Do you think The Iron Giant would be some sort of Robot Kaiju? Would he 'fit' in Numeria?It's not big enough to be a kaiju, but it would probably fit quite well into Numeria... as long as it's more like the robot from Fallout 3.
If I recall, the robot from Fallout 3 was actually based off the Iron Giant in appearance.
4) Lovecraft is getting better, but his ideas (not necessarily his creatures) are still underrepresented... but not nearly as underrepresented as the work of Clark Ashton Smith or Ramsey Campbell. I'd LOVE to see some quality movies based on their work. I'd also like to see more movies about sea monsters.
On this note, have you ever read anything by Ito Junji? He's a manga author that really taps that same odd vein of horror as Lovecraft. Not in the sense of big tentacle monsters, but the proper sense of bizarre existential horror that generally plays off a strange and indifferent universe with no real regard for humanity or morality, and he still mostly just does anthologies of shorts. Fantastic artwork too.
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Some random questions. (Sorry if these have been asked before)
1) What is the relation (if there is any) between Rovagug and the Outer Gods?
2) In a 1 on 1 fight between Rovagug and an Outer God, who would win? Rovagug? Or an Outer God? (If its has to be a specific Outer God, lets go with Yog-Sothoth.)
3) How does the different deities that represent a similar Portfolio relate to each other? Like how does Deities of the Sun like Shizuru and Sarenrae interact? Or the once dead Tsukiyo and the dead Azlanti moon goddess Acavna?
3a) Are such gods aspects of each other?
3aa) Are deity aspects a concept that exist in the Golarion universe?
4) Tsukiyo is a deity that died, but managed to resurrect with the help of other deities. Could something similar be done to other dead deities?
5) Would the names of the God of Smiths and Goddess of Love that appeared in Shelyn's history be revealed?
6) Is Magic a "stable" force in the Golarion universe? As in would there ever be a change of magic going totally chaotic as in some other settings like the Forgotten Realms?
Thanks in advance for any answers.
Excuse me if this is confusing, I'm trying to figure the best way to phrase it.
If an AP was made of Game of Thrones, would the AP last only as long as a story arc, an entire season, or the entire series?
Do you read much manga or watch anime a lot?
Creative Director
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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.)O.K. what about some specific spells
1. Anti-magic field
2. Shield
3.Mirror images
4. contingency
This is drifting into realms more appropriate for your GM to answer or more appropriate to ask on the rules forums so the designers can weigh in.
But.
1) Moot point. You can't use magic jar in an anti-magic field.
2) Stays.
3) Stays.
4) Depends on the contingency.
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Creative Director
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If I recall, the robot from Fallout 3 was actually based off the Iron Giant in appearance.Do you think The Iron Giant would be some sort of Robot Kaiju? Would he 'fit' in Numeria?It's not big enough to be a kaiju, but it would probably fit quite well into Numeria... as long as it's more like the robot from Fallout 3.
I believe that.
It's personality isn't though, and that's what I was more talking about. There's not a very strong chance for there to be "friendly robots" in Numeria.
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Creative Director
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4) Lovecraft is getting better, but his ideas (not necessarily his creatures) are still underrepresented... but not nearly as underrepresented as the work of Clark Ashton Smith or Ramsey Campbell. I'd LOVE to see some quality movies based on their work. I'd also like to see more movies about sea monsters.On this note, have you ever read anything by Ito Junji? He's a manga author that really taps that same odd vein of horror as Lovecraft. Not in the sense of big tentacle monsters, but the proper sense of bizarre existential horror that generally plays off a strange and indifferent universe with no real regard for humanity or morality, and he still mostly just does anthologies of shorts. Fantastic artwork too.
He is, in fact, pretty much the ONLY manga author I read regularly.
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Creative Director
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Some random questions. (Sorry if these have been asked before)
1) What is the relation (if there is any) between Rovagug and the Outer Gods?
2) In a 1 on 1 fight between Rovagug and an Outer God, who would win? Rovagug? Or an Outer God? (If its has to be a specific Outer God, lets go with Yog-Sothoth.)
3) How does the different deities that represent a similar Portfolio relate to each other? Like how does Deities of the Sun like Shizuru and Sarenrae interact? Or the once dead Tsukiyo and the dead Azlanti moon goddess Acavna?
3a) Are such gods aspects of each other?
3aa) Are deity aspects a concept that exist in the Golarion universe?
4) Tsukiyo is a deity that died, but managed to resurrect with the help of other deities. Could something similar be done to other dead deities?
5) Would the names of the God of Smiths and Goddess of Love that appeared in Shelyn's history be revealed?
6) Is Magic a "stable" force in the Golarion universe? As in would there ever be a change of magic going totally chaotic as in some other settings like the Forgotten Realms?
Thanks in advance for any answers.
1) None, really, apart from Rovagug being kinda Lovecraftian in theme and appearance. Rovagug is in fact linked to the qlippoth.
2) Neither have stats, so the winner would be whoever I (or the writer) needed to win to enable the story plot that I (or whomever) wanted to have happen.
3) Portfolios have less to do with deific relationships than alignments. That said... deity relationships are something that should be hand-crafted, not generalized.
3a) No.
3aa) No.
4) Yes. If we wanted to tell that story.
5) No plans to do so.
6) Depends on where you're at. It's certainly not stable in the Mana Wastes. But no... we have no plans to do world-shattering events to Golarion.
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If I recall it's size correctly, the Godzilla of the 1998 movie wouldn't qualify either.Do you think The Iron Giant would be some sort of Robot Kaiju? Would he 'fit' in Numeria?It's not big enough to be a kaiju, but it would probably fit quite well into Numeria... as long as it's more like the robot from Fallout 3.
Due to that terrible movie's slapdash and random handling of how big Godzilla is depending on the scene at the time, perhaps. Doesn't matter anyway, since the movie's so bad.
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Excuse me if this is confusing, I'm trying to figure the best way to phrase it.
If an AP was made of Game of Thrones, would the AP last only as long as a story arc, an entire season, or the entire series?
The events in Game of Thrones are much larger than could be contained in a single adventure path.
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So why is the Mana Wastes, even called the Mana Wastes?
Given that Mana usually means a form of magic resource for casting spells in most game settings.
I mean how did the people of Nex and Geb even come up with the name Mana?
Why not just call it the Magic Wastes or the Wild Wastes...etc?
Does Mana, as a form of magic resource used for casting spells, actually exist in the Golarion setting?
(Being just that Vancian type magic is more common and popular.)
Sorcerers do kinda plays like a mana-using class, but they are still a form of Vancian magic users right?
Is a Magus's Arcane Pool a form of mana?
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Creative Director
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So why is the Mana Wastes, even called the Mana Wastes?
Given that Mana usually means a form of magic resource for casting spells in most game settings.
I mean how did the people of Nex and Geb even come up with the name Mana?
Why not just call it the Magic Wastes or the Wild Wastes...etc?Does Mana, as a form of magic resource used for casting spells, actually exist in the Golarion setting?
(Being just that Vancian type magic is more common and popular.)Sorcerers do kinda plays like a mana-using class, but they are still a form of Vancian magic users right?
Is a Magus's Arcane Pool a form of mana?
Because "Mana Wastes" is a neat sounding phrase, and because in our game, "mana" doesn't have rules associated with it so calling it that doesn't tie us to only one option. In short, it's a flavorful and neat word.
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James, what do you think Sandpoint would look like in 100 years in the future from the current setting?
Different.
(For questions like "What would X look like in Y years?" I generally answer evasively, because that's basically asking me to reinvent the campaign setting and that's beyond the scope of what I have time for in this thread.)
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James, what do you think Sandpoint would look like in 100 years in the future from the current setting?If you're advancing Golarion on a 1 to 1 year basis as PFS seems to do, does that mean you'll have to pass that question to your great grandchild and ask him to send it back in a time capsule?
Nope. Gotta have kids before you have grandkids first of all, and while PFS is advancing the count of years, it's only advancing its OWN timeline, not the whole world's timeline. There's a difference.
So James, in Golarion, what role do actual Paladin Orders play? Is there a farm that actively raises them, or is it more a game term than an in-world one? I just have a hard time picturing a school that teaches followers of Shelyn to do much battle. But the idea of a Paladin upholding her values up to and including fighting for them is easy to imagine.
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So James, in Golarion, what role do actual Paladin Orders play? Is there a farm that actively raises them, or is it more a game term than an in-world one? I just have a hard time picturing a school that teaches followers of Shelyn to do much battle. But the idea of a Paladin upholding her values up to and including fighting for them is easy to imagine.
A farm? That makes no sense. Farms are where you raise cows and chickens, not religious concepts like a paladin order.
In Golarion, paladin orders are a part of the religion associated with them. The place a worshiper of Shelyn, for example, would go to study how to be a paladin would be any of her churches or temples or cathedrals.
James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)
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So James, in Golarion, what role do actual Paladin Orders play? Is there a farm that actively raises them, or is it more a game term than an in-world one? I just have a hard time picturing a school that teaches followers of Shelyn to do much battle. But the idea of a Paladin upholding her values up to and including fighting for them is easy to imagine.A farm? That makes no sense. Farms are where you raise cows and chickens, not religious concepts like a paladin order.
In Golarion, paladin orders are a part of the religion associated with them. The place a worshiper of Shelyn, for example, would go to study how to be a paladin would be any of her churches or temples or cathedrals.
I think what he means by farm is "a center of religious education specifically geared towards the training of paladins," a concept I myself find to be dubious at best as from what I understand, actual paladins are supposed to be rare on Golarion, elite special ops agents for justice and honor, not mass-produced and cranked out like generic soldiers. Otherwise the Mendevian Crusades would have been over a lot faster.
Is there a way for a druid to get bugs as animal companions?
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If a PC worshipped Lissala (don't know if this is allowed)and was openly for supporting Krune and bringing back her faith. How would Krune respond? Just thought it would be a fun twist with siding with him against the others.
Against the other whats? Runelords? He'd probably respond by demanding the PCs recognize him as the superior, and he'd be right. And if the PCs tried to oppose him... the cleric PC would probably become an ex-cleric.
And in PFS?
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I remember an Ars Magica chronicle where at one point the heroes have to recruit the aid of a magical boat.... and the Skeleton Vikings that come with it as crew. Would that be better?What's your stance on vikings vs. skeletons fights?Skyrim looks better.
Skyrim's still more fun.
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In Golarion, how would their respective societies view an Elf-Dwarf couple?
Specifically, an Elf from Kyonin and a Dwarf from the Five Kings Mountains.
Would such a couple be considered unusual? Deviants? Hated? Shunted? Made outcasts? Or would they be accepted as an unusual, but acceptable relationship? Or is such a relation ship considered perfectly normal? Or even preferred due to their relative long lives?
And what if both are of noble or royal birth?
I'm trying to make sense of a character backstory in the Golarion setting.
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In Golarion, how would their respective societies view an Elf-Dwarf couple?
Specifically, an Elf from Kyonin and a Dwarf from the Five Kings Mountains.
Would such a couple be considered unusual? Deviants? Hated? Shunted? Made outcasts? Or would they be accepted as an unusual, but acceptable relationship? Or is such a relation ship considered perfectly normal? Or even preferred due to their relative long lives?
And what if both are of noble or royal birth?
I'm trying to make sense of a character backstory in the Golarion setting.
Such a couple would be considered VERY unusual. They would absolutely face hatred, confusion, derision, and difficulty from their nations. The elven side would warm to the relationship faster and more universally, once the shock of the unusual pairing wore off, but the dwarf side might not ever fully accept it.
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Sorry, yeah I meant against the other Runelords. I was just curious what his personality would be in relation to the other Runelords and if he would still provoke a battle even if the pcs were supportive of him. You pretty much answered it though...not for PFS, just wondered how well a PC would function in a Rise of the Runelords Campaign and if it would be a creative option or if it would disrupt too much. Thanks again for the reply.If a PC worshipped Lissala (don't know if this is allowed)and was openly for supporting Krune and bringing back her faith. How would Krune respond? Just thought it would be a fun twist with siding with him against the others.Against the other whats? Runelords? He'd probably respond by demanding the PCs recognize him as the superior, and he'd be right. And if the PCs tried to oppose him... the cleric PC would probably become an ex-cleric.
And in PFS? ** spoiler omitted **
Yeah... it'd definitely be disruptive.
James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)That's one way to induce a panic attack in me.
Time to make an Eric Mona alias. J/K.
Since you have said that the current mass combat rules aren't as detailed as you would like. What would you want to do there?
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Isn't a bit apples and oranges to compare a video game to a paper and dice rpg?Skyrim's still more fun.I remember an Ars Magica chronicle where at one point the heroes have to recruit the aid of a magical boat.... and the Skeleton Vikings that come with it as crew. Would that be better?What's your stance on vikings vs. skeletons fights?Skyrim looks better.
I like oranges better than apples.
AKA: Both are pastimes. One will be more fun. Which one will vary depending on who you asked.
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James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)That's one way to induce a panic attack in me.Time to make an Eric Mona alias. J/K.
Since you have said that the current mass combat rules aren't as detailed as you would like. What would you want to do there?
Figure out a way to build robust rules that don't shunt your character sheet to the side. I want a mass combat game in Pathfinder to be one where you NEED your character sheet to play, because that's the game Pathfinder is. Subsystems that don't really involve your PC are less satisfying to me.
The mass combat system should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and should have a wealth of expansion and customization without being overwhelming and impossible to learn.
I'm not sure it's something that can exist, in other words.
James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)That's one way to induce a panic attack in me.Time to make an Eric Mona alias. J/K.
Since you have said that the current mass combat rules aren't as detailed as you would like. What would you want to do there?
Figure out a way to build robust rules that don't shunt your character sheet to the side. I want a mass combat game in Pathfinder to be one where you NEED your character sheet to play, because that's the game Pathfinder is. Subsystems that don't really involve your PC are less satisfying to me.
The mass combat system should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and should have a wealth of expansion and customization without being overwhelming and impossible to learn.
I'm not sure it's something that can exist, in other words.
Can we use our *imagination* and pretend one exists?
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Can we use our *imagination* and pretend one exists?James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)That's one way to induce a panic attack in me.Time to make an Eric Mona alias. J/K.
Since you have said that the current mass combat rules aren't as detailed as you would like. What would you want to do there?
Figure out a way to build robust rules that don't shunt your character sheet to the side. I want a mass combat game in Pathfinder to be one where you NEED your character sheet to play, because that's the game Pathfinder is. Subsystems that don't really involve your PC are less satisfying to me.
The mass combat system should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and should have a wealth of expansion and customization without being overwhelming and impossible to learn.
I'm not sure it's something that can exist, in other words.
That's a good question!
James, could you please reinvent the Campaign Setting? ;)That's one way to induce a panic attack in me.Time to make an Eric Mona alias. J/K.
Since you have said that the current mass combat rules aren't as detailed as you would like. What would you want to do there?
Figure out a way to build robust rules that don't shunt your character sheet to the side. I want a mass combat game in Pathfinder to be one where you NEED your character sheet to play, because that's the game Pathfinder is. Subsystems that don't really involve your PC are less satisfying to me.
The mass combat system should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and should have a wealth of expansion and customization without being overwhelming and impossible to learn.
I'm not sure it's something that can exist, in other words.
Hmm, interesting. I wonder if you could something similar to what they did in the WEG Star Wars games with Spaceships. Treat the army as a single stat block like now, but add both the ability for the party to wade into the battle or just run the army like now. Maybe a combo of an encounter and a battle with either how the army does influences the encounter or the encounter influences the battle. Now I will have to think about it.
My personal weekly award for misuse of language in a fanfic goes to
"He was severely emancipated."
My first coherent thought was is it possible, but would it possibly apply to someone from Galt?
:)
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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When writing rules in English there isn't a gender neutral pronoun, making it difficult to be inclusive to both genders all of the time.
What does Paizo do to be gender inclusive, and do you feel you have been successful?
I noticed that classes and archetypes follow the gender of the iconic, but many other rules use 2nd person. Why is this and is there a reason behind why some class specific rules, like oracle mysteries, use 2nd person instead of 3rd?
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Figure out a way to build robust rules that don't shunt your character sheet to the side. I want a mass combat game in Pathfinder to be one where you NEED your character sheet to play, because that's the game Pathfinder is. Subsystems that don't really involve your PC are less satisfying to me.The mass combat system should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and should have a wealth of expansion and customization without being overwhelming and impossible to learn.
I'm not sure it's something that can exist, in other words.
Legend of the Five Rings did this a decade and a half ago.
So did D&D. So did a lot of games. Pathfinder is a more complex game than most of those though, and it doesn't really help me if a system exists for a different rules set.