Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Paizo is a tabletop roleplaying game system first publicly tested in 2007 and 2008 and released in 2009. Its first edition was designed to be compatible with rules from other games previously released under the Open Gaming License. On March 6, 2018, Paizo announced a second edition of the game that was publicly playtested before being released in August 2019. These rules were further revised in November 2023 as part of the Remaster Project, and the game was relicensed using the Open RPG Creative License, which Paizo helped to develop.
Second edition
“This comprehensive 640-page guide provides everything you need to set out into a world of limitless fantasy adventure! Choose from ancestries like elf, human, and goblin and classes like alchemist, fighter, and sorcerer to create a hero of your own design, destined to become a legend! The new Pathfinder rules are easier to learn and faster to play, and they offer deeper customization than ever before!
”
Pathfinder Second Edition, whose main product line is referred to simply as Pathfinder or the Pathfinder Rulebooks line, made several fundamental changes to the game's mechanics, and coincided with the release of the Pathfinder Lost Omens line to advance the timeline of the campaign setting and tie the new mechanics more directly into the fiction of Golarion. Rulebooks in this product line also incorporated campaign setting materials rather than being setting-neutral.
Announcement
Paizo announced details about the official Second Edition release on March 6, 2019. The announcement included the Core Rulebook, a Pathfinder Adventure module titled The Fall of Plaguestone, and the first Second Edition Pathfinder Adventure Path adventure Hellknight Hill. Also announced were the Character Sheet Pack, Pathfinder GM Screen, Pathfinder Combat Pad, and Condition Card Deck accessories, all of which were released at Gen Con 2019.1
Design and playtest
The Pathfinder Playtest was a year-long playtest of the second edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that began at Gen Con 2018. Announced on March 6, 2018, the playtest received a number of previews throughout the following months, the Doomsday Dawn adventures, accessories, and Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild scenarios. Players were asked to provide gameplay reports and respond to surveys and polls throughout the playtest. The most recent rollout of playtest materials was on November 5, 2018, though Paizo continued to accept feedback after that point.2
Release
The release of Second Edition on August 1, 2019, at Gen Con 2019 coincided with special events on the convention's main stage, Twitch live streams of interviews and gameplay, and events focused on the design and content from the new edition.3
Remaster Project and the Open RPG Creative License
On April 26, 2023, Paizo announced the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project, also known as the Pathfinder Remaster. Following concerns with the Open Gaming License (OGL) used since Pathfinder's inception, Paizo redesigned the Second Edition rules to remove or modify content and rules that could potentially conflict with OGL properties owned by other companies. Paizo also relicensed the Remaster content under the new Open RPG Creative (ORC) License, which gave Paizo more control over its own content without removing the ability of others to build on Pathfinder's rules.4
In the process, Paizo incorporated errata, updated rules, and redesigned the structure and formatting of the product line's core books. Instead of a single Core Rulebook, the game's core rules were split into separate Player Core and GM Core books released on November 15, 2023. Monster Core in March 2024 provided creatures and related rules, and Player Core 2 in August 2024 remastered additional classes, ancestries, and rules options. (The book Rage of Elements also incorporated some of the Remaster's changes but remained licensed under the OGL, and the supplemental Pathfinder Core Preview provided remastered rules for Rage of Elements.) The resulting rules remained compatible with past Pathfinder Second Edition rules.4
The Remaster Project's development team included Joshua Birdsong, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, Eleanor Ferron, Jenny Jarzabski, Jason Keeley, Dustin Knight, Luis Loza, Michael Sayre, and Landon Winkler.5
Legacy content and retroactive changes
Due to no longer having a license to use certain game mechanics originating in OGL-licensed works, as well as the potential for intellectual property conflicts with subjects that originated in those works, the Remaster Project's move to the ORC License also necessitated changes to the canon status of some Pathfinder campaign setting subjects.
Some of those subjects, such as the existence of the drow, were retroactively changed in the campaign setting's history to remove them from its past and present entirely (see Meta:Drow), which also required retroactive changes to related subjects (see Meta:Koriah Azmeren and Meta:Shensen).
Other affected subjects had more selective retroactive changes, or were retroactively renamed, to make them more distinct to Pathfinder (see Meta:Kholo).
Other content was still considered canon elements in the setting's history after the Remaster but would intentionally no longer be revisited in canon stories, such as the actions or presence of unique creatures or deities who originally appeared in other publishers' OGL-licensed content. Such content is commonly referred to as legacy content (see Meta:Kostchtchie and Meta:Chromatic dragon).
Supporting product lines
- Pathfinder Accessories
- Pathfinder Adventure
- Pathfinder Adventure Path
- Pathfinder Lost Omens
- Pathfinder Spell Cards
Releases
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Final lines
- See also: Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder Lost Omens
Similar to the final book of each Adventure Path, works since the War of Immortals Mythic Variant Rules have contained a quote at the bottom of its credits page in the book's back matter.
- War of Immortals Mythic Variant Rules
- "To worlds unending!"6
- War of Immortals
- "Myth is the nothing that is all."7 A translation of the opening line of Fernando Pessoa's poem "Ulisses".8
First edition
Pathfinder First Edition, whose main product line was referred to as Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, was the culmination of a large-scale playtest that revised and updated the OGL-licensed Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules set. Its content was designed to be fully compatible with 3.5 in order to provide players who preferred that system with continuing support after being discontinued by its publisher. It was also supported by works in other product lines that used Paizo's original campaign setting.
“The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (PFRPG) puts you in the role of a brave adventurer fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. Will you cut your way through monster-filled ruins and cities rife with political intrigue to emerge as a famous hero laden with fabulous treasure, or will you fall victim to treacherous traps and fiendish monsters in a forgotten dungeon? Your fate is yours to decide with this giant Core Rulebook that provides everything a player needs to set out on a life of adventure and excitement!
This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an open playtest involving more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.
”
Announcement
On March 18, 2008, Paizo Publishing made a monumental announcement. Amid the speculation and community division caused by the impending release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition by Wizards of the Coast and the delayed announcement of the Game System License (GSL), Paizo took a stand and committed to continue publishing adventures under the existing Open Gaming License (OGL).9
Not only would Paizo be continuing in a path differing from that of Wizards of the Coast (and possibly the whole tabletop gaming industry), they would also revolutionize it. As part of the company's commitment to the 3.5 rules set, they unveiled the Pathfinder RPG, an updated, expanded core game to replace the official Dungeons & Dragons books after they have gone out of print upon the release of 4th Edition in June, 2008.9
Additionally, in the spirit of Open Gaming, the system would undergo the largest public playtest in RPG history, spanning over eighteen months and open to literally anyone who was willing to download the files from Paizo's website. The initial Alpha release was released in three PDF iterations. Debuting at Gen Con 2008, the softcover Beta release was also available as a free PDF download from Paizo, allowing anyone to contribute to the playtest with a complete set of the rules. All adventures and supplements until August 2009 continued with the 3.5 rules.9
A further announcement was made on May 12, 2008, that famed RPG designer Monte Cook had joined the development team as a rules consultant.10 Cook, one of the co-designers of the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules, and author of the 3.5 DMG and PHB as well as the Ptolus™ campaign setting and the recent Book of Experimental Might, would not be an active member of the design team, but would act as an adviser for the design team. With his wealth of knowledge and experience with the original 3.5 system, Monte's involvement provides an unparalleled opportunity for Paizo, and re-excited the fans of the Pathfinder RPG.
Design and playtest
Jason Bulmahn, Lead Designer for Paizo's Pathfinder brand, began work on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in October 2007. Because of the flaws in the 3.5 rules set were now being acknowledged by both fans and the developers at Wizards of the Coast, Jason set out to develop a revised version of the existing rules available under the OGL to fix these problems and improve play without starting from scratch and negating three decades of Dungeons & Dragons history.11 Bulmahn kept several goals in mind when creating the Pathfinder RPG to maintain a focus in the daunting task.
Release
The final release of the Pathfinder RPG is a 576-page hardcover book released August 13, 2009, at Gen Con Indy. This volume is designed to support all future Paizo adventure paths and modules and can be used as a stand-alone replacement for the out-of-print core books by Wizards of the Coast, laying a foundation for OGL-based gaming for decades to come.
Prior to the release of the final rules, Paizo released two additional "previews" of the new rules system. Because no one can run the game with just the PC and GM rules, the Bonus Bestiary was released in June 2009. This would allow new players and GMs to start playing the game on day one after the rules were made available at Gen Con. July saw the release of some of the player-oriented material in the new rules set in Qadira, Gateway to the East, written by Brian Cortijo. This Companion marks the first Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting-specific material released to the general public. The core monster book, Bestiary, was released in October 2009.
Success
After the monumental success of the Beta playtesting process, which included over 50,000 unique downloads from Paizo.com, it was no surprise that demand was high for the final rules. On August 3, 2009, a full ten days before the official release of the Core Rulebook at Gen Con, Paizo announced that all copies of the first printing of the book in the distribution channel were sold out. Impressive in its own right to have a book sell out in pre-order, the fact that this was the largest print run of any book in the company's seven year history by fivefold makes the accomplishment all the more stunning.12
Open Content
The Pathfinder game rules are open content under the Open Gaming License, and an official PRD provides free resources to players and publishers using that open content in home games and commercial products. The Community Use Policy provides further access to Pathfinder product identity, such as the Pathfinder campaign setting and artwork, for non-commercial use.
Releases
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References
- ↑ Paizo Staff. (March 6, 2019). Pathfinder Second Edition Unveiled!, Paizo News.
- ↑ Jason Bulmahn. (November 12, 2018). Catching Our Breath, Paizo blog.
- ↑ Jim Butler. (July 31, 2019). Paizo at Gen Con, Paizo Blog.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Paizo staff. (April 26, 2023). Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project!, Paizo Blog.
- ↑ . Player Core 2, 2. Paizo Inc., 2024
- ↑ . War of Immortals, Mythic Variant Rules web supplement 6. Paizo Inc., 2024
- ↑ . War of Immortals, 223. Paizo Inc., 2024
- ↑ From "Ulisses" (Mensagem, 1934) in the original Portuguese: O mito é o nada que é tudo. This has also been translated as "The myth is the nothing that is everything" (Michael Wood) and "Myth is the nought that means all" (João Manuel Mimoso).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Paizo Publications Press Release. (March 18, 2008). Paizo Publishing® Announces the Pathfinder RPG™, Paizo News.
- ↑ Paizo. (May 13, 2008). Monte Cook Joins the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game™ Team, Paizo News.
- ↑ Jason Bulmahn. (March 18, 2008). From the Lead Designer, Paizo Blog.
- ↑ Paizo Publishing. (August 3, 2009). Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook Sold Out!, Paizo.com.
External links
Second Edition
- Pathfinder Second Edition products on the Paizo Store
- Pathfinder Second Edition content on Archives of Nethys
- Paizo Staff. (June 29, 2023). ORC License: The Final Version is Here!, Paizo Blog.
First Edition
- Pathfinder First Edition products on the Paizo Store
- Pathfinder First Edition content on Archives of Nethys
- Archived Pathfinder First Edition Reference Document on Archives of Nethys
