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Paizo Employee Creative Director

IDTheftVictim wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James,how does a devil become an infernal duke?
That can vary from devil to devil (as the GM/writer/story demands), but all things being equal it's most likely the result of being rewarded with a "promotion" from an archdevil or Asmodeus.
Has there ever been a change amongst the Archfiends? Has it always beem Baalzebul, Belial, Dispater, Geryon, Mammon, Mephistopheles, and Moloch, with Barbatos showing up at some point?

There have been changes. Some have been there the whole time (such as Mephistopheles), but others are relatively new (such as Barbatos).

Contributor

1) Which Evil god/demigod in Pathfinder would you say has the most honest-to-gods friends?

2) Are there any Pathfinder gods that are way more popular with players then they thought they'd be? If so, who?

3) What's the first thing you think of when you read my name?

Dark Archive

1) Will we ever see some adventures set in some of the other worlds, like those described in Distant Worlds. Eox and the Burning Archipelago are way to cool for me to not want to go there.
2) If the runelords fought the horsemen of the apocalypse, who would win?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

6 people marked this as a favorite.
Alexander Augunas wrote:

1) Which Evil god/demigod in Pathfinder would you say has the most honest-to-gods friends?

2) Are there any Pathfinder gods that are way more popular with players then they thought they'd be? If so, who?

3) What's the first thing you think of when you read my name?

1) Nocticula

2) Not really

3) Oh it's that fox with a bandana.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Backpack wrote:

1) Will we ever see some adventures set in some of the other worlds, like those described in Distant Worlds. Eox and the Burning Archipelago are way to cool for me to not want to go there.

2) If the runelords fought the horsemen of the apocalypse, who would win?

1) Do you count Starfinder? If so, then the chance is 100%. If not, then the chance is 100%, but not as soon. Unless you count Strange Aeons, in which case the chance is 100%, and sooner than Starfinder.

2) The horsemen would very probably win.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So is Nymph Queen Muck Graul(and got cursed into tendriculos by) tortured to death seperate from Myriana? .-. I'm under impression that Grauls weren't involved with Kreeg affairs

So if party teleports to Magnimar/Sandpoint from Turtleback Ferry, should I give them extra prep time? :'D I'm kinda wondering what I should do because druid is effective at making defenses so I'd assume I shouldn't give them too much time so that they'd still have challenge... Though maybe I should just add Black Fang and Thelsikar to up the stakes, I have had this sidequest subplot about(with comics as material) about cult of Lamashtu that works to supply the other cults...

BTW, speaking of subplots, is Midnight Dawn conspiracy on Magnimar a possible future AP plot? :'D I'm wondering whether I should leave it untouched or not, I've made some references about Kaleb being kinda creepy, but I'm not sure if I can actually use them without being prevented to use other material in future... Maybe I could use the lens keeper guy from lost cities as boss for that sidequest and keep Kaleb wizard devourer hidden villain on background...

Speaking of metaplots, since Aroden's death is the mystery that is never answered, does that mean there won't be ever APs or adventures where question of what happened to him is important plotwise?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
The Shin Godzilla movie page has a theater locator at the bottom of the page for when it shows Oct 11—18 in the U.S.A. Are you aware of this?
Yup. Bought my tickets for a showing on the 11th several weeks ago. Will be seeing it in Bellevue, about a 10 minute drive from my home.

As with Blair Witch, could you toss out a thumbs up/thumbs down for those of us who won't be getting to see it in the theater?

Between this and Phantasm: Ravager, I'm feeling the geographic consequences of life in Alaska pretty keenly this year...

EDIT: Holy crud, we ARE getting a showing in this one-horse town!


If a drow turned up on the surface in a populated area at a time when they're not widely known (in other words, before Second Darkness takes place), and some of the local humans saw one before the elves turned up to sort that out, what would they assume they're looking at? Some really weird variety of elf? Some manner of tiefling or shadow creature? Something else? What would the random human's assumption be?

Shadow Lodge

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
How come Hongal hasn't built a massive horde and swept up Lung Wa's successor states into an empire of its own and then rampaged through Casmaron and Iobarian to threaten Avistan the way their historical counterparts, the Mongols, did?

They haven't gotten around to it yet.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Oh yeah, I know that giants working under Mokmumarian have Siheidron somewhere on them, but do all of the other tribes' members also have them and not just the leaders?


1)What movies have you seen lately and what did you think of them?

2)Have you seen Kubo and the Two Strings? If so what did you think?

3)How happy are you that giant monster movies seem to be making a come back?

4)Do have a favorite fairy tale, fable, myth, and/or urban legend?

5)What is the weirdest movie you have ever seen? book that you have read? video game you have played?


Hi James

Are there any specific half celestial types? Half fiends have a bunch of specific types does pathfinder have the same for the good aligned outsiders?


Hi James

I hope you've had a good weekend :-)

Some random questions:

1. If a cleric of Desna wanted to enchant her starknife with elemental damage, which element would be most appropriate thematically for Desna? Cold?

2. How lost is prophecy on Golarion? Could Desna visit a particularly devout/receptive cleric in her dreams and let her know something along the lines: "You have to go here and save this person who will be there in two days, then help them rescue their friend and assist them in their mission or this rising evil will come and ravage the land"?

3. Have you had players, you felt chose neutral alignments to avoid spells and effects that target good aligned creatures, yet acted good? If so how would you handle it?

4. What is the greatest accomplishment one of your characters has achieved in a game?

5. Have you played as Merisiel in a game? If so, which?

6. What are you looking forward to the most this week?

Cheers and thanks for all the answers :-)


1. The map in the page 58 of Lost Kingdoms showed that the Great Temple of Lissala is in the middle of the Varisian Gulf, even though Bakrakhan disliked Lissala. Maybe that's an error caused by the ignorance of the illusrator?

2. Dungeons of Golarion said that Alaznist worshipped the nascent demon lord Yamasoth. But isn't Yamasoth a qlippoth lord? Did him trick Alaznist into believing him to be a nascent demon lord, not a qlippoth lord?

3. Well, since Paizo didn't publish a campaign setting about Sargava, is it safe to assume that Paizo will eventually publish a Sargavan campaign setting?

4. I didn't know Lovecraft himself said 'Strange Aeons'. I thought the fact that Paizo named this adventure path Strange Aeons implies that all mythos gods were originally aeons, and some of them went crazy and became strange, and then they moved to the Dark Tapestry, eventually became the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Am I wrong? Are they originally aeons?

5. To which faction Carsai the King in Aucturn belong? The Mythos? The Dominion of the Black?

6. I thought just saying the Dominion worships the Outer Gods and make them a single faction would be a good idea. Why did Paizo separate the Dominion from the Outer Gods?

7. Neh-Thalggu, intellect devourers, and neothelids are three master races of the Dominion. Does that mean they are not native to Golarion, and landed on Golarion eons ago via spaceships?


8. Is it safe to assume that Paizo will not publish epic rules?

9. I thought you cannot publish epic rules because the terms 'epic level' and 'epic spell' are the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast. Is it true?

10. I liked the epic spells in 3.5 very much. It made me feel like my mage became a god. I could literally do anything with epic spells. But in pathfinder, although I can still become very powerful by gaining mythic tiers, I cannot become that godlike mage in 3.5. What do you say? I know you don't like epic levels, but did you like the epic spells pretty much?

11. Mythic Adventures, page 123-128 shows us six categorys of the moment of ascension: Eldritch Magic, Legendary Encounter, Lost Inheritance, Planar Might, Power of the Gods, and Stolen Might. They should be exclusive and non-intersectional, I guess. Maybe that's the reason why the Starstone is so special: it's the combination of Eldritch Magic, Power of the Gods, and Stolen Might. But I found some founts of mythic do not quite exclusive. The vault seed is full of pwoerful magic, which means it belongs to Eldritch Magic. But the Vault Builders who made the seed are outsider, which means it should belong to Planar Might. I'm confused. To which cartegory should the vault seed belong?

12. How is the wardstone made? Is it created by Iomedae herself and granted to humans? Or did Iomedae taught humans how to make a wardstone, and her followers made it?

13. It seems that the death of Aroden didn't do much damage to Taldor. I wonder it's because Taldans didn't worshipped Aroden very much?

14. Do qlippoth have genders? They seem very asexual to me. How should I call Rovagug, Yamasoth, and Iathavoth? He? It? And how should I call the spawn of Rovagug? He? It?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

CorvusMask wrote:

So is Nymph Queen Muck Graul(and got cursed into tendriculos by) tortured to death seperate from Myriana? .-. I'm under impression that Grauls weren't involved with Kreeg affairs

So if party teleports to Magnimar/Sandpoint from Turtleback Ferry, should I give them extra prep time? :'D I'm kinda wondering what I should do because druid is effective at making defenses so I'd assume I shouldn't give them too much time so that they'd still have challenge... Though maybe I should just add Black Fang and Thelsikar to up the stakes, I have had this sidequest subplot about(with comics as material) about cult of Lamashtu that works to supply the other cults...

BTW, speaking of subplots, is Midnight Dawn conspiracy on Magnimar a possible future AP plot? :'D I'm wondering whether I should leave it untouched or not, I've made some references about Kaleb being kinda creepy, but I'm not sure if I can actually use them without being prevented to use other material in future... Maybe I could use the lens keeper guy from lost cities as boss for that sidequest and keep Kaleb wizard devourer hidden villain on background...

Speaking of metaplots, since Aroden's death is the mystery that is never answered, does that mean there won't be ever APs or adventures where question of what happened to him is important plotwise?

I have no idea what you're talking about when you mention "Nymph Queen Muck Graul." The nymph Muck tortured was not Myriana though.

Up to you. You can either give them prep time or have them arrive in the nick of time and then congratulate them by saying something like, "Only because you're all big-damn-heroes who have the ability to teleport were you able to stop this situation from being worse—if it wasn't for you and your ability to teleport, Sandpoint would have been ruined! Well done, heroes!" That's my preference; it doesn't undermine the adventure's plot and it makes the players feel like they were indeed the only ones in the right place at the right time with the right resources to be heroes.

The Midnight Dawn was a big part of my Shadows Under Sandpoint game that I ran for folks here at Paizo. It goes from 1st to 11th level or thereabouts, and was originally going to continue from there. As concepted, it is indeed a perfect candidate for an Adventure Path. But it's one that I want to run and develop myself, and so it's not gonna go onto any schedules until I'm sure that I will be the one doing it. That said, it's not gonna happen anytime soon, and we'll be publishing plenty more in the meantime, so if you do something that takes game lore in a different direction, try not to worry too much about it. If you hold off what's good for your campaign today on the hope of getting something from Paizo in the future, you're just hurting your campaign for something that may not happen in a timescale that you can do anything with.

And speaking of metaplots, that's EXACTLY what it means. Aroden's death is not something I have any interest in exploring as an adventure path, or any other product.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cole Deschain wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
The Shin Godzilla movie page has a theater locator at the bottom of the page for when it shows Oct 11—18 in the U.S.A. Are you aware of this?
Yup. Bought my tickets for a showing on the 11th several weeks ago. Will be seeing it in Bellevue, about a 10 minute drive from my home.

As with Blair Witch, could you toss out a thumbs up/thumbs down for those of us who won't be getting to see it in the theater?

Between this and Phantasm: Ravager, I'm feeling the geographic consequences of life in Alaska pretty keenly this year...

EDIT: Holy crud, we ARE getting a showing in this one-horse town!

I tossed a thumbs up a few pages back.

Yes, indeed, it gets a very enthusiastic thumbs up from me.

And congrats on getting a Phantasm: Ravager screening! My understanding is that it's gonna be VOD a few weeks after for folks to watch at home too.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

MythicFox wrote:
If a drow turned up on the surface in a populated area at a time when they're not widely known (in other words, before Second Darkness takes place), and some of the local humans saw one before the elves turned up to sort that out, what would they assume they're looking at? Some really weird variety of elf? Some manner of tiefling or shadow creature? Something else? What would the random human's assumption be?

The human's assumption would be "OH NO! The spooky legends are true! AIEE!"

It's not that humans don't know about drow, it's that they don't believe them really because the drow have never come to the surface.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

CorvusMask wrote:
Oh yeah, I know that giants working under Mokmumarian have Siheidron somewhere on them, but do all of the other tribes' members also have them and not just the leaders?

Nope. Some might, but not as a general rule.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:

1)What movies have you seen lately and what did you think of them?

2)Have you seen Kubo and the Two Strings? If so what did you think?

3)How happy are you that giant monster movies seem to be making a come back?

4)Do have a favorite fairy tale, fable, myth, and/or urban legend?

5)What is the weirdest movie you have ever seen? book that you have read? video game you have played?

1) Blair Witch: Great

The Calling: Amusing but not outstanding
Knock Knock 2: Terrible.
I Didn't Come Here To Die: Unwatchably bad
Nothing Left to Fear: Not bad. Kinda average.
Total Recall (remake): Inferior to the original (but with more modern special effects that weren't as impressive to me today than the original's were when I first saw the movie back in 1989 or whenever it came out), with the one exception of Kate Beckinsale, who was MUCH more awesome than Sharon Stone.
Mimesis: Interesting idea (let's put some horror movie fans into a real-world retelling of Night of the Living Dead) but unwatchable in its shabby execution
Krampus: Not bad but was too tame and the ending almost infuriated me. ALmost.
Clown: VERY good. Super creepy!
Phoenix Incident: Quite fun!
Flight 7500: Boring.
Green Room: Outstanding and brilliant and intense.
Midnight Special: Great!
Phantasm (remastered): BEAUTIFUL
Lifeforce in 70 MM: Fun but not great, except when it was being great.
Djinn: Intriguing but flawed
Electric Boogaloo—The Wild Untold Story of Canon Films: Very fun and interesting
London has Fallen: Boring
Estranged: Started out okay but then became terrible and kinda reprehensible
Visions: Forgettable
Invoked: Bland and kinda unwatchable
The Dead Room: Pretty Good
Fright Night 2 (remake): Terrible terrible terrible
The Wailing: Excellent!
Dead Stop: Kinda okay
The Levinger Tapes: Ridiculous and goofy and eye-rollignly bad
Black Mountain Side: EXCELLENT and really creepy

2) Haven't seen it. In no rush to see it.

3) I'm pretty happy to see them get some big screen representation, but they never really went anywhere. Giant Monster Movies have kinda been around in one form or another the whole time, just not in theaters.

4) Yup; at this point, it's probably the whole Slenderman mythos.

5) Weirdest movie: This is a really tough one... "Death Bed: The Bed that Eats" is maybe the weirdest, but at least that one has a plot sort of that follows something of a sensical route. I've seen other movies that are so weird that I don't even know what they were about today, and part of the problem there is that I generally can't remember them at all as a result. The actual weirdest movie I've seen is probably one of the more obscure Takashi Miike movies, most of which are SUPER extreme and not something someone should just watch without knowing a little bit about what they're getting into (Gozu is probably the weirdest, or maybe Izo).
Weirdest book: House of Leaves
Weirdest Video Game: Stanley Parable

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alundrell wrote:

Hi James

Are there any specific half celestial types? Half fiends have a bunch of specific types does pathfinder have the same for the good aligned outsiders?

None come immediately to mind.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Snowsarn wrote:

Hi James

I hope you've had a good weekend :-)

Some random questions:

1. If a cleric of Desna wanted to enchant her starknife with elemental damage, which element would be most appropriate thematically for Desna? Cold?

2. How lost is prophecy on Golarion? Could Desna visit a particularly devout/receptive cleric in her dreams and let her know something along the lines: "You have to go here and save this person who will be there in two days, then help them rescue their friend and assist them in their mission or this rising evil will come and ravage the land"?

3. Have you had players, you felt chose neutral alignments to avoid spells and effects that target good aligned creatures, yet acted good? If so how would you handle it?

4. What is the greatest accomplishment one of your characters has achieved in a game?

5. Have you played as Merisiel in a game? If so, which?

6. What are you looking forward to the most this week?

Cheers and thanks for all the answers :-)

1) Cold.

2) The main reason prophecy is lost is because I, Erik, and other folks here feel that prophecy is the most overused cliche in fantasy, and as such it's something we want to avoid using in print in Golarion because it's tired, annoying, and overused. Furthermore, whenever you put prophecies in an RPG, the players ALWAYS wreck them and make them pointless and unusable and embarrassing. That's how lost prophecy is.

3) Nope; haven't had players do that. I guess I'm lucky in that I haven't yet had a player who wanted to game the system that way. And frankly, a player who builds a character like that would NOT be acting good; they'd be acting evil in that they're pretending to be good. Actions speaking louder than words and all that.

4) Converting a Thayvian enclave to chaotic good anti-Thay minions.

5) I played her in a playtest of "Curse of the Everflame."

6) I'd like to say "Finishing off my Temple of Elemental Evil" game and setting the stage for the transition to the Slavelords game, but this game's been cancelled for months due to conventions and other reasons, so I'm hesitant to nominate it. And will instead nominate "the next episode of 'My Roanoke Nightmare'".

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Aenigma wrote:

1. The map in the page 58 of Lost Kingdoms showed that the Great Temple of Lissala is in the middle of the Varisian Gulf, even though Bakrakhan disliked Lissala. Maybe that's an error caused by the ignorance of the illusrator?

2. Dungeons of Golarion said that Alaznist worshipped the nascent demon lord Yamasoth. But isn't Yamasoth a qlippoth lord? Did him trick Alaznist into believing him to be a nascent demon lord, not a qlippoth lord?

3. Well, since Paizo didn't publish a campaign setting about Sargava, is it safe to assume that Paizo will eventually publish a Sargavan campaign setting?

4. I didn't know Lovecraft himself said 'Strange Aeons'. I thought the fact that Paizo named this adventure path Strange Aeons implies that all mythos gods were originally aeons, and some of them went crazy and became strange, and then they moved to the Dark Tapestry, eventually became the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Am I wrong? Are they originally aeons?

5. To which faction Carsai the King in Aucturn belong? The Mythos? The Dominion of the Black?

6. I thought just saying the Dominion worships the Outer Gods and make them a single faction would be a good idea. Why did Paizo separate the Dominion from the Outer Gods?

7. Neh-Thalggu, intellect devourers, and neothelids are three master races of the Dominion. Does that mean they are not native to Golarion, and landed on Golarion eons ago via spaceships?

1) Cartographers generally don't place tags on maps; the writer and developer of the material makes the decisions of where those go. In this case, that would have been an error on the behalf of the developer, I suppose. Might have just been a late error in a map tag that got missed in the last approval pass though.

2) Dungeons of Golarion was printed years before we had the idea of qlippoth lords being a thing. Consider that a retcon.

3) No. We might, we might not.

4) Nope. Strange Aeons comes from Lovecraft, and the quote it came from is arguably his MOST famous quote. The reason we named aeons what we named them is a nod to Final Fantasy, where in some versions of that game, powerful summoned monsters are called aeons. In hindsight, seeing how many folks are confused by the "Strange Aeons" thing, I wish we'd named them something else, but it's too late now, I suppose. In the meantime, I'm happy to educate the world one person at a time as to where the phrase "strange aeons" came from. Aeons, as they exist in Pathifnder, didn't exist AT ALL ANYWHERE until we put them into Bestiary 2 in 2012. They have nothing to do with the Dark Tapestry, the Outer Gods, or the Great Old Ones apart from having a name that's spelled the same way as an archaic version of the word "eon" that Lovecraft popularized back in the early 1920s.

5) Unrevealed. Carsai's not someone picked up from Lovecraft's writings or other real-world stuff that predates Pathifnder as far as I know, so my gut would be to associate Carsai NOT with the Mythos. Doesn't mean the Dominion either. I'm honestly not familiar enough with Carsai to make a ruling at this point, so yeah... unrevealed.

6) Because that gives us more flexibility, and it makes the Dark Tapestry more interesting that it's associated with not one but two terrifying evils. And because this lets us not put all our eggs in one proverbial basket—folks who hate Lovecraftian stuff in their games still might enjoy Dominion elements, or vice versa. And because not all spooky outer space things need to be Lovecraftian, or vice versa. It's more diverse, in other words, and diversity is good.

7) Neothelids aren't really a "master race" of the dominion. Neh-Thalggu and intellect devourers are all aliens to Golarion, but didn't necessarilly come to Golarion via a spaceship. There's other ways to travel space or to skip space travel entirely. Neothelids, I like to think, are natives to Goalrion, but maybe not since they are in fact from D&D and in that game have ties to an entirely different race (mind flayers, which we can't do anything with because they're closed content that WotC kept for themselves).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Aenigma wrote:

8. Is it safe to assume that Paizo will not publish epic rules?

9. I thought you cannot publish epic rules because the terms 'epic level' and 'epic spell' are the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast. Is it true?

10. I liked the epic spells in 3.5 very much. It made me feel like my mage became a god. I could literally do anything with epic spells. But in pathfinder, although I can still become very powerful by gaining mythic tiers, I cannot become that godlike mage in 3.5. What do you say? I know you don't like epic levels, but did you like the epic spells pretty much?

11. Mythic Adventures, page 123-128 shows us six categorys of the moment of ascension: Eldritch Magic, Legendary Encounter, Lost Inheritance, Planar Might, Power of the Gods, and Stolen Might. They should be exclusive and non-intersectional, I guess. Maybe that's the reason why the Starstone is so special: it's the combination of Eldritch Magic, Power of the Gods, and Stolen Might. But I found some founts of mythic do not quite exclusive. The vault seed is full of pwoerful magic, which means it belongs to Eldritch Magic. But the Vault Builders who made the seed are outsider, which means it should belong to Planar Might. I'm confused. To which cartegory should the vault seed belong?

12. How is the wardstone made? Is it created by Iomedae herself and granted to humans? Or did Iomedae taught humans how to make a wardstone, and her followers made it?

13. It seems that the death of Aroden didn't do much damage to Taldor. I wonder it's because Taldans didn't worshipped Aroden very much?

14. Do qlippoth have genders? They seem very asexual to me. How should I call Rovagug, Yamasoth, and Iathavoth? He? It? And how should I call the spawn of Rovagug? He? It?

8) It is indeed safe to assume.

9) The epic level rules from Wizards of the Coast are all open content. It's just not content we're interested in following, and instead prefered to make our own way. We do use a few elements from those open rules, mostly via monsters like the mu spore, demilich, worm that walks, and neh-thalggu (although we rebuilt all three as less powerful non-epic normal versions, which in the case of the demilich and neh-thalggu, is what those monsters were in previous editions of D&D anyway).

10) I worked a lot with the epic rules in my time writing for D&D, and no, I don't like them. They're too open ended and cause too many problems for designing interesting stories. Not a fan.

11) The six categories detailed in pages 123–128 of Mythic Adventures are examples, nothing more. They are not intended to be the ONLY ways to become mythic, especially since Mythic Adventures was crippled in not being able to use world-specific flavorful examples. The six examples in Mythic Adventures are, if you will, six "generic" ways meant to spark the imagination, but the only limit to actual ways to ascend is the imagination of the GM coming up with new ways to ascend. AKA: there can be as many ways as you want. These new ways don't have to map directly to any of those six generic examples.

12) Wardstones are detailed on page 301 of the Inner Sea World Guide. There it spells out that they were invented by the crusaders in an attempt to contain the demons of the Worldwound. HOW they created them is not something we've published, because we don't want to give the impression that player characters can make more. :-P

13) Unlike Cheliax, Aroden's worship in Taldor had long since fallen into decline, as with a lot of everything to do with Taldor. Therefore, Aroden dying didn't really have much of an effect on Taldor overall, but it certainly DID affect those in Taldor who still worshiped Aroden.

14) They do, but it's generally not as important to them as it is to humans. Rovagug and Yamasoth are male. The iathavos can be either male or female. Rovagug's spawn each have specific genders.


James Jacobs wrote:
YAY HUMBOLDT!!!! YAY MENDOCINO!!!! YAY LOST COAST!!!!

Thanks so much for your response! It's amazing seeing my little neck of the woods be so close to such an integral part of Golarian. I can totally picture the goblins in the woods!

Liberty's Edge

James,
Are you familiar with fleshgait stories? If the answer is yes, what do you think of them?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Paladinosaur wrote:

James,

Are you familiar with fleshgait stories? If the answer is yes, what do you think of them?

I'm not familiar with them.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
And congrats on getting a Phantasm: Ravager screening! My understanding is that it's gonna be VOD a few weeks after for folks to watch at home too.

No, I meant we're getting a Shin Gojira showing, much to my surprise... one. For my last Phantasm fix, I'm in VoD land with the rest of humankind!

Since my seasonal job just ended, I have some time on my hands- could you suggest three horror movies that go well with long, dark nights and increasing cold outside?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Cole Deschain wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
And congrats on getting a Phantasm: Ravager screening! My understanding is that it's gonna be VOD a few weeks after for folks to watch at home too.
No, I meant we're getting a Shin Gojira showing... one. For my last Phantasm fix, I'm in VoD land with the rest of humankind!

Ah.

Well... I guess there has to be a disadvantage for living in the natural beauty of the great northern frontier, right? Otherwise we'd ALL be up there.

Liberty's Edge

Fleshgait is a creature from internet horror stories (I believe the correct term is "creepypasta").
In these stories, a fleshgait is a shapeshifter that lives in the woods. As most of them go, a group or pair of people goes camping in the woods, and one goes away for a while, usually lured by strange sounds in the woods, objects in the camp being moved around, or by phrases like "help", "im over here", or other things the creature overheard the group say.
When that person comes back there is an odd odor and the person seems fundamentally different, speaking awkwardly and acting generally “off”, as the creature learns human behaviour by observing the group.
The fleshgait then usually tries to lure other members of the group off into the woods, presumably to also be killed and replaced by other fleshgaits, and/or return with the group to civilization.
These stories usually have this same basic form, and are usually writing in greentext, but I find some of them very unsettling and scary. What do you think of this concept?

Radiant Oath

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

What's better, the halberd or the longspear?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Paladinosaur wrote:

Fleshgait is a creature from internet horror stories (I believe the correct term is "creepypasta").

In these stories, a fleshgait is a shapeshifter that lives in the woods. As most of them go, a group or pair of people goes camping in the woods, and one goes away for a while, usually lured by strange sounds in the woods, objects in the camp being moved around, or by phrases like "help", "im over here", or other things the creature overheard the group say.
When that person comes back there is an odd odor and the person seems fundamentally different, speaking awkwardly and acting generally “off”, as the creature learns human behaviour by observing the group.
The fleshgait then usually tries to lure other members of the group off into the woods, presumably to also be killed and replaced by other fleshgaits, and/or return with the group to civilization.
These stories usually have this same basic form, and are usually writing in greentext, but I find some of them very unsettling and scary. What do you think of this concept?

Ah; I am, of course, aware of creepypasta, but that's a huge category.

The concept of something in the woods that lures you into its clutches via mimicry of a voice is hardly new or groundbreaking; that's a VERY often repeated theme in monsters throughout the ages. It's certainly creepy, which is part of why it gets repeated so much, I bet.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
What's better, the halberd or the longspear?

Halberd.

Grand Lodge

Can an undead creature possess regeneration (thus bringing them back after they have been destroyed)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Just your average clone wrote:
Can an undead creature possess regeneration (thus bringing them back after they have been destroyed)

It's kinda illogical for undead to have regeneration. Check out the vampire for how to handle undead who heal back from being destroyed; they use fast healing.


I know an Azlant-heavy AP is in the works.

Would you be able to provide a list of resources of what's currently out there for someone looking to do some research? At least, anything in addition to the wiki pages? Azlanti Link Azlant Link (no i)

For example, like how Shattered Star book 6 makes notes on a couple architectural flourishes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Buri Reborn wrote:

I know an Azlant-heavy AP is in the works.

Would you be able to provide a list of resources of what's currently out there for someone looking to do some research? At least, anything in addition to the wiki pages? Azlanti Link Azlant Link (no i)

For example, like how Shattered Star book 6 makes notes on a couple architectural flourishes.

I've done nothing more than approve Adam's outline on the Adventure Path, and have had my head in other projects during that time (Crimson Throne, Bestiary 6, a pile of player companions and campaign settings, plus another as yet unannounced book), so Adam would be the best one to ask this... but perhaps not now. Might be better to wait till closer to Gen Con when the AP actually comes out.


James Jacobs wrote:
I've done nothing more than approve Adam's outline on the Adventure Path, and have had my head in other projects during that time (Crimson Throne, Bestiary 6, a pile of player companions and campaign settings, plus another as yet unannounced book), so Adam would be the best one to ask this... but perhaps not now. Might be better to wait till closer to Gen Con when the AP actually comes out.

Noted. Thanks.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ah, oops, I accidentally worded first question oddly xD Ah well you answered what I wanted to know anyway so no harm done I guess

I didn't mean if there would be AP that solves the mystery, that would defeat point of mystery that won't be answered, I meant AP where it is relevant plotwise whether directly or indirectly? Like, I don't know, I guess it'd be important if there was AP heavily featuring Harbingers of Fate?

Huh, Midnight Dawn was also part of Shadows Under Sandpoint? Were other Sandpoint/Magnimar mysteries/situations(like for example Hells' situation) also related to it somehow?

BTW, speaking of Hells, you wouldn't know if Prisons of Golarion book(or something similar) would be coming this or next year? :D It'll probably be too late for my campaign, but it would definitely help with what I plan to do with Hells'(+Nualia's goons) in my campaign

Anyhoo, thank you for answers, they really help me with getting more confidence to do stuff I want to do in my campaign!


James Jacobs wrote:


2) The main reason prophecy is lost is because I, Erik, and other folks here feel that prophecy is the most overused cliche in fantasy, and as such it's something we want to avoid using in print in Golarion because it's tired, annoying, and overused. Furthermore, whenever you put prophecies in an RPG, the players ALWAYS wreck them and make them pointless and unusable and embarrassing. That's how lost prophecy is.

....

4) Converting a Thayvian enclave to chaotic good anti-Thay minions.

....

6) I'd like to say "Finishing off my Temple of Elemental Evil" game and setting the stage for the transition to the Slavelords game, but this game's been cancelled for months due to conventions and other reasons, so I'm hesitant to nominate it. And will instead nominate "the next episode of 'My Roanoke Nightmare'"..

Okay, so I think there is a difference between prophecy and divine guidance.

1) How much divine guidance can the gods give on Golarion?

1a) Do any gods, besides Pharasma, have knowledge of the future?

1b) If so, can they use this knowledge to warn their followers of impending/rising danger, and direct them towards a possible solution, without their followers asking for it through spells?

2) Before the Age of Lost Omens, who made the prophesies?

2a) If there were "prophets" did they have a particular class or power they then lost the use of?

3) Nice about the Thayvian-enclave :-) which character managed that? And at what level?

3a) How did Thay react?

4) is the Slavelords an old D&D module that has been converted to Pathfinder, or something else?

Cheers :-D

Radiant Oath

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

If you play a spellcaster with a goat for a familiar, do the jokes really write themselves?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
If you play a spellcaster with a goat for a familiar, do the jokes really write themselves?

Yes. and they're all Baaaaaaaaad.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
If you play a spellcaster with a goat for a familiar, do the jokes really write themselves?
Yes. and they're all Baaaaaaaaad.

Ey! Let James answer the questions! :P

On that note, here's another elf question for James, the elfxpert. Bastards of Golarion established the premise of spireborn half-elves, whose elven parents hail from the Mordant Spire, usually born of human women whose fathers spirit them away shortly after they're born to be raised at the Mordant Spire. It has also been established in Second Darkness that the Mordant Spire elves do keep in touch with other elven communities, most notably Kyonin and the Mierani Forest enclave in Varisia, and in other sources I can't remember that they have diplomatic relations with the Pathfinder Society to grant permission to access Azlanti ruins and stuff. My question is this: would the Mordant Spire elves trust a spireborn half-elf with the task of being an envoy/liaison to these communities and organizations due to the more diplomatic nature of half-elves, or would they more likely send a full-blooded Mordant Spire elf as their representative?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:

Ah, oops, I accidentally worded first question oddly xD Ah well you answered what I wanted to know anyway so no harm done I guess

I didn't mean if there would be AP that solves the mystery, that would defeat point of mystery that won't be answered, I meant AP where it is relevant plotwise whether directly or indirectly? Like, I don't know, I guess it'd be important if there was AP heavily featuring Harbingers of Fate?

Huh, Midnight Dawn was also part of Shadows Under Sandpoint? Were other Sandpoint/Magnimar mysteries/situations(like for example Hells' situation) also related to it somehow?

BTW, speaking of Hells, you wouldn't know if Prisons of Golarion book(or something similar) would be coming this or next year? :D It'll probably be too late for my campaign, but it would definitely help with what I plan to do with Hells'(+Nualia's goons) in my campaign

Anyhoo, thank you for answers, they really help me with getting more confidence to do stuff I want to do in my campaign!

Nope; no plans for an Aroden-centric adventure path. And the Harbingers are in the past now; they featured a bit in some Pathfinder Society scenarios where their story came to a pretty final close.

The Midnight Dawn was a VERY significant part of Sandpoint's campaign (which spent a not inconsiderate amount of time at Magnimar, since that's the "big city" of the region). There were a few other crossovers as well. Not the Hells, though.

I know all the books that are coming out next year, but I don't announce them. That's part of our regular series of announcements, so until we do or don't announce a book... I don't make a practice of scooping our own news.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Snowsarn wrote:

Okay, so I think there is a difference between prophecy and divine guidance.

1) How much divine guidance can the gods give on Golarion?

1a) Do any gods, besides Pharasma, have knowledge of the future?

1b) If so, can they use this knowledge to warn their followers of impending/rising danger, and direct them towards a possible solution, without their followers asking for it through spells?

2) Before the Age of Lost Omens, who made the prophesies?

2a) If there were "prophets" did they have a particular class or power they then lost the use of?

3) Nice about the Thayvian-enclave :-) which character managed that? And at what level?

3a) How did Thay react?

4) is the Slavelords an old D&D module that has been converted to Pathfinder, or something else?

Cheers :-D

You're absolutely right. Our working definition of "prophecy" is "Something that a divine agent or someone who can or claims to be able to know the future has written down, often in metaphors or riddles, to reveal the future before it happens." Since player characters make their own choices and their own future, prophecy in a tabletop RPG is a waste of time. In a novel or movie or other non-interactive product (or even a limited interactive product, like a video game), prophecy works better because there's one person running the show and making the choices—the author. And since the author knows where the story is going, she/he can use prophecy as a (cliched) tool to foreshadow the rest of the story. Prophecy is a subset of divine guidance, but not all divine guidance is prophecy (aka: Not all divine guidance gives you absolutes about the future; most just gives you advice and hints that may or may not work out the way you expect.)

1) As much as their worshipers want, to a certain extent, when they cast spells like divination or commune. When a deity wants to nudge the course of the future, he/she can send omens or agents to guide things, but in print we'll be avoiding long complex riddles or metaphors phrased as prophecies, because we as the game creators find that to be cliched and boring and frustrating and in the end unworkable without removing player agency and thus running a real risk of estranging and frustrating the players.

1a) Yes.

1b) They can, but not via cliches if I can help it.

2) Anyone who had a voice or a writing instrument and a conviction that they knew something about the future, whether or not they actually did.

2a) Nope.

3) Shensen. She started at mid levels and it took a LOT of sessions to eventually take over. The frustrating part was that at about the time she finished that task, a new player joined the group and she was stubborn about playing along and ended up burning the enclave down because of a combination of "Thay is evil so I am doing good by burning this" and "I want to be the center of attention and can't abide other players having stories" and "I'm crazy." It was a particularly frustrating event and I ended up leaving the campaign a session later, despite the fact that I'd been playing in said campaign for a few years and had built Shensen up from about 3rd level to about 18th level over the course of those years, but sometimes moving on is the right choice, I guess.

3a) Dunno. As I described above, I ended up leaving the campaign due to personal differences with another player before there could be any legitimate in-game NPC reaction.

4) It's the "Against the Slavelords" series of old AD&D torunament modules. As with "Temple of Elemental Evil" I'll be running it as is, swapping out stats and rules as needed on the fly for monsters and stuff, but keeping the exact mix of monsters and treasures and plot elements as unchanged as possible.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
If you play a spellcaster with a goat for a familiar, do the jokes really write themselves?

I was never a fan of allowing Small creatures to be familiars. That should be Animal Companion territory.

AKA: No, there's no jokes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
On that note, here's another elf question for James, the elfxpert. Bastards of Golarion established the premise of spireborn half-elves, whose elven parents hail from the Mordant Spire, usually born of human women whose fathers spirit them away shortly after they're born to be raised at the Mordant Spire. It has also been established in Second Darkness that the Mordant Spire elves do keep in touch with other elven communities, most notably Kyonin and the Mierani Forest enclave in Varisia, and in other sources I can't remember that they have diplomatic relations with the Pathfinder Society to grant permission to access Azlanti ruins and stuff. My question is this: would the Mordant Spire elves trust a spireborn half-elf with the task of being an envoy/liaison to these communities and organizations due to the more diplomatic nature of half-elves, or would they more likely send a full-blooded Mordant Spire elf as their representative?

They might. They might not. Depends on the story you want to tell, and where they're sending the representative, and what their actual goal is.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
On that note, here's another elf question for James, the elfxpert. Bastards of Golarion established the premise of spireborn half-elves, whose elven parents hail from the Mordant Spire, usually born of human women whose fathers spirit them away shortly after they're born to be raised at the Mordant Spire. It has also been established in Second Darkness that the Mordant Spire elves do keep in touch with other elven communities, most notably Kyonin and the Mierani Forest enclave in Varisia, and in other sources I can't remember that they have diplomatic relations with the Pathfinder Society to grant permission to access Azlanti ruins and stuff. My question is this: would the Mordant Spire elves trust a spireborn half-elf with the task of being an envoy/liaison to these communities and organizations due to the more diplomatic nature of half-elves, or would they more likely send a full-blooded Mordant Spire elf as their representative?
They might. They might not. Depends on the story you want to tell, and where they're sending the representative, and what their actual goal is.

Perhaps to the Mwangi Expanse? To monitor the search for a certain lost Azlanti colony?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
On that note, here's another elf question for James, the elfxpert. Bastards of Golarion established the premise of spireborn half-elves, whose elven parents hail from the Mordant Spire, usually born of human women whose fathers spirit them away shortly after they're born to be raised at the Mordant Spire. It has also been established in Second Darkness that the Mordant Spire elves do keep in touch with other elven communities, most notably Kyonin and the Mierani Forest enclave in Varisia, and in other sources I can't remember that they have diplomatic relations with the Pathfinder Society to grant permission to access Azlanti ruins and stuff. My question is this: would the Mordant Spire elves trust a spireborn half-elf with the task of being an envoy/liaison to these communities and organizations due to the more diplomatic nature of half-elves, or would they more likely send a full-blooded Mordant Spire elf as their representative?
They might. They might not. Depends on the story you want to tell, and where they're sending the representative, and what their actual goal is.
Perhaps to the Mwangi Expanse? To monitor the search for a certain lost Azlanti colony?

Doesn't change my answer.

Grand Lodge

I have a player playing as a Ratfolk and every town the party enters he says he wants to meet the local Ratfolk enclave, to which I usually respond that they aren't common in the area and likely only come here in trade caravans (they are currently exploring Varisia.) However I would like for his character to run into others of her kind at some point, so what are some major Ratfolk settlements in the Inner Sea region?

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