Pathfinder Infinite gives creators official path to use Paizo IP

Pathfinder Infinite is Paizo’s official lane for adventures set in Golarion, rules tied to Lost Omens, and fiction, maps, and other Pathfinder-adjacent RPG products that use Paizo IP. If you want to keep your work outside that ecosystem and retain more distance from Paizo’s trademarks and copyrighted material, the independent ORC and OGL-style path is the better fit.

Choose the lane before you start writing

Paizo’s licenses page draws the map clearly. OGL and ORC cover rules content, the Compatibility License covers official logos, Infinite is the route for a wide variety of Paizo IP in RPG products sold and distributed on the Infinite platform, Community Use is for freely available non-commercial use, Fan Content covers limited small-scale commercial or non-commercial ancillary products, and Commercial is the catch-all for everything else.

If your pitch depends on Paizo-owned setting material, Infinite is the practical choice. If your project can stand on its own without Golarion, named factions, or other protected elements, the independent route gives you more freedom to shape the work as your own property.

What Pathfinder Infinite is built for

The Infinite marketplaces are licensed digital content stores for adventures, classes, fiction, and more in the Lost Omens campaign setting. They fit productized, setting-aware material that feels like part of Pathfinder’s living ecosystem rather than a one-off fan file. It is not just a place to upload anything with a Pathfinder logo on it. It is the controlled community-content lane for material that uses Paizo IP in a way Paizo can host, organize, and sell.

If you want to publish a Golarion adventure, add a class option that plugs into the setting, or release a fiction piece that uses established Pathfinder names and places, Infinite gives you the official path to do it. If the work is not an RPG product, Paizo points you to narrower fan-use categories instead.

The tradeoff: access in exchange for boundaries

The upside of Infinite is obvious: it gives you access to Paizo’s IP in a way that is meant for sale and distribution. The downside is equally important: you are operating inside a platform with rules. The system exists to let fans and companies use Paizo intellectual property while still protecting trademarks and copyrighted material.

The Pathfinder Infinite Community Content Agreement already grants creators the right to use Paizo-owned material released under ORC, so if you are publishing through Infinite, you do not need to separately cite ORC for that material. If the work belongs in Infinite, the agreement is designed to cover the Paizo-owned content you are using there.

If you want to write X, publish it here

The cleanest way to think about the Pathfinder creator landscape is by project type:

• If you want to write an adventure, use Pathfinder Infinite or Starfinder Infinite. An adventure is an RPG product, so it must be released through those community content marketplaces.
• If you want to publish rules content that relies on open rules material but not Paizo IP, the ORC and OGL-style route is the better fit.
• If you want to use official logos, the Compatibility License is the lane Paizo identifies for that.
• If you want to publish something freely and non-commercially, Community Use is the narrow lane for that.
• If you want to sell a small batch of hand-made Pathfinder-inspired plushies, original shirts, or prints directly yourself, Fan Content can fit.
• If you are talking about mass-produced merchandise based on official faction emblems, that is not allowed under the fan-content lane and falls outside the narrow, limited-use setup.

How the marketplace grew into a real creator path

Pathfinder Infinite and Starfinder Infinite first launched in 2021, and Paizo unveiled them at Gen Con with OneBookShelf, the company behind DriveThruRPG, hosting and managing the program. The program used the infrastructure of an established digital marketplace rather than a one-off upload page.

Paizo has also built a tier above the open marketplace. Its Infinite Masters program is invitation-only and made up of active, influential creators who get early access to official releases so they can produce timely companion content. Paizo describes those creators as making best-in-class titles and early DLC for new launches.

Why the sales milestones matter

In October 2023, Paizo announced that Witches+ became the first Pathfinder Infinite book to reach Mithral Medal sales.