BESTIARY 5, ULTIMATE INTRIGUE, And More Coming For PATHFINDER!

Last night was Paizocon's preview banquet, at which Paizo announced a new raft of upcoming Pathfinder goodness. Bestiary 5, Ultimate Intrigue, new iconics, Occult Adventures, and more await! Thanks to Wolfgang Baur for his diligent coverage -- "Dream dragons and flying monkeys coming in Bestiary 5." Bestiary 5 is out in Fall this year, with Ultimate Intrigue in Spring 2016.

The following comes from Wolfgang Baur. He also noted on Twitter that Kobolds are coming as a playable race in Pathfinder Society.

Jason Bulmahn takes the stage to reveal some secrets: 2 core Rulebook announcements promised.

New iconics.

Permanent 9th level mind swap spell. Eep. Occultist has battle host and tome eater archetypes. Psychic magic is the full equal of divine and arcane magic. Phrenology as an occult skill?! Hm. New haunts that every character interacts with. And the Paizo version of ley lines, which I am looking forward to checking out.

Dream dragons and flying monkeys coming in Bestiary 5. Fall 2015.

It was aliens! In Bestiary 5

Spring 2016: ultimate intrigue for skill and social rules including social dueling. New class: the vigilante.

Next PACG is Mummy's Mask. 3 occult adventures iconics will appear in Mummy’s Mask PACG.

Art for Hell's Rebels AP. There is a lot of diabolical evil in the AP, but players are the good guys.

James Jacobs character will be on the cover of AP#100, plus secrets of Aroden and 128 pages.

Uh oh. Hell's Vengeance AP as an all-evil adventure.

Stryx and rat folk getting some love in Inner Sea Races, focus on art, lore, and cultural detail.

Next set of PF minis.

A ghoul champion from the minis set.
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[ZeshinX]

Another round of books to add to the pile of other pathfinder (3.x), almost getting close to the or may have pasted the mound of books put out for 3.0 and 3.5 D&D combined. As the masses shell out more money for the added rules that clutter up and muck up the mix and takes the power from the GM telling a story to the power players with the new books with the new toys. Less is more fokes if you have a good GM you don't need a bunch of books to have a fun game or to create one. 5th edition rules and puts the power back in the hands of the story teller, not the power gamer.

Some, like myself, enjoy options. Completionists cry "Bloat!", some recognize it as an invented term. I've never believed in the nonsense that is "favoring the players". GMs who allow such mentality to creep into their bone cage only do themselves a disservice. The GM sets the rules. Don't like the product? Don't allow it. Don't like the rules the GM has set? Don't play in that game. Not gaming is better than gaming in an environment you don't like.

5e is a great system. I like it quite a bit. I just don't trust those at its helm. Their approach may work, and that'll be awesome for them and those who enjoy their products. Paizo produces what I'm after (and a lot I'm not after, and I don't buy that stuff). WotC is producing nothing I'm after (after the PHB, MM, and DMG) so I currently don't buy any of their stuff. I'll stick to the system that's producing product I like. For me, WotC has been all bluster and talk since the release of the DMG, and no worthwhile product outside the 3 books mentioned (which, again, is a damn fun system).

Ultimately I'm looking for product I can use and/or enjoy reading, and Paizo offers that. WotC....meh, not so much. WotC freebie online crumbs are nice, but we're talking about a company that has proven remarkably inept when it comes to anything digital. They re-designed their website I dunno how many times in the last 5 years (and it's been getting worse every time)....are being celebrated for releasing digital copies of books about a decade after they should have originally (and a system they no longer support at that)....still no digital copies of their currently supported books....so yeah. I don't trust WotC's ability to produce their game in a fashion I'm inclined to support (at present, who knows what the future holds).

One thing is certain, it's a good time to be into TT gaming. There exists options for all styles and preferences these days. I'd even go so far as to say WotC had a big hand in that (via the OGL). Pick your preference and get your game on.

 

[Morrus]

Another round of books to add to the pile of other pathfinder (3.x), almost getting close to the or may have pasted the mound of books put out for 3.0 and 3.5 D&D combined. As the masses shell out more money for the added rules that clutter up and muck up the mix and takes the power from the GM telling a story to the power players with the new books with the new toys. Less is more fokes if you have a good GM you don't need a bunch of books to have a fun game or to create one. 5th edition rules and puts the power back in the hands of the story teller, not the power gamer.

9 posts until the thread got derailed into the bloat conversation. We're improving! At least it's not the second post!

 

[Henry]

Yes, "fokes", we can be a little more considerate than this to our fellow gamers... Now, back to our regularly scheduled positivity...

I am a little uncertain about my use for the Hell's Vengeance AP, but the Occult adventures and the Ultimate Intrigue I can definitely see a use for in our home games. I was mind of hoping for a Vudra-based or Jalmeray-based adventure path now that we had Occult Adventures by that time, but I can hope for later in the year next year to see one!

 

[Morrus]

I definitely want to hear more about Hell's Vengeance. I like it when Paizo strays from the beaten track; the result is usually fun.

 

[Henry]

I definitely want to hear more about Hell's Vengeance. I like it when Paizo strays from the beaten track; the result is usually fun.

True - also I just read an email from one of my group who wants to try to arrange it when available for our group to be running Hell's Rebels AND Hell's Vengeance at the same time on alternating weeks! so it looks like I might have use for it after all...

 

[ExoKnight]

So looking forward to Bestiary 5! I love monster books and the four prior are top notch.

 

[Morlock]

Whilst I agree there are quite a lot of books available for Pathfinder/3.5 for many that's the draw, the large amount of resources to draw from. If anyone feels that a rules set is what dictates whether the power is in the hands of the storyteller or not is clearly looking at it the wrong way. The power is in the hands of the group as a whole. The group should come to an understanding at any one point in time what books or resources are acceptable for a particular campaign, or what isn't acceptable at all. Remember that RPGs are a shared experience, so what's the point of the GM "having the power" when the players aren't having any fun. Sure, just limiting books on the fly isn't feasible in public play, but that's why guidelines are available in that regard. However, in the end, play what you want and let others play what they want; this applies to both the use of resources and books available as well as the choice of game(s).

Agreed, it's a silly position, at least as an abstract. The key is to keep each product discrete enough that there's no obligation to by x just because you bought y. Which is pretty easy to accomplish, when the vast majority of the rules are published for free in an SRD.

I have my reasons for choosing 5e, but the stupid "cuz it's got fewer books" (it just occurred to me that the real reason for this argument is probably fanboyism) reason is not one of them. I just vastly prefer the more simplified and streamlined rules. How a few setting books, monster books, or non-Realms APs would change that is beyond my simple mind.

Edit: Just wanted to leave a gratuitous mention that I agree with the comment above about the awful D&D site. It's one of the worst sites I've ever seen by a profit-seeking enterprise.

 

[Monkey King]

Cool, happy to see those pics get a wider audience! (This year I chose my seat with an eye toward being close-but-not-too-close to the projection screens.)

I don't have a lot of extra details on those releases, but yes, Ultimate Intrigue sounds... er, intriguing.

 

[Shasarak]

I have to say that I am looking forward to Occult Adventures, it looks like a really interesting spin on Psionics.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

People who argue bloat must remember that they don't have to buy this stuff. They really don't.

That said, these intrigue me and though I'm sold for life to D&D 5E I admit there's a temptation to slide back on over to the dark side.