1: I also haven't seen the old Who episodes, but the online info on the great intelligence made it clear enough for me. The white-faced minions were just other thought forms of him (which is why he could just pop into at will, and why they disappeared when he entered the time stream). The random prisoner knew about the doctor stuff because the great intelligence used him as a trap basically, knowing the information would get to the Doctors friends. As for how it could travel through time and space, it wasn't a flesh and blood entity, but a being of mind, and could probably ignore a lot of rules of reality
2: My impression was that the GI was just plain tired of having every plot and attempt at power thwarted by the Doctor, including plans that future incarnations have probably interfered with. The GI wanted to end its life in the way that would punish the doctor in the worst way imaginable.
I also don't think its cannon that GI is a Great Old One...I know some of the novels have dabbled with mixing Lovecraft and Who, but the show hasn't and that is really the cannon that matters
3: Agreed...Madame Vastra's wife should have stayed dead, at the very least
4: To each there own...at least part of the motivation was remembering stuff that happened from being in the Tardis tomb. I don't find this a failing of the writing but more a problem of having only 6 episodes with the character, and more time being devoted to her mystery than to her personality.
your 2nd post:
1: The GI was subtly messing with things, not straight up attacking the different incarnations. We see at least one instance of her helping...she suggested first Doctor take a different Tardis than the one he was going to. I assume most of the fixes she was involved in were minor butterfly effect circumstances
2: She wasn't navigating...she was splintered into a million versions throughout the timeline
3: Does she always die? Those two circumstances yes, but to be honest she was really in many ways already dead in Asylum.
4: This I admit was a bit confusing...although it didn't much bother me.
Irrisen getting buried in snow doesn't seem like such a problem to me. I live in Laramie and we don't get much snow, but do get the cold temperatures. We still end up with snow loss even on very cold days, due to dryness, plus I assume Irrisen still gets sunny weather, which would be enough to melt snow even if it's below freezing.
Also the snowfall might not be all that bad, and many of the major populations centers might be near areas that don't get much. Drifting patterns could also explain things...wind might cause snow to build up in certain areas but not others. And even with all that, you can still remove snow...snow removal might be big business in parts of Irrisen.
It was better than I thought it would be...I actually liked that I was spoiled on the Khan reveal, as I would have been more irritated with all of J.J. Abrams denials had I found out during the movie.
Spoiler:
Although the magic blood at the end was lame. I didn't for one second believe they would kill off kirk, so the long emotional goodbye there seemed pointless, other than just a nod to Wrath of Khan.
I suspect the same problem that I had with the last Abrams Trek will probably emerge. I enjoyed it while watching it, but a couple of weeks from now I will be hard pressed to remember much about the movie at all.
Minor annoyances:
Why the hell are there no ships around the Klingon or Federation home world? You think both races would invest in some sort of defense grid or at least have ships stationed and monitoring local space. Modern day USA has a better controlled airspace than that present during Federation rule
And really...The federation has no dedicated warships? I get they are peaceful for the most part, but how the hell have they kept from being conquered?
I think I recall them mentioning that they have had to "break up" that pattern in the past when a planned for AP didn't work out they way they intended.
I think that is why we got the Pirate and Journey to Tian Xia APs back to back.
There isn't a Rat King yet, but like the Namazu and some others Wesley said that the Rat King is on the list, so its probably in bestiary 4 or maybe it comes in a AP bestiary soon?
I do hope the Rat King would be a little bit more than just some normal rats that are merged together with their tails.
I hope they are intelligent alien rats that are merged together in horrid, distasteful ways.
I don't think the list you keep referring to is the list of creature in Bestiary 4, but rather a list Wes keeps of monsters to sometimes stat up. That could mean hardcover bestiary, but could also mean campaign setting, AP, etc. And it could mean statted out this year or 4 years down the line
In Distant Worlds, space travel is set up more through stargate like portals and technology-based space ships. It's less a fantasy take of space travel than one that draws it's tropes from classic science fiction/pulp
a "landscape turtle" though by it's nature needs to be large or colossal. Looking at a distant mountain or hill and then see it get up and walk away is part of the appeal of such creatures (the same way as fish or turtles who are so big they can be mistaken for an island, only for them to sink underwater)
having something that amounts to a pile of dirt walk away = not very impressive.
Actually the Blood war between devils and demons doesn't really exist in Pathfinder. Also it's debatable how much Asmodeus was actually kicked out of Hell...although so far we have only his side of the story.
I will support the early post. Sarenae is pretty much the archrival of Asmodeus, as she was the protege to Asmodeus's brother, who he murdered, and whose place she took.
If they get the rights back and then invest money into doing a big screen awesome looking adaptation of Dragonlance (or the Drizzt books), than I think they will make a fortune. Serious fantasy is in right now, and people will pay to see awesome dragons and medieval battles (see the LOTR movies, which were insanely successful, and didn't just attract book fans).
That said, neither proposed movie has any talent behind it that makes me optimistic, and Hasbro seems more interested in brainless action flicks than producing anything else, so I see that being the biggest problem.
An even better example of relevancy is if Shattered Star becomes cannon, than the Magnimar book is already out of date, since A good chunk of the city is taken out by a Tsunami, and a lost Thassilonian city now sits offshore. That all happens as part of the AP, not just a hypothetical possibility depending on if the PCs win or not.
I think you can carefully advance the timeline like they did in Shattered Star (by being vague and only advancing things when necessary). Entire inner sea cannon advancement is going to render a lot of stuff current product unsellable.
But I am working on the idea that we really don't know how Wrath of the Righteous ends
My guess is that the PCs take on Deskari, but does that mean if they win the Worldwound would close?
That would be a HUGE Change, since it would basically completely change a region of the world. Sure there would still be demons and much of the landscape would be tainted by the energies of the Abyss, but there would no longer be a new influx of demons, and people could realistically resettle and fight back the evil.
But we don't know if that will happen. Perhaps killing Deskari just creates chaos and a power vaccuum. The crusaders would have a respite as other demon lords or nascent demon lords jockeyed for power, and infighting within the enemies ranks would provide a respite for the crusaders. If the worldwound remains open, which might very well happen, then the actual layout of the inner sea might not change much.
Don't like anything published in a Paizo product? Rewrite it at your table, or spend your money elsewhere. Maybe try letting Paizo know by telling someone who works there instead of identifying yourself to the community as someone incapable of taking a marker to your own books. (And Paizo'll probably politely accept and discard your reasoning anyway as long as they're making enough money and/or believe they're doing the right thing in the end.)
The only value in threads like this one is to populate ignore lists.
So you're basically saying...
Don't like rogues? - rewrite it.
Think pally's are OP? - change it.
Believe color spray should be level 2? - house rule it.
Certainly there'd be fewer discussions. Oh wait, you've participated in many of these type of discussions.
Changing, say the sexual orientation or gender of a character, versus house-ruling classes, spells, etc is not comparable. If you don't like a character because of his orientation, the only thing you need to do is ignore him (if its a minor character), don't bring up the orientation with your group, or just change the gender to something you are comfortable. I would guess most GMs make far far more radical revisions to APs and modules than what I listed above, so why should this be such a huge problem.
to back up a bit...I never got a sense that people didn't like Shattered Star because it advanced the timeline, but because people didn't like reporting to the Pathfinders, or didn't like the repetitiveness of the dungeons, or people thought it was too traditional.
although at this point I wonder what if anything this has to do with Wrath of the Righteous....
Honestly, it sounds like whoever wins, we are going to be stuck with a crappy (if big budget) movie. I don't have much hope for a DnD movie written either by the Wrath of the Titans movie, or by the guy behind the Fast and Furious series.
The only vaguest sense of hope I have for such such a movie is that the success of Game of Thrones and the Hobbit might at mean we get a fantasy movie aimed at adults without heaping loads of cheese.
Yeah I got the feeling that Shane Black wanted to do an action movie, not a action superhero movie.
Spoiler:
How else to explain that even Rhody spent very little time in the suite, or how easily he was captured as Iron Patriot.
Although it's funny...given that the movie's focus was the idea that Tony Stark was a the super hero and not iron man, which was completely undercut at the end. Tony needed to be saved by a super-powered Pepper Potts, which kind of felt as if they were saying...well...Tony does need the suits after all
Angels/archons and devils might both appear in prayers, but they are not going to offer the same thing. And Angel will offer you what you need, not necessarily want. If you want power, wealth, influence, or just good old fashion revenge, a devil is more than happy to provide you with the means.
As far as why gods don't just smash everything if they don't draw power from mortals, well consider the following.
As mentioned above, mortal souls provide the troops and minions of the goods. Cut off the supply and you can not replenish your ranks in any sort of outer plane war, and you weaken your position.
Also many gods started off as mortals...they might maintain the status quo out of simple sentimentality.
Lawful evil understands that, so that is why they don't more actively smash worlds, preferring to orchestrate schemes that allow mortals to exist. And at least some lawful evil gods may actually be deluded enough to care about mortals in a strange sick fashion. Zon Kuthon wants to "improve" mortals, not wipe them out
Good doesn't intervene more directly...because Good is about helping people, not destroying/subjugating them.
Neutral gods probably don't care enough.
That really only leaves the neutral evil and chaotic evil gods. Some of those probably aren't powerful enough to challenge other dieties. Look what happened when Aolar ticked off Desna. Others have to worry about rivals in their own plane (see Lamashtu and Pazuzu, or demons and Qlippoth).
I mean, occasionally you get a destructive god hell bent on ruining everything. But those gods bring down the wrath of all the other gods, even those who are neutral or evil. Look at the cosmic throw down that happened when Rovagug tried to annihilate everything. No god wants to be imprisoned or killed if he/she/it can help it.
I think in a low magic world, the chance of a undead spawning another of it's kind is also much reduced. Normally, except for maybe those people who are evil or greedy, a person that is killed by a shadow just dies, and doesn't create a shadow.
Not RAW but that is probably how I would deal with those sorts of problems. That and make them naturally rare and limited to very specific locations.
Although Lizardfolk are neutral, correct? So I don't see why you couldn't have lizardfolk being raised by other lizardfolk.
There Xenophobia is a bit justified, given that they have mostly been pushed off into swamps, deserts, and other environments that the other races are less interested in. Raising up Lizardfolk with human-focused gods and trying to "civilize" them strikes me a bit too much as what happened to Aboriginal peoples in Australia and the new world.
Although that COULD make an interesting adventure hook right there...
Generally I have had mixed feelings on past Alluria Publishing bestiaries, but I would say the Bestiary section in Azure Abyss is solid gold, and their best yet.
I wasn't aware that economic success was the the only way we defined quality. In that case McDonald's is the best restaurant in the world, and Michael Bay's Transformer movies are a superior work of film than Schindler's List.
Missandei...who in the books is something like 10-11 years old. There is more of a mother-daughter vibe between those characters in the books, but obviously thats not a direction they are taking with show Missandei.
Not sure if I spelled her name right...going off of memory.
Scutosaurus is a pareiasaur, which belongs to a basal clade of reptiles. It MAY be a distant relative to turtles, although it is more likely some oddball that left no descendents
I don't think it is big enough...I think it would just be a giant aberration. For that matter, based on what I remember, it didn't strike me even as that high of a CR creature.
I suspect each Kaiju will need two pages because, just like most of the really powerful creatures, their stat block is so long it's nearly impossible to do them in one page
Err...if psychic powers are not magic, than what are they? I would say anything that is supernatural or otherwise not grounded in science (which despite some claims, psychic abilities are not) is magic.
Paratrooper goblins sounds hilarious...especially since if they are anything like Golarion goblins, I imagine a good chunk of any raiding party forgetting their packs/pulling their chords
if the landmasses/island don't all float on the same level, you could have whole cultures of scavengers that basically live off the jetsam discard from those above them. Might make a great angle to take with goblins
I actually think that stuff would be better applies to a book separate from the Bestiary. A monster codex or ultimate monster book. Bestiaries should be focused on statting up new creatures for GMs to use.
I actually think, as a race, that Aeons actually would be considered insane by mortal standards. They are so devoted to balance that they are beyond such lesser concerns as chaos, order, good, and evil.
An Aeon could make an effective enemy. Imagine Aeons coming in and knocking over a nation because it was too "peaceful". Or barging in and slaughtering people en mass, because there wasn't enough death. Or even goals more esoteric. I could also see one functioning as an NPC that the PC has to negotiate with, and which might send the party on a weird mission that the group doesn't understand.
I haven't had a chance to use an Aeon in a campaign, but if I had an NPC Aeon I would probably play it like the Weaver from Perdido street station.
Besides, like I said I like Psychopomps, but outside of Pharasmin and a small group of other people who either spent there life looking after others or were just morbid, it seems an odd fate for a petitioner to end up as if they were true neutral.
I like the psychopomps and am glad they finally got into a bestiary...they are probably IMHO the best original outsider race that Paizo has created. That said, the Neutral alignment is probably the broadest of the alignments, and there is more than enough room for psychopomps, Aeons, and plenty of more outsider groups. I too hope for more Aeons...and more proteans as well.
I personally don't really expect Paizo's take on psionics to be any more extensive than a sorcerer archetype/bloodline, myself.
We have heard time and again that places like Vudra can't really be done until some sort of psychic magic rules are created, which makes me doubt it would just be a sorceror archetype/bloodline. I think in the "ask James Jacobs" thread he outlines that such a system would require several new classes, which would be themed to be similar to different types of psychics in fiction/pop culture.
Although another recent comment suggested that any psychic magic rules might be bundled up into some other rulebook...
With Pathfinder's version of epic coming out this year, I wouldn't be all that shocked if a book incorporating psychic magic wasn't part of this years Gencon announcement...
It sounds like psychic magic, if it ever comes out from Paizo, will be a different enough take that I don't see the Dreamscarred Press version of Psionics being compromised or rendered obsolete.
That is disappointing...the DnD formorians I always thought were rather lame when compared the actual versions from legend. Maybe at some point we could get them under their alternative name, Fomor.
So did the gazeteer get changed from one focused on just the borderland between the skyfire mandate and the evil dragons, to now one for all of Triaxus?
I think you could do the Raven Mocker as an undead creature. Honestly in most folklore, the line between witch/undead is pretty thin, and the Raven Mocker has already appeared in tons of fiction as a spirit or demon
