Chief Technical Officer
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We've just announced the following Pathfinder Player Companions:
February 2011: Faiths of Purity
April 2011: Humans of Golarion
June 2011: Faiths of Balance
(Product images are mockups, and will change prior to publication.)
All of these are part of the Pathfinder Player Companion subscription.
So there are no new nation companions for a while? Does this mean the Sargava book was the last of them, or is that line of products just on a brief pause?
The "Faiths of .." books look interesting. I hope there's going to be a third one :)
Eureka! Humans of Golarion! Thank you Paizo! Yet again you prove you are the best!
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We've just announced the following Pathfinder Player Companions:
February 2011: Faiths of Purity
April 2011: Humans of Golarion
June 2011: Faiths of Balance(Product images are mockups, and will change prior to publication.)
All of these are part of the Pathfinder Player Companion subscription.
All good. WANT.
So there are no new nation companions for a while? Does this mean the Sargava book was the last of them, or is that line of products just on a brief pause?
That's a good point - no "Ustalav, Land of Nightmares" for AP #8.
We've just announced the following Pathfinder Player Companions:
February 2011: Faiths of Purity
April 2011: Humans of Golarion
June 2011: Faiths of Balance(Product images are mockups, and will change prior to publication.)
All of these are part of the Pathfinder Player Companion subscription.
Those covers look pretty darn amazing for mock-ups...
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So there are no new nation companions for a while? Does this mean the Sargava book was the last of them, or is that line of products just on a brief pause?That's a good point - no "Ustalav, Land of Nightmares" for AP #8.
There's a Campaign Setting book coming out however. It's more like Heart of the Jungle for Mawangi,Guide to the River Kingdoms for the River Kingdoms, Dark Markets for Katapesh or Guide to Korvosa for Korvosa which is probably more appropriate for covering Ustalav.
It's only Rise of the Runelords, Second Darkness and Council of thieves that didn't get a Chronicles book about them, and you could argue that Into the Darklands and BotD 1 count for the latter two.
Why has no one mentioned that Goblins of Golarion and Tian Xia Primer are coming late next year?
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Chief Technical Officer
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Why has no one mentioned that Goblins of Golarion and Tian Xia Primer are coming late next year?
A number of products planned for the future were mentioned during seminars at Gen Con, but that's not the same as having being officially announced. Until they have their own product listings here at paizo.com, consider all such plans subject to change. (They probably won't, but they *could*.)
Why has no one mentioned that Goblins of Golarion and Tian Xia Primer are coming late next year?A number of products planned for the future were mentioned during seminars at Gen Con, but that's not the same as having being officially announced. Until they have their own product listings here at paizo.com, consider all such plans subject to change. (They probably won't, but they *could*.)
Vic, I didn't expect you guys to add it to your schedule yet. It was more of a why didn't anyone in the community mention that Erik had mentioned those two products during Gen Con.:)
I can't wait for Goblins of Golarion, should it come to pass, which I really hope it does.
Goblins of Golarion ? Wasn't Companion line supposed to be for players ?
I have an increased feeling that Companions are lost and confused again.
The proposal, as mentioned in the 'future of paizo' seminar, basicially said that goblins of golarion was hopefully going to be a guide to player character goblins in golarion.
Golarion Goblins have been a hugely popular aspect of pathfinder. For a lot of us just love that crazy little freaks.
Given that these goblins have always been a comic aspect of the setting, i imagain that the book will be a little tongue in cheek, but still, for me, it the most anticipated book for next year.
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Goblins of Golarion ? Wasn't Companion line supposed to be for players ?
I have an increased feeling that Companions are lost and confused again.
The proposal, as mentioned in the 'future of paizo' seminar, basicially said that goblins of golarion was hopefully going to be a guide to player character goblins in golarion.
Golarion Goblins have been a hugely popular aspect of pathfinder. For a lot of us just love that crazy little freaks.
Given that these goblins have always been a comic aspect of the setting, i imagain that the book will be a little tongue in cheek, but still, for me, it the most anticipated book for next year.
Now, that's major bad news there. I was hoping for Paizo to stick to the core races instead of handing out incentives to play parties made up of drow, kobolds, goblins, genasi and whatever else you have.
Color me deeply unimpressed and a bit disenchanted.
Goblins of Golarion ? Wasn't Companion line supposed to be for players ?
I have an increased feeling that Companions are lost and confused again.
The proposal, as mentioned in the 'future of paizo' seminar, basicially said that goblins of golarion was hopefully going to be a guide to player character goblins in golarion.
Golarion Goblins have been a hugely popular aspect of pathfinder. For a lot of us just love that crazy little freaks.
Given that these goblins have always been a comic aspect of the setting, i imagain that the book will be a little tongue in cheek, but still, for me, it the most anticipated book for next year.
Now, that's major bad news there. I was hoping for Paizo to stick to the core races instead of handing out incentives to play parties made up of drow, kobolds, goblins, genasi and whatever else you have.
Color me deeply unimpressed and a bit disenchanted.
Why?
This book, to my knowledge, will be the only one of its kind, and is based purely on the fact that this community really loves the goblins. They are the unofficial mascots, and their are a fair number of people who are dying to play them. Pathfinder paper minis where in part lauched on their path to existance on the awesome that was the ugly, Ashton Sperry's goblin gunslinger. This book isn't from what has been said, a new direction, but a single treatment of something a lot of us want.
Ofcause, all that said, If there is interest in doing so, how is it good business to not provide the option, why restrict players options to the 'base classes' when there are a host of interesting sentient humanoid races which can as easily make interesting characters as elves, dwarfs or humans?
But then, like i said, i am head over heels to know that i might get the chance to play one of the fucund little runts in the pathfinder society. For that matter, i would also be very interested in a Gnolls of Golarion.
And you know what, in both cases, i would be looking to play them in mostly human parties, not a party of a drow, a genasi and a kobold.
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1. If you give somebody a finger, he will grab the whole arm. If a Goblin book will be out, people will request a drow book, a kobold book, an ogre book, and so on. I don't want Golarion to turn into FR and have groups of "anything but not core races" running around.
2. Pathfinder Society ? Please. Goblins are anti-social sadistic CE little freaks. They're not cute and cuddly, they are cruel, heartless and stupid. They have no place neither in a society or in the Society. I just can't imagine goblins in PFS. Maybe I can play a LG Goblin paladin then ? And can my friend play a CG Drow ranger with two scimitars and a panther animal companion ?
1. If you give somebody a finger, he will grab the whole arm. If a Goblin book will be out, people will request a drow book, a kobold book, an ogre book, and so on. I don't want Golarion to turn into FR and have groups of "anything but not core races" running around.
2. Pathfinder Society ? Please. Goblins are anti-social sadistic CE little freaks. They're not cute and cuddly, they are cruel, heartless and stupid. They have no place neither in a society or in the Society. I just can't imagine goblins in PFS. Maybe I can play a LG Goblin paladin then ? And can my friend play a CG Drow ranger with two scimitars and a panther animal companion ?
1. And why is it exactly, that is a group of players wish to play a band of say 'gnoll slavers' should not be allowed to. Is it wrong, bad fun?
2a. I see no restriction that states all goblins are chaotic evil, certainly most are, and it is one of the things we love about them, but that does not mean that you will not occasionally find goblins of other alignments, CN and NE will almost certainly make up a fairly large minority of the race.
2b. If you see no place for them in a pathfinder society game, then I say that is a lack imagination on your part, for I can see a great many concepts for workable Golarion Goblin PCs, which might fit within the pathfinder society.
2c. Your are welcome to play a goblin paladin for all i care, and your friend may play clone boy for all I care. Of cause, I will probably be over at the other table, playing with the Hanns Urder, the human tomb raider, Gaziz, the half-crazy goblin tracker, Ossis, vagabond scholar and crusader against the influence of the old gods.
I don't think playing a campaign that has monster races as PCs should be bad-wrong-fun. I DO, however, strongly believe that the players should understand that the races they are playing are MONSTERS, or at the very least are viewed as such by the core races which account for most of civilization.
This unfortunately, rarely happens when monsters races are converted to PC-eligible races. The player that couldn't wait to run a gnoll slaver gets tired of it about 4 sessions in when he can't show his face most places.
Too often, players embrace it for the novelty but then insist on Star Wars style acceptance of any race, anywhere.
I'm all for sourcebooks expanding on monster cultures. I just don't think they should be treated as PCs, and if they are used as a PC race, the player damn well better understand the implications & limitations of doing so.
I don't think playing a campaign that has monster races as PCs should be bad-wrong-fun. I DO, however, strongly believe that the players should understand that the races they are playing are MONSTERS, or at the very least are viewed as such by the core races which account for most of civilization.
This unfortunately, rarely happens when monsters races are converted to PC-eligible races. The player that couldn't wait to run a gnoll slaver gets tired of it about 4 sessions in when he can't show his face most places.
Too often, players embrace it for the novelty but then insist on Star Wars style acceptance of any race, anywhere.
I'm all for sourcebooks expanding on monster cultures. I just don't think they should be treated as PCs, and if they are used as a PC race, the player damn well better understand the implications & limitations of doing so.
Except, their are places in Golarion where exactly such monsterous PCs can and often do, stride the streets openly and without interferance by society. Katapesh and Kaer Maga, are great examples of both.
In the case of gnolls, both fiction and game offerings have made it very clear that non-violent human/gnoll is pretty common is always fraught with peril.
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1. And why is it exactly, that is a group of players wish to play a band of say 'gnoll slavers' should not be allowed to. Is it wrong, bad fun?
2a. I see no restriction that states all goblins are chaotic evil, certainly most are, and it is one of the things we love about them, but that does not mean that you will not occasionally find goblins of other alignments, CN and NE will almost certainly make up a fairly large minority of the race.
2b. If you see no place for them in a pathfinder society game, then I say that is a lack imagination on your part, for I can see a great many concepts for workable Golarion Goblin PCs, which might fit within the pathfinder society.
2c. Your are welcome to play a goblin paladin for all i care, and your friend may play clone boy for all I care. Of cause, I will probably be over at the other table, playing with the Hanns Urder, the human tomb raider, Gaziz, the half-crazy goblin tracker, Ossis, vagabond scholar and crusader against the influence of the old gods.
I don't lack imagination, thank you. I'm just not a fan of gonzo wacky FR-style fantasy you seem to be after. And I am sick of races bloat in 3.5, and here I was hoping that Paizo will put an end to it.
Of course Goblins are already playable by characters along with orcs, tengu, hobgoblins, both drow races, etc. There stats for them as PCs are in the bestiary. So I am looking forward to pyromantic goblin ninjas.
Except, their are places in Golarion where exactly such monsterous PCs can and often do, stride the streets openly and without interferance by society. Katapesh and Kaer Maga, are great examples of both.In the case of gnolls, both fiction and game offerings have made it very clear that non-violent human/gnoll is pretty common is always fraught with peril.
In your first point, those cities are notable in part b/c of the racial make-up of those cities. However, quick perusal of many a play-by-post forum will show you that fans of monstrous races love to impose such sensibilities upon any settlement or culture when it suits them to do so. Kaer Maga? Ok. Magnimar, Korvosa, or Westcrown? NO frakkin' way.
As to your second point - fine if the GM enforces it. However, to take this approach, you really don't need more than the ___-as-PC-entries in the Bestiaries.
Monster fluff ala Classic Monsters Revised = Good stuff. Monster stuff that must be/is assumed to always be PC-fodder = bad stuff.
IMO.
Of course Goblins are already playable by characters along with orcs, tengu, hobgoblins, both drow races, etc. There stats for them as PCs are in the bestiary. So I am looking forward to pyromantic goblin ninjas.
Read the bestiary again. Those stats read "Race X as Characters", not "Race X as PCs". Those are stats necessary to create any kind of opponent with those races. These are creatures without racial hit dice, and in order to create any of them, you *need* to add class levels, and that's what those rules are for. Nowhere does it say that this is meant for PCs.
Nowhere does it say that this is meant for PCs.
That is actually exactly what they are meant for. See the last paragraph on page 6 of the Bestiary, where it says "some monsters have additional sections that cover variant creatures, notes on using the monsters as PCs, methods of constructing the creature, and so on."
That is actually exactly what they are meant for. See the last paragraph on page 6 of the Bestiary, where it says "some monsters have additional sections that cover variant creatures, notes on using the monsters as PCs, methods of constructing the creature, and so on."
Still, the main reason these rules exist is that you simply just can't make a goblin, for example, without using them.
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1. If you give somebody a finger, he will grab the whole arm. If a Goblin book will be out, people will request a drow book, a kobold book, an ogre book, and so on. I don't want Golarion to turn into FR and have groups of "anything but not core races" running around.
2. Pathfinder Society ? Please. Goblins are anti-social sadistic CE little freaks. They're not cute and cuddly, they are cruel, heartless and stupid. They have no place neither in a society or in the Society. I just can't imagine goblins in PFS. Maybe I can play a LG Goblin paladin then ? And can my friend play a CG Drow ranger with two scimitars and a panther animal companion ?
My understanding was that Paizo wasn't going to make books about "monsters as PCs"
Turns out people want a goblin book, so Paizo decided to make one. If there is enough demand for a kobold book, then we might get one of those as well.
My home campaign is not set in Golarion, and "my" goblins are a valid choice for PCs. I'll probably buy this book even though I don't normally pick up the Companion series.
So there are no new nation companions for a while? Does this mean the Sargava book was the last of them, or is that line of products just on a brief pause?
Just a pause. I think the intent was to get all three faith-related books out near each other so people wouldn't be waiting for nearly a year for a complete set of them (as it is, they're released over five months, the fastest any three similar Player Companions can be released).
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Chief Technical Officer
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Goblins of Golarion ? Wasn't Companion line supposed to be for players ?
I have an increased feeling that Companions are lost and confused again.
Remember that Companions aren't directed solely at those who play whatever the theme happens to be—they also give people who *don't* play that type of character additional knowledge about how they might encounter and interact with those who do.
That is to say, even if you don't play a halfling, Halflings of Golarion should still provide some value to you as a player; same deal with Goblins of Golarion.
In the online short stories for Golarion a paladin is publically executed for killing a vampire noble. The vampire had more rights than the paladin. And the hero of the tale sided with the vampire, not the paladin. That same hero sees slave humans as simple chattel to be branded and bled by vampire lords and wouldn't want that to change.
If that type of world doesn't support monster NPCs (in the right locations of course) I don't know what world would. In many kingdoms the basic assumptions of simple good versus evil or hero versus monster don't apply.
My point would be that if a paladin killing undead can be against the law in one kingdom, then the underlying "unwritten" rules behind the core classes don't apply in Golarion. You can't just kill undead without consequences no matter what the rules seem to imply. Therefore, you ought to be able to survive as a goblin adventurer in kingdoms that don't give an auto death penalty to goblins. By extension, allowing goblin PCs makes sense as long as the player is aware of the danger.
For example, in another short story the goblins are at war with humans. I don't think a goblin adventurer could survive there and would have to opt out of adventures in that location or face the consequences.
While this scenerio could make PF Society games more difficult to run, those adventures already seem to thrive on some roleplaying challenges. Goblin PCs seem to fit with the overall theme of both Golarion and the PF Society.
In the online short stories for Golarion
Where are those?
Goblins. Pff. Kobolds are where it's at. Kobolds of Golarion will be so much concentrated awesome that it will warp the universe.
In the online short stories for GolarionWhere are those?
Go to the main Paizo store front, and there is a tab labelled web fiction.
There was a goblin NPC named Jinkoo in The Twice-Damned Prince who served the Hellknights as a sewer guard. He's a LN goblin warrior 1