Category: Pathfinder RPG

State of the Enterprise 2018

Hey everyone. It is that time of year again where I look back at the year coming to a close and forward to the year ahead. 2018 was a big year for the company and for the world at large. In many ways it was the year I expected even hoped for and many others it was not the year I expected at all.

Personal Life

Incase you hadn’t heard, I moved half way across the USA this year. I use to live in New Jersey and now I live in Missouri. My wife got a job that she has been working towards for some time now. We’re thrilled about this, but it has impacted my writing schedule.

What we hoped would happen but didn’t really expect was us buying a house. So in the past 4 months, we moved twice. Even right now, I’m still moving boxes that we never had the chance to unpack after the first move. So my writing schedule has been impacted again. If you want to know why we have not produced much since GenCon, that’s the primary reason (more on other reasons in a bit).

Pathfinder

Another wrench in the schedule is the announcement of Pathfinder Second Edition. I guessed this was coming a while back, but it still took me by surprise. We were just starting to get a solid stream of high level adventures under us when the announcement came. So we made our Pathfinder adventures a priority and we got almost all of them published before the release of the 2e playtest. I’m sad for the ones we cut from the schedule but it is entirely possible they will be seen in the future, either as Pathfinder 2e adventures, Fifth Edition adventures, possibly even 13th Age, or dare I say it Pathfinder 1e adventures.

As my own recent poll revealed, PF2e is not as popular as I (and many others) expected it to be. There still may be people playing PF1e for quite some time. We will keep monitoring the situation as things develop. Frankly, I don’t expect us to make a final decision on as to whether we are going to 2e or staying 1e (or even doing both) until we see the final rules and the compatible license. However, if you had asked me about it six months ago, I would have just assumed we’re going 2e and that is that. The fact that we’re considering other options should give you an indication of the situation.

Fifth Edition

The current push we are on is to make all of our Pathfinder adventures and other supplements available for 5e. We want to have just as much if diverse library of material for 5e as we do Pathfinder.

One thing we are doing with 5e we have not done in years with Pathfinder is get our books into distribution. Deadly Delves: Temple of Luminescence will be our first adventure making it’s way into game stores for this game. Shortly thereafter will follow Along Came a Spider. The latter was first released when 5e was still young, and our experience with the game was rather low (as was everyone’s). Since then we’ve leveled up our 5e game and we have plans for 5e supplements both print and PDF well into the new year. These include conversations of existing Pathfinder material as well as brand new supplements that are never seen before.

That was what a decent amount of my time has gone to as of late. When I said above that the move was the primary eater of my time, well working through the logistics to get this set up has another major time investment. It will be well worth it when all is ready to go.

Traveller

“Look for that in 2018.” That is what we said concerning several projects for Traveller in the State of the Enterprise 2017. So it is fair to say that things have not gone according to plan this year. We released our first single ships last month… and that is all we published this year for Traveller. Needless to say that was not the plan this time last year. We still have the last two parts of the Prelude to War adventure path. We have a number of monsters and vehicles that we want to turn into their own books. And we want to publish a number of small settings that you can integrate into the Foreven Worlds, elsewhere in the Third Imperium, or somewhere in a different setting. So we have our hands full for the year ahead.

13th Age


We continued our 13 Class Options series with 13 Wizard Cantrips and Spells and 13 Cleric Domains and Spells. The still not yet named 13 Rogue Options has fallen victim to the same time crunch we’ve described above from the moves and the Pathfinder schedule reschuffeling. Plus, we want to take the time to make each one that much more awesome. When we are satisfied with it, you’ll be the first to know.

After the “core four” classes, we plan to get to the others published. Let us know which you would like us to tackle sooner than others. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

2019 and Beyond

The next few months, JBE is focusing on 5e, Traveller, and hopefully some 13th Age as well because they received so little love last year. That will be our plan for the next four-to-six months. Beyond that, we have a number of ideas but nothing concrete. One thing is for sure, 2019 is going to see some big changes from us. We have all the printing logistics worked out, and I will be working on the company full time in the new year. This means we finally have both the means and opportunity to do things we have been dreaming about for a decade. I can’t say for sure yet which way we will be going, but expect big things from us this year.

By big things, I do mean sizable books or possibly our own system or our own setting. The last time we tried something like this was with Shadowsfall back in 2012 (almost 7 years ago!). Back then, we had the means (being in game stores then as well) but really lacked the opportunity to do it at the level we wanted. Having the experience from publishing so many more rules supplements and adventures since then, we are more prepared to embark on this dramatic step.

The road ahead is exciting, and we are ready for this adventure. We hope you will join us on our epic quest.

That pretty much wraps up our look back of the year and the look ahead. So from all of us, we hope you enjoy your time with family and friends this season, and we will see you in the new year.

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Pathfinder: Wild Hunter

With Christmas not far away, we figured we would share one if our classic monsters from the Book of Beasts: War on Yuletide. If you are getting up in levels and needing something higher level for your game, the wild hunter might be just what you’re looking for in a holiday themed game. Maybe the wild hunter needs the players’ help to hunt down the three spirits hunting some old money lender. Perhaps there’s a powerful hunt that makes someone see the world where they never existed. Or you could try it backwards in that someone is turning bad children until ghosts before their time and the wild hunter cannot attack a still living creature, requiring the adventurers’ help. The possibilities are endless.

Download Book of Beasts: War on Yuletide today.

Wild Hunter CR 13

XP 25,600
N Huge outsider (extraplanar, psychopomp)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, spiritsense 60 ft.; Perception +19
Aura fear aura (30-ft. radius, DC 19)
Defense
AC 26, touch 13, flat-footed 21 (+8 armor, +5 Dex, +5 natural, –2 size)
hp 189 (18d10+90)
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +9
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/cold iron and magic; Immune death effects, disease, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee +1 ghost touch keen longsword +22/+17/+12/+7 (3d6+6/17–20)
Ranged +1 ghost touch composite longbow +22/+17/+12/+7 (3d6+6)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attack trample (2d6+7, DC 24)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th, concentration +9)
Constant—seal of fate
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 20, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 11
Base Atk +18; CMB +25 (+27 bull rush, overrun); CMD 40 (42 vs. bull rush, overrun)
Feats Bloody Assault APG (–5/1d4 bleed), Charge Through APG, Devastating Strike UC, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Devastating Strike UC, Improved Overrun, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack (–5/+10), Vital Strike
Skills Handle Animal +17, Knowledge (nature) +17, Knowledge (planes) +17, Perception +19, Sense Motive +19, Stealth +10, Survival +20, Swim +18
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal
SQ ghost touch
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure double (+1 keen longsword, +1 composite (+5 Str) longbow, and +4 hide armor)
Special Abilities
Fear Aura (Su) Creatures within a 30-foot radius of the wild hunter that fail a DC 19 Will save become frightened for 1d8 rounds. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by this fear aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Ghost Touch (Su) A wild hunter’s attacks are treated as if it had the ghost touch weapon special ability.
Lord of Spirits (Su) The wild hunter can command up to 18 HD of ghosts.
Seal of Fate (Sp) This spell-like ability functions like a rest eternal spell against any creature killed by the wild hunter, except that remove curse and break enchantment do not negate this effect. Only a miracle or wish can undo this effect.
Spiritsense (Su) The wild hunter notices, locates, and can distinguish between living and undead creatures within 60 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability.

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What is Your Favorite Kind of Fantasy Monsters to Fight?

Today, I thought I would make a nice fun poll to end the week. What is your favorite kind of fantasy monster to fight? No matter if you play Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, 13th Age, Swords and Wizardry or some other fantasy game that we don’t support, you can still tell us your thoughts.

So what team are you on? Team Fiends? Team Sparkle Vampires? Team Venus Fly Trap? Vote in our poll and share it with your friends. We would love to hear your thoughts.

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5e/Pathfinder: The Pit of Eternal Torture

Last year, I shared my thoughts on an alternate take on the planes of law and chaotic evil. I always intended to get back and describe the rest if the planes, but I got distracted and never finished. Well, I thought I would take a few moments and jot down my thoughts on the lawful evil plane, or as I like to call it, the Pit of Eternal Torture.

Let me just state that I am doing this because I feel that angels, demons, and devils shouldn’t be in a fantasy realm. I prefer facing something without the real world mythology bleeding in. This way I can flavor it as best fits the story as well as experiencing the joy of creating something new. And when it comes to kytons, there’s lots of room to create.

Kytons, also called chain devils in some versions, believing in giving pain and not just oppressing the damned in their charge. They believe in following the rules and that rule breakers are to be savagely and severely punished. If you are healed, it is only so you can continue working for them. Kytons do not just take pleasure from pain but from the resistance of the mind’s resistances crumbling. They do not only want to beat their followers (also known as charges), but to break them as well.

When a kyton is done with you, you should not be able to see a world outside of them.

People that willingly submit to a kyton’s will have many reasons: they offer strength in troubling times, they make the world seem simple by categorizing everything as good and bad (which their charges understand as pain free and painful), and they demonize anyone and anything that is not for them. To those that see the world as dangerous, siding with such a powerful force seems attractive.

In reality, the kytons make the world a far more dangerous place. However, their followers do not see that infact they are helping to make the world more dangerous. By excluding anyone that disagrees with them, it is easy for the kytons to manipulate their charges into working to cause the very dangers that the kytons say they can save people from. This way, the kytons claws are clean while they sow pain and oppression into the world.

Kytons work in darkness. The light of truth can undo their work. It is for this reason that kytons prefer a dark world. Every kyton works to spread darkness throughout the world. So when their charges can see nothing except the kytons as the solution to their problems, this bother literally and figuratively the case.

Be sure to follow the JBE blog for more on my take on the planes and those that dwell within. Maybe next time I’ll write about one of the good ones.

Shop after the JBE Shop during the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale where you can grab all of our Pathfinder PDFs for 75% off.

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Pathfinder Black Week Sale 2018

The holidays. Yes it is that time of year again where the Autumn colors come out, pumpkin spice turns to peppermint, and the spiders come indoors. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.

Here’s one more thing to brighten up your day: Jon Brazer Enterprises’ Pathfinder Black Week Sale. We have every last Pathfinder PDF we ever created at a whopping 75% off. That means that just about every PDF we have is under $2 and the few that aren’t are under $4. We have everything you could want: adventures, spells, races, vehicles, and much more.

This sale is going on now at JonBrazer.com, Paizo.com, and the Open Gaming Store. You don’t want to miss this sale. It is going on now and will end Tuesday, Nov 27th. So you have to hurry and grab what you want at these great deals. You won’t see a sale this good any time soon so order now.

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Final Thoughts on the Switching to PF2e Poll

Just shy of 3 weeks ago, I posted a poll asking if you were planning to switch from first edition Pathfinder to Pathfinder 2e. The results were quite amazing and not at all what I expected. So lets go over them.

The answers can be broken down into these basic answers: yes, yes with reservations, maybe, eventually, no, both, and this poll doesn’t apply to me but I want to vote anyways. The “yes” answer of “We already switched to the playtest and will switch to 2e when it is released,” was what I had assumed to be the top answer, yet that only got about 14% of the vote. That honor went to the “no” vote of “We’re not switching (tried the playtest and don’t like the direction, feel 1e is the perfect game, etc),” with about 35%. Sandwiched between them is “maybe” with “Our group is ignoring the playtest, and we will see what the final version is before we decide,” with 18%. “Eventually” got the fourth highest at 12% with “It will take years for all the classes/archetypes/feats/spells/etc we enjoy in 1e are in 2e, and we plan to keep with 1e until that happens.” 5th place goes to “yes with reservations” with 9% as “We’re sticking with 1e for the time being. We anticipate converting over shortly after the new edition is released.” “Both, thank you” is obviously the “both” answer, capturing 8%. The final 5% goes to “this poll doesn’t apply to me but I want to vote anyways” with “I don’t play Pathfinder 1e now and don’t anticipate playing 2e either.”

To put those answers another way that us gamers easily understand:

Answer 1d20
Yes 18-20
Yes with Reservations 16-17
Maybe 12-15
Eventually 10-11
No 3-9
Both 2
N/A 1

The real question is: what does this mean for JBE? First and foremost, we will take another look at continued support for PF1e. I had anticipated our final 1e Pathfinder book to be Deadly Delves: Temple of Luminescence. Now, I can’t say for sure. Am I saying that we definitely will be supporting Pathfinder 1e going forward? No. Am I ruling out further Pathfinder 1e plans? No. What I am saying is, “We’ll see.” If I had to guess how things will shake out in a year is that we’ll release products for Pathfinder 1e and 2e at the same time or one shortly after the other, but even then, that is not a guarantee.

In the short run, we will be continuing to focus on Fifth Edition, Traveller, and 13th Age since we have been ignoring them while trying to finish up those last few Pathfinder titles. Even then, we will not be doing much for the rest of the year. If you haven’t heard, my wife and I changed day jobs and moved from New Jersey to Missouri earlier this year. Well, we are closing on a house soon and will be moving again. Two moves in under six months makes finishing up projects difficult. Having said that, we should be back to normal in the new year.

Be sure to download Pathfinder books you have been wanting at the JBE Shop. We have all of our Pathfinder 1e, Fifth Edition, 13th Age, and 1e Mongoose Traveller titles there for you to download and order in print when we have that available in print. It really helps us out when you order direct from us. You can also find our titles at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, Paizo, and the Open Gaming Store.

Pathfinder: Bloodhoof

We’re past Halloween, the decorations are going up in the stores, and some radio stations have begun playing the music. It’s that time of year again, whether you like it or not. It’s that time when the fey in the jolly red suit kicks the dire turkey aside and hogs the spotlight for himself.

Well, run him through this year. Take part in this holiday war the way only us gamers can: in game. Download the Book of Beasts: War on Yuletide and have your players face off against some of the holidays must recognizable monsters.

Bloodhoof CR 8

XP 4,800
N Large magical beast
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low light vision; Perception +15
Aura frightful presence (30 ft., DC 15)

Defense

AC 21, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural, –1 size)
hp 95 (10d10+40)
Fort +11, Ref +13, Will +6
Defensive Abilities ferocity

Offense

Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee gore +15 (2d6+6), 2 hooves +10 (1d8+3)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks pounce, powerful charge (hoof, 2d8+9)

Statistics

Str 22, Dex 22, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 11
Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 33 (37 vs. overrun, trip)
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Mobility, Power Attack (–3/+6), Wind Stance
Skills Fly +12, Perception +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception

Ecology

Environment cold hills and mountains
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (12–36)
Treasure none

Special Abilities

Pounce (Ex) Damage from a bloodhoof’s hooves while pouncing counts as both bludgeoning and slashing.

Pathfinder: Are You Switching to 2e?

When I ask a question, anticipating a certain answer is when I get the most surprising answers. Recently on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and MeWe, we asked two simple questions: are you still playing Pathfinder 1e, and do you see yourself changing to 2e (or the playtest) anytime soon? I anticipated a mix of everything from already switched to never gonna switch with the majority going to “skipping the playtest but converting at some point in the future.”

That was not what I had gotten. Not even close.

So I am putting up a poll to find out how you feel about the transition and what game you think you will be playing. Please answer and share your thoughts in the comments below. Make your voice heard. Please share this poll with your gaming group and other gaming friends. The poll closes Nov 9th so respond and share now.

Remember you can always find our Pathfinder products like the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium in print and in PDF at the JBE Shop. You can also find all our Pathfinder goodness at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, Paizo, and the Open Gaming Store. You’ll find some highly rated monster books, adventure modules, and player supplements that you should download now. If you are planning on continuing with PF1e, show your support to those that support the game.

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Holidays in Gaming

Are you using holidays in your game? If you were like me when starting out as a game master, no you’re not. Yet holidays mark various places on the calendar, help recognize important persons and groups in your setting’s history, and much more. They give your game life where it otherwise feels flat, like there’s nothing going on in the world besides what the players are doing.

In the United States there are 10 major holidays and a near infinite number of lesser holidays. To break them down the major ones into more generic terms that are easier to use in your game, they are (in calendar year order):

  1. Start of the calendar year
  2. Recognizing the birth of a civil rights leader
  3. Celebrating nation’s leaders
  4. Remembering soldiers that fell on the battlefield
  5. Marking the birth of our nation
  6. Recognizing the common laborer
  7. Remembering someone that discovered this continent
  8. Remembering living soldiers
  9. Harvest
  10. Holiday for the nation’s largest religion

So how can you use these in your game? Some of these are quite obvious and able to be used without exactly as is: harvest, remembering living and fallen soldiers, start of the calendar year, etc.

How about celebrating a civil rights leader? Well considering that the most discriminated against races (uh, ancestries) of the game are half-orcs or tieflings, how about a day where their contributions to the nation’s society are recognized. Or turn it on its head. Make it human-rights day because the elven rulers are keeping the humans from having a voice in their government. Is the day marked with celebrations or protests? Are the town’s guards brought out to prevent pick pocketing or riots?

The way you name a holiday says quite a bit about the leaders. If you call Labor Day Peasants Day that shows the rulers as looking down upon their subjects. Peasants Day would have a much different feel than Labor Day.

If you want to make you location anything but generic, come up with some quirky holidays. Something like Groundhog’s Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Teacher’s Day, or Secretary’s Day. Try using something like National Health Day, a day where everyone goes down to the river and washes all the filth and grime off their bodies, which is perfect after a long winter of being inside. Or how about Hug a Gnome Day, the one day a year where gnomes are willing to sell in human markets, and the mayor wants them to come back more often so they are trying to spread good feelings among he gnomes. For the brutish types, how about Woodcutter’s Day. This day before the start of winter, all manner of trees that are unfit for being made into buildings or furniture are cut into firewood and sold to the people to help them last the winter. Naturally there would be lots of beer and other pleasures sold at such events, which can be a good cause for the reasons for the players to come together in the first place.

An important thing to remember is that while we all take the weekend (or some regular set of days off, no matter where in the week it resides) for granted today, the Five-Day Work week did not begin as a concept in the US until 1908. Europe was no better. For proof, Dame Maggie Smith in her role as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey once asked “What is a week end?” Before that, the only days off for the average person were on holidays. This is why the holidays we now consider minor were not so minor a hundred to a thousand years ago. Not overworking your people is important so holidays were frequent.

With Halloween coming soon, why not download the Deadly Delves: Along Came a Spider adventure for Fifth Edition at the JBE Shop. You can also find it for Pathfinder right here.

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