Creative Director
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Hi James I was wondering if there are any books you guys use when researching for making new monsters that have real world mythologies?
There are, in fact. Quite a lot of them. Often we use Wikipedia to start our research on real world monsters, since that's a great place to get into the knowledge pool (it's not a great idea to limit your research to ONLY Wikipedia). Wes and I both keep several books on our shelves for research purposes; mine tend to focus more on things like dinosaurs, cryptozoology, historical stuff, and symbolisim, whereas Wes's shelves tend to focus more on mythology and folklore and the like... there's crossover of course, and we're often borrowing from each other. Other folks keep reference books handy as well.
Hi James I was wondering if there are any books you guys use when researching for making new monsters that have real world mythologies?There are, in fact. Quite a lot of them. Often we use Wikipedia to start our research on real world monsters, since that's a great place to get into the knowledge pool (it's not a great idea to limit your research to ONLY Wikipedia). Wes and I both keep several books on our shelves for research purposes; mine tend to focus more on things like dinosaurs, cryptozoology, historical stuff, and symbolisim, whereas Wes's shelves tend to focus more on mythology and folklore and the like... there's crossover of course, and we're often borrowing from each other. Other folks keep reference books handy as well.
Any recommendations?
Dear Mr. Jacobs,
In your opinion, does the cloak of lesser displacement grant actual concealment (therefore making it possible to make stealth checks), or is it just a 20% miss chance and nothing else?
How do I delete a campaign PbP from my Campaign Tab that has gone silent when I am not the GM?
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Creative Director
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Dear Mr. Jacobs,
In your opinion, does the cloak of lesser displacement grant actual concealment (therefore making it possible to make stealth checks), or is it just a 20% miss chance and nothing else?
In my opinion, in order to make a Stealth check, you need to be in a situation where you can be stealthy. Simply having a blurry outline or a minor displacement isn't enough to allow that.
How do I delete a campaign PbP from my Campaign Tab that has gone silent when I am not the GM?
Answered here.
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Creative Director
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Any recommendations?Hi James I was wondering if there are any books you guys use when researching for making new monsters that have real world mythologies?There are, in fact. Quite a lot of them. Often we use Wikipedia to start our research on real world monsters, since that's a great place to get into the knowledge pool (it's not a great idea to limit your research to ONLY Wikipedia). Wes and I both keep several books on our shelves for research purposes; mine tend to focus more on things like dinosaurs, cryptozoology, historical stuff, and symbolisim, whereas Wes's shelves tend to focus more on mythology and folklore and the like... there's crossover of course, and we're often borrowing from each other. Other folks keep reference books handy as well.
Here's a bunch of links to an armful of reference books off my shelf—this isn't all of them, but it's a good cross-section of them:
Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology.
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures
Dictionary of Symbolism
Special Cases
Cause of Death
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
Dictionary of Folklore
The History of the Ship
Mapping the World
The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia
A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Concordance
And a fake, hollow copy of "The Old Man and the Sea" containing a tiny bottle of coconut rum from Brazil.
And a fake, hollow copy of "The Old Man and the Sea" containing a tiny bottle of coconut rum from Brazil.
I can't favorite this enough.
Hey James, any thoughts on revisiting the flanking and / or sneak attack rules for ranged characters since Snap Shot and Improved Snap Shot exist? I mean, y'all did a great thing image-wise the Legolas build with Stabbing Shot and all, but I was wondering if you'd take it to the next level and let them get and / or give the flanking bonus (or at the least, count as flanking for the purpose of sneak attacks) to help out Gimli?
Characters are already giving & receiving flanking "at range" thanks to size and reach coming into play. I've had a base Medium character threaten melee out to 35 feet... that's beyond the range limit for ranged sneaks as it is!
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Creative Director
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Hey James, any thoughts on revisiting the flanking and / or sneak attack rules for ranged characters since Snap Shot and Improved Snap Shot exist? I mean, y'all did a great thing image-wise the Legolas build with Stabbing Shot and all, but I was wondering if you'd take it to the next level and let them get and / or give the flanking bonus (or at the least, count as flanking for the purpose of sneak attacks) to help out Gimli?
Characters are already giving & receiving flanking "at range" thanks to size and reach coming into play. I've had a base Medium character threaten melee out to 35 feet... that's beyond the range limit for ranged sneaks as it is!
Nope; no thoughts. I've not seen those options in play or, indeed, even looked at them yet. I think Adam Daigle's gonna be taking some of those feats in my game soon, though, so I might have some thoughts later in the year.
Dear James Jacobs, can a Dispel magic dispel a oracles revelation?
In this case a invisibility.
Are halflings in Golarion all fair-skinned or can they also be Garundi looking, or Tien looking etc?
I think there's a picture of halflings with Osirion-bronze skin.
I don't imagine there would be any Tien-looking halflings because halflings aren't populous in Tian Xia; they're not one of that region's core races, after all.
Nope; no thoughts. I've not seen those options in play or, indeed, even looked at them yet. I think Adam Daigle's gonna be taking some of those feats in my game soon, though, so I might have some thoughts later in the year.Hey James, any thoughts on revisiting the flanking and / or sneak attack rules for ranged characters since Snap Shot and Improved Snap Shot exist? I mean, y'all did a great thing image-wise the Legolas build with Stabbing Shot and all, but I was wondering if you'd take it to the next level and let them get and / or give the flanking bonus (or at the least, count as flanking for the purpose of sneak attacks) to help out Gimli?
Characters are already giving & receiving flanking "at range" thanks to size and reach coming into play. I've had a base Medium character threaten melee out to 35 feet... that's beyond the range limit for ranged sneaks as it is!
Wow, that was a near-instant response. Thanks!
One thing, I did make a small omission(posting while tired is bad), I meant to say "Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, and Point-Blank Master". Because at that point, there's no penalty for firing a bow in melee, and the guy threatens 15 feet on top of that.
(Yes, technically he still suffers the -4 due to firing at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character unless he's also got Precise Shot, even if he's the only friendly [since you are your own ally]... strange, but lets look past that!)
Do you ever feel "Golarion burn-out"? Are there other campaign settings or games you play to take a break and come back to Pathfinder refreshed and with new eyes?
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs, can a Dispel magic dispel a oracles revelation?
In this case a invisibility.
Dispel magic only works on spells or spell-like abilities.
Whether or not it could dispel a revelation would depend on if the revelation is an (Sp) or not... most revelations are supernatural or extraordinary, so in most cases, no, dispel magic won't work. (Not sure which revelation's invisibility power you're talking about so I can't say for sure on that one in particular.)
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Creative Director
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One thing, I did make a small omission(posting while tired is bad), I meant to say "Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, and Point-Blank Master". Because at that point, there's no penalty for firing a bow in melee, and the guy threatens 15 feet on top of that.
(Yes, technically he still suffers the -4 due to firing at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character unless he's also got Precise Shot, even if he's the only friendly [since you are your own ally]... strange, but lets look past that!)
Well... for a typical character, those three feats not only have some prerequisites, but they take up 30% of the feats a standard character will EVER have. I don't have a problem with someone spending 30% of their feats in order to do something like being able to threaten with a bow and not provoke attacks of opportunity. That's what feats are for—being more awesome than the dude who doesn't have the ones you have.
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Help! None of my friends like raspberry jelly filled doughnuts. What should I do (aside from having more yummy doughnuts all to my self)?
Find better friends! Those who don't like raspberry jelly filled doughnuts are probably doppelgangers or aliens or killdroids or veiled masters who are plotting your downfall. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
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Do you ever feel "Golarion burn-out"? Are there other campaign settings or games you play to take a break and come back to Pathfinder refreshed and with new eyes?
I sometimes get burn-out from raw-rules discussions and contents, but so far, after working on Golarion for over five years (and on those parts that come from my home-brew, for something in some cases like over 30 years), I've never really been burnt out.
That could well be because I DO take frequent visits to other worlds and other games, either via video games and books and movies, or in actual RPGS. I'm playing "Way of the Wicked" now, for example, with Rob running it in the setting built into that adventure path, which is NOT Golarion.
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Gotta love the Awakened T-Rex. Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts... I hate you guys right now...
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Also Deep. Fried. T-Rex.
Getting hungry yet?
Saw that.
And no, I'm not. I am not a cannibal.
What about deep fried aboleths then? humans? halfing? The world wants to know.
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Help! None of my friends like raspberry jelly filled doughnuts. What should I do (aside from having more yummy doughnuts all to my self)?Find better friends! Those who don't like raspberry jelly filled doughnuts are probably doppelgangers or aliens or killdroids or veiled masters who are plotting your downfall. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
Good strategy... or I could steal all their lemon filled doughnuts so that when they are at the peak of weakness and starvation and ask for some of mine I will look down at them, and say "Nom". *begins the raspberry doughnut eating onslaught*
Well... for a typical character, those three feats not only have some prerequisites, but they take up 30% of the feats a standard character will EVER have. I don't have a problem with someone spending 30% of their feats in order to do something like being able to threaten with a bow and not provoke attacks of opportunity. That's what feats are for—being more awesome than the dude who doesn't have the ones you have.One thing, I did make a small omission(posting while tired is bad), I meant to say "Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, and Point-Blank Master". Because at that point, there's no penalty for firing a bow in melee, and the guy threatens 15 feet on top of that.
(Yes, technically he still suffers the -4 due to firing at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character unless he's also got Precise Shot, even if he's the only friendly [since you are your own ally]... strange, but lets look past that!)
I was under the impression that the reason there hasn't been a ranged flanking feat is just due to how easy that would make getting sneak attacks for rogues, since there are a lot of feats that get really close to it, but aren't actually flanking at range. And a rogue getting 4 arrows all sneak attacking is pretty scary!
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What about deep fried aboleths then? humans? halfing? The world wants to know.Also Deep. Fried. T-Rex.
Getting hungry yet?
Saw that.
And no, I'm not. I am not a cannibal.
Gross. Yum. Yum.
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I was under the impression that the reason there hasn't been a ranged flanking feat is just due to how easy that would make getting sneak attacks for rogues, since there are a lot of feats that get really close to it, but aren't actually flanking at range. And a rogue getting 4 arrows all sneak attacking is pretty scary!Well... for a typical character, those three feats not only have some prerequisites, but they take up 30% of the feats a standard character will EVER have. I don't have a problem with someone spending 30% of their feats in order to do something like being able to threaten with a bow and not provoke attacks of opportunity. That's what feats are for—being more awesome than the dude who doesn't have the ones you have.One thing, I did make a small omission(posting while tired is bad), I meant to say "Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, and Point-Blank Master". Because at that point, there's no penalty for firing a bow in melee, and the guy threatens 15 feet on top of that.
(Yes, technically he still suffers the -4 due to firing at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character unless he's also got Precise Shot, even if he's the only friendly [since you are your own ally]... strange, but lets look past that!)
Having played a ranged rogue before and having seen them in play... there should be SOMETHING for this class. It's a pretty difficult concept to pull off, despite the fact that the sniper role is hardly an obscure one in combat.
Rogue(Scout,Sniper) with as many Vital Strike Feats as possible.
Once you hit Level 8 you become evil in the ability to Hit-&-Run. Dealing a single brutal hit per round while being highly Mobile. If you are in a Gestalt Campaign... Well... Fighter(Mobile Fighter or Archer)/Rogue(Scout, Sniper) is Absolutely Abhorrent in the Abominable Amount of Damage you can lay down.
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Rogue(Scout,Sniper) with as many Vital Strike Feats as possible.
Once you hit Level 8 you become evil in the ability to Hit-&-Run. Dealing a single brutal hit per round while being highly Mobile. If you are in a Gestalt Campaign... Well... Fighter(Mobile Fighter or Archer)/Rogue(Scout, Sniper) is Absolutely Abhorrent in the Abominable Amount of Damage you can lay down.
That's a pretty significant ammount of archetypes and feats, none of which existed before Pathfinder and all of which were built to help address the issue that a ranged rogue, in the base class, is not really viable.
Hello, James. I hope you are doing well today.
I am getting a chance to return to the GM chair long-term after a long time away. How do you address player absence? Do you bot the character, ignore them for the session, have another player take on the extra role? Something else entirely? If the character participates even when their player cannot, how do you handle xp for that session?
Thanks for your time and attention on this thread. It's cool to hear the thoughts of one of the insiders directly and regularly.
True. If using 3.5 use the Scout Base Class with the Powerful Shot(?) Feat.
It was basically a full attacks damage on a single ranged attack even better than Vital Strike.
As 1 feat would give them a base modifier to their damage dice and bonus damage. All of which was multiplied on a Critical.
A Scout20 which normally got 1d8+5 could Skirmish and use Powerful Shot for 3d8+15 with it multiplied by 3 on a Crit. So a Crit was 9d8+45. plus your Skirmish Damage.
And they could get a 16-20/x3 Crit Range on all Longbows they wield with 2 Feats.
Is there a good (culinary, not alignment-wise) way to cook Aboleth? Maybe like with snails?
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Hello, James. I hope you are doing well today.
I am getting a chance to return to the GM chair long-term after a long time away. How do you address player absence? Do you bot the character, ignore them for the session, have another player take on the extra role? Something else entirely? If the character participates even when their player cannot, how do you handle xp for that session?
Thanks for your time and attention on this thread. It's cool to hear the thoughts of one of the insiders directly and regularly.
I generally just assume the character of the absent player is hanging around in the background or at "base camp" or wherever, and then the next session that player shows up, their character rejoins the group. They don't get XP while they're gone, but neither do they have to worry about being killed. Sometimes, rarely, I play their character as an NPC if they want, in which case they CAN get killed but they earn half XP.
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Is there a good (culinary, not alignment-wise) way to cook Aboleth? Maybe like with snails?
Nope. They're slimy and gloppy.
Also, eating them is kinda maybe an evil act, since while they are evil themselves, they ARE intelligent. It's certainly a chaotic act.
Also... your guts will turn clear. It's gross. Don't eat it.
Hey james i was wondering if you've ever heard of the rod sterling tv special called "encounters with the unknown". its mostly campy but theres a story about a hold in the the ground in missouri thats just creepy as hell LOL
Missouri! Where at in Missouri?
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Why do you like dinosaurs so much?
How did you decide what the Iconics would be? e.g., Merisiel as an elf female?
I've always loved dinosaurs, ever since I was a kid; they're just cool and mysterious and awe-inspiring. That, and the fact that they actually existed makes them real-world monsters.
It was Erik and I and our then-art director Sean Glenn who sat down and figured out what the iconics were going to be. I knew I wanted equal genders, and we also wanted a wide range of ethnicity. Mostly human. No more than one non-human race in the first 12. And a lot of the choices as to who got to be what were made to be different choices than the 3rd edition core Iconics and the 3rd edition Dungeon Magazine iconics.
How do I get an open-world campaign off the ground.
I would like some tips on this as well. J2?
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Hey james i was wondering if you've ever heard of the rod sterling tv special called "encounters with the unknown". its mostly campy but theres a story about a hold in the the ground in missouri thats just creepy as hell LOL
HOLY $#!%!!!
I am indeed familair with that movie. I saw it a few times as a kid on TV, and while the first and third stories were fun... that middle tale about the hole in the ground was, in fact, a formative bit of childhood for me. That story freaked me out and intrigued me SO MUCH that I've been kinda obsessed with deep dark holes in the ground in which monsters are lurking ever since.
But I never knew what it was called, because I always managed to catch it on TV after it had started.
I've been trying to track it down for decades, and POW! There it is!
Thanks! (runs off to look up if it's on DVD or Netflix)
Are there any angry, sentient T-rex overlords, like the Demon Ape King?
Yeah same for me with that deep dark hole story..i cant remeber if it said where in missouri it was supposed to be..i was over on your blog (which is awsome) and the tv show just popped in my head..i have the thing on vhs somehere in storage boxs but its been years...i hope you find it
WAIT!
J2... Are you from Missouri?