With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
Creative Director
|
Haven't watched Frozen. Unless you're talking about this one, which I quite liked.Well played, Mr. Jacobs. Well played.
Thoughts and feelings about the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire has inspired a large number of very entertaining stories and movies and games and more.
|
Creative Director
|
Last movie that made me cry... hmmmm. I honestly don't remember.Godzilla 1998?
Ha... no. That movie made me want to punch people, not cry. There's been PLENTY of movies since that movie though that have made me cry.
Lilo and Stitch actually did... but then again I saw that movie the same week my grandfather died, so I was pretty emotional at that point.
Other movies since then have certainly made me cry though. OH! OH! OH! I guess Captain Phillips was the last movie that made me weepy eyed; that last scene in the movie was some masterwork acting by Tom Hanks.
|
Creative Director
|
With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.
The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
Fair enough, though I'm still at a loss on how a player can, for example, invent the laser gun with only 1500's technology.
Fair enough, though I'm still at a loss on how a player can, for example, invent the laser gun with only 1500's technology.The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
It's easy with magic. All you need is some mirrors, a few prisms, and a contnual flame spell.
|
Creative Director
|
Fair enough, though I'm still at a loss on how a player can, for example, invent the laser gun with only 1500's technology.The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
By using technology from the distant future.
As it turns out, your question is answered in the book, but I'm not gonna go into further detail at this point, since letting out bits and pieces of info like that not only dilutes anticipation this far in advance of the product's release, but also tends to do more harm than good as folks assume they know the whole picture from one tiny bit of info and that causes more questions than answers.
So... patience! (That said... comparing Golarion, a world with magic, to 1500's technology is not really fair.)
|
Creative Director
|
It's easy with magic. All you need is some mirrors, a few prisms, and a contnual flame spell.Fair enough, though I'm still at a loss on how a player can, for example, invent the laser gun with only 1500's technology.The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
Ha.
It's actually quite a bit more difficult than that.
Hey James, hope you're doing well :) Questions:
1) Have you seen and do you like the following Scorcese movies?:
Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street
1a) If you've seen and like more than one, which one is your favorite?
2) I really don't know if anybody's asked this despite it being such a classic question: you find a ring of three wishes, what do you wish for?
3) How did you like the season premiere of Game of Thrones season 4? (assuming you've watched it).
4) What is a Pathfinder rule that you see misinterpreted a lot that seems simple/obvious to you?
5) What, in your opinion, is the biggest source of complexity in the game?
6) If you could only play Pathfinder or Call of Cthulhu for the rest of your life, which would you play and why? (sorry if this is a particularly difficult question)
7) I want to build a really flavorful ancient city, are there some sources for inspiration you can recommend?
Mr. James Jacobs,
Does a show or work need blood and sex to be "edgy" and/or "mature"?
Also, I had an idea for an impossible bloodline sorcerer who was either altered or fashioned to be what he is by some mystical synthetic means. Would she/he fit into Iron Gods? And even perhaps be fashioned by one of the Iron Gods?
Fair enough, though I'm still at a loss on how a player can, for example, invent the laser gun with only 1500's technology.The same way I'd handle PCs wanting to invent a magic item.With the onset of the Technology Guide, I was curious...
How would you handle PCs wanting to invent something? I've always wanted to handle players inventing items and such, but the task always seemed daunting. Felt I'd have to have a Civilization V-esque flowchart of technologies to make it make sense.
By using technology from the distant future.
As it turns out, your question is answered in the book, but I'm not gonna go into further detail at this point, since letting out bits and pieces of info like that not only dilutes anticipation this far in advance of the product's release, but also tends to do more harm than good as folks assume they know the whole picture from one tiny bit of info and that causes more questions than answers.
So... patience! (That said... comparing Golarion, a world with magic, to 1500's technology is not really fair.)
Fair enough. The laser was just an example. Wasn;t trying to sneak info about the Technology Guide ;)
I just have a player that wants to invent advanced firearms in a Renaissance style setting and I wasn't sure how to handle that. But, I'll definitely watch for this book.
|
Creative Director
|
Hey James, hope you're doing well :) Questions:
1) Have you seen and do you like the following Scorcese movies?:
Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street
1a) If you've seen and like more than one, which one is your favorite?
2) I really don't know if anybody's asked this despite it being such a classic question: you find a ring of three wishes, what do you wish for?
3) How did you like the season premiere of Game of Thrones season 4? (assuming you've watched it).
4) What is a Pathfinder rule that you see misinterpreted a lot that seems simple/obvious to you?
5) What, in your opinion, is the biggest source of complexity in the game?
6) If you could only play Pathfinder or Call of Cthulhu for the rest of your life, which would you play and why? (sorry if this is a particularly difficult question)
7) I want to build a really flavorful ancient city, are there some sources for inspiration you can recommend?
1) Yes to all, save Wolf of Wall Street, which I've not yet had a chance to see. Missed it in the theater due to the combination of being in a region with no theater that played it during the holidays plus spending the first month of the year recovering from surgery. Scorsese is one of my 5 favorite directors, though. (The other four being John Carpenter, Akira Kurosawa, Werner Herzog, and Stephen Spielberg).
1a) Of the ones you list above, probably "The Departed." But "Gangs of New York" is my favorite Scorsese movie.
2) Immunity to disease, world peace, and dinosaurs.
3) Loved it.
4) Ghosts are not ethereal creatures.
5) Rules lawyers and/or character optimizers.
6) Call of Cthluhu, since that's a hobby, not my job.
7) Depends on the culture you're looking to use as your city's model. For game content, though, the city building advice in GameMastery Guide would be the starting point.
|
Creative Director
|
Mr. James Jacobs,
Does a show or work need blood and sex to be "edgy" and/or "mature"?
Also, I had an idea for an impossible bloodline sorcerer who was either altered or fashioned to be what he is by some mystical synthetic means. Would she/he fit into Iron Gods? And even perhaps be fashioned by one of the Iron Gods?
Nope. Violence or sex can make something edgy or mature, but you don't need it to be edgy or mature. "The Blair Witch Project" was mature without violence or sex, for example. And while it wasn't really edgy, "The King's Speech" was certainly mature.
And as for playing a character built by an Iron God... that doesn't really work, given the plot of the AP. You'll need to wait for your GM to read the AP to have him/her decide.
1) I'm kind of partial to metropolitan planar ultra-cities, so if there was a city in the Abyss called PANDEMONIUM, CAPITAL OF THE OUTER RIFTS, could mortal humanoids live their without being killed/eaten/violated/destroyed by demons? I'd imagine that most people would be living in fear of demons and would probably worship them. But could they exist there? And if not then, who would live there other then demons? Who would be welcome to visit?
2) If there was a massive city in the Plane of Shadow called TENEBRIS, CITY OF DARKNESS could mass numbers of mortal humanoids live there without being turned into shadow creatures? If not, who would live there other the kytons, undead, fetchlings, and d'ziriaks? Who would be the majority?
3) What about the Astral Plane, can you put a city there?
4) Is it common for planar cities to get invaded and taken over by different races of outsiders?
5) My friend wanted to know this: What do the Archons think of people visiting Heaven without having died and arrived there as petitioners? Are they treated like illegal immigrants or something?
Dear James Jacobs, I was hoping for clarification on Naval Warfare. I was wondering is there a way to gauge the cost of bp for a naval unit. I did my best to figure it out but it came to like 66 per week.
I could very well be over-analyzing this entire process, but near as I could tell, if you took a warship at 25000 gold, divided that by 4000, that came to 6.25 bp, which since a merchant wouldn't appreciate being cheated his .25 bp i figured would be an even 7bp to buy the ship. I had no idea what to call the ship in terms of consumption but being a pretty sizable piece to maintain i went with 3. I noted that warship said it could hold 20 cannons. At a rate of 15bp per engine in ultimate campaign, with 3 consumption each that means the cost so far is 307bp (consumption 63).
Then i had to put the actual crew on there and they had muskets and such, and somehow I ended with them having 4bp and 3 consumption.
This brought everything to a consumption of 66 each week for the boat, the artillery and crew.
That said my inquiries are as follows.
1. Is this even the right way to try to figure out the consumption for naval units or am I way over-analyzing this?
2. If not, how would one discern the actual bp cost and consumption of a naval vessel as I somehow have missed that somewhere?
3. Where should I have looked to get this particular snippet of info?
Thank you for your time.
|
Creative Director
|
1) I'm kind of partial to metropolitan planar ultra-cities, so if there was a city in the Abyss called PANDEMONIUM, CAPITAL OF THE OUTER RIFTS, could mortal humanoids live their without being killed/eaten/violated/destroyed by demons? I'd imagine that most people would be living in fear of demons and would probably worship them. But could they exist there? And if not then, who would live there other then demons? Who would be welcome to visit?
2) If there was a massive city in the Plane of Shadow called TENEBRIS, CITY OF DARKNESS could mass numbers of mortal humanoids live there without being turned into shadow creatures? If not, who would live there other the kytons, undead, fetchlings, and d'ziriaks? Who would be the majority?
3) What about the Astral Plane, can you put a city there?
4) Is it common for planar cities to get invaded and taken over by different races of outsiders?
5) My friend wanted to know this: What do the Archons think of people visiting Heaven without having died and arrived there as petitioners? Are they treated like illegal immigrants or something?
1) That's up to you. For an example of how I handle a mega-planar-ultracity of that type, see the article about Alaushynirra in "The Midnight Isles," Pathfinder #76.
2) Same as #1 above.
3) You could, but if it was going to be a traditional city with solid buildings on ground, the city would need a big floating solid object to be on.
4) Cities the size of what you're talking about? No. Smaller cities and towns? As common as it happens on Golarion. Not an every-day occurrence, but it happens.
5) Depends on the archon, and depends on the visitor. Some welcome them with open arms and friendly greetings, while others are standoffish and brusk, and still more would react with hostility and combat (such as the case of an antipaladin visiting for some loot).
|
Creative Director
|
Dear James Jacobs, I was hoping for clarification on Naval Warfare. I was wondering is there a way to gauge the cost of bp for a naval unit. I did my best to figure it out but it came to like 66 per week.
I could very well be over-analyzing this entire process, but near as I could tell, if you took a warship at 25000 gold, divided that by 4000, that came to 6.25 bp, which since a merchant wouldn't appreciate being cheated his .25 bp i figured would be an even 7bp to buy the ship. I had no idea what to call the ship in terms of consumption but being a pretty sizable piece to maintain i went with 3. I noted that warship said it could hold 20 cannons. At a rate of 15bp per engine in ultimate campaign, with 3 consumption each that means the cost so far is 307bp (consumption 63).
Then i had to put the actual crew on there and they had muskets and such, and somehow I ended with them having 4bp and 3 consumption.
This brought everything to a consumption of 66 each week for the boat, the artillery and crew.
That said my inquiries are as follows.
1. Is this even the right way to try to figure out the consumption for naval units or am I way over-analyzing this?
2. If not, how would one discern the actual bp cost and consumption of a naval vessel as I somehow have missed that somewhere?
3. Where should I have looked to get this particular snippet of info?Thank you for your time.
Beyond the relatively brief quick-rules we did for naval combat in Skull & Shackles, we haven't really done much about fully detailing naval warfare or the cots for naval units. You've actually done a LOT more thought on the topic than I have, in fact, and if you're comfy with the BP cost of 66 a week, then run with it. And don't be afraid to adjust that cost as time goes on if it becomes obvious that it's too much or too little.
|
What do you think of the "creepy-but-not-evil" character archetype? The kind of characters (usually PCS) who belong to a species or profession normally associated with bad guys (tieflings, necromancers, twisted alchemists, Lovecraftian groupies, etc.) but either just sort of wanna be left alone or are actually helpful to visitors and are more misunderstood than actively bad? I'm finding that this is an archetype I keep coming back to for PCs, with lots of tiefling paladins and dhampir inquisitors and good changeling mages...
What about a City of Portals like Sigil, with one significant difference; a city where gods, goddesses, demi-gods and the like mingle, but where mortals are usually kept out... is this an idea?
Do you think it would be a good idea to replace the weapon focus/weapon specialization line with something more akin to the weapon mastery system from OD&D?
Have you ever regretted part of a pathfinder book after it was released? Like part of an AP that was weak, or part of class, feat, spell, ect. that you think should have been given more attention. Examples?
For you, is there a different between villains you love and villains you love to hate?
The Description of Inner Sea Combat states that various faiths of Golarion have unique fighting styles. The first example that came to mind was the Dawnflower Dervish, however I couldn't think of any others.
What other faiths have unique fighting styles?
Would these fighting techniques be something that could be picked up by someone outside its respective faith?
James, per the earlier answer about my ability to ferret out announcements. Would it help if I annotate where I got the information from, or hurt?
What's the base value of Absalom's marketplace?
There is a listed GP Limit in Guide to Absalom but that was with the 3.5 rules.
I apologize if what i am asking is already printed in a book, if it is please just point me in the right direction.
|
Creative Director
|
What do you think of the "creepy-but-not-evil" character archetype? The kind of characters (usually PCS) who belong to a species or profession normally associated with bad guys (tieflings, necromancers, twisted alchemists, Lovecraftian groupies, etc.) but either just sort of wanna be left alone or are actually helpful to visitors and are more misunderstood than actively bad? I'm finding that this is an archetype I keep coming back to for PCs, with lots of tiefling paladins and dhampir inquisitors and good changeling mages...
I'm probably responsible for a large number of the creepy but not evil characters in the game, in fact. Laori Vaus is probably the most famous one, but there's certainly others out there.
That said, I"m also a fan of the creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC.
|
Creative Director
|
If I have spells cast on me, then I use magic jar, do some/all of them transfer to my new body? If the body I am possessing has spells on it, do I gain some/all of them? What kind of spells would transfer with the soul, and what kind of spells would stay with the body?
The ones affecting your mind would travel with you, but the ones affecting your body OR your body and your mind would not transfer. Likewise the target body. The GM gets to decide when it happens which spells move and which ones don't. Welcome to the complexities of one of the game's top 3 most complicated spells. (Along with reincarnate and simulacrum.)
|
Creative Director
|
Are there any countries where people might have duels similar to historical duels? (Taldor, perhaps?) And if so, what kind of rules might they have?
Absolutely. Duels could appear pretty much in any country, but Taldor, Brevoy, Galt, Cheliax, the River Kingdoms, and Molthune would probably be the ones where they're most common. Rules would vary widely.
|
Creative Director
|
If I remember correctly, didn't the Githyanki use the corpses of dead deities for that purpose? Apparantly death caused them to get really really large.would be the majority?
3) What about the Astral Plane, can you put a city there?
3) You could, but if it was going to be a traditional city with solid buildings on ground, the city would need a big floating solid object to be on.
That was a Planescape thing, yeah.
|
Creative Director
|
Have you ever regretted part of a pathfinder book after it was released? Like part of an AP that was weak, or part of class, feat, spell, ect. that you think should have been given more attention. Examples?
Yes... but I don't really dwell on those things if I can help it. And I've found that mentioning them as examples gives them more attention and more traction than I want them to have.
Furthermore, every time I publicly call out a bad idea, that's identical to me publicly calling out an author who works for me as having bad ideas. And that's not classy.
|
Creative Director
|
The Description of Inner Sea Combat states that various faiths of Golarion have unique fighting styles. The first example that came to mind was the Dawnflower Dervish, however I couldn't think of any others.
What other faiths have unique fighting styles?
Would these fighting techniques be something that could be picked up by someone outside its respective faith?
That info is coming soon... but some examples would be starknife fighting for Desnans, or longsword/shield fighting for Iomedans. The Red Mantis have a two-sawtooth-sabre style that's pretty distinctive. Basically... look at the deity's favored weapon and go from there.
Whether or not any of these styles could be learned outside of the faith depends on the faith... and on the character... but I'd like to think that non-faith faith-styleists would be very rare.
Does Nirmathas have any large cities or is it mostly small towns with loose alliances?
What do you think of the "creepy-but-not-evil" character archetype? The kind of characters (usually PCS) who belong to a species or profession normally associated with bad guys (tieflings, necromancers, twisted alchemists, Lovecraftian groupies, etc.) but either just sort of wanna be left alone or are actually helpful to visitors and are more misunderstood than actively bad? I'm finding that this is an archetype I keep coming back to for PCs, with lots of tiefling paladins and dhampir inquisitors and good changeling mages...I'm probably responsible for a large number of the creepy but not evil characters in the game, in fact. Laori Vaus is probably the most famous one, but there's certainly others out there.
That said, I"m also a fan of the creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC.
Obligatory Post...
Laori Vaus mini please?
|
Creative Director
|
Does Nirmathas have any large cities or is it mostly small towns with loose alliances?
According to page 138 of the Inner Sea World Guide, the largest settlement in Nirmathas is Tamran. At a population of 9,730, that puts it in "small city" territory.
So, no. There are no large cities in Nirmathas.
Hey James,
Just watched latest episode of Game of Thrones! w0ot.
1. If you had to stat out Jamie Lannister at his best and existed in Golarion (Class? Level?)
2. Who on Golarion (if any) is known as THE best (most famous) swordsmen/warrior?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What do you think of the "creepy-but-not-evil" character archetype? The kind of characters (usually PCS) who belong to a species or profession normally associated with bad guys (tieflings, necromancers, twisted alchemists, Lovecraftian groupies, etc.) but either just sort of wanna be left alone or are actually helpful to visitors and are more misunderstood than actively bad? I'm finding that this is an archetype I keep coming back to for PCs, with lots of tiefling paladins and dhampir inquisitors and good changeling mages...I'm probably responsible for a large number of the creepy but not evil characters in the game, in fact. Laori Vaus is probably the most famous one, but there's certainly others out there.
That said, I"m also a fan of the creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC.
What IS it about Laori Vaus that made her so popular?
How do you deal with a creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC? I imagine it has to be in an all-evil party to avoid conflict...
What do you think of the "creepy-but-not-evil" character archetype? The kind of characters (usually PCS) who belong to a species or profession normally associated with bad guys (tieflings, necromancers, twisted alchemists, Lovecraftian groupies, etc.) but either just sort of wanna be left alone or are actually helpful to visitors and are more misunderstood than actively bad? I'm finding that this is an archetype I keep coming back to for PCs, with lots of tiefling paladins and dhampir inquisitors and good changeling mages...I'm probably responsible for a large number of the creepy but not evil characters in the game, in fact. Laori Vaus is probably the most famous one, but there's certainly others out there.
That said, I"m also a fan of the creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC.
What IS it about Laori Vaus that made her so popular?
How do you deal with a creepy but ACTUALLY evil PC? I imagine it has to be in an all-evil party to avoid conflict...
The bubblegum cheerleader personality combined with the, "Here, I made you a pie out of unborn goblin babies" creepiness and the *gives hug while wearing spiked chainmail* adorability.
Hey James got a question for you...
What does Milani and her clergy think and feel about what is going in Galt? Are they involved at all in Galt?