Hey James,
I was wondering what your thoughts are for a player who would like to be a Paladin of Desna. Is such a thing workable?
I already explained to the player that for such a thing to work, he'd have to be a heretic of some sort, and having any sort of code wouldn't exactly make sense. But, he'd really like to play a paladin and Desna is the only deity that would make sense for him.
He's really flexible about it, and we both agree he wouldn't have access to any Lawful spells. (though I'm not sure if that's fair?)
And if it helps at all we're playing Wrath of the Righteous, starting Demon's Heresy now. He's not aware of story line of that book and does read this thread (though he'd respect spoiler tags if the response warrants them).
Nope. Desna is Chaotic Good, and thus cannot have paladins. A worshiper who is devout to Desna would be chaotic and thus not a paladin. A worshiper who was lawful would NOT be devout to Desna and would not be faithful or adhering to her teachings, which is not a lawful act, and thus would not be a paladin. Chaotic deities cannot have paladins. Even as a heretic it won't work.
Instead, he should play a warpriest of Desna, or perhaps an inquisitor of Desna, or maybe just a cleric/fighter multiclassed character who worships Desna.
Obviously, you can do what you want in your game, but you won't get "permission" from me to allow a paladin of Desna.
I'd talk to the player and drill down on what makes him want "Paladin" + "Desna." There are lots of lawful good empyreal lords to choose from and perhaps one of them is close enough to whatever elements of Desna attract him to work? Or perhaps you can figure out what elements of being a paladin he really desires and then, through a combination of legal choices and archetypes and prestige classes figure out how to do something similar with a chaotic good character.
Or maybe he should just play an atheist wizard.
Yeah, we'll look over the options again. From a mechanical stand point he likes the idea of the mount and lance, which is why he was drawn to Paladin initially. Plus he'd been toying with the idea of becoming a Paladin over the course of the AP since the beginning (using the retraining rules) and alignment drift. And as I said before, based on the background he made for his character, the only deity that makes sense is Desna.
Maybe a Cavalier might work? And I'll certainly go over the archetypes again, maybe we missed something.
Anyways, thanks for the response!
EDIT: We also found Divine Commander (Warpriest archetype with a mount). So between that and Cavalier I think we're set. Thanks again!
Hi, James.
Just a few generic table-top RPG questions for you...
In general, do you prefer to be the GM or a player?
When you GM, do you roll dice behind a screen or in front of everyone?
When you run a published module, how much do you change things up to take your PCs' abilities/strengths/weaknesses/foibles/backstories into account?
When you GM, are you often tempted to switch out a bad guy's abilities/powers on the fly to make the encounter cooler? Do you?
I'll state for the record that when I GM, I don't like to let an inconvenient die roll get in the way of a good story. What's your opinion on that postion?
Thanks for taking the time to engage with fans of the game, and I hope you have a great day!
Creative Director
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While I understand the dislike for TPM, hey I was the "Ask A Jedi Guy" for 3 years and still get freaking mail because of it, don't you think, since the staff is being lumped in, it might be possible to maybe nudge the design team a little to help them out?*snipping some of this for space*
Try focusing on NOT the damage side of things, but stuff that triggers regardless of damage. Combat maneuvers, effects that trigger when you hit other than damage, or things like intimidating foes or distracting them so that a different PC who DOESN'T have the number of attacks you do has a better chance to land their limited number but stronger hits.
Furhtermore, monks are not really "high damage dealing" types of characters. They're not a great offensive...
I'm not really willing to set the precedent of "James is the most active on these boards of the editorial team and so let's make him be our gateway into getting suggestions funneled to the other members of that team." So, no, sorry, I'm not gonna do that.
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Creative Director
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Hi, James.
Just a few generic table-top RPG questions for you...
In general, do you prefer to be the GM or a player?
When you GM, do you roll dice behind a screen or in front of everyone?
When you run a published module, how much do you change things up to take your PCs' abilities/strengths/weaknesses/foibles/backstories into account?
When you GM, are you often tempted to switch out a bad guy's abilities/powers on the fly to make the encounter cooler? Do you?
I'll state for the record that when I GM, I don't like to let an inconvenient die roll get in the way of a good story. What's your opinion on that postion?
Thanks for taking the time to engage with fans of the game, and I hope you have a great day!
I'm pretty equally into both GMing and playing... but these days, given my day job is basically being a GM 40 hours a week more or less, I do prefer playing instead of the content creation role in my off time.
I don't use a screen when I GM. I roll dice in view of everyone, except when I don't want to, in which case I roll stealthy.
Depends on the published module, of course—if it's one I developed, I generally don't change much because I already made the adjustments I'd make in many cases to match my play style. For a published module by someone else, I often change a lot, and in some cases change EVERYTHING but the map.
I do indeed tinker with an NPC/monster's stats in game to adjust to make for better encounters, especially in cases where it's obvious that a monster's abilities are simply way too good or way too feeble.
I generally enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to make an inconvenient die roll augment the story, but also make good use of copious plot twist cards for the players to use to help them control randomness to a certain extent.
And Saventh-Yhi is intended to feel kind of "lost world" in and of itself; there's certainly dinosaurs there, and it's all about being discovered by modern humans for the first time. I suspect that you can just add a bit more dinosaurs to The middle third of Serpent's Skull and you'll already have the lost world trope right there in your game; no need to add it in near the end of Racing to Ruin because it becomes the whole point of the rest of the campaign.
Thank you for your answer, you make a very good point. I'll just play up the role of the prehistoric beasties in the city (a few hunting packs, a couple of deinonychus/raptor nests), and on the journey there (herds of herbivores on the plains, etc.). Thanks for the inspiration!
1)So what was so disappointing about the 5th wave?
2)Would you be interested in animated based series for Golarion? If so what would you want? Who would get?
3)What would you prefer for a Golarion based project: animated show, animated movie(s), live action movie(s), live action show?
4)Would you like any of the APs turned into a TV series or just something original?
5)What would be your top 5 choices for such a project as in country, region, planet, etc.?
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Creative Director
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1)So what was so disappointing about the 5th wave?
2)Would you be interested in animated based series for Golarion? If so what would you want? Who would get?
3)What would you prefer for a Golarion based project: animated show, animated movie(s), live action movie(s), live action show?
4)Would you like any of the APs turned into a TV series or just something original?
5)What would be your top 5 choices for such a project as in country, region, planet, etc.?
1) It was super cliched, anticlimactic, poorly paced, and filled with stupid plot developments.
2) Yes, but I don't really have any one studio or person I'd like to see do this over another.
3) Assuming it was on a network like AMC or HBO or the like, a live action show.
4) The APs could do great as a series I think.
5) Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Hell's Rebels, Iron Gods, and Shadows Under Sandpoint.
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Creative Director
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1) Are the Yenchabur of Daggermark Keleshite?
2) Was the city state of Yenchabur part of the Empire of Kelesh, or was it separate?
3) Did you have any real-world comparisons for Yenchabur, both the city and the people?
1) I have absolutely no idea.
2) Also no idea.
3) What's a Yenchabur?
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So did Chopper always worship Pazuzu, or did that start after event that triggered his rampage? Is knowledge of demon lord whose name must not be mentioned common knowledge? Also, was he possessed by Pazuzu during rampage?
Are Kabiri and Sandpoint Devil connected or is it just coincidence that the temple is in same area as Devil's lair?
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1) Are the Yenchabur of Daggermark Keleshite?
2) Was the city state of Yenchabur part of the Empire of Kelesh, or was it separate?
3) Did you have any real-world comparisons for Yenchabur, both the city and the people?1) I have absolutely no idea.
2) Also no idea.
3) What's a Yenchabur?
I believe this regards the legendary founders of Daggermark, referenced in Guide to the River Kingdoms. Supposedly they were the remnants of an assassin army from a ruined city-state Yenchabur in central Casmaron.
To briefly contribute my humble interpretation, I suspect Yenchabur included a sizeable Kelishite population—or at least some sub-ethnicity thereof. As to whether they were part of the Padishah Empire is undefined, and I imagine were we to do a book about Kelesh, it might touch upon this further.
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Creative Director
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So did Chopper always worship Pazuzu, or did that start after event that triggered his rampage? Is knowledge of demon lord whose name must not be mentioned common knowledge? Also, was he possessed by Pazuzu during rampage?
Are Kabiri and Sandpoint Devil connected or is it just coincidence that the temple is in same area as Devil's lair?
That information is not yet ready to be revealed. Some day, though!
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Creative Director
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1) Are the Yenchabur of Daggermark Keleshite?
2) Was the city state of Yenchabur part of the Empire of Kelesh, or was it separate?
3) Did you have any real-world comparisons for Yenchabur, both the city and the people?1) I have absolutely no idea.
2) Also no idea.
3) What's a Yenchabur?
I believe this regards the legendary founders of Daggermark, referenced in Guide to the River Kingdoms. Supposedly they were the remnants of an assassin army from a ruined city-state Yenchabur in central Casmaron.
To briefly contribute my humble interpretation, I suspect Yenchabur included a sizeable Kelishite population—or at least some sub-ethnicity thereof. As to whether they were part of the Padishah Empire is undefined, and I imagine were we to do a book about Kelesh, it might touch upon this further.
AH; right, now I recall fragments. There's not really a lot more to say about Yenchabur, other than that it's a little unfortunate that it's so close in sound to Ninshabur...
For Strange Aeons is the party going to be going to the Plateau of Leng by any chance? I am very curious on your guys take on who the High Priest Not to Be Described would be if they were to go there. Some vote for Hastur, and some vote for Nyarlothotep. Then again, some say Hastur is an avatar/herald of Nyarlothotep. Just curious. ^_^ I am currently running carrion crown and added the house on hook street to replace the recommended carrion hill. I just changed the location to carrion hill :)
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Creative Director
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For Strange Aeons is the party going to be going to the Plateau of Leng by any chance? I am very curious on your guys take on who the High Priest Not to Be Described would be if they were to go there. Some vote for Hastur, and some vote for Nyarlothotep. Then again, some say Hastur is an avatar/herald of Nyarlothotep. Just curious. ^_^ I am currently running carrion crown and added the house on hook street to replace the recommended carrion hill. I just changed the location to carrion hill :)
We've already covered that. The 5th volume of Shattered Star went to Leng, and included a Gazetteer of Leng. As well as info (and a picture!) of the High Priest Not To Be Described.
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Howdy James, hope you're doing alright.
I wanted to play a Druid for the first time in an upcoming game, and I was hoping to learn a bit more about Druids on Golarion. Here goes
1) Can a druid be "self taught" or would one need a mentor/schooling to become a druid?
2) The druid class description calls them "servants of philosophical balance" I'm really not sure I understand that at all. Balance between what exactly?
3) If druids are concerned with balance or duality, how does one justify becoming an adventurer? That's a violent, chaotic way of life, even if there's a greater goal in mind.
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Creative Director
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I wanted to play a Druid for the first time in an upcoming game, and I was hoping to learn a bit more about Druids on Golarion. Here goes
1) Can a druid be "self taught" or would one need a mentor/schooling to become a druid?
2) The druid class description calls them "servants of philosophical balance" I'm really not sure I understand that at all. Balance between what exactly?
3) If druids are concerned with balance or duality, how does one justify becoming an adventurer? That's a violent, chaotic way of life, even if there's a greater goal in mind.
1) Yes, they can be self taught.
2) The classic (almost stereotyped) druid is one who seeks balance between law and chaos and between good and evil. That's kind of a generic druid trope that's been saddled with the class from various previous editions of D&D, and it's not really the main theme of Golarion druids, who are more like nature priests.
3) What ANY character does to justify becoming an adventurer will work. Maybe the druid is seeking revenge. Perhaps he's eager to spread the word of his beliefs. Maybe she wants to seek out an enemy of the natural world. Perhaps he just wants to explore and experience different types of nature. Maybe she's friends or related to another PC and comes along to protect that PC during the adventure. And so on. If you're playing an Adventure Path, each one of those has a large number of Campaign Traits you can pick to give your character a reason to leave the comforts of home.
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Creative Director
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Who is your favorite adventure path main antagonist? Personally mine is a certain runelord of greed.
I don't have "favorites" from Adventure Paths. They're all cool, and if I say one thing (be it a cover or a villain or an adventure or a new monster or a plot or whatever) I instantly feel guilty about not saying another was my favorite.
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3) What ANY character does to justify becoming an adventurer will work. Maybe the druid is seeking revenge. Perhaps he's eager to spread the word of his beliefs. Maybe she wants to seek out an enemy of the natural world. Perhaps he just wants to explore and experience different types of nature. Maybe she's friends or related to another PC and comes along to protect that PC during the adventure. And so on. If you're playing an Adventure Path, each one of those has a large number of Campaign Traits you can pick to give your character a reason to leave the comforts of home.
Sounds like I forgot that druids are people too. In fact, it's obvious now that a druid would be the type of person to embrace their emotions, flaws, and call to adventure. It's only natural.
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I've been thinking about problematic faves lately. Is it possible to enjoy something while admitting its problematic nature, or does doing so mean you're essentially excusing the problematic element for the sake of your own entertainment? The Dragon Age series is a big source of concern for me at the moment. Certainly one of my all time favorite games, I've played the first two multiple times, but as I explore it online, I learn about how characters like Alistair and Zevran have been progressively whitewashed in sequels, mods making characters like Dorian straight (which is freakin' awful since Dorian's sexuality and society's reaction to it is kind of a core element of his storyline) and all sorts of other nasty things. Can I, in good conscience, enjoy the games knowing all this? Or would divesting with them entirely be the more ethical, less white supremacist thing to do?
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Speaking of Druids...
The part of me that actually liked The Blair Witch Project when I saw in the theater in 1999 instantly clicked with the Shade of the Uskwood feat. However, subsequent support/data for the Uskwood druids has been sort of spotty. Questions:
1.If you guys were to do things over again, would you have made Shade of the Uskwood an archetype, rather than a feat? It came back as a feat in the Inner Sea World Guide, but that may have just been a time-saving measure(I have no way of knowing).
2. Now that the Witch class exists, would it have been a better fit for the thematic niche?
3. The Inner Sea Gods writeup of Zon-Kuthon mentions the Shade of the Uskwood feat, but almost nothing new for those nasty Kuthite druids- they get a single new faith-specific spell,and access to any general options they might qualify for. Was this an oversight, or a "we'll get to them and the rest of Nidal's take on the faith later"?
4. I often house rule that an Uskwood Druid can take the Darkness domain as part of their Nature Bond, since it seems to fit the theme. If the concept is revisited, is that a likely "fix"?
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Creative Director
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When it comes to creating magic in your game world, how do you handle it, rules and limitations lore wise and the like?
Also, that Old Hunter's DLC is nutz. The lore that it fills in about certain people is amazing. From Software has definetly gotten better since its Metal Wolf Chaos days.
Same as in Goalrion. In a lot of ways, Golarion IS my game world, after all.
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Creative Director
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I've been thinking about problematic faves lately. Is it possible to enjoy something while admitting its problematic nature, or does doing so mean you're essentially excusing the problematic element for the sake of your own entertainment? The Dragon Age series is a big source of concern for me at the moment. Certainly one of my all time favorite games, I've played the first two multiple times, but as I explore it online, I learn about how characters like Alistair and Zevran have been progressively whitewashed in sequels, mods making characters like Dorian straight (which is freakin' awful since Dorian's sexuality and society's reaction to it is kind of a core element of his storyline) and all sorts of other nasty things. Can I, in good conscience, enjoy the games knowing all this? Or would divesting with them entirely be the more ethical, less white supremacist thing to do?
It's absolutely possible to enjoy something while admitting that there are problems. In fact, knowing and identifying problems in something you enjoy is a big part of being a critical thinker.
For example: H. P. Lovecraft is my favorite author, but he was also a racist. Was part of his racisim a product of the time he lived in? Yes. Is there evidence that his racisim lessened as he grew older? Also yes. But he's still a racist. Despite that, he's also my favorite author, and I still enjoy reading his stories. Does that make ME a racist? No. It makes me someone who admires the good qualities of Lovecraft as a person and perhaps forgives the bad qualities... or if not forgives, tolerates.
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Creative Director
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Speaking of Druids...
The part of me that actually liked The Blair Witch Project when I saw in the theater in 1999 instantly clicked with the Shade of the Uskwood feat. However, subsequent support/data for the Uskwood druids has been sort of spotty. Questions:
1.If you guys were to do things over again, would you have made Shade of the Uskwood an archetype, rather than a feat? It came back as a feat in the Inner Sea World Guide, but that may have just been a time-saving measure(I have no way of knowing).
2. Now that the Witch class exists, would it have been a better fit for the thematic niche?
3. The Inner Sea Gods writeup of Zon-Kuthon mentions the Shade of the Uskwood feat, but almost nothing new for those nasty Kuthite druids- they get a single new faith-specific spell,and access to any general options they might qualify for. Was this an oversight, or a "we'll get to them and the rest of Nidal's take on the faith later"?
4. I often house rule that an Uskwood Druid can take the Darkness domain as part of their Nature Bond, since it seems to fit the theme. If the concept is revisited, is that a likely "fix"?
1) Nope. Archetypes aren't the magic solution for everything. If anything, I'd set it up as a prestige class so that more than just druids could partake of the flavor of the option, but as it stands, I'm fine with it being a feat. It could, some day, do the same thing as the bloatmage prestige class in that regard.
2) No. They were always intended to be druids. We had places for witches hard-coded into our setting from day 1 (Irrisen, for example, and Ustalav), and as such they never needed to be "backed in" to the setting.
3) Inner Sea Gods gives those druids eight pages of Zon-Kuthon lore and info to be inspired by. Inner Seas Gods is a flavor book first and a crunch book second. If we ever do something that focuses more on the Uskwood stuff, we may create more options for druids, or more likely, we'll contextualize existing options.
4) Not likely, no.
3) Inner Sea Gods gives those druids eight pages of Zon-Kuthon lore and info to be inspired by. Inner Seas Gods is a flavor book first and a crunch book second. If we ever do something that focuses more on the Uskwood stuff, we may create more options for druids, or more likely, we'll contextualize existing options
Part of my query stems from the fact that in those eight pages of Zon-Kuthon lore, druids are alluded to precisely once- by the notation that the Shade of the Uskwood feat is a suitable choice for Kuthite characters. There's even a notation that "there are few remote shrines."
Just seemed they'd been almost forgotten. *shrug*
Hey James, I realize this is possibly a serious long shot, but is there any chance we could get a Necromancer's Handbook in the Player Companion line?
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Creative Director
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3) Inner Sea Gods gives those druids eight pages of Zon-Kuthon lore and info to be inspired by. Inner Seas Gods is a flavor book first and a crunch book second. If we ever do something that focuses more on the Uskwood stuff, we may create more options for druids, or more likely, we'll contextualize existing optionsPart of my query stems from the fact that in those eight pages of Zon-Kuthon lore, druids are alluded to precisely once- by the notation that the Shade of the Uskwood feat is a suitable choice for Kuthite characters. There's even a notation that "there are few remote shrines."
Just seemed they'd been almost forgotten. *shrug*
They aren't a core part of Zon-Kuthon's faith, who isn't a neutral deity. Those druids are very much a fringe element of his faith, and as such, they only get a brief mention there. Some day I suspect we'll do more with the Shade oft he Uskwood, but for now it's one of those parts of the world that we simply haven't gotten around to doing much with yet.
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Hey James, I realize this is possibly a serious long shot, but is there any chance we could get a Necromancer's Handbook in the Player Companion line?
There's certainly a chance... but then we'd have to deal with folks wanting a handbook for every other wizard specialty, and then every bloodline, and then every deity, and where does it stop?
It's more likely that you'll see us tackle something more akin to an undead-themed book; we've done a few of those already in that line and I suspect we'll do more in the future.
But one that specializes on a specific slice of a single class? Possible... but very unlikely.
James can you please convince someone in charge to do a Pathfinder revamp of Curse of the Crimson Throne? I know a lot of people would buy it. Is there anything i can do to convince you paizo folk?
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James can you please convince someone in charge to do a Pathfinder revamp of Curse of the Crimson Throne? I know a lot of people would buy it. Is there anything i can do to convince you paizo folk?
I know a lot of people would buy ANY of the APs if we republish them, taking the numbers from Runelords as an indication. Whether or not we will do another one like this doesn't depend on demand; we know it's there. It depends on the schedule, resources, timing, stock in the warehouse, personal interest, and more.
But! I'll see what I can do!
James can you please convince someone in charge to do a Pathfinder revamp of Curse of the Crimson Throne? I know a lot of people would buy it. Is there anything i can do to convince you paizo folk?I know a lot of people would buy ANY of the APs if we republish them, taking the numbers from Runelords as an indication. Whether or not we will do another one like this doesn't depend on demand; we know it's there. It depends on the schedule, resources, timing, stock in the warehouse, personal interest, and more.
But! I'll see what I can do!
I can completely understand that. I like the idea of an eventual red and black hardcover edition of CoCT. It would be so cool and it was a solid adventure Path. Plus I won't pester too much I know you guys know what you are doing.
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So I have so many questions regarding RotR that I keep forgetting them :'D I blame my excitement. But here is one I do remember:
So I've been giving all pcs contact in Sandpoint(either someone they know personally or have heard about and relates to their interests), but I figured out that I'd give player who chose Giant Slayer trait a name of giant behind destruction of their village. I'm trying to decide between named giants camping around the fortress(like maybe Halvara or Drogart, they seem suitably sadistic and fun to design encounter around) or Barl or Teraktinus. Who you think would be most appropriate giant to name drop?
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Creative Director
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So I have so many questions regarding RotR that I keep forgetting them :'D I blame my excitement. But here is one I do remember:
So I've been giving all pcs contact in Sandpoint(either someone they know personally or have heard about and relates to their interests), but I figured out that I'd give player who chose Giant Slayer trait a name of giant behind destruction of their village. I'm trying to decide between named giants camping around the fortress(like maybe Halvara or Drogart, they seem suitably sadistic and fun to design encounter around) or Barl or Teraktinus. Who you think would be most appropriate giant to name drop?
Check out the traits rules in Advanced Player's Guide first of all; we included a Sandpoint themed set of traits as example campaign traits there that you might find some inspiration from.
As for the question itself, I'd go with Barl. He's the main bad guy haflway through the campaign, and could use a bit more buildup.
In Golarion, are people able to "size up" threats beyond general flavor? Specifically, as far as I know there's no rule on this but GM-to-GM, would you allow your players to use a Heal or appropriate Knowledge skill check to determine how many hit dice an npc or creature had?
The reason this comes up is that one of my players has and uses the Sleep spell, which only works on up to 4HD worth of enemies. It seems slightly unfair to not allow them a quick estimate of whether or not it will even have a small chance of success. For reference, my players (with the exception of one that I trade GM duties with) don't read the bestiaries and therefore have no stat-block knowledge to draw upon for strategic purposes.
Thanks in advance for any insight! =]
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So I have so many questions regarding RotR that I keep forgetting them :'D I blame my excitement. But here is one I do remember:
So I've been giving all pcs contact in Sandpoint(either someone they know personally or have heard about and relates to their interests), but I figured out that I'd give player who chose Giant Slayer trait a name of giant behind destruction of their village. I'm trying to decide between named giants camping around the fortress(like maybe Halvara or Drogart, they seem suitably sadistic and fun to design encounter around) or Barl or Teraktinus. Who you think would be most appropriate giant to name drop?
Check out the traits rules in Advanced Player's Guide first of all; we included a Sandpoint themed set of traits as example campaign traits there that you might find some inspiration from.
As for the question itself, I'd go with Barl. He's the main bad guy haflway through the campaign, and could use a bit more buildup.
I did actually do that and I did come up with contacts for everyone, I just had trouble deciding this one since I can't remember there being anyone giant related npc in sandpoint ^^;
Anyway, hmm, Barl isn't type to get his hands directly dirty though iirc... Hmm... Ah, wait, that works out nicely. I could have Barl behind the order and Drogart having taken part in attack directly.. I mean, despite being his body guard, he doesn't always guard Barl so that would seem plausible to me. Allows me to both foreshadow Barl and have "You recognize this giant from attack" moment.
Oh, anyway, I managed to remember what I wanted to ask about: Norgorber cults in Magnimar.
So did I understand it right that all four aspects of Norgorber have cults in Magnimar? Is that public knowledge(or at least to law enforcement in town)? And is the Skinsaw cult on book a sect of cultists or the "main" Skinsaw cult in the city?
Sorry if I ask too many questions :'D Thank you for patience and answers!
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Creative Director
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In Golarion, are people able to "size up" threats beyond general flavor? Specifically, as far as I know there's no rule on this but GM-to-GM, would you allow your players to use a Heal or appropriate Knowledge skill check to determine how many hit dice an npc or creature had?
The reason this comes up is that one of my players has and uses the Sleep spell, which only works on up to 4HD worth of enemies. It seems slightly unfair to not allow them a quick estimate of whether or not it will even have a small chance of success. For reference, my players (with the exception of one that I trade GM duties with) don't read the bestiaries and therefore have no stat-block knowledge to draw upon for strategic purposes.
Thanks in advance for any insight! =]
That falls under the general "knowledge check to learn about your foes" for me. In the specific case you cite, I'd have the spellcaster who wants to cast sleep make a knowledge (of the appropriate type) check against the mosnter's DC. If that check exceeds the standard 10 + CR DC for learning knowledge, then I'll tell the player whether or not that monster normally has 4 HD or less, while keeping them cognizant of the possibliity that the monster might have class levels or more than normal HD. If, of coruse, the knowledge check was high enough to hit the monster's ACTUAL 10 + CR (and not just its baseline 10 + CR), then I'd also let them know whether the creature had too many HD or not.
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Oh, anyway, I managed to remember what I wanted to ask about: Norgorber cults in Magnimar.
So did I understand it right that all four aspects of Norgorber have cults in Magnimar? Is that public knowledge(or at least to law enforcement in town)? And is the Skinsaw cult on book a sect of cultists or the "main" Skinsaw cult in the city?
Sorry if I ask too many questions :'D Thank you for patience and answers!
It's not really public knowledge that all four aspects of Norgorber have different activity levels in Magnimar. The Skinsaw Cult, for example, is a VERY secret aspect of that. Most folks know that Norgorber cultists are active in the city, but they aren't aware of HOW active they are.
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Hey James, I realize this is possibly a serious long shot, but is there any chance we could get a Necromancer's Handbook in the Player Companion line?There's certainly a chance... but then we'd have to deal with folks wanting a handbook for every other wizard specialty, and then every bloodline, and then every deity, and where does it stop?
It's more likely that you'll see us tackle something more akin to an undead-themed book; we've done a few of those already in that line and I suspect we'll do more in the future.
But one that specializes on a specific slice of a single class? Possible... but very unlikely.
What about a 'Necromancer's Handbook' that is more in line with the Monster Summoner's Handbook? That is, not a guide for a single wizard specialty, but bits and bobs for anyone dipping a toe into that school of magic.
(For that matter, it could be interesting to have something like that for other schools. 'Book Book of Explosions' would talk a lot about evocations, but also alchemist bombs. 'Complete book of wards' and so on.)
how do demons get promoted we know how devils do it in the game(to become a bearded devil you have to be impaled on a glave and pull yourself up lemurs are tortured petitioners etc)but how do demons do it? do they do it spontaneously, do they transform after killing enough demons stronger then them demon lords just grab servents and transmogrify them, is it some combo, or do they just gut themselves on petitioners?
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Hey James, I realize this is possibly a serious long shot, but is there any chance we could get a Necromancer's Handbook in the Player Companion line?There's certainly a chance... but then we'd have to deal with folks wanting a handbook for every other wizard specialty, and then every bloodline, and then every deity, and where does it stop?
It's more likely that you'll see us tackle something more akin to an undead-themed book; we've done a few of those already in that line and I suspect we'll do more in the future.
But one that specializes on a specific slice of a single class? Possible... but very unlikely.
What about a 'Necromancer's Handbook' that is more in line with the Monster Summoner's Handbook? That is, not a guide for a single wizard specialty, but bits and bobs for anyone dipping a toe into that school of magic.
(For that matter, it could be interesting to have something like that for other schools. 'Book Book of Explosions' would talk a lot about evocations, but also alchemist bombs. 'Complete book of wards' and so on.)
No difference. What's going on here is that you're seeing what happens when we steal words from ourselves. We can't use the word "necromancer" as a generic term for "spellcaster who meddles with life and death." It means a wizard specialist. The book some folks are asking here would have to be called something like "The Undead Creator's Handbook" or "The Codex of Death and Life" or something along those lines, and it would certainly contain information of use for necromancy specialized wizards, but also for ALL necromancy-associated classes, such as clerics of Urgathoa, sorcerers with the undead bloodline, gothy bards, dhampir inquisitors, and much, much more. In effect, a book that supports the necromancy school of spells, not the wizard specialization.
Of course, doing that book would suggest and all but force us to decide what to do about potential books about the other seven schools of magic. It'd be foolish to NOT do all eight books, but that also would take, at minimum, eight months of back to back books on the subject. We wouldn't do them back to back, because we want folks who don't play one school of magic spellcasters to have reasons to buy the books now and then as well, and further, back to back would bore us within a few months. So we'd space them out by, I'm guessing, three to five months apiece, and all of a sudden you're looking at it taking several years to get all eight books out.
We were able to do this with the good/evil/neutrality books that focused on deities because that's only three topics. I'm not sure we, or more to the point our customers, have the patience to wait 3 to 4 years for us to get to the one school of magic that one person likes best... because regardless of the order we do them in, there will be one school of magic that goes last.
Of course, the "Monster Summoner's Handbook" simultaneously simplifies and complicates this. It COULD stand in for the conjuration book in the series, and thus give us a one-book head start on the eight. But it could just as easily end up being something that doesn't properly service the conjuration school once we compare it to what we might come up with for the other books, in which case we'd have to make some tough choices about what would go into a "Conjuration Handbook" that wasn't already covered in "Monster Summoners Handbook."
And all that said, we DO put out a dozen of these books a year, so coming up with a theme that hands us eight pre-made topics is a pretty attractive idea.
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how do demons get promoted we know how devils do it in the game(to become a bearded devil you have to be impaled on a glave and pull yourself up lemurs are tortured petitioners etc)but how do demons do it? do they do it spontaneously, do they transform after killing enough demons stronger then them demon lords just grab servents and transmogrify them, is it some combo, or do they just gut themselves on petitioners?
They don't get promotions at all. The idea of an outsider race that goes through "promotions" is not the norm for outsider races. It's pretty much unique to devils.
Demons form from sinful souls. A wrathful soul will become a vrock. A greedy soul becomes a nalfeshnee. A lustful soul becomes a succubus. An arsonist soul becomes a brimorak. And so on. Once the soul makes the transition from dead to petitioner to demon, that's where it stays more or less. A lustful soul isn't appropriate to be a nalfeshnee, because it had more lust than greed in it, and thus won't become a nalfeshnee ever.
how do demons get promoted we know how devils do it in the game(to become a bearded devil you have to be impaled on a glave and pull yourself up lemurs are tortured petitioners etc)but how do demons do it? do they do it spontaneously, do they transform after killing enough demons stronger then them demon lords just grab servents and transmogrify them, is it some combo, or do they just gut themselves on petitioners?They don't get promotions at all. The idea of an outsider race that goes through "promotions" is not the norm for outsider races. It's pretty much unique to devils.
Demons form from sinful souls. A wrathful soul will become a vrock. A greedy soul becomes a nalfeshnee. A lustful soul becomes a succubus. An arsonist soul becomes a brimorak. And so on. Once the soul makes the transition from dead to petitioner to demon, that's where it stays more or less. A lustful soul isn't appropriate to be a nalfeshnee, because it had more lust than greed in it, and thus won't become a nalfeshnee ever.
what about quasits then the lore on quasits says about when it gets his masters soul. quote "rather than using the evil master's soul to create new demonic life. In this manner, a quasit can use its newly captured soul to bargain with more powerful denizens of the lower planes, and perhaps secure a vile transformative “promotion” to a more powerful form of life in the process." end quote.
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what about quasits then the lore on quasits says about when it gets his masters soul. quote "rather than using the evil master's soul to create new demonic life. In this manner, a quasit can use its newly captured soul to bargain with more powerful denizens of the lower planes, and perhaps secure a vile transformative “promotion” to a more powerful form of life in the process." end quote.how do demons get promoted we know how devils do it in the game(to become a bearded devil you have to be impaled on a glave and pull yourself up lemurs are tortured petitioners etc)but how do demons do it? do they do it spontaneously, do they transform after killing enough demons stronger then them demon lords just grab servents and transmogrify them, is it some combo, or do they just gut themselves on petitioners?They don't get promotions at all. The idea of an outsider race that goes through "promotions" is not the norm for outsider races. It's pretty much unique to devils.
Demons form from sinful souls. A wrathful soul will become a vrock. A greedy soul becomes a nalfeshnee. A lustful soul becomes a succubus. An arsonist soul becomes a brimorak. And so on. Once the soul makes the transition from dead to petitioner to demon, that's where it stays more or less. A lustful soul isn't appropriate to be a nalfeshnee, because it had more lust than greed in it, and thus won't become a nalfeshnee ever.
That's an exception. Quasits are not actually formed from a sinful soul; they're formed when a chaotic evil spellcaster creates them when gaining a quasit familiar. In effect, the quasit sees itself as having been "robbed" of its rightful soul, which would normally have been its master's soul after the master dies. What the quasit hopes is that if it can carry that soul to the Abyss that it can use that to become the demon it feels it SHOULD have been, had its master not decided to gain a quasit familiar and died and had that soul instead be turned into a demon. What demon the quasit would get promoted to would depend on the nature of its master's most powerful sin. Of course, to a CR 2 quasit, pretty much ANY other demon would be an upgrade.
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Hey James, is it a coincidence that Pangolais, the capitol of a Kuthonite country, is anagrammable to "pain" and "algos" (Greek for "pain")? I know someone at Paizo must like Greek, because of your company's name ...
News to me, but seems like a bit too convenient to have been a coincidence. I like to think it's intentional, cause if it is...
BREAKING NEWS
Just asked Erik, who was the one who named it, and it is indeed a coincidence. A cool one! The name was inspired by Jack Vance, who named a city in his Dying Earth stories "Ascolais."
Still... neat coincidence!
Do you think kitsune make good samurai?
And has Minaki ever been ruled by a non human before?
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Do you think kitsune make good samurai?
And has Minaki ever been ruled by a non human before?
Kitsune stat mods are kinda non-samuari flavored, as they tend to do less well with heavy armor and strength-based fighting styles. But that said, a kitsune samurai is an interesting idea, if only from the story based implications. It's certainly an unusual choice.
Minkai has been ruled by a non human before... in fact... Jade Regent spoiler...