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Pathfinder Lost Omens: Character Guide

4.70/5 (based on 9 ratings)
Pathfinder Lost Omens: Character Guide
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An adventurer's life can be difficult, but long journeys and heavy burdens are easier when you have company. This guide to the world of Pathfinder presents the people and organizations that can help—or hinder—heroes like you!

The Lost Omens Character Guide features new heritages and feats for existing ancestries, as well as three brand–new ancestries for unusual heroes forging a place for themselves in an uncertain age. Join five of Golarion's most influential organizations, fight alongside the rank–and–file members provided in these pages, or clash against them in pursuit of your own passions and goals!

This must-have 136-page guidebook for characters of all types introduces three new ancestries to the Second Edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game—the regimented and warlike hobgoblin, the plant-like leshy, and the inquisitive lizardfolk—provides 10 new heritages for the game's core ancestries, offers nearly 100 new ancestry feats, and presents 10 new archetypes to allow characters of any class to participate in the world's most notable organizations, from the adventurous Pathfinder Society to the rabble-rousing Firebrands to the magical masters of the Magaambya!

Written by: John Compton, Sasha Lindley Hall, Amanda Hamon, Mike Kimmel, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Matt Morris, Patchen Mortimer, Andrew Mullen, Mikhail Rekun, Michael Sayre, Owen K.C. Stephens, Isabelle Thorne, Linda Zayas-Palmer

ISBN: 978-1-64078-193-1



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4.70/5 (based on 9 ratings)

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Adds great breadth of flavor

5/5 —

This book highlights the richness of Golarion as a setting.

The opening chapter that fleshes out the different ethnicities for each of the CRB ancestries is really cool. I also like how they highlight that even the Halflings, which are typically sort of "chameleon"ish in adapting to the culture around them, still have exceptions to the rule in the form of some unique halfling-only enclaves with their own cultures.

The chapter introducing Lizardfolk (Iruxi), Leshies, and Hobgoblins is great, as these ancestries are each interesting and you get a clear picture for how they fit into the setting.

My favorite chapter might have been the one on the organizations in the setting. I went from disliking Firebrands to respecting them, got a deeper sense for the Knights of Lastwall (whom I already liked), and went from disinterested to very interested in Hellknights after reading about them. The bit on the Pathfinder Society didn't have much new for me, but I've been playing PFS for 6 years. With that said, the Pathfinder Society archetypes and magic items are very cool and themey. I also liked the mechanics for each of the other organizations's archetypes, especially the Hellknight abilities.

Obviously PFS has built a whole campaign off of the Pathfinder Society organization. While reading I felt like each of the other organizations presented had the potential to be the centerpiece of a campaign (i.e. "your characters will be Hellknights/Firebrands/Knights of Lastwall, etc.") and there are adventure hooks for how a non-affiliated party might interact or work with each organization sprinkled throughout.

In the back there is a section on adapting stat blocks of creatures from Bestiaries or other NPC templates into NPCs from a particular organization, based on the level of the underlying NPC or creature, which looks super helpful for GMs rolling up their own campaigns or wanting to insert these organizations into pre-packaged campaigns.

Overall I found this book to be a great value-add for both players and GMs.

a must have

5/5 —

This book has been fantastic. The amount of character options in it have really opened up my character building in ways that weren't possible in the Core rulebook alone. I agree with the sentiment another user shared that this is "the perfect companion to the Lost Omens World Guide"

While the mechanics may be able to be found off-site, I have found the information on each organization to be invaluable. The artwork is great, and overall the book has already been worth the price. I look forward to continue getting a lot of use out of this over the years to come.

Character and World as One

5/5 —

A perfect companion to the Lost Omens World Guide! The loads of new heritages and organizational archetypes give players ways to tie their characters into Golarion not just through flavor, but through mechanics, making them inseparable from the world they inhabit down to how and why they roll the dice.

(edited 1/7/20)

Impressive

5/5 —

The Pathfinder Lost Omens Character Guide really impressed me with the quality of character options, lore, and artwork. I'm used to some pretty great material and this really showcases why. There are several options for characters that are interesting and thematic enough to build entire characters around, and the lore detailing them is extensive enough to naturally integrate them into a campaign without feeling like these characters appeared out of nowhere. A great purchase overall, I hope this book sets the standard for the Lost Omens line of products.

A return to quality with a questionable price tag.

4/5 —

When the Inner Sea World Guide hit a decade ago, I was blown away. More than the elegant refinements made to the 3.5 system, it was the richly detailed and innovative setting that cemented my loyalty to Pathfinder. Over the years, that began to change. I started seeing a lot of supplemental books that had a lot of space allocated to either pitching other products (multiple sidebars that essentially said "if you want to make full use of these rules, check out these other books we make.") and consolidating materials that had already appeared in other sourcebooks. Until 2nd ed hit, I think it had been two years since I purchased a Pathfinder product. They were getting sloppy and they were getting lazy.

This book, and the Lost Omens World Guide, was like going back a decade in many respects. It's not wanting in either crunch or fluff. In addition to new options for all existing ancestries, it goes into new, previously unexplored detail on non-human ethnicities (and a few new human ones), something I've wanted to see approximately forever. The three new ancestries get a similar treatment, though they are, being new, a little heavier on the crunch side. While I'm a little bummed that we still don't have rules for playable Aasimars and Tieflings, it seems Paizo wants to forge its own path in this edition, and that includes branching out with their first non-core PC races. Lizardfolk seem cool, and with Oparak being added to the setting hobgoblins are a natural choice, though the leshy really come out of left field.

Ancestries comprise about half of the book, and the other half is organizations and factions. Though the Firebrands seem like uninspired ("we're a loosely organized and generic chaotic good faction, but we also dress fashionably so as to not be TOO generic!"), the rest are fantastic. We get expanded or new archtypes for all of them, as well as more feat support, and that's on top of histories, information on how they've evolved since 1st ed, and (very) brief writeups of major NPCs.

What impresses me most is that the book is all about ancestries and factions, but I didn't feel like it was stretched or padded. All 138 pages are worth reading.

But are all 138 pages worth paying for? If you like hardcover, it's probably just a little overpriced. If you prefer PDFs, though, it's almost insulting. At 10 bucks for its PDF, the Inner Sea World Guide was a steal. I happily would have paid twice that. And though this book's overall quality is similar to the ISWG, it's less than half the length for more than twice the price. Even if we account for inflation, this kind of increase is about 15 years ahead of schedule.

Overall, the books has great fluff and provides more options that are a bit inconsistent in their viability. Definitely add this to your wishlist, but unless you have a lot of disposable income, wait for a sale.

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1 person marked this as a favorite.

This is looking cool.
4 people marked this as a favorite.

- So the Magaambya Archtype isn't the one in the LOWG.

- 10 new heritages for each of the core races? Or a total of 10?

- Lizardfolk!!! Lizardfolk druid, I can't wait to play you... *~*
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

If it were 10 new heritages for each core race, do you really think they would pass up the chance to say that they were introducing 60 new heritages?

I am still waiting for those 50 additional hybrid classes in volumes 2-6 of the Advanced Class Guide adventure path. I guess that adventure path will never be completed? I did notice that the first volume was a little short on plot for such a big book. ;)
Paizo Employee Developer
29 people marked this as a favorite.

Arachnophobe Warning: There is a spider on page 99.
Silver Crusade
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Eleanor Ferron wrote:
Arachnophobe Warning: There is a spider on page 99.

Thankies for the head's up :3

Dark Archive
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I wish for the future where spiders are considered as cute as kittens ;-;

(that or all animal phobias get equal treatment)

(ah well, at least phobia of snakes isn't as common as aracnophobia, I'd be sad if cute sneks got badly treated as often as well)
4 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:
I wish for the future where spiders are considered as cute as kittens ;-; ...

Well, I consider spiders - ok, jumping spiders - to be cute!

Oh, & kittens, too...

:D

--C.
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Firebrands...color me intrigued.

Though...the "naked" Lizardfolk in the middle of a blizzard kind of perplexes me.
David knott 242 wrote:
If it were 10 new heritages for each core race, do you really think they would pass up the chance to say that they were introducing 60 new heritages?

Well, I can't see a reason to include 10 heritages in a book an announce it as something appealing.

I mean, unless we are talking about heritages that work like half-elf and half-orc, heritages are minor bonuses, and ten of them could easily be covered in 2-4 pages.

So, I'm expecting something more appealing, something like 10 new heritages for each core race. *w*
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
David knott 242 wrote:
I am still waiting for those 50 additional hybrid classes in volumes 2-6 of the Advanced Class Guide adventure path. I guess that adventure path will never be completed? I did notice that the first volume was a little short on plot for such a big book. ;)

"Advanced Class Guide adventure path"? Nani desu ka?

2 people marked this as a favorite.
VerBeeker wrote:
Though...the "naked" Lizardfolk in the middle of a blizzard kind of perplexes me.

I believe they prefer "clothes-impaired Iruxi"

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ed Reppert wrote:
David knott 242 wrote:
I am still waiting for those 50 additional hybrid classes in volumes 2-6 of the Advanced Class Guide adventure path. I guess that adventure path will never be completed? I did notice that the first volume was a little short on plot for such a big book. ;)
"Advanced Class Guide adventure path"? Nani desu ka?

It was an error on the cover of the first printing of the Advanced Class Guide.

Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
David knott 242 wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:


"Advanced Class Guide adventure path"? Nani desu ka?

It was an error on the cover of the first printing of the Advanced Class Guide.

Oh! I'd forgotten about that! :-)

Paizo Employee Managing Developer
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Eleanor Ferron wrote:
Arachnophobe Warning: There is a spider on page 99.

A damn adorable spider at that! <3

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:
Eleanor Ferron wrote:
Arachnophobe Warning: There is a spider on page 99.
Thankies for the head's up :3

O.O

<.<

>.>

*whispers* The Achilles Heel! At last...

*sneaks off to plot*
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Lizardfolk!?!

You have my attention.

I really expected a wait of at least a few months after release until we started getting additional content.
3 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm just hoping that the Lizardfolk don't get such a massive Intelligence penalty that it can't be overcome. I've wanted to play a Lizard-Wizard for a long time.
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Their Int penalty, if any, can't be worse than -2 -- and we already know that the Core Rulebook will have a way to overcome even that.

do you have the red crimson assassin prestige class in this book ? HI hope yes but in think is just a matter of time when this prestige class come.
3 people marked this as a favorite.
demiurge108 wrote:
do you have the red crimson assassin prestige class in this book ? HI hope yes but in think is just a matter of time when this prestige class come.

There are no prestige classes in Pathfinder 2 anymore, but the red mantis assassin archetype will be in the Lost Omens World Guide.

ok sorry for the bad term and thanks for the quick answer.

I've collected some information about the Character Guide over here

Disappointing this wasn’t just combined with the Lost Omens World Guide. I’m guessing all setting hardcovers are going to be around 130 pages going forward :( a substantial price increase compared with the Pathfinder 1e hardcovers. But I guess that’s just reality in modern RPG industry.

Pretty cool to see the content of the book. It seems a much better approach for prestige classes compared with PF1e.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I don’t understand how they’re choosing ancestries. The three listed ones just seem so random.
Dark Archive
John Lynch 106 wrote:
I don’t understand how they’re choosing ancestries. The three listed ones just seem so random.

I am not excited about playing Hobgoblins (which are now small in Second Edition) or Leshy (which seem to be more in the line of "fun characters" for a special kind of storytelling, like Goblins and Skittermander have been in the past).

Lizardfolk have been staple player characters in lots of other fantasy rpgs and i don't know why it took so long to make them playable in Pathfinder, but they are a welcome addition.
Silver Crusade
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
John Lynch 106 wrote:
I don’t understand how they’re choosing ancestries. The three listed ones just seem so random.

Maybe, just maybe, Paizo has data and feedback which show that lizardfolk, hobgobs and leshies are super popular with the fanbase and doing them first is a sound idea.

That, or they're just throwing darts at a board with ancestries and pick the three that get the most hits.

I guess it's throwing darts, sounds like something a serious business would do.
Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Marco Massoudi wrote:
I am not excited about playing Hobgoblins (which are now small in Second Edition)

I do not believe they are.

Rysky wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
I am not excited about playing Hobgoblins (which are now small in Second Edition)
I do not believe they are.

They are medium creatures, as they had the Medium trait in the playtestiary. Or at least that was the case in the playtest.

We already have small goblinoids, the goblins, so I hope hobgoblins are still their medium cousins. That's also the case in Starfinder.
Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
The Gold Sovereign wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
I am not excited about playing Hobgoblins (which are now small in Second Edition)
I do not believe they are.

They are medium creatures, as they had the Medium trait in the playtestiary. Or at least that was the case in the playtest.

We already have small goblinoids, the goblins, so I hope hobgoblins are still their medium cousins. That's also the case in Starfinder.

Yep.

Their look got overhauled so that they look more like goblins, but with lanky limbs, and are still Medium.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Marco Massoudi wrote:
I am not excited about playing Hobgoblins (which are now small in Second Edition) [...]

What gives you the idea that hobgoblins were now Small?

I like the wending
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:
John Lynch 106 wrote:
I don’t understand how they’re choosing ancestries. The three listed ones just seem so random.

Maybe, just maybe, Paizo has data and feedback which show that lizardfolk, hobgobs and leshies are super popular with the fanbase and doing them first is a sound idea.

That, or they're just throwing darts at a board with ancestries and pick the three that get the most hits.

I guess it's throwing darts, sounds like something a serious business would do.

Sure. But where the heck are all these Leshy players coming from that they manage to outnumber players of aasimar, tieflings, kitsune, tengu, ratfolk, etc, etc.

Is there some massive leshy online community someone can point me to? I’d love to learn more about these players.
Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer
26 people marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:


That, or they're just throwing darts at a board with ancestries and pick the three that get the most hits.

I guess it's throwing darts, sounds like something a serious business would do.

Whoever has the current Time Crisis high score gets to decide. We use Super Street Fighter II for tie-breakers.

Fingers crossed for this weekend's tournament, if I win we get centaurs and haunted musical instruments as the next two PC ancestries.

#definitelynottrue
Contributor
7 people marked this as a favorite.
Michael Sayre wrote:

... and haunted musical instruments as the next two PC ancestries.

#definitelynottrue

...but surely it could be true, if we wished hard enough? Imagine a cello in plate mail!

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Andrew Mullen wrote:
Michael Sayre wrote:

... and haunted musical instruments as the next two PC ancestries.

#definitelynottrue

...but surely it could be true, if we wished hard enough? Imagine a cello in plate mail!

The image in my head was more of a lute loading and firing arrows with its own strings, but you've intrigued me with Cello Tank (Champion Cello?)

Slightly closer to the topic, I'm excited for leshys as a PC ancestry. Vendimio Picante returns!
Paizo Employee
6 people marked this as a favorite.
John Lynch 106 wrote:

Sure. But where the heck are all these Leshy players coming from that they manage to outnumber players of aasimar, tieflings, kitsune, tengu, ratfolk, etc, etc.

One thing to consider is that this book is part of the series still focused on the Inner Sea region. Kitsune, tengu, and ratfolk are more strongly associated with Tian Xia. Hobgoblins were heavily featured in an AP that changed the course of the Inner Sea and now occupy their own nation in the center of it. Lizardfolk have been becoming more prominent parts of Inner Sea society as cultures that oppressed or ostracized them have lost some of their grip on international politics. I'm not sure where all the leshys came from (I assume it's actually either really horrific and part of some plot by Dark Tapestry cultists or a completely accidental effect of certain events in Tyrant's Grasp), but presumably the reason all three ancestries were chosen is that they're relevant to the current state of the Inner Sea in a significant way. Just because something popular didn't show up in this specific book doesn't mean that it won't show up somewhere in a more appropriate book.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ssalarn wrote:
John Lynch 106 wrote:

Sure. But where the heck are all these Leshy players coming from that they manage to outnumber players of aasimar, tieflings, kitsune, tengu, ratfolk, etc, etc.

One thing to consider is that this book is part of the series still focused on the Inner Sea region. Kitsune, tengu, and ratfolk are more strongly associated with Tian Xia. Hobgoblins were heavily featured in an AP that changed the course of the Inner Sea and now occupy their own nation in the center of it. Lizardfolk have been becoming more prominent parts of Inner Sea society as cultures that oppressed or ostracized them have lost some of their grip on international politics. I'm not sure where all the leshys came from (I assume it's actually either really horrific and part of some plot by Dark Tapestry cultists or a completely accidental effect of certain events in Tyrant's Grasp), but presumably the reason all three ancestries were chosen is that they're relevant to the current state of the Inner Sea in a significant way. Just because something popular didn't show up in this specific book doesn't mean that it won't show up somewhere in a more appropriate book.

I kind of expect we are going to see a RPG line book that contains a large number of Ancestries in the near future. I am guessing that is where a lot of the big ones are going to be.

David knott 242 wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:
David knott 242 wrote:
I am still waiting for those 50 additional hybrid classes in volumes 2-6 of the Advanced Class Guide adventure path. I guess that adventure path will never be completed? I did notice that the first volume was a little short on plot for such a big book. ;)
"Advanced Class Guide adventure path"? Nani desu ka?

It was an error on the cover of the first printing of the Advanced Class Guide.

Wow. Never noticed that until now. Colour me stupid

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Would heritage cover things like Drow or Duergar? I'd love to see some options for them in this book. A little sad that we aren't seeing an Orc ancestry yet considering we have orc ancestry feats. Hobgoblins are one step closer to my personal favorite though, Bugbears!
Dark Archive

Has there been any word, I know it might be early, when the tengu and kitsune might be released?
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
David knott 242 wrote:
Their Int penalty, if any, can't be worse than -2 -- and we already know that the Core Rulebook will have a way to overcome even that.

And lizardfolk are being described as "inquisitive" in the product description. That makes me doubt that they have an Int penalty.

Silver Crusade
David knott 242 wrote:
David knott 242 wrote:
Their Int penalty, if any, can't be worse than -2 -- and we already know that the Core Rulebook will have a way to overcome even that.

And lizardfolk are being described as "inquisitive" in the product description. That makes me doubt that they have an Int penalty.

Going off Beyond the Pool of Stars (really need to read the sequel) I'd say they have a Charisma penalty, they're not dumb or unaware.

David knott 242 wrote:
David knott 242 wrote:
Their Int penalty, if any, can't be worse than -2 -- and we already know that the Core Rulebook will have a way to overcome even that.

And lizardfolk are being described as "inquisitive" in the product description. That makes me doubt that they have an Int penalty.

Hmm. That's pretty exciting!

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