Paizo News: PaizoCon Online Wrap Up

Pathfinder Remastered, Lost Omens: Highhelm, Starfinder Enhanced, Pathfinder Adventures, and more.

Catching up on spoilers and news about Pathfinder Remastered, Lost Omens: Highhelm, Starfinder Enhanced, Pathfinder Adventures, and more.

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If you opted to spend your PaizoCon Online 2023 playing games, don't worry, we watched the Twitch streams to make sure we were caught up on all of the spoilers and news that Paizo put out. The Keynote speech hinted at all of the things Paizo has in the works and the panels that followed expanded on and gave us spoilers for new books and adventures.

Pathfinder Remastered

First things first, the full color cover reveal. The sketches we saw of the covers will be the ones you can buy at your FLGS. Player Core and GM Core will be out in November with Monster Core and Player Core 2 out early next year.

The goals of these books are pretty straight forward: streamline the game, make it easier to enter the game by dividing GM content from player content, and get the books under the ORC license. You can still use any of your old books with no to minor tweaks.

Alignment has been removed from everything. This is partially because things like law and chaos only showed up along good and evil and partially because edicts and anathema cover those ideas in a better way. Clerics will have the option to sanctify themselves, gaining either the holy or unholy trait, and access to spells that become holy when you cast them.

There will be a new damage type: sprit. Spirit damage can be sanctified and works on incorporeal beings. Schools of magic will be removed due to the OGL.

Leshy and Orc have been added to the Ancestries and all Orc feats will be collected in this book instead of scattered everywhere. Versatile heritages makes it so you can mix and match heritages with more than half-human. Nephilim will be taking the place of Aasimar and Tiefling due to legalities with the OGL. Another versatile heritage we will see are Changelings.

Bards are getting more details about the muses and proficiency with all martial weapons. Anything dealing with Cleric's alignment got reworked, along with the warpriest getting master proficiency with the deity's favored weapon and expert in martial weapons. Druids got a tune up, including custom spell shaping abilities. They removed the open trait from Fighters as it was intuitive. Warden Spells have become core to Rangers and reworked the Crossbow Ace feat. Rogues are now trained in all martial weapons.

Witch has gotten one of the biggest reworks of the classes. The patrons are more specific and relevant. Familiars gain cool and unique abilities from the Witch's patron. As well as new feats that can turn a broom or polearm into a flying broom or have your patron use your familiar as a portal to reach out and grab your enemy's soul.

Wizards are going back to school and learning curriculums, such as The School of Battle Magic that lets you learn war-centric spells for the battlefield. This allows lots flavor and the ability to add new schools to reflect different parts of the setting. Wizards will also be getting weapon proficiencies.

Spell components are being reworked into manipulate and concentrate traits. This is to get rid of the holdover from the OGL. Some spells will be renamed, some will be replaced. Tree Shape will be replaced with One With Plants. A few spells will be compressed together: Light is now both Light and Dancing Lights. Condition removal spells will be stronger and focused around conditions as well as temporarily shutting off the condition if it doesn't counteract it completely.

The GM Core will make everything easier to find and is broken up into four sections: Running the Game, Building Adventures, Subsystems and Rules Variants, and Magic Items and Treasure. Subsystems were updated and adjusted to make them more player friendly, such as the research subsystem. More vehicles are added including a hot air balloon. The planes have had their names changed to use more Golarion terms and will include the new planes from Rage of Elelments.

Magic item activations now have a named activation to thematically tell you what it does. Talismans are easier to use and will be pulling more of their own weight. Reinforcing runes will be able to be added to shields to make them harder and more durable. Assistive items were added like corrective lenses, hearing aids, and wheelchairs.

Rage of Elements

Kineticists will continue to have their impulses. Composite Impulses will allow you to mix two elements together like a lightning rod where you throw a metal rod across the battlefield to call down a bolt of lightning. You will have to option to focus solely on one element or collect them all.

Each element will be getting its own chapter with new adventure possibilities, new spells, items, and monsters. Wood and Metal will be added to the current list of elements.

A big theme of this book is about choosing your elemental philosophy to take it beyond the four Greek elements. Every element will be getting a troop for you to do hordes of elementals, like the Avalanche Legion.

If you want genies, you’re getting genies with new lore.

How of the Wild

If you want creatures, this is the book! Lots of classic monsters are getting new variants and expansions. There will be hydras that eat starmetals to gain special abilities. Spellsong Lyrebird is a wizard’s attempt at creating a familiar that could help him cast spells, but has now become an invasive species that can cast spells independently.

There will be six new playable ancestries including Minotaur and Centaur. Minotaurs will be getting their own version of the Fastball Special. Centaurs will be able to be ridden for an interesting twist on mounted combat.

Highhelm

There are four levels to Highhelm: Kings Crown. Kings Heart, Stonebreech, and the Depths. Each level has its own character. The first adventure in the Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path will take place almost solely in Highhelm.

While you are born into a specific Dwarven clan, there is nothing keeping you from switching as you grow up. Each clan focuses on different thing professionally.

Grindlegrubs are a domesticated grub that is the Dwarven equivalent of a cow. They make great steaks. They live on waste, removing the need for the city to have a sewer system.

Tian Xia

There will be six new ancestries. Samsarans were people who drank from a mystical spring, causing them to bleed water instead of blood and reincarnate. Tanukis use their big bellies for mystical power and can shapeshift into inanimate objects. Wayangs are native from the shadow plane and utilize shadows through different feats.

Pathfinder Adventures

Harrow Deck is delayed due to a production error with the box. Sky King’s Tomb AP will be a three parter starting in Highhelm and taking you deep underground. Season of Ghosts AP will be four parts and horror themed starting in October. Rusthenge will be a standalone adventure where strange happenings have been going on in Iron Harbor and it’s up to you to find out what’s going on.

Seven Dooms for Sandpoint is Adventure Path #200, coming in March 2024! This 200 page adventure will be taking us back to Sandpoint, where we started out in AP #1 Burnt Offerings. This will be for levels 4-11 and is an adaptation of the original Paizo office campaign. It will be available in both hardcover and softcover.

Darklands

In the Sky King’s Tomb backmatter, there will be a lot of new creatures (like the Algothullu and Ulatkini), everything you ever wanted to know about cave worms, new archetypes, and new items. New items include relics and long forgotten Dwarven artifacts.

Lots of random dungeons connect to the Darklands, not just Highhelm. Because a lot of Darklands is based in OGL, ‘Return to the Darklands’ will retcon previously revealed information. This includes Drow. In their place will be the Serpentfolk, who are now the bad guys of the Darklands and are trying to take over the world.

Cavern elves are now called Ayindilar, Umbral Gnomes are Drathnelar, and Subterranian dwaves are Hryngar. Hryngar will no long be taking slaves, instead they recruit you into their pyramid schemes.

Starfinder Enhanced

This book is going to have options for days for both players and GMs. New themes such as the battle medic, rancher, vid gamer, personal trainer, and street magician. New speces including playable holograms with hardlight bodies, Skiridates who have sonic breath weapons, Novians who are the embodiments of tiny dying stars, and more. Tons of new achetypes: Armored Visionary, Autocite, Exalted Champion, Major League Coach, Counselor, Menagerie Manager, and more.

Over 90 new feats! Arcane Ripost allows you to deal spell damage even if you fail to cast a spell because of AoE. Gag Gift is a dirty trick to put a grenade on someone. Starship Officionado inspires once per Starship combat without a check.

Four Enhanced Classes: Envoy, Solarian, Technomancer, and Witchwarper. The Envoy will be less pigeonholed as a support character by allowing things like an Inspiring Combo (doing a full action and using one of your improvisations). Solarians will now be allowed to advance attunement and spend attunement points without needing all three. Technomancers gain a technomatic talent every three levels. Witchwarpers get a pool of uses of Infinite Worlds per day that don’t affect their spell slots.

All classes got four pages of new stuff, in addition to the two pages each Enhanced Class has. Evolutionist got Divine Niche, Operative has a Mysterious Benefactor, Mystics gain new Connections, Biohacker has Hypermycology, and Precog gains the Seer Anchor.

There will be rules for designing spells as well as new spells and rituals.

New creature companions including bone familiars, vividile (they eat radiation), and Liminals.

Tons of new equipment! New rules for scaling equipment and customizing it.

There will be rules for narrative starship combat which is more flavor driven. GMs will have alternate skill DCs, Free Archetype rules, Milestone leveling, and new uses for Resolve Points.
 

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Dawn Dalton

Dawn Dalton

Konrad13

Explorer
What should be noted is that Jacobs is a huge fan of Drow, and is himself upset that he can't use them anymore; they are not making the change around Drow lightly.

It appears they are afraid that, after WoTC blew up the OGL, that further usage of the Drow could get them in trouble - which makes me suspect that the drow were going to have something major (including maybe a whole AP) at some point in the future, but WoTC's actions have forced Paizo's hand.

There are many changes happening to Golarian that are happening because Paizo cannot trust WoTC not to try to screw them over anymore - a number of which they seem like they don't want to make, but the legal team is telling them "if you keep this, you MUST use the OGL" - a deal breaker when the OGL can just be destroyed whenever WoTC likes.
The OGL can't be destroyed anymore though, it is in the Creative Commons. And I know Jacobs is hurt since, yeah, they were planning on doing something with the drow but I still stand by my choice to leave and go to other systems. My group is wanting me to give a few OSR games that have drow in them still a go so I will be looking at those for now.
 

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The 5e SRD is in Creative Commons.

3rd Edition Stuff - i.e., the OGL Paizo used - is not.

That's a significantly difference.

Granted, I think it is fair to feel that without Drow related content being produced for the system and world anymore, you would prefer to explore a differnet system - it is you and your group's fun that matters after all.

I just wanted to provide extra context; this is not a change made lightly, and not a change they want. But WoTC opened up a very, very bad Pandora's Box, and the entire industry will bare the consequences (hence why I am upset that WoTC will, in the end, not be badly affected by it - because everyone else has to live with the consequences)
 

Removal of the drow has 100% killed all enthusiasm I had for not only the Remaster but Pathfinder as a whole and I am, after a decade, going to leave both 1e and 2e Pathfinder. It has been a ride but to cut one of my absolutely favorite aspects of the setting is just way too much for me. Best of luck to Paizo but I'm out.

First: Paizo isn't coming to your house and deleting the drow from the books you already own. (At least we hope not. I'm sure the Pinkertons would take that job).

But more importantly, Paizo is doing this because they feel they have no choice. Maybe that's true and maybe it isn't; I'm not a lawyer, so I can't say. But if you're angry about this decision, be angry at Wizards, not Paizo.
 
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WELL...not that anyone noticed...

WotC DID release new material that could be used for 1e, 2e, 3e, and 3.5e along with 5e.

Oh...you didn't notice?

Guess you didn't play the early modules of 5e then.

They didn't include the monster stats in the actual room and area descriptions on purpose. You could use ANY monster stats that you wished to. This meant, if you were using it as an AD&D module you could use the monster statistics from AD&D. Same in application to other versions.

On top of that, though it is not new...they are RERELEASING old material via DMsguild on a decent rate.

DMsguild 1e

In addition, if you didn't realize it, the flood gates for some material has been opened if people release stuff on DMsguild.

WotC is doing a lot to support the older editions these days, probably more than almost any other company out there is doing to support older editions of their RPG games.
Not to dunk on WotC unnecessarily here, but I think you’re objectively giving them too much credit here.

Those “early 5E modules” you mentioned? Those were ALL pre-5E products from the D&D Next period (a.k.a. the playtesting gap between 4E and 5E). These weren’t exactly strong support for old editions though. They were just edition-neutral.

Also during the D&D Next period, WotC reprinted some AD&D core books as “premium collectors editions”, but that was just to fill the holes in their publishing schedule. And that was a decade ago now; they’re long out of print now too. There was no new material whatsoever.

And as for releasing old products on DMsGuild, this isn’t really “support” for older editions either—they aren’t creating new content and they’re barely even marketing it’s availability. It’s literally just WotC letting people buy products that cost them $nil to make.

Anyway, before you lionize WotC for supporting all these editions, I just wanted to point out that they’ve done virtually nothing.
 

SteveC

Doing the best imitation of myself
Let's say you want to hear about the Remaster changes and have some time on your hands. I recommend this stream by the Knights of Last Call. I'm a big fan of their stuff, and they have a callout to The Magic Sword for producing an amazing transcript of everything.

Interesting discussion of the good and bad (and I don't agree with all of it...) but I think you'll be entertained. There are a couple of F bombs, so perhaps not workplace appropriate...
 



Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Not to dunk on WotC unnecessarily here, but I think you’re objectively giving them too much credit here.

Those “early 5E modules” you mentioned? Those were ALL pre-5E products from the D&D Next period (a.k.a. the playtesting gap between 4E and 5E). These weren’t exactly strong support for old editions though. They were just edition-neutral.

Also during the D&D Next period, WotC reprinted some AD&D core books as “premium collectors editions”, but that was just to fill the holes in their publishing schedule. And that was a decade ago now; they’re long out of print now too. There was no new material whatsoever.

And as for releasing old products on DMsGuild, this isn’t really “support” for older editions either—they aren’t creating new content and they’re barely even marketing it’s availability. It’s literally just WotC letting people buy products that cost them $nil to make.

Anyway, before you lionize WotC for supporting all these editions, I just wanted to point out that they’ve done virtually nothing.
OTOH, third parties are producing content for OD&D, BD&D, B/X, 1E, 2E and 3E and even (if you squint a bit) 4E and PF1.

It's just not Wizards of the Coast or Paizo that supports older versions.

But even pre-OGL fiasco, the OSR movement and other groups were producing tons of materials for older versions of both D&D and Pathfinder. With D&D especially, more content for each version of TSR's D&D games is produced each year than was produced by TSR in its entire existence.

Everyone needs to get over the idea that having Wizards of the Coast's or Paizo's name on a book is the only way one can run it. Very often, third party content is better balanced, better written and has better physical books with things like bound-in bookmarks, end pages used for quick look-up charts and other improvements the big two don't do.
 
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