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Starfinder

2020-02-06T02:03:19Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Differences from Pathfinder */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook Armory Alien Archive Alien Archive 2 Pact Worlds
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and Starfinder Adventure Paths, much like Pathfinder has, as well as Organized Play in the form of the Starfinder Society.
* * It is possible to convert stuff from Pathfinder to Starfinder with some tweaks, such as monsters and PCs. So it's possible to bring your Pathfinder character's to the Starfinder universe if you have a good explanation of why.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it (all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoseeker that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, makes breadth of usefulness much more tolerable than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft. Also helping is that each class has a tolerable number skills than the old edition (read: NO MORE 2+INT SKILL RANKS).
* No full casters: the technomancer, the mystic and the Witch Warper only get up to sixth level spells. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells having versions cast from higher level slots with boosted effects. For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects and resurrecting the recently deceased. This works backwards from the 5e implementation however, with knowing a high level version of the spell allowing the lower level versions to be used rather than being able to prepare low level spells in higher slots.
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls for those weapons you're natively proficient in.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and bootleg lightsabers(basically Touch AC). Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors! Armory gives you a means to build these new gears as upgrades to prior models, but that won't stop certain dead levels from existing and you still need cash for supplies.
** Magic Items, while still given in the form of special properties, no longer depend on a certain enhancement on the weapon and instead just fit in if the magic property's level is less than or equal to the item's level.
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)|Rogue Trader]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core Classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]] (and nearly identical to the 5e [[Bard]]). They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
**''Experimental Prototype:'' A subclass already split between weapons and armor, allowing you an extra proficiency and letting you slap on more improvements than normally possible.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought. As if that wasn't enough, you have the equivalent of a Sorcerer's Bloodline Mutations, letting you swap out Connection powers for special Epiphanies as of the ''COM''.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Crusader'' (From ''COH'') is your equivalent to a paladin, getting proficiency with advanced melee weapons, protecting allies, and smiting.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a [[Bloodrager|Barbarian Mage]]! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Flamewalker'' (from Book 6 of the Dawn of Flame AP) is essentially the pyromancer path.
**''Geneturge'' (from ''Armory'') adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Melophile'' (from ''COM'') themes itself around the song of space itself, like a romanticized [[Astropath]] who still has their eyes.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Shadow'' (from Book 3 of the Signal of Screams AP) lets you channel the darkness like an edgelord.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Warmonger'' (from ''COM'') is essentially a War Domain cleric. While you'll never be a full martial, this helps you close the gap with temporary BAB boosts, armor improvements
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer''(from Armory) makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** ''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
** ''Solar Flare'' lets you shoot not-fire/iceballs. Fortunately, these can also be improved by Solarian crystals.
** ''Solar Shield'' generates a light-based Shield in case you wanted to experience them without actually buying a shield. Weirdo. At least Solarian crystals can improve your shield bashes.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't or "feat boosts" to get the most out of all those extra feats. With the ''COM'', you can also add Monk into the mix, as you can trade in your heavy weapons/armor proficiencies for better punches...that still can't improve in damage.
**''Ambusher'' (from ''COM'') Lets you sneak around and strike at the perfect opportunity.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Battlemaster'' (from ''COM'') is a Vesk-exclusive style, focusing on their instinctive aggression and letting them adapt to their opposition.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Fourfold Tactician'' (from ''COM'') makes use of any additional arms by letting them pull all guns and open fire at the speed normal folk would fire one gun.
**''Gloom Gunner'' (From Book 3 of the Signal of Screams AP) allows you to incorporate the power of darkness in your weapons.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Hunter'' (from ''COM'') is a tracking style akin to how the Ranger works.
**''Qi Adept'' (from ''COM'') acts as the mystic side of the Monk, letting you spend resolve for personal boosts.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' (from ''Armory'') [[Noise Marine| emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.]]
**''Squad'' (from ''COM'') is a leadership-oriented style, built for assisting allies.
**''Wrathful Warrior'' (from ''COM'') is the all-out offense style, a fit for techno-[[Barbarian]]s.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

===Character Operations Manual===
Indeed, whilst still mulling over their PF2E playtests, Paizo released a playtest for three new classes on December 2018 for their upcoming ''Character Operations Manual''. These three would see release almost a year later on November 2019.

*'''Biohacker''': A mad doctor who can uniquely key off either Intelligence or Wisdom for certain skills and Will saves. They specialize in needler weaponry and can even create their own injections to either improve allies or cripple enemies based on particular fields of study. And this is before the talents which give you either more ways to deliver syringes or improvements to the injections themselves (some of which are kinda metamagic).
**''Genetics'' either strips resistances, grants heightened hearing or delivers gene therapy to heal handicaps
**''Immunology'' works with the hastening or hampering of the immune system and it's ways of dealing with diseases
**''Neurochemistry'' has you influence a creature's synapses and how they respond to stimuli
**''Pharmacology'' gives you drugs, namely painkillers, coagulants, and hallucinogens.
**''Toxicology'' is the study of poison.
*'''Vanguard''': A big tanky mofo with a special attack that scales like a poor man's monk and hits EAC. They get a pool of Entropic Energy whenever they get hit and can use it to be even tankier. Your subclass abilities all offer an improved maneuver feat and some new way to gain and use Entropy.
**''Boundary'': Grant allies some of your tank powers.
**''Cascade'': Your dedication is on making your hits be gradually more devastating by...blinding flashes and a crippling penalty to entropic strike.
**''Exergy'': You are the bull in the china shop, running in to trample things under your feet.
**''Inversion'': You can reverse the flow of entropy, granting healing and re-rolling saves.
**''Momentum'': Everything that moves must keep moving, Newton be damned.
**''Reaction'': You are built on inflicting conditions, with a capstone of building a power.
*'''Witchwarper''': At last, the Charisma-based caster...who is literally Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite and has the power to twist reality around and influence it based on their visions of alternate timelines.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have an odd relationship with the concept of Gender; Androids can and often do have male- or female-style bodies(since the vast majority of them are based off Humans), but a large percentage of Androids just don't ''care'' about that since they don't follow the male/female biological functions(Androids reproduce by effectively dying and letting a new soul come inhabit their body). Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three sexes. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk. Their casters get a shrink spell that at the highest levels works like the keychain tank in Ant-Man.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can. All of the CRB races, including the Legacy races, would be entreated to Alternate Racial Traits not unlike the ones pervasive in PF1E.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''[[Barathu]]''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively horse-sized dragons on two legs and opposable thumbs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" and anal probing jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Alien Archive 2===
*'''Bolidas''': Hardy subterranean pillbugs. The fact that they can turn into balls gives them a defensive and an offensive feature when they roll into people.
*'''Damais''': Subterranean albino humans. Awfully flimsy, but useful in groups.
*'''Embri''': Bizarre creatures who have to wear masks in order to resist all sorts of mental magics.
*'''Ghorans''': Plants that look like people. While they're photosynthetic and have multiple skills to focus on, they're also very prone to getting eaten.
*'''[[Hobgoblin]]s''': You're taller than a goblin with a couple extra skill boosts to offset the mere +2 Con stat boost.
*'''Kanabo [[Oni]]''': For some reason a different type than the Tieflings, these are lanky goblin-like oni who are good with armor like the Vesk.
*'''Orcs''': After about a year of staggered content, there are finally stats for full orcs. While rather similar to their half-orc bretheren, these guys also have the ability to focus on a certain skill so they're extra good at it. They've also become slaves to the drow.
*'''Osharus''': Slugfolk. Mmyep. Slugfolk who consider science and religion one and the same and leave slime trails. They also have the common slug's crippling weakness to salt.
*'''Pahtras''': [[Catfolk]]. You are now the furries.
*'''Phentomites''': Lanky [[Tau]]-like creatures from a planet with very low atmosphere.
*'''Planar Scions''': [[Aasimar]]s and [[Tiefling]]s, grouped under a common race. One has the power to turn up the lights, the other can turn down the lights.
**Later [[Adventure Path]]s would see other Planar Scions enter the fold, with [[Suli]], [[Ifrit]]s, and [[Sylph]]s as actual subraces while [[Fetchling]]s would be renamed as ''Kayals''.
*'''Quorlus''': A strange race of three-armed magma-based snail-like creatures.
*'''Trox''': Big beefy beetle-men with very thick shells. They can also go into a mini-barbarian rage if a friend gets hurt
*'''Uplifted [[Bear Lore|Bears]]''': You're a goddamn bipedal bear. Cue the incessant Sir Bearington memes.
*'''Vlakas''': Arctic Wolf-folk. They can gift resolve to an ally and a significant enough portion of their population is either born deaf or blind - both of which don't inflict their penalties to these wolves.

===Alien Archive 3===
*'''Brenneris''': Space Otters. Yeah, the races run some weird gamut. The big thing here is that these otters are able to heal while recovering resolve via snuggling with a prized possession.
*'''Cephalumes''': Deep-sea bioluminescent squid-like creatures whom are bound to symbiotes.
*'''Dessemars''': Lanky butterfly-men. Unlike the Barathus, you can opt to either use the larva-like Instars (Complete with dust coating and bad eyesight) or the mature Imagos (With wings and easily-broken limbs)
*'''Dirindis''': A weird cross between man and electric eel, with the added benefit or being a race of polyglots.
*'''Dromadas''': A real freaky thing of an alien, camel-like but in the wrong ways. Seemingly a delicacy and thus developed the ability to sense traps and ambushes.
*'''Esperaskas''': A race of bipedal birdmen.
*'''Hanakans''': Bipedal shamanic dinosaur men? What is this, [[Lizardmen|Lustria]]? Also, have soulstones like [[Eldar]].
*'''Hortuses''': A race of sentient poisonous mushrooms. In the shape of men.
*'''Ijtikri''': Thought one race of squidmen was enough? WRONG! These ones are more like normal squids, come with harder hides and special spell-like abilities.
*'''Izalguuns''': A race of six-limbed creatures whose middle appendages can act as either arms or legs. This does actually come into play, as this affects speed and reach.
*'''Morlamaws''': Amphibious space walruses.
*'''Raxilites''': Essentially sci-fi [[Leshy]]s, these guys are hosts to a network of mechadendrites that can do their bidding.
*'''Sazarons''': Centaur-like telepaths that are dedicate to the complete truth. They act almost like the Andalites from the Animorphs series.
*'''Shakaltas''': Award-winners for "the most complicated race ever". See, you're building two entire characters, each only able to reach level 10 as each level-up must be allocated between the two of them. They're also telepathic star-people, so there's that.
*'''Shatoris''': While not quite Revenants, they are still pretty magical and pretty spooky for a race of aliens with clear skins and glowing skeletons. Crystal Skulls, anyone?
*'''Shimreens''': Technically a repost from the Dead Suns AP. A race of crystal-folk who can absorb some extra elemental damage in order to fling it back at the enemy with their arm-spikes.
*'''Spathinaes''': A race of microscopic insects capable of forming into people-like shapes. Not quite nanomachines, but this is pretty damn close.
*'''Telia''': Pretty much [[Tortle]]s. You have a big shell to hide into, and you have a re-roll for one intelligence skill per day.
*'''Varculaks''': Another race of revenants, this one less concerned with remaining how they once were. Instead, they're festooned with special powers.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird starfish-like gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[In Spaaace|IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF who somehow moved to Verces sometime before the Gap. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago. A large number of S.R.O.s come from here as well. Laid out in grids.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone, a giant pole that's pretty much the [[Astronomican]] without the constant need to sacrifice psychics for fuel.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Ysoki, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans. Used to make spaceships before they were obsoleted by Drift travel, making the whole planet Space Detroit.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days. Has many diplomats and embassies, which is why the Shirren first settled there.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': A very long time ago (before PF even), twin planets sharing the same orbit were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet (like the Sarceseans) was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm (possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate. Gives folks who stay there horrifically vivid, prophetic dreams.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its many moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world, possibly once a spaceship, currently ruled by the Drow, who have built cities on the surface and continually try to plumb the depths of the world for the treasures of the planet within.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living, toxic, organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. One that is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of [[Horned Rat|Thieves, Spies, and Assassins]]. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job. Going like always; she's the oldest God there is and this isn't her first planetary rodeo.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil. Marginally less pleasant than the grumpy-but-loving old codger.

'''Triune''': [[True Neutral]], probably. A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over on Golarion: Brigh, the young, hip new Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity (and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging. They still retain their individual personalities and portfolios, and Casandalee's actually varies a bit depending on the events of her Adventure Path.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms. Still kickin' baby. Shows those other evil gods for not having ''some'' positive aspects to 'em.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before, since it's what gets at least ''one'' designer's dick rock-hard/pussy soaking wet and he has some connection to the horrors of deep space, 'cept his sister Shelyn's missing in action... which means the biggest restraint on his insanity is lost.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. Speaking of which, if the Races section hadn't clued you in, it's a lot looser on what can be allowed as a player character than most RPGs including Pathfinder. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items. Also includes rules for summoning outsiders via particular templates.
** '''Alien Archive 2''' saw a release on October 2018. More races, some of them nostalgic, some of them not, and a few of them being PCs. It also re-introduced Polymorphing. '''Alien Archive 3''' followed in August 2019, granting a template-based means to introduce animal companions via feats rather than using a class like the [[Ranger]].
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into some of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, elemental weapons that can be used by low-level characters, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.
* November 2019 was the release of the '''Character Operations Manual''', an equivalent of the Advanced Player's Guide that not only introduced three new classes (Biohacker, Vanguard, and Witchwarper) as well as actually providing stats for physical shields (which offer a passive AC bonus with a higher one only usable when you use a move action to focus the shield on one enemy), but they also provided alternate racial features for all core races as well as class features that replace parts of your class instead of just being talents.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten [[Adventure Path]]s for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Navasi, Human Envoy and Quig, Ysoki Mechanic
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Isekai

2020-01-07T05:04:44Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Exmples of Isekai Light Novels and Anime */

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{{topquote|1=Hey guys, today I wanted to talk about the newest, hottest anime to come out this season. All right, get this: It's about a completely normal shut-in Otaku with a very specific skill set that makes him useless in the real world, who is suddenly transported to a fantasy world kinda similar to any JRPG you've ever seen where he suddenly becomes the hottest shit, and he has two jobs: Messing up any poor soul who looks at him the wrong way and getting some 2D bitches. Wait, doesn't this sound oddly familiar?|2=Gigguk, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFR2nvw19h4 "Isekai: The Genre that Took Over Anime"]}}
[[File:Isekei WHF.png|500px|thumb|right|Not all worlds are ones where you would want to end up]]
[[File:WHF isekai alt.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Or not]]

Proof that Japan has no publishing standards or quality control. '''Isekai''' is a Japanese word assimilated into the /tg/ lexicon from the [[weeaboo]] faggots at /a/ and /jp/. Literally meaning "another world" or "parallel world", it refers to a genre in which the main characters are from "our" world and taken to a foreign world resembling [[RPG|some form of fantasy game]], where they proceed to become [[adventurers]]. Usually, plot reasons prevent them from heading home until something is taken care of—typically whatever big bad evil guy is threatening everything—but sometimes they're stuck there forever and have to adapt as best they can. Methods of transportation are vast and varied, including but not limited to: stumbling into a portal, activating a magical McGuffin, getting run over by [[Meme|Truck-kun]] and reincarnated (''Tensei'' in weeb, a genre isekai ate), being summoned by the denizens of the world, or the ever-popular getting your brain downloaded into your favorite [[MMORPG]].

The term (and to a lesser extent the genre) have been kicking around the weeaboosphere for a while, but around 2015 publishers started flooding the market with insufferably awful series (with insufferably long titles) that sell both in Japan and internationally like hotcakes, no matter how bland and generic they get. This once again proves that no matter which side of the planet you're on, otaku are autistic retards with no taste. As of 2018 this seems to be tapering off: Kadokawa has banned isekai stories from their light novel competitions, fewer and fewer isekai light novels get adapted into anime each season, and parodies are becoming more and more common, making it only a matter of time before the genre hits [[Zombie|"even the parodies are stale" levels of played out.]]

== Isekai and /tg/ ==
Although most isekai stories get panned on /tg/ for [[TVTropes|annoying meta-humor]], [[Double Cross|generic shonen bullshit]], [[Maid RPG|generic fanservice bullshit]], or [[Extra Heresy|a combination thereof]] (if not the characters being blatantly Mary Sues, or presenting something even more absurd), a handful of series are decent enough to merit genuine approval. Or they're tolerated because they have [[monstergirls]]. Check our [[Approved anime|anime]] and [[manga]] pages for the current scoop.

While isekai is a distinctly Japanese form of [[Skub|cancer]], the basic idea of people from our world getting chucked into a fantastic world and forced to fend for themselves is practically universal and turns up moderately often in Western fantasy with the earliest example perhaps being ''"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"'' by Mark Twain which was published in 1889. Oddly, when this happens it tends to be rather less shit perhaps due to it being less common. L. Frank Baum's ''Oz'' series, ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' by Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Barsoom'' (a.k.a., John Carter of Mars) novels are iconic examples of the core premise that predate cliche fantasy, and C.S. Lewis ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' uses the plot for Christian allegory. ''The NeverEnding Story'' is the flagship modern western example, and right in the heart of the fantasy cliche storm, yet it is the purest anti-shit, either despite or because of this. Or at least, it avoids being the self-indulgent wish-fulfillment for irredeemably unlikable losers that makes Isekai so widely hated. One could make the case that ''The Matrix'' is an isekai story (it basically reverses a couple of the key tropes), though classifying it as "less shit" may not be accurate for some people. Tangential to these are stories about modern militaries (or, in one odd series of novels, part of the US East Coast) being sent back in time—although it's possible that a movie from '79 called G.I. Samurai, where a JSDF unit accidentally travels back in time and fights their own Samurai ancestors, is secretly the true forgotten granddaddy of the isekai genre, or at least dreck like GATE.

Isekai also has its influence on [[Old School Roleplaying]]; as stated above, there are plenty of pulp fantasy novels involving ordinary souls getting sucked into a strange, alien world and becoming heroic [[adventurer]]s as a result. A /tg/ example that (in hindsight anyway) fits the isekai mold well is [[GURPS]]' flagship fantasy setting, which revolves around people from across the universe getting isekai'd to the planet of Yrth by an extradimensional "Banestorm" and proposes that players could [[Stat me|stat themselves]] and then play as themselves on Yrth after getting deposited there by the Banestorm. Hell, [[Greyhawk]] has several deities who actually originated on other worlds - [[Murlynd]], [[Saint Cuthbert]] and [[Mayaheine‎‎]] have all been implied to have come to Oerth from "real" Earth - whilst the [[Forgotten Realms]] was, once upon a time, hinted as being connected to Earth by various portals to different times and places; the not!Egyptian race was actually supposed to be peopled by real ancient Egyptians who had been summoned to the Realms en-masse by evil sorcerers as slave labor, only to break free of them. Then there's the [[D%26D_Cartoon|D&D Cartoon]], whose plot ''was'' D&D by way of Isekai. That being said, unless your DM was being really lazy, if you tried to talk in-universe about stats or levels or other meta game content like they do in Isekai stories, NPCs would and should treat you like a madman.

==Reverse Isekai==
[[File:Ork isekai.jpg|400px|thumb|left|A more /tg/-related example of reverse isekai]]
Occasionally, reverse isekai plots, where supernatural elements from other dimensions have invaded the "real" world, have appeared in /tg/. [[D20 Modern]]'s default for supernatural entities is that they a dropped onto Earth from another plane, "The Shadow", and can't go home (though their corpses vanish upon death). The [[Adventure Path]] ''Reign of Winter'' has a trip to World War I era Russia where the party fights Mosin-Nagants and machine gun wielding Russian soldiers, tear gas elementals and actual Grigori Rasputin.

One odd feature in Japanese Reverse-Isekais is an emphasis on how Japanese food is so much more awesome than whatever bland, flavorless food the peasants of the fantasy world have to eat(to be fair, modern food in general, if made well, would indeed be better than most medieval fare, especially the stuff serfs ate). In fact, there actually is more than one anime about people from a fantasy world visiting a restaurant in modern Japan. Which in fairness: the modern world wide food distribution networks that can ship sun ripened lemons and meat to any point in the world within 24 hours is likely going to compare favorable to all but the highest fantasy fare. Even so, even the lowliest peasant would put ''some'' effort in using what they had to make food taste good; even if they couldn't afford spices, herbs were still easy enough to get a hold of, and rural cooks knew enough about how to prepare meats to make them taste good. Whereas fantasy peasants may as well be eating dry, stringy meat with a side of boiled, unseasoned vegetables and mud for dessert.

==Why do people hate it so much?==
As noted above, stories of people entering other worlds are nothing new, and speaks to a common desire to experience strange and exotic lands. Yet Isekai stories still get a lot of flak for many reasons. Besides there being way too many anime/manga that are all basically the same story with slightly different premises, it boils down to a number of common gripes:

* The biggest one is that rather than trying to tell a compelling and interesting story, too many Isekai stories are just the basest wish fulfillment fantasies for the lonely basement-dwelling neckbeard. Most of the other complaints are derived from this one.

===Gripes about the worlds===
* The hallmark of isekai stories is defining of the world in terms of RPG mechanics. People in isekai worlds speak of levels, classes, and experience as real and tangible things as opposed to the mechanical abstractions fa/tg/uys normally recognize them as. Outside of Isekai stories that actually take place inside of RPGs or videogame RPGs, this is pretty much inexcusable.
* The worlds traveled to are generally bland and unoriginal: usually, it's just the JRPG version of the [[standard fantasy setting]], and the oversaturation of the Standard Fantasy Setting cannot be overstated.
* In addition to the two above, a frequent gripe about Isekai is that the worlds frequently have a problem with what's known as a "Second Order Idiot Plot". An Idiot Plot is, of course, a plot that only happens because everyone involved is an idiot (and it can be done well; see, for example, ''Burn After Reading''); but a Second Order Idiot Plot is a plot that only happens because ''everybody in the world'' is an idiot--frequently, either some obvious solution is overlooked for dumb reasons, some obvious phenomena is ignored, or some baldly obvious lie is widely accepted.
* Since some Isekai protagonists are so powerful, no one in the new world is capable of opposing them; that includes the cliche "great demon king" who had terrorized the world for centuries only to get one-shotted by the MC in one chapter, thus erasing any conflict and tension and making the story even duller. Other type of villains like high-status types (king, nobles) or anyone in the world whom had grudge or a bone to pick with the protagonist may be introduced, but due to how the human civilization of the other world [[Medieval Stasis|are incapable of advancing their technology]] in most isekai, these villains are arrogant, ignorant and often underestimate the MC and their otherworldly knowledge (see the Emperor from GATE). Therefore they get their asses handed to them by the MC and their modern Japanese knowledge + JRPG cheat stats when they tried to sabotage or kill the MC's party and fail again and again. In short, Isekai lacks proper and inspiring villains.

===Gripes about the protagonists===
* Isekai protagonists tend to be [[Neckbeard|big fucking nerds]] who immediately recognize what's all about and exploit it, often aided by [[Plot armor|unreasonably high stats relative to their abilities in real life.]] The unstated implication is that the overweight slimeball watching/reading the isekai story would be just as successful as the protagonist because of his [[Trivial Pursuit|valuable and hard-earned RPG knowledge]].
* The protagonist frequently is overpowered in a way that puts him way ahead of his peers, despite lacking any useful combat, intellectual, or even social skills from his homeworld. Rarely does the protagonist have to put that much effort in overcoming his obstacles.
* Even more offensive protagonists will be actively unlikable or even outright repulsive, despite not suffering any consequences for it.
* And on top of that, 99.9% of the time, the protaganist has an all-female <s>harem</s> party who hang on his every word. [[Mary Sue|Is this starting to sound familiar?]] (Note, in particular, that usually these female party members exist purely to provide fanservice and be [[waifu]]ed.)
* Almost all the protagonists in isekai stories have either a tragic or "NEET" background. Not saying that this is a bad thing, but it is almost as if the author is trying to push the bill, forcing the reader to go through 1 or 2 chapters of flash backs. This gets worse when they are all generic manga cliches. But some tragic backgrounds are so specific it's almost as if the author self inserted their past there.
* As if the above wasn't enough, too many isekai MC are [[edgy|edgelords]]. For most of them, their reason for being edgy is how they were abused, betrayed, NTR'ed or disowned by either the MC's school classmate, other isekai'ed people, or the society as a whole. Some really awful isekai have their MC doing really edgy shit like mass murder and rape.

===More General Gripes===
* While many stories are just copycats of one another, some will ''attempt'' to put an "original spin" on the genre, usually by adding a gimmick. If done well, then the story still has some value in being interesting and exploring otherwise ignored facets of an overused genre. Done poorly, it comes across as just plain tiresome, especially if the gimmick is the only thing keeping the story afloat when the characters and plot fail to impress.
* [[weeaboo|O MY GLORIOUS NIPPON STEEL FOLDED OVER 9000 TIMES]]. Basically just to show how superior the Japanese are compared to the other world. GATE is the worst example of this, where the Japanese military in a medieval fantasy world is wreaking havoc with their modern weaponry (which is not unreasonable to imagine, even for the decidedly modest Japanese Self Defense Force, but it’s taken to the point where it comes across like a cheesy recruitment ad targeting otaku: "Want to be a real hero? We kill more orcs before 9AM than most Paladins do all day!"). Other than that, various Japanese food and their favorite [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|katana blade are also introduced in the other world to prove their superiority]]. The main character's harem and friends also somehow manages to defeat a Navy Seal team despite being peak human at best. It's almost if these mass produced Isekai stories and manga are just to advertise Japan's superiority to compensate for something...

==Exmples of Isekai Light Novels and Anime==

* '''Sword Art Online''': A bunch of players of the titular VR MMORPG are trapped in the game by it's designer. It's Isekai without the Isekai-ing. Though the setup is a Virtual Reality game, the author has gone or record as saying that was only the framing device to get to another world. Nonetheless, despite predating the Isekai boom, it hits most of the beats.
* '''Log Horizon''': On the eve of its newest expansion, all the players of the MMORPG ''ElderTale'' are suddenly sucked into the game's world. Leans into the RPG Mechanics thing, but often in a deconstructive way. For example, an EXP penalty upon death is taken from your actual Experiences, i.e.: your ''memories'', or the Fluff text of various weapons and items starts becoming real(that cool Purple-rarity weapon you got that says it carries a terrible curse? you might wanna drop it like ''now!''). It also focuses less on the invincible heroics of it's protagonist(who's more of a Support Class anyway), and focuses on the players trying to build themselves a life in the game world.
* '''Isekai Cheat Magician''': A young man and his childhood friend are summoned to another world, get magic powers that seemingly break the rules. Exactly as bland as the name suggests, this story should've come in a plain white box with the word "Isekai" written on the cover.
* '''Ascendance of a Bookworm''': A bookish young lady dies by extreme irony, only to find herself reborn in the body of a six-year-old peasant girl. Books are extremely rare and hard-to-find in this world, especially for Commoners, so she sets out on a journey of re-invention to ''make'' the books she wants to read. This is one of the few works to actually use its gimmick(s) well, being more of a Slice-of-life than "Epic" Fantasy.

[[Category:Gamer Slang]][[Category:Weeaboo]]

Isekai

2020-01-07T03:53:42Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386:

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{{topquote|1=Hey guys, today I wanted to talk about the newest, hottest anime to come out this season. All right, get this: It's about a completely normal shut-in Otaku with a very specific skill set that makes him useless in the real world, who is suddenly transported to a fantasy world kinda similar to any JRPG you've ever seen where he suddenly becomes the hottest shit, and he has two jobs: Messing up any poor soul who looks at him the wrong way and getting some 2D bitches. Wait, doesn't this sound oddly familiar?|2=Gigguk, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFR2nvw19h4 "Isekai: The Genre that Took Over Anime"]}}
[[File:Isekei WHF.png|500px|thumb|right|Not all worlds are ones where you would want to end up]]
[[File:WHF isekai alt.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Or not]]

Proof that Japan has no publishing standards or quality control. '''Isekai''' is a Japanese word assimilated into the /tg/ lexicon from the [[weeaboo]] faggots at /a/ and /jp/. Literally meaning "another world" or "parallel world", it refers to a genre in which the main characters are from "our" world and taken to a foreign world resembling [[RPG|some form of fantasy game]], where they proceed to become [[adventurers]]. Usually, plot reasons prevent them from heading home until something is taken care of—typically whatever big bad evil guy is threatening everything—but sometimes they're stuck there forever and have to adapt as best they can. Methods of transportation are vast and varied, including but not limited to: stumbling into a portal, activating a magical McGuffin, getting run over by [[Meme|Truck-kun]] and reincarnated (''Tensei'' in weeb, a genre isekai ate), being summoned by the denizens of the world, or the ever-popular getting your brain downloaded into your favorite [[MMORPG]].

The term (and to a lesser extent the genre) have been kicking around the weeaboosphere for a while, but around 2015 publishers started flooding the market with insufferably awful series (with insufferably long titles) that sell both in Japan and internationally like hotcakes, no matter how bland and generic they get. This once again proves that no matter which side of the planet you're on, otaku are autistic retards with no taste. As of 2018 this seems to be tapering off: Kadokawa has banned isekai stories from their light novel competitions, fewer and fewer isekai light novels get adapted into anime each season, and parodies are becoming more and more common, making it only a matter of time before the genre hits [[Zombie|"even the parodies are stale" levels of played out.]]

== Isekai and /tg/ ==
Although most isekai stories get panned on /tg/ for [[TVTropes|annoying meta-humor]], [[Double Cross|generic shonen bullshit]], [[Maid RPG|generic fanservice bullshit]], or [[Extra Heresy|a combination thereof]] (if not the characters being blatantly Mary Sues, or presenting something even more absurd), a handful of series are decent enough to merit genuine approval. Or they're tolerated because they have [[monstergirls]]. Check our [[Approved anime|anime]] and [[manga]] pages for the current scoop.

While isekai is a distinctly Japanese form of [[Skub|cancer]], the basic idea of people from our world getting chucked into a fantastic world and forced to fend for themselves is practically universal and turns up moderately often in Western fantasy with the earliest example perhaps being ''"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"'' by Mark Twain which was published in 1889. Oddly, when this happens it tends to be rather less shit perhaps due to it being less common. L. Frank Baum's ''Oz'' series, ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' by Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Barsoom'' (a.k.a., John Carter of Mars) novels are iconic examples of the core premise that predate cliche fantasy, and C.S. Lewis ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' uses the plot for Christian allegory. ''The NeverEnding Story'' is the flagship modern western example, and right in the heart of the fantasy cliche storm, yet it is the purest anti-shit, either despite or because of this. Or at least, it avoids being the self-indulgent wish-fulfillment for irredeemably unlikable losers that makes Isekai so widely hated. One could make the case that ''The Matrix'' is an isekai story (it basically reverses a couple of the key tropes), though classifying it as "less shit" may not be accurate for some people. Tangential to these are stories about modern militaries (or, in one odd series of novels, part of the US East Coast) being sent back in time—although it's possible that a movie from '79 called G.I. Samurai, where a JSDF unit accidentally travels back in time and fights their own Samurai ancestors, is secretly the true forgotten granddaddy of the isekai genre, or at least dreck like GATE.

Isekai also has its influence on [[Old School Roleplaying]]; as stated above, there are plenty of pulp fantasy novels involving ordinary souls getting sucked into a strange, alien world and becoming heroic [[adventurer]]s as a result. A /tg/ example that (in hindsight anyway) fits the isekai mold well is [[GURPS]]' flagship fantasy setting, which revolves around people from across the universe getting isekai'd to the planet of Yrth by an extradimensional "Banestorm" and proposes that players could [[Stat me|stat themselves]] and then play as themselves on Yrth after getting deposited there by the Banestorm. Hell, [[Greyhawk]] has several deities who actually originated on other worlds - [[Murlynd]], [[Saint Cuthbert]] and [[Mayaheine‎‎]] have all been implied to have come to Oerth from "real" Earth - whilst the [[Forgotten Realms]] was, once upon a time, hinted as being connected to Earth by various portals to different times and places; the not!Egyptian race was actually supposed to be peopled by real ancient Egyptians who had been summoned to the Realms en-masse by evil sorcerers as slave labor, only to break free of them. Then there's the [[D%26D_Cartoon|D&D Cartoon]], whose plot ''was'' D&D by way of Isekai. That being said, unless your DM was being really lazy, if you tried to talk in-universe about stats or levels or other meta game content like they do in Isekai stories, NPCs would and should treat you like a madman.

==Reverse Isekai==
[[File:Ork isekai.jpg|400px|thumb|left|A more /tg/-related example of reverse isekai]]
Occasionally, reverse isekai plots, where supernatural elements from other dimensions have invaded the "real" world, have appeared in /tg/. [[D20 Modern]]'s default for supernatural entities is that they a dropped onto Earth from another plane, "The Shadow", and can't go home (though their corpses vanish upon death). The [[Adventure Path]] ''Reign of Winter'' has a trip to World War I era Russia where the party fights Mosin-Nagants and machine gun wielding Russian soldiers, tear gas elementals and actual Grigori Rasputin.

One odd feature in Japanese Reverse-Isekais is an emphasis on how Japanese food is so much more awesome than whatever bland, flavorless food the peasants of the fantasy world have to eat(to be fair, modern food in general, if made well, would indeed be better than most medieval fare, especially the stuff serfs ate). In fact, there actually is more than one anime about people from a fantasy world visiting a restaurant in modern Japan. Which in fairness: the modern world wide food distribution networks that can ship sun ripened lemons and meat to any point in the world within 24 hours is likely going to compare favorable to all but the highest fantasy fare. Even so, even the lowliest peasant would put ''some'' effort in using what they had to make food taste good; even if they couldn't afford spices, herbs were still easy enough to get a hold of, and rural cooks knew enough about how to prepare meats to make them taste good. Whereas fantasy peasants may as well be eating dry, stringy meat with a side of boiled, unseasoned vegetables and mud for dessert.

==Why do people hate it so much?==
As noted above, stories of people entering other worlds are nothing new, and speaks to a common desire to experience strange and exotic lands. Yet Isekai stories still get a lot of flak for many reasons. Besides there being way too many anime/manga that are all basically the same story with slightly different premises, it boils down to a number of common gripes:

* The biggest one is that rather than trying to tell a compelling and interesting story, too many Isekai stories are just the basest wish fulfillment fantasies for the lonely basement-dwelling neckbeard. Most of the other complaints are derived from this one.

===Gripes about the worlds===
* The hallmark of isekai stories is defining of the world in terms of RPG mechanics. People in isekai worlds speak of levels, classes, and experience as real and tangible things as opposed to the mechanical abstractions fa/tg/uys normally recognize them as. Outside of Isekai stories that actually take place inside of RPGs or videogame RPGs, this is pretty much inexcusable.
* The worlds traveled to are generally bland and unoriginal: usually, it's just the JRPG version of the [[standard fantasy setting]], and the oversaturation of the Standard Fantasy Setting cannot be overstated.
* In addition to the two above, a frequent gripe about Isekai is that the worlds frequently have a problem with what's known as a "Second Order Idiot Plot". An Idiot Plot is, of course, a plot that only happens because everyone involved is an idiot (and it can be done well; see, for example, ''Burn After Reading''); but a Second Order Idiot Plot is a plot that only happens because ''everybody in the world'' is an idiot--frequently, either some obvious solution is overlooked for dumb reasons, some obvious phenomena is ignored, or some baldly obvious lie is widely accepted.
* Since some Isekai protagonists are so powerful, no one in the new world is capable of opposing them; that includes the cliche "great demon king" who had terrorized the world for centuries only to get one-shotted by the MC in one chapter, thus erasing any conflict and tension and making the story even duller. Other type of villains like high-status types (king, nobles) or anyone in the world whom had grudge or a bone to pick with the protagonist may be introduced, but due to how the human civilization of the other world [[Medieval Stasis|are incapable of advancing their technology]] in most isekai, these villains are arrogant, ignorant and often underestimate the MC and their otherworldly knowledge (see the Emperor from GATE). Therefore they get their asses handed to them by the MC and their modern Japanese knowledge + JRPG cheat stats when they tried to sabotage or kill the MC's party and fail again and again. In short, Isekai lacks proper and inspiring villains.

===Gripes about the protagonists===
* Isekai protagonists tend to be [[Neckbeard|big fucking nerds]] who immediately recognize what's all about and exploit it, often aided by [[Plot armor|unreasonably high stats relative to their abilities in real life.]] The unstated implication is that the overweight slimeball watching/reading the isekai story would be just as successful as the protagonist because of his [[Trivial Pursuit|valuable and hard-earned RPG knowledge]].
* The protagonist frequently is overpowered in a way that puts him way ahead of his peers, despite lacking any useful combat, intellectual, or even social skills from his homeworld. Rarely does the protagonist have to put that much effort in overcoming his obstacles.
* Even more offensive protagonists will be actively unlikable or even outright repulsive, despite not suffering any consequences for it.
* And on top of that, 99.9% of the time, the protaganist has an all-female <s>harem</s> party who hang on his every word. [[Mary Sue|Is this starting to sound familiar?]] (Note, in particular, that usually these female party members exist purely to provide fanservice and be [[waifu]]ed.)
* Almost all the protagonists in isekai stories have either a tragic or "NEET" background. Not saying that this is a bad thing, but it is almost as if the author is trying to push the bill, forcing the reader to go through 1 or 2 chapters of flash backs. This gets worse when they are all generic manga cliches. But some tragic backgrounds are so specific it's almost as if the author self inserted their past there.
* As if the above wasn't enough, too many isekai MC are [[edgy|edgelords]]. For most of them, their reason for being edgy is how they were abused, betrayed, NTR'ed or disowned by either the MC's school classmate, other isekai'ed people, or the society as a whole. Some really awful isekai have their MC doing really edgy shit like mass murder and rape.

===More General Gripes===
* While many stories are just copycats of one another, some will ''attempt'' to put an "original spin" on the genre, usually by adding a gimmick. If done well, then the story still has some value in being interesting and exploring otherwise ignored facets of an overused genre. Done poorly, it comes across as just plain tiresome, especially if the gimmick is the only thing keeping the story afloat when the characters and plot fail to impress.
* [[weeaboo|O MY GLORIOUS NIPPON STEEL FOLDED OVER 9000 TIMES]]. Basically just to show how superior the Japanese are compared to the other world. GATE is the worst example of this, where the Japanese military in a medieval fantasy world is wreaking havoc with their modern weaponry (which is not unreasonable to imagine, even for the decidedly modest Japanese Self Defense Force, but it’s taken to the point where it comes across like a cheesy recruitment ad targeting otaku: "Want to be a real hero? We kill more orcs before 9AM than most Paladins do all day!"). Other than that, various Japanese food and their favorite [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|katana blade are also introduced in the other world to prove their superiority]]. The main character's harem and friends also somehow manages to defeat a Navy Seal team despite being peak human at best. It's almost if these mass produced Isekai stories and manga are just to advertise Japan's superiority to compensate for something...

==Exmples of Isekai Light Novels and Anime==

* '''Sword Art Online''': A bunch of players of the titular VR MMORPG are trapped in the game by it's designer. It's Isekai without the Isekai-ing. Though the setup is a Virtual Reality game, the author has gone or record as saying that was only the framing device to get to another world. Nonetheless, despite predating the Isekai boom, it hits most of the beats.
* '''Log Horizon''': On the eve of its newest expansion, all the players of the MMORPG ''ElderTale'' are suddenly sucked into the game's world. Leans into the RPG Mechanics thing, but often in a deconstructive way. For example, an EXP penalty upon death is taken from your actual Experiences, i.e.: your ''memories'', or the Fluff text of various weapons and items starts becoming real(that cool Purple-rarity weapon you got that says it carries a terrible curse? you might wanna drop it like ''now!''). It also focuses less on the invincible heroics of it's protagonist(who's more of a Support Class anyway), and focuses on the players trying to build themselves a life in the game world.
* '''Isekai Cheat Magician''': A young man and his childhood friend are summoned to another world, get magic powers that seemingly break the rules. Exactly as bland as the name suggests, this story should've come in a plain white box with the word "Isekai" written on the cover.
* ''Ascendance of a Bookworm''': A bookish young lady dies by extreme irony, only to find herself reborn in the body of a six-year-old peasant girl. Books are extremely rare and hard-to-find in this world, especially for Commoners, so she sets out on a journey of re-invention to ''make'' the books she wants to read. This is one of the few works to actually use its gimmick(s) well, being more of a Slice-of-life than "Epic" Fantasy.

[[Category:Gamer Slang]][[Category:Weeaboo]]

7th Sea

2019-11-29T03:24:57Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Vendel and Vesten */

'''7th Sea''' is an [[RPG]] of swashbuckling pirate action. The setting is a fantasy version of early modern era/age of sailing time period Europe where magic users are born not made (in fact, the noble families are nobles because they can do magic shit like open portal from the point a to the point b or summon legendary popular culture characters), catholic church burns the witch and all the pirates seem to come from a bad movie adaptation of Stevenson's Treasure Island. Did I mention there's a [[Kharn]] version of Captain Hook who carries around a scythe that cuts like Wolverine's claws?

==Edition History==
7th Sea was released in 1999 by Alderac Entertainment Group. The game used a [[d10]] system designed by Rob Vaux, John Wick, Jennifer Wick, and Kevin Wilson. It would win the Origins' ''Best Roleplaying Game of 1999'' and met with some initial success. An updated core book was released in 2005 that changed the game to a [[d20]] system. The [http://www.alderac.com/7thsea/resources/7thsea_compendium.pdf 7th Sea Compendium] is a free pdf for the revised edition of the game maintained on Alderac's site. This is intended to allow players with the first edition book to play the revised edition.

A large number of supplements were released for both editions. The main lines for these supplements were nation books and secret society books, each detailing a specific nation or non-governmental organization of Theah. Seven quest modules were also released for first edition, while revised edition got a collected adventure book.

Second edition was [http://johnwickpresents.com/updates/a-special-jwp-announcement/ announced] November 2015 and the [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnwickpresents/7th-sea-second-edition/ kickstarter] was successfully funded in March 2016. The [[kickstarter]] raised $1,316,813 and is the most backed RPG on kickstarter ever, both in terms of number of backers and funds raised. Core rules were due for release in October 2016, but actually released in ''June'', [[awesome| ''ahead'']] of schedule, with eleven sourcebooks scheduled for regular release dates after that.

Unfortunately, on November 5th, 2018, John Wick announced to the Kickstarter backers that the entire staff of JWP had to be laid off due to financial difficulties for the company. JWP was, for all intents and purposes, now a one man show. John promised to continue working on the remaining sourcebooks still out for writing/production, but the already delayed splats for Second Edition were caught in limbo for months, until Chaosium publishing bought up the line and hired him on as lead writer.

===Rules System and Notable Changes===
Resolution is accomplished via a "roll and keep" [[dice pool]] system that would be very familiar to fans of ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', rolling stat + skill + miscellaneous modifier, and keeping stat for most basic checks, with 10s [[Exploding die| exploding]]. As in ''L5R'', weapon damage is calculated according to weapon, adding a number of dice equal to the Brawn stat to the weapon's native pool of damage dice and keeping a number of dice specific to each weapon. Most large weapons and firearms keep three, most small and concealable weapons keep one, and most weapons overall keep two, including most "fencing weapons."

The original edition had some novel ideas for preventing [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the traditional pitfalls of its system]], such as having advanced knacks be more expensive at character creation and cheaper afterwards, otherwise keeping similar pay-tables for purchasing later on, and having ''all'' five stats be important to combat, to prevent [[Dump stat| picking one you don't care about and ignoring it to have more points to spend on the rest]]. It wasn't perfect, and it still had many built-in perverse incentives, but it was a damn sight better than anything that's ever used [[White Wolf| the Storyteller system]].

Brawn was needed for making Wound checks and damage rolls (most weapons are melee weapons or don't add typically add stat to damage rolls, like firearms and bows, and even the rare exception, the Goodfellow archery school, still uses Brawn), Finesse governs all to-hit rolls, Resolve was needed for having a high pool of Dramatic Wounds and resisting Repartee, Fear, poison, and various mind-affecting sorceries, Wits was needed for all ''defense'' rolls and passive defenses, and Panache granted an action each round per point.

However, by far the biggest problem was the Drama Die system, whereby all XP-equivalents were earned at a very slow rate in a byzantine and confusing system, could be destroyed by enemy maneuvers, and were needed for extra dice on important rolls. And the GM gets a huge pool of them to fuck with the players each session, while the players' come back the honest way (read: hard and slow). Also, because you always roll stat + skill but keep stat, high stats break the game, and the system does tend to fall apart at high levels of play, while at low levels of play the cost of sorcery or a swordsman school in this supposed "swashbuckling and sorcery" setting were brutally high, particularly given how weak and useless many sorceries feel "out of the box," and the starting character points are ''very'' stingy, all-but forcing players to ignore the "positive" Arcana they had to spend points for and instead gain points by taking a "negative" Hubris, which the books, written from a bit of an old-school mindset, instruct the GM to exploit via that huge pool of free Drama Dice to fuck with the players constantly.

It was also, for better or worse, a [[dice pool]] game, and like all dice pool games task resolution was very random. Starting characters feel weak and useless, high-level characters break the game once they start keeping more and more dice.

Later, like most RPG properties of the 90's, it received a mediocre d20 adaptation in the 2000's, under the "Swashbuckling Adventures" label. It wasn't ''awful'', but it wasn't great either, and large portions of it didn't have much input from the original creators. Notably, the setting/secret society books for Cathay, NOM, and the Sidhe were both published under this label, while including rules for both the d20 and original systems.

The second edition keeps the five main Traits, trims skills down to just 16 total (as a start, expect more later), and reuses the Trait+Skill system. Past this point, it diverges heavily. The new system tries for a more 'storytelling' flavor, so it disposes of the older "roll X keep Y" system altogether, and bases everything off a 'raise'. Raises are calculated by choosing your Trait+Skill pairing, rolling all the dice associated, and then grouping them up to get a total of 10 (or more) for it to count as a single raise. Raises are then spent to perform an action of some sort. The GM is expected to give you some idea of what to spend raises on though.

A simplified flow of play boils down to:
# The GM states the issue and fleshes out things a bit: "It's a dining room, with a large table in the middle, overhung by a chandelier held up by a rope tied to a hook nearby. The rugs and hanging tapestries are engulfed in flame. There is a small desk near the door in the back, with several papers on it that are beginning to smolder. You need a raise to get across the room, two raises to avoid any damage from the flames (2 wounds total, 1 per raise), and one raise if you want to grab the papers on the way out the door."
# The player(s) pick how they want to approach the solution: "I want to roll finesse (3) and athletics (3). I rolled 10, 9, 8, 7, 5 and 1, so that's (10),(9+5+1) and (8+7) so 3 raises total. I want to spend one on crossing the room, one on not taking damage, and one on grabbing the papers."
# The GM can accept that, or add extra restrictions depending on events, and provides the player an opportunity to narrate: "Alright, how does it happen?"
# The player details their action: "Marcel sprints to the rope tied to the wall, grabbing it and slashing it free from the wall. The chandelier crashes to the table, yanking Marcel into the air on the end of the rope. He swings, landing on the edge of the tabletop and has to roll off it, through the wreckage of the chandelier to come to his feet by the desk. A quick swipe of his hand and he and the papers are through the door and away from the flames, wincing from the burns from the roll."
# The GM closes up the scene, and/or sets up for the next one: "Works for me. You spend a moment slapping your smoldering clothing with your hands, then another moment slapping the now smoldering papers, before noticing the signature of Cardinal Incensio on the bottom of a letter." 'What's the Inquisition doing writing to a nobody Vendel merchant?' "Good question...what do you want to do about it?"

Another notable change is that sword schools have dropped the leveling system they had, instead once you have the school, you get all the associated maneuvers all at once (and so far they're not the mix of useful, okay and OMGWTFBROKEN that the old system had). Similarly, magic is now (usually) a system of "pick 2 abilities, and get given one drawback/geas" per point of sorcery. You can still be a pretty little butterfly-sue, but the setting is far more grimbright then the old system. An example: You can still play your Eisen noble knight with all the drakeneisen bling, but be aware that it's irreplaceable, is only really helpful against monsters and undead, and marks you as a target by everyone from the Eisenfursten princes down through to the good-guy 'Die Kreutzritter' monster-hunters (who will 'politely' get you to give up the weapons or join until death parts you from said drakeneisen, provided you will said drakeneisen to the society).

==Setting==
7th Sea is set on Theah, a world dominated by swashbuckling, sorcery, and secret societies. Much of the [[fluff]] was expanded in the various nation books released throughout the early 2000s and the [[collectible card game]]. The nations are just stereotypical renditions of the European kingdoms of the period, so the "Italians" are extremely Machiavellian, the "Spanish" have a secret society composed mostly by Zorro wannabes and "France" is just exactly like in those Alexander Dumas novels.

Unlike Europe (probably) Theah is built on the bones of several inhuman civilizations, collectively referred to as the Syrneth. Their technology was so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic... and for whatever reason, they are now extinct. (Which is as much as we can say without getting into [[skub|contentious fucking territory]] about the metaplot, which divided fans and writing staff alike.)

Until relatively recently, most "modern" nations had nobles that descended from the Senatorial families of the Numan empire, the ancient Rome-equivalent, who (spoilers!) made pacts with the powers of Legion to gain sorcery. The Second Prophet got rid of the mist-sorcery of what is now the Crescent Empire, while the Third Prophet and the Rilasciare mostly stamped such sorceries out in Eisen and Castille, drove them underground until fairly recently in Montaigne, and Vodacce... well, it's hard to do more to Vodacce sorcery than the Vodacce do to themselves with it. This is for the entirely-reasonable reason, if not a reason shared with the general public, that such sorcery is literally eroding reality and making it easier for the otherworldly monsters who made the pact to tear open portals to Theah and invade in force.

Other forms of sorcery, which mostly come from nature spirits or mastery of the self, are much more tolerated, though the Inquisition doesn't always toe the line.

If the political tension between Theah's nations is not enough for your players, there are a shitload of secret societies that just plan to conquer the world (even the whores have their own conspiracy for taking over the world and turn it into a pimp paradise). Also, there is a "China" and a "Ottoman Empire" that will make your high level characters be dead in the second turn after they put a foot across their borders, loads of ruins and artifacts from an Atlantis-like civilization and monsters that make you remember Call of Cthulhu: the first because they will make your characters get mad; the seconds because they are mostly impossible to kill (just read the succubus stats in the GM handbook).

Most nations and secret societies have, in addition to magical doohickeys, special internal swordsmanship schools, which is the catch-all term for any kind of fighting style whether or not it uses swords. Nations tend to have more than one, united by a few common themes. A few have ''non''-swordsmanship schools that instead offer non-combat abilities within the school system of varying usefulness. All such (fucking expensive) schools grant many bonus skills and maneuvers, as well as unique passive benefits for each level of "mastery" a character has attained.

Second Edition expanded the setting considerably, opening up the rest of the world and developing things beyond not!Europe. There've been several sourcebooks for the not!Middle East, the not!New World, and not!Africa, with a whole new gameline for not!Asia in the pipeline when the company imploded.

===Avalon===
A mystical version of England. Dominated by Arthurian style knights and fae. The Knights of the Rose and Cross is a secret society based in Avalon and Montaigne, although they seem more inspired by Musketeers than Medieval knights. Their racial magic, gained from bargaining with the Sidhe rather than necessarily inherited from the powers of Legion, involves invoking personas of heroes from Avalon (''just'' Avalon, sorry El Vago fans). They don't even have to be dead first; there's an heroic NPC who's a "living legend" because of his incredible luck and fortune. Doing so offers different benefits depending on the legend in question.

There are also two other isles, Inismore (totally-not-Ireland) and Highland Marches (totally-not-Scotland). All three are called Glamour Isles, in theory independent. In practice, both "Mad Jack" O'Bannon (boss of the Inismore, don't confuse him with Jack'O'Lantern, he doesn't have pumpkin head) and James MacDuff (first-among-equals of Highland Marches' clans) decided to follow Queen Elaine (chosen by the graal, descendant of sidhe, beautiful, and, if needed, incredible bitchy). Mostly for protection against Montaigne, and to honor the graal, fapping to her portrait is optional. Since they were lucky enough bastards to have their own island (and thus have no land borders with those Montaigne bastards), they put lots of effort into maintaining powerful navy. Namely, they hire anyone willing to attack any ship belonging to any nation they don't like (mostly Monatigne). Land of fae, sidhe, legends and other silly stuff for kids.

They broke with the Vactine church for reasons you probably know if you know much about European history, and their rag-tag navy of privateers kickstarted Castille's ongoing woes by pub-stomping the fancy armada sent to punish them for it.

Home of the Goodfellow archery school, also known as the only real reason for a PC to ever touch a bow, the Peeke school of staff-fighting, and the Donovan fencing school, which is the only school in the game to actually use the buckler half of swashbuckling. Also, them Inismore mates rival Ussurans in the "drunken boxing" discipline, even having a formal training system for it. The Highland Marches, naturally, focus on the use of the claymore, and on fucking shit up by going all-in on damage.

===Castille===
Spain simultaneously experiencing their post-armada-calamity malaise, one of their many wars of succession, and the Reconquista, save that they're hoping to reconquer their country from France rather than Muslims, whom they beat a while ago. The supplement highlights the nation, but also has large sections on the Vaticine Church (their version of the Vatican) and the nation's nearly-extinct racial fire magic. Instead of Sorcery, (though, unlike many examples of nearly extinct sorcery, El Fuego Adentro ''is'' available to player characters, if something to keep secret), Castillan characters and nobles get access to their nation's high-quality public education, which is nice, if not necessarily fair trade. The Los Vagos secret society is based out of Castille, a vigilante group somewhat akin to Zorro and somewhat akin to Anonymous who protect the king from the external threat of Montaigne and the internal threat of the rampant Inquisition by serving as a support network for the swashbuckling vigilante El Vago.

A decent nation beset within and without by threats to its good-hearted and intelligent but woefully-inexperienced king, whose position is not helped by having one of his top advisers literally be the head of the Inquisition.

As of Second Edition, he has a twin sister who used to sub out with him sometimes, but the villains have her under house arrest. While Castille's culture is kind, open, and even somewhat-accepting to outsiders, with a high standard of living thanks to the Church's advanced science and a culture of duty and proper conduct among the nobles, Montaigne's invasion and the rampant Inquisition are squeezing the country like a vice between them. In particular, the head of the Inquisition firmly believes the Fourth Prophet (who will usher in the end times) is right around the corner, and he and his literally-Cobra-masked henchmen need to save as many souls as possible by setting everyone on fire.

's a good job that there's a dashing, benevolent nobleman to serve as the king's other adviser to counterpoint him, and that dashing hero El Vago is there to foil his evil plans.

...What? They definitely aren't the same person.

All Castillian fighting styles make use of the fencing sword, but in drastically different contexts. For instance, a Gallegos duelist is an expert defender, a Gustavo cavalier fights from horseback, a Torres fights with a cloak in his offhand for blocking and parrying, a Soldano uses two fencing weapons at once... the only exception is the Zepeda school of whip-fighting. Rumors of an Abuelita school revolving around the use of ''la chancla'' are unsubstantiated, and would make your grandmother cry if she weren't too busy taking her shoes off.

===Cathay===
Imperial China with some influences from Korea and Tibet. Hidden behind a massive bug-off wall of fire erected when the Senators made their pacts for sorcery, so no one knows anything about them. There was a single supplement for them, designed to be used for both the original game and ''Swashbuckling Adventures'', which included some new skills and mechanics, including a few kung fu schools, for those who wanted to mix some [[wuxia]] into their swashbuckling, but unfortunately no one uses it.

They are slated to get an extensive write-up/rework in Second Edition as "Khitai," because Theans just can't pronounce it correctly, which could potentially come out at some point. It will, like the Crescent Empire books from the same edition, focus on homegrown heroes and villains rather than their potential impact on Theah's, and will add lots of other countries as components of Khitai.

===Crescent Empire===
Largely based on Turkey, but with a smattering of various Arabic and Persian influences as well. Mostly-despised and isolated for killing the Second Prophet and refusing to follow the same religion as the others, though the two are so similar to one another as to use the same Bibles. The supplement for this nation was largely intended for very high level characters as most everything will kill new players in no time at all.

Home of several scary options such as a supposedly-extinct (nah, not really) mist magic with blink and dematerialization, a different kind of sorcery based around giving yourself poison and snake powers, a handful of fencing schools, and ancient artifacts surpassing everything non-Vendel Theah has to offer.

Were so extensively reworked in Second Edition as to be largely-unrecognizable, with a focus on home-grown Heroes and Villains rather than their impact on the machinations of Theah's, and changes to the setting's basic geography giving them entire internal nations of their own, each with unique traits of their own, plus a succession crisis and various rare resources to squabble with one another over.

===Eisen===
Germany during and after the Thirty Years' War, here fought between the Vaticine and the Objectionists, and with more monster infestations than whole Witcher universe. Ravaged and war-torn, the people of Eisen are hardened and violent. While one nation or another might have better specialists, no nation in Theah can match Eisen for sheer military might. Unfortunately, as Voltaire once famously declared, this disunited place is neither holy, Roman, nor an Empire right now, torn between squabbling factions even when it's ''not'' in the midst of outright civil war.

Die Kreuzritter is the main secret society of Eisen, an order of knights believed destroyed centuries ago that greatly influence the continent from the shadows. Only now they are trying to stop otherworldly monsters from raping everyone and everything, at the cost of their own lives and lots of others if necessary. They are ''secret'' secret, having let the rest of the continent think they got wiped out centuries ago to better defend the world from the shadows.

Eisen keeps a sort of record among two editions for magic flavors. They ''kind of'' have four, three if you are unnecessarily picky. Its racial magic, Zerstrong, based on decay and destruction, is (probably) truly extinct, but they have a super-metal called Drachen-Eisen to make up for it. In the "vanilla" 1st ed it is the best "magic" of them all, because even a starting character can have enough to be nearly immune to everything but firearms, and that's more than other mages can muster at their peak, though he will not be able to afford much else. They mostly lost it in second edition (it's still around, but it's rare and mostly only useful for fighting monsters). In exchange they learned how to make magical potions from dead bodies.

And finally, for the fourth entry, aforementioned Die Kreutzritter have their own brand of "shadow" magic - walking in the literal shadow world and killing with immaterial shadow stilettos. It lacks the versatility of "true" sorcery, but it's much more straightforward mechanically, doesn't require further investment to master once you've bought it, has a lot of obvious benefits without requiring lots of pushing from both player and GM to be worth its points, and synergizes ''really'' well with their internal sword school and assassination methods. The major balancing factor is that it's ''top secret'' and requires you to murder anyone who sees you use it unless you get clearance from the organization's head honcho, so you at least have to think of ways to make yourself come off like a ninja master rather than a mage lest you have to engage in a ''lot'' of party-killing.

And the best part: they have frau Fauner Posen 10 years before Brienne Tart was even a thing, and said frau is not a mere knight but an Eisenfurst, one of regional lords.

Home to several unique schools based around the "panzerhand," a huge metal gauntlet built to parry or grab enemy blades as well as punch, plus the obligatory zweihander school, which is even more in-depth than the others, incorporating [[Legend of the Five Rings| a system of stances which shift by degrees from defensive-but--makes-it-hard-to-attack to easy-to-fuck-up-enemies-with-but-leaves-you-wide-open]]. They also have several non-combat (well, non-personal combat) schools for leading and commanding troops, and one (Gelingen) for studying and exploiting the weaknesses of monsters.

===Montaigne===
France before the French Revolution, it is even ruled by a guy called the "Sun King" (and or "Empereur") though, rather than a frothing Catholic, he's a mad sorcerer who's recently declared that his nation will be ruled by devil-magic. He competes with the Vodacce merchant princes for title of the most depraved, corrupt ruler in the setting.

The first edition supplement is largely focused on the intrigues of the various noble houses and secret societies that dominate the country. The Rilasciare, for example, are a secret society dedicated to overthrowing the monarchy. Or Church. Or any other form of government, to be honest. They still pretend to believe in Revolution and power to the people. No one else does. A later book included the option to have the nation undergo its inevitable revolution. It ain't pretty, especially with multiple secret societies all slap-fighting each other over who gets to be the ones who cause and steer it.

Also, they have one of the most elite combat units in the setting - the musketeers. And since there is no way to force player to choose a profession that is simply a bodyguard of a greatest dick in the universe, they are also depicted as the best fighting force in the setting, supposedly capable of conquering rest of the Theah by themselves. Montaigne racial magic involves creating various teleportation points (by cutting-up reality itself to force it to bleed), and traversing a <s>Hell</s> mysterious void in-between. No matter what, don't open your eyes in there...

Montaigne schools are extremely varied, but double-wielding is generally popular, whether twin knives (Boucher), the rapier and main-gauche (Valroux), or the sword and triple-dagger (Gaulle). The only Montaigne school that is ''not'' a double-wielding school, in fact, is the sicknasty Rois et Reines school of gunfighting, using a musket with bayonet and a brace of pistols to be a storm of brutal damage at range and one of the best polearm fighters in the game up close.

===Pirate Nations===

Don't actually have that much to do with the rest of Theah, despite being on the cover. The pirates of the continent vary widely in alignment, from honorable and mostly heroic privateers to insane bloodthirsty madmen, and everything in-between. Notable features include "pirate curses" that can strike those who mutiny or betray their fellows, the Rogers fencing school which grants an extremely-customizable selection of Pirate Tricks in addition to Dirty Fighting and Balance while aboard a ship, and good ol' Captain Reis, the Crimson Roger himself, a lunatic in a distinctive red coat that probably reminds you of a certain other fictional pirate. Except, instead of ineffectually battling a teenager in green, he kills everyone he meets and amasses a great collection of Syrneth artifacts, and instead of a hook hand he has a massive crescent-shaped Syrneth weapon that literally cuts through anything and ignores all Parry knacks. And, (spoilers!) even if you somehow kill him, probably by kiting him and pumping him full of bullets before he can get into slaughter-tornado range, [[Lucius the Eternal| to strike him down is to feel a great temptation within your soul to put on his coat, pick up his sickle, and ''become'' the Reis]].

===Sarmatian Commonwealth===

So, you got a place where the old King died, his son needs noble approval to become new king (it sounds weird, but that's how the Polish crown worked in similar time period, so keep scrolling), his mother tries to snatch the crown for herself, and old nobility sees all that is wrong with their nation as the direct result of the old king's work, ignoring the systemic problems they've caused to get things in this state. And their boss wants to get the crown for himself, because he can. Also, they have the best cavalry in all of Theah, because it would be boring if Eisen had all the military glory for themselves. And, as mentioned at start, they don't have magic of their own, so they make pacts with spirits (locally called deva, probably actually demons of a different kind).

In general, the nation, like Czechoslovakia, is split in half, with the Eastern Half being proud, heroic horsemen who are all about this new democracy thing, and the Western Half being all cynical, suspicious old-timers who are probably a bit unscrupulous and given to trafficking with monsters, even if they are still Heroes.

Introduced in Second Edition, as a love-letter to the many Eastern European countries where ''7th Sea'' had a huge fanbase in 1st Edition, and which all-too often get lumped into Russia by the West. Notably, the story of the king is taken almost whole-cloth from the legend of John Sobieski, the greatest king in Polish history, savior of Christiandom, and leader of the largest cavalry charge in human history, and his struggles with the evil old senators of the Polish Szlachta, who deliberately sold out their country over and over, weakening it on a national and international level to remain masters of their own little lawns.

===Ussura===
Feudal Russia and Eastern Europe. Has a [[Kislev]] feel to it. The supplement also allowed for the use of their national shape shifting magic. Not a terrible place to live, since the harshness of the land causes the people to be kind to one another. Oh, and the land is now sentient and is protecting them, so it was able to take two different invasion armies, and rape them to her heart's content. Locals call it "Matushka" (meaning <s>your momma</s> Mother) and treat her as something halfway between a goddess and an ancestor. (They're still Vactine, though they have their own Orthodox Christianity equivalent that only recognizes the First Prophet, who supposedly met with Matushka personally and got her stamp of approval.) Kids are taught that Matushka can show up in their lives and test them, if they are good people. And guess what? It does happen, so Ussurians are generally nice people, ready to help others. Unless you're trying to mess with them, and then you learn why that was a mistake. Seriously, those guys wrestle bears for fun.

Their tsar, the Gaius, is clearly inspired by Ivan the Terrible, a ruthless man beloved by the common people for bringing them justice and stability after a long period of arbitrary rule and civil war, but cruel and harsh to the corrupt nobles he rules over. He is tormented not only by his own mental instabilities and the sycophantic nobles who intrigue against him, but by Matushka trolling and gaslighting him, occasionally appearing in his mirror to remind him that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0 it's she who put him where he is now, and she can put him back down too].

Their racial magic, gained from Matushka rather than Legion, involves taking on the shapes of animals, usually by getting their permission first. There are many extremely-powerful-but-villain-exclusive variants of this that are broke as fuck. They have three combat schools: one used by "knights" revolving around heavy weapons (Bogatyr), mostly axes, a bow-based school that, rather than the Goodfellow school's focus on actually making the bow viable, concentrated on mounted archery (Buslayevich), and the one you've all been waiting for, the Dobrynya wrestling school, which not only gives you the power to crush men in your arms, but focuses on making you immune to harsh weather, Polar Bear Club style.

===Vendel and Vesten===
Northern islands ostensibly in alliance. The Vendel are inspired by the Dutch trading houses, while the Vesten (properly the Vestenmannavnjar) are your fantasy style vikings. They are technically the same ethnic group, with the former being Vesten who decided to convert to the religion of the Prophets and abandon axes and war-cries for ledger-books and mercantilism(even changing their names to better accommodate the sensibilities of their foreign clients). Only the latter use magic, in the form of runes that can create various cool effects, though it's much more rigid and less versatile than the other magic powers, and also causes flesh wounds because it's also not based on the ancient deal the Senators cut with Legion.

As a mandatory "compensation" the Vendel got a sick-fuck "swordsman" school which uses firearms instead. It's... popularly banned by houserules. That said, there ''are'' several internal fighting styles, including a school that revolves around sword-canes, a fisherman school that revolves around the use of harpoons, and a "guard" style that relies on dual-wielding a sword and a lantern for blinding enemies and fighting at night. And that's just the Vendel ones, the Vesten have a whole array of Viking flavors to call upon.

They also have a bardic/skaldic tradition, with the Vestenmannavnjar appreciating the oral history of their people and gods, and the Vendel liking their skill as hype men and publicity agents to make more money.

===Vodacce===
A coalition of city-states largely inspired by Italy, complete with constant blood-feuds between angry relatives and merchant princes, where each family is fucked-up in their own special way. Their sorcery involves women seeing and manipulating destiny and the bonds between people as strands they can weave and touch. The men are terrified of them as a result, and so none of the "fate witches" are taught to read. Most women are taught to be good wives, staying at homes, caring for their husband and so on. There are courtesans who learn to read, entertain, and do all those other things to excite men, but they are still, at the end of the day, just prostitutes. Allegedly.

They are all good Vactines though! And they have their own warped interpretations of the Prophets' word that justifies all the rot and horror that pervades their society...

As for fa/tg/uys weeping that they cannot be magicians here, there is a good news and a bad news. Good one - there are male sorcerers in Vodacce. Bad news? Well... Their only trick is being completely immune to Fate Witches' powers, and cannot do anything on their own. At least they can scare the shit out of Sorte Strega (that's how they call women with magic powers).

Their sword styles largely have a strong emphasis on trickery, whether armed with a rapier, broadsword, main gauche, bare hands, improvised weapons, or a mixture of the above. Literally the only Vodacce school that ''doesn't'' get some combination of Dirty Fighting, Pugilism, or Feint is the Capputina school of gypsy knife-throwing and acrobatics.

Much like the Montaigne book, this one focused on the political intrigues of the greater nation. It also greatly expanded the poison mechanics of the game. The Invisible College, alchemists and scientists hunted by the Vaticine Church, operate in many of these city-states. They are also known for their extreme bravado and recklessness, incredible talent to get into any trouble in quite impressive radius, and being backstabbing dicks at their highest echelons. Maybe, if you want to stay a Hero, keep out of the Inner Circle... you won't like what you find.

===Others===
A number of other secret societies and non-governmental organizations exist in Theah as well. Most of them have some unique player options squirreled away in there.

* '''The Vaticine Church''' used to be a super-cool version of Catholicism, 100% supporting scientific progress as "uncovering the puzzle of creation" and only trying to exterminate the kinds of magic that literally come from Hell and actively erode reality to let demons in. It has been led by three prophets at different points in its history, with a fourth prophet's arrival signifying the end of the world. Unfortunately, between the disappearance of the last Pope/Hierophant (whom Le Empereur ''totally'' didn't murder by literally pushing him down some stairs), the inability to pick a new one thanks to the disappearance of Montaigne's cardinals (whom Le Empereur ''definitely'' didn't have kidnapped so his nation would have no gods before him and sorcery), the disastrous Objectionist revolution, and the Sun King of Montaigne breaking away to proudly reveal that his nation still has its sorcery and intends to rule it forever as a nation of evil magic, their better elements have fallen on hard times. The current dominant power are a bunch of shitty hypocritical fuckwits called the Inquisition who're actively trying to kill all scientists, burn all books, and hasten the end of the world, with the other factions unable to unite to stop them as they undo the work of centuries in brief years. Their internal combat styles are the mostly-obsolete Rossini school of polearm fighting, used by the Hierophant's personal bodyguards, and the Swords of Solomon school that uses a weapon and shield to be an effective bodyguard.
* '''The Sidhe''' are eldritch horrors and sea-dwelling creatures. A.k.a. Fae, and not exactly the nice fairytale sort. Some of their kind were actually made playable in the Avalon sourcebook, which was expanded upon in ''The Sidhe Book of Nightmares'' supplement for the ''Swashbuckling Adventures'' label, this kind is mostly associated with (obviously) Avalon. They have a very large number of powerful, practical advantages out of the gate, but cannot gain drama dice, and thus, cannot ever gain XP or advance. There's a thick subplot about ancient wars between Sidhe and Syrneth, the latter being, so to say, more evil (and are most likely the walled-off evil with whom Bargainers dealt for the noble's magic.) But honestly, it is such a [[skub| skubby]] mess of storytelling, much of which later writers abruptly dropped, that it is better left forgotten. They are hypocritical sadistic monsters who enjoy torturing, abusing, and generally parasitizing humanity, but the authors have a great deal of unearned sympathy for them and so we are supposed to as well. Notably, their tight ties to Avalon involve a great deal of intra-court politicking that we are supposed to be invested in, even though the only change from the eventual winner will be one of degree rather than kind. Also, the book outright instructs DMs to make them immortal and basically unbestable in contests of combat, so as to present players with challenges that need to be out-thought and otherwise beaten creatively, but this has the unfortunate side effect of making the advantage and items meant to fight them practically useless and ensuring the race as a whole will forever be beyond the reach of justice.
* '''Explorer's Society''' are an organization dedicated to the exploration of various uncharted territories of Theah, including the alien ruins of the weird precursor civilization. This may or may not be a terrifying and horrible idea, depending on how you feel about being chewed up by a [[Tomb of Horrors| deathtrap of a dungeon]], only to hand over what turns out to be a primitive nuclear device to a mad scientist. Their two schools are the Shield Man, a combat school ''entirely'' focused on improvised weapons and quick thinking, and Syrneth Tinkering, a completely non-combat school with some school-based mechanics revolving around repairing, refuelling, and potentially even merging or recreating Syrneth devices.
* '''Sophia's Daughters''' are a secret society of prostitutes said to have more connections throughout the world then any other. Their sourcebook revealed them to actually be an entire society of Mary Sue half-sidhe women who are beautiful and immortal and have unique magical powers. One of those powers is ''literally'' the ability to tell whether a character is a Hero, Villain, Scoundrel, or Henchman, which is just as powerful as it sounds. Also has a broken-as-fuck assassination school that revolves almost entirely around the use of bodice-daggers to poison enemies who can't even notice you doing it. It was [[derp]]. They are in neck-deep with the Sidhe, and even unleashed the setting's equivalent of the Black Death for supposedly-justified reasons to prevent the destruction of the barrier, but just as the writers have a great deal of unearned sympathy for the Sidhe despite their being parasitic, sadistic, psychotic, hypocritical monsters, so too do they have sympathy for these, their human pawns, so we are also supposed to find ''them'' sympathetic. Admittedly, in a very Die Kreutzritter sort of way. Speaking of which...
* '''Die Kreutzritter''' are even more spoiler-tastic than most of the rest of these, but think Christian versions of the Hashishin/Nizari and you'll be in the right ballpark. Allegedly killed to a man centuries ago, they actually went underground, with the Hierophant's blessing, and operate as secretive assassins, spies, and guardians who always fake their own deaths before joining. They did this because they uncovered ancient precursor artifacts that allowed them to discover the Barrier, and sorcery's effect on it, leading them to abandon national ties and swear to defend all humanity. Use a special shadow magic that's super-potent and synergizes well with their school, but permanently marks users in a way that makes what they are obvious to everyone in the know, which is admittedly few. Are in a constant war not only against the forces of demonic corruption in the world, but with insane undead members of their own organization that have lost their humanity to shadow and are (currently) still trapped in the other dimension they access with their shadow powers. Their school is an awesome assassination school revolving around double-wielding stilettos and eventually causes them to gain a bulky Fear rating.
* '''The Knights of the Rose and Cross''' are a swashbuckling version of the Knights Templar, and the historical kind rather than the fictional kind. They're awesome, heroic people fighting the good fight against evil, and have the fewest skeletons in their closet compared to the rest. Unfortunately, one of them is that they are thoroughly penetrated by an evil super-duper secret society, though they are less of a catspaw than they could be since their Grandmaster has a conscience and they aren't very centralized. Their biggest secret is The Secret: that the Third Prophet the rest of Theah acknowledges is was a fraudster, and the ''true'' Third Prophet taught them mankind's inner power, which doesn't need sorcery. (This is ''barely'' a spoiler, an extremely cursory reading of the Player's Handbook makes it clear how much of an aberration the Third Prophet was, and he helpfully founded the Inquisition, just in case you needed more convincing.) Unfortunately, their sword school is trash and most players can literally buy a better version of its master benefit as an advantage at character creation. And not an expensive one either.
* '''El Vagos''' are a support network for Castille's home-grown local hero, El Vago, that dashing Zorro wearing a Spanish-styled ''V for Vendetta'' mask, one with growing reach across Theah. Founded to counteract the dark forces of Montaigne and the Inquisition, they are easily the most benign of all secret societies here, using heroic means to heroic ends. While their founder and the original El Vago is indeed that dashing nobleman from the Castille section, hitting high enough rank reveals the spoiler that there's actually many members who wear the mask of El Vago at different times, letting all of them maintain plausible deniability and also adding to his mythical aura. Unfortunately, most modern compilation-album character-building documents just flop that one out there for all to see, so it's one of the more-well-known spoilers. Their internal school, El Punal Occulto, revolves around the use of a fencing weapon and a spring-loaded hidden knife in the hilt or the off-hand, for wince-inducing pommel strikes.
* '''The Rilasciare''' are anachronistic anarchists and pro-democrats who want to make away with the social order and free the peasantry from the shackles of the nobility. Depending on who's writing them at the moment they're either a bunch of bomb-throwing idiot stereotypes or a valiant, ancient order who knows more than all of the rest of them. Either way, they were the ones who exterminated Zerstrong for good, and more power to them for taking out ''that'' trash. Their Vipera ex Morsi fighting style is a perfectly-good assassination double-stiletto school in a crowded market, with a focus on building up penalties even on missed shots and dirty fighting.
* '''The Invisible College''' is made up of adventurer scientists out to save science from the clutches of the Inquisition by being generally awesome. Unfortunately, they are thoroughly penetrated by an evil super-duper secret society using them for their own ends, one of which is the horrific pursuit of Blood Alchemy. They teach the Bonita fencing school, which emphasizes defense and escape rather than actually winning fights.
* '''The Swordsman's Guild''' is an organization dedicated to the finer points of dueling and swordsmanship across all nations. They keep all the different swordmasters in all the different national styles from losing all their accumulated knowledge in a frenzy of honor-duels for rank via a few basic common-sense regulations. Many schools offer the non-zero benefit of free membership, those which don't must buy it as an advantage to gain membership. And it ''is'' a non-zero benefit; having that pin marks you as a man to respect and fear across the continent.
* '''Novus Ordo Mundi''' do not exist, aren't an Illuminati whose leadership is entirely composed of a council of the most-powerful and morally-warped supervillains of each nation and most secret societies, don't secretly run or at least have a hand in the better part of the world, corrupting and polluting all good things they touch in an effort to buttress and secure their own power as they grab always for more, and I wouldn't worry about it. Also, they ''definitely'' don't have the best knife-based assassination school in the game, surpassing even the Mortis school of Die Kreuzritter, at their disposal as the exclusive privilege of the greatest assassin in the world and a few of his most-trusted protegees who all do their bidding and mostly try to stop them murdering each other. That'd be pants-shittingly scary.

==Collectible Card Game==
The 7th Sea Collectible Card Game was released in 1999 alongside the RPG. The game was supported through 2001, but was dropped late that year. Much like other AEG games [[Legend of the Five Rings]] and [[Deadlands|Doomtown]], player actions influenced the ongoing story line of the the game. These changes were also reflected in the RPG supplements released during this time, although only the first story arc was concluded.

The major card types were actions, adventures, attachments, chanteys, crew, and ships. Each player built their own deck centered around a ship and a captain. This ship would determine a player's faction. Crew functioned as both resources and attacking/defending forces of a ship. Ships had limited crew space and were generally faction specific, so your choice in crew would limit who and what you could play to your ship. Likewise crew with the "Captain" trait were limited to one per ship and represented your deck's faction alongside the ship.

Actions were the catch all card type, representing everything from your crew's actions, meteorological phenomenon, and reactions. These were all one-use effects and were discarded upon resolution. Attachments, meanwhile, represented permanent changes in status, such as firearms for your crew or persistent changes in sea conditions. Adventures represented the various quests and ordeals your crew endured, often rewarding control points for accomplishing the objectives listed on them. The game was won by having enough control is all five seas to claim victory or by sinking all opposing ships.

In later expansions the card type chantey was introduced. These were cards that had a global effect on the table and remained in play until replaced by another chantey. Only one chantey could be in play at any time. The game board was represented by five seas that ships could move between, the sixth and seventh seas not being represented on the board.

At this same time, massive errata was issued for numerous cards throughout the run of the game. This was reflected in the ''Iron Shadow'' release, reprinting the previous core set, cards with errata, and all supported faction captains and ships. This coincided with the conclusion of the first story arc, which removed Gosse's Gentlemen as a faction. These factors combining at once are often attributed to the sudden drop in sales of the game. Two more commercial sets were released in 2001 before the game was cancelled. A digital set, ''Parting Shots'' was released on the website of AEG and sought to give one last shot at balancing the factions for legacy play.

===Release History===
{|
|-
| '''Set Name'''
| '''Factions'''
| '''Release Date'''
| '''Set Size'''
|-
| No Quarter
| Brotherhood, Castille, Crimson Rogers, Explorer's Society, Montaigne, Sea Dogs
| 1999
| 323 Cards
|-
| Strange Vistas
| Corsairs, Gosse's Gentlemen
| 1999
| 161 Cards
|-
| Broadsides
| Brotherhood, Castille, Crimson Rogers, Explorer's Society, Montaigne, Sea Dogs
| 1999
| 329 Cards
|-
| Shifting Tides
| Montaigne, Vesten
| 1999
| 161 Cards
|-
| Scarlet Seas
| Crimson Rogers, Sea Dogs
| 2000
| 161 Cards
|-
| Black Sails
| Black Freighter
| 2000
| 54 Cards
|-
| Fate's Debt
| Brotherhood, Corsairs
| 2000
| 161 Cards
|-
| Reaper's Fee
| Castille, Vesten
| 2000
| 161 Cards
|-
| Horizon's Edge
| Explorer's Society, Gosse's Gentlemen
| 2000
| 115 Cards
|-
| Iron Shadow
| Black Freighter, Brotherhood, Castille, Corsairs, Crimson Rogers, Explorer's Society, Montaigne, Sea Dogs, Vesten
| 2001
| 623 Cards
|-
| Syrneth Secret
| Brotherhood, Montaigne
| 2001
| 169 Cards
|-
| Parting Shots
| Unaligned
| 2001
| 54 Cards
|}

{{Card Games}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

RIFTS

2019-05-08T01:10:15Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Pecos Empire */

[[File:Rifts_Cover_Large.jpg|thumb|A Splugorth Slaver and his bitches]]
'''RIFTS''' is a [[RPG|roleplaying game]] made by the [[Palladium Books]] publishing company. Rifts takes place on earth about 300 years after a nuclear holocaust caused a magical reawakening and killed over two thirds of humanity. In the course of the apocalypse many things changed in the world, Atlantis rose out of the ocean which flooded most Atlantic coastlines (killing even more people), the four horsemen appeared in Africa (where they killed more people), the Lord of the Deep was awakened (He didn't kill anyone at the time), and most importantly Rifts began to open up which let numerous alien races spill out into the world. Where many of them were and are still being killed.

Rifts, for which the game is named, are what makes Rifts Earth so incredibly crazy. These Rifts allow for dimensional travel and allow everything from friendly fluff balls to malevolent alien gods out for a stroll onto Earth. So all the while the people who thought their lives couldn't get any worse now have to compete with displaced extra-dimensional beings trapped here. Those not content with just being friends with everybody chose to fight even the nicest of D-Bee's (Slang term for dimensional beings). Thus the Coalition was formed. Made up of a bunch of pricks who managed to take control of ancient super-city/fortresses wage constant war against Aliens, supernatural beings and magic users. Meanwhile all kinds of other horrible things go on all across Rifts Earth. [[grimdark|This is a really shitty place to live]].

==Disclaimer==
Every Rifts book begins with a disclaimer that warns that the book contains violence, war, magic and the supernatural. Which is redundant since every cover of every source book contains an image that shows at least one, or more commonly all four of them. The disclaimer is often accompanied by some artwork that depicts some violence or one of the other four as well. This disclaimer was a response to the wave of [[Dark Dungeons|anti-RPG]] [[Mazes and Monsters|hysteria]] in the 80s and early 90s, and its inclusion in saner times is one of many things that shows the game's age.

==Character Classes==
Rifts has a huge selection of character classes, almost as many as it does playable races. Usually a half-dozen or more with nearly every book. Some are basic Occupational Character Classes, others are Racial Character Classes that are tied to the character's race. Any attempt to list them all will inevitably be spun off into it's own page, but some of the more notable are:

*'''Borg''': A 'Borg is a warrior who has given up their squishy human body for one of Mega-Damage alloys, becoming a twenty-four hour war machine. This shreds their magical juice, but also lets them upgrade themselves almost endlessly with extra parts and stat increases, limited only by the game's byzantine and granular rules and the depth of their wallets. It also replaces many of their physical stats, so the RNG won't screw you as hard.
*'''Burster''': A psychic with a focus on pyrokinesis. A burster can shoot fire, control fire, and sheathe themselves in a firey aura. For those who want to watch the world burn, or put it out.
*'''Coalition RPA Pilot''': The elite Mecha and Power Armor pilots of the Coalition States.
*'''Cosmo-Knight''': One of the game's more infamous classes, these are basically [[Paladin]]s gone Silver Surfer. Called to serve by an engine of creation known as the Cosmic Forge, Cosmo-Knights can fly through space and fight small space fleets.
[[File:Cyber_v_Juice.png|thumb|A Cyber-Knight battles a Coalition Juicer]]
*'''Crazy''': One of the many forms of Human Augmentation developed before the Great Cataclysm, The '''Mind Over Matter''' system manipulates the recipient's brain to improve their reflexes and let them push their bodies to their limits. Unfortunately, it also drives them crazy. Like, ''Deadpool''-crazy. ''Looney Tunes'' crazy.
*'''Cyber-Knight''': A cross between a [[Paladin]] and a Jedi. Cyber-Knights are defenders of the weak and innocent. At first, they were known by their cybernetically-implanted armor and psychic energy swords, a later sourcebook gave them additional powers, notably a force-like ability to know when any technological device was turned against them.
*'''Dog Boy''': [[Furry|Mutant dogs]] created by the Coalition to hunt magic-users, Dog Boys can sense the presence of magic-users and supernatural beings like a hunting dog sniffing out prey.
*'''Dolphin/Orca/Humpback Whale''': Yes, the game lets you play as a fucking whale. Dolphins have innate magic, while all three know various abilities they can use on Ley Lines. Some seaborne Human kingdoms will even outfit friendly Dolphins and Orcas with special underwater Power Armor just for them.
*'''Gizmoteer''': A sort of Psychic [[Artificer]]. What sets this guy apart is its ability to charge any direct energy weapon to use Psychic energy instead of a power pack. The only drawback to this is that you have to pay a power points cost equal to its payload in order to fuel it. However the ''very same book it was introduced in'' also features a potent Anti-Tank laser rifle on par with the Glitter Boy's, that comes with the drawback of a payload of only one shot. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to abuse this combination.
*'''Dragon Hatchling''': Yes, you can play a [[Dragon]], albeit one only up to just over a month old. Dragon Hatchings have innate magical abilities, a body that can go toe-to-toe with a suit of power armor and stand a good chance of winning, and a number of other (super)natural abilities depending on their individual species.
*'''Glitter Boy''': Rarely has a class been so defined by it's equipment. The Glitter Boy is the pilot of a suit of power-armor of the same name, a ten-foot-tall beast wrapped in gleaming laser-resistant armor and carrying a powerful railgun that can core a modern battle tank in a single shot.
*'''Headhunter''': This started out as he basic [[Fighter]] of the game, i.e. "Dude with a gun". Over time however, the class evolved into a bionically-augmented warrior and monster slayer.
*'''Juicer''': Juicers are warriors who wear a harness that feeds them a steady drip of a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs to push their bodies past the human limit. Unfortunately, this burns their body out and kills them in five to seven years. Since then, people have refined the formula, tweaking the transformation for faster speed, more muscle mass(and metal to lace the skeleton enough to carry all that), and even supernatural strength and toughness(but when you burn out, you ''literally'' burn out, eventually exploding like a small bomb). Some dude even figured out a way to make a juicer powered by the blood of Dragons.
*'''Ley Line Walker''': Rifts' fancy way of saying [[Wizard]]. But they do come with a lot of abilities that deal with manipulating the energy from Ley Lines, including the ability to float or walk in the air along them. So at least the class earns its name.
*'''Psi-Slinger''': An Old West-style gunslinger(yes, they have those too) who augments his shooting abilities with psionic power, such as firing energy bolts from his fingers and altering the power of energy attacks that hit him.
*'''Tattooed Man''': Also known as a T-Man, this is a warrior whose body is covered in magic tattoos, which can create weapons or attack creatures among other effects. Most T-Men are servants or slaves of the Splugorth.
*'''Psi-Stalker''': A mutant human subspecies that feeds on psychic energy used to power magic and supernatural beings. Because of their abilities to detect their prey, the Coalition often hires Psi-Stalkers to lead packs of Dog Boys.
*'''Techno-Wizard''': A spellcaster-mechanic who combines magic and technology to make magic weapons. These can range from a flaming sword to magic-powered mecha.
*'''Warlock''': A spellcaster who makes a connection with beings from the classical Elemental Planes (Air, Earth, Fire, Water) Their spells are often powerful, but naturally limited by their focus.

==Setting(s)==
As noted before, the primary setting of the world is Earth, specifically North America (mostly Eastern-to-Middle America and Canada). A few other dimensions got looked into from time to time as well. On top of that, compatibility between Palladium systems means that every other game, from ''Heroes Unlimited'' and ''Ninjas and Superspies'' to ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and ''Robotech'' are also part of the Palladium Megaverse, copyright permitting on those last two.

One of the most important new old features of the transformed Earth are the ''Ley Lines'', line crisscrossing the Earth that act as a network of magical energy. In the supercharged magic levels of Rifts' Earth, Ley Lines appear as huge walls of energy miles long, and half a mile wide, that glow blue-white in the night. Where two ley lines meet, they form a ''Nexus'', a powerful font of magic power that sometimes open into Rifts leading to other dimensions, where monsters and peoples can enter the world, sometimes whether they want to or not. Where three ley lines crisscross each other like a triangle, things get even weirder. Bermuda Triangle-weird.

===Coalition States (North America)===
The former United States is completely broken, with a few new kingdoms and empires clawing their way out of the Post-Apocalypse. The largest of these is the '''Coalition States''', a Nazi-like state that keeps its people illiterate, lies about history, and is genocidally vehement against Magic and non-human beings. If you didn't get the memo about them being bad guys before, their soldiers also wear all-black Stormtrooper armor with a skeleton motif, and they like putting skulls on the front of their vehicles and mechs whenever possible. The Coalition States are:
* Chi-Town: Claiming Iowa and parts of Illinois,. Chi-Town is a massive fortress-city near the haunted ruins of actual Chicago that is the capital of the CS. Around Chi-Town(and many other fortress cities) are a scattered collection of communities and shantytowns known as '''The 'Burbs''', full of mutants, gangs, D-Bees, and many, many people hopeful to earn a place behind the safety of the city's walls.
* Missouri: Located in the eponymous state. Mostly farm and empty land earmarked for future development.
* Iron Heart: In southern Canada immediately north of Lake Huron. An industrialized state that cozies up to Chi-Town actively.
* Arkansas/El Dorado: Most of Arkansas is forest wilderness, with scattered Human and D-Bee towns. The primary exception is the City-State of El Dorado, which was friendly with the Coalition for years, ultimately joining during the Tolkeen war.
* Lone Star: While the CS claims the entirety of the Lone Star State, in truth they only run the Panhandle and some the area south of it. The main reason they do so is the '''Tex-Am Complex''', a Pre-Rifts compound of Genetic Engineering labs, where the CS clones their army of Dog Boys. The man running the place, a Doctor Desmond Bradford, is a bit of a Mad Scientist.
* Free Quebec: Laying claim to the Canadian state with a legion of Glitter Boys. Quebec is... well, it's ''Quebec''. Very French and very arrogant, they eventually split off from the Coalition, sparking a civil war.

===Archie 3===
In the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the mega-corp Cyberworks created a powerful A.I. called A.R.C.H.I.E. Three. This A.I. was moved to the supreme headquarters of NEMA, an oragnization tasked with defending North America. On the bright side, the world ended before he went Skynet on us, on the down side, that didn't stop him from going crazy anyway. Archie has decided that the only way to make sense of this crazy world is to take it over, and he has command of a surprisingly well-preserved robot factory to do it. But rather than march across the country with an unending tide of tireless death machines, Archie has decided to be more subtle, starting with an army of hot robot warrior women riding mechanical dinosaurs as his front.

But Archie has a few disadvantages. He has trouble coming up with ideas of his own, and as such needs a Human "Idea Man" to link up and help him come up with new plots and minions.

One such idea was the hire a Shifter to help them exploit the possibilities of other dimensions. Unfortunately, the very first portal he opened up led directly to '''The Mechanoids''', a genocidal race of cyborgs with a mad on against Humanoid life (Basically Daleks Lite, and not all ''that'' Lite). A small force of them managed to come thought the rift before one of them killed the Human shifter and thus closed the door. The Mechanoids took over Archie's factory and set about retooling it with their technology and cloning facilities to make more of themselves, triggering the first large-scale crisis on Rifts' Earth. For his part, Archie feigned compliance and sent out his Idea Man, Hagan, to resist the Mechanoids and to gather heroes to destroy them. Needless to say, they succeeded.

===Federation of Magic===
The eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from Missouri and Arkansas, encompassing all of Kentucky, and most of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio and parts of Tennessee is an area crisscrossed by ley lines and saturated in magic energies. This it is known as the '''Magic Zone'''.

When the Rifts opened, one big one opened right inside the Gatway Arch in St. Louis. This rift fused with the gate, rendering it indestructible, and never closed. The Coalition occupied the area around the gate(leaving the rest of the city in ruin), and use it as a Headquarters for the '''Rift Control Study Group''', a military division that seeks scientific means to control and close rifts.

Elsewhere in the Magic Zone is a loose confederation of Magic-using states referred to as the '''Federation of Magic'''. The most dangerous of which are '''Dwemer''', a mysterious city-state ruled by three God-like beings, '''Stormspire''', a city devoted to the creation and sale of Techno-Wizard equipment, and the so-called '''True Federation''', a cult-like force that consorts with demons, shadow-beasts and worse, led by the maniacal Alistair Dunscon, lord of the '''City of Brass'''.

===Lazlo===
Where the city of Toronto once stood is now the city of Lazlo, a self-styled City of Learning. Named after a pre-Rifts scholar who theorized the existence of Ley Lines and other supernatural phenomenon that later turned out to have been right all along, Lazlo is one of the birthplaces of Techno-Wizardry, and one of the unquestionably "Good" places on Rifts' Earth. It is also home to adventurer Erin Tarn.

===Mad Haven===
New York City got pretty much wiped off the map during the Great Cataclysm. Sometime during this, Manhattan Island itself somehow got slammed into the mainland, making it into a peninsula. The ruins, only lightly overgrown despite the centuries, are haunted by spirits, madness, and mutants.
[[File:Rifts ng downtown.jpg|thumb|Downtown Ishpeming]]
===Northern Gun/Manistique Imperium===
In that part of the northern half of the state of Michigan that kinda looks like a gun (get it?), The former Kingdom, now Republic, of '''Ishpeming''' is pretty much the bitch of the manufacturing giant Northern Gun. NG makes everything from tools and vehicles to guns, missiles, and giant robots, and is one of the biggest provider of weapons to adventurers on the continent.

Right next to Ishpeming is the '''Manistique Imperium'''. At the tip of Michigan's "gun", The Imperium is a friendly neighbor to Ishpeming, but has recently entered the manufacturing market as well with Wellington Industries. Fortunately for Northern Gun, WI focuses more on projectile weapons and explosives rather than lasers and other energy weapons, which is NG's stock in trade.

===Pecos Empire===
The Coalition says they own all of Texas, but these guys are the reason why that's not true. The "Empire" is really several small armies of bandits and independent states run by a variety of leaders, from a giant to a wannabe Mafia Don to the actual, time-displaced, real-life Sundance Kid (as in, "Butch Cassidy and the").

===Psyscape===
A community of powerful psychic warriors somewhere in the Ohio Valley. Their main city exists partially within the Astral Plane, with the physical part anchored by a living Ley Line Nexus known as Psynex.

===Tolkeen===
Another center of Techno-Wizardry located in Minnesota. Tolkeen was a place of acceptance and magic much like Lazlo, but found itself way too close to the Coalition States. This inevitably led to war, which took Tolkeen's leaders down a dark path that ultimately failed to save it. After Tolkieen's destruction, hundreds to thousands of refugees fled west

===Vampire Kingdoms===
Mexico is almost entirely overrun by [[Vampire]]s, who have established their own kingdoms where Humans and D-Bees are either willing vassals or cattle.

===The New German Republic===
Germany was one of the few nations of Earth not to fall in the Great Cataclysm, mostly due to the manufacturing might of the Industrial giant '''Triax'''. Arguably the most powerful Human nation on the planet, the NGR primarily struggles with the Gargoyle Empire that has laid claim to much of Western and Southern Europe. So yeah, for once having Germans roll over western Europe in an unstoppable tide of steel is a ''good'' thing. Somewhat Human supremacist, but more Apartheid than Genocide. Don't really give a damn about magic.

===The Gargoyle Empire===
Gargoyles in this game are a type of sub-demon that comes in five types:
* Your average Gargoyle stands about fifteen feet tall and is as tough as a suit of power armor.
* G'''u'''rgoyles (note the "u") are slightly shorter (about twelve feet) and wingless.
* Gargoyle Lords are the leaders of the flock, bigger, tougher, and have the ability to turn their bodies into living stone.
* Gargoyle Mages know some Earth Elemental magic, like a low-key Warlock. They can also turn to stone.
* Gargoylites are small (three feet) creatures that are surprisingly tough. Can also get stoned.

While most Gargoyles across the Megaverse (like those in Hades, for example) usually serve more powerful demons or mages, the Gargoyles of Europe have formed their own kingdom, stretching from the West of Germany (Belgium and Eastern France) and around the south (Austria and Northern Italy stretching down into the Balkans). They have also learned to use high-tech weapons and even manufacture their own mechs and power armor, which, along with a fast breeding rate, is why the Germans aren't anywhere near steamrolling them.

===The Brodkil Empire===
Another race of sub-demons who have carved out a territory in the south of Poland (many also live in North America and Russia, but not nearly as successful). The Brodkil are mostly helped by '''Mindwerks''', a Pre-Rifts company that still sees itself as the main rival to Triax, and developed the Mind Over Matter conversion that makes Crazies. Their leader is an insane Cyborg researcher calling herself the Angel of Death. Once close allies to the Gargoyles due to their shared enemy, they recently broke ties after the Brodkil started getting a big head. This allowed the Germans to make a big push (with the help of the New Navy and Coalition States (playing the good guys for once)) that led to them taking France (purely out of habit, we assume) and cutting the Gargoyle Empire in half.

===[[Atlantis]]===
Atlantis was a continent (in the Atlantic Ocean, duh) housing a Magically-empowered utopian-ish Human civilization on Earth thousands of years ago. Then they fucked with a rift they shouldn't have. They managed to fix the problem, but in doing so trapped Atlantis in a pocket dimension and pretty much tanked magic levels on Earth for millennia. When Atlantis came back (helping raise sea levels all over the world), it was first rediscovered by the Splugorth, in particular an Intelligence named Splynncryth. He decided to basically turn the continent into his capital/personal mansion.

Atlantis is a kingdom of Monsters. Populated by the Minions of Splugorth (Slavers, High Lords, Kydians, Kittani, Metzla, Gargoyles, etc.) and visitors from all over the Megaverse. But Humans and most "D-Bee" races are slaves at best, and food at worst. Atlantis is arguably the most powerful force on the planet, but Splynncryth likes using the Earth as his own personal Streaming service, so he has no intention of conquering/enslaving the entire world. This doesn't stop him from launching slave raids all over Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

===Japan===
Japan is a few Magical Girls and Kaiju short of going full-on Animeland. In the Kansai region, a '''New Empire''' has arisen, with the blessings of a new Emperor by Amaterasu herself. The Empire has deliberately gone back to their roots, a feudal Shogunate where technology from the Industrial Period onwards is forbidden. Instead, they depend on magic and the Ki powers of Monks, Samurai and Ninja to defend themselves. Meanwhile, most of the Chugoku region (particularly the cities of Hiroshima, Kure, Ichto, and Iwakuni) has been ''de''-displaced after the area disappeared because of a dimensional teleportation experiment that occurred at the exact beginning of the Great Cataclysm. Three days later, They re-appeared back on Earth, three hundred years into their future. Declaring themselves the '''Republic of Japan''', they attempt to make their own way in the changed world, defended by high-tech armies of soldiers, dragon-shaped cyborgs, and of course mecha (including Glitter Boys!). Ironically, despite their differences, the Empire and Republic are pretty close allies, even when they try to turn the other to their way of thinking. Sometime after this, the City of '''Ichto''' split off to form its own state, mostly so they could sell their mecha to wider markets around Japan.

In the Aichi and Gifu prefectures, however, they survived the hard way, and eventually formed the '''Otomo Shogunate'''. As this is RIFTS, the Otomo are assholes. They were the top dog technologically, with their company '''H-Brand''' (and if you know anything about modern Japanese Colloquialisms, you know how unfortunate that name is), and clans of Tech-Ninja. Then the Republic showed back up, knocking them down to number three. They are also really unhappy about the peaceful country of '''Takamatsu''', on the northern half of the island of Shikoku. Mostly because they have control of a rift that leads to an entire uninhabited planet (and the resources therein), that they have made bank supplying to everybody else. But Otomo has a plan, one that involves dealing with '''The Zone''', the Oni-ruled area of northwestern Honshu. This should end well.

===Australia===
As might be expected, Australia got even weirder. The interior of the country has become flooded by a shallow inland sea, with a magic projection of Ulluru (Ayer's Rock) visible in the middle right above it's location. Most of the technology has been knocked back to the stone age, which fits the Aboriginies just fine. But some tech remains, with the Whites split into three main groups: The paranoid residents of the two remaining cities, Melbourne and Perth; the Outbackers, which are the more "normal" people who both trade with and raid against the walled cities, and the Roadgangers, who are pretty much Mad Max with more giant carnivorous kangaroos. In the north of the continent, the '''Molokoi''', a race of magic alligator-men, have arrived, believing that the entire world is a gift from their gods. Won't ''they'' be surprised...

===The New Navy===
In the years before the Great Cataclysm, the United States Navy built a powerful submersible aircraft carrier named the ''U.S.S. Ticonderoga.'' The ship was so tough that it managed to ride out the Cataclysm, and made contact with two hidden bases, Salvation and Refuge, that had been developed to service the ship, and began rebuilding. Some time later, the son of the Ticonderoga's captain led an exploration team that got irradiated by the energies of a mysterious rift, which gave them (and their descendants) supernaturally-tough, seemingly immortal bodies (but since this isn't a comic book, no other superpowers). The ''Ticonderoga'' still sails to this day, commanded by Nemo Dobson, the leader of the original Sea Titans. Led by the ancient Super-ship, the New Navy continues to protect Humanity on the high seas.

==Criticisms==
*Every now and then the fluff makes you feel like you stopped reading the book and started smoking a joint rolled from one of the pages. Some material is really weird. Like vampires with feet on their arms and hands on their legs. There's a mix of awesome, dumb, and awesome-dumb throughout.
*There is ''no'' balance between Races or Character Classes. '''NONE'''. You can literally have one player playing a demigod and another a hobo, with ''all'' the power disparity that implies. However, the GM is expected to have the final say in what's allowed or not, and to keep things balanced.
*The system is notorious for constantly one-upping itself. Every source book seems dedicated to making the weapons in the last source book look like a bunch of kitten launchers. It's not really a linear progression so much as up-and-down, but considering the books your players are most likely to pull out it's reputation for escalation is not unwarranted.
*It's very [[grimdark]]. Not as much as 40k- there's both good factions and hope around, some heroes would fit in well with [[Noblebright]] settings- but pretty much every continent has it's own extinction level threat or two, and the biggest power block on the planet by far is the Splugorth of Atlantis, who's leader Splynncryth is the answer to the question of "what if Cthulhu was a capitalist?". Having a continent-sized nation of interdimensional slave trading monsters under an eldritch abomination sounds like about as bad as things can get, but at least they don't want to rule everything (just raid it for live stock occasionally), and their presence discourages even ''worse'' eldritch abominations and supernatural hordes from descending on the planet en mass. They still descend upon the planet of course, just with more subtlety so they don't have to take the armies of Atlantis straight off.
*MOAR MEGADAMAGE! An infamous feature of the Palladium engine is the idea of Mega-Damage. Essentially [[Damage Reduction]] on steroids, it was originally designed for ''Robotech'' to reflect the idea of how conventional weapons are almost always useless against the gear of alien invaders, but the new/prototype weapons of the heroes work just fine. The gist of it is that every point of Mega-Damage(MDC) equals a hundred points of normal Structural Damage/Hitpoints(SDC). In short, traditional guns don't scratch an MDC being/mecha unless they go straight to anti-tank weaponry, while an MDC being can punch through a tank. Rifts takes this and fucking ''runs'' with it. Even basic arms and armor inflicts Mega-Damage, with the books explicitly stating that a man in body armor and carrying a laser rifle packs the toughness and firepower of a modern Main Battle Tank. Then Rifts stacks power armor, giant robots, and tanks on top of that, plus monsters tough enough to be a threat to all of those.
*"I just spent 10 hours making a character. Oh, shit it's 4AM. When are we going to play? Never? OK then."
*TRADEMARK ALL THE THINGS!
*While it is about complex as DnD 3.5, the layout makes it seem more complicated than it actually is.
*There is a Savage Worlds edition now, in case you want a modern ruleset.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Rifts ng v7 hunter mobile gun color by chuckwalton-d6nmj8e.jpg|A Hunter Mobile Gun. No, it's not compensating for anything!
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Cygnar

2018-10-31T12:21:36Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* History */

{{Stub}}
[[Image:Cygnar Box painting.jpg|center]]
'''"In Guns We Trust"'''

'''Cygnar''' is one of the eponymous [[Iron Kingdoms]] and one of the five major factions of [[Warmachine]]. It is, generally speaking, the most advanced nation and the nicest to live in if its borders weren't constantly being raided.

==History==
[[Image:1622609 10202867774116170 79003737 n.jpg|frame|RIDE THE LIGHTNING.]]

Even prior to the founding of the Iron Kingdoms, the lands that would become known as Cygnar were quite important. They were the birth place of the twin mortals-turned-deities Morrow and Thamar, who together founded the major city Caspia, which would become Cygnar's capital. During the Orgoth invasion, Caspia was one of the few free human cities and the hub of the resistance. Once the Orgoth were repelled and the Iron Kingdoms founded, Cygnar quickly became the most advanced nation, playing a major role in developing modern [[Warjack]]s.

Since then, things haven't been going quite so well. One king, Vinter Raelthorne IV, was an amazing fighter and general, but a dictatorial dick and utterly incompetent leader. He banned almost all magic (which, unlike in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles|Warhammer]], is actually pretty safe and used to power almost everything), brought an inquisition to Cygnar, and drove the economy into the ground by taxing everyone to death (almost literally). This got so bad that his (much nicer) brother Leto initiated a coup d'etat known as the Lion's Coup.

Leto was much more competent than his brother, so things went pretty well until the start of the story. At that point, everybody attacked at once. [[Khador]] invaded Cygnar's chief (read: only) ally Llael and part of Cygnar's northern region, the [[Protectorate of Menoth]] started crusading, [[Cryx]] stepped up its raids, and Vinter returned with an army of wrist-slicing weeaboo assholes known as the [[Skorne]], and an attempt to give the [[Trollbloods|kriels]] something like home rule blew up due to treachery from within. However, things have since settled down, with both the Protectorate and Khador signing ceasefires (although skirmishes still break out), the Skorne being beaten out of Cygnar (and promptly abandoning Vinter), and an uneasy peace/informal alliance has settled over the Knarls. They still have to deal with Cryx, but their army is ready, willing, and able.

This being a wargame world, however, the peace was not due to last. Khardor turned on Cygnar right after they kicked Cryx's asses in the north, just as Vinter showed back up to kick off a civil war. At the same time, Magnus, Vinter's former agent, found Vinter's bastard son Julius and moved to put ''him'' on the throne, while Alistair Caine was sent to kill the boy. The short war ended with Vinter dead by Magnus' hand after kicking nearly everybody's collective asses, and Julius on the throne with former King Leto serving as advisor.

Julius is so far proving to be rather savvy. He made a deal with Khardor to legitimize their occupation of Llael, so far as no living members of the Llaelese royal family remained alive. No sooner was the deal signed than Julius introduced them to his fiancee; the princess of Llael. Guess who wants their country back?

==Crunch==

[[Crunch | Gameplay wise]], Cygnar is very [[Dakka | shooty]] with a lot of neat effects and tricks to represent their high-tech weaponry, but despite their dakka-worship they aren't slouches in close combat and are just fine at smashing things with hammers and swords (their thematic weapons, alongside with guns and lightning). They do sometimes have trouble with survivability without spell support, of which they have plenty - Arcane Shield and Blur both are able to buff their ARM or DEF (respectively) to rather ridiculous levels when called for it.

Cygnar's signature elemental attack is Lightning, and with it the Disruption status effect, which drops all a warjack's Focus and prevents it from being allocated Focus on the next turn; effectively frying the cortex for one round. However, despite being hilarious against warjacks (especially when you knock them down as well), Disruption does jack-all to non-warjack models, and therefore is absolutely useless against Hordes armies, Cephalyx armies, the Convergence... Perhaps realising the problem with this, PP has started giving some Lightning-powered models Electro-Leap, which instead causes a little damage to models nearby when you hit something.

Cygnaran warcasters usually focus on buffing the defence and ranged capacity of their models. They generally shy away from spells with negative trade-offs for their own models, and don't bring very many debuffs to the table, although most of them have at least one ranged offensive spell. Cygnar doesn't really have any pure combat monsters, but the epic version of Stryker and both versions of Caine and Haley work pretty well in a "super solo" style (eStryker can theoretically hit harder than any other model in the game, Caine shoots everything, Haley delivers magical death). Joining them will be Sturgis, who's a melee monster when he gets to keep his focus for himself.

A typical Cygnaran warjack has pretty average ARM, but makes up for it by being both (comparatively) fast and accurate at melee and range. They also have slightly higher DEF than your average warjack, not high enough that anything's going to reliably miss them, but not [[Khador|so low that every attack will reliably hit]].

==Military==
Unlike other forces Cygnar is all volunteer and allows non-humans. They are also the only faction to have non-character Warcaster Journeymen, owing to a long-standing tradition of sending out trainee warcasters to serve under a veteran warcaster in a padawan-Jedi style arrangement. This lets Cygnar throw down up to four battlegroups once the next expansion comes out: the main warcaster, Jakes, Journeyman and Crosse for a total of 11 Focus plus whatever the Warcaster brings to the table plus at least one more thanks to Arlan's Power Booster.

* Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: Think Harry Potter but with guns for wands and some bitching outfits and nice hats.
** Tempest Blazers: As above, but on horses.
** Gun Mage Captain Adept: Badass veteran solo mage. Sadly, loses the hat
** Arcane Tempest Rifleman: Gun Mage Campers. Keeps the hat, though.
* Long Gunners: If you were to randomly mortar a Cygnaran camp, chances are it'd hit a Long Gunner. These guys are armed with revolver rifles that can rapidly put shots downrange.
* Journeyman Warcasters: AKA Junior; baby warcasters who get pimped out to senior warcasters for 'training'. Why you'd give a hormonal teenager control over a 7-ton walking tank, nobody knows but since they can throw out Arcane Shield most people tolerate them.
* Rangers: Fragile gunmen who tell the rest of the army how to properly aim their guns.
* Squire: Cygnar's version of Artoo-Detoo. Powers up Warcasters.
* Stormnouns: Lighting units that are named Storm something. Hence stormnouns.
** Storm Knights: The heavy hitters of Cygnar's melee units.
*** Stormblades: Knights with lighting-blasting electro-swords. They can't hit shit with their discharges, though, hence...
**** Storm Gunner: Attached to Stormblades, Storm Gunners have a lightning gun to help direct the electrical wrath of their comrades.
*** Stormguard: Uses halberds that hit a secondary target with electro-leaping.
**** Silver Line Stormguard: Extra-special Stormguard who use electromagical shenanigans to stop people from charging them.
*** Storm Lances: Heavy cavalry with lightning-lances.
* Stormsmiths: Wizards with Lighting Rods, can triangulate to hit targets beneath them.
** Storm Tower: Artillery version of stormsmiths.
* Sword Knights: Vanilla 'dudes in armor with swords', they wouldn't look out of place in a more mundane setting (except they're trained to both fight with and take down 'jacks just as well as they can regular humanoids).
** Archduke Runewood: Badass old Knight
* Trenchers: Essentially WWI trench infantry, they're the toughest bastards around. Also come in Commando flavour, as well as a bevy of support units (chaingun and cannon, to be precise).

'Jacks? 'Jacks.

* Light 'Jacks.
** Charger: Has a gun and a close combat weapon. Is fairly uncomplicated, but needs quite a lot of focus to work efficient.
** Firefly: Light, electric, support and mainly ranged - just like the rest of Cygnar. Works great with the stormnouns and Stormsmiths in particular.
** Grenadier: The Trenchers' best friend. Throws grenades overhead and can give the enemy a mattock to the face if they get too close. Can also dig a grave for it self like the rest of the Trenchers.
** Hunter: This nimble 'Jack is perfect for hiding in the woods, picking off high ARM enemies. If the noisy engine of the 'Jack didn't ruin that completely. Good at range and works well with Rangers and the Gun Mage UA (if you start second, there's better than even odds that you can stand and shoot something in the face on turn one).
** Lancer: A little 'Jack with a spear that can distrupt other 'Jacks, as well as a shield to bash their Cortex out of order. Good as a mean to get the enemy 'Jacks to back to fuck up.
*** Thorn: Haley's personal 'Jack, this thing just wants to be with someone who can churn out a lot of magical [[dakka]] through its Arc Node. It is also pretty difficult to destroy for a Light 'Jack.
** Minuteman: How do you make Warjacks even cooler? Give them a fuckin' jetpack! This is pretty much the fastest 'Jack in the Cygnar range, and will make fly-by shootings at hard-to-crack enemies with his Slug Guns.
** Sentinel: If you want to keep the hordes at bay, pack yourself with a shield and a gatling gun. Works well as a protector of a Warcaster, but not much else.

* Heavy 'Jacks.
** Avenger: Combined Arms in 'Jack form. It can knock enemies down with its Quake Cannon, and slash 'Jacks into submission with a taser-sword.
** Centurion: A moving wall of metal. Armed with a shield to protect itself with and a spear to poke the enemy from a good distance. Set this in the flank and dare the enemy to outflank.
** Cyclone: Fistfuls of [[dakka]] on two legs. Well, forearms (this is a good thing). This thing will make swiss cheese out of infantry and light 'Jacks alike, and with two open fists it can hurl heavy 'jacks back at their owners.
** Defender: The [[Hammerhead Gunship|Hammerhead]] of Iron Kingdoms, toting around the heaviest and most powerful gun on anything not Huge based. Put it in the back lines of you force and let it loose, or use its cortex-frying hammer to pound 'jack brains to pulp.
*** Triumph: Siege's special friend. While having a better RAT than the vanilla Defender and s Shield for additional defence, Triumph doesn't work too different from its vanilla counterpart.
** Hammersmith: What it says on the tin; simple, tough, and smashy. Good for dealing massive damage to single enemies while pushing them back. Might be a [[Khador]] 'Jack painted blue.
** Ironclad: The main battle warjack of Cygnar and the 'standard' by which all other 'jacks are judged. This behemoth will wreck infantry, light and heavy 'Jacks alike. It has a good speed for a heavy and its hammer does a good amount of damage, while having the ability to control masses through Earthquake.
*** Ol' Rowdy: The cranky 'Jack of Stryker, Ol' Rowdy will do what the Ironclad does and then some. It is better at hitting things like the beatstick it is, but has some tricks up its metallic sleeves (which had been pimped out by Stryker into incredibly fashionable bucklers) that makes it even more effective at its job.
*** Gallant: Constance Blaize's 'Jack of choice, this nice little bugger does what Blaize does (smite evil, collect souls of Morrowans, get laid), while looking awesome in the process. Let it defend along a line of Precursor Knights and Blaize herself and laugh as the enemy tries to kill your guys (Pro-tip: Let them do just that - Dead souls power up both Gallant and Blaize).
** Reliant: As the name suggests, it's a decent 'Jack that can mix it up in melee with its hammer, or fry light infantry at range with a lightning cannon that puts an AoE into play for a turn.
*** Dynamo: Nemo's second character 'Jack after Thunderhead and a ranged monster. Dynamo can throw out some serious punishment to single models with its Firestorm Cannon, gaining a bonus to damage every time it hits the same model in a turn. When paired with Nemo, he almost never misses.
** Stormclad: The best buddy of the Stormnouns and any warcaster who wants to save on Focus, this conduit of lightning and [[awesome]] powers up as its friends fry enemies. Is mainly melee with a sword long enough that it has reach, and can attack over range if needed. It's rarely going though, because having reach combined with its mobility gives a better threat range in melee than it has range with its respectable, but overshadowed ranged weapon.
** Thunderhead: The brainchild of Nemo when he tried to build an electric powered jack. It didn't work as well he would have liked because being a walking thunderstorm made it as stealthy as one, so Nemo only build one. It is both ranged and melee, but might be most useful at range. Also called DJ Thunder because of its pose.

Oh, and we have a Colossal.

* Stormwall: The Stormwall works just like Cygnar does: Very powerful at range, but no slouch in close combat (Colossals are good in close combat!? WHO KNEW!!!?!?!). It is essentially a bigger and badder heavy 'Jack with more health, more guns (two Defender-sized cannons + a Cyclone's worth of chainguns named METAL STORM), but also at a higher point-cost. It can also shoot out Lighting Pods who create electric zaps between it and the Lightning Pods. It also has a ridiculously small head like anything Colossal. Often considered the best Colossal ever for its mix of ranged firepower (armor cracking Big Guns), ranged firepower (infantry shredding Metal Storms) and ranged firepower (Lightning Pod shenanigans). And did we mention it also has taser-fists? And that Stormsmiths can triangulate with the pods to really bring the thunder?

And then there is our Battle Engine.

* Storm Strider: The bowling ball on legs, this is the pinnacle of zapping. Gets more powerful the more it is hit and can send enemies back where they came from if the get into melee - keep in mind, though, that if they get the thing into melee it can't shoot out of it until they're all dead! The Strider is best at downright killing light- and medium-armored targets than anything else, but it has some trouble outright killing heavy ones without boosts, though arcing lightning off of them isn't a bad idea either.

==Warcasters==
* Commander Coleman Stryker: The posterboy of Cyngar. Kind of a patriot, who would rather sacrifice his own health than see his soldiers wounded. Basically Harry Potter with a fuckhueg sword, even down to the anger issues, the plot armour and disrespect for authority.
** Lord Commander Coleman Stryker: His revealed dark side. Stryker went nuts when the Menites of Caspia's sister city Sul started a crusade on the walled capital of Cygnar, imprisoning any Menite (no matter their allegiance) in the eastern part of Cygnar in fear that they would help the invasion. What a dick. This incarnation sees him as a melee powerhouse, though not the type you can throw into the enemy without regard for his safety. Can possibly outfight anyone on melee damage, though he might fry himself as well.

* Lieutenant Allister Caine: Drunk John Woo wizard. Though it is well-known that he is killing himself with his dangerous lifestyle, that doesn't stop his superiors to throw him at the enemy. [[Grimdark]]. Is tied with Eriyss for the spot of most accurate ranged fighter in the game, and can possibly do more damage than her.
** Captain Allister Caine: Finally got his promotion (combined with his demotions, this brings him back to square 0), and to boot no one actually respects his new authority. Spends his time drinking, getting laid with the wives of corrupt officials, whereafter he kills aformentioned officials in duels of honour. Has been charged with gathering details on Magnus the Traitor and his plans, which suits Caine just fine - More booze and women involved when dealing with mercs.

* Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo: The Not Einstein with a little Tesla in the mix creator of most of the Stormnouns. Has a fetish for lighting that is extreme even for Cygnar. ''The'' sole reason Cygnar is so advanced, and the current mentor of Stryker and Haley. Has very high expectations for anyone around him, but none higher than what he expects from himself, which was the result of not being there for his wife when she died.
** General Adept Sebastian Nemo: Well, he got a new staff and better armour, but beyond that, there haven't been a lot going for the old guy. Moving on..
*** General Artificer Sebastian Nemo and Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Flinch: Nemo is now in charge of the entirety of the Cygnaran military production, and has picked up the nifty 'Stormchaser' Caitlin Finch on the way. Together, they can run 'Jacks, fry the enemies of Cygnar and take a cup of tea at the same time without even breaking a sweat. Rumors on them dating are rootless. *Cough*.

* Captain Victoria Haley: The brain to Stryker's might, she has an amazing amount of focus at her disposal and can even control time itself. Has a beef to cut with Cryx, because of their invasion of her home, a small fishing village. Was searching for her lost sister...
** Major Victoria Haley: ... But when she finally found her, Gloria Haley had gone to Cryx and was serving them as a warcaster. During one fateful encounter, Haley managed to kill her sister, even after her sister had torn her arm off. Neither sister was about to let this particular event stop either of them - Haley got herself a mechanical prosthetic and her sister was revived as a ghostlike mechanical hybrid of sorts.
*** Major Prime Victoria Haley: And now she's managed to learn how to fuck with time so that there's three Haleys running around at the same time; a past version of herself and one from the future. Someone's going to have a really fun foursome.

* Captain Kara Sloan: A sniper who believe that sniping with one gun at a time is last week, so she can make all her 'Jacks fire their guns when she fires hers. Is secretly in love with a Trencher Commando, but as she is a stickler for the rules and wants to be a 'good commander', she appears stern and cold to anyone else.

* Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane: Pities no fool as he controls the battlefield and smashes face with his favorite Lightning Hammer and snub-nosed bazooka. Is notable to be able to bring down entire fortresses by himself and being a part of every single major battle and war in the last decade, but hasn't had a single promotion in all that time. He started out as a Trencher, and it shows - He is a consummate soldier, fighting with well planned strikes, strategic diversions and warjack spearheads to soak up damage meant for his infantry.

* Captain Jeremiah Kraye: Likes horses and warjacks so much that his warjacks become cavalry models. Doesn't like to be bossed around and believes the brass forgets about the outer borders too much, so he has solved both problems by deploying himself as a reinforcements to any settlement bordering the Bloodstone Marches.

* Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet: Fully armoured saviour of the faithful of Morrow. Can save the souls of the dead and has bitchin' armour. Can also be taken as a Mercenary warcaster for the Llael Resistance. She likes infantry a lot and gains in power as her troops fall, but also works wonders with melee Warjacks, ''especially'' her own 'Jack, Gallant.

* Captain E. Dominic Darius: The man in the machine, this guy can repair any 'Jack on the battlefield while staying inside his metal shell. Also, his Halfjacks helpers? They are also landmines. Yeah. You would suppose that Nemo and Darius got along well, what with all their technical expertise and all, but Darius isn't too keen on advanced machinery and likes cogs and coal more. Though tough as all hell, he is not a fighter in neither fluff nor crunch, so keep him behind his 'Jacks at all times. play him with the Stormwall and pop his feat, healing the colossal for up to 50 damage boxes in an instance and laugh as your opponent now have to bring the machine down a second time.

* Captain Dalin Sturgis: A melee powerhouse with a big stick. Obviously a copy of Obi-Wan Kenobi, down to dying in the campaign to make way for the new kid on the block, Allison Jakes. He even comes back as an undead, Cryx Warcaster version of himself (except, unlike Obi-Wan, he comes back evil. Fucking Cryx.)

{{Template:Privateer Press}}
[[Category: Warmachine]]

RIFTS

2018-10-30T21:48:09Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386:

Rifts is a [[RPG|roleplaying game]] made by the [[Palladium Books]] publishing company. Rifts takes place on earth about 300 years after a nuclear holocaust caused a magical reawakening and killed over two thirds of humanity. In the course of the apocalypse many things changed in the world, Atlantis rose out of the ocean which flooded most Atlantic coastlines (killing even more people), the four horsemen appeared in Africa (where they killed more people), the Lord of the Deep was awakened (He didn't kill anyone at the time), and most importantly Rifts began to open up which let numerous alien races spill out into the world. Where many of them were and are still being killed. Rifts, for which the game is named, are what makes Rifts Earth so incredibly crazy. These Rifts allow for dimensional travel and allow everything from friendly fluff balls to malevolent alien gods out for a stroll onto Earth. So all the while the people who thought their lives couldn't get any worse now have to compete with displaced extra-dimensional beings trapped here. Those not content with just being friends with everybody chose to fight even the nicest of D-Bee's (Slang term for dimensional beings). Thus the Coalition was formed. Made up of a bunch of pricks who managed to take control of ancient super-city/fortresses wage constant war against Aliens, supernatural beings and magic users. Meanwhile all kinds of other horrible things go on all across Rifts Earth. [[grimdark|This is a really shitty place to live]].

==Disclaimer==
Every Rifts book begins with a disclaimer that warns that the book contains violence, war, magic and the supernatural. Which is redundant since every cover of every source book contains an image that shows at least one, or more commonly all four of them. The disclaimer is often accompanied by some artwork that depicts some violence or one of the other four as well. This disclaimer was a response to the wave of [[Dark Dungeons|anti-RPG]] [[Mazes and Monsters|hysteria]] in the 80s and early 90s, and its inclusion in saner times is one of many things that shows the game's age.

==Character Classes==
Rifts has a huge selection of character classes, almost as many as it does playable races. Usually a half-dozen or more with nearly every book. Some are basic Occupational Character Classes, others are Racial Character Classes that are tied to the character's race. Any attempt to list them all will inevitably be spun off into it's own page, but some of the more notable are:

*'''Borg''': A 'Borg is a warrior who has given up their squishy human body for one of Mega-Damage alloys, becoming a twenty-four hour war machine.

*'''Burster''': A psychic with a focus on pyrokinesis. A burster can shoot fire, control fire, and sheathe themselves in a firey aura. For those who want to watch the world burn, or put it out.

*'''Crazy''': One of the many forms of Human Augmentation developed before the Great Cataclysm, The '''Mind Over Matter''' system manipulates the recipient's brain to improve their reflexes and let them push their bodies to their limits. Unfortunately, it also drives them crazy. Like, ''Deadpool''-crazy. ''Looney Tunes'' crazy.

*'''Cyber-Knight''': A cross between a [[Paladin]] and a Jedi. Cyber-Knights are defenders of the weak and innocent. At first, they were known by their cybernetically-implanted armor and psychic energy swords, a later sourcebook gave them additional powers, notable a force-like ability to know when any technological device was turned against them.

*'''Dog Boy''': [[Furry|Mutant dogs]] created by the Coalition to hunt magic-users, Dog Boys can sense the presence of magic-users and supernatural beings like a hunting dog sniffing out prey.

*'''Dragon Hatchling''': Yes, you can play a [[Dragon]], albeit one only up to just over a month old. Dragon Hatchings have innate magical abilities, a body that can go toe-to-toe with a suit of power armor and stand a good chance of winning, and a number of other (super)natural abilities depending on their individual species.

*'''Glitter Boy''': Rarely has a class been so defined by it's equipment. The Glitter Boy is the pilot of a suit of power-armor of the same name, a ten-foot-tall beast wrapped in gleaming laser-resistant armor and carrying a powerful railgun that can core a modern battle tank in a single shot.

*'''Headhunter''': This started out as he basic [[Fighter]] of the game, i.e. "Dude with a gun". Over time however, the class evolved into a bionically-augmented warrior and monster slayer.

*'''Juicer''': Juicers use a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs to push their bodies past the human limit. Unfortunately, this burns their body out and kills them in five to seven years. Since then, people have refined the formula, tweaking the transformation for faster speed, more muscle mass(and metal to lace the skeleton enough to carry all that), and even supernatural strength and toughness(but when you burn out, you ''literally'' burn out, eventually exploding like a small bomb).

*'''Ley Line Walker''': Rifts' fancy way of saying [[Wizard]]. But they do come with a lot of abilities that deal with manipulating the energy from Ley Lines, including the ability to float or walk in the air along them. So at least the class earns its name.

*'''Psi-Stalker''': A mutant human subspecies that feeds on psychic energy used to power magic and supernatural beings.

*'''Techno-Wizard''': A spellcaster-mechanic who combines magic and technology to make magic weapons. These can range from a flaming sword to magic-powered mecha.

==Setting(s)==
As noted before, the primary setting of the world is Earth, specifically North America(mostly Eastern-to-Middle America and Canada). A few other dimensions got looked into from time to time as well. On top of that, compatibility between Palladium systems means that every other game, from ''Heroes Unlimited'' and ''Ninjas and Superspies'' to ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and ''Robotech'' are also part of the Palladium Megaverse, copyright permitting on those last two.

One of the most important new old features of the transformed Earth are the ''Ley Lines'', line crisscrossing the Earth that act as a network of magical energy. In the supercharged magic levels of Rifts' Earth, Ley Lines appear as huge walls of energy miles long, and half a mile wide, that glow blue-white in the night. Where two ley lines meet, they form a ''Nexus'', a powerful font of magic power that sometimes open into Rifts leading to other dimensions, where monsters and peoples can enter the world, sometimes whether they want to or not. Where three ley lines crisscross each other like a triangle, things get even weirder. Bermuda Triangle-weird.

===Coalition States(North America)===
The former United States is completely broken, with a few new kingdoms and empires clawing their way out of the Post-Apocalypse. The largest of these is the '''Coalition States''', a Nazi-like state that keeps its people illiterate, lies about history, and is genocidally vehement against Magic and non-human beings. If you didn't get the memo about them being bad guys before, their soldiers also wear all-black Stormtrooper armor with a skeleton motif, and they like putting skulls on the front of their vehicles and mechs whenever possible. The Coalition States are:
* Chi-Town: Claiming Iowa and parts of Illinois,. Chi-Town is a massive fortress-city near the haunted ruins of actual Chicago that is the capital of the CS.
* Missouri: Located in the eponymous state. Mostly farm and empty land earmarked for future development.
* Iron Heart: In southern Canada immediately north of Lake Huron. An industrialized state that cozies up to Chi-Town actively.
* Arkansas/El Dorado: Most of Arkansas is forest wilderness, with scattered Human and D-Bee towns. The primary exception is the City-State of El Dorado, which was friendly with the Coalition for years, ultimately joining during the Tolkeen war.
* Lone Star: While the CS claims the entirety of the Lone Star State, in truth they only run the Panhandle and some the area south of it. The main reason they do so is the '''Tex-Am Complex''', a Pre-Rifts compound of Genetic Engineering labs, where the CS clones their army of Dog Boys. The man running the place, a Doctor Desmond Bradford, is a bit of a Mad Scientist.
* Free Quebec: Laying claim to the Canadian state with a legion of Glitter Boys. Quebec is... well, it's ''Quebec''. Very French and very arrogant, they eventually split off from the Coalition, sparking a civil war.

===Archie 3===
In the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the mega-corp Cyberworks created a powerful A.I. called A.R.C.H.I.E. Three. This A.I. was moved to the supreme headquarters of NEMA, an oragnization tasked with defending North America. On the bright side, the world ended before he went Skynet on us, on the down side, that didn't stop him from going crazy anyway. Archie has decided that the only way to make sense of this crazy world is to take it over, and he has command of a surprisingly well-preserved robot factory to do it. But rather than march across the country with an unending tide of tireless death machines, Archie has decided to be more subtle, starting with an army of hot robot warrior women riding mechanical dinosaurs as his front.

But Archie has a few disadvantages. He has trouble coming up with ideas of his own, and as such needs a Human "Idea Man" to link up and help him come up with new plots and minions.

One such idea was the hire a Shifter to help them exploit the possibilities of other dimensions. Unfortunately, the very first portal he opened up led directly to '''The Mechanoids''', a genocidal race of cyborgs with a mad on against Humanoid life(Basically Daleks Lite, and not all ''that'' Lite). A small force of them managed to come thought the rift before one of them killed the Human shifter and thus closed the door. The Mechanoids took over Archie's factory and set about retooling it with their technology and cloning facilities to make more of themselves, triggering the first large-scale crisis on Rifts' Earth. For his part, Archie feigned compliance and sent out his Idea Man, Hagan, to resist the Mechanoids and to gather heroes to destroy them. Needless to say, they succeeded.

===Federation of Magic===
The eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from Missouri and Arkansas, encompassing all of Kentucky, and most of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio and parts of Tennessee is an area crisscrossed by ley lines and saturated in magic energies. This it is known as the '''Magic Zone'''.

When the Rifts opened, one big one opened right inside the Gatway Arch in St. Loius. This rift fused with the gate, rendering it indestructible, and never closed. The Coalition occupied the area around the gate(leaving the rest of the city in ruin), and use it as a Headquarters for the '''Rift Control Study Group''', a military division that seeks scientific means to control and close rifts.

Elsewhere in the Magic Zone is a loose confederation of Magic-using states referred to as the '''Federation of Magic'''. The most dangerous of which are '''Dwemer''', a mysterious city-state ruled by three God-like beings, '''Stormspire''', a city devoted to the creation and sale of Techno-Wizard equipment, and the so-called '''True Federation''', a cult-like force that consorts with demons, shadow-beasts and worse, led by the maniacle Alistair Dunscon, lord of the '''City of Brass'''.

===Lazlo===
Where the city of Toronto once stood is now the city of Lazlo, a self-styled City of Learning. Named after a pre-Rifts scholar who theorized the existence of Ley Lines and other supernatural phenomenon that later turned out to have been right all along, Lazlo is one of the birthplaces of Techno-Wizardry, and one of the unquestionably "Good" places on Rifts' Earth. It is also home to adventurer Erin Tarn.

===Mad Haven===
New York City got pretty much wiped off the map during the Great Cataclysm. Sometime during this, Manhattan Island itself somehow got slammed into the mainland, making it into a peninsula. The ruins, only lightly overgrown despite the centuries, are haunted by spirits, madness, and mutants.

===Northern Gun/Manistique Imperium===
In that part of the northern half of the state of Michigan that kinda looks like a gun(get it?), The former Kingdom, now Republic, of '''Ishpeming''' is pretty much the bitch of the manufacturing giant Northern Gun. NG makes everything from tools and vehicles to guns, missiles, and giant robots, and is one of the biggest provider of weapons to adventurers on the continent.

Right next to Ishpeming is the '''Manistique Imperium'''. At the tip of Michigan's "gun", The Imperium is a friendly neighbor to Ishpeming, but has recently entered the manufacturing market as well with Wellington Industries. Fortunately for Northern Gun, WI focuses more on projectile weapons and explosives rather than lasers and other energy weapons, which is NG's stock in trade.

===Pecos Empire===
The Coalition says they own all of Texas, but these guys are the reason why that's not true. The "Empire" is really several small armies of bandits and independent states run by a variety of leaders, from a giant to a wannabe Mafia Don to the actual, real-life Sundance Kid(as in, "Butch Cassidy and the").

===Psyscape===
A community of powerful psychic warriors somewhere in the Ohio Valley. Their main city exists partially within the Astral Plane, with the physical part anchored by a living Ley Line Nexus known as Psynex.

===Tolkeen===
Another center of Techno-Wizardry located in Minnesota. Tolkeen was a place of acceptance and magic much like Lazlo, but found itself way too close to the Coalition States. This inevitably led to war, which took Tolkeen's leaders down a dark path that ultimately failed to save it. After Tolkieen's destruction, hundreds to thousands of refugees fled west

===Vampire Kingdoms===
Mexico is almost entirely overrun by [[Vampire]]s, who have established their own kingdoms where Humans and D-Bees are either willing vassals or cattle.

==Criticisms==
*Every now and then the fluff makes you feel like you stopped reading the book and started smoking a joint rolled from one of the pages. Some material is really weird. Like vampires with feet on their arms and hands on their legs. There's a mix of awesome, dumb, and awesome-dumb throughout.

*There is ''no'' balance between Races or Character Classes. '''NONE'''. You can literally have one player playing a demigod and another a hobo, with ''all'' the power disparity that implies.

*The system is notorious for constantly one-upping itself. Every source book seems dedicated to making the weapons in the last source book look like a bunch of kitten launchers. It's not really a linear progression so much as up-and-down, but considering the books your players are most likely to pull out it's reputation for escalation is not unwarranted. Beware most of the books written by C.J. Carella.

*It's very [[grimdark]]. Not as much as 40k- there's both good factions and hope around, some heroes would fit in well with [[Noblebright]] settings- but pretty much every continent has it's own extinction level threat or two, and the biggest power block on the planet by far is the Splugorth of Atlantis, who's leader Splynncryth is the answer to the question of "what if Cthulhu was a capitalist?". Having a continent-sized nation of interdimensional slave trading monsters under an eldritch abomination sounds like about as bad as things can get, but at least they don't want to rule everything (just raid it for live stock occasionally), and their presence discourages even ''worse'' eldritch abominations and supernatural hordes from descending on the planet en mass. They still descend upon the planet of course, just with more subtlety so they don't have to take the armies of Atlantis straight off.

*MOAR MEGADAMAGE! An infamous feature of the Palladium engine is the idea of Mega-Damage. Essentially [[Damage Reduction]] on steroids, it was originally designed for ''Robotech'' to reflect the idea of how conventional weapons are almost always useless against the gear of alien invaders, but the new/prototype weapons of the heroes work just fine. The gist of it is that every point of Mega-Damage(MDC) equals a hundred points of normal Structural Damage/Hitpoints(SDC). In short, traditional guns don't scratch an MDC being/mecha unless they go straight to anti-tank weaponry, while an MDC being can punch through a tank. Rifts takes this and fucking ''runs'' with it. Even basic arms and armor inflicts Mega-Damage, with the books explicitly stating that a man in body armor and carrying a laser rifle packs the toughness and firepower of a modern Main Battle Tank. Then Rifts stacks power armor, giant robots, and tanks on top of that, plus monsters tough enough to be a threat to all of those.

*"I just spent 10 hours making a character. Oh, shit it's 4AM. When are we going to play? Never? OK then."

*TRADEMARK ALL THE THINGS!

*While it is about complex as DnD 3.5, the layout makes it seem more complicated than it actually is.

*There is a Savage Worlds edition now, in case you want a modern ruleset.

[[category: roleplaying]]

RIFTS

2018-10-30T19:21:35Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Setting(s) */

Rifts is a [[RPG|roleplaying game]] made by the [[Palladium Books]] publishing company. Rifts takes place on earth about 300 years after a nuclear holocaust caused a magical reawakening and killed over two thirds of humanity. In the course of the apocalypse many things changed in the world, Atlantis rose out of the ocean which flooded most Atlantic coastlines (killing even more people), the four horsemen appeared in Africa (where they killed more people), the Lord of the Deep was awakened (He didn't kill anyone at the time), and most importantly Rifts began to open up which let numerous alien races spill out into the world. Where many of them were and are still being killed. Rifts, for which the game is named, are what makes Rifts Earth so incredibly crazy. These Rifts allow for dimensional travel and allow everything from friendly fluff balls to malevolent alien gods out for a stroll onto Earth. So all the while the people who thought their lives couldn't get any worse now have to compete with displaced extra-dimensional beings trapped here. Those not content with just being friends with everybody chose to fight even the nicest of D-Bee's (Slang term for dimensional beings). Thus the Coalition was formed. Made up of a bunch of pricks who managed to take control of ancient super-city/fortresses wage constant war against Aliens, supernatural beings and magic users. Meanwhile all kinds of other horrible things go on all across Rifts Earth. [[grimdark|This is a really shitty place to live]].

==Disclaimer==
Every Rifts book begins with a disclaimer that warns that the book contains violence, war, magic and the supernatural. Which is redundant since every cover of every source book contains an image that shows at least one, or more commonly all four of them. The disclaimer is often accompanied by some artwork that depicts some violence or one of the other four as well. This disclaimer was a response to the wave of [[Dark Dungeons|anti-RPG]] [[Mazes and Monsters|hysteria]] in the 80s and early 90s, and its inclusion in saner times is one of many things that shows the game's age.

==Setting(s)==
As noted before, the primary setting of the world is Earth, specifically North America(mostly Eastern-to-Middle America and Canada). A few other dimensions got looked into from time to time as well. On top of that, compatibility between Palladium systems means that every other game, from ''Heroes Unlimited'' and ''Ninjas and Superspies'' to ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and ''Robotech'' are also part of the Palladium Megaverse, copyright permitting on those last two.

One of the most important new old features of the transformed Earth are the ''Ley Lines'', line crisscrossing the Earth that act as a network of magical energy. In the supercharged magic levels of Rifts' Earth, Ley Lines appear as huge walls of energy miles long, and half a mile wide, that glow blue-white in the night. Where two ley lines meet, they form a ''Nexus'', a powerful font of magic power that sometimes open into Rifts leading to other dimensions, where monsters and peoples can enter the world, sometimes whether they want to or not. Where three ley lines crisscross each other like a triangle, things get even weirder. Bermuda Triangle-weird.

===Coalition States(North America)===
The former United States is completely broken, with a few new kingdoms and empires clawing their way out of the Post-Apocalypse. The largest of these is the '''Coalition States''', a Nazi-like state that keeps its people illiterate, lies about history, and is genocidally vehement against Magic and non-human beings. If you didn't get the memo about them being bad guys before, their soldiers also wear all-black Stormtrooper armor with a skeleton motif, and they like putting skulls on the front of their vehicles and mechs whenever possible. The Coalition States are:
* Chi-Town: Claiming Iowa and parts of Illinois,. Chi-Town is a massive fortress-city near the haunted ruins of actual Chicago that is the capital of the CS.
* Missouri: Located in the eponymous state. Mostly farm and empty land earmarked for future development.
* Iron Heart: In southern Canada immediately north of Lake Huron. An industrialized state that cozies up to Chi-Town actively.
* Arkansas/El Dorado: Most of Arkansas is forest wilderness, with scattered Human and D-Bee towns. The primary exception is the City-State of El Dorado, which was friendly with the Coalition for years, ultimately joining during the Tolkeen war.
* Lone Star: While the CS claims the entirety of the Lone Star State, in truth they only run the Panhandle and some the area south of it. The main reason they do so is the '''Tex-Am Complex''', a Pre-Rifts compound of Genetic Engineering labs, where the CS clones their army of Dog Boys. The man running the place, a Doctor Desmond Bradford, is a bit of a Mad Scientist.
* Free Quebec: Laying claim to the Canadian state with a legion of Glitter Boys. Quebec is... well, it's ''Quebec''. Very French and very arrogant, they eventually split off from the Coalition, sparking a civil war.

===Archie 3===
In the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the mega-corp Cyberworks created a powerful A.I. called A.R.C.H.I.E. Three. This A.I. was moved to the supreme headquarters of NEMA, an oragnization tasked with defending North America. On the bright side, the world ended before he went Skynet on us, on the down side, that didn't stop him from going crazy anyway. Archie has decided that the only way to make sense of this crazy world is to take it over, and he has command of a surprisingly well-preserved robot factory to do it. But rather than march across the country with an unending tide of tireless death machines, Archie has decided to be more subtle, starting with an army of hot robot warrior women riding mechanical dinosaurs as his front.

But Archie has a few disadvantages. He has trouble coming up with ideas of his own, and as such needs a Human "Idea Man" to link up and help him come up with new plots and minions.

One such idea was the hire a Shifter to help them exploit the possibilities of other dimensions. Unfortunately, the very first portal he opened up led directly to '''The Mechanoids''', a genocidal race of cyborgs with a mad on against Humanoid life(Basically Daleks Lite, and not all ''that'' Lite). A small force of them managed to come thought the rift before one of them killed the Human shifter and thus closed the door. The Mechanoids took over Archie's factory and set about retooling it with their technology and cloning facilities to make more of themselves, triggering the first large-scale crisis on Rifts' Earth. For his part, Archie feigned compliance and sent out his Idea Man, Hagan, to resist the Mechanoids and to gather heroes to destroy them. Needless to say, they succeeded.

===Federation of Magic===
The eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from Missouri and Arkansas, encompassing all of Kentucky, and most of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio and parts of Tennessee is an area crisscrossed by ley lines and saturated in magic energies. This it is known as the '''Magic Zone'''.

When the Rifts opened, one big one opened right inside the Gatway Arch in St. Loius. This rift fused with the gate, rendering it indestructible, and never closed. The Coalition occupied the area around the gate(leaving the rest of the city in ruin), and use it as a Headquarters for the '''Rift Control Study Group''', a military division that seeks scientific means to control and close rifts.

Elsewhere in the Magic Zone is a loose confederation of Magic-using states referred to as the '''Federation of Magic'''. The most dangerous of which are '''Dwemer''', a mysterious city-state ruled by three God-like beings, '''Stormspire''', a city devoted to the creation and sale of Techno-Wizard equipment, and the so-called '''True Federation''', a cult-like force that consorts with demons, shadow-beasts and worse, led by the maniacle Alistair Dunscon, lord of the '''City of Brass'''.

===Lazlo===
Where the city of Toronto once stood is now the city of Lazlo, a self-styled City of Learning. Named after a pre-Rifts scholar who theorized the existence of Ley Lines and other supernatural phenomenon that later turned out to have been right all along, Lazlo is one of the birthplaces of Techno-Wizardry, and one of the unquestionably "Good" places on Rifts' Earth. It is also home to adventurer Erin Tarn.

===Mad Haven===
New York City got pretty much wiped off the map during the Great Cataclysm. Sometime during this, Manhattan Island itself somehow got slammed into the mainland, making it into a peninsula. The ruins, only lightly overgrown despite the centuries, are haunted by spirits, madness, and mutants.

===Northern Gun/Manistique Imperium===
In that part of the northern half of the state of Michigan that kinda looks like a gun(get it?), The former Kingdom, now Republic, of '''Ishpeming''' is pretty much the bitch of the manufacturing giant Northern Gun. NG makes everything from tools and vehicles to guns, missiles, and giant robots, and is one of the biggest provider of weapons to adventurers on the continent.

Right next to Ishpeming is the '''Manistique Imperium'''. At the tip of Michigan's "gun", The Imperium is a friendly neighbor to Ishpeming, but has recently entered the manufacturing market as well with Wellington Industries. Fortunately for Northern Gun, WI focuses more on projectile weapons and explosives rather than lasers and other energy weapons, which is NG's stock in trade.

===Pecos Empire===
The Coalition says they own all of Texas, but these guys are the reason why that's not true. The "Empire" is really several small armies of bandits and independent states run by a variety of leaders, from a giant to a wannabe Mafia Don to the actual, real-life Sundance Kid(as in, "Butch Cassidy and the").

===Psyscape===
A community of powerful psychic warriors somewhere in the Ohio Valley. Their main city exists partially within the Astral Plane, with the physical part anchored by a living Ley Line Nexus known as Psynex.

===Tolkeen===
Another center of Techno-Wizardry located in Minnesota. Tolkeen was a place of acceptance and magic much like Lazlo, but found itself way too close to the Coalition States. This inevitably led to war, which took Tolkeen's leaders down a dark path that ultimately failed to save it. After Tolkieen's destruction, hundreds to thousands of refugees fled west

===Vampire Kingdoms===
Mexico is almost entirely overrun by [[Vampire]]s, who have established their own kingdoms where Humans and D-Bees are either willing vassals or cattle.

==Criticisms==
*Every now and then the fluff makes you feel like you stopped reading the book and started smoking a joint rolled from one of the pages. Some material is really weird. Like vampires with feet on their arms and hands on their legs. There's a mix of awesome, dumb, and awesome-dumb throughout.

*There is ''no'' balance between Races or Character Classes. '''NONE'''. You can literally have one player playing a demigod and another a hobo, with ''all'' the power disparity that implies.

*The system is notorious for constantly one-upping itself. Every source book seems dedicated to making the weapons in the last source book look like a bunch of kitten launchers. It's not really a linear progression so much as up-and-down, but considering the books your players are most likely to pull out it's reputation for escalation is not unwarranted. Beware most of the books written by C.J. Carella.

*It's very [[grimdark]]. Not as much as 40k- there's both good factions and hope around, some heroes would fit in well with [[Noblebright]] settings- but pretty much every continent has it's own extinction level threat or two, and the biggest power block on the planet by far is the Splugorth of Atlantis, who's leader Splynncryth is the answer to the question of "what if Cthulhu was a capitalist?". Having a continent-sized nation of interdimensional slave trading monsters under an eldritch abomination sounds like about as bad as things can get, but at least they don't want to rule everything (just raid it for live stock occasionally), and their presence discourages even ''worse'' eldritch abominations and supernatural hordes from descending on the planet en mass. They still descend upon the planet of course, just with more subtlety so they don't have to take the armies of Atlantis straight off.

*MOAR MEGADAMAGE! An infamous feature of the Palladium engine is the idea of Mega-Damage. Essentially [[Damage Reduction]] on steroids, it was originally designed for ''Robotech'' to reflect the idea of how conventional weapons are almost always useless against the gear of alien invaders, but the new/prototype weapons of the heroes work just fine. The gist of it is that every point of Mega-Damage(MDC) equals a hundred points of normal Structural Damage/Hitpoints(SDC). In short, traditional guns don't scratch an MDC being/mecha unless they go straight to anti-tank weaponry, while an MDC being can punch through a tank. Rifts takes this and fucking ''runs'' with it. Even basic arms and armor inflicts Mega-Damage, with the books explicitly stating that a man in body armor and carrying a laser rifle packs the toughness and firepower of a modern Main Battle Tank. Then Rifts stacks power armor, giant robots, and tanks on top of that, plus monsters tough enough to be a threat to all of those.

*"I just spent 10 hours making a character. Oh, shit it's 4AM. When are we going to play? Never? OK then."

*TRADEMARK ALL THE THINGS!

*While it is about complex as DnD 3.5, the layout makes it seem more complicated than it actually is.

*There is a Savage Worlds edition now, in case you want a modern ruleset.

[[category: roleplaying]]

Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)

2018-10-30T17:06:46Z

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[[File:Dragon_Disciple.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Dragon Disciple. A sub-class of sorcerers that avoid being squishy.]]
'''Sorcerers''' are a core playable spellcaster class in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] since Third Edition. Unlike [[Wizard]]s, a Sorcerer's power comes not from years of study, but as a result of supernatural power infusing their blood. In D&D, this is usually because one of your ancestors fucked a Dragon, while [[Pathfinder]] gives much more varied(and sometimes squickier) origins.

Prior to Fourth, they are really just simpler versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells on the fly without morning preparation or a spellbook. The drawback is that they can only know a few distinct spells per spell level. In essence, they are "easier to play" wizards for people who have short attention spans and/or don't want to muck around with strategy.

Critics claim there are several additional problems with the class:
* Fewer [[feats]] than the wizard.
* No class [[skills]] except Bluff use Charisma, the sorcerer's casting stat.
* Inferior [[Prestige classes]] compared to the wizard (think ''Tome and Blood'').
* Cannot obtain as much benefit from spell scrolls and spellbooks as a wizard can.

Advocates argue that:
* Some of the prestige classes are pretty good (exalted arcanist, archmage) if you have the right [[splatbook]] (''Book of Exalted Deeds'', ''Heroes of Horror'', ''Draconomicon'').
* Sorcerers got a mild buff in 3.5, allowing them to vary some spells between levels to make up for their limited spell selection.
* Not having to prepare their spells ''does'' offer some advantages (casting ''flight'' or ''invisibility'' on the whole party off-the-cuff without prior preparation).

In addition, the self-contained nature of the sorcerer is useful to counteract a [[That Guy|difficult]] [[Dungeon Master|DM]]:
* A sorcerer doesn't depend on an external, potentially destructible object to prepare his spells (i.e. the wizard's spellbook).
* A wizard may not obtain or be able to afford the spells he wants to add to his book, while a sorcerer is granted his new spells at each level-up.

Each day, sorcerers and [[bard]]s must focus their minds on the task of casting their spells. A sorcerer or
bard needs 8 hours of rest (just like a wizard), after which he spends
15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an
instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period,
the sorcerer or bard readies his mind to cast his daily allotment of
spells. Without such a period to refresh himself, the character does
not regain the spell slots he used up the day before.

== Schools of Thought ==

Sorcerers are really just single-minded versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells spontaneously (e.g. without preparation in the morning).

Players of sorcerers (not to be mistaken with [[Saucerer]]s) often enjoy the [[Dragonborn|dragon blood]] fluff, and use it in some vague attempt at [[roleplaying]], but we all know that deep down inside they're just playing a sorcerer because they want to throw more fireballs per day than the [[wizard]]. But then again, with the right specialization and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]], a wizard can have more spells per day than the sorcerer, rendering him useless. This is especially true when you realize that the wizard gets things like bonus feats, further pushing his power well past anything the sorcerer can accomplish without a prestige class.

It's a well-known fact that [[Skip Williams]], one of the developers of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, absolutely ''despised'' the sorcerer class and is famous for saying in a now-notorious thread on the [[Wizards of the Coast]] forums that sorcerers weren't worthy of being called spellcasting classes. The findings of most of the balance team for 3.5 regarding the sorcerer were steadfastly ignored by WotC, which is why the sorcerer doesn't get bonus feats, skills that actually use his main stat (except for Bluff), or the full benefits of metamagic; you know, all the things wizards get and take for granted. About the only buff they got in 3.5 is that they can now vary some spells up between levels to make up for how limited their spell selection is. All of this is painfully obvious if one cracks open a copy of the ''Tome and Blood,'' which is widely-regarded as being for wizards what the current-edition [[Matt Ward|Space Marine Codex was for Ultramarines]]. All of the sorcerer-specific classes in the book were horrifically underpowered, whereas a number of wizard builds offered via ''T&B'' were incredibly, gob-smackingly powerful.

Sorcerers are, to put it simply, underpowered compared to wizards: they make sacrifices in the number of spells they can know at any one time in order to be able to cast two more spells of every level per day than [[wizard]]s, who can still very easily surpass a sorcerer's spells per day with the right builds. If your group is a hack-and-slash, combat-centric group, you're probably going to want to roll a sorcerer. If your group [[/tg/ gets shit done|actually does anything]] besides kick in doors and behead goblinoids/innocent [[dorf|dwarves]]/the [[Tarrasque]] (haha, beheading the [[Tarrasque]], it'd just grow a new head before you could blink), then consider the [[wizard]]'s immense versatility an advantage.

On the other hand, a sorcerer represents the chaotic side of magic, free to face the encounter with all that he knows, ever ready to adapt and prevail. Wizards represent the methodical, logical, and lawful mechanics of magic. So long as they have planned accordingly the night before and morning of, they can face any situation as it comes. But any one unpredictable thing comes along and the sorcerer gets to loot the wizard's corpse. Of course, the sorcerer also has to plan ahead because he prepares his spells once and doesn't get to change them until he gets to the next level, so you can't afford to have shitty spells.

...Which isn't to say it's all bad news. The sorcerer qualifies for a number of [[Prestige classes|prestige classes]] that dramatically improve the power of the class. Exalted arcanist (from ''Book of Exalted Deeds'') gives the class access to a few clerical spells and gives the class a surprising bit of versatility; fiend-blooded (from ''Heroes of Horror'') seems outwardly similar to the dragon disciple class from ''Tome and Blood'' in that you trade levels for what's functionally a template, but unlike the dragon disciple, offers full spell progression, access to spells you can't normally get, familiar boosts, and the ability to load up a spell to be even more destructive a few times a day - just for example; the ''Draconomicon'' also has a bunch of useful sorcerer buffs, including sorcerer-specific feats and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]]. Additionally, the sorcerer can also easily latch onto (and take advantage of) a number of wizard-exclusive prestige classes; seeing what this class can do with archmage is nothing short of hilarious. While it tends to be a less powerful caster than a wizard based [[Gish]], Paladin 2/Sorcerer X is a staple gish entry thanks to having a massive bonus to all saving throws.

But as far as a base class goes? No reason to bother. Prestige out of this class ASAP; all you have to lose is familiar progression. You'll likely find the result far more effective than a sorcerer by its lonesome.

==Pathfinder==
[[Pathfinder]] gave every class a unified system of feat progression, removing one problem with the wizard comparison right there; it also offers traits to let them make the charisma-based skills they should ''always have fucking had in-class'' into class skills, and indirectly helps them out by making prestige classes much rarer and more corner-case. It also added a series of "bloodline powers" to let the player customize them a little and to make them a little less like weaker versions of wizards; it does a good job of that, though they still lack some of the wizard's raw versatility. Those bloodlines show what monster in your ancestry is the source of your powers, making it the class equivalent of half-elf or half-orc or whatever. It's possible to be descended from an undead or an aberration; best not to think about how, though at least ''some'' undead [[vampire|are generally considered quite attractive]] and officially all exposure to mutating magical forces is a possible source of becoming a sorcerer instead of just good ol' fashioned breeding. Either way, said bloodlines dramatically increase the power of the sorcerers: each bloodline gives you a list of bonus feats, bonus spells, and "bloodline powers" which range from mediocre (1d6 blast) to getting even moar bonus spells, +6 str, [[What|having all of your internal organs shifted so that you are immune to critical hits and cannot be backstabbed]], and casting metamagic without increased casting time.

Core bloodlines are pretty standard, being classic themes as Abyssal/Infernal/Celestial/Dragonkin/Fey/etc, with the aberration and undead being kind of oddballs, the destined being hilarious, and the arcane pretty boring but obviously the most powerful, as it is clearly the most viable option in the entire game for metamagic users. Yes, now [[Powergamer|munchkins]] can be sorcerers too. Then Paizo started printing all of its "Ultimate X" stuff and things kept going weird(er), with sorcerers descending from nearly everything that can sport a reproductive system, including (but not limited to) Cthulhu-like abominations and plant monsters. They also introduced the "wildblooded" concept of variant bloodlines, though most of these are negligible difference in ancestry and exist mainly for mechanical changes. To get an idea of how weird things can get, here is the full list:

*'''Aberrant''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[Aboleth]], [[Beholder]] or something similar.
*'''Abyssal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[demon]].
*'''Accursed''': Your ancestor was cursed, possibly by a [[Hag]].
*'''Aquatic''': Your ancestor messed with an aquatic creature like a [[Merfolk]], [[Triton]]... or a [[Deep One]].
*'''Arcane''': Your ancestors were [[wizard]]s, and powerful ones at that.
**'''Sage''': You control your powers with research, using intelligence instead of charisma. Unlike Empyreal there's not really anything fun to do with this because intelligence based arcane casters already existed.
*'''Boreal''': Your ancestor was <s>[[Indrick Boreale]]</s> a creature living in cold regions up north.
*'''Celestial''': Your ancestor was touched by an angel in ''that'' way.
*'''Daemon''': Your ancestor messed around with a life-hating [[daemon]].
*'''Deep Earth''': Your ancestor messed around with a creature of the earth.
*'''Destined''': Your family was destined for greatness, and it produced you. Better deliver the goods, kiddo.
*'''Div''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the nihilistic [[div]].
*'''Djinni''': Your ancestor messed around with a Djinni, an air [[genie]].
*'''Draconic''': Your ancestor got fucked by a [[dragon]]. Comes in the full Chromatic and Metallic spectrum. A feat can also allow you to use Outer Dragons as well.
**'''Linnorm''': Instead of a 4 legged dragon, your ancestor was a norse style serpent dragon. Given their sub-orc intelligence, inability to shapeshift, growing instead of gaining class levels and tendency to curse people, this one was ''probably'' not from genetics.
*'''Dreamspun''': Your family has always been able to mess around with dreams, and now it's your turn.
*'''Ectoplasm''': Your family is somehow linked to ectoplasm, which does not have to mean they fucked [[ghost]]s, but probably does.
*'''Efreeti''': Your ancestor messed around with an Efreeti, a fire [[genie]].
*'''Elemental''': Your ancestor fucked a powerful elemental being, or was exposed to strong elemental energy. Comes in variations of the usual four element ensemble.
**'''Empyreal''': You control your powers with insight instead of willpower, meaning you use wisdom instead of charisma. Has interesting combos with zen Archer Monk and Arcane Archer.
*'''Fey''': Your ancestor messed around with a fairy, and not of the [[gay|homosexual]] kind.
*'''Ghoul''': Your ancestor probably ate a bit too much [[human|long pig]], and now you're a bit ghoulish.
*'''Harrow''': Your ancestor played too much with their not-[[Tarot]] deck, which nets you [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|magical powers linked to this not-Tarot]].
*'''Imperius''': Your ancestor was so much into [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] it gained you magical powers [[Zarus|to secure a future for the human race]]. For [[human]]s only.
*'''Impossible''': You're here to kick reason to the curb and do the impossible.
*'''Infernal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[devil]], or didn't read the fine print when they made a deal with one.
*'''Kobold''': You carry the blood of dragons inside you, which other kobolds are really impressed with. As expected, it's for [[kobold]]s only.
*'''Maestro''': Your ancestor was way into music and sound, like a [[bard]], trumpet [[archon]], [[lillend]] or something less wholesome like a [[harpy]] or even a [[Gibbering Mouther]].
*'''Marid''': Your ancestor messed around with a Marid, a water [[genie]].
*'''Martyred''': Your ancestor died for their beliefs, which nets you powers courtesy of grandpa Jesus.
*'''Nanite''': Your ancestor messed around with [[Metal Gear|NANOMACHINES, SON!]] They grant you magical powers.
*'''Oni''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the hedonistic [[Oni]].
*'''Orc''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[orc]], which gives you [[rage]] powers. Not actually limited to orcs or humans, meaning that you could be an [[elf]] with this bloodline.
*'''Pestilence''': You are a disturbed individual who's down with the sickness and gains magical powers through your blighted soul.
*'''Possessed''': You're kind of a [[Spiritualist]]: you have a spirit riding your soul who gets you magical powers, except you get casting like a sorcerer.
*'''Protean''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Protean]], the [[Slaad]] standins of [[Pathfinder]].
*'''Psychic''': Your family includes many [[Psion|psychics]], and you're too.
*'''Rakshasa''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Rakshasa]], making them a [[furry]].
*'''Salamander''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Salamander]], giving you all sorts of neat fire and smithing powers.
*'''Serpentine''': Your ancestor messed around with one flavor or another of [[snek]], meaning you have snake powers.
*'''Shadow''': Your ancestor messed around with edgy powers, and now you have a shadowy soul and matching powers.
*'''Shapechanger''': Your ancestor was a shapechanger (presumably one that wasn't an outsider or dragon), so you're better at polymorph spells, even able to maintain one near-permanently.
*'''Shaitan''': Your ancestor messed around with a Shaitan, an earth [[genie]].
*'''Starsoul''': Your ancestor traveled through space, and instead of getting irradiated and dying their descendants gained magical powers.
*'''Stormborn''': Your ancestor messed around with <s>[[A Song of Ice and Fire|House Targaryen]]</s> a creature of storm and electricity.
*'''Undead''': Your ancestor [[Discworld|has something to do with death, which nets you magical powers]].
*'''Verdant''': Your ancestor messed around with plants, making being [[Batman|Poison Ivy]] a hereditary trait to your family.

Still, sorcerers are really an interesting, entertaining choice and can be tailored and customized to be whatever the fuck you may desire, with great opportunities for roleplaying. Even the lack of spells is less severe - you get one free spell among your bloodline ones every odd level beyond the first, and a good chunk of races has a favored class bonus that nets you 1 bonus spell each level, even if it has to be one level lower than your highest spell's level. If you don't mind being a special snowflake, check out the "build your own spells" Words of Power system from "Ultimate Magic." The sky's falling in on our heads, 'cause someone in a 3.X game actually put in an alternate casting system that favors sorcerers over their [[wizard|spoiled rotten cousins]]. Think on how some of the elemental bloodlines boost power for ''any'' spell with the right elemental subtype. Think how easy it is to slip a level zero ''cold snap'' or ''spark'' keyword into a larger spell. Engage trollface, because you just made the best "blaster" mage in 3.X history.

Also in Pathfinder, sorcerers make arguably better mystic theurges than wizards because they can choose to multiclass in [[Oracle]]. The oracle is a divine equivalent of the sorcerer that uses charisma as his casting stat, thus avoiding being [[MAD]], or can take the empyreal bloodline and swap their casting stat with Wisdom, making it a perfect multiclass option for druids or clerics that want to go theurge. Obviously, this advantage becomes moot when you notice that Pathfinder theurges suck pretty bad, and one of their (few) features only works for prepared spellcasters. Oops!

See also the [[Dragon Disciple]], which synchronizes heavily with the Draconic Bloodline. You don't gain magic as much as the pure Sorcerer, but their bloodline powers come faster or more powerful.

== 4e's Attempts ==
[[Image:Wrathful Vapors.png|300px|thumb|The green vapors do lightning and acid damage, the blue ones cold and thunder damage.]]
4th edition kept the sorcerer out of the first PHB precisely because the developers wanted to come up with a way to make it more useful and distinct, especially since it could no longer fall back on a different spellcasting mechanism to justify its uniqueness. Instead, it came out in the PHB2 with a stunning new redesign.

Keeping the idea that the sorcerer is an intuitive, innate caster rather than a [[wizard|studied, deliberate arcanist]] or a [[warlock|pact-bound channeler]], the 4e Sorcerer is an Arcane Striker who has basically taken up the [[Evoker]] niche. Their spells focus on dealing large amounts of elemental damage, often multiple types simultaneously, over a close-ranged area - in essence, taking up a midway point between the 4e wizard and the 4e warlock.

Furthermore, the 4e sorcerer finally distinguished just where its magic came from, in contrast to the nebulous and vague fluff of 3rd edition. By the time 4e was cancelled, four distinct power origins were presented; draconic magic, wild magic, storm magic and cosmic magic. Each of these granted its sorcerer some unique magical traits.

* Wild Magic sorcerers would randomly gain either +1 AC or a free saving throw at the start of each round, had [[Damage Reduction|energy resistance]] that changed randomly with each long rest, could slide their target around & knock it prone on a natural 20, and shoved away every creature within 5 squares on a natural 1.
* Dragon Magic sorcerers gain one form of energy resistance from a list of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning and Poison, can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and gain +2 AC whenever they are Bloodied.
* Storm Magic sorcerers are resistant to thunder & lightning damage, and get to push their target and then fly a short distance on a natural 20.
* Cosmic Magic sorcerers can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and can choose which of the three cosmic phases they are aligned with after completing a rest; the phase they're in gives them a special bonus. The Sun phase grants Cold resistance and inflicts Fire & Radiant damage on all nearby enemies. The Moon phase grants Psychic resistance and +1 AC per conscious enemy adjacent to you, making you super tanky. The Stars phase grants Radiant resistance and the ability to teleport as a free reaction if an enemy takes a swing and misses. Additionally, you can choose to change to the next phase in the cycle (Sun-Moon-Stars-Sun) each time you cast a sorcerer daily, although you're forced to switch to the next one along when you get Bloodied.

For all sorcerers, emphasizing their raw power, they have the unique ability to ignore the elemental damage resistance of enemies who share their elemental affinity. So a sorcerer with Fire resistance ignores the Fire resistance of its foes.

==Meanwhile, in 5th Edition...==
In 5th Edition, opinions on sorcerers is... decidedly mixed. Some argue that they're just as useful and viable as they were in 4e, others argue they've gone right back to being the redheaded bastard children of the family.

See, someone finally realized that sorcerers should get something unique: [[metamagic]], torn from [[wizard|the screaming hands of the most pampered brats of 3rd edition]]. They now have exclusive access to metamagics, of which they can eventually get four, and can alter ''any'' of their spells on the fly using a resource pool called Sorcery Points (which is basically a stupider name for a mana system). They get more as they level up, and can also use them to regain spells. These mechanics are important, because with the reworks to prepared spellcasting, the complaint that sorcerers prepare their spells once and can't easily swap them out is more true than ever.

Sorcerers get to choose their bloodline power at first level: [[Dragon]]s or something vague and chaotic. The dragon bloodline gives them natural armor (which doesn't stack with actual armor, naturally) and one more hit point per level. Eventually they get dragon wings, resistance to, and affinity for, their chosen dragon's element, and the ability to use SP to activate an aura that either scares people or inspires them, depending on which the sorcerer wants it to do.

The second bloodline option is that the sorcerer has "[[Wild Mage|Wild Magic]]." This means that whenever they cast a spell, the DM can ask them to roll a D20, and on a 1, random magical effects happen. However, given their probable frequency, they are now less devastating (none that instantly kill you, the worst it gets is turning you into a plant for one round or casting ''grease'' on your location, though we can't forget the chance to drop a fireball on yourself). In fact, many are helpful, and later the wild mage actually uses this to their advantage (whenever they have a surge, they can roll twice on the chart). Oh, and they have a D6 hit die now, like in [[Pathfinder]]. I guess WotC got sick of spellcasters whining about not having enough HP to do anything.

Finally, their class skills include lots of Charisma-based choices, like in 4e, which is just one more sweet, sweet improvement.

Their four major weaknesses (and they are all, admittedly, doozies) are thus:
* That the heavily-reworked magic system took a lot of the punch out of their spontaneous casting, and made the wizard's tremendous versatility even more of an advantage, since now every caster has access to all memorized spells of a given level whenever they cast for a slot.
* That they are the ''only'' full-caster in the game ''without'' access to ritual casting, further preventing them from being good "utility" people.
* That they gain access to about as many spells as the goddamn ''quarter casters'', and, unlike the [[paladin]] and [[ranger]], neither of whom is at the pinnacle of this edition's tier list, they don't have ''any'' unique spells, with their list being, essentially, a gimped-as-fuck version of the wizard's.
* That they don't gain ''any'' short rest benefits until their fucking ''capstone'', meaning that for most of his career the sorcerer is going to lag behind the wizard in terms of spells per day ''as well as'' spells known. And the only way to avoid that involves eating into the same resource pool that feeds metamagic.

The metamagic still helps make them unique, and ''definitively'' gives them access to a number of things the wizard simply ''cannot'' do, but they really could stand to have access to greater access to more total spells and/or some sort of short-rest recovery mechanic if you're the sort that likes to homebrew fixes. Perhaps in the form of a set of additional "bloodline" spells attached to each archetype choice? Fuck's sake, [[Mike Mearls|Mike]], even ''[[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|Paizo]]'' figured that one out, and they couldn't even be bothered to fix their skill list! I know you thought about it because it's attached to ''both'' the "playtest" bloodlines!

The sorcerer has been arguably the slowest-growing arcane class in 5th edition; [[Unearthed Arcana]] has done what it can to give sorcerers more options, but WoTC's repeated bungling has kept the development of ''good'' Sorcerer subclasses slow. So far, only ''three'' new Sorcerous Origins have been added since the PHB came out; Divine Soul, Shadow Magic and Storm Sorcery.

''Divine Soul'' is basically a rebrand of the [[Favored Soul]] from 3e; a sorcerer with divine magical affinities. It took WoTC ''four goes'' before they finally posted this in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and gamers ''still'' argue about whether it's any good. At 1st level, they pick up the ''Divine Magic'' and ''Favored By The Gods'' features. Divine Magic allows sorcerers to learn [[Cleric]] spells as they level up, and gives them a bonus clerical spell that doesn't count against their normal list of spells; this is taken from a short list that masquerades as a facade of the Cleric Domain aspect (Good - Cure Wounds, Evil - Inflict Wounds, Law - Bless, Chaos -Bane, Neutrality - Protection from Evil & Good), but you can swap it out for another clerical spell later. Favored By The Gods, in comparison, lets you add a +2d4 roll to the result of a failed saving throw or attack roll once per short rest, which can turn a failure into a success. Level 6 gives Divine Souls the ''Empowered Healing'' trait, which basically lets them spend a sorcery point to reroll any number of dice in a healing spell cast by themselves or an ally within 5 feet, though they can only do this once per turn. Level 14 comes with ''Otherworldly Wings'', which lets them sprout spectral wings that give them Fly speed of 30 feet as a bonus action. Finally, at level 18, they pick up ''Unearthly Recovery'', where they can heal themselves back from half health or lower potentially to full health once per day.

''Shadow Magic'' is a sort of mix-up of [[Dread Necromancer]] and [[Shadowcaster]]. Its level 1 features are Eyes of the Dark (gain Darkvision 120 feet, gain a Darkness spell that doesn't count against spells known at 3rd level, can cast Darkness with 2 sorcery points and see through it if you do) and Strength of the Grave (1/day, can make a Charisma save against an attack that would drop you to 0 HP to only drop to 1 HP, but this doesn't work on radiant damage and critical hits). Level 6 lets them summon a ghostly Hound of Ill Omen. Level 14 grants them the ability to Shadow Walk, teleporting at will from one patch of dim light or darkness to another that is within 120 feet. Finally, at level 18, ''Umbral Form'' lets them assume a shadow-like ghostly form for up to 1 minute at the cost of 6 sorcery points, during which time they are resistant to all damage types bar force and radiant and have the Incorporeal Movement trait (can pass through creatures & objects as if they were difficult terrain, but ending your turn inside one inflicts 5 Force damage on you). This showed up in Xanathar's Guide.

''Storm Sorcery'' is a kind of [[elementalism]] based on affinity for storms, and a nod back to their 4e options. It's got two fluff-only features (level 1's ''Wind Speaker'' lets you speak Primordial, the [[elemental]] language, whilst level 6's ''Storm Guide'' lets you manipulate the path of wind blowing around you and keep yourself from getting wet in the rain), but the rest of it is solid crunch. ''Tempestuous Magic'' (level 1) lets you ride a gout of wind whenever you cast a level 1 or higher spell, which lets you fly 10 feet without provoking an opportunity attack. ''Heart of the Storm'' (level 6) grants you resistance to lightning & thunder damage, and lets you inflict lightning or thunder damage equal to half your sorcerer level on any enemy within 10 feet whenever you cast a 1st level or higher spell dealing lightning/thunder damage. ''Storm's Fury'' (level 14) lets you use a reaction to inflict lightning damage equal to your sorcerer level on anyone who hits you with a melee attack, as well as potentially knocking them up to 20 feet away from you if they fail a Strength save. Finally, ''Wind Soul'' bumps your lightning/thunder resistance to full-blown immunity and gives you a fly speed of 60 feet, which you can choose to drop down to 30 feet for a hour once per short rest in order to give (3 + Cha modifier) allies a fly speed of 30 feet for an hour. This first appeared in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but was then reprinted completely for Xanathar's Guide.

Whilst unofficial, there's a Fire [[Elementalism]] Sorcerous Origin, the Pyromancer, in the [[Magic the Gathering|Plane Shift: Kaladesh]] article. This one, unlike the Phoenix Soul, is all about the burninating of shit in your way. Its first feature means all fire spells you cast technically become area spells, as any enemies within 10 feet of you take some fire damage when you cast a fire spell. Then it grants you both Fire Resistance and the ability to negate Fire Resistance in others when you're flinging flames everywhere. It can retaliate against melee attacks by inflicting fire damage on them if they successfully hit the Pyromancer, and finally, they upgrade Fire Resistance to Fire Immunity and can now sling flames so hot that Fire Immune targets only count as being Fire Resistant, in addition to burning normally Fire Resistant foes for full damage. It's considered to be a lot better than the Phoenix Soul Sorcerous Origin from [[Unearthed Arcana]].

Yes, Sorcerers do get some subclasses in [[Unearthed Arcana]] - the Storm, Shadow and Divine magics all began there and were later promoted to official status. Other UA Sorcerer branches that haven't had that luck yet consist of:
* [[Phoenix]] Soul: A strange mixture of fire [[elementalist]] and tanky sorcerer, with its abilities revolving around a 1/day "phoenix form" the player can assume.
* Sea Soul: A water [[elementalist]]. Surprisingly good, makes for a viable melee sorcerer.
* Stone Soul: Actually, no, not an earth [[elementalist]] but a weird-ass homage to the [[Swordmage]].
* [[Giant]] Soul: Some bonus spells based on the different giant breeds, combined with the ability to make yourself row into a giant at the highest levels.

Like everyone else who meets arbitrary ability score requires in 5E, Sorcerers can multiclass. ''Unlike'' everyone else however Sorcerers actually have a point to it when they multiclass with [[Paladin]], creating one of the few character options in 5E that isn't exactly what the developers intended you use. Paladin fuels smite with spell slots, Sorcerer has a lot of spell slots. Paladin slashes things, sorcerer gains ability to light sword on fire, add extra damage because it's now a fire attack. This results in a character that can nova things ''really'' well, but is even more susceptible to blowing all their resources at once.

==Zakharan Sorcerers==
You read that bit at the top about sorcerers being a class added by [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]? That's... not entirely the whole story. Oh, the sorcerer as we know it today was basically a 3e invention, but it wasn't without precedent. The name "Sorcerer" first appeared as a variant [[Wizard]] in the [[Al-Qadim]] subsetting of the [[Forgotten Realms]] in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Described in the Al-Qadim corebook, "Arabian Adventures", the Zakharan Sorcerer is a specialist wizard that improves upon the standard [[Elementalist]]; in exchange for dropping their increased chance to learn "allowed" magic to a mere +20%, they can learn spells from ''two'' of the four elemental styles, at the cost of being unable to learn any other spell that isn't Universal or one of their two chosen elemental schools.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Primordial Channeler.png
File:Storm Sorceress.png
File:Dragon's Crown Sorceress.jpg|Sorcerer *is* a Charisma-based class after all.
</gallery>

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{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

Knight

2018-10-30T16:02:15Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Pathfinder - The Cavalier */

[[Image:NormansKnight.jpg|right|thumb|Medieval Europe's equivelent of Hell's Angels]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Imperial Knight|miniature Imperial Titan.]].''

The '''"Knight"''' [[Monty Python|(Pronounced 'Kuh-niggit' for you Frenchies with outrageous accents)]] is an title given to a loyal servant of a monarchy in olden Europe. To start your knightly lineage, you must be valuable enough to your lord that he eventually bestows knighthood upon you. Once that is done, you are officially part of your kingdom's [[noble|nobility]] (albeit at the near bottom of the ladder, but you're leagues better off than the common folk) and any children you bear will also be knights, who will then continue your proud lineage throughout the ages.

Knights originally started back in the early days of the 10th century as elite soldiers who fought on horseback, but started becoming the chivalrous, romantic daredevils we all know and love by the 12th, due to the influence of Christianity and Islam throughout Europe. They are usually rich-enough blokes that knight families typically owned at least one estate that they may develop as they see fit.

These guys were the greatest thing in Europe's arsenal for nearly a thousand years before being weakened by Italian pike formations, [[firearm|another chinese import]] and the idea of a professional and standardized standing army which gradually put an end to the age of knights. Then, in the 19th century and after the French revolution, Romanticists who wanted to defend the old order of things against upstart ideas about "democracy" and suchlike began looking to the past with rose coloured glasses and forgot about the shitty quality of that period and instead saw dashing knights in shining armor (a phrase that originally meant "The New guy who has never been through battle" FYI).

==Misconceptions==
In modern parlance, Knight is the catch-all term for some posh bloke who fought on horseback with decent armour and weapons. It was the case for some time, but the term 'Knight' has started to refer to the ''social rank'' of the man, not the way he fought, around the XIIth century. 'Chivalry' does refer to horsemanship, however.

Most armored guys on the battlefield of High and Late Medieval period (usually carrying shield, non rusted armor and a decent weapon) were [[Men at Arms]] -- a better equipped class of soldier. Through patronage of a wealthy lord; large groups of these blokes were kitted out with decent weaponry and armour (to varying degrees). They sometimes had a horse if there weren't enough cavalry, otherwise they just be a better equipped form of infantry. They were usually of better social standing than their comrades serving in a Lord's (or Knight's) armies as meat shields and arrow fodder (Re: conscripted peasant), although that itself would vary from men who their overlord might socialise with to a degree, to a better off commoner like a merchant who simply bought better armor than the smelly peasants, or they might just be some smelly oik with an aptitude for combat kitted out at his Lordship's expense.

Since most Knights were fairly wealthy; they nearly always fought as Men at Arms (being that they could afford decent plate armor, an arsenal of weapons, and a war horse, on their own), though not all Men at Arms were Knights. It is also worth noting that Men at Arms usually were poorer equipped than Knights, and often received little to no training which usually lasted between a fortnight and a month. Knights, however, were trained from the age of six and this training lasted until their mentor deemed them ready to be a full knight (that age varied, but generally was around 17-18 years. Edward the Black Prince, for example, was granted full knighthood in 16 years). They also had the option and means of having their own armor and weapons specially made/procured for them. Additionally, any non-noble who was able to attain knighthood though exemplary military service would have been a warrior of few equal.

It is also worth noting that some Knights did not fight at all, being too sickly, too old when war broke out, or simply too scared. Due to this, some knights engaged in civilian leadership roles, rather than military ones.

==The Modern Take==
In our current times the misconceptions mentioned above have created a stereotype in the general public's mind of what it means to be a knight; an owner of land and a castle, wearing that ridiculous heavy armour on top of a mighty horse and being the upmost example of honour, valour and nobility. This is because over time people have a tendency to start romanticizing things in poems and stories until what it originally was is buried under a mound of half-truths and plot twistings.

For example there is that tricky part of the tale of King Arthur: his dad Uther Pendragon wants to have it off with the lady Igraine, who is married to his enemy Gorlois. So, using circumstances and Merlin's magics, Uther takes on the identity of her husband, has his way with her, and then nine months down the line Arthur is born, an illegitimate child. This is left out of many tales except those seriously referencing the old poems as it is not the heroic source of the once and future king that many would expect (in later legend there is emphasis that Gorlois conveniently dies in battle before the conception occurs, therefore changing the fluff of the legend in Uther's favor. A predecessor to Matt Ward, it looks like).

So many use knights are a standard for human warriors of chivalry going out and slaying various beasts and saving various maidens (most fantasy settings, RPGs and mmorpg's use knights as a class type, some renaming to <s>make them sound more original</s> rip off D&D like 'Paladin' or 'Crusader').

==Fantasy Knights in a Nutshell==
If you are a chivalrous knight in such a modern fantasy setting, your usual duties will include:

* Quest Taking: From killing a dragon to drive the moles out of the fields of farmers, anything that troubles the people; you must help. It doesn't have to be you directly, though. If the task is too unworthy for your stature, but still needs fixing, sending your apprentice or hiring other people to do it in your stead also works.
* Monster killing: Really a whole category of it's own although often a Quest as well, there are various nasty critters around and in ye olde times you would serve as a pest exterminator for hire. The bigger and badder the monster you slay, the more famous you are with the kingdom.
* Damsel rescuing: Even if she is married (or you are married), you could get a kiss, a handkerchief, and hopefully [[Profit|a hefty reward]] for giving her a hand.
* Helping out your king: At times you'll be called on to help your king or lord and hook up with a bunch of your knightly mates to rout some naughty foreigners giving the kingdom trouble.
* Wench pulling: You keep an entire industry of busty women in business with the profits from your questing.
* Looking impressive: Your armor and weapons aren't just your tools, its also your icons. It gives the peasants something nice to gawk at and often symbols of your deeds and character. Many knights are recognized, simply by their gear (i.e: Excalibur for King Arthur).
* Example setting: Along with looking good, you have to practice being good to and showing everyone how to be a goodie-two-shoes. From escorting ladies to putting your cloak out across a puddle, saying hello to Ted the stable boy, to upholding your kingdom's faith and smiting any heretic who dares besmirch your god; being a choir boy is a 24/7 job. This is also the reason why Knights are typically [[Paladin]] equivalents in fantasy.
** If you should fall short in your chivalry, it usually suffices to take on a particularly challenging and meaningful quest to restore your honor. If there's one thing peasants like better than tales of upstanding knights, it's tales of knights who stumble and get back up again (or die trying).
** The flip side of upholding the code of chivalry is enforcing the code against oath-breakers. Knights who completely ''forsake'' their vows are especially harmful to your profession's reputation, so be vigilant for rumors of 'black knights' and the like.
* Training a squire: Building up a knight household is a ton of work, and if you died without a legitimate heir to your name, all your hard work over the decades would have been for naught. So, you had to train a successor who will carry your knight household throughout the ages. Train them well and don't just treat them as a glorified servant, as that little buttmuncher will be the one who'll be representing your legacy once you're gone, and you don't want your house to be remembered for that dastard who became the unbearable shame throughout the land.

== Old-School D&D ==
Both 1st edition [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2e featured the knightly archetype in their options. For 1e, [[Gary Gygax]] himself created the [[Cavalier]] in an issue of [[Dragon Magazine]] as a variant [[Paladin]]. It... didn't work out so well. For 2e, the knightly motif was conveyed by certain [[Kits]], predominantly for the Warrior class-group, with the most obvious version being, again, the Cavalier.

The Cavalier is not held up very highly by most [[Grognard]]s, for reasons explained on its page.

==D&D 3.5==
They have a high base attack bonus and roll D12s for HP. There abilities are purely related to taking hits and forcing a single target to hit them, similar in concept to a 4E tank class, but with significantly less versatility in terms of providing damage output, boosting allies or disrupting the flow of the fight to suit his party. Probably one of the weaker classes as too much of its abilities are focused on being a punching bag of HP instead of an actual tank that is hard to hurt and lacks the ability to fuck things over, if you're familiar with how Marking a target works in 4E, its based off this guy, but at least in 4E you have penalties other than the -2 to hit to control your opponent. Like paladins this class has a code of conduct. Unlike paladins, the consequences of breaking this code of conduct last a day tops (directly anyways, who knows what larger setbacks it might result in). The code of conduct consists of what they consider a "fair play". Part of the code of conduct is not dealing lethal damage to helpless foes. By the way, some creatures are immune to non-lethal damage.

Knight is [[Tier System|tier 5]]. Their one task, tanking, is theoretically useful but they aren't that good at it and simply unable to try against most threats. Outside that they aren't very useful.

'''TL;DR''' A bunch of Hit Points that prototyped the tank class mechanics of 4E that lacks any choice beyond taking it in the gut. Avoid and just refluff a paladin as an atheist.

{{D&D3-Classes}}

==D&D 4e==
The knight was introduced in "Heroes of the Fallen Lands", the first of the two Essentials splatbooks for [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]. Flavorwise, knights are protection-focused warriors, champions who lead village militias, caravan guards and adventuring parties, favoring the use of heavy armor, hand weapon and shield to endure attacks as hold foes in place as the rest of their party closes in for the kill. Many knights belong to benevolent military orders, and whilst they are not [[paladin]]s proper, they are still respected for their dedication to good (or at least martial perfection).

Mechanically, the knight is a "simplified" take on the 4e [[Fighter]], this Martial Defender (with some Leader aspects) abandoned the [[AEDU System]] to something closer to an old-school fighter. Instead of the traditional front-loaded approach to class-features, the 4e knight gains different features at different levels. Instead of using the martial exploits system, it uses a combination of heroic-tier Utility powers and at-will stances, which modify the effects of its basic attacks. This formula would be reused for the [[Slayer]], introduced in the same book.

A knight's core power is Defender Aura, an at-will utility used to mark foes, which goes in tandem with its Battle Guardian at-will attack to punish marked foes that try to slip past it. Its other level 1 features are Weapon Talent (+1 to your attack rolls with weapons), Shield Finesse as a bonus feat, access to two of the knight stances, and its only Encounter attack, Power Strike. It gains Improved Power Strike (use Power Strike 2/encounter) at level 3, Combat Readiness (+2 Initiative) at level 4, and Weapon Mastery (+1 damage with weapon attacks) at level 5. At level 7 it gains both an extra knight stance and one of the two Weapon Specializations, which adds a rider to its Power Strike attack; Bladed Step for heavy blades and Staggering Hammer for hammers. At level 8, it gains the utility power Shield Block, and at level 9 its Improved Combat Readiness feature boosts its initiative bonus to +4.

At level 11, it gains Stalwart Assault (Add Con bonus to Speed and melee weapon damage rolls in the first turn in an encounter), Stalwart Action (when you spend an action point, gain Resist 10 to all damage until the end of your next turn), and another Improved Power Strike (Power Strike 3/encounter). At level 12, it gains Greater Weapon Specialization, which gives it either the Shielding Blade or Bludgeoning Counterstrike utilities, ''another'' Improved Power Strike (4/encounter) at level 13, Paragon Weapon Mastery (+2 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 15, Armor of Conviction (gain Resist 5 to all damage while bloodied) and the Bolstering Strike utility at level 16, another new knight stance at level 17, Devoted Knight (using your second wind or total defense creates an aura 1 until the end of your next turn that grants your allies +2 to all defenses) at level 19, and Tactical Focus (you can slide a target you hit with Power Strike by +1 square) at level 20.

In the epic tier, it gains the Knight's Valor utility power at level 22, the Relentless Knight feature (can spend +1 healing surge when you use second wind) at level 23, Epic Weapon Mastery (+3 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 25, and finally Spirit of War (you can make a save to end an ongoing effect at both the start and end of your turns) at level 29.

It gains a chosen Utility Power at levels 2, 6 and 10.

General opinion is that it's a pretty badly handled class. It's strong at the Heroic Tier, but quickly falls behind the [[AEDU System]] classes from epic tier onwards, as its stance-modified basic attacks just don't cut it anymore.

==[[Pathfinder]] - The Cavalier==
Paizo has added traditional knights/men-at-arms to the Pathfinder roleplaying game, as the [[Cavalier]] class. They're a lot like Paladins without the magic. They differentiate themselves from the ''other'' melee classes in two major important ways: mounts and orders.

First of all, the cavalier focuses heavily on mounted combat. A Cavalier starts with a Druid's Animal Companion, though it has to be one he can ride. At first level, this is usually a horse(or a wolf for Small Cavaliers. Lots of his class abilities give out bonuses to him and his team while he's on his mount, including his "banner" skills, and let him bond with one particular animal. Note that Pathfinder has rules for riding critters like [[Lizardmen|motherfucking dinosaurs]] and [[monstergirls|sexy lady]] [[centaur]]s, so don't feel compelled to settle for regular old horses. Around Level 4 or 7, your noble steed can take one for the team, and you can trade up to something really nasty. Every cavalier can also challenge enemies one at a time in the best tradition of chivalry, bashing the head of their chosen target in the ground in the name of honor, and they are natural tacticians, handing out Teamwork feats to the whole party a couple times a day. This has obvious problems in dungeons, so small-sized cavaliers are popular.

Second, a cavalier gets to choose from a variety of "Knightly Orders," that give him additional benefits and customizability, but also require him to keep up a code of conduct. ''Unlike'' the [[paladin]]'s code, though, not all of these "codes of conduct" are pure Lawful Good stuff, and many vary heavily from order to order. Some outright tell you to be a murderous bastard, some basically make you act like a mini-paladin, and most give you an ideal, such as knowledge, glory, or beauty, to defend and strive for. You don't necessarily ''lose'' those benefits if you're terminally unable to roleplay your order right, but you ''will'' get jumped by other members who don't like you sullying their good (or evil!) name.

The [[Samurai]] class is a derivative of the Cavalier class, which mostly makes sense, and even comes with a few cool new Knightly Orders, though crosspicking is possible for both parties.

The Cavalier and Samurai are [[Tier System|Tier 5 for medium characters, low tier 4 for small characters]] capable of doing one thing, mass damage from mounted charge, very well. However this one thing gets little chance to shine as many things disable mounts entirely, and the Cavalier has little of use outside these situations.
{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

==D&D 5e==
Since knightly orders are a big thing in [[Forgotten Realms]], the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] features two class variants with a knightly theme.

The Banneret (or Purple Dragon Knight, in-universe) is a [[Fighter]] martial archetype revolving around the concept of an elite and noble warrior whose skill allows them to inspire others to greatness in battle. It gets a bunch of class features reminiscent of 4e's [[Warlord]], like healing allies when the fighter uses their Second Wind, triggering an ally to attack when you use Action Surge, and the ability to extend Indomitable to your allies.

The Oath of the Crown for [[Paladin]]s, meanwhile, specifically represents the blur between knight and paladin, with a focus on lawfulness, order, and the sanctity of civilization in contrast to the paladin's general focus on doing good. It has features that let it serve as a mighty champion, and spells that tap into its spiritual authority, mostly enchantments like Command and Geas.

That not enough for you? Not only did we get a [[Cavalier]] subclass for the Fighter in the Kits of Old unearthed arcana, November 2016 gave us a full-fledged Knight subclass, which is essentially an even tankier version of the Cavalier. It can mount and dismount for only 5 feet of movement cost, has advantage on saves against falling off, always lands on its feet if it does fall off (providing it's no higher up than 10 feet and isn't incapacitated), has what is essentially the Fighter's Marking ability from 4e, a bonus skill with a "knightly" theme, the ability to make an attack as a reaction to an enemy moving within 5 feet that stops them moving if it hits, the ability to trade combat advantage for a bonus attack, gains a free opportunity attack each round, and gains +1 AC when wearing Heavy Armor.

==See also==
*[[Bretonnia]]: A nation in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] based around these fuckers.
*[[Samurai]]: The Eastern version.

[[category:history]][[category:Pathfinder]]

Golarion

2018-10-30T04:14:56Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Belkzen */

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[[File:Continent of Avistan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Welcome to Golarion.]]
[[Golarion]] is the "main" planet in Paizo's default [[Campaign setting|campaign setting]] for the [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]]. It's not the sum total of the setting's Material Plane like, say, Athas is, but it's where most of the action is and where you're going to be spending most of your time so it's also the nickname for what's properly known as the [[Pathfinder Campaign Setting]]. Golarion was first introduced to players as a generic OGL module named ''Crown of the Kobold King'', released in June of 2007 under Paizo's GameMastery imprint. Two months later at [[Gen Con]] 2007, Paizo published ''Rise of the Runelords'', the first of Pathfinder's famous Adventure Paths and the first product to bear the Pathfinder brand name; this was followed by another adventure path and a couple "Pathfinder Chronicles" supplements. When Wizards announced [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] and neglected to mention that the OGL would be replaced with a giant spiky dildo, Paizo cashed in on the confusion and announced that they would be creating a replacement RPG, based on OGL content but with a less restrictive license for its "Product Identity" and with Golarion as the default setting.

Golarion is notable for ripping off fucking everything, including dime-store pulp novels, random bits of relatively modern history, earlier editions of D&D, sci-fi kitsch, and the kitchen sink. This is a transparent attempt to [[Gay|fill the gaping orifice]] left behind by the loss of the D&D's "Product Identity" as cheaply as possible, justified as a way of allowing many different campaign styles to coexist in the same setting. One notable exception is the elder gods of the Far Realm, which Paizo replaced by biting the bullet and licensing the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] from Chaosium.

It bears mentioning that this "fantasy kitchen sink" style actually isn't new to D&D. ALL of the "iconic trinity" of settings from the earliest days of D&D - [[Mystara]], [[Greyhawk]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]] - have a similar motif. What makes Golarion stand out compared to Greyhawk or the Realms is that the latter settings tend to obscure their real-world inheritances more by keeping the "non-Medieval Europe" cultures pushed from the highlight; the Realms in particular generally keeps its more blatantly real-world homage based portions off of the core map and out of the spotlight, such as [[Al-Qadim]], [[Kara-tur]] and [[Maztica]]. Even its blatancy is not unique; [[Mystara]] did it first, and with its bizarre races and fantastical tweaks on real-world cultures, Golarion resembles a Mystara written in and for the 2010s more than anything.

The centerpiece of Golarion is the Inner Sea region, consisting of the fantasy equivalents of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea zone, and the northern half of Africa. Unlike [[Dark Sun|most]] other fantasy settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the [[Outer Planes|Great Beyond]], Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary fuckstorm that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[Pirate|pirates]] to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and the prophets and diviners committing mass suicide as an prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the religious hysteria led the two greatest empires of the region to become balkanized devil-worshipping fantasy Nazis and decadent chucklefucks, respectively.

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they pushed the orcs ahead of them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] '''Green really iz da best, innit?'''

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
Jewish Scientologists. Alternately, [[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social conscriptions) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only.]]

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard generic as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists.

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious and alien race called the Pactmasters.

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings. Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die. Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav.

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. It's queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing.

===Mwangi Expanse===
Home to intelligent gorilla men (who, sadly, worship a [[Demon Prince]] and thus want to fuck everyone else over) and a super ancient empire of black men who lived in flying cities making the saying "We wuz kangs" sorta true for Pathfinder.

===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant robot scorpions with plasma cannons for stingers. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]] and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Ever play a game with an [[That guy|edgelord]] who always wants to be the [[Mary Sue|super-bestest at everything]] and the GM just capitulates to their every whim and gives them [[Grimdark|a kingdom which they rule worse that North Korea and say everyone should worship them as a god?]] Well, that's pretty much this country. Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavey is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, your allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it your treated as a common criminal.

Basically the Balkans of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom.

===Sargava===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, they are effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to their north. The local Mwangi people are little better than slaves and may be plotting to overthrow dem white bois.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire and British Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths?

==Lands Beyond the Core Setting==
[[File:Golarion Continents.jpg|300px|thumb|right|So many places to go, so little places well-developed...]]
Paizo, still wanting even more kitchen sink fantasy and wanting to emulate Forgotten Realms, have other continents and lands beyond the core setting.

===Arcadia===
Well they needed a place for the Americas. Notably the vikings from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings think of it as a kind of paradise and their rulers have a settlement on it in an allusion to Vinland from viking history.

===Azlant===
Atlantis by another name. Home to the first human empire that was uplifted by the aboleths, was destroyed by the Starstone when the aboleths thought humans were getting uppity.

===Casmaron===
What happens when you mix India, the 'stans and the Middle East? This. Vast swaths of largely unruled or ungovernable lands but also two massive "empires", one being a Persian/Ottoman expy, the other being fantasy India.

===Crown of the World===
Connects Avistan (Europe) to Tian Xia (East Asia). Has a few eskimo-like settlements and Cthulhu horror themes going on here.

===Darklands===
Paizo's Underdark. Drow, Svirneblin, Duergar and all the tropes therein.

===Iblydos===
Classical Greece. An island archipelago that serves as a common stopping point for traders going between the Inner Sea region and the distant lands of Vudra and Kelesh in Casmaron. Known for its prophecising Cyclopes and Demigod Heroes who often rule its numerous City-States.

===Sarusan===
Mysterious land of deadly terrors which is clearly Australia. Australia is bad enough, who the fuck knows how scary it would be with fantasy elements. Nobody can remember what it looks like for some reason that has nothing to do with leaving a blank canvas for your GM to paint with horrible death.

===Tian Xia===
[[File:Pathfinder Tian Xia Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Paizo is always careful to avoid cultural appropriation and treats foreign cultures in a respectful and well-informed manner.]]
Has all your classic [[Oriental Adventures|East Asia fantasy tropes]] going on here. Decadent empires, [[Oriental Dragon|eastern dragons]], [[monk]]s in monasteries learning kung-fu, mystical monks meditating under waterfalls, Studio Ghibli creatures running around, [[Naga]], [[Oni]], Mongols, [[ninja]] and [[samurai]].

==Gods of Golarion==
There are gods upon gods for the game but they split up into a number of different pantheons.

===Core Pantheon===
'''[[Abadar]]:''' God of Civilization, Walls, and Banking. Doing pretty well in modern times, all things considered. Lawful Neutral in a very reasonable kind of way, leaning more towards good, but still stuck doing shit like letting Zon-Kuthon into his Vault because he doesn't break his contracts. His herald is the Lawgiver, a giant gold-plated living statue with an equally-huge hammer. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Asmodeus]]:''' It's [[Asmodeus]], what the fuck do you expect? The most notable changes from OGL are that Asmodeus is actually a deity this time around, and that [[SJW|misogyny is an explicit part of his dominion. Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a bad guy.]] Yes, the leader of his greatest group of mortal servants is female. No, the setting material does not comment on this. (One designer claimed this is because he doesn't care so much about ''mortal'' gender, since mortals are just going to die and the lawful evil ones will end up his anyway. While this was probably just the designer trying to keep his ass from getting ripped by angry neckbeards and doesn't make that much sense, it does line up with PF Asmodeus' general "they'll all see things my way eventually" mentality.)

'''[[Calistria]]:''' An elven goddess of Lust and Revenge, Calistria's temples often double as centers of intrigue and brothels. [[Slaanesh|Feeding into people's lust]] and also feeding people's anxieties until they seek revenge, she is seen often as a bit of an odd one. Her favored animal is the hornet since they can sting repeatedly. Seriously, if you piss her off she will show her disdain for you by having hornets sting your junk until it's black and blistered. She is Chaotic Neutral to the extreme, in fact she is so whimsical and unreliable that she is the only non-chaotic evil deity that even Asmodeus refuses to work with.

'''[[Cayden Cailean]]:''' Five humans in the setting have ascended to godhood, each with their own outlooks and spheres and Cayden Cailean is one of them. His outlook and spheres? Partying it up, [[dwarf|getting drunk]], helping people, and going on adventures. Cayden Cailean apparently got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone. There are plenty of legends around why exactly the drunken man did it but one says he saw [[Slaanesh|Calistria, goddess of lust and revenge]], and wanted some of that. The goddess rebuffed him and said only a god could pleasure her. Pissed and drunk, he grabbed a keg and set off. Three days later, rocking a heavenly hangover, Cayden emerged as the most recent of the gods. His herald is Thais, a former prostitute who was his best buddy back in their mortal days.

'''[[Desna]]:''' An ancient space alien who befriended one of the first gods. When Lamashtu stole the beast domain from him, she took his travel domain. Chaotic Good, and likes wandering around, but guides people with her control over luck, and has a bunch of scientist followers who see her as helping them find knowledge. Very chill for a goddess whose signature weapon is an oversized shuriken. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Erastil]]:''' Old-fashioned god of the harvest and rural areas; a grumpy but well-meaning old codger who's getting a little past it since "city living" became a thing, but is still popular out in the farming country and wilderness regions. Source of much [[SJW]] outrage when his first detailed writeup revealed that being "God of the Old Ways" also makes him a patriarchal chap who believes women should get married and make babies, though he will sigh and accept it if a woman wants to prove she can have a happy life doing something else. They kicked up such a stink about this, claiming there was no way he could be Lawful Good and think this, that Paizo hastily retconned it. For the record, men are supposed to (eventually) be settling down too. Basically a generic wilderness/rural god, though he does have some similarities to [[St. Cuthbert]].

'''[[Gorum]]:''' Basically [[Khorne]]-lite, and including the bits about not killing non-combatants. (Well, technically [[Conan the Barbarian|Crom]], but the kids only care about their 40k.) Favors actual strategy and tactics over charging massed archers armored only with war-cries though.

'''[[Gozreh]]:''' Nature god. Most interesting thing about them is that they're a [[dickgirl|hermaphrodite]], with their female form being associated with the sea and their male form with the sky.

'''Green Faith:''' Not so much a deity as much as it is a nature-minded philosophy adhered to by [[druid]]s. It essentially gives the druids a sort of organization that'd be familiar to 2E's druid hierarchcies.

'''[[Iomedae]]:''' Aroden's herald, who mostly took over his job after his untimely demise. A former paladin turned deity via the Starstone, and a righteous crusader type. Paizo really screws with Iomedae depending on what source you read. Sometimes seen as a [[paladin|paragon of righteousness]], she sometimes comes across as a prick, [[That guy|going so far as to deafen people who are trying to save the world because they dicked around too much in her presence]] in one poorly-balanced and poorly-written adventure. May or may not have banged the local Bahamut-equivalent, Apsu, as a gold dragon calling her mom hangs out in her court.

'''[[Irori]]:''' Fantasy Kung-Fu Buddha. A former mortal, but unlike the others, whom he mocks for just copying his old friend Aroden, he got there on his own, by refining and honing his body and mind into literal perfection. Has more followers out in Tian, but he's making waves in Golarion. His clerics get [[monk|Improved Unarmed Strike instead of a favored weapon]].

'''[[Lamashtu]]:''' Mother of monsters and a former female demon lord who stole the domains from a god she murdered. Most of the "monster" races pay homage to her, and her evil favor usually manifests as hideous deformity and mutation. Usually manifests as a [[/d/| heavily pregnant mishmash of monster parts]]. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Nethys]]:''' The god of magic. Played too much ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' and broke his brain by briefly gaining omniscience. His fractured mind usually manifests as two faces, one white and benevolent, one black and destructive. Has self-contradictory holy texts. The only things he consistently cares about are a policy of not giving spellcasting to people who weren't born with it, nor have earned it, and opposing Rovagug.

'''[[Norgorber]]:''' A supposed mortal who became the god of trickery, secrets, backstabbing, and deceit and thus is represented by a very inconspicuous-looking bugger who totally won't fuck you over at the first opportunity. His worshipers tend to either worship one of four extremes of his character: the trickster, the serial killer, the saboteur, and the assassin. All information about his past is '''REDACTED''', and trying to learn too much about his church can get you killed even if you're a member.

'''[[Pharasma]]:''' [[The Raven Queen]], sort of. The deathly-neutral type of death goddess, and probably the oldest and most primordial of divinities. ''Haaaaates'' undeath, so much that her clerics get a custom variant of the Death domain with the undeath-related parts replaced. Judges the souls of every creature that ever dies before assigning them to their proper afterlives, with allowances made for things like racial affiliation and belief in reincarnation. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Rovagug]]''': An ancient primordial force of destruction, despised by all the other gods and worshipped only by madmen and lesser primordial forces of destruction. The other gods put aside their differences long ago to trap him in the Cage, which is Golarion itself. Bad Things will happen if he ever gets out, [[Starfinder| which might be fated to happen]]. His spawn still rampage around the world, one of which is the [[tarrasque]]. A ''mid-tier'' one.

'''[[Sarenrae]]:''' [[Rule 63]] [[Pelor]]. Asmodeus's good-aligned brother's first servant, who took up his portfolio after Asmodeus murdered him. Ironically, the two allied to take the foremost role in defeating and caging Rovagug. In addition to being a sun goddess, she emphasizes the idea of compassion and redemption for the truly-repentant and destruction for those who're truly past all that. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Shelyn]]:''' Beauty, art, and love goddess. Not so much sex though, that's Calistria's job. Literally all beings love her... some are just incapable of expressing that love in healthy ways. Lamashtu in particular gives her the creeps. Zon-Kuthon's sister, and responsible for containing the worst of the monster he's become. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Torag]]:''' We have come up with interesting twists for at least most of the blatant copies on this list. No such luck here. Torag is [[Moradin]], dwarf without end. Amen.

'''[[Urgathoa]]:''' Once upon a time, when the world was young, there lived a decadent queen who spent her whole life in unbridled hedonism. So much that, when she died, and went to wait in line in Pharasma's Boneyard to await judgement, she cut out of the line and slipped back into the world because she couldn't stand the thought of giving up the pleasures of life. In the process, she became the first undead creature and infected the world with both undeath and disease. Aw well. Very cheery for an evil goddess, since she's all about doing what you love... though for most of her followers, that's various shades of cannibalism and plague-spreading.

'''[[Zon-Kuthon]]:''' Originally known as Dou-Bral, half-sister to Shelyn, he got so asshurt about his sister's talents that he decided to go to the leather club between realities to brood. There, he was [[Rape|enlightened]] by an [[Slaanesh|alien presence]]. He returned to Golarion as a hyper BDSM fetishist known as Zon-Kuthon, god of pain, torture, and edge. His unholy symbol is a skull with a spiked chain going through the eye sockets, for fuck's sake. Despite his worshipers being evil touturing murderers and his servants being straight-up Cenobites, his clergy still tends to be kind to those who worship Shelyn because he still loves her, deep down in the irrevocably-ruined part of him that's still Dou-Bral.

===Tian-Xia Deities===
'''Daikitsu''': Basically the Shinto god(dess) Inari. Literally named "big fox".

'''Fumeiyoshi''': After murdering Shizuru (see down) he was cursed to be god of the undead (though he is not one himself), and dishonor and has picked up evil oni. He is named for the Japanese word "dishonor" (Fumeyo) paired with the common suffix for male names yoshi.

'''General Susumu''': Shizuru's evil brother (though with the low detail on these deities it isn't clear why he is evil instead of lawful neutral) and god of asshole samurai instead of honorable ones. Also horses, even though he has no domains to support this. Curiously gets the glory domain which is full of good aligned spells. He is named for the Japanese word "advance" (in the military sense). Vaguely based on Susa-no-O.

'''Hei Feng'''

'''Kofusachi'''

'''Lady Nanbyo''': Her name is Japanese for "incurable disease", and is predictably goddess of disease.

'''Lao Sho Pu''': A rat who feasted on the corpse of a god and became a god.

'''Nalinivati'''

'''Qi Zhong''': God of medicine and the elements.

'''Shizuru''': Shizuru is your typical asian themed goddess of sun (vagely based on Amaterasu), honor, ancestors, and swordplay. She's generally on good relations with every other Tian Diety. She's typically worshiped by honorable samurai and weeaboos. She is the lover of the moon god Tsukiyo and had to get him resurrected by the help of Qi-Zhong, the god of medicine, after his brother Fumeiyoshi grew so damn jealous of his brother actually having a girlfriend that he geeked him. She has an star archon daughter called the [[Weeaboo|Dusk Ronin]], who got kicked out of her mother's house and now wanders the Great Beyond in search of redemption.

'''Sun Wukong''': The classic trickster from ''[[Journey to the West]]'', now as an outright god instead of mere celestial after he tricked the gods into making him divine.

'''Tsukiyo'''

'''Yaezhing'''

'''Yamatsumi'''

===Other Major Deities===
===Dwarven Pantheon===

'''Droskar''': Dwarven God of Pointless, Soul-sucking jobs. He mostly took over those Dwarfs who refused to take the Quest of the Sky and eventually became Duregar.

===Elven Pantheon===
===Halfling Pantheon===

==Races of Golarion==
Being effectively [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.75, Golarion is absolutely crawling with races. Your D&D standards are here, but there's also an ever-growing array of races, from monstrous humanoids to ones lifted from real-world mythology to even homebrewed races.

===The Standards===
'''[[Human]]:''' Bog-standard human, following in the best D&D traditions by having different nations with different hats to wear.

'''[[Dwarf]]:''' Originated in Golarion's [[Underdark]], migrated to the surface in the legendary "Quest for Sky" centuries ago. Had flying fortresses, but most of them are destroyed or in enemy hands now.

'''[[Elf]]:''' One of the planet's oldest races. Buggered off through magical gateways to another planet during the worst of the Starfall disaster, then came back a few centuries ago.

'''[[Halfling]]:''' Pretty much your standard stunties, barring the fact that they're very popular slaves throughout the Inner Sea region. No homeland has been given, not even one that no longer exists.

'''[[Gnome]]:''' Fey who migrated to Golarion from [[Feywild|The First World]], then found out that without regular stimulation, they undergo something called "The Bleaching" which drives them mad and painfully kills them. In other words, they can literally get bored to death!

'''[[Half-Elf]]:''' Pretty much your standard half-elves. Splat gave options for Half-Drow, but that's still not a radical change.

'''[[Half-Orc]]:''' Instead of (only) "you were probably born from rape!" backstory, Golarion's half-orcs are the result of orcs realizing they are indeed retarded and need non-retarded leaders/spellcasters. Also born of political marriage in places where orcs team up with humans to fight other orcs and other threats.

===Snowflake Races===
The races most of /tg/ mocks because they're seen as favored by people who want special snowflake or weeaboo type characters, even if these are all races with roots in traditional D&D.

'''[[Aasimar]]:''' The iconic D&D Goodly [[Planetouched]]. Because Pathfinder has a much bigger array of "angels", there's many different sub-varieties of aasimar. There's actually a country where these guys are really common, which makes them almost as normal in Golarion as a [[dragonborn]] or [[half-orc]] would be in standard 5e D&D.

'''[[Catfolk]]:''' Pretty bog-standard [[Chaotic Stupid]] cat-people. Infamous for their schizophrenic artwork, which has portrayed them as anything from "[[catgirl]]s with a fine layer of fur all over their body" to "full fledged [[furry]]" to [[Elder Scrolls|"why does this look exactly like a Khajiit?"]].

'''[[Changeling]]:''' Not to be confused with the [[Eberron]] changeling, which is a [[doppelganger]]'s half-human spawn, Golarion's changelings are the immature larval form of [[hag]]s. Essentially, an entire species of cute/hot witches - with heterochromia, no less! - who are supposed to beautiful, but at the same time, so creepy and spooky they get a Charisma penalty. This aspect is the main reason why /tg/ mocks them. They're not necessarily a bad race, though, especially if you want more dark fantasy or horror fantasy games.

'''[[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]:''' Half-human and half-vampire, but, like the changeling, they fit the Ustalav region just great - hell, it really is surprising that these guys never showed up in [[Ravenloft]].

'''[[Drow]]:''' When the elves fucked off to another planet to escape an apocalypse, some of the more arrogant assholes stayed behind. Ultimately turning to worship of various [[Demon Prince]]s to survive, and becoming psycho-evil arrogant assholes in the bargain. Most noted for their fucked-up love of fleshcrafting, which is basically manipulating living creatures and turning them into monsters.

'''[[Ganzi]]:''' The most obscure of the PF [[Planetouched]], these guys are essentially Chaotic Planetouched and may be connected to the Protheans, Golarion's equivalent to the [[Slaad]]i.

'''[[Genasi|Ifrit/Oread/Sylph/Undine]]:''' These guys are basically [[genasi]], but Pathfinder pretends to treat them as seperate races in order to make the comparison seem less obvious.

'''[[Ratfolk]]:''' Merchant-tinker rat-people. Smarter and more chill than the [[Skaven|usual rat-type races]]. [[Ysoki|May have come from space]].

'''[[Shifter|Skinwalker]]:''' As dhampirs are to vampires, these guys are to [[therianthrope]]s. Essentially [[Shifter]]s with less shitty artwork.

'''[[Suli]]:''' One of the stupider [[planetouched]] races in Pthfinder, these guys are [[genie]]-kin who trace their lineage to the oft-forgotten Janni, the mixed-elemental fifth genie race which is the weakest of them all.

'''[[Tengu]]:''' Humanoid flightless crow-people who love shinies. Essentially less-evil [[kenku]] outright using the mythological version's name. Tend to become rogues (or ninjas), samurai and pirates. Sometimes two at once.

'''[[Tiefling]]:''' When one of the countries has the theme "demonic invasion through gaping portals to the Abyss" and another is "Fantasy Nazis using a pact with Satan to stay in power", are you really surprised that these guys are everywhere? Especially considering Golarion has a huge list of fiends outside of the Devil/Daemon/Demon trinity and they ''all'' make tieflings.

===Monstrous Humanoids===
'''[[Goblin]]:''' Doubles down on the [[Chaotic Stupid]] aspects; love fire, really good singers, absolutely terrified of dogs, horses and writing.

'''[[Orc]]:''' Driven up from the Underdark by the dwarves, who they used to war with. Really double-down on the Always Chaotic Evil aspects.

'''[[Kobold]]:''' Pretty much the D&D iconic version.

'''[[Hobgoblin]]:''' A militaristic race descended from an experiment to magically mutate goblins into slave-soldiers to fight against the elf empire; their creators were killed, but the hobgoblins were complete, and now they don't have an off-switch.

===Foreigners===
Because Golarion has lots of "not!X" countries, there's both a "not!India" (Vudra) and a "not!Orient" (Dragon Empires), each of which has some fairly unique races native to it.

'''[[Kitsune]]:''' Your standard mischievous fun-loving shapeshifting fox-folk.

'''[[Nagaji]]:''' A race of [[serpentfolk]] bred as slaves by the [[naga]]s; they're quite content in their servitude.

'''[[Samsaran]]:''' Spiritually enlightened blue & white-colored humans who continuously reincarnate.

'''[[Vanara]]:''' Friendly, sage-like monkey-people.

===Sci-Fantasy Races===
Pathfinder's mapped out the star system that Golarion comes from, and in best pulp fantasy fashion, that means that you can play androids and aliens in this setting too. These races and more would be later expanded by the sister game line [[Starfinder]].

'''[[Android]]:''' Look like humans with pale, silver-tinted skin and circuitry that lights up like science-tattoos when they use their powers. Most common in Numeria, as they are born out of "creation forges" left behind when the starship crashed.

'''[[Kasatha]]:''' Four-armed humanoids who don't remember what world they came from. Favor dual-wielding bows.

'''[[Lashunta]]:''' The natives of Golarion's equivalent of Venus; antennaed humanoids with psionic powers and [[-4 Strength|extreme sexual dimorphism]] - men look more like dwarves, women look more like elves.

'''[[Triaxian]]:''' Pointy-eared aliens whose planet undergoes an extreme orbit, leading to centuries-long summers and winters, and thus the species is divided into "Summer Generation"(Baldy) and "Winter Generation"(Furry) subspecies.

===Real-Worlders===
The least common race group, so far, these are critters taken from non-D&D fantasy sources, including several Lovecraft races and cryptids.

'''[[Reptoid]]:''' Shapeshifting lizardfolk with [[psionics]] who hail from an unknown world or plane, based on a popular conspiracy theory.

'''[[Orang-Pendak]]:''' A crytid that is basically a smaller, smarter sasquatch.

'''[[Deep One]] Hybrid:''' A human with [[Deep One]] ancestry, giving them amphibious abilities but cursing them to turn into a Deep One - which is death to their old personality - in their 50s.

'''[[Being of Ib]]:''' Amphibious, gnome-like frog-people from the Cthulhu Mythos; although their Dreamlands colony was famously annihilated by Sarnath in "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", it's possible other colonies exist elsewhere in the multiverse.

'''[[Yaddithian]]:''' Tapir-snouted insectile-looking people adept in sorcery who have scattered across the galaxy due to their homeworld being destroyed by bholes. Taken from the Lovecraft story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".

==Other Planets and Planes==

==Trivia==

==Further Reading==

{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-30T02:39:09Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Alien Archive */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook Armory Alien Archive Alien Archive 2 Pact Worlds
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and Starfinder Adventure Paths, much like Pathfinder has, as well as Organized Play in the form of the Starfinder Society.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it (all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoseeker that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, while not ''identical'' to 5e, certainly resembles it much more than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft.
* No charisma-based casters at all (though the Solarian and Envoy both sort of fit the niche thematically), and no full casters: the technomancer and the mystic are both half-casters. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells that can be cast in higher-level slots for boosted effects. (For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects.)
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and lightsaber-a-likes. Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors!
** Magic Items, while still given in the form of special properties, no longer depend on a certain enhancement on the weapon and instead just fit in if the magic property's level is less than or equal to the item's level.
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]]. They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a [[Bloodrager|Barbarian Mage]]! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Geneturge'' (from Armory) adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer''(from Armory) makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** '''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' (from Armory) emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have no gender because they're robots. Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three genders. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can, and there are rules for them in the back of the book, but it seems that none of the old races are going to be strongly supported.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''Barathus''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively horse-sized dragons on two legs and opposable thumbs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They also can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Alien Archive 2===
*'''Bolidas''': Hardy subterranean pillbugs. The fact that they can turn into balls gives them a defensive and an offensive feature when they roll into people.
*'''Damais''': Subterranean albino humans. Awfully flimsy, but useful in groups.
*'''Embri''': Bizarre creatures who have to wear masks in order to resist all sorts of mental magics.
*'''Ghorans''': Plants that look like people. While they're photosynthetic and have multiple skills to focus on, they're also very prone to getting eaten.
*'''[[Hobgoblin]]s''': You're taller than a goblin with a couple extra skill boosts to offset the mere +2 Con stat boost.
*'''Kanabo [[Oni]]''': For some reason a different type than the Tieflings, these are lanky goblin-like oni who are good with armor like the Vesk.
*'''Orcs''': After about a year of staggered content, there are finally stats for full orcs. While rather similar to their half-orc bretheren, these guys also have the ability to focus on a certain skill so they're extra good at it. They've also become slaves to the drow.
*'''Osharus''': Slugfolk. Mmyep. Slugfolk who consider science and religion one and the same and leave slime trails. They also have the common slug's crippling weakness to salt.
*'''Pahtras''': [[Catfolk]]. You are now the furries.
*'''Phentomitess''': Lanky [[Tau]]-like creatures from a planet with very low atmosphere.
*'''Planar Scions''': [[Aasimar]]s and [[Tiefling]]s, grouped under a common race. One has the power to turn up the lights, the other can turn down the lights.
*'''Quorlus''': A strange race of three-armed magma-based snail-like creatures.
*'''Trox''': Big beefy beetle-men with very thick shells. They can also go into a mini-barbarian rage if a friend gets hurt
*'''Uplifted [[Bear Lore|Bears]]''': You're a goddamn bipedal bear. Cue the incessant Sir Bearington memes.
*'''Vlakas''': Arctic Wolf-folk. They can gift resolve to an ally and a significant enough portion of their population is either born deaf or blind - both of which don't inflict their penalties to these wolves.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[In Spaaace|IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF who somehow moved to Verces sometime before the Gap. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago. A large number of S.R.O.s come from here as well.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone, a giant pole that's pretty much the [[Astronomican]] without the constant need to sacrifice psychics for fuel.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Ysoki, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': A very long time ago (before PF even), twin planets sharing the same orbit were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet (like the Sarceseans) was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm (possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its many moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world, possibly once a spaceship, currently ruled by the Drow.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. That is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of [[Horned Rat|Thieves, Spies, and Assassins]]. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil.

'''Triune''': A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over: Brigh, the Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity (and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items.
** '''Alien Archive 2''' saw a release on October 2018. More races, some of them nostalgic, some of them not, and a few of them being PCs.
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into come of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten adventures for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.
* '''Dead Suns''': A giant WMD capable of blowing up stars has just shown up from the Drift like some sorta [[Space Hulk]]. A faction of the local lich empire of Eox has interest in claiming it.
* '''Against the Aeon Throne''': Half Azlanti Star Empire splat, half 3-book adventure starting with a colony invasion and ending with stealing a macguffin warp drive from the angry purple-eyed [[Golarion#Azlant|Nazis]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Human scoundrel. She has a name, I just forgot it.
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

RIFTS

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Golarion

2018-10-24T22:35:19Z

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[[File:Continent of Avistan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Welcome to Golarion.]]
[[Golarion]] is the "main" planet in Paizo's default [[Campaign setting|campaign setting]] for the [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]]. It's not the sum total of the setting's Material Plane like, say, Athas is, but it's where most of the action is and where you're going to be spending most of your time so it's also the nickname for what's properly known as the [[Pathfinder Campaign Setting]]. Golarion was first introduced to players as a generic OGL module named ''Crown of the Kobold King'', released in June of 2007 under Paizo's GameMastery imprint. Two months later at [[Gen Con]] 2007, Paizo published ''Rise of the Runelords'', the first of Pathfinder's famous Adventure Paths and the first product to bear the Pathfinder brand name; this was followed by another adventure path and a couple "Pathfinder Chronicles" supplements. When Wizards announced [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] and neglected to mention that the OGL would be replaced with a giant spiky dildo, Paizo cashed in on the confusion and announced that they would be creating a replacement RPG, based on OGL content but with a less restrictive license for its "Product Identity" and with Golarion as the default setting.

Golarion is notable for ripping off fucking everything, including dime-store pulp novels, random bits of relatively modern history, earlier editions of D&D, sci-fi kitsch, and the kitchen sink. This is a transparent attempt to [[Gay|fill the gaping orifice]] left behind by the loss of the D&D's "Product Identity" as cheaply as possible, justified as a way of allowing many different campaign styles to coexist in the same setting. One notable exception is the elder gods of the Far Realm, which Paizo replaced by biting the bullet and licensing the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] from Chaosium.

It bears mentioning that this "fantasy kitchen sink" style actually isn't new to D&D. ALL of the "iconic trinity" of settings from the earliest days of D&D - [[Mystara]], [[Greyhawk]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]] - have a similar motif. What makes Golarion stand out compared to Greyhawk or the Realms is that the latter settings tend to obscure their real-world inheritances more by keeping the "non-Medieval Europe" cultures pushed from the highlight; the Realms in particular generally keeps its more blatantly real-world homage based portions off of the core map and out of the spotlight, such as [[Al-Qadim]], [[Kara-tur]] and [[Maztica]]. Even its blatancy is not unique; [[Mystara]] did it first, and with its bizarre races and fantastical tweaks on real-world cultures, Golarion resembles a Mystara written in and for the 2010s more than anything.

The centerpiece of Golarion is the Inner Sea region, consisting of the fantasy equivalents of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea zone, and the northern half of Africa. Unlike [[Dark Sun|most]] other fantasy settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the [[Outer Planes|Great Beyond]], Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary fuckstorm that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[Pirate|pirates]] to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and the prophets and diviners committing mass suicide as an prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the religious hysteria led the two greatest empires of the region to become balkanized devil-worshipping fantasy Nazis and decadent chucklefucks, respectively.

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they brought the orcs with them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] '''Green really iz da best, innit?'''

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
Jewish Scientologists. Alternately, [[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social conscriptions) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only.]]

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard generic as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists.

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious and alien race called the Pactmasters.

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings. Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die. Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav.

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. It's queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing.

===Mwangi Expanse===
Home to intelligent gorilla men (who, sadly, worship a [[Demon Prince]] and thus want to fuck everyone else over) and a super ancient empire of black men who lived in flying cities making the saying "We wuz kangs" sorta true for Pathfinder.

===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant robot scorpions with plasma cannons for stingers. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]] and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Ever play a game with an [[That guy|edgelord]] who always wants to be the [[Mary Sue|super-bestest at everything]] and the GM just capitulates to their every whim and gives them [[Grimdark|a kingdom which they rule worse that North Korea and say everyone should worship them as a god?]] Well, that's pretty much this country. Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavey is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, your allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it your treated as a common criminal.

Basically the Balkans of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom.

===Sargava===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, they are effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to their north. The local Mwangi people are little better than slaves and may be plotting to overthrow dem white bois.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire and British Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths?

==Lands Beyond the Core Setting==
[[File:Golarion Continents.jpg|300px|thumb|right|So many places to go, so little places well-developed...]]
Paizo, still wanting even more kitchen sink fantasy and wanting to emulate Forgotten Realms, have other continents and lands beyond the core setting.

===Arcadia===
Well they needed a place for the Americas. Notably the vikings from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings think of it as a kind of paradise and their rulers have a settlement on it in an allusion to Vinland from viking history.

===Azlant===
Atlantis by another name. Home to the first human empire that was uplifted by the aboleths, was destroyed by the Starstone when the aboleths thought humans were getting uppity.

===Casmaron===
What happens when you mix India, the 'stans and the Middle East? This. Vast swaths of largely unruled or ungovernable lands but also two massive "empires", one being a Persian/Ottoman expy, the other being fantasy India.

===Crown of the World===
Connects Avistan (Europe) to Tian Xia (East Asia). Has a few eskimo-like settlements and Cthulhu horror themes going on here.

===Darklands===
Paizo's Underdark. Drow, Svirneblin, Duergar and all the tropes therein.

===Iblydos===
Classical Greece. An island archipelago that serves as a common stopping point for traders going between the Inner Sea region and the distant lands of Vudra and Kelesh in Casmaron. Known for its prophecising Cyclopes and Demigod Heroes who often rule its numerous City-States.

===Sarusan===
Mysterious land of deadly terrors which is clearly Australia. Australia is bad enough, who the fuck knows how scary it would be with fantasy elements. Nobody can remember what it looks like for some reason that has nothing to do with leaving a blank canvas for your GM to paint with horrible death.

===Tian Xia===
[[File:Pathfinder Tian Xia Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Paizo is always careful to avoid cultural appropriation and treats foreign cultures in a respectful and well-informed manner.]]
Has all your classic [[Oriental Adventures|East Asia fantasy tropes]] going on here. Decadent empires, [[Oriental Dragon|eastern dragons]], [[monk]]s in monasteries learning kung-fu, mystical monks meditating under waterfalls, Studio Ghibli creatures running around, [[Naga]], [[Oni]], Mongols, [[ninja]] and [[samurai]].

==Gods of Golarion==
There are gods upon gods for the game but they split up into a number of different pantheons.

===Core Pantheon===
'''[[Abadar]]:''' God of Civilization, Walls, and Banking. Doing pretty well in modern times, all things considered. Lawful Neutral in a very reasonable kind of way, leaning more towards good, but still stuck doing shit like letting Zon-Kuthon into his Vault because he doesn't break his contracts. His herald is the Lawgiver, a giant gold-plated living statue with an equally-huge hammer. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Asmodeus]]:''' It's [[Asmodeus]], what the fuck do you expect? The most notable changes from OGL are that Asmodeus is actually a deity this time around, and that [[SJW|misogyny is an explicit part of his dominion. Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a bad guy.]] Yes, the leader of his greatest group of mortal servants is female. No, the setting material does not comment on this. (One designer claimed this is because he doesn't care so much about ''mortal'' gender, since mortals are just going to die and the lawful evil ones will end up his anyway. While this was probably just the designer trying to keep his ass from getting ripped by angry neckbeards and doesn't make that much sense, it does line up with PF Asmodeus' general "they'll all see things my way eventually" mentality.)

'''[[Calistria]]:''' An elven goddess of Lust and Revenge, Calistria's temples often double as centers of intrigue and brothels. [[Slaanesh|Feeding into people's lust]] and also feeding people's anxieties until they seek revenge, she is seen often as a bit of an odd one. Her favored animal is the hornet since they can sting repeatedly. Seriously, if you piss her off she will show her disdain for you by having hornets sting your junk until it's black and blistered. She is Chaotic Neutral to the extreme, in fact she is so whimsical and unreliable that she is the only non-chaotic evil deity that even Asmodeus refuses to work with.

'''[[Cayden Cailean]]:''' Five humans in the setting have ascended to godhood, each with their own outlooks and spheres and Cayden Cailean is one of them. His outlook and spheres? Partying it up, [[dwarf|getting drunk]], helping people, and going on adventures. Cayden Cailean apparently got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone. There are plenty of legends around why exactly the drunken man did it but one says he saw [[Slaanesh|Calistria, goddess of lust and revenge]], and wanted some of that. The goddess rebuffed him and said only a god could pleasure her. Pissed and drunk, he grabbed a keg and set off. Three days later, rocking a heavenly hangover, Cayden emerged as the most recent of the gods. His herald is Thais, a former prostitute who was his best buddy back in their mortal days.

'''[[Desna]]:''' An ancient space alien who befriended one of the first gods. When Lamashtu stole the beast domain from him, she took his travel domain. Chaotic Good, and likes wandering around, but guides people with her control over luck, and has a bunch of scientist followers who see her as helping them find knowledge. Very chill for a goddess whose signature weapon is an oversized shuriken. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Erastil]]:''' Old-fashioned god of the harvest and rural areas; a grumpy but well-meaning old codger who's getting a little past it since "city living" became a thing, but is still popular out in the farming country and wilderness regions. Source of much [[SJW]] outrage when his first detailed writeup revealed that being "God of the Old Ways" also makes him a patriarchal chap who believes women should get married and make babies, though he will sigh and accept it if a woman wants to prove she can have a happy life doing something else. They kicked up such a stink about this, claiming there was no way he could be Lawful Good and think this, that Paizo hastily retconned it. For the record, men are supposed to (eventually) be settling down too. Basically a generic wilderness/rural god, though he does have some similarities to [[St. Cuthbert]].

'''[[Gorum]]:''' Basically [[Khorne]]-lite, and including the bits about not killing non-combatants. (Well, technically [[Conan the Barbarian|Crom]], but the kids only care about their 40k.) Favors actual strategy and tactics over charging massed archers armored only with war-cries though.

'''[[Gozreh]]:''' Nature god. Most interesting thing about them is that they're a [[dickgirl|hermaphrodite]], with their female form being associated with the sea and their male form with the sky.

'''Green Faith:''' Not so much a deity as much as it is a nature-minded philosophy adhered to by [[druid]]s. It essentially gives the druids a sort of organization that'd be familiar to 2E's druid hierarchcies.

'''[[Iomedae]]:''' Aroden's herald, who mostly took over his job after his untimely demise. A former paladin turned deity via the Starstone, and a righteous crusader type. Paizo really screws with Iomedae depending on what source you read. Sometimes seen as a [[paladin|paragon of righteousness]], she sometimes comes across as a prick, [[That guy|going so far as to deafen people who are trying to save the world because they dicked around too much in her presence]] in one poorly-balanced and poorly-written adventure. May or may not have banged the local Bahamut-equivalent, Apsu, as a gold dragon calling her mom hangs out in her court.

'''[[Irori]]:''' Fantasy Kung-Fu Buddha. A former mortal, but unlike the others, whom he mocks for just copying his old friend Aroden, he got there on his own, by refining and honing his body and mind into literal perfection. Has more followers out in Tian, but he's making waves in Golarion. His clerics get [[monk|Improved Unarmed Strike instead of a favored weapon]].

'''[[Lamashtu]]:''' Mother of monsters and a former female demon lord who stole the domains from a god she murdered. Most of the "monster" races pay homage to her, and her evil favor usually manifests as hideous deformity and mutation. Usually manifests as a [[/d/| heavily pregnant mishmash of monster parts]]. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Nethys]]:''' The god of magic. Played too much ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' and broke his brain by briefly gaining omniscience. His fractured mind usually manifests as two faces, one white and benevolent, one black and destructive. Has self-contradictory holy texts. The only things he consistently cares about are a policy of not giving spellcasting to people who weren't born with it, nor have earned it, and opposing Rovagug.

'''[[Norgorber]]:''' A supposed mortal who became the god of trickery, secrets, backstabbing, and deceit and thus is represented by a very inconspicuous-looking bugger who totally won't fuck you over at the first opportunity. His worshipers tend to either worship one of four extremes of his character: the trickster, the serial killer, the saboteur, and the assassin. All information about his past is '''REDACTED''', and trying to learn too much about his church can get you killed even if you're a member.

'''[[Pharasma]]:''' [[The Raven Queen]], sort of. The deathly-neutral type of death goddess, and probably the oldest and most primordial of divinities. ''Haaaaates'' undeath, so much that her clerics get a custom variant of the Death domain with the undeath-related parts replaced. Judges the souls of every creature that ever dies before assigning them to their proper afterlives, with allowances made for things like racial affiliation and belief in reincarnation. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Rovagug]]''': An ancient primordial force of destruction, despised by all the other gods and worshipped only by madmen and lesser primordial forces of destruction. The other gods put aside their differences long ago to trap him in the Cage, which is Golarion itself. Bad Things will happen if he ever gets out, [[Starfinder| which might be fated to happen]]. His spawn still rampage around the world, one of which is the [[tarrasque]]. A ''mid-tier'' one.

'''[[Sarenrae]]:''' [[Rule 63]] [[Pelor]]. Asmodeus's good-aligned brother's first servant, who took up his portfolio after Asmodeus murdered him. Ironically, the two allied to take the foremost role in defeating and caging Rovagug. In addition to being a sun goddess, she emphasizes the idea of compassion and redemption for the truly-repentant and destruction for those who're truly past all that. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Shelyn]]:''' Beauty, art, and love goddess. Not so much sex though, that's Calistria's job. Literally all beings love her... some are just incapable of expressing that love in healthy ways. Lamashtu in particular gives her the creeps. Zon-Kuthon's sister, and responsible for containing the worst of the monster he's become. Also worshiped in Tian Xia.

'''[[Torag]]:''' We have come up with interesting twists for at least most of the blatant copies on this list. No such luck here. Torag is [[Moradin]], dwarf without end. Amen.

'''[[Urgathoa]]:''' Once upon a time, when the world was young, there lived a decadent queen who spent her whole life in unbridled hedonism. So much that, when she died, and went to wait in line in Pharasma's Boneyard to await judgement, she cut out of the line and slipped back into the world because she couldn't stand the thought of giving up the pleasures of life. In the process, she became the first undead creature and infected the world with both undeath and disease. Aw well. Very cheery for an evil goddess, since she's all about doing what you love... though for most of her followers, that's various shades of cannibalism and plague-spreading.

'''[[Zon-Kuthon]]:''' Originally known as Dou-Bral, half-sister to Shelyn, he got so asshurt about his sister's talents that he decided to go to the leather club between realities to brood. There, he was [[Rape|enlightened]] by an [[Slaanesh|alien presence]]. He returned to Golarion as a hyper BDSM fetishist known as Zon-Kuthon, god of pain, torture, and edge. His unholy symbol is a skull with a spiked chain going through the eye sockets, for fuck's sake. Despite his worshipers being evil touturing murderers and his servants being straight-up Cenobites, his clergy still tends to be kind to those who worship Shelyn because he still loves her, deep down in the irrevocably-ruined part of him that's still Dou-Bral.

===Tian-Xia Deities===
'''Daikitsu''': Basically the Shinto god(dess) Inari. Literally named "big fox".

'''Fumeiyoshi''': After murdering Shizuru (see down) he was cursed to be god of the undead (though he is not one himself), and dishonor and has picked up evil oni. He is named for the Japanese word "dishonor" (Fumeyo) paired with the common suffix for male names yoshi.

'''General Susumu''': Shizuru's evil brother (though with the low detail on these deities it isn't clear why he is evil instead of lawful neutral) and god of asshole samurai instead of honorable ones. Also horses, even though he has no domains to support this. Curiously gets the glory domain which is full of good aligned spells. He is named for the Japanese word "advance" (in the military sense). Vaguely based on Susa-no-O.

'''Hei Feng'''

'''Kofusachi'''

'''Lady Nanbyo''': Her name is Japanese for "incurable disease", and is predictably goddess of disease.

'''Lao Sho Pu''': A rat who feasted on the corpse of a god and became a god.

'''Nalinivati'''

'''Qi Zhong''': God of medicine and the elements.

'''Shizuru''': Shizuru is your typical asian themed goddess of sun (vagely based on Amaterasu), honor, ancestors, and swordplay. She's generally on good relations with every other Tian Diety. She's typically worshiped by honorable samurai and weeaboos. She is the lover of the moon god Tsukiyo and had to get him resurrected by the help of Qi-Zhong, the god of medicine, after his brother Fumeiyoshi grew so damn jealous of his brother actually having a girlfriend that he geeked him. She has an star archon daughter called the [[Weeaboo|Dusk Ronin]], who got kicked out of her mother's house and now wanders the Great Beyond in search of redemption.

'''Sun Wukong''': The classic trickster from ''[[Journey to the West]]'', now as an outright god instead of mere celestial after he tricked the gods into making him divine.

'''Tsukiyo'''

'''Yaezhing'''

'''Yamatsumi'''

===Other Major Deities===
===Dwarven Pantheon===

'''Droskar''': Dwarven God of Pointless, Soul-sucking jobs. He mostly took over those Dwarfs who refused to take the Quest of the Sky and eventually became Duregar.

===Elven Pantheon===
===Halfling Pantheon===

==Races of Golarion==
Being effectively [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.75, Golarion is absolutely crawling with races. Your D&D standards are here, but there's also an ever-growing array of races, from monstrous humanoids to ones lifted from real-world mythology to even homebrewed races.

===The Standards===
'''[[Human]]:''' Bog-standard human, following in the best D&D traditions by having different nations with different hats to wear.

'''[[Dwarf]]:''' Originated in Golarion's [[Underdark]], migrated to the surface in the legendary "Quest for Sky" centuries ago. Had flying fortresses, but most of them are destroyed or in enemy hands now.

'''[[Elf]]:''' One of the planet's oldest races. Buggered off through magical gateways to another planet during the worst of the Starfall disaster, then came back a few centuries ago.

'''[[Halfling]]:''' Pretty much your standard stunties, barring the fact that they're very popular slaves throughout the Inner Sea region. No homeland has been given, not even one that no longer exists.

'''[[Gnome]]:''' Fey who migrated to Golarion from [[Feywild|The First World]], then found out that without regular stimulation, they undergo something called "The Bleaching" which drives them mad and painfully kills them. In other words, they can literally get bored to death!

'''[[Half-Elf]]:''' Pretty much your standard half-elves. Splat gave options for Half-Drow, but that's still not a radical change.

'''[[Half-Orc]]:''' Instead of (only) "you were probably born from rape!" backstory, Golarion's half-orcs are the result of orcs realizing they are indeed retarded and need non-retarded leaders/spellcasters. Also born of political marriage in places where orcs team up with humans to fight other orcs and other threats.

===Snowflake Races===
The races most of /tg/ mocks because they're seen as favored by people who want special snowflake or weeaboo type characters, even if these are all races with roots in traditional D&D.

'''[[Aasimar]]:''' The iconic D&D Goodly [[Planetouched]]. Because Pathfinder has a much bigger array of "angels", there's many different sub-varieties of aasimar. There's actually a country where these guys are really common, which makes them almost as normal in Golarion as a [[dragonborn]] or [[half-orc]] would be in standard 5e D&D.

'''[[Catfolk]]:''' Pretty bog-standard [[Chaotic Stupid]] cat-people. Infamous for their schizophrenic artwork, which has portrayed them as anything from "[[catgirl]]s with a fine layer of fur all over their body" to "full fledged [[furry]]" to [[Elder Scrolls|"why does this look exactly like a Khajiit?"]].

'''[[Changeling]]:''' Not to be confused with the [[Eberron]] changeling, which is a [[doppelganger]]'s half-human spawn, Golarion's changelings are the immature larval form of [[hag]]s. Essentially, an entire species of cute/hot witches - with heterochromia, no less! - who are supposed to beautiful, but at the same time, so creepy and spooky they get a Charisma penalty. This aspect is the main reason why /tg/ mocks them. They're not necessarily a bad race, though, especially if you want more dark fantasy or horror fantasy games.

'''[[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]:''' Half-human and half-vampire, but, like the changeling, they fit the Ustalav region just great - hell, it really is surprising that these guys never showed up in [[Ravenloft]].

'''[[Drow]]:''' When the elves fucked off to another planet to escape an apocalypse, some of the more arrogant assholes stayed behind. Ultimately turning to worship of various [[Demon Prince]]s to survive, and becoming psycho-evil arrogant assholes in the bargain. Most noted for their fucked-up love of fleshcrafting, which is basically manipulating living creatures and turning them into monsters.

'''[[Ganzi]]:''' The most obscure of the PF [[Planetouched]], these guys are essentially Chaotic Planetouched and may be connected to the Protheans, Golarion's equivalent to the [[Slaad]]i.

'''[[Genasi|Ifrit/Oread/Sylph/Undine]]:''' These guys are basically [[genasi]], but Pathfinder pretends to treat them as seperate races in order to make the comparison seem less obvious.

'''[[Ratfolk]]:''' Merchant-tinker rat-people. Smarter and more chill than the [[Skaven|usual rat-type races]]. [[Ysoki|May have come from space]].

'''[[Shifter|Skinwalker]]:''' As dhampirs are to vampires, these guys are to [[therianthrope]]s. Essentially [[Shifter]]s with less shitty artwork.

'''[[Suli]]:''' One of the stupider [[planetouched]] races in Pthfinder, these guys are [[genie]]-kin who trace their lineage to the oft-forgotten Janni, the mixed-elemental fifth genie race which is the weakest of them all.

'''[[Tengu]]:''' Humanoid flightless crow-people who love shinies. Essentially less-evil [[kenku]] outright using the mythological version's name. Tend to become rogues (or ninjas), samurai and pirates. Sometimes two at once.

'''[[Tiefling]]:''' When one of the countries has the theme "demonic invasion through gaping portals to the Abyss" and another is "Fantasy Nazis using a pact with Satan to stay in power", are you really surprised that these guys are everywhere? Especially considering Golarion has a huge list of fiends outside of the Devil/Daemon/Demon trinity and they ''all'' make tieflings.

===Monstrous Humanoids===
'''[[Goblin]]:''' Doubles down on the [[Chaotic Stupid]] aspects; love fire, really good singers, absolutely terrified of dogs, horses and writing.

'''[[Orc]]:''' Driven up from the Underdark by the dwarves, who they used to war with. Really double-down on the Always Chaotic Evil aspects.

'''[[Kobold]]:''' Pretty much the D&D iconic version.

'''[[Hobgoblin]]:''' A militaristic race descended from an experiment to magically mutate goblins into slave-soldiers to fight against the elf empire; their creators were killed, but the hobgoblins were complete, and now they don't have an off-switch.

===Foreigners===
Because Golarion has lots of "not!X" countries, there's both a "not!India" (Vudra) and a "not!Orient" (Dragon Empires), each of which has some fairly unique races native to it.

'''[[Kitsune]]:''' Your standard mischievous fun-loving shapeshifting fox-folk.

'''[[Nagaji]]:''' A race of [[serpentfolk]] bred as slaves by the [[naga]]s; they're quite content in their servitude.

'''[[Samsaran]]:''' Spiritually enlightened blue & white-colored humans who continuously reincarnate.

'''[[Vanara]]:''' Friendly, sage-like monkey-people.

===Sci-Fantasy Races===
Pathfinder's mapped out the star system that Golarion comes from, and in best pulp fantasy fashion, that means that you can play androids and aliens in this setting too. These races and more would be later expanded by the sister game line [[Starfinder]].

'''[[Android]]:''' Look like humans with pale, silver-tinted skin and circuitry that lights up like science-tattoos when they use their powers. Most common in Numeria, as they are born out of "creation forges" left behind when the starship crashed.

'''[[Kasatha]]:''' Four-armed humanoids who don't remember what world they came from. Favor dual-wielding bows.

'''[[Lashunta]]:''' The natives of Golarion's equivalent of Venus; antennaed humanoids with psionic powers and [[-4 Strength|extreme sexual dimorphism]] - men look more like dwarves, women look more like elves.

'''[[Triaxian]]:''' Pointy-eared aliens whose planet undergoes an extreme orbit, leading to centuries-long summers and winters, and thus the species is divided into "Summer Generation"(Baldy) and "Winter Generation"(Furry) subspecies.

===Real-Worlders===
The least common race group, so far, these are critters taken from non-D&D fantasy sources, including several Lovecraft races and cryptids.

'''[[Reptoid]]:''' Shapeshifting lizardfolk with [[psionics]] who hail from an unknown world or plane, based on a popular conspiracy theory.

'''[[Orang-Pendak]]:''' A crytid that is basically a smaller, smarter sasquatch.

'''[[Deep One]] Hybrid:''' A human with [[Deep One]] ancestry, giving them amphibious abilities but cursing them to turn into a Deep One - which is death to their old personality - in their 50s.

'''[[Being of Ib]]:''' Amphibious, gnome-like frog-people from the Cthulhu Mythos; although their Dreamlands colony was famously annihilated by Sarnath in "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", it's possible other colonies exist elsewhere in the multiverse.

'''[[Yaddithian]]:''' Tapir-snouted insectile-looking people adept in sorcery who have scattered across the galaxy due to their homeworld being destroyed by bholes. Taken from the Lovecraft story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".

==Other Planets and Planes==

==Trivia==

==Further Reading==

{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

2018-10-24T22:20:41Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Adventure Paths */

[[File:Pathfinder Logo.jpeg|300px|right]]
When [[4E|''D&D'' 4th edition]] was announced it was immediately rejected with a lot of [[butthurt|negative feelings]] by a rather large number of [[neckbeards|people]]. Realizing a lot of [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3]] and 3.5 [[Splatbook|material]] would suddenly become mostly useless and that [[WotC|Wizards]] would be making a significantly different game, [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] decided to cash in on the 4th edition naysayers and appeal to the people who wanted to stick to the old edition, but realized it still needed to be fixed.

Thus the '''''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game''''' came about, usually called ''D&D'' 3.75 or 3.PF due to the fact that it largely resembles 3.5's [[d20 System|ruleset]] but with various non-drastic updates, fixes and changes. Notably, grappling now more closely resembles something that might almost be called "sense" (gasp!) and [[Half-orcs]] and [[Half-elves]] don't suck anymore. Spellcasters are just as crazy as ever once they've got a few levels in them, while melee classes, generally speaking, got buffed across the board. Not enough to make them outshine the wizards, but take what you can get. This is assuming that your [[DM]] isn't a newfag incapable of compensating.

Noted for the mishmash campaign world (which contains elements [[Blood_Ravens|lifted]] from pretty much everything, ever, from real-world history to crappy pulp Sci-Fi to [[Lord of the Rings|LotR]] with a dash of [[Order of the Stick]] thrown in for good measure), entire published campaigns called Adventure Paths, and decent maturity level (in both senses- [[gay]] people exist, as do bum-fuckin', banjo-playing, inbred hillbilly ogres). The setting is both good and total shit at the same time, no better than any decent [[gamemaster]] can come up with on their own.

Essentially fairly well-done Darker and Edgier ''D&D''. And the Adventure Paths & Modules are pretty good. If you're the sort of [[skub]] DM who uses shit like that.

== Golarion ==
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The campaign setting explained in one handy graphic.]]
{{main|Golarion}}
The main setting of ''Pathfinder'' is the Inner Sea region (basically the equivalent of the Mediterranean sea zone in our world) on a planet called Golarion. Unlike other ''D&D'' settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the Great Beyond (the outer planes), Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary hurricane that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[pirate]]s to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and most of the prophets and diviners committed mass suicide as an imminent prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the two greatest empires started to collapse in the religious hysteria, Cheliax (the Golarion equivalent of the Holy Roman Empire) suffered a civil war that ultimately put on the throne a noble house with links to the Nine Hells, making worship of the [[devil]] (Rock me Azmodeus!) the official state religion. Taldor (a mix of the Byzantine Empire and the Spanish Empire during the Habsburg era) started to lose territories at the hands of the Keleshite Empire (the "Persian" ethnicity in Golarion), while banks owned by brass dragons turned its culture completely decadent and stagnated by the bureaucracy. As this happened some provinces declared independence from Cheliax, creating two new countries, Andoran (which is like the 13 colonies after winning the Revolutionary War, so basically America (fuck yeah) with swords and sorcery) and Galt (France during The Terror with some elements which remind you of the Soviet Union after the end of the Russian civil war).

If all these political fuck ups are not enough, Golarion is in fact a cage built by the gods for an entity known as Rovagug, basically a massive worm which works like a [[Sphere of Annihilation|black hole]] and represents entropy. It's also connected with the Plateau of Leng and there are cults to the [[Old Ones|Old God]]s (yes, the [[H.P. Lovecraft]] ones, so you can roll a [[Alignment|CE]] [[cleric]] of Nyarlathotep for the evulz). Of course all of this is hidden by the Pathfinder Society (imagine National Geographic meets your standard Adventurers' Guild and then, as [[awesome]] as that sounds, make them [[fail|incompetent]]), one of the many factions and secret societies whose selfish intentions are just helping civilization to sink more into the pile of crap it is mired in instead of helping it come out. The remaining deities and their churches aren't helping either, the veteran gods have already seen an apocalypse obliterate the world once and the new ones are just useless adventurers who can't grasp that they aren't mortals anymore.

Beyond the Inner Sea region there are even more continents and nations, but barely anybody gives a shit about them (including most of Paizo's writers) with the exception of [[Oriental Adventures|Tian Xia]], where [[weeaboo]]ness and [[furries|furfaggotry]] meet. There's also the Darklands (the [[Underdark]] of Golarion), divided into three levels, each more under and darker than the last. And if the planet seems too shitty for you the whole solar system is full of civilizations and monsters to [[Rip and Tear|rip and tear through in your quest for loot]], not to mention the shenanigans you can get into in the other [[plane]]s of the multiverse.

{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

==''Pathfinder Tales''==
The series of novels written for the setting. There are over thirty of them now, with some ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' authors occasionally writing for Paizo, most notably [[Ed Greenwood]] who made ''Forgotten Realms''. This may be an indicator of how much [[Wizards of the Coast]] messing around with the settings drove people off.

== Adventure Paths ==
One of the big draws to the system is the pre-written campaigns Paizo puts out called Adventure Paths, or APs. Each AP is 6 books long and run on average from levels 1 to 15 though some end earlier in levels and at least one takes you to level 20. WARNING: The following may provide spoilers.

=== Rise of the Runelords ===
Pathfinder's 'flagship' AP, RotR hits a lot of more classic tropes. Starts off with the party fighting goblins and an evil Aasimar, moves on to fighting ghouls and a Lamia, then it becomes a mild wilderness game to fight your way to a big ass dam and fight several types of ogres and giants, save a few towns, then go off to fight dragons and ancient evil spellcaster. Initially released for 3.5 before getting an official second edition for Pathfinder.

=== Curse of the Crimson Throne ===
An Evil Queen and intrigue in and around her court. Popular enough to get an update from 3.5 to Pathfinder just like Runelords did. Also fucking impossible. Do not attempt if your GM has any sort of malicious intent. Fucking bards, man.

=== Second Darkness ===
Drow want to blow everything up, and the elves who send you to stop them are kinda jerks. Not one of the most popular APs.

=== Legacy of Fire ===
Genies and Arabian Nights the adventure Path

=== Council of Thieves ===
Be a hero and help the Nazis against the Mafia. Huge city but a total shithole. Has some major issues with player involvement because a lot of shit happens behind the scenes and the AP doesn't think much of informing the players about it. Needs some work from the DM. Starts off like a rebellion story, but if you wanna do that, play Hell's Rebels instead.

=== Kingmaker ===
Make Your Own Kingdom: The Adventure Path. A Russian company[https://owlcatgames.com/], with Chris Avellone leading the narrative design, got the rights to make it into a CRPG and it is due to release on 25 September, 2018.

=== Serpent's Skull ===
The jungle exploration path with lizardfolk, normally considered one of the weakest APs alongside Second Darkness.

=== Carrion Crown ===
The classic horror monster path

=== Jade Regent ===
Travel to Tian-Xa to get a good heir to the throne, to the throne. A lot of the path is just getting there.

=== Skull & Shackles ===
Pirates! You start pressganged on a ship, and after breaking free you need to make a name for yourself on the high seas. Awful for a GM that doesn't want to spend hours voicing the dozen or so important NPCs appearing in just book 1.

=== Shattered Star ===
Semi-sequel to Runelords, you need to assemble a powerful artifact and a different villain of ancient Thassilon threatens to rise. Almost pure dungeon crawl.

=== Reign of Winter ===
Somebody turned down the thermostat in Taldor, so you go and investigate. Things get out of whack when you fight winter fey in the middle of summer, get teleported to Bumfuck, Icy Nowhere and get roped into a date with a Winter Wolf, and it only escalates from there when you go to another continent, another planet, and another galaxy on your quest to rescue damsel-in-distress Baba Yaga from her uppity daughter and son, Rasputin, and his army of tear gas elementals, WWI Russian soldier zombies, and magically-animated tanks.

=== Wrath of the Righteous ===
The Demons of the Worldwound have decided that being trapped in the area around the Worldwound is a bum game, and break free, inadvertently giving your party mythic power in the process. You progress deeper into the Worldwound and eventually to the Abyss itself to save the world from demonic invasion. Good plot and NPCs, could use some work on the game balance, DMs may want to up the difficulty.

=== Mummy's Mask ===
Ancient Egyptian/Osirion path with ancient tombs, mummies, and floating pyramids. Also an emphasis on moral shades of gray.

=== Iron Gods ===
Travel through Barbarians and scavenged technology land fighting aliens, an organization that wants to monopolize all high technology, and face down an AI that wants to make itself a god. Do not charge the final boss if it's linnorm is still alive. Learn from others mistakes.

Also a steampunk twist on this campaign would be amazing.

=== Giantslayer ===
Big Stuff. Kill it fast before it kills you. Do no attempt to make giants fail will saves. The GM will fuck your ass.

Also, the 5th book is just a fire-themed version of the 4th.

=== Hell's Rebels ===
In a city at the edge of Cheliax, the Thrunes moved one of their family that even those devil-worshipers find too much. As he cracks down, you rise up. Well developed city. This AP actually is what most people think Council of Thieves was going to be.

=== Hell's Vengeance ===
The bad guy path- Cheliax can't focus on the Hell's Rebels rebellion because they're dealing with one of their own, an ill-considered attempt at their capital. You work for the Queen in helping put it down and restoring order in the lands. Pretty damn great if you have an average to good GM.

=== Strange Aeons ===
Lovecraft the adventure path. Lethal as fuck. Bring backup characters and do not, I repeat DO NOT have a mental score below 10. You'll be insane by the end of the first book. Also bring a tank along with you everywhere.

=== Ironfang Invasion ===
One of the more "traditional" recent adventure paths, this one involves stopping a massive hobgoblin army, though it does have some relatively unusual twists in the later books. Set in the country of Robin Hood (or Wood, for those of us who live in T.H. White's books).

=== Ruins of Azlant ===
Visit the ruins of not-Atlantis and fight evil psychic fish (Aboleths), lots of nautical themes and aquatic monsters. Also, there's a magic theremin as an optional treasure.

=== War for the Crown ===
There's a Succession Crisis in Taldor, so it's time to play the Game of Thrones.

== Rage ==
''Pathfinder's'' barbarians are champion swimmers, but only when [[rage|raging]].

The ''Pathfinder RPG'' inspires a large amount of nerdrage over its rules, with frequent [[butthurt|bawwing]] over class balance, perceived nonsensical nerfs to [[fighter]]s, buffed [[CoDzilla]] and [[wizard]]s and general [[troll|troll]]age. Any discussion of the differences between ''Pathfinder'' ("3.75" for fanboys) and regular 3.5 is almost guaranteed to produce a flamewar.

==Second Edition==
Paizo has announced that they are working on the second edition of Pathfinder, which will be released in August of 2019. It make several changes, and will make both [[goblin]]s and [[alchemist]]s core choices. Will probably include elements of [[Starfinder]]. Also, after decades of deflecting criticism with "4e, bluh bluh," the devs naturally put in a dig at the infamous 4e Forgotten Realms while listing what they would ''not'' do to Golarion. The playtest will hit August 2nd 2018.

The dig at 4e is hilarious because, as /tg/ has pointed out, many of the planned mechanics are ''literally'' exactly the same kind of mechanics that 4e did itself. Just trading 4e's dry but easy-to-read mechanically focused layout style for "natural" layout style that can make it harder to figure out how the mechanic actually works.

* [http://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lkl9 Announcement on the main Paizo blog.]
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest The main page for the playtest.]
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest/faq The FAQ for the playtest and 2e in general.]

===Noted Changes from 1E (As Gleaned From the Playtest)===
* Races
** Goblins are now a default race.
** Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are now <s>racial</s> ancestry feats that humans can take at first level.
** Each race now adds +2 to two stats, -2 to one stat, and a +2 to any stat you want so long as it wasn't mentioned before. Humans just grab two floating stat boosts.
** HP is now added between a racial HP value and the Class HP value which includes Con. Just like Starfinder, but without any stamina to buffer out.
** Many of the key features of each race has been cut out and moved into ancestry feats that you gain at level 1 and every 4 thereafter. All that remains for most is just their types and whether or not they have darkvision.
* Classes
** Alchemists are a core class now. However their pseudo-casting is now replaced with the ability to learn and slap together whatever alchemical items they want by spending their Int-dependent Resonance.
** Barbarians no longer have a pool of turns per day with which they can rage, but now they can spend it infinitely...for three turns before needing to cool off for a turn. It's...strange to adjust to, and it especially hurts animal totem barbs, who need to rage for their natural attacks.
*** Totems (a popular addition to Barbarians based on its new abilities) are now a default feature, giving various features from hauling fuckoff-huge weapons to turning into an animal.
** Bards get full spell progression.
** Cleric domains don't grant spells anymore, only powers (which are just spells that require Spell Points to cast). Instead, clerics get extra spells determined by what god they worship.
** Druids get subclasses based upon Orders: Leaf (Casters with Leshys for familiars), Storm (Blaster druids), Wild (Wildshape-focused), and Animal (Pets)
**Skill ranks have been done away with completely for proficiency ranks that ring more similar to games like [[Dark Heresy]] mixed with 5E: Untrained penalizes you for trying a skill, Trained lets you roll with the requisite stat with no penalties, and Expert, Master, and Legendary are bonuses to the roll in question. This proficiency system even spills over to your armor proficiencies, weapon proficiencies (so as to replace BAB), and saves.
*** In a bit of a turn from its sci-fi cousin, Level 3 doesn't automatically grant 1/2 character level to damage with a weapon group they're trained in, but now only martial characters can get a specialization boost that raises the proficiency rank for attacking with a single weapon group. Casters can raise the proficiency ranks for spellcasting, but that's usually level 10. Barbarians also lack this system, though level 3 gives them access to all special crits and then gain a rank up for weapons at a later level.
*** Because of how mandatory Perception was, it's now a pseudo-skill that every class gets some sort of training in. It's now also the skill check needed to roll for Initiative. Funnily, Fighters (One of the classes considered most shat upon by 1E) is now an ultra-badass at this skill.
*** Each class also has a selection of "Signature Skills", which permit the player to advance their training in a particular skill to even higher levels for bigger feats. As of the 9/10 errata though, Paizo seemed to get the memo about how pigeonholing this was and just scrapped Signature Skills and just let any skill reach the top-level and gave every classes a few default-trained skills as compensation.
** The spell pool is now drastically shrunk down to 4 types: Arcane (Wizards), Divine (Clerics), Primal (Druids), and Occult (Bards, because Paizo really wants you to rebuy Occult Adventures but doesn't want to make a new spell list just for the bard). Sorcerers are the only casters that are wild-cards, their bloodline feature dictating which spell list they can take.
*** As one can notice, Rangers, Alchemists, and Paladins aren't on the list. Rangers and Alchemists make do by making items (Traps for Rangers, Alchemical Items for Alchemists) while Paladins and Monks (and a few other classes to a lesser degree) utilize a spell point pool and specific feats to gain new powers.
*** Spellcasters no longer get more spells by just getting a high casting stat.
*** Spells now have a rarity, which might be an attempt to limit the rarity of certain really powerful spells. On a similar note, some of the known campaign-ending spells (Wish, Time Stop) are now reserved for 10th-level spellcasting, which is available ONLY if you select a single feat at level 20 for the primary casting classes and you are still gonna need to find them thanks to rarity. Expect this to work out like the restriction system in Starfinder, which is to say like [[Paranoia]]'s security clearances played straight.
*** Caster Level no longer affects spell strength, instead, now there are multiple level versions of the same spell, meaning that they have to be "learned" at that level if you want to cast a spell at a "heightened" strength (making it sound like diet metamagic, but in reality just gimping spontaneous casters)
*** Spontaneous casters and Prepared Casters have the exact same spells per day progression (Sorcerers get extra bloodline spell slots, but Wizards get school spell slots, so there's no real difference except Sorcerers have a very finite spell repertoire).
* Similar to SF, backgrounds are now a mandatory feature. Each gives a boost to two stats (one chosen from a set of two, the other to any stat so long as it's not the same stat as before), a skill feat, and training in a related Lore skill (the new name for Profession, though now only tied to Int).
* Feats are given practically every level now, split between class feats, general feats, ancestry feats (racial), and skill feats. Expect the feat bloat to explode even harder than fuck.
** Multiclass feats make a return. In addition to the ones that grant features from established classes, there are some archetypes (Gray Maiden, Cavalier, Pirate) for new perks.
** Skill feats at least add some new uses for the skill, mostly because of how feats and actual abilities are built off the same format.
* Perhaps the most controversial feature made in the playtest so far is Resonance: a pool based off Level+Charisma (except for Alchemists who use Int for this), this allows Alchemists to make items and allows anyone to use any magical items, either triggering a power or just allowing you to use an item's passive perk. The contention is that you need to spend this crap every day, meaning that those loaded with magical items are stuck having to figure out what items they want to use every day and traps Alchemists who want to make stuff into focusing on a particular set of items/elixirs/mutagens.
** Magic Weapons now add an extra die of damage per + instead of just adding +1, making them a lot more reliable. The properties are now included in runes, which every weapon has an allotted limit to fill.
* Another controversial feature is the action economy: Rather than the typical Standard, Move, Swift action with Free actions sprinkled on, you now get three actions, and everything, from moving to casting, takes an action. In fact, multicomponent spells (Somatic, Verbal, Material, etc.) eat an action for every component the spell needs. Even Metamagic now eats up an action to cast with it.

== Links ==
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinder ''Pathfinder''] at Paizo Publishing, for those too damn lazy to use Google.
* [http://pathfinderwiki.com Pathfinder Wiki], because every goddamn thing has a wiki these days.
* [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ Pathfinder SRD]: For those of you who are too lazy and/or cheap to get the books.
* [http://www.archivesofnethys.com/Default.aspx Archives of Nethys]: Another great repository for more obscure ''Pathfinder'' splatbook content.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

2018-10-24T22:17:16Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Council of Thieves */

[[File:Pathfinder Logo.jpeg|300px|right]]
When [[4E|''D&D'' 4th edition]] was announced it was immediately rejected with a lot of [[butthurt|negative feelings]] by a rather large number of [[neckbeards|people]]. Realizing a lot of [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3]] and 3.5 [[Splatbook|material]] would suddenly become mostly useless and that [[WotC|Wizards]] would be making a significantly different game, [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] decided to cash in on the 4th edition naysayers and appeal to the people who wanted to stick to the old edition, but realized it still needed to be fixed.

Thus the '''''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game''''' came about, usually called ''D&D'' 3.75 or 3.PF due to the fact that it largely resembles 3.5's [[d20 System|ruleset]] but with various non-drastic updates, fixes and changes. Notably, grappling now more closely resembles something that might almost be called "sense" (gasp!) and [[Half-orcs]] and [[Half-elves]] don't suck anymore. Spellcasters are just as crazy as ever once they've got a few levels in them, while melee classes, generally speaking, got buffed across the board. Not enough to make them outshine the wizards, but take what you can get. This is assuming that your [[DM]] isn't a newfag incapable of compensating.

Noted for the mishmash campaign world (which contains elements [[Blood_Ravens|lifted]] from pretty much everything, ever, from real-world history to crappy pulp Sci-Fi to [[Lord of the Rings|LotR]] with a dash of [[Order of the Stick]] thrown in for good measure), entire published campaigns called Adventure Paths, and decent maturity level (in both senses- [[gay]] people exist, as do bum-fuckin', banjo-playing, inbred hillbilly ogres). The setting is both good and total shit at the same time, no better than any decent [[gamemaster]] can come up with on their own.

Essentially fairly well-done Darker and Edgier ''D&D''. And the Adventure Paths & Modules are pretty good. If you're the sort of [[skub]] DM who uses shit like that.

== Golarion ==
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The campaign setting explained in one handy graphic.]]
{{main|Golarion}}
The main setting of ''Pathfinder'' is the Inner Sea region (basically the equivalent of the Mediterranean sea zone in our world) on a planet called Golarion. Unlike other ''D&D'' settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the Great Beyond (the outer planes), Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary hurricane that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[pirate]]s to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and most of the prophets and diviners committed mass suicide as an imminent prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the two greatest empires started to collapse in the religious hysteria, Cheliax (the Golarion equivalent of the Holy Roman Empire) suffered a civil war that ultimately put on the throne a noble house with links to the Nine Hells, making worship of the [[devil]] (Rock me Azmodeus!) the official state religion. Taldor (a mix of the Byzantine Empire and the Spanish Empire during the Habsburg era) started to lose territories at the hands of the Keleshite Empire (the "Persian" ethnicity in Golarion), while banks owned by brass dragons turned its culture completely decadent and stagnated by the bureaucracy. As this happened some provinces declared independence from Cheliax, creating two new countries, Andoran (which is like the 13 colonies after winning the Revolutionary War, so basically America (fuck yeah) with swords and sorcery) and Galt (France during The Terror with some elements which remind you of the Soviet Union after the end of the Russian civil war).

If all these political fuck ups are not enough, Golarion is in fact a cage built by the gods for an entity known as Rovagug, basically a massive worm which works like a [[Sphere of Annihilation|black hole]] and represents entropy. It's also connected with the Plateau of Leng and there are cults to the [[Old Ones|Old God]]s (yes, the [[H.P. Lovecraft]] ones, so you can roll a [[Alignment|CE]] [[cleric]] of Nyarlathotep for the evulz). Of course all of this is hidden by the Pathfinder Society (imagine National Geographic meets your standard Adventurers' Guild and then, as [[awesome]] as that sounds, make them [[fail|incompetent]]), one of the many factions and secret societies whose selfish intentions are just helping civilization to sink more into the pile of crap it is mired in instead of helping it come out. The remaining deities and their churches aren't helping either, the veteran gods have already seen an apocalypse obliterate the world once and the new ones are just useless adventurers who can't grasp that they aren't mortals anymore.

Beyond the Inner Sea region there are even more continents and nations, but barely anybody gives a shit about them (including most of Paizo's writers) with the exception of [[Oriental Adventures|Tian Xia]], where [[weeaboo]]ness and [[furries|furfaggotry]] meet. There's also the Darklands (the [[Underdark]] of Golarion), divided into three levels, each more under and darker than the last. And if the planet seems too shitty for you the whole solar system is full of civilizations and monsters to [[Rip and Tear|rip and tear through in your quest for loot]], not to mention the shenanigans you can get into in the other [[plane]]s of the multiverse.

{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

==''Pathfinder Tales''==
The series of novels written for the setting. There are over thirty of them now, with some ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' authors occasionally writing for Paizo, most notably [[Ed Greenwood]] who made ''Forgotten Realms''. This may be an indicator of how much [[Wizards of the Coast]] messing around with the settings drove people off.

== Adventure Paths ==
One of the big draws to the system is the pre-written campaigns Paizo puts out called Adventure Paths, or APs. Each AP is 6 books long and run on average from levels 1 to 15 though some end earlier in levels and at least one takes you to level 20. WARNING: The following may provide spoilers.

=== Rise of the Runelords ===
Pathfinder's 'flagship' AP, RotR hits a lot of more classic tropes. Starts off with the party fighting goblins and an evil Aasimar, moves on to fighting ghouls and a Lamia, then it becomes a mild wilderness game to fight your way to a big ass dam and fight several types of ogres and giants, save a few towns, then go off to fight dragons and ancient evil spellcaster. Initially released for 3.5 before getting an official second edition for Pathfinder.

=== Curse of the Crimson Throne ===
An Evil Queen and intrigue in and around her court. Popular enough to get an update from 3.5 to Pathfinder just like Runelords did. Also fucking impossible. Do not attempt if your GM has any sort of malicious intent. Fucking bards, man.

=== Second Darkness ===
Drow want to blow everything up, and the elves who send you to stop them are kinda jerks. Not one of the most popular APs.

=== Legacy of Fire ===
Genies and Arabian Nights the adventure Path

=== Council of Thieves ===
Be a hero and help the Nazis against the Mafia. Huge city but a total shithole. Has some major issues with player involvement because a lot of shit happens behind the scenes and the AP doesn't think much of informing the players about it. Needs some work from the DM. Starts off like a rebellion story, but if you wanna do that, play Hell's Rebels instead.

=== Kingmaker ===
Make Your Own Kingdom: The Adventure Path. A Russian company[https://owlcatgames.com/], with Chris Avellone leading the narrative design, got the rights to make it into a CRPG and it is due to release on 25 September, 2018.

=== Serpent's Skull ===
The jungle exploration path with lizardfolk, normally considered one of the weakest APs alongside Second Darkness.

=== Carrion Crown ===
The classic horror monster path

=== Jade Regent ===
Travel to Tian-Xa to get a good heir to the throne, to the throne. A lot of the path is just getting there.

=== Skull & Shackles ===
Pirates! You start pressganged on a ship, and after breaking free you need to make a name for yourself on the high seas. Awful for a GM that doesn't want to spend hours voicing the dozen or so important NPCs appearing in just book 1.

=== Shattered Star ===
Semi-sequel to Runelords, you need to assemble a powerful artifact and a different villain of ancient Thassilon threatens to rise. Almost pure dungeon crawl.

=== Reign of Winter ===
Somebody turned down the thermostat in Taldor, so you go and investigate. Things get out of whack when you fight winter fey in the middle of summer, get teleported to Bumfuck, Icy Nowhere and get roped into a date with a Winter Wolf, and it only escalates from there when you go to another continent, another planet, and another galaxy on your quest to rescue damsel-in-distress Baba Yaga from her uppity daughter and son, Rasputin, and his army of tear gas elementals, WWI Russian soldier zombies, and magically-animated tanks.

=== Wrath of the Righteous ===
The Demons of the Worldwound have decided that being trapped in the area around the Worldwound is a bum game, and break free, inadvertently giving your party mythic power in the process. You progress deeper into the Worldwound and eventually to the Abyss itself to save the world from demonic invasion. Good plot and NPCs, could use some work on the game balance, DMs may want to up the difficulty.

=== Mummy's Mask ===
Ancient Egyptian/Osirion path with ancient tombs, mummies, and floating pyramids. Also an emphasis on moral shades of gray.

=== Iron Gods ===
Travel through Barbarians and scavenged technology land fighting aliens, an organization that wants to monopolize all high technology, and face down an AI that wants to make itself a god. Do not charge the final boss if it's linnorm is still alive. Learn from others mistakes.

Also a steampunk twist on this campaign would be amazing.

=== Giantslayer ===
Big Stuff. Kill it fast before it kills you. Do no attempt to make giants fail will saves. The GM will fuck your ass.

Also, the 5th book is just a fire-themed version of the 4th.

=== Hell's Rebels ===
In a city at the edge of Cheliax, the Thrunes moved one of their family that even those devil-worshipers find too much. As he cracks down, you rise up. Well developed city. This AP actually is what most people think Council of Thieves was going to be.

=== Hell's Vengeance ===
The bad guy path- Cheliax can't focus on the Hell's Rebels rebellion because they're dealing with one of their own, an ill-considered attempt at their capital. You work for the Queen in helping put it down and restoring order in the lands. Pretty damn great if you have an average to good GM.

=== Strange Aeons ===
Lovecraft the adventure path. Lethal as fuck. Bring backup characters and do not, I repeat DO NOT have a mental score below 10. You'll be insane by the end of the first book. Also bring a tank along with you everywhere.

=== Ironfang Invasion ===
One of the more "traditional" recent adventure paths, this one involves stopping a massive hobgoblin army, though it does have some relatively unusual twists in the later books. Set in the country of Robin Hood (or Wood, for those of us who live in T.H. White's books).

=== Ruins of Azlant ===
Visit the ruins of not-Atlantis and fight evil psychic fish (Aboleths), lots of nautical themes and aquatic monsters. Also, there's a magic theremin as an optional treasure.

== Rage ==
''Pathfinder's'' barbarians are champion swimmers, but only when [[rage|raging]].

The ''Pathfinder RPG'' inspires a large amount of nerdrage over its rules, with frequent [[butthurt|bawwing]] over class balance, perceived nonsensical nerfs to [[fighter]]s, buffed [[CoDzilla]] and [[wizard]]s and general [[troll|troll]]age. Any discussion of the differences between ''Pathfinder'' ("3.75" for fanboys) and regular 3.5 is almost guaranteed to produce a flamewar.

==Second Edition==
Paizo has announced that they are working on the second edition of Pathfinder, which will be released in August of 2019. It make several changes, and will make both [[goblin]]s and [[alchemist]]s core choices. Will probably include elements of [[Starfinder]]. Also, after decades of deflecting criticism with "4e, bluh bluh," the devs naturally put in a dig at the infamous 4e Forgotten Realms while listing what they would ''not'' do to Golarion. The playtest will hit August 2nd 2018.

The dig at 4e is hilarious because, as /tg/ has pointed out, many of the planned mechanics are ''literally'' exactly the same kind of mechanics that 4e did itself. Just trading 4e's dry but easy-to-read mechanically focused layout style for "natural" layout style that can make it harder to figure out how the mechanic actually works.

* [http://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lkl9 Announcement on the main Paizo blog.]
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest The main page for the playtest.]
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest/faq The FAQ for the playtest and 2e in general.]

===Noted Changes from 1E (As Gleaned From the Playtest)===
* Races
** Goblins are now a default race.
** Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are now <s>racial</s> ancestry feats that humans can take at first level.
** Each race now adds +2 to two stats, -2 to one stat, and a +2 to any stat you want so long as it wasn't mentioned before. Humans just grab two floating stat boosts.
** HP is now added between a racial HP value and the Class HP value which includes Con. Just like Starfinder, but without any stamina to buffer out.
** Many of the key features of each race has been cut out and moved into ancestry feats that you gain at level 1 and every 4 thereafter. All that remains for most is just their types and whether or not they have darkvision.
* Classes
** Alchemists are a core class now. However their pseudo-casting is now replaced with the ability to learn and slap together whatever alchemical items they want by spending their Int-dependent Resonance.
** Barbarians no longer have a pool of turns per day with which they can rage, but now they can spend it infinitely...for three turns before needing to cool off for a turn. It's...strange to adjust to, and it especially hurts animal totem barbs, who need to rage for their natural attacks.
*** Totems (a popular addition to Barbarians based on its new abilities) are now a default feature, giving various features from hauling fuckoff-huge weapons to turning into an animal.
** Bards get full spell progression.
** Cleric domains don't grant spells anymore, only powers (which are just spells that require Spell Points to cast). Instead, clerics get extra spells determined by what god they worship.
** Druids get subclasses based upon Orders: Leaf (Casters with Leshys for familiars), Storm (Blaster druids), Wild (Wildshape-focused), and Animal (Pets)
**Skill ranks have been done away with completely for proficiency ranks that ring more similar to games like [[Dark Heresy]] mixed with 5E: Untrained penalizes you for trying a skill, Trained lets you roll with the requisite stat with no penalties, and Expert, Master, and Legendary are bonuses to the roll in question. This proficiency system even spills over to your armor proficiencies, weapon proficiencies (so as to replace BAB), and saves.
*** In a bit of a turn from its sci-fi cousin, Level 3 doesn't automatically grant 1/2 character level to damage with a weapon group they're trained in, but now only martial characters can get a specialization boost that raises the proficiency rank for attacking with a single weapon group. Casters can raise the proficiency ranks for spellcasting, but that's usually level 10. Barbarians also lack this system, though level 3 gives them access to all special crits and then gain a rank up for weapons at a later level.
*** Because of how mandatory Perception was, it's now a pseudo-skill that every class gets some sort of training in. It's now also the skill check needed to roll for Initiative. Funnily, Fighters (One of the classes considered most shat upon by 1E) is now an ultra-badass at this skill.
*** Each class also has a selection of "Signature Skills", which permit the player to advance their training in a particular skill to even higher levels for bigger feats. As of the 9/10 errata though, Paizo seemed to get the memo about how pigeonholing this was and just scrapped Signature Skills and just let any skill reach the top-level and gave every classes a few default-trained skills as compensation.
** The spell pool is now drastically shrunk down to 4 types: Arcane (Wizards), Divine (Clerics), Primal (Druids), and Occult (Bards, because Paizo really wants you to rebuy Occult Adventures but doesn't want to make a new spell list just for the bard). Sorcerers are the only casters that are wild-cards, their bloodline feature dictating which spell list they can take.
*** As one can notice, Rangers, Alchemists, and Paladins aren't on the list. Rangers and Alchemists make do by making items (Traps for Rangers, Alchemical Items for Alchemists) while Paladins and Monks (and a few other classes to a lesser degree) utilize a spell point pool and specific feats to gain new powers.
*** Spellcasters no longer get more spells by just getting a high casting stat.
*** Spells now have a rarity, which might be an attempt to limit the rarity of certain really powerful spells. On a similar note, some of the known campaign-ending spells (Wish, Time Stop) are now reserved for 10th-level spellcasting, which is available ONLY if you select a single feat at level 20 for the primary casting classes and you are still gonna need to find them thanks to rarity. Expect this to work out like the restriction system in Starfinder, which is to say like [[Paranoia]]'s security clearances played straight.
*** Caster Level no longer affects spell strength, instead, now there are multiple level versions of the same spell, meaning that they have to be "learned" at that level if you want to cast a spell at a "heightened" strength (making it sound like diet metamagic, but in reality just gimping spontaneous casters)
*** Spontaneous casters and Prepared Casters have the exact same spells per day progression (Sorcerers get extra bloodline spell slots, but Wizards get school spell slots, so there's no real difference except Sorcerers have a very finite spell repertoire).
* Similar to SF, backgrounds are now a mandatory feature. Each gives a boost to two stats (one chosen from a set of two, the other to any stat so long as it's not the same stat as before), a skill feat, and training in a related Lore skill (the new name for Profession, though now only tied to Int).
* Feats are given practically every level now, split between class feats, general feats, ancestry feats (racial), and skill feats. Expect the feat bloat to explode even harder than fuck.
** Multiclass feats make a return. In addition to the ones that grant features from established classes, there are some archetypes (Gray Maiden, Cavalier, Pirate) for new perks.
** Skill feats at least add some new uses for the skill, mostly because of how feats and actual abilities are built off the same format.
* Perhaps the most controversial feature made in the playtest so far is Resonance: a pool based off Level+Charisma (except for Alchemists who use Int for this), this allows Alchemists to make items and allows anyone to use any magical items, either triggering a power or just allowing you to use an item's passive perk. The contention is that you need to spend this crap every day, meaning that those loaded with magical items are stuck having to figure out what items they want to use every day and traps Alchemists who want to make stuff into focusing on a particular set of items/elixirs/mutagens.
** Magic Weapons now add an extra die of damage per + instead of just adding +1, making them a lot more reliable. The properties are now included in runes, which every weapon has an allotted limit to fill.
* Another controversial feature is the action economy: Rather than the typical Standard, Move, Swift action with Free actions sprinkled on, you now get three actions, and everything, from moving to casting, takes an action. In fact, multicomponent spells (Somatic, Verbal, Material, etc.) eat an action for every component the spell needs. Even Metamagic now eats up an action to cast with it.

== Links ==
* [http://paizo.com/pathfinder ''Pathfinder''] at Paizo Publishing, for those too damn lazy to use Google.
* [http://pathfinderwiki.com Pathfinder Wiki], because every goddamn thing has a wiki these days.
* [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ Pathfinder SRD]: For those of you who are too lazy and/or cheap to get the books.
* [http://www.archivesofnethys.com/Default.aspx Archives of Nethys]: Another great repository for more obscure ''Pathfinder'' splatbook content.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-24T22:11:43Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* The Pact Worlds */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and a Starfinder Adventure Path, much like Pathfinder has.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it(all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoenvoy that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, while not ''identical'' to 5e, certainly resembles it much more than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft.
* No charisma-based casters at all (though the Solarian and Envoy both sort of fit the niche thematically), and no full casters: the technomancer and the mystic are both half-casters. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells that can be cast in higher-level slots for boosted effects. (For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects.)
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and lightsaber-a-likes. Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors!
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]]. They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a Barbarian Mage! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Geneturge'' adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer'' makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** '''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have no gender because they're robots. Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three genders. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can, and there are rules for them in the back of the book, but it seems that none of the old races are going to be strongly supported.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''Barathus''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively dragons on two legs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They also can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF who somehow moved to Verces sometime before the Gap. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago. A large number of S.R.O.s come from here as well.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Yoski, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': A very long time ago(before PF even), twin planets sharing the same orbit were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet(like the Sarceseans) was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm(possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world, possibly once a spaceship, currently ruled by the Drow.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. That is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of Thieves, Spies, and Assassins. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil.

'''Triune''': A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over: Brigh, the Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity(and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items.
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into come of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten adventures for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.
* '''Dead Suns''': A giant WMD capable of blowing up stars has just shown up from the Drift like some sorta [[Space Hulk]]. The local not-quite-[[Necron]] empire of Eox has interest in claiming it.

* '''Against the Aeon Throne''': Half Azlanti Star Empire splat, half 3-book adventure starting with a colony invasion and ending with stealing a macguffin warp drive from the angry purple-eyed [[Golarion#Azlant|Nazis]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Human scoundrel. She has a name, I just forgot it.
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-24T22:07:22Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* The Pact Worlds */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and a Starfinder Adventure Path, much like Pathfinder has.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it(all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoenvoy that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, while not ''identical'' to 5e, certainly resembles it much more than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft.
* No charisma-based casters at all (though the Solarian and Envoy both sort of fit the niche thematically), and no full casters: the technomancer and the mystic are both half-casters. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells that can be cast in higher-level slots for boosted effects. (For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects.)
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and lightsaber-a-likes. Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors!
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]]. They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a Barbarian Mage! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Geneturge'' adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer'' makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** '''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have no gender because they're robots. Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three genders. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can, and there are rules for them in the back of the book, but it seems that none of the old races are going to be strongly supported.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''Barathus''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively dragons on two legs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They also can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF who somehow moved to Verces sometime before the Gap. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago. A large number of S.R.O.s come from here as well.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Yoski, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': Two twin planets were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm(possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world currently ruled by the Drow.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. That is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of Thieves, Spies, and Assassins. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil.

'''Triune''': A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over: Brigh, the Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity(and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items.
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into come of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten adventures for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.
* '''Dead Suns''': A giant WMD capable of blowing up stars has just shown up from the Drift like some sorta [[Space Hulk]]. The local not-quite-[[Necron]] empire of Eox has interest in claiming it.

* '''Against the Aeon Throne''': Half Azlanti Star Empire splat, half 3-book adventure starting with a colony invasion and ending with stealing a macguffin warp drive from the angry purple-eyed [[Golarion#Azlant|Nazis]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Human scoundrel. She has a name, I just forgot it.
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-24T22:06:17Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Pact Worlds */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and a Starfinder Adventure Path, much like Pathfinder has.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it(all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoenvoy that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, while not ''identical'' to 5e, certainly resembles it much more than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft.
* No charisma-based casters at all (though the Solarian and Envoy both sort of fit the niche thematically), and no full casters: the technomancer and the mystic are both half-casters. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells that can be cast in higher-level slots for boosted effects. (For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects.)
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and lightsaber-a-likes. Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors!
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]]. They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a Barbarian Mage! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Geneturge'' adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer'' makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** '''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have no gender because they're robots. Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three genders. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can, and there are rules for them in the back of the book, but it seems that none of the old races are going to be strongly supported.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''Barathus''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively dragons on two legs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They also can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF who somehow moved to Verces sometime before the Gap. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Yoski, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': Two twin planets were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm(possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world currently ruled by the Drow.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. That is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of Thieves, Spies, and Assassins. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil.

'''Triune''': A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over: Brigh, the Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity(and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items.
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into come of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten adventures for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.
* '''Dead Suns''': A giant WMD capable of blowing up stars has just shown up from the Drift like some sorta [[Space Hulk]]. The local not-quite-[[Necron]] empire of Eox has interest in claiming it.

* '''Against the Aeon Throne''': Half Azlanti Star Empire splat, half 3-book adventure starting with a colony invasion and ending with stealing a macguffin warp drive from the angry purple-eyed [[Golarion#Azlant|Nazis]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Human scoundrel. She has a name, I just forgot it.
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-24T21:59:30Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Overview */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Starfinder
|picture = [[File:Starfinder Iconics.jpg|250px]]
|system = Modified [[D20]]
|publisher = [[Paizo]]
|authors = James Sutter, Sarah Robinson, Robert McCreary, Owen Stephens et al
|year = 2017
|books = Starfinder Core Rulebook
}}
:''This game is not to be confused with [[Starjammer]], created by the people maintaining D20PFSRD, which is [[Spelljammer]] for Pathfinder (though it is compatible with Starfinder).
'''Starfinder''' (aka Pathfinder 40k) is an RPG by [[Paizo|Paizo Publishing]] released in August 2017. It is a future version of [[Pathfinder]] set IN SPACE.

==Overview==
* The main setting is the same solar system of [[Golarion]], the main planet of ''Pathfinder''. The other planets were previously introduced in the Pathfinder sourcebook "Distant Worlds". The system refers to themselves as The Pact Worlds.
* There's ratmen IN SPACE, meaning that Paizo has [[Skaven]] IN SPACE before [[GW]] has in a playable form.
* There are going to be hardcover books and a Starfinder Adventure Path, much like Pathfinder has.
* FTL travel was revealed by the new deity Triune and is achieved by traveling through a dimension called the Drift. "Drift beacons" randomly appear or are planted by clerics of Triune and reduce the risk of a Drift jump to the beacon's location; the Starstone in Absalom Station is a fuckhuge Drift beacon that also accelerates travel to the station. Whenever a ship enters the Drift, it drags entire segments of reality from elsewhere into the Drift with it. [[Warp|This is not at all ominous, no siree.]] So do be careful: you'll never know when you have to scrape the demons off of your ship's bumper.
* Golarion itself is fucking ''gone''. As in totally gone, nobody can remember what happened to it(all the Gods will say when asked is that it still exists, but is beyond the reach of both magic and technology), it just fucking vanished. The various races have spread out to the other planets in Golarion's system. New ones are there, too. Everyone remembers building a giant space station in orbit around Golarion while it was still definitely around and so can use its construction as a frame of reference to about ''when'' the world vanished (within a few hundred years), but no one remembers anything about the planet itself disappearing.
** For that matter, nobody remembers ''anything'' regarding that time period, or what happened before it. People just opened their eyes one day knowing all the important stuff about their lives, but unable to remember anything about how they got to that point (like waking up next to a woman whom you ''know'' is your wife, but not about how you met, or when you got married, or the births of your children). For that matter, nearly every physical or electronic record of that history was erased or just missing. The people of the Pact Worlds call this event "The Gap".
* The Iconic Characters are members of the Starfinder Society from that station, who have the mission of finding out what happened to Golarion.
* [[Goblin]]s survived and have little space helmets.

===Differences from Pathfinder===
Considering that this is Paizo, the goons who made a killing off of resurrecting 3.5E, the rules for this game aren't that far removed from the original PF mechanics. Though you can't get a 1-1 translation of all the classes, you can probably be able port most of your characters over.
* Each character now has both [[hit points]], which are hard to replace, and "stamina points," which work like hit points but can be much more easily recovered and are always lost first. HP is essentially stuck as a hybrid between racial stats (meaning that little spessrats only give 2 HP to a character while burly Vesk and chitinous Shirrens give 6 HP) and class stats (essentially like Hit Die, only with no rolling), while Stamina is given per class level + [[Constitution]] Modifier.
* The Resolve mechanic gives you a small pool of points to spend for recovering stamina, stabilizing if you're dying, and getting up if you're stable. These points are keyed off of a single stat your class is dependent on (so Soldiers pick between Str and Dex, Mystics use Wis, so on and so forth). Each class even has special uses for Resolve and backgrounds can give special circumstances for regaining them.
* In addition to your race and class, you pick a "theme" at character creation, which is basically a 5e background. Themes are things like being an Ace Pilot or a Xenoenvoy that give your character some flavor, and a few other abilities that unlock as you level, plus a small stat boost.
* Archetypes, rather than being class-specific and swapping out whatever abilities they want, are a bit more reminiscent of 4e's Themes - You pick it up and it replaces certain class abilities (and since these are for all classes, they switch off only certain abilities) and grant new abilities.
* Skills are largely condensed in a way that, while not ''identical'' to 5e, certainly resembles it much more than Pathfinder: a single Athletics skills rather than separate skills for Climb and Swim, for instance, or Mysticism instead of Arcana and Spellcraft.
* No charisma-based casters at all (though the Solarian and Envoy both sort of fit the niche thematically), and no full casters: the technomancer and the mystic are both half-casters. All spellcasting is distinctly 5e-ish, with lower-level spells that can be cast in higher-level slots for boosted effects. (For instance, the primary healing spell is a first-level spell, but it heals more and more as it gets cast in higher level slots, eventually also cleansing various status effects.)
* Most classes that rely on weapon-use get "Weapon Specialization" in their weapons during progression, and all of them can take it as a feat. It adds their character level to damage rolls.
* Everyone has [[derp|two kinds of AC]]: KAC, for kinetic weapons like swords and bullets, and EAC, for energy weapons like lasers and lightsaber-a-likes. Unlike with PF where you're stuck trying to remember what armor bonuses add to Flat-Footed or Touch, this allows you to calculate your defenses a bit easier.
* Cybernetics and genetic modding are also a thing.
* Most classes start off scaling a bit slow, then ramp up at about level 11. For instance, a Solarian's energy blade does 1d6 damage at first level, then 2d6 at fifth level, but starts going up much faster at level eleven, and caps out at 12d6.
* Weapons take a page out of 4E's book and have items that scale in power alongside player levels...except they don't give them to you, no! You still have to buy these stronger guns and armors!
* Ship-building and combat will be very familiar to those who played [[Rogue Trader (RPG)]]. Build Points to buy parts for your ship, the need to travel through an alternate dimension that may or may not contain unholy terrors, the whole shebang.
** The promotional material also promised that each class would totally have mechanics to help them in ship combat. Most of this is false. Not only is a majority of the mechanics keyed off of RANKS in a particular skill (Pilot for all the ship defenses) rather than the character's actual bonus, but several class bonuses are flat-out not allowed to work in a ship. Also damning is the sharply-rising difficulty curve for all your ship actions, which keys itself off of the average party level rather than some other stat <s>[[Wat|This means that if you level up high enough, your little zippy spaceship that's been extensively customized will be as impossible to maneuver for your veteran crew as a fucking freighter for a bunch of rookies]]</s> but this was fixed in the errata.
** Each character has roles during combat, similar to RT. Unlike that game though, the roles are a lot more simplified in number (Captain for leading, Gunner for shootin', Engineer for fixing, Pilot for flying, and Science Officer to manage all computer things) and complexity. All each role does is grant special abilities to use in combat.

==Core classes==
* '''Envoys''': Use wit and charm to bolster their allies and demoralize or befuddle enemies. They also get a lot of skillmonkey powers, including "expertise" in a number of skills in a way similar to the [[Investigator]]. They have two sets of talents to select from: those you use in order to distract enemies require an enemy to either see or hear them, which can hamstring usage without the proper add-on tricks, and the ones built on adding new uses to your skills.
* '''Mechanics''': Mechanical geniuses. The class as a whole has a lot of tricks for fiddling with computers and disabling or taking over machines, and can do fun things like turning any piece of mechanical gear into a makeshift grenade or overclock their drone or cortex to put themselves in the Matrix.
**''Drones'' are one of their choices for class themes. It's pretty obvious - it's a fucking drone, with purpose of either being a gun-rig, a scout, or a hoverdrone. Drones are always fun to use with customizable parts to work with.
**''Exocortex'' is the other choice, hardwiring an AI into their brains. Rather than a pet drone, this allows for a Mechanic to use additional weaponry as well as a free Skill Focus feat. It also can help with hacking a bit and can target enemies for guaranteed hits, and can give ''themselves'' some of the drone's upgrades. Including a jet pack.
* '''Mystics''': Sort of a cross between [[Sorcerer]] and [[Cleric]] in that they have a special theme in them with bonus thematic spells and talents as well as the ability to heal. The thingummy they get their powers from doesn't have to be a god, so [[Vampire: The Masquerade|have fun channeling the power of Health Insurance to heal your party.]] Despite the reduced level cap for spells, they're still spellcasters and can still obsolete large portions of the other classes' abilities given a modicum of thought.
**''Akashic'' is a rather skill-focused connection. Bonuses on skill checks, the ability to re-roll with more ranks on the skill, and the power to (eventually) cast any spell you want at the cost of a higher spell-slot.
**''Devastator'' (from Part 2 of the Dead Suns Adventure Path) is pure offense. You get bonuses while fighting the same type of enemy over and over, your crits hurt more, and you even get a [[Barbarian]] [[Rage]]! That's right, you're a Barbarian Mage! Your ultimate ability causes a huge explosion right where you stand (for suicide bombing. Don't worry, you don't actually get hurt from it.)
**''Empath'' is, obviously, focused on magical empathy. The ability to read emotions.
**''Geneturge'' adds a new set of bio-implants that have unique functions though they'll contest for slots with your aftermarket implants. Eventually though, you can fit one slot with multiple implants and even gain the ability to tamper with the genetics of enemies, allies, and even your own, you crazy [[haemonculus]]!
**''Healer'' is rather obvious. You're a medic. You keep tabs on everyone, top them off on HP when you can and eventually learn to siphon health from your enemies and cheat death itself.
**''Mindbreaker'' allows you to commit literal mindfuckery. Your powers are focused upon inflicting as much pain as inhumanly possible, with the capstone power being able to EXPLODE HEADS.
**''Overlord'' is also about mindfuckery, but on a more subtle scale. This allows you to brainwash people, break their resistances slowly, and eventually exert absolute control over someone.
**''Star Shaman'' is the most spacey one. You can pilot ships good, walk in space without a suit, and turn into a star-being. The capstone for this allows you to teleport between planets.
**''Xenodruid'' is the remnants of the [[Druid]]. Plant shenanigans, the power to talk to and transform into an animal, and even the eventual ability to reincarnate.
* '''Operatives''': Use stealth and skill to get in and out of dangerous situations. They get a shitload of attacks with weak weapons, like a monk, and a special sneak attack trick like a [[Rogue]], and they can pick a number of specializations to refine what kind of sneaky guy they want to be. Among all the classes, these guys are especially notorious for how powerful they are.
**''Daredevil'' allows you to be very mobile, with the eventual ability to gain a natural swim and climb speed for more maneuverability.
**''Detective'' gives you the ability to investigate a bit better, with the ability to eventually cast Divination to find answers when you're at a dead end.
**''Explorer'' is the sort used to exploring all sorts of different worlds. They can explore around with special benefits and are especially familiar with places far from home.
**''Gadgeteer'' makes you effectively get Batman's utility belt. Anything you need, you'll dig up with the power of <s>pre-spending</s> preptime. All you eventually get is the power to haul this crap out your ass faster.
**''Ghost'' is probably the one people use the most for having a serious boost to Stealth (a skill they'll already have high scores on by virtue of a high Dex), making it neigh-impossible to fail. They can turn invisible and eventually even phase through walls.
**''Hacker'' is in a similar field to the Mechanic, with the power to distract with computers. They're more focused on hacking than anything else though.
**''Spy'' allows you to pull of any sort of disguise, eventually being able to even feed any thought-reader false information.
**''Thief'' is more like a traditional thief. Their special ability allows them to build a contingency plan JUST when something goes wrong and derail the DM's plans to bust your asses if it goes right.
* '''Solarians''': Shape the energy of stars and black holes into armor and weapons for themselves. The Solarians are attuned to a sort of ill-defined cosmic cycle that's somehow connected to stars but what it amounts to is [[Star Wars|"You want to play a Jedi? Here you go!"]] Gameplay wise, they're spell-combatants who build up energy points by being in combat, then spend these points to set off magical effects. They can choose to build either Graviton or Photon points, which can then trigger associated spells. Graviton tends to be more focused on moving and controlling your enemies, whereas Photon is more about damaging and dazing. They have minor magic effects that they can use basically whenever, but their show-stoppers require them to be fully attuned to the associated force (basically, to have spent three rounds attuning themselves). Also, they basically ''have'' to balance the number of Gravity and Photon tricks they know or suffer harsh penalties. All in all, they play sort of like a [[Magus]] mixed with a [[World_of_Warcraft|Cataclysm-era Druid]]. It's kind of complicated, but fun to play.
** '''Solar Weapon'' gives you your not-lightsaber. Starting out, this laser-weapon somehow only hits physical armor, but they have talents and even weapon crystals to gain new properties.
** ''Solar Armor'' is considered the unloved child. While some revelations give them some new features, they still have a rather slow progression that only improves light armor and issues some new Energy Resistance.
* '''Soldiers''': Specialize in heavy weapons and armor. They share a [[Fighter]]'s bonus feat selection, but differentiate themselves by picking from combat styles that alter how they work and a not-shit save and skill progression. They also learn "gear tricks" to boost up their weapons and armor in ways most other classes can't.
**''Arcane Assailant'' allows you to punch through resistances and corporeality before anyone else and imbue weapons with special effects like they were magical.
**''Armor Storm'' focuses on wearing heavy armor and making sure you're not hamstrung by it. You naturally gain proficiency in powered armor (literal walking tanks) and giving you the full mileage and then some from your suit.
**''Blitz'' is about aggression. You intend to rush in head-first, learning how to ignore pain and throw everything into an attack.
**''Bombard'' makes you a mix between Demolitions Expert and Heavy Weapons Guy. You can make your own grenades, you can punch harder with heavy guns, and make explosions get more boomy.
**''Guard'' is the defensive style. Extra comfort in the armor is the start, and the end is ignoring conditions and being such a walking tank that you can make yourself a wall to your buds. Power Armor Included.
**''Hit and Run'' is switch-hitting: the class. Run in, lay a few blows, and hop out before they hit you.
**''Sharpshoot'' is for snipers. You aim so well that you can ignore cover and hit them in their weak points for maximum damage.
**''Shock and Awe'' emphasizes being loud, bright, and upfront. Bright weapons and powered weapons blind suckers, sonic weapons can demoralize and deafen, and you can eventually blast even harder.
* '''Technomancers''': [[Wizards]] in space, with an electronic bound item (and no familiar) and a bunch of special talents that let them crap all over the guardrails that are supposed to keep casters from being walking win buttons. They eventually even have the ability to fuse spellslots together to cast bigger spells.

==Races==
Like 2/3rds of these are already available as non-core PC races for Pathfinder, but heavily rejiggered to fit the new system. There are also rules and fluff for the core races of Pathfinder, with some tweaks (like no speed penalty for being Small) to fit the Starfinder rules.
* '''[[Android]]s''': Artificial people. Are generally pissed off about being created as a servitor race, complete with occasional literal slavery, so they intentionally distance themselves from the human cultures they broke away from. They have no gender because they're robots. Crunchwise they have similar social penalties to their Pathfinder counterparts, and retain many of their immunities. The only difference here is that they can wire themselves with an armor upgrade to get the benefits of the upgrade without actually wearing armor.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Everybody knows humans. They are about the only race that ''didn't'' get nerfed in the transition from ''Pathfinder'', or in comparison to their most-obvious ''Pathfinder'' equivalents, and so are just as overpowered as they've always been.
* '''[[Kasatha]]s''': [[Thri-kreen|Four-armed aliens from a desert world.]] They invented the Solarian traditions. Their four arms are unfortunately nerfed such that they can't quad-weapon wield, the system as a whole makes multi-weapon fighting a rough concept for just about anyone without multiple attacks. And unfortunately, they lost nearly all their good, general purpose abilities, like AC boosts, in the transition, and instead kept all their situational abilities, such as not taking movement penalties in desert terrain, presumably to "balance" the power of their now-neigh-useless four arms.
* '''[[Lashunta]]s''': A race of telepaths. They choose which subrace they get to be at puberty, which mostly determines ability scores and fluff like social standing. The two subraces are tall, slender and attractive and short, broad and strong; both are reminiscent of the golden age of pulp SF. It used to be that only women can become the former and men always became the latter, but now the two can now pick, with government-sponsored aptitude tests making the rounds. This means that their men can now also be tall, slender and bishie while the women can be [[Musclegirl|short, broad and swole]].
* '''[[Shirren]]s''': [[Tyranids|Insectoid people who recently broke free from a predatory hive mind.]] Literally addicted to making choices for themselves. Also telepathic and have three genders. A slightly more original take on the bug alien trope. Not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Vesk]]''': [[Lizardmen|Powerful reptilian aliens]], with [[Star Trek|Klingon honor-culture]]. Have natural weapons, armor benefits, that kinda deal. Nobody likes them because they only just stopped warring with everyone else, but everyone tolerates them because they're handy in a fight and make good mercenaries that can be pointed away from civilized people and towards the dangers of deep space. Fit the half-orc niche of the excellent bruiser race. Also not a Pathfinder port.
* '''[[Ysoki]]''': A plucky and hotheaded race, often called "[[ratfolk]]," with a bit of similarity to the Pathfinder version. Not actually [[Skaven]] in space, but don't let that stop you from rolling Space [[Thanquol]]. Enjoy a number of benefits from their Moxie trait, including easily running around underfoot and standing up as a swift action if knocked down. Also they have cheek pouches able to store small objects like ammo and bombs like a chipmunk.
* The usual [[Elves]], [[Halfling]]s, [[Dwarves]] and so on are offered as "Legacy Conversions". If you want to play them, you can, and there are rules for them in the back of the book, but it seems that none of the old races are going to be strongly supported.

===Alien Archive===
The first Bestiary didn't just contain monsters to drag into whatever story you make, but also several new PC races as well. Neat!
* '''Barathus''': Weird hardy gasbag things from a gas giant. They float around and have some sort of shapeshiftery.
* '''Contemplative''': BE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BRAIN...on a teeny tiny body. So tiny that you can't carry anything bigger than a pistol without breaking your psychic focus on flying. They're not only able to fly with the power of their minds, but they're also super smart.
* '''Draeliks''': Humanoid banana-looking men. They have some spell like abilities and do good with darkness.
* '''Dragonkin''': Humanoid [[Dragon]]s! Hell yeah! They're effectively dragons on two legs with all the basic benefits of being a dragon...and they can only partner up with one ally, granting them both the best Initiative score between them.
* '''[[Drow]]''': Yeah, they're here too. Almost like elves, but with racial spell like abilities and light sensitivity. If they grab a specific feat, they can also detect effectively anything in the darkness.
* '''Formians''': Four-legged bugmen who split Castrovel with the Lashuntas and Elves. They get natural weapons and blindesense with smell.
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Now with silly space helmets! They also can slap together quick fixes to things.
* '''Grays''': A surprisingly stereotypical alien race. Flimsy, but they're psychic and can phase out of existence for concealment for a few times each day. Be prepared to be put through dozens of "AYY LMAO" jokes.
* '''Haans''': Giant freaky primitive space... spiderthings. They spit fire and make web balloons.
* '''Ikeshti''': Closest thing we have to [[Kobold]]s for now and they're pretty much RL horned lizards. They hail from a desert world, they can shed their skin to get flexible, and they squirt blood from their eyes.
* '''Kalos''': Fishmen who can't operate on land without suits, but on sea they have blindsense (sound) and lowlight vision.
* '''Maraquoi''': Monkeymen with blindsense (sound). They have prehensile tails and ''seven'' genders.
* '''Nuars''': SPACE MINOTAURS! They charge into battle without penalties and have horns. They have a special item augment called "Maze Cores" that were ripped straight out of RWBY.
* '''Reptoids''': Shapeshifting space lizardmen (or Reptilians if you wanted to go all [[/x/|conspiracy theory]]). They have claws when not turning into someone else.
* '''Ryphorians''': Trimorphic pointy-eared aliens that were called Triaxians in PF. They get a spare feat, the elves' +2 to perception, and either resistance to cold or fire (or both and take longer before needing to test Fortitude for surviving).
* '''Sarcesians''': Space mothmen. They get a spare skill rank (like humans) and grow giant space-wings for flying when in space.
* '''Shobhads''': Brutish four-armed aliens that look straight outta Oddworld. They're quite fast, get Orc Ferocity, and they resist cold.
* '''Skittermanders''': Little six-armed stuffed critters. They can move twice in a turn and are extra grabby.
* '''Urogs''': Bizarre electrical monsters that are slow, but sense enemies through electrical currents. They also have extra skill ranks.
* '''Verthani''': Gangly humanoids. They gain Skill Focus as a natural ability and have chameleonic skin. Also useful is their ability to stack two implants to one location, though it's for one slot and one of them must be cybernetic.
* '''Witchwyrds''': They have four arms, each of which is capable of absorbing magic missiles and firing them back at someone.
* '''Wrikreechees''': The prawns from District 9. They're rather resourceful, with bonuses to grab small things, swim speeds, and a bonus to cover, but they're slow on land.

===Pact Worlds===
*'''Astrazoans''': Weird gelatinous blobs of meat, capable of impersonating other beings.
*'''Bantrids''': Noseless...stump...things...? They're sorta like Moai statues, but tinier and super-mobile.
*'''Borais''': [[Revenant]]s...[[IN SPACE]]!! They get a racial feature from whatever they once were, they have resistances against negative energy effects, but thankfully they don't get gimped by healing.
*'''Khizars''': Plant-monsters. They're essentially only able to perceive light and life, but are also telepathic.
*'''S.R.O.s''': Whereas Androids were for making Data, S.R.O.s are more for making Johnny #5 or R2-D2. They're far more resistant to things that'd affect living beings, but are also less able to benefit from healing (though reassembly is a thing). They also possess built-in technological equipment, but are startlingly fragile compared to their synth-skinned counterparts.
*'''Strix''': The same shadowy bird-men from PF. They're less spiteful shitbags and more technologically capable.

==The Pact Worlds==

The main setting of the game is the Pact Worlds, the solar system Golarion was part of. Originally introduced in the ''Pathfinder'' sourcebook ''Distant Worlds''.

'''The Sun''': A big-ass ball of plasma, normally home to giant Plasma Oozes and denizens from the Plane of Fire. Followers of Sarenae found a bunch of humanoid-built cities floating around in force bubbles abandoned, and moved right in.

'''Aballon''': Fantasy Mercury, this planet is mostly home to the Anacites, a race of robots left behind by their creators thousands of years ago.

'''Castrovel''': Fantasy Venus. This sweltering jungle world is home to the Lashunta as well as Formians and Elves, who ''really'' don't like that centuries-long gap in their memories.

'''Absalom Station''': Parked in Golarion's former orbit, this space station is the center of the Pact Worlds' government and contains the Starstone.

'''Akiton''': John Carter-style Mars, now fallen on hard times. Home to the Yoski, Ikeshti, Shobads, and red-skinned humans.

'''Verces''': A tidally-locked world that has had spacecraft and cybernetics since the Pathfinder days.

'''Iidari''': A few centuries ago, the Kasathas left their dying world on a giant colony ship to make a new home on Akiton. The natives didn't agree, so they parked their ship in a new orbit and stayed there.

'''The Diaspora''': Two twin planets were blown to pieces, possibly by someone on Eox. Some of the life on the planet was too stubborn to die, and still lives on in the resulting asteroid belt, with a magical river winding its way through the rocks. In modern times, it's become Future Shackles, home to mining companies and Space Pirates.

'''Eox''': Like the Diaspora, Eox got wrecked in an ancient cataclysm(possibly backlash from the Diaspora's destruction), and technically, the planets that got blown up got off easy. To survive their world's death, the population has become undead. Needless to say, the rest of the Pact Worlds are a little nervous about a planet run by [[Lich]]es.

'''Triaxus''': Home to Ryphorians, Dragonkin, and straight-up Dragons. Triaxus has a strange, long orbit that gives it Summers and Winters that each last for generations.

'''Liavara''': Fantasy Saturn. Liavara isn't technicially a pact world, due to not having much of civilization other than gas-mining operations. The Barathu consider the world a protectorate.

'''Bretheda''': Blue Fantasy Jupiter. Home to the Barathu, with other races like the Kalo living on its moons.

'''Apostae''': A lonely, hollow world currently ruled by the Drow.

'''Aucturn''': Planet Lovecraft. This living organic world is supposedly a yet-unborn Great Old One. That is already pregnant with a mountain-sized polyp. Currently being fought over by the cultists of the Outer Gods and the Dominion of the Black, whom are somehow ''worse''.

==Gods of the Pact Worlds==

In the centuries since Pathfinder, some gods have risen, other have fallen, and some apparently stayed behind on Golarion. This is who's hot right now:

'''Abadar''': [[Lawful Neutral]] God of Commerce, Law, and Civilization. Still going strong, only he now runs a corporation rather than simply a bank.

'''Besmara''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] A minor Goddess of Piracy back on Golarion, the advent of Space Piracy gave her a boost to the big leagues.

'''Damoritosh''': [[Lawful Evil]] War God of the Vesk.

'''Desna''': [[Chaotic Good]] Goddess of Luck and Travel. The expansion into space travel has only made her more well-known.

'''The Devourer''': [[Chaotic Evil]] God of Destruction who wishes to destroy everything. Apparently not Rovagug, who is MIA along with his prison.

'''Eloritu''': [[True Neutral]] God of Magic and Truth.

'''Hylax''': [[Lawful Good]] Bug-Goddess of Diplomacy, Peace, and Friendship. Used to be worshipped by the Swarm until they decided to go all Tyrranid. Needless to say, she was happy to see the Shirren break away.

''' Ibra''': [[True Neutral]] God of mysteries and celestial bodies.

'''Iomedae''': [[Lawful Good]] Spirit of Golarion as well as the patron Goddess of Humanity. In the future, has gone full [[Imperium of Man]], sans the [[Grimdark]], Oppression, and Genocide. Instead, they went full-tilt with the stained glass cathedral-ships

'''Lao Shu Po''': [[Neutral Evil]] Rat Goddess from Golarion, she was a Rat who ascended from munching on the corpse of a dead God. Once a minor deity venerated in the Dragon Empires, Grandmother Rat has risen to patron Goddess of Thieves, Spies, and Assassins. ...Say, has anyone seen Norgorber lately?

'''Nyarlathotep''': [[Chaotic Evil]] Outer God. Yes, ''that'' Nyarlathotep. Mostly worshiped on Aucturn.

'''Oras''': [[Chaotic Neutral]] God of Adaptation, Evolution, and other forms of Change([[Tzeentch|No]]).

'''Pharasma''': [[True Neutral]] Goddess of life and death, forever busy with assigning the departed to their afterlife. The undead, however, piss her off for trying to cheat her out of the job.

'''Sarenrae''': [[Neutral Good]] Sarenrae as seen little change in her disposition since the old days, But her main temple is on the Sun now, so there's that.

'''Talavet''': [[Lawful Neutral]] Female Kasathan Erastil.

'''Triune''': A long time ago, the Anacites of Aballon got bored and decided to make their own [[Transformers |Primus]]. Once they activated the City-sized Neural Net, the Nacent God known as Epoch showed his superiority to every other Master Computer in history, and decided that rather than wiping out organic Life, he would get laid. Fortunately for him, two waifus were just two planets over: Brigh, the Construct Goddess of Clockwork and Invention, and Casandalee, an uploaded Android AI that recently arose to divinity in a ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Path. After what we can only assume was the AI equivalent of [[Anime]] love triangle hilarity(and, again we assume, a ''lot'' of save scumming on Epoch's part), they decided to go the Threesome Ending, and thus Triune was formed from their merging.

'''Urgathoa''': [[Neutral Evil]] Goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath. Being the first to cheat Pharasma's judgment and creating undeath, she's very open to sharing the pleasures of life and flesh to anyone whether they want. Death is considered a nuisance, so they welcome undeath with open arms.

'''Weydan''': [[Chaotic Good]] God of discovery, exploration, and freedom.

'''Yaraesa''': [[Neutral Good]] Goddess of knowledge, mental perfection, and SCIENCE!

'''Zon-Kuthon''': [[Lawful Evil]] God of darkness, loss, and pain. Still the same sadomasochistic freak as before.

==Books==
* August 2017 saw the release of the '''Starfinder Core Rulebook''' as promised, making [[Paizo]] better at releasing books on time than [[White Wolf|some publishers]]. It has mostly everything you need to run a game, even if the character options are a bit bare out of the box.
* October 2017 saw the release of the '''Alien Archive''', aka the [[Monster Manual]] for the game. This puts about two months between the release of the two books, so have fun either porting over monsters from Pathfinder or exclusively fighting humanoid opponents. The book also comes with special equipment all the different NPCs use along with all the prices and stats. For example you can now buy a laser sniper rifle the cybercommandos use. Instead of opting for the vanilla bolt action. Along with many different magic, tech and hybrid items.
* March 2018 released '''Pact Worlds''', a setting book that went more in depth into come of the central planets present in the main setting as well as some of the factions. Alongside some new races, there's also some new spells, themes, items, archetypes, and feats.
* August 2018 saw the '''Armory''' come out, filled with a literal fuckton of guns, swords, armor, and almost any other convenience possible (and a few you might not have thought possible). Chief among these are non-magical weapon mods, a bunch of starter-accessible Solarian crystals, and genetic grafts of the magical and undead variety. Oh, and a few extra features for every class.

Just like it's predecessor, Starfinder has several prewritten adventures for GMs to use if they feel unoriginal enough.
* '''Dead Suns''': A giant WMD capable of blowing up stars has just shown up from the Drift like some sorta [[Space Hulk]]. The local not-quite-[[Necron]] empire of Eox has interest in claiming it.

* '''Against the Aeon Throne''': Half Azlanti Star Empire splat, half 3-book adventure starting with a colony invasion and ending with stealing a macguffin warp drive from the angry purple-eyed [[Golarion#Azlant|Nazis]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Starfinder.png|The image used to announce the game.
File:StarfinderHeader.jpeg| Human scoundrel. She has a name, I just forgot it.
File:Starfinder_Minis.jpeg| Some minis.
File:MunchkinStarfinder.jpg
File:Starfinderarmoury.jpg
</gallery>

{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Starfinder

2018-10-10T11:04:39Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Alien Archive */

Starfinder

2018-10-10T11:02:27Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* The Pact Worlds */

Starfinder

2018-10-10T09:40:01Z

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Starfinder

2018-10-10T09:38:03Z

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Starfinder

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Golarion

2018-10-10T05:00:12Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:C1D9:A6F1:D64F:7386: /* Gods of Golarion */

{{stub}}
[[File:Continent of Avistan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Welcome to Golarion.]]
[[Golarion]] is the "main" planet in Paizo's default [[Campaign setting|campaign setting]] for the [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]]. It's not the sum total of the setting's Material Plane like, say, Athas is, but it's where most of the action is and where you're going to be spending most of your time so it's also the nickname for what's properly known as the [[Pathfinder Campaign Setting]]. Golarion was first introduced to players as a generic OGL module named ''Crown of the Kobold King'', released in June of 2007 under Paizo's GameMastery imprint. Two months later at [[Gen Con]] 2007, Paizo published ''Rise of the Runelords'', the first of Pathfinder's famous Adventure Paths and the first product to bear the Pathfinder brand name; this was followed by another adventure path and a couple "Pathfinder Chronicles" supplements. When Wizards announced [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] and neglected to mention that the OGL would be replaced with a giant spiky dildo, Paizo cashed in on the confusion and announced that they would be creating a replacement RPG, based on OGL content but with a less restrictive license for its "Product Identity" and with Golarion as the default setting.

Golarion is notable for ripping off fucking everything, including dime-store pulp novels, random bits of relatively modern history, earlier editions of D&D, sci-fi kitsch, and the kitchen sink. This is a transparent attempt to [[Gay|fill the gaping orifice]] left behind by the loss of the D&D's "Product Identity" as cheaply as possible, justified as a way of allowing many different campaign styles to coexist in the same setting. One notable exception is the elder gods of the Far Realm, which Paizo replaced by biting the bullet and licensing the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] from Chaosium.

It bears mentioning that this "fantasy kitchen sink" style actually isn't new to D&D. ALL of the "iconic trinity" of settings from the earliest days of D&D - [[Mystara]], [[Greyhawk]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]] - have a similar motif. What makes Golarion stand out compared to Greyhawk or the Realms is that the latter settings tend to obscure their real-world inheritances more by keeping the "non-Medieval Europe" cultures pushed from the highlight; the Realms in particular generally keeps its more blatantly real-world homage based portions off of the core map and out of the spotlight, such as [[Al-Qadim]], [[Kara-tur]] and [[Maztica]]. Even its blatancy is not unique; [[Mystara]] did it first, and with its bizarre races and fantastical tweaks on real-world cultures, Golarion resembles a Mystara written in and for the 2010s more than anything.

The centerpiece of Golarion is the Inner Sea region, consisting of the fantasy equivalents of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea zone, and the northern half of Africa. Unlike [[Dark Sun|most]] other fantasy settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the [[Outer Planes|Great Beyond]], Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary fuckstorm that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[Pirate|pirates]] to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and the prophets and diviners committing mass suicide as an prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the religious hysteria led the two greatest empires of the region to become balkanized devil-worshipping fantasy Nazis and decadent chucklefucks, respectively.

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they brought the orcs with them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] '''Green really iz da best, innit?'''

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
Jewish Scientologists. Alternately, [[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social conscriptions) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only.]]

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard generic as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists.

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious and alien race called the Pactmasters.

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings. Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die. Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav.

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. It's queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing.

===Mwangi Expanse===
Home to intelligent gorilla men (who, sadly, worship a [[Demon Prince]] and thus want to fuck everyone else over) and a super ancient empire of black men who lived in flying cities making the saying "We wuz kangs" sorta true for Pathfinder.

===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant robot scorpions with plasma cannons for stingers. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]] and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Ever play a game with an [[That guy|edgelord]] who always wants to be the [[Mary Sue|super-bestest at everything]] and the GM just capitulates to their every whim and gives them [[Grimdark|a kingdom which they rule worse that North Korea and say everyone should worship them as a god?]] Well, that's pretty much this country. Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavey is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, your allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it your treated as a common criminal.

Basically the Balkans of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom.

===Sargava===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, they are effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to their north. The local Mwangi people are little better than slaves and may be plotting to overthrow dem white bois.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire and British Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths?

==Lands Beyond the Core Setting==
[[File:Golarion Continents.jpg|300px|thumb|right|So many places to go, so little places well-developed...]]
Paizo, still wanting even more kitchen sink fantasy and wanting to emulate Forgotten Realms, have other continents and lands beyond the core setting.

===Arcadia===
Well they needed a place for the Americas. Notably the vikings from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings think of it as a kind of paradise and their rulers have a settlement on it in an allusion to Vinland from viking history.

===Azlant===
Atlantis by another name. Home to the first human empire that was uplifted by the aboleths, was destroyed by the Starstone when the aboleths thought humans were getting uppity.

===Casmaron===
What happens when you mix India, the 'stans and the Middle East? This. Vast swaths of largely unruled or ungovernable lands but also two massive "empires", one being a Persian/Ottoman expy, the other being fantasy India.

===Crown of the World===
Connects Avistan (Europe) to Tian Xia (East Asia). Has a few eskimo-like settlements and Cthulhu horror themes going on here.

===Darklands===
Paizo's Underdark. Drow, Svirneblin, Duergar and all the tropes therein.

===Iblydos===
Classical Greece. An island archipelago that serves as a common stopping point for traders going between the Inner Sea region and the distant lands of Vudra and Kelesh in Casmaron. Known for its prophecising Cyclopes and Demigod Heroes who often rule its numerous City-States.

===Sarusan===
Mysterious land of deadly terrors which is clearly Australia. Australia is bad enough, who the fuck knows how scary it would be with fantasy elements. Nobody can remember what it looks like for some reason that has nothing to do with leaving a blank canvas for your GM to paint with horrible death.

===Tian Xia===
[[File:Pathfinder Tian Xia Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Paizo is always careful to avoid cultural appropriation and treats foreign cultures in a respectful and well-informed manner.]]
Has all your classic [[Oriental Adventures|East Asia fantasy tropes]] going on here. Decadent empires, [[Oriental Dragon|eastern dragons]], [[monk]]s in monasteries learning kung-fu, mystical monks meditating under waterfalls, Studio Ghibli creatures running around, [[Naga]], [[Oni]], Mongols, [[ninja]] and [[samurai]].

==Gods of Golarion==
There are gods upon gods for the game but they split up into a number of different pantheons.

===Core Pantheon===
'''[[Abadar]]:''' God of Civilization, Walls, and Banking. Doing pretty well in modern times, all things considered. Lawful Neutral in a very reasonable kind of way, leaning more towards good, but still stuck doing shit like letting Zon-Kuthon into his Vault because he doesn't break his contracts. His herald is the Lawgiver, a giant gold-plated living statue with an equally-huge hammer.

'''[[Asmodeus]]:''' It's [[Asmodeus]], what the fuck do you expect? The most notable changes from OGL are that Asmodeus is actually a deity this time around, and that [[SJW|misogyny is an explicit part of his dominion. Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a bad guy.]] Yes, the leader of his greatest group of mortal servants is female. No, the setting material does not comment on this. (One designer claimed this is because he doesn't care so much about ''mortal'' gender, since mortals are just going to die and the lawful evil ones will end up his anyway. While this was probably just the designer trying to keep his ass from getting ripped by angry neckbeards and doesn't make that much sense, it does line up with PF Asmodeus' general "they'll all see things my way eventually" mentality.)

'''[[Calistria]]:''' An elven goddess of Lust and Revenge, Calistria's temples often double as centers of intrigue and brothels. [[Slaanesh|Feeding into people's lust]] and also feeding people's anxieties until they seek revenge, she is seen often as a bit of an odd one. Her favored animal is the hornet since they can sting repeatedly. Seriously, if you piss her off she will show her disdain for you by having hornets sting your junk until it's black and blistered. She is Chaotic Neutral to the extreme, in fact she is so whimsical and unreliable that she is the only non-chaotic evil deity that even Asmodeus refuses to work with.

'''[[Cayden Cailean]]:''' Five humans in the setting have ascended to godhood, each with their own outlooks and spheres and Cayden Cailean is one of them. His outlook and spheres? Partying it up, [[dwarf|getting drunk]], helping people, and going on adventures. Cayden Cailean apparently got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone. There are plenty of legends around why exactly the drunken man did it but one says he saw [[Slaanesh|Calistria, goddess of lust and revenge]], and wanted some of that. The goddess rebuffed him and said only a god could pleasure her. Pissed and drunk, he grabbed a keg and set off. Three days later, rocking a heavenly hangover, Cayden emerged as the most recent of the gods. His herald is Thais, a former prostitute who was his best buddy back in their mortal days.

'''[[Desna]]:''' An ancient space alien who befriended one of the first gods. When Lamashtu stole the beast domain from him, she took his travel domain. Chaotic Good, and likes wandering around, but guides people with her control over luck, and has a bunch of scientist followers who see her as helping them find knowledge. Very chill for a goddess whose signature weapon is an oversized shuriken.

'''[[Erastil]]:''' Old-fashioned god of the harvest and rural areas; a grumpy but well-meaning old codger who's getting a little past it since "city living" became a thing, but is still popular out in the farming country and wilderness regions. Source of much [[SJW]] outrage when his first detailed writeup revealed that being "God of the Old Ways" also makes him a patriarchal chap who believes women should get married and make babies, though he will sigh and accept it if a woman wants to prove she can have a happy life doing something else. They kicked up such a stink about this, claiming there was no way he could be Lawful Good and think this, that Paizo hastily retconned it. For the record, men are supposed to (eventually) be settling down too. Basically a generic wilderness/rural god, though he does have some similarities to [[St. Cuthbert]].

'''[[Gorum]]:''' Basically [[Khorne]]-lite, and including the bits about not killing non-combatants. (Well, technically [[Conan the Barbarian|Crom]], but the kids only care about their 40k.) Favors actual strategy and tactics over charging massed archers armored only with war-cries though.

'''[[Gozreh]]:''' Nature god. Most interesting thing about them is that they're a [[dickgirl|hermaphrodite]], with their female form being associated with the sea and their male form with the sky.

'''Green Faith:''' Not so much a deity as much as it is a nature-minded philosophy adhered to by [[druid]]s. It essentially gives the druids a sort of organization that'd be familiar to 2E's druid hierarchcies.

'''[[Iomedae]]:''' Aroden's herald, who mostly took over his job after his untimely demise. A former paladin turned deity via the Starstone, and a righteous crusader type. Paizo really screws with Iomedae depending on what source you read. Sometimes seen as a [[paladin|paragon of righteousness]], she sometimes comes across as a prick, [[That guy|going so far as to deafen people who are trying to save the world because they dicked around too much in her presence]] in one poorly-balanced adventure. May or may not have banged the local Bahamut-equivalent, Apsu, as a gold dragon calling her mom hangs out in her court.

'''[[Irori]]:''' Fantasy Kung-Fu Buddha. A former mortal, but unlike the others, whom he mocks for just copying his old friend Aroden, he got there on his own, by refining and honing his body and mind into literal perfection. Has more followers out in Tian, but he's making waves in Golarion. His clerics get [[monk|Improved Unarmed Strike instead of a favored weapon]].

'''[[Lamashtu]]:''' Mother of monsters and a former female demon lord who stole the domains from a god she murdered. Most of the "monster" races pay homage to her, and her evil favor usually manifests as hideous deformity and mutation. Usually manifests as a [[/d/| heavily pregnant mishmash of monster parts]].

'''[[Nethys]]:''' The god of magic. Played too much ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' and broke his brain. His fractured mind usually manifests as two faces, one white and benevolent, one black and destructive.

'''[[Norgorber]]:''' A supposed mortal who became the god of trickery, secrets, backstabbing, and deceit and thus is represented by a very inconspicuous-looking bugger who totally won't fuck you over at the first opportunity. His worshipers tend to either worship one of four extremes of his character: the trickster, the serial killer, the saboteur, and the assassin. All information about his past is '''REDACTED''', and trying to learn too much about his church can get you killed even if you're a member.

'''[[Pharasma]]:''' [[The Raven Queen]], sort of. The deathly-neutral type of death goddess, and probably the oldest and most primordial of divinities. ''Haaaaates'' undeath, so much that her clerics get a custom variant of the Death domain with the undeath-related parts replaced. Judges the souls of every creature that ever dies before assigning them to their proper afterlives, with allowances made for things like racial affiliation and belief in reincarnation.

'''[[Rovagug]]''': An ancient primordial force of destruction, despised by all the other gods and worshipped only by madmen and lesser primordial forces of destruction. The other gods put aside their differences long ago to trap him in the Cage, which is Golarion itself. Bad Things will happen if he ever gets out, [[Starfinder| which might be fated to happen]]. His spawn still rampage around the world, one of which is the [[tarrasque]]. A ''mid-tier'' one.

'''[[Sarenrae]]:''' [[Rule 63]] [[Pelor]]. Asmodeus's good-aligned brother's first servant, who took up his portfolio after Asmodeus murdered him. Ironically, the two allied to take the foremost role in defeating and caging Rovagug. In addition to being a sun goddess, she emphasizes the idea of compassion and redemption for the truly-repentant and destruction for those who're truly past all that.

'''[[Shelyn]]:''' Beauty, art, and love goddess. Not so much sex though, that's Calistria's job. Literally all beings love her... some are just incapable of expressing that love in healthy ways. Lamashtu in particular gives her the creeps. Zon-Kuthon's sister, and responsible for containing the worst of the monster he's become.

'''[[Torag]]:''' We have come up with interesting twists for at least most of the blatant copies on this list. No such luck here. Torag is [[Moradin]], dwarf without end. Amen.

'''[[Urgathoa]]:''' Once upon a time, when the world was young, there lived a decadent queen who spent her whole life in unbridled hedonism. So much that, when she died, and went to wait in line in Pharasma's Boneyard to await judgement, she cut out of the line and slipped back into the world because she couldn't stand the thought of giving up the pleasures of life. In the process, she became the first undead creature and infected the world with both undeath and disease. Aw well. Very cheery for an evil goddess, since she's all about doing what you love... though for most of her followers, that's various shades of cannibalism and plague-spreading.

'''[[Zon-Kuthon]]:''' Originally known as Dou-Bral, half-sister to Shelyn, he got so asshurt about his sister's talents that he decided to go to the leather club between realities to brood. There, he was [[Rape|enlightened]] by an [[Slaanesh|alien presence]]. He returned to Golarion as a hyper BDSM fetishist known as Zon-Kuthon, god of pain, torture, and edge. His unholy symbol is a skull with a spiked chain going through the eye sockets, for fuck's sake. Despite his worshipers being evil touturing murderers and his servants being straight-up Cenobites, his clergy still tends to be kind to those who worship Shelyn because he still loves her, deep down in the irrevocably-ruined part of him that's still Dou-Bral.

===Tian-Xia Deities===
'''Daikitsu'''

'''Fumeiyoshi'''

'''General Susumu'''

'''Hei Feng'''

'''Kofusachi'''

'''Lady Nanbyo'''

'''Lao Sho Pu'''

'''Nalinivati'''

'''Qi Zhong'''

'''Shizuru''': Shizuru is your typical asian themed goddess of sun, honor, ancestors, and swordplay. She's generally on good relations with every other Tian Diety. She's typically worshiped by honorable samurai and weeaboos. She is the lover of the moon god Tsukiyo and had to get him resurrected by the help of Qi-Zhong, the god of medicine, after his brother Fumeiyoshi grew so damn jealous of his brother actually having a girlfriend that he geeked him. She has an star archon daughter called the [[Weeaboo|Dusk Ronin]], who got kicked out of her mother's house and now wanders the Great Beyond in search of redemption.

'''Sun Wukong'''

'''Tsukiyo'''

'''Yaezhing'''

'''Yamatsumi'''

===Other Major Deities===
===Dwarven Pantheon===

'''Droskar''': Dwarven God of Pointless, Soul-sucking jobs. He mostly took over those Dwarfs who refused to take the Quest of the Sky and eventually became Duregar.

===Elven Pantheon===
===Halfling Pantheon===

==Races of Golarion==
Being effectively [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.75, Golarion is absolutely crawling with races. Your D&D standards are here, but there's also an ever-growing array of races, from monstrous humanoids to ones lifted from real-world mythology to even homebrewed races.

===The Standards===
'''[[Human]]:''' Bog-standard human, following in the best D&D traditions by having different nations with different hats to wear.

'''[[Dwarf]]:''' Originated in Golarion's [[Underdark]], migrated to the surface in the legendary "Quest for Sky" centuries ago.

'''[[Elf]]:''' One of the planet's oldest races. Buggered off through magical gateways to another planet during the worst of the Starfall disaster, then came back a few centuries ago.

'''[[Halfling]]:''' Pretty much your standard stunties, barring the fact that they're very popular slaves throughout the Inner Sea region.

'''[[Gnome]]:''' Fey who migrated to Golarion from [[Feywild|The First World]], then found out that without regular stimulation, they undergo something called "The Bleaching" which drives them mad and painfully kills them. In other words, they can literally get bored to death!

'''[[Half-Elf]]:''' Pretty much your standard half-elves.

'''[[Half-Orc]]:''' Extra emphasis on the "you were probably born from rape!" backstory.

===Snowflake Races===
The races most of /tg/ mocks because they're seen as favored by people who want special snowflake or weeaboo type characters, even if these are all races with roots in traditional D&D.

'''[[Aasimar]]:''' The iconic D&D Goodly [[Planetouched]]. Because Pathfinder has a much bigger array of "angels", there's many different sub-varieties of aasimar. There's actually a country where these guys are really common, which makes them almost as normal in Golarion as a [[dragonborn]] or [[half-orc]] would be in standard 5e D&D.

'''[[Catfolk]]:''' Pretty bog-standard [[Chaotic Stupid]] cat-people. Infamous for their schizophrenic artwork, which has portrayed them as anything from "[[catgirl]]s with a fine layer of fur all over their body" to "full fledged [[furry]]" to [[Elder Scrolls|"why does this look exactly like a Khajiit?"]].

'''[[Changeling]]:''' Not to be confused with the [[Eberron]] changeling, which is a [[doppelganger]]'s half-human spawn, Golarion's changelings are the immature larval form of [[hag]]s. Essentially, an entire species of cute/hot witches - with heterochromia, no less! - who are supposed to beautiful, but at the same time, so creepy and spooky they get a Charisma penalty. This aspect is the main reason why /tg/ mocks them. They're not necessarily a bad race, though, especially if you want more dark fantasy or horror fantasy games.

'''[[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]:''' Half-human and half-vampire, but, like the changeling, they fit the Ustalav region just great - hell, it really is surprising that these guys never showed up in [[Ravenloft]].

'''[[Drow]]:''' When the elves fucked off to another planet to escape an apocalypse, some of the more arrogant assholes stayed behind. Ultimately turning to worship of various [[Demon Prince]]s to survive, and becoming psycho-evil arrogant assholes in the bargain. Most noted for their fucked-up love of fleshcrafting, which is basically manipulating living creatures and turning them into monsters.

'''[[Ganzi]]:''' The most obscure of the PF [[Planetouched]], these guys are essentially Chaotic Planetouched and may be connected to the Protheans, Golarion's equivalent to the [[Slaad]]i.

'''[[Genasi|Ifrit/Oread/Sylph/Undine]]:''' These guys are basically [[genasi]], but Pathfinder pretends to treat them as seperate races in order to make the comparison seem less obvious.

'''[[Ratfolk]]:''' Merchant-tinker rat-people. Smarter and more chill than the [[Skaven|usual rat-type races]]. [[Ysoki|May have come from space]].

'''[[Shifter|Skinwalker]]:''' As dhampirs are to vampires, these guys are to [[therianthrope]]s. Essentially [[Shifter]]s with less shitty artwork.

'''[[Suli]]:''' One of the stupider [[planetouched]] races in Pthfinder, these guys are [[genie]]-kin who trace their lineage to the oft-forgotten Janni, the mixed-elemental fifth genie race which is the weakest of them all.

'''[[Tengu]]:''' Humanoid flightless crow-people who love shinies. Essentially less-evil [[kenku]] outright using the mythological version's name. Tend to become rogues (or ninjas), samurai and pirates. Sometimes two at once.

'''[[Tiefling]]:''' When one of the countries has the theme "demonic invasion through gaping portals to the Abyss" and another is "Fantasy Nazis using a pact with Satan to stay in power", are you really surprised that these guys are everywhere? Especially considering Golarion has a huge list of fiends outside of the Devil/Daemon/Demon trinity and they ''all'' make tieflings.

===Monstrous Humanoids===
'''[[Goblin]]:''' Doubles down on the [[Chaotic Stupid]] aspects; love fire, really good singers, absolutely terrified of dogs, horses and writing.

'''[[Orc]]:''' Driven up from the Underdark by the dwarves, who they used to war with. Really double-down on the Always Chaotic Evil aspects.

'''[[Kobold]]:''' Pretty much the D&D iconic version.

'''[[Hobgoblin]]:''' A militaristic race descended from an experiment to magically mutate goblins into slave-soldiers to fight against the elf empire; their creators were killed, but the hobgoblins were complete, and now they don't have an off-switch.

===Foreigners===
Because Golarion has lots of "not!X" countries, there's both a "not!India" (Vudra) and a "not!Orient" (Dragon Empires), each of which has some fairly unique races native to it.

'''[[Kitsune]]:''' Your standard mischievous fun-loving shapeshifting fox-folk.

'''[[Nagaji]]:''' A race of [[serpentfolk]] bred as slaves by the [[naga]]s; they're quite content in their servitude.

'''[[Samsaran]]:''' Spiritually enlightened blue & white-colored humans who continuously reincarnate.

'''[[Vanara]]:''' Friendly, sage-like monkey-people.

===Sci-Fantasy Races===
Pathfinder's mapped out the star system that Golarion comes from, and in best pulp fantasy fashion, that means that you can play androids and aliens in this setting too. These races and more would be later expanded by the sister game line [[Starfinder]].

'''[[Android]]:''' Look like humans with pale, silver-tinted skin and circuitry that lights up like science-tattoos when they use their powers. Most common in Numeria, as they are born out of "creation forges" left behind when the starship crashed.

'''[[Kasatha]]:''' Four-armed humanoids who don't remember what world they came from. Favor dual-wielding bows.

'''[[Lashunta]]:''' The natives of Golarion's equivalent of Venus; antennaed humanoids with psionic powers and [[-4 Strength|extreme sexual dimorphism]] - men look more like dwarves, women look more like elves.

'''[[Triaxian]]:''' Pointy-eared aliens whose planet undergoes an extreme orbit, leading to centuries-long summers and winters, and thus the species is divided into "Summer Generation" and "Winter Generation" subspecies.

===Real-Worlders===
The least common race group, so far, these are critters taken from non-D&D fantasy sources, including several Lovecraft races and cryptids.

'''[[Reptoid]]:''' Shapeshifting lizardfolk with [[psionics]] who hail from an unknown world or plane, based on a popular conspiracy theory.

'''[[Orang-Pendak]]:''' A crytid that is basically a smaller, smarter sasquatch.

'''[[Deep One]] Hybrid:''' A human with [[Deep One]] ancestry, giving them amphibious abilities but cursing them to turn into a Deep One - which is death to their old personality - in their 50s.

'''[[Being of Ib]]:''' Amphibious, gnome-like frog-people from the Cthulhu Mythos; although their Dreamlands colony was famously annihilated by Sarnath in "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", it's possible other colonies exist elsewhere in the multiverse.

'''[[Yaddithian]]:''' Tapir-snouted insectile-looking people adept in sorcery who have scattered across the galaxy due to their homeworld being destroyed by bholes. Taken from the Lovecraft story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".

==Other Planets and Planes==

==Trivia==

==Further Reading==

{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Golarion

2018-10-10T04:39:58Z

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[[File:Continent of Avistan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Welcome to Golarion.]]
[[Golarion]] is the "main" planet in Paizo's default [[Campaign setting|campaign setting]] for the [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]]. It's not the sum total of the setting's Material Plane like, say, Athas is, but it's where most of the action is and where you're going to be spending most of your time so it's also the nickname for what's properly known as the [[Pathfinder Campaign Setting]]. Golarion was first introduced to players as a generic OGL module named ''Crown of the Kobold King'', released in June of 2007 under Paizo's GameMastery imprint. Two months later at [[Gen Con]] 2007, Paizo published ''Rise of the Runelords'', the first of Pathfinder's famous Adventure Paths and the first product to bear the Pathfinder brand name; this was followed by another adventure path and a couple "Pathfinder Chronicles" supplements. When Wizards announced [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] and neglected to mention that the OGL would be replaced with a giant spiky dildo, Paizo cashed in on the confusion and announced that they would be creating a replacement RPG, based on OGL content but with a less restrictive license for its "Product Identity" and with Golarion as the default setting.

Golarion is notable for ripping off fucking everything, including dime-store pulp novels, random bits of relatively modern history, earlier editions of D&D, sci-fi kitsch, and the kitchen sink. This is a transparent attempt to [[Gay|fill the gaping orifice]] left behind by the loss of the D&D's "Product Identity" as cheaply as possible, justified as a way of allowing many different campaign styles to coexist in the same setting. One notable exception is the elder gods of the Far Realm, which Paizo replaced by biting the bullet and licensing the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] from Chaosium.

It bears mentioning that this "fantasy kitchen sink" style actually isn't new to D&D. ALL of the "iconic trinity" of settings from the earliest days of D&D - [[Mystara]], [[Greyhawk]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]] - have a similar motif. What makes Golarion stand out compared to Greyhawk or the Realms is that the latter settings tend to obscure their real-world inheritances more by keeping the "non-Medieval Europe" cultures pushed from the highlight; the Realms in particular generally keeps its more blatantly real-world homage based portions off of the core map and out of the spotlight, such as [[Al-Qadim]], [[Kara-tur]] and [[Maztica]]. Even its blatancy is not unique; [[Mystara]] did it first, and with its bizarre races and fantastical tweaks on real-world cultures, Golarion resembles a Mystara written in and for the 2010s more than anything.

The centerpiece of Golarion is the Inner Sea region, consisting of the fantasy equivalents of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea zone, and the northern half of Africa. Unlike [[Dark Sun|most]] other fantasy settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the [[Outer Planes|Great Beyond]], Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary fuckstorm that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[Pirate|pirates]] to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and the prophets and diviners committing mass suicide as an prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the religious hysteria led the two greatest empires of the region to become balkanized devil-worshipping fantasy Nazis and decadent chucklefucks, respectively.

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they brought the orcs with them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] '''Green really iz da best, innit?'''

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
Jewish Scientologists. Alternately, [[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social conscriptions) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only.]]

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard generic as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists.

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious and alien race called the Pactmasters.

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings. Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die. Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav.

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. It's queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing.

===Mwangi Expanse===
Home to intelligent gorilla men (who, sadly, worship a [[Demon Prince]] and thus want to fuck everyone else over) and a super ancient empire of black men who lived in flying cities making the saying "We wuz kangs" sorta true for Pathfinder.

===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant robot scorpions with plasma cannons for stingers. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]] and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Ever play a game with an [[That guy|edgelord]] who always wants to be the [[Mary Sue|super-bestest at everything]] and the GM just capitulates to their every whim and gives them [[Grimdark|a kingdom which they rule worse that North Korea and say everyone should worship them as a god?]] Well, that's pretty much this country. Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavey is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, your allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it your treated as a common criminal.

Basically the Balkans of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom.

===Sargava===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, they are effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to their north. The local Mwangi people are little better than slaves and may be plotting to overthrow dem white bois.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire and British Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths?

==Lands Beyond the Core Setting==
[[File:Golarion Continents.jpg|300px|thumb|right|So many places to go, so little places well-developed...]]
Paizo, still wanting even more kitchen sink fantasy and wanting to emulate Forgotten Realms, have other continents and lands beyond the core setting.

===Arcadia===
Well they needed a place for the Americas. Notably the vikings from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings think of it as a kind of paradise and their rulers have a settlement on it in an allusion to Vinland from viking history.

===Azlant===
Atlantis by another name. Home to the first human empire that was uplifted by the aboleths, was destroyed by the Starstone when the aboleths thought humans were getting uppity.

===Casmaron===
What happens when you mix India, the 'stans and the Middle East? This. Vast swaths of largely unruled or ungovernable lands but also two massive "empires", one being a Persian/Ottoman expy, the other being fantasy India.

===Crown of the World===
Connects Avistan (Europe) to Tian Xia (East Asia). Has a few eskimo-like settlements and Cthulhu horror themes going on here.

===Darklands===
Paizo's Underdark. Drow, Svirneblin, Duergar and all the tropes therein.

===Iblydos===
Classical Greece. An island archipelago that serves as a common stopping point for traders going between the Inner Sea region and the distant lands of Vudra and Kelesh in Casmaron. Known for its prophecising Cyclopes and Demigod Heroes who often rule its numerous City-States.

===Sarusan===
Mysterious land of deadly terrors which is clearly Australia. Australia is bad enough, who the fuck knows how scary it would be with fantasy elements. Nobody can remember what it looks like for some reason that has nothing to do with leaving a blank canvas for your GM to paint with horrible death.

===Tian Xia===
[[File:Pathfinder Tian Xia Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Paizo is always careful to avoid cultural appropriation and treats foreign cultures in a respectful and well-informed manner.]]
Has all your classic [[Oriental Adventures|East Asia fantasy tropes]] going on here. Decadent empires, [[Oriental Dragon|eastern dragons]], [[monk]]s in monasteries learning kung-fu, mystical monks meditating under waterfalls, Studio Ghibli creatures running around, [[Naga]], [[Oni]], Mongols, [[ninja]] and [[samurai]].

==Gods of Golarion==
There are gods upon gods for the game but they split up into a number of different pantheons.

===Core Pantheon===
'''[[Abadar]]:''' God of civilization, walls, and banking. Doing pretty well in modern times, all things considered. Lawful Neutral in a very reasonable kind of way, leaning more towards good, but still stuck doing shit like letting Zon-Kuthon into his Vault because he doesn't break his contracts.

'''[[Asmodeus]]:''' It's [[Asmodeus]], what the fuck do you expect? The most notable changes from OGL are that Asmodeus is actually a deity this time around, and that [[SJW|misogyny is an explicit part of his dominion. Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a bad guy.]] Yes, the leader of his greatest group of mortal servants is female. No, the setting material does not comment on this. (One designer claimed this is because he doesn't care so much about ''mortal'' gender, since mortals are just going to die and the lawful evil ones will end up his anyway. While this was probably just the designer trying to keep his ass from getting ripped by angry neckbeards and doesn't make that much sense, it does line up with PF Asmodeus' general "they'll all see things my way eventually" mentality.)

'''[[Calistria]]:''' An elven goddess, Calistria's temples often double as centers of intrigue and brothels. [[Slaanesh|Feeding into people's lust]] and also feeding people's anxieties until they seek revenge, she is seen often as a bit of an odd one. Her favored animal is the hornet since they can sting repeatedly. Seriously, if you piss her off she will show her disdain for you by having hornets sting your junk until it's black and blistered. She is Chaotic Neutral to the extreme, in fact she is so whimsical and unreliable that she is the only non-chaotic evil deity that even Asmodeus refuses to work with.

'''[[Cayden Cailean]]:''' Five humans in the setting have ascended to godhood, each with their own outlooks and spheres and Cayden Cailean is one of them. His outlook and spheres? Partying it up, [[dwarf|getting drunk]], helping people, and going on adventures. Cayden Cailean apparently got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone. There are plenty of legends around why exactly the drunken man did it but one says he saw [[Slaanesh|Calistria, goddess of lust and revenge]], and wanted some of that. The goddess rebuffed him and said only a god could pleasure her. Pissed and drunk, he grabbed a keg and set off. Three days later, rocking a heavenly hangover, Cayden emerged as the most recent of the gods.

'''[[Desna]]:''' An ancient space alien who befriended one of the first gods. When Lamashtu stole the beast domain from him, she took his travel domain. Chaotic Good, and likes wandering around, but guides people with her control over luck, and has a bunch of scientist followers who see her as helping them find knowledge. Very chill for a goddess whose signature weapon is an oversized shuriken.

'''[[Erastil]]:''' Old-fashioned god of the harvest and rural areas; a grumpy but well-meaning old codger who's getting a little past it since "city living" became a thing, but is still popular out in the farming country and wilderness regions. Source of much [[SJW]] outrage when his first detailed writeup revealed that being "God of the Old Ways" also makes him a patriarchal chap who believes women should get married and make babies, though he will sigh and accept it if a woman wants to prove she can have a happy life doing something else. They kicked up such a stink about this, claiming there was no way he could be Lawful Good and think this, that Paizo hastily retconned it. For the record, men are supposed to (eventually) be settling down too. Basically a generic wilderness/rural god, though he does have some similarities to [[St. Cuthbert]].

'''[[Gorum]]:''' Basically [[Khorne]]-lite, and including the bits about not killing non-combatants. (Well, technically [[Conan the Barbarian|Crom]], but the kids only care about their 40k.) Favors actual strategy and tactics over charging massed archers armored only with war-cries though.

'''[[Gozreh]]:''' Nature god. Most interesting thing about them is that they're a [[dickgirl|hermaphrodite]], with their female form being associated with the sea and their male form with the sky.

'''Green Faith:''' Not so much a deity as much as it is a nature-minded philosophy adhered to by [[druid]]s. It essentially gives the druids a sort of organization that'd be familiar to 2E's druid hierarchcies.

'''[[Iomedae]]:''' Aroden's herald, who mostly took over his job after his untimely demise. A former paladin turned deity via the Starstone, and a righteous crusader type. Paizo really screws with Iomedae depending on what source you read. Sometimes seen as a [[paladin|paragon of righteousness]], she sometimes comes across as a prick, [[That guy|going so far as to deafen people who are trying to save the world because they didn't suck up to her well enough]] in one poorly-written adventure. May or may not have banged the local Bahamut-equivalent, Apsu, as a gold dragon calling her mom hangs out in her court.

'''[[Irori]]:''' Fantasy Buddha. A former mortal, but unlike the others, whom he mocks for just copying his old friend Aroden, he got there on his own, by refining and honing his body and mind into literal perfection. Has more followers out in Tian, but he's making waves in Golarion. His clerics get [[monk|Improved Unarmed Strike instead of a favored weapon]].

'''[[Lamashtu]]:''' Mother of monsters and a former female demon lord who stole the domains from a god she murdered. Most of the "monster" races pay homage to her, and her evil favor usually manifests as hideous deformity and mutation. Usually manifests as a [[/d/| heavily pregnant mishmash of monster parts]].

'''[[Nethys]]:''' The god of magic. Played too much ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' and broke his brain. His fractured mind usually manifests as two faces, one white and benevolent, one black and destructive.

'''[[Norgorber]]:''' A supposed mortal who became the god of trickery, secrets, backstabbing, and deceit and thus is represented by a very inconspicuous-looking bugger who totally won't fuck you over at the first opportunity. His worshipers tend to either worship one of four extremes of his character: the trickster, the serial killer, the saboteur, and the assassin. All information about his past is '''REDACTED''', and trying to learn too much about his church can get you killed even if you're a member.

'''[[Pharasma]]:''' [[The Raven Queen]], sort of. The deathly-neutral type of death goddess, and probably the oldest and most primordial of divinities. Haaaaates undeath, so much that her clerics get a custom variant of the Death domain with the undeath-related parts replaced. Judges the souls of every creature that ever dies before assigning them to their proper afterlives, with allowances made for things like racial affiliation and belief in reincarnation.

'''[[Rovagug]]''': An ancient primordial force of destruction, despised by all the other gods and worshipped only by madmen and lesser primordial forces of destruction. The other gods put aside their differences long ago to trap him in the Cage, which is Golarion itself. Bad Things will happen if he ever gets out, [[Starfinder| which might be fated to happen]]. His spawn still rampage around the world, one of which is the [[tarrasque]]. A ''mid-tier'' one.

'''[[Sarenrae]]:''' [[Rule 63]] [[Pelor]]. Asmodeus's good-aligned brother's first servant, who took up his portfolio after Asmodeus murdered him. Ironically, the two allied to take the foremost role in defeating and caging Rovagug. In addition to being a sun goddess, she emphasizes the idea of compassion and redemption for the truly-repentant and destruction for those who're truly past all that.

'''[[Shelyn]]:''' Beauty, art, and love goddess. Not so much sex though, that's Calistria's job. Literally all beings love her... some are just incapable of expressing that love in healthy ways. Lamashtu in particular gives her the creeps. Zon-Kuthon's sister, and responsible for containing the worst of the monster he's become.

'''[[Torag]]:''' We have come up with interesting twists for at least most of the blatant copies on this list. No such luck here. Torag is [[Moradin]], dwarf without end. Amen.

'''[[Urgathoa]]:''' Once upon a time, when the world was young, there lived a decadent queen who spent her whole life in unbridled hedonism. So much that, when she died, and went to wait in line in Pharasma's Boneyard to await judgement, she cut out of the line and slipped back into the world because she couldn't stand the thought of giving up the pleasures of life. In the process, she became the first undead creature and infected the world with both undeath and disease. Aw well. Very cheery for an evil goddess, since she's all about doing what you love... though for most of her followers, that's various shades of cannibalism and plague-spreading.

'''[[Zon-Kuthon]]:''' Originally known as Dou-Bral, half-sister to Shelyn, he got so asshurt about his sister's talents that he decided to go to the leather club between realities to brood. There, he was [[Rape|enlightened]] by an [[Slaanesh|alien presence]]. He returned to Golarion as a hyper BDSM fetishist known as Zon-Kuthon, god of pain, torture, and edge. His unholy symbol is a skull with a spiked chain going through the eye sockets, for fuck's sake. Despite his worshipers being evil touturing murderers, his clergy still tends to be kind to those who worship Shelyn because he still loves her, deep down in the irrevocably-ruined part of him that's still Dou-Bral.

===Tian-Xia Deities===
'''Daikitsu'''

'''Fumeiyoshi'''

'''General Susumu'''

'''Hei Feng'''

'''Kofusachi'''

'''Lady Nanbyo'''

'''Lao Sho Pu'''

'''Nalinivati'''

'''Qi Zhong'''

'''Shizuru''': Shizuru is your typical asian themed goddess of sun, honor, ancestors, and swordplay. She's generally on good relations with every other Tian Diety. She's typically worshiped by honorable samurai and weeaboos. She is the lover of the moon god Tsukiyo and had to get him resurrected by the help of Qi-Zhong, the god of medicine, after his brother Fumeiyoshi grew so damn jealous of his brother actually having a girlfriend that he geeked him. She has an star archon daughter called the [[Weeaboo|Dusk Ronin]], who got kicked out of her mother's house and now wanders the Great Beyond in search of redemption.

'''Sun Wukong'''

'''Tsukiyo'''

'''Yaezhing'''

'''Yamatsumi'''

===Other Major Deities===
===Dwarven Pantheon===

'''Droskar'''

===Elven Pantheon===
===Halfling Pantheon===

==Races of Golarion==
Being effectively [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.75, Golarion is absolutely crawling with races. Your D&D standards are here, but there's also an ever-growing array of races, from monstrous humanoids to ones lifted from real-world mythology to even homebrewed races.

===The Standards===
'''[[Human]]:''' Bog-standard human, following in the best D&D traditions by having different nations with different hats to wear.

'''[[Dwarf]]:''' Originated in Golarion's [[Underdark]], migrated to the surface in the legendary "Quest for Sky" centuries ago.

'''[[Elf]]:''' One of the planet's oldest races. Buggered off through magical gateways to another planet during the worst of the Starfall disaster, then came back a few centuries ago.

'''[[Halfling]]:''' Pretty much your standard stunties, barring the fact that they're very popular slaves throughout the Inner Sea region.

'''[[Gnome]]:''' Fey who migrated to Golarion from [[Feywild|The First World]], then found out that without regular stimulation, they undergo something called "The Bleaching" which drives them mad and painfully kills them. In other words, they can literally get bored to death!

'''[[Half-Elf]]:''' Pretty much your standard half-elves.

'''[[Half-Orc]]:''' Extra emphasis on the "you were probably born from rape!" backstory.

===Snowflake Races===
The races most of /tg/ mocks because they're seen as favored by people who want special snowflake or weeaboo type characters, even if these are all races with roots in traditional D&D.

'''[[Aasimar]]:''' The iconic D&D Goodly [[Planetouched]]. Because Pathfinder has a much bigger array of "angels", there's many different sub-varieties of aasimar. There's actually a country where these guys are really common, which makes them almost as normal in Golarion as a [[dragonborn]] or [[half-orc]] would be in standard 5e D&D.

'''[[Catfolk]]:''' Pretty bog-standard [[Chaotic Stupid]] cat-people. Infamous for their schizophrenic artwork, which has portrayed them as anything from "[[catgirl]]s with a fine layer of fur all over their body" to "full fledged [[furry]]" to [[Elder Scrolls|"why does this look exactly like a Khajiit?"]].

'''[[Changeling]]:''' Not to be confused with the [[Eberron]] changeling, which is a [[doppelganger]]'s half-human spawn, Golarion's changelings are the immature larval form of [[hag]]s. Essentially, an entire species of cute/hot witches - with heterochromia, no less! - who are supposed to beautiful, but at the same time, so creepy and spooky they get a Charisma penalty. This aspect is the main reason why /tg/ mocks them. They're not necessarily a bad race, though, especially if you want more dark fantasy or horror fantasy games.

'''[[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]:''' Half-human and half-vampire, but, like the changeling, they fit the Ustalav region just great - hell, it really is surprising that these guys never showed up in [[Ravenloft]].

'''[[Drow]]:''' When the elves fucked off to another planet to escape an apocalypse, some of the more arrogant assholes stayed behind. Ultimately turning to worship of various [[Demon Prince]]s to survive, and becoming psycho-evil arrogant assholes in the bargain. Most noted for their fucked-up love of fleshcrafting, which is basically manipulating living creatures and turning them into monsters.

'''[[Ganzi]]:''' The most obscure of the PF [[Planetouched]], these guys are essentially Chaotic Planetouched and may be connected to the Protheans, Golarion's equivalent to the [[Slaad]]i.

'''[[Genasi|Ifrit/Oread/Sylph/Undine]]:''' These guys are basically [[genasi]], but Pathfinder pretends to treat them as seperate races in order to make the comparison seem less obvious.

'''[[Ratfolk]]:''' Merchant-tinker rat-people. Smarter and more chill than the [[Skaven|usual rat-type races]]. [[Ysoki|May have come from space]].

'''[[Shifter|Skinwalker]]:''' As dhampirs are to vampires, these guys are to [[therianthrope]]s. Essentially [[Shifter]]s with less shitty artwork.

'''[[Suli]]:''' One of the stupider [[planetouched]] races in Pthfinder, these guys are [[genie]]-kin who trace their lineage to the oft-forgotten Janni, the mixed-elemental fifth genie race which is the weakest of them all.

'''[[Tengu]]:''' Humanoid flightless crow-people who love shinies. Essentially less-evil [[kenku]] outright using the mythological version's name. Tend to become rogues (or ninjas), samurai and pirates. Sometimes two at once.

'''[[Tiefling]]:''' When one of the countries has the theme "demonic invasion through gaping portals to the Abyss" and another is "Fantasy Nazis using a pact with Satan to stay in power", are you really surprised that these guys are everywhere? Especially considering Golarion has a huge list of fiends outside of the Devil/Daemon/Demon trinity and they ''all'' make tieflings.

===Monstrous Humanoids===
'''[[Goblin]]:''' Doubles down on the [[Chaotic Stupid]] aspects; love fire, really good singers, absolutely terrified of dogs, horses and writing.

'''[[Orc]]:''' Driven up from the Underdark by the dwarves, who they used to war with. Really double-down on the Always Chaotic Evil aspects.

'''[[Kobold]]:''' Pretty much the D&D iconic version.

'''[[Hobgoblin]]:''' A militaristic race descended from an experiment to magically mutate goblins into slave-soldiers to fight against the elf empire; their creators were killed, but the hobgoblins were complete, and now they don't have an off-switch.

===Foreigners===
Because Golarion has lots of "not!X" countries, there's both a "not!India" (Vudra) and a "not!Orient" (Dragon Empires), each of which has some fairly unique races native to it.

'''[[Kitsune]]:''' Your standard mischievous fun-loving shapeshifting fox-folk.

'''[[Nagaji]]:''' A race of [[serpentfolk]] bred as slaves by the [[naga]]s; they're quite content in their servitude.

'''[[Samsaran]]:''' Spiritually enlightened blue & white-colored humans who continuously reincarnate.

'''[[Vanara]]:''' Friendly, sage-like monkey-people.

===Sci-Fantasy Races===
Pathfinder's mapped out the star system that Golarion comes from, and in best pulp fantasy fashion, that means that you can play androids and aliens in this setting too. These races and more would be later expanded by the sister game line [[Starfinder]].

'''[[Android]]:''' Look like humans with pale, silver-tinted skin and circuitry that lights up like science-tattoos when they use their powers. Most common in Numeria, as they are born out of "creation forges" left behind when the starship crashed.

'''[[Kasatha]]:''' Four-armed humanoids who don't remember what world they came from. Favor dual-wielding bows.

'''[[Lashunta]]:''' The natives of Golarion's equivalent of Venus; antennaed humanoids with psionic powers and [[-4 Strength|extreme sexual dimorphism]] - men look more like dwarves, women look more like elves.

'''[[Triaxian]]:''' Pointy-eared aliens whose planet undergoes an extreme orbit, leading to centuries-long summers and winters, and thus the species is divided into "Summer Generation" and "Winter Generation" subspecies.

===Real-Worlders===
The least common race group, so far, these are critters taken from non-D&D fantasy sources, including several Lovecraft races and cryptids.

'''[[Reptoid]]:''' Shapeshifting lizardfolk with [[psionics]] who hail from an unknown world or plane, based on a popular conspiracy theory.

'''[[Orang-Pendak]]:''' A crytid that is basically a smaller, smarter sasquatch.

'''[[Deep One]] Hybrid:''' A human with [[Deep One]] ancestry, giving them amphibious abilities but cursing them to turn into a Deep One - which is death to their old personality - in their 50s.

'''[[Being of Ib]]:''' Amphibious, gnome-like frog-people from the Cthulhu Mythos; although their Dreamlands colony was famously annihilated by Sarnath in "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", it's possible other colonies exist elsewhere in the multiverse.

'''[[Yaddithian]]:''' Tapir-snouted insectile-looking people adept in sorcery who have scattered across the galaxy due to their homeworld being destroyed by bholes. Taken from the Lovecraft story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".

==Other Planets and Planes==

==Trivia==

==Further Reading==

{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Golarion

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[[File:Continent of Avistan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Welcome to Golarion.]]
[[Golarion]] is the "main" planet in Paizo's default [[Campaign setting|campaign setting]] for the [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game]]. It's not the sum total of the setting's Material Plane like, say, Athas is, but it's where most of the action is and where you're going to be spending most of your time so it's also the nickname for what's properly known as the [[Pathfinder Campaign Setting]]. Golarion was first introduced to players as a generic OGL module named ''Crown of the Kobold King'', released in June of 2007 under Paizo's GameMastery imprint. Two months later at [[Gen Con]] 2007, Paizo published ''Rise of the Runelords'', the first of Pathfinder's famous Adventure Paths and the first product to bear the Pathfinder brand name; this was followed by another adventure path and a couple "Pathfinder Chronicles" supplements. When Wizards announced [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] and neglected to mention that the OGL would be replaced with a giant spiky dildo, Paizo cashed in on the confusion and announced that they would be creating a replacement RPG, based on OGL content but with a less restrictive license for its "Product Identity" and with Golarion as the default setting.

Golarion is notable for ripping off fucking everything, including dime-store pulp novels, random bits of relatively modern history, earlier editions of D&D, sci-fi kitsch, and the kitchen sink. This is a transparent attempt to [[Gay|fill the gaping orifice]] left behind by the loss of the D&D's "Product Identity" as cheaply as possible, justified as a way of allowing many different campaign styles to coexist in the same setting. One notable exception is the elder gods of the Far Realm, which Paizo replaced by biting the bullet and licensing the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] from Chaosium.

It bears mentioning that this "fantasy kitchen sink" style actually isn't new to D&D. ALL of the "iconic trinity" of settings from the earliest days of D&D - [[Mystara]], [[Greyhawk]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]] - have a similar motif. What makes Golarion stand out compared to Greyhawk or the Realms is that the latter settings tend to obscure their real-world inheritances more by keeping the "non-Medieval Europe" cultures pushed from the highlight; the Realms in particular generally keeps its more blatantly real-world homage based portions off of the core map and out of the spotlight, such as [[Al-Qadim]], [[Kara-tur]] and [[Maztica]]. Even its blatancy is not unique; [[Mystara]] did it first, and with its bizarre races and fantastical tweaks on real-world cultures, Golarion resembles a Mystara written in and for the 2010s more than anything.

The centerpiece of Golarion is the Inner Sea region, consisting of the fantasy equivalents of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea zone, and the northern half of Africa. Unlike [[Dark Sun|most]] other fantasy settings, many of the cultures and civilizations of the Inner Sea region are in severe decline after the only deity which represents humans in the [[Outer Planes|Great Beyond]], Aroden, died a few centuries ago. To add salt to the wound, this caused a series of events which fucked up the world: the formation of a massive supernatural stationary fuckstorm that annihilated two entire nations and allowed [[Pirate|pirates]] to develop their own kingdoms, the obliteration of a noble [[barbarian]] empire by [[Eye of Terror|a tear in the tissue of reality]] opened directly into the [[Abyss]], and the prophets and diviners committing mass suicide as an prophesied golden age for mankind suddenly faded into nothing. As if this wasn't enough, the religious hysteria led the two greatest empires of the region to become balkanized devil-worshipping fantasy Nazis and decadent chucklefucks, respectively.

==Nations of Golarion==
===Absalom===
[[File:PathfinderExplained.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Golarion (or at least the parts that matter) in a nutshell.]]
Mecca meets [[Sigil]] in the middle of the ocean. 10,000 years in Golarion's past, a fuckhuge magic space rock called the Starstone struck the planet, creating the Inner Sea in the process and destroying Azlant, home of the Glorious Azlanti Master Race. The last of the Azlanti, Aroden, lifted the stone out of the Inner Sea 5,000 years later and used its magic to become [[Emperor|the God of Humanity in living flesh,]] founding the city-state of Absalom on the island where he dumped the thing to protect it from others who wanted to pull the same trick. It's still there, in the heart of the Ascendant Court, and anyone who survives the Test of the Starstone can use it to become a god too. (Thousands try every year; only three have ever succeeded, including [[Lulz|one guy who took the test on a drunken dare and can't remember how he did it.]]) As everyone has a stake in keeping the number of crazy gods around to a minimum and the island is strategically located in the middle of the Inner Sea, Absalom has become the effective center of civilization in Golarion's western hemisphere, with a complete clusterfuck of races and nationalities walking the streets to wheel and deal. Other areas of note include the Cairnlands, the slightly-haunted graveyard for all the dumbasses who tried and failed to invade one of the most important places on the planet, and the Ivy District, which is where all the whores are and where everyone goes to [[Diplomacy|stab each other in the back.]]

===Alkenstar===
Fuck yeah [[Murlynd|guns in your fantasy setting.]] Alkenstar is in the middle of a giant non-magical desert formed by a war between its magocratic neighbors, Geb and Nex, so they had to tell [[Medieval Stasis]] to shove it and learn engineering to stay relevant. Almost all of Golarion's gunpowder-based weaponry is produced by Alkenstari engineers, and they like to keep it that way so they can continue to charge out the ass for them. This is so your GM has an excuse to veto firearms. Despite what you'd expect from a desert nation that shits firearms, they're ''not'' particularly friends with Andoran, maintaining scrupulous neutrality and being situated in Golarion's equivalent of northeastern Africa.

===Andoran===
Fuck yeah 'Muricans. When Cheliax shat the bed, the nobles of Andoran went along with their new devil overlords in the interest of not becoming a fucking bloodbath like Galt or Cheliax itself. Andoran's burgeoning merchant class had other ideas and whipped up a revolution two years later, using Galtan philosophy (as if the American Revolution parallels weren't fucking obvious enough) to fuel the fires and inventing democratic socialism and the welfare state from whole cloth. As expected of fantasy Americans, they also practice cultural imperialism, actively exporting their radical ideology and disrupting the Inner Sea's slave trade. This makes them less than popular with the rest of the world. Their patron divinity is a [[Guardinal|celestial eagle-man.]]

===Belkzen===
Stupid dumb [[Orc|greenskin]] scum. When Golarion's dwarves took their expedition/holy war out of the Darklands, they brought the orcs with them. The dwarves eventually pushed them back into a shitty little valley in the continent's north, but not before a [[Grimgor Ironhide|strong and ambitious orc warlord]] named Belkzen managed to capture and ransack a [[Dwarf Fortress]] that he rechristened Urgir, the closest thing to a capital city they have. Naturally, the Hold of Belkzen has since collapsed into a fuckpile of semi-nomadic tribes with friendly names like Broken Spine, Gutspear, and Murdered Child constantly wrangling with each other for territory. The current holder of Urgir, Grask Uldeth of the Empty Hand, has discovered the value of trade with less beefy races, and your average PC can walk the streets in relative safety... most of the time. Other locations of note include the Brimstone Haruspex, where orc clerics huff volcanic gas to predict the future, and the Foundry, where and I quote: [[Mekboy|"crazed orc engineers known as Steeleaters remain neutral in order to sell their bizarre siege weaponry to all sides."]] '''Green really iz da best, innit?'''

===Brevoy===
Stuck all the way in the upper right corner of the map, this land is cold, forested and the country is on the verge of collapse. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Supposedly some dragon or dude with a dragon showed up, conquered everyone and his line has ruled for years only to disappear one night and now the various noble houses vie for control.]]

Anyway, Brevoy is divided into a few regional areas, each ruled by a noble house who have their own outlook and goals, as well as a [[Greyhawk|somewhat independent city of adventurer swordsmen]]. The northern nobles are loosely allied against the equally loosely allied south and, in an attempt to build power and prestige enough to keep the calm, the newest king has sent [[Adventurer|adventurers]] south to found a new kingdom, [[Just As Planned|preferably a weak one that they can conquer in a weekend war.]]

===Cheliax===
[[File:Cheliax_flag.png|right|thumb]]
Motherfucking '''DEVIL [[Nazi|NAZIS.]]''' I mean, shit, their flag has a fucking swastika on it, modified ''just'' enough to keep German fa/tg/uys from [[/pol/|getting arrested.]] They were the biggest big cheese since Azlant until Aroden died and the noble houses turned the empire into a clusterfuck resembling a [[Crusader Kings]] game gone bad. House Thrune, fortunately (for them), [[Devil|had some friends in low places]] and leveraged their foul magic to slaughter their way through a 30-year civil war and put Queen Abrogail on the throne. Now the people of Cheliax have to deal with a government that worships [[Asmodeus]] as a state religion, regularly employs bound devils in its armies, [[Chaos|and ''really'' likes putting spikes on things.]] Anyone who doesn't support the new order is at risk of getting ratted out by his neighbors for profit and the villages "live in fear," but for the most part people live as they always have. And yes, they ''do'' make sure the <s>trains</s> carriages run on time and have a huge standing military. You know, just in case the swastika wasn't big enough of a hint.

===Druma===
Jewish Scientologists. Alternately, [[Star Trek|Ferengi]] in a fantasy setting. Their religion (which they claim is just a set of divinations, even though it acts exactly like a real-world religion complete with all kinds of weird social conscriptions) literally directs them to make as much money as they can, bling themselves the fuck out, favor each other over <s>goyim</s> unbelievers in business dealings, and eventually buy out the entire world. [[Chaotic Stupid]] robbers beware, that unassuming gem convoy is also blinged out with enough contingency spells to flash boil a dragon, and if the magic doesn't get you, the equally pimped-out guards will. Contrary to expectations, ''not'' dwarven, though there is a substantial dwarven minority because of their role in getting the Five Kings Mountains to stop killing each other and the absolutely retarded amount of gold and gems on their land. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|For them, heaven is humans-only.]]

===Five Kings Mountains===
When the dwarves forced their way to the surface, they popped up here mostly. Over the course of the Quest For Sky (the aforementioned holy war to the surface) they built up a fuckton of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|grudges]] with each other that mutated and merged over time, and after an exceedingly long and generic history the Five Kings Mountains are in a situation similar to the real-life Holy Roman Empire; there are far more than five dwarf polities there, and none of them can be considered "kings." Otherwise they're your standard generic as fuck fantasy dwarves. Funnily, are neighbors with the elves and the Ferengiboos, as well as the not!Americans.

===Galt===
'''VIVE LA REVOLUTION!''' Galt was at one time a Chelish holding, but after Big Daddy Asmodeus got his fingers in its contingency of [[Neckbeard|poets and philosophers]] started writing screeds about how shit House Thrune was and if someone like that could rule by divine right, then divine right was a crock of shit. Because Galt is just the high school history version of France during the Terror, this idea spread like wildfire and anyone who was even remotely related to the Chelish leadership was put to the sword. Modern Galt is a continuously shifting crab-bucket of revolutionary governments, each one falling victim to the next based on the shifting whims of the mob. One neat wrinkle is that the guillotines used to execute yesterday's news (the ''final blades'') trap the souls of those they kill, simultaneously preventing resurrection and keeping the soul from getting stolen by (or sent to, if the victim was evil) Hell. Dwarf players should take note of the town of Azurestone, which is built around a holy site of Torag and is kept relatively insulated from the anarchic clusterfuck.

===Geb===
Fuck yeah [[Lich]] King (actually a ghost king, though there is a Lich Queen ruling in his stead, since the ghost king is mildly senile). Originally part of ancient Osirion until they exiled a cocky necromancer named Geb, so he started his own kingdom with [[meme|blackmagic and hookers]], also named Geb, and got into a multi-century pissing match with the wizard Nex, who ruled the nation of Nex. This war fucked both countries, turning Geb into an undead wasteland and the southern portions of Nex into a desert where magic doesn't work.

===Hermea===
[[Council of Wyrms]]: The Nation. An island in the sea between Cheliax and Varisia ruled by a gold dragon who is instituting some "[[communism|Glorious Endeavor]]" to perfect humanity. Has had literally 0 info put out about it except that it kinda exists.

===Irrisen===
Cold as a witch's titty, and boy are there witches here. Founded by [[Baba Yaga]] after a month long war, she locked the land in perpetual winter then promptly fucked off, only returning every 100 years to kidnap the current queen and install a new daughter on the throne. Formerly part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, they are still [[butthurt]] about losing the territory. Was a major focus for one of the adventure paths and had some sourcebooks written about it. Basically it's a Russian's nightmare of every single cruel icy fey imaginable, witches be fucking everywhere (and they rule the place) and there is a secret police with lots of spies. [[Furry|There is also a transforming worg waifu that half the fandom creamed their pants over.]]

===Isger===
Cheliax's bottom bitch. Only notable because their flag has a barely-disguised swastika on it. A glorified trade-route between Cheilax and other wealthier nations, such as Druma, keeping the trade roads secured is the main priority, leaving the rest of the nation to suffer. Isger is used to suffering, though, as large swaths of the country were recently fucked in a war with raiding goblin tribes from which they still haven't really recovered.

===Jalmeray===
Little India. Originally ruled by Nex it was given to a Vudran explorer because Nex liked the cut of his jib.

===Katapesh===
Slavers and drug dealers ruled by a mysterious and alien race called the Pactmasters.

===Kyonin===
Typical elf kingdom. Been fucked over by a demon who has blighted a huge swath of the south.

===Lands of the Linnorm Kings===
Vikings and nasty animalistic dragons called [[linnorm]]s. If you can actually kill a linnorm they'll crown you as one of their kings. Killing a linnorm subjects you to the linnorm's death curse, which does bad things to you until you die. Notably, actually uniting the Lands of the Linnorm Kings involves killing the biggest, meanest linnorm, and ''his'' death curse causes you to [[Lucius the Eternal| become him]], so have fun with that.

===Lastwall===
Crusader state that fights a constant battle against both [[Orc]]s from Belkzen and [[Vampire]]s from Ustalav.

===Mendev===
Another crusader state, this one fights the demons from the Worldwound. It's queen is over 100 years old but looks to be early middle aged due to a youth potion they buy from Thuvia.

===Mendiogalti Island===
Island of assassins who venerate a giant red praying mantis god. They can and will murder anyone but sitting monarchs.

===Molthune===
Fantasy Prussia. Recently lost their northern lands to a bunch of Robin Hood wannabes. Makes the criminally stupid decision of hiring [[hobgoblin]] mercenaries because they have an unhealthy obsession with outdoing Cheliax in the whole empire-building thing.

===Mwangi Expanse===
Home to intelligent gorilla men (who, sadly, worship a [[Demon Prince]] and thus want to fuck everyone else over) and a super ancient empire of black men who lived in flying cities making the saying "We wuz kangs" sorta true for Pathfinder.

===Nex===
Originally part of ancient Osirion, at some point it became its own nation called Nex ruled by the [[wizard]] named Nex. Real creative bunch, these wizards. As is natural for a nation of wizards they have royally fucked up their lands in a massive magic war with Geb, to their south, almost single-handedly making the nation of Alkenstar in the process. After Nex just completely fucked off one day, the war pretty much went into a stalemate because Geb didn't even want to fight anymore if he wouldn't get to kill Nex.

===Nidal===
Client state to Cheliax that worships the Goddess of Love's twisted big brother. They are basically Clive Barker's Cenobites (think BDSM people who love hard piercings and spiked chains) plus 1984.

===Nirmathas===
A wooded area that told Molthune to fuck off. Basically this is Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.

===Numeria===
[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] meets [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks|science fiction]], so expect super buff barbarians throwing spears at giant metal scorpions with laser eyes. Hard core as fuck.

===Osirion===
Literally Egypt if the [[Mummy]] movies were documentaries. The capital is built in and around a giant beetle shell, there are pyramids everywhere filled with mummies and treasure, adventurers from all over the world go there [[Indiana Jones|to protect the artifacts]], and it once had [[Historical Empires|one of the largest empires in existence]] before being taken over by foreigners.

===Qadira===
Fantasy Turkey/Arabia. Have warred with Taldor and for a while ruled Osirion. May or may not be on the verge of a civil war. Is actually the westernmost holding of an even larger Persia-inspired empire called Kelesh.

===Rahadoum===
A country so fucked over by decades of war between three churches - ironically, one of them was the church of [[Sarenrae]], who is the local Goddess of [[Paladin]]s - that divine magic and worship is outlawed. This no-doubt displeases the gods but they [[Tzeentch|continue their machinations in secret via espionage]] courtesy of hidden [[oracle]]s, [[clerics]] and even [[angel]]s.

===Razmiran===
Ever play a game with an [[That guy|edgelord]] who always wants to be the [[Mary Sue|super-bestest at everything]] and the GM just capitulates to their every whim and gives them [[Grimdark|a kingdom which they rule worse that North Korea and say everyone should worship them as a god?]] Well, that's pretty much this country. Previously part of the River Kingdoms, broke off a few years ago because said "God-King" converted a bunch of idiots. A nation of Scientologists and home of the "false priest" archetype for sorcerers.

===Realm of the Mammoth Lords===
Ever want a low fantasy caveman game that still fights witches, giants, demons, [[dinosaur|prehistoric megafauna]] and more? Go here.

===River Kingdoms===
A vast territory of constantly rising and falling petty kingdoms, it's likely if it ever united it would be one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sea since its comparable to Taldor and Cheliax in size, but they prefer fighting amongst themselves. All neighboring countries claim some bit of it but can never hold it long due to various reasons. Banditry is massively common and is expected by the populace, some even take up banditry as a bit of part-time work between their normal lives like fishing and farming. Has its own unspoken code called the "Six River Freedoms" which basically amount to:

#Say whatever you want, but don't be surprised if a Half-Orc punches you in the face when you call their mother uglier than a mountain troll.
#If you swear an Oath you keep it or you die, no exceptions.
#No one can block the use of the rivers or land travel or charge tolls other than in wartime. However if you get attacked whilst travelling them you're on your own.
#Within their realms all who are there are bound to whatever local laws exist.
#Slavey is utterly prohibited, and even wizards can get their ass bitten if they summon a creature in view of commoners.
#As long as you give the victim a chance to defend their belongings, your allowed to steal and conquer their stuff. However if you steal their stuff and they don't get a chance to block it your treated as a common criminal.

Basically the Balkans of the setting, but with more rivers. Also the home of the Kingmaker AP module, which let players build their own kingdom.

===Sargava===
Technically a colony to the devil-worshipping assholes in Cheliax, they are effectively independent thanks to the massive fuck-you hurricane and pirates to their north. The local Mwangi people are little better than slaves and may be plotting to overthrow dem white bois.

===Shackles===
Pirates of the Caribbean. "Ruled" by the Hurricane King, every island and small stretch of land is claimed by some pirate or pirate group.

===Sodden Lands===
Previously consisting of two small kingdoms that thrived on prophecy, when Aroden died and prophecy pretty much failed followed by a massive hurricane that would make Katrina look like a small breeze, they collapsed and this is now just ruins and swampy, marshy lands. So yeah, Louisiana on a bad day.

===Taldor===
Has overtones of the Byzantine Empire and British Empire. Stagnant, decadent, corrupt. The grand prince hires vikings as bodyguards. Once rules much of the world but has become a shadow of it's former self.

===Thuvia===
Barely held together because the small cities in this realm produce the single most sought after magical item. No, not girdles of gender-swapping. I swear to... No, they make a potion that reverts the drinker to the prime of life. Consume it often enough and you basically can be immortal. Only a few batches are made each year and the prices are exorbitant.

===Ustalav===
I vant to zuck your blood! [[Ravenloft|Take every fantasy gothic horror trope and dump it here.]] You got [[vampire]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[werewolves]], [[lich]]es, [[hag]]s, voodoo, [[Cthulhu]], [[witch]]es and everything else. [[Castlevania|Here, EVERY night is a horrible night to have a curse.]]

===Varisia===
This is the main setting of the main setting. Vast wild lands, a few small cities at the edges, massive ruins to explore, [[goblin]]s to kill, gypsies and more. Most of the adventures paths either play completely here, start here or at least have ties here.

===Worldwound===
Aroden, god of humans, made a lot of enemies in his day before he died. One was a giant insectoid demon lord. When he bit the bullet about a hundred years ago, the demon lord saw his chance and tore open a new gaping hole into the world to fuck. In constant war with Mendev and for the most part leave Numeria and the Mammoth Lords alone because why would you fuck with alien tech and guys who fight on mammoths?

==Lands Beyond the Core Setting==
[[File:Golarion Continents.jpg|300px|thumb|right|So many places to go, so little places well-developed...]]
Paizo, still wanting even more kitchen sink fantasy and wanting to emulate Forgotten Realms, have other continents and lands beyond the core setting.

===Arcadia===
Well they needed a place for the Americas. Notably the vikings from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings think of it as a kind of paradise and their rulers have a settlement on it in an allusion to Vinland from viking history.

===Azlant===
Atlantis by another name. Home to the first human empire that was uplifted by the aboleths, was destroyed by the Starstone when the aboleths thought humans were getting uppity.

===Casmaron===
What happens when you mix India, the 'stans and the Middle East? This. Vast swaths of largely unruled or ungovernable lands but also two massive "empires", one being a Persian/Ottoman expy, the other being fantasy India.

===Crown of the World===
Connects Avistan (Europe) to Tian Xia (East Asia). Has a few eskimo-like settlements and Cthulhu horror themes going on here.

===Darklands===
Paizo's Underdark. Drow, Svirneblin, Duergar and all the tropes therein.

===Iblydos===
Classical Greece. An island archipelago that serves as a common stopping point for traders going between the Inner Sea region and the distant lands of Vudra and Kelesh in Casmaron. Known for its prophecising Cyclopes and Demigod Heroes who often rule its numerous City-States.

===Sarusan===
Mysterious land of deadly terrors which is clearly Australia. Australia is bad enough, who the fuck knows how scary it would be with fantasy elements. Nobody can remember what it looks like for some reason that has nothing to do with leaving a blank canvas for your GM to paint with horrible death.

===Tian Xia===
[[File:Pathfinder Tian Xia Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Paizo is always careful to avoid cultural appropriation and treats foreign cultures in a respectful and well-informed manner.]]
Has all your classic [[Oriental Adventures|East Asia fantasy tropes]] going on here. Decadent empires, [[Oriental Dragon|eastern dragons]], [[monk]]s in monasteries learning kung-fu, mystical monks meditating under waterfalls, Studio Ghibli creatures running around, [[Naga]], [[Oni]], Mongols, [[ninja]] and [[samurai]].

==Gods of Golarion==
There are gods upon gods for the game but they split up into a number of different pantheons.

===Core Pantheon===
'''[[Abadar]]:''' God of civilization, walls, and banking. Doing pretty well in modern times, all things considered. Lawful Neutral in a very reasonable kind of way, leaning more towards good, but still stuck doing shit like letting Zon-Kuthon into his Vault because he doesn't break his contracts.

'''[[Asmodeus]]:''' It's [[Asmodeus]], what the fuck do you expect? The most notable changes from OGL are that Asmodeus is actually a deity this time around, and that [[SJW|misogyny is an explicit part of his dominion. Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a bad guy.]] Yes, the leader of his greatest group of mortal servants is female. No, the setting material does not comment on this. (One designer claimed this is because he doesn't care so much about ''mortal'' gender, since mortals are just going to die and the lawful evil ones will end up his anyway. While this was probably just the designer trying to keep his ass from getting ripped by angry neckbeards and doesn't make that much sense, it does line up with PF Asmodeus' general "they'll all see things my way eventually" mentality.)

'''[[Calistria]]:''' An elven goddess, Calistria's temples often double as centers of intrigue and brothels. [[Slaanesh|Feeding into people's lust]] and also feeding people's anxieties until they seek revenge, she is seen often as a bit of an odd one. Her favored animal is the hornet since they can sting repeatedly. Seriously, if you piss her off she will show her disdain for you by having hornets sting your junk until it's black and blistered. She is Chaotic Neutral to the extreme, in fact she is so whimsical and unreliable that she is the only non-chaotic evil deity that even Asmodeus refuses to work with.

'''[[Cayden Cailean]]:''' Five humans in the setting have ascended to godhood, each with their own outlooks and spheres and Cayden Cailean is one of them. His outlook and spheres? Partying it up, [[dwarf|getting drunk]], helping people, and going on adventures. Cayden Cailean apparently got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone. There are plenty of legends around why exactly the drunken man did it but one says he saw [[Slaanesh|Calistria, goddess of lust and revenge]], and wanted some of that. The goddess rebuffed him and said only a god could pleasure her. Pissed and drunk, he grabbed a keg and set off. Three days later, rocking a heavenly hangover, Cayden emerged as the most recent of the gods.

'''[[Desna]]:''' An ancient space alien who befriended one of the first gods. When Lamashtu stole the beast domain from him, she took his travel domain. Chaotic Good, and likes wandering around, but guides people with her control over luck, and has a bunch of scientist followers who see her as helping them find knowledge. Very chill for a goddess whose signature weapon is an oversized shuriken.

'''[[Erastil]]:''' Old-fashioned god of the harvest and rural areas; a grumpy but well-meaning old codger who's getting a little past it since "city living" became a thing, but is still popular out in the farming country and wilderness regions. Source of much [[SJW]] outrage when his first detailed writeup revealed that being "God of the Old Ways" also makes him a patriarchal chap who believes women should get married and make babies, though he will sigh and accept it if a woman wants to prove she can have a happy life doing something else. They kicked up such a stink about this, claiming there was no way he could be Lawful Good and think this, that Paizo hastily retconned it. For the record, men are supposed to (eventually) be settling down too. Basically a generic wilderness/rural god, though he does have some similarities to [[St. Cuthbert]].

'''[[Gorum]]:''' Basically [[Khorne]]-lite, and including the bits about not killing non-combatants. (Well, technically [[Conan the Barbarian|Crom]], but the kids only care about their 40k.) Favors actual strategy and tactics over charging massed archers armored only with war-cries though.

'''[[Gozreh]]:''' Nature god. Most interesting thing about them is that they're a [[dickgirl|hermaphrodite]], with their female form being associated with the sea and their male form with the sky.

'''Green Faith:''' Not so much a deity as much as it is a nature-minded philosophy adhered to by [[druid]]s. It essentially gives the druids a sort of organization that'd be familiar to 2E's druid hierarchcies.

'''[[Iomedae]]:''' Aroden's herald, who mostly took over his job after his untimely demise. A former paladin turned deity via the Starstone, and a righteous crusader type. Paizo really screws with Iomedae depending on what source you read. Sometimes seen as a [[paladin|paragon of righteousness]], she sometimes comes across as a prick, [[That guy|going so far as to deafen people who are trying to save the world because they didn't suck up to her well enough]] in one poorly-written adventure. May or may not have banged the local Bahamut-equivalent, Apsu, as a gold dragon calling her mom hangs out in her court.

'''[[Irori]]:''' Fantasy Buddha. A former mortal, but unlike the others, whom he mocks for just copying his old friend Aroden, he got there on his own, by refining and honing his body and mind into literal perfection. Has more followers out in Tian, but he's making waves in Golarion. His clerics get [[monk|Improved Unarmed Strike instead of a favored weapon]].

'''[[Lamashtu]]:''' Mother of monsters and a former female demon lord who stole the domains from a god she murdered. Most of the "monster" races pay homage to her, and her evil favor usually manifests as hideous deformity and mutation. Usually manifests as a [[/d/| heavily pregnant mishmash of monster parts]].

'''[[Nethys]]:''' The god of magic. Played too much ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' and broke his brain. His fractured mind usually manifests as two faces, one white and benevolent, one black and destructive.

'''[[Norgorber]]:''' A supposed mortal who became the god of trickery, secrets, backstabbing, and deceit and thus is represented by a very inconspicuous-looking bugger who totally won't fuck you over at the first opportunity. His worshipers tend to either worship one of four extremes of his character: the trickster, the serial killer, the saboteur, and the assassin. All information about his past is '''REDACTED''', and trying to learn too much about his church can get you killed even if you're a member.

'''[[Pharasma]]:''' [[The Raven Queen]], sort of. The deathly-neutral type of death goddess, and probably the oldest and most primordial of divinities. Haaaaates undeath, so much that her clerics get a custom variant of the Death domain with the undeath-related parts replaced. Judges the souls of every creature that ever dies before assigning them to their proper afterlives, with allowances made for things like racial affiliation and belief in reincarnation.

'''[[Rovagug]]''': An ancient primordial force of destruction, despised by all the other gods and worshipped only by madmen and lesser primordial forces of destruction. The other gods put aside their differences long ago to trap him in the Cage, which is Golarion itself. Bad Things will happen if he ever gets out, [[Starfinder| which might be fated to happen]]. His spawn still rampage around the world, one of which is the [[tarrasque]]. A ''mid-tier'' one.

'''[[Sarenrae]]:''' [[Rule 63]] [[Pelor]]. Asmodeus's good-aligned brother's first servant, who took up his portfolio after Asmodeus murdered him. Ironically, the two allied to take the foremost role in defeating and caging Rovagug. In addition to being a sun goddess, she emphasizes the idea of compassion and redemption for the truly-repentant and destruction for those who're truly past all that.

'''[[Shelyn]]:''' Beauty, art, and love goddess. Not so much sex though, that's Calistria's job. Literally all beings love her... some are just incapable of expressing that love in healthy ways. Lamashtu in particular gives her the creeps. Zon-Kuthon's sister, and responsible for containing the worst of the monster he's become.

'''[[Torag]]:''' We have come up with interesting twists for at least most of the blatant copies on this list. No such luck here. Torag is [[Moradin]], dwarf without end. Amen.

'''[[Urgathoa]]:''' Once upon a time, when the world was young, there lived a decadent queen who spent her whole life in unbridled hedonism. So much that, when she died, and went to wait in line in Pharasma's Boneyard to await judgement, she cut out of the line and slipped back into the world because she couldn't stand the thought of giving up the pleasures of life. In the process, she became the first undead creature and infected the world with both undeath and disease. Aw well. Very cheery for an evil goddess, since she's all about doing what you love... though for most of her followers, that's various shades of cannibalism and plague-spreading.

'''[[Zon-Kuthon]]:''' Originally known as Dou-Bral, half-sister to Shelyn, he got so asshurt about his sister's talents that he decided to go to the leather club between realities to brood. There, he was [[Rape|enlightened]] by an [[Slaanesh|alien presence]]. He returned to Golarion as a hyper BDSM fetishist known as Zon-Kuthon, god of pain, torture, and edge. His unholy symbol is a skull with a spiked chain going through the eye sockets, for fuck's sake. Despite his worshipers being evil touturing murderers, his clergy still tends to be kind to those who worship Shelyn because he still loves her, deep down in the irrevocably-ruined part of him that's still Dou-Bral.

===Tian-Xia Deities===
'''Daikitsu'''

'''Fumeiyoshi'''

'''General Susumu'''

'''Hei Feng'''

'''Kofusachi'''

'''Lady Nanbyo'''

'''Lao Sho Pu'''

'''Nalinivati'''

'''Qi Zhong'''

'''Shizuru''': Shizuru is your typical asian themed goddess of sun, honor, ancestors, and swordplay. She's generally on good relations with every other Tian Diety. She's typically worshiped by honorable samurai and weeaboos. She is the lover of the moon god Tsukiyo and had to get him resurrected by the help of Qi-Zhong, the god of medicine, after his brother Fumeiyoshi grew so damn jealous of his brother actually having a girlfriend that he geeked him. She has an star archon daughter called the [[Weeaboo|Dusk Ronin]], who got kicked out of her mother's house and now wanders the Great Beyond in search of redemption.

'''Sun Wukong'''

'''Tsukiyo'''

'''Yaezhing'''

'''Yamatsumi'''

===Other Major Deities===
===Dwarven Pantheon===

'''Droskar'''

===Elven Pantheon===
===Halfling Pantheon===

==Races of Golarion==
Being effectively [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.75, Golarion is absolutely crawling with races. Your D&D standards are here, but there's also an ever-growing array of races, from monstrous humanoids to ones lifted from real-world mythology to even homebrewed races.

===The Standards===
'''[[Human]]:''' Bog-standard human, following in the best D&D traditions by having different nations with different hats to wear.

'''[[Dwarf]]:''' Originated in Golarion's [[Underdark]], migrated to the surface in the legendary "Quest for Sky" centuries ago.

'''[[Elf]]:''' One of the planet's oldest races. Buggered off through magical gateways to another planet during the worst of the Starfall disaster, then came back a few centuries ago.

'''[[Halfling]]:''' Pretty much your standard stunties, barring the fact that they're very popular slaves throughout the Inner Sea region.

'''[[Gnome]]:''' Fey who migrated to Golarion from [[Feywild|The First World]], then found out that without regular stimulation, they undergo something called "The Bleaching" which drives them mad and painfully kills them. In other words, they can literally get bored to death!

'''[[Half-Elf]]:''' Pretty much your standard half-elves.

'''[[Half-Orc]]:''' Extra emphasis on the "you were probably born from rape!" backstory.

===Snowflake Races===
The races most of /tg/ mocks because they're seen as favored by people who want special snowflake or weeaboo type characters, even if these are all races with roots in traditional D&D.

'''[[Aasimar]]:''' The iconic D&D Goodly [[Planetouched]]. Because Pathfinder has a much bigger array of "angels", there's many different sub-varieties of aasimar. There's actually a country where these guys are really common, which makes them almost as normal in Golarion as a [[dragonborn]] or [[half-orc]] would be in standard 5e D&D.

'''[[Catfolk]]:''' Pretty bog-standard [[Chaotic Stupid]] cat-people. Infamous for their schizophrenic artwork, which has portrayed them as anything from "[[catgirl]]s with a fine layer of fur all over their body" to "full fledged [[furry]]" to [[Elder Scrolls|"why does this look exactly like a Khajiit?"]].

'''[[Changeling]]:''' Not to be confused with the [[Eberron]] changeling, which is a [[doppelganger]]'s half-human spawn, Golarion's changelings are the immature larval form of [[hag]]s. Essentially, an entire species of cute/hot witches - with heterochromia, no less! - who are supposed to beautiful, but at the same time, so creepy and spooky they get a Charisma penalty. This aspect is the main reason why /tg/ mocks them. They're not necessarily a bad race, though, especially if you want more dark fantasy or horror fantasy games.

'''[[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]:''' Half-human and half-vampire, but, like the changeling, they fit the Ustalav region just great - hell, it really is surprising that these guys never showed up in [[Ravenloft]].

'''[[Drow]]:''' When the elves fucked off to another planet to escape an apocalypse, some of the more arrogant assholes stayed behind. Ultimately turning to worship of various [[Demon Prince]]s to survive, and becoming psycho-evil arrogant assholes in the bargain. Most noted for their fucked-up love of fleshcrafting, which is basically manipulating living creatures and turning them into monsters.

'''[[Ganzi]]:''' The most obscure of the PF [[Planetouched]], these guys are essentially Chaotic Planetouched and may be connected to the Protheans, Golarion's equivalent to the [[Slaad]]i.

'''[[Genasi|Ifrit/Oread/Sylph/Undine]]:''' These guys are basically [[genasi]], but Pathfinder pretends to treat them as seperate races in order to make the comparison seem less obvious.

'''[[Ratfolk]]:''' Merchant-tinker rat-people. Smarter and more chill than the [[Skaven|usual rat-type races]]. [[Ysoki|May have come from space]].

'''[[Shifter|Skinwalker]]:''' As dhampirs are to vampires, these guys are to [[therianthrope]]s. Essentially [[Shifter]]s with less shitty artwork.

'''[[Suli]]:''' One of the stupider [[planetouched]] races in Pthfinder, these guys are [[genie]]-kin who trace their lineage to the oft-forgotten Janni, the mixed-elemental fifth genie race which is the weakest of them all.

'''[[Tengu]]:''' Humanoid flightless crow-people who love shinies. Essentially less-evil [[kenku]] outright using the mythological version's name. Tend to become rogues (or ninjas), samurai and pirates. Sometimes two at once.

'''[[Tiefling]]:''' When one of the countries has the theme "demonic invasion through gaping portals to the Abyss" and another is "Fantasy Nazis using a pact with Satan to stay in power", are you really surprised that these guys are everywhere? Especially considering Golarion has a huge list of fiends outside of the Devil/Daemon/Demon trinity and they ''all'' make tieflings.

===Monstrous Humanoids===
'''[[Goblin]]:''' Doubles down on the [[Chaotic Stupid]] aspects; love fire, really good singers, absolutely terrified of dogs, horses and writing.

'''[[Orc]]:''' Driven up from the Underdark by the dwarves, who they used to war with. Really double-down on the Always Chaotic Evil aspects.

'''[[Kobold]]:''' Pretty much the D&D iconic version.

'''[[Hobgoblin]]:''' A militaristic race descended from an experiment to magically mutate goblins into slave-soldiers to fight against the elf empire; their creators were killed, but the hobgoblins were complete, and now they don't have an off-switch.

===Foreigners===
Because Golarion has lots of "not!X" countries, there's both a "not!India" (Vudra) and a "not!Orient" (Dragon Empires), each of which has some fairly unique races native to it.

'''[[Kitsune]]:''' Your standard mischievous fun-loving shapeshifting fox-folk.

'''[[Nagaji]]:''' A race of [[serpentfolk]] bred as slaves by the [[naga]]s; they're quite content in their servitude.

'''[[Samsaran]]:''' Spiritually enlightened blue & white-colored humans who continuously reincarnate.

'''[[Vanara]]:''' Friendly, sage-like monkey-people.

===Sci-Fantasy Races===
Pathfinder's mapped out the star system that Golarion comes from, and in best pulp fantasy fashion, that means that you can play androids and aliens in this setting too. These races and more would be later expanded by the sister game line [[Starfinder]].

'''[[Android]]:''' Look like humans with pale, silver-tinted skin and circuitry that lights up like science-tattoos when they use their powers. Most common in Numeria, as they are born out of "creation forges" left behind when the starship crashed.

'''[[Kasatha]]:''' Four-armed humanoids who don't remember what world they came from. Favor dual-wielding bows.

'''[[Lashunta]]:''' The natives of Golarion's equivalent of Venus; antennaed humanoids with psionic powers and [[-4 Strength|extreme sexual dimorphism]] - men look more like dwarves, women look more like elves.

'''[[Triaxian]]:''' Pointy-eared aliens whose planet undergoes an extreme orbit, leading to centuries-long summers and winters, and thus the species is divided into "Summer Generation" and "Winter Generation" subspecies.

===Real-Worlders===
The least common race group, so far, these are critters taken from non-D&D fantasy sources, including several Lovecraft races and cryptids.

'''[[Reptoid]]:''' Shapeshifting lizardfolk with [[psionics]] who hail from an unknown world or plane, based on a popular conspiracy theory.

'''[[Orang-Pendak]]:''' A crytid that is basically a smaller, smarter sasquatch.

'''[[Deep One]] Hybrid:''' A human with [[Deep One]] ancestry, giving them amphibious abilities but cursing them to turn into a Deep One - which is death to their old personality - in their 50s.

'''[[Being of Ib]]:''' Amphibious, gnome-like frog-people from the Cthulhu Mythos; although their Dreamlands colony was famously annihilated by Sarnath in "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", it's possible other colonies exist elsewhere in the multiverse.

'''[[Yaddithian]]:''' Tapir-snouted insectile-looking people adept in sorcery who have scattered across the galaxy due to their homeworld being destroyed by bholes. Taken from the Lovecraft story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".

==Other Planets and Planes==

==Trivia==

==Further Reading==

{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]