Good evening! Or good morning, or good afternoon, depending on when you read this - you know what, that's not important. WELCOME BACK TO THE PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! Pathfinder 2E is AL. MOST. HERE. and I canNOT handle it, this is gonna be redonk you guys. Enough time wasting, let's talk about Pocket Editions and – hold on, I'm getting some chatter from pedants here, apparently, it's called the "Pathfinder Playtest". Pfft, not fooling anyone. ONWARD!
All Y'all were just wondering about Pocket Editions; well, worry no longer! We've covered it here at the Roundup before, but Paizo will continue to put out the pocket editions as long as there are sourcebooks to miniaturize. They got a solid few years left to go on that by my reckoning, given the absolutely STAGGERING amount of splatbooks available for Pathfinder.
First up to bat is the Ultimate Combat Pocket Edition! Fighters have always needed a trolley to carry all the books they needed to get juuuuust the right build, and now they'll need…well, probably a duffel, but maybe a backpack! Ultimate Combat also brought us our first look at ninjas, samurai, gunslingers, martial arts feat trees, finishing moves (FINISHING MOVES?! How have I never heard of these before?!), and Asian weapons and vehicle combat. Now all packed into a "pocket" sized version! Preorder expected to be open in July, so keep a weather eye out here for the release announcement! Or on the Paizo site, I won't be mad.
Our next batter is the Bestiary 5 Pocket Edition, bringing a welcome sigh of relief from GMs everywhere. Revel in the madness and joy of the ever-expanding ways to maim, maul, roast, and murder your PCs with a collection of creatures which, real talk, looks like they just started chucking handfuls of Scrabble tiles at silly putty. We're all here for the red panda familiars, let's be clear, and for the extra templates to throw on our favorite red dragon for when your epic-level party starts getting uppity. Just like Ultimate Combat, expect this preorder to open up in July.
ON TO SECOND EDITION! Oh, I'm sorry, the "Playtest". First and foremost: it seems that 2E is getting a special-release softcover edition of the main rulebook. Sitting pretty at $20 less than the hardcover, the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook Softcover looks to me like a) a great deal, b) a way to get ahead of space- and weight- saving, and c) a possible collector's item? Softcovers are by their nature a little more tender than hardcovers, and at a meaty 416 pages this bad boy will probably see some abuse. Don't quote me on this, but I feel like it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one of each and keep the softcover safe. That is, of course, if you think it's a smart use of your time and money to pay Paizo to playtest their product.
And what would a Playtest be without something to Play and Test? Well don't worry, that was rhetorical, because the fine folks at Paizo already have not one, not two, but SEVEN connected multi-encounter scenarios designed to put the Playtest rules through their paces. Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn pit your characters against the ravenous hordes of the planet Aucturn, unleashed by the mysterious doomsday countdown artifacts in Osirion. Your heroes will embark on a decade-long journey to repel the alien hordes and save the only world they know! Out presumably the same time the rest of the Playtest drops, in July.
Well that's it for the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! Keep rolling strong, y'all!
contributed by Ben Reece
All Y'all were just wondering about Pocket Editions; well, worry no longer! We've covered it here at the Roundup before, but Paizo will continue to put out the pocket editions as long as there are sourcebooks to miniaturize. They got a solid few years left to go on that by my reckoning, given the absolutely STAGGERING amount of splatbooks available for Pathfinder.
First up to bat is the Ultimate Combat Pocket Edition! Fighters have always needed a trolley to carry all the books they needed to get juuuuust the right build, and now they'll need…well, probably a duffel, but maybe a backpack! Ultimate Combat also brought us our first look at ninjas, samurai, gunslingers, martial arts feat trees, finishing moves (FINISHING MOVES?! How have I never heard of these before?!), and Asian weapons and vehicle combat. Now all packed into a "pocket" sized version! Preorder expected to be open in July, so keep a weather eye out here for the release announcement! Or on the Paizo site, I won't be mad.
Our next batter is the Bestiary 5 Pocket Edition, bringing a welcome sigh of relief from GMs everywhere. Revel in the madness and joy of the ever-expanding ways to maim, maul, roast, and murder your PCs with a collection of creatures which, real talk, looks like they just started chucking handfuls of Scrabble tiles at silly putty. We're all here for the red panda familiars, let's be clear, and for the extra templates to throw on our favorite red dragon for when your epic-level party starts getting uppity. Just like Ultimate Combat, expect this preorder to open up in July.
ON TO SECOND EDITION! Oh, I'm sorry, the "Playtest". First and foremost: it seems that 2E is getting a special-release softcover edition of the main rulebook. Sitting pretty at $20 less than the hardcover, the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook Softcover looks to me like a) a great deal, b) a way to get ahead of space- and weight- saving, and c) a possible collector's item? Softcovers are by their nature a little more tender than hardcovers, and at a meaty 416 pages this bad boy will probably see some abuse. Don't quote me on this, but I feel like it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one of each and keep the softcover safe. That is, of course, if you think it's a smart use of your time and money to pay Paizo to playtest their product.
And what would a Playtest be without something to Play and Test? Well don't worry, that was rhetorical, because the fine folks at Paizo already have not one, not two, but SEVEN connected multi-encounter scenarios designed to put the Playtest rules through their paces. Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn pit your characters against the ravenous hordes of the planet Aucturn, unleashed by the mysterious doomsday countdown artifacts in Osirion. Your heroes will embark on a decade-long journey to repel the alien hordes and save the only world they know! Out presumably the same time the rest of the Playtest drops, in July.
Well that's it for the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! Keep rolling strong, y'all!
contributed by Ben Reece
