James, if you could have any single 6th level or lower spell from the Core Rule Book as an at will spell-like ability, which spell would you want? How would you use it?
I will laugh if James replys with "Permanency". He could use it to make things permanent! Duh!
For me it would be a toss up between Heal and Polymorph. On one hand I could heal the sick, on the other hand I could be anyone.
-Tundra
Well in real life, things like mending and prestitigation are already supercool. Put all augury like spells on top of that.
But oh mighty dinosaur, i posed a question before and would really like to see it answered. I don´t say stealth is broken or similar stuff, im only on a holy quest to search enlightenment. That´s why i conjure the Tyrannosaurs oracle.
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What to do if there are (supposedly) unclear rules situations, where even people on the board don´t know answers too. Just decide and houserule them? But what if GM and players have very different opinions, like the GM is all about magic supremacy, but the players are more into other stuff (and believe that can be good too)?
Like does a cloak of lesser displacement grant concealment?
Can i stealth with that concealment?Like in the middle of the day on the marketplace i use hellcat stealth to stealth, wearing said cloak. Then i sneak around trying to steal stuff. Am i spotted?
1) Please keep the political stuff out of this thread.
2) What you sshould do when there are unclear rules situations is that you should make a call and go with it. That's EXACTLY why this game has a GM, and doesn't just have a deck of cards or a big book of tables to randomly generate encounters. The GM's job is to run the game, and that means more than just presenting the storyline—it means you need to be ready to make decisions on how rules work. And if you're a player, you need to be willing to let the GM make those decisions. If a GM makes a call that you think is wrong, politely mention it to the GM so that he can take that into advisement, but don't belabor the point—let the GM decide what to do and then, after the game is over, you can talk to the GM about his decisions.
In the case where you sneak around in the middle of the day—if this happened in a game I were running, I would rule that the concealment effect granted by the cloak only blurs your outlines (like the blur spell) and that it would NOT grant concealment. You'd need to use other methods in the middle of the day to earn permission to make Stealth checks.
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In fact, I'm removing the offending posts. There are other places on this board to carry on those discussions. Thanks!
And thanks to those involved for being mature enough to apologize and stop the argument when asked. You know who you are, and you earned back a HELL of a lot of respect from me for that. So, thanks for apologizing and ending the discussion.
Still removing the posts so that they don't have ripple effects, though.
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James, if you could have any single 6th level or lower spell from the Core Rule Book as an at will spell-like ability, which spell would you want? How would you use it?And if it isn't Programmed Image, why?
Because programmed image won't help me get over a cold. Or cure cancer and AIDS and ebola and mad cow disease, for that matter.
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Well in real life, things like mending and prestitigation are already supercool. Put all augury like spells on top of that.
But oh mighty dinosaur, i posed a question before and would really like to see it answered. I don´t say stealth is broken or similar stuff, im only on a holy quest to search enlightenment. That´s why i conjure the Tyrannosaurs oracle.
Has it been answered yet?
If not... ask again!
(sometimes... especially when I'm working on a book that's well over 400 pages long, or when a new video game like Mass Effect 3 comes along... I don't answer posts on this thread by the hour but more like by the day...)
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You've said a few times in the past that bards were decoupled from the Perform skill, and that bardic performances do not require Perform.
What's your opinion on the opening line of Bardic Performance?
A bard is trained to use the Perform skill to create magical effects on those around him, including himself if desired.Based on the abilities themselves, the Perform skill's text sayingA bard must have ranks in specific Perform categories to use some of his Bardic Performance abilities., and a few other things, I'm lead to believe that it's either left over text from an earlier draft of the bard where they did need to use Perform, or that it's just fluff, as most first sentences are.
This was brought about by a discussion on whether a bard/barb can rage and use Inspire Courage at the same time, however I've been curious about this for quite a while and it's clear you know your stuff about bards.
Oops... sorry, in my haste to remove some posts, I accidentally removed your question above. I'm reposting it in this text to keep context.
My opinion is that that particular line you cite is a holdover from the 3.5 version of the game that should be rewritten or just cut from the game—it's slipped by the errata so far because it's flavor text, not actual rules text, so the rules mongering seems to have missed it.
THAT SAID... there are a few abilities that DO require and benefit from having ranks in Perform. That use of the word "some" is very important.
Inspire courage does not require any ranks in perform at all.
Countersong and Distraction, on the other hand, do.
That's why we used the word "some" in that statement.
Understandable. I was wondering when those posts would be removed.
And thanks for your thoughts. I really enjoy what's been done to the bard. Related to that is that I think, more than any other core class, people really need to read the class and can't use ... well almost any of their 3.5 knowledge of the class.
Were you involved with the bard's redesign?
What do you think of how they've changed over the editions? They seem to have lost their "druid" aspects that they used to have (although the animal speaker is a wonderful throwback).
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Understandable. I was wondering when those posts would be removed.
And thanks for your thoughts. I really enjoy what's been done to the bard. Related to that is that I think, more than any other core class, people really need to read the class and can't use ... well almost any of their 3.5 knowledge of the class.
Were you involved with the bard's redesign?
What do you think of how they've changed over the editions? They seem to have lost their "druid" aspects that they used to have (although the animal speaker is a wonderful throwback).
The bard's design was probably the part of the Core Rulebook I was MOST involved in, in fact. And how they exist right now is about 98% perfect, as far as I'm concerned—inventing new bard spells or archetypes or prestige classes covers most of what's left for specialties. The only thing I'd like to still finesse is how Versatile Performance works—I'd like to let bard players reconfigure their skill ranks whenever they gain a new Versatile Performance so that those skill ranks that are now covered by Perform Checks can be put to use elsewhere. That's the whole point of Versatile Performance, after all—a sneaky and fun way to essentially get the bard more skill points without actually raising their skill points per level.
In any event, fixing the bard was a big pleasure for me, especially since I do happen to know that during 3rd edition's design, it was one of the last (I think actually THE last) character classes to be designed, and as a result it had a lot of sponges left in the patient...
Excellent! Turns out you've had a heavy hand in the creation of both of my favorite classes.
Are we going to see some new Bardic Masterpieces anytime soon? Especially with specific songs from Golarion?
It's one of my favorite mechanics in the game, and fixes my musician's gripes with the bard... but the generic execution in Ultimate Magic just whet my appetite for some campaign-focused masterpieces...
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The question everyone has been wondering is whether or not alternate classes are like archetypes in that they can use the feats, traits, etc. as the primary class even when the requirement has the primary class as a requirement as long as archetype/alternate class has the ability to utilize the feat, trait, etc? For example using the second question in my last post as an example.
Not james, but two posts that might help you out are here:
JJ himself talking about them.Jason Bulmahn (in the same thread) also talking about them.
The only thing I'd like to still finesse is how Versatile Performance works—I'd like to let bard players reconfigure their skill ranks whenever they gain a new Versatile Performance so that those skill ranks that are now covered by Perform Checks can be put to use elsewhere.
Yeah, my group does that now actually. My bard/mysterious stranger is a lot of fun, but what I really wanted was a sorcerer/mysterious stranger/magic gunner thing. Right now the magic gunner class is a wizard archetype and that makes me sad.
Saaaay, could we get a sorcerer/magic gunner thing in a future book? Shooting spells out of guns is awesome fun.
-Tundra
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Are we going to see some new Bardic Masterpieces anytime soon? Especially with specific songs from Golarion?
It's one of my favorite mechanics in the game, and fixes my musician's gripes with the bard... but the generic execution in Ultimate Magic just whet my appetite for some campaign-focused masterpieces...
Yup. There's some in Blood of Fiends and some more in Blood of Angels.
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I have two questions. First, it was suggested to me to ask the second question in this thread; however, it isn't an off-topic question, unless you consider it as an off-topic discussion compared to the fact we are in an off-topic discussion thread. So is it okay to ask a question like my second question in this thread if I need an official answer and if I can't get the answer in another thread OR is there a better thread to post it under such as an Ask James Jacobs gaming-related thread? Whew, that was a long question.
The second question is this: I am making my first society character: a halfling ninja. Can my ninja take the "Blade of the Society" trait? My GM says I need an official answer before he will accept it since I am creating it for the Pathfinder Society.
It's absolutely okay!
For the Pathfinder Society, we maintain a list of all the approved products and options. I'm not sure where "Blade of the Society" is from off the top of my head... but the way to find out would be to look at the list of approved resources for character creation for PFS.
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The question everyone has been wondering is whether or not alternate classes are like archetypes in that they can use the feats, traits, etc. as the primary class even when the requirement has the primary class as a requirement as long as archetype/alternate class has the ability to utilize the feat, trait, etc? For example using the second question in my last post as an example.
Alternate classes like the antipaladin, ninja, and samurai ARE essentially archetypes. They're just archetypes for which we went through and gave you the full level advancement chart for. And artwork too! So as long as they didn't give up a class feature that is a requirement for a feat or whatever... yup... they still can take that feat/trait/thing.
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The only thing I'd like to still finesse is how Versatile Performance works—I'd like to let bard players reconfigure their skill ranks whenever they gain a new Versatile Performance so that those skill ranks that are now covered by Perform Checks can be put to use elsewhere.Yeah, my group does that now actually. My bard/mysterious stranger is a lot of fun, but what I really wanted was a sorcerer/mysterious stranger/magic gunner thing. Right now the magic gunner class is a wizard archetype and that makes me sad.
Saaaay, could we get a sorcerer/magic gunner thing in a future book? Shooting spells out of guns is awesome fun.
-Tundra
And that's the PRECISE reason I like prestige classes more than archetypes. Because a well-designed prestige class doesn't necessarily lock you out if you happen to be one of the other 19 classes.
was this your inspiration for the shadar pool in "the razing of redshore" from dungeon magazine #92?
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was this your inspiration for the shadar pool in "the razing of redshore" from dungeon magazine #92?
Nope.
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I have another question or two. What is the relationship between Paizo and the website: http://www.d20pfsrd.com? The second question: If there is an official answer that is given, such as the one given above by James Jacobs about the alternate class/archetype topic, what happens from there? Does someone copy and paste it into an errata with the actual quote as the source and put it on the Paizo errata site or http://www.d20pfsrd.com site or both? Lastly, since I was the one asking and James Jacobs did the answering, do I need to do anything, such as email someone, either on the Paizo site or the http://www.d20pfsrd.com site or both, to show that an official answer has been posted as a polite way to show them that it has been posted, so that they can then decide to post it onto the errata page or http://www.d20pfsrd.com page or both?
The d20pfsrd website is not officially affiliated with Paizo at all. That said, they do a GREAT job there, I quite like the site. So... the relationship is that there is none, save that they're using the OGL to provide a version of our open content.
As for "official answers..." no. No one copy/pastes them into files or queues them up for erratas. When I answer questions on these boards like that, it's an informal answer. It may or may not end up in an errata or FAQ. You don't need to submit anything or email anyone—if it's really a question that is causing a lot of problems or confusion, it'll get itself sorted out eventually once we have the time and resources to handle that question.
While I'm willing to answer rules questions, I'm not on the design team. I can officially answer questions about world continuity an all that, but I defer the "official" stuff to Jason Bulmahn and his team when it comes to content from the hardcover rulebooks.
If you see something that's confusing or otherwise would like to bring it to our attention... post it in the rules forum and hit the "FAQ" tab on the top of the resulting post—that FAQ tab is how we track things like that.
As for the d20pfsrd site... you'd have to talk to them. We don't maintain or work on that site—it's completely out of house and not an official Paizo endeavor.
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Also, should I not ask any questions related to the other website on Paizo's website or in this thread or both?
You can ask questions about other websites here. A lot of the folks who run those sites are regular posters here.
Whether or not you'll catch their eye and get an answer is kinda random. You probably won't get many responses from Paizo employees about those sites at all, in any case, since we aren't in a position to speak about those sites.
Best bet is to go to those sites and contact their developers.
Hi James,
Is Okeno on Stonespire Island (from Pirates of the Inner Sea) or is it Stonespine Island? (from Inner Sea Poster map)
What's your favorite sandwich?
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Hi James,
Is Okeno on Stonespire Island (from Pirates of the Inner Sea) or is it Stonespine Island? (from Inner Sea Poster map)
Stonespine Island.
If there's contradictions, the Inner Sea Poster Map is always right.
Does the sheer beauty of the OGL ever make you dewy-eyed and wistful?
Now, to an off-topic, yet very important, question: How many teeth does an average T-Rex have?Such questions are NEVER off topic.
The actual answer is: I'm not sure. And that shames me.
The practical answer is: they have more than enough.
This verges on a trick question, actually.
11-12 on the upper jaw and 11 to 14 on the lower. (see here, under differences from T. Rex)
See these links (1 and 2, for more on the question).
Since Tyrannosauri would lose teeth on a regular basis (and get them back), and different species might have different numbers, a round number is kind of artificial. "More than enough" is exactly what they evolved to have - room for a few extra so the constant replacement - which assumes a few being left in bones when chowing down - keeps them able to keep chomping.
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I have post the following questions in the Ultimate equipment thread, but I have seen that UE will not contain any rule, so I will repeat it here
Now that you are doing a extended equipment guide, Paizo think to do some retooling of the relevant rules?
1) While they somewhat work, the crafting rules can benefit from some work. The poison rules are particularly weak. The price of poisons is high not because they are difficult to make but because their sale is generally frowned upon. Without feats or class abilities the production times are very long.
Just to make a RL example of how easy it can be to craft a deadly poison, you can kill a person with a mix of sweet and bitter almonds (they produce a form of cyanide). To neutralize the poison you need to cook them at specific temperatures.
2) Magic item crafting and the spell list of some class.
The classes with less than 9 level of spells receive several spells earlier than the wizard or cleric, the Summoner in particular receive several key spells 1 or more level earlier (haste at 2nd level, Dimension Door, Black tentacles and Greater invisibility, Stoneskin at 3rd, the mass [stat enhancing] spells at 4th and so on).
While that can be balanced for the class as it has a slower spell progression, it will allow the production of magic items that were not reckoned in the original draft of the magic items rules.
For example a potion of Dimension door or Greater invisibility, a wand of haste priced as a second level spell, a wand of Mass bull strength and so on.
While I feel that the Summoner is particularly troublesome, the Paladin getting Lesser Restoration at level 1 has similar problems.
As the rules allow cooperative producing of magic items there isn't even the need for the Paladin or Summoner to take the Craft Wand or Brew potion feats. They can work together with a Cleric or Wizard and produce the items easily.
As things are today I see it as an almost holy duty for paladins to help producing low cost potion of lesser restoration for church use when they are hosted for a time in a monastery or when they are resting in a town with a church of their good.
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Now that you are doing a extended equipment guide, Paizo think to do some retooling of the relevant rules?
1) While they somewhat work, the crafting rules can benefit from some work. The poison rules are particularly weak. The price of poisons is high not because they are difficult to make but because their sale is generally frowned upon. Without feats or class abilities the production times are very long.
Just to make a RL example of how easy it can be to craft a deadly poison, you can kill a person with a mix of sweet and bitter almonds (they produce a form of cyanide). To neutralize the poison you need to cook them at specific temperatures.2) Magic item crafting and the spell list of some class.
The classes with less than 9 level of spells receive several spells earlier than the wizard or cleric, the Summoner in particular receive several key spells 1 or more level earlier (haste at 2nd level, Dimension Door, Black tentacles and Greater invisibility, Stoneskin at 3rd, the mass [stat enhancing] spells at 4th and so on).
While that can be balanced for the class as it has a slower spell progression, it will allow the production of magic items that were not reckoned in the original draft of the magic items rules.
For example a potion of Dimension door or Greater invisibility, a wand of haste priced as a second level spell, a wand of Mass bull strength and so on.While I feel that the Summoner is particularly troublesome, the Paladin getting Lesser Restoration at level 1 has similar problems.
As the rules allow cooperative producing of magic items there isn't even the need for the Paladin or Summoner to take the Craft Wand or Brew potion feats. They can work together with a Cleric or Wizard and produce the items easily.
As things are today I see it as an almost holy duty for paladins to help producing low cost potion of lesser restoration for church use when they are hosted for a time in a monastery or when they are resting in a town with a church of their good.
1) The crafting rules work fine for things that don't cost more than a few hundred gp, which is most poisons. We've published alternative methods to make poison crafting work before. Some day I would actually like to look at doing an entirely new crafting system that, in a perfect world, would mesh ALL crafting together, be it of arrows or boots or castles or ships or magic items or poison. That's NOT something that "Ultimate Equipment" is going to touch... not even with the proverbial ten foot pole.
2) In my home games, the summoner's spell list is reason #2 I don't allow them as player or NPC options.
In any case... remember that magic items, even "lowly potions of 1st level spells" are VERY expensive for most folks. Just because the 4 player characters in your game buy a lot of them doesn't mean the rest of the world does. Mistaking the behavior of 4 player characters as being indicative of the average person in Golarion is an error.
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1) The crafting rules work fine for things that don't cost more than a few hundred gp, which is most poisons. We've published alternative methods to make poison crafting work before. Some day I would actually like to look at doing an entirely new crafting system that, in a perfect world, would mesh ALL crafting together, be it of arrows or boots or castles or ships or magic items or poison. That's NOT something that "Ultimate Equipment" is going to touch... not even with the proverbial ten foot pole.
2) In my home games, the summoner's spell list is reason #2 I don't allow them as player or NPC options.
In any case... remember that magic items, even "lowly potions of 1st level spells" are VERY expensive for most folks. Just because the 4 player characters in your game buy a lot of them doesn't mean the rest of the world does. Mistaking the behavior of 4 player characters as being indicative of the average person in Golarion is an error.
1) You can point me on where I can find those alternate rules? One of my players want to craft sleep poisons to take prisoners instead of killing the enemies.
2) I have already allowed one in, and he is a engineer in RL. Fortunately he has a good grasp of game balance too. I am preparing some home rule to manage the situation.
Hmm, my 6 players ;D
For the paladin comment I was thinking primarily of locations like the Worldwound and stocking some temple reserve.
That said, it is sure the average person in Golarion will not buy a wand of haste, but a professional with a good income could conceivably buy a potion of lesser restoration as a advanced first aid kit. Seeing how most disease and poison work in game it will be a cheap alternative to a Neutralize poison or Remove disease, especially as they now require a caster level check against the poison/disease DC.
Getting that 1d4 point of constitution restored can be a life saver.
To get an idea of the purchase power of 1 gp we equate it to approximately 50 €. So a 25 gp potion is the equivalent of 1 month of wages for a common employee. A serious expense but something that can be done.
In Golarion it is approximately what can be earned, after costs, with a month of work by a guy with Profession as a class skill and 1 rank in it.
Probably less than 1 person in 100 will do this kind of purchase in all his life, but on the other hand I have no trouble imagining the rich and debauched bon vivant that will buy them a dozen at a time as a restorative to use after a night of partying and as a way to recover from some of his more questionable vices.
In our world there is people that spend that kind of money for a bottle of wine without a thought.
I could go ahead for hours speaking of the economy of our make believe worlds, but I think you already know most of what I could say.
Have a good day.
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1) You can point me on where I can find those alternate rules? One of my players want to craft sleep poisons to take prisoners instead of killing the enemies.
2) I could go ahead for hours speaking of the economy of our make believe worlds, but I think you already know most of what I could say.
1) The Master Alchemist feat from page 165 of the APG, for starters.
2) The "economy" of Pathfinder actually consists of 2 largely (alas) non-compatible economies. The "realistic" economy that might exist in a game world, and the "gamer" economy of what magic items cost. The fact that we effectively balance magic items via "gold points" works well for determining what items a PC or NPC or monster might have at any given level... but it wreaks havoc on the rest of a game world's economy. It's not something you can really solve without completely rebuilding how magic item prices work, and that's not a task for the game's current incarnation. Maybe if/when we get around to Pathfinder 2nd edition we'll try to fix it.
Dear James Jacobs,
Do you think this is a cool idea for a campaign? Sorry in advanced for the text count; hope that doesn't scare you away! D:
The players will take the role of assorted children who are living in a village when a boogieman attacks. The boogieman sweeps the children away to the Faewylds (my campaign's version of the First World) where he is going to eat them / transform one or more of the boys into a new boogieman.
The children escape the boogieman, but are unable to escape from the alternate plane. They are subsequently transformed into weird fey-like creatures, their bodies ultimately warping to reflect aspects of their fledgling personalities. The ultimate goal is for the children to find a way to escape from the Faewylds before the boogieman (or other hostile denizens) eventually capture them or before their transformation into a fey creature becomes permanent.
The game will be designed with two major house rules. First, the players must build their "fey form" using the Advanced Race Guide's race building rules. Each player will have a specific number of racial build points to use and while most options will be available (can't comment on specifics until the book comes out in June), they must be able to justify the choice using an event from their character's younger days or an aspect or quirk in their personality. For example, a player might allocate a Swim speed if their character loves to swim.
The other major rule is that the players will each, effectively, have two character sheets. The first one is the Child's character sheet. The Child's sheet doesn't change after it is made, uses an NPC class based on their background, and uses less points in the point-buy system. In addition to the usual modifies of their race, the child gets custom Child aging modifiers (+2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Str, -2 Con) and is considered one size smaller than their usual race.
The second character sheet is their fey form, and is rolled normally. They get to add their new "race's" ability modifiers to their original total and get additional ability points to spend (in this scenario, a kid who is actually weak might imagine themselves to be a tough barbarian). The second character sheet is the one that actually progresses in levels (the Child sheet does not advance beyond leve l), and when the "fey form" reaches 0 hit points, instead of falling unconscious the child effectively phases out of their enhanced form and enters their child form, using their Child form's hit points as the number of hit points they have until actual death.
I'm really sad to see you hate the Summoner. I think it's one of the coolest classes you guys have brought out along with the magus. My group really loves playing them and I myself really like them. We are usually fast about combat so my eidolon never bogs down combat.
Actual questions now:
Lycanthropy is very weird to me. In the Core Rules, it has Werewolf Lycanthropy listed as a curse, but in the bestiary it's a disease. So admittedly, which one is it? Can we use Remove Curse and Remove Disease?
Also, can only Clerics get rid of it? Or can you spread it to Oracles and Druids?
And why does a Cleric have to be level 12 to cast it? The DC of the Curse/Disease of Werewolf Lycanthropy is only 15 so I can't imagine a Cleric of a lower level having an issue getting rid of it.
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Dear James Jacobs,
Do you think this is a cool idea for a campaign? Sorry in advanced for the text count; hope that doesn't scare you away! D:
** spoiler omitted **...
Alas... I try not to get involved in providing feedback on design stuff, be they new rules or campaign ideas or anything like that. Mostly because I don't have time to provide that kind of feedback to everyone, and if I provide feedback to one person I'd have to do so for everyone. There's also some legal issues regarding copyright that I just don't want to expose myself to...
Anyway... sorry I can't provide feedback, but hopefully others who read it will be able to give you some!
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I'm really sad to see you hate the Summoner. I think it's one of the coolest classes you guys have brought out along with the magus. My group really loves playing them and I myself really like them. We are usually fast about combat so my eidolon never bogs down combat.
The cool thing about Pathfinder is, of course, that the game's got something (in theory) for everyone!
That, and despite the fact that I'm not a fan of the summoner... you can still expect summoner stuff to show up now and then in Paizo products.