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Silver Crusade Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
If Pharasma was the most powerful, why form a multigod alliance when she could she just take Rovagug out herself?

Okay; found the reference.

Why? Well... gods are powerful, and being the MOST powerful doesn't mean you're powerful enough to directly oppose another deity.

To be fair, the source I found (Legacy of Fire) also says Gorum and Nethys were there, which seems like a pretty major continuity error. Or...

Does Gorum secretly predate the Age of Darkness, and the clash of orcs and humans?

What about Nethys? Was he a god before his involvement in Osirion's founding?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
thegreenteagamer wrote:
QuidEst wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
If Pharasma was the most powerful, why form a multigod alliance when she could she just take Rovagug out herself?
That assumes Pharasma has any reason to stop Rovagug.
She participated in the fight. The question really is, "Why did it take anyone else?"

Apologies to Mr. Jacobs for the non-question in his questions thread, but just because A is stronger than B doesn't mean A will win every contest.

For one thing, there are areas of influence where B will have enough advantages to win in an A or B battle. For another, sometimes things are close enough to be a draw. Sometimes the thing you're trying to do is harder (for example, trap someone in gaseous form without killing them) and so there needs to be a significant power differential. Finally, there might be costs to victory that Pharasma wasn't willing to pay alone.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Kalindlara wrote:

Questions, please. ^_^

Mr. Jacobs: is there anything you're looking forward to about Hell's Vengeance?

(Ideally, anything you can share. That means things that aren't necessarily spoilers, like themes or ideas or philosophies of gaming or whatever.)

Not off the top of my head—I'm actually not super involved in Hell's Vengeance at all, and am working on something else, and am much more looking forward to seeing Strange Aeons stuff at this point. Keep in mind that I'm months ahead of what the rest of the world gets to see about Hell's Rebels—Iv'e already seen all the new iconics, for example, and know some other things that it's not yet time to talk about...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Kalindlara wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
If Pharasma was the most powerful, why form a multigod alliance when she could she just take Rovagug out herself?

Okay; found the reference.

Why? Well... gods are powerful, and being the MOST powerful doesn't mean you're powerful enough to directly oppose another deity.

To be fair, the source I found (Legacy of Fire) also says Gorum and Nethys were there, which seems like a pretty major continuity error. Or...

Does Gorum secretly predate the Age of Darkness, and the clash of orcs and humans?

What about Nethys? Was he a god before his involvement in Osirion's founding?

Legacy of Fire is out of date and shouldn't be regarded as a reliable source on this topic.

Gorum's genesis is something we've been internally inconsistent about, and I'm not ready to say which one is right or wrong at this point.

Nethys was not a deity before Osirion. He more or less "replaced" Amaznen.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Berinor wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
QuidEst wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
If Pharasma was the most powerful, why form a multigod alliance when she could she just take Rovagug out herself?
That assumes Pharasma has any reason to stop Rovagug.
She participated in the fight. The question really is, "Why did it take anyone else?"

Apologies to Mr. Jacobs for the non-question in his questions thread, but just because A is stronger than B doesn't mean A will win every contest.

For one thing, there are areas of influence where B will have enough advantages to win in an A or B battle. For another, sometimes things are close enough to be a draw. Sometimes the thing you're trying to do is harder (for example, trap someone in gaseous form without killing them) and so there needs to be a significant power differential. Finally, there might be costs to victory that Pharasma wasn't willing to pay alone.

I already said as much... which is why it's good to not worry about answering for me. I'm active enough in this thread that I'll get to the questions... so let's not clutter it with extra chatter; thanks!

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
The heretics of Nocticula who worship her as the Redeemer Queen DO gain spells if they're clerics of Nocticula, provided they're chaotic neutral. Beyond that is too far.

In fact, the new Appeaser archetype for Clerics in Agents of Evil is PERFECT for such heretics! >:)

Now for a question! What's your opinion on nugs in Dragon Age? Cute? Ugly? Delicious?

Nugs are AWSOME. Schmooples forever!

Schmooples forever! :D

I'm debating between two prestige classes for a character: basically he's a "deserter" from Molthune who ran when his unit was massacred "Teutoberg Forest" style by Nirmathi ambushers, and he's looking to start anew as a mercenary far away from that war, eventually drawing other castoffs to him and remaking them into a disciplined and honorable fighting force. Statwise, he's a spearman, functioning best in a shield wall, but I'm not sure whether to make him an indomitable bulwark as a Stalwart Defender, or have him bolster his unit to new strength as a Battle Herald. What do you think?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
The heretics of Nocticula who worship her as the Redeemer Queen DO gain spells if they're clerics of Nocticula, provided they're chaotic neutral. Beyond that is too far.

In fact, the new Appeaser archetype for Clerics in Agents of Evil is PERFECT for such heretics! >:)

Now for a question! What's your opinion on nugs in Dragon Age? Cute? Ugly? Delicious?

Nugs are AWSOME. Schmooples forever!

Schmooples forever! :D

I'm debating between two prestige classes for a character: basically he's a "deserter" from Molthune who ran when his unit was massacred "Teutoberg Forest" style by Nirmathi ambushers, and he's looking to start anew as a mercenary far away from that war, eventually drawing other castoffs to him and remaking them into a disciplined and honorable fighting force. Statwise, he's a spearman, functioning best in a shield wall, but I'm not sure whether to make him an indomitable bulwark as a Stalwart Defender, or have him bolster his unit to new strength as a Battle Herald. What do you think?

Go with battle herald.


Just a quick little question.

I notice that a lot of creatures or societies (goblins, kobolds, Sakorian god-callers) tend to worship a lot of different creatures (cherfue, dragons, otyughs, mid or low powered fiends) as deities. Which don't and for the most part cannot grant divine spells.

Aside from coercion, why exactly would anyone worship a being that is obviously not a god?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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KaiserBruno wrote:

Just a quick little question.

I notice that a lot of creatures or societies (goblins, kobolds, Sakorian god-callers) tend to worship a lot of different creatures (cherfue, dragons, otyughs, mid or low powered fiends) as deities. Which don't and for the most part cannot grant divine spells.

Aside from coercion, why exactly would anyone worship a being that is obviously not a god?

First off... it's only if you're a cleric or warpriest that you need to worry about whether or not the thing you worship is an actual deity or demigod or quasi-deity able to grant domains and spells; there's not as much a need for that if you're an oracle, say, or even a rogue or a wizard (you don't have to be a divine spellcaster to worship something).

As for why someone might worship a thing that isn't a deity... coercion is one option, as you suggest. So is ignorance, tradition, or peer-pressure.


James Jacobs wrote:


Legacy of Fire is out of date and shouldn't be regarded as a reliable source on this topic.

Speaking of out of date sources, how old is Abrogail II, really?

A Council of Thieves source claimed

Quote:


Aberian Arvanxi was invested as lord mayor of Westcrown in 4689 AR, a position granted to him by Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II in "thanks" for years of embarrassment and failed plotting in the courts of Egorian.

But the timeline in Cheliax, the Infernal Empire, claims Abrogail was only born in 4692, assumed the throne in 4709 (when she would have been 17), and would be 23 in the current chronology.

Inner Sea Magic, published in 2012 when Abrogail would have been 20 in this chronology, had her listed as an Aristocrat 2/Sorcerer 16, which seems kind of young to hit that level.

What's the real deal?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Slithery D wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


Legacy of Fire is out of date and shouldn't be regarded as a reliable source on this topic.

Speaking of out of date sources, how old is Abrogail II, really?

A Council of Thieves source claimed

Quote:


Aberian Arvanxi was invested as lord mayor of Westcrown in 4689 AR, a position granted to him by Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II in "thanks" for years of embarrassment and failed plotting in the courts of Egorian.

But the timeline in Cheliax, the Infernal Empire, claims Abrogail was only born in 4692, assumed the throne in 4709 (when she would have been 17), and would be 23 in the current chronology.

Inner Sea Magic, published in 2012 when Abrogail would have been 20 in this chronology, had her listed as an Aristocrat 2/Sorcerer 16, which seems kind of young to hit that level.

What's the real deal?

The fact that she's an aristocrat 2/sorcerer 16 at such a young age is part of what makes her one of the most significant and important NPCs in the setting. It's not standard for a young person to be that powerful but when it happens, they tend to be movers and shakers. Queens of powerful nations, for example.

She is in her low 20s, in any event. It's kinda weird and awkward to nail down exact ages since we don't hard code time advancement into the setting—in theory, a game you start today begins with every NPC at the same baseline age as someone else who started a game 5 years ago and someone who starts one 30 years in the future.


Barrage of random questions time:

What's your favorite country on Golarion and why? What's the funniest thing about that nation?

Will Cayden ever fulfill his dreams of getting Shelyn and Calistria into bed with him?

What's the most mechanically cheesy thing your players have ever done?

How would the Mendevian Crusaders react to a nudist joining the ranks?

Have you played a game using Mythic rules? How did it go?

What's your biggest "I ****ed up" moment from the table?


James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Let's say I wanted a hair removal spell, because I totally do in real life. Would prestidigitation work? If not, what would?
Prestidigitation wouldn't work. You'd need to research a new spell, I suspect. A spell that's all about grooming or the like. Not a spell we're likely to ever publish, given the game's focus on fighting.

Were I to research it, would it be 0th level, or 1st? I'm hoping 0th.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Desril wrote:

Barrage of random questions time:

What's your favorite country on Golarion and why? What's the funniest thing about that nation?

Will Cayden ever fulfill his dreams of getting Shelyn and Calistria into bed with him?

What's the most mechanically cheesy thing your players have ever done?

How would the Mendevian Crusaders react to a nudist joining the ranks?

Have you played a game using Mythic rules? How did it go?

What's your biggest "I ****ed up" moment from the table?

Varisia, because it's the one I was most involved in creating. The funniest thing about it are probably the goblins.

Probably not.

Play a summoner.

With disdain and mockery and disbelief.

I used Mythic rules in the office game I ran, but the PCs didn't go above rank 2. It seemed to be okay, but the wealth of new options it allowed kinda felt a bit overwhelming and folks kept forgetting about it.

The time a GM and a player conspired to have another player's character assassinated and rolled all the dice for the fight in private.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Let's say I wanted a hair removal spell, because I totally do in real life. Would prestidigitation work? If not, what would?
Prestidigitation wouldn't work. You'd need to research a new spell, I suspect. A spell that's all about grooming or the like. Not a spell we're likely to ever publish, given the game's focus on fighting.
Were I to research it, would it be 0th level, or 1st? I'm hoping 0th.

Talk to your GM. Depends how you want to set it up, frankly... but there are certain creatures (korreds, white-haired witches) who use their hair as a significant weapon, while others gain armor from thick hair/fur... so a spell that removes hair could be pretty devastating for them, and as such it shouldn't really be 0 level.

Dark Archive

There's an extensive message thread about whether an archer with the snap shot feat would benefit from flanking an adjacent enemy with an ally wielding a melee weapon on the opposite side. What is your opinion on this? Should the archer receive the flanking bonus or flanking is strictly a melee-only option?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ckdragons wrote:

There's an extensive message thread about whether an archer with the snap shot feat would benefit from flanking an adjacent enemy with an ally wielding a melee weapon on the opposite side. What is your opinion on this? Should the archer receive the flanking bonus or flanking is strictly a melee-only option?

Flanking is melee only.


James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Let's say I wanted a hair removal spell, because I totally do in real life. Would prestidigitation work? If not, what would?
Prestidigitation wouldn't work. You'd need to research a new spell, I suspect. A spell that's all about grooming or the like. Not a spell we're likely to ever publish, given the game's focus on fighting.
Were I to research it, would it be 0th level, or 1st? I'm hoping 0th.
Talk to your GM. Depends how you want to set it up, frankly... but there are certain creatures (korreds, white-haired witches) who use their hair as a significant weapon, while others gain armor from thick hair/fur... so a spell that removes hair could be pretty devastating for them, and as such it shouldn't really be 0 level.

What if the target had to be willing, the spell took a minute to cast, and it couldn't affect stats?


What did you get your cat for Christmas?

Or do you get your cat presents for Christmas?


I was having an argument with someone on the subject of graveknight armor. Technically, their rules don't say that they have to wear it at all times, so they could in theory treat it just like a phylactery and hide it in a demiplane fortress or something. However, I feel like that really goes against the flavor of what their armor is supposed to be.
Any thoughts?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Let's say I wanted a hair removal spell, because I totally do in real life. Would prestidigitation work? If not, what would?
Prestidigitation wouldn't work. You'd need to research a new spell, I suspect. A spell that's all about grooming or the like. Not a spell we're likely to ever publish, given the game's focus on fighting.
Were I to research it, would it be 0th level, or 1st? I'm hoping 0th.
Talk to your GM. Depends how you want to set it up, frankly... but there are certain creatures (korreds, white-haired witches) who use their hair as a significant weapon, while others gain armor from thick hair/fur... so a spell that removes hair could be pretty devastating for them, and as such it shouldn't really be 0 level.
What if the target had to be willing, the spell took a minute to cast, and it couldn't affect stats?

I guess that's starting to feel more like a 0 level spell.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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captain yesterday wrote:

What did you get your cat for Christmas?

Or do you get your cat presents for Christmas?

Nothing, yet, since Christmas isn't here yet. She's certainly gonna get a trip with me down south, which she actually doesn't like (she gets car sick), so that doesn't count. She does generally get her own stocking though! That's kinda a Jacobs family tradition—that pets get stockings too. With toys and treats.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alset wrote:

I was having an argument with someone on the subject of graveknight armor. Technically, their rules don't say that they have to wear it at all times, so they could in theory treat it just like a phylactery and hide it in a demiplane fortress or something. However, I feel like that really goes against the flavor of what their armor is supposed to be.

Any thoughts?

The whole point of a graveknight is that it's an undead that wears armor, and once you have the graveknight put that armor aside... then why is it a graveknight? Just make it a juju zombie or a ghoul or whatever.

Sure, there's no rule saying a graveknight HAS to wear her armor, but that's the type of thing that rules-lawyers adore arguing—not even necessarily because the WANT to win the argument, but just because they enjoy pointing out quirks and fallacies and oversights in game rules.

But it seems goofy to me on many levels for a graveknight to not wear its armor, especially since that makes it easier to defeat AND easier for someone to find it's armor undefended and break it. It's nonsensical.

Best of luck with your argument, but it sounds to me like it's not one someone really want's to "win" as much as to "perpetuate."


James Jacobs wrote:
Shadowlord wrote:

A while back, you briefly described a scenario:

James Jacobs wrote:
Nope... what I described was merely an opening ambush type attack. Once a rogue stabs someone after he sneaks up on him, OBVIOUSLY (at least, I hope it's obviously) that victim will now know that the rogue is after him. At that point, the game assumes that the victim is keeping an eye on the rouge so that the rogue has to flank in order to keep doing sneak attacks. If there's concealment, a rouge CAN slip into hiding, but that DOES require a place for him to hide. He can't just "go behind the victim" because the victim is now aware of the rogue.
In a scenario like this one, with the rogue being observed, would he be able to just step into the concealment and roll for Stealth? He's still observed right? Wouldn't he need something to completely break line of sight like a bluff check, total concealment, etc...?

That's pretty much what I said in the quote. "If there's concealment, a rogue CAN slip into hiding..."

Concealment gives the rogue (or ANYONE for that matter) the opportunity to make a Stealth check. If she's successful, the person observing her loses track of her, and she can then make a sneak attack or whatever when she's next able to do so.

I understand Stealth has been getting beat to death, but these situations come up that cause major arguments and disruptions in game and seek to be resolved. In my case, here is my situation:

------------------------
The players entered a room. Enemies have confronted them and attack. One of the PCs is a Rogue. In later rounds, he leaps down into a pit where the enemies are and gets total cover behind two big pillars, adjacent to each other, from the enemies on the other side of the pillar.

According to him, because he is now "unobserved" he gets a free Stealth check and can then proceed to move around the pillars stealthing and get the drop on the enemies and attack with a sneak attack, as long as they stay where they are of course (and not come around the other side and spot him)

According to the way I have been interpreting the rules, since he has already been observed he cannot make Stealth checks even if he ends up gaining cover/concealment or even total cover/concealment (although total concealment assumes invisibility so let's drop that one). According to how I read the skill, he would have to create a diversion with the Bluff skill before he can then make a Stealth check.

If people are observing you using any of their senses (but typically sight), you can't use Stealth. Against most creatures, finding cover or concealment allows you to use Stealth. If your observers are momentarily distracted (such as by a Bluff check), you can attempt to use Stealth. While the others turn their attention from you, you can attempt a Stealth check if you can get to an unobserved place of some kind. This check, however, is made at a –10 penalty because you have to move fast.

In other words, no where does the rules say the moment you are out of completely out of sight of an enemy in battle, that they are no longer unobserving you and you can then make a free Stealth check so that they lose their Dex bonus to AC. This implies that anytime a PC gains total cover/concealment of any sort they make an auto-Stealth check and every enemy has to make their Perception. That is a ton of rolling if you ask me. Especially in forest environments for example.

It appears the rule is the only way to go from being "observed and moving to cover/concealment" to being "unobserved and allowing Stealth checks" is by using the Bluff skill to create a diversion.

Which way is the right way? Would my player, who moved behind the pillars granting him total cover, be allowed to roll Stealth immediately after? Or would he not be allowed to make Stealth checks because he failed to roll Bluff to create the diversion first?

It's been an intense debate and hope it can be somehow resolved. Otherwise, what is to prevent one from ducking behind a tower shield and then rolling Stealth and thus be "hidden"? Or close a door on an enemy observing him, gain Total Cover and roll Stealth and, assuming the enemy doesn't open the door, can simply open the door himself and make a sneak attack against the enemy?

EDIT: I also need to add in what would be the point of Hide in Plain Sight if all it takes is running into any sort of cover/concealment (even Total Cover) while being observed and being allowed to make the Stealth check?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Barachiel Shina wrote:
...talked about stealth...

The GM is the one whose interpretation of how the Stealth rules work should matter in any one game; it's her responsibility to make sure the game runs smoothly first of all, but also her responsibility to ensure that she's allowing Stealth to work now and then—not necessarily automatically, but also not nerfing it to death.

That should in all cases be the first and last word on it, and if she's doing her job right, the GM's players should trust her and respect her calls on Stealth.

Anyway... not interested in arguing/disecting how folks interpret the Stealth rules. That's a topic for its own thread or something over in the rules forums.

The easiest "right way" is to just assume that if the sneaking PC can afford to take a move action to be sneaky and use Stealth that she/he can make the check, then whether or not they're noticed depends on the result of the observer's Perception check. That DOES require the GM to be able to decide on a moment's notice whether or not it makes sense for the character to be able to hide, and that depends on all sorts of things to the extent that the player needs to just trust the GM's call, and the GM needs to not be a jerk and NEVER let the player roll Stealth.

Keep this in mind though: If at your table folks generally think the rogue is underpowered as a rule, consider the REASON for that may well be that the GM isn't playing fair and letting the rogue play her class the way it's designed. Of CORUSE a rogue is underpowered if the GM won't let her make stealth checks; for a rogue, stealth is often her armor AND her damage boost. A GM who constantly denies the rogue stealth is doing the same thing if he won't let a fighter wear armor or carry a weapon, or won't let a wizard cast spells.


Mr Jacobs,

I am thinking of setting my campaign in a small town in Varisia that i will create, so i would like to ask would it be odd for a town in Varisia to be about 1/3 Sarenrae worshipers?

Silver Crusade

Hi James,

1. Is there a published map of what the Inner Sea region looked like before the Inner Sea? I know of the maps in the Inner Sear World Guide and Lost Kingdoms, and while they extend borders into the Arcadian Ocean, the Inner Sea area itself is not shown. (Or more precisely, the Inner Sea is shown, with exactly the same shoreline we have in 4715.)

2. AP 57 states the Inner Sea is the newest sea, formed at Earthfall. Was there a sea of some sort before Earthfall? Or was there land there, and perhaps a kingdom south and east of Thassilon?

3. Are there any major sunken cities in the Inner Sea, such as Azlanti or Thassilonian cities? I'm aware the gillman have cities, they've built, presumably some on the ruins of prior cities?

4. Similarly, just before Earthfall were Jalmeray and Stonespine Island land-locked mountains, already islands, or something else?

5. Has an Aquatic Kingdoms Under the Inner Sea book been considered? As it stands, as far as I'm aware we know more about Aucturn the Stranger than we do about what's 20 miles offshore Absolom's coast and a few thousand feet below the surface of the Ocean.

Thanks, and I hope you have a joyous and serene holiday.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

JohnFaraday wrote:

Mr Jacobs,

I am thinking of setting my campaign in a small town in Varisia that i will create, so i would like to ask would it be odd for a town in Varisia to be about 1/3 Sarenrae worshipers?

Not at all. Sarenrae's faith is relatively common in Varisia.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ajaxis wrote:

Hi James,

1. Is there a published map of what the Inner Sea region looked like before the Inner Sea? I know of the maps in the Inner Sear World Guide and Lost Kingdoms, and while they extend borders into the Arcadian Ocean, the Inner Sea area itself is not shown. (Or more precisely, the Inner Sea is shown, with exactly the same shoreline we have in 4715.)

2. AP 57 states the Inner Sea is the newest sea, formed at Earthfall. Was there a sea of some sort before Earthfall? Or was there land there, and perhaps a kingdom south and east of Thassilon?

3. Are there any major sunken cities in the Inner Sea, such as Azlanti or Thassilonian cities? I'm aware the gillman have cities, they've built, presumably some on the ruins of prior cities?

4. Similarly, just before Earthfall were Jalmeray and Stonespine Island land-locked mountains, already islands, or something else?

5. Has an Aquatic Kingdoms Under the Inner Sea book been considered? As it stands, as far as I'm aware we know more about Aucturn the Stranger than we do about what's 20 miles offshore Absolom's coast and a few thousand feet below the surface of the Ocean.

Thanks, and I hope you have a joyous and serene holiday.

1) Nope. No such map yet exists.

2) It was mostly land, but with a significnat river or two, I suspect. The actual terrain isn't something we've nailed down yet.

3) There are some significant sunken/underwatetr cites in there, yes. Some in ruins, some not. Some abandoned... some not.

4) Those were probably islands at the time.

5) We touched upon this subject in a double-sized article in Skull & Shackles. There's a LITTLE bit more information about aquatic elves and some underwater stuff in a few other APs here and there, notably Shattered Star and Hell's Rebels. A full-on AP that has underwater elements is something I'd love to do some day, as would be a book that explored the underwater stuff, but the time has to be right for it. It hasn't been yet.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Do you folks keep an internal document with every named character's, well, name?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alayern wrote:

Do you folks keep an internal document with every named character's, well, name?

Not as such. When we've got every PDF we publish availalbe from any computer, so that, say, we can search for "Ameiko Kaijitsu" on the server and have that look through each and every released and yet-to-be released PDF, you don't really need an extra internal document with that info.

We DO have a style guide and a master timeline of in-world events for things that aren't necessarily all in PDFs though.

Liberty's Edge

Reflecting back upon your time playing 1st Ed. AD&D, did you adhere to the rules for demi-human class and level limits?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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HangarFlying wrote:
Reflecting back upon your time playing 1st Ed. AD&D, did you adhere to the rules for demi-human class and level limits?

Absolutely not. Hated level limits, and they were one of my favorite things to see go away, finally, in 3rd edition.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
HangarFlying wrote:
Reflecting back upon your time playing 1st Ed. AD&D, did you adhere to the rules for demi-human class and level limits?
Absolutely not. Hated level limits, and they were one of my favorite things to see go away, finally, in 3rd edition.

Did you keep the racial class restrictions (dwarves can't be magic users, etc.)?

Did you give humans anything extra to make them more attractive to play?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Dear Mr J... seasons greeting!

With the increasing interest in all things Lovecraftian and the forthcoming Strange Aeons.... Is there a chance the brilliantly thematic (but currently limbo'd!!) Dreamed Secrets will be tweaked to bring it inline with its intent?

Something along the lines of...

With each night’s rest, you can choose two spells from the wizard spell list, both of which must be at least 1 wizard spell level lower than the highest level divine spell you can cast. If you are a spontaneous caster, these spells are added to your spells known and class list for 24 hours. If you prepare spells, they are added to your class list for 24 hours and you can prepare these spells any time you do so within that time. Each time you attempt to cast one of the wizard spells you have chosen, you must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or take 1d2 points of Wisdom damage and fail to cast the spell, though you do not lose the spell.

I know publishing and politics is a murky combo.... but I still dont get why these kind of changes cant be implemented in approximately 74.7 seconds (the time time it took me to type the above!!)

As I'm a bit old, I dont get many presents, but I have an 11th level cleric of Mhar who would be very grateful for something nice in his stocking!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

HangarFlying wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
HangarFlying wrote:
Reflecting back upon your time playing 1st Ed. AD&D, did you adhere to the rules for demi-human class and level limits?
Absolutely not. Hated level limits, and they were one of my favorite things to see go away, finally, in 3rd edition.

Did you keep the racial class restrictions (dwarves can't be magic users, etc.)?

Did you give humans anything extra to make them more attractive to play?

A significant part of my homebrew was that I invented several dozen different variant races and subraces for players to choose, and I tried to spread out the options for classes and level limits a lot better. I generally kept the same themes (no dwarf wizards, for example) except if I felt that breaking a theme for a particular sub race would be fun.

If I remember correctly, I gave humans a free stat boost of their choice; this was before 3.5 actually did the same. I also had a demon-infused race a la tieflings before they came along—I called them kulgores and/or skavelings in my homebrew.

Grand Lodge

Hey James I have a number of questions if you would be willing to indulge me.

1. What type of slashing weapon is favored by the Monks of the Seven Forms from the nation of Taldor? Would they have access to some sort of trait that would let them use scimitars as monk weapons, or is it some other weapon?

2. Can Brijidine turn off their fire bodies so it's safe for them to touch stuff?

3. Who is your favorite Runelord?

4. Who do you consider the scariest Runelord?

5. What's your favorite adventure path that is currently out?

6. Are their any holidays on Golarion similar to Christmas? (Obviously not the Jesus stuff, but the family and gift exchange aspects.)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Silver Surfer wrote:

Dear Mr J... seasons greeting!

With the increasing interest in all things Lovecraftian and the forthcoming Strange Aeons.... Is there a chance the brilliantly thematic (but currently limbo'd!!) Dreamed Secrets will be tweaked to bring it inline with its intent?

Something along the lines of...

With each night’s rest, you can choose two spells from the wizard spell list, both of which must be at least 1 wizard spell level lower than the highest level divine spell you can cast. If you are a spontaneous caster, these spells are added to your spells known and class list for 24 hours. If you prepare spells, they are added to your class list for 24 hours and you can prepare these spells any time you do so within that time. Each time you attempt to cast one of the wizard spells you have chosen, you must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or take 1d2 points of Wisdom damage and fail to cast the spell, though you do not lose the spell.

I know publishing and politics is a murky combo.... but I still dont get why these kind of changes cant be implemented in approximately 74.7 seconds (the time time it took me to type the above!!)

As I'm a bit old, I dont get many presents, but I have an 11th level cleric of Mhar who would be very grateful for something nice in his stocking!

Nope; no plans to do anything with Dreamed Secrets. It's currently in anything-but-limbo in one of our hardcovers (Inner Sea Gods) so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. It is, in fact, in line with its intents, and I'm not seeing any difference between what you wrote above in italics and what appears in print on page 211 of Inner Sea Gods, so maybe I'm missing the point of the question?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Therrux wrote:

Hey James I have a number of questions if you would be willing to indulge me.

1. What type of slashing weapon is favored by the Monks of the Seven Forms from the nation of Taldor? Would they have access to some sort of trait that would let them use scimitars as monk weapons, or is it some other weapon?

2. Can Brijidine turn off their fire bodies so it's safe for them to touch stuff?

3. Who is your favorite Runelord?

4. Who do you consider the scariest Runelord?

5. What's your favorite adventure path that is currently out?

6. Are their any holidays on Golarion similar to Christmas? (Obviously not the Jesus stuff, but the family and gift exchange aspects.)

1) For Taldor, the falcata is the one that immediately comes to mind, but th

2) Yes.

3) Sorshen.

4) Alaznist.

5) Too hard to choose.

6) Yup; we don't call any one such festival out by name specifically as a gift-giving festival on pages 248–249 of Inner Sea World Guide though, but if I had to choose one, I'd probably pick Crystalhue.

Silver Crusade

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James Jacobs wrote:
HangarFlying wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
HangarFlying wrote:
Reflecting back upon your time playing 1st Ed. AD&D, did you adhere to the rules for demi-human class and level limits?
Absolutely not. Hated level limits, and they were one of my favorite things to see go away, finally, in 3rd edition.

Did you keep the racial class restrictions (dwarves can't be magic users, etc.)?

Did you give humans anything extra to make them more attractive to play?

A significant part of my homebrew was that I invented several dozen different variant races and subraces for players to choose, and I tried to spread out the options for classes and level limits a lot better. I generally kept the same themes (no dwarf wizards, for example) except if I felt that breaking a theme for a particular sub race would be fun.

If I remember correctly, I gave humans a free stat boost of their choice; this was before 3.5 actually did the same. I also had a demon-infused race a la tieflings before they came along—I called them kulgores and/or skavelings in my homebrew.

Actually the first I ever saw the free stat boost was in Pathfinder :3 (unless there's some 3.5 book out there I haven't read...)

How close/different are the kulgores to modern tieflings?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:

Actually the first I ever saw the free stat boost was in Pathfinder :3 (unless there's some 3.5 book out there I haven't read...)

How close/different are the kulgores to modern tieflings?

Huh... I guess you're right. I've been playing with free stat boosts for humans for a lot longer, so I lost track of when that first showed up in a print product, I guess.

The kulgores had all sorts of randomly rolled demonic powers and demon feats. Over the years, I've brought a fair amount of that stuff more or less into print in books like our "Blood of Fiends" and in WotC's heritage feats in Fiendish Codex I and in other locations, so today, they're pretty similar. At least, in-world, they're pretty interchangeable. Kulgores didn't have as much of a standard baseline as a tiefling, and they were ALWAYS demon spawn, so that's a pretty large difference I guess.

Silver Crusade

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James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

Actually the first I ever saw the free stat boost was in Pathfinder :3 (unless there's some 3.5 book out there I haven't read...)

How close/different are the kulgores to modern tieflings?

Huh... I guess you're right. I've been playing with free stat boosts for humans for a lot longer, so I lost track of when that first showed up in a print product, I guess.

The kulgores had all sorts of randomly rolled demonic powers and demon feats. Over the years, I've brought a fair amount of that stuff more or less into print in books like our "Blood of Fiends" and in WotC's heritage feats in Fiendish Codex I and in other locations, so today, they're pretty similar. At least, in-world, they're pretty interchangeable. Kulgores didn't have as much of a standard baseline as a tiefling, and they were ALWAYS demon spawn, so that's a pretty large difference I guess.

*grumble*grumble* Selfish T-Rex making us all suffer non-boosted hoomans until he gave us a gift *grumble*grumble*

:3

And neat, I really liked the Abyss heritage feats from 3.5 (and the Aberrent Blood ones from Lords of Madness)!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:
And neat, I really liked the Abyss heritage feats from 3.5 (and the Aberrent Blood ones from Lords of Madness)!

Ah, yup... the aberrant blood ones were also inspired by the variant Kulgore stuff as well, but also a bit from some stuff I'd been tinkering with for Unspeakable Futures mutations.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Mr Jacobs,

We've reach a point in Kingmaker where we need to travel to the Boneyard.

Are there any Entrances to the Underworld in the Stolen Lands/River Kingdoms area?

Or anywhere in Golarion for that matter?

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
And neat, I really liked the Abyss heritage feats from 3.5 (and the Aberrent Blood ones from Lords of Madness)!
Ah, yup... the aberrant blood ones were also inspired by the variant Kulgore stuff as well, but also a bit from some stuff I'd been tinkering with for Unspeakable Futures mutations.

Tease!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Queen Moragan wrote:

Mr Jacobs,

We've reach a point in Kingmaker where we need to travel to the Boneyard.

Are there any Entrances to the Underworld in the Stolen Lands/River Kingdoms area?

Or anywhere in Golarion for that matter?

If you mean static portals that connect Golarion to the Boneyard... I'm sure there are some here and there, but they're uncommon, and I can't think of any off the top of my head. Doesn't mean that there CAN'T be one wherever you want it to be—in this case, you've got a great opportunity to customize and expand your version of Golarion. If I were you, I'd take whatever adventure the PCs are about to go on and have the reason they go to whatever location is featured in that adventure not be because of the built-in reason, but because they learn there's a portal to the Boneyard in the area and need to get to it.


James, here is one...

And yes, I know Paladins are your least favorite class (no love... Sniffle :P) but my question isn't about Paladins...

My question is about the Anti-Paladin...

...

The name.

Why did you keep the name? That is a horrible name. It sounds... Ugh... If that was the one what won, what were the runners up?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

HWalsh wrote:

James, here is one...

And yes, I know Paladins are your least favorite class (no love... Sniffle :P) but my question isn't about Paladins...

My question is about the Anti-Paladin...

...

The name.

Why did you keep the name? That is a horrible name. It sounds... Ugh... If that was the one what won, what were the runners up?

We decided to keep the name because of nostalgia—it's a name that hearkens back to the early editions of the game. Further, we wanted to do a different take on the concept than D&D 3rd edition, which made the role into a prestige class and called it a Blackgaurd. We didn't want to "overwrite" that prestige class by recycling the name, and going with "antipaladin" for the nostalgia value seemed to be the best bet at the time.

At least, that's my understanding. I would have rather not done it at all, frankly, but instead update/adapt the blackguard prestige class, but it was Jason's call in the end so we went with Antipaladin.


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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
If you mean static portals that connect Golarion to the Boneyard... I'm sure there are some here and there, but they're uncommon, and I can't think of any off the top of my head. Doesn't mean that there CAN'T be one wherever you want it to be—in this case, you've got a great opportunity to customize and expand your version of Golarion. If I were you, I'd take whatever adventure the PCs are about to go on and have the reason they go to whatever location is featured in that adventure not be because of the built-in reason, but because they learn there's a portal to the Boneyard in the area and need to get to it.

Our need is the Queen was Quested while waiting in line at the Boneyard, by some apparition that looked somewhat godly, to bring something back to the Boneyard.

This occured after the Magister Disintegrated the Queen, but before the High Druid Reincarnated her carefully collected ashes. We're also hoping to bring back the General, who's now waiting in line. Plus, maybe get the Queen changed from a centaur back to a human.

That's next on our "to do list" before the next Council meeting.


James Jacobs wrote:

Nope; no plans to do anything with Dreamed Secrets. It's currently in anything-but-limbo in one of our hardcovers (Inner Sea Gods) so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. It is, in fact, in line with its intents, and I'm not seeing any difference between what you wrote above in italics and what appears in print on page 211 of Inner Sea Gods, so maybe I'm missing the point of the question?

Hmmm... I'd read from someone that due to....

FAQ

That the description for Dreamed Secrets (from pfsrd.com).....

Dreamed Secrets

Meant that a cleric of an Outer God/Great Old One (eg my 11th level Mhar cleric) would effectively have no use for the feat.... or does the wording mean that it is more a problem for a spontaneous caster(ie reference to spells known) rather than a prepared caster (eg a cleric)?

Thanks

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