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Dark Archive

James Jacobs wrote:
tocath wrote:

Asking here because it didn't need it's own thread, but is in line with the current OT trend and NEEDS AN ANSWER DAGNABBIT:

Is James Jacobs evil?

Nope! I like to think I'm chaotic good, but I'm probably in truth closer to neutral good. There ARE evil people here at Paizo, but I'm not one of them.

Be honest it's Cosmo isn't it?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

JoelF847 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
tocath wrote:

Asking here because it didn't need it's own thread, but is in line with the current OT trend and NEEDS AN ANSWER DAGNABBIT:

Is James Jacobs evil?

Nope! I like to think I'm chaotic good, but I'm probably in truth closer to neutral good. There ARE evil people here at Paizo, but I'm not one of them.
Do you have an evil twin then? If so, what physical differences does he have so we can tell you two apart? The classic goatee, or something else?

Nope; not that I know of. But then an evil twin WOULD hide from me if he's any good at being an evil twin, yeah?


Hilariously, my twin does cultivate a goatee. But he's not really evil. (Nor are we identical). I'm just scruffy.
I'm not sure where the evil = beard thing came from, actually. Maybe beardlessness equals innocence.
James, I hope GenCon isn't too much of a thrash.
Personally, I'm getting a little worn out. I have a game currently running 2-3 times a week, totally self-written, and I don't know how one sustains the pace. Mostly I try to slow them down by noisy attacks by highly challenging monsters (that can take a few hours). I think if there is a GM guide 2, a fine section would be mini-encounters and hindrances to help keep things moving/interesting while one figures out how to respond to the bizarre decisions made by various party leaders... How do you manage no prep time and spur of the moment games?


Jeff de luna wrote:
I'm not sure where the evil = beard thing came from, actually.

My suspicion is the original Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jeff de luna wrote:
How do you manage no prep time and spur of the moment games?

For spur of the moment games, my favorite solution is to run a published adventure, actually. Preferably one I've run before so I know my way around it.


I have found threads where people give decent, logical answers to this, but it's always nice to hear it from the creative director himself:

Does attempting to demoralize an opponent with Intimidate make you provoke attacks of opportunity? The skill does not specifically exempt this use from AoOs as some others do ... but it makes sense that it would not.


Here's a question; with the advent of the Gunslinger class and the new firearm / seigee engine rules, are you a fan of such weaponry in your fantasy games? Care to provide some examples as well?


James Jacobs wrote:
doctor_wu wrote:

Do you think petrified creatures not aging is reasonable?

Could one of the statues the morlocks worship then actually be a petrified Atlanti that fled underground is one thing that would come up with this?

When you're petrified, you're neither dead nor alive. You're an object. You might weather and erode over time, but you don't biologically age.

It's possible that a morlock worship statue could be a petrified Azlanti, yes.

Great idea. I am crediting both of you for this one.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Dumb Paladin wrote:


I have found threads where people give decent, logical answers to this, but it's always nice to hear it from the creative director himself:

Does attempting to demoralize an opponent with Intimidate make you provoke attacks of opportunity? The skill does not specifically exempt this use from AoOs as some others do ... but it makes sense that it would not.

No. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity for trying to demoralize a foe with Intimidate. Since doing so assumes, essentially, you're swinging your weapons around in the first place and being menacing... hardly opening yourself up to attacks that way.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Golden-Esque wrote:
Here's a question; with the advent of the Gunslinger class and the new firearm / seigee engine rules, are you a fan of such weaponry in your fantasy games? Care to provide some examples as well?

Firearms have been in Golarion from the start—the gunslinger didn't start that ball rolling.

I've been a fan of firearms in fantasy fiction for a long time. Final Fantasy does it quite well, for example, as does Princess Mononoke. Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, while set in the real world, handle the introduction of firearms into a non-firearm using society quite well also.

But probably the BEST example of firearms in a fantasy setting would be Stephen King's "Dark Tower" saga. Great stuff.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
JoelF847 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
tocath wrote:

Asking here because it didn't need it's own thread, but is in line with the current OT trend and NEEDS AN ANSWER DAGNABBIT:

Is James Jacobs evil?

Nope! I like to think I'm chaotic good, but I'm probably in truth closer to neutral good. There ARE evil people here at Paizo, but I'm not one of them.
Do you have an evil twin then? If so, what physical differences does he have so we can tell you two apart? The classic goatee, or something else?
Nope; not that I know of. But then an evil twin WOULD hide from me if he's any good at being an evil twin, yeah?

So if we see a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a goatee on the boards we should start to worry.

--
A post from another thread:

Diego Rossi wrote:
Frogboy wrote:
Tryn wrote:

Alter Self changed a lot:

So it's a valible buff spell now, alter self into a dwarf and you get +2 str and darkvision for 1min/lvl

This is false assuming that you are medium size. You can turn small and get the +2 to Dex. I searched long and hard to find this one when my Urban Druid got this ability. It's under the description of Polymorph.

Polymorph: A polymorph spell transforms your physical body to take on the shape of another creature ...

If a polymorph spell causes you to change size, apply the size modifiers appropriately, changing your armor class, attack bonus, Combat Maneuver Bonus, and Stealth skill modifiers. Your ability scores are not modified by this change unless noted by the spell.

...

a) the size modifiers are +1 to AC and to Attack Bonus is small -1 to the same values if large and so on.

The ability score modifier that you don't apply is the standard increase/decrease from table 2-2 at page 296 of the bestiary or here, under: Table: Size Changes, in the PRD.

b) the spell explicitly say that you gain a size bonus to dexterity or strength, depending on your size. So it respect this part of the rules you cited: "Your ability scores are not modified by this change unless noted by the spell".
Note that there are not caveat in the form of "if your size change".

Your opinion?

Scarab Sages

I don't know, He doesn't look to evil to me...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:
Your opinion?

Haven't looked at the errata yet and probably won't until someone in a book I'm using actually uses alter self as a tactic. So for now, my opinion is that your GM will provide your answer for you.


James Jacobs wrote:

While I do like the basic idea behind the minion design, I think it oversimplifies things. Especially since changing all minion hp to 1 suddenly makes it equally easy for a barbarian in the part to kill the foe with a weapon as it does the gnome wizard with the strength penalty and the unarmed strike.

A better solution for Pathfinder is for the GM to simply go around the table at the start of a big battle like that and ask each PC for their minimum damage with their favored weapon and note that. Any time that PC hits a foe with fewer hit points... don't bother having them roll. That should be common sense, I guess... but it ends up with the same situation more or less as the minion rules but doesn't unnecessarily nerf those monsters against equally low-level foes who happen to be on the battlefield.

Thanks James. I just received in the mail The Shackled City hardcover. What an amazing product! The quality of art and creativity is, as per usual, stunning. Not being a Dungeon subscriber it is awesome to be able to get all the series collected in one place.

I noticed you are credited as "developer" on this AP. What role did you have as developer?

As an aside the Mob "monster" described in this AP is EXACTLY what I was looking for with regard to minion rules!! A semi abstracted group of weaklings who can actually collectively offer some challenge!!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Alan_Beven wrote:

Thanks James. I just received in the mail The Shackled City hardcover. What an amazing product! The quality of art and creativity is, as per usual, stunning. Not being a Dungeon subscriber it is awesome to be able to get all the series collected in one place.

I noticed you are credited as "developer" on this AP. What role did you have as developer?

A developer is someone who takes a text turnover and then goes through it with the proverbial fine-toothed comb. He double checks all the rules elements to make sure they work. He edits the language and, if necessary, punches up the writing to be more exciting. He hunts down and deals with plot holes and missing information, often generating new content. He makes sure a product with multiple authors sounds like it was actually written by one author. He makes sure that the entire book is presented in a logical manner so that it's easy and fun to read. He places notes for the art director as to where to put illustrations and maps. He makes sure that the amount of words is correct—if there are too many words, he cuts and revises until the number is right; if there aren't enough words, he writes new content until there are.

There's more to it as well. Essentially, though, a developer is more or less what a director is to a movie. He's the guy who stands between the person who wrote the movie and the people who edit the movie into something others can enjoy.

Liberty's Edge

I have just received a new set of PDF.

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.
The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

What is Paizo position on us using your products pieces of art for personal use only? We should use them only for the specific adventure/module or we can reuse them for our home made adventures?

And about the use during conventions or manifestations?
I am thinking to run We be goblin at a public manifestation this fall (in an authentic medieval castle) and displaying an enlarged printing of some the module images on the gaming tables and in site billboard would be eye catching.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I've just browsed the bestiary of Jade Regent #1: The Brinewall Legacy.

Is the Yamabushi Tengu's irrational hatred of ducks and duckbills your doing?

If so are you secretly a Yamabushi Tengu?

Liberty's Edge

Inner Sea Magic wrote:

False Focus

You can use a divine focus to cast arcane spells.

Prerequisites: Knowledge (religion) 1 rank, ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: By using a divine focus as part of casting, you can cast any spell with a material component costing the value of that divine focus (maximum 100 gp) or less without needing that component. For example, if you use a silver holy symbol worth 25 gp, you do not have to provide material components for an arcane spell if its components are worth 25 gp or less. The casting of the spell still provokes attacks of opportunity as
normal. If the spell requires a material component that costs more than the value of the divine focus, you must have the material component on hand to cast the spell, as normal.

Normal: A divine focus has no effect when used as a component in arcane spells.

The divine focus is consumed in the casting?

Or it treated as a focus and it is reusable?

The second option would be a nice boost for some spell. Not enough to take the feat only for that, but it can be a nice added bonus for people interested in this kind of deception.

Liberty's Edge

Addendum:

Seeing how the False focus work for a "Razmiran priest" I suppose the religious focus is not consumed.

I must say that I like Inner sea magic a lot.


James Jacobs wrote:
Gregg Helmberger wrote:
Are there any options given for fighters (and other traditionally armored warriors like paladins or cavaliers) to be unarmored but use shields (like Celts or Zulus) in Ultimate Combat?
Book's out in like 2 weeks. I don't wanna spoil everything!

I received my PDF last night. I didn't see any options for a fighter who is unarmored except for a shield. Did I miss something?

Dark Archive

Some races from the 3.0, such as Ogier for Wheel of Time RPG, inspired by late Robert Jordan's novels, had large ability modifiers. In the case of Ogiers, +4 to Strength and -4 to Dexterity. Would you recommend giving them another +2 to reflect Pathfinder design philosophy?


Diego Rossi wrote:

I have just received a new set of PDF.

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.
The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

What is Paizo position on us using your products pieces of art for personal use only? We should use them only for the specific adventure/module or we can reuse them for our home made adventures?

And about the use during conventions or manifestations?
I am thinking to run We be goblin at a public manifestation this fall (in an authentic medieval castle) and displaying an enlarged printing of some the module images on the gaming tables and in site billboard would be eye catching.

Use Adobe PHOTOSHOP it can extract the images out of PDF files, either by page number or by Image. I've done it a few times to print off, the maps I need for running a game.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I got my PDF's of the late July releases and just wanted to say excellent work as usual.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:

I have just received a new set of PDF.

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.
The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

What is Paizo position on us using your products pieces of art for personal use only? We should use them only for the specific adventure/module or we can reuse them for our home made adventures?

And about the use during conventions or manifestations?
I am thinking to run We be goblin at a public manifestation this fall (in an authentic medieval castle) and displaying an enlarged printing of some the module images on the gaming tables and in site billboard would be eye catching.

Check out our community use packages and licenses; we put a large amount of art up there for folks to use. It's nowhere near to ALL of our art, though—art we commission and print is one of our most valuable resources, and we'd rather not release all of it to the public.

As for conventions—if you want to use our art or resources for your convention, contact us! We love working with folks to make Paizo presences at conventions more exciting. (of course, you might want to wait until after Gen Con's over to do that... especially since we're in a transition period right now with getting a new person on staff to run our organized play program...).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I've just browsed the bestiary of Jade Regent #1: The Brinewall Legacy.

Is the Yamabushi Tengu's irrational hatred of ducks and duckbills your doing?

If so are you secretly a Yamabushi Tengu?

HA! I was hoping someone would pick up on that.

I did indeed design the Yamabushi (although Rob McCreary was the one who suggested that as their name—I originally was just calling them "Tengu Oni" which isn't nearly as cool).

But yeah... the duck stuff was from me. Good times.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:
Inner Sea Magic wrote:

False Focus

You can use a divine focus to cast arcane spells.

Prerequisites: Knowledge (religion) 1 rank, ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: By using a divine focus as part of casting, you can cast any spell with a material component costing the value of that divine focus (maximum 100 gp) or less without needing that component. For example, if you use a silver holy symbol worth 25 gp, you do not have to provide material components for an arcane spell if its components are worth 25 gp or less. The casting of the spell still provokes attacks of opportunity as
normal. If the spell requires a material component that costs more than the value of the divine focus, you must have the material component on hand to cast the spell, as normal.

Normal: A divine focus has no effect when used as a component in arcane spells.

The divine focus is consumed in the casting?

Or it treated as a focus and it is reusable?

The second option would be a nice boost for some spell. Not enough to take the feat only for that, but it can be a nice added bonus for people interested in this kind of deception.

It's still a divine focus, not a divine material component. This feat's main purpose is to act as a sort of "Improved Eschew Materials" since it lets you use a holy symbol in place of any other relatively inexpensive material components.

This doesn't really help you with expensive additional material components, of course.

The divine focus remains a focus, in any case, and can be reused.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gray wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Gregg Helmberger wrote:
Are there any options given for fighters (and other traditionally armored warriors like paladins or cavaliers) to be unarmored but use shields (like Celts or Zulus) in Ultimate Combat?
Book's out in like 2 weeks. I don't wanna spoil everything!
I received my PDF last night. I didn't see any options for a fighter who is unarmored except for a shield. Did I miss something?

Nope; looks like that wasn't an option that the design team decided to explore in the book, I guess. Which is kind of too bad. Oh well.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

nightflier wrote:
Some races from the 3.0, such as Ogier for Wheel of Time RPG, inspired by late Robert Jordan's novels, had large ability modifiers. In the case of Ogiers, +4 to Strength and -4 to Dexterity. Would you recommend giving them another +2 to reflect Pathfinder design philosophy?

I would actually recommend not using those types of races at all as PCs unless you as the GM are interested in experimenting.

Simply "balancing" a higher ability score modifier with an equal amount of penalties to other modifiers isn't really as effective as some folks think, because player characters will always find a way to make those penalties a non-issue.

If you have a race that has +4 Str and –4 Dex, for example, a player could build a REALLY bad-ass fighter or barbarian; he'd have a low AC and a low Reflex save, but he'd be stronger than ever which means that he'd end combats faster and thus not have to worry so much about the bad guys even being around to take advantage of his clumsiness.

In any case, the upcoming "Advanced Race Guide" will talk quite a lot about how to handle these types of character race options.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Azure_Zero wrote:
Diego Rossi wrote:

I have just received a new set of PDF.

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.
The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

What is Paizo position on us using your products pieces of art for personal use only? We should use them only for the specific adventure/module or we can reuse them for our home made adventures?

And about the use during conventions or manifestations?
I am thinking to run We be goblin at a public manifestation this fall (in an authentic medieval castle) and displaying an enlarged printing of some the module images on the gaming tables and in site billboard would be eye catching.

Use Adobe PHOTOSHOP it can extract the images out of PDF files, either by page number or by Image. I've done it a few times to print off, the maps I need for running a game.

Just don't use those images you extract for anything public. We're all fine here at Paizo if you use our artwork to enhance your home games—that's the reason we put the art in our books in the first place, really! But using extracted artwork to enhance public stuff or for-sale products (including using that art for conventions or on public websites) is a no-no.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Justin Franklin wrote:
I got my PDF's of the late July releases and just wanted to say excellent work as usual.

Thanks! :-)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Diego Rossi wrote:

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.

The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

Adobe removed the ability to extract images from Reader 9, but they restored it in Reader 10.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I know the answer, but considers this me saying I noticed. So is it safe to assume the redo of Rise of the Runelords is coming since there is at least 3 pieces of artwork for it in the new releases?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Justin Franklin wrote:
I know the answer, but considers this me saying I noticed. So is it safe to assume the redo of Rise of the Runelords is coming since there is at least 3 pieces of artwork for it in the new releases?

Huh? What new releases? What artwork?

Rise of the Runelords is our most popular Adventure Path. Why wouldn't we capitalize on that popularity and continue to use its themes in more current products?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
I know the answer, but considers this me saying I noticed. So is it safe to assume the redo of Rise of the Runelords is coming since there is at least 3 pieces of artwork for it in the new releases?

Huh? What new releases? What artwork?

Rise of the Runelords is our most popular Adventure Path. Why wouldn't we capitalize on that popularity and continue to use its themes in more current products?

Nualia in Inner Sea Magic, the Goblin's attacking in Goblins of Golarion, and Ezrien fighting the Stone Giants in Ultimate Combat. Could be coincidence of course. ;)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Justin Franklin wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
I know the answer, but considers this me saying I noticed. So is it safe to assume the redo of Rise of the Runelords is coming since there is at least 3 pieces of artwork for it in the new releases?

Huh? What new releases? What artwork?

Rise of the Runelords is our most popular Adventure Path. Why wouldn't we capitalize on that popularity and continue to use its themes in more current products?

Nualia in Inner Sea Magic, the Goblin's attacking in Goblins of Golarion, and Ezrien fighting the Stone Giants in Ultimate Combat. Could be coincidence of course. ;)

Ah.

Liberty's Edge

Vic Wertz wrote:
Diego Rossi wrote:

One of the thing I like on them is that with some version of the Acrobat reader it is possible to select and copy the images for display on a computer screen or printing.

The possibility to present them to the players without the risk to spoil parts of the products where they appear is great.

Strangely the more recent versions of Acrobat seem to lack this feature.

Adobe removed the ability to extract images from Reader 9, but they restored it in Reader 10.

Thanks for the tip.

Now I will end buying the PDF for the products I have in print form only.
The images will be used only with my gaming group.

ames Jacobs wrote:


Check out our community use packages and licenses; we put a large amount of art up there for folks to use. It's nowhere near to ALL of our art, though—art we commission and print is one of our most valuable resources, and we'd rather not release all of it to the public.

As for conventions—if you want to use our art or resources for your convention, contact us! We love working with folks to make Paizo presences at conventions more exciting. (of course, you might want to wait until after Gen Con's over to do that... especially since we're in a transition period right now with getting a new person on staff to run our organized play program...).

It will be only a small thing on local level, even if the location is great.

If it get confirmed (it is a public building and thanks to budget cuts the usage could be restricted) I will contact your staff as you suggested.

The Exchange

Heya James,

It's been a while and close to 300 posts since I dropped into this thread so may have missed you being asked this one.

Have you seen the Shensen sculpt that Reaper minis have released recently? If so, have you managed to snag yourself one and painted it/had it painted for you? How psyched are you that one of your old characters has been offically cast into a metal mini by one of the best mini companies around?

(All of this is asked as I believe Shensen was once one of your actual characters in a campaign. If not, please forget I was ever here.)

Cheers


Does PFS (a format where XP of individual monster kills is eliminated) ever use time as a response to higher level characters instead of more and/or higher level opponents?
For example a tier 1-2 party gets three days to accomplish a mission; a tier 3-4 gets one day to deal with all the same problems?


What`s the deal with Alkenstar/Nex/Geb, culturally speaking?
Given they all speak Osirioni and their history seemingly developed parallel with Osirion (at least more so than with Taldan culture), I expected a para-Egyptian vibe to play the leading role in their cultures, if mixed with even more exotic strains like Shory, Vudra, Southern Garund, etc... I haven`t seen as much art depicting Nex or Geb, but Alkenstar art seems to have ZERO discernable reference to Osirioni culture, the characters seem very `Euro` and tend to dress in the very Renaissance Euro styles, as seen in the latest Iconic with leather bustier and tri-corner hat. I`m all for differences with Osirion proper (taking things in more of an occult/pulp techno direction), but I just don`t get the degree of cultural references which seem like they belong in Andoran. I`m just trying to make sense of what is the intent here, and how it fits into Golarion as a whole. If it`s just a matter of artists doing their own thing, I more than understand, but if the intent is actually different than what I understood, I`d just like to know that`s the case, along with an explanation why... :-) Have fun releasing the UC candy!


James Jacobs wrote:
nightflier wrote:
...In the case of Ogiers, +4 to Strength and -4 to Dexterity. Would you recommend giving them another +2 to reflect Pathfinder design philosophy?

I would actually recommend not using those types of races at all as PCs unless you as the GM are interested in experimenting.

If you have a race that has +4 Str and –4 Dex, for example, a player could build a REALLY bad-ass fighter or barbarian; he'd have a low AC and a low Reflex save, but he'd be stronger than ever which means that he'd end combats faster and thus not have to worry so much about the bad guys even being around to take advantage of his clumsiness.

The other side of that coin is that a big DEX penalty means they will be acting later in Init more often, allowing the enemy to get better positions, not to mention inflict conditions or otherwise screw them over... Not leading to a faster combat to their advantage. I do agree with you that bigger mods like that have a dynamic that doesn`t really need an extra +2 to balance them with Core races. ...Though it seems like CON is the one stat that can `safely` be heavily boosted without too many concerns, since it isn`t really a `primary` stat for any class.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Does PFS (a format where XP of individual monster kills is eliminated) ever use time as a response to higher level characters instead of more and/or higher level opponents?

For example a tier 1-2 party gets three days to accomplish a mission; a tier 3-4 gets one day to deal with all the same problems?

No... encounters are tiered, the modules otherwise remain the same.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Wrath wrote:

Heya James,

It's been a while and close to 300 posts since I dropped into this thread so may have missed you being asked this one.

Have you seen the Shensen sculpt that Reaper minis have released recently? If so, have you managed to snag yourself one and painted it/had it painted for you? How psyched are you that one of your old characters has been offically cast into a metal mini by one of the best mini companies around?

(All of this is asked as I believe Shensen was once one of your actual characters in a campaign. If not, please forget I was ever here.)

Cheers

I've not only seen the Shensen sculpt, but helped approve it. Erik often calls me in to his office to help approve mini sculpts before we tell Reaper to go forward with the final miniature.

Shensen was indeed one of my PCs; I'm actually playing her in Erik's new game he just started here so she's now OFFICIALLY a Golarion NPC as well, which is cool.

I don't have the mini yet, but will be grabbing one someday. It's pretty awesome to get Reaper minis (or, for that matter, Wayne Reynolds artwork, in the case of Ameiko) of a character that was once one of your PCs, though. One of the cooler job perks of working at Paizo! :-)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Does PFS (a format where XP of individual monster kills is eliminated) ever use time as a response to higher level characters instead of more and/or higher level opponents?

For example a tier 1-2 party gets three days to accomplish a mission; a tier 3-4 gets one day to deal with all the same problems?

Not that I know of... but 97% of what goes on in PFS goes on without me being involved. That's a Mark question.

EDIT: Or, apparently, a LazarX question.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Quandary wrote:

What`s the deal with Alkenstar/Nex/Geb, culturally speaking?

Given they all speak Osirioni and their history seemingly developed parallel with Osirion (at least more so than with Taldan culture), I expected a para-Egyptian vibe to play the leading role in their cultures, if mixed with even more exotic strains like Shory, Vudra, Southern Garund, etc... I haven`t seen as much art depicting Nex or Geb, but Alkenstar art seems to have ZERO discernable reference to Osirioni culture, the characters seem very `Euro` and tend to dress in the very Renaissance Euro styles, as seen in the latest Iconic with leather bustier and tri-corner hat. I`m all for differences with Osirion proper (taking things in more of an occult/pulp techno direction), but I just don`t get the degree of cultural references which seem like they belong in Andoran. I`m just trying to make sense of what is the intent here, and how it fits into Golarion as a whole. If it`s just a matter of artists doing their own thing, I more than understand, but if the intent is actually different than what I understood, I`d just like to know that`s the case, along with an explanation why... :-) Have fun releasing the UC candy!

Nex, Geb, and Alkenstar are all regions that DON'T really have real-world cultural analogs. There IS Osirioni culture in all three of these regions, though—check out the half-page illustration for Geb in the Inner Sea World Guide. Those are pyramids in the background.

And you can't really count on our latest Iconic as a window into Alkenstar fashion, either, because she's been out adventuring in the world for a long time now. She didn't dress that way when she lived in Alkenstar; that's what happens when you become a world traveller.

That said, we haven't actually done a heck of a lot with Nex, Geb, or Alkenstar yet. That's the primary reason that these nations don't yet have a good "feel" to them as do nations where we've set Adventure Paths or done entire books about.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Quandary wrote:
The other side of that coin is that a big DEX penalty means they will be acting later in Init more often, allowing the enemy to get better positions, not to mention inflict conditions or otherwise screw them over... Not leading to a faster combat to their advantage. I do agree with you that bigger mods like that have a dynamic that doesn`t really need an extra +2 to balance them with Core races. ...Though it seems like CON is the one stat that can `safely` be heavily boosted without too many concerns, since it isn`t really a `primary` stat for any class.

Acting later in Initiative also translates into "not running up to the monsters to enable them a full attack action." Going first in initiative is not always the best thing. I've seen plenty of characters (usually monks) go first, run up to the fight, then be too far away from the slower PCs to receive support or to distract the monsters from aiming all their attacks at the fast PC.

Constitution is indeed probably the one stat that can be boosted, since it's equally important to all classes.

Liberty's Edge

James, I know that it is not your kind of stuff, but maybe you can pass it to whoever follow the rules about enchanting magic items (SKR or JB).
They don't have a dedicate thread where we could ask this kind of questions (and probably it is best for their sanity, they would be submerged by the number of requests).

- What happens when you are adding new abilities to a to an already enchanted item and fail the spellcraft roll?
The rules say: "the item does not function and the materials and time are wasted". As the item was part of the materials you destroy its original capabilities or you keep them?

- lacking the prerequisited for the powers the item already has is a problem or not? i.e. if I want to add the powers of a Cloak of Resistance to a set of Wings of Flying I need to know the Fly spell or I get a +5 to DC?

- It is written somewhere that you can use an item while it is being upgraded? I have seen it taken for granted, but the rules are silent on that.

Thanks for whatever help you can give. They aren't vital questions, only thoughts that were born in another thread.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:

- What happens when you are adding new abilities to a to an already enchanted item and fail the spellcraft roll?

The rules say: "the item does not function and the materials and time are wasted". As the item was part of the materials you destroy its original capabilities or you keep them?

- lacking the prerequisited for the powers the item already has is a problem or not? i.e. if I want to add the powers of a Cloak of Resistance to a set of Wings of Flying I need to know the Fly spell or I get a +5 to DC?

- It is written somewhere that you can use an item while it is being upgraded? I have seen it taken for granted, but the rules are silent on that.

Thanks for whatever help you can give. They aren't vital questions, only thoughts that were born in another thread.

I'll answer what I can, but if it's that important to you, you should just post this question in the rules forum. There's plenty of folks on those boards who have great insight into the rules; you don't have to be employed at Paizo to have that ability.

I'd say that if you fail a spellcraft roll when adding new abilities to a magic item that the new abilities just don't "take" and that the extra money you'd invested in that new ability is wasted; the item itself is fine unless the GM is squirrelly and wants to sneak a curse in there.

If you're adding powers to an existing magic item, I'd say you only need to meet the prerequisites for the added powers.

While you're upgrading a magic item, you can't use it. It's basically "in the shop," probably with parts of it taken apart and bits of its magic unwoven or suppressed.


James Jacobs wrote:
Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Umm. I have a feeling that longbows store and release kinetic energy, and that ones for use by stronger users have to be effectively constructed to store and release more energy. I'd have thought in the real world it would require substantial rebuilding work to 'upgrade' one for a stronger user (if it were at all possible).

But, PFRPG is a fantasy game with magic and all that. Maybe there are rangers or archer priests out there with spells that help them upgrade bows in terms of the draw forces... :)
The crafting rules in Pathfinder are very abstract as it is. We don't really bother to describe what it takes to build a bow, and so we don't need to describe what it takes to increase a bow's pull.

See, even here people still want to deny this. They will just say "That's just his opinion, it's not really the rule."

Is there anyway to get something in the FAQ, or some other definitive answer forum. Pleease.

Liberty's Edge

As your opinion fully agree with mine, I will take it has gospel. ;)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Vanulf Wulfson wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Umm. I have a feeling that longbows store and release kinetic energy, and that ones for use by stronger users have to be effectively constructed to store and release more energy. I'd have thought in the real world it would require substantial rebuilding work to 'upgrade' one for a stronger user (if it were at all possible).

But, PFRPG is a fantasy game with magic and all that. Maybe there are rangers or archer priests out there with spells that help them upgrade bows in terms of the draw forces... :)
The crafting rules in Pathfinder are very abstract as it is. We don't really bother to describe what it takes to build a bow, and so we don't need to describe what it takes to increase a bow's pull.

See, even here people still want to deny this. They will just say "That's just his opinion, it's not really the rule."

Is there anyway to get something in the FAQ, or some other definitive answer forum. Pleease.

Post the question to the rules forum and get all your friends to hit the FAQ tab on the post. If the designers think its worthy of including in the FAQ, they will.

I think it's a distraction and needless clutter and not something that makes the game more fun to play to get that level of minutiae and whatnot into the rules, but to each their own, I suppose.

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