Pathfinder fans will be pleased to learn that, even among a sea of D&D-alike TTRPGs launching, Paizo has decided to bring us Pathfinder Quest, a co-op board game that opts for accessible systems and hours of gameplay every session. How does Paizo plan to achieve this? Pre-rolled characters and a heck of a lot of six-sided dice. The Pathfinder Quest launch party is about to begin, so now's the time to follow the campaign to show your support.
Set in one of my favorite fey-infested regions, Darkmoon Vale, this board game that encapsulates one of the best tabletop RPGs around is set to launch on Backerit this May 20. It will include "hundreds of cards, a mountain of maps, custom dice, and plastic miniatures" as well as an Adventure Book with twelve adventures in it, and a Challenge Book with hidden outcomes that will be revealed as you make choices throughout the game.
Not too much else is known about the game's internal mechanics other than the character sheets coming pre-constructed, and that your most prominent skills will dictate a number of dice rolled. Whether it has the potential to become best board game material is yet to be decided.
As for the character sheets, these are super cut-down versions of the usual Pathfinder character sheets. Rather than reams of skills to build and track, Pathfinder Quest appears to have opted to track only a character's most important skills. The Wizard, for example, has Arcana, Diplomacy, and Perception listed – which players roll 3d6 each for at level one – whereas everything else (bar Weapon and Spell) comes under the Other Skills category allowing a roll of only 1d6.
Whether that means you cannot upgrade your unspecified skills, or even upgrade your primary skills individually, is something we're not privy to. What we do know is that you'll be able to select an ancestry and class, then customize your character further with magic items, feats, and spells.
Unlike token-heavy board games like Arydia, it looks as if there will be much fewer pieces to keep track of in Pathfinder Quest. Paizo says Pathfinder Quest is "more strategic than HeroQuest, far more accessible than Gloomhaven," so this one is sure to appeal to legacy board game fans world round.
We're also invited to "face off against a bizarre cast of enemies (including a time dragon)," the press release notes. So that's a thing.
Launching properly on May 20, through April the Pathfinder Quest BackerKit page is set to be transformed into an interactive Launch Party, complete with polls so you can help shape the game in its final design stages.
For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games.
