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So, just a personal question, but many of my friends are big fans of Sarenrae in this setting. I agree, there's a lot to like: healing, redemption, sun, and pretty much pure Neutral Good.

I was wondering if you think there are any shortcomings or weaknesses of Sarenrae? She seems to have her bases pretty covered in that her followers are pragmatic about using the blade if evil refuses to be redeemed, and not letting evil take advantage of their willingness to redeem and the like.

Also, what's up with the wheels? AFAIK, Sarenrae, Iomedae and Pharasma seem to have one. Is this just a minor trend among the god to have animated wheel servants?

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shintsurugi wrote:

So, just a personal question, but many of my friends are big fans of Sarenrae in this setting. I agree, there's a lot to like: healing, redemption, sun, and pretty much pure Neutral Good.

I was wondering if you think there are any shortcomings or weaknesses of Sarenrae? She seems to have her bases pretty covered in that her followers are pragmatic about using the blade if evil refuses to be redeemed, and not letting evil take advantage of their willingness to redeem and the like.

Also, what's up with the wheels? AFAIK, Sarenrae, Iomedae and Pharasma seem to have one. Is this just a minor trend among the god to have animated wheel servants?

All of our deities have shortcomings and faults; it's part of what makes them interesting. In Sarenrae's case, some might qualify her eagerness to forgive as a weakness, although she and her faith would not. The fact that her church is currently suffering a schism, with a significant number of her worshipers in Qadira having adopted a much more warlike and aggressive stance on her faith than is classically accepted for her is a great example of how this willingness to forgive gets folks angry—how can Sarenrae forgive an entire huge swath of her own worshipers for taking her teachings too far into the arena of war?

As for the wheels? That's just a recurring theme I suspect that was inspired by the presence of wheels in the Bible. Sean would know for sure. In any event, they're not REALLY animated wheels in every case. Sarenrae's "wheel" minion is just a fire elemental that appears in a wheel shape. We could have used the word "ring" or "hoop" or "halo" in that case. It's not really a for-real wheel.


Thanks for all the replies so far!

Another sort of fluff question I have:

In WotR, after the giant pulse sent out by the breaking of the Wardstone in the first part, what are the demonic armies up to? The AP says at certain points that Galfrey is trying to keep their attention to the south, but surely the combined armies of two demon lords could overwhelm whatever forces Galfrey can muster on such short notice?

Or was the recruitment for the Fifth Crusade just that massive?

Just looking for how you'd explain it! Thanks!


You've mentioned before your reluctance to utilize archetypes on NPCs, citing them as more of a PC only thing, save for some exceptions. I was wondering why this was? Do you feel that giving NPCs archetypes that it creates too much of a burden of knowledge or expectancy that a GM running that AP/Module/scenario has the books that the archetype is presented in?

For my part, I love giving archetypes where it's appropriate, as I think it really adds a lot of flavor and diversity to the base classes, and the archetypes were one of the first mechanical aspects of Pathfinder I fell in love with, rather than having 3.5s massive amount of base classes.

Obviously archetypes don't always fit, because having every single monster in a large encounter be something completely unique can bog down playtime. I'd just love some insight! :D


At what age did you start playing table top RPGs and what was the first system you played? Ever play Mordheim?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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shintsurugi wrote:

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Another sort of fluff question I have:

In WotR, after the giant pulse sent out by the breaking of the Wardstone in the first part, what are the demonic armies up to? The AP says at certain points that Galfrey is trying to keep their attention to the south, but surely the combined armies of two demon lords could overwhelm whatever forces Galfrey can muster on such short notice?

Or was the recruitment for the Fifth Crusade just that massive?

Just looking for how you'd explain it! Thanks!

The demonic armies are attacking other cities along the border, or expanding into the Mammoth Lords territory. Some of this was covered in the Pathfinder Society adventures that came out at that time.

But again... remember that the demons don't want a quick win. For the demons, the more drawn out their win is, the more suffering they cause their mortal foes to endure, and thus the more chances for sin to enter their lives, and thus the better chances there are of dead mortals turning into new demons.

AKA: It's the same reason lumberjacks don't cut down the entire forest at once.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Nargemn wrote:

You've mentioned before your reluctance to utilize archetypes on NPCs, citing them as more of a PC only thing, save for some exceptions. I was wondering why this was? Do you feel that giving NPCs archetypes that it creates too much of a burden of knowledge or expectancy that a GM running that AP/Module/scenario has the books that the archetype is presented in?

For my part, I love giving archetypes where it's appropriate, as I think it really adds a lot of flavor and diversity to the base classes, and the archetypes were one of the first mechanical aspects of Pathfinder I fell in love with, rather than having 3.5s massive amount of base classes.

Obviously archetypes don't always fit, because having every single monster in a large encounter be something completely unique can bog down playtime. I'd just love some insight! :D

The main reason is that the GM already has a lot on his/her plate. Adding new archetypes, or feats, or spells, or items to an NPC from different books makes that NPC more difficult to run. By limiting these options for most NPCs, it makes most NPCs easier to run by not only limiting the number of books the GM has to reference, but by increasing the chances that the GM's familiarity with the rules makes it likely that he/she won't need books open all.

FURTHERMORE: Archetypes are great at making a character unusual, but if EVERY NPC has them, then every NPC is different, and since there's no "norm" to base on... they don't feel unusual or notable at all.

While an archetype can certainly add flavor to a stat block... it's NOT necessary for a flavorful character. You can, in other words, make ANY stat block play the role of a pirate in an adventure without it having the pirate archetype. The players don't get to see the stats, so they won't notice either way.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Triphoppenskip wrote:
At what age did you start playing table top RPGs and what was the first system you played? Ever play Mordheim?

I started playing RPGs with the 1977 edition of D&D in 5th grade in 1982; I was 10 years old at the time.

I've never played Mordheim.


James Jacobs wrote:
[I started playing RPGs with the 1977 edition of D&D in 5th grade in 1982; I was 10 years old at the time.

About the same age as I was when I first played. I had the 1981 revision. I've never been a big fan of most of Game Workshop stuff but I really enjoyed Mordheim. It was much smaller scale than Warhammer so it was easier to give your characters a personality and your guys could level up so it had a role playing feel to it.

Grand Lodge

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Not sure how much a question this is or its importance to anything but,...

Someone started a Thread asking about all the "god" fish or whatever that must've come from the Starstone's influence in the, uh, 5 millenia(!) it rested on the ocean floor.

The thing that immediately jumped in my mind was your 20th Lvl adventure from Dungeon 92, "The Razing of Redshore" and its colossal, Awakened, god-like whale that the PCs have to deal with as they become Epic Level PCs.

So here goes:
Is there any chance at all that there's some "god-like" whale or something that got its spark of divinity from the Starstone ages and ages before Aroden lifted it and founded Absalom?


And is there a one-legged divine sea-captain in eternal pursuit of it?

Grand Lodge

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Now That would be cool!

(And I'm absolutely, officially, putting an Ahab-like, "Razing of Reshore"-inspired, druid / behemoth whale in the Inner Sea of my Homebrew.)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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W E Ray wrote:

Not sure how much a question this is or its importance to anything but,...

Someone started a Thread asking about all the "god" fish or whatever that must've come from the Starstone's influence in the, uh, 5 millenia(!) it rested on the ocean floor.

The thing that immediately jumped in my mind was your 20th Lvl adventure from Dungeon 92, "The Razing of Redshore" and its colossal, Awakened, god-like whale that the PCs have to deal with as they become Epic Level PCs.

So here goes:
Is there any chance at all that there's some "god-like" whale or something that got its spark of divinity from the Starstone ages and ages before Aroden lifted it and founded Absalom?

No.

Part of what made the Starstone Cathedral and the Starstone itself capable of doing what it does is the interaction of magic that resulted when Aroden raised it and the Isle of Kortos from the sea floor. It didn't "activate" until that happened. Until then, it was, essentially, dormant. Powerful magic to be sure, and it could well have caused some nearby denizens of the Darklands or the sea or wherever to perhaps gain the Advanced template or some other boost... but it didn't gain the power to ascend mortals until after it was raised.

There are plenty of other ways for adventures like "Razing of Redshore" to activate, though. And good times! Haven't thought of that adventure for a while! :-)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kajehase wrote:
And is there a one-legged divine sea-captain in eternal pursuit of it?

Nope.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James, are all the deity's that gained their power from the Starstone human before ascension? If so, is that a limitation of the Starstone? I was wondering if something about being activated via the God of Humanity has a part to play.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James, are all the deity's that gained their power from the Starstone human before ascension? If so, is that a limitation of the Starstone? I was wondering if something about being activated via the God of Humanity has a part to play.

Iomedae and Cayden were. Norgorber might have been, but he keeps secrets. It's not a limitation of the starstone at all. Anything could use it to become a god if they do the right things.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James, are all the deity's that gained their power from the Starstone human before ascension? If so, is that a limitation of the Starstone? I was wondering if something about being activated via the God of Humanity has a part to play.
Iomedae and Cayden were. Norgorber might have been, but he keeps secrets. It's not a limitation of the starstone at all. Anything could use it to become a god if they do the right things.

Giant White Whale God confirmed! :P

What's your opinion on random number generators in video games?


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1)Will we find out in the last volume of Iron Gods what the planet Androffa is like currently?

2)When will we find out all the 0HD races that will get some love in the Inner Sea Races book?

3)Will we ever see another Inner sea Bestiary or some other softcover bestiary like Tian Xia or Distant Worlds?

4)Will there be any more "revisited" and/or "unleashed" books next year?

5)So what movies have you seen lately?


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

pancakes or waffles?


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In-depth nerd questions about the Runelords' weapons of rule (And other Runelord-y things) incoming:

1. Krune's dragon-tooth longspear is detailed in "The Waking Rune", which very obviously has bone for the tip of the spear. Normally even magically-strengthened bone takes a damage penalty, but his spear does not. Oversight, or crazy Runelord magic?

2. In "The Dead Heart of Xin", Alaznist's write-up states that her adamantine ranseur has the skull of the first Runelord of Wrath impaled at the butt; "The Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth" states otherwise, saying that the first Runelord of Wrath was whisked away by a demon lord for a foolish promise and resorted to lichdom. Accident, or retcon?

3. Do you have the names of the other four original Runelords, and are they important enough to keep under wraps?

4. Any hints as to what "undocumented" skymetal Xanderghul's lucerne hammer is made of? I've always held that it's horacalcum since the metal is so rare that it was effectively undocumented (And it's technically the metal that embodies his sin.)

5. Sorshen's "double-headed guisarme"... One head at both ends? Wracking my brain on this one.

6. Belimarius' "memory-stealing halberd of gold and mithral"... Solid gold pole with a mithral head, or some weird mixture of the two?

7. Zutha's "life-stealing scythe made of bone": Technically not possible, by RAW. More crazy Runelord magic? :P

8. Earlier in the thread, you mentioned Belimarius was between Krune and Zutha in power. Considering Zutha and Krune are the same level, would Belimarius be a 17th level old female Azlanti abjurer?

And now I'm done. Whew...


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Mr. James Jacobs,

In the Lords of Chaos book there is the set of rituals that allows a mortal to turn into a demon sans the death and larvae part of the process. Could a the process be subverted, in your estimation, to allow a mortal to turn into a qlippoth? Probably not, but I thought I would ask.

Liberty's Edge

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James Jacobs wrote:
Samy wrote:

Any chance that Inner Sea Races, being a setting-non-neutral book, will finally provide an official rule that will allow for different races to pick a regional language as a starting language?

I mean right now, rules as written, an aasimar born and bred and lived all her life in Irrisen, cannot pick Hallit or Skald as starting languages unless she invests in Linguistics.

There's a chance, I suppose... but that's not something they've thought about I believe. I'll run it by the team that's working on the book.

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Tels wrote:
What's your opinion on random number generators in video games?

No opinion. They're a tool used to tell a story, and that means they can be good or bad.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Biztak wrote:
pancakes or waffles?

Pancakes. Absolutely no contest.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Dragon78 wrote:

1)Will we find out in the last volume of Iron Gods what the planet Androffa is like currently?

2)When will we find out all the 0HD races that will get some love in the Inner Sea Races book?

3)Will we ever see another Inner sea Bestiary or some other softcover bestiary like Tian Xia or Distant Worlds?

4)Will there be any more "revisited" and/or "unleashed" books next year?

5)So what movies have you seen lately?

1) Not in detail, but once the last book is out, I'll explain why it's not in detail if folks want, and can answer more questions about it.

2) Probably not until the book's released.

3) Maybe.

4) We've put the revisited books on pause for now; they're fun to do but sales suggested folks weren't as into them as they were other topics. We may well do more unleashed books but not at the rate we did the revisited books. We might do another revisited book some day in the future, but the more rapid rate of us publishing them is done.

5) The Book of Life (excellent)
Big Hero 6 (above average but not great)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (excellent)
Would You Rather (Surprisingly good!)
Attack on Titan (VERY VERY GOOD... but only 4 episodes in... no spoilers!)
The Damned (Started good but ended up bleh)
Sabotage (bad... one of the worst Arnold movies ever)
Mercy (terrible, despite retaining some but not all of the Lovecraftian elements of King's original story, "Gramma')

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

In the Lords of Chaos book there is the set of rituals that allows a mortal to turn into a demon sans the death and larvae part of the process. Could a the process be subverted, in your estimation, to allow a mortal to turn into a qlippoth? Probably not, but I thought I would ask.

There should and would and could be different rituals to allow a mortal to transform into ANY outsider race.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Ashram wrote:

In-depth nerd questions about the Runelords' weapons of rule (And other Runelord-y things) incoming:

1. Krune's dragon-tooth longspear is detailed in "The Waking Rune", which very obviously has bone for the tip of the spear. Normally even magically-strengthened bone takes a damage penalty, but his spear does not. Oversight, or crazy Runelord magic?

2. In "The Dead Heart of Xin", Alaznist's write-up states that her adamantine ranseur has the skull of the first Runelord of Wrath impaled at the butt; "The Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth" states otherwise, saying that the first Runelord of Wrath was whisked away by a demon lord for a foolish promise and resorted to lichdom. Accident, or retcon?

3. Do you have the names of the other four original Runelords, and are they important enough to keep under wraps?

4. Any hints as to what "undocumented" skymetal Xanderghul's lucerne hammer is made of? I've always held that it's horacalcum since the metal is so rare that it was effectively undocumented (And it's technically the metal that embodies his sin.)

5. Sorshen's "double-headed guisarme"... One head at both ends? Wracking my brain on this one.

6. Belimarius' "memory-stealing halberd of gold and mithral"... Solid gold pole with a mithral head, or some weird mixture of the two?

7. Zutha's "life-stealing scythe made of bone": Technically not possible, by RAW. More crazy Runelord magic? :P

8. Earlier in the thread, you mentioned Belimarius was between Krune and Zutha in power. Considering Zutha and Krune are the same level, would Belimarius be a 17th level old female Azlanti abjurer?

And now I'm done. Whew...

1) Magic can make things do all sorts of stuff. Including making ice, bone, or even light into a weapon that is very effective.

2) Accident. Alaznist's ranseur has a different Runelord of Wrath's skull on it, not the first. ALTHOUGH... liches rebuild their bodies once killed, so perhaps she killed him at one point and took his skull and let him rebuild!

3) I do not have the names yet, but will someday.

4) No hints yet.

5) It was originally intended to have two blades at one end, but an artist mix-up turned it into a one blade at each end and made it a double weapon. Which wasn't my intent, but it's the way it is now! ;-)

6) Mix of the two. And magical so that it functions without getting dull.

7) It's absolutely possible. If magic can make all the other things in the game, why cant' it enhance a scythe made of bone? It's not even crazy runelord magic. Just normal magic.

8) She's probably 18th level, but lower CR than Zutha, who's a lich and likely has some other tricks up his sleeve.


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James Jacobs wrote:

.....

Attack on Titan (VERY VERY GOOD... but only 4 episodes in... no spoilers!)
....

Glad you like Attack on Titan,

I've read the manga and seen the anime.
The manga is way farther along and reveals some big secrets, but I will not say what, as they would be Super Spoilers that folks should read on their own.

What do you think of the intro for Attack on Titan, and it's music?
Link to eng dub of intro.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

RHMG Animator wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

.....

Attack on Titan (VERY VERY GOOD... but only 4 episodes in... no spoilers!)
....

Glad you like Attack on Titan,

I've read the manga and seen the anime.
The manga is way farther along and reveals some big secrets, but I will not say what, as they would be Super Spoilers that folks should read on their own.

What do you think of the intro for Attack on Titan, and it's music?
Link to eng dub of intro.

The intro and music are fine. Not overly remarkable. It's the story that's impressive to me.

Radiant Oath

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

How big would the kingdom of a group of PCs get before it could be legitimately called an empire? Let's use the Kingmaker kingdom as an example. Assuming it encompasses the entirety of The Stolen Lands and has annexed Pitax, how much more territory would the PCs have to claim in order for the GM to decide it has grown beyond being a kingdom to become Golarion's newest empire?


New to this awesome thread and haven't been able to read all of it yet but a question(sorry if something similar has already been asked).

Let's say after you pass on in this life you find yourself reincarnated in Golarion. What species, class, background etc would you like to be? Where would you like to be born and into what circumstances? Assuming you remember your previous life and the details of Golarion what would you spend your life doing? What would be your goal?

Liberty's Edge

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Yuugasa wrote:
haven't been able to read all of it yet

Chuckle.


Samy wrote:
Yuugasa wrote:
haven't been able to read all of it yet
Chuckle.

It's over a thousand pages long=p


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James Jacobs wrote:
Ashram wrote:
<snip>

1) Magic can make things do all sorts of stuff. Including making ice, bone, or even light into a weapon that is very effective.

2) Accident. Alaznist's ranseur has a different Runelord of Wrath's skull on it, not the first. ALTHOUGH... liches rebuild their bodies once killed, so perhaps she killed him at one point and took his skull and let him rebuild!

3)...

On #2, considering by Alaznist's reign Alderpash would have been very (un)comfortably tucked away in the Abyss for at least a couple hundred years by Baphomet, I highly doubt Alaznist would have taken a field trip to the Abyss just to get a neato trophy for the butt end of her ranseur. :P

On #7, I meant the fact that by RAW you can't make a scythe out of bone, since you can't make a two-handed slashing weapon out of bone. Although I guess if you jerry-rig a wood handle and a bone blade like Krune's dragon-tooth longspear, you can get around that. I'll just chalk it up to "10,000-year-old wizards did it." ;)

Two new questions!

1. How was there an art mix-up for Sorshen's guisarme, considering it's never been depicted in official art?

2. Alaznist has been called an arcane knight before. Was that just for her enjoyment of using evocation, or did she actually wear armor? (You've mentioned before that she would not have levels in Eldritch Knight.)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
How big would the kingdom of a group of PCs get before it could be legitimately called an empire? Let's use the Kingmaker kingdom as an example. Assuming it encompasses the entirety of The Stolen Lands and has annexed Pitax, how much more territory would the PCs have to claim in order for the GM to decide it has grown beyond being a kingdom to become Golarion's newest empire?

That's not something that is really governed by population as much as it is the ruler calling himself an Emperor or herself an Empress, in my opinion. An "empire" of a dozen people has its own amusing and interesting story connotations, after all!

That said, one dictionary definition of "empire" is "a group of nations," so one kingdom in and of itself is not really something that could ever be called an empire, regardless of it's actual population.

But if the ruler decided to call themselves Emperor or Empress... that's all you'd need.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Yuugasa wrote:

New to this awesome thread and haven't been able to read all of it yet but a question(sorry if something similar has already been asked).

Let's say after you pass on in this life you find yourself reincarnated in Golarion. What species, class, background etc would you like to be? Where would you like to be born and into what circumstances? Assuming you remember your previous life and the details of Golarion what would you spend your life doing? What would be your goal?

Oooh! Elven bard in western Varisia! My goal would be FAME!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Ashram wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Ashram wrote:
<snip>

1) Magic can make things do all sorts of stuff. Including making ice, bone, or even light into a weapon that is very effective.

2) Accident. Alaznist's ranseur has a different Runelord of Wrath's skull on it, not the first. ALTHOUGH... liches rebuild their bodies once killed, so perhaps she killed him at one point and took his skull and let him rebuild!

3)...

On #2, considering by Alaznist's reign Alderpash would have been very (un)comfortably tucked away in the Abyss for at least a couple hundred years by Baphomet, I highly doubt Alaznist would have taken a field trip to the Abyss just to get a neato trophy for the butt end of her ranseur. :P

On #7, I meant the fact that by RAW you can't make a scythe out of bone, since you can't make a two-handed slashing weapon out of bone. Although I guess if you jerry-rig a wood handle and a bone blade like Krune's dragon-tooth longspear, you can get around that. I'll just chalk it up to "10,000-year-old wizards did it." ;)

Two new questions!

1. How was there an art mix-up for Sorshen's guisarme, considering it's never been depicted in official art?

2. Alaznist has been called an arcane knight before. Was that just for her enjoyment of using evocation, or did she actually wear armor? (You've mentioned before that she would not have levels in Eldritch Knight.)

Doubting what Alaznist would and could do is one of the ways she rose to such power over her contemporaries.

You can make a scythe out of bone in the real world. Therefore you can do the same in Golarion. This is a case where the rules are trumped by reality. A bone scythe might not be the most effective weapon in play, and might break easily or do less damage than a metal one, but once you enhance it with magic all bets are off. And even beyond that, it's a major artifact, like Karzoug's Burning Glaive... so anything is allowed anyway.

1) It has been depicted. Multiple times. It's even in miniature form. We first illustrated it in Inner Sea Magic, where the art for Sorshen came in too late to chagne. We then illustrated her again in Shattered Star #2, and she ended up getting a miniature in the Shattered Star minis set.

2) Unrevealed, but she probably did wear armor, yes. She was pretty militaristic. Probably the MOST military minded of all seven runelords at the time of Thassilon's fall. I doubt she wore heavy armor or even medium armor, but she likely wore light armor. Likely with the feats to help augment her spellcasting in said armor, or perhaps even with armor that was magic and allowed her to cast spells easilly in it.


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Hi James, here are a few random things I was curious about. Mostly about neutral outsiders this time.

(I'm asking all of these questions in regards to the Inner Sea setting)

1) Is the Boneyard itself a plane (like Elysium or the Abyss), or is it a location in a plane? Inner Sea Gods says it is located above the city of Axis (which is a city-plane, I guess).

2) The PRD usually lists Purgatory as the true neutral plane. Is this because it is setting neutral, or does Purgatory also exist in the Inner Sea setting?

3) Similar to above, what are neutral petitioners in the Inner Sea setting called? The PRD lists them as the "dead" and says they take the form of animated skeletons (outsiders rather than undead though). Is this also true of the Inner Sea?

4) Is there any relationship between Aeons and Psychopomps (for example, are psychopomps a type of aeon?)?

5) Is there a difference between the petitioners that turn into Psychopomps and those that turn into Aeons, or do they both come from the petitioner that is the answer to #3?

6) How devout would one have to be to become a Psychopomp rather than the stuff that makes up the plane? Would a relatively devout commoner follower of Pharasma become one, or would they have to be more noteworthy (like, say, a character with levels in cleric?)? I'm trying to get a rough idea of how populated the Boneyard would be.

7) Pharasma is mentioned as being very neutral in her judgements. Would anything cause her to hold souls back, even temporarily? Like if daemons or qlippoth were threatening to completely mess up the river of souls, would she resort to cutting off their reinforcements?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm trying to make a plane-hopping campaign in the Inner Sea setting and want to remain consistent. I'm rather new to Pathfinder, and have only played in a campaign set in a homebrew setting with few planes other than the material plane.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Dire Mosasaur wrote:

Hi James, here are a few random things I was curious about. Mostly about neutral outsiders this time.

(I'm asking all of these questions in regards to the Inner Sea setting)

1) Is the Boneyard itself a plane (like Elysium or the Abyss), or is it a location in a plane? Inner Sea Gods says it is located above the city of Axis (which is a city-plane, I guess).

2) The PRD usually lists Purgatory as the true neutral plane. Is this because it is setting neutral, or does Purgatory also exist in the Inner Sea setting?

3) Similar to above, what are neutral petitioners in the Inner Sea setting called? The PRD lists them as the "dead" and says they take the form of animated skeletons (outsiders rather than undead though). Is this also true of the Inner Sea?

4) Is there any relationship between Aeons and Psychopomps (for example, are psychopomps a type of aeon?)?

5) Is there a difference between the petitioners that turn into Psychopomps and those that turn into Aeons, or do they both come from the petitioner that is the answer to #3?

6) How devout would one have to be to become a Psychopomp rather than the stuff that makes up the plane? Would a relatively devout commoner follower of Pharasma become one, or would they have to be more noteworthy (like, say, a character with levels in cleric?)? I'm trying to get a rough idea of how populated the Boneyard would be.

7) Pharasma is mentioned as being very neutral in her judgements. Would anything cause her to hold souls back, even temporarily? Like if daemons or qlippoth were threatening to completely mess up the river of souls, would she resort to cutting off their reinforcements?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm trying to make a plane-hopping campaign in the Inner Sea setting and want to remain consistent. I'm rather new to Pathfinder, and have only played in a campaign set in a homebrew setting with few planes other than the material plane.

1) The Boneyard is a plane. It's our Neutral outer plane.

2) That's because "Boneyard" isn't a mythological place and we decided to avoid using any of our non-open proper nouns for the PRD. Boneyard and Purgatory are interchangeable synonyms, in other words... but if you use "Boneyard" in a book you publish, we can sue you. ;-)

3) They are called the dead.

4) No. Just as there are several different types of chaotic evil outsider races (demons, demodands, and qlippoth), there are several types of neutral outsider races (aeon, psychopomp, elemental). They don't have any relationship other than a shared alignment.

5) They'd both come from the same petitioner.

6) We talk about this in the Souls article in the last Mummy's Mask, but there's not an exact measurement of devoutness that you need to achieve. It's deliberately vague. The Boneyard isn't crowded with psychopomps though. Part of what makes it what it is is the fact that it's kinda empty overall, like a quiet spooky cemetery that goes on forever.

7) Nope. She wouldn't cut off "reinforcements" like that. That type of mentality requires someone to have an agenda beyond neutrality.


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1. Given that there doesn't seem to be a way to avoid receiving the spell, are Golarion celebrities, political officials, and other important folks constantly inundated by sending spells by casters with a bone to pick, or some fanboy love comments, or whatever else they might want to bother them with?

2. Do you play other systems for fun, or research, or whatever when you're not playing Pathfinder? If so, which ones?

3. How much do you know about the PF MMO? (I have more questions, but if you don't know too much, or don't want to answer for whatever reason, I understand.)

4. Is pimpin' easy?

5. Who was the first person in the company to actually say "So they're discontinuing 3.5...well, what if we just made our own game?" or whatever along those lines?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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thegreenteagamer wrote:

1. Given that there doesn't seem to be a way to avoid receiving the spell, are Golarion celebrities, political officials, and other important folks constantly inundated by sending spells by casters with a bone to pick, or some fanboy love comments, or whatever else they might want to bother them with?

2. Do you play other systems for fun, or research, or whatever when you're not playing Pathfinder? If so, which ones?

3. How much do you know about the PF MMO? (I have more questions, but if you don't know too much, or don't want to answer for whatever reason, I understand.)

4. Is pimpin' easy?

5. Who was the first person in the company to actually say "So they're discontinuing 3.5...well, what if we just made our own game?" or whatever along those lines?

1) No. Sending is a relatively high level spell, and as such it's not all that commonly cast. And the small subset of spellcasters who CAN cast it who are likely to be celebrity stalkers are even smaller.

2) Yes. I'm currently playing in a D&D Next game, and have always played Call of Cthulhu... but not as often as I want. I play other systems as well, usually as one-shot games.

3) I know quite a lot, but I don't know what is and isn't public knowledge, so I'm not the person to talk to about it.

4) Lame question.

5) Probably the first of us to hear that they were discontinuing 3.5, be it Lisa or Erik, not sure who.


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Have you ever been in a game (as a player or GM) where the players decide to deal with a group of bad guys with careful espionage and manipulation rather than just killing them all?

Idly got to wondering if you could deal with the Bastards of Erebus in Council of Thieves by tracking down their fences and getting them put away, allowing one of the PCs to infiltrate the Bastards as a new, high-end fence for them, able to safely move stuff too distinctive for their normal contacts to risk. Sure; it's not as quick and efficient as what the book assumes (a straight-out attack on their hideout, either stealthily or kicking in the front door), but it would be a hell of a lot more satisfying to lure them into a dotarii trap.

EDIT: Or have I just been watching too much Burn Notice and Leverage lately? :P


Must a Bloodrager with Superstition roll saves against his own spells? Spells he "applies" to himself with greater bloodrage and arcane bloodrage? Would you even allow a Bloodrager to take Superstition from RP standpoint?


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The Golux wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
The Golux wrote:

James,

Is there a reason that you know of, besides tradition, why Cone of Cold is two spell levels higher than Fireball and Lightning Bolt?

Two reasons come to mind.

1) By setting it at a higher level, it gets a higher damage cap.

2) It covers a LOT more area than a fireball or a lightning bolt. A fireball targets 44 squares. A lightning bolt targets only 24 squares. A cone of cold targets 96 squares.

1 only covers one level in my mind, Intensified Spell is a +1 metamagic that brings Fireball and Lightning Bolt to the same dice cap as Cone of Cold. 2 though... that makes a surprising amount of sense to cover the other level; I hadn't thought about it that way since lines and cones-of-half-the-length-of-the-line are used interchangeably for dragon breath weapons and I think a feat and/or magic item that affect the shape of channeling.

I always thought the less common TYPE of damage (Cold) might have been a factor as well. I mean, LOTS of things are immune to fire/lightning, less stuff has resistance to cold I think... No real direct mechanical benefit per se, but a potential tactical advantage. Plus, you can make snow in July, just point it up. Fun times.


thegreenteagamer wrote:

I noticed via a cursory thread-search (dude, this is WAAAY TL; DR to go through it all at this point) that there's no half-dwarves.

Why not? Not mechanical, but, in-world, why?

With half-elves, half-orcs, aasimars, tieflings, oreads, sylphs, undines, dhampirs, sulis, changelings, fetchlings, and ifrits ALL being descended from humans that banged outside of their species-type (not to mention the myriad of sorcerer and bloodrager bloodlines that result from watered down interbreeding), why is a half-dwarf so hard to believe?

Are we to believe humans, in all their diverse sexual conquests have never done the horizontal mambo with their shorter, broader compatriots? HA!

Or is it that, against all logic, humans are more compatible genetically with, for example, an ambulatory corpse than they are a creature that looks almost just like them but happens to be shorter and more dense? Is that why Dhampir but no Half Dwarf?

(My guess...they're so similar that a dwarf and a human just have either a dwarf or a human baby, kinda like the half-elf or half-orc with human conundrum. Moderate cop-out IMO, but still, it would be nice to know if there's another reason.)

I also want to know. In the Darksun setting back in an earlier version of D&D, there were 'Muls'... human/dwarf hybrids... Kinda miss those...


James Jacobs wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
4. Is pimpin' easy?

4) Lame question.

1. I'm taking it you were not a Chappelle Show fan? (Note - I almost went with "Is Rick James right vis a vis cocaine and it's drug status?" instead.)

2. Do you lament the loss of Futurama, and the fact that you will never join it's list of prestigious guest stars, such as Gary Gygax? (Gary Gygax - "I am..." *rolls a d20, looks at the results* "PLEASED to meet you." Al Gore - "Gary, put the dice away, or I'm taking them away!")

3. Your favorite dragon? Type? Oh, type within specific subtype (i.e. favorite metallic, favorite chromatic, etc) And specifically, your favorite named dragon from lore (your own lore counts)?

4. I have read you guys don't wanna do an anniversary edition of all the APs, cause you're concerned people will wait and not buy the originals. Makes total sense. But what about an updated, Pathfinder-RPG-ized version of the first few APs that were created for 3.5? Or the super old-schools, like Age of Worms and Savage Tide? You guys own that stuff, right? I'm sure there's a lot of us that would love to play that quality product without having to do a ton of conversions. Can we at least get an update of the 3.5 stuff to PF?


Sorry, more dragon questions. You shouldn't have made Dragons Revisited such an interesting read if you didn't want them. :-P

So, since dragons can reproduce with almost anything, it seems reasonable that they can with each other outside of their type, no?

Given their similarities in so many means, their unified interests, and their long-term relationships as mentor-protoge, are silver-gold unions a frequent, or even somewhat common thing? If not...really?! They're more apt to mate with a totally different base-species than someone with slightly different color scales? It's the hot-cold thing, isn't it?

What's the progeny of such a union? Flip a coin, or a hybrid of some kind that you're never going to stat up?

Oh, and I forgot in my earlier "what's your favorite dragon" set of questions...What's your favorite non-true dragon?

Liberty's Edge

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Electrum is a gold-silver alloy, and the word has a history with D&D, so I would suggest an electrum dragon. :)

The Exchange

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James, what's your favorite cantrip and why? Have you used it in a novel creative way?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Why didn't you tell me there was an Iblydan item in Lost Treasures?!

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