Creative Director
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Is Iomedae her full name or the name she took upon ascending? If she has more to her name is Iomedae her personal name or her family name?I've never actually thought about it before, but I'm kind of curious about that too. Cayden just used his name when he ascended, I've always assumed Norgorber is just an alias anyway, but was Iomedae a title or a name or what?
Iomedae isn't a title. It's her actual name.
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Creative Director
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Frankly, these days? Movie audiences are SUCH a problem that I don't go see movies in theaters anymore unless its a super-expensive 21-and-over theater that actually enforces the experience with ushers and the like.Q: There's still theaters with ushers?
Yes. Particularly if you pay more money to go to a theater that actually cares about their paying customer's experience at the movie.
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Creative Director
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1) If someone were to cast a True Resurrection spell can a slain demon lord be restored to life?
2) If restored to life, what would happen to an island created by its death in the Midnight Isles?
1) In theory, yes. In practice, I'd say it'd have to be, at minimum, a mythic version of true resurrection.
2) That island would remain, but it would become subject to erosion and would slowly crumble away, and Nocticula would seek out the resurrected demon lord to re-kill it so as to put things back the way she wants them.
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Creative Director
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Whats up with mythic power attack being so much better than mythic deadly aim? Not only does it multiply its damage before a crit but it also makes mythic furious focus near useless.
That's really a question for the designers, but my guess? Because ranged attacks are better in that they prevent foes from retaliating against you in melee. In order to use Power Attack, you have to be right there, able to be melee attacked right back. In order to use Deadly Aim, you can be far away and in most cases this is MUCH safer than being inches away.
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Hey James, hope you're well! Questions:
1) Who is your favorite character in Watchmen? I'm partial to Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan myself (which made the ending rather tragic).
2) I am almost caught up with the A Song of Ice and Fire books (I'm about 20 chapters away between the two last books, I'm reading them together) and I'm dreading it. Besides the show, is there any media you would suggest to scratch the itch I have for darker fantasy before the next book is released?
Thank you for your continued dedication to this thread :)
1) Rorschach, of course.
2) Stephen King's "Dark Tower" books are excellent. And Clive Barker's "Imagica" is one of the best dark fantasy stories I've ever read.
Do you ever go onto the Scots English wikipedia just to look at the alternative spellings?
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Creative Director
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Do you ever go onto the Scots English wikipedia just to look at the alternative spellings?
Nope.
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Is Iomedae her full name or the name she took upon ascending? If she has more to her name is Iomedae her personal name or her family name?That's an Erik question, since he invented her. But like Galfrey (also an Erik name), I suspect Iomedae doesn't have a last name though.
So for now I'll just put Erik after her name :3
Do you ever go onto the Scots English wikipedia just to look at the alternative spellings?Nope.
Try it sometime. It's fascinating if you like words.
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Creative Director
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Hey James.
So huge Planescape: Torment fan. I was wanting to pick your brain on a few characters.
** spoiler omitted **
I believe all of those characters have already been stated up for 3.5 D&D back in Dragon Magazine at some point. In Pathfinder, though...
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks for the response man!
** spoiler omitted **
Frankly... the Nameless One is such as unique character that, if I were to stat him up, I'd do so as a unique creature. Probably an outsider.
Do the Empyreal Lords serve the good deities? Or are they closer to partners?
what would be the first thing you'd update to pathfinder from lords of madness?
Hey James, what happens to the soul of someone who worships a demon lord? Would it depend on the demon lord in question, and if so, I am particularly interested in what happens to followers of Cyth-V'Sug.
Thanks!
Can you apply the Half-fiend/Half-celestial template to creatures that are already outsiders?
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Personally? I'd rather celebrate the anniversary of the first Pathfinder AP volume, or the anniversary of the Core Rulebook. And we DO have an annual special day where we celebrate and have a party—it's the early summer, when we have a company party to celebrate the founding of Paizo itself. (...) Celebrating "the day we made more money than D&D" seems a little petty and edition-warry to me, I guess.
When you're right, you're right!
If I wanted to use Permanency to give my party of 4 Permanent telepathic bonds, do I need 6 castings to cover everyone? If not, how many?
That book is world neutral. Some of the events, therefore, might need adjustments when you use them in a game setting. You've found one such example. If you roll up a tax man event and you're in a city where there's no property taxes, change it to a different type of tax or, even easier, just re-roll.Hey, James Jacobs. We just picked up Ultimate Campaign and something sort of... doesn't make sense.
There's a random event that causes a tax man to show up at your place, but absalom is listed as not having a property tax...
Ah, ok, nice to know, thanks!
In what circumstances would you say a person could play a follower of Szuriel in a non evil group/adventure?
Heh. Probably only in circumstances where the party is actively seeking to start a war or otherwise engage in an activity that's going to result in an extremely high body count.
Would be fair to say that in any given war, Szuriel's interest is in making sure that every side is the losing side? I.e., maximizing casualties, civilian and otherwise, on all sides?
Are there any APs where Szuriel would actually want to see the BBEG lose?
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Creative Director
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Hey James, what happens to the soul of someone who worships a demon lord? Would it depend on the demon lord in question, and if so, I am particularly interested in what happens to followers of Cyth-V'Sug.
Thanks!
If that worshiper succeeded in impressing the demon lord, it soon becomes a demon after serving a time in the Abyss as a larva. If that worshiper failed to impress the demon lord, they become a larva and probably get eaten or stepped on eventually. Or worse. If THEY survive long enough, they might become a demon anyway.
Followers of Cyth-V'sug probably get absorbed into the walls of his realm quite a lot and become fungus demon monsters.
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Creative Director
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If I wanted to use Permanency to give my party of 4 Permanent telepathic bonds, do I need 6 castings to cover everyone? If not, how many?
As detailed in the last paragraph of telepathic bond, one casting of permanency can make permanent one link between 2 targets.
So if you want to have a link to the other 3 people in your group between you and them... you'd need 3 permanency spells. You can't link two other people without you being one of the two.
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Creative Director
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Would be fair to say that in any given war, Szuriel's interest is in making sure that every side is the losing side? I.e., maximizing casualties, civilian and otherwise, on all sides?
Are there any APs where Szuriel would actually want to see the BBEG lose?
Yes. Szuriel is a fan of war... and the only part about both sides losing that bums her out is the fact that then there's no warfare.
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Yes. Szuriel is a fan of war... and the only part about both sides losing that bums her out is the fact that then there's no warfare.Would be fair to say that in any given war, Szuriel's interest is in making sure that every side is the losing side? I.e., maximizing casualties, civilian and otherwise, on all sides?
Are there any APs where Szuriel would actually want to see the BBEG lose?
What are some ways you could differentiate her and Gorum? The same for their followers?
what would be the first thing you'd update to pathfinder from lords of madness?Probably things I can't update because beholders and mind flayers aren't open content, and the aboleths are pretty much fine by me as-is.
yeah, thats too bad. how about this, over all the work you have done on dnd (that hasn't been converted yet) which thing would you convert next (just for the sake of interest, lets pretend all of it is ogl).
If I wanted to use Permanency to give my party of 4 Permanent telepathic bonds, do I need 6 castings to cover everyone? If not, how many?As detailed in the last paragraph of telepathic bond, one casting of permanency can make permanent one link between 2 targets.
So if you want to have a link to the other 3 people in your group between you and them... you'd need 3 permanency spells. You can't link two other people without you being one of the two.
Does this result in a 'relay' method of communication, or would all 4 be able to communicate interchangeably?
I'm just wondering if it would be a case of something like:
A is connected to B, B is connected to C and C is connected to D. In order for A to talk to D, he has to send a message through B and C. Either that or A is connected to B, C and D, and in order for B, C or D to talk to each other they must relay through A.
Or you could do the following with multiple castings:
A bonded to B, A bonded to C, A bonded to D
B bonded to C, B bonded to D
C bonded to D
6 separate castings of Permanency would allow all 4 people to communicate without having to relay messages, a method that would break down if even one of them were unconscious.
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Does this result in a 'relay' method of communication, or would all 4 be able to communicate interchangeably?
I'm just wondering if it would be a case of something like:
A is connected to B, B is connected to C and C is connected to D. In order for A to talk to D, he has to send a message through B and C. Either that or A is connected to B, C and D, and in order for B, C or D to talk to each other they must relay through A.
Or you could do the following with multiple castings:
A bonded to B, A bonded to C, A bonded to D
B bonded to C, B bonded to D
C bonded to D6 separate castings of Permanency would allow all 4 people to communicate without having to relay messages, a method that would break down if even one of them were unconscious.
I believe the spell intends for it to be two castings in that instance. Permanency is only changing the duration, the effect of the spell is still
You forge a telepathic bond among yourself and a number of willing creatures, each of which must have an Intelligence score of 3 or higher. Each creature included in the link is linked to all the others.
Iomedae isn't a title. It's her actual name.Is Iomedae her full name or the name she took upon ascending? If she has more to her name is Iomedae her personal name or her family name?I've never actually thought about it before, but I'm kind of curious about that too. Cayden just used his name when he ascended, I've always assumed Norgorber is just an alias anyway, but was Iomedae a title or a name or what?
Actually, is Cayden Cailean a firstname lastname deal, or a first name and title, or a two-part name or what? Like, was his father Bob Cailean or something? If so, are there any other Caileans around still?
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Creative Director
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What are some ways you could differentiate her and Gorum? The same for their followers?Yes. Szuriel is a fan of war... and the only part about both sides losing that bums her out is the fact that then there's no warfare.Would be fair to say that in any given war, Szuriel's interest is in making sure that every side is the losing side? I.e., maximizing casualties, civilian and otherwise, on all sides?
Are there any APs where Szuriel would actually want to see the BBEG lose?
There's lots of ways, but the main one is that she promotes and causes and supports war because she wants everyone in the war to die.
Gorum wants the glory and wants to revel in the skill of tactics and combat and marvel in the craftsmanship of weapons and armor.
Gorum wants a winner. Szuriel doesn't care if anyone wins.
When a warrior of Gorum dies in a war, he is brought to Gorum's side for a reward in the afterlife. Valkyrie style.
When a warrior of Szuriel dies in a war, he is brought to Abaddon to be eaten.
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Creative Director
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yeah, thats too bad. how about this, over all the work you have done on dnd (that hasn't been converted yet) which thing would you convert next (just for the sake of interest, lets pretend all of it is ogl).what would be the first thing you'd update to pathfinder from lords of madness?Probably things I can't update because beholders and mind flayers aren't open content, and the aboleths are pretty much fine by me as-is.
Hmmmmm... Probably some of the monsters from Fiendish Codex I. Obox-ob would be first.
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Creative Director
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If I wanted to use Permanency to give my party of 4 Permanent telepathic bonds, do I need 6 castings to cover everyone? If not, how many?As detailed in the last paragraph of telepathic bond, one casting of permanency can make permanent one link between 2 targets.
So if you want to have a link to the other 3 people in your group between you and them... you'd need 3 permanency spells. You can't link two other people without you being one of the two.
Does this result in a 'relay' method of communication, or would all 4 be able to communicate interchangeably?
I'm just wondering if it would be a case of something like:
A is connected to B, B is connected to C and C is connected to D. In order for A to talk to D, he has to send a message through B and C. Either that or A is connected to B, C and D, and in order for B, C or D to talk to each other they must relay through A.
Or you could do the following with multiple castings:
A bonded to B, A bonded to C, A bonded to D
B bonded to C, B bonded to D
C bonded to D6 separate castings of Permanency would allow all 4 people to communicate without having to relay messages, a method that would break down if even one of them were unconscious.
It's a relay. It's not instantaneous cross-communication. It's not super efficient and if I were the GM, I'd probably limit the conversations between players to one pair (the caster and another) per round at a time to model that fact.
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Creative Director
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Actually, is Cayden Cailean a firstname lastname deal, or a first name and title, or a two-part name or what? Like, was his father Bob Cailean or something? If so, are there any other Caileans around still?Iomedae isn't a title. It's her actual name.Is Iomedae her full name or the name she took upon ascending? If she has more to her name is Iomedae her personal name or her family name?I've never actually thought about it before, but I'm kind of curious about that too. Cayden just used his name when he ascended, I've always assumed Norgorber is just an alias anyway, but was Iomedae a title or a name or what?
First name, last name. There are still Caileans around.
First name, last name. There are still Caileans around.Actually, is Cayden Cailean a firstname lastname deal, or a first name and title, or a two-part name or what? Like, was his father Bob Cailean or something? If so, are there any other Caileans around still?Iomedae isn't a title. It's her actual name.Is Iomedae her full name or the name she took upon ascending? If she has more to her name is Iomedae her personal name or her family name?I've never actually thought about it before, but I'm kind of curious about that too. Cayden just used his name when he ascended, I've always assumed Norgorber is just an alias anyway, but was Iomedae a title or a name or what?
Really? Oh god, that's some high expectations to live up to. Could you imagine being the brother, or the offspring of Cayden? Even an descendant many generations removed would still feel the shadow of their ancestor.
Would you say the Cailean bloodline is probably well protected by the church of Cayden Cailean? Do you think they have a higher probability to produce adventurers and/or Mythic individuals?
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Creative Director
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Really? Oh god, that's some high expectations to live up to. Could you imagine being the brother, or the offspring of Cayden? Even an descendant many generations removed would still feel the shadow of their ancestor.
Would you say the Cailean bloodline is probably well protected by the church of Cayden Cailean? Do you think they have a higher probability to produce adventurers and/or Mythic individuals?
It's worth noting that his brothers and sisters and parents are all now long dead. Remember, he was human, and he ascended a long time ago...
His family probably is protected by the church, but I wouldn't say they're any more likely to produce mythic characters. Adventurers though? That's a different story!
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What are some ways you could differentiate her and Gorum? The same for their followers?Yes. Szuriel is a fan of war... and the only part about both sides losing that bums her out is the fact that then there's no warfare.Would be fair to say that in any given war, Szuriel's interest is in making sure that every side is the losing side? I.e., maximizing casualties, civilian and otherwise, on all sides?
Are there any APs where Szuriel would actually want to see the BBEG lose?
There's lots of ways, but the main one is that she promotes and causes and supports war because she wants everyone in the war to die.
Gorum wants the glory and wants to revel in the skill of tactics and combat and marvel in the craftsmanship of weapons and armor.
Gorum wants a winner. Szuriel doesn't care if anyone wins.
When a warrior of Gorum dies in a war, he is brought to Gorum's side for a reward in the afterlife. Valkyrie style.
So basically:
Gorum: I like war cause I like fighting.
Szuriel: I like war cause I like killing.
When a warrior of Szuriel dies in a war, he is brought to Abaddon to be eaten.
We like to call it Round 2.
:3
Spellcaster starts to cast a spell. VS. How easy is it to tell that it's a spell and not just a guy who is talking and waving his arms around?
Really? Oh god, that's some high expectations to live up to. Could you imagine being the brother, or the offspring of Cayden? Even an descendant many generations removed would still feel the shadow of their ancestor.
Would you say the Cailean bloodline is probably well protected by the church of Cayden Cailean? Do you think they have a higher probability to produce adventurers and/or Mythic individuals?
It's worth noting that his brothers and sisters and parents are all now long dead. Remember, he was human, and he ascended a long time ago...
His family probably is protected by the church, but I wouldn't say they're any more likely to produce mythic characters. Adventurers though? That's a different story!
I was just trying to picture his family members around the time when he ascended.
One of those 'big shoes to fill' kind of things. Any siblings he had would probably have no small amount of 'Mother loved him best' feelings. Family reunions would be the worst. You got one brother who is a successful merchant, another who is a powerful wizard, and then Cayden shows up and is all like, "So I became a God, what'd you guys do?"
Dear Mr. James Jacobs:
I have searched your threads for "touch attacks" and found 4 pages of potential answers, but none of them answered this particular question about holding a touch attack charge.
Let's assume a druid with the natural spell feat casts Frostbite while in a large-cat form just prior to a melee fight. The druid subsequently charges the enemy and attacks with bite and claws via pounce.
Okay, now the big question facing our group: does the Frostbite spell discharge every time the druid touches the ground with his feet? One view is that for simplicity reasons, it would just discharge because the rule on holding a charge says if you touch anything while holding it it goes off, and touching the ground qualifies. The other view is that the claws retract like any other cat, and can run without touching the ground with claws and it's the claws that deliver the touch attack, not the paw.
Still, making matters worse, what about in the form of a horse where the hooves are the natural attacks? Could the horse form hold the charge? Clearly the hooves are touching the ground when they move prior to delivering an attack. I understand the rules were written mostly for humanoids using their hands as touch attacks, but it gets messy when taking that rule and applying it to creatures.
Lastly, could you modify the touch attack so that it only works with a bite attack (or some other attack that doesn't touch the ground) as a workaround?
Thanks so much for answering this question.
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Creative Director
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Spellcaster starts to cast a spell. VS. How easy is it to tell that it's a spell and not just a guy who is talking and waving his arms around?
Depends on your Bluff check if you're waving your arms around and trying to fake it.
Most spell casting comes with obvious magical side effects though, like glowing lights or shimmering runes or the like... It's pretty obvious when someone casts a spell unless they use a feat or class ability or something that lets them hide or obscure the act.
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Creative Director
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What does the Church of Asmodeus in Cheliax think of the Worldwound?
Pretty much "not my problem, but damn it's nice that it distracted Iomedae's faith from what we're doing here—as long as those crusaders are up there, it's SO MUCH easier to do our thing down here... I hope the Worldwound NEVER closes!"
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Creative Director
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Dear Mr. James Jacobs:
I have searched your threads for "touch attacks" and found 4 pages of potential answers, but none of them answered this particular question about holding a touch attack charge.
Let's assume a druid with the natural spell feat casts Frostbite while in a large-cat form just prior to a melee fight. The druid subsequently charges the enemy and attacks with bite and claws via pounce.
Okay, now the big question facing our group: does the Frostbite spell discharge every time the druid touches the ground with his feet? One view is that for simplicity reasons, it would just discharge because the rule on holding a charge says if you touch anything while holding it it goes off, and touching the ground qualifies. The other view is that the claws retract like any other cat, and can run without touching the ground with claws and it's the claws that deliver the touch attack, not the paw.
Still, making matters worse, what about in the form of a horse where the hooves are the natural attacks? Could the horse form hold the charge? Clearly the hooves are touching the ground when they move prior to delivering an attack. I understand the rules were written mostly for humanoids using their hands as touch attacks, but it gets messy when taking that rule and applying it to creatures.
Lastly, could you modify the touch attack so that it only works with a bite attack (or some other attack that doesn't touch the ground) as a workaround?
Thanks so much for answering this question.
Where's frostbite from?
Barring my reading the spell to see the details, generally a spell like, say, chill touch, that sticks around for multiple rounds but that requires a touch/attack to trigger, you don't get to make multiple touches/attacks to trigger in a round just because you happen to have multiple attacks. You can either make your full suite of attacks OR you can deliver that one per round spell effect via a touch.
Dear Mr. James Jacobs:
I have searched your threads for "touch attacks" and found 4 pages of potential answers, but none of them answered this particular question about holding a touch attack charge.
Let's assume a druid with the natural spell feat casts Frostbite while in a large-cat form just prior to a melee fight. The druid subsequently charges the enemy and attacks with bite and claws via pounce.
Okay, now the big question facing our group: does the Frostbite spell discharge every time the druid touches the ground with his feet? One view is that for simplicity reasons, it would just discharge because the rule on holding a charge says if you touch anything while holding it it goes off, and touching the ground qualifies. The other view is that the claws retract like any other cat, and can run without touching the ground with claws and it's the claws that deliver the touch attack, not the paw.
Still, making matters worse, what about in the form of a horse where the hooves are the natural attacks? Could the horse form hold the charge? Clearly the hooves are touching the ground when they move prior to delivering an attack. I understand the rules were written mostly for humanoids using their hands as touch attacks, but it gets messy when taking that rule and applying it to creatures.
Lastly, could you modify the touch attack so that it only works with a bite attack (or some other attack that doesn't touch the ground) as a workaround?
Thanks so much for answering this question.
Where's frostbite from?
Barring my reading the spell to see the details, generally a spell like, say, chill touch, that sticks around for multiple rounds but that requires a touch/attack to trigger, you don't get to make multiple touches/attacks to trigger in a round just because you happen to have multiple attacks. You can either make your full suite of attacks OR you can deliver that one per round spell effect via a touch.
Frostbite is from Ultimate Magic. It's worth noting that neither Frostbite or Chill Touch have a once per round limitation; rather, they can be used once per level. The implication is that if you have 4 uses of Chill Touch, and 4 attacks on a full attack, you could potentially use up all of your Chill Touches with those 4 attacks. Same with Frostbite.
Dear Mr. James Jacobs:
I have searched your threads for "touch attacks" and found 4 pages of potential answers, but none of them answered this particular question about holding a touch attack charge.
Let's assume a druid with the natural spell feat casts Frostbite while in a large-cat form just prior to a melee fight. The druid subsequently charges the enemy and attacks with bite and claws via pounce.
Okay, now the big question facing our group: does the Frostbite spell discharge every time the druid touches the ground with his feet? One view is that for simplicity reasons, it would just discharge because the rule on holding a charge says if you touch anything while holding it it goes off, and touching the ground qualifies. The other view is that the claws retract like any other cat, and can run without touching the ground with claws and it's the claws that deliver the touch attack, not the paw.
Still, making matters worse, what about in the form of a horse where the hooves are the natural attacks? Could the horse form hold the charge? Clearly the hooves are touching the ground when they move prior to delivering an attack. I understand the rules were written mostly for humanoids using their hands as touch attacks, but it gets messy when taking that rule and applying it to creatures.
Lastly, could you modify the touch attack so that it only works with a bite attack (or some other attack that doesn't touch the ground) as a workaround?
Thanks so much for answering this question.
Where's frostbite from?
Barring my reading the spell to see the details, generally a spell like, say, chill touch, that sticks around for multiple rounds but that requires a touch/attack to trigger, you don't get to make multiple touches/attacks to trigger in a round just because you happen to have multiple attacks. You can either make your full suite of attacks OR you can deliver that one per round spell effect via a touch.
Frostbite: page 221 from the Ultimate Magic book.
But anyway it's essentially the same thing, but would the spell trigger because you touch the ground with something that normally would deliver the touch attack? In my example of having holding a touch attack in the form of a horse, where the hoof would be a natural attack, would that set off the spell trigger? Might sound crazy question, but from the PRD on holding the charge: "If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges."
So, the problem is if the creature touches the ground with a hoof or a claw while moving to attack the target and holding a charge for a touch attack, does the fact that the claw/hoof hits the ground count as touching anything, thereby discharging the effect?
As crazy as that question sounds, I've found lots of people who insist touching the ground causes the touch spell to discharge, and it just seems so strange to the spirit of the rule/spell.
Or make it like a monk using his barefoot to deliver a kick, which also delivers a touch attack. If he's holding the charge on his foot, and walks on the ground prior to kicking, would the touch attack go off?
The rules on holding a charge seems written for using your hands, and the hands aren't hitting things unintentionally normally. But with feet, or hooves, or cat claws, you have to walk and is that going to set it off?