Welcome back folks, it’s time for the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP, your one-stop spot for all the new and interesting material coming from your favorite ever-giving golem. In this go-round, we’ll pick up some new toys that got left out of the earlier look at Ultimate Wilderness, and also introduce a brand new Player Companion. Let’s get started!
When we last left Ultimate Wilderness, we had waxed at length about the new classes, archetypes, and races made available to players. Well, stuff that! I’m a GM at heart, and I want to learn all sorts of new ways to challenge, frustrate, and kill my players. I never said I was a nice GM.
Thankfully, it seems part of Ultimate Wilderness was made with us beleaguered GMs in mind. I’m particularly happy with the section entitled "Hazards and Disasters," although "happy" doesn’t sound quite as good as "giddy glee." Everything from bramble thickets to volcanic eruptions are covered here, and I’m going to have to return to that section on vampire orchids.
View attachment 91808
More than just hazards, however, Ultimate Wilderness has more ways for you to make your characters guess and worry about resources. Inclement weather is a perpetual bugbear to those making their living out in the wilderness (although it rarely precipitates bugbears - someone find a wizard and fix that). This book has section dedicated to providing a more robust system for modelling the weather while they wander, and what that means for the players. Mostly Bad Things, as I understand it.
Speaking of Mostly Bad Things for players, let’s not forget my favorite part: traps! Spruce up your boring old pit traps and snares with some of the devilish new devices found in Ultimate Wilderness. I never get tired of telling new GMs to add more traps to their campaigns (and then never doing it myself, of course), but now I’ll finally get my chance to add the double-log-swing trap from Endor into one of my games. If I have to give my players a robot walker first to do it, by gum I will.
That’s not to say that everything out in the wilderness is always trying to get your players. For the vast majority of the time, they’ll just be wandering around in search of their next hidden crypt or forgotten dungeon to explore. Ultimate Wilderness provides an approachable and usable system for mapping the wilds and new discoveries that doesn’t turn overland journeys into a travel-by-map montage.
Last but certainly not least, Ultimate Wilderness also provides answers to those same questions that always seem to come up about foraging. “Can I look for herbs to make a healing potion?” Yes, you can! “Can I cut off its tusks to make a scary trophy necklace?” Of course! Here’s how. “Can I take its poison glands to use on other things?” Sure, what’s your alignment again? “Wait, you’re actually going to make me find and use spell components?” Time to get some muck under your fingernails, wizard!
And hey, speaking of potions and poisons, would you take a gander at the newest upcoming Player Companion: Potions & Poisons! It’s got all sorts of neat new toys for players, ugh. First and foremost are feats and archetypes for characters of a slightly more venomous or toxic persuasion. Gripplis, nagajis, and vishkanyas can grab the swamp poisoner, venomblade, and disciple of the forked tongue archetype respectively.
Potions & Poisons has archetypes to spare. The new scorpion bloodline makes its debut for sorcerers who don’t like to get invited to wine tastings. Alchemists, rogues, witches, and investigators all get new options for archetypes, and also get expanded abilities in the form of their discoveries, talents, hexes, and tricks. All poison-focused, of course.
Even better, in my opinion, is the expanded list of spells that are made viable for use as potions or oils. Beyond that, Potions & Poisons will introduce 10 new poisons and 12 new drugs, for when your character REALLY doesn’t want to remember last night. There’s also some new items for use against poisons, in case all this attention is getting you nervous about your upcoming expedition into a forgotten city of snake people.
Well, that about covers it for this edition of the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! Keep an eye here for more updates on the ever-moving ambitions from our friendly neighborhood Golem. Meanwhile, I have some volcanoes to put on my maps…
contributed by Ben Reece
When we last left Ultimate Wilderness, we had waxed at length about the new classes, archetypes, and races made available to players. Well, stuff that! I’m a GM at heart, and I want to learn all sorts of new ways to challenge, frustrate, and kill my players. I never said I was a nice GM.
Thankfully, it seems part of Ultimate Wilderness was made with us beleaguered GMs in mind. I’m particularly happy with the section entitled "Hazards and Disasters," although "happy" doesn’t sound quite as good as "giddy glee." Everything from bramble thickets to volcanic eruptions are covered here, and I’m going to have to return to that section on vampire orchids.
View attachment 91808
More than just hazards, however, Ultimate Wilderness has more ways for you to make your characters guess and worry about resources. Inclement weather is a perpetual bugbear to those making their living out in the wilderness (although it rarely precipitates bugbears - someone find a wizard and fix that). This book has section dedicated to providing a more robust system for modelling the weather while they wander, and what that means for the players. Mostly Bad Things, as I understand it.
Speaking of Mostly Bad Things for players, let’s not forget my favorite part: traps! Spruce up your boring old pit traps and snares with some of the devilish new devices found in Ultimate Wilderness. I never get tired of telling new GMs to add more traps to their campaigns (and then never doing it myself, of course), but now I’ll finally get my chance to add the double-log-swing trap from Endor into one of my games. If I have to give my players a robot walker first to do it, by gum I will.
That’s not to say that everything out in the wilderness is always trying to get your players. For the vast majority of the time, they’ll just be wandering around in search of their next hidden crypt or forgotten dungeon to explore. Ultimate Wilderness provides an approachable and usable system for mapping the wilds and new discoveries that doesn’t turn overland journeys into a travel-by-map montage.
Last but certainly not least, Ultimate Wilderness also provides answers to those same questions that always seem to come up about foraging. “Can I look for herbs to make a healing potion?” Yes, you can! “Can I cut off its tusks to make a scary trophy necklace?” Of course! Here’s how. “Can I take its poison glands to use on other things?” Sure, what’s your alignment again? “Wait, you’re actually going to make me find and use spell components?” Time to get some muck under your fingernails, wizard!
And hey, speaking of potions and poisons, would you take a gander at the newest upcoming Player Companion: Potions & Poisons! It’s got all sorts of neat new toys for players, ugh. First and foremost are feats and archetypes for characters of a slightly more venomous or toxic persuasion. Gripplis, nagajis, and vishkanyas can grab the swamp poisoner, venomblade, and disciple of the forked tongue archetype respectively.
Potions & Poisons has archetypes to spare. The new scorpion bloodline makes its debut for sorcerers who don’t like to get invited to wine tastings. Alchemists, rogues, witches, and investigators all get new options for archetypes, and also get expanded abilities in the form of their discoveries, talents, hexes, and tricks. All poison-focused, of course.
Even better, in my opinion, is the expanded list of spells that are made viable for use as potions or oils. Beyond that, Potions & Poisons will introduce 10 new poisons and 12 new drugs, for when your character REALLY doesn’t want to remember last night. There’s also some new items for use against poisons, in case all this attention is getting you nervous about your upcoming expedition into a forgotten city of snake people.
Well, that about covers it for this edition of the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! Keep an eye here for more updates on the ever-moving ambitions from our friendly neighborhood Golem. Meanwhile, I have some volcanoes to put on my maps…
contributed by Ben Reece
