Pathfinder Rage of Elements

Thanks Aaron, much appreciated. PDF file size is not an issue for me; as others have mentioned, I am much more interested in higher quality/resolution artwork.

Something to include in your inquiries...the current Core Rulebook comes in at 80 MB with the GM Guide coming in at 27 MB...about 107 MB for both. While it's not an exact measure, the new Core books are coming in ~70 MB (per your comments). My hope is that the new books would be of equivalent or better detail/resolution as the current books.

I've seen the issue is being addressed but just want to further echo what others have said about PDF quality to Paizo. This compression makes it hard for me to even want to read.

As others have noted already but.... I'm also an artist, and I only get these books to look at the art as I read rules (otherwise I'd just use Archive of Nethys) and previous releases had some compression which is obviously necessary but this time it's just too much.

Glad to hear it's being addressed but until I see those changes I can't find myself wanting to get future PDF's.

Note: I see it as Marketing's duty to look for quality control issues that might hamper sales, to let the customer service system work, to call lingering issues to the attention of others inside the company, and to generally help set expectations. Quality control issues are beyond our purview to directly correct and we have escalated this to the level above us. Thank you for your feedback and for playing Pathfinder.

Thanks Aaron

Question for the developers who may see this, Roiling mudslide says it does damage to all creatures in the area but doesn’t say what the area is. What should the area be?

I'm quoting the above in the hopes to see some answer from staff. Please!

I was really looking forward to this book, but I'm unable to enjoy it due to the poor compression with the PDF copy.

I'm enjoying the hell out of it on Pathbuilder.

rayous brightblade wrote:

Question for the developers who may see this, Roiling mudslide says it does damage to all creatures in the area but doesn’t say what the area is. What should the area be?

I'm quoting the above in the hopes to see some answer from staff. Please!

I'm not staff, but my first guess would be "the area of your aura".

I really don't know why they reprinted Elementalist with less spells
I thought the point of them reprinting it was to expand it

Just wanted to share the response from Customer Service regarding the PDF image quality in RoE. Good news is that they are working on a fix!

Thanks for writing in about this issue! At this time our art team is aware of this PDF image quality issue and that the compression in the zip file and file size it's self are what is mainly causing this and are actively working to get that pdf looking better for everyone in the future. We ask for your patience while that file is addressed as most departments are still getting back from gen-con atm thanks for your time and patience in this manner.

Hello, I would like to buy the pdf as my players are now interested in the content, so I finally have a good reason.

Wzrd wrote:

Just wanted to share the response from Customer Service regarding the PDF image quality in RoE. Good news is that they are working on a fix!

Thanks for writing in about this issue! At this time our art team is aware of this PDF image quality issue and that the compression in the zip file and file size it's self are what is mainly causing this and are actively working to get that pdf looking better for everyone in the future. We ask for your patience while that file is addressed as most departments are still getting back from gen-con atm thanks for your time and patience in this manner.

Hello, I would like to buy the pdf as my players are now interested in the content, so I finally have a good reason.

Is the reslution problem fixed?
I will not buy the pdf if the image quality is not on the same level as other supplements like secrets of magic. The art and the writing are the two main reasons why I buy pdfs, since the rules are all free. So I will not buy it if it's not at least the same quality I am used to.
Thank you in advance.

No change to the PDF has yet been made.

LotsOfLore wrote:

Wzrd wrote:

Just wanted to share the response from Customer Service regarding the PDF image quality in RoE. Good news is that they are working on a fix!

Thanks for writing in about this issue! At this time our art team is aware of this PDF image quality issue and that the compression in the zip file and file size it's self are what is mainly causing this and are actively working to get that pdf looking better for everyone in the future. We ask for your patience while that file is addressed as most departments are still getting back from gen-con atm thanks for your time and patience in this manner.

Hello, I would like to buy the pdf as my players are now interested in the content, so I finally have a good reason.

Is the reslution problem fixed?
I will not buy the pdf if the image quality is not on the same level as other supplements like secrets of magic. The art and the writing are the two main reasons why I buy pdfs, since the rules are all free. So I will not buy it if it's not at least the same quality I am used to.
Thank you in advance.

No change to the PDF has yet been made.

Thank you for your quick relpy. I will stay tuned.

I really don't know why they reprinted Elementalist with less spells

I thought the point of them reprinting it was to expand it

While the given spell list is smaller, the intention is to be larger. See the text here:

In addition to some universal spells that both philosophies have access to, your personal list also contains any spell that shares one or more traits with those in your elemental philosophy, and doesn't have any traits that aren't in your elemental philosophy. For example, an elemental cycle elementalist could choose a spell with both the earth and fire traits, but not one with the air and fire traits, while an inner sea elementalist could choose either of those, but not a spell with metal and fire traits.

As Rage of Elements is the first book to include the wood and metal traits, your GM might allow you to add more spells from other books that fit the metal or wood element but first appeared without the trait, adding the relevant trait to the spell.

So the intention is to have the Elementalist spell list contain every spell with the relevant traits, so long as they don't have elemental traits not in your cycle.

I'd like to share my perspective on the PDF quality matter, which might be of interest to those who, like me, had concerns. The PDF is unquestionably legible and functional. While there is some noticeable image compression, it doesn't obscure the content; you can still discern the essence of the images and appreciate the artistry, albeit in a somewhat diminished quality. If the visual aspects of the book are of paramount importance to you, then opting for a physical copy might be the better choice. However, should Paizo decide to release an updated PDF version in the future, I would eagerly download it. In the interim, the current PDF serves its purpose adequately.

That “generic guy” is Yoon.

She is the Iconic Kineticist, the class in the book.

Strange. She's apparently supposed to be the same as the first edition iconic, but she doesn't look the same. What happened?

Ten years happened.

Rysky wrote:

That “generic guy” is Yoon.

She is the Iconic Kineticist, the class in the book.

Strange. She's apparently supposed to be the same as the first edition iconic, but she doesn't look the same. What happened?

Yoon has been on quite the journey, and we aged her up to reflect that.

Has anyone seen, or compiled a spell list for the spells in Rage of Elements?

Has anyone seen, or compiled a spell list for the spells in Rage of Elements?

Here you are.

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Interested in buying this for the art since I own the book. No use if the art supposedly looks bad.

I decided to purchase both the Treasure Vault and Secrets of Magic PDFs in addition to this one (Rage of Elements) and I'm afraid that I can confirm what others have said in that this PDF, for whatever reason, has a much higher level of compression applied to it than the other ones.

Specifically the artwork in Treasure Vault almost seems uncompressed; even when I stretch a single page to 1440px width the artwork seems perfectly preserved, down to the digital brushstrokes.

In second place is Secrets of Magic which has at worst a bit of oversharpness to it but again only when I stretched a single page as above, the artwork otherwise seems mostly unblemished.

Rage of Elements when stretched is noticeably pixelated with fabrics, textures, elemental effects, etc looking very blocky but also with dramatic oversharpening that can at times give a kind of strange outline to some art.

In fairness it's not something that would be easily noticed especially on mobile devices so I agree with Aaron that it's "acceptable" by some standards and not really a deal breaker if you need a PDF as a quick reference.

But it is odd that clearly different policies in compression are being applied to different PDFs. IMHO the best solution would be to go with the Treasure Vault policy across the board because I don't think it ought to be controversial to say people are drawn to Paizo's high quality artwork and production values and I think most are willing to spare even hundreds of MBs to preserve that electronically. Maybe there could even be uncompressed and compressed versions of each PDF if Paizo's servers and customer's storage requirements are at a premium.

I decided to purchase both the Treasure Vault and Secrets of Magic PDFs in addition to this one (Rage of Elements) and I'm afraid that I can confirm what others have said in that this PDF, for whatever reason, has a much higher level of compression applied to it than the other ones.

Specifically the artwork in Treasure Vault almost seems uncompressed; even when I stretch a single page to 1440px width the artwork seems perfectly preserved, down to the digital brushstrokes.

In second place is Secrets of Magic which has at worst a bit of oversharpness to it but again only when I stretched a single page as above, the artwork otherwise seems mostly unblemished.

Rage of Elements when stretched is noticeably pixelated with fabrics, textures, elemental effects, etc looking very blocky but also with dramatic oversharpening that can at times give a kind of strange outline to some art.

In fairness it's not something that would be easily noticed especially on mobile devices so I agree with Aaron that it's "acceptable" by some standards and not really a deal breaker if you need a PDF as a quick reference.

But it is odd that clearly different policies in compression are being applied to different PDFs. IMHO the best solution would be to go with the Treasure Vault policy across the board because I don't think it ought to be controversial to say people are drawn to Paizo's high quality artwork and production values and I think most are willing to spare even hundreds of MBs to preserve that electronically. Maybe there could even be uncompressed and compressed versions of each PDF if Paizo's servers and customer's storage requirements are at a premium.

Yeah, that's a deal breaker for me. I will wait for them to upload the fixed pdf, and then I will happily buy it.

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Still nothing on this front ?

By the way, I just bought Howl of the Wild and it's spectacular, no issues with the pdf. So it seems that this was a tragic occurrence limited to Rage of the Elements...
I will keep waiting, my finger on the pdf buy button xD

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Still nothing on this front ?

By the way, I just bought Howl of the Wild and it's spectacular, no issues with the pdf. So it seems that this was a tragic occurrence limited to Rage of the Elements...
I will keep waiting, my finger on the pdf buy button xD

Note that Aaron is not working for Paizo anymore, and he was the only one looking at the forums outside of moderating. (And he was ddoing it off the clock more often than not...)

The best way to get an answer would be to contact Customer Support.

LotsOfLore wrote:

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Still nothing on this front ?

By the way, I just bought Howl of the Wild and it's spectacular, no issues with the pdf. So it seems that this was a tragic occurrence limited to Rage of the Elements...
I will keep waiting, my finger on the pdf buy button xD

Note that Aaron is not working for Paizo anymore, and he was the only one looking at the forums outside of moderating. (And he was ddoing it off the clock more often than not...)

The best way to get an answer would be to contact Customer Support.

Ok, thanks for the info.

LotsOfLore wrote:

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Still nothing on this front ?

By the way, I just bought Howl of the Wild and it's spectacular, no issues with the pdf. So it seems that this was a tragic occurrence limited to Rage of the Elements...
I will keep waiting, my finger on the pdf buy button xD

Note that Aaron is not working for Paizo anymore, and he was the only one looking at the forums outside of moderating. (And he was ddoing it off the clock more often than not...)

The best way to get an answer would be to contact Customer Support.

Damn that sucks, Aaron was great

Elfteiroh wrote:

LotsOfLore wrote:

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Still nothing on this front ?

By the way, I just bought Howl of the Wild and it's spectacular, no issues with the pdf. So it seems that this was a tragic occurrence limited to Rage of the Elements...
I will keep waiting, my finger on the pdf buy button xD

Note that Aaron is not working for Paizo anymore, and he was the only one looking at the forums outside of moderating. (And he was ddoing it off the clock more often than not...)

The best way to get an answer would be to contact Customer Support.

Damn that sucks, Aaron was great

A bit off topic, but he went back to his other passion: Music, and now work producing musicals. (He's also helping promote a Pathfinder CRPG video game's crowdfunding on the side.)

Does anyone know the ancestry of Aryndhati Zoii (the author of the Plane of Fire section of Rage of Elements)? Is she an elf?

Does anyone know the ancestry of Aryndhati Zoii (the author of the Plane of Fire section of Rage of Elements)? Is she an elf?

Probably an elf with the naari (planar scion, fire; PF1 ifrit) heritage (Page 112: "Elemental nexus sites like these [sandy deserts, scorching jungles, and, of course, volcanos] can also attract elementals or cause the birth of naaris like me to spike."). The implication is that she is from the desert (Vourinoi), jungle (Mualijae), or near a volcano (any, but probably not Aiudeen from the Crown of the World).

Timothy Ferdinand wrote:

Does anyone know the ancestry of Aryndhati Zoii (the author of the Plane of Fire section of Rage of Elements)? Is she an elf?

Probably an elf with the naari (planar scion, fire; PF1 ifrit) heritage (Page 112: "Elemental nexus sites like these [sandy deserts, scorching jungles, and, of course, volcanos] can also attract elementals or cause the birth of naaris like me to spike."). The implication is that she is from the desert (Vourinoi), jungle (Mualijae), or near a volcano (any, but probably not Aiudeen from the Crown of the World).

Many thanks

Should the two uncommon backgrounds (p44) have “Prerequisite - membership of the Concordance of Elements”?

It seems to be implied, but I’m thinking about the impact this has on Society play, where a Secondary Initiation requirement needs to be spelled out.

This is a potential errata consideration.

On page 72, the spell tempest cloak accidentally says that it creates a "5-foot burst surrounding the target". The AoE needs to be an emanation--probably an aura, to be specific.