this book has been added to TOS 2nd PRO edition version 18!

TOS 2nd PRO edition is the powerful Excel Character Manager for Pathfinder 2nd edition.

Check Nonat1s's video here for a quick overview of the tool (based on the older v5 edition)

Happy Gaming!
The Only Sheet

Dagnabbit, even this book continues pantheism/polytheism confusion x'D (still love the book)

Is this book considered safe from remastering? I would like to start building my library, but preferably only from books that are remastered / wont be remastered because nothing to remaster.

Is this book considered safe from remastering? I would like to start building my library, but preferably only from books that are remastered / wont be remastered because nothing to remaster.

It's pretty much entirely a lore book. You're safe.