Iconic Heroes Set 5—THE REAL DEAL

Friday, January 29, 2016

Howdy, minis hounds! Last week, while I was trapped in the dreaded Paizo Conference Room (CR 23), the able Chris Lambertz took the wheel to show off digital renders of WizKids' incredible Iconic Heroes Set 5 for the Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted plastic miniatures.

I'm happy to report that the actual figures have arrived at Paizo and out in the wild, so this week we move from digital renders to actual photographs of the figures in the set. Would you like to take a peek? Of course you would!

Here we have Kess, Human Brawler. Kess is perfect for any unarmed female PC (though she'd honestly double as a male fairly convincingly), and even works as an NPC thug leader. I love her fist-forward pose, and the color detail on the face of the figure I have on my desk is very well done.

Next up is Oloch, Half-Orc Warpriest. Oloch is probably my favorite figure in this bunch, and one of my favorite miniatures in the entire Iconic Heroes range. He is a sentimental favorite, as I've been having a blast writing him in Dynamite's ongoing Pathfinder: Hollow Mountain comic series, but boy, what an intimidating, awesome figure. The banners on Oloch's back feature amazing detail. I really love this guy.

Zadim, Human Slayer is another sentimental favorite, since I wrote his "Meet the Iconics" backstory. This figure's pose is really interesting, depicting Zadim mid-strike with one of his deadly kukris. WizKids has done a phenomenal job properly painting the various layers of his voluminous robes.

Enora, Halfling Arcanist is another highly versatile figure, either as a spellcasting player character or as an NPC. We haven't done too many halflings in Pathfinder Battles so far, so she fills a very useful niche. Her eyes, at least on the version I have in hand, are among the best I've yet seen on a WizKids figure.

Is this set specifically designed to strum my heartstrings with sentimental favorites? Adowyn, Human Hunter is based on a character from my weekly Pathfinder campaign, run by my neighbor and Pathfinder's Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn. It's fun to see a character I've known for so long come to life, first as an amazing illustration by Wayne Reynolds and second as a sweet miniature from WizKids. You can really use Adowyn for any kind of archer character, but her flowing cape and overall aura of awesomeness almost demand that she be a player character. An amazing figure, overall!

Last up in Iconic Heroes Set 5 is Leryn, Adowyn's animal companion wolf. In the campaign, her animal companion is a gibbon, but perhaps Pathfinder Battles is not quite ready for that level of awesomeness. A wolf is, nonetheless, a highly versatile, useful miniature. With a run on its head and a mean black stripe running down its back, Leryn makes an even more imposing foe than friend. Team Leryn up with a pack of wolves from our first set, Heroes & Monsters, and watch your players run for the hills!

Iconic Heroes Set 5 is currently shipping from paizo.com, and is on shelves at your local game store. With premium paint jobs, unique Pathfinder Adventure Card Game cards, and some of the best sculpts yet in this range, this is one you won't want to miss!

I'm still hoping to get some new sculpts for our next big set so I can start off a new round of brand new reveals. It's coming very, very soon now...

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Out Adventuring, Be Back Soon

Friday, January 22, 2016

Hey, Pathfinder Battles fans! Erik is currently sequestered in meetings and other important Paizo happenings, so I'm stepping in to take the blog wheel this week.

Iconic Heroes Set 5

Earlier this week Tanis gave us a glimpse at a few brand new Adventure Card Game promo cards included in Iconic Heroes Set 5. I think it's about time to put some faces to those names, so let's take a look at the renders for the set. First up we have Kess (the iconic brawler), Oloch (the iconic warpriest), and Zadim (the iconic slayer):

And up next, we have Enora (the iconic arcanist), and Adowyn (the iconic hunter) and her wolf companion Leryn:

Iconic Heroes Set 5 is due to release soon, so keep your eyes out for final photographs of these figures on paizo.com in the next couple weeks!

Rusty Dragon Inn Singles

To give a quick update on the status of the Rusty Dragon Inn Singles: we do still plan to do a restock and some of our more highly sought after figures will be available once again early next week and to give our subscribers a heads up once this happens. Subscribers to Pathfinder Battles and any of our other subscriptions from paizo.com should have received their shipment notification email by now. If you still haven't seen this go through, let our Customer Service team know!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Open Your Eyes—Occult Adventures Art Preview

Friday, July 17, 2015

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Illustration by Wayne Reynolds.

Subscribers are beginning to get a peek at the gateway to the unseen world in Occult Adventures, which officially hits game store shelves and the convention floor at Gen Con on July 29! Since our art department has been keeping a fairly low profile, I wanted to take over and give you another preview of the artwork gracing the pages of this book. Enjoy these selections from Occult Adventures!

Illustrations by Igor Grechanyi and Subroto Bhaumik

Illustrations by Ivan Troitsky, David Alvarez, and Alexandru Sabo

Sarah Robinson
Managing Art Director

Meet the Iconics: Oloch

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Introducing the next of the Advanced Class Guide's new iconic characters, Oloch the warpriest. While the complete rules for making your own warpriest characters debut in the Advanced Class Guide this August, Oloch himself stomps onto the scene in our upcoming Free RPG Day adventure, Pathfinder Module: Risen from the Sands, available at participating game stores Saturday, June 21st. Oloch is also a playable character in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Skull & Shackles Character Add-On Deck due in August.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Oloch has no memory of a time before pain—pain suffered, and pain inflicted. A half-orc of the Haskodar tribe in Blisterwell, Oloch was raised—if it can truly be called that—with the knowledge that his parents had been quarry slaves who died in the ancient mine's cramped tunnels shortly after his birth. Constantly forced to fight for survival against his larger, stronger tribe-mates, Oloch quickly learned that the best defense is a total lack of fear or restraint. Those who thought to casually bully the child soon learned the error of their ways, for in Oloch's mind, every fight is a fight to the death, and anyone who pretends otherwise leaves themselves vulnerable.

This fearless ferocity did not go unnoticed. As Oloch reached his teenage years, the tribe's leaders began harnessing the boy's abilities. Whether in the gladiatorial pits or in battle against the sometimes-allied One Eye tribe, Oloch shed blood on command—both his own and that of others As his victories mounted, the tribe's priests of Gorum took control of Oloch's education, wrapping him in armor and teaching him the glories of the Lord in Iron. In Gorum, Oloch finally found someone he could look up to: a being of perfect strength, without the pathetic fallibilities of even the other battle-priests. More, Gorum looked into Oloch's heart and put to rest any nagging doubts the half-orc had about his love of violence. He saw the dark thrill Oloch felt as his oversized sword split the spine of an enemy—and rewarded it with magic.

As time went on, Oloch began to chafe at even the meager restrictions placed on him by his orc superiors. Who were they to tell him when and where to fight? And so perhaps it was inevitable that, upon learning the truth of his heritage—that he was no slave child, but rather the stolen son of a human adventurer—he took the chance to sever ties (and limbs) and strike out on his own, taking with him only his favored gear and a description of the fearsome warrior woman who bore him.

Fortunately for Oloch, the legend of a woman brave enough to adventure alone in the Hold of Belkzen—and rumored to tryst unashamedly with orcs—is a hard one to stifle. So it was that he soon found himself standing before the gates of the human settlement of Trunau, calling for its leader, Halgra of the Blackened Blades, to stand forth and meet her son.

To his surprise, she did, and Oloch found himself both shocked and vaguely discomfited by the warmth with which Halgra greeted her lost son, welcoming him into her house. There she told him the story of his birth—how he was the product of a short-lived dalliance with a powerful orc leader she refused to name, and how he had been stolen from her as an infant during a raid on her campsite. She introduced him to his half-siblings, and offered him a place as a defender of Trunau.

Yet a wolf can never be a simple dog, no matter how much it might long to wear the chain. To Halgra's horror, Oloch's lust for battle refused to be sated by simple raids and training bouts. Citizens who roused his ire were terribly injured, and in the end Halgra herself had to take up her sword and drive him from the town, announcing that she would always love him as a son—but that he would never again be allowed in Trunau until he learned to control his battle lust and turn his divine abilities toward a positive end.

Frustrated, feeling shamed for the first time in his life, Oloch left Trunau. For a time he wandered the wilds, yet no ordinary beasts could provide a proper challenge—nor remove the lingering suspicion that there might, as Halgra claimed, be more to life than simple bloodshed. Eventually he wound up in Urgir, where he quickly found work as a government enforcer and champion. Though on the surface, he claims that his position ensures him a steady supply of worthy opponents, in secret Oloch hopes that Grask Uldeth's half-civilized ways will help him puzzle out how to balance the orc and human inside himself and discover the man he was born to be.

Oloch is a quiet, brooding warrior with a disturbing love of violence. Though not actively evil, and scornful of those who pick on obviously weaker opponents, he nevertheless takes it as a given that might makes right, and the whining of those unable to defend their property means little to him. He lives in the moment, relishing the red rush of battle and the communion it brings him with his god. He's not opposed to working with—or even for—those he considers his equals, but those individuals are few and far between, and must take pains to show him proper respect. Perhaps the only activity other than combat that truly brings him pleasure is making music on his drum—and then only if it's sufficiently riotous as to echo the clamor of battle.

James L. Sutter
Managing Editor