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Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

baron arem heshvaun wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
3) Yes. A very good chance. A very VERY good chance.

Can you please give a little more of a sneak preview, other than what you just said?

I am surprised not more of your regular thread readers are all over this.

We all know James is a tease and never shows us all the goods.


1) James, why are the books "Bestiaries" and not "Beastiaries"?

2) Also, I'm pretty turned off by what they did with FR, and very very VERY turned off by 4e in general. Can you personally guarantee, on the soul of Cosmo's first-born baby... whatever... that Paizo will never pull the same shenanigans with Golarion and Pathfinder?

3) I absolutely love(d) Planescape. Is Paizo planning on something similar for Pathfinder?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

DΗ wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
How many PMs would it take to find out what the HCs that will be announced at PaizoCon are? ;)
The REAL question is "How many PMs asking about unannounced products will it take before James blocks you from sending him PMs?"
O_O when did pms get added to the paizo site?

Earlier this week, I believe.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kajehase wrote:

A few questions about Magnimar and its city council.

1.) What are the criteria for being elected to the city council?
2.) Who gets to vote people into the council?
3a.) For how long is a council-member elected?
3b.) Are all council-members elected for an equally long period, or are there different kinds of seats? (Like an upper and lower chamber of the kind you have in the US, or a situation like we had in Sweden back before and a bit into the 19th century, with all nobles being automatic members, to pick two examples).

If by "city council" you mean the Council of Ushers, then...

1) You need to be a member of one of Magnimar's significant families in order to have a seat on the council.

2) Family members do. It's a hereditary post. When a council member wishes to abdicate his seat, the seat goes to his eldest child.

3a) Until they die or until they decide to shift the seat to a son or daughter.

3b) No election term. The exact number of council members isn't set in stone—it's currently at 117, I believe. Once you get a chair, you keep it forever until your family line dies, moves out of Magnimar, or has it taken from you because you did something like family-wide treason against the city or whatever.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kajehase wrote:
And a final one I just thought of: What responsibilities does the city council (still in Magnimar) have?

Mostly as a check and balance against the Lord Mayor. They help to guide the interests of the city from trade to defense to law to all sorts of things.


Ashenfall, bestiaries originally referred to a book that contained a list and info on the creatures you've bested. Beast referred to a very specific type of creature, and has only since come to mean what it does now.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Timothy Ferdinand wrote:
First off, Bestiary 3 is fantastic, thanks so much, all the monsters I was hoping to see! Next a question which may be dumb, in which case my apology: I think I am correct to assume that demons are effectively "immortal". As a "half fiend" is half demon crossed with some other race/species, what would the life expectancy of a half fiend be? For example, would a half fiend/half human (1) be immortal, (2) have a normal human life expectancy or (3) have some extended life expectancy? I note that a nephilim (half god/half human) lives for up to 600 years, so would a half fiend/half human live a similar lifespan? thanks

Whether or not a half fiend is immortal or has a normal human life expectancy or something in between is left intentionally vague—that way, a GM can build whatever sort of story he or she wants. If you want it to live 600 years, that's fine. There's enough variability in the concept of a half-fiend that even in a single game setting, you can have a HUGE difference in lifespan.


Cheapy wrote:
Ashenfall, bestiaries originally referred to a book that contained a list and info on the creatures you've bested. Beast referred to a very specific type of creature, and has only since come to mean what it does now.

...no, it's because "beast" comes from the Latin "bestia," and "bestiary" has remained closer to the Latin "bestiarium."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Samuel Grundy wrote:

G'day JJ

1. Do you reckon you guys will end up giving stats to NPC characters like the Venture Captains, Dr. D, The Whispering Tyrant, or do you feel it works better if those stats are unknown?

2. Will the Decemvirate ever be revealed?

1) As we do adventures where those stats become important, we will.

2) We've already revealed some of the members of the Decemvirate in some of the Pathfinder Society scenarios. We'll probably not reveal all of them at once, though.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tundra Dragondust wrote:

James,

How do you handle absent players in your game? We usually just have someone else run the character or put them in "NPC mode". I just wondered if you had some mind-blowingly awesome way of doing so.

-Tundra

I don't. In fact, I usually just assume that absent players do one of two things:

1) Return to "home base" for that session, or...

2) Accompany the party but stay in the background and don't contribute to anything at all.

In both cases, the missing player's character doesn't gain XP, nor does he suffer any ill effect. Unless the party TPKs as a whole, in which case I'll allow the missing player's PC to escape and come back the next session to function as a bridging theme between the old party and the new.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

cynarion wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
ShadowFighter88 wrote:
Aside from Karzoug, are the other Runelords dead or are they all still in stasis?
Not ready to answer that question... although I do know the answer.
Is it safe to assume that Alaznist isn't in Hollow Mountain?

No. Not safe at all. An exploration of Hollow Mountain who assumes Alaznist isn't somewhere within, or somewhere close by, would do well to revise their assumptions.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kavren Stark wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zoe Oakeshott wrote:
Is there chocolate in Golarion?
Absolutely!

Do they grow it in Garund, Vudra, and/or southern Tian Xia, or is it only available as a (presumably) fantastically expensive import from the tropical regions of Arcadia, the way chocolate in the real world was from Central America when the Spanish first brought it to Europe? Or are Golarion cacao trees different enough from the real-world version to be grown in temperate climates like Avistan's?

James Jacobs wrote:
5) The Grey: Just saw this last weekend and it's REALLY good. Great ending. Made some chucklehead in my theater cry out in frustrated anger. Good times.

I'm rather sorry to hear that one was good, since I'm boycotting it. Whatever else it may be, it's in part a propaganda piece for the anti-environment jackwagons that think pulling North America's keystone carnivore species back from the brink of extinction in the continental U.S. was a mistake, and want to eliminate all legal protection of that species so they can finish it off.

New question: how likely is it that Paizo will ever publish a mostly-underwater adventure, along the lines of War Rafts of Kron, in either the Pathfinder Modules line, or as one of the episodes in an AP?

Chocolate is grown mostly in Garund or imported from Vudra. Probably somewhere in Tian Xia as well (with the Dragon Empires book we've started FINALLY to list resources in regions, but I can't remember off the top of my head if chocolate is one of them).

Whether or not "The Grey" is propaganda for wolf-hunting or not doesn't change the fact that it's a really gripping, entertaining, well-made movie. I haven't heard any of that political stuff at all. To me, saying that is like saying "Jaws" is propaganda against shark fishing. (For what it's worth... I didn't pick up on any political type elements At All in the movie while I was watching it.)

We'll do a mostly-underwater adventure some day.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Zoe Oakeshott wrote:
Will there ever be a spell point option for spellcasters in Pathfinder?

Not if they listen to me.

Hate spell points. Not good for the game.

Closest you're likely to see from Paizo as official Pathfinder content, frankly, are the words of power from Ultimate Magic.

And this is why it's so important for the game to remain open content, frankly... so elements of game rules design that, say, Paizo does NOT want to explore CAN be explored by other companies who DO have the passion for those rules elements.


How does Pharasma decide where to send a soul after death? Is it based on your alignment, like CE you go to Abyss, is it you go to your deity so like a CE antipaladin of Calistria would go to Calistria no matter what, or is it meant to be totally unknown and up to the GM to decide on each individual basis? What got me wondering was the Horsemen book seems to make me think everyone that is NE might go to Abbadon, but then I wonder what's the point of worshipping a deity if you just go to your alignment plane?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Matrixryu wrote:
From what I've heard Paizo will (probably) be putting out information on more of Golarion's continents at some point. Do you think these will be mostly campaign books, or do you think that there will be additional player options similar to the number of classes and races that Tian Xia has?

Campaign Books are more important for developing new continents than player option books, so if we only do one for a region... it'll be something more GM focused.

And frankly, it depends on the continent. Tian Xia is enormous, but it's also populated. There are a lot of things going on there. So supporting it with an Adventure Path, a gazetteer, a player companion, a module, portions of our hardcover rulebook line, and a novel is what I would more or less call "the minimum." A continent like the Crown of the World, though? We can (and did) get away with just doing a double-sized support article in a single volume of a Pathfinder AP installment.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Belle Mythix wrote:
So, are you sick or just a lot more busy than the usual?

Normal. Not sick, not busier than usual. Just didn't post to this thread for a bit. My posting here isn't really on a schedule. Or, if it is, it happens when I'm looking for a 10 minute sanity-break between projects or whatever.

Often, I'll catch up on this thread when I first come in to work while I drink my morning coffee. But today, I had to head out to a lunch meating with Wolf Baur (NAMEDROPPER!) after I chatted wiht Rob McCreary (NAMEDROPPER x2!) for a half hour after I walked in the door regarding a Skull & Shackles conundrum.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Ashenfall wrote:

1) James, why are the books "Bestiaries" and not "Beastiaries"?

2) Also, I'm pretty turned off by what they did with FR, and very very VERY turned off by 4e in general. Can you personally guarantee, on the soul of Cosmo's first-born baby... whatever... that Paizo will never pull the same shenanigans with Golarion and Pathfinder?

3) I absolutely love(d) Planescape. Is Paizo planning on something similar for Pathfinder?

1) Because "Beastiary" is not a word. At BEST it's bestiary misspelled. Bestiary, on the other hand, IS a word. Which is a huge advantage when you're looking for a book tital.

2) No. I can guarantee that I won't do this. And I'm pretty sure that Erik and Lisa won't either. But if I've learned ANYTHING from TSR and WotC... it's that Gygax and TSR, or Peter and WotC, are not going to remain synonymous forever. If in the future there's an entirely different group of people running things here at Paizo, I can't say what Paizo in that unknown future will or won't do.

3) We've done several books about the planes, and we'll continue doing more. We'll also periodically do planar adventures. But we have no plans at this point to go into the self-competition business model of making more than one campaign setting.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

James,

When AP chapters are assigned, are they assigned simultaneously, or are they staggered- or something in between?

James, I'm also curious about how coordination between chapters takes place, if you feel like expanding on the topic.

Thanks!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
How does Pharasma decide where to send a soul after death? Is it based on your alignment, like CE you go to Abyss, is it you go to your deity so like a CE antipaladin of Calistria would go to Calistria no matter what, or is it meant to be totally unknown and up to the GM to decide on each individual basis? What got me wondering was the Horsemen book seems to make me think everyone that is NE might go to Abbadon, but then I wonder what's the point of worshipping a deity if you just go to your alignment plane?

How Pharasma decides that is that she just knows, because she's the goddess of death. If I could explain how she does it, I'd have a decent shot at being a goddess of death myself.

The simple version, though, is that she can see into each creature's soul, and she can see if they have lived according to their soul's purpose with success or if they failed. Those who fail are punished. Those who succeed are rewarded. The nature of those punishments and rewards vary according to alignment, faith, and situation.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jim Groves wrote:

James,

When AP chapters are assigned, are they assigned simultaneously, or are they staggered- or something in between?

James, I'm also curious about how coordination between chapters takes place, if you feel like expanding on the topic.

Thanks!

If I can, I generally prefer to assign AP chapters simultaneously... or as closely together as possible. Sometimes, that doesn't work. For example, I've assigned parts 1, 2, 3, and 6 for Shattered Star, but haven't yet assigned parts 4 and 5 because I've not yet found the right authors for those. (For part 4, I have to assign that one by next week, so time is unusually short for that.)

An adventure path begins "life" as a detailed outline that I, Wes, or Rob writes. These outlines are significantly sized, and contain everything from basic writer's guidelines to cover descriptions to campaign backgrounds to timelines to individual adventure outlines. The current outline for Shattered Star is 17,221 words long. If we were to print it, that'd be about 20 pages long.

So all authors start from the same baseline—this outline. They write their adventures, and then those adventures get sent in to the developer, who (in a best case scenario) is the same person who wrote the outline. That developer is pretty much the ONLY person who ever has the entire AP in his head at one time. He's the one who goes through and not only develops each adventure, but makes sure that all six parts work together the right way. In some cases, that entails some re-writing. In a few unfortunate cases, that entails SIGNIFICANT rewriting.


Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Ashenfall, bestiaries originally referred to a book that contained a list and info on the creatures you've bested. Beast referred to a very specific type of creature, and has only since come to mean what it does now.

...no, it's because "beast" comes from the Latin "bestia," and "bestiary" has remained closer to the Latin "bestiarium."

Huh, maybe mine was a folk etymology. Thanks for the correction, I was going from memory.


If the climate of Magnimar is similar to that of Seattle, is the climate of Brevoy similar to that of Rochester, NY? (Doesn't feel like it this year, but most years...)


James Jacobs wrote:
Jim Groves wrote:

James,

When AP chapters are assigned, are they assigned simultaneously, or are they staggered- or something in between?

James, I'm also curious about how coordination between chapters takes place, if you feel like expanding on the topic.

Thanks!

If I can, I generally prefer to assign AP chapters simultaneously... or as closely together as possible. Sometimes, that doesn't work. For example, I've assigned parts 1, 2, 3, and 6 for Shattered Star, but haven't yet assigned parts 4 and 5 because I've not yet found the right authors for those. (For part 4, I have to assign that one by next week, so time is unusually short for that.)

An adventure path begins "life" as a detailed outline that I, Wes, or Rob writes. These outlines are significantly sized, and contain everything from basic writer's guidelines to cover descriptions to campaign backgrounds to timelines to individual adventure outlines. The current outline for Shattered Star is 17,221 words long. If we were to print it, that'd be about 20 pages long.

So all authors start from the same baseline—this outline. They write their adventures, and then those adventures get sent in to the developer, who (in a best case scenario) is the same person who wrote the outline. That developer is pretty much the ONLY person who ever has the entire AP in his head at one time. He's the one who goes through and not only develops each adventure, but makes sure that all six parts work together the right way. In some cases, that entails some re-writing. In a few unfortunate cases, that entails SIGNIFICANT rewriting.

Thanks for sharing that. I always like to hear how the APs are built. FWIW, when I prepare to GM an AP the first thing I do is read Volume 1, the second thing I do is read Volume 6. I feel this gives me an idea of how the AP starts, how it ends, and (most importantly to me) how the start and end relate to each other. I think it is important for volume 1 to dovetail with volume 6 and I judge the cohesiveness of the whole AP by this dovetailing (or lack of). Just my 2.

As for a question: Do you feel that the PDF format of tabletop RPG books is the destined future for the majority of tabletop RPG material, an intermediate electronic form that will lead to something else in the very near future, or a platform that will eventually plateau or decline with respect to paper?


James Jacobs wrote:


The simple version, though, is that she can see into each creature's soul, and she can see if they have lived according to their soul's purpose with success or if they failed. Those who fail are punished. Those who succeed are rewarded. The nature of those punishments and rewards vary according to alignment, faith, and situation.

Thanks! That actually answers my question very well. :)


cibet44 wrote:
As for a question: Do you feel that the PDF format of tabletop RPG books is the destined future for the majority of tabletop RPG material, an intermediate electronic form that will lead to something else in the very near future, or a platform that will eventually plateau or decline with respect to paper?

IANJ, but to give my two cents... I like PDFs and love that when subscribing to Paizo books you get the PDF free and I use my PDFs, but when I am gaming, I want BOOKS. When working on characters on my computer, a PDF is quicker and nicer, but at the gaming table... I want books because the computer just has too much other stuff to distract players and me (I am horrendous at letting other stuff on my computer distract me from a game).

SO, if the industry were to go all PDF, it would at least need to be after POD is nice and cheap, or I and my friends would cry.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Evil Lincoln wrote:
If the climate of Magnimar is similar to that of Seattle, is the climate of Brevoy similar to that of Rochester, NY? (Doesn't feel like it this year, but most years...)

Brevoy's climate is probably more like northwestern Asia/northeastern Europe. I say that mostly just because of the flavor of the region is kinda similar to that part of the world...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

cibet44 wrote:
As for a question: Do you feel that the PDF format of tabletop RPG books is the destined future for the majority of tabletop RPG material, an intermediate electronic form that will lead to something else in the very near future, or a platform that will eventually plateau or decline with respect to paper?

With iPads and the Kindle Fire and other tablets changing our options for viewing full-color content, I think that electronic formats WILL some day become pretty standard for all sorts of products. The tablets themselves still have a way to go before they're affordable and all that, but they're getting close.

But no, I don't think that paper/print products will go away entirely. What I do think is that print-on-demand stuff will become more and more affordable and available, with perhaps even affordable home-printers capable of printing and binding entire books at the press of a button.


James Jacobs wrote:
cibet44 wrote:
As for a question: Do you feel that the PDF format of tabletop RPG books is the destined future for the majority of tabletop RPG material, an intermediate electronic form that will lead to something else in the very near future, or a platform that will eventually plateau or decline with respect to paper?

With iPads and the Kindle Fire and other tablets changing our options for viewing full-color content, I think that electronic formats WILL some day become pretty standard for all sorts of products. The tablets themselves still have a way to go before they're affordable and all that, but they're getting close.

But no, I don't think that paper/print products will go away entirely. What I do think is that print-on-demand stuff will become more and more affordable and available, with perhaps even affordable home-printers capable of printing and binding entire books at the press of a button.

FWIW, when I go to a buddy's house, taking my laptop with PDFs is the only way I want to game. Saves the risk of hernia. Also, at this point in my life, with just me working, and my wife staying home with our daughter, I can't afford the books, whereas I can afford the PDFs. (10 PDFs > 2 books)

However, there are many times, when I'm just chilling at home, that I'd love to kick back with a nice book, where I can turn the pages instead of scrolling around a window. Books simply have a nuance that electronic devices will never replace.

Now for the question: If making a planar campaign setting would be self-competitive, then would you consider the Distant Worlds line to be a separate campaign setting, or simply another facet of the PFCS?


Ashenfall wrote:
FWIW, when I go to a buddy's house, taking my laptop with PDFs is the only way I want to game.

Oh yeah that's why I love the PDFs also. I usually play at my house especially if I am the GM (and I am Pathfinder GM for my friends) but when I play at others houses I take my laptop and try really hard not to be distracted. Heh.

Now, another question for our favorite dinosaur...

The entry on Azlanti says that a sign of true Azlanti heritage is deep purple eye color. Does this mean that all Azlanti had purple eyes, or just that the color purple has died out except for those with strong Azlanti heritage? I'm thinking of making a character that long story short was rescued from an ancient medusa's lair at such a young age she doesn't even remember it, so has no idea she's pureblood Azlanti.


Hey James,

It is funny you mention a Caveman RPG....when I was much younger I thought of designing a similair game though I was really too young to tackle such a project. Anyway if you ever get a chance to publish that RPG you described I would love to play it...sound really awesome.

Anyway I guess I should ask a question....
So can anybody just PM the Pazio staff? Or are they blocked?


Hey James,

In preparation for my Absalom campaign, I've been pouring over the Guide to Absalom, learning the city backward and forward. I've found one contradiction I'd like cleared up, though. I've searched all over the site, but haven't been able to find if it's been answered anywhere else:

The entries for both the Arcanamirium and the College of Mystery claim to be the oldest institution for magical learning in Absalom. The descriptions in those entries actually seem to indicate that the College is the eldest, having been founded by some of the first colonists to the city, whereas the Arcanamirium was built by the Arclords of Nex, presumably some time after Nex tried and failed to take the city.

Am I reading those right?

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Diego Rossi wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

So retrieving a weapon will always be a standard action but she could use a a bow or a crossbow without problems after she has draw it?
Ok.

What happen with throw weapons?

Correct, because retrieving ammo is not the same as drawing a weapon. The weapon you draw in that case is the bow or crossbow itself, not its ammo.

A few thrown weapons (shuriken, for example) are treated as ammo, and therefore they'd not be impacted... but for the vast majority of thrown weapons, yeah, a haunted oracle would get dinged for drawing them.

I am using your ruling as it is reasonable. It don't cheapen the curse while giving some more options to the player.

I pointed her to the Handy haversack, Efficient quiver and Glove of storing as gear that can help her manage her curse.
My reading of the curse is that the magic of those item will overcome the curse effects (as the items are stored in extraplanar containers and the correct item is draw out by magic) and that the actual container is not affect by it (having the spirits moving the haversack so its opening isn't in reach seem an effect above the power of the curse).
You agree with my reading of it?

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Evil Lincoln wrote:
If the climate of Magnimar is similar to that of Seattle, is the climate of Brevoy similar to that of Rochester, NY? (Doesn't feel like it this year, but most years...)
Brevoy's climate is probably more like northwestern Asia/northeastern Europe. I say that mostly just because of the flavor of the region is kinda similar to that part of the world...

I have used the meteorological data from Kiev. it seem to depict the region very well:

Mostly plain/low hill, a sea nearby, open to the north toward the Arctic.

You can find years of historical data with an internet search, so instead of using a random table for the weather conditions you can print them and have your weather conditions ready at hand, with precipitations (rain or snow), presence of fog and wind speed.
I was surprised by the number of days in which there was enough wind to make missile use troublesome. And the number of rainy days.

P.S.: I stole the idea of using the weather tables you can find in internet in one of the Kingmaker threads. Plenty of useful advice there.

P.P.s.: IANJ, obviously. :D

Liberty's Edge

About the PDF/paper discussion, remember that the standards for electronic documents storage change with time.
My AD&D and D&D books from 30 years ago are still fully readable while my electronic documents have been copied several times, some have been lost to support failures and some are in formats that aren't compatible with modern machines.
So a good quality book will last for decades while a good quality electronic document with hyperlinks and advanced functions can become obsolete in a few years, losing some of its function almost immediately (my job include some work as a librarian and I have seen that happening with freshly produced CD). Add to that the problem that the storage system itself is more vulnerable to problems and you will see how paper books will always have their niche, even in our hobby.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

2 people marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Jim Groves wrote:

James,

When AP chapters are assigned, are they assigned simultaneously, or are they staggered- or something in between?

James, I'm also curious about how coordination between chapters takes place, if you feel like expanding on the topic.

Thanks!

Informative Stuff

Another reason to love this thread. Sometimes we are graced with behind the scenes industry info.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ashenfall wrote:


FWIW, when I go to a buddy's house, taking my laptop with PDFs is the only way I want to game. Saves the risk of hernia. Also, at this point in my life, with just me working, and my wife staying home with our daughter, I can't afford the books, whereas I can afford the PDFs. (10 PDFs > 2 books)

My housemate used to use a Dell laptop, he's switched to an Ipad for running scenarios these days. He's generally good for about 8 hours without having to deal with a power cord.

Silver Crusade

Sean, Minister of KtSP wrote:

Hey James,

In preparation for my Absalom campaign, I've been pouring over the Guide to Absalom, learning the city backward and forward. I've found one contradiction I'd like cleared up, though. I've searched all over the site, but haven't been able to find if it's been answered anywhere else:

The entries for both the Arcanamirium and the College of Mystery claim to be the oldest institution for magical learning in Absalom. The descriptions in those entries actually seem to indicate that the College is the eldest, having been founded by some of the first colonists to the city, whereas the Arcanamirium was built by the Arclords of Nex, presumably some time after Nex tried and failed to take the city.

Am I reading those right?

I'm sure they both claim to be the oldest institution... but both of these fine magical colleges might be lying (one of them at least is telling an untruth). I think my bet's on a third institution out there actually being the oldest one in Absalom.

Hmmm... Inquiring minds want to know-- so I too am waiting to see how James will answer this question.

Dark Archive

Can you get half-Nagajin or half-Kitsune? and if so what starts should they have?


James, have you read Isaac Asimov’s “breakout” short story, Nightfall?

Revelations, cultists versus scientists, when the stars appear humanity will descend into madness and an alien civilization will end in a firestorm ... and all packaged up in 35 pages.

I had no idea that Asimov may have been inspired by Lovecraft. Did you?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Zoe Oakeshott wrote:
Will there ever be a spell point option for spellcasters in Pathfinder?

Not if they listen to me.

Hate spell points. Not good for the game.

Just out of curiosity, why do you hate spell points so much?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ashenfall wrote:
Now for the question: If making a planar campaign setting would be self-competitive, then would you consider the Distant Worlds line to be a separate campaign setting, or simply another facet of the PFCS?

A book like Distant Worlds or The Great Beyond expands our existing campaign, though. It doesn't shift the core assumption that your PCs are from the Inner Sea away from that. And both are solitary, short books. In my opinion, the closest we've come to competing against ourselves with a new campaign would be Tian Xia, which has a LOT more support than the other planes or other planets... but even then the biggest thing we did with this "campaign setting" was the Jade Regent Adventure Path, which grounds the PCs as coming from our primary setting (the Inner Sea), so we dodge some of that element of self-competition.

More to the point, though, Planescape WAS a separate campaign. It presented an entire setting that you could play without having any other campaign books from any setting at all. You can't do that with Distant Worlds or The Great Beyond.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
The entry on Azlanti says that a sign of true Azlanti heritage is deep purple eye color. Does this mean that all Azlanti had purple eyes, or just that the color purple has died out except for those with strong Azlanti heritage? I'm thinking of making a character that long story short was rescued from an ancient medusa's lair at such a young age she doesn't even remember it, so has no idea she's pureblood Azlanti.

Nope; just means that purple was a common eye color among the Azlanti.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

John Kretzer wrote:
So can anybody just PM the Pazio staff? Or are they blocked?

While anyone, Paizo staff included, can opt out of the PM system... if we don't, then yes, anyone can PM us. Just like anyone can email us—all of our emails are on the website in public. Obviously, we'd prefer it if folks keep the emails and PMs to a necessity rather than just idle conversation—threads like this one are where that kind of interaction works best, in my opinion.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Sean, Minister of KtSP wrote:

The entries for both the Arcanamirium and the College of Mystery claim to be the oldest institution for magical learning in Absalom. The descriptions in those entries actually seem to indicate that the College is the eldest, having been founded by some of the first colonists to the city, whereas the Arcanamirium was built by the Arclords of Nex, presumably some time after Nex tried and failed to take the city.

Am I reading those right?

The College is the older institution, I believe. Wouldn't stop the Arcanamirium from claiming otherwise, though.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:

My reading of the curse is that the magic of those item will overcome the curse effects (as the items are stored in extraplanar containers and the correct item is draw out by magic) and that the actual container is not affect by it (having the spirits moving the haversack so its opening isn't in reach seem an effect above the power of the curse).

You agree with my reading of it?

If you go that route, I might suggest that Quick Draw could defeat the curse as well...

Regardless, though... ammunition is ammunition, no matter where you pull it from. So an efficient quiver or something like that is unnecessary to defeat the curse for the purpose of drawing arrows.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ulgulanoth wrote:
Can you get half-Nagajin or half-Kitsune? and if so what starts should they have?

Just as easilly as you can have half-dwarves, half-tengu, half-halflings, half-gnolls, and half-ANYTHINGS. AKA: you would need to design the race from the ground up. The race building rules scheduled to appear in the Advanced Player's Guide will certainly help here.

All of which assumes your GM okays the idea of a half-whatever. Which he may well not.

As a baseline in Golarion, there are no half-humanoids save for the ones we've published to date.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Diego Rossi wrote:

My reading of the curse is that the magic of those item will overcome the curse effects (as the items are stored in extraplanar containers and the correct item is draw out by magic) and that the actual container is not affect by it (having the spirits moving the haversack so its opening isn't in reach seem an effect above the power of the curse).

You agree with my reading of it?

If you go that route, I might suggest that Quick Draw could defeat the curse as well...

Regardless, though... ammunition is ammunition, no matter where you pull it from. So an efficient quiver or something like that is unnecessary to defeat the curse for the purpose of drawing arrows.

The Efficient quiver is useful for staff and wands (the latter in the javelin compartment).

Maybe my English isn't perfect but I see a difference between overcoming the curse and defeating it. For me the former mean that the character will be near a normal level of functionality when prepared, the later not being influenced from the curse at all.
Quick draw will be too easy as it will reduce the need to preparedness to taking a feat, while using special equipment meant that the player need to think where she want to store her stuff and what she would get quickly.

The haunted curse advantages are good but not overwhelming, so, from my point of view, mitigating the curse effects is acceptable.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

So a pech was a fey that devolved to a derro due to leaving the First World.

A ______ is a fey tha devolved into a gnome. Has this happened? Or gnomes always been the way they are? And will we get stats for the original?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Yours is mined wrote:

James, have you read Isaac Asimov’s “breakout” short story, Nightfall?

Revelations, cultists versus scientists, when the stars appear humanity will descend into madness and an alien civilization will end in a firestorm ... and all packaged up in 35 pages.

I had no idea that Asimov may have been inspired by Lovecraft. Did you?

I have read that story, but a long time ago.

And I did know that Asimov was inspired by Lovecraft. I believe some of Asimov's earlier books were actually published by Arkham House, but I could be wrong on that.

But yeah... Lovecraft's influence is SIGNIFICANT on writers of science fiction and horror. I'd argue it's the MOST significant influence of the 20th century in horror, in fact. Certainly in American literature.

Other famous authors inspired by Lovecraft include Robert E. Howard (author of Conan), Fritz Leiber (author of Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser), Robert Bloch (author of Psycho), and Stephen King (author of Stephen King novels).

Liberty's Edge

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Finn K wrote:
Sean, Minister of KtSP wrote:

Hey James,

In preparation for my Absalom campaign, I've been pouring over the Guide to Absalom, learning the city backward and forward. I've found one contradiction I'd like cleared up, though. I've searched all over the site, but haven't been able to find if it's been answered anywhere else:

The entries for both the Arcanamirium and the College of Mystery claim to be the oldest institution for magical learning in Absalom. The descriptions in those entries actually seem to indicate that the College is the eldest, having been founded by some of the first colonists to the city, whereas the Arcanamirium was built by the Arclords of Nex, presumably some time after Nex tried and failed to take the city.

Am I reading those right?

I'm sure they both claim to be the oldest institution... but both of these fine magical colleges might be lying (one of them at least is telling an untruth). I think my bet's on a third institution out there actually being the oldest one in Absalom.

Hmmm... Inquiring minds want to know-- so I too am waiting to see how James will answer this question.

From RL experience, they probably are both claiming that their assertion are true based on some twist of the definition.

RL: "We are the oldest scientific academy in the world." "Actually ours was founded 4 year earlier." "Yes, but ours is the first only scientific academy, while yours has a literature and history section."

Absalom: "The Arcanarium is the oldest magical school in Absalom." "The College of Mysteries is holder." "Yes, but you weren't a school but a secret society back then. We were the first teaching magic to the non initiated." Start fisticuffs/not lethal magic brawl between the two body of students. :)

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