Creative Director
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Who is/was your favorite of the Thassalonian Runelords and what did you like best about them? (Story-wise, rather than the default x sin and y options.)
That's a really tough question. It's probably a four-way tie between Alaznist, Karzoug, Sorshen, and Xanderghul. But Zutha's in there too. Not Belimarius becuase that makes her more envious. And not Krune, cause I'm too lazy to get excited about him.
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Creative Director
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Hi, James.
I've been pronouncing the iconics' names in the following manners. Am I right? If not, how are they pronounced?
Amiri: ah-MIR-ee
Kyra: KEER-a
Sajan: SAY-jhan
Merisiel: meh-RISS-ee-el
Seoni: see-OH-neeDamiel: DAM-ee-el
Alain: uh-LANE
Imrijka: im-REE-ka
Alahazra: ah-la-HAHZ-rah
Balhazar: BAHL-hah-zar
Feiya: FIE-yahSeltyiel: SEL-tee-el
(All of the other iconics' names seem pretty straightforward.)
Thanks!
First off... folks in-house say these names differently, so the RIGHT answer is the one that feels right to you.
Another way to reveal the RIGHT answer is, though, to say them like I say them!
You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yah
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Creative Director
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Why do people believe Ayn Rand's pseudo-philosophy, especially on the internet?
Because the world is a big place with a lot of different opinions and beliefs.
And whatever your opinion... this kind of question is delving a bit too close to "Why do some people believe in something I don't... don't they realize they're wrong?" And I'd like to avoid those questions here since they're inappropriate and rude and hateful.
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Creative Director
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1)It looks like Occult Adventures will have info on the Astral plane and the Dimension of Dreams. So will it have any info about the First World, Ethereal plane, and/or Dimension of Time?
2)Now that the playtest has started, what class(or classes) are you most interested in and why?
3)Have you played as any of the OA playtest classes? If so wich one(s)?
4)Did you have any say to what the psychic classes would be? Such as concept, name, powers, etc.
5)How excited are you for the Occult Adventures book?
6)Will you be contributing to this book and not just as a editor and/or director? If so can you say what it will be?
7)What are your top 5 favorite psychic themed movies?
1) Unlikely. No First World stuff since that's not world-neutral. And the dimension of time is a place we're not all that keen to do much more with anywhere. There'll be some ethereal stuff. NONE of it will be Golarion-specific, but it should all be Golarion-applicable.
2) Dunno. I haven't had a chance to look at the playtest yet, and likely won't.
3) Nope.
4) Not much.
5) I'm eager to see if folks like a tight theme to a book rather than a generic "here's a bunch of new classes" book. The new classes are, in fact, the part of the book I am the LEAST interested in.
6) Nope. Likely not even as an editor, and as a creative director so far not so much either. It's very much in Erik Mona's hands in that category.
7) I've never really thought of movies in that category... but the first five contenders that come to mind would be...
Dark City.
The Conjuring.
The Shining.
Scanners.
Prince of Darkness.
Who is/was your favorite of the Thassalonian Runelords and what did you like best about them? (Story-wise, rather than the default x sin and y options.)That's a really tough question. It's probably a four-way tie between Alaznist, Karzoug, Sorshen, and Xanderghul. But Zutha's in there too. Not Belimarius becuase that makes her more envious. And not Krune, cause I'm too lazy to get excited about him.
Are we ever going to get more info on them, or perhaps another Runelord themed adventure path?
Like how..
You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yah
Are you aware that in Portuguese feia (FEY-yah) means ugly? I hope the translators catch that before translating that iconic's story.
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Creative Director
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Who is/was your favorite of the Thassalonian Runelords and what did you like best about them? (Story-wise, rather than the default x sin and y options.)That's a really tough question. It's probably a four-way tie between Alaznist, Karzoug, Sorshen, and Xanderghul. But Zutha's in there too. Not Belimarius becuase that makes her more envious. And not Krune, cause I'm too lazy to get excited about him.Are we ever going to get more info on them, or perhaps another Runelord themed adventure path?
Like how.. ** spoiler omitted **
I'm not done telling the Runelords' story. Not by a long shot.
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Creative Director
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You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yahAre you aware that in Portuguese feia (FEY-yah) means ugly? I hope the translators catch that before translating that iconic's story.
I am, but that information didn't come to my attention until after we'd posted her name, at which point it was too late to change.
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Creative Director
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With occult adventures adding psychic magic, which you've indicated is a requirement for working on Vudra based materials for Golarion, which classes from occult adventures do you see as defining the missing rules needed for Vudra products?
I don't know yet. Haven't had the chance to look through the playtest, and until I see the WHOLE book, I'm not gonna be able to make that call, since a lot of the background material beyond class abilities is what's ACTUALLY going to decide what elements will be at play in Vudra.
How much mind would a mindflayer flay if a mindflayer could flay mind?All of it.
Now that psychic powers are entering "Pathfinder," can you think of a good "stand in" for (non-open content) Mindflayers?
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Creative Director
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Now that psychic powers are entering "Pathfinder," can you think of a good "stand in" for (non-open content) Mindflayers?How much mind would a mindflayer flay if a mindflayer could flay mind?All of it.
Intellect devourers have kind of always been the implied stand-in.
They and mind flayers share a LOT of touchstones...
1) Similar name construction
2) Both have brain eating themes
3) Both dwell in the Darklands/Underdark
4) Both are from the early days of the game
5) Both have psychic/psionic powers
With Psychic Magic on the horizon, will we finally learn more about the mysterious continent of Sarusan? Also, Sarusan Iconic?
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Creative Director
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With Psychic Magic on the horizon, will we finally learn more about the mysterious continent of Sarusan? Also, Sarusan Iconic?
No.
Sarusan has little to nothing to do with psychic magic. The regions in our campaign setting that have a LOT to do with psychic magic are Vudra, the Darklands, and Castrovel.
Snip
What manner of timeframe are we looking at? I'm rather excited now.
Mr. James Jacobs,
How would a Medium from Occult Adventures be received in Rahadoum?
Do you think that it is high time to have a new darklands AP?
I am, but that information didn't come to my attention until after we'd posted her name, at which point it was too late to change.You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yahAre you aware that in Portuguese feia (FEY-yah) means ugly? I hope the translators catch that before translating that iconic's story.
I'd guessed "FIE-yah" because "Feiya" looks vaguely Germanic, and "ei" is pronounced "eye" in German.
We haven't really worked that out yet, and I haven't looked at the classes yet. Ask again in about 9 months.Mr. James Jacobs,
How would a Medium from Occult Adventures be received in Rahadoum?
New Runelords stuff!
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Creative Director
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New Runelords stuff!We haven't really worked that out yet, and I haven't looked at the classes yet. Ask again in about 9 months.Mr. James Jacobs,
How would a Medium from Occult Adventures be received in Rahadoum?
The Runelords are all about wizard specialty magic. They don't use any of the Occult Adventures rules.
The Runelords are all about wizard specialty magic. They don't use any of the Occult Adventures rules.New Runelords stuff!We haven't really worked that out yet, and I haven't looked at the classes yet. Ask again in about 9 months.Mr. James Jacobs,
How would a Medium from Occult Adventures be received in Rahadoum?
I fethed up and quoted the wrong post, it seems. I meant, we were talking about Runelords last night, my question was about when we would be seeing some of the new stuff you mentioned, apologies.
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Creative Director
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I fethed up and quoted the wrong post, it seems. I meant, we were talking about Runelords last night, my question was about when we would be seeing some of the new stuff you mentioned, apologies.The Runelords are all about wizard specialty magic. They don't use any of the Occult Adventures rules.New Runelords stuff!We haven't really worked that out yet, and I haven't looked at the classes yet. Ask again in about 9 months.Mr. James Jacobs,
How would a Medium from Occult Adventures be received in Rahadoum?
Oh! Sometime in the not-near future.
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Creative Director
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1)What do you think of a Ultimate Bestiary Book that twice as big as a normal Bestiary?
2)can you have a good god of Luxury?
3)How does Iomedae fell about men?
3)What is Kofusachi like?
1) I'd rather do a normal Bestiary and then do another Bestiary as a second book. Bestiaries shouldn't fall into the "Ultimate" line. That line implies player character resource, and a Bestiary is not a player character resource. Further... a book twice as big would cause burnout and stretch resources too thin and cost more than twice as much for anyone to buy and it would therefore be, in the end, very likely a failure.
2) Sure! Why not?
3) The same way she feels about women.
4) Beyond what we've said in Dragon Empires, we haven't said much more yet.
I believe that this has been covered somewhere but I cannot find it in the FAQ.
How do you divide experience when the party includes NPCs? i.e., do they get a share?
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Creative Director
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I believe that this has been covered somewhere but I cannot find it in the FAQ.
How do you divide experience when the party includes NPCs? i.e., do they get a share?
That's up to the GM. My preference is to ignore the NPCs; only PCs get XP shares unless one of the NPCs is a GM PC, which is something I prefer not to do.
However you want to pace the XP accumulation is the right choice though.
I asked you once if you've ever encountered something 2SPOOKY4U. You told me that you hadn't. Now that Halloween is over, have you ever seen something 2SPOOPY4U?Spoopy? No. I don't even know what that means.
I'm guessing that its something that was supposed to be scary, but ended up being quite bad. Troll 2 immediately comes to mind, although that movie's enjoyably bad in my opinion.
I come to this thread alot with campaign modification questions, and I really hope it doesn't bother you much. I really love to have input from the man who is the mastermind behind my new favorite fantasy world. So today I have a question regarding Rise of the Runelords...
My group is going to be returning to Sandpoint after halting Mokmurian's plans, at which point there's the big sinkhole in the middle of town and they get to meet the scribbler.
When this (mostly) same group first encountered Nualia, she went down with barely a whimper because they succeeded on some excellent stealth and bluff checks, and got to surprise round ambush her. Since she ended up going down so pathetically I really wanted her to make a comeback, and I discovered the Bone Priest from the Emerald Spire Superdungeon bestiary.
Bone Priest reads... "Bone Priests are undead servants of evil gods, condemned to continue serving for decades or centuries after death. In life, bone priests were acolytes or underpriests who failed at some difficult test or fell in battle against powerful enemies of the faith. Their dark gods have rewarded their fanaticism by giving another chance to demonstrate their worthiness."
My plan is for her to be 'called' to Xaliasa's shrine by Lamashtu, ressurected by her power, and to have a re-match against the PCs. So finally, on to the questions...
1) Does this seem to fit Nualia to you? I'd hate to pervert her character beyond what you think should happen.
2) Does the Bone Priest creature seem fitting for Lamashtu? I know she's not associated with undeath, but this seems a fitting style of deific vengeance. If the Bone Priest doesn't seem fitting, what about a Huecuva? They seem to be the best runner-up undead.
3) In your opinion, would Nualia's Lamashtu's Mark feat (the one which allows her to invoke her name to deal Charisma damage, etc) still be something Nualia could utilize? As an undead, she would have no Con score and it requires 13 Con to qualify for. On the other hand, as a servant of Lamashtu, I could see a case being made to allow an exception.
I look forward to your response, and as always, thank you so much!
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I am, but that information didn't come to my attention until after we'd posted her name, at which point it was too late to change.You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yahAre you aware that in Portuguese feia (FEY-yah) means ugly? I hope the translators catch that before translating that iconic's story.
For what's it's worth... It's not spelled the same way (there is no Y (or W) in Portuguese) and I believe it's pronounced slightly different due to how words are enunciated in English, but that is more about the speaker's accent than language...
There are worse examples of names with unfortunate translations to Portuguese... Like Count Dooku, from Star Wars. They actually had to change that one in the dub version of the films.
Besides, no matter what name you give a character... Chances are it means something unfortunate in at least one language out there!
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Creative Director
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1)How does Abadar view the Prophecies of Kalistrade?
He doesn't really notice or interact with them at all, but his church views them as friendly competitors and sometimes as allies, although their overly strict regimens prevent them from being as excellent of merchants as they could be.
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Creative Director
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Can you name some?Are there religious Universities and Colleges on Golarion?Yes.
Pretty much every temple of Nethys, for one thing. Several of Irori as well.
Korvosa's Acadamae has a fair amount of diabolism involved... it's not entirely a religious university, but faith in all things diabolic plays a part.
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Creative Director
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Does Minkai (or any of its sister nations like Jinin or Shokuro) have a sumo tradition? If so, is it segregated as a men-only sport like in our world, or are women recognized as legitimate wrestlers as well?
Haven't thought at all about this.
Were I TO think about it, I would say yes, they do have a sumo tradition that generally focuses on men.
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Creative Director
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My group is going to be returning to Sandpoint after halting Mokmurian's plans, at which point there's the big sinkhole in the middle of town and they get to meet the scribbler.
When this (mostly) same group first encountered Nualia, she went down with barely a whimper because they succeeded on some excellent stealth and bluff checks, and got to surprise round ambush her. Since she ended up going down so pathetically I really wanted her to make a comeback, and I discovered the Bone Priest from the Emerald Spire Superdungeon bestiary.
Bone Priest reads... "Bone Priests are undead servants of evil gods, condemned to continue serving for decades or centuries after death. In life, bone priests were acolytes or underpriests who failed at some difficult test or fell in battle against powerful enemies of the faith. Their dark gods have rewarded their fanaticism by giving another chance to demonstrate their worthiness."
My plan is for her to be 'called' to Xaliasa's shrine by Lamashtu, ressurected by her power, and to have a re-match against the PCs. So finally, on to the questions...
1) Does this seem to fit Nualia to you? I'd hate to pervert her character beyond what you think should happen.
2) Does the Bone Priest creature seem fitting for Lamashtu? I know she's not associated with undeath, but this seems a fitting style of deific vengeance. If the Bone Priest doesn't seem fitting, what about a Huecuva? They seem to be the best runner-up undead.
3) In your opinion, would Nualia's Lamashtu's Mark feat (the one which allows her to invoke her name to deal Charisma damage, etc) still be something Nualia could utilize? As an undead, she would have no Con score and it requires 13 Con to qualify for. On the other hand, as a servant of Lamashtu, I could see a case being made to allow an exception.
1) Bone priests are meant to be "reverse huecuvas" in a way. Undead spellcasters of a relatively low level. I don't think that they fit Nualia that well at all. It'd be better to either have Lamashtu bring her back to life, or to turn her into a demon in the afterlife and then send her back to replace/destroy the Scribbler, so that the PCs can encounter her there as, for example, a demon of your choice with all of Nualia's cleric levels. A demon that can change or disguise its shape works best; in fact, you can simply use the glabrezu already in the dungeon for this purpose.
2) Not really. Seems better for an undead themed deity like Urgathoa or an undead themed demon lord like Kabriri, Zura, or Orcus. Lamashtu's minions are classically demons or (living) monsters.
3) I wouldn't make her undead, and this is just one more reason why I would avoid it. An undead creature would not benefit (nor could it have) the feat.
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Creative Director
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I am, but that information didn't come to my attention until after we'd posted her name, at which point it was too late to change.You've got them pretty much down. The only one I say differently is Feiya: FEY-yahAre you aware that in Portuguese feia (FEY-yah) means ugly? I hope the translators catch that before translating that iconic's story.For what's it's worth... It's not spelled the same way (there is no Y (or W) in Portuguese) and I believe it's pronounced slightly different due to how words are enunciated in English, but that is more about the speaker's accent than language...
There are worse examples of names with unfortunate translations to Portuguese... Like Count Dooku, from Star Wars. They actually had to change that one in the dub version of the films.
Besides, no matter what name you give a character... Chances are it means something unfortunate in at least one language out there!
All part of the reason why we didn't make the change. It's close, but not exact, and so it's easier to keep the name than retcon it once it went public.
In any event... we DO try to avoid naming characters names that sound silly or offensive in ANY language... but we don't speak that many languages here at Paizo, and sometimes that sort of thing HAS to fall on the translators to fix.
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Does Minkai (or any of its sister nations like Jinin or Shokuro) have a sumo tradition? If so, is it segregated as a men-only sport like in our world, or are women recognized as legitimate wrestlers as well?Haven't thought at all about this.
Were I TO think about it, I would say yes, they do have a sumo tradition that generally focuses on men.
By "generally focused" do you mean it's not as segregated to the extent that female sumo are at least recognized and legitimate, as opposed to the real world where women are actively barred from the sport? More "not as common" than "not allowed?"
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All part of the reason why we didn't make the change. It's close, but not exact, and so it's easier to keep the name than retcon it once it went public.
In any event... we DO try to avoid naming characters names that sound silly or offensive in ANY language... but we don't speak that many languages here at Paizo, and sometimes that sort of thing HAS to fall on the translators to fix.
I don't believe it could be helped. I am from a region from Brazil called Bahia, we have a variant portuguese dialect that use a lot word from Africa's languages (mostly Yoruba). Here at my tables we can't take Abadar serious because Abadah is the name of a festive suit we dress to get into parties during carnaval (our festive season). Sarenrae sounds too close to Sarará (our word for bad afro hair). Varisia sounds too close to a varicose veins, so somepeople think that all Varisians have them.
In these cases you would prefer that we keep the original or create a close enough name ?
Ni hao James,
As per usual I'm here to pick your brains about a certain adventure path...
Iron Jocks Spoilers
Also: did Karamoss ever speak with, or at least became aware of Unity? Surely Unity was at least aware of his presence.
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James,
My players are just starting “Escape from Old Korvosa” and to kick things off they are going to a splendid dinner party hosted by the queen in Castle Korvosa. I suspect they will try to attack the queen (an event I will use to reinforce that they have no idea what they’re dealing with).
How advanced should Ileosa be at this point in the story?
1. Obviously she has the Crown of Fangs, but does she have any of her other badass items? (namely the Ring of Splendid Security, or her +4 Dancing Iceburst Rapier)Should I give her the cloak of flight that way the party’s monk can’t as easily sprint over and snatch the crown off of her head?
2. Has she successfully negotiated for the Devilbound template yet?
3. What level should she be? Aristocrat 1/bard 10 sound good?
4. Other than Grey Maidens and Red Mantis Assassins, has Ileosa managed to recruit Torgomor or any of her feindish minions? Has she created any False Ileosas yet?
Thanks!
P.S. Thank you for Curse of the Crimson Throne :D.