1. What do you dislike about Eberron, and why?
2. What do you like about Eberrron, and why?
Is there any questions you are wondering why the internet isnt asking?
Is there any questions you really wish were asked, but still havent been asked?
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Anything that makes me lose my passion for the game. Anything that promotes ignorance/hatred when it comes to diversity. There's more, I'm sure, but I'm not sure what the value is in going on unless you're fishing for ammunition to manipulate me into quitting Paizo? ;-)What kind of creative decisions would you resign over?James - Is there any creative / design decision (not ethically or morally offensive) that could be forced upon Pathfinder by the powers that be that would make you resign? To borrow an example from another universe, a "Greedo shot first" type mandate. Or, no matter how creatively repugnant the decision might be, you'd say "you're the boss" and make the best of it?Yes, there's plenty of events, some of which would be forced creative/design decisions, that would get me to resign.
Erik: "You know, I think I like Succubi better as Devils."
Something like this?
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Anything that makes me lose my passion for the game. Anything that promotes ignorance/hatred when it comes to diversity. There's more, I'm sure, but I'm not sure what the value is in going on unless you're fishing for ammunition to manipulate me into quitting Paizo? ;-)What kind of creative decisions would you resign over?James - Is there any creative / design decision (not ethically or morally offensive) that could be forced upon Pathfinder by the powers that be that would make you resign? To borrow an example from another universe, a "Greedo shot first" type mandate. Or, no matter how creatively repugnant the decision might be, you'd say "you're the boss" and make the best of it?Yes, there's plenty of events, some of which would be forced creative/design decisions, that would get me to resign.Erik: "You know, I think I like Succubi better as Devils."
Something like this?
If anyone loathed that change more than me, it was Erik.
I actually have a question about the general design philosphy around martial classes, or something around that area.
So what the idea of having seperate feats for so many of the manouvers instead of having "packages" or having it as a martial class feature to symbolize the actual combat training some classes get?
And to further expand on the question: Why is it so that some of these manouvers are restricted to archtypes or classes only that doesnt make much sense. Examples being the "trick shots" from the archer fighter archtype, why couldnt these be avaliable for other bow/crossbow users?
The point is not a Martial Vs Caster type of thinking, but honestly i feel like the non-magical ways of combat feel lacking and at times a bit stale as you get locked down in a single path. An archer is stuck at mostly flinging arrows with not much variation ( even with the arrow types: ) Even if a fighter have a larger pool of feats they are most likely being forced to take a path that increase pure damage over going for a specialized manouver that most creatures over CR9 will most likely ignore.
I guess you have heard similar complaints before in that field, but is this a area that Paizo work to expand on? Or is the remnants of 3.5 so heavy in the combat system that doing any changes would mess up the Paizo idea of being a further developed 3.5?
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If anyone loathed that change more than me, it was Erik.Anything that makes me lose my passion for the game. Anything that promotes ignorance/hatred when it comes to diversity. There's more, I'm sure, but I'm not sure what the value is in going on unless you're fishing for ammunition to manipulate me into quitting Paizo? ;-)What kind of creative decisions would you resign over?James - Is there any creative / design decision (not ethically or morally offensive) that could be forced upon Pathfinder by the powers that be that would make you resign? To borrow an example from another universe, a "Greedo shot first" type mandate. Or, no matter how creatively repugnant the decision might be, you'd say "you're the boss" and make the best of it?Yes, there's plenty of events, some of which would be forced creative/design decisions, that would get me to resign.Erik: "You know, I think I like Succubi better as Devils."
Something like this?
Interesting that I picked him then hehe.
Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Was the Pathfinder Society inspired by the Free Masons at all?
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1. Have you used Roll20.net? If so what do you think of it?
2. Speaking of VTTs any word on Paizo Gamespace? Is it still bring pursued and developed?
Love the work you and the Team do, Golarion is hands down my favorite setting ever produced. Thanks for your hard work and great ideas. :)
1) I have not used it.
2) It's still being developed as far as I know, but it's not my place to comment on its status.
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I actually have a question about the general design philosphy around martial classes, or something around that area.
So what the idea of having seperate feats for so many of the manouvers instead of having "packages" or having it as a martial class feature to symbolize the actual combat training some classes get?
And to further expand on the question: Why is it so that some of these manouvers are restricted to archtypes or classes only that doesnt make much sense. Examples being the "trick shots" from the archer fighter archtype, why couldnt these be avaliable for other bow/crossbow users?
The point is not a Martial Vs Caster type of thinking, but honestly i feel like the non-magical ways of combat feel lacking and at times a bit stale as you get locked down in a single path. An archer is stuck at mostly flinging arrows with not much variation ( even with the arrow types: ) Even if a fighter have a larger pool of feats they are most likely being forced to take a path that increase pure damage over going for a specialized manouver that most creatures over CR9 will most likely ignore.
I guess you have heard similar complaints before in that field, but is this a area that Paizo work to expand on? Or is the remnants of 3.5 so heavy in the combat system that doing any changes would mess up the Paizo idea of being a further developed 3.5?
First of all... it should be noted that all of us here at Paizo have slightly different design philosophies—a class designed by me will look slightly different from one designed by Jason, for example. But there absolutely are overarching philosophies of design at Paizo that ensure that regardless of our personal differences, the class design should end up being something that all of us can understand and approve of and back and support.
That said, I don't have a lot of insight into the nitty gritty of the design team's methods on designing classes; you'd have to ask them to get precise answers. My suspicion on why there are separate feats is because feat design is a HUGE arena for presenting options, and by breaking those up like that, we get more feats and thus more opportunities for customization. Fighters are the class who are supposed to be "best" at feats, and while we don't want to say "Fighter Only" too often, the fact that there's a lot of these out there DOES mean that fighters are going to be the ones taking them most often, because they're the ones who can afford that.
The martial vs caster variation is in large part intentional, in any case. It might not be as fun for you to simply shoot arrows each round instead of having a huge arsenal of spells, but your game play experience isn't everyone's. Plenty of folks enjoy the tactical options offered by having a spells... but others prefer the simplicity of a character with few options. There also needs to be classes that are relatively simple to play, and classes that cover classic roles so that the GM has those options for NPCs.
Reading your questions again, it looks like you're ACTUALLY asking me to comment on the caster vs. martial disparity. And frankly, I'm pretty convinced that this disparity exists primarily in the imagination of the internet, but is significantly enhanced by various play styles. Personally... as someone who's played martial characters and spell-casting characters, I've had plenty of fun playing both. Having so many options available is important, so that players get to play the character THEY prefer.
All that said, the design team is indeed working on ways to address the perceived issue.
Not sure that answered your questions, but your questions were a little all over the place! :-)
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Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Huh, I was under the impression they were only female, owing to simple assumption or misreading on my part. Is there any reason for the gender disparity among them?
Edit: Just went back and checked and Nazalimora, the Maralith that shows up at the end of the module is referred to as females in all instances, so I guess this goes back to my original question.
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http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/bard.html
above is the link to the archivist(bard archetype in Advanced players...in case that doesn't work...
"Naturalist (Ex): An archivist who has identified a creature with a Knowledge check appropriate to its type can use performance to share strategies for defeating it with allies in combat. The archivist and any allies within 30 feet gain a +1 insight bonus to AC and on attack rolls and saving throws against exceptional, supernatural, and spell-like abilities used by creatures of that specific kind of monster (e.g., frost giants, not all giants or all humanoids). This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. This language-dependent ability requires visual and audible components. This ability replaces inspire courage."
1) Can it effect multiple creatures(all identified using free actions)with only one standard action(at levels below 7th to activate?
2) If someone else in the party identifies a creature and tells the archivist what it is, does that count as the monster being identified even though the archivist failed his knowledge check or hasn't seen the monster yet, etc?
BTW...also a big fan of bards...guess its because i'm not a big fan of doing nothing caused by running a one or two dimensional PC.
1) It can affect all creatures of a single specific type of monster, like orcs or xills or nabasus or leprechauns. Identifying monsters using Knowledge checks in this way doesn't take an action (although in some cases, some GMs might limit the number of checks you can make as a house rule), but using bardic performance to generate effects does. You're limited by how many times you can activate bardic performance as to how many times in a round you can hand out these bonuses. At 1st to 6th level, you can only do one creature a round as a standard action. At 7th to 12trh, when it's a move action to start a performance, you can do 2 a round. At 13th level and above, when it's a swift action, you can basically do 3 a round (one swift, then 2 move actions). You pay a round of bardic performance each time you activate it, of course. This ability is more useful, in other words, the fewer different types of monsters there are in the fight.
2) Nope. The archivist needs to make the check themselves.
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A question for you on the Explorer story feat, and how you would interpret the completion benefit, since it isn't specified. It grants a 1/day find the path (a "preternaturally accurate estimate" that functions as find the path, to be more specific), and includes a Caster Level = Character Level reference, but nothing on whether the ability is Extraordinary, Spell-like or Supernatural.
Which do you think it should be?
The fact that it has a caster level means it's a spell-like ability.
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If an Aasimar has Monstrous Mount and Celestial Servant, giving them a Celestial Worg, is the Celestial Worg still Neutral Evil?
That'd be up to the GM. I would say no, but only if the player was dead set on having a worg instead of any one of the numerous other wolf like companions. Since worgs are evil, they're not really thematically appropriate for good characters, nor are they all that appropriate as celestial creatures. As a GM, I generally prefer to limit those types of theme-breaking creatures. If the player provided a well-written backstory explaining HOW a celestial worg came to be, I'd be much more prone to allowing it. If the player just wanted a worg because their stats are slightly better than a wolf and didn't bother putting flavor work into the choice at all, I would not allow it.
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Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Huh, I was under the impression they were only female, owing to simple assumption or misreading on my part. Is there any reason for the gender disparity among them?
Edit: Just went back and checked and Nazalimora, the Maralith that shows up at the end of the module is referred to as females in all instances, so I guess this goes back to my original question.
The only reason would be tradition and nostalgia.
We use the female pronoun for them because it's good to switch pronouns away from the male whenever you can in order to promote diversity and equality.
Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.
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Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.
Nice catch :3
Was the Pathfinder Society inspired by the Free Masons at all?Nope. They were more inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I think "The Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye is more the Masons.
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Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.
There ya go. Forgot I wrote that.
The male marilith is thus an error.
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James how common are diaries in Golarion?
Very common, in that they're an excellent way to advance story plots in adventures when an NPC you had intended to survive a fight to be interrogated and thus give out key clues to link to the next adventure ends up getting killed.
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Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.There ya go. Forgot I wrote that.
The male marilith is thus an error.
Then in that case what do you think would be a good replacement Demon for the Maralith at the end of the module?
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Then in that case what do you think would be a good replacement Demon for the Maralith at the end of the module?Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.There ya go. Forgot I wrote that.
The male marilith is thus an error.
Since Kostchtchie is specifically a demon who among other things is associated with hating women, having that marilith be a male marilith is actually cool flavor. No change needed.
James, I'm sure there will be plenty of hopeful freelancers and newcomers at PaizoCon looking for a chance to get some work. What are your suggestions for someone looking to work with Paizo or a third-party? Would business card be of help? What methods are best to approach the subject?
Any insight is appreciated!
Reading your questions again, it looks like you're ACTUALLY asking me to comment on the caster vs. martial disparity. And frankly, I'm pretty convinced that this disparity exists primarily in the imagination of the internet, but is significantly enhanced by various play styles. Personally... as someone who's played martial characters and spell-casting characters, I've had plenty of fun playing both. Having so many options available is important, so that players get to play the character THEY prefer.
Actually you are mistaken, i have heard it as much as you have but hey.
My interest were more in the way of "will there be more options?" or "will there be *other* options?" in the future. My bad for wording it so bad i guess.Regardless, i prefer the "Buff + Fighter" types, such as a Cleric, Oracle, Magus or similar classes that enhance their combat abilities rather than using burst. So my question was more directed around having more options as a melee caster that doesnt have a ton of feats like a fighter.
Thank you for the in-sight tho, its a bit of a personal interest to see how the design in a P&P works out.
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James, how common are dairies in Golarion? XD
And on a more serious note, which Shoanti Quah is your favorite?
What are the sword-making capitals of Golarion, the Toledos or Solingens? What locations are reputed for producing superior swords? I know dwarves are great smiths, but they're not really fans of swords.
Can paladins with the Pantheistic Blessing feat (I believe you mentioned paladins are allowed to access this feat) venerating the Empyreal Lords honor CG Empyreal Lords like Cernunnos or Pulura?
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James, I'm sure there will be plenty of hopeful freelancers and newcomers at PaizoCon looking for a chance to get some work. What are your suggestions for someone looking to work with Paizo or a third-party? Would business card be of help? What methods are best to approach the subject?
Any insight is appreciated!
Business cards definitely help, since it get the person your information without asking them to write things down, which at a busy convention can result in transcription errors or misspellings.
Attend seminars given by the people you hope to work for, and ask questions during those seminars.
Really, the best thing is to introduce yourself and by attending the convention and having business cards, that's the big thing there and of itself.
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Reading your questions again, it looks like you're ACTUALLY asking me to comment on the caster vs. martial disparity. And frankly, I'm pretty convinced that this disparity exists primarily in the imagination of the internet, but is significantly enhanced by various play styles. Personally... as someone who's played martial characters and spell-casting characters, I've had plenty of fun playing both. Having so many options available is important, so that players get to play the character THEY prefer.Actually you are mistaken, i have heard it as much as you have but hey.
My interest were more in the way of "will there be more options?" or "will there be *other* options?" in the future. My bad for wording it so bad i guess.Regardless, i prefer the "Buff + Fighter" types, such as a Cleric, Oracle, Magus or similar classes that enhance their combat abilities rather than using burst. So my question was more directed around having more options as a melee caster that doesnt have a ton of feats like a fighter.
Thank you for the in-sight tho, its a bit of a personal interest to see how the design in a P&P works out.
Ah. In that case, then yes, there will be more options. That's kind of one of the big things we do to keep folks buying our products, after all! :-)
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James, how common are dairies in Golarion? XD
And on a more serious note, which Shoanti Quah is your favorite?
What are the sword-making capitals of Golarion, the Toledos or Solingens? What locations are reputed for producing superior swords? I know dwarves are great smiths, but they're not really fans of swords.
Can paladins with the Pantheistic Blessing feat (I believe you mentioned paladins are allowed to access this feat) venerating the Empyreal Lords honor CG Empyreal Lords like Cernunnos or Pulura?
They are common except for where they aren't.
All of the Shoanti quahs (as well as the Shoanti themselves) are from my homebrew setting; they're from a frozen part of the world and worship a different pantheon of deities, but apart from that, they made the transition to Golarion pretty intact. My favorite group is the Lyrune-Quah for a PC, or the Skoan-Quah for NPCs.
Southern Brevoy, where the Aldori Swordlords are from, is certainly one of the best places to get swords from. Beyond that, I'd say there's likely some excellent swordmakers in Cheliax, Taldor, Mediogalti, and Katapesh.
Nope. Chaotic good deities are as inappropriate for paladins to worship as is Asmodeus.
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Rats. Why is it that all the deities with the most "Celtic" trappings (Pulura, who's described as a powerful faith in Sarkoris, the most Celtic nation according to you; Tolc, an explicitly northerly being, Sarkoris being a northern nation; Cernunnos, Ogma, Connla, all taken from actual Celtic mythology) are all chaotic?
1.Will we be getting a book or AP about the Ancient Azlantli(*sic*) at some point? hopefully.
2.Will Erik Mona ever desire to publish their "Kings of Absalom" adventure at some point? cause I don't have the power to make it to any of his sessions and I would pay to get my hands on the information inside.
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Rats. Why is it that all the deities with the most "Celtic" trappings (Pulura, who's described as a powerful faith in Sarkoris, the most Celtic nation according to you; Tolc, an explicitly northerly being, Sarkoris being a northern nation; Cernunnos, Ogma, Connla, all taken from actual Celtic mythology) are all chaotic?
Because of the consonance between the words "Celtic" and "Chaotic."
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1.Will we be getting a book or AP about the Ancient Azlantli(*sic*) at some point? hopefully.
2.Will Erik Mona ever desire to publish their "Kings of Absalom" adventure at some point? cause I don't have the power to make it to any of his sessions and I would pay to get my hands on the information inside.
1) Unrevealed. It's not high on the to-do list though.
2) Maybe. I'd love to see it get published, personally, but whether or not he can find the time to actually write it before the heat death of the universe is unclear, unfortunately.
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Rats. Why is it that all the deities with the most "Celtic" trappings (Pulura, who's described as a powerful faith in Sarkoris, the most Celtic nation according to you; Tolc, an explicitly northerly being, Sarkoris being a northern nation; Cernunnos, Ogma, Connla, all taken from actual Celtic mythology) are all chaotic?Because of the consonance between the words "Celtic" and "Chaotic."
So it's pretty much a given that a Sarkorian Kellid who is a paladin HAS to worship a "foreign" or "crusader" deity like Iomedae, Ragathiel or Sarenrae?
If you were forced by circumstance to join a cult of one of the Elder Gods, which would you choose and why?Are you actually talking about the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods, none of whom are actually Elder Gods? Or are you actually asking about gods like Nodens? Because in that case, I suppose Bast, because I like cats. That also supposes you buy into Chaosium's placement of her as an elder god, though. Also that I'm remembering that correctly in the first place.
I was, indeed, asking about the Elder Gods. Just because you get more Great Old One questions. :)
That said....
What Great Old One cult would you join if you were forced by some circumstance?:)
So I am completely out to lunch on thinking the 2015 AP has anything to do at all with the ancient empires? I really was leaning towards Azlant.
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Rats. Why is it that all the deities with the most "Celtic" trappings (Pulura, who's described as a powerful faith in Sarkoris, the most Celtic nation according to you; Tolc, an explicitly northerly being, Sarkoris being a northern nation; Cernunnos, Ogma, Connla, all taken from actual Celtic mythology) are all chaotic?Because of the consonance between the words "Celtic" and "Chaotic."
Or perhaps because of a strong literary-cultural inclination by the English to think of we Celts as savages or resistant to domination ("rebel" Scots, "turbulent" Welsh, and "wild" Irish). (Actually, the Celts have been described as culturally individualist and egalitarian since the ancient Romans). Not that I mind much (speaking for me-self).
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Since Kostchtchie is specifically a demon who among other things is associated with hating women, having that marilith be a male marilith is actually cool flavor. No change needed.Then in that case what do you think would be a good replacement Demon for the Maralith at the end of the module?Male mariliths absolutely exist. Why wouldn't they? They're rarer though.Question: something that has been bugging for a bit, at the end of The Witchwar Legacy a Marilith of Kotschie shows up. Was this an oversight or do male Mariliths exist?
Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female.There ya go. Forgot I wrote that.
The male marilith is thus an error.
Cool.
Kostchtchie's article from RoW explains how the Deathless Frost handles "always female" demons in his service - usually by warping their antural forms. For example, a succubus of Kostchtchie will resemble a hag when in her natural form. I think the "gnarled" template from Witchwar Legacy is a good choice to apply to any Kostchchien demon that'd other be too sleek or pretty. Gnarled isn't as good as the advanced template, but it does come with other perks.
The marilith that shows up in The Witchwar Legacy is described as having an icy theme - IIRC, she was female, and her skin was covered in ice crystals. She might be a marilith that the Deathloss Frost inherited from Sithhud when Kostchtchie seized the older demon lord's realm.
To ask some questions on the topic of the Abyss...
1) What sort of cosmetic modifications would Nocticula indulge in with hezrou and vrocks?
2) Does the Abyss sometimes start spawning a specific kind of demon in response to a new demon lord rising up? For example, did misogyny demons beginning to spawn as a direct response to Kostchtchie's ascendance. A lot of demons represent really specific sins that arguably fall under existing broader categories.
3) Off the top of your head, what would be the "newest" type of demon that the Abyss recently developed and started spawning? I can think of CR 19 guys that Lamashtu personally developed, but those are probably still ancient because Lamashtu did that back when she was "just" a demon lord.
I know she is all for creating them, but is Urgothoa against destroying undead? Of course, I'm not talking about undead followers of Urgothoa, but just generic undead.