Pathfinder Battles Preview: More Monsters of the High Seas

May 24, 2013

With the sun high in the sky here in Seattle, it must mean that summer is just around the corner. And summer means the release of the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures! This week I'd like to show off three more monsters coming your way this August!

Here we have a figure long requested by miniatures fiends, albeit under a slightly new name. We call this six-legged critter a Golden Guardian, and he'd love to spend some time chewing on your coins or guarding your treasure hoard. Just make sure to keep it away from his huge mouth. The Golden Guardian (which, I should point out, James Jacobs saved me from naming the Gold Digger) is a Small figure at the rare rarity.

One of the great things about publishing a pirate campaign set in a fantasy world is that it gives us the opportunity to create interesting nonhuman pirates. Here we have one of my absolute favorites from the Adventure Path, the tengu pirate Jakaw Razorbeak. This Medium figure is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Last up this week is one of the set's weirder miniatures, an undead creature known as a Duppy. This creature comes from the monster appendix in the Isles of the Shackles sourcebook, and also appears in the Skull & Shackles campaign itself. A Duppy is the spirit of a cruel sailor who died on land away from his ship, and thus was unable to receive a proper burial at sea. Duppies have control over spectral dogs, which we see sculpted into the base on the figure itself. WizKids did some amazing work with clear plastic on this figure, and I think it looks like the most incorporeal beastie we've created for Pathfinder Battles so far. The Duppy easily proxies for any kind of spooky undead ghost-like villain. It is a rare figure.

That's it for this week, my faithful scallywags! Check back next week for another exciting look at the Skull & Shackles set!

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Tags: Miniatures Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Battles Skull & Shackles

I like all three. The Golden Guardian and the Duppy both would be nice for set encounters and a random encounter as well, and are both suited for being rares. The tengu is excellent, and is a good choice for an uncommon in this set.

Quick question though:

"This week I'd like to show off three more monsters coming your way this July!"

Did the set get moved from August to July then?


or it's a new encounter pack?

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Derp. It's a brainfart. The set comes out in August.


Maybe it would get tired, but I like gold digger.

Dark Archive

Hmmm... really nice minis in this set, but it may be too pirate/sea flavored to fit my games. You might need a one or two such minis once in a while, but I'm not sure if I want for example sharks, gunslinging pirates or grindyglows.

I'm still torn between buying boosters or not...


I like the Tengu Pirate the best this week. Non-human pirates are sorely needed.

The Exchange

Three more amazing figs! Can't wait till next week's previews already.


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I'm loving the sea themed minis. Been a lack of them in other sets by other companies. I've always wanted to run sea based games so I'm all for this set. Woot!!!

Liberty's Edge

You know, the great thing about the Pathfinder Minis is that they are offering lots of things that haven't been done before. Sure the first couple of sets had way too many goblins, but there are so many great, unique minis in the last two sets---and while they are geared toward two Pathfinder APs, I have uses for them in many other types of games.


I'm really pleased with the tengu; the kenku minis that are already out there aren't very satisfying, and this guy looks like he has great personality. Outside the AP, I can definitely see a player picking that mini for a tengu PC!

The other two I'm less excited about (I'm not particularly nostalgic for the first critter, and the last seems very niche), but they are indeed something new and unlike anything out there! And maybe I'll see more possibilities when I get them in hand (as I'm sure I will :-)

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

I think the sheer creepiness of the clear green colors going to a darker gradient near the face plus the intricately sculpted ghost dogs will go a long way toward impressing people with this figure, even if it does not seem immediately useful on first glance.


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Tengu!!!

At last thank you.


Quote:
The other two I'm less excited about (I'm not particularly nostalgic for the first critter, and the last seems very niche)

Typical, two unknown creatures aren't cared for (while i'm very happy to see them) and the more overused creatures are craved for.

I for one are really happy to see two less-known critters on the set. Aurumvorax and Duppy are two of my personal favorite monsters, so well done!
The Duppy also has a very cool minature! I don't really care about the Tengu, while not overused, I think more non-humanoids is always good.

Grand Lodge

Who came up with the name "Duppy." It looks like a cool mini. I can't wait to get one in hand. But "Duppy"!

I had to look it up. It's an Aurumvorax. I picked up the 1st Edition of Monster Manual II shortly after its release (yes, I am that old); but I have never thrown one of these creatures at a party. Cool. I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

The Tengu Pirate is really sweet. I am in general agreement that Pirates from other races are badly needed. And this will immediately be the best representation of this species in PPM when released.

A rather eclectic but fun preview. Thanks!


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Erik I don't know if you realize this but at three minis a week, you only have seven weeks for this set left! That only takes you to July 12th. What will we do between then and the release of this set? I don't know if you recall the terrible withdrawal symptoms that we plastic crack fans went through in December, but it was a grim scene!

;-)

The tengu is amazing, easily the best raven-man figure that I have ever seen. I agree with Cleanthes, Jakaw has great personality. The duppy is an amazing accomplishment with translucent plastic. Very cool!

Just curious, but why didn't you go with "Golden Gorger" for the aurumvorax? Isn't that the other traditional name, or is that closed IP as well? It looks great, especially for a small figure BTW.


Mazra wrote:

Who came up with the name "Duppy." It looks like a cool mini. I can't wait to get one in hand. But "Duppy"!

I had to look it up. It's an Aurumvorax. I picked up the 1st Edition of Monster Manual II shortly after its release (yes, I am that old); but I have never thrown one of these creatures at a party. Cool. I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

The Tengu Pirate is really sweet. I am in general agreement that Pirates from other races are badly needed. And this will immediately be the best representation of this species in PPM when released.

A rather eclectic but fun preview. Thanks!

It's from Voodoo Mythology (or Obeah, I blend the two sometimes in my mind) and was originally a spirit of vengeance for an improperly buried Colonial master or sailor. (Not sure if the origin goes all the way back to Africa or if it was originated in the Carribean) And it is a sweet mini.

Golden Guardian? Aurumvoraxes EAT gold so the name strikes me as an odd choice, but still glad to see it as a mini.

As for the Tengu Pirate, all I can say is that yes Non-human pirates are badly needed, so having this NPC from the AP is nearly vital.

And I still want a goblin Pirate ;-)

Grand Lodge

No matter the origin, "Duppy" is still a silly name.


Oh good, it wasn't just me feeling a little surprised by the names.

"Golden" is typically a reference to color or sheen rather gold as an object. And the "Guardian" name also seemed to me the reverse of what the creature exists for. (I don't know what the 3.5 version of this creature is, but it seems to me its name would more likely be derived from its desire to eat coins, rather than guard them). No great alternative names immediate come to me, however something like Coin Swallower or Gold Digester may perhaps be more appropriate?

Oddly enough, Paizo already has a creature called a Golden Guardian and it has already been made into a miniature by Reaper.

The Duppy also seems oddly named. I would think that it is a creature feared by sailors and would likely be named by sailors in the same vain. Something like a Sea Wraith, Soul Claimer, or Spirit Jacker. Although, I could understand "Duppy" if this was a shortened word / pirate lingo for its longer proper name... something like a Duprigheist.

Names aside though, they are three more welcome additions to the line... especially the Tengu. I really like the Tengu pirate and look forward to replacing him with the current mini I am using for a Tengu bard character I am playing in a campaign.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Feros wrote:

Erik I don't know if you realize this but at three minis a week, you only have seven weeks for this set left! That only takes you to July 12th. What will we do between then and the release of this set? I don't know if you recall the terrible withdrawal symptoms that we plastic crack fans went through in December, but it was a grim scene!

;-)

The tengu is amazing, easily the best raven-man figure that I have ever seen. I agree with Cleanthes, Jakaw has great personality. The duppy is an amazing accomplishment with translucent plastic. Very cool!

Just curious, but why didn't you go with "Golden Gorger" for the aurumvorax? Isn't that the other traditional name, or is that closed IP as well? It looks great, especially for a small figure BTW.

Paizocon is the weekend of July 5-7, which meqns there probably won't be a mini post that week. It was also Paizocon where Shatttered Star was announced, which tends to indicate that the next set will be announced then, meaning that in late July Erik can start on the new set ( hopefully)


Guardian would probably refer to its defence.

Aurumvorax is the Nemean Lion from D&D, its skin is very tough ect, so that's probably why its called guardian, not because its guards stuff, but because it's has a very high defence.


The Beastiary 2 contains a couple of excerpts about the "Aurumvorax":

"Adult aurumvoraxes are impossible to train, but their offspring are valued for training as guard beasts."

and

"Despite its metallic coloration, an aurumvorax is not vulnerable to attacks that target metal, such as heat metal or the touch of a rust monster - in fact, aurumvoraxes easily kill and eat rust monsters, and some dwarf clans use aurumvorax pets to protect their storehouses against them."

So, the name "Golden Guardian" seems quite suitable!

After reading about them, my imagination is running amok about how they could be used in a pirate campaign.


For some reason I really like the Golden Guardian. And dispite the name, I like the Duppy as a figure. I might lightly was mine to bring out the dogs better though.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I have to say that, more than usual, the photos of these three minis really don't do them justice.


I don't know if it's due to tweaks after the photos or just tricks of lighting, but every set has been more impressive in hand than in the blog reveals.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Technically, a duppy is an animate shadow, like the Egyptian Sheut, left behind at death, and isn't specifically a sailor. It comes from dupe, spirit (in Bube), or adope (Adagme) meaning "old spirit."

Sometimes they can be caught in bottles, and like to live in the silk cotton tree.

Um.
Geeking out a little.


I really like the Pathfinder Duppy, too bad the real legend of the Duppy is kinda dull compared to the Pathfinder one... Its just a ghost from Jamaica...


Not feeling these particular offerings. But there's always next week.

Liberty's Edge

That Tengu is suspicious ...

(Stealth check....MADE)

Hey, YOU ! NO ONE EXPECTS THE GALTIAN INQUISITION !!!

(What ??)

Liberty's Edge

Sorry, private joke :)

The Exchange

Any half orc pirate minis?


Green Beard the Pirate wrote:
Any half orc pirate minis?

Tsadok Goldtooth, I believe is a half-orc pirate.

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