Oathbound is back!

[ruemere]

(this is not a press release)

Oathbound, my second favorite setting of 3.x, is back. Pathfinderized. And released by Epidemic Books Co.

For those, who'd like head straight for the books

Oathbound Seven (PFRPG) PDF
New core book.
There are six domain books rolled into this one.
Setting timeline has been advanced 7 years forward.
Sadly, it's PDF only for now (probably due to size), though expensive Lulu versions are available.
Still, PDF version is only $10.

Oathbound: Eclipse (PFRPG) Print Edition
New expansion covering Eclipse. Gorgeous. At least according to lucky folks already reading the book.

For those not acquaintanced with Oathbound

(all based on previous edition of the core book)

Something about the setting:

Spoiler

PCs are drafted into a prison world, millenia spanning ruin full of creatures evolving in neverending race for an honor of becoming an epic prison keeper.

The initial premise is usually that of a second chance granted to a hero (or criminal) on a different world. In exchange for being saved from certain doom, you get a new lease of life and new abilities in a new world.
The catch is that this is a monumental and ultimate, planet-wide, trap meant to train and evolve powerful creatures worthy of becoming superjailers.

While there is no escape, the players will probably need to wait until 30th level to learn the truth.

The colors are more vibrant. Every adventurer gets a real stab at greatness. And extremes abound: a city of the size of a continent (reaching toward the sky), a land hidden in perpetual gloom due to immobile moon, maneater jungles, war-torn deserts.

Characters evolve gaining new powers (incidentally, CR system may be quite difficult to use, as some power gains in previous edition did not increase your overall CR) and face deadly dangers. This setting practically teems with deadly threats - I'd say it's on the par with original Dark Sun in terms of both personal power and risky environment.

Heartily recommended.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Crothian]

Any idea what's changed from the prevous books to these? Is it just the rules or more then that?

 

[ruemere]

According to cover blurbs and discussions at Paizo forums, the setting was re-envisioned. There were changes to both political structure, positions of power and several mechanics. Oh, and Penance is apparently in throes of total war, so several locales are likely have been erased.

System-wise, I cannot really comment as I am still waiting for the print to arrive.
At worst, it could be the same freeform epic game (i.e. CR system is no longer a valid tool), at best evolution system was reinvented too, and no longer breaks underlying assumptions of d20 system.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[thundershot]

Personally, I loved the idea of Oathbound, but without a series of modules to fully support it, I just never used it.

I would love to see a PF balanced conversion of the Prestiges Races though. A PC from 3.5 had they fey one from Fairies and it was pretty cool.

 

[Banshee16]

OK, this sounds cool....$10 for an almost 500 page compilation of the Oathbound setting books? Any idea on whether they've unified the race data? One thing I found annoying is there based on customer feedback or whatever, there were like 4 different sets of stats for the different races.....the original ones, errata from the website, the ones in Greenbound, and finally a Word document of a new book that was written, but then never released. I was never sure which to use, and frankly, some of the revisions made things more confusing (to me) than the original rulebook.

I wonder what the Asherake are like now? They were always cool, though I thought their favoured class should have been fighter rather than monk.

Banshee

 

[Treebore]

Since I still have the originals I will go with the PDF for now, and if that impresses me I'll go for the $40 B/W version, which IMO is pretty cheap for a nearly 500 page book. The $140 is definitely ridiculous for me.

 

[Banshee16]

Likely $140 is simply because of low print volumes.

Still, one heck of a lot of money for a game book.

Banshee