Filby Pott's page

2) There are volcanoes in the Five Kings Mountains (Droskar's Crag is the tallest and most active). There are also volcanoes in the Kodar Mountains, in the Shackles, and in the Barrier Wall of Garund. There are more, but those are the primary volcanic sites that come to mind.

Also the Hellrung Mountains in the Crown of the World, just off the map to the north.

Can lycanthropes still speak and cast spells in animal form?

A couple of Lovecraftian questions:

Among what people/creatures did the Aklo language originate?

And did the serpentfolk empire have significant contact with Leng?

Happy belated birthday!

If a lizardfolk becomes a werewolf, does it still have reptilian features in hybrid form?

Re: Ratfolk on Castrovel: Distant Worlds says that there are some Ysoki ratfolk from Akiton who came to Castrovel through the interplanetary portal network.

What's a cool place in Golarion that most players there don't know about but should?

I think Molthune has a lot of potential (extremely rigid but not evil, monstrous humanoids accepted in the military, complex politics both within and with Nirmathas, lots of uncharted wilderness) but very little time in the spotlight.

I'm guessing Pham Duc Quan (sovreign) and Daralathyxl (red) may be represented.

Germaine to my previous question: are the classic/public domain pantheon of Greek titans (Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus, etc.) known in Golarion, or do they have their own set of titan demigods?

Also, who came up with the setting fluff for the demondands in Bestiary 3, tying them to the titans?

And are we likely to see stats for any more gigas (like the Abyss gigas, etc.) in the foreseeable future?

Are there any titan demigods who can grant spells?

Isn't Desna associated with the Dark Tapestry?

So if elves work for Santa, does that mean that dark elves work for Dark Santa?

LazarX wrote:

To be fair the "goofy" cosmologies that you sometimes see in Spelljammer, like the idea of a flat world held by elephants sitting on a turtle were serious thoughts in a pre-scientific time. Spelljammer had your classic solar systems as well. And a little bit of self-mockery is a healthy thing. Paizo's goblins are full of it.

I'm more referring to the fact that there were a lot of design choices made by the authors of the setting that seemed to indicate they didn't take the game seriously and saw it only as a venue for jokes and comedy. Giant Space Hamsters, for example. Or beholders named Luigi.

I don't really think self-mockery is a healthy thing... I think humility is, but that's different than self-mockery. I wouldn't say that our goblins are a form of self-mockery at all... if they were, we would have made them obviously caricatures of gamer stereotypes. Which they are not.

From what I've heard it was less self-mockery and more mockery of Lorraine Williams's demands for new settings. Which is still pretty unhealthy.

How well do you think Yhidothrus works as a substitute for Kyuss if one were to run "Age of Worms" in Golarion?

Oozi McOoze wrote:

Anything in the works for an Osirion based, pyramid tromping adventure path.

I dunno.

Would folks like an adventure path like that?

I for one really enjoyed Jade Regent's focus on non-European fantasy, so for my part, it would be a resounding "Yes".

Four questions about "Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss":

1) Aside from their differing backstories, how would you sum up the difference in role and character between 3E's obyriths and PF's qlippoth?

2) What was behind the decision to make Pazuzu an obyrith, given his history as a tanar'ri?

3) If Pale Night existed in Pathfinder's cosmology, would you make her a demon, a qlippoth, a qlippoth-turned-demon (like Dagon), or something else entirely?

4) I know obyriths were based on Green Ronin's qlippoth, but what was the inspiration/creative process behind the loumaras, and would you make them demons or a separate fiendish race in Pathfinder?

Why are the demons in the Bestiaries listed under their more evocative "Abyssal" names (babau, kalavakus, etc.) but the devils are listed under mundane English names (barbed devil, contract devil, etc.)?

Would the Shory people be considered Mwangi, Garundi, or a separate ethnic group?

In the Pathfinder world, is there a god for good Drow like Elistraee in FR?

I'm pretty sure good drow are a once-in-a-millennium thing on Golarion, so no god in particular would cater to them.

That said, if I were a good drow, I'd probably just worship Calistria, the "rightful" deity of the elves.

James Jacobs wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

1. Why are planetars green bald giants? I'm not knocking it, as they've long been my favorite of main angel types partially because of their unique look, but I've always wondered about the "why" behind it...

2. After reading a particularly frustrating horror story elsewhere, have to ask this:

Garudas are not genocidal absolutists in their prejudice against nagas, right?

I've always assumed not, given that they're Good-aligned celestials and there's the possibility of variance in evil nagas, not to mention the presence of neutral and good nagas. But one unfortunate nagaji player apparently had a terrible time of it recently due to the opposite interpretation and there hasn't been anything to give any nuance to that aspect of garudas(though garuda-kin aasimar have gotten an anti-naga trait).

3. If not, how would you portray the prejudice garudas hold when they're dealing with good/neutral nagas?

4. Were Xin and Xanderghul related somehow, beyond the similar appearance and names that start with X?

1) Because that's kind of how they've always been portrayed in the game.

2) Garudas are not. They're good aligned. Good aligned things are not genocidal.

3) A garuda would be impatient and standoffish and smug and arrogant toward a non-neutral naga.

4) They're not related. As you'll see in Pathfinder #66, they also don't really look all that alike... Xin is much older looking than Xanderghul.

I'm going to comment a little here...

Planetars are a type of Deva/Angel. The terminology of Deva as synonymous with Angel seems to be borrowed in D&D from theosophy, which was profoundly influenced by Blavatsky's interest in Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism; and the representation of Devas as bald and green skinned seems to be adapted from a Westernized depiction of the Devas (Hindu Gods) in Buddhist (specifically Tantric or Tibetan) art.
Garudas are raptor spirits; they eat and kill snakes (Nagas) because eagles and other...

I'd like to add to this that in their first appearance in D&D, Planetars were not classified as Angels, just good spirits. Gary Gygax was adamant about not explicitly including Angels in D&D while he was in charge. When 2E rolled around, Planetars, Solars, and Devas were grouped together as "Aasimons" (hence Aasimars), and it wasn't until 3.5 that Aasimons were officially changed to Angels.

1) Is there a region that Catfolk are somewhat more common in or native to?

In addition to Southern Garund, as Mr. Jacobs noted, the Dragon Empires Gazetteer also mentions that some catfolk live in the Valashmai Jungle of southern Tian Xia.

Yeah, it would be great if I could say my character is Tian, Mwangi, Keleshite, Garundi, etc. as well as Chelaxian or Varisian.

James with your epic knowledge of 3.5, was there any way a mortal could create a god? (not become a god, but make one from scratch)

Wasn't the ghoul-god Zhakata from Ravenloft made up by a human, then the Dark Powers brought it into existence? It's been too long since I read any Ravenloft lore.

How would you portray a creature with average Intelligence and Wisdom but a Charisma score of 1 or 2, such as a gearsman or lizard familiar?

Nice "Day of the Tentacle" figurine!

James Jacobs wrote:

B) Demon lords, Great Old Ones, kaiju, the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Empyreal Lords, Archdevils, and several categories of monsters that we've been talking about in-house but haven't yet mentioned in public.

Um... Book of the Damned 3 has the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in it, doesn't it?

It has write-ups for them as deities, but not stats.

What was Lorthact the infernal duke of? That is, what was his portfolio/area of concern?

Well there is the child-goddess of Kaer Maga, but I don't know if she's been confirmed to be a true deity or a false one like Razmir.

Should Aballonians (from Distant Worlds) have the robot subtype?

I really don't like how the dwarf pantheon was handled in the older materials, with all dwarf clerics only allowed to worship Torag but able to "loan" domains from other gods - who all got only two or three domains - for one day by performing a ritual. Flavorful, sure, but annoying.

Speaking of Kobold Quarterly, how canonical are the articles on archdevils and other Golarion-specific material? Is the infernal duke Lau Kiritsu, for example, an "official" part of the Golarion setting?

I ask because I'm an active editor on PathfinderWiki, and I don't want to clutter it up with apocryphal or incorrect information (like the afore-mentioned retconned material that's since been written out of the setting but still creeps into the wiki).

MMCJawa wrote:

Speaking of Arcadia, are there any particular Native American monsters you are itching to stat up? I know that Native American folklore tends to not get as much attention as other areas of the world, but there are some interesting creatures, beyond Sasquatch, Thunderbirds, and Wendigo.

I'd like to see a Raven Mocker myself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_mocker

The Manitou.

To the extent that I'm shocked and ashamed that we haven't done anything with Manitous yet.

I think manitous would make a great "hook" in the development of Arcadia, in the same way kami and oni really helped flesh out the flavor of Tian Xia.

The only way druids could fit with Asmodeus, IMO, is with the "urban druid" archetype (like with Abadar), with maybe a focus on "culling the herd", controlling population levels by weeding out the weak - very Social Darwinist, possibly using fire (ie, arson) as a means to that end.

Even then, though, it's quite a stretch. There are better archdevils for evil druids to worship:

Barbatos and Alocer (beasts)
Baalzebul, Graffiacane, and Kalma (vermin)
Crocell ("hidden waters")
Dispater and Malthus (cities)
Furcas (herbalism)
Geryon and Ardad Lili (snakes)
Libicocco (wind)
Moloch and Rubicante (fire)
Nergal (pestilence)
Sabnach (parasites)
Scarmiglione (poison)
Vois (swamps)

Will we ever see anything about Aboleth "deities" in Golarion?

I thought aboleths in Golarion are vehemently atheistic and reject all "higher powers".

If Mythic Adventures goes over really well, and if folks love it enough to want another ramping up of the power level as an option, the next step up from Mythic Adventures being Deific Adventures makes a fair amount of sense.

With that in mind, I really appreciate that y'all are putting out mythic rules first as a foundation and holding off on deific rules, instead of putting them both out at once like 3.0 did with epic and deities, leading to neither working particularly well together.

Which leads me to another question: to what degree did you look at 3E's epic rules, what it did right and what it did wrong, when designing mythic rules? Are there any particular conclusions you drew?

Around what Challenge Rating range should one of the Whore Queens or Malebranche fall into?

I asked about Casmoran not Castrovel James, I know it is a first that it wasn't about Castrovel but still.

I believe Casmaron's association with psionics is mostly limited to Vudra, because back in D&D, psionics were linked to Hindu mysticism (yogis, etc.).

Who came up with the idea of Aroden, and what was the thought process behind his creation/development as part of the Pathfinder setting?

If a kyton (the standard one from the first Bestiary) wields a manufactured weapon, does it take a penalty on attacks with its chains? And if so, what feat (Multiattack, Multiweapon Fighting, etc.) should it take to reduce the penalty?

I don't remember there being any hounds of Tindalos in "The Whisperer in Darkness". Only mi-go in that story.

I hope the Leng article gives us some info on Unknown Kadath.

Many thanks :)

What gods, if any, do bugbears typically worship?

Do bugbears and hobgoblins revere the goblin hero-gods?

1. Does this require every member of a party to by mythic? How do you keep a mythic PC from overshadowing the non-mythic PCs?

2. This obviously doesn't work like epic rules, but does this mean that epic rules (ie, levels above 20th) are off the table for the future?

I have to be honest, if I can become a demigod at 10th level using mythic rules, I see no point in advancing to 20th without them.

I see this being an extremely useful PDF and completely useless physical book, at least for my personal use.

Really the only thing missing from kasatha to make them thri-kreen is the psionic flavor, and it would be very easy to design an alternate APG-style racial trait. I'm very pleased with this and would consider using it with Dreamscarred's psionics material.

Jam412 wrote:

Do the Kasatha have a place in Golarion?

Nope.

Well they certainly have a place in my Dark Sun campaign. ;)

Dragon Compendium was one of my favorite 3.5 sourcebooks. Shame y'all never got to publish any more volumes. Also a shame it's non-OGL. :(

I predict this book will spawn a thousand Blade pastiches.

The updated art is probably the first time I've seen an aasimar look badass.

Most depictions of the race focus on the "serene, peaceful" aspect of angels with an extra helping of whimsy, and IMO draws too heavily from Tony DiTerlizzi's Planescape art. Which was perfect for Planescape, but not for any other D&D/Pathfinder setting.

So, in a twisted way, the Qlippoth would be happy if every mortal would turn to the paths of purity and follow good gods wholeheartedly so as to never end up in the Abyss.

I don't think that qlippoth are even capable of understanding the concept of "good"; they turn to wholesale slaughter as it's all they know.