Where on these messageboards would I post a monster that I've advanced to Mythic status, as well as adding a template? I built a great umbral ravener from the ground up, and I don't know where to share him.
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Is it bad that I prefer the hyena headed version of Demogorgon from BoVD over his usual simian headed version ?Yes.Aww now I feel sad.
Is the reason you like the simian version because it's the original?
Pretty much.
But also because the original is very much a demon lord of primeval things—he's associated with dinosaurs and things with tentacles and the like, and his abyssal realm is a tropical jungle. The mandrill heads just fit those themes a LOT better. Furthermore... mandrill heads are a lot closer to being human heads, which gives Demogorgon a creepy "near-human" element to his otherwise entirely inhuman frame. FURTHERMORE... there's ALREADY a demon lord with hyena features—Yeenoghu has a hyena head. Demogorgon having mandrill heads helps to set him further apart from Yeenoghu.
Hmmm interesting...
So what if he had Saurian heads? :3
Creative Director
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Is it bad that I prefer the hyena headed version of Demogorgon from BoVD over his usual simian headed version ?Yes.Aww now I feel sad.
Is the reason you like the simian version because it's the original?
Pretty much.
But also because the original is very much a demon lord of primeval things—he's associated with dinosaurs and things with tentacles and the like, and his abyssal realm is a tropical jungle. The mandrill heads just fit those themes a LOT better. Furthermore... mandrill heads are a lot closer to being human heads, which gives Demogorgon a creepy "near-human" element to his otherwise entirely inhuman frame. FURTHERMORE... there's ALREADY a demon lord with hyena features—Yeenoghu has a hyena head. Demogorgon having mandrill heads helps to set him further apart from Yeenoghu.
Hmmm interesting...
So what if he had Saurian heads? :3
Still bad!!! :P
I would tread carefully with mythic cohorts. I'd probably say that the PC at the very least would have to spend a mythic feat on Leadership to even get the chance to have a mythic cohort, and would have to undergo a certain number of adventures to get the cohort in the first place.
What would you recommend if the players already have cohorts and then become mythic late in their adventuring career? If the story doesn't support individual members of the group being singled out (diety gave you unique power) and instead has a more general source (everyone who touches this artifact transcends mortality!), it'd seem arbitrary to limit mythic power to main PCs.
What dangers do you foresee with mythic cohorts?
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Creative Director
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I would tread carefully with mythic cohorts. I'd probably say that the PC at the very least would have to spend a mythic feat on Leadership to even get the chance to have a mythic cohort, and would have to undergo a certain number of adventures to get the cohort in the first place.What would you recommend if the players already have cohorts and then become mythic late in their adventuring career? If the story doesn't support individual members of the group being singled out (diety gave you unique power) and instead has a more general source (everyone who touches this artifact transcends mortality!), it'd seem arbitrary to limit mythic power to main PCs.
What dangers do you foresee with mythic cohorts?
1) Mythic cohorts make the party more powerful, and can further complicate each player's turn.
2) Mythic cohorts can run the risk of making the actual mythic PCs feel less special.
Which of these is an evil magus more likely to become: a lich or a graveknight?
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Hey James,
The primal umbral dragon has a breath weapon that does negative energy damage. However, it specifically states that it does NOT heal undead. But, that's what negative energy does. It heals undead. Why is this dragon's breath weapon so particularly special? I ask this mostly because in Curse of the Crimson Throne, it said that it DID heal undead. What changed?
Hi, James. A couple of questions if you don't mind-
1. As an adventure writer, can you recommend any books or websites that are good references for the layout of medieval buildings (castles, manors, large farmsteads) to use in designing maps?
2. How's Shimmy?
Thanks!
Hey JJ,
Being that Shensen is one of your longest-played characters, you have some experience to draw from for this question:
How does a guy go about convincingly portraying a female character?
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Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!
Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!
Wait, that guy sounds like me. Then again, I killed all my fear by playing horror games as a kid.
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Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!Wait, that guy sounds like me. Then again, I killed all my fear by playing horror games as a kid.
It couldn't be you, Icyshadow. You're too knowledgeable about Pathfinder stuff to be him. Most of what he knows about Pathfinder comes from me via PM.
I figured it couldn't be me, since I'm not the military type of person.
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Creative Director
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Wait, is Yeenoghu open content or is he WotC property?
Yeenoghu is 100% WotC property; he has no real-world analog and was invented, as far as I can tell, by Gygax. I never did write a Demonomicon article on him though so I haven't actually done the in depth research on where he came from.
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Creative Director
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Given that straight magi gain light armor at 7 and heavy armor at 13th, why do you see them as primarily light armored folk? (Effortless Armor is a 2nd level spell for them).Which of these is an evil magus more likely to become: a lich or a graveknight?I see magi more as light armor guys and graveknights as heavy armor guys, so I'd say lich.
Because the iconic magus isn't wearing heavy armor.
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Creative Director
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Speaking of Demon Lords, how does Orcus, Kabiri, and Zura get along?
Not well. Orcus has his hands full dealing with titans, though, so he doesn't interact TOO much with the others. And Kabriri mostly keeps to his ghouls while Zura keeps to her vampires. They're not at war... but they're hardly buddies.
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
The primal umbral dragon has a breath weapon that does negative energy damage. However, it specifically states that it does NOT heal undead. But, that's what negative energy does. It heals undead. Why is this dragon's breath weapon so particularly special? I ask this mostly because in Curse of the Crimson Throne, it said that it DID heal undead. What changed?
It's an exception. In Crimson Throne, it was using the 3.5 rules. I'm not 100% sure why the change was made, but I suspect Jason did so during the Bestiary's development because he felt that, as with cleric negative energy channeling, it was too strong to bolster enemies while simultaneously hurting foes.
This isn't really a question, but I just wanted to say, now after I've finally read through and digested all the Mythic rules, how wonderful they portray the very often blurry line between gods and heroes in ancient myth. Where the abilities of powerful mortal heroes could border on the divine, human heroes could battle gods and win, and Achilles could wound Ares so badly he had to retreat from battle, and it was often hard to tell the difference between powerful mortal heroes and gods. And where some heroes even had cults of their own dedicated to them (which can so perfectly be portrayed with the Divine Source ability.)
I think the Mythic rules were wonderfully done. I was actually unsure about them and fairly skeptical at first, before the book came out, but after having fully grasped them I think they are just excellent.
OK, I guess I DO have a question. Were any mythological sources studied for inspiration for the rules? Were any Mythic abilities pulled from source myths, and the gradual increase in power level of the Tiers based on different heroes from mythology, or was everything pretty much just based on mechanical considerations, and the Mythic abilities just based on how cool it would be for a player to have those powers in the game?
Thanks!
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Creative Director
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Now that Mythic Adventures and Mythic Origins are out, and we've seen the mythic looks for the APG Iconics:
1) Will the new class of Iconics for next year's Advanced Class Guide, when they're done, be given mythic looks as well?
2) Will Wayne Reynolds be doing both the regular and mythic look, if they get the latter? I noticed he didn't do the mythic looks for Mythic Adventures.
3) Have the Iconics themselves been decided on in any way yet?
4) One of the mythic path abilities allows an Oracle to be immune to the effects of their curse. While Alahazra's mythic look still has her curse in effect, are you able/willing to say what her eyes are like beneath the curse, since there seems to now be a way of removing it's effects?
5) No progress on Balazar's background yet?
6) On an unrelated topic, in terms of which people at Paizo developed which parts of Golarion, who was it who did the Mwangi Expanse, Jatembe, his Ten Magic Warriors and so on?
7) Were the Ten Magic Warriors mythic?
1) Unlikely.
2) Nope, since we're probably not going to be in a big rush to show off mythic versions of new iconics. They need at least a year, after all, for them to settle in as iconics themselves!
3) Yes. All of them are decided and the art order was sent out many weeks ago.
4) Her eyes are part of her iconic appearance. As such, she's not gonna be taking that path ability.
5) No.
6) Not sure. They kinda came about from a lot of us.
7) Unrevealed at this time.
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Creative Director
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Hi, James. A couple of questions if you don't mind-
1. As an adventure writer, can you recommend any books or websites that are good references for the layout of medieval buildings (castles, manors, large farmsteads) to use in designing maps?
2. How's Shimmy?
Thanks!
1) There's lots out there... but honestly? For game design? Your best bet is to check out adventures that feature maps of the locations you want that are done to the level of detail you're looking for. The best adventures (and thus the best maps) are as much created to create a fun play environment as they are to model real-world architecture.
Now that said... I don't really have one book or website to recommend for the layout of medieval buildings. I have a LOT of them, and got to read lots more during college (was a medieval studies minor) but I don't really know their titles off the top of my head.
2) She's doin' great! She's sleeping on the bookshelf behind me as I type.
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Creative Director
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Hey JJ,
Being that Shensen is one of your longest-played characters, you have some experience to draw from for this question:
How does a guy go about convincingly portraying a female character?
The same way a guy goes about convincingly portraying a female character in a story he's writing. (or for that matter, how a GM goes about playing a convincing female NPC)
Read a lot of fiction written about women characters, preferably fiction written by female authors. Game with women and watch how they play their characters. Watch female actors in movies. Ask for feedback from other gamers, particularly female gamers. And most importantly... find a group that is open minded enough to let you play a transvirtual character!
Whether or not I portray my female characters convincingly is up to my fellow players and GMs to decide.
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Creative Director
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Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!
First of all... I tend to invite gamers into my group who DO like horror and aren't all about "I never get scared!" attitudes so that's one thing.
And if you do have someone in the group who doesn't get scared... that's fine. Just focus on the other players when it comes to that part of the game. I see no real difference between the player who "doesn't get scared" and the player who is bored by combat or bored by roleplaying or isn't interested in exploring. There's always players who seem to tune out during parts of the game it seems. Not very polite, and if they do it too much I think they might be better off doing something else with their time.
So in short, in your situation... if you want to run a horror themed game and your other players want to play in a horror themed game... either tell the odd player out that he's gonna have to sit there and let the horror parts of the game play out without being disruptive... or maybe he needs to find another game.
But really... you wouldn't ask someone who says "I hate low magic games" to be in a low magic game... if you really wanna do a horror game, you shouldn't invite people who aren't into horror.
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Creative Director
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OK, I guess I DO have a question. Were any mythological sources studied for inspiration for the rules? Were any Mythic abilities pulled from source myths, and the gradual increase in power level of the Tiers based on different heroes from mythology, or was everything pretty much just based on mechanical considerations, and the Mythic abilities just based on how cool it would be for a player to have those powers in the game?
Thanks!
A LOT of mythological sources were studied by the design team when they were working on the rules. The book talks a lot about those resources, such as Campbell's work, in the Gamemastering chapter of the book. And a lot of the tier powers were inspired by specific heroic things that mythological heroes or superheroes do or did.
While I know that paizo is not comfortable to place specific dates on products until you ready, but how far along are you on the Advanced Class Playtest ? Estimatite realease in one month? Two? Half a month?
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Creative Director
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While I know that paizo is not comfortable to place specific dates on products until you ready, but how far along are you on the Advanced Class Playtest ? Estimatite realease in one month? Two? Half a month?
Not my place to say. When we do reveal its release date, it will likely be impossible to miss though.
Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!First of all... I tend to invite gamers into my group who DO like horror and aren't all about "I never get scared!" attitudes so that's one thing.
And if you do have someone in the group who doesn't get scared... that's fine. Just focus on the other players when it comes to that part of the game. I see no real difference between the player who "doesn't get scared" and the player who is bored by combat or bored by roleplaying or isn't interested in exploring. There's always players who seem to tune out during parts of the game it seems. Not very polite, and if they do it too much I think they might be better off doing something else with their time.
So in short, in your situation... if you want to run a horror themed game and your other players want to play in a horror themed game... either tell the odd player out that he's gonna have to sit there and let the horror parts of the game play out...
I think this is needlessly bashing someone who doesn't agree with your tastes. Nothing in what Zousha said sounded like the player was being deliberately distruptive.
I don't dislike horror as a genre, but I find it doing little to actually scare me. Seeing someone possibly get kicked out over such seems mighty unfair in my eyes.
But to add in to this with an actual question; What's your opinion on the Hellraiser movies?
I think this is needlessly bashing someone who doesn't agree with your tastes. Nothing in what Zousha said sounded like the player was being deliberately distruptive.
I don't dislike horror as a genre, but I find it doing little to actually scare me. Seeing someone possibly get kicked out over such seems mighty unfair in my eyes.
To be fair, this is the "Ask James Jacobs" thread, not the "Game Advice" thread, and he explained how he would handle the situation.
There's also a bit of difference between wanting to run a horror adventure for your regular group (in which case I agree it's not good to discourage a member to sit it out), and wanting to put together a group for a horror adventure (in which case you tailor the membership of the group to fit what you want to run).
For some people, enjoying the game means putting the word "enjoying" before "game". People who enjoy sitting around quaking in their boots at horror movies probably wouldn't enjoy it if they invited a friend to watch it with them who just sat and laughed at every scene, for example. Just because they don't invite that friend over on the night they watch that movie doesn't mean they don't like them any more, though, and in the long run it's likely that friend will appreciate not being dragged into something they don't enjoy.
Some people have a "I have a group of friends, lets get together and find something to do!" mentality. Others have the "I have lots of individual friends, and this thing I'd like to do, who should I invite?" mentality. They also tend to form friendships with like-minded people, which means there isn't One True Way to solve it. Without wanting to put words into his mouth, I'm guessing James has given the answer this thread is about, which is how he and his friends would do it and not what would go into the GamesMastery Forming Game Groups Handbook.
The third option, which he didn't give, would be "Decide not to run a horror game, as not everyone in your group would appreciate it." I'd see that as counter to the question that was asked, though.
Argh more "how would these guys get statted" questions
What would you consider the Infected from Left 4 Dead? Undead doesn't seem right to me.
What type of creature do you think Bowser from Mario would be? Personally, I'd call him a dragon.
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Wait, is Yeenoghu open content or is he WotC property?Yeenoghu is 100% WotC property; he has no real-world analog and was invented, as far as I can tell, by Gygax. I never did write a Demonomicon article on him though so I haven't actually done the in depth research on where he came from.
Curses! Let my Gnolls be free!!!
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Hello again Mister James Jacobs. Thank you again for all the wonderful job.
Why there is so few African Mythology/Divinity in Golarion ? There is so few black divine beings or symbology. I don't know how african mythological religions (as the Orishas) are seen in north america, but it a so rich and fierce legends and perfect for empyreal lords and other things. I know that you already has ethnic Mwangi in positions of power (Jatembe, Seelah, etc..) and you lost the oportunity for that in Serpent Skull, but if you ever has a chance of revisiting the so much forgotten african mythology again, please try again, even superficial research has so much that could add to a fantasy world and peharps easy the preconceptions about them.
Does Golarion have any good or neutral undead?
EDIT: Another question. What would you think of people using, say, actual lizard skeletons to make miniature raveners and such?
JJ,
This is going way back into your old posts; I have a question about something you wrote in 2012.
If a shadowdancer is within 10 feet of dim light, that's precisely what "hide in plain sight" lets them do. Note that doesn't mean they can make as many Stealth checks as they want all at once and then just take the best one.
She DOES have to make the check as part of movement, but the act of rolling the check itself does not cost an action.
She can't just stand still and roll the check, though; she has to do SOME movement (which could just be a 5 foot step... so it doesn't have to be a move action's worth of movement).
My question is: Were you just talking about situations where someone is already observing you, or any time a Stealth roll is made?
I ask because in either of the following possible examples I would not require a movement, 5-foot step or other, to initiate a Stealth roll. But, unless I mistook your intent, it seems like a movement of some sort would be necessary. Could you shed some light on this for me?
Example 1: Shadowdancer is standing within 10' of dim light in an office looking through some papers. He hears someone unlock the door to the office and wants to use HiPS to Stealth before someone walks in on him. Must he take a 5' step to roll for Stealth?
Example 2: A Rogue is crouched behind a large desk in lord's study. The door to the study is already open. He hears a guard on his patrol walking through the hallway that passes the door. Must he take a specific movement to remain crouched and roll for Stealth to avoid detection as the guard walks by?
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Why there is so few African Mythology/Divinity in Golarion?
I would theorize that, just as the Dragon Empires 'pantheon' isn't all Raiden and Kuan Yin, and the Osirioni gods aren't Ra and Bast and Anubis, and the Ulfen don't follow Thor or Heimdall, that any sort of Mwangi gods developed as Paizo delves deeper into Garund will probably not be riffs on Anansi or Chango or Cagn.
I get a funny feeling when I see a fantasy world that has a bunch of made-up gods for their white folk and then straight-up uses real-world mythological figures for their colored people. (Like Pelor & Wee Jas co-existing with Camazotz and Tezcatlipoca in Greyhawk, or Torm and Mystra co-existing with Set and Isis in the Realms.)
That said, yeah, they could sure use a few more Garundi gods (Nethys is the only one explicitly Garundi, Sarenrae perhaps a bit Kelish, and Pharasma, who knows) or any at all of Mwangi ancestry (other than Walkena, who is, IIRC, not really a god, and on the list to have their clerics in Heart of the Jungle and the NPC Guide de-canonized with extreme prejudice...).
Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!
Even if the player isn't scared, it doesn't mean his PC isn't.
Wes posted this on tumblr the other day - what 3D terrain are you guys using? It looks pretty rad.
Do otherwise-aligned outsiders have counterparts for nascent demon lords? By this, I mean are there weaker ranas, immortals, kami lords, qlippoth lords, etc.?
My DM has just decided to go Mythic for one of our campaigns. He is concerned about the various paths (Archmage & Heirophant) that allow extra casting of spells, such as Arcane Surge or Wild Arcana. He is worried that this means 5 or more extra casting of the spellcasters highest level spell. Has this been an issue? Is there anything you suggest to calm his concerns here?
Being a horror fan, how do you scare players who "don't get scared?" I have a player who boasts that he "never gets scared" and regards creepy things with a resounding "meh." No matter how hard I try to set up the ambiance, atmosphere and mood, it doesn't get a rise out of him. Part of that may simply be the limitations of play-by-post. It's hard to be scary and surprising when your only means of communicating it are through text. Part of it may be the fact that he's ex-military, and fear is something that's drilled out of you in boot camp. But when coming across horror trappings in-game he doesn't even bat an eyelash. He enjoys playing Clint-Eastwood sorts of characters, taciturn men who ride into town, cooly and casually deliver a beatdown to anyone fool enough to try and attack them, and treat setbacks and life-threatening situations as a temporary annoyance they can recover from and implacably march back into town to repay the favor in kind before riding out into the desert again as mysterious as they were when they arrived...How the heck do I scare a character like that?!
Note that my dad was a WWI veteran, with lots of combat experience in New Guinea , he said that even under fire, the men were always cracking jokes, and black humor was a constant companion. There were some pretty horrible things in that campaign.