Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't know where to ask, but someone from Paizo should answer this topic.If you think something's broken or needs a FAQ clarification or something like that... post it and/or hit the FAQ tag on the thread. That's what the FAQ tag is for. Just because we don't acknowledge every single question with a "We're working on this now" reply doesn't mean we're ignoring it. Further... there's a LOT of FAQ requests, and it's irresponsible to reply to them in a way that would only further confuse things, so we tend to adopt a slow and steady, get it as right as possible on the first try approach for dealing with FAQ requests..
.
K, and sorry for bothering you with this... I need to pay more attention to stuff like that.
No worries!
One of the main reasons I answered that way is because I'm actually not all that familiar at all with the archeypte under discussion on the thread you linked to. And I'm not really the type of gamer who worries too much about the rules—when, in a game I'm running, a rules question comes up, I generally just make snap decisions rather than agonizing over the minutae of the actual rules texts. And when I post things here, folks tend to assume I'm posting from the standpoint of a "near top rules expert," which I'm not. There's LOTS of folks better at the rules than me on these boards, and when I post to rules-heavy arguments, those posts tend to seem to do more damage than help as the combination of other players who know the rules better than me AND other players who THINK they know the rules better than they actually do get all worked up.
Happy birthday, James.
The only thing I can really afford to get you is a hug.
Rules bloat is one of the things I liked about 3.5. Whatever you wanted, there was an option for it.
I disagree with you here for two reasons.
1) there are plenty of things I haven't gotten a chance to play yet and more only muddles things.
2) 2e AD&D (those of you who played and allowed everything from all the books will agree)
I would rather more worlds be described, perhaps a book on each of the planets each year for the next 8 years.
James, this came up the other night. A player cast chill touch, which states he can touch one target per level, but the spell has an instantaneous duration. Does his hand remain charged until he touches as many targets as he has levels or can he just sweep around and touch everyone nearby? I'm assuming his hand stays charged and he can make one touch attack a round. So how long would his hand retain the charge? (I ruled 1 round per level, but other similar spells continue for 1 minute per level.)
-Tundra
So... as for how to remove the background... that requires different programs and/or different skills at using things like Photoshop. There's plenty of other folks on these boards who have their own different solutions—I'd go seek them out. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to do that at all: I can just go onto the server and get the original art as is if I need it for a personalized handout for a game. :-P
When I copy a picture from the PDF and I paste it in anything (word/wordpad/paint/photoshop) I get this irritating black background going on, is it illegal or something to copy these pictures? I want to print them for my own or is that illegal too?My real question is how do you remove the black background or in which program do I need to open the copied pictures to have the normal monster pictures without the black background?
The art doesn't have a black background, that's whatever program you are using filling black where the transparent pixels are. (I'm not a graphic designer, so I'm not certain I'm using the right terms.)
I think the problem is, "copy" copies the picture into Windows clipboard. Which converts it into a bmp. Which is the worst image format in existence and doesn't support transparency. Use a utility to extract the images and you'll do better. Try googling "PDF Image Extraction" or something and I'm sure there are tools that do exactly what you want.
Edit: Or just click on that black area with the magic wand on 0 tolerance and then hit delete. Should work for any pic that doesn't have a lot of the exact shade of black touching the edge of the real picture.
Mysterious!Happy Birthday James.
And I can't wait to see what you and Paizo have up it's sleeves for the rest of the year, any chance of a very vague or one-word hint you can give about one thing that is unannounced?
Very ka-rever Mis-tah Jacobs... [Queue evil villain music]
-Tundra
|
Creative Director
|
James, this came up the other night. A player cast chill touch, which states he can touch one target per level, but the spell has an instantaneous duration. Does his hand remain charged until he touches as many targets as he has levels or can he just sweep around and touch everyone nearby? I'm assuming his hand stays charged and he can make one touch attack a round. So how long would his hand retain the charge? (I ruled 1 round per level, but other similar spells continue for 1 minute per level.)
Chill touch is worded awkwardly. I'm not sure what the intent there is, honestly... worth FAQing.
I suspect the intent is, actually, to let you make multiple attacks over the course of the next several rounds, up to a maximum number of times equal to your level.
|
Happy birthday!
Have you ever played The Majesty of Colors?
How do Sphinxes, Lamassus, Shedus, and Nagas(those few with hair at least) accessorize and otherwise maintain their hair?
Happy Birthday to you, and to me.
Want to trade gifts? :P
In what countries and regions of Golarion are birthdays not seen as big deals?
Do any cultures specifically rally against the practice of celebrating birthdays?
|
Creative Director
|
Happy birthday!
Have you ever played The Majesty of Colors?
How do Sphinxes, Lamassus, Shedus, and Nagas(those few with hair at least) accessorize and otherwise maintain their hair?
Thanks!
Nope!
Minions. Perhaps magic.
|
Creative Director
|
In what countries and regions of Golarion are birthdays not seen as big deals?
Do any cultures specifically rally against the practice of celebrating birthdays?
Birthdays are pretty much as big a deal as they are in this world in Golarion—there's not really any cultures that rally against the practice.
Interesting. I would've expected some that push conformity and perhaps extreme lawfulness to possibly look down on it.
Happy Birthday James!
I have heard that one's life starts at 40. Does that mean you get to reroll one's character sheet?
also, noticed you guys are looking for software developer. Other than freelancers for writing, does Paizo use freelance programmers who can work remotely by chance? thanks
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
The art doesn't have a black background, that's whatever program you are using filling black where the transparent pixels are. (I'm not a graphic designer, so I'm not certain I'm using the right terms.)
It's called an alpha channel. There are a couple threads discussing workarounds for this; the best is probably this one. (As far as I know, nobody has come up with the perfect answer for Windows users, but Mac users can deal with them flawlessly.)
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Happy Birthday James!
I have heard that one's life starts at 40. Does that mean you get to reroll one's character sheet?
also, noticed you guys are looking for software developer. Other than freelancers for writing, does Paizo use freelance programmers who can work remotely by chance? thanks
Thanks!
That'd be good news if it were true. I've only been 40 for a few hours, and I don't feel that different yet...
None of the job openings at Paizo are remote positions. It's very important that all of our employees be on site for various reasons... not the least of which is that building a community among coworkers is an important value to Paizo.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Would you allow catfolk paladin in your games? How about LG catfolk warrior-scholar type of bard?
Yes and yes.
I'd require the player to come up with a compelling and interesting backstory for the character... but I do that for EVERY character, so that's no different than normal.
Happy Birthday! I hadn't realized you were the same age as I was - I'm turnng 40 in 2 months. Can you let me know if there's anything horrible about it before then, so I can be prepared.
lucky you, I turned 42 the other day
If I want to build a human with all PC class levels to fight a 5th level party, what is the absolute highest level I can go and not slaughter everyone?
Happy Birthday James!
I've noticed that after the ARG, I really can't think of any decent topics for a hardcover book besides "Mythic" level rules and more Bestiaries. Is there any talk about reducing the amount of hardcovers or perhaps doing something different to fill in the space?
|
Creative Director
|
If I want to build a human with all PC class levels to fight a 5th level party, what is the absolute highest level I can go and not slaughter everyone?
That depends on:
1) What class you choose for the human.
2) What classes your PCs are and how many characters they are.
3) How skilled you are as a GM at combat tactics.
4) How skilled your players are at combat tactics.
5) The encounter setup.
6) Luck of the die.
Assuming numbers 3–5 are not an issue (You and the players are all equally skilled and the encounter doesn't favor one side over the other in any way), the only thing I can say is that once you go more than 4 above the party's Average Party Level (APL) with the enemy's CR, you're wading into slaughter territory.
SO! I would start by building a CR 9 encounter for that party of 5th level characters (assuming there's only 4 characters), which would be a 10th level human.
And then I'd compare how he fits onto Table 1–1 from the bestiary. If he's high or low, I would probably adjust his stats a bit.
But keep in mind, four players versus 1 GM monster is ALWAYS going to swing the combat in the players' favor, simply because they get four times the opportunities to do things. When you have a single foe combat, it's often okay to go 1 or 2 CR points higher... against such a high level foe, you increase the chances that the foe will be able to kill one player or more, but the PCs will retain the advantage of actions over that foe for a bit still... if you don't want ANY PC deaths, you really should avoid going much higher than APL +4 for a foe's CR.
And even then... #s 1, 2, and 6 above can swing an encounter's outcome all over the place.
|
Creative Director
|
Happy Birthday James!
I've noticed that after the ARG, I really can't think of any decent topics for a hardcover book besides "Mythic" level rules and more Bestiaries. Is there any talk about reducing the amount of hardcovers or perhaps doing something different to fill in the space?
We are going to keep doing 3 hardcover rulebooks a year. We've come up with a LOT of cool possibilities for rulebook themes... never fear! We aren't ready to talk about them yet, though, since we don't talk about ANY projects that far into the future.
Wait, You are 40? PFwiki said you were born in 1974 or something...
From the way you talk/write, I thought you were in the 45-50 range...
So, i know you have likely answered this before, but recently in our last game there was an issue where I (the player) knocked a flying enemy prone using the Gunslinger Archetype Pistolero ability Twin Shot Knockdown. Now, to me, knocking a flying creature prone means i make it fall to the ground. The DM at the time was uncertain (and since he likes to try and kill me) ruled that it gets a fly check to negate the prone condition. Now, to me, thats like saying a standing enemy can use tumble to negate the prone condition as well, but, seeing as how i have never really seen any rules for this sort of happening, what would you say the ruling would be?
|
Creative Director
|
So, i know you have likely answered this before, but recently in our last game there was an issue where I (the player) knocked a flying enemy prone using the Gunslinger Archetype Pistolero ability Twin Shot Knockdown. Now, to me, knocking a flying creature prone means i make it fall to the ground. The DM at the time was uncertain (and since he likes to try and kill me) ruled that it gets a fly check to negate the prone condition. Now, to me, thats like saying a standing enemy can use tumble to negate the prone condition as well, but, seeing as how i have never really seen any rules for this sort of happening, what would you say the ruling would be?
First of all... a flying enemy can't be knocked prone. An enemy has to be standing on the ground in order to be knocked prone. So technically, you shouldn't have been able to use that ability on the monster in the first place.
If your GM lets you use the ability, though, I would say that rather than being "knocked prone" the creature would be knocked off-balance, in which case a Fly check could and should be able to halt its fall (since that's one thing the Fly skill lets you do anyway).
But if I were your GM, you wouldn't have been able to use Twin Shot Knockdown on the monster in the first place because he's not standing on the ground and thus can't be knocked down.
Tarzan: flying creatures can't be tripped. This presumably applies to being Prone as well.
Thank you. Our GM is known for altering rules to kill his current target so i just wanted to make sure.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
Was the Gorynych inspired by Ghidrah (sp?) the three headed monster from Godzilla movies?
What happens when it gets its way with a maiden and produces offspring? I would think a half-dragon, but the template only is designs for the 10 core true dragons.
With it's multiple heads, and the fact that true dragons consider it a repulsive throwback to ancient mutants, is there a relationship between Gorynych and Tarn Linnorms, with their two heads?
All of it! That's why it's on my wish list in the first place! (Although I did just remove the Logitech universal remote, since it won't work with Playstation 3... thanks a BUNCH, Sony! Grumble grumble.)
Happy Birthday!
As for the PS3 issue did you know about this? You should add this to your wish list with the remote. ;D
I just got a cope of Uncaged: Faces of sigil, I pretty sure you are familiar with the book. It is a NPC book with a lot of story woven in. What is the chances of an NPC book for Absalom with lots of back story, and hopefully with the Troll of Absalom in it?
Also Happy birthday, hope it was a good one and you should go out to dinner. Celebration is important.
|
Creative Director
|
Was the Gorynych inspired by Ghidrah (sp?) the three headed monster from Godzilla movies?
What happens when it gets its way with a maiden and produces offspring? I would think a half-dragon, but the template only is designs for the 10 core true dragons.
With it's multiple heads, and the fact that true dragons consider it a repulsive throwback to ancient mutants, is there a relationship between Gorynych and Tarn Linnorms, with their two heads?
Nope; it's actually inspired by the actual mythical gorynych of Slavic folklore. The thematic similarities to it and linnorms are intentional. As for what happens to its offspring... if they even survive birth, I would probably say that the monster born would just grow up to a normal gorynych.
None of which is meant to diminish King Ghidorah, of course, who remains one of my own favorite kaiju.
|
Creative Director
|
All of it! That's why it's on my wish list in the first place! (Although I did just remove the Logitech universal remote, since it won't work with Playstation 3... thanks a BUNCH, Sony! Grumble grumble.)Happy Birthday!
As for the PS3 issue did you know about this? You should add this to your wish list with the remote. ;D
Yeah... I know about that gizmo. I also know that spending an extra 50 bucks just so that I can use an already very expensive remote control to use one of the half-dozen or so things I want to control with the remote kinda annoys me is all.
And frankly, the thing that annoys me about Sony goes beyond that—they do an awful lot of overly proprietary stuff that bothers me.
This is in regards to the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.
Page 29 Description of Kwanlai. In the stat block it says that Lady Sutarai-Gongen is a cleric of Hei Feng. Yet in the paragraph at the bottom of the page it says she is a cleric of Desna. And it goes on to say there is some religious hostility because of the prominence of her religion which makes it a particularly important issue for my purpose =) I'm assuming the stat block is correct.I'd assume the stat block is correct too. I wrote the section originally with Desna as the answer, but it appears to have been changed during subsequent editing (but missing a change to the later reference). Ask James and he might confirm which is indeed the correct one. :)
|
Creative Director
|
When/If you start work on a Numeria adventure path, sourcebook, etc. will you watch the Thundarr the Barbarian series as preparation and inspiration? I was happy to see that it was finally released on DVD about a year ago.
Probably not, honestly. I'll probably read some pulps and wallow in some Expedition to the Barrier Peaks though.
|
Creative Director
|
This is in regards to the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.
Page 29 Description of Kwanlai. In the stat block it says that Lady Sutarai-Gongen is a cleric of Hei Feng. Yet in the paragraph at the bottom of the page it says she is a cleric of Desna. And it goes on to say there is some religious hostility because of the prominence of her religion which makes it a particularly important issue for my purpose =) I'm assuming the stat block is correct.I'd assume the stat block is correct too. I wrote the section originally with Desna as the answer, but it appears to have been changed during subsequent editing (but missing a change to the later reference). Ask James and he might confirm which is indeed the correct one. :)
Go with the stat block, I guess. I'll try to check again tomorrow at work.
What if a mortal were to ascend into Godhood while in the Positive Energy Plane?
When you buy the PDF of Bestiary 3 like I did, can you copy/drag the pictures in any way to Photoshop without the black background behind the otherwise white pictures of the monsters?
When I copy a picture from the PDF and I paste it in anything (word/wordpad/paint/photoshop) I get this irritating black background going on, is it illigal or something to copy these pictures? I want to print them for my own or is that illigal too?
My real question is how do you remove the black background or in which program do I need to open the copied pictures to have the normal monster pictures without the black background?
I believe you can manipulate art without picking up the background with certain programs, yes. And from what I hear, it works better when you use Macintosh based programs, or when you've got more skills than I do with art programs at manipulating background colors and the like.
That said, we don't specifically go out of our way to make it easy to extract images from our PDFs, on purpose. We don't WANT folks to grab that art and spread it around. Extracting it and putting the art into a document you're using at home for your group is fine, as long as you're not publishing those documents (either on paper or to the internet on a public website or in a PDF or whatever).
So... as for how to remove the background... that requires different programs and/or different skills at using things like Photoshop. There's plenty of other folks on these boards who have their own different solutions—I'd go seek them out. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to do that at all: I can just go onto the server and get the original art as is if I need it for a personalized handout for a game. :-P
Thanks for the answer and Happy Birthday (even if its probably to late, it never hurts to do it still anyway)
On which of the forums on this site can I place a message to ask people to solve the black-background problem? There are so many forums here I get kinda lost in all of them.
Wishing you a GREAT Birthday!
Question(s): Does Golarion (specifically the Inner Sea Region) have a Zodiac (as in the western concept of a Zodiac, not eastern) system? If so, would you care to elaborate? (E.g. How many signs? What are they? With which months & "planets" are they associated? Etc.)
Please and thank you.
-- C.
Say,what's your current understanding of the shipping schedule on AP installments? I understand about the delay of #5 of Jade Regent (hey, it happens) but that means that you'll need to double up one month if you plan to reveal the first book of Shattered Star in August, as has been your custom. Any idea when that will be?
The reason I'm asking is that I LOVE getting two AP books in the same envelope and I want to know what month to look forward to. :-D
James, can you help me clear something up? What happens when a Paladin of Iomedae (and member of the Burner sect) is determined to kill a Paladin of Shelyn?
The Paladin of Shelyn is a Tiefling, and the Paladin of Iomedae has noticed her demonic taint and decided that she must die lest she harm innocent people, as those with demonic taint tend to do. Detect Evil brought up nothing, but the Paladin of Iomedae is completely convinced that the Paladin of Shelyn is using alignment masking magic and is in fact an Anti-Paladin. The Paladin of Iomedae is also convinced that the Paladin of Shelyn is in fact not a worshipper of Shelyn and is using her holy symbol as a decoy.
I need to figure out how this will play out. If the Paladin of Iomedae kills the Paladin of Shelyn, does the Paladin of Iomedae fall? She would have just killed a fellow Paladin, but then again she thought the Paladin was a threat. If the Paladin of Iomedae is killed by the Paladin of Shelyn, does the Paladin of Shelyn fall for killing a fellow Paladin to prevent that Paladin from killing her? It would be self defense, but she still killed another Good creature. Would Iomedae or Shelyn be likely to intervene to prevent one Paladin from killing the other?