Creative Director
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OH! Maybe the time Demogorgon had Time Stop as a Spell Stowaway feat, and when Jason Nelson's character cast time stop to try to mess Demogorgon up with several blade barriers, all he did was put himself into a one-on-one deathmatch against the Prince of Demons. For 5 rounds. Demogorgon went first. He pretty much did a full attack action on Jason's character that ended up draining his Con to 0 and killed him, then the next round he opened a gate to the negative energy plane and kicked Jason's character's body into that plane before closing the gate. He then had 3 more rounds to move about and cast prep spells before he had to face the rest of the party. Good times.This has to be one of the most horrible things I've ever heard of happening to a player.
Is okay. He got better.
(The group was 21st level at the time... another player used a wish to bring Jason's character back.)
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10) Intrigued, but in different ways than James Sutter. I'm intrigued by the idea of what is essentially a eugenics experiment run by a dragon on humans would be like—reminds me of several science fiction stories about genetics and also Hitler's attempt to breed the perfect German soldier. Which to me says that Mengkare is probably lawful evil. At BEST he's lawful neutral. He's NOT lawful good, because he's a type of slaver. The idea of a non-lawful good gold dragon in such a position of power is VERY interesting. Sutter, on the other hand, thinks he IS lawful good, but the way he's written him doesn't make any sense to me as that alignment. Alignment is not relative—it's not something you can trick with semantics. Alignment is a reflection of your deeds, and changes to match your deeds. If among your deeds you regularly force intelligent creatures to live a lifestyle of your design and force them to breed with people you select and aren't afraid of breaking up and mixing up families so you can produce a "perfect race," then there's no way that I'll ever let you get published with ANY good alignment.
10. How do you personally feel about Hermea and Mengkare?
Eugenics is a touchy subject, but if you get people to do what you want through enticement instead of punishment you can avoid becoming evil.
The problem of unwanted relations can be bypassed if you decouple reproduction from relation life.It is not so different from a lot of nobles marriage in the real world up until the 19° century (for males mostly). You could have any number of lovers and significant others, but your wife/husband had to be from your social class if you wanted your sons to inherit titles and properties.
If people can leave Hermea if they don't want to follow the rules Mengkare can even be borderline good. The problem is that, from the little I have read, they aren't allowed to leave.
I am correct in the assumption that people can't freely abandon the eugenics project (albeit at a cost, as they have to abandon the island of Hermea and all the benefits they get there)?
Hi James, its a pleasure.
Now i'm a strong lore lover and was wondering if you could help detail the workings of magic and how spells are aquired and how mages, be they sorcerers, clerics, wizards etc work on their magical abilities to better them.
I.e from what I believe Intellect based mages gain power and aquire new spells through research, practise and study.For Wisdom based users and Charisma based hower im a bit confused? For clerics do their gods gift them new spells due to faithful worship or something? What about Sorcerers? How do they gain spells and increase in power in Golarion and beyond? Of course rules wise its simply leveling up but this is a purely lore/setting/novel etc based question.
I'm interested in such as I'm planning on writing up my own pathfinder fanfic's and need knowledge on how magic actually works in the setting.
P.s sorry if I rambled on abit.
For Charisma-based casters, think of their magic as inborn gifts. Superpowers, or mutant powers, if you will. They can just do magic. They were born that way.
For Wisdom-based casters, they get their ability to use magic from something beyond themselves—be it their deity, their belief, their conviction, or their faith.
Ahh I see thanks for clearing that up James. So am I right in assuming that if you have two clerics, one more powerful than the other it is due to his/her greater devotion and worship to his/her deity? I/e due to her numerous deeds in service of her deity the deity has decided she is deserving of reward and thus is gifted greater divine powers?
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Creative Director
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Eugenics is a touchy subject, but if you get people to do what you want through enticement instead of punishment you can avoid becoming evil.
The problem of unwanted relations can be bypassed if you decouple reproduction from relation life.
It is not so different from a lot of nobles marriage in the real world up until the 19° century (for males mostly). You could have any number of lovers and significant others, but your wife/husband had to be from your social class if you wanted your sons to inherit titles and properties.
If people can leave Hermea if they don't want to follow the rules Mengkare can even be borderline good. The problem is that, from the little I have read, they aren't allowed to leave.
I am correct in the assumption that people can't freely abandon the...
What happens to those who want to leave is mysteriously (and ominously) unclear at this time.
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Creative Director
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Ahh I see thanks for clearing that up James. So am I right in assuming that if you have two clerics, one more powerful than the other it is due to his/her greater devotion and worship to his/her deity? I/e due to her numerous deeds in service of her deity the deity has decided she is deserving of reward and thus is gifted greater divine powers?
That's one way to look at it. Another way is to say that one cleric is more experienced (aka higher level) than the other. And another way is to say that one cleric is simply more favored by her deity than the other.
If you had to choose 1 Real World Mythology to make a Pathfinder RPG Setting of which would you prefer?Central American.Huh... That is interesting... Can I inquire as to why?
Also are you a Whovian(Doctor Who Fan)?
** spoiler omitted **
Because I've always been interested in those myth cycles—they're so much more spooky and violent and different than the "standard" D&D type deity pantheons.
And no, not a Whovian.
1) That makes me happy that you say that. I have always found the "Standard" to be to... Cheery...
2) And why does that not surprise me...
Question about Ultimate Campaign. I know it'll have the rules for kindom building and warfare like in Kingmaker. Will it also contain the rules for exploration and hexcrawls? I gotta say, I had never played one before and it really got me hooked on the concept of it.
Mr. James Jacobs,
I was wondering your thought on something. Say there are five nations and the founder of each nation wanted some means to influence their nation and the world after the their death (Or the time they were expected to die). One leader, head of a military dictatorship, had crafted a helmet to pass along their knowledge, wisdom, and vision. Another, the head of a nation controlled by a trading consortium, arranged that every leader after them would be infected with the same mind altering disease they were afflicted with. The founder of a monarchy became an undead and manipulated things behind the scenes. The fourth was the leader of a tribal confederacy and gave lasting orders to a long lived magical beast or fey creature.
I'm having trouble thinking of another means for the fifth founder (Also, the head of a military dictatorship) to continue influencing events. What do you think?
Also, since an Alchemist's level counts as a caster level for item creation feats does that mean they qualify for craft wand?
Mr. James Jacobs,
I was wondering your thought on something. Say there are five nations and the founder of each nation wanted some means to influence their nation and the world after the their death (Or the time they were expected to die). One leader, head of a military dictatorship, had crafted a helmet to pass along their knowledge, wisdom, and vision. Another, the head of a nation controlled by a trading consortium, arranged that every leader after them would be infected with the same mind altering disease they were afflicted with. The founder of a monarchy became an undead and manipulated things behind the scenes. The fourth was the leader of a tribal confederacy and gave lasting orders to a long lived magical beast or fey creature.
I'm having trouble thinking of another means for the fifth founder (Also, the head of a military dictatorship) to continue influencing events. What do you think?
Also, since an Alchemist's level counts as a caster level for item creation feats does that mean they qualify for craft wand?
Maybe the last one can be a dragon? Perhaps they use a mixture of polymorph and illusion spells to look human and rule with an iron fist?
Do you like Greek mythology?
And which monster from greek mythology is your favorite?
Which Greek god is your favorite?
Which greek mythology monster not yet in pathfinder is your favorite?
What do you think of this stat block for Silent Hill's Pyramid Head?
Just a short description: He's a demonic rapist that targets other monsters, is born from the protagonist's sexual frustration AND his desire to be punished for his sins, carries a knife that may as well be a greatsword, and ingame, the only thing that actually kills Pyramid Head is PH himself jamming a spear into his head.
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Hi James, got 2 question for you:
1. James Sutter has mentioned that it's important for the fiction to follow the rules of the game when it concerns spellcasting and Dave Gross has mentioned that he has character stat blocks for the books he writes to try and make sure the combat sections best describe how the characters would fight.
I was curious if you know to what extent the comics been following the rules of spellcasting and when it comes time for storytelling, if the levels of the iconics are being kept track of or something. I.e. while we started off with a typical 1st level adventure (Party kills a bunch of goblins), I was wondering if it's in the plans for the party to "level up" and fight bigger and greater challenges just a normal party of adventurer's would, keeping the normal power curve of the game in mind (kinda - preferably without all those debates about Wizards vs. Fighter going on).
2. We have ongoing stories for some of the Iconics that haven't yet been resolved. Seoni is trying to learn what granter her sorcery, Sajan is looking for his twin sister, Reiko is looking to revenge her family, so on. While of course some of these character's haven't appeared and some of them might not do so for a long time, if ever, I was wondering to what extent you might resolve those conflicts if any at all.
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Creative Director
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Question about Ultimate Campaign. I know it'll have the rules for kindom building and warfare like in Kingmaker. Will it also contain the rules for exploration and hexcrawls? I gotta say, I had never played one before and it really got me hooked on the concept of it.
I believe there are rules for this, but I don't believe they're that in-depth. They weren't in Kingmaker. The bulk of a hexcrawl isn't rules, anyway... it's just adventure design.
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Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.The inside back cover of Animal Archive lists all the animals sacred to the core 20 deities. According to that list, the following gods find cats to be sacred:
Abadar (house cats)
Asmodeus (lions)
Gozreh (all animals)
Iomedae (lions)
Irori (white tigers)
Shelyn (cats)
I am a follower of Desna. If my cat familiar chase butterflies, she will feel offended?
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Creative Director
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Mr. James Jacobs,
I was wondering your thought on something. Say there are five nations and the founder of each nation wanted some means to influence their nation and the world after the their death (Or the time they were expected to die). One leader, head of a military dictatorship, had crafted a helmet to pass along their knowledge, wisdom, and vision. Another, the head of a nation controlled by a trading consortium, arranged that every leader after them would be infected with the same mind altering disease they were afflicted with. The founder of a monarchy became an undead and manipulated things behind the scenes. The fourth was the leader of a tribal confederacy and gave lasting orders to a long lived magical beast or fey creature.
I'm having trouble thinking of another means for the fifth founder (Also, the head of a military dictatorship) to continue influencing events. What do you think?
Also, since an Alchemist's level counts as a caster level for item creation feats does that mean they qualify for craft wand?
The one that's obvious to me is that you don't have a leader who simply seeks to defeat death without becoming undead. Alternately, he could be an elf who's simply been alive for the entire time. Or if that's still too short lived, a disguised outsider who just keeps changing shape into a new ruler every generation—things like succubi are immortal, after all.
As for Alchemists and item crafting feats... personally, I'd not allow it since they don't cast spells.
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Creative Director
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Do you like Greek mythology?
And which monster from greek mythology is your favorite?Which Greek god is your favorite?
Which greek mythology monster not yet in pathfinder is your favorite?
I'm passingly interested in Greek mythology, mostly to the extent of enjoying movies like the original Clash of the Titans or Jason and the Argonauts, but also as a place to draw inspiration for monsters.
My favorite mythological monster from Greek Mythology is probably either the harpy or the hydra.
My favorite Greek goddess is Athena.
The last one? Echidna.
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Creative Director
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What do you think of this stat block for Silent Hill's Pyramid Head?
Just a short description: He's a demonic rapist that targets other monsters, is born from the protagonist's sexual frustration AND his desire to be punished for his sins, carries a knife that may as well be a greatsword, and ingame, the only thing that actually kills Pyramid Head is PH himself jamming a spear into his head.
I'd prefer not to get into design commentary and feedback here.
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Creative Director
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What do you think would happen if this guy and Treerazer ever met?
I think Treerazer would recruit that tree monster to be a minion.
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Creative Director
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Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.The inside back cover of Animal Archive lists all the animals sacred to the core 20 deities. According to that list, the following gods find cats to be sacred:
Abadar (house cats)
Asmodeus (lions)
Gozreh (all animals)
Iomedae (lions)
Irori (white tigers)
Shelyn (cats)
I am a follower of Desna. If my cat familiar chase butterflies, she will feel offended?
No. She wouldn't even notice. She's got more important things to distract her.
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Creative Director
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Hi James, got 2 question for you:
1. James Sutter has mentioned that it's important for the fiction to follow the rules of the game when it concerns spellcasting and Dave Gross has mentioned that he has character stat blocks for the books he writes to try and make sure the combat sections best describe how the characters would fight.
I was curious if you know to what extent the comics been following the rules of spellcasting and when it comes time for storytelling, if the levels of the iconics are being kept track of or something. I.e. while we started off with a typical 1st level adventure (Party kills a bunch of goblins), I was wondering if it's in the plans for the party to "level up" and fight bigger and greater challenges just a normal party of adventurer's would, keeping the normal power curve of the game in mind (kinda - preferably without all those debates about Wizards vs. Fighter going on).
2. We have ongoing stories for some of the Iconics that haven't yet been resolved. Seoni is trying to learn what granter her sorcery, Sajan is looking for his twin sister, Reiko is looking to revenge her family, so on. While of course some of these character's haven't appeared and some of them might not do so for a long time, if ever, I was wondering to what extent you might resolve those conflicts if any at all.
1) The comics have been following the same rules that James enforces for the novels—he's involved in the comics' script approvals and editing, after all. But we're not being completely anal about tracking specific feats and spells and resources and levels.
2) At this point, unknown.
Hey James,
Do you think the Thassilonian empire had any contact with the people of Triaxis?
I'm running Reign of Winter in an alternate history of Golarion where all adventure paths up to (but not including) Shattered Star resulted in the heroes failure (shattered star's events simply have not happened yet). As such, Karzoug (and Xin-Shalast) are resurgent. I have two characters in my current Reign of Winter campaign who are servants of Karzoug and will be going to Triaxus eventually along the adventure path, and was wondering if there was anything interesting you might suggest for their interactions there.
On the one hand, I enjoy the notion that no one would recognize the Sihedron rune they bear there and no one would understand the connection. On the other hand, I think that having someone on Triaxus remember stories of Shalast (or perhaps view them in a favorable light) would also be an interesting juxtaposition.
Any ideas or suggestions you might have would be fantastic!
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
Do you think the Thassilonian empire had any contact with the people of Triaxis?
** spoiler omitted **
It's certainly possible. So far, we've only said in print that Karzoug had contact with Eox, I believe, but that's unlikely to be the only point of contact between all of Thassilon and all the distant worlds.
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Actually, all three races are WotC IP and can't be used by Paizo.
2. If Golarion shares the same planes as the other D&D settings minus Eberron and The Nentir Vale, then where are the Slaad, Modrons and Rilmani on their respective planes? Do they just not travel into Golarion's metaphysical neck of the woods? Are they just hiding?
I know that. But, given that it's implied that Golarion shares the same planar cosmology as the other settings, they've got to be hiding somewhere.
James,
Can you make a ruling about the effectiveness of cold/fire resistance and evironmental dangers of heat and cold? Does cold/fire resistance negate the dangers of cold/heat? Does it reduce the lethal damage one would take if the fail the associated save? Does one get a bonus to fortitude save for their resistance? Inquiring minds would like to know.
1) How useful do you think it is to have played other game systems in designing Pathfinder adventures?
2) If I see someone badmouthing paizo on the internets, what is the best way to control my nerdrage? Or should I vent it by telling them all the ways they are demonstrably wrong?
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Creative Director
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James,
Can you make a ruling about the effectiveness of cold/fire resistance and evironmental dangers of heat and cold? Does cold/fire resistance negate the dangers of cold/heat? Does it reduce the lethal damage one would take if the fail the associated save? Does one get a bonus to fortitude save for their resistance? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Damage from cold temperatures is cold damage. Damage from hot temperatures is fire damage.
(Sits back and waits for someone to run with this post and cause a big scene over in the rules forums.)
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Creative Director
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1) How useful do you think it is to have played other game systems in designing Pathfinder adventures?
2) If I see someone badmouthing paizo on the internets, what is the best way to control my nerdrage? Or should I vent it by telling them all the ways they are demonstrably wrong?
1) Very useful. Every bit of experience you gain with RPG adventures helps.
2) The best way to control it is to just ignore the badmouthing. The internet is big enough that there's always somewhere else to go.
Okay, good point. Odds are we're looking at a human sorcerer (quite possibly the Starsoul bloodline, if that makes a difference).Human sorcerers are all over, but the Starsoul bloodline? I'd say your character has ancestors who were associated with the Saoc Brethren of Lirgen... which is, of course, now known as the Sodden Lands.
OOh, I am playing one. Can you tell me more? I play him as “being guided by the stars”.
Note we are playing Rise of the Runelords, etc, based in Sandpoint.
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Creative Director
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Okay, good point. Odds are we're looking at a human sorcerer (quite possibly the Starsoul bloodline, if that makes a difference).Human sorcerers are all over, but the Starsoul bloodline? I'd say your character has ancestors who were associated with the Saoc Brethren of Lirgen... which is, of course, now known as the Sodden Lands.OOh, I am playing one. Can you tell me more? I play him as “being guided by the stars”.
Note we are playing Rise of the Runelords, etc, based in Sandpoint.
Best place to go for more info here is the first chapter of Lost Kingdoms. There's a bit more about them in the upcoming adventure, Doom Comes to Dustpawn.
James,
Can you make a ruling about the effectiveness of cold/fire resistance and evironmental dangers of heat and cold? Does cold/fire resistance negate the dangers of cold/heat? Does it reduce the lethal damage one would take if the fail the associated save? Does one get a bonus to fortitude save for their resistance? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Damage from cold temperatures is cold damage. Damage from hot temperatures is fire damage.
(Sits back and waits for someone to run with this post and cause a big scene over in the rules forums.)
Thank you for this official and common sense ruling sir. You are a man among men.
Who would win in a fight between Treerazer and Captain Planet?Treerazer. No contest.
I just sort of imagine Captain Planet exploding like Mega Man as Blackaxe crashes into him.
What do you think of this image? Fitting for him?
Seriously, guys, when did the word "pimp" gain a positive connotation?
What do you think of this image? Fitting for him?Seriously, guys, when did the word "pimp" gain a positive connotation?
Pimp refers to a certain style. Typically the cliche style of a Pimp's Clothing. That is Flashy, supposedly Classy, and yet impractical for everyday wear.
Gangnam Style is similar to it. It isn't actually used by the ones it is referring to.
Also it is a play on Tyrion's nickname of The Imp.
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What do you think of this image? Fitting for him?Seriously, guys, when did the word "pimp" gain a positive connotation?Pimp refers to a certain style. Typically the cliche style of a Pimp's Clothing. That is Flashy, supposedly Classy, and yet impractical for everyday wear.
Gangnam Style is similar to it. It isn't actually used by the ones it is referring to.
Also it is a play on Tyrion's nickname of The Imp.
No, I got the joke, and I understand what the phrase means in modern language; I was simply making a commentary on its usage.
Words change over the centuries. What was once an innocent term can become a derogatory term, and vice versa. That is the beauty and horror of the English language.
But that's a topic for another thread.
Ok then. Truth is... In some groups it has always been Positive. Others it wasn't/isn't.
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OH! Maybe the time Demogorgon had Time Stop as a Spell Stowaway feat, and when Jason Nelson's character cast time stop to try to mess Demogorgon up with several blade barriers, all he did was put himself into a one-on-one deathmatch against the Prince of Demons. For 5 rounds. Demogorgon went first. He pretty much did a full attack action on Jason's character that ended up draining his Con to 0 and killed him, then the next round he opened a gate to the negative energy plane and kicked Jason's character's body into that plane before closing the gate. He then had 3 more rounds to move about and cast prep spells before he had to face the rest of the party. Good times.This has to be one of the most horrible things I've ever heard of happening to a player.
1st edition game, druid/wizard character trying to pass through a prismatic sphere "I have a scarab of protection, I need a 12+ to be unconcerned by the spell" and failing, dying for hp damage, failing the save vs death magic and dying, failing the save against the plane shift effect and being sent to the plane of ashes where, before the other player characters recovered his body, about three fourths of his magic items were drained by all the magic.
In the same battle another PC with a helm of brilliance failed a sawing throw vs a fire attack and the helm exploded, he received several hundred hp of damage at a time when having 80 hp was a lot.
They both recovered.
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That's one way to look at it. Another way is to say that one cleric is more experienced (aka higher level) than the other. And another way is to say that one cleric is simply more favored by her deity than the other.
Is it right to read this in my head like it's Vincent Vega talking to Mia Wallace about a foot massage?
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You've said before that the Great Beyond has enough space for multiple cosmologies (e.g. Great Wheel, Great Tree, and so on). If, in these multiple cosmologies, Nocticula and Malcanthet were to encounter one another, in the inevitable power struggle that would ensue, who do you think would be most likely to wind up on top?50/50 chance of either. And a 50/50 chance that either would deliberately "throw" that fight, probably.
Why one of them would throw the fight?
Why one of them would throw the fight?You've said before that the Great Beyond has enough space for multiple cosmologies (e.g. Great Wheel, Great Tree, and so on). If, in these multiple cosmologies, Nocticula and Malcanthet were to encounter one another, in the inevitable power struggle that would ensue, who do you think would be most likely to wind up on top?50/50 chance of either. And a 50/50 chance that either would deliberately "throw" that fight, probably.
Easier to plot against your enemy when they think you're dead?
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1. If you were going to build a Bard inspired by Ronnie James Dio, what sort of spells, bardic performances, and class archetype would he use?
2. If you were going to introduce elemntals that combined very different elements (Like, say, earth and fire or lightning and ice) in the manner of 4e's combi-elementals, how would you justify it fluff-wise? Insane wizard? Creations of Haagenti?
3. How would you design more PC friendly versions/relatives of the Mongrelfolk, Clockwork Servants, Tanuki, Thriae Soldiers, and Brethedans? I ask because I think those races seem like they could be pretty well suited for PC use fluffwise and concept-wise with some tweaking.
4. Where did the idea for the Vemerak come from?
5. Have you ever played Barkley: Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden? It's a freeware parody of JRPGs, and it is completely and utterly bonkers in the best possible way.
6. In order of most likely to least likely, which of the Tiefling sub-races introduced in Blood of Fiends are the most and least likely to turn out good (or at least antiheroic)?
7. Is it possible for a Qlipoth-spawned Tiefling to end up good? And has it ever happened in Golarion's history?
8. Do Golarion's kodama do that weird little head-shake-y thing like the ones in Princess Mononoke?
@tbok: Tieflings aren't inherently evil, it's just that all of the other reindeer drive them to it.
In any case... Mr. Jacobs, have you ever heard any music by Disturbed? If so, do you believe it could make good boss music?
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@tbok: Tieflings aren't inherently evil, it's just that all of the other reindeer drive them to it.
I know that. But the various tiefling variants have relatively different personality traits depending on the type of fiend they descend from, and I'm pretty sure that said temperaments would make them react differently to said treatment.