Pathfinder: Battlecry! (P2) is Paizo’s war-themed hardcover for Pathfinder Second Edition, positioning itself as a front-line rules and options book that explores conflict at every scale—from skirmishes to sweeping campaigns. The headliners are two brand-new classes, the Commander and the Guardian, which debuted publicly in Paizo’s official Battlecry! class playtest; the hardcover launched to coincide with Gen Con 2025. The line also includes multiple formats (standard, sketch cover, special edition, and a pocket edition). The standard hardcover is listed at 224 pages, with MSRP information announced alongside the reveal.

📦 What’s Inside

Two new classes, built for the theater of war.

• Commander: a battlefield director who preps tactics during daily preparations and issues signals (often via a personal banner) to grant allies extra movement, reactions, or positional plays. Their kit escalates from expert to legendary “tactician” features, expanding a folio of tactics and enabling high-tempo team maneuvers.
• Guardian: the indomitable protector who leverages armor mastery, Intercept Strike, and Taunt to soak hits, redirect aggro, and physically interpose themselves. Later feats extend reaction economy and broaden mitigation.

The wartime frame.
Beyond class chassis, Battlecry! sits inside a larger Inner Sea conflict arc Paizo has been signaling since the announcement, with new ancestry support (notably the Jotunborn per reveal coverage) and war-adjacent tools and options. Expect the usual rules options spread (feats, gear, and GM aids) that connect the classes to campaign play. (Official class details and release timing are from Paizo’s playtest and Gen Con communications; ancestry callouts and MSRP were included in announcement coverage.)

Formats & availability.
Paizo lists a 224-page standard hardcover plus Special Edition and Sketch Cover variants, with a Pocket Edition following later in the year on Paizo’s schedule. If you’re a variant hunter or a pocket-format GM, the official product listings and release-schedule page are the places to check for the latest status.

⚔️ How It Plays at the Table

Commanders shine in groups that enjoy procedural teamwork. The tactics engine asks you to pick from a growing folio during daily prep, then identify windows in combat for short, clear calls that your “squadmates” can answer. Practically, that means the Commander player is tracking range bands, lines of advance, and the economy of extra reactions granted through drilled responses—a distinctive rhythm that rewards planning without bogging down turns. If your table likes set-ups, flanks, and executing plays, it lands.

Guardians reward parties that value durable frontliners and control via protection. Many of their marquee moments come from reactive tools—stepping into damage for allies, blunting save-based effects when a shield’s involved, and literally pulling heat with Taunt. They’re forgiving for newer players (clear battlefield jobs) but leave ceiling room through positioning and timing, especially once extra reactions and armor synergies come online.

Both classes feel “war-true”: the Commander’s tempo boosts echo squad doctrine, while the Guardian’s kit models real “cover the advance” behaviors. In mixed parties, they also cross-pollinate well—Commanders accelerate Guardians into the fray, Guardians give Commanders the breathing room to orchestrate.

✨ Standout Material

• A crisp, legible tactics framework. The folio/prep loop is easy to grok and scales with mastery, which is exactly what you want for a table-facing leadership class.
• Reactive heroism that feels heroic. Guardian’s Intercept Strike moments create instant table drama: “I take it!” never gets old, and the feat tree meaningfully evolves that core promise.
• Campaign-scale resonance. Framing the classes inside a broader wartime milieu gives GMs an immediate theme to plug into—military units, supply lines, and battlefield arcs rather than only dungeon corridors. (Paizo’s Gen Con wrap and product talk position Battlecry! explicitly in that wartime space.)
• Multiple formats for different libraries. Standard for the table, special/variant for collectors, pocket for backpacks. Paizo’s Rulebook and Special Edition subscriptions continue to make variant management straightforward for subscribers.

🛠️ Table & GM Considerations

• Pacing & spotlight. Commanders can unintentionally centralize decision-making if a table defaults to “waiting for orders.” The book’s design (signals, discrete triggers, optional responses) supports quick calls; as a GM, you can reinforce that by framing rounds with “you already drilled this” to keep the cadence snappy.
• Reaction bandwidth. Guardians grow extra reactions; Commanders hand out extra reactions situationally. Track this openly—use tokens or a little reaction ledger—so the table rides the high-tempo play without confusion.
• On-ramp difficulty. Both classes are conceptually clear but mechanically “busier” than a straightforward martial. Newer players do fine if the GM scaffolds positioning and cues (“this is your intercept angle,” “this is the signal window”). Veterans will mine deep optimization.

🧭 Where Battlecry! Fits in the Pathfinder Line

Battlecry! reads like a spiritual complement to Secrets of Magic and Guns & Gears, but for martial teamwork and battlefield operations. If your table favors intrigue-heavy city arcs or planar sandboxing, the material still lands because the classes aren’t locked to mass battle rules; they’re viable in classic adventuring, where the Commander shifts skirmish flow and the Guardian locks down high-threat rooms. For organized play and home campaigns alike, the classes are plug-and-play with the rest of the Remaster era rules. (Paizo’s blog notes Gen Con release context and positions Battlecry! alongside other 2025 hardcovers.)

🧠 Verdict

Battlecry! gives Pathfinder 2E a confident, thematic push into wartime storytelling while still honoring the game’s encounter-scale identity. Commander and Guardian feel purposeful, readable, and—most importantly—fun to play with a party that likes to coordinate. If your group enjoys tactical maps, set-piece fights, and the drama of shielding friends or calling the winning play, this book earns its shelf space. If your table leans toward minimalist kinetics and lone-wolf action, you may want to adopt the classes while leaving the broader war scaffolding in reserve. Either way, Battlecry! broadens the Remaster era’s portfolio with a pair of classes that should see steady table time.