Paizo announced a lot of things at Gen Con for both Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder 2e. However, what is probably the most surprising news came after Gen Con, and may not have been intended to be public just yet.
The Pathfinder Leak
Shortly after Gen Con, a user posted an image of a pending invoice from their Pathfinder 2e subscription. This image listed “Pathfinder Guns and Gears (Remastered),” set to ship in an unknown time frame. This was then confirmed by none other than Erik Mona, Paizo’s chief creative officer. Although he gave no details and stated that some elements of what this would mean for subscribers and PDF owners were still up in the air, Guns and Gears is, in fact, getting remastered.
This comes as a surprise because, as of August 1st with the official release of Player Core 2, the Remaster Project was supposedly complete. Now with the announcement of a new remastered product, much of what had been believed previously is seriously in question. Content released since the beginning of the Pathfinder 2e Remaster Project was already within the scope of the remaster. Anything released previously was to be fully compatible but would not be part of the Remaster Project.
What is the Pathfinder Remaster?
The Pathfinder Remaster Project began in the wake of the OGL scandal in early 2023. Due to a handful of terms from the SRD that Paizo had been using in Pathfinder 2e, the game was originally published under the OGL. This wasn’t a problem for them until Wizards of the Coast attempted to revise the terms of the license. These new terms would have severely damaged Paizo and many other small publishers, if not put them out of business entirely. They set to work expunging all SRD language from the game, using it as an opportunity to update some mechanics and do a complete balancing pass, including overhauling a few classes completely.
It seems most likely that some books are coming due for reprints. Since Pathfinder 2e is no longer published under the OGL, it makes sense to update these products. We don’t yet know how thorough the remaster of Guns and Gears will be, just that it will incorporate the updated rules and language. It could, however, be a great chance for Paizo to perform some maintenance on the Inventor and Gunslinger, ensuring they’re in line with the other remastered classes.
Looking Forward
Guns and Gears presumably won’t be the last book that Paizo remasters. Secrets of Magic is likely in dire need, if for other reason than the spell list contained therein. It’s possible that some spells will have to be renamed or altered entirely. At the very least, the spell entries will have to be updated to eliminate schools of magic. Dark Archive is also sure to need some work, and, to a lesser extent, Book of the Dead. There is bound to be at least some language in any Pathfinder 2e book that has character options, which is most of them, that will need to be, at some point, updated.
Again, we still don’t know what these remastered products will look like for consumers. It’s certainly possible for Paizo to handle this in the worst way possible, but Paizo has always been a largely fan-first company, as evidenced by the complete rules for the game being openly accessible online. It’s entirely within the realm of probability that owners of the PDFs might receive these updates at a steep discount, if not entirely free. This same treatment is impossible for physical books, of course, due to the costs of printing. Measures could be taken to make Pathfinder subscribers get the books at a discount, although expecting more than 20% would be overly hopeful. It’s doubtful that there will be any deals for anyone else, however.
Final Thoughts
This is actually very exciting news for the Pathfinder community. There’s a good chance that it may result in some additional burden for consumers, but hopefully, that will be somewhat mitigated. On the other hand, there’s a likely end to the awkward phase the game is currently in, wherein a huge chunk of content is using outdated language and not capitalizing on some of the fresh mechanics. As long as Paizo continues to do what they’ve proven they do best, Pathfinder is sure to have a bright future.
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