Savage Pathfinder Pathfinder Adventure Paths Are Coming To Savage Worlds!

Pinnacle Entertainment Group has announced that it will be bringing Paizo's Pathfinder adventurer paths to Savage Worlds, starting with Rise of the Runelords. They will be launching a Kickstarter in January 2021.

The Kickstarter includes a core ruleset called Savage Pathfinder, and a Rise of the Runelords boxed set.

 PRESS RELEASE

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It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States. For our international friends, that’s a time when we come together as friends and family and tell everyone what we’re thankful for.

Today, Pinnacle Entertainment Group is INCREDIBLY thankful to our good friends at Paizo for letting us play in their amazing world of Golarion, setting of the phenomenally successful Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!

Following the incredible reception we had with Kevin Siembieda’s phenomenal world of Rifts®, we’re bringing Pathfinder’s fantastic Adventure Paths to the Savage Worlds™ system, starting with the best-selling Rise of the Runelords™!

The Kickstarter begins mid-January, 2021, and will feature the Savage Pathfinder core rules, a boxed set with all the usual Savage Worlds accessories, AND the Rise of the Runelords boxed set with all six books of the Adventure Path and other deluxe accessories!

 

[Reynard]

If nothing else, Savage Worlds fits the Pathfinder art direction better than 3.5 or PF ever did...

 

[Vinicius_Zoio]

I am so pumped for this. I just started reading through the 5e version of Sunless Citadel and am adapting it for Savage Worlds. I actually love the system. It’s definitely more cinematic than D&D.

I have a couple players willing to give me two sessions to try it out. Hopefully they like it because if not, it’s back to 5e we go.

I ran "Sunless Citadel" using Savage Worlds (and porting it to Heroes of Might & Magic' setting), and we all had a blast!

It was a fun experiment, and one I definitely will repeat in the future! ^^

 

[Vinicius_Zoio]

1) Because it's a license and Pinnacle may not have asked.

2) Paizo's biggest issue at the moment is to get people to move from Pathfinder 1E to Pathfinder 2E. Creating an easy on-ramp for them to switch to D&D 5E instead isn't really the best business decision they could make. If they do end up going all-in on conversions to 5E D&D, I would take that as a sign that they're throwing in the towel, effectively, on having their own system and just going back to being the best D&D adventure writers around.

I'm reading a bit of "Path 2e is not going well!" here on this thread...

Has this really been an issue? I was under the impression that Pathfinder performing as well as it has always been, is that not the case? I've never really invested in Path, so I would not know.

 

[Vinicius_Zoio]

The core SWADE mechanics handle bathing in dragon's breath just fine, without any changes. Not exactly the same as a d20 game, but it does.

(For those not familiar with SW, every 4 points over a character's Toughness inflicts one Wound. The character, if not a "mook" Extra, can take 3 Wounds before becoming Incapacitated on a fourth. Each Wound give the character a -1 on any of his rolls.

Damage dice can "explode", meaning if the max value is rolled on any die - a 6 on a d6, for example - then you roll it again and add to the total. Dice can explode multiple times.)

A dragon in SW does 3d6 damage with its breath weapon in a cone area. Average damage will be 11 points without an Acing (exploding) die.

Let's take a middling example character, Bob, with d8 Vigor and chain mail, giving them Toughness 9.

Bob is "essentially unscathed" by dragonfire in the following situations:

• Initial activation of the breath weapon (d10 and Wild Die vs Target of 4) has a small chance of missing targets altogether
• Success on an Evasion roll, which all characters get unless surprised. A character with the Improved Dodge Edge has a +2 on this roll.
• Any damage less than Bob's Toughness
• Damage from 9 to 12, Bob is only Shaken
• Damage 13 to 16, Bob takes a single Wound. Bob spends a Benny and succeeds on a Soak roll (odds are good), removing it.
• Damage dice exploded and rolled 16 or higher, inflicting two or more Wounds. If Bob can't Soak all of these (likely), he's now got a problem. Luckily, the spellcaster can cast Heal. He does so, touching Bob and removing all his Wounds.
• The party's spellcaster knew they were facing a dragon, and cast Environmental Protection on everyone, which prevents 4 Wounds from fire. Now the dragon's 3d6 would have to explode for at least 29 points of damage to inflict a single Wound. (37 points if the spellcaster got a Raise.)
• Bob has a Wound or two and drinks a Healing potion* to get rid of them.
• The spellcaster is out of points, but he does have the Healing Skill and Healer Edge. If Bob has a couple of Wounds, the caster can still patch him up after combat, with a good chance of him fully recovering.

*Okay, a Healing Potion isn't covered in the Core SW, unless you're an Artificer, but they'll definitely be part of a fantasy setting, as they already exist in the current Fantasy Companion.

Now, if Bob and/or the party are low on resources (Bennies, power points, potions, still have Wounds), then he'll fight more cautiously, or even consider retreat. Probably not much different than a PF character with low HP knows a failed (or even successful) Save against the breath weapon will probably kill him.

I'm not saying gameplay of the AP in each system will be the same; it definitely will not be. But you can see that there's also some similarities. Even in just the above examples, there's a lot of the same fantasy game tropes (evasion, protection from elements, healing, etc.) I think SW can handle a Pathfinder fantasy AP just fine without trying to be PF mechanically, and still maintain the flavor of the setting and adventure.

I mean, the PEG team adapted frikkin' Rifts to great success, so I think they can handle something slightly less gonzo like Pathfinder.

I couldn't have demonstrated it better myself!

People often overlook the role Bennies play in Savage Worlds math.

And your example is just using the default core rules. That can be further adjusted with Setting Rules that could greatly steer the system in the right "spot" of flavor for Golarion!

 

[Retreater]

I'm reading a bit of "Path 2e is not going well!" here on this thread...

Has this really been an issue? I was under the impression that Pathfinder performing as well as it has always been, is that not the case? I've never really invested in Path, so I would not know.

Of course we don't have insider information, but trying to infer from clues, no - it doesn't seem to be going well. VTT games of 2e are a fraction of what 1e has. 3PPs say that PF 1e products are vastly outselling 2e products - some are not even producing for that line. There doesn't seem to be a high adoption rate amongst their fanbase.

 

[TheCultMachine]

I ran "Sunless Citadel" using Savage Worlds (and porting it to Heroes of Might & Magic' setting), and we all had a blast!

It was a fun experiment, and one I definitely will repeat in the future! ^^

Good to hear that! I hope I run it well enough for my crew. I am super excited to give it a go.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

As a fan of Pathfinder and Savage Worlds this feels like a peanut butter and chocolate moment.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Of course we don't have insider information, but trying to infer from clues, no - it doesn't seem to be going well. VTT games of 2e are a fraction of what 1e has. 3PPs say that PF 1e products are vastly outselling 2e products - some are not even producing for that line. There doesn't seem to be a high adoption rate amongst their fanbase.

I'd be interested in sources on this. I mean....it could make sense (I feel PF2E worked well to bring back lapsed players like myself, but I don't know if it convinced players who never got tired of 1E to switch).

 

[Obvious_Ninja]

My curiosity is piqued as I love the APs but dislike Pathfinder. Who has played Savage Worlds? What’s it like?

It's pretty good, I have to say. It's a fairly simple system. Combat is fast and deadly! I am REALLY looking forward to this!

 

[Haffrung]

Of course we don't have insider information, but trying to infer from clues, no - it doesn't seem to be going well. VTT games of 2e are a fraction of what 1e has. 3PPs say that PF 1e products are vastly outselling 2e products - some are not even producing for that line. There doesn't seem to be a high adoption rate amongst their fanbase.

I’m not sure it’s a matter of PF1 to PF2 adoption so much as Pathfinder just relentlessly declining in popularity since 5E came out. Activity on Paizo’s forums is way down, adventure paths get far fewer reviews than they did 6 years ago, very little fan content is being released on Youtube, etc.

This isn’t new with the release of PF2. Look at the number of reviews and comments for War for the Crown vs Jade Regent. Any RPG relies on a strong influx of new players to counteract the relentless attrition in the hobby, and Pathfinder hasn’t been winning that battle for years.