Thank you answering my questions! I appreciate it!
How do the events in Council of Thieves affect Hell's Vengeance?
Is it possible that given the fact that lions live in Taldor that there are Taldan Knights riding lions?
Why are there so few new celestials in the recent bestiaries?
Do you plan on publishing an agents of good sourcebook since there's one for evil now?
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Thank you answering my questions! I appreciate it!
How do the events in Council of Thieves affect Hell's Vengeance?
Is it possible that given the fact that lions live in Taldor that there are Taldan Knights riding lions?
Why are there so few new celestials in the recent bestiaries?
Do you plan on publishing an agents of good sourcebook since there's one for evil now?
Council of Thieves doesn't really interact too much with Hell's Vengeance; the Westcrown that appears in Hell's Vengeance is a very different one from the Westcrown of Council, be it before or after that AP takes place.
There are no Taldan Knights riding lions. There might be some exotic non-human lion riders there, but Taldor's our closest analog to "classic Euro-fantasy" with knights on horses, and putting people on lions disrupts that.
Because good aligned creatures don't get as much mileage as evil ones. That's gonna change a bit once we get to Hell's Vengeance.
Maybe. Maybe not. The existence of one themed book does not guarantee others.
Since there is a Deaf Oracle Curse will we get a Mute Oracle Curse eventually as well?
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There are no Taldan Knights riding lions. There might be some exotic non-human lion riders there, but Taldor's our closest analog to "classic Euro-fantasy" with knights on horses, and putting people on lions disrupts that.
It didn't disrupt Arthurian myth with Sir Yvain, the Knight of the Lion! :P
On a more serious note, did serpentfolk have any traditions of Mesmerists or other Occult classes? I'm wondering how a Mesmerist PC might fit in to Serpent's Skull's themes that I've asked you about in the past (especially the "juxtaposition of physical strength vs. mental strength" you mentioned).
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There are no Taldan Knights riding lions. There might be some exotic non-human lion riders there, but Taldor's our closest analog to "classic Euro-fantasy" with knights on horses, and putting people on lions disrupts that.It didn't disrupt Arthurian myth with Sir Yvain, the Knight of the Lion! :P
As I recall it, the lion was his companion, not his mount.
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There are no Taldan Knights riding lions. There might be some exotic non-human lion riders there, but Taldor's our closest analog to "classic Euro-fantasy" with knights on horses, and putting people on lions disrupts that.It didn't disrupt Arthurian myth with Sir Yvain, the Knight of the Lion! :P
On a more serious note, did serpentfolk have any traditions of Mesmerists or other Occult classes? I'm wondering how a Mesmerist PC might fit in to Serpent's Skull's themes that I've asked you about in the past (especially the "juxtaposition of physical strength vs. mental strength" you mentioned).
The fact that I have no memory of Sir Yvain suggests that a lion-riding knight was never a big/memorable part of King Arthur stuff to me.
Serpentfolk are more arcane spellcasters than psychic ones, but I'm sure they had some psychics among their number. After all, the Darklands is one of the realms where that kind of magic is more common.
It is possible for PC's to add special weapon qualities to artifacts like Suishen or Tempest from Jade Regent and Legacy of Fire respectively, or is crafting on them beyond the power of mortals?
Also are there any printed analogues to ancient Latin american cultures? I know there are coautls out there and the catrina psychopomp is amazing, but I'm just itching to see more of my heritage inspired on Golarian!
It is possible for PC's to add special weapon qualities to artifacts like Suishen or Tempest from Jade Regent and Legacy of Fire respectively, or is crafting on them beyond the power of mortals?
Also are there any printed analogues to ancient Latin american cultures? I know there are coautls out there and the catrina psychopomp is amazing, but I'm just itching to see more of my heritage inspired on Golarian!
IANJJ, but Bestiary 5 has some new South/Central American Monsters: Succarath, Saxra, Encantado, and Peuchen.
Since there is a Deaf Oracle Curse will we get a Mute Oracle Curse eventually as well?Pathfinder #49. I invented one for a harpy character in the adventure I wrote.
Is it fully fleshed out so that any Oracle player can use it?
If not, is there a chance it will be?
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It is possible for PC's to add special weapon qualities to artifacts like Suishen or Tempest from Jade Regent and Legacy of Fire respectively, or is crafting on them beyond the power of mortals?
Also are there any printed analogues to ancient Latin american cultures? I know there are coautls out there and the catrina psychopomp is amazing, but I'm just itching to see more of my heritage inspired on Golarian!
Just as craftign artifacts is something a PC can do only if the GM allows it and (usually) only as part of the adventure's plot, the same goes for adjusting artifacts. That said... you as the GM should strongly consider either adjusting the physical nature of weapon and armor artifacts as needed so the PCs CAN use them... or at the very least, have the artifacts grant proficiency or the like in their use.
We've got quite a few monsters from central American mythology (the ahuizotl comes to mind as well but there are plenty more), but not a lot in the Inner Sea region that takes direct inspiration from those cultures. A little in ancient Ghol-Gan maybe (modern Shackles/Sodden Lands). There IS more though, over on the continent of Arcadia. We haven't done much with that region, save for an entry in Distant Shores.
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Since there is a Deaf Oracle Curse will we get a Mute Oracle Curse eventually as well?Pathfinder #49. I invented one for a harpy character in the adventure I wrote.Is it fully fleshed out so that any Oracle player can use it?
If not, is there a chance it will be?
It is indeed fully detailed.
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Do you have/is there a list of all the monsters that have been used in Paizo's published Pathfinder adventures, scenarios and modules?
I ask because I'd love to add some seldom seen monsters to a campaign i am planning as a change to the usual suspects :)
There is no such list. A list like that wouldn't really be that useful, other than as a curiosity. If you want to use seldom-seen monsters, your best bet is to either simply make such a list yourself (or ask the boards here if they can help), or even better, simply describe monsters differently to your PCs.
Use the stats for a dog, but describe it as a long-limbed rat-like creature with no tail, three eyes, and scales instead of fur and call it something like a "Mantis Lizard." Or use stats for a troll but describe it as something like a bald bear with nothing but a huge fanged fish mouth for a head and tentacles covered with talons instead of arms and call it a "Rending Lurker" or the like. Or even just have the PCs fight a group of things like stirges but have them be black and call them "Night Stirges." Re-skin monsters that see common use; use the same stats but different descriptions. Players will think that they're facing entirely new monsters you designed.
It is indeed fully detailed.Since there is a Deaf Oracle Curse will we get a Mute Oracle Curse eventually as well?Pathfinder #49. I invented one for a harpy character in the adventure I wrote.Is it fully fleshed out so that any Oracle player can use it?
If not, is there a chance it will be?
My apologies but I believe that is an incorrect statement. The Oracle Curse (Mute) that you gave to your Harpy Monster gives no info on what the Oracle would gain at 5th, 10th, or 15th levels. Furthermore, I cannot see anything that says that it's an option for an oracle to take as an Oracle Curse. It's simply a part of the monster's stat block. Am I wrong on this?
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My apologies but I believe that is an incorrect statement. The Oracle Curse (Mute) that you gave to your Harpy Monster gives no info on what the Oracle would gain at 5th, 10th, or 15th levels. Furthermore, I cannot see anything that says that it's an option for an oracle to take as an Oracle Curse. It's simply a part of the monster's stat block. Am I wrong on this?It is indeed fully detailed.Since there is a Deaf Oracle Curse will we get a Mute Oracle Curse eventually as well?Pathfinder #49. I invented one for a harpy character in the adventure I wrote.Is it fully fleshed out so that any Oracle player can use it?
If not, is there a chance it will be?
Ah; right. Had a proto-memory of it being a sidebar in an early version of the adventure, and had to take that out and turn it into the truncated form in the monster stats instead of cutting another encounter (I'd already had to photoshop out of the dungeon map about a half-dozen rooms to make the adventure fit, and didn't wanna excise another one). And unfortunately, I made the adjustment before I actually designed the whole curse, because I knew before it was written that I needed to adjust word count. When you're writing for an AP and you're a developer, you have the advantage of knowing insider info like exact word counts and the like so you can adjust as you go when you're writing and don't have to do the unfortunate trick of putting in many extra hours of writing content that will just be cut... but that does also mean you don't as often end up with "cutting room floor" bonuses left behind for later use.
It was and is an oracle curse—the harpy in question IS an oracle, after all. I wanted her to be one for the adventure's story, but that just made her TOO powerful for a low level adventure, and the mute element was specifically designed for her to soften the harpy song element and to make her more interesting. The original intent was to, as I said above, include a sidebar with full details for folks to use as well, but it's an adventure first and a player option book somewhere like fifth on the list of what an Adventure Path needs to accomplish.
That all said, you caught me at a good time, when I'm kinda procrastinating about starting an article for Pathfinder #110, and so here's what I would have presented for the curse if I'd had the room 50 some months ago...
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Someone needs to tag this and send it off to the PFSRD people so it is preserved for posterity! :)
==Aelryinth
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Someone needs to tag this and send it off to the PFSRD people so it is preserved for posterity! :)
==Aelryinth
It's hardly official, nor is it developed or edited, and frankly that's one of the reasons I try not to do this type of thing on these boards—this type of content can be taken WELL out of context and folks might think they're official rules. I can't stop folks, of course, but I'd rather not have it appear on the PFSRD or any such site, really... or if it DOES appear, it should be marked as homebrew content or whatever.
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It's hardly official, nor is it developed or edited, and frankly that's one of the reasons I try not to do this type of thing on these boards—this type of content can be taken WELL out of context and folks might think they're official rules. I can't stop folks, of course, but I'd rather not have it appear on the PFSRD or any such site, really... or if it DOES appear, it should be marked as homebrew content or whatever.Someone needs to tag this and send it off to the PFSRD people so it is preserved for posterity! :)
==Aelryinth
I'm not 100% certain but I believe when non-official stuff like this is put up on d20 not only is it boxed off from the "official" in-print ability but there's a sidebar alerting it as such.
Wait, wait, JJ.
You just said you included in an AP, it's in a monster's official stat blocks, it would have been formally presented in the AP except it got cut for room, which means it went through the creative and editing process...
Looks to me like the only thing it didn't go is get a stand out formal listing in a PF product, but literally got EVERYTHING else!
Am I missing something? Because being part of an official Paizo AP means it definitely isn't homebrew. Maybe a note to indicate "This Oracle Curse was never formally Printed, but here's the stat block for it cut from AP #49" I could see...
==Aelryinth
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Wait, wait, JJ.
You just said you included in an AP, it's in a monster's official stat blocks, it would have been formally presented in the AP except it got cut for room, which means it went through the creative and editing process...
Looks to me like the only thing it didn't go is get a stand out formal listing in a PF product, but literally got EVERYTHING else!
Am I missing something? Because being part of an official Paizo AP means it definitely isn't homebrew. Maybe a note to indicate "This Oracle Curse was never formally Printed, but here's the stat block for it cut from AP #49" I could see...
==Aelryinth
You are indeed missing something. Everything anyone writes for Paizo for publication, be it a first-time freelancer or the company's Creative Director, goes through the same process of development and editing. I'll be the first to admit that not everything that comes out of my head and through my keyboard into words on the screen is good—plenty is terrible. Most of the terrible I delete, but some of it gets fixed or deleted or whatever during the development or editing process. As is the same for EVERY writer.
What I posted above has not gone through that process. It is not content that got developed and edited and was then cut from a book. It was more or less stream-of-thought writing, raw from my brain to the internet. It hasn't been playtested, nor have I considered how the curse might interact with all sorts of other game elements (particularly psychic magic, which already doesn't care about talking).
What DID get into print was not a fully detailed oracle curse, but a monster special ability, and that's a much different thing.
AKA: All the 5th, 10th, and 15th level material I just wrote has only seen the light of day earlier TODAY, and wasn't previously published.
Nor has the harpy's ability, as written, been reviewed or developed in the context of it being something fully available for all players.
For a home game, which is the bulk of gaming, none of this really matters, since it's the GM who gets to say yay or nay to things, and who has the power to accept or deny new rules.
This is mostly me being worried in the context of PFS players trying to use posts on this thread in unsanctioned ways, or in the context of ANY player doing the same and using my position as Creative Director as a wedge against their own GM's authority.
And again... the amount of time it's taking me to describe all of this and talk about it is not only exceeding the time it took to design the rest of the curse in the first place, but is taking time out of my freelance schedule (and thus money out of my pocket), all of which is why I don't generally post design work here on this thread.
Anyway. Sorry about the confusion, and sorry in advance if the Oracle Mute Curse ends up causing problems in your home game or in PFS.
bleh
back to writing something that WILL be developed and editied, I guess...
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I'm not 100% certain but I believe when non-official stuff like this is put up on d20 not only is it boxed off from the "official" in-print ability but there's a sidebar alerting it as such.It's hardly official, nor is it developed or edited, and frankly that's one of the reasons I try not to do this type of thing on these boards—this type of content can be taken WELL out of context and folks might think they're official rules. I can't stop folks, of course, but I'd rather not have it appear on the PFSRD or any such site, really... or if it DOES appear, it should be marked as homebrew content or whatever.Someone needs to tag this and send it off to the PFSRD people so it is preserved for posterity! :)
==Aelryinth
Excellent. That's my understanding as well.
Aelryinth wasn't asking for that though. He was asking for it to be put on the official PFSRD, which is an entirely different thing.
Oh, alright.
I thought you were talking about a fully assembled product ready to go out the door, and it was time for chopping it down to size so it would fit to the printer...so the oracle material just got cut.
You're talking about something still in the pre-assembly phase, basically a raw turnover that never went through formal editing.
as for balance with psychic magic, I wouldn't worry about it, as 50 months ago, it wasn't an issue ;)
==Aelryinth
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I thought you were talking about a fully assembled product ready to go out the door, and it was time for chopping it down to size so it would fit to the printer...so the oracle material just got cut.
You're talking about something still in the pre-assembly phase, basically a raw turnover that never went through formal editing.
as for balance with psychic magic, I wouldn't worry about it, as 50 months ago, it wasn't an issue ;)
==Aelryinth
Correct, which I mentioned in the original post upthread you originally replied to... which is why I got so frustrated at your post.
And it wasn't 50 months ago. It was today that the content got designed.
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Are there any updates to be mad to Magnimar's "tourism department" so to speak?
Spoiler:With the Derexhi's all dying off expect Luma in the book Blood of the City, as well as the Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star events, and the couple of modules involving Magnimar directly, what updates would be made to someone trying to run an up to date Magnimar?
Is the city still expanding?
Is it looking to acquire more holdings?
Are adventurers being tasked to go into the irrespan to clear out all the monsters?
Is the Midnight Dawn making decent progress?
I have a lot of questions about Magnimar as I have made it the base for an entire homebrew Adventure Path. You don't need to answer all these questions, but would you be willing to answer more stuff about Magnimar if I kept on posting about it? I know that you have plans for the lost coast with future APs as well as Lamashtu and Pazuzu so I don't want to bother you. Thank you very much for your time.
Yes, it is still growing.
It is indeed looking to acquire more holdings, particularly to the east, and this expansion is part of why the city's in conflict with Korvosa.
The Irespan is generally NOT a place the city pushes adventurers to go, on account that they don't want foolish adventurers to rile up the denizens within.
The Midnight Dawn's progress (as well as progress of any faction in the city) is static. It doesn't advance until you play an adventure that involves them, or we write an adventure that does the same, and even then that progress doesn't happen in any one person's game until that adventure takes place. Golarion's timeline is not constantly growing and evolving as we create new content; it's static, with the vast majority of our non-adventiure content presenting everything at the same "starting point" for you to build off, and the vast majority of our adventure content being set at that same "starting point" and building out into an infinite number of possible futures.
I'd love to keep answering Magnimar questions, but questions about what lies in store for the city's future aren't ones that I'll be able to answer, since that's either tied to future products that may or may not be on the schedule OR should be left to individual GMs to craft as they wish.
But questions about the past, or current events, or NPCs, or locations in the city, or all the rest? Bring them on!
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More of a professional history question: how far did your work go on the 3.0 Warcraft III Player's Guide, and are there any lingering records or documents from that period? It was due to be published on Feb 2002/2004.
As I recall online, the work was joint between you and one Paul Peterson.
I finished work entirely on that project; it was going to be my first hardcover credit for D&D, but then WotC decided to get out of the licensed game scene (in part, I believe, to an under-performing Starcraft RPG project they'd just done, but I could be mis-remembering).
The project was in editing when it got cancelled.
My section was most of the night elf stuff, the sample adventure, the blood elf stuff, and a chunk of spells and monsters and orc stuff. All of this was a few years before World of Warcraft hit, of course.
They gave me a spiral-bound printout of the edited but not laid out complete book, which I still have around here somewhere, but the book itself was never published. WotC sent the files over to Sword & Sorcery studios and they went ahead and did their own d20 version. I got a thank-you credit on the front page, as did the rest of us who worked on the book, but the contents were pretty different at that point.
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Ok. So with that annoying set up, I understand the Midnight Dawn's goals and methodology, and how to involve them in a plot hook, but I am having trouble with the Forever Man's motivation.
Like why did he chose Magnimar over another city when he is an EXTREMELY powerful cleric who could go basically anywere he wanted with his extreme wealth.
I understand that he showed up right when It was being built, so was it just an opportunity to build a new underworld for himself?
What is his long term goal? Does he want to take over the city? Is he just evil for evil's sake?
Does his worship of Norgorber lead him to some nefarious plot to kill all the Noble Elite in a murder spree?
you don't need to answer all of these questions obviously, just help me as much as you can please.
He chose Magnimar because it's a relatively new city, and he wanted to get in on the ground floor. He's looking to the future, and is long-lived, and by taking control of the city's underworld (or at least getting a big chunk of it quickly) he establishes himself so that as Magnimar continues to grow in power and size, it'll be increasingly difficult to get rid of him. Furthermore, it's close enough to Vyre (which is more or less a "ground zero" for his faith) to be able to stay in contact easily but far enough away that he can do his own thing without worrying about other worshipers of Norgorber meddling.
He has no plot to kill nobles. Theives NEED nobles to steal from, after all, and if you kill them all off, you have to make your own mone the hard way.
His actual long term goal is still mysterious. Have it be whatever you want in your game. We may or may not ever do more with his goal in the future, but not anytime soon.
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It's a Welsh word meaning "star."What would be a good way to make the name "Serren" sound more Varisian?By changing the name entirely. "Serrin" sounds too much "sarin" as in the chemical weapon. To me, it's like naming someone "nuclear" or "mustard gas" and sounds weird.
Makes no difference to me, frankly. If anything, the fact that it's a Welsh word makes it even more inappropriate for a Varisian name, which should be more eastern european in flavor.
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solid. thanks. would a follower of ylimancha try to spread its faith through the fisherfolk and winged races living in magnimar? how would it cult perform missionary work? would there be a rival cult of Pazuzu trying to stop them? and who would make most sense as a leader of the cult to Ylimancha: a tengu? a converted harpy? a good syrinx?
There's not a lot of winged races at all in Magnimar, so a follower of anyone would likely not target "winged races" since that's not a demographic of note in Magnimar. There are plenty of fisherfolk who revere her in Magnimar though. They do indeed oppose Pazuzu's cult and see him as a corruption. They do their missionary work on an individual basis, preferring to focus on smaller fishing villages and towns. The most sense for leader would be human, since that's the dominant race in the region. A tengu doesn't really feel very appropriate, and an evil creature gone good would be a cool NPC for an entire story, but a terrible choice as a leader of the group. And syirnx is even worse, since they're not local AND they've not had enough time in the spotlight in play to establish their baseline in the first place for a good one to mean anything special.
Exactly how inspired by the Romani people are the Varisian?, Because I get the feeling "a lot."
I EDITed that, because I think the earlier tone seemed snarky, and I didn't want to seem disrespectful. It was merely inquisitive.
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Exactly how inspired by the Romani people are the Varisian?, Because I get the feeling "a lot."
I EDITed that, because I think the earlier tone seemed snarky, and I didn't want to seem disrespectful. It was merely inquisitive.
"A Lot" is pretty accurate. In the same way that Ulfens are "a lot" inspired by vikings.
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Hey James, when you are going through the skills for an NPC you made, do you use what the NPC's intelligence was for each level or do you just go by what their final intelligence score is?
Since skill ranks from Int are retroactive when you gain Int, it doesn't matter; the number is the same at the end. Thus, going by the final Int score is much much much easier.
What are your feelings about sriracha sauce?
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Hey James, when you are going through the skills for an NPC you made, do you use what the NPC's intelligence was for each level or do you just go by what their final intelligence score is?Since skill ranks from Int are retroactive when you gain Int, it doesn't matter; the number is the same at the end. Thus, going by the final Int score is much much much easier.
Holy s$$!, you just blew my mind. I have been doing it wrong for years.
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Off the top of your T-Rexian head, what countries are likely to have the strongest Shelynite influence? The first three that come to my mind are Andoran, Taldor, and Kyonin.
Andoran and Taldor for sure. Kyonin, not quite so much; she's still represented there, but the elves have their own goddess of art (Findeladlara) and that faith tends to make worship of the human goddess Shelyn not as common.
Remember that we do list common religions by region in each region's stat block in the Inner Sea World Guide though, so all that info SHOULD be at your fignertips. A quick flip-through of Inner Sea World Guide reveals that the following nations have a fair amount of Shelyn worship going on:
Absalom
Andoran
Galt
Sargava
Taldor
Of course an even EASIER way to get this info is to just check out Shelyn's entry on page 226 of the Inner Sea World Guide (although that entry accidentally leaves Andoran out as a typo).
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Holy s~~+, you just blew my mind. I have been doing it wrong for years.Hey James, when you are going through the skills for an NPC you made, do you use what the NPC's intelligence was for each level or do you just go by what their final intelligence score is?Since skill ranks from Int are retroactive when you gain Int, it doesn't matter; the number is the same at the end. Thus, going by the final Int score is much much much easier.
Yup; that's another change we made to the game when we went from 3.5 to Pathfinder.