The Pathfinder Society is a globe-spanning organization based out of Absalom, the City at the Center of the World. The membership consists primarily of Pathfinders, adventurers who travel throughout Golarion—usually inconspicuously—and explore, delve, and otherwise experience the lesser-seen parts of the world. They send journals documenting their travels back to their venture-captains, who also assigns them new missions and suggests new places to explore. The most exciting and illuminating of these journals are compiled in the Pathfinder Chronicles, an ongoing series of books that collect the history and mystery of Golarion for its membership and the general public.

GMs may use their own physical die to roll things, BUT MUST BE UPFRONT WITH PLAYERS.

The Pathfinder Society generally takes a hands-off approach with its agents, leaving them to pursue their own leads, and chose their own priorities. Pathfinders are only expected to explore the mysteries of the multiverse, report what they find, and cooperate with one another in order to assure the success of the first two duties. Pathfinders are expected to report their findings to their venture-captains, who collect and review these records, and pass on the best to be published in the Pathfinder Chronicles.

The day-to-day management of the Pathfinder Society is handled by its venture-captains. These are usually older, accomplished Pathfinders or long-time allies of the organization who have settled down and claimed a Pathfinder lodge for themselves.

They direct Pathfinders in the field toward new and interesting locales, and receive the regular reports that will eventually become part of the Chronicles. Venture-captains are largely autonomous, but occasionally receive directions from the Decemvirate, the Society’s secret leadership council. The Decemvirate is composed of ten masked individuals who direct the Society’s overall strategies, but little is known about their ultimate goals, or what they do with all the information Pathfinders collect all over Golarion.

The Society maintains a number of Pathfinder lodges across the Inner Sea region. These buildings are sometimes owned by the Society and are typically run by a venture-captain. Pathfinders may stay at a lodge for as long as they like, as long as they are on official Pathfinder business, but most lodges offer little food and few free services in order to discourage freeloaders. Venture-captains also serve as information conduits upon request, passing on messages or requests to other Pathfinder lodges, or the Grand Lodge in Absalom. They also keep a small supply of inexpensive and single-use magic items and mundane gear in stock, and these are available for sale to any Pathfinder who has need of them. More money-hungry venture-captains have been known to greatly overcharge their agents for these supplies if they believe the Pathfinders have come across a large hoard of treasure while exploring. Many lodges are also owned and maintained independently by members of the Society, who must show that they meet the basic qualifications of a lodge (rooms to house Pathfinder agents, copies of the Pathfinder Chronicles on hand, etc.) to gain and maintain their status.

The Society maintains a Lodge with the city of Kerse in the nation of Druma.

Though this wasn’t always the case. A little over a decade ago the Pathfinders left Druma after a series of political conflicts and corruption were exposed, leading to the Society picking up and leaving.

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A Kalistocrat by the name of Temel Passad has been known to house and bankroll many of Pathfinder Society’s ventures in the Nation, much to the Kalistocracy’s chagrin. As the only Kalistocrat to maintain an open relationship with the Pathfinders, Passad has earned the respect of other prophets, though many senior prophets worry about a potential influx of agents raising unwanted questions about the Prophecies of Kalistrade or “inviting themselves” into the secure crypts of departed prophets. 

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Though Passad is aware of this fact, he has none-the-less funded a Lodge for them on the dockside of Kerse in hopes the Society might foster a more honest Kalistocracy.

The Pathfinder Society is willing to accept members of all backgrounds, creeds, and morals. Any applicant who does well enough overall on the initial tests is allowed to take the oath and become an initiate. Training is overseen by three deans at the Grand Lodge: the Master of Swords, the Master of Spells, and the Master of Scrolls. The final test, known as the Confirmation, is taken after three years as an initiate (although ambitious or gifted initiates may persuade the deans to allow them to take the test earlier). The test is effectively the initiate’s first mission; those who pass become Pathfinders, and those who fail are discharged from the Society (but often remain on good terms with it afterwards).

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Field commissions

Every year, a few non-Pathfinders who manage to uncover historical discoveries of great significance are offered full Pathfinder status by the Decemvirate; this is known as a “field commission”. More commonly, anyone who makes a discovery and elects to report it to the Society can be offered the chance to join as an initiate, and to have the initial discovery count towards his final Confirmation. Depending on the individual, the prospective Pathfinder may then be asked to report to the Grand Lodge for further training or invited to attempt the remaining tasks required for Confirmation.

The Pathfinder Society was founded in Absalom on 23 Desnus, 4307 AR, by a group of adventurers as a means to share stories and resources. The first meeting place was a bar in Absalom’s Foreign Quarter called the Wounded Wisp—the final stop of a pub crawl that spanned the Pig’s Paunch, Crimson Coin, Vert Pippen and hammered out the group’s general structure and principles. Adolphus, Durvin Gest, Eylysia, Gregaro Voth, Inali Buvgram, Kerinha Napsunar, Noyta Gleddirow, Selmius Foster, and Toriah al-Myran were among those present for this first meeting.

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After the first few yearly meetings, known as Grand Convocations, returned to the Wounded Wisp, meeting locations changed frequently over the next decade to accommodate the growing audiences. The incredible stories shared among members at these early meetings became popular forms of entertainment among the public as well. The fledgling society—”Pathfinder” supposedly suggested by Gest, “Society” likely suggested by Napsunar—eventually moved the Convocation to the Blakros Museum in 4314 AR in exchange for the exclusive right to exhibit their findings.

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In 4317 AR, Durvin Gest funded the publication of the Society’s best stories in book form. The first volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles became wildly successful and began the Society’s tradition of publishing the best of its members’ exploits,4 though financial requirements for members to fund their own stories’ publications meant that some founders’ tales, such as Buvgram and al-Myran, did not feature in early volumes at all. In the nearly four centuries since, members of the Pathfinder Society have aspired to undertake adventures worthy of publication in the Chronicles.

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In 4320 AR, the Society’s Grand Lodge was founded in Absalom in a manor home donated to the Society by Selmius Foster. As the organization grew, al-Myran led a committee that created a council of ten directors, called the Decemvirate, to help organize its growing interests and shape the future of the Society.

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After an attempted coup in 4411 AR as the Society grew in wealth and power, the Decemvirate decided that for its own security and safety its members would mask themselves to hide their identities, even from other Pathfinders. The membership of the Decemvirate has presumably changed many times over the last few centuries, although their identities or how they are chosen remained mysteries to nearly all Pathfinders as well as the general public.