Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Kickstarter Campaign Live and Funded, $322,581 and Counting

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Written by ValH on February 5th, 2020

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After successfully launching Pathfinder: Kingmaker back in 2018 and then going independent, Owlcat Games now brings Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, their next expansive CRPG, to Kickstarter. The game promises dozens of hours of Infinity Engine-style roleplaying, a non-linear story revolving around a demonic invasion, and a staggering amount of character-building options that include a number of so-called mythic paths. And yes, just like with Kingmaker, Chris Avellone will be involved in this project as a narrative designer.

Here’s the official Kickstarter video:

And a promotional developer livestream:

The campaign launched yesterday with the initial goal set at $300,000, but with $322,581 already pledged, we are now looking towards stretch goals. The first of those - the Warpriest class - is introduced in this campaign update. But before we get to it, here’s a quick overview of the game’s key features:

As you may know, we at Owlcat Games have spent countless hours playing the Pathfinder tabletop RPG. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to bring this experience to the videogame format by creating a classic isometric party-based computer RPG called Pathfinder: Kingmaker. The phenomenal love and support shown for Kingmaker have inspired us to tell another story from the Age of Lost Omens. Today we are thrilled to introduce the adventure we are so passionate and excited about – Wrath of the Righteous!

• Embark on a journey to a realm overrun by demons and rise to power by choosing one of six available Mythic Paths. Master their abilities and change the world around you as an Angel, a Lich, a Trickster, an Aeon, a Demon, or an Azata. Each Mythic Path leads to unique skills and appearance, and greatly impacts the game’s story.
• Challenge the mighty Demon Lords and close the portal to the demonic plane of existence known as the Abyss.
• Enjoy the flexibility, richness, and depth of the Pathfinder first edition ruleset. Create any character imaginable by choosing one of ten races, picking a particular class out of the 21 available, each with five archetypes for even greater customization. Gain access to more than a thousand spells, feats, and abilities, and select those that suit your playstyle. Take control of your party formation, help set up a camp, and find a way to victory by combining the strengths of your companions.
• Lead the armies of the Fifth Crusade to victory in a new strategic layer of gameplay. In addition to the classic CRPG experience, step into the role of the Commander, gather troops, reinforce your stronghold, and send your armies to battle the demonic invasion across the map of the region. Send your crusaders to explore ancient ruins and recover powerful artifacts.
• Experience a non-linear story about the cost of tremendous power that adventurers often seek, with tales of corruption caused by the demonic influence and redemption for those who have stepped on the wrong path.
• Meet a new diverse cast of characters, including ten companions to recruit to your party and featuring multiple romance options to choose from.
• Take control of five new classes (Arcanist, Bloodrager, Shaman, Oracle, and Witch) and meet a new race–the half-undead dhampir–in addition to the previous roster from Pathfinder: Kingmaker. The number of archetypes per class has increased to five as well.
• Dive into the game even if you’re not familiar with the intricacies of the Pathfinder ruleset. Use an enhanced tutorial for newcomers to help you with character creation and get up to speed with the rules of the system.
• Explore the world with updated visuals and a 360-degree rotating camera added for better playability and immersion.
• Current platforms: PC Windows (Steam, GOG)
• Current languages: English, French, German, Chinese, Russian

More platforms and languages may be added in the future.

We want our new game to give you the same feeling as good old Pathfinder: Kingmaker Enhanced Edition. If you enjoyed Kingmaker, you will definitely love Wrath of the Righteous as well.

And here’s the abovementioned update:

We reached our Initial Goal in just one day – that is truly amazing! Every one of us is overwhelmed by your support. Thank you! We love to see such passion for our game and we’re ready to make it even better by adding extra features and content and making it the ultimate Pathfinder video game experience.

This brings us to our Stretch Goals – each of these Goals will be revealed once the previous one is reached. And since we were asked multiple times to bring more character classes to the game, we are ready to add a new one! Introducing the warpriest – a new character class to join the roster if we reach $370,000!

A priest is a well-known character concept, but it varies from game to game. In many of them, a priest is a dedicated healer that wears robes and abhors violence (or, at least, weapons, preferring magic to do the damage). Not in Pathfinder though – clerics in Pathfinder wear armor and are perfectly capable of fighting on the front lines. But this capability is far from a specialization. And if you want to play an armor-clad cleric that slaughters foes for the glory of god – there is a class just for you. Welcome the warpriest.

Warpriests are unflinching bastions of their faith, shouting dogma while they beat foes into submission, and they never shy away from a challenge to their beliefs. While clerics rely more on their spells and inquisitors may use guile, knowledge, or diplomacy to accomplish their aims, warpriests’ main focus is violence. In many faiths, warpriests form the core of their church’s martial forces – reclaiming lost relics, rescuing captured clergy, and defending the church’s tenets from all challenges.

As one of the so-called “hybrid” classes, the warpriest has both unique abilities and a mix of abilities from the cleric, fighter, paladin, and even a bit of monk. From the cleric class, he gains his spells – with a spell progression going up to 6th level (he can cast a swift action when targeting himself), blessings (more combat and less utility-oriented version of domains), and an ability to channel energy. From the fighter, he gains bonus combat feats, and proficiency in all martial weapons and heavy armor. From the paladin, an ability to enchant his weapons and armor, and an ability to heal himself similar to the paladin’s Lay on Hands – without the pesky restriction on Lawful Good alignment. And from the monk he gains a weapon damage progression – making even the less brutal but favored weapons of deities mighty in the warpriest’s hands. Among those, a ton of abilities using swift actions guarantees that neither healing nor buffing will distract a warpriest from the slaying of his foes.

In the middle of combat, a warpriest can empower himself with Divine Favor, heal his wounds, and light his weapon with holy fire – all without staying his weapon-wielding hand even for a second, for it shall not rest until all the foes of his deity are slain. Indeed, the word most befitting a warpriest on the battlefield is “unstoppable,” as his arsenal of abilities gives him a plethora of ways to render enemies’ attacks and defenses utterly useless.

Warpriests can vary significantly based on which deity they serve – from greatsword-wielding bloodthirsty priests of Gorum, to archer priests of Erastil, and sword-and-board priests of Iomedae. Yet some go even further down their path. A feral champion transforms into animals to tear his enemies to pieces. A shieldbearer enhances shields instead of weapons. A champion of the faith hunts those opposed to the alignment of his god. A disenchanter specializes in fighting against casters of magic. And a cult leader fights using trickery and sneak attacks.

Here, at the Worldwound, the site of the greatest cataclysm since Starfall, is the perfect stage to prove your conviction in deadly combat. Before the eyes of the gods, you will show how great and terrifying your fervor can be.

Choose your god well, take up your weapon, and fight for your faith as the warpriest. For the triumph of the crusade!

To arms!

Owlcats

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