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James Jacobs wrote:
ShadowFighter88 wrote:

What's your default assumption about tiefling tails? Prehensile or not? I mean smaller tails like the art on the tiefling's page in the Bestiary or Lavender Lil's - larger dinosaur-like tails (like what's shown on pages 63 and 64 of Bastards of Erebus) I can probably assume are about as flexible as a cat's tail, maybe a bit less.

Just got to thinking more out of curiosity - running a tiefling at the moment and wondering the best way to handle it. Not trying to do any game-breaking stuff like using it to reload her pistol and such (although the image of holding a small derringer or something with her tail as a last-resort weapon is interesting).

I have no default assumption. Tiefling tails, and indeed whether or not they HAVE tails, is something that varies by individual. It's something that the author of the tiefling gets to decide each and every time he makes a tiefling.

The ability to have a truly prehensile tail that works like a vanara's tail or even better allows the wielding of a weapon is actually a pretty cool trait, and I could certainly see a tiefling having that trait. In game rules, I'd likely model that as a tiefling feat.

Yeah, I was kinda surprised that there wasn't a feat about this in Blood of Fiends. In fact, I don't think any of them made any reference to tiefling physiology - no using horns or fangs in combat (even if, gameplay-wise, it was just bonus damage or effects on a charge) no tricky stuff with tails or hooves. Kind of a let-down, really especially the idea of using their tail to trip someone - I can easily see that woman on page 64 of Bastards of Erebus being able to do that, even if it's just a big sweep with the tail rather than wrapping it around their ankle and giving a solid yank.

Got thinking about it after seeing the page image on TV Tropes for Prehensile Tail - it's probably from a 4e book but I can easily see plenty of tiefling rogues learning to do that if they had a tail. Page actually mentions that there's a feat in 4e for tieflings that gives them a prehensile tail.

While I think of it; another question. I can't remember where I read it but I recall seeing somewhere that afflicted lycanthropes slowly have their alignment change to what their type of lycan usually is - so afflicted werewolves slowly become Chaotic Evil, etc. Is this in PF or am I thinking of something from 3.5? Because I can't find any mention of it in the Bestiary.

If they do slowly change alignment like that, what would happen if you waited until the shift was complete and then slam a helm of opposite alignment down on them? Would they permanently have that new alignment (barring another helm, of course) or would it continue to shift to the lycan's usual one?


James Jacobs wrote:
feytharn wrote:

First: Thank you for keeping this entertaining thread alive.

If completely unrestricted by matters of money or comfort, what would be the twenty (or at least ten) places/sights around the world you would want to see in person?

No problem. I've said earlier in this thread (but not recently) that if this thread dies... it's not gonna be because I ignored it. Only because folks got tired of listening to me answer questions! :)

The top 20 places I'd like to some day see in person, as they come to me off the top of my head, would be (in order they pop into my head):

1) Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery
2) Ayers Rock
3) Mount Erebus
4) Lake Okonoggan
5) Loch Ness
6) London
7) Cairo
8) Temple of the Sun in Mexico
9) Easter Island
10) The Grand Canyon
11) Rome
12) Oak Island
13) The Amazon
14) The Vatican
15) Tunguska
16) John Carpenter's House
17) Tokyo
18) Mount Rainier
19) Sweeden
20) Mount Everest

Looks like the perfect idea for a Kickstarter Project.


James Jacobs wrote:
And if I had to pick a LEAST favorite thing... I'd unfortunately have to say that would be "Dawn of the Scarlet Sun."

May I inquire why?


Do you know if there was anything in mythology or fiction about Eldritch horrors before Lovecraft wrote his stories?

Lantern Lodge

James,

What would you say the closest human ethnicity and/or where in Golarion could make a good start for those of Irish/Celtic/Gaelic descent? Ive read a few posts suggesting some ideas, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, O Wise Tyrannosaur!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Are you looking forward to taking your night elf hunter to Pandaria? Does the possibility of new night elf lore in the offering factor in?

When I was writing up my Night Elf conversion, so far I've started with these racial modifiers. +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Still working on converting other factors from the defunct WOW rpg, but your comment on these so far?

Dark Archive

James Jacobs wrote:

Modifiers from ability scores aren't actually bonuses, strictly speaking. If they are, they're untyped bonuses—which means they stack with all other bonuses except themselves. Thus, if you have multiple things that say "Add your Dex modifier to this roll," you only get to add your Dex modifier once.

So, to answer the actual question:

1) Nope; it's not a typed bonus. It stacks with all other modifiers, but can't stack with itself.

2) If you have Fury's Fall and Weapon Finesse, you've basically got two feats with overlapping effects. You don't get to add your Dexterity modifier more than once to CMB if it's already been included due to any other effect. SO! If you have Weapon Finesse... you'll only want to look at taking Fury's Fall if you're expecting to be using weapons you can't modifier via Weapon Finess to...

First off, thanks for always chiming in with answers. However, I do think there's a rules issue here in how these feats are written.

Weapon Finesse states that the character can use his dexterity modifier in place of his strength modifier for attacks, while Fury's Fall merely says that the character may add his dexterity modifier to his CMB when tripping. I don't believe it's a question of bonuses or stacking at all; it's a question of the subtle difference in the writing of the two feats.

I plan to use your interpretation for organized play, but I believe that the text on Fury's Fall could use some fine-tuning.

Again, thanks for helping with rules questions. :)


While reading through Lost Kingdoms' article on Ancient Osirion, a horrifying thought occurred to me.

Is it possible that the history of Nethys as we think we know it is a damnable lie? Is he really the Dark Pharaoh, one of the thousand terrible forms of Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos?! o.O;

On a lighter note: Did you watch The Mysterious Cities of Gold back in the day? Are you excited by the upcoming second season?


James Jacobs wrote:
Of the things I've written, "Burnt Offerings" and "Sandpoint" in Pathfinder #1 are the things I'm the most proud of writing. And if I had to pick a LEAST favorite thing... I'd unfortunately have to say that would be "Dawn of the Scarlet Sun."

Glad to see someone out there likes Burnt Offerings as much or more than I do. It's my absolute favourite adventure, and I still find myself adding to my notes a full year and a half after running it. As for the new module, I really wish I'd resisted the urge to skim through it now that I've found a play by post. I'm actually pretty excited, though. It's quite short, but with a PbP I think that's a perk. Although we're not using the pregens I've decided to play Kyra. It'll be my first time playing a female character if the game gets past the recruitment phase, so I'm pretty stoked. I hope I can pull it off...

As for old school RPGs, I've been replaying NWN2 for nostalgia's sake, and because I never finished it. I've got both BG1, BG2, IWD and Planescape and the original Fallout sitting in the wings at varying degrees of completion and have been loving them, but GoG's low prices saw me buying them all at once and I've yet to finish any of them! ...Right, questions! Would I be missing much if I ran through BG with just Minsc, Dynahier, Jahira, Imoen and Khalid? How do I stop getting hoplessly lost in Sigil at the start of Planescape? :P


If I said the Gungans are coming, would this worry you? Cause, you know, the Gungans are definitely coming. And not in the dirty way!


You know, I originally had a question about how no one has really explored Sarusan in a world with Greater Teleport and many spells that can solve issues that pop up with missing the continent...

But now after looking at Inner Sea Magic to see just how many high level casters can cast greater teleport, I'm wondering why most high level casters are evil?


Cheapy wrote:
But now after looking at Inner Sea Magic to see just how many high level casters can cast greater teleport, I'm wondering why most high level casters are evil?

Power corrupts.


Cheapy wrote:

You know, I originally had a question about how no one has really explored Sarusan in a world with Greater Teleport and many spells that can solve issues that pop up with missing the continent...

But now after looking at Inner Sea Magic to see just how many high level casters can cast greater teleport, I'm wondering why most high level casters are evil?

Also, Sarusan is infested by Gungans. With nasty little Ewoks for animal companions.


If a paladin uses bluff does he lose his class features?


Quote:
For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature's negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.

"Level-dependent variables" are defined in the book in regard to spellcasting (saving throws, duration, range, etc.), but what else counts as a "level-dependent variable?" Sneak attack progression? Inspire courage bonus? Channel dice? Anything?

To be specific, our 5th-level rogue just took 3 negative levels from enervation. Does his sneak attack damage drop from 3d6 to 1d6 until his levels return? The only specifics we can find in the rulebook refer to spellcating, but it seems odd that negative levels would affect casters to a greater degree than any other class.

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

For you

Spoiler:

gotta add a few blank lines to get away from my avatar =p

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Paizo Employee Creative Director

ShadowFighter88 wrote:

While I think of it; another question. I can't remember where I read it but I recall seeing somewhere that afflicted lycanthropes slowly have their alignment change to what their type of lycan usually is - so afflicted werewolves slowly become Chaotic Evil, etc. Is this in PF or am I thinking of something from 3.5? Because I can't find any mention of it in the Bestiary.

If they do slowly change alignment like that, what would happen if you waited until the shift was complete and then slam a helm of opposite alignment down on them? Would they permanently have that new alignment (barring another helm, of course) or would it continue to shift to the lycan's usual one?

There are no hard and fast rules regarding alignment of lycanthropes in Pathfinder—your alignment doesn't change when you become one.

THAT SAID... for story purposes, certain lycanthropes will almost always be portrayed in our adventures in certain ways—werewolves, for example, have a long and proud tradition of being bad guys.

What DOES happen when you become a lycanthrope is that you generally don't get to control your character when you change—the GM does. And what you do while a hungry wolf monster is often at odds with what you'd want to do. An alignment shift, if it happens, does so due to your actions, not due to the disease—and since the GM gets to control your actions while you've transformed (unless he gives you permission to do so yourself)... that can have some sever alignment repercussions.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Midnight_Angel wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
And if I had to pick a LEAST favorite thing... I'd unfortunately have to say that would be "Dawn of the Scarlet Sun."
May I inquire why?

Maybe later in the year. For now, I'd rather let the adventure stand or fail on its own merits or flaws.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The Guardian Beyond Beyond wrote:
Do you know if there was anything in mythology or fiction about Eldritch horrors before Lovecraft wrote his stories?

Sort of.

Lovecraft did a LOT of borrowing of themes and names and ideas for his stories. Some of those elements he took from mythology (such as Dagon or Nodens). Others he borrowed from writers he admired (such as Hastur from Ambrose Bierce, or the Yellow Sign from Robert Chambers). As such, there are certainly stories out there that predate Lovecraft's writings that feel like they're mythos stories... but that's mostly because those were stories that inspired Lovecraft and influenced his writing styles.

It's interesting... I've been reading a horror anthology that collects the 100 best horror short stories from the 20th century. One story per year that represents (in the editor's opinion) the best horror story that was published that year, and no author is repeated in the book. Lovecraft's only got one entry as a result (The Outsider), but reading through the book in chronological order, it's pretty interesting to see Lovecraft's influence. Up until about 1924 or thereabouts, the vast majority of the stories are gothics with ghosts and vampires and curses and the like, with one exception—Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," (Lovecract's favorite story, and a masterpiece of weird fiction). But after the mid 20's, after the pulps started rising in popularity and Lovecraft's writing became more and more influential, there's a gradual but definite shift away from the classic gothic stories into stuff that's more akin to the "Eldritch horrors" you mention. AKA: Lovecraft's writing had an ENORMOUS impact on genre fiction—one that's still felt today.


James Jacobs wrote:
I've been reading a horror anthology that collects the 100 best horror short stories from the 20th century.

What's the name of this? Might look into picking it up. =)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Severed Ronin wrote:

James,

What would you say the closest human ethnicity and/or where in Golarion could make a good start for those of Irish/Celtic/Gaelic descent? Ive read a few posts suggesting some ideas, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, O Wise Tyrannosaur!

Probably Taldan, but perhaps Kellid. Maybe a Taldan/Kellid mix?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

LazarX wrote:

Are you looking forward to taking your night elf hunter to Pandaria? Does the possibility of new night elf lore in the offering factor in?

When I was writing up my Night Elf conversion, so far I've started with these racial modifiers. +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Still working on converting other factors from the defunct WOW rpg, but your comment on these so far?

My Warcraft account is currently turned off. I'll probably be reactivating it once the expansion comes out... but I'm more interested in seeing the Asia influence in the expansion and I actively dislike the panda-folk element. Panda-folk are silly.

Anyway.

I'd actually peg Night Elves as being +2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom. Because they're canonically not into arcane magic because it's bad for them—giving them a penalty to intelligence works to metagame them so that players create fewer wizards with them.


james.

are you married or in a relationship?

If so what happens when T-rexes kiss?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Mergy wrote:

First off, thanks for always chiming in with answers. However, I do think there's a rules issue here in how these feats are written.

Weapon Finesse states that the character can use his dexterity modifier in place of his strength modifier for attacks, while Fury's Fall merely says that the character may add his dexterity modifier to his CMB when tripping. I don't believe it's a question of bonuses or stacking at all; it's a question of the subtle difference in the writing of the two feats.

I plan to use your interpretation for organized play, but I believe that the text on Fury's Fall could use some fine-tuning.

Again, thanks for helping with rules questions. :)

Well... rules issues and confusions will only grow more common as we continue to build new feats. With each feat we publish, it becomes that much more difficult to make sure that the interactions with other feats (and other powers) all work in a clear and concise manner. We can do this without MUCH fear, though, because we have a not-so-secret weapon that, say, computer RPGs do not have—actual people (GMs) who run the games and can make adjudications when needed.

Anyway.

If you adjust your CMB and/or CMD with an ability modifier... that's that. You can't do that more than once. Something like the Weapon Finesse/Fury's Fall combo is a pretty specific corner case, but they do not stack together. By the same extension, if you're a Tiny creature (and thus automatically add your Dex to attacks instead of Strength) you don't really have a use for either feat–you're already adding your Dex.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:

While reading through Lost Kingdoms' article on Ancient Osirion, a horrifying thought occurred to me.

Is it possible that the history of Nethys as we think we know it is a damnable lie? Is he really the Dark Pharaoh, one of the thousand terrible forms of Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos?! o.O;

On a lighter note: Did you watch The Mysterious Cities of Gold back in the day? Are you excited by the upcoming second season?

It's absolutely, positively possible.

And no, didn't watch it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Twigs wrote:
Would I be missing much if I ran through BG with just Minsc, Dynahier, Jahira, Imoen and Khalid? How do I stop getting hoplessly lost in Sigil at the start of Planescape? :P

Probably. Viconnia's got some cool dialogue... ALL the Npcs do, in fact.

And as for avoiding getting lost... the internet's FULL of video game walkthroughs.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kajehase wrote:
If I said the Gungans are coming, would this worry you? Cause, you know, the Gungans are definitely coming. And not in the dirty way!

Nah. I actually don't mind the gungans as a concept. The racist undertones bother me... but that's hardly something limited to gungans in the movie...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cheapy wrote:

You know, I originally had a question about how no one has really explored Sarusan in a world with Greater Teleport and many spells that can solve issues that pop up with missing the continent...

But now after looking at Inner Sea Magic to see just how many high level casters can cast greater teleport, I'm wondering why most high level casters are evil?

To a certain extent, Orthos is right. Power corrupts.

But also... with Golarion, we assume that the "good guys" are the PCs. Whether or not they're actually good-aligned... they're the heroes and the main characters. As such, we're more interested in supplying GMs with NPCs who can serve as antagonists or adversaries or competitors to the PCs rather than supplying the GM with good guys who can overshadow the PCs.

As our novel line grows, we'll be adding more good guy NPCs to the world, but we're deliberately keeping the protaginasts in our novels in the low or mid level power range for now.

In any event... What's more interesting? Having a bunch of NPCs teleport to Sarusan and explore it and revealing the information without building up any mystery or suspense? Or saving the details of Sarusan so that when it comes time to learn more... it's the PCs who go there to explore it? I certainly know that the latter is an Adventure Path idea that would probably be pretty fun...

Anyway... There's other things perhaps going on at Sarusan that might just surprise folks who simply wish to teleport in.

And yeah... there actually isn't a lot of high level NPCs anyway who can use that spell on Golarion. Most of them we'll print will likely be parts of adventures for high level PCs.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ubercroz wrote:
If a paladin uses bluff does he lose his class features?

No more so than if he uses his sword to stab something and kill it.

AKA: Context is what decides if a paladin loses class features.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Joana wrote:
Quote:
For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature's negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.

"Level-dependent variables" are defined in the book in regard to spellcasting (saving throws, duration, range, etc.), but what else counts as a "level-dependent variable?" Sneak attack progression? Inspire courage bonus? Channel dice? Anything?

To be specific, our 5th-level rogue just took 3 negative levels from enervation. Does his sneak attack damage drop from 3d6 to 1d6 until his levels return? The only specifics we can find in the rulebook refer to spellcating, but it seems odd that negative levels would affect casters to a greater degree than any other class.

The whole point of the revision to how level drain works in Pathifnder was to streamline it and to minimize the "Oh, you lost a level, so now you have to rebuild your entire character in the middle of combat... oh you got hit again, so start over!" element that the previous edition of the game caused.

As such, you should err on the side of simplicity.

The "level-dependant variables" more or less only talks about durations and areas and ranges and the like. It does NOT actually remove things you gain at higher levels, such as extra sneak attack dice. A rogue with 3 negative levels suffers a –3 on his sneak attacks–that's pretty much all that happens to that attack. The damage dice don't change.

And it's not that level drain affects casters to a greater degree than any other class at all... it's just that casters are more complicated. They're not making a lot of attacks and skill checks, after all—it's pretty easy to sum up a "take a penalty to all attack rolls and saves and skill checks equal to your negative levels" thing for classes like fighters and rogues who are all about attack rolls and skill checks. Those penalties are largely irrelevant to casters—if we didn't have negative levels reduce the caster level of a spellcaster... it'd actually result in a case where level drain affects non-casters to a greater degree. The way it is, it actually affects all classes pretty equally—they all take penalties to their focus—be that attacks, skills, caster level, or whatever.


Thurston Hillman explained the "high level evil casters" thing as a strong negative reaction to the way Forgotten Realms did things, where the average level of named NPCs was about 32. In 3.5. He explained it the same way you did, which I found to make a lot of sense.

Aram Zey is tantalizingly close to being able to cast it, and tbh he seems like the only guy on the list who would be interested in checking it out.

Erik Mona mentioned that those who do get close to Sarusan don't remember anything about it once they leave. I think finding out why that is would be very interesting, indeed.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Coridan wrote:

For you

** spoiler omitted **...

woah

Awesome.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Orthos wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
I've been reading a horror anthology that collects the 100 best horror short stories from the 20th century.
What's the name of this? Might look into picking it up. =)

It's called:

The Century's Best Horror Fiction

It's published by Cemetery Dance, and is in fact a two-volume set. It's also pretty pricy. But if you can afford it and you're into horror... it's WELL worth the price.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

blue_the_wolf wrote:

james.

are you married or in a relationship?

If so what happens when T-rexes kiss?

I'm single. T-rexes are LONELY!


James Jacobs wrote:
Orthos wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
I've been reading a horror anthology that collects the 100 best horror short stories from the 20th century.
What's the name of this? Might look into picking it up. =)

It's called:

The Century's Best Horror Fiction

It's published by Cemetery Dance, and is in fact a two-volume set. It's also pretty pricy. But if you can afford it and you're into horror... it's WELL worth the price.

Thank you much sir!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Cheapy wrote:

Thurston Hillman explained the "high level evil casters" thing as a strong negative reaction to the way Forgotten Realms did things, where the average level of named NPCs was about 32. In 3.5. He explained it the same way you did, which I found to make a lot of sense.

Aram Zey is tantalizingly close to being able to cast it, and tbh he seems like the only guy on the list who would be interested in checking it out.

Erik Mona mentioned that those who do get close to Sarusan don't remember anything about it once they leave. I think finding out why that is would be very interesting, indeed.

To a certain extent, skewing our high level characters to evil is a reaction to the Forgotten Realms.

But also... Golarion is a gritty, grim place for the most part. There's plenty of fun and happy and whimsy in the setting... but overall, we wanted to build a campaign setting that was a place that needed heroes. It needs help. The bad guys are winning, but they haven't won already. Only your PCs can save the world!


With not being able to count a stat twice.

I am curious how that interacts with a Paladin/Oracle or Lore.

Example Paladin 3/ Oracle 3 and the Oracle has the mystery "side Step secret" which has him use his Charisma instead of dex for refelx saves.

Lets say the paladin has a dex of 12 and a charisma of 18.

What is his reflex save from stat mods.

The way I had read it before, he got +8 (Charisma from divine grace +4 and Charism INSTEAD of DEx from Side Step Secret +4.)

Now I can see it as +4 (divine grace but he can not add his charisma again) or +5 (Divine grace +4, but he can not add his charisma as base stat but instead still gets his dex). If the latter is the case the Mystery will actually make his save worse.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
LazarX wrote:

Are you looking forward to taking your night elf hunter to Pandaria? Does the possibility of new night elf lore in the offering factor in?

When I was writing up my Night Elf conversion, so far I've started with these racial modifiers. +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Still working on converting other factors from the defunct WOW rpg, but your comment on these so far?

My Warcraft account is currently turned off. I'll probably be reactivating it once the expansion comes out... but I'm more interested in seeing the Asia influence in the expansion and I actively dislike the panda-folk element. Panda-folk are silly.

Anyway.

I'd actually peg Night Elves as being +2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom. Because they're canonically not into arcane magic because it's bad for them—giving them a penalty to intelligence works to metagame them so that players create fewer wizards with them.

I'll just say that I view it differently. The Highborne,Naga, Quel'dori, and Sin'dorei spinoffs plus their own history, prove the Night Elves to be extremely adept at wizardry type magic. Night Elves aversion to arcane magic is cultural, not due to lack of ability. The Charisma penalty comes from the one thing that's historically true to Night Elves of any era, they're standoffish and slow to get to know... even with each other. Your take on them is a valid one, so I'll just agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Night Elf Monks though.... they just rock. My current plan is to make a Panda monk and race change it when it hits 40... mainly so I can have the mount and the cool Panda monk outfits for transmog.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Belle Mythix wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Kelban Alenark wrote:

2) what is your biggest regret as far as Pathfinder creations go

3)whats your favorite and least favorite Adventure path and/or Adventure Module

2) I've got a few, but I won't be saying them out loud because that would hurt some feelings.

3) While I do have favorites and least-favorites... again, I'm not going to say which ones they are because there's not much more demoralizing to a freelance writer than the guy who hired you/Creative Director of the company saying that the thing you wrote was his least favorite. Not cool.

So, how about the stuff you made?

Of the things I've written, "Burnt Offerings" and "Sandpoint" in Pathfinder #1 are the things I'm the most proud of writing. And if I had to pick a LEAST favorite thing... I'd unfortunately have to say that would be "Dawn of the Scarlet Sun." Unfortunate because it's the most recent thing I've written to be out there, and so the question kind of comes up at a particularly sensitive time for me... (heavy sigh)

Hey don't be sad. I played in the Dawn of the Scarlet Sun module as Kyra and had a BLAST, it was a tough mod, but not an impossible one. You did a good job as far as I'm concerned! :-)


What aspects of Golarion, and Pathfinder in general exceeded your expectations, either in terms of concept or of rules systems? What ideas seemed iffy at first and turned out to be winners?

Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:
Kelban Alenark wrote:
2) what is your biggest regret as far as Pathfinder creations go
2) I've got a few, but I won't be saying them out loud because that would hurt some feelings.

If you read through this thread, you can probably guess what some of them are, though. Off the top of my head I'd guess ...

1) The Summoner class

- And -

2) Breath of Life not being called Cure Deadly Wounds

are probably both somewhere on the list. Biggest? I'd doubt it, but they're there ... somewhere.

Now, for something that's actually for James; what was the thought-process behind making race-specific archetypes in the Advanced Race Guide? I only ask because aside from appropriately-themed feats and prestige classes, there's been a noticeable trend towards staying away from stuff like racial archetypes. Especially in the case of the Arcane Archer, which had its racial prerequisite errata'd away, and the Stalwart Defender, which is clearly a dwarf-less Dwarven Defender.


Hi James,

what about area spells/effects like Fireball or Channel Energy, if those hit several targets at once. Rule is you:

A) roll one time and the result counts for all potential targets

B) roll for every target separately

Thanks for the answer.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

7 people marked this as a favorite.
Ughbash wrote:

With not being able to count a stat twice.

I am curious how that interacts with a Paladin/Oracle or Lore.

Example Paladin 3/ Oracle 3 and the Oracle has the mystery "side Step secret" which has him use his Charisma instead of dex for refelx saves.

Lets say the paladin has a dex of 12 and a charisma of 18.

What is his reflex save from stat mods.

The way I had read it before, he got +8 (Charisma from divine grace +4 and Charism INSTEAD of DEx from Side Step Secret +4.)

Now I can see it as +4 (divine grace but he can not add his charisma again) or +5 (Divine grace +4, but he can not add his charisma as base stat but instead still gets his dex). If the latter is the case the Mystery will actually make his save worse.

Divine grace grants an untyped bonus to all saving throws equal to the paladin's Charisma modifier—in this case, the ability specifically calls this bonus a bonus, and by leaving it untyped, the bonus from divine grace stacks with everything. It does not replace existing modifiers to saving throws gained from stats.

A paladin/oracle with that combination would indeed replace his Dex modifier with his Cha modifier for Reflex saves, and then when he gains divine grace, adds a bonus equal to his Cha modifier to all his saves.

It's not technically adding the ability score modifier twice, in any case.


James Jacobs wrote:
Severed Ronin wrote:
What would you say the closest human ethnicity and/or where in Golarion could make a good start for those of Irish/Celtic/Gaelic descent? Ive read a few posts suggesting some ideas, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, O Wise Tyrannosaur!
Probably Taldan, but perhaps Kellid. Maybe a Taldan/Kellid mix?

Hm. Nidal is a pretty misty place... Their ethnicity could do?

Or perhaps the traditional population of Druma? And/or Molthune and Nirmathas?

Actually, that is a question I'd like to ask James myself, what ARE the 'ethnic' background of Druma and Molthune/Nirmathas?
I haven't found any info on Druma's Humans, and Molthune's history seems to start with being conquered by Cheliax...?

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
3) While I do have favorites and least-favorites... again, I'm not going to say which ones they are because there's not much more demoralizing to a freelance writer than the guy who hired you/Creative Director of the company saying that the thing you wrote was his least favorite. Not cool.

Hi James, of course it is very reasonable that you do not wish to make a ranking of your favorite APs.

However, even without mentioning any products by name, I would be really interested in knowing what are the general criteria that make an AP your favourite: is it the plotline? the writing style? the NPCs? the commercial success? the level of innovation that you could put into it?

What are - let's say - your top three criteria?


This may seem like a odd/obvious question and answer, but if a werewolf character is level 4 and takes a +1 str at level 4 for his ability bonus, does that +1 apply in hybrid and animal forms too, or only if it brings his human str higher than his animal str?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Danny Kessler wrote:
What aspects of Golarion, and Pathfinder in general exceeded your expectations, either in terms of concept or of rules systems? What ideas seemed iffy at first and turned out to be winners?

Wow... that's a hard one to answer. Haunts are probably my favorite new mechanic for the game, with chases being a close second. I'm also quite pleased with how the Pathfinder Society has become such a strong element of the campaign setting.

As for iify ideas... hmmm. I think the best example there is the carbuncle. I hated that thing before Wes redeemed it. OH! And what James Sutter did with dire corbies in Misfit Monsters was brilliant.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alexander Augunas wrote:
Now, for something that's actually for James; what was the thought-process behind making race-specific archetypes in the Advanced Race Guide? I only ask because aside from appropriately-themed feats and prestige classes, there's been a noticeable trend towards staying away from stuff like racial archetypes. Especially in the case of the Arcane Archer, which had its racial prerequisite errata'd away, and the Stalwart Defender, which is clearly a dwarf-less Dwarven Defender.

I wasn't involved overly much in the creation of the Advanced Race Guide. My actual involvement, apart from any work on the races I did before that book, was to rewrite the opening paragraph for the samsaran... and that's pretty much it.

For the Arcane Archer and the Stalwart Defender, we decided to move away from racial requirements simply because those two classes are too interesting and too "global" to restrict them to one race. That type of narrowly-focused content shouldn't be a part of a book that's supposedly got content for lots of stuff... it should be in a book like, well, "Advanced Race Guide," where the whole point is stuff for your race.

Side Note: For things like classes, feats, spells, etc... you can pick new ones more or less every time you level up. So if something comes along later that you want, you're not necessarily "locked out" of that option. That's not the case with races—once you pick your race, you're pretty much stuck with that choice for the rest of the character. As such, making things like prestige classes require races when the context is not such that you're specifically in the mindset that "this is all about race specific stuff" can be unintentionally limiting, creatively speaking. hmm... not sure I explained that as well as I could have... but there ya go.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Aream wrote:

Hi James,

what about area spells/effects like Fireball or Channel Energy, if those hit several targets at once. Rule is you:

A) roll one time and the result counts for all potential targets

B) roll for every target separately

Thanks for the answer.

A.

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