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James Jacobs wrote:
Tancred of Hauteville wrote:

Hello James, is it possible to apply the Dazing Spell metamagic feat [from the APG] to enervation or the feat only works on spells that inflict "standard" damage (i.e. hit points damage)?

Thanks a lot!

T.

Enervation doesn't inflict damage, so I would say that effects that only affect spells that do damage wouldn't work.

Yeah, I agree. Sure didn't work for Danzig either.


James Jacobs wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:

@wraithstrike and power word unzip: Re Character sheets: Not everyone has access to a printer. I understand tht I might be in the minority here in that I loved the old 3.5 character sheet (mostly because it was not 4 pages stappled together like it would have been if I printed them out...or atleast two pages).

Anyway if the Pazio does come out with a character sheet kinda of product I would be happy.

Sure... but enough people DO have access to a printer that it's quite likely not worth it for us to just print and sell simple character sheets. They'd need to bring something to your table that the average gamer COULDN'T bring to the table in order to be justified, in our view, as a for-sale product.

Also, John, I'd recommend visiting your local FedEx Kinko's for character sheet needs until a published solution becomes available. You can make bulk black-and-white copies from either a digital file or a printed source very cheaply.


Mike Shel wrote:

Dear Mr Jacobs:

Some time back you offered to reveal some things about the soon-to-be-released module Tomb of the Iron Medusa. Boy, I sure would like to hear something about that eagerly anticipated adventure!

Signed, A Fan

I'll second this. I just ordered my print copy from the Paizo Store last week, and I'm quite anxious to get my grubby little player-killing hands on it. And since Mike likely can't spill the beans himself, maybe James will be nice enough to do it for him! =]


If Detect Magic is level 0 and is arguably the most useful spell in the game, why aren't other detect spells 0th level as well? If you wanted to house rule them which of the following, if any, would you consider making 0th level?

Detect Chaos
Detect Charm
Detect Evil
Detect Good
Detect Law
Detect Snares and Pits
Detect the Faithful
Detect Undead

Detect Poison is 0th level.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

What is your favorite game with playing cards?

Favorite CCG/TCG?

Favorite boardgame?

Ever had any thoughts about a Golarion inspired card or board game?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
aeglos wrote:
Why has the color of the Lich's glowing eyes changed from 3.5 (crimson) to PFRPG (Blue) ?

That's because TRON triumphed over the MCP within. :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

harmor wrote:

If Detect Magic is level 0 and is arguably the most useful spell in the game, why aren't other detect spells 0th level as well? If you wanted to house rule them which of the following, if any, would you consider making 0th level?

Detect Chaos
Detect Charm
Detect Evil
Detect Good
Detect Law
Detect Snares and Pits
Detect the Faithful
Detect Undead

Detect Poison is 0th level.

None of those. Being able to cast those kinds of spells at will kind of removes the point for the spells in the first place.

The game's built with the assumption that detect magic is going a lot, but not under the assumption of any of those others.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Monkeygod wrote:

Is Golarion"s gods/goddess empowered via their faithful ala the Forgotten Realms? Ie, if one killed off the vast majority or the entirety of a deity's worshipers would that deity die? or at least become incredibly weakened?

On the flip side, could one grow more powerful or even come back to life if their flock expanded in a massive fashion?? Could Rovagug break free from his prison if his worship grew to include millions, on multiple planes?

Also,
Grats on over 8k posts, YOU DA MAN!! lol

Nope; gods in Pathfinder are not powered by their faithful. A god with no worshipers can become forgotten, but does not die. Likewise, a god can't spontaneously manifest simply because it reaches some threshold of worship.

Gods don't need mortals to worship them to exist, in other words.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

What is your favorite game with playing cards?

Favorite CCG/TCG?

Favorite boardgame?

Ever had any thoughts about a Golarion inspired card or board game?

Favorite game with playing cards = poker.

Favorite CCG/TCG = Magic.

Favorite boardgame = Arkham Horror, even though I've only played the original one and not the new one.

Yes... but not in any real serious way that wouldn't jeopardize our ability to keep putting out RPG stuff for Golarion. Board games and card games use a lot of resources and have different markets than the one we're best at selling stuff to.


Are you playing on one of the two teams for Jason's Weekly Grind game?

If so, which team, and what's your character?

How does it feel to be responsible for a thread that has over 8k posts??


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
Ever had any thoughts about a Golarion inspired card or board game?
Yes... but not in any real serious way that wouldn't jeopardize our ability to keep putting out RPG stuff for Golarion. Board games and card games use a lot of resources and have different markets than the one we're best at selling stuff to.

Would you be willing to license out a board/card game to an established company, like say Cheapass Games?

I secretly know the answer is probably up to Lisa.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Monkeygod wrote:

Are you playing on one of the two teams for Jason's Weekly Grind game?

If so, which team, and what's your character?

How does it feel to be responsible for a thread that has over 8k posts??

I am; I'm on the Thursday team with Erik, Stephen, and Wes. I'm playing a cleric of Sarenrae who's all about healing, healing, healing!

And I'm not responsible for this thread, I just hang out here! :)

Scarab Sages

James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Are you playing on one of the two teams for Jason's Weekly Grind game?

If so, which team, and what's your character?

How does it feel to be responsible for a thread that has over 8k posts??

I am; I'm on the Thursday team with Erik, Stephen, and Wes. I'm playing a cleric of Sarenrae who's all about healing, healing, healing!

Have you seen my autographed photos in the prize pool? Which one would you pick if you were a winner?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

deinol wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
Ever had any thoughts about a Golarion inspired card or board game?
Yes... but not in any real serious way that wouldn't jeopardize our ability to keep putting out RPG stuff for Golarion. Board games and card games use a lot of resources and have different markets than the one we're best at selling stuff to.

Would you be willing to license out a board/card game to an established company, like say Cheapass Games?

I secretly know the answer is probably up to Lisa.

The answer IS up to Lisa... but personally, I'd rather not license out the board game or card game rights to just any established company. Golarion is one of Paizo's most precious and valuable creations—the rules for Pathfinder make us plenty of money, sure, but they'r 100% open content and free online. Anyone can come along and pretty much do whatever they want with them.

That's not the case with Golarion, and as such, I (and the rest of Paizo) is VERY protective about who and what gets to play in that pool.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Aberzombie wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Are you playing on one of the two teams for Jason's Weekly Grind game?

If so, which team, and what's your character?

How does it feel to be responsible for a thread that has over 8k posts??

I am; I'm on the Thursday team with Erik, Stephen, and Wes. I'm playing a cleric of Sarenrae who's all about healing, healing, healing!

Have you seen my autographed photos in the prize pool? Which one would you pick if you were a winner?

I've been told to not look in that part of the internets at all, so I haven't.

Scarab Sages

James Jacobs wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Are you playing on one of the two teams for Jason's Weekly Grind game?

If so, which team, and what's your character?

How does it feel to be responsible for a thread that has over 8k posts??

I am; I'm on the Thursday team with Erik, Stephen, and Wes. I'm playing a cleric of Sarenrae who's all about healing, healing, healing!

Have you seen my autographed photos in the prize pool? Which one would you pick if you were a winner?
I've been told to not look in that part of the internets at all, so I haven't.

Bummer.


James Jacobs wrote:
scifan888 wrote:
What is the connection between Rovagug and Groetus?
Ummm... they're both deities associated with the end of the world?

That's why I asked about a connection. Since they are both concerned with ending the world is there an actual connection between them or is it just a coincidence?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

scifan888 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
scifan888 wrote:
What is the connection between Rovagug and Groetus?
Ummm... they're both deities associated with the end of the world?
That's why I asked about a connection. Since they are both concerned with ending the world is there an actual connection between them or is it just a coincidence?

Coincidence.

And to be technical about it... only Groetus is ACTUALLY a about the end of the world. For Rovagug, that's just a side effect.


James,
I've read the FR and Eberron campaign books, along with a lot of the extra world books that came out for them. I am also just starting the Inner Sea region section of the World Guide, and I have to ask:

How do you(or others if the sole decision is not yours alone) decide which locales of a region/country get detailed in the Gazetteer section??

Often, locales that sound interesting aren't touched on, but a random trading town or some piece of landscape gets described. Sometimes these are interesting as well, but at other times, they just seem boring, or bland.

Silver Crusade

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Monkeygod wrote:

James,

I've read the FR and Eberron campaign books, along with a lot of the extra world books that came out for them. I am also just starting the Inner Sea region section of the World Guide, and I have to ask:

How do you(or others if the sole decision is not yours alone) decide which locales of a region/country get detailed in the Gazetteer section??

Often, locales that sound interesting aren't touched on, but a random trading town or some piece of landscape gets described. Sometimes these are interesting as well, but at other times, they just seem boring, or bland.

The author of the section decides what areas to cover; there's a LOT of authors. Then, once the author's done writing, I go in and develop it, which in some cases means punching up the language to be more interesting, and in others means deleting some and replacing them with more interesting locations.

What one person thinks is boring isn't what another thinks is boring though, so another part of my job is to vary the gazetteer locations enough so that there's hopefully something for everyone.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

Good enough for me! Thanks! :)


Actually, that's an interesting concept, as I believe in Golarion an Elf that is evil enough can spontaneously transform into a Drow? Wouldn't there be an onus on the Elves to counter, and possibly even reverse this? Drow Children suddenly become quite valuable to the Lantern Bearers as with a specific ritual (once the child becomes neutral alignment, at least!) the child can be stripped of their tainted Drow-ness and restored to the true Elven state of being.


HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
Actually, that's an interesting concept, as I believe in Golarion an Elf that is evil enough can spontaneously transform into a Drow? Wouldn't there be an onus on the Elves to counter, and possibly even reverse this? Drow Children suddenly become quite valuable to the Lantern Bearers as with a specific ritual (once the child becomes neutral alignment, at least!) the child can be stripped of their tainted Drow-ness and restored to the true Elven state of being.

I guess the search to remove the the drow's infection would be nice. Of course I would have it be uncurable, but it could lead to another important quest.


wraithstrike wrote:
HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
Actually, that's an interesting concept, as I believe in Golarion an Elf that is evil enough can spontaneously transform into a Drow? Wouldn't there be an onus on the Elves to counter, and possibly even reverse this? Drow Children suddenly become quite valuable to the Lantern Bearers as with a specific ritual (once the child becomes neutral alignment, at least!) the child can be stripped of their tainted Drow-ness and restored to the true Elven state of being.
I guess the search to remove the the drow's infection would be nice. Of course I would have it be uncurable, but it could lead to another important quest.

This sounds so racist. Thank goodness these are only fantasy races.


If racists were able to turn other people's children into their own 'kind', I'd be more than happy to go Barbarian Rage on their asses. Thankfully, we're talking Elves, and nobody really cares about them aside from the ones in the Chainmail underwear. or Gnomes in general. Go figure!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

I think "good" drow draw ire, because there are so many Drizzt-wannabes out there that think of it as a short cut to "coolness" or "edginess" but can't cash the check so to speak when it comes to actually making an interesting character. Because drow are such outside the beam characters they call attention to themselves more so than ordinary failures. It's like Kender. Encountering one player of that race is enough for a lifetime, after the half dozen or so it gets to grate.


James,
Will you or do get a chance to GM or play any games while at GEN CON this year? I was wondering if you guys at Paizo have to mostly work during the event, sign deals, check out what else is out there(competion wise), or do you get some down time during the event to enjoy a session or two.

If you get some time, would you like join in my game? I have to admit, it would be interesting if a rules question arose during the session and somewhat nice to not need to bring books to the table for clarification :)


HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
If racists were able to turn other people's children into their own 'kind', I'd be more than happy to go Barbarian Rage on their asses. Thankfully, we're talking Elves, and nobody really cares about them aside from the ones in the Chainmail underwear. or Gnomes in general. Go figure!

Don't the hobgoblins really care about elves?

What happens if you sharpen the spikes on your cleats and have in function like brass knuckles and do piercing damage. Is that a cool housrule weapon idea. I do worry about balance though?


James, In the games you have played or are playing do you run into any problems with characters crafting magical items? I keep running into opposition and flack from my group for crafting. My group believes that crafting magical items makes me over powered and the rules are weak and let you do anything. The items I do craft are from the Pathfinder Core/APG or a few spell in a can type items. This years Paizo Superstar helped me delve into crafting and its been non stop for my 8th level Magus or just in my spare time outside of sessions. Advice?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
Actually, that's an interesting concept, as I believe in Golarion an Elf that is evil enough can spontaneously transform into a Drow? Wouldn't there be an onus on the Elves to counter, and possibly even reverse this? Drow Children suddenly become quite valuable to the Lantern Bearers as with a specific ritual (once the child becomes neutral alignment, at least!) the child can be stripped of their tainted Drow-ness and restored to the true Elven state of being.

An elf spontaneously transforming into a drow is not a common occurrence. We want there to be evil elves in the game, after all!

In order for an elf to spontaneously transform into a drow, they need to be chaotic evil; they need to have lived a life of evil for a long time; they need to have performed a particularly irredeemable evil act; and they need to worship a demon lord (or be corrupted by a demon lord). Those four conditions are pretty uncommon... and even THEN the transformation into a drow isn't guaranteed. When it does happen, it needs to be the focus of an adventure or even an entire campaign.

The vast majority of drow in the Darklands are the result of biology (born to drow parents).

There's no recorded instance of a good drow being reversed and becoming an elf. It's never happened. Doesn't mean it CAN'T happen, of course, and experiments on drow children to try to redeem them or trigger a transformation to elf are an intriguing concept that I'm sure at least one organization (not necessarily the Lantern Bearers) is pursuing on Golarion.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

DM Nickademus wrote:

James,

Will you or do get a chance to GM or play any games while at GEN CON this year? I was wondering if you guys at Paizo have to mostly work during the event, sign deals, check out what else is out there(competion wise), or do you get some down time during the event to enjoy a session or two.

If you get some time, would you like join in my game? I have to admit, it would be interesting if a rules question arose during the session and somewhat nice to not need to bring books to the table for clarification :)

Nope. My schedule at Gen Con is pretty brutal—up at 8:00 to get ready to work the booth until 6:00, then a quick dinner followed by that evening's weird big event (such as the Ennies or whatever), followed by me staggering back to my hotel room to sleep. (Remember, Gen Con's 3 hours ahead of my time zone, so waking up at 8:00 is more like waking up at 5:00 am... which is pretty brutal since I already have a hard time waking up at 8:00 am on Pacific time as it is!).

So... yeah. Gen Con for me isn't play. It's work. I suppose I might have a weird skewed perception of it since I've ONLY ever been to Gen Con to work and not as a gamer... but my mindset at Gen Con does not allow for gaming opportunities, generally.

That all said, though, thanks for the invite! Sorry I can't attend!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

doctor_wu wrote:
What happens if you sharpen the spikes on your cleats and have in function like brass knuckles and do piercing damage. Is that a cool housrule weapon idea. I do worry about balance though?

You're absolutely right to worry about balance. The best way to handle spiked cleats and kicking as a weapon is to treat those cleats as off-hand attacks. The weird thing there is that normally, a PC gets only one off-hand attack, since he's only got one off hand. If you have a player who wants to use a sword in his primary hand, a dagger in his off hand, and then kick with spiked boots, you should impose some HUGE penalties on that player. I would suggest doubling the penalties for fighting with two weapons, and not allowing the Two-Weapon fighting feats to soften these penalties at all. The feat's not called "THREE weapon fighting," after all...

Dark Archive

James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

If the Lantern Bearer is a paladin, does detect evil on the drow infant or child and it radiates at least moderate evil, could they kill it without losing their paladinhood?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gerrard Dixon wrote:
James, In the games you have played or are playing do you run into any problems with characters crafting magical items? I keep running into opposition and flack from my group for crafting. My group believes that crafting magical items makes me over powered and the rules are weak and let you do anything. The items I do craft are from the Pathfinder Core/APG or a few spell in a can type items. This years Paizo Superstar helped me delve into crafting and its been non stop for my 8th level Magus or just in my spare time outside of sessions. Advice?

I would step back and think about it, first of all—the other players MIGHT be right, after all. Especially if they're not optimizers but you are. If you're the only optimizer in your group, it's not the fact that you can craft that makes you overpowered compared to them—it's your play style that does it.

Furthermore, even though you CAN more or less craft "anything," the GM is the one who gets to say what you really can and can't craft. Even if you meet all the prerequisites for a certain item, the GM can say "no, you can't craft those items in my game." Whenever you craft an item, you need your GM's permission to do so. The rules for crafting are fine, but they DO require the GM to moderate them.

But the problem here doesn't sound like an optimization problem. It sounds like a case of a character hoarding his abilities just for himself.

The BEST way you can combat the perception that you're getting more powerful, of course, is to not just craft items for yourself. Craft them for EVERYONE. Go one person at a time, give them each a choice as to what you'll build for them, craft it, then go to the next person. That way, everyone gets a crafted object at the same rate. Whether or not you pay for it, they pay for it, or the party treasure fund pays for it is irrelevant—the point here is that you're not hoarding your class skills for yourself.

So yeah; think of it in that regard. What if the fighter only fought monsters that menaced him? What if the rogue didn't share any of the treasure she found by picking locks? What if the cleric only healed herself? Those activities rightly get players yelled at by other players. The game assumes a certain amount of teamwork, after all... each player character should be contributing their specialized talents to the betterment of the whole. That means that the fighter needs to fight against ALL of the foes, the rogue needs to pick locks to treasure chests and share with ALL of the characters, and the cleric needs to heal ALL of her allies and not just herself.

And if you happen to be using a significant part of your character to craft items... you really SHOULD be crafting items for the group, not just you.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gerrard Dixon wrote:
James, In the games you have played or are playing do you run into any problems with characters crafting magical items? I keep running into opposition and flack from my group for crafting. My group believes that crafting magical items makes me over powered and the rules are weak and let you do anything. The items I do craft are from the Pathfinder Core/APG or a few spell in a can type items. This years Paizo Superstar helped me delve into crafting and its been non stop for my 8th level Magus or just in my spare time outside of sessions. Advice?

One other bit of advice if you really don't like the idea of using your character's crafting skills to help the other player characters—maybe you'd be more happy as a GM than a player? That way you can craft all the items you want for your NPCs and for the PCs to find.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

joela wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

If the Lantern Bearer is a paladin, does detect evil on the drow infant or child and it radiates at least moderate evil, could they kill it without losing their paladinhood?

Ask your GM.

If I was your GM, I'd say no, you don't detect evil on the drow, but even if it DID, killing it is an evil and/or chaotic act that would impact a paladin's standing in the order.

Now, drow are evil enough that they'd certainly use their own infants as a form of psychological warfare on paladins... but that's part of the deal when you decide to play a paladin. You have to make hard choices. It's easily the HARDEST class to roleplay.

Dark Archive

James Jacobs wrote:
joela wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

If the Lantern Bearer is a paladin, does detect evil on the drow infant or child and it radiates at least moderate evil, could they kill it without losing their paladinhood?
Ask your GM.

I'm the GM ^_^

James Jacobs wrote:
You have to make hard choices. It's easily the HARDEST class to roleplay.

Verrily. Not only for the players, but his or her fellow players especially if they're running NE or even neutral PCs.

Thanx.


James Jacobs wrote:
Nope. My schedule at Gen Con is pretty brutal—up at 8:00 to get ready to work the booth until 6:00, then a quick dinner followed by that evening's weird big event (such as the Ennies or whatever), followed by me staggering back to my hotel room to sleep. (Remember, Gen Con's 3 hours ahead of my time zone, so waking up at 8:00 is more like waking up at 5:00 am... which is pretty brutal since I already have a hard time waking up at 8:00 am on Pacific time as it is!).

Sleep? I thought you didnt sleep? Isnt that a requirement for being a game developer?

James Jacobs wrote:


So... yeah. Gen Con for me isn't play. It's work. I suppose I might have a weird skewed perception of it since I've ONLY ever been to Gen Con to work and not as a gamer... but my mindset at Gen Con does not allow for gaming opportunities, generally.That all said, though, thanks for the invite! Sorry I can't attend!

No problem guy. You should schedule in a slice of time for enjoying the con though, even if its just to view the barely clothed cos-play attendees roaming the event. Life is too short. If you don't belive me... just ask my players.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

If you had enough money, would THIS be your new hobby?

The Exchange

Heya James,

You've mentioned a few times now tht parts of Golarian came from your homebrew world.

Do you still run that Homebrew, or has Golarian pretty much become your world to play in now?

Additionally, did you run that homebrew continuously for many years, or did you make alternate ones when you started new campaigns?

I tended to create new ares for a consistant world when I had time to make my own campaigns up to give players more freedom in changing the world. Was wondering if you did similar is all.

On a related note, how would you handle the changes in a prepublished campaign setting when characters complete campaigns and start new ones? (eg. progress the world a few years and fill in the blanks with story, or run the cmpaigns as "aligned in time" like the AP's are).

As always, thanks for taking the time to answer.

Cheers

Dark Archive

Wouldn't This be awesome to use if PCs wandered into Droon?
Or this?
Or this?
or these?

Does these pictures make you want to play a Droon campaign?


James Jacobs wrote:

Ask your GM.

If I was your GM, I'd say no, you don't detect evil on the drow, but even if it DID, killing it is an evil and/or chaotic act that would impact a paladin's standing in the order.

Now, drow are evil enough that they'd certainly use their own infants as a form of psychological warfare on paladins... but that's part of the deal when you decide to play a paladin. You have to make hard choices. It's easily the HARDEST class to roleplay.

That's probably one of the best posts I've ever read on the boards James. I get so frustrated reading people's posts on the forum that spout things like "Read the bestiary, CE, all Drow are CE, even infants! A Paladin can kill as many as he wants because killing Evil is Good! Any other response is stupid!"

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jeremy Mcgillan wrote:

Wouldn't This be awesome to use if PCs wandered into Droon?

Or this?
Or this?
or these?

Does these pictures make you want to play a Droon campaign?

Links seem not to be working.

That said... Droon works better if it's a place the PCs are coming to from outside, rather than as a place for PCs to start as members of. Lizardfolk are better NPCs than they are PCs.

Dark Archive

If you had control of the World of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realm properties, how would you change them?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Hi James,

Firstly, thanks for answering all these questions. I'm sure sometimes it feels like (extra) work, and I'm sure I speak for everyone else when I say I'm grateful for your time and effort.

Secondly, now that I've made it through all 161 pages of this thread, I notice you have said more than a few times that your favourite class is bard. I guess that might make you an authority for the following question--which I've spoilered for length.

Spoiler:
My friends and I have always had difficulty with the concept of a bard using a bardic performance to create magical effects. We all just keep having visions analogous to Elan from The Order of the Stick. Thanks to this thread I also know you're not a big fan of the Order of the Stick, but the comparison is appropriate in this instance.

In our current game one player is running a bard (savage skald) character, whose performance is based far more around chants and a rhythmic clashing of sword on shield rather than any type of music or singing, which was a little easier to visualise without snickering.

But my key question is this: how do you personally visualise and rationalise bardic performances working? Clearly, they must be something more than the bard singing an appropriate ditty and the powers of the universe complying with the bard's intent.

Supplementary to that, our visions of a bard's versatile performance are similarly plagued with ridiculous situations. For example, the typical image in our heads when imagining a bard using versatile performance to substitute Performance (Keyboard Instruments) for Intimidate has the bard setting up his keyboard and playing something like this. How do you visualise/rationalise these situations in your games?

My questions then (collated here for ease of reference/quoting):

1. How do you rationalise the bardic performance ability back to a believable real-world situation?

2. How do you rationalise a bard's versatile performance ability back to a believable real-world situation?

And I'm quite all right if your answer is "what do you mean, 'rationalise'? Everything is fine the way it is, you just need a better imagination!"

Thanks in advance.

--Mike

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
joela wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
joela wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Quick research question for the monster orphanage thread. :)

Generally speaking, would the Lantern Bearers' kill-the-drow standard apply to drow children and infants? Or would they secret them away for some purpose other than execution?

That depends entirely on the individual Lantern Bearer, really, whether that particular person was super-hard core (and not good) and felt that all drow are evil and must be slain, or if the Lantern Bearer thinks that a drow child raised outside of drow society has a chance to live a life worth living.

AKA: It also depends on the GM. "Good" drow are one of those game elements that folks either seem to love or hate. I'm not gonna make their choice for them.

If the Lantern Bearer is a paladin, does detect evil on the drow infant or child and it radiates at least moderate evil, could they kill it without losing their paladinhood?
Ask your GM.

I'm the GM ^_^

James Jacobs wrote:
You have to make hard choices. It's easily the HARDEST class to roleplay.

Verrily. Not only for the players, but his or her fellow players especially if they're running NE or even neutral PCs.

Thanx.

I would note that a creature only detects as evil if

-They have 5 hit dice
-or they are a paladin, cleric, undead or outsider

so that infant has to be something pretty impressive to have a chance of detecting.


Questions about the Flyby Attack feat:

Spring Attack specifies that using the feat does not provoke attacks of opportunity from the target of the attack.
Flyby Attack doesn't say anything like that. Is this purposeful or is it an error of sort?

Also, Flyby Attack's text says that the creature can take a standard action (RAW any kind of standard action, not just an attack action); is this also purposeful? And, if that's the case, is that the reason why nothing is said about attacks of opportunity from a target?

I'm asking because:
1) The feat is named Flyby Attack.
2) The only "real" uses I can see with this feat as it is worded now is for a creature with great speed and a particularly powerful attack and/or a very good touch spell-like ability (or another kind of touch attack), since the creature will get an attack of opportunity from the target anyway, when continuing the move. There is also another situation, which has the greatest benefits from this Flyby Attack, and it's creatures with reach. The problem here is that most flying creatures of up to large size do not have reach, and Flyby attack may become more a risk than a benefit for them.
These are the reasons why I wanted to understand if it's purposefully worded as it is or not.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
Ever had any thoughts about a Golarion inspired card or board game?
Yes... but not in any real serious way that wouldn't jeopardize our ability to keep putting out RPG stuff for Golarion. Board games and card games use a lot of resources and have different markets than the one we're best at selling stuff to.

I only ask because we have been using an old laminated map of Avistan to play a Risk style game. We have been playing it whenever we are short on players.

We are also huge fans of Lunch Money and I created a similar style game using fluff from Golarion played using the PFS factions. I think a simple card game played with a single deck is lots of fun. Many TCG/CCG get too complex. I used to play Magic and be a DCI judge, but quit after the one of the rules revisions (I liked interrupts!).

James Jacobs wrote:
Favorite boardgame = Arkham Horror, even though I've only played the original one and not the new one.

We had briefly tried the new one. Didn't know at the time it wasn't the original. Never finished playing because we ran out of time.

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