1)What is the best place to get food by where you live?
2) What is next after Ultimate Combat?
What's the difference between an ethnicity and a subrace?
In all the time I've been admiring Paizo's mutual 3rd party support, it never dawned on me to ask this question until now; what would be a second party publisher?
What's your opinion on winged player races?
Would you allow the Intensified Spell feat to apply to magic missile and scorching ray? Both spells do more damage with higher caster level, but they aren't in the standard one-die-per-CL format.
Also, have you ever made an on-the-spot ruling in one of your games which lead to a player's death, then discovered afterwards that the rules were the other way? And if so, did you reverse the death?
Creative Director
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I suppose I could ask a question or two since I haven't asked one in a while.
1. What is the likelihood of Paizo developing a race with some kind of shapeshifting ability? (Note: I'm thinking more along the lines of a Doppleganger's Change Shape ability)
2. If the answer is close to zero or unlikely, what guidelines would you suggest for making such a race? I have my own ideas, but I would like to hear yours.
1) If you're talking about an official "this is for PCs" race? Not very likely. If you're talking about a race that has shapechanging powers... we've already done so. And not just with dopplegangers. There's the faceless stalker, for example.
2) Shapechanging is a game-changing power. Having seen it in play at a baseline with Eberron's changeling race, my suggestion would be to prepare for an entirely different style of game play. Personally... I think that a shapechanging race isn't a good idea, because it makes it too difficult for particular PCs to become "characters" if they're constantly CHANGING character all the time. Honestly... shapechangers make better villains than they do good guys.
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Creative Director
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Would you allow the Intensified Spell feat to apply to magic missile and scorching ray? Both spells do more damage with higher caster level, but they aren't in the standard one-die-per-CL format.
Also, have you ever made an on-the-spot ruling in one of your games which lead to a player's death, then discovered afterwards that the rules were the other way? And if so, did you reverse the death?
Where's Intensify Spell from again? I'm not all that up on the late 3.5 feats anymore... My gut reaction at this point would be to NOT allow it, since you phrased the question in a "I know this is too good, but if I can get away with it, yay!" ;-)
I've made plenty of on-the-spot rulings in games I run to intentionally break rules to keep PCs from dying. I can't remember ever doing the opposite, but I'm sure I have. If I did... I absolutely positively reverse the death. It's not cool if the GM makes an error that ends up killing a PC. Whenever a PC dies... my rule of thumb is to twist the rules if possible to allow a last minute grasp at life unless it's such a cut and dried case of obvious death that there's not really much room for interpretation.
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Creative Director
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What's the difference between an ethnicity and a subrace?
In all the time I've been admiring Paizo's mutual 3rd party support, it never dawned on me to ask this question until now; what would be a second party publisher?
What's your opinion on winged player races?
An ethnicity doesn't alter any rules. A subrace alters some or all of the racial traits.
A second party publisher would be a publisher that has the license to produce official product. Paizo was a second party publisher for D&D when we were doing Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Anything a second party publisher creates has to be approved by the first party publisher. Currently, we don't have any second party publishers. (Although some of the Golarion content in Kobold Quarterly comes kinda close.)
Winged player races are neat. I wrote up the avariel for 3rd edition, in fact, as part of my work on Races of Faerun back in the day. On Golarion, the Strix could make cool PCs as well. That said... if you let flying PCs in your game, you should let ALL your players play that race, and you shouldn't try to nerf the flight just because you still want pit traps.
In games I run, I generally WON'T let players play flying races, as neat as they are, since I like pit traps and old-school game play too much. Also... Conan and the Gray Mouser and Arya Stark can't fly, so why should the PCs be able to?
... Conan and the Gray Mouser and Arya Stark can't fly, so why should the PCs be able to?
That's a hell of an adventuring party right there.
Where's Intensify Spell from again? I'm not all that up on the late 3.5 feats anymore... My gut reaction at this point would be to NOT allow it, since you phrased the question in a "I know this is too good, but if I can get away with it, yay!" ;-)Would you allow the Intensified Spell feat to apply to magic missile and scorching ray? Both spells do more damage with higher caster level, but they aren't in the standard one-die-per-CL format.
Also, have you ever made an on-the-spot ruling in one of your games which lead to a player's death, then discovered afterwards that the rules were the other way? And if so, did you reverse the death?
The version in question's in the APG. Here it is for ease of reference. I actually don't think it's broken to allow it - as a 14th+ level caster, you'd be shooting 7 missiles with a 2nd level spell instead of 5 missiles with a 1st, and you'd have 4 rays (as a 3rd level spell) with scorching ray at 15th instead of 3 (as a 2nd). It's just a question as to whether gaining missiles and/or rays based on caster level qualifies as gaining extra damage dice, because Intensified Spell is such a specifically worded feat. I think it can be summed up as "Does magic missile shoot one missile per 2 caster levels that happen to do 1d4+1 damage, or does magic missile do 1d4+1 damage per 2 caster levels that happen to be delivered in the form of missiles?"
I've made plenty of on-the-spot rulings in games I run to intentionally break rules to keep PCs from dying. I can't remember ever doing the opposite, but I'm sure I have. If I did... I absolutely positively reverse the death. It's not cool if the GM makes an error that ends up killing a PC. Whenever a PC dies... my rule of thumb is to twist the rules if possible to allow a last minute grasp at life unless it's such a cut and dried case of obvious death that there's not really much room for interpretation.
In that case, any epic stories of PCs you've bent the rules to save who have still managed to die?
As I interpret it an Intensified Magic missle would give you a total of 3 extra missiles provided the caster is 14th level. Not exactly an Armageddon spell for a 14th level caster
With one missile per 2 caster levels above 9th, it'd be one at 11th and one at 13th. With scorching ray, it would allow a 15th level caster to do 16d6 damage (with four range touches) with a spell the same level as fireball (which would be 15d6 with one reflex save). Not game breaking, by any stretch of the imagination, but worth clarifying.
2) An as-yet still unannounced rulebook.2) What is next after Ultimate Combat?
So...when will it be announced?
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Where's Intensify Spell from again? I'm not all that up on the late 3.5 feats anymore... My gut reaction at this point would be to NOT allow it, since you phrased the question in a "I know this is too good, but if I can get away with it, yay!" ;-)Actually it's one of "your" feats. i.e.created by Paizo for Pathfinder in the Advanced Player's Guide.
Here's the text.
Intensified Spell (Metamagic)
Your spells can go beyond several normal limitations.
Benefit: An intensified spell increases the maximum number of damage dice by 5 levels. You must actually have sufficient caster levels to surpass the maximum in order to benefit from this feat. No other variables of the spell are affected, and spells that inflict damage that is not modified by caster level are not affected by this feat.
Level Increase: +1 (an intensified spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.)
As I interpret it an Intensified Magic missle would give you a total of 3 extra missiles provided the caster is 14th level. Not exactly an Armageddon spell for a 14th level caster
Missiles are not damage dice so magic missile would not be affected since the damage dice are not affected by caster level, but only the number of missiles. It is the same way that scorching ray has a cap on rays, not damage dice so the number of rays can not be increased.
What movie soundtracks do you like? Do you use any for gaming?
Where does Broken Moon take place in Ustalav? I can't find a reference to a county.
I'm building my own flesh golem... err... composite of Ustalav with my own homebrew and Zobeck/Margreve and I'm using Varno a fair amount. But I'd like to run Carrion Crown without too many hiccups.
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Creative Director
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What movie soundtracks do you like? Do you use any for gaming?
Movie soundtracks are my favorite genre of music. I use them a lot for gaming—check out the forewords for the various Carrion Crown adventures for a good list to use there, or the appendix on page 311 of the GameMastery Guide for a larger list of movie soundtracks that are great mood music for gaming.
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Creative Director
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Where does Broken Moon take place in Ustalav? I can't find a reference to a county.
I'm building my own flesh golem... err... composite of Ustalav with my own homebrew and Zobeck/Margreve and I'm using Varno a fair amount. But I'd like to run Carrion Crown without too many hiccups.
Broken Moon takes place in two regions; Shudderwood and the Furrows.
Broken Moon takes place in two regions; Shudderwood and the Furrows.Where does Broken Moon take place in Ustalav? I can't find a reference to a county.
I'm building my own flesh golem... err... composite of Ustalav with my own homebrew and Zobeck/Margreve and I'm using Varno a fair amount. But I'd like to run Carrion Crown without too many hiccups.
Thanks! That makes things easy.
Probably PaizoCon.So...when will it be announced?2) An as-yet still unannounced rulebook.2) What is next after Ultimate Combat?
So you are saying they are announcing Bestiary 3 at PaizoCon? ;)
Is it bad that when I saw my paizo subscription in the mailbox coming home today, I made a SQUEEEE noise in front everyone on the street?Absolutely not! Because they will ask about your delight and you will then infect them with Paizo Virus!
So Paizo is a virus, I knew it!!!!
Is it bad that when I saw my paizo subscription in the mailbox coming home today, I made a SQUEEEE noise in front everyone on the street?Absolutely not! Because they will ask about your delight and you will then infect them with Paizo Virus!
Is there a vaccination for that?
If so, how do I destroy it?
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Creative Director
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Is it bad that when I saw my paizo subscription in the mailbox coming home today, I made a SQUEEEE noise in front everyone on the street?Absolutely not! Because they will ask about your delight and you will then infect them with Paizo Virus!Is there a vaccination for that?
If so, how do I destroy it?
Nope. No cure.
Is it bad that when I saw my paizo subscription in the mailbox coming home today, I made a SQUEEEE noise in front everyone on the street?Absolutely not! Because they will ask about your delight and you will then infect them with Paizo Virus!Is there a vaccination for that?
If so, how do I destroy it?
You can slow it down by playing really lame games, though.
I don't believe there's any race options in either Ultimate Magic OR Ultimate Combat.Are there Magus-specific favored class bonuses in Ultimate Magic? At least humans would have one; and I suspect elves makes sense too.
Maybe:
- Human - Add one spell from the magus spell list to the magus’ spellbook. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level he can cast.
- Elf - Add +1/4 to the magus' arcane pool.
Is such a thing perhaps suitable for Design Tuesdays or Golarion Thursdays? Or perhaps a 3rd new regular blog entry?
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Creative Director
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I don't believe there's any race options in either Ultimate Magic OR Ultimate Combat.Are there Magus-specific favored class bonuses in Ultimate Magic? At least humans would have one; and I suspect elves makes sense too.
Maybe:
- Human - Add one spell from the magus spell list to the magus’ spellbook. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level he can cast.
- Elf - Add +1/4 to the magus' arcane pool.
Is such a thing perhaps suitable for Design Tuesdays or Golarion Thursdays? Or perhaps a 3rd new regular blog entry?
Perhaps... but it's not something that personally interests me all that much, to tell the truth. I actually feel like the race variant options in the APG are more than enough. Almost too much.
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Perhaps... but it's not something that personally interests me all that much, to tell the truth. I actually feel like the race variant options in the APG are more than enough. Almost too much.
In the Council of Thieves AP (i believe), there was an article that had racial variations for the Tiefling. Is there any chance we'll see the same love for the Aasimar?
Mr. jacobs, two questions:
1) Does Fast Healing stop bleed damage? By a strict reading of the rules, it's not a magical HP cure (its EX) and it's not a heal check...but it makes no sense for it NOT to stop it.
2) You made a call on Intensify working with Magic Missile (and Scorching Ray). Since SR only goes up in increments of 4dice, I'm assuming that would get you only one more ray (at cl 15).
However, for Magic Missile...does it do any of the following:
Increase the number of missiles, OR just add dmg dice to existing Missiles? A strict read of the feat says just add some dmg, somewhere.
Increase the number of dice by 2 (+5 to CL limit) or by +5 (+5 to # of dice). A strict reading would seem to increase the limit to CL 14, which is +2 missiles, but if 'level' means 'hit dice', it would increase by +5, which is about par for a level 2 spell.
If the number of missiles is increased, is the number of possible targets increased? It's currently capped at 5, which is the number of missiles...a strict reading would again say no, Intensify doesn't increase number of targets.
----Now, I personally would rule the more generously of all these rules, but that's not a strict feat read. Could you give a more firm answer? It would stop some arguments.
==Aelryinth
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Creative Director
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In the Council of Thieves AP (i believe), there was an article that had racial variations for the Tiefling. Is there any chance we'll see the same love for the Aasimar?
Perhaps... but it's not something that personally interests me all that much, to tell the truth. I actually feel like the race variant options in the APG are more than enough. Almost too much.
There is indeed a chance, at some point, that we'll do a similar article for aasimars. They'd have to play a key role in the adventure, and since we don't have a nation that has a strong aasimar presence in the Inner Sea region, it's probably going to be a while.
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Creative Director
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Why do you guys tape up the UPS boxes that have my monthly subscriptions in them? I never get the pleasure of pulling the box tab and feeling it make that pleasant "zrrrrrp" sound.
Better yet, is there a reason I'll find my UPS boxes with a UPS pouch inside?
Dunno. I don't work in the warehouse. My guess—we had lots of cases of damage or boxes coming open accidentally, and the tape prevents that.
In the Council of Thieves AP (i believe), there was an article that had racial variations for the Tiefling. Is there any chance we'll see the same love for the Aasimar?
Perhaps... but it's not something that personally interests me all that much, to tell the truth. I actually feel like the race variant options in the APG are more than enough. Almost too much.
It does seem like the teifling gets all the love. I guess it is because everyone loves their bad guys. I do think the Aasimar should get something though.
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Creative Director
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1) Does Fast Healing stop bleed damage? By a strict reading of the rules, it's not a magical HP cure (its EX) and it's not a heal check...but it makes no sense for it NOT to stop it.
Yes. Fast healing stops bleed damage (provided it's hit point bleed, and not ability score bleed).
2) You made a call on Intensify working with Magic Missile (and Scorching Ray). Since SR only goes up in increments of 4dice, I'm assuming that would get you only one more ray (at cl 15).
However, for Magic Missile...does it do any of the following:
Increase the number of missiles, OR just add dmg dice to existing Missiles? A strict read of the feat says just add some dmg, somewhere.
Increase the number of dice by 2 (+5 to CL limit) or by +5 (+5 to # of dice). A strict reading would seem to increase the limit to CL 14, which is +2 missiles, but if 'level' means 'hit dice', it would increase by +5, which is about par for a level 2 spell.
If the number of missiles is increased, is the number of possible targets increased? It's currently capped at 5, which is the number of missiles...a strict reading would again say no, Intensify doesn't increase number of targets.
----Now, I personally would rule the more generously of all these rules, but that's not a strict feat read. Could you give a more firm answer? It would stop some arguments.
If you're looking for me to step in and stop your argument... go ahed and use the following quote:
Intensified Spell does NOT in and of itself increase the damage dice for spells. It merely increases the level cap at which your spell stops accruing damage dice. And it doesn't meantion "Hit Dice" at all—it only mentions "level." Which equates to Caster Level.
Magic missile normally stops at CL 9th. An Intensified magic missile increases this by 5 levels, to CL 14th. You gain one more missile every odd level—6 missiles at CL 11th, and 7 missiles at CL 13th. Even though this caps your spell's advancement at 14th level... you don't get squat for even levels, so that level's effectively wasted.
Scorching Ray normally stops at 11th level. An Intensified scorching ray stops at 16th level. Thus, at 15th level, you can fire four rays... and that's it.
Intensified Spell is not efficient when applied to spells like scorching ray or magic missile. You're better off applying it to spells that do damage as one die per level, such as fireball, lightning bolt, or cone of cold.
If I had a group that included strict "RULES AS WRITTEN" pedantic players, though... I'd say that Intensified Spell ONLY works with spells like fireball that have damage dice per level. Keeps things simple, and when you have players who intentionally enjoy overcomplicating things, keeping rules simple is good!
Mr. jacobs, two questions:
1) Does Fast Healing stop bleed damage? By a strict reading of the rules, it's not a magical HP cure (its EX) and it's not a heal check...but it makes no sense for it NOT to stop it.
2) You made a call on Intensify working with Magic Missile (and Scorching Ray). Since SR only goes up in increments of 4dice, I'm assuming that would get you only one more ray (at cl 15).
However, for Magic Missile...does it do any of the following:
Increase the number of missiles, OR just add dmg dice to existing Missiles? A strict read of the feat says just add some dmg, somewhere.
Increase the number of dice by 2 (+5 to CL limit) or by +5 (+5 to # of dice). A strict reading would seem to increase the limit to CL 14, which is +2 missiles, but if 'level' means 'hit dice', it would increase by +5, which is about par for a level 2 spell.
If the number of missiles is increased, is the number of possible targets increased? It's currently capped at 5, which is the number of missiles...a strict reading would again say no, Intensify doesn't increase number of targets.
----Now, I personally would rule the more generously of all these rules, but that's not a strict feat read. Could you give a more firm answer? It would stop some arguments.
==Aelryinth
I think they specifically said "magic" to limit the ways to stop it. If fast healing or regen stop it then the word "magical" really has no reason to be there.
I also think that if the missile and scorching ray things are going to be official then the book should be errata'd. There are a large number of people that don't go online and will never see that ruling is the reason why.
Ya missed the last part...Magic Missile states maximum number of targets is 5 (without explicitly tying it to number of missiles). Would you let it advance to 7?
I find it interesting that you increased the number of missiles to deal the damage, instead of just tacking on damage, btw.
==Aelryinth
oh, btw James, Intensify on MM is still efficient...for +1 SL you get +40% dmg top off, whereas with Empower you get +50% for +2.
At least, it's efficient when compared to other MM feats. Heh.
==Aelryinth
Ya missed the last part...Magic Missile states maximum number of targets is 5 (without explicitly tying it to number of missiles). Would you let it advance to 7?
I find it interesting that you increased the number of missiles to deal the damage, instead of just tacking on damage, btw.
==Aelryinth
I think he just saw it as non gaming breaking an allowed it. James seems to be less rules oriented* than Jason.
*To be clear what I mean is I think he would decide if something is gamebreaker as opposed to going by strictly what the book says so he may not have read it fully before making the ruling.|
Chief Technical Officer
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Dunno. I don't work in the warehouse. My guess—we had lots of cases of damage or boxes coming open accidentally, and the tape prevents that.Why do you guys tape up the UPS boxes that have my monthly subscriptions in them? I never get the pleasure of pulling the box tab and feeling it make that pleasant "zrrrrrp" sound.
Better yet, is there a reason I'll find my UPS boxes with a UPS pouch inside?
The book-in-the-envelope-in-the-box trick gives that book some additional protection.
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Creative Director
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Ya missed the last part...Magic Missile states maximum number of targets is 5 (without explicitly tying it to number of missiles). Would you let it advance to 7?
I find it interesting that you increased the number of missiles to deal the damage, instead of just tacking on damage, btw.
==Aelryinth
Sure, why not?
In the end, it's the GM's choice as to how this'll play out. I don't REALLY see a pressing need to have an OFFICIAL RULING, honestly, since all of this happens at the tail end of where the Pathfinder Society level caps anyway.
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Creative Director
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oh, btw James, Intensify on MM is still efficient...for +1 SL you get +40% dmg top off, whereas with Empower you get +50% for +2.
At least, it's efficient when compared to other MM feats. Heh.
==Aelryinth
Sounds like you've put a lot more thought into the question than I have!
Which means you're probably more qualified to make a ruling on this than I am for your game! :-)
Don't be afraid of being an expert on the rules!
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Creative Director
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Ya missed the last part...Magic Missile states maximum number of targets is 5 (without explicitly tying it to number of missiles). Would you let it advance to 7?
I find it interesting that you increased the number of missiles to deal the damage, instead of just tacking on damage, btw.
==Aelryinth
Increasing the number of missiles looks neater in game, for one thing, than just increasing the damage to one or two. It's more fun that way!
why hasn't anybody made it so soda stays carbonated longer once a bottle has been opened??
I have a puppy. When he sleeps, he has no problem contorting himself in odd positions. How can young animals do that without killing themselves, and how would you stat that up as a special ability?