Goblins like to ride wolves, boars, giant spiders, and giant geckos very much. But I'm not sure why they like to ride giant geckos. I mean, wolves and other creatures are very good at fighting, but giant geckos are not. They don't even have sharp teeth. They don't even have claw attacks. Thus can I assume that they are the worst among the goblin mounts?
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I was travelling last week and stepped in at a gaming store and saw a couple of (very dusty) Gamemastery "Compleat Encounters" sets. I couldn't help but buy them. I noticed you wrote one of them (about the ape-king, I think), and I was wondering if you could talk more about them--their origin, how they were received, etc.. It was really interesting seeing some concepts (like the demon lord Anghazan and the Whispering Tyrant) before they officially appeared in a Golarion context.
That was a LONG time ago. We created several of those things, when we were looking for ways to expand our company beyond simply publishing magazines for someone else, because we knew at some point the license for the magazines would end and we'd need SOMETHING else to build off of. The Compleat Encounters were really our very VERY first stabs at starting to build our own campaign setting—in the ones I wrote, I tried to include new NPCs and lore that would do just that.
They were kind of tough to create though. The format simply didn't give me enough room to tell the robust stories I prefer telling in adventures, and while I think they served a good purpose in those early days, I'm glad we were able to move on to Golarion and Pathfinder!
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Goblins like to ride wolves, boars, giant spiders, and giant geckos very much. But I'm not sure why they like to ride giant geckos. I mean, wolves and other creatures are very good at fighting, but giant geckos are not. They don't even have sharp teeth. They don't even have claw attacks. Thus can I assume that they are the worst among the goblin mounts?
Okay, now that I'm at work and not at home and I'm able to reference the books, here's a more informative set of answers.
Goblins like to ride creatures, yes, but what exactly they prefer to ride varies from game to game and story to story. In Pathifnder, their preferred mounts are goblin dogs, but they're also fond of giant lizards. We don't have goblins riding wolves or boars or spiders much at all (spider riding is much more the domain of the mite, in fact, since they have specific abilities that allow them to train and befriend vermin—a goblin who tries to ride a spider will, like a PC, just get bitten).
As for which one is the "worst" that's a matter of opinion. I think geckos look really cool, and have long admired them, and that's why Ripnugget rides a goblin in Rise of the Runelords more than anything else. Whether or not a gecko has a claw attack NEVER entered into the equation when it came to me designing that character. Not once. It's creatively irrelevant.
Now, getting into the rules a bit more...
No, giant geckos do NOT have claw attacks, as defined on page 186 of Bestiary 3. Their feet are designed not to claw prey, but to allow them to climb with INCREDIBLE skill. So, while a goblin riding a gecko might not be able to order his gecko to attack with claws, he CAN order his gecko to climb up a vertical wall of glass or cling upside down to a ceiling. That's pretty awesome.
Furthermore, the way we design monsters, we aim for them to do about the same amount of damage with all their attacks as appropriate for their CR. A CR 1 creature like a giant gecko should do, on average, 5–7 points of damage in a round. As designed, the giant gecko does exactly this; it's only attack is a bite that does an average damage of 6 points of damage per round, so it doesn't NEED claws. IN fact, if we'd given it claws, we would have had to reduce its bite attack damage significantly and wouldn't have been able to give it significant claw damage at all and would have maybe even needed to reduce its strength by a few points just to keep it in line with what a CR 1 monster should do. A gecko designed as a CR 1 monster will do more or less the SAME damage any other CR 1 monster would do. Just look at the stats for the riding dog in the Bestiary if you don't believe me. The gecko does 2d4+1 damage with its bite (average of 6 points), and the riding dog does 1d6+3 damage (average 6.5). The gecko's 2 dice means that it'll more reliably do its average damage, while the dog's one die means that it's equally likely to roll max damage as it is minimum damgae, and is thus less reliable in its ability to hit its averages. The dog can trip foes, but the gecko has MUCH better mobility. This allows you to choose what works best for your particular needs, and is why we have more than one option for each CR to choose from, incidentally.
Geckos do have sharp teeth though. In the real world and in Pathfinder. The gecko illustration on page 49 of the Rise of the Runelords Anneversary Edition has a whole mouthful of plainly visible sharp teeth.
There's a reason why we replaced a lot of the art, including the illustration of Ripnugget on his gecko, in the Anniversary Edition—what we had to settle for at the last minute in the original Burnt Offerings was not in the correct style for the game we were trying to publish, but in that era, when we had about a week to go from "order the art" to "have the artist create the art" to "put the art in the book" to "send the book to the printer," well, it's a major miracle that the original publication of Burnt Offerings had any art at all in the first place.
But yes, the art in the original is incorrect. We fixed that, among many other errors, in the reprinted version. Because geckos do not have claws.
Many animals have a dire version in Pathfinder. Dire wolves, dire boars, dire bears, dire tigers, and so on. I'm not sure if these dire animals exist in real life or not, but can they mate with normal animals and produce offsprings? If they can, will the offsprings be dire animals or normal animals?
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Many animals have a dire version in Pathfinder. Dire wolves, dire boars, dire bears, dire tigers, and so on. I'm not sure if these dire animals exist in real life or not, but can they mate with normal animals and produce offsprings? If they can, will the offsprings be dire animals or normal animals?
The idea of a "dire" version of animals is a 3rd Edition D&D element that I really REALLY wish we'd had the courage to abandon.
In the real world, there's one dire animal that existed—the dire wolf. This was a prehistoric wolf. My preference would be to have kept the dire wolf (as it has a real world version) and then look at the fossil record for other tougher animals. We SORT of do this already—the boar's tougher version is the daeodon (a real-world prehistoric larger boar), the tiger has the smilodon, the bear has the cave bear, the hyena the hyaenodon, and the crocodile the sarcosuchus.
I'm on a crusade to abandon all but the dire wolf in 2nd edition. If I get my way, the 2nd edition of Pathfinder will have a crocodile and a sarcosuchus, but no dire crocodile. It'll have a tiger and a smilodon, but no dire tiger.
In any event, whether or not they can interbreed with other animals is up to you. I'd say that yes, I think it's possible, given the fact that a tiger and a smilodon are closer, thematicaly, than a tiger and a lion, but ligers are a thing, so that suggests that a smilodon/tiger crossbreed could be a thing.
I don't think such a thing needs its own monster though. Just give the tiger the advanced template if you want a crossbreed type critter to live between the tiger and the smilodon.
If a goblin tribe cannot simply raid others to snatch food because the nearby humans are too powerful to be touched, how would the goblins sustain themselves? I mean, do goblins do farming or keep livestock? I think goblins at least like to raise pigs very much, considering their love toward the pig Squealy Nord in We Be Goblins series.
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If a goblin tribe cannot simply raid others to snatch food because the nearby humans are too powerful to be touched, how would the goblins sustain themselves? I mean, do goblins do farming or keep livestock? I think goblins at least like to raise pigs very much, considering their love toward the pig Squealy Nord in We Be Goblins series.
By hunting and fishing and foraging. Same way that our ancestors lived before we invented agriculture. They don't farm or keep livestock, although they do keep pets, and I suspect that they often end up eating their pets. Cannibalisim happens plenty too in dire situations.
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Currently reading Planar Adventures and I'm loving it, both things I long wanted to know and things I didn't know I wanted to know that will be useful in future campaigns, so thank you for that.
Could you suggest a plausible reason (or reasons) for conflict to occur between aeons and inevitables ?
Inevitables are on the outs—they're a concept that reality once needed but no longer really requires, and aeons are moving in to fill that vacancy. So the "official" conflict would then be that inevitables are an outdated race made obsolete by aeons, who are more efficient at the job, and are edging them out. Think of inevitables as 8-track cassettes and aeons as digital downloaded music, perhaps?
If you had the ability to give the Speed Force to one of the Paizo staff, who would you choose?
Thistletop was once the head of one of Karzoug's sentinel statues. It means the statue was way much bigger than the Statue of Liberty. How can Thassilon build such an enormous statue? Even with the modern technology, it would be very hard to build such a thing.
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If you had the ability to give the Speed Force to one of the Paizo staff, who would you choose?
I have no idea what you're talking about, so I went to google to look up "Speed Force" and, finding out that it's a DC Comics thing, I know why. I don't read much DC stuff at all.
But now that I'm educated about it, I would give it to all of us so that we would be able to hit our deadlines faster and so that we'd be able to get where we all individually want to be when we go on vacation.
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Thistletop was once the head of one of Karzoug's sentinel statues. It means the statue was way much bigger than the Statue of Liberty. How can Thassilon build such an enormous statue? Even with the modern technology, it would be very hard to build such a thing.
Because unlike modern technology, Thassilon had access to workers who were three to five times the size of humans (giants built their monuments) and access to magic that can do things that technology can not and may never be able to do.
AKA: Magic.
One of the most exciting and refreshing and inspiring parts of the fantasy genre is that magic lets the storyteller do things that you can't do things in the real world.
According to page 49 of Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, Warchief Ripnugget wields a short sword. But I thought he is wielding a dogslicer because the weapon depicted in the art looked like one. Which is correct?
A horsechopper, which is used primarily by goblins, is considered as one of the two-handed melee weapons, just like a greatsword or a halberd is. Does that mean a goblin can wield a halberd that he snatched from humans without penalty? Wait, there is no possibility that this question will be classified as a rule question, right?
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A horsechopper, which is used primarily by goblins, is considered as one of the two-handed melee weapons, just like a greatsword or a halberd is. Does that mean a goblin can wield a halberd that he snatched from humans without penalty? Wait, there is no possibility that this question will be classified as a rule question, right?
A weapon needs to be sized for its user. A goblin horsechopper and a goblin halberd are two handed weapons for Small characters, while a human horsechopper and a human halberd are two handed weapons for Medium characters.
Have you seen Ant-man and the Wasp? If so, what did you think?
Does that mean a goblin cannot wield or shoot a halberd, a musket, or a pistol that he stole from medium sized creatures like humans or dwarves without penalty, because it would be too big for him to use?
IS "Grint Chardonnay Stewfang III" a suitable name for my goblin tribe leader that currently has no tribe?
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Does that mean a goblin cannot wield or shoot a halberd, a musket, or a pistol that he stole from medium sized creatures like humans or dwarves without penalty, because it would be too big for him to use?
A creature can wield a weapon that's one size category off with a penalty; that's how Amiri uses her oversized bastard sword. Those rules are in the core rulebook. I believe it's a –2 penalty on the attack roll.
Goblins hate horses. What about other horse-like creatures? Do goblins pet and ride unicorns, pegasi, hippogriffs? Do they pet and ride camels, stags, or cows?
You said goblins don't ride spiders. But page 6 of Goblins of Golarion said that goblins ride giant insects. Should I assume this book is wrong? Or maybe it isn't but those goblins who ride giant insects must control their mounts magically by casting charm monster or something like that?
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You said goblins don't ride spiders. But page 6 of Goblins of Golarion said that goblins ride giant insects. Should I assume this book is wrong? Or maybe it isn't but those goblins who ride giant insects must control their mounts magically by casting charm monster or something like that?
That book is wrong. Giant insects and spiders and other vermin have no intelligence score and are mindless and thus can't be trained to be mounts unless you have something like the mite's ability to do some sort of vermin empathy. Without that training, they remain wild creatures and won't take kindly to being sat upon.
Are the goblin hero-gods barghests, and not goblins?
There is a greater barghest called Azlowe in page 58 of Vault of the Onyx Citadel. At first I thought he is a goblin because his art looks like that of a goblin. But later I found out he is a greater barghest after all. Thus I thought the artist made a mistake and drew a goblin instead of a barghest. Am I right?
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There is a greater barghest called Azlowe in page 58 of Vault of the Onyx Citadel. At first I thought he is a goblin because his art looks like that of a goblin. But later I found out he is a greater barghest after all. Thus I thought the artist made a mistake and drew a goblin instead of a barghest. Am I right?
Barghests can assume goblin form, as detailed in the barghest entry for barghests in the bestiary.
Can Erik Mona assume the form of Mephisto or is that some reserved for Todd Stewart?
Do elves and half-elves look different? I know half-elves don't have monochromatic eyes and elves don't have facial hair. But other than that, do they have anything different in appearance? For example, do their ears differ in shape and length?
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Do elves and half-elves look different? I know half-elves don't have monochromatic eyes and elves don't have facial hair. But other than that, do they have anything different in appearance? For example, do their ears differ in shape and length?
Of course they look different. We've illustrated PLENTY of both; just check out any number of those illustrations for examples. Either in the race chapter of the Core Rulebook, the differences between Merisiel and Shensen, the numerous examples in Inner Sea Races or Elves of Golarion or Advanced Race Guide and so on and so on.
I have seen many arts depicting elves and half-elves on Golarion but only to fail to discern difference between the two, apart from the fact that elves have monochromatic eyes and no facial hair. Sigh. I'm not even sure if the artists intended to differentiate the two races by, like, drawing their ears slightly different. Anyway, I have a new question. What about orcs and half-orcs? I have seen many arts depicting them in many Pathfinder books, but I actually cannot differentiate them. For example, if a orc claims he is a half-orc, or if a half-orc claims he is an orc, no one would suspect him, right?
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I have seen many arts depicting elves and half-elves on Golarion but only to fail to discern difference between the two, apart from the fact that elves have monochromatic eyes and no facial hair. Sigh. I'm not even sure if the artists intended to differentiate the two races by, like, drawing their ears slightly different. Anyway, I have a new question. What about orcs and half-orcs? I have seen many arts depicting them in many Pathfinder books, but I actually cannot differentiate them. For example, if a orc claims he is a half-orc, or if a half-orc claims he is an orc, no one would suspect him, right?
If the art's unclear, check the text. If that's unclear, well...
Elves have no whites to their eyes, no body hair (including facial hair), and their ears are long and pointed and generally those points rise up to a level just above the tops of their heads. Half elves have whites to their eyes like humans (but the color of their eyes can be strange and striking vibrant colors), have body hair and can grow facial hair, and their ears are shorter but still pointed and do not extend that far up. Overall, elves are thinner as well.
The point is that half-elves ARE supposed to be very very similar in appearance to elves but not exactly. They're half elf, after all.
Half orcs are generally just less monstrous looking than an orc; smaller fangs, for example.
I'm planning on going to pick fresh blueberries today and was thinking: What collection of fruits would be in your ideal fruit salad for the summer?
Is there a particular evil outsider you've wanted to insert into an adventure but just haven't been able to, for whatever reason.
Do you have a favorite summer barbeque side dish.
If not beholden to any inherited/gamer-traditional notions of devils, demons, and daemons, what would your approach to evil outsiders look like?