Gain the upper hand over your opponents by learning the deep, dark secrets they wish to keep hidden with Pathfinder Player Companion: Spymaster's Handbook. This manual of espionage gives you the tools to disguise your true loyalties, broker illicit information, and attempt stratagems of subterfuge that can change the outcome of an encounter before swords are even drawn!
Inside this book, you'll find:
Exciting additions to the vigilante class, including the agathiel, Bellflower harvester, and teisatsu archetypes, as well as new social and vigilante talents.
Scheming abilities for characters of any class, including backgrounds, story feats, spy-themed magic items, and espionage spells.
A multitude of cunning new options, including alternate uses for skills and a system for buying and selling information.
This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-844-1
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
If you like the Vigilante, this is a great book. If you are not a fan, then this book has little to offer. This is especially true if you are not in an Ultimate Intrigue based game. I really like this book, but I feel the need to knock off a star because it is a little too specialized.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
If you take a look at the June shipping thread under Customer Service, you will notice that there has been no post to that thread since Friday, when they announced completion of the authorization. I suspect that shipping for some reason did not begin yesterday. No shipping means no PDFs, as confirmed by the lack of spoilers for any of the newest products.
Heh... I've been bring my tablet everywhere, these last few days. It doesn't download well on it's own, so I have it at the ready to conect to my computer and move the file to the tablet the second that it becomes available!
I so need this book. :-) This and Legacy of Dragons are going to have a few influence in the next phase of my campaign world.
O spectacular, oracular Skeld, in your P-D-ineffable wisdom, could you bestow upon your humble petitioners the archetypes and bloodlines/mysteries/spirits contained within those digital pages?
O spectacular, oracular Skeld, in your P-D-ineffable wisdom, could you bestow upon your humble petitioners the archetypes and bloodlines/mysteries/spirits contained within those digital pages?
What does the Teisatsu do generally speaking? Are they a ki based vigilante?
Spoiler:
Sort of. They are Minkai-themed Vigilantes that are specialized in infiltrating social situations and they can choose a single Unchained Monk Ki Power as a Vigilante Talent if they want.
The inside front cover shows an Espionage Group in Nidal called the Silent Shroud but there's no mention of it in the book. Similarly, the Brotherhood of Silence based in Taldor is not shown on the map but is featured in the book. I'm assuming that this was intended to be the same organisation and is something that was changed in development and overlooked on the way to printing, yes?
Finally a trait that gives you Disguise as a class skill that isn't a racial trait.
Recall Intrigues is kind of interesting...though I can imagine not everyone would want it in their campaigns. Lets you identify class features and various kinds of feats by observing them in use, much like Spellcraft can identify spells, though feats that are passive can't be identified (such as Dodge, Iron Will, or Lightning Reflexes), while those that are used (such as Arcane Strike, Cleave, or Combat Expertise) are fair game.
Obliviating Stare looks like fun if you have some sneaky types in the party.
Whyyyyy is Breath of the Ancestor's DC based on Intelligence? It's a ninja trick...shouldn't it be Charisma? Is this an error?
Observant Illusion is pretty fun.
Agathiel archetype looks pretty fun, though I wish it wasn't alignment-locked, since it seems appropriate for other concepts, such as a fey-influenced vigilante.
Social talents add some variety, and I love Guise of Life and Guise of Unlife...some very cool concepts implicit in them. Entrepreneur and Well-Known Expert help play up other concepts unrelated to Renown, which I certainly like.
Claim identity and greater claim identity are awesome. Finally, polymorph sneaky spells with a decent duration, and the greater version's addition is super-cool. Scribe's binding is also super-cool and thematic. Great spells, lots of narrative potential with them.
I think concealed is a pretty cool weapon enchantment, and I like that debilitating is specifically nice for unchained rogues.
There was a non-race Disguise trait already, albeit only one - a fairly obscure one from an older book. I know, because I've taken it frequently for that reason.
There was a non-race Disguise trait already, albeit only one - a fairly obscure one from an older book. I know, because I've taken it frequently for that reason.
I'm glad to have another, though. ^_^
Ah, right, I forgot about that one. I generally discount most region traits (as well as campaign traits), just because, well, they often require a fair bit of...stretching to explain unless the game is actually nearby (and even more if you're not playing in Golarion), though Heroes of the Streets introduced some very welcome more general ones.
Would someone mind spoiling a bit more about the Investigator and Vigilante talents?
While I would love to know more about each one, I'm particularly interested in "Guise of Life" and especially "Guise of Unlife."
The latter is of great interest (working on a Zealot Vigilante of Pharasma who hunts necromancers and the unquiet dead). Anyone willing to flesh "Guise of Unlife" (and hopefully more) out a bit more for us?
THANK YOU!!! I still might need a few special spells for my character going up against some rather unusual adversarial mythic NPC characters.
No worries, glad to be helpful!
Eric Hinkle wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Eric Hinkle wrote:
Can we get some more information on the spells ** spoiler omitted **
Luthorne suggested that they're polymorph spells, and I am eager to see if they match what I'm hoping for.
** spoiler omitted **
They sound very good indeed. Thanks.
They also both last for an hour per level, though the greater version has an expensive material component. They also - unsurprisingly - only work on humanoids. Both quite fun, though.
Wyrmfoe wrote:
Would someone mind spoiling a bit more about the Investigator and Vigilante talents?
While I would love to know more about each one, I'm particularly interested in "Guise of Life" and especially "Guise of Unlife."
The latter is of great interest (working on a Zealot Vigilante of Pharasma who hunts necromancers and the unquiet dead). Anyone willing to flesh "Guise of Unlife" (and hopefully more) out a bit more for us?
Investigator Talents:
One Of Those Faces can only be taken as an investigator talent if the investigator has one of nine traits; it allows you to use disguise self for up to ten minutes per level per day, not necessarily continuously, but once you use it, for the rest of the day you have to assume the same appearance whenever you use it.
Scrying Familiarity has no such restrictions, and gives you bonuses against divination spells, bonuses for noticing scrying sensors, helps you beat spell resistance with your own divination spells, and lets you use Stealth to hide from magical sensors you notice.
Social Talents:
Entrepreneur allows you to earn money with a mental-based skill check that isn't Perception or Use Magic Device as if it were a Profession check, and if you choose Perform or Profession, you can get the skill unlock for those skills, and if you have social grace, you can choose to apply these benefits to all the skills selected with social grace.
Guise of Life allows a corporeal undead or humanoid vigilante with negative energy affinity (ie, probably a dhampir) to gain an additional social identity that looks like they did in life (in the case of the former) or as if they were a human (in the case of the latter). This doesn't let you get healed by positive energy, but you do detect as if you were living.
Guise of Unlife does essentially the same thing, but in reverse, allowing a humanoid to gain an additional social identity that is one of their social identities as some corporeal undead. Amusingly, a dhampir could take both to be able to appear as a vampire and as a human as they desired. I was a little disappointed when I realized it doesn't apply to your vigilante talent to pretend to be a restless undead, but I think some GMs might well let it slide...
Well-Known Expert lets you take 10 on aid another checks on certain skills (with the ability to grant +3 if you have renown), a bonus on Bluff checks to appear knowledgeable, and within the area of their renown can use aid another to allow people to redo a Knowledge check they already failed once.
Intrigue Feats grants you one of eighteen feats as a bonus feat you must qualify for. Most are from Ultimate Intrigue, though two are from Advanced Class Guide. You can take it multiple times.
Vigilante Talents:
Concealed Strike lets you feint as a move action against an opponent with a concealed weapon they weren't aware of; if you have Improved Feint, it's a free action instead.
Fantastic Stride gives you Spring Attack as a bonus feat, ignoring the prerequisites. At higher levels you can select additional creatures to not gain attacks of opportunity against you, rather than just the target of your attack.
Major Magic requires Minor Magic, and gives you a 1st-level spell from one of several spell lists as a spell-like ability 1/day.
Minor Magic gives you a 0th-level spell from one of several spell lists 2/day.
Mockery gives you Antagonize as a bonus feat, gaining an extra use against a given creature rather than only once per day. At higher levels, it lasts for multiple rounds.
Team Player gives you Swift Aid as a bonus feat, ignoring the prerequisites. You can also use it as a standard action to aid every adjacent ally. At higher levels, you can use it as a move action instead of a swift to boost the bonus given by +2 to a single ally.
Take 'Em Alive lets you make nonlethal attacks without taking the -4 penalty, and gives you a scaling bonus to attack rolls and damage when dealing nonlethal damage, provided you aren't adding on something like poison or some other secondary effect.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Eyuuck. I thought we are learned the weakness of Minor/Magic Magic a long time ago (if it wasn't obvious immediately), which was patched up with Rogue to Unchained Rogue. And Vigilante Talents are generally stronger than Rogue talents.
What does the ninja talent do, and what is the disabling weapon? Thanks!
Breath of the Ancestor lets you pick an imperial dragon and use supplies similar to those used for ninja smoke bombs to alchemically imitate the dragon in question's breath weapon, dealing the same type of damage as the dragon's (so forest does piercing, etc.) in a 15 ft. cone (or 30 ft. line if you picked underworld), dealing damage equal to your sneak attack damage, Reflex for half, costs 2 ki, and you can't use it again for 1d4 rounds afterwards.
Presuming you mean debilitating, it's a +1 magic weapon special ability that lets you impose a -1 penalty to either attack rolls or AC on a target denied its Dex bonus to AC for a round (creatures immune to sneak attack are immune to this), or, if you have the debilitating injury ability, it increases the penalty imposed by bewildered/disoriented by 1.
Eyuuck. I thought we are learned the weakness of Minor/Magic Magic a long time ago (if it wasn't obvious immediately), which was patched up with Rogue to Unchained Rogue. And Vigilante Talents are generally stronger than Rogue talents.
Major Magic isn't quite as bad as stated- it's once per day per four levels. It's less often than a UC Rogue's Major Magic, and I still probably wouldn't get it, but it is from your choice of bard, cleric, druid, psychic, shaman, wizard, or witch list, using the corresponding casting stat.
But yes, given that Vigilante talents are supposed to be stronger because you can't take more of them with feats, I'd probably pass on this one in particular.
The social talents in this were nice, so I'll let the less-impressive minor/major magic abilities slide.
The latter is of great interest (working on a Zealot Vigilante of Pharasma who hunts necromancers and the unquiet dead). Anyone willing to flesh "Guise of Unlife" (and hopefully more) out a bit more for us?
Guise abilities.:
Guise of Life is for corporeal undead to get a social identity that looks like their living self. Caster Vigilante who is a lich? Sign me up! Additionally, dhampirs can take it to get a human social identity.
Guise of Unlife is the opposite, allowing a humanoid to get an extra social identity as a ghoul, vampire, or zombie.
Both will fool divinations, but you're on your own when it comes to helpful Clerics giving you the wrong energy type.
Eyuuck. I thought we are learned the weakness of Minor/Magic Magic a long time ago (if it wasn't obvious immediately), which was patched up with Rogue to Unchained Rogue. And Vigilante Talents are generally stronger than Rogue talents.
Major Magic isn't quite as bad as stated- it's once per day per four levels. It's less often than a UC Rogue's Major Magic, and I still probably wouldn't get it, but it is from your choice of bard, cleric, druid, psychic, shaman, wizard, or witch list, using the corresponding casting stat.
But yes, given that Vigilante talents are supposed to be stronger because you can't take more of them with feats, I'd probably pass on this one in particular.
The social talents in this were nice, so I'll let the less-impressive minor/major magic abilities slide.
Whoops, not sure how I missed that...yeah, you do get extra uses as you level up, but still not terribly impressive in general.
Luthorne and QuidEst, thank you very much for the feedback.
I am intrigued by "Guise of Undeath," but unsure of its applications. If some here are interested and willing, I very much welcome your thoughts on the following. My apologies in advance if such is beyond the scope of this thread, though I do think the conversation might help shed light on how the new material in the book is applied to larger Pathfinder series and world.
So, I'm working on a Zealot Vigilante of Pharasma, who hunts necromancers and the unquiet dead. I'm wondering, would "Guise of Unlife" be useful for such a character? If so, how?
It seems that the talent allows a Vigilante to masquerade effectively as an undead creature. If so, how does the additional social identity work?
Do I simply pick a generic creature type for my Vigilante to mimic (a la the "Many Guises" social talent), using the form to better infiltrate a necromancer's lair? Do I masquerade as a specific creature, a particular vampire perhaps (similar to the "Everyman" social talent), thereby gaining an entire identity and role among vampiric courts and society?
You masquerade as one of your social identities (in short, probably your non-vigilante self) as some chosen corporeal undead, like a vampire, a ghoul, or even a zombie. Which is up to you. As for usefulness, that depends on your game. You could pose as a zombie to try and close in on a necromancer not expecting to be attacked by a mindless undead Assassin's Creed style, or if you had chosen a vampire, you could potentially go undercover, using Linguistics and Bluff to perhaps pose as foreign vampire nobility or somesuch if there was a vampire aristocracy to infiltrate, and so on and so forth.
You masquerade as one of your social identities (in short, probably your non-vigilante self) as some chosen corporeal undead, like a vampire, a ghoul, or even a zombie. Which is up to you. As for usefulness, that depends on your game. You could pose as a zombie to try and close in on a necromancer not expecting to be attacked by a mindless undead Assassin's Creed style, or if you had chosen a vampire, you could potentially go undercover, using Linguistics and Bluff to perhaps pose as foreign vampire nobility or somesuch if there was a vampire aristocracy to infiltrate, and so on and so forth.
When I wrote guise of undeath, I had human vigilantes working in Geb in mind.
The idea for guise of life was "vampire vigilantes in Ustalav."
You masquerade as one of your social identities (in short, probably your non-vigilante self) as some chosen corporeal undead, like a vampire, a ghoul, or even a zombie. Which is up to you. As for usefulness, that depends on your game. You could pose as a zombie to try and close in on a necromancer not expecting to be attacked by a mindless undead Assassin's Creed style, or if you had chosen a vampire, you could potentially go undercover, using Linguistics and Bluff to perhaps pose as foreign vampire nobility or somesuch if there was a vampire aristocracy to infiltrate, and so on and so forth.
When I wrote guise of undeath, I had human vigilantes working in Geb in mind.
The idea for guise of life was "vampire vigilantes in Ustalav."
Yeah, a human vigilante in Mechitar was definitely what first sprung to mind for guise of undeath.
You masquerade as one of your social identities (in short, probably your non-vigilante self) as some chosen corporeal undead, like a vampire, a ghoul, or even a zombie. Which is up to you. As for usefulness, that depends on your game. You could pose as a zombie to try and close in on a necromancer not expecting to be attacked by a mindless undead Assassin's Creed style, or if you had chosen a vampire, you could potentially go undercover, using Linguistics and Bluff to perhaps pose as foreign vampire nobility or somesuch if there was a vampire aristocracy to infiltrate, and so on and so forth.
When I wrote guise of undeath, I had human vigilantes working in Geb in mind.
The idea for guise of life was "vampire vigilantes in Ustalav."
Very cool and flavorful! Thanks for writing them. Now I need a lich Vigilante... *hums Overlord intro theme while waiting for Horror Adventures to get lich as a corruption*
Can we get some more information on the spells ** spoiler omitted **
Luthorne suggested that they're polymorph spells, and I am eager to see if they match what I'm hoping for.
** spoiler omitted **
The second one gives me the idea that you can use it to hide one of your party from discovery while keeping them right there. Say for a meeting with a big bad or some untrustworthy sorts. Then if/when everything goes wrong, PC #1 removes their 'face', tosses it in the air, a second PC hits it with dispel magic to restore them to normal, and surprise!
Is there anything that made anyone say "wow," or a one sentence pitch why I should buy this book?
I was particularly proud of the vigilante social talents I wrote for this one, personally. From an option that lets you use nearly any mental skill to make money (no Perception or Sense Motive—that's it) to an option that lets you take an intrigue-themed feat instead of a social talent, the number of non-noble social vigilante character concepts you can now realize is staggering.
Also, I think the scribe's binding spell is one of my most favorite things I've ever written ever.
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