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James, how do you feel about a Mythic Level Critical Hit Deck with some spectacular story/fluff material tied to the mechanics effects on the cards ?HA! That's funny. Might be TOO funny, though, since coming up with over 200 over-the-top critical hits would quickly drift into the too-ridiculous, I fear.
I was thinking more along the lines of some 'cut scenes' on some of the cards that could lead to:
Paladin (while smiting and using a Holy + 4 adimantium Mace) confirms a Mythic Crit on the demon lord Baphomet.
All cultisit and minotaurs on Golarion must make a DC 27 fort save or are confused and unable to use the Maze ability for 1D6 rounds.
;)
Creative Director
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Breaking expectations is what makes for great games, James. If everything is always like this and never like that, because like that would be different and break expectations, then everything is the same, and that's no fun.
Eh. We can disagree until the end of time on whether orcs should be mostly evil or primarily neutral (you seem to see orcs as monsters, while I do not) and whether Eberron is a great setting. At the end of the day, you'll run your games with all evil orcs and a vanilla setting, and I'll play Eberron with Pathfinder rules and make homebrew settings with primarily neutral orcs with good and evil orcs not unusual, and we shall both enjoy our games of Pathfinder and be happy, which is the whole point of Pathfinder in the first place.
Do you agree with this statement, James?
Breaking expectations CAN make great games... but it doesn't ensure great games. In fact, in my experience, it's more likely to ruin games, especially if a player has a specific character in mind he wants to play, but then can't play that character because his expectations were broken.
I obviously agree with the statement that it's good that Pathfinder can be used to play different types of games. I never said anything other than that.
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Creative Director
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You noted that with Eberron since it broke orcs from they're standard "chaotic evil world destroyer" trope and made them druids. One can make a similar charge with Golarion, given the removal of the fey/sylvan trope from Elves and passing that onto Gnomes. Elves in Golarian are more like space aliens given their origin, than anything else.
Arcanis was another setting that took a lot of standard tropes and stood them on their ears. Did you have any experience with Paradigm's setting, any opinions?
One could make that change with Golarion... but it wouldn't be Golarion anymore. It'd be a variant. Nothing wrong with that... but as the creative director of "baseline" Golarion, from which all other Golarion variants diverge, it's not the choice I'd make for the game. Likewise, while I wouldn't make Golarion orcs into nature worshipers, nor would I make elves back into sylvan creatures.
You can define a world as much as by what you change as you can by what you DON'T change.
In any case, nope; never did much with Arcanis. Probably BECAUSE my preferences for a fantasy world stay closer to traditions than Arcanis did.
In any event, with the druidic orcs of Eberron and the tribal misunderstood orcs of Warcraft being increasingly the norm among fantasy, that's why we chose to go back old-school and embrace the orcs as actual bad guys.
Breaking expectations CAN make great games... but it doesn't ensure great games. In fact, in my experience, it's more likely to ruin games, especially if a player has a specific character in mind he wants to play, but then can't play that character because his expectations were broken.
I agree with you that preventing players from playing a specific character idea can be bad. That's why GMs need to be up front about what conventions they are breaking so that players can tailor their characters to the game or discuss what they dislike with the GM. GMs who want to change conventions shouldn't just do it at random times during the game itself.
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(Kelsey's opinion at length)
Do you agree with this statement, James?
I'm not a fan of tacking on questions to lengthy statements of opinion. I think it's against the spirit of the thread. Wouldn't you agree James? <hypocrisy nod>
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Creative Director
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I'm not a fan of tacking on questions to lengthy statements of opinion. I think it's against the spirit of the thread. Wouldn't you agree James? <hypocrisy nod>(Kelsey's opinion at length)
Do you agree with this statement, James?
I would completely agree.
Not a fan of the semantics games so popular on the internets.
1)Do monsters with chracter levels increase there racial spell resistance by there level? ex:a 5th level Nixie bard has SR 17(12 for race +5 for bard levels)
2)If you had do a campaign that uses races other then the core 7, what 7 races would you choose as there campaign replacements?
3)If trains did exist on Golarion, were would be the best place to have them?
4)Are Kami always lawfully(LG, LN, or LE) aligned?
5)Have you seen "If looks could kill", "Hot Fuzz", or "Tango and Cash"? if so did you like them?
6)Did the Cyclops originate on Golarion or did they come from somewhere else?
7)There is a type of Gigas for each of the outer planes, correct? what about the elemental planes? first world? shadow plane?
8)What monsters are left from the 3.5 monster manual that you guys can and/or will bring into Pathfinder?
9)What was the first job you ever had? first job related to D@D?
10)Any chance of Crabmen, Winged serpents/Flying snakes, Catterwaul, Kercpa, Bicorn, Almiraj, Guivre, Deer woman, or Gorynych making it into Pathfinder?
I know Golarion is very LGBT friendly, but what are some of the nation's and religion's opinions on LGBT issues? I doubt all of them are tolerant, even if many are.
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In Golarion, orcs are chaotic evil worshipers of the god of destruction, though. You can certainly have good or lawful orcs in Golarion, but they'd be SUPER rare and if they show up in an adventure, that would have to be a big part of the adventure. Perhaps even the whole point of the adventure.Monsters are better when they're monsters.
Well, one of the things that got me attracted to Golarion is the more mature approach to the races. Yes, Orcs are monsters, but so are the human race. The elf vs orc conflict ever were the better of us (the elfs) vs the worst of us (the orcs), if in Golarion the focus is the human, so a human can be as wonderful as a elf, why can´t them be as vile as orcs ?
What i think many people like about half-orcs is that any human can relate to the fact that every human being have feral needs, we are part monster also, negating the monster humanoids is negating this side of us that also can be good.That being said, i don´t think our society see orcs only as monsters anymore, i respect the Paizo´s choice on the matter but ask: Is not time to justify the presence of demi-human races beside the elf in the core rulebook and give them a bit more of spotlight and depth ?
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Breaking expectations CAN make great games... but it doesn't ensure great games. In fact, in my experience, it's more likely to ruin games, especially if a player has a specific character in mind he wants to play, but then can't play that character because his expectations were broken.
Heh, this makes me think of the Stat-Rolling thread I've been in most of today.
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Creative Director
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I know Golarion is very LGBT friendly, but what are some of the nation's and religion's opinions on LGBT issues? I doubt all of them are tolerant, even if many are.
Absolutely; conflict is where the best stories come from. There are indeed regions, nations, religions, and more who are not tolerant of LGBT lifestyles... but we generally don't focus on those aspects any more than we focus on those regions, nations, religions, and the like who ARE very tolerant. Only when something like that plays into an actual adventure will details come up. (See Pathfinder #1's writeup of Sandpoint for an example.)
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Creative Director
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What i think many people like about half-orcs is that any human can relate to the fact that every human being have feral needs, we are part monster also, negating the monster humanoids is negating this side of us that also can be good.
Humans being monsters is VERY MUCH a part of Golarion. You need look no further than, say, the end bosses for many of our adventures to find proof of that. Or, say, Thassilon. All seven runelords are/were human.
That being said, i don´t think our society see orcs only as monsters anymore, i respect the Paizo´s choice on the matter but ask: Is not time to justify the presence of demi-human races beside the elf in the core rulebook and give them a bit more of spotlight and depth ?
The core rulebook is already out, so that's not something we can change, first of all. Second of all... a game where the core races are anything other than human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, and half-orc is a different game than the one we want to publish. Again... if I had MY druthers, I'd excise the dwarf and use that "race slot" to present a different option as core, but I suspect the people who would appreciate this would be drowned out by the uproar of folks who want dwarves. We saw a pretty huge uproar over 4th edition's decision to not include gnomes as a core race at the onset of that game's release, and dwarves are (although it irks me to admit) more popular than gnomes...
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Creative Director
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1)Do monsters with chracter levels increase there racial spell resistance by there level? ex:a 5th level Nixie bard has SR 17(12 for race +5 for bard levels)
2)If you had do a campaign that uses races other then the core 7, what 7 races would you choose as there campaign replacements?
3)If trains did exist on Golarion, were would be the best place to have them?
4)Are Kami always lawfully(LG, LN, or LE) aligned?
5)Have you seen "If looks could kill", "Hot Fuzz", or "Tango and Cash"? if so did you like them?
6)Did the Cyclops originate on Golarion or did they come from somewhere else?
7)There is a type of Gigas for each of the outer planes, correct? what about the elemental planes? first world? shadow plane?
8)What monsters are left from the 3.5 monster manual that you guys can and/or will bring into Pathfinder?
9)What was the first job you ever had? first job related to D@D?
10)Any chance of Crabmen, Winged serpents/Flying snakes, Catterwaul, Kercpa, Bicorn, Almiraj, Guivre, Deer woman, or Gorynych making it into Pathfinder?
1) Some of them do. Most of them do not.
2) 7 different human ethnicities, probably.
3) Nowhere in particular.
4) Nope; kami are non-evil but otherwise can be any alignment. An evil kami won't last long enough to become its own "species" before it dies or is turned into an oni or something like that.
5) No, Yes, Yes. N/A, Yes, Yes.
6) They're Golarion natives.
7) Unknown at this time.
8) Not many. There's a few more coming in Bestiary 3, but after that... that's probably about it.
9) First job I had where I had to actually pay taxes (thus not counting the "mow neighbor's lawn" or "clean other neighbor's art studio" and the like) was commercial fishing—I worked for my dad on his boat in the summer of 1988 as a salmon fisherman. First job I had where I had to pay taxes and wasn't employed by a family member was as a colorist for Olyoptics—one of the comic coloring companies who pioneered the use of computers in color separation and production for comics. I worked there in the summer of 1990 (during which we worked on a bunch of different titles, including Akira, Spawn, Sandman, Batman, and some other titles that have long-since faded away into obscurity), and had I not gone on to college after summer was over, I probably would be a comic colorist today instead of a creative director at Paizo. First job related to D&D was getting an adventure published in Dungeon #12 back in 1988 or thereabouts. My first non-freelance D&D job was working at Wizards of the Coast as an order processor in the sales department after a few weeks working there as a temp for various things.
10) Yes to some, no to others.
10)
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James, how do you feel about a Mythic Level Critical Hit Deck with some spectacular story/fluff material tied to the mechanics effects on the cards ?HA! That's funny. Might be TOO funny, though, since coming up with over 200 over-the-top critical hits would quickly drift into the too-ridiculous, I fear.
Impact annihilates foe entire skeleton. Foe is reduced to a gelatinous pulp. Try a spatula.
Rolmaster players will recognize it, especially if they experienced it :)
I mean seven races other then Human(any), Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Halfling, Half-elf, Half-orc.
Thanks for answering my questions James.
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Both of these say so right at the end of each paragraph describing the power on page 85. If an ability replaces an ability, you gain that ability when you replace the ability.Is this rule written down anywhere? I ask because I'm not sure all the Paizo developers are on the same page:
Bless you, sir. Is this true as a rule? That is, a class feature is always at first level if not otherwise specified, regardless of any replaced feature?There is no rule, and I don't want to suggest there is because I can't be 75% sure that everyone writes those with the same understanding of a precedent for it. An ability should say what level you get it at, and if it doesn't, it needs to be clarified. (For regular classes you can check the table, but for the sake of redundancy and avoiding "we moved this one level in the table and didn't check the text" errors, even for writeups with tables, the description of the ability should mention the level you get it.)
I'm not trying to be snarky here; I'm just pointing out a potential hiccough, since it does make a big difference to some archetypes.
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James this question may be a little dated considering your time frame of developent in the APs and may actually be more a question for F. Wesley Schneider but in case you had an answer I wanted to ask this here:
In the Carrion Crown players guide there is a variant Harrow point/Hero point option given.
Using this system as intended each player draws a card at the start of the campaign and draws a new card at the completion of each adventure in the campaign.
The guide further states that 'in addition to the cards automatically gained through progressing in the Adventure Path, the party will have the opportunity to obtain additional, specific cards by achieving certain plot goals in each adventure.'
The cards are 'The Crows, The Eclipse, The Hidden Truth, The Marriage, The Survivor, and The Uprising.'
Each of these cards have unique effects when played.
Reading through the various adventures in the AP, when these specific cards are mentioned they are accompanied by this type of phrase:
'If the PCs {fufill this plot goal} award each player a free draw from the Harrow deck as outlined in the players guide'.
That statement is the followed by:
If you are using the other optional system presented in the guide, the entire party receives {specific card} instead.
Is it correct for me to conclude that:
The special cards listed are given to the players in addition to the cards drawn at the end of each adventure or do these special cards replace the drawn cards istead.
I am inclined to follow the former but the wording of 'award each player a free draw from the Harrow deck as outlined in the players guide' followed by 'if you are using the other optional system presented in the guide, the entire party receives {specific card} instead' threw me a little off.
Also, if the PCs instead opted for a free draw from the Harrow deck, would you allow it? (Although each card can only be drawn once, a party of 6 would ran out of cards by the fifth installment of the AP).
Thanks as always James.
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Creative Director
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I mean seven races other then Human(any), Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Halfling, Half-elf, Half-orc.
Thanks for answering my questions James.
Ah... hmmm. If I chose seven completely different races, I'd want to have in my head at the same time the implied setting—and that setting should be dramatically different than Golarion.
And you're welcome! :-)
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Creative Director
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Both of these say so right at the end of each paragraph describing the power on page 85. If an ability replaces an ability, you gain that ability when you replace the ability.Is this rule written down anywhere? I ask because I'm not sure all the Paizo developers are on the same page:I'm not trying to be snarky here; I'm just pointing out a potential hiccough, since it does make a big difference to some archetypes.Bless you, sir. Is this true as a rule? That is, a class feature is always at first level if not otherwise specified, regardless of any replaced feature?There is no rule, and I don't want to suggest there is because I can't be 75% sure that everyone writes those with the same understanding of a precedent for it. An ability should say what level you get it at, and if it doesn't, it needs to be clarified. (For regular classes you can check the table, but for the sake of redundancy and avoiding "we moved this one level in the table and didn't check the text" errors, even for writeups with tables, the description of the ability should mention the level you get it.)
I strongly suspect the rule is NOT written down, and that it's merely one of countless design philosophies and interpretations that are available. Which is why, in the end, it's the GM's call in most of these cases. Whether or not the GM comes to these boards to solicit opinions or compare notes to inform his or her decision... it's still the GM's call in any one particular game.
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Creative Director
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...asked questions about Carrion Crown...
That is indeed a Wes question. Or more accurately, it's a Rob question. I developed and rewrote parts of the first adventure in Carrion Crown, but that was the sum total of my involvement in that AP, so I really don't know the AP well enough to offer more advice.
If I were to write a "wierd west" adventure set in Golarion complete with gunslingers, mad alchemists, and chupacabras, which country would it be best to set it in? Is there any country in Golarion with south-western or Mexican influences in regards to food, architecture, culture, and music (*contemplates what Inner Sea Tejano music would sound like)?
Do you like the band Van Canto?
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Creative Director
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If I were to write a "wierd west" adventure set in Golarion complete with gunslingers, mad alchemists, and chupacabras, which country would it be best to set it in? Is there any country in Golarion with south-western or Mexican influences in regards to food, architecture, culture, and music (*contemplates what Inner Sea Tejano music would sound like)?
There's not really a region that maps well to this in the Inner Sea Region, actually. MAYBE Thuvia?
There's not really a region that maps well to this in the Inner Sea Region, actually.
I was afraid of that; now I'm a little disappointed.
Are there any holidays on Golarion that are similar to the Day of the Dead?
Do you like the band Van Canto?Never heard of them. They cool?
Extremely. Check these out:
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Creative Director
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There's not really a region that maps well to this in the Inner Sea Region, actually.I was afraid of that; now I'm a little disappointed.
Are there any holidays on Golarion that are similar to the Day of the Dead?
The big list of holidays on Golarion on pages 248–249 of the Inner Sea World Guide is pretty much all we've said about holidays in the Inner Sea Region. I suspect the closest to the Day of the Dead would probably be the Night of the Pale on the last day of the year.
Do you like the band Van Canto?Never heard of them. They cool?Extremely. Check these out:
Not James (don't even play him on TV) -- his job is much, much cooler than mine -- but after this sample (which has led me to others), this band is indeed extremely cool.
Oh a recent question reminded me of a question I had about how Monster PCs work... So, the rules say that for example the minotaur gets another level between 4 and 5, then additional levels later equal to half the total of it's CR.
Now, my question then is what about 1-3 CR creatures? Do they get just one level? None for the CR 1 creature?
James,
Have you lads considered the option of eventually releasing the content of the Core Rulebook in a smaller format, akin to the traditional Player's handbook/Dungeon Master's Guide split?
I love the large rulebook -nothing more stylish than slowly opening it when players ask for some rulling, even if all of them have their own by now-, but I fear it is succumbing to wear & tear much faster than what a smaller version would; and I've truly been careful with it!
Maybe it would be also a good opportunity to throw in any tweaks, erratas or revisions you guys might have stored.
Also, you're a good man for spending your time answering our questions, even the silly ones. You have my gratitude, my gaming loyalty and, by the conductive property of purchases, my money.
do Rakshasa and Oni work together often? they seem like they would...
It depends on whether or not the Oni are willing to follow orders.
Did you ever hear of Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names? I have a copy, and it rocks. Will Paizo ever come up with something like it? I'd buy it, as it's a very useful type of thing. It makes naming everything much easier.
I most enjoy playing and running high level games as well... BUT ONLY if I start said game at 1st level.
I suspect that the majority of people who complain about high level play being too complicated didn't get there organically—by running a group of players with the same characters from 1st level up to high levels. It's a much easier game if you spend all that time learning your character, learning the other PCs habits and tactics, and basically "practicing" in one-level increments over the course of months or years, than it is to just jump into new high level characters with people or character's you've never played with before.
Amen to that. Though I have had fun in the past with very carefully plotted one-shots. They're much more susceptible to one very, very good player throwing the whole thing, however.
Not James (don't even play him on TV) -- his job is much, much cooler than mine -- but after this sample (which has led me to others), this band is indeed extremely cool.Do you like the band Van Canto?Never heard of them. They cool?Extremely. Check these out:
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Creative Director
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Oh a recent question reminded me of a question I had about how Monster PCs work... So, the rules say that for example the minotaur gets another level between 4 and 5, then additional levels later equal to half the total of it's CR.
Now, my question then is what about 1-3 CR creatures? Do they get just one level? None for the CR 1 creature?
I'm not sure what "rules" you're quoting here, but in my opinion, letting players play mixed races with racial HD is a bad idea. A game where all the PCs play minotaurs? That's fine. But letting the players play all sorts of different creatures (like, say, a drider, a minotaur, an awakened deinonychus, a bugbear, and a gibbering mouther) is not only going to be a nightmare to run, but the focus of the adventure would irrevocably change from the adventure to "why are these five weirdos working together." Not my cup of tea.
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Creative Director
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James,
Have you lads considered the option of eventually releasing the content of the Core Rulebook in a smaller format, akin to the traditional Player's handbook/Dungeon Master's Guide split?
I love the large rulebook -nothing more stylish than slowly opening it when players ask for some rulling, even if all of them have their own by now-, but I fear it is succumbing to wear & tear much faster than what a smaller version would; and I've truly been careful with it!
Maybe it would be also a good opportunity to throw in any tweaks, erratas or revisions you guys might have stored.
Also, you're a good man for spending your time answering our questions, even the silly ones. You have my gratitude, my gaming loyalty and, by the conductive property of purchases, my money.
Incremental changes to the rules are not good for the game. And splitting the core rulebook into two separate books would take a LOT more time than it'd be worth doing for a lot of reasons.
BOTH of those are questions that we don't want to answer until it's part of the "What will Pathfinder 2nd edition look like?"
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Creative Director
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Did you ever hear of Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names? I have a copy, and it rocks. Will Paizo ever come up with something like it? I'd buy it, as it's a very useful type of thing. It makes naming everything much easier.
I'm not sure if I own a copy of it or not, but I do know about it. It's not really the type of book Paizo's likely to ever put out... since if we did, I'm not sure how it'd be any more or less useful than Gygax's. In addition, there are SO many resources online for naming characters that I just don't see it being something we'd want to do.
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Creative Director
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James,
How do you describe the supernatural abilities of monsters and NPCs when you're DMing? For example, how do you describe what a fiendish creature's smite good ability looks like to your players, without just saying, "he smites good"?
Depends on the monster, but I generally take pains to describe them visually. That goes for spells and class abilities. When an evil cleric uses channeled energy to damage foes, I describe it as something that sounds appropriate. A cleric of Pazuzu's channeled energy would look like a swarm of hungry birds, while a cleric of Zon-Kuthon's would be an explosion of razored chains.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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James,
Have you lads considered the option of eventually releasing the content of the Core Rulebook in a smaller format, akin to the traditional Player's handbook/Dungeon Master's Guide split?
I love the large rulebook -nothing more stylish than slowly opening it when players ask for some rulling, even if all of them have their own by now-, but I fear it is succumbing to wear & tear much faster than what a smaller version would; and I've truly been careful with it!
Maybe it would be also a good opportunity to throw in any tweaks, erratas or revisions you guys might have stored.
Also, you're a good man for spending your time answering our questions, even the silly ones. You have my gratitude, my gaming loyalty and, by the conductive property of purchases, my money.
Incremental changes to the rules are not good for the game. And splitting the core rulebook into two separate books would take a LOT more time than it'd be worth doing for a lot of reasons.
BOTH of those are questions that we don't want to answer until it's part of the "What will Pathfinder 2nd edition look like?"
James, based on this can you comment on the semi-recent stealth rules stealthly playtest that was in the blog a few times in recent months? Were those just a thought experiment for a far down the road and not yet planned Pathfinder 2nd edition, or is there a way that a final version will make print somewhere that wouldn't be a full 2nd edition to the game? Or is the act of asking for such top secret information going to put me at the top of the Red Mantis hit list?
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Creative Director
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James, based on this can you comment on the semi-recent stealth rules stealthly playtest that was in the blog a few times in recent months? Were those just a thought experiment for a far down the road and not yet planned Pathfinder 2nd edition, or is there a way that a final version will make print somewhere that wouldn't be a full 2nd edition to the game? Or is the act of asking for such top secret information going to put me at the top of the Red Mantis hit list?
I've actually NEVER had a problem with the stealth rules in the game as they stand. I think the uproar about stealth is a tempest in a teapot, and I think the blog post was unnecessary. At least, it was to the way I play the game.
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Creative Director
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I'm not sure if I own a copy of it or notThis is how you know you're hardcore.
HA!
I've recently started cataloging my RPG collection (as well as my book and movie collection). Bought a computer program to help me do it, in fact. So far, I've cataloged 1 floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of RPG books and 1 half-height bookshelf of RPG books; puts me at about 500 products, if I recall correctly. Still to do, approximately 3 more floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and 2 more half shelves, although there's some regular books mixed in there.
Been collecting RPGs since 1981 or thereabouts. And I've worked in the industry for 12 years so far—4 years at Wizards of the coast and 8 years at Paizo. Both of which hook you up with a LOT of extra product—WotC in particular was good for that. Every few months, someone would clean out a closet or a shelf and post a note to the all hands email list saying something like, "I just put a stack of stuff on the free table!" and there'd be a feeding frenzy where you just grab stuff. I've got like a dozen copies of some WotC books floating around as a result.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I've recently started cataloging my RPG collection (as well as my book and movie collection). Bought a computer program to help me do it, in fact. So far, I've cataloged 1 floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of RPG books and 1 half-height bookshelf of RPG books; puts me at about 500 products, if I recall correctly. Still to do, approximately 3 more floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and 2 more half shelves, although there's some regular books mixed in there.
What program are you using? What does it do for you that entering data in an excel spreadsheet wouldn't?
In fact on Eberron, Orcs displace elves as being the most druidic focused race. (The elves are too busy worshipping their deathless ancestors)And that's one of the five things that ensured I'd never be a big fan of the Eberron setting.
I dont know if you've answered it already, but what were the other four?