Do you have any thoughts on what would work for him beside the obligatory Chaos and Evil domains? (Again, long time ago, so I know that no is a fair answer)Not that I remember.Okay, I know that I'm digging way into the past and that you probably haven't thought about Shackled City in years, but a question is bugging me and I can't seem to find an answer on my own.
Was Adimarcus ever assigned domains for his worshippers?
Adimarchus was a late addition to the demonic ranks, and not one that I really would have done had I been more in a position of decision making at the time (I think the fallen angel element works MUCH better for devils, not demons).
What's your reasoning behind that? (not arguing, just curious)
James, can you comment on this? The spell manifestations FAQ has really thrown a lot of people for a loop, and it's unclear how it interacts with invisibility.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2tw6u&page=1?Finding-invisible-spellcasters -via-their
The FAQ in question: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9tza
Basically, what was or is the intention here? Does invisibility suppress or hide these effects, or no?
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What's your reasoning behind that? (not arguing, just curious)Do you have any thoughts on what would work for him beside the obligatory Chaos and Evil domains? (Again, long time ago, so I know that no is a fair answer)Not that I remember.Okay, I know that I'm digging way into the past and that you probably haven't thought about Shackled City in years, but a question is bugging me and I can't seem to find an answer on my own.
Was Adimarcus ever assigned domains for his worshippers?
Adimarchus was a late addition to the demonic ranks, and not one that I really would have done had I been more in a position of decision making at the time (I think the fallen angel element works MUCH better for devils, not demons).
It has a lot to do with the devils having closer thematic ties to Christianity/Biblical elements and thus fallen angel stuff (AKA Lucifer), while D&D's demons have traditionally drawn upon cultures and mythologies that predate Christianity as a concept, and thus the idea of a fallen angel in the "Lucifer/Satan/Asmodeus" model wasn't really a thing yet.
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James, can you comment on this? The spell manifestations FAQ has really thrown a lot of people for a loop, and it's unclear how it interacts with invisibility.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2tw6u&page=1?Finding-invisible-spellcasters -via-their
The FAQ in question: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9tza
Basically, what was or is the intention here? Does invisibility suppress or hide these effects, or no?
I could comment, but I won't, because every time I get involved with errata or the FAQ for the rules it riles people up to see someone who doesn't have the word "designer" in their title talk in a public forum about rules.
Hi.
of the books/articles you wrote/collaborated which ones are your favorites?
Burnt Offerings
Inner Sea World Guide
Lords of Chaos
Dungeon magazine (particularly #112, #119, #134, #139, and #159)
Red Hand of Doom
Fiendish Codex I
Lords of Madness
Into the Darklands
The Demonomicon articles in Dragon magazine
Speaking of digging up the past, has this list changed at all in the last five years? And kudos to you for it already reading like my list of favourite books I've read.
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Speaking of digging up the past, has this list changed at all in the last five years? And kudos to you for it already reading like my list of favourite books I've read.Hi.
of the books/articles you wrote/collaborated which ones are your favorites?
Burnt Offerings
Inner Sea World Guide
Lords of Chaos
Dungeon magazine (particularly #112, #119, #134, #139, and #159)
Red Hand of Doom
Fiendish Codex I
Lords of Madness
Into the Darklands
The Demonomicon articles in Dragon magazine
I'd add "Song of Silver" to the list, along with "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos" book that's coming out soon.
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Would you lower the DC for Knowledge Religion checks if the deity is a racial deity and your character is of that race?
E.g. Elven deity and elf character, Orc deity and half-orc character, gnome and the eldest, etc.
No.
ALTHOUGH... if a character worships a deity, I'd lower the DC for that I suspect in that case. But just being an elf doesn't automatically give you insight into all elf deities, any more than being a human lets you know all about human deities.
It is hard for me to differentiate the Cthulhu Mythos from the Dominion of the Black. Both are spacefaring aliens. Both are very good at driving people mad. Both have horrific appearances. Both are tentacled monsters. Both are what humans are not meant to know. So how should I differentiate between them?
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It is hard for me to differentiate the Cthulhu Mythos from the Dominion of the Black. Both are spacefaring aliens. Both are very good at driving people mad. Both have horrific appearances. Both are tentacled monsters. Both are what humans are not meant to know. So how should I differentiate between them?
The Elder Mythos (what we refer to in-world as the "Cthulhu Mythos") consists of the stuff created by or directly traceable back to H. P. Lovecraft.
The Dominion of the Black does NOT trace back to HPL. Their inspiration is much more in line with movies like Alien. They owe their inspiration to Lovecraft's cosmic horror, but they are not themselves tied to Lovecraft's writings and legacy any more than that.
They are NOT both "tentacled monsters." The Elder Mythos includes a HUGE range of monsters, like deep ones or colours out of space or shantaks or mi-go or Leng spiders or Hounds of Tindalos, etc. Most do not have tentacles.
And they are NOT both "space-faring aliens." The Dominion of the Black is all about being space aliens. But the Elder Mythos encompasses a LOT more of that, and are as much about dream monsters or terrestrial monsters as they are aliens. MOST of the mythos stuff is not aliens. Shoggoths are not aliens, for example. Neither are Denizens of Leng. "Space Alien" is a sub-category for the Elder Mythos, but they are the ONLY category for the Dominion of the Black.
The Dominion of the Black is more about "evil creepy aliens" who want to mess with our brains, either physically or mentally. They're a MUCH narrower category of creature than the Elder Mythos, and overall constitute a relatively small group of monsters focusing on the brain collectors.
Check out the article on the Dominion of the Black we did in Iron Gods 6 and the Elder Mythos article we did in Strange Aeons 1 for more info.
When I first read the Starfinder, I was very disappointed to find out the Dominion of the Black and Aucturn still exist. I thought someday we will see the adventure paths in which the PCs will defeat Carsai the King and destroy Aucturn, or bring down the Dominion of the Black once and for all. Does that mean we will not be able to achieve those deeds in Pathfinder adventure paths any longer?
Happy new year!
Have you managed to find time to play in or run any RP's this year? Pathfinder or otherwise?
I think I've managed to run 3 sessions, but one of them may have been the last couple days of December. It's a little bit of a blur. =]
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When I first read the Starfinder, I was very disappointed to find out the Dominion of the Black and Aucturn still exist. I thought someday we will see the adventure paths in which the PCs will defeat Carsai the King and destroy Aucturn, or bring down the Dominion of the Black once and for all. Does that mean we will not be able to achieve those deeds in Pathfinder adventure paths any longer?
The timeline of Starfinder is not dependant on and locked into the timeline of Pathfinder, and vice-versa.
We COULD do an AP where the Dominion of the Black gets wiped out, or Abadar gets killed, or the Hellknights forever disband, or whatever, thus setting up a disconnect between Pathfinder and Starfinder. That's the WHOLE POINT of the gap. It's to set the two campaign settings apart, so that no one thing that happens in one game has to be true for the other.
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Happy new year!
Have you managed to find time to play in or run any RP's this year? Pathfinder or otherwise?
I think I've managed to run 3 sessions, but one of them may have been the last couple days of December. It's a little bit of a blur. =]
I haven't really run any RPGs since Paizocon.
I've played in Jason Nelson's Legendary Planet game, but that one only goes once a month and I tend to miss every 3rd one for whatever reasons.
Definitely need to find time to play more.
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Is there anything on the docket to expand Holomog or Mazludeh?
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Oh that's exciting to hear! I was a kickstarter backer for Legendary Planet and am running it here on the PbP boards. May I ask what sort of character/background/class you're running?Happy new year!
Have you managed to find time to play in or run any RP's this year? Pathfinder or otherwise?
I think I've managed to run 3 sessions, but one of them may have been the last couple days of December. It's a little bit of a blur. =]
I haven't really run any RPGs since Paizocon.
I've played in Jason Nelson's Legendary Planet game, but that one only goes once a month and I tend to miss every 3rd one for whatever reasons.
Definitely need to find time to play more.
Zinzi is a halfling swashbuckler who does a sick amount of stabby damage with her tiny little starknife. I joined the campaign halfway through the 2nd adventure so I wasn't as invested in the start of it all and the backgrounds; the campaign feat I took was the experiment one that lets me get boosts of speed because as a swashbuckler I enjoy tricking folks into making the mistake of attempting attacks of opportunity on me.
Dominions were semi-independent polities under the British Crown. For example, there were the dominion of New Zealand and the dominion of Newfoundland. Does that mean the Dominion of the Black is actually a semi-independent polity under the more powerful spacefaring empire? Like, the Empire of the Black or something like that?
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Dominions were semi-independent polities under the British Crown. For example, there were the dominion of New Zealand and the dominion of Newfoundland. Does that mean the Dominion of the Black is actually a semi-independent polity under the more powerful spacefaring empire? Like, the Empire of the Black or something like that?
Nope. Dominion is just the word we chose, in large part because it sounded more exotic and interesting than tired old phrases like "nation" or "kingdom" or whatever. There is no "Empire of the Black" or any larger group in charge of the Dominion of the Black.
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Recently, I read The Repairer of Reputations. It made me think a lot, and because you are a master of the Cthulhu Mythos, I think you can resolve my curiosity. Is it real? I mean, is Wilde really the architect of a vast conspiracy which uses blackmail to influence and command powerful men whose reputations the conspiracy has saved from scandal? Is Hildred Castaigne truly the the heir of the last king of the Imperial Dynasty of America which is descended from a lost kingdom within distant stars in the Hyades? Is Hawberk really the exiled marquis of Avonshire? Is the imperial crown truly made of gold and jewel, or just a theater prop made of brass and paste? Or is everything not real, and merely delusions caused by his madness? If so, how can Wilde know exactly where the missing tassets and left cuissard of the enamelled suit of armor? And how can Hildred brainwash Vance into executing Constance, if Hildred and Wilde did not have some supernatural powers? I'm really confused. What do you think about this? Do you think everything Hildred saw was just hallucinations caused by his madness, and not real?
Do you have a favorite orc in Middle-earth? Which one? :D
Does Questioner (archetype of Investigator) ignore arcane spell failure chance for light armor and shields?
This archetype casts arcane spells drawn from the bard spell list instead of mixing extracts. But it looks like that the sentence about ignoring arcane spell failure is accidentally missing. Because it is usually mentioned in paragraph about weapons and armor (for example in Bard class). And vanila Investigator doesn't care about arcane spell failure, because he is not casting – it doesn't matter for them that they don't have paragraph about ignoring arcane spell failure chance.
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Recently, I read The Repairer of Reputations. It made me think a lot, and because you are a master of the Cthulhu Mythos, I think you can resolve my curiosity. Is it real? I mean, is Wilde really the architect of a vast conspiracy which uses blackmail to influence and command powerful men whose reputations the conspiracy has saved from scandal? Is Hildred Castaigne truly the the heir of the last king of the Imperial Dynasty of America which is descended from a lost kingdom within distant stars in the Hyades? Is Hawberk really the exiled marquis of Avonshire? Is the imperial crown truly made of gold and jewel, or just a theater prop made of brass and paste? Or is everything not real, and merely delusions caused by his madness? If so, how can Wilde know exactly where the missing tassets and left cuissard of the enamelled suit of armor? And how can Hildred brainwash Vance into executing Constance, if Hildred and Wilde did not have some supernatural powers? I'm really confused. What do you think about this? Do you think everything Hildred saw was just hallucinations caused by his madness, and not real?
Assuming you're not asking about "is it real?" in the real world (it's fiction, or at least I hope it is!), I like to think that it is indeed real, within the confines of the story.
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Do you have to know about your deity to be able to worship one? Whether or not you are a cleric.
Yes, you have to know about a deity in order to worship one. You don't need to be an expert, but you should know her name and what she represents at the very least, and if you have no sacred texts to follow or no other worsihpers to worship with or follow the directives of, chances are very good that you'll end up diverging from the faith into a way that may lead to heresy and then may lead to blasphemy.
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Does Questioner (archetype of Investigator) ignore arcane spell failure chance for light armor and shields?
This archetype casts arcane spells drawn from the bard spell list instead of mixing extracts. But it looks like that the sentence about ignoring arcane spell failure is accidentally missing. Because it is usually mentioned in paragraph about weapons and armor (for example in Bard class). And vanila Investigator doesn't care about arcane spell failure, because he is not casting – it doesn't matter for them that they don't have paragraph about ignoring arcane spell failure chance.
Rules questions need to be asked in the appropriate rules forum so that the question can be FAQed and so that the design team will see them. Neither happens to rules questions posted here, and I'm not on the design team, so I don't answer rules questions because when I do, it tends to confuse PFS players and players who want "official resolutions" to their questions. (Being creative director isn't official enough to answer rules questions, apparently.)
Your comment about the difference between the Mythos and the Dominion really helped me a lot. Actually, I thought that Strange Aeons can be changed into a Dominion adventure path. I mean, I thought that I can remove the Mythos monsters entirely from the adventure path and put the Dominion monsters into it and the adventure path would still make sense. For example, even if I remove giants or hobgoblins and put other monsters like orcs into Giantslayer or Ironfang Invasion, if I do it properly, those adventure paths would largely remain the same. But now that I know the Mythos and the Dominion are vastly different from each other, I am not sure anymore. Do you think they are interchangeable? In other words, would Strange Aeons still largely remain the same if I change the Mythos monsters into the Dominion monsters?
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Your comment about the difference between the Mythos and the Dominion really helped me a lot. Actually, I thought that Strange Aeons can be changed into a Dominion adventure path. I mean, I thought that I can remove the Mythos monsters entirely from the adventure path and put the Dominion monsters into it and the adventure path would still make sense. For example, even if I remove giants or hobgoblins and put other monsters like orcs into Giantslayer or Ironfang Invasion, if I do it properly, those adventure paths would largely remain the same. But now that I know the Mythos and the Dominion are vastly different from each other, I am not sure anymore. Do you think they are interchangeable? In other words, would Strange Aeons still largely remain the same if I change the Mythos monsters into the Dominion monsters?
No, I don't think Strange Aeons would remain the same at all if you changed it from mythos focused to Dominion focus. The themes and story lines in Strange Aeons build upon over a century of real-world tradition, and those traditions are not served by swapping things out.
It's like replacing a vampire with a werewolf. The story of Dracula doesn't make sense if Dracula is a werewolf.
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Do you have to know about your deity to be able to worship one? Whether or not you are a cleric.Yes, you have to know about a deity in order to worship one. You don't need to be an expert, but you should know her name and what she represents at the very least, and if you have no sacred texts to follow or no other worsihpers to worship with or follow the directives of, chances are very good that you'll end up diverging from the faith into a way that may lead to heresy and then may lead to blasphemy.
Would you have to know more than a layman to be a cleric for a particular deity?
Like if its a core deity, everyone knows about them, do you have to know more to become a cleric?
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Do you have to know about your deity to be able to worship one? Whether or not you are a cleric.Yes, you have to know about a deity in order to worship one. You don't need to be an expert, but you should know her name and what she represents at the very least, and if you have no sacred texts to follow or no other worsihpers to worship with or follow the directives of, chances are very good that you'll end up diverging from the faith into a way that may lead to heresy and then may lead to blasphemy.Would you have to know more than a layman to be a cleric for a particular deity?
Like if its a core deity, everyone knows about them, do you have to know more to become a cleric?
No. Ranks in Knowledge (religion) are not a requirement to taking cleric levels.
Hi James,
Is there a place where you've written about the origins of your homebrew world and the transition to making it Pathfinder's official campaign setting?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Xenomorphs in the Alien film series are hive mind creatures. Are the Mythos and the Dominion monsters hive mind creatures too?
Hey James, happy very belated birthday to us. Pity nobody thought to wish you well then... ):
Moving on, I have a sort of Mythos question. Normally, objects can't be taken from the Dreamlands. However, instead of projecting a dream self (or however you get there the hard way), what if you physically visited the Dreamlands via gate? Would you be able to bring treasure to the material world then?
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No. Ranks in Knowledge (religion) are not a requirement to taking cleric levels.
Would you have a lower DC for knowing information regarding your own deity versus other deities?
Like if I were a cleric of Sicva, I should know more about her than I know about Ulon or Dagon. Even though both are relatively obscure on Golarion.
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One more missed...
Happy belated birthday to you, Mr. Jacobs.
Two more missed...
Happy belated birthday, AlgaeNymph.
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Hi James,
Is there a place where you've written about the origins of your homebrew world and the transition to making it Pathfinder's official campaign setting?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Not really, no. I tinkered with a little of that info on a blog I was doing a few years back now and then, I guess.
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Xenomorphs in the Alien film series are hive mind creatures. Are the Mythos and the Dominion monsters hive mind creatures too?
I never got the idea at all that the aliens are a hive mind. They have colonies, yes, but they don't share a single mind. Nothing in the movies suggests that, and in fact, everything suggests that they do NOT share a single mind.
Same goes for the Mythos (which, again, is a category as vast as ANY monster type) or the dominion, but there could absolutely be some creatures in each group that have hive minds with their own kind, same as for any large enough grouping of monster category.
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Hey James, happy very belated birthday to us. Pity nobody thought to wish you well then... ):
Moving on, I have a sort of Mythos question. Normally, objects can't be taken from the Dreamlands. However, instead of projecting a dream self (or however you get there the hard way), what if you physically visited the Dreamlands via gate? Would you be able to bring treasure to the material world then?
Yes, assuming you exited the Dreamlands physically as well and didn't do something weird.
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No. Ranks in Knowledge (religion) are not a requirement to taking cleric levels.Would you have a lower DC for knowing information regarding your own deity versus other deities?
Like if I were a cleric of Sicva, I should know more about her than I know about Ulon or Dagon. Even though both are relatively obscure on Golarion.
It DOES make sense for this to work in a way, but the rules don't support it. In my games, what I do is look at who's asking, and if it's a worshiper of a deity asking about their own faith, I'll often just tell them what they want to know if it's a DC 10 (or even 15 if I feel that the game benefits from auto-knowledge) or less check, and when there's a higher roll I'll often give that person a bonus to their check but keep the DC static.
Cassilda in Black Stars Beckon is described as a unique humanoid and not a human. What is her race? Shouldn't she be described as her own race, and not a unique humanoid? I don't even know which race does she belong to, though.
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Cassilda in Black Stars Beckon is described as a unique humanoid and not a human. What is her race? Shouldn't she be described as her own race, and not a unique humanoid? I don't even know which race does she belong to, though.
She's a unique humanoid. She is her race. There are no others. That's what being unique means.
Hi James! Happy belated birthday!
I'm building my first sorcerer and I have 2 questions:
(1) Can magical lineage and metamagic master be applied to the same spell?
(2) Can a sorcerer have both the crossblooded and the tattooed archetypes?
Thanks!
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Hi James! Happy belated birthday!
I'm building my first sorcerer and I have 2 questions:
(1) Can magical lineage and metamagic master be applied to the same spell?
(2) Can a sorcerer have both the crossblooded and the tattooed archetypes?
Thanks!
Rules questions should be asked in the rules forums where the design team will see the question and where folks can use the FAQ button to tag them. Neither of those things happens in this thread.
Hey James,
I really love Shelyn (obviously), but I'm puzzled by her Air domain. As far as I can read (Inner Sea Gods), she doesn't really seem to prefer any one element over the others; did I miss something?
I'd appreciate any sort of insight you can give on Shelyn's design, really.