Despite frequent appellations by Avistani scholars as the “Dragon Empires,” Tian Xia is much more than a land of dragons and emperors. While draconic machinations and imperial ambitions have indeed hewn momentous paths, no wyrm or potentate can truly speak for or lay claim to the continent’s monumental entirety. Tian Xia is vast, and its wonders are manifold. No singular class of being, no matter how powerful, can hold it comfortably within one destiny or horizon of definition.¹

It’s difficult to believe it’s already that near-end of summer when it was just the first bud of spring as the award-winning Tian Xia World Guide came out and dove into its mechanics and lore. Yes, award-winning, in case you missed my last article where I talked of news from Gen Con including Paizo winning the gold ENnie for the World Guide! Player Core won a silver, and let me tell you that Player Core 2 is, in my opinion, silver if not gold as well. Yes, of course I’m biased, but like I love this stuff and look forward to a glorious retirement one day of gaming. Yeah, you heard me! Y’all we gotta get in retirement communities and run some epic games. But back to Tian Xia, because it’s time to make some characters! The Tian Xia Character Guide is now available! In this article, we’ll start with all the ancestry goodies and the next will focus on class and archetypes!

Well before we get to ancestries, we’ve got new Backgrounds as is typical for a setting area. Runaway Noble is giving Marle from Chrono Trigger, but I love the Gossip to make that older Auntie character. Of course there’s some rare ones that really get me intrigued like the Banished Celestial!? Yes I want a special ability called Enlightenment in Adversity that’s if you critically fail your skill you get with the background, next time you get to roll twice and take the higher, a la advantage. But really it’s the idea of what you’re playing that’s so cool and you can choose ANY skill for that skill you get, plus one Lore. Fated Rival is perfect for that classic anime feel. It can set up a great bit of story for your GM to use, so I immediately love it. I adore when players give us tasty bits of story to play with and expand. Kaiju Stalker is as it sounds and I like that your extra benefit is being better at recalling knowledge using Kaiju Lore, which you are trained in. The Zodiac Bound background is one very much tied to the power of that manifestation, and you get to choose which it is, which impacts the special ability you get from ignition at will with the Underworld Dragon sign to the clear mind spell once per week if born under the Dog. These follow the Dragon Empires Zodiac, perfect for a character that wishes to focus on the fortune telling or oracular work in Tian Xia.

After some lovely details on the magic, the spirit world, the elemental cycle, and the Zodiac followed by the peoples of Tian Xia, we move to the People themselves. And wow, there’s so much great stuff here. I love how we get the cultural influences upon many different ancestries. The World Guide already provided that, but there’s even more crunchy mechanics now to back that up. First, we learn more about the humans, the elves, the Amurruns (Catfolk), and more. Who are the Jorogumo? The prevalence of the Oni and Nagas in Tian Xia is covered. Really these are lore details to help you flesh out your character, but then we get into the real crunch. First, like I said, these are specific heritages and for characters of these ancestries with a Tian Xia origin. So please remember to honor and celebrate that!

The Dokkaebi Goblins are those of the Hwangott we’ve covered before with their beautiful earthenware pots called onggi that many collect. There’s even a sidebar about it, and y’all know I love a sidebar. The actual heritage option gives you the figment cantrip at will, as well as a bonus versus illusions. Some higher level feats give you the ability to use darkness and ventriloquism; that’s Whispers in the Night. There’s a 17th level feat that builds about the 5th level Glorious Gamtu, basically the first celebrating the mystical power that is a hat. You can even give it to another creature to wear and it has a 2 action ability to do invisibility. The 17th level version let’s you do a 6th-rank invisibility. Yet also you can take the hat off to appear and put back on to disappear from view; the invisibility duration continues even when the hat is taken off. I find this adorable and hope it’s draw from some story of these adorable people. Following that we get an exciting new versatile heritage, the Hungerseed. These oni-descended folks have horns and can even gain an Oni Form. They’re certainly major combatants with intimidating third eye or melee-related abilities. The Kijimuna gnomes are a gnome heritage and their people are closely tied to trees and water, perfect for those living along riverways or forested coastal, tropical areas. There’s just something about speaking with plants that’s fun for me, and their 13th level Arboreal Conversationalist lets you do just that twice per day.

We get two Tian Xia heritages for Kobolds: Heavenscribe and Mightyfall. Do you want to be tied to the power of the celestial imperial dragons? Heavenscribe is for you, letting you speak Draconic and be better at diplomacy (well technically you can’t critically fail Making an Impression or asking for a Request). Mightyfall on the other hand have more hit points and have a different ability attribute array option, getting a bonus to Strength and Charisma, and a flaw to Intelligence if so desired. Their 13th level Kaiju’s Footfalls allows you to enlarge yourself twice a day and possibly knock creatures down when you Jump or Leap near them. The Leshy of Tian also have two heritages: the Chrysanthemum and the Peachchild. The former look like human children but with a crown of chrysanthemums growing from their head. Not sure where that comes from, but assuming there’s a story there. I tried a google search but couldn’t find the history. The peachchild are semi-human in appearance but their peachy flush to their skin and leaves growing from their body. While the chrysanthemum children can create antidotes from their flowers, the peachchildren are good with household animals and livestock, being able to use diplomacy toward them. There’s a Childlike Plant 1st level feat either can take to become trained in Deception and they don’t need a disguise kit to Impersonate humans. You even get a +4 bonus to do so. Be careful of that though, when you never grow older there’s bound to be rumors that spread about your ancestry. Continuing the trend, the Lizardfolk get the Bakuwa and the Makari heritages. The Bakuwa are covered in bony plates, getting some item bonus to AC (+4 in fact) while the Makaara have some divine magic in their blood. Any spells or magical abilities you get from ancestry feats become divine and you get to cast divine lance or forbidding ward. Not bad at all! 

Now breaking the trend comes the Sprite with four (yes four) heritages: Dijiang, Gandharva, Kanchil, and the Leungli. Are you an adorable short furry creature with six legs and four wings that has no face, mouth, eyes… But they still eat and talk just fine! You’re tied to chaos and when you roll a failure on an emotion saving throw, you get a success instead! The Gandharva are tied to music and dancing, godly ones, and you are something of equine bird and humanoid nature. They too get their powers from the divine and are trained in Performance! The Kanchil are a combo of mouse deer and hooves but you’re persuasive and clever with training in Deception and a bonus to Lie. Finally the Leungli are something else. I found (simple google search to wikipedia mind you) that there’s a tale about a friendship between a young woman and a magical goldfish who would help her. These sprites have a swim speed and are amphibious with the head of a goldfish and scales of stark and brilliant colors. Seems like they’d be great for an explorative game near the sea or underwater campaign! The Tsukumogami Poppets really excited me though. These are tools brought to life and I love the idea of a kitchen witch enchanting one or an old grandfather who carefully and lovingly worked a garden bringing life to a spade from their care. They’re great at aiding you, increasing the bonus to +2 or +3 with the Helpful Poppet feat. The Kitsune get a new heritage called the Palace Echoes Kitsune, known for influencing royalty and possibly even taking the throne! I love how their feats can improve their shape shifting. The Nagaji Shimmertongue heritage have a magicsense out 30’ and gain some feats to choose from including a Hypnotic Gaze, a 9th level evolution to the Hypnotic Lure. Once per day you can now affect all creature in a 30’ cone instead of just one creature. I’d definitely take that!

Moving to new Ancestries, we first get Samsaran, which are new to 2E and Core!. Their heritages focus primarily on their past lives like the Oracular who focused on insight into the spiritual world or the Healers who wandered and traveled, frequently dealing with dangerous encounters and thus developing careful medical techniques. The Oracular get a cantrip of any tradition while the Healers are trained in Medicine. There’s also the Mountaineer, the Sanctuary, and the Wilderness Samsarans. I love the 5th level Thousand-Year Grudge reaction where you succeed at a demoralize check. One of the creatures you demoralized becomes sickened instead of frightened as you focus your frustration and despair at them. 

The Sarangay are not minotaur, but are bovine in nature. Their First Ancestor is Father Moon and they seek to protect nature with heritages focused on phases of the moon. Those heritages are their clans and thus tell the story of their people. The New Moon Sarangay are sometimes referred to as dwarf like for example as they are known for hiding, hunting in the darkness of the new moon. I love the shadowy New Moon Sarangay art. They start with 10 hit points instead of 8 and are great at using Athletics to Shove, getting a +2 circumstance bonus. Perhaps a great shadow sorcerer build with their bonus to Charisma? Each also bears a head gem, which houses their soul that they exchange with their partner when they fall in love! Thus there are feats that benefit them as well like the 1st level Awakened Jewel that lets you choose an occult cantrip to cast at will. One of the coolest feat names I’ve ever seen is Smoke Through Bamboo. This 5th level feat lets you navigate forests and thick brush wish ease. You can step 10 feet instead of five. This lets you Step into and within difficult terrain. I love it!

The Tanuki are adorable shapeshifters who look like raccoons or dog-like ones anyway. I’d say I’d love to make an inventor / gunslinger one but I’m afraid Disney would come for me. Their heritages are tied to the virtue that sings in their heart including Ascetic, Even-Tempered (seen above), Courageous, Steadfast, and Virtuous. But it’s really a playful combo of this for example the Courageous Tanuki can gain the fleeing condition and stride when they are frightened and the Virtuous carry alcohol with them, while also having a poison resistance. You can’t be incapacitated by conventional alcohol either, so you know that Tanuki is extremely Virtuous. They’d never drink to excess… And while yes, we’re pretty focused on mechanics here, another sidebar caught my attention. The Fox-Racoon Wars! Yes, you read that right, the kitsune and tanuki are apparently infamous for feuding with one another. I’m imagining frenemies as it notes these aren’t violent, but maybe catty. They mock one another’s shapeshifting as the tanuki find kitsune snobbish, while the kitsune in turn think tanuki crude. Where’s the comic for this?

The Wayangs are another 1E ancestry we haven’t seen yet for 2E. Each of the 5 heritages is tied to how your shadow behaves and what it does from dancing to hiding secrets to all but you, though there’s also the Shadow of the Wanderer. Those Wayang have a shadow that charges ahead and your character’s speed is 5 feet better. Shadow of the Smith has some gorgeous art as seen above and the ability to plunge your weapon into your shadow, and then strike with it to dazzle your foe! All wayangs have a tie to the Netherworld and darker places and you can see that in feats like Shadowplay, a one-action 5th level feat. If you used a melee Strike that damaged your opponent with your last action, you detach from your shadow, it tumbles through their space with a +2 bonus, and then flanks with you for your last attack. Great opening round on an enemy! By 17th level you can take Dissolution’s Sovereignty and convince an enemy’s shadow to fight with you. You use duplicate foe effectively, though it gets 15 extra hit points if the target was in darkness.

Love them but I was more interested in the Yaksha, which have their origins in Hindu beliefs. They are nature spirits, and indeed they have the Spirit trait! Each heritage is tied to a particular vow, adding a particular edict to each character. Apparently new anathema are possible too but I didn’t see that with those provided. Deny the Firstborn Pursuit where you must confront cruel fey or there’s also the Respite of a Thousand Roofs where you must help the impoverished. Their feats tend toward the spiritual or primal at least like the 1st level Meticulous Restorer where you waste nothing in fixing crafts, gaining Quick Repair that can’t critically fail. Or maybe Stem the Tide at 5th level makes more sense, granting the primal protector tree spell that improves over your character’s career. I love fey in games, but these are far more guardian-like in their behavior since they seem more calm, even-tempered and not prone to First World politics. I’m sure to play one when I can. The 17th level Transcend the Azimuth (seen above) allows you to use cosmic form once per day as your shadow lengthens into a mandala of the primal energies of the universe. Even better, you can sustain the spell to switch between sun and moon battle forms!

Finally we get the new Yaoguai, and that Born of Animal image above made me think of Inuyasha at first. But no, that’s one of the heritages where you were an animal until the sun’s power enlightened you. The Yaoguai were all animals, plants, or other mundane objects until something blessed them with sapience. You might be Born of a Celestial, escaped the higher realms or were punished into a mortal shell. You get to make your ancestry powers divine rather than occult or anything else from heritages. Maybe you were part of nature like a facet of rain or wind. If you were an object, maybe the sun or moon graced you with power. And of course, you might’ve been a plant, a beautiful flower or a weed. You aren’t a spirit like the Yaksha, nor a Leshy, or a Poppet, but a creature awakened and growing. I think it’s important to focus on the “If you want to play…” final paragraph of these ancestries to help guide you. In this case, it’s about transcendence and change. There’s an archetype about that, but we’ll save that for next time. Instead, before we close I wanted to call out the 5th level Signature Weapon feat that can improve at 13th level with another feat. You name your weapon, granting you its critical specialization effect. You can also spend an action to summon it to you if it’s unattended within one mile. By 13th level, it also becomes treated like dawnsilver, duskwood, and peachwood for overcoming resistances to help you fight undead and foul spirits.

You might have noticed I saved talking of the authors and designers out. Well I wanted to put it here at the end. I’ve had the amazing pleasure of meeting James Case, the Design Lead, in person and I so love what he’s done with this book, working with Joshua Birdsong, Logan Bonner, and Michael Sayre. Editing in here to add that the Development Lead is Eleanor Ferron with Jason Keely, Luis Loza, and Landon Winkler as supporting developers. A big thanks to Editing Lead Ianara Natividad with a number of supporting editors, including my fellow Valiant player Avi Kool! There’s a plethora of authors and other contributors, so do look to social media as they share their contributions. Next time, actually while I’m away on vacation, Part 2 will come out all about the Character Options in this magnificent book! Please be sure to celebrate Labor Day safely as the summer nears its end, perhaps with a bit of Pathfinder eh? Do invest in the Tian Xia Character Guide and share with us what you’re creating! Be well and much love!

Investing In:

I wasn’t quite sure what to name my article series when I first started but the idea of showcasing or discussing things that make me excited, that I find new and interesting, or maybe I’m otherwise passionate about seemed to fit with the idea of Investing In something like the Pathfinder 2E mechanic. To use some magic items you have to give that little bit of yourself, which helps make these things even better. I like the metaphor of the community growing and being strengthened in the same way!

I also want to hear what you’re Investing In! Leave me a comment below about what games, modules, systems, products, people, live streams, etc you enjoy! You can also hit me up on social media as silentinfinity. I want to hear what excites you and what you’re passionate about. There’s so much wonderful content, people, groups (I could go on) in this community of ours that the more we invest in and share, the better it becomes!

Sources

Banner – Tian Xia Character Guide cover, Paizo, art by Ekaterina Gordeeva

1. Introduction excerpt, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
2. Introduction banner, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
3. Magic and the Spirit World banner, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
4. Onggi, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
5. Heavenscribe, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
6. Dijiang, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
7. Oracular Samsaran, Character Guide, Paizo
8. New Moon Sarangay, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
9. Even-Tempered Tanuki, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
10. Shadow of the Smith, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
11. Transcend the Azimuth, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo
12. Born of Animal, Tian Xia Character Guide, Paizo