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I really liked the concept behind Eberron, but I actually felt they dind't do enough with it. I loved the fact that someone tried to rationalise the way a world filled with magic might work in an industril sort of way. More importantly, for me was the absolute deviation from some of the nomrs of gaming. I particularly liked their take on halflings.
Is there anything from Eberron you would salvage for a home game if you could?
I really liked the concept behind Eberron, but I actually felt they dind't do enough with it. I loved the fact that someone tried to rationalise the way a world filled with magic might work in an industril sort of way. More importantly, for me was the absolute deviation from some of the nomrs of gaming. I particularly liked their take on halflings.
Is there anything from Eberron you would salvage for a home game if you could?
I too like the way they tried to build a world where magic replaced technology. I did NOT like their take on halflings, because I much preferred halflings as halflings. By re-imagining so many races and giving them SUCK different roles, they might as well just renamed the race entirely. If a classic monster/humanoid/element is no longer identifiable as what it is by its behavior, then you've made a design error. Granted, halflings in Eberron weren't THAT different, but to take a few more examples, drow and sahuagin were.
Anyway, part of my problem with the way they built a world where magic replaced technology is that the game itself isn't really designed for that kind of world. It might SEEM like it is, but it's not; it's designed basically for a world where magic and monsters and fantasy are NOT the norm, where they're the things that heroes are involved with but the normal folks are not. It might SEEM like the game is filled with high magic a lot, but that's because the game invariably focuses on the heroes (the PCs) who are SUPPOSED to be neck-deep in it. When magic is readily available to everyone and you have magic trains and air ships and the like, the world changes in such huge ways that it's no longer the D&D game I like.
Not that I'm against the concept! Most of the Final Fantasy games do a much better job at this synthesis than Eberron ever achieved. But then, guess what? Final Fantasy builds their worlds from the ground up, races included, to make a compelling setting. I think that Eberron's main error was to be such a DIFFERENT setting that it should have shed all of the core races (keep humans, but not the rest) and replace most/all of the monster races. It didn't feel like D&D, so why have elves and orcs and goblins and mind flayers and the like?
As for salvaging for home games... hmmm. I liked some of the bard feats, although from the 3.5 perspective. They're a bit too much on the Pathfinder end of things since bards have been increased in power. I also like the basic design (appearance and rules) for the quori, the big dream monsters, although there again they shot themselves in the foot by making it so difficult to actually USE those creatures in a game by stranding them in another dimension.
Eww. That reminded me of how the other planes worked in Eberron. That was a MAJOR annoyance for me.
Bleh. I'm done talking about Eberron. I've said my piece. I'd rather not wallow in unpleasantness I've escaped.
One last question before I head to work. How is Seans game coming along? You guys having fun trying to work out those epic rules?
Sean's game is kinda sporadic, alas. Work or conventions or whatever keeps disrupting the regular schedule.
And we're hardly working on epic rules yet; we're all about 15th level or thereabouts.
Kevin Mack
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
Yes... but not one we've made public yet, nor will we be making it public for a while.Any timeframe on when that will be available?Also will there ever be a catfolk race as a player race for pathfinder (or something similar?)Yes.
James, do you hate the wizard versus fighter argument as much as I do?I actually am not a fan of any of the hard-core optimization threads or the "who can beat whom" threads. I generally just stay out of them.
Did you ever know that you are my hero?
Also, since you have let the cat out of the bag so to speak, will we ever see Ratfolk make an appearance in a bestiary or other product?
tribeof1
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Tales Subscriber)
Serious question, sorry.
The written rules around stealth are really somewhat confusing in my estimation. That's not meant as an indictment, I think they are playable if somewhat nebulous, which is better than a lot of other rules systems have done. With very rare exception, you and the other good folks at Paizo seem to stay away from the threads that revolve around clarification of the stealth rules. Do you guys do this on purpose? Is there any chance we'll ever see any stealth issues cleared up in errata/faqs, or are we all destined to simply run things as best we can?
Sincerely intending no offense by asking, it's just something I'm honestly curious about.
JM
James, do you hate the wizard versus fighter argument as much as I do?I actually am not a fan of any of the hard-core optimization threads or the "who can beat whom" threads. I generally just stay out of them.
Did you ever know that you are my hero?
Also, since you have let the cat out of the bag so to speak, will we ever see Ratfolk make an appearance in a bestiary or other product?
I didn't! EXCELLENT.
And ratfolk = wererats, more or less.
Favorite and least favorite nicknames you've been called?
For some inexplicable reason, my brain flashes "Jimmy Jack" when I see your handle on the messageboards. Which is still better than the association made when I see Sean's, which gets translated into something like Shanker.
Favorite nickname: Unc (see earlier answer on this thread about nicknames)
Least Favorite: Those files are sealed
Jimmy Jack doesn't make much sense, in any event...
Out of curiosity what were your feelings about shifters or changelings?Shifters and changelings are both pretty cool. I played a changeling in Jason's Eberron game (which was a lot of fun, but that's because Jason's a great GM) a few years ago but she/he/it got killed by a troll.
I prefer the core races to them though.
So you prefer even dwarves to the Eberron races?
What about warforged? Are dwarves better and cooler than them?
Dwarves are better. They at least have tradition.
How rich is the richest person in the Inner Sea region, and where is he/she/it most likely to be living?
Is the hemlines moving up or down in Absalom this year?
What's the meanest thing you've done to someone?
The richest person is probably the sneakiest PC in the loosest GM's game. You know the one. The one who ends up with all the magic items, somehow.
Hemlines are moving up.
The meanest thing I've done to someone? Is that a dare?
what are your thoughts on Planescape campaign setting?
It has some in common with Ererron in that Magic is common place and replaces tech, Just wondering.What is the single coolest thing you have every seen?
Planescape is really cool (although the overuse of slang based on a real-world historical era and region was an error... why, if the Multiverse is so vast, does everyone in that infinite place talk with the same Cant?). It builds on the traditions of the game rather than replaces them, so in that regard it's got Eberron beat right out of the gate. And it's also set in a region that is over-the-top from the start, not somewhere that's supposed to be a "ground zero" type campaign world.
The single coolest thing I've ever seen... tough question! The following all come to mind:
The starry sky on a cloudless night in the mountains above Point Arena where there's zero light pollution, OR...
Stephen King read a (at that point) relatively unpublished story of his to a crowd of a few hundred inside of a Methodist church, OR...
The movie Alien, OR...
My name appearing in print in Dungeon Magazine #12 back in High School, OR...
A baby humpback whale in the wild at a distance of less than a hundred feet, OR...
An ocean infested with more blue sharks than you could count, OR...
A komodo dragon at the Woodland Park Zoo, OR...
Clive Barker drawing a freaky clown in the inside cover of my copy of The Thief of Always, OR...
People getting so into characters I created over 20 years ago that they're dressing up as them, OR...
Something else that was so cool that I simply can't remember it at this moment.
best pastry you have every had?
Craziest thing you have ever done?
What thing do you feel strongly enough to protest, signs and chants, the whole thing?
It was probably raspberry flavored.
Put everything I own into a U-Haul and then drive 800 miles north without having nailed down a place to live when I got here in Seattle.
Although I've never actually done a protest, I could see myself taking part in an environmental cause, a human rights cause, or a censorship cause.
Also will there ever be a catfolk race as a player race for pathfinder (or something similar?)Yes.That needs to be rephased.
"Will there ever be a race of of Hawt Catgirls as a player character race for Pathfinder?"
To add to this question... I have a player who would leap at the chance to playtest any catgirl you came up with. She would be perfectly candid and truthful about how traits played, things went, the usefulness of things, balance, etc. Almost as though she didn't have the emotions necessary to sugarcoat the bad or overstate the good... ::offers one sociopath for playtesting::
Have you read Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and do you think the movie will ever really get made?
Nope.
But since "At the Mountains of Madness" is now being made by one of my favorite directors and is being produced by the guy who made the last two most successful movies of all time... ANYthing is possible!
Since you did such an awesome job making goblins cool. How would you make dwarves cool?
I don't know about him but I just made them less stereotypical grim and dour, and went more towards an Irish feel for them. Yes they love family, hard work, and a good pint (or 5), but they love life and music and dancing as well. Made them much more fun in our game.
Mr. Jacobs,
I have several questions for you.
1. My favorite campaign setting of all time has been Spelljammer. Do you see Pathfinder doing anything along those lines?
2. At what age do you think it is ok for kids in this day and age to play Pathfinder? I started at ten and have not looked back.... I am old now haha
3. What was your favorite game or campaign?
Sorry for all the questions :)
Dinkster
Personally, I don't find the rules for stealth all that confusing. You make a Stealth check, and whoever might see or hear you gets to make a Perception check. It's easy to get so caught up in modifiers and conditions and circumstances, but when I game, I just tend to play it by ear and ask for the sneaky PC to roll his Stealth or Perception check and roll the opposing roll and apply whatever modifiers I think are needed and that's that.
It's a game with a referee. If players would rather argue with the referee than play the game, that's not the game's fault.
But in the meantime, my advice is to just let common sense dictate when a Stealth roll is required, and let the result of the check indicate what Perception DC is needed to notice it. The game's only as complex as you let it get.
Thanks, James, for the answer, and for not being offended that I asked it the way I did.
If stealth is a concern for you and it's confusing, I would post to one of the rules forums and tag the question with the FAQ flag. And tag as many other questions about stealth that you see. Those FAQ flags are how we know we should answer the questions. We'll get to them eventually; if it appears like we're avoiding an issue, chances are really good we're not, but we just haven't gotten to answering them yet.
I did do this, actually, the thread I created is here, and has been clicked by 40 people, which is the reason for my question. I know it's sort of a big post with a lot of questions, but I have seen questions with ~10 clicks get answered, while this one has not. That's the main reason I asked. I really appreciate your answer, again.
JM
Since you did such an awesome job making goblins cool. How would you make dwarves cool?
I'm not sure. Again... what I did with goblins didn't fundamentally change what a goblin is. If I got in there and worked on dwarves in the same way, I'd probably end up changing them into something so different that I'd just rename them. And I suspect what I came up with would look like duergars or derros.