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Actually, the Erutaki were introduced in Jade Regent, and I believe we mentioned them in Inner Sea World Guide as well.
In addition, the Erutaki and the Jadwiga were introduced in People of the North.
As the freelancer who contributed to both the Erutaki and Jadwiga sections of People of the North, I can confirm that the Erutaki were first mentioned in the Inner Sea World Guide but weren't fleshed out until AP51: The Hungry Storm. The Jadwiga, as the descendents of Baba Yaga, go back as far as the 3.5 rules Campaign Setting, but it wasn't until Cities of Golarion, that the name 'Jadwiga' was applied to them.
Thanks James if you get the chance please try , & playing the game will probably be a better explanation than i tried making. I didn't mean like a weapon or wand with higher level spell on it but a token while worn that enhances your known spells/skills.
One other question though is are hags like the liches of wizard/sorcerer classes for witch class?
Thanks again
I'll take those odds.23% and 81%, respectively.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :PWhat are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
NOTE: These odds are meant as a non-binding attempt at humor.
The nice thing about any chance other than 100% is that if you don't end up making the AP, you can just say "well, I did warn you there was a %19 chance we wouldn't make it."
We don't announce APs that far out. We may hint at them in print, but we don't confirm or deny until Paizocon and Gen Con for the next year (and the next year only) of Adventure Path.So... please don't take my thinly veiled joke as anything close to a promise that we'll ever do something with a strongly themed aboleth or Dominion AP. I happen to be a big fan of both of those, and I happen to be the Creative Director and the one who is in charge of the Adventure Path line... but keep in mind that it took 3 years for Jade Regent to come along after I hinted at it in the very first Pathfinder.
I'll take that too. In fact, if it takes you another 3 or 5 years to get one of those made, I'll be plenty happy. I've got far too many APs in my queue right now....
Out of curiosity (and with the understanding that your answer is non-binding personal preference), are you interested in making another AP with significant Darklands content? Do you think an Aboleth AP would be a good place for that, or do you have other ideas?
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This is not the thread to discuss revisions and changes to grapple.
And the non-rules description of being flat-footed is that you are unaware of and unprepared for something. You're being surprised by an attack, basically. When you're being grappled, you should be very much aware of the fact, and so to me, calling that "flat-footed" is nonsensical.
Oh. I thought of it more as to catch "off guard" or someone is off their guard. After all, the Scout archetype is able to treat people flat-footed that see him charge round after round after round, not because they are unaware that he can use that ability. So, I think of someone grappled as "off their guard." I just like to offer solutions to problems, that's all.
The suggestion wasn't my point, I guess. Question is this:
1. Why not add being grappled to the list of people where sneak attack applies? It seems to go with the theme and similar mechanics.
2. Is there a forum where people can offer ideas and suggestions to the developers to improve upon the product and they can glance at it?
3. Are their plans for a Pathfinder 2nd Edition in the works which might implement improvements on design and cut some of the unecessary, complicated fat from the pathfinder system?
Hi James,
What is your favorite "task" at work?
Least favorite?
I phrased it that way because I mean specific duties, like creating monsters, making AP volumes mesh etc. as opposed to a more general answer like "working with creative people."
Thanks again for all you do. I'm really looking forward to the next AP.
Having the grappled condition doesn't allow sneak attack.
Is that person not distracted/off balance/and the target of a coordinated attack?Do you think simply saying "Grappled creatures are considered flat-footed" is a good fix?
This would replace the bolded text of the grappled condition below.
** spoiler omitted **
Pros:
- escape artist now doens't recieve a penalty for those trying to escape the grapple, similar to how CMB checks aren't penalized, see above.
- sneak attack can be used slightly more often.
- you save money on ink
- rules become more uniform
- grappling becomes more realistic when it comes to slowing down "agile" targets, reducing their AC by more, but not denying them their skill at escape artist. Players with low dex weren't "moving much" anyway.Cons:
- your hand is going to hurt from all the high fives you get for doing this.Also, I think there is a way to simplify and combine "squeezing" rules with "grappling" rules.
This is not the thread to discuss revisions and changes to grapple.
And the non-rules description of being flat-footed is that you are unaware of and unprepared for something. You're being surprised by an attack, basically. When you're being grappled, you should be very much aware of the fact, and so to me, calling that "flat-footed" is nonsensical.
Keep in mind too, Grappling is about restraining someone, which could be something as simple as holding their arm, or grabbing their clothes. Think of all the martial arts movies (Jackie Chan comes to mind) where the Hero's clothes are grabbed, and they continue fighting others but can't move around much because of the grab.
Also, Pinning someone outright denies Dexterity, which allows Sneak Attacks. Sneak Attacks don't come from being Flat-Footed, they come from being denied dexterity bonuses or flanking.
The reason it seems out of whack is.... because if you are flanking with someone, you're rogue partner can sneak attack. If you grapple that same person, from the same location, he is no longer flanked because he is not "threatened" by you anymore. (you cannot attack of opportunity).
That seems a bit strange.
Creative Director
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Hmm. What pairs up nicely with Psychic Magic (as chapters in the same book)? We already have Ultimate Magic. Trying to figure this out is frustrating; the first thing that comes to mind is APG 2 (Ultimate Players' Guide?)
If the book also had a full-on Swashbuckler class, that would make my day... A subtheme of secondary genres like Cloak & Dagger, Horror & Classical Myth? The APG was such an awesome book it's hard to top it, but I can't imagine another Magic book being a full hardcover, so I'd think it would have to be a puzzle. I love Pact-style magic but that also may be not enough.
James, is Psychic Magic more likely to appear in a gatherum of classes and rules like the APG, or something more specifically magical?
I and some others here at Paizo have done a LOT of thinking on the topic, in fact. And I'm not ready to say anything more about it other than that psychic magic is something I'm eager to see us tackle some day.
I will say this... psychic magic and a swashbuckler base class are not related enough that I can really envision both being covered in the same book, honestly, unless that book's theme was SO broad that it didn't have a theme at all. And frankly, books with themes that broad aren't really what we're interested in doing much of at this time for various reasons.
Anyway... don't try to figure it out. If it'll happen, it'll happen. It's our job to figure out how to make it happen. And it's not gonna happen anytime soon, so I'm gonna stop talking about it to try to fight against giving the impression that it will be.
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Creative Director
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Huh. Interesting. I knew about the neothelids and intellect devourers. I was wondering more about humanoids and stuff like elan, blues and whatnot.
Now for a weird question: What deity would a non-evil gluttonous person pick for a patron? A gourmand who adventures both to finance their lavish feasting and to search for interesting new ingredients (non-sapient creatures only) like the manga Toriko? Someone who isn't into necromancy like a worshiper of Urgathoa or the Runelord Zutha, or pointless suffering and evil, as emphasized by Xoveron? Someone who may or may not be good, but certainly isn't evil?
Don't expect us to include elans and blues, because I find those creatures to be boring and uninteresting as currently represented in the D&D SRD.
The best deity for a non-evil glutton to worship? There could well be a cool Empyreal Lord to pick, but I'm not super familiar with all of those options.
The best bet among the core deities would probably be Erastil, who is all about family and community and providing for the small settlement via hunting and agriculture. If you want a character who's more about gourmet foods, though, Abadar's the best bet.
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Creative Director
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Out of curiosity (and with the understanding that your answer is non-binding personal preference), are you interested in making another AP with significant Darklands content? Do you think an Aboleth AP would be a good place for that, or do you have other ideas?
I would LOVE to do an all-Darklands or Darklands-heavy Adventure Path. My plans for an aboleth AP don't mesh well with an all-Darklands path, though...
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Creative Director
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The suggestion wasn't my point, I guess. Question is this:
1. Why not add being grappled to the list of people where sneak attack applies? It seems to go with the theme and similar mechanics.
2. Is there a forum where people can offer ideas and suggestions to the developers to improve upon the product and they can glance at it?
3. Are their plans for a Pathfinder 2nd Edition in the works which might implement improvements on design and cut some of the unecessary, complicated fat from the pathfinder system?
1) Because that's the kind of rules creep that I think is better for something like a new edition than it is for errata. Remember, when we do errata for a hardcover, the physical size of the book doesn't grow, so any new words we add are gonna force old words out. Which means keeping the errata simple as possible, and not adding in more words than is really needed. That said... this is a better question for Jason than me anyway.
2) The product forums for the particular product in question are the best place, I'd say.
3) Not at this time. Pathfinder is still growing in popularity and increasing its customer base and so on, and that's the exact wrong time to "reset" or "restart" with a new edition of the game.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
What is your favorite "task" at work?
Least favorite?
I phrased it that way because I mean specific duties, like creating monsters, making AP volumes mesh etc. as opposed to a more general answer like "working with creative people."
Thanks again for all you do. I'm really looking forward to the next AP.
Favorite: Writing game stuff, in particular, writing and developing adventures.
Least Favorite: Conventions.
Which is your favorite hag type though?
Just read the Worldwound...great book...and the unsettling nature of the place was really well done. Does give me several questions:
1. What sections did you work on?
2. How do you come up with new names for demons? Obviously some of them are from folklore (Gallu), and I am guessing at least in the past that some of them are adapted from previous OGL work, but some of these guys, like say the Oolioddroo, appear to be original.
3. Speaking of the Oolioddroo, do they have a specific inspiration? for some reason they remind me a little bit of the slake moths from Perdido Street Station.
4. Are the Ivory Templars inspired by the real Templar witch trials in France?
Out of curiosity (and with the understanding that your answer is non-binding personal preference), are you interested in making another AP with significant Darklands content? Do you think an Aboleth AP would be a good place for that, or do you have other ideas?I would LOVE to do an all-Darklands or Darklands-heavy Adventure Path. My plans for an aboleth AP don't mesh well with an all-Darklands path, though...
Well, I heartily encourage you to make both APs then. You're the boss, right? Make it happen. ;)
Hi James,
I saw THIS and I thought it would be right up your alley.
Also, this is most probably by favourite thread to read (it's almost a blog really). Aw hell, who am I kidding, it IS my favourite!
So no questions here, just keep up the great work.
Dear James
What is the height of each of the Pathfinder Iconics?
Hmm. What pairs up nicely with Psychic Magic (as chapters in the same book)? We already have Ultimate Magic. Trying to figure this out is frustrating; the first thing that comes to mind is APG 2 (Ultimate Players' Guide?)
If the book also had a full-on Swashbuckler class, that would make my day... A subtheme of secondary genres like Cloak & Dagger, Horror & Classical Myth? The APG was such an awesome book it's hard to top it, but I can't imagine another Magic book being a full hardcover, so I'd think it would have to be a puzzle. I love Pact-style magic but that also may be not enough.
James, is Psychic Magic more likely to appear in a gatherum of classes and rules like the APG, or something more specifically magical?
I and some others here at Paizo have done a LOT of thinking on the topic, in fact. And I'm not ready to say anything more about it other than that psychic magic is something I'm eager to see us tackle some day.
I will say this... psychic magic and a swashbuckler base class are not related enough that I can really envision both being covered in the same book, honestly, unless that book's theme was SO broad that it didn't have a theme at all. And frankly, books with themes that broad aren't really what we're interested in doing much of at this time for various reasons.
Anyway... don't try to figure it out. If it'll happen, it'll happen. It's our job to figure out how to make it happen. And it's not gonna happen anytime soon, so I'm gonna stop talking about it to try to fight against giving the impression that it will be.
I think it would work well as part of a Sci fi in Pathfinder book, but that is just my opinion and obviously completely not a guarantee.
Now a question, are we likely to see more Casmaron or Southern Garund gazetteers in the future as part of an AP?
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Creative Director
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Just read the Worldwound...great book...and the unsettling nature of the place was really well done. Does give me several questions:
1. What sections did you work on?
2. How do you come up with new names for demons? Obviously some of them are from folklore (Gallu), and I am guessing at least in the past that some of them are adapted from previous OGL work, but some of these guys, like say the Oolioddroo, appear to be original.
3. Speaking of the Oolioddroo, do they have a specific inspiration? for some reason they remind me a little bit of the slake moths from Perdido Street Station.
4. Are the Ivory Templars inspired by the real Templar witch trials in France?
1) I developed the whole thing, and did a fair amount of rewriting throughout the entire book. It's spread all over—I wrote several of the locations for all of the regions, for example, as well as the bulk of the intro. I converted the derakni from Green Ronin's Book of Fiends (where they were called "locust demons") and the warped ones from the same book, and did some heavy rewriting for all the demons. In a way, I was kind of the co-author for most of the writers in the book, and that meant I didn't really write one section as much as I helped write all of them.
2) Lilitu is also from folklore. The others I just make up names that sound demonic to me. After naming monsters for 30 some years, you start to develop an ear for what sorts of names just sound right. All of the other demons are all brand new—none of them are from previous OGL work, although a few of them (such as the kithangian and the gibrileth and the oolioddroo) had their basic descriptions inspired by very brief mentions in the Worldwound Gambit.
3) On one level the oolioddroo is somewhat inspired by mothman, but not a lot. Their primary inspiration was just the idea that I wanted a demon who was based on the sin of brainwashing or mental manipulation. I've actually not read all of Perdido Street Station (yes, I'm aware that's a character flaw) so they're not really inspired by slake moths at all.
4) To a certain extent, yes. There were rumors that the real-world templars worshiped Baphomet, and I kinda ran with that.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
I saw THIS and I thought it would be right up your alley.
Also, this is most probably by favourite thread to read (it's almost a blog really). Aw hell, who am I kidding, it IS my favourite!
So no questions here, just keep up the great work.
HA! Awesome shirt!
And thanks for the kind words!
Hey James.
I've been working on an aasimar paladin for a potential WotR campaign(which won't even happen for another year possibly, we gotta finish my kingmaker campaign first) and among all the wild ideas I've had for her story and such, I found myself wondering... Can a redeemed demon/devil/evil outsiders in general ever have someone in their 'bloodline' end up as an Aasimar instead of a Tiefling?
Average height for their race and gender.Dear James
What is the height of each of the Pathfinder Iconics?
But since most are human iconics of differing type ((Kellid, Garundi, Varisian etc) and Humans of Golarion only made vague reference to each groups differing height, if it was mentioned at all. It makes it hard to know what the average is for each group.
Which for those of use who like defined information is frustrating at times.And if I have the time a mini fan animation.
I might toss in Jade Regent NPCs as cameos in the background.
There are conflicting claims on how fey work. They apparently have no souls, but in Rise of The Runelords one comes back as a ghost. Do they somehow have ghosts without souls, or was this just kind of a plot whole?
There are conflicting claims on how fey work. They apparently have no souls, but in Rise of The Runelords one comes back as a ghost. Do they somehow have ghosts without souls, or was this just kind of a plot whole?
*hole
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I'm a little confused about something. So, there are supposed to be a LOT of gods across Golarion, correct? Not the Inner Sea, but Golarion as a whole?
Why aren't these the gods of the world? I get there are a lot of other deities, but then wouldn't they be in a huge turf war?
Also, why did Aroden's death only affect the Inner Sea? Is it BECAUSE there are a lot of gods? But if so, wouldn't one's death be negligible?
Sorry if I'm a bit ranty, just curious.
I'm a little confused about something. So, there are supposed to be a LOT of gods across Golarion, correct? Not the Inner Sea, but Golarion as a whole?
Why aren't these the gods of the world? I get there are a lot of other deities, but then wouldn't they be in a huge turf war?
Also, why did Aroden's death only affect the Inner Sea? Is it BECAUSE there are a lot of gods? But if so, wouldn't one's death be negligible?
Sorry if I'm a bit ranty, just curious.
Certain gods are worshipped in other places. Abadar for example.
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Don't expect us to include elans and blues, because I find those creatures to be boring and uninteresting as currently represented in the D&D SRD.
You aren't the only one.
The best deity for a non-evil glutton to worship? There could well be a cool Empyreal Lord to pick, but I'm not super familiar with all of those options.
Hmm...there's a brief mention of a Thisamet. An azata patron of feasts and celebrations...Must examine closer.
The best bet among the core deities would probably be Erastil, who is all about family and community and providing for the small settlement via hunting and agriculture. If you want a character who's more about gourmet foods, though, Abadar's the best bet.
Will look into these too. Thanks for your candor. I just think the idea of an adventurer who slays the monsters and instead of going for the treasure with his/her buddies, starts butchering and cleaning the monsters for tonight's dinner with the villagers (non-sapient monsters, of course, not gonna do something like this to an orc, even if orcs do it to each other all the time anyway).
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Hey James got questions...
1) Do you envision wild talent being part of psychic magic? Or is it going to be something learned?
2) What do you think of these ideas for APs...
A) A political one set in Taldor
B) A sandbox exploration type AP exploring one of yet untouched continents?
C) A AP based around the idea of redeeming a normaly evil race(well atleast a portion of it).
Some questions:
1# What is the most poisonous creature found on Golarion?
2# Can the Catoblepas eat any kind of poisonous creature/plant?
3# What kind of oozes prey on the Catoblepas? (as that is said in the bestiary 2)
4# Is the Qallupallik (good spelling?) a Hag type creature or not?
5# While both CR 11 and lightning bird creatures, which would win on Golarion in a fight? Impundulu or Thunderbird?
James, what's the primary difference between domains and portfolios when it comes to what a god stands for? There seems to be plenty of overlap. I know they usually get, what, about 5 domains for a full god, and those spells/powers from those domains can be granted to their clerics? Portfolios seems a lot less of a concrete idea, though.
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Creative Director
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Hey James.
I've been working on an aasimar paladin for a potential WotR campaign(which won't even happen for another year possibly, we gotta finish my kingmaker campaign first) and among all the wild ideas I've had for her story and such, I found myself wondering... Can a redeemed demon/devil/evil outsiders in general ever have someone in their 'bloodline' end up as an Aasimar instead of a Tiefling?
I would say no. A redeemed demon is still a demon. His/her offspring would still be a half-fiend or tiefling... but would likely not be evil unless the child was raised in an environment that encouraged such behavior.
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Creative Director
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Average height for their race and gender.Dear James
What is the height of each of the Pathfinder Iconics?
But since most are human iconics of differing type ((Kellid, Garundi, Varisian etc) and Humans of Golarion only made vague reference to each groups differing height, if it was mentioned at all. It makes it hard to know what the average is for each group.
Which for those of use who like defined information is frustrating at times.** spoiler omitted **
The ONLY time we need heights for the iconcs in-house is when we're doing art-based things with them, such as illustrating them or having miniatures made of them. And rather than overcomplicate things, since these characters are supposed to represent the baseline classes, it's easiest to also assume they represent the baseline heights for their races and genders.
In fact, for minis, we often go even MORE generic. For medium minis, we almost always just say "six feet tall" regardless of gender or race, unless it's a race that's always shorter (like dwarf, in which case we say four feet tall, or, say, bugbear, in which case we say 7 feet tall).
So what I'm saying is that for your project, just use the average heights for the characters, as determined by their gender and race and then looked up on the tables on page 170 of the Core Rulebook.
If I were told I had to generate their heights for a print product, that's where I would start. I would probably, at that point, vary things by a few inches here and there simply because I don't want all our humans to be the exact same height... but Post #34,336 or whatever this one ends up being is not the right place for me to lay down that kind of deep continuity.
If you use the average heights, you'll be fine.
Edit:THAT SAID... I love the idea of a fan-art animation! Can't wait to see what you come up with!
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Creative Director
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There are conflicting claims on how fey work. They apparently have no souls, but in Rise of The Runelords one comes back as a ghost. Do they somehow have ghosts without souls, or was this just kind of a plot whole?
Where does it say they have no souls? That's inaccurate.
All living things have souls.
Outsiders are unusual in that their soul and their body are one—they're not separate things as is the case for other living things.
Fey are among those other living things, and as such they have souls the same way that the rest of us do. The fact that they're from the first world means that their souls are "older" though... not that that means anything more than flavor.
But they have souls.
Where did we say they don't have souls? If it's something we'll be reprinting, I'll fix it.
There are conflicting claims on how fey work. They apparently have no souls, but in Rise of The Runelords one comes back as a ghost. Do they somehow have ghosts without souls, or was this just kind of a plot whole?Where does it say they have no souls? That's inaccurate.
All living things have souls.
Outsiders are unusual in that their soul and their body are one—they're not separate things as is the case for other living things.
Fey are among those other living things, and as such they have souls the same way that the rest of us do. The fact that they're from the first world means that their souls are "older" though... not that that means anything more than flavor.
But they have souls.
Where did we say they don't have souls? If it's something we'll be reprinting, I'll fix it.
I assume he's basing that off the baseline which Sutter set with his "First World" article in Sound of a Thousand Screams from the Kingmaker AP, wherein, it states:
For most gods, the First World holds little entertainment compared to the Material Plane, and such prejudice is reinforced by the First World’s lack of those items that most hold deities’ interest: souls....Creatures of the First World have no souls, and thus have little to offer the gods. Accordingly, most First World residents have little time for religion, and those few who still agitate for the gods’ return find their prayers falling upon deaf ears. On the plus side, however, the gods’ negligence makes the First World a perfect place to hide from their sight, should one incur divine wrath.
Then, it also states it outright in Fey Revisited, which presumably took into account what the original article on the First World established...
Fey have no souls, but are also immortal when in the First World; this means that they often lack any understanding of mortality and time, and that fey encountered in their home plane are particularly dangerous. On the Material Plane, however, they are creatures that may be killed like any other, though being on the Material Plane rarely colors their outlook on life or makes them any less alien.
Of course, the gnomes originated in the First World, as well...and, even though they're humanoids rather than fey, presumably they have souls now. Maybe that implies they changed in some significant way after crossing into Golarion. And, maybe any fey which spend enough time crossing between the First World and Golarion undergo a similar change? That'd be an interesting case to examine, at least, if you wanted to make a change to canon.
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Creative Director
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I'm a little confused about something. So, there are supposed to be a LOT of gods across Golarion, correct? Not the Inner Sea, but Golarion as a whole?
Why aren't these the gods of the world? I get there are a lot of other deities, but then wouldn't they be in a huge turf war?
Also, why did Aroden's death only affect the Inner Sea? Is it BECAUSE there are a lot of gods? But if so, wouldn't one's death be negligible?
Sorry if I'm a bit ranty, just curious.
There are a lot of deities on Golarion, but I suspect ther'es fewer deities worshiped on Golarion than there are on Earth.
As for why they don't get in a turf war... the gods don't actually personally intervene in Material Plane matters, and leave those things to their churches to handle precisely BECAUSE they know that if they do intervene, it WILL start a turf war. And so they don't. Whether they don't because there's a greater law that even the gods themselves can't ignore, or because the fact that they're gods means that they're capable of upholding this on their own regardless of their personal alignments or personalities is unknown.
As for Aroden's death... a LOT of things happened at that point. Aroden died. The world was wracked by storms. The Eye of Abendego opened. The Worldwound opened. These events were releated, but whcih one was the primary event... if even there WAS a primary event... is not revealed at this time. And while the Inner Sea World guide focuses on the events that hit the Inner Sea... that doesn't mean that ONLY the Inner Sea was affected at the start of the Age of Lost Omens. Looking over at the Dragon Empires book's timeline, we see that at the start of that continent's Age of Succession (their version of the Age of Lost Omens) we have the empire of Lung Wa collapsing, which is pretty enormous... and is arguably larger than any one event that happened in the Inner Sea region since this was the collapse of an empire that was physically larger than the entire map shown on the Inner Sea Region map.
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Hmm...upon closer examination, Thisamet seems like a great idea. Her followers spread merriment and joy wherever they go. I'm envisioning this gluttonous saint as someone who not only enjoys good food, but enjoys sharing it with others. Wherever they go, they throw a party when the adventure's done because they like making people happy, and who needs that more than a community that's just been through a lot of negative crap, like Sandpoint or Turtleback Ferry following the events of Rise of the Runelords? Thanks for the pointer! :)
Here's another question: Who, in your opinion, is the dumbest or most pathetic villain in Pathfinder to date? Someone who, upon learning their motives or methodology just makes your PCs facepalm and say "Seriously? You're causing all this trouble for THAT?!" I know Adivion Adrissant fills that role for me. Wanting to resurrect the most dangerous lich on Golarion because you think he's the only intellectual equal to you in the whole of the world? Dude! Get over yourself and find a better hobby!
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Creative Director
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Hey James got questions...
1) Do you envision wild talent being part of psychic magic? Or is it going to be something learned?
2) What do you think of these ideas for APs...
A) A political one set in Taldor
B) A sandbox exploration type AP exploring one of yet untouched continents?
C) A AP based around the idea of redeeming a normaly evil race(well atleast a portion of it).
1) Haven't thought that much into it, but as wild talents have existed before in the game, wild talents are a classic form of power creep and one of the things detractors of psionics have always used as evidence to show how psionics, as power creep, is bad for the game. I'm not so sure I like the idea of wild talents, but there are ways to do something akin to them. For example... look at the rogue tricks minor magic and major magic. Those are essentially "wild talents" for arcane magic. I could see some new class features or feats or stuff that have similar wording for psychic magic for some classes or archetypes or feats or whatever. More likely, "wild talents" would manifest merely as spell-like abilities, in which case they're already in the game. I actually quite like this solution as a result.
2a) Has potential to be cool
2b) Has potential to be cool
2c) Meh. I love the idea of an AP where you redeem an organization or an individual, but an entire race? That starts to weird me out.
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Creative Director
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Some questions:
1# What is the most poisonous creature found on Golarion?
2# Can the Catoblepas eat any kind of poisonous creature/plant?
3# What kind of oozes prey on the Catoblepas? (as that is said in the bestiary 2)
4# Is the Qallupallik (good spelling?) a Hag type creature or not?
5# While both CR 11 and lightning bird creatures, which would win on Golarion in a fight? Impundulu or Thunderbird?
1) Unknown, but if you were to look through every single monster we published, you could determine which one has the highest poison save DC and/or most dangerous poison effect, and that would answer your question until we invented a new creature that's even more poisonous. Since we've published well over a thousand monsters now... I'm not gonna do this for you though! ;-)
2) It can eat whatever it wants, but since it's not immune to poison, it will get as poisoned as anyone else if it eats poison plants and creatures and fails its save.
3) Any swamp-dwelling ooze of CR 10 or higher. Carnivorous blobs come to mind, along with super-enormous gray oozes.
4) "Hag" is not a creature type.
5) If they both have stats, the way to find out would be to run a mock combat between the two of them and see how things turn out. I'm no sure where the Impundulu is from off the top of my head, but I suspect both of them are immune to lightning, yes? So it'd come down to how much non-lightning things they can do.
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Creative Director
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James, what's the primary difference between domains and portfolios when it comes to what a god stands for? There seems to be plenty of overlap. I know they usually get, what, about 5 domains for a full god, and those spells/powers from those domains can be granted to their clerics? Portfolios seems a lot less of a concrete idea, though.
Domains are a rules element that determine specific powers granted to their worshipers, primarily clerics. As such, a deity's domains MUST be selected from the existing list of domains.
Areas of Influence/Portfolios are not rules elements. They're nothing more than short descriptive key words that, in a few words, summarize what the deity and his/her faith is interested in. They're where you go to find out what the god is like if you don't want to read actual full sentences of information or seek out full articles or entries on the deity.
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Creative Director
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There are conflicting claims on how fey work. They apparently have no souls, but in Rise of The Runelords one comes back as a ghost. Do they somehow have ghosts without souls, or was this just kind of a plot whole?Where does it say they have no souls? That's inaccurate.
All living things have souls.
Outsiders are unusual in that their soul and their body are one—they're not separate things as is the case for other living things.
Fey are among those other living things, and as such they have souls the same way that the rest of us do. The fact that they're from the first world means that their souls are "older" though... not that that means anything more than flavor.
But they have souls.
Where did we say they don't have souls? If it's something we'll be reprinting, I'll fix it.
I assume he's basing that off the baseline which Sutter set with his "First World" article in Sound of a Thousand Screams from the Kingmaker AP, wherein, it states:
For most gods, the First World holds little entertainment compared to the Material Plane, and such prejudice is reinforced by the First World’s lack of those items that most hold deities’ interest: souls....Creatures of the First World have no souls, and thus have little to offer the gods. Accordingly, most First World residents have little time for religion, and those few who still agitate for the gods’ return find their prayers falling upon deaf ears. On the plus side, however, the gods’ negligence makes the First World a perfect place to hide from their sight, should one incur divine wrath.Then, it also states it outright in Fey Revisited, which presumably took into account what the original article on the First World established...
Fey have no souls, but are also immortal when in the First World; this means that they often lack any understanding of mortality and time, and that fey encountered in their home plane...
Ah... yeah, in that case, that's errata. Fey have souls, but their souls are different than mortal souls. The fact that they can live forever on the First World is one way their souls work differently than mortal souls.
James, what's the primary difference between domains and portfolios when it comes to what a god stands for? There seems to be plenty of overlap. I know they usually get, what, about 5 domains for a full god, and those spells/powers from those domains can be granted to their clerics? Portfolios seems a lot less of a concrete idea, though.Domains are a rules element that determine specific powers granted to their worshipers, primarily clerics. As such, a deity's domains MUST be selected from the existing list of domains.
Areas of Influence/Portfolios are not rules elements. They're nothing more than short descriptive key words that, in a few words, summarize what the deity and his/her faith is interested in. They're where you go to find out what the god is like if you don't want to read actual full sentences of information or seek out full articles or entries on the deity.
I see. What about when multiple demi-gods or gods have the same portfolio, how is the conflict handled? They just represent different facets of the same ideas? Does it depend entirely on the deities' personalities and philosphies? Does another deity being in the portfolio or domain alter the reality of that kind of thing substantially? Or are portfolios simply areas of everyday life where the gods are interested but have no real influence beyond what their faithful get into there?
Apologies, by the way, if this has been asked before in this thread. Thanks as always for answering.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
........Dear James
....The ONLY time we need heights for the iconcs in-house is when we're doing art-based things with them, such as illustrating them or having miniatures made of them. And rather than overcomplicate things, since these characters are supposed to represent the baseline classes, it's easiest to also assume they represent the baseline heights for their races and genders.
In fact, for minis, we often go even MORE generic. For medium minis, we almost always just say "six feet tall" regardless of gender or race, unless it's a race that's always shorter (like dwarf, in which case we say four feet tall, or, say, bugbear, in which case we say 7 feet tall).
So what I'm saying is that for your project, just use the average heights for the characters, as determined by their gender and race and then looked up on the tables on page 170 of the Core Rulebook.
If I were told I had to generate their heights for a print product, that's where I would start. I would probably, at that point, vary things by a few inches here and there simply because I don't want all our humans to be the exact same height... but Post #34,336 or whatever this one ends up being is not the right place for me to lay down that kind of deep continuity.
If you use the average heights, you'll be fine.
Edit:THAT SAID... I love the idea of a fan-art animation! Can't wait to see what you come up with!
As I stated before if I get the time, it'll be an animation.
Since your looking forward to it here's a quick rendering of the first 2 Iconics, I'm working on before I get onto the next one or two.I'm using Daz Studio to put this fan art or animation together.
I'll have to make due with a few substitute parts for some characters,
need to do some texture work on parts,
and come up with a few tricks to get close to the PF iconic art as possible.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
1) Spell: Spiritual AllyIf cast underwater, does it gains swim speed? Or your deity has to be an aquatic one for the Ally to be able to swim (like Besmara or Gozreh)?
The spell description (APG p. 246): "It has a speed of 30 feet, and a fly speed of 30 feet...".
2) Swarm Template
Taking a medium size or larger creature and convert to a swarm. How does the size of base creature translates to the size of the "swarm size (fine, tiny, diminutive). Is this legal for PF?
THX
1) The spell doesn't grant swim speeds, it would appear, which means that it's probably not an often-cast spell by worshipers of aquatic deities.
2) There's not really any such thing as a "swarm template" first of all, so the rules don't cover how to transform a creature into a swarm. The rules DO give lots of advice and suggestions on how to build new monsters, and you can use that (from Appendix 1 of the Bestiary) to create ANY type of monster, including a swarm based on an existing creature. Whether or not the resulting creature is "legal" depends if your GM says it is. If you're the GM, then it's legal by default.
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Creative Director
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I see. What about when multiple demi-gods or gods have the same portfolio, how is the conflict handled? They just represent different facets of the same ideas? Does it depend entirely on the deities' personalities and philosphies? Does another deity being in the portfolio or domain alter the reality of that kind of thing substantially? Or are portfolios simply areas of everyday life where the gods are interested but have no real influence beyond what their faithful get into there?
Apologies, by the way, if this has been asked before in this thread. Thanks as always for answering.
They could represent different facets of the same ideas, or they could have faiths that end up in direct competition or alliance.
Pepsi and Coke both have the same "portfolio," yet both exist. In fact, so do all sorts of other cola type drinks. Some are more popular than others, and it's definitely a regional thing, and there's certainly folks who argue passionately about Pepsi tasting better than Coke, or those who say that RC Cola is better than them all.
Same goes for gods.
I see. What about when multiple demi-gods or gods have the same portfolio, how is the conflict handled? They just represent different facets of the same ideas? Does it depend entirely on the deities' personalities and philosphies? Does another deity being in the portfolio or domain alter the reality of that kind of thing substantially? Or are portfolios simply areas of everyday life where the gods are interested but have no real influence beyond what their faithful get into there?
Apologies, by the way, if this has been asked before in this thread. Thanks as always for answering.They could represent different facets of the same ideas, or they could have faiths that end up in direct competition or alliance.
Pepsi and Coke both have the same "portfolio," yet both exist. In fact, so do all sorts of other cola type drinks. Some are more popular than others, and it's definitely a regional thing, and there's certainly folks who argue passionately about Pepsi tasting better than Coke, or those who say that RC Cola is better than them all.
Same goes for gods.
But if you had to choose, you'd probably be an RC drinker, right?