Sketchpad's page

James Jacobs wrote:

No kaiju template ever. I did it once before, back in Dragon Magazine several years ago, and it took up about 8 pages and still wasn't perfect.

We WILL do kaiju as monsters some day... but they'll be a type of monster, similar to how behemoths and linnorms and demons and angels are types of monster. Each one will probably be a unique monster as well.

*stunned* Eight pages for one template? Do I even wanta hint as to what was involved in this?

Well... there were 3 sample stat blocks... but the fact is that a template that not only moves a creature up to Colossal in size but ALSO gives it all sorts of weird new powers is gonna be complicated. If only because it more or less requires adding Hit Dice and multiple size category changes and other stuff... by which point you might as well just make them unique monsters for all the work you're asking someone to go through to build the template in the first place.

"In an age of wonder...until the Crystal cracked!"

Glad you got the reference. ^_^

"In an age of wonder...until the Crystal cracked!"

I am very thankful that Paizo was kind enough to focus on NeoExodus: A House Divided and all the great that has been done by the likes of JP Chapleau, Jonathan Matthew Palmer, Jeff Erwin and Chris Field that made this happen.

I've updated the box image and description, and added sample cards. A complete card list will be added soon.

The complete list of included cards in this deck is now up!

I've updated the box image and description, and added sample cards. A complete card list will be added soon.

James Jacobs wrote:

And in truth... I actually like half-orcs. Had I my druthers... there'd be no dwarf iconic, and we'd probably replace Harsk with a half-orc. But people like dwarves too, I guess... ;-)

You know, you're okay in my book, James, no matter what the others say about you ;) I'd gladly take a Half-Orc over a Dwarf any day :)

This looks like my kind of book ... any chance we might see a random appearance table in it?

We did just that in the original article on tieflings in Pathfinder #25 that significant portions of this book is based on. So... yup!

Beckett wrote:

Can we skip the pirate one and go right to this?

No.

But when folks tell us they want the new AP instead of the one that's not yet come out before it... that's one way we can tell we're doing SOMETHING right.

Hopefully, by the time we announce what's coming after Shattered Star, you'll want to skip Shattered Star in favor of that new AP.

So you're releasing a Distant Worlds AP after Shattered Star! Cool!

Also, I thought originally it was going to be "The Shattered Star." I don't care overly much, but it would have made acronyms simpler. Now Shattered Star will have to be ShS or SSt or something.

My only complaint is that it names the ant people also known as the Formians..... and no stats for them in the Beastiaries 1 to 3.

or atleast none that I saw.... mind you I could have missed it...

The fact that formians haven't shown up in a bestiary yet is a known issue, and one that will be addressed soon.

So, it's not a feature, it's a bug (buh-dum PSHT!).

While I can't promise anything, let me just say that the idea of a Distant Worlds player companion has been heard, and is busy percolating... I'll see what I can do....

Good thing the Player Companion line is going monthly so it has more room for awesome products. ;)

While I can't promise anything, let me just say that the idea of a Distant Worlds player companion has been heard, and is busy percolating... I'll see what I can do....

Also, a quick thank-you: This thread has really given me a lot of insight into what people want. For instance, I had no idea that folks would be so keen on getting official stats for all the humanoid alien races, hence my decision to make the monsters in the back of the book some of the crazier specimens (rather than the ones that can be reasonably modeled by making slight variations to the basic core races). Clearly I was mistaken! It's possible that, down the road, we'll go ahead and stat up all the basic planetary races, especially if there continues to be vocal support for it. At the moment, unfortunately, it's not on the schedule.

You've given me a lot of food for thought, though!

Clearly a Distant World's Player's Companion needs to be added to the schedule. ;)

I'm assuming the Behemoth's are the kaiju that they were going to have in the bestiary? If so, then I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the book.

Originally, behemoths AND kaiju were scheduled to be in Bestiary 3. When we started working on the kaiju template, though, I came to the decision that a template isn't a great way to handle kaiju—I did a similar thing back in the 3.5 days for Dragon, and that template ended up being several pages long and STILL didn't cover everything I wanted it to.

As a result, my take on kaiju is that they should NOT be templates. Like dire animals, kaiju should be hand-built as a type of monster (likely magical beasts), which lets us get into the personalities and histories and other flavorful stuff about them in ways that a template would not allow.

Kaiju, as a result, are not in Bestiary 3. I have plans for them, but not plans I can say much more about quite yet.

There's a man in a fez and bowtie telling me I can't.

Let's move the discussion about this product to its product thread.

I would love to see a Gamma World done well, myself.

I might be hard to please, though, as I don't think that there has been a good edition of Gamma World since the first edition. (Just an opinion! :) )

Steve Geddes wrote:

Yeah, I just don't understand why "we're not going to make pogs, but we're seriously
looking into pawns" isn't enough.

Because this is exactly how a business executive would say 'We have considered a more affordable alternative, but would rather not deter anyone from the more expensive option.'

It's also how a business executive would say "we're working out stuff like the exact makeup of potential products, and what the manufacturing costs and possible price points might be for said products." You know, the sorts of thing we have to do before we actually know whether a product makes any business sense or not.

For everyone who’s planning to pick up the Beginner Box, we've got great news. We’ll be releasing a new version of Hero Lab that’s designed exclusively for the Beginner Box before Christmas. The even better news is that we’ll be offering it for FREE!

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For GMs out there, we’ll also be including monster stats from the Beginner Box and the GM Kit, giving you all the information you need to quickly create your NPCs and encounters. Hero Lab’s Tactical Console will also be available to help you run encounters during the game. Cut down your preparation times and spend more time playing!

Hero Lab for the Beginner Box will be available on both Windows and Mac. Stay tuned for future announcements on our website and newsletter as we get nearer to officially releasing this new tool before the holidays.

I'm not sure how much interest there would be but it might be cool to have a place to discuss published articles or even pitch ideas. Just a thought.

Keep in mind that neither Paizo nor Wizards of the Coast are likely to post in this thread any secret future plans, so everything posted in here is going to be pure speculation, based on pure speculation.

So when you feel like disagreeing with someone (and you probably will, I can tell it has the potential to be that kind of thread), keep in mind that it's just their opinion. They're no more privy to the truth than you are.

And when you post your awesome idea that Paizo absolutely must do or else we're going to go out of business, please have faith in Lisa, Erik and the rest of us that we got to this point because we're not stupid.

Tian Xia has a whole country crawling with nagas. I'm really looking forward to see what the lads do with it. I just finished proofing a chapter of Dave Gross's upcoming Master of Devils novel featuring a martial arts team from that region, so the bar he sets is pretty high.