Hi, James
Where does Pharasma send someone who follows multiple gods? Such as, the Witch trinities (Calistria/Gozreh/Pharasma being the main one named)
Can I use Wish or Mythic Wish to remove the undead or half-fiend template? Or maybe can it be used to change an outsider or a mezlan into a human again? I ask this beause I want to change the lich Auberon, the manasaputra Lurisian, the mezlan Harighal, the half-fiend Rashimos, and the ghost Jazradan into humans again, whether they want it or not.
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Can I use Wish or Mythic Wish to remove the undead or half-fiend template? Or maybe can it be used to change an outsider or a mezlan into a human again? I ask this beause I want to change the lich Auberon, the manasaputra Lurisian, the mezlan Harighal, the half-fiend Rashimos, and the ghost Jazradan into humans again, whether they want it or not.
You can if your GM allows. What a wish (and thus what a mythic wish) can do is really left to each individual GM, or to the story creator if it's an adventure or whatever.
That said, you should probably allow a saving throw to resist things like this anyway, since automatic effects aren't good for game play.
There is a sort of reverse waterspout which rises up from the Sightless Sea called the Braid. Is it natural? Or did the alghollthus create the Braid with magic?
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There is a sort of reverse waterspout which rises up from the Sightless Sea called the Braid. Is it natural? Or did the alghollthus create the Braid with magic?
Nothing about a "reverse waterspout" can be natural. It's a magical creation of the algholthus.
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When Aroden died, did prophecy break just on Golarion, or across the material plane?
Monsters are categorized into combat, skill, special, and spell roles. These roles indicate what types of character classes are treated as key classes for each monster. Then to which role the Vault Builders and the Vault Keepers belong? The Emerald Spire Superdungeon didn't say a word about it.Vault keepers are in the combat role. Vault builders are combat and spell roles.
Then what are the roles of veiled masters and omnipaths? Inner Sea Bestiary and Occult Bestiary didn't give me relevant information.
What did you think of Black Panther?
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The Negative Energy Plane. There's no deities there and souls don't do well there.So Pharasma can send souls to the First World if the soul was a worshipper of The Eldest.
Are there any planes where Pharasma doesn't send souls to?
Why are there no deities there?
Wouldn't deities like Urgathoa enjoy it there. Undeath and all.
Hi James,
From a mechanics-that-reflect-the-flavor perspective, how does Asmodeus', Nethys', and Urgathoa's access to the "Divine" subdomain make their respective flavors distinct from deities that lack the subdomain but still have a metric butt-load of divine power?
I mean, there's no way a subdomain means that a wee youngster like Nethys has more divine power than Sarenrae, right?
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Then what are the roles of veiled masters and omnipaths? Inner Sea Bestiary and Occult Bestiary didn't give me relevant information.
Check out the various Ruins of Azlant for more info on them, but in a nutshell... veiled masters are the leaders and omnipaths are telepathic "routers" that boost signals.
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The Negative Energy Plane. There's no deities there and souls don't do well there.So Pharasma can send souls to the First World if the soul was a worshipper of The Eldest.
Are there any planes where Pharasma doesn't send souls to?
Why are there no deities there?
Wouldn't deities like Urgathoa enjoy it there. Undeath and all.
Because souls can't exist there, and therefore there can be no petitioners there, and therefore there can be no real deific realms there, and perhaps because of other reasons that remain mysterious.
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Hi James,
From a mechanics-that-reflect-the-flavor perspective, how does Asmodeus', Nethys', and Urgathoa's access to the "Divine" subdomain make their respective flavors distinct from deities that lack the subdomain but still have a metric butt-load of divine power?
I mean, there's no way a subdomain means that a wee youngster like Nethys has more divine power than Sarenrae, right?
The Arcane and Divine subdomains exist more because of the fact that the Magic domain doesn't really suggest much more than those options. And now that we've got occult magic, it's an even more awkward set of subdomains. We pretty much had to give the Divine subdomain to some deities in order to further justify its existence, but frankly, those two subdomains are weird and awkward and kinda unnecessary and pointless when it comes to "flavor" for a deity. This is a case where rules mechanics really HAVE no flavor to add to the situation. It's like having more than one brand of bottled water on the shelf. It's all just water, despite the different packaging.
The possession of subdomains has no impact on a deity's power. Giving out the subdomain of Divine doesn't make a deity any more "divinely powerful" any more than the Wind subdomain makes a deity any more windy. Subdomains are things for clerics and increase clerical options. They don't make divinities any more or any less of what they are.
Then what are the roles of veiled masters and omnipaths? Inner Sea Bestiary and Occult Bestiary didn't give me relevant information.Check out the various Ruins of Azlant for more info on them, but in a nutshell... veiled masters are the leaders and omnipaths are telepathic "routers" that boost signals.
No. I mean, among the combat, skill, special, and spell roles, which roles do they fall into?
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No. I mean, among the combat, skill, special, and spell roles, which roles do they fall into?Then what are the roles of veiled masters and omnipaths? Inner Sea Bestiary and Occult Bestiary didn't give me relevant information.Check out the various Ruins of Azlant for more info on them, but in a nutshell... veiled masters are the leaders and omnipaths are telepathic "routers" that boost signals.
Both of those monsters are in Bestiary 6 and have their roles listed in Appendix 12.
(Both are combat and spell role monsters.)
Can I use Wish or Mythic Wish to remove the undead or half-fiend template? Or maybe can it be used to change an outsider or a mezlan into a human again? I ask this beause I want to change the lich Auberon, the manasaputra Lurisian, the mezlan Harighal, the half-fiend Rashimos, and the ghost Jazradan into humans again, whether they want it or not.You can if your GM allows. What a wish (and thus what a mythic wish) can do is really left to each individual GM, or to the story creator if it's an adventure or whatever.
That said, you should probably allow a saving throw to resist things like this anyway, since automatic effects aren't good for game play.
What about you? If you are the GM, would you allow your players to do those things with Wish?
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What about you? If you are the GM, would you allow your players to do those things with Wish?Can I use Wish or Mythic Wish to remove the undead or half-fiend template? Or maybe can it be used to change an outsider or a mezlan into a human again? I ask this beause I want to change the lich Auberon, the manasaputra Lurisian, the mezlan Harighal, the half-fiend Rashimos, and the ghost Jazradan into humans again, whether they want it or not.You can if your GM allows. What a wish (and thus what a mythic wish) can do is really left to each individual GM, or to the story creator if it's an adventure or whatever.
That said, you should probably allow a saving throw to resist things like this anyway, since automatic effects aren't good for game play.
It would depend entirely on the situation at the time, who was making the wish, where the wish was being powered from, where the wish was happening, what my attitude about how the wish could affect the plot would be at that time, and much, much more. Wishes are best when they don't have pre-set rules as to how they should work each time.
Unity performed invasive and experimental surgical procedures on Ozmyn Zaidow's brain and made him its puppet. If Ozmyn somehow acquired the immunity to mind-affecting effects, or if Unity performed this surgery upon a creature who is inherently immune to mind-affecting effects(like serpentfolk), would Unity still be able to control him? At first I thought it cannot because of the immunity, but Unity's control is not magical but scientific. Thus maybe the immunity to mind-affecting effects would be useless against Unity's brain surgery?
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Unity performed invasive and experimental surgical procedures on Ozmyn Zaidow's brain and made him its puppet. If Ozmyn somehow acquired the immunity to mind-affecting effects, or if Unity performed this surgery upon a creature who is inherently immune to mind-affecting effects(like serpentfolk), would Unity still be able to control him? At first I thought it cannot because of the immunity, but Unity's control is not magical but scientific. Thus maybe the immunity to mind-affecting effects would be useless against Unity's brain surgery?
Immunity to mind-affecting effects grants immunity to all of those effects, be they magical or technological in nature. Whether or not surgery/lobotomy type stuff to control another creature by physically changing their brain is actually "mind affecting" or not is the question. The answer is—if it makes the story better to have it be mind affecting, then it's mind affecting. Otherwise it's not. It doesn't play into the plot as created for Iron Gods, so if you want to change how it works in your game, feel free to do so but keep in mind that without Ozmyn in the main-bad-guy role for book 5 of Iron Gods, that adventure might end up losing a climax depending on how you tinker.
Anunnaki in Bestiary 5 strangely resemble the Engineers in the movie Prometheus. They are both mysterious god-like beings that shape the very direction of civilizations. They are both tall and white. Are anunnaki inspired by the Engineers?
To clarify, what is fate?A mystery that becomes less interesting if it's defined.
Hrm. Don't you think it's important to define something so fundamental to the setting?
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Anunnaki in Bestiary 5 strangely resemble the Engineers in the movie Prometheus. They are both mysterious god-like beings that shape the very direction of civilizations. They are both tall and white. Are anunnaki inspired by the Engineers?
Anunnaki are from real world mythology that predate both Pathfinder and Prometheus by a few thousand years. I suspect they are one of the major inspirations for the Engineers.
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Hrm. Don't you think it's important to define something so fundamental to the setting?To clarify, what is fate?A mystery that becomes less interesting if it's defined.
Nope. Not when it's something that could easily be defined as "This is the thing that will happen to your character in the game because I, the GM, say it is fated to happen to you, so you as a player have no agency in determining your own character's future."
No thanks. That's the worst kind of railroading. Better to leave it mysterious and use the currently existing dictionary definitions for the word rather than define it with rules.
I'd love to do a Taldor AP... but so would Rob, and we have opposite opinions as to who the "good guys" are in that nation...Would you elaborate on that? Not just who you and he thinks the good guys are but also why.I think that the good guys in Taldor are NOT the ones currently in charge. I think that a Taldor AP would be about revolution and the new blood breathing new life into Taldor and joining the Inner Sea Region as a more accepting nation and making peace with Qadira, but being opposed the whole way by the current regime who is unable to let go of the past.
Rob prefers to see the current regime as the good guys who should rise once again from their current low point to reclaim and rebuild their glory days.
Both are viable plots. Just not at the same time.
Now that War for the Crown is out, I have a question. Who won? I mean, between your ideas and Rob's ideas, which was accepted?
James,
What is the polite protocol for sending private messages via the forums to members of the Paizo staff?
Followup: Is there one?
Thank you very much for your time in advance!
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Do the Empyreal Lords have any sort of sub-categories or further classification besides by alignment?
The evil deities have so many sub-groupings like the Hell deities have 4 sub-groups of deities/demi-gods: Archdevils, Night Queens, Infernal Dukes and Malebranches.
There's a whole bunch of evil deity groupings, but only one grouping of good deities.
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Hello James,
I’m currently running a kingmaker campaign and the party is just starting to reach the point where international diplomacy is on the horizon. There are rules for diplomatic edicts in Ultimate Campaign, but they require some “stats” for the kingdoms involved. To calculate something like “fame” accurately for existing nations such as Brevoy (etc.) would require a huge amount of “building,” from each settlement in that nation up. Are there now, or are there likely to be, official “kingdom stats” using the ultimate campaign rules for the nations of Golarion?
There are not. If you're not using the kingdom building rules in Kingmaker, there are bits of advice on how to make those checks without that element in each adventure; If I remember correctly that info is in the foreword.
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Now that War for the Crown is out, I have a question. Who won? I mean, between your ideas and Rob's ideas, which was accepted?I'd love to do a Taldor AP... but so would Rob, and we have opposite opinions as to who the "good guys" are in that nation...Would you elaborate on that? Not just who you and he thinks the good guys are but also why.I think that the good guys in Taldor are NOT the ones currently in charge. I think that a Taldor AP would be about revolution and the new blood breathing new life into Taldor and joining the Inner Sea Region as a more accepting nation and making peace with Qadira, but being opposed the whole way by the current regime who is unable to let go of the past.
Rob prefers to see the current regime as the good guys who should rise once again from their current low point to reclaim and rebuild their glory days.
Both are viable plots. Just not at the same time.
Crystal and Rob and I, I believe, always wanted the Princess to win, but who ACTUALLY wins depends on how things play out in your game.
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James,What is the polite protocol for sending private messages via the forums to members of the Paizo staff?
Followup: Is there one?
Thank you very much for your time in advance!
The protocol is to be polite, be as quick and to the point as possible (no walls of text, please), and be patient. We're each different people with different schedules, and while sometimes some of us might reply instantly, other times we might take hours, days, or never reply at all because things got lost in the shuffle.
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Do the Empyreal Lords have any sort of sub-categories or further classification besides by alignment?
The evil deities have so many sub-groupings like the Hell deities have 4 sub-groups of deities/demi-gods: Archdevils, Night Queens, Infernal Dukes and Malebranches.
There's a whole bunch of evil deity groupings, but only one grouping of good deities.
This is 100% by design, to break up the boring symmetry stuff.
Were the Nameless Spires in the North Pole built by the elder things?
The Cthulhu Mythos is called the Elder Mythos on Golarion. The strange creatures with a star-shaped head and numerous writhing appendages are called the elder things. Does that mean, unlike the Cthulhu Mythos on Earth, the Elder Mythos focuses on the Elder Gods? And the elder things worship the Elder Gods?
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This is 100% by design, to break up the boring symmetry stuff.Do the Empyreal Lords have any sort of sub-categories or further classification besides by alignment?
The evil deities have so many sub-groupings like the Hell deities have 4 sub-groups of deities/demi-gods: Archdevils, Night Queens, Infernal Dukes and Malebranches.
There's a whole bunch of evil deity groupings, but only one grouping of good deities.
It does make the Empyreal Lord group a little intimidating as they're the biggest pantheon to get into if I'm not wrong.
How would you introduce Empyreal Lords as a group, would you break them up by alignment to introduce in chunks or just by related areas of concern?
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The Cthulhu Mythos is called the Elder Mythos on Golarion. The strange creatures with a star-shaped head and numerous writhing appendages are called the elder things. Does that mean, unlike the Cthulhu Mythos on Earth, the Elder Mythos focuses on the Elder Gods? And the elder things worship the Elder Gods?
It does not mean that at all.
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This is 100% by design, to break up the boring symmetry stuff.Do the Empyreal Lords have any sort of sub-categories or further classification besides by alignment?
The evil deities have so many sub-groupings like the Hell deities have 4 sub-groups of deities/demi-gods: Archdevils, Night Queens, Infernal Dukes and Malebranches.
There's a whole bunch of evil deity groupings, but only one grouping of good deities.
It does make the Empyreal Lord group a little intimidating as they're the biggest pantheon to get into if I'm not wrong.
How would you introduce Empyreal Lords as a group, would you break them up by alignment to introduce in chunks or just by related areas of concern?
A pantheon's size doesn't really mean much at all, though. It's not like they all get along with each other. As with any pantheon, there's plenty of bickering and infighting and rivalries.
And I wouldn't introduce them as smaller groups—If I did, we would have done them that way rather than as we did. Breaking them up by alignment is one way, but I prefer organizing them by outsider species—azatas, angels, archons, and agathions, like we did on the inside cover of Chronicle of the Righteous.
In The Shadow over Innsmouth, the Elder Sign was used as a defence against deep ones. The story suggests that the deep ones cannot harm someone protected by an Elder Sign. If the Elder Gods are the traditional gods like Pharasma, Abadar, or Iomedae, can the deep ones harm someone wielding the holy symbol of the gods?
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How did Baphomet get to be the patron of minotaurs? Dude's clearly a goat.
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How did Baphomet get to be the patron of minotaurs? Dude's clearly a goat.
That's sort of an easter egg from D&D. We abandoned his minotaur elements more or less and went with the real-world mythological illustrations as a starting point for him, both because they're more interesting and to build him as a different character than the D&D version.
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In The Shadow over Innsmouth, the Elder Sign was used as a defence against deep ones. The story suggests that the deep ones cannot harm someone protected by an Elder Sign. If the Elder Gods are the traditional gods like Pharasma, Abadar, or Iomedae, can the deep ones harm someone wielding the holy symbol of the gods?
The elder sign is not in "The Shadow over Innsmouth," and thus was not used as a defense against deep ones.
Nor is the elder sign created by the "Elder Gods" per se.
In any event, deep ones can harm someone wielding a holy symbol all they want.
Any chance we'll get more Catfolk content?