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Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cerberus Seven wrote:

James, how would you write up a Bene-Gesserit from Dune? Basically, would you make it an archetype of monk or rogue or bard? Or maybe a prestige class? Whole new base class? How would your answer change for specifying one that's a full-on Reverend Mother?

Link for reminder of all the cool stuff they can do.

I probably wouldn't, because I am not a fan of Dune and don't know enough about it or care to know enough about it to try.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ulgulanoth wrote:
Will pathfinder ever have climate/terrain based books similar to the frostburn book?

We've been doing our climate and terrain content in the Adventure Path, Player Companion, and Campaign Setting lines. That's a better spot for that content, since it's not very interesting to not be able to actually talk about world content for such books in my opinion.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Filby Pott wrote:
Should Aballonians (from Distant Worlds) have the robot subtype?

Nope. Not necessary.

They could, I guess... but they don't.


James Jacobs wrote:
Cerberus Seven wrote:

James, how would you write up a Bene-Gesserit from Dune? Basically, would you make it an archetype of monk or rogue or bard? Or maybe a prestige class? Whole new base class? How would your answer change for specifying one that's a full-on Reverend Mother?

Link for reminder of all the cool stuff they can do.
I probably wouldn't, because I am not a fan of Dune and don't know enough about it or care to know enough about it to try.

But you HAVE read the original Dune, right? If not, you seriously need to, awesome stuff. The first book isn't very long either, if time/volume is a concern. It might even add some ideas to your custom 'Unspeakable Futures' game system you've been making.


James Jacobs wrote:
ChaoticAngel97 wrote:

So I noticed you were briefly saying that perhaps the Test of the Starstone could be done using the Mythic Adventures, I find this rather amusing since in one of my current Mythic playtest campaigns I was going to have my players take the test as a way to further their Mythic status. They weren't going to complete the test, but they were going to be able to make it out of the cathedral alive and perhaps with some powerful items from inside.

That being said, would it be possible to get a brief idea on what one or two challenges inside the cathedral MIGHT be?

One of the reasons I've been pushing for Mythic Adventures, in fact, is BECAUSE I want to do a "Test of the Starstone" adventure. So to a certain extent, all of Mythic Adventures is being designed so that one adventure can some day be written.

I'm not ready to start talking in public about what the challenges inside it might be, though.

Well, glad to know that that's something to possibly look forward to in the future. :)

I figured you might not want to talk about it but I figured I might as well ask. Never hurts to ask as me mum always said. I'll figure out how to handle it in my game. I'm pretty sure my imagination can think up something that'll work.


James Jacobs wrote:
Steve Geddes wrote:
Hi James. What do you think of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG? Have you played it? Read it?
I've played it twice; it's quite fun! Although I don't really like the goofy dice...

That's what every newbie RP-gamer ever said about any RPG that involved d4s.


James Jacobs wrote:
Lucent wrote:

James, was the Construct Armor section in Ultimate Magic truncated at all for word count to become the way it appeared in the book? There's a lot of rules vagueness there and almost too many questions on how it works and interfaces with things.

With that said, I have like half a dozen questions about it:

1) A wizard wearing Construct Armor is hit by a fireball. Do both he and his construct armor make the save/take damage, or just the construct, since its HP is damaged first (ala temporary HP).

2) Targeted spells: Can the wizard inside the armor be targeted by spells that would not affect the construct?

3) The rules specifically state that the wearer of construct armor keeps their base attack bonus and saves. That seems to imply that other traits may carry over? Damage reduction? The construct's physical ability scores? It seems to make sense that if you are encased in a Clockwork Soldier you use its strength score instead of your own.

4) A wizard makes a suit of +1 heavy fortification full plate armor and casts animate object on it and turns it into construct armor. Does he get the enhancement bonus and special abilities of the armor while wearing it? Does it still only count as breastplate armor?

5) Can an alchemist use his infusions while inside the construct armor?

6) A magus inside of construct armor casts dimension door. Does the construct armor move with him?

I love the concept, but I feel like it needed a little more space/elaboration. FYI: I would by an entire 32-page book about this sort of stuff.

I wasn't involved in the Construct Armor section, so I can't say if it was truncated or what. That'd be a question for Jason or Sean.

1) The construct takes damage, the wearer does not. Essentially, Construct armor replaces the wearer in a battle.

2) Only if the spell can target something not in line of sight and not in line of effect.

....

The more I look at this ability, the more I agree that it's not very well thought out. I...

Thanks for answering that litany of questions, James. I think I'm going to wind up figuring out the remaining details on construct armor for my group should it come up (I know one player in particular resonated with the idea). Thanks for clarifying some of the portions of that, however, especially the ability score notions.


Hi James, I read your comment on not wanting to make the tarrasque mythic, but that seems a bit weird to me.

Why would anyone have feared it then? From the playtest results, midlevel chars with mid-level tiers pretty much neutralized it, they can't kill it, but they pretty much render it harmless.

While mid-level characters aren’t common by cannon, they don't seem to be uncommon either, would the Gods not grant a few of them mythic level to take on the tarrasque?

And it just seems odd to me, that the most fearsome beast and feared in all of Golarion history wasn’t mythic?

Wow talk about anti-climactic.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Cerberus Seven wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Cerberus Seven wrote:

James, how would you write up a Bene-Gesserit from Dune? Basically, would you make it an archetype of monk or rogue or bard? Or maybe a prestige class? Whole new base class? How would your answer change for specifying one that's a full-on Reverend Mother?

Link for reminder of all the cool stuff they can do.
I probably wouldn't, because I am not a fan of Dune and don't know enough about it or care to know enough about it to try.
But you HAVE read the original Dune, right? If not, you seriously need to, awesome stuff. The first book isn't very long either, if time/volume is a concern. It might even add some ideas to your custom 'Unspeakable Futures' game system you've been making.

I read the original Dune in High School; it was one of the books we read for, if I recall correctly, 2nd year English class. Might have been 1st year. In any event, I did not enjoy the book at all. Maybe because I was too young to appreciate it... but I doubt that since I was reading Lovecraft non-stop, quite enjoyed Catch-22 and Of Mice and Men and Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies, and as a general rule didn't have that MUCH of a problem with the reading comprehension element.

I do like the big sandworms... but overall, I think it's just Herbert's writing style that simply doesn't appeal to me.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Threeshades wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Steve Geddes wrote:
Hi James. What do you think of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG? Have you played it? Read it?
I've played it twice; it's quite fun! Although I don't really like the goofy dice...
That's what every newbie RP-gamer ever said about any RPG that involved d4s.

Maybe.

But there's more to it than that. Several of the funny dice for DCC, like the d3 and the d7, are simply not enginerred well. Furthermore, most of the dice I've seen have had really awkward mold fragments jutting off the sides, and the shapes themselves don't engender in me a lot of trust that there's really a random generation going on since they're not regular polygons.

AKA: They're awkward to roll and I don't trust their ability to generate random numbers.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ikarinokami wrote:

Hi James, I read your comment on not wanting to make the tarrasque mythic, but that seems a bit weird to me.

Why would anyone have feared it then? From the playtest results, midlevel chars with mid-level tiers pretty much neutralized it, they can't kill it, but they pretty much render it harmless.

While mid-level characters aren’t common by cannon, they don't seem to be uncommon either, would the Gods not grant a few of them mythic level to take on the tarrasque?

And it just seems odd to me, that the most fearsome beast and feared in all of Golarion history wasn’t mythic?

Wow talk about anti-climactic.

Mythic Adventures is an optional addition to the game. It is not a required extension to the game—if it WERE, then it would have been in the core game.

And even though Mythic Adventures is not part of the core game, the core game still needs "boss monsters." It still needs iconic capstones to the monster selection in the game. That's the tarrasque's job—to be a capstone threat for the core rules.

It's still a CR 25 monster, and as such it's still an excellent threat to throw against a mythic party. Remember, just because a party's made of mythic characters, you don't have to make all the foes they fight mythic. In fact, it's ABSOLUTELY FINE to NEVER throw a mythic foe at a mythic party—you can simply use their mythic abilities as an excuse to have them fight more powerful non-mythic monsters that you might never have used in the first place.

So... the tarrasque is already statted up, non-mythic, as a capstone monster for the core rules. Suddenly giving it mythic powers is not only a weird form of power creep, but it suddenly devalues the tarrasque's role as a capstone monster for core. It's a powerful monster... but it's by no means the "most fearsome beast in all of Golarion's history." That award probably goes to Deskari or Nocticula, or the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, or to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or Achekek the Mantis God, or to Mhar Massif, or to Mephistopheles, or so on.

Mythic's got its own capstone monsters. Demon lords, kaiju, arch devils, Cthulhu, etc. There's a LOT of monsters that we could have statted up over the past 5 years just using the core rules, but we've been deliberately holding off statting them up BECAUSE we wanted to save them as foes and possible capstone threats for the Mythic Adventures rules.

If you decide to play a full-on Mythic game with Mythic characters facing Mythic threats... you're running a different game than a core game, and that means a LOT of your expectations and assumptions are going to need to change. Among those are the expectations of what creatures occupy the role of capstone threat.


An Insane T-Rex wrote:


Mythic's got its own capstone monsters. Demon lords, kaiju, arch devils, Cthulhu

heart stopped in chest


ok ok....sooooo cthulhu is going to be stated


Mr. James Jacobs,

If you get an enhancement bonus to int. from a headband, a staff, magic robes, and fox's cunning do they stack? Also, do all of them except foxe's cunning grant bonus spells after being worn for 24 hours?


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Is there anywhere I can look for anymore about the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, because it sounds badass and Godzilla like, which means it's awesome.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

watchmanx wrote:
ok ok....sooooo cthulhu is going to be stated

If I have any say, there'll be more than just Cthulhu statted for the Great Old ones.

We'll se. I don't always get what I want! :-P

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

If you get an enhancement bonus to int. from a headband, a staff, magic robes, and fox's cunning do they stack? Also, do all of them except foxe's cunning grant bonus spells after being worn for 24 hours?

Enhancement bonuses never stack.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Squeakmaan wrote:
Is there anywhere I can look for anymore about the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, because it sounds badass and Godzilla like, which means it's awesome.

At this point, it's only been offhandledly mentioned as a monster that the runelords have summoned before—it's mentioned a little bit in Rise of the Runelords, but not much more.


James Jacobs wrote:
ikarinokami wrote:

Hi James, I read your comment on not wanting to make the tarrasque mythic, but that seems a bit weird to me.

Why would anyone have feared it then? From the playtest results, midlevel chars with mid-level tiers pretty much neutralized it, they can't kill it, but they pretty much render it harmless.

While mid-level characters aren’t common by cannon, they don't seem to be uncommon either, would the Gods not grant a few of them mythic level to take on the tarrasque?

And it just seems odd to me, that the most fearsome beast and feared in all of Golarion history wasn’t mythic?

Wow talk about anti-climactic.

Mythic Adventures is an optional addition to the game. It is not a required extension to the game—if it WERE, then it would have been in the core game.

And even though Mythic Adventures is not part of the core game, the core game still needs "boss monsters." It still needs iconic capstones to the monster selection in the game. That's the tarrasque's job—to be a capstone threat for the core rules.

It's still a CR 25 monster, and as such it's still an excellent threat to throw against a mythic party. Remember, just because a party's made of mythic characters, you don't have to make all the foes they fight mythic. In fact, it's ABSOLUTELY FINE to NEVER throw a mythic foe at a mythic party—you can simply use their mythic abilities as an excuse to have them fight more powerful non-mythic monsters that you might never have used in the first place.

So... the tarrasque is already statted up, non-mythic, as a capstone monster for the core rules. Suddenly giving it mythic powers is not only a weird form of power creep, but it suddenly devalues the tarrasque's role as a capstone monster for core. It's a powerful monster... but it's by no means the "most fearsome beast in all of Golarion's history." That award probably goes to Deskari or Nocticula, or the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, or to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or Achekek the Mantis God, or to Mhar Massif, or to...

Does that mean that the mythic ap path will not be cannon?

I suppose ultimately that is my issue. I understand "the mechanics" of it, but RPG's are not just mechanic, they are also history, aesthetic, living. I'm not sure I would classify demon lords as monsters, but even if they were, I'm not sure they would be the most feared? prehaps most powerful?

If mythic is supposed to represent the thing that makes a hero special or monster ledgendry. it's just odd. even if it's power creep, to say without a doubt the most legendary unique monster since second edition "the tarrasaque" is not mythic is odd. It also makes Rovagug a bit pathetic, this is supposed to be his end game.

So I understand why from a purely meta-game sorta way you wouldn't want restat monsters, but from a logical of theconsistancy of world point of veiw, the internal logic, were the Tarrasaque is the legendary equivilent of the midgard serpent if you were norse or the fenir wolf to not be mythic and really strong beast is odd.

I just don't see how the history of Golorion holds up if mythic becomes part of the cannon. it just wouldn't make any sense. Roovagug goes through all that trouble and doesn't make his herald mythic?

Why all the fear when some midlevel heroes with some mythic levels could take it down.

I do admit to wanting the lore and history and culture of imaginary worls to logical throughout, and maybe this is case, where the mechanics of the game win out. allow i don't see how making the tarrasque mythic, makes it any less of a capstone core characters.


Rovagug's endgame is getting free.

These are Rovagug's angry bowel movements.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

In...a chat or something a while back, I saw you mention that you thought there was still room for a "swashbuckler fighter" kind of base class. I would LOVE that, to the point where just the presence of that and some archetypes for it would make me buy a hardcover I wasn't otherwise interested in. Any chance of that seeing the light of day in an official Paizo publication in the foreseeable future?


Lucent wrote:

Rovagug's endgame is getting free.

These are Rovagug's angry bowel movements.

This. I always imagined the Tarrasque as a nasty piece of beef that Rovagug forgot to chew properly and then crapped out.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
ChaoticAngel97 wrote:
Lucent wrote:

Rovagug's endgame is getting free.

These are Rovagug's angry bowel movements.

This. I always imagined the Tarrasque as a nasty piece of beef that Rovagug forgot to chew properly and then crapped out.

I always conceived of the Spawn of Rovagug as the occasional parasite living on his hide that escaped and made its way to the surface. They're infinitesimal when compared to the host body.


I'm planning on expanding the tower full of Will-o-wisps from Part 2 of Kingmaker(Rivers Run Red) . Since it mentions the tower being decorated in images with a strong connection to the dark tapestry i thought throwing in a nice mythos feeling monster might do the trick nicely. I've been looking at the appropriate bestiary entry from Carrion Crown and have leafed through the hardcover bestiaries but nothing feels right.

So any suggestions for a CR 7 - 10 Lovecraftian monster for my to stick in the tower on Candlemare?

Grand Lodge

1) How should I go about determining the weight and size of the Anchor created by the Anchor Feather Token?

2) Is there a weight/size listed for any Anchor?

3) Must there be a craft present to activate the Anchor Feather Token?

4) How much does a mundane Anchor cost?

Shadow Lodge

First, YES Cthulhu needs to be stated. James for the love of all twenty gods make this happen!

Now on to my second thing

What are belial and soconbenoth's opinions of each other? From what I've read they both seem really similar and I kind of wonder what makes belial lawful as well.

Shadow Lodge

Also why doesn't barbato's have the animal domain when he's the archdevil of animals?


James Jacobs wrote:


** spoilers omitted **

Very interesting answers, thanks! A couple more, spoilered again just in case:

Spoiler:
"Whether that would have been a waste of time for Sorshen or not never really mattered, since she never had to use any of her clones."

Just to confirm, is that because she never died, or because she used other methods when she did die, and never needed to use the cloning method as a result?


Spoiler:
"Ileosa would absolutely recognize the clone PC as a clone. She wouldn't be tricked into thinking it was Sorshen."

Is this because she knows for a fact, based on her research into Sorshen and Thassilon, that the real Sorshen is currently in stasis under Castle Korvosa? Might she have even seen Sorshen's "stasis pod" personally (as in, by scrying or divinatory means) and made sure not to disturb it, since it was a definite threat to her plans? Or did she uncover a different clone body in stasis somewhere? Basically, I'd like to know how she knows so absolutely, if, as you say, that even Karzoug has a chance to be fooled by the appearance of a Sorshen clone. He knew her when she was alive, and they were both immortal. Ileosa only seems to know Sorshen from history, unless she came across a historical source she REALLY trusts that told her Sorshen was dead in no uncertain terms (a foolish source, in such a case... "death is only the beginning" and all that).


Spoiler:
"No plans to go into further detail about the "blood magic," but it absolutely involves some element of vampirisim and vampiric stuff."

Again, interesting! In the meantime, what would you suggest or use to model this particular type of blood magic/hemotheurgy, if there are no real rules in existence about it just yet and it came up? Mechanically speaking, are there any feats or prestige classes that you know of from D&D 3.0 or 3.5 that would serve as a possible substitute within Golarion and Pathfinder (with suitable updates) to match the current Pathfinder rules?

Out of that and further into the explanation of it, were the techniques of this particular "blood magic" developed from actually studying, examining, observing and/or dissecting vampires, or do they simply travel along parallel research paths that make vampires useful for supporting it? (Since the dungeon complex where Sorshen is in stasis has vampires in it who originally served her in life, suggesting a connection between the research into immortality and the vampiric nature of it, but it seems to be the "menagerie of strange creatures" whose blood actually holds the key to releasing her from stasis... of course, some of those strange creatures might also be vampires of some description as well.) There's not really any great detail in Rise of the Runelords about the nature of the experiments used in the Runeforge to develop this particular form of magic's application to immortality.


James Jacobs wrote:
watchmanx wrote:
ok ok....sooooo cthulhu is going to be stated

If I have any say, there'll be more than just Cthulhu statted for the Great Old ones.

We'll se. I don't always get what I want! :-P

I thought he already had a statblock.

"Eats 1d4 player characters per round."

;-)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ikarinokami wrote:

Does that mean that the mythic ap path will not be cannon?

I suppose ultimately that is my issue. I understand "the mechanics" of it, but RPG's are not just mechanic, they are also history, aesthetic, living. I'm not sure I would classify demon lords as monsters, but even if they were, I'm not sure they would be the most feared? prehaps most powerful?

If mythic is supposed to represent the thing that makes a hero special or monster ledgendry. it's just odd. even if it's power creep, to say without a doubt the most legendary unique monster since second edition "the tarrasaque" is not mythic is odd. It also makes Rovagug a bit pathetic, this is supposed to be his end game.

So I understand why from a purely meta-game sorta way you wouldn't want restat monsters, but from a logical of theconsistancy of world point of veiw, the internal logic, were the Tarrasaque is the legendary equivilent of the midgard serpent if you were norse or the fenir wolf to not be mythic and really strong beast is odd.

I just don't see how the history of Golorion holds up if mythic becomes part of the cannon. it just wouldn't make any sense. Roovagug goes through all that trouble and doesn't make his herald mythic?

Why all the fear when some midlevel heroes with some mythic levels could take it down.

I do admit to wanting the lore and history and culture of imaginary worls to logical throughout, and maybe this is case, where the mechanics of the game win out. allow i don't see how making the tarrasque mythic, makes it any less of a capstone core characters.
Lantern Lodge

No Adventure Path is canon except with respect to itself. (The only exception being Shattered Star, which assumes Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness have all taken place.)

But everything in Wrath of the Righteous IS "canon" for itself. And if you choose to use elements from it for some other game set in Golarion, those elements are canon as well.

In Wrath of the Righteous, the PCs will be mythic characters, but for much of the AP the foes they'll be facing won't be mythic foes. They'll be more powerful foes than normal. So... a 5th level party with 2 tiers would be facing CR 7 or so foes on average rather than CR 5 ones. The higher level the Wrath of the Righteous adventures go, the more powerful foes will get, and the more mythic foes will start showing up; many of the higher level adventures in Wrath of the Righteous will be taking place not on Golarion but on the Abyss.

The Tarrasque is not Rovagug's "End Game." It's something that he spawned. To use the movie Cloverfield as an analogy... if Rovagug is the big monster in Cloverfield, the lice critters that drop off him and menace folks in the sewers are his spawn like the Tarrasque.

For now, though... it's time for patience. A year from now the difference between a Mythic adventure and a core adventure will have real-world examples to examine.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gregg Helmberger wrote:
In...a chat or something a while back, I saw you mention that you thought there was still room for a "swashbuckler fighter" kind of base class. I would LOVE that, to the point where just the presence of that and some archetypes for it would make me buy a hardcover I wasn't otherwise interested in. Any chance of that seeing the light of day in an official Paizo publication in the foreseeable future?

There's certainly a chance, but not as part of a Ultimate Combat or Advanced Player's Guide type book. We're pretty much moving on to different types of books in the hardcover line, and have mostly moved away from doing new base classes.

So while there's a chance... it's a very slim one and one that's far away in the future.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

XperimentalDM wrote:

I'm planning on expanding the tower full of Will-o-wisps from Part 2 of Kingmaker(Rivers Run Red) . Since it mentions the tower being decorated in images with a strong connection to the dark tapestry i thought throwing in a nice mythos feeling monster might do the trick nicely. I've been looking at the appropriate bestiary entry from Carrion Crown and have leafed through the hardcover bestiaries but nothing feels right.

So any suggestions for a CR 7 - 10 Lovecraftian monster for my to stick in the tower on Candlemare?

Dimensional Shambler. From Pathfinder #46.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

blackbloodtroll wrote:

1) How should I go about determining the weight and size of the Anchor created by the Anchor Feather Token?

2) Is there a weight/size listed for any Anchor?

3) Must there be a craft present to activate the Anchor Feather Token?

4) How much does a mundane Anchor cost?

1) The anchor created by a feather token isn't a real anchor. It merely functions as an anchor to moor a vessel in the water, rendering it immobile for a day. The size or weight can be whatever you want, but since it's only a 25 gp item, it's not really appropriate to have it create a real, full sized anchor that you could use to drop on someone to do damage. My suggestion would be to say it doesn't even turn into an anchor, but instead just keeps the ship stuck in one place for the day it's active.

2) Not that I know of... but anchors are real-world objects that you can look up details for and use them in your game. For Example... clicky

3) You don't need a craft to activate an anchor feather token, but it doesn't have anything to do if you activate it when you're not on a boat in the water and you waste it.

4) It's part of the cost of a ship if you buy it. If you just want to buy an anchor, though... I'd say probably something like 5 gp for a 10 pound anchor, 10 gp for a 20 pound anchor, and so on.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

doc the grey wrote:
What are belial and soconbenoth's opinions of each other? From what I've read they both seem really similar and I kind of wonder what makes belial lawful as well.

Those two aren't big fans of each other, but don't often end up crossing paths much at all, if ever. Although I wouldn't put it past them getting frisky with each other if the time and place was right... and if one could get a significant advantage over the other one...

What makes Belial lawful is the fact that he's an archdevil. More info on him can be found in Book of the Damned 1.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

doc the grey wrote:
Also why doesn't barbato's have the animal domain when he's the archdevil of animals?

Because he only gets two domains that aren't Law or Evil, and Magic and Travel make more sense for him.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alleran wrote:

Spoiler:
"Whether that would have been a waste of time for Sorshen or not never really mattered, since she never had to use any of her clones."

Just to confirm, is that because she never died, or because she used other methods when she did die, and never needed to use the cloning method as a result?

Spoiler:
That's because she never died, yeah. Although I reserve the right to change that if I want later. (That goes for all the stuff on this thread, of course!)
Alleran wrote:

Spoiler:
"Ileosa would absolutely recognize the clone PC as a clone. She wouldn't be tricked into thinking it was Sorshen."

Is this because she knows for a fact, based on her research into Sorshen and Thassilon, that the real Sorshen is currently in stasis under Castle Korvosa? Might she have even seen Sorshen's "stasis pod" personally (as in, by scrying or divinatory means) and made sure not to disturb it, since it was a definite threat to her plans? Or did she uncover a different clone body in stasis somewhere? Basically, I'd like to know how she knows so absolutely, if, as you say, that even Karzoug has a chance to be fooled by the appearance of a Sorshen clone. He knew her when she was alive, and they were both immortal. Ileosa only seems to know Sorshen from history, unless she came across a historical source she REALLY trusts that told her Sorshen was dead in no uncertain terms (a foolish source, in such a case... "death is only the beginning" and all that).

Spoiler:
It's because she's smarter than most of us, for one thing, and because she keeps track of her clones, and if she's active, she'd know pretty quickly if one of her clones has gone off the ranch. I'm not really willing to reveal much more about Sorshen at this point though... there's a bit more coming soon about her in later adventures in Shattered Star though.
Alleran wrote:

Spoiler:
"No plans to go into further detail about the "blood magic," but it absolutely involves some element of vampirisim and vampiric stuff."

Again, interesting! In the meantime, what would you suggest or use to model this particular type of blood magic/hemotheurgy, if there are no real rules in existence about it just yet and it came up? Mechanically speaking, are there any feats or prestige classes that you know of from D&D 3.0 or 3.5 that would serve as a possible substitute within Golarion and Pathfinder (with suitable updates) to match the current Pathfinder rules?

Out of that and further into the explanation of it, were the techniques of this particular "blood magic" developed from actually studying, examining, observing and/or dissecting vampires, or do they simply travel along parallel research paths that make vampires useful for supporting it? (Since the dungeon complex where Sorshen is in stasis has vampires in it who originally served her in life, suggesting a connection between the research into immortality and the vampiric nature of it, but it seems to be the "menagerie of strange creatures" whose blood actually holds the key to releasing her from stasis... of course, some of those strange creatures might also be vampires of some description as well.) There's not really any great detail in Rise of the Runelords about the nature of the experiments used in the Runeforge to develop this particular form of magic's application to immortality.

Spoiler:
As above, I'm not ready to start going into details about Sorshen's blood magic stuff yet. I've got a fair amount of ideas for all the Runelords... but the time is not yet right to start talking much about that stuff. It's still gotta cook in the thinker between my ears for a while...
Sovereign Court

Lucent wrote:

Rovagug's endgame is getting free.

These are Rovagug's angry bowel movements.

If you're going to answer for JJ, at least post an IANJ.

And, as far as I can tell, Rovagug has rather more ambitious goals than freedom.

Gods and Magic wrote:


Rovagug literally wants to destroy everything. He
is the antithesis of creation, a sentient primal force of
destruction intent on breaking, burning, and consuming
everything that exists. He cannot be reasoned with, bribed,
or bargained with; should someone free him, they will get
no reward save a quick death and not having to witness
the eradication of the world.


James, I am trying to create a world for my game that is flat with two moon and a sun rotating around it. I can't fully explain or even comprehend the climatic effect that this would have upon the world (Seasons, tides, climates, etc.). I COULD say 'because I'm the GM, it is what it is, but I think that would suspend belief. Would you approach it scientifically ( such as real world explanations) or in a Magical/mythological (Persephone going to be with Hades during which her mother is sad, thus causing winter) sort of way? Also, what happens when you sail off the side of the world? <.< >.> I bet you'd land on a turtle's shell in a pile of elephant dung. ^_^


Lucent wrote:
An Insane T-Rex wrote:


Mythic's got its own capstone monsters. Demon lords, kaiju, arch devils, Cthulhu
Heart stopped in chest

Oh hell yeah, someone ordered some sushi.

And we get to legitimately DEFEAT him, actually?

No "surprise twist, you lose" or anything included?


James Jacobs wrote:
It's because she's smarter than most of us, for one thing, and because she keeps track of her clones, and if she's active, she'd know pretty quickly if one of her clones has gone off the ranch. I'm not really willing to reveal much more about Sorshen at this point though...

So Ileosa keeps track of Sorshen's clones? That sounds... very interesting indeed.

Any hints about just which Shattered Star adventures to look forward to in particular?

Also, how would some of the other "20+" wizards compare with the Runelords on a scaling list? For example, Xanderghul is the most "powerful" Runelord, but where would Nex and Geb sit in comparison? Jetembe? Or Tar-Baphon?

One last question regarding Sorshen, but this one aimed at demonic interaction, what sort of relationship did she share with Alaznist? Other than the openly antagonistic, that is. Sorshen obviously wasn't shy about making deals with particular demon lords (e.g. Nocticula), though it seems to have been Alaznist's "game" moreso than it was hers. Were there many clashes between the two of them based on their interaction with demons? Alaznist using demons to try and one-up Sorshen and make a separate deal with Nocticula, Sorshen doing the same in return, and that sort of thing? Sorshen herself wasn't particularly devout, basing her "worship" on convenience and necessity rather than actual piety, but if she could have taken a solid shot at either Alaznist or Xanderghul via demon "worship" or deals, would she have done so?


Hi again.

James Jacobs wrote:
No Adventure Path is canon except with respect to itself. (The only exception being Shattered Star, which assumes Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness have all taken place.)

Could this be problematic if I were to run Shattered Star? The Rise of the Runelords campaign I'm playing in isn't very far in yet. (Also, could it affect my ability to play in Curse of the Crimson Throne or Second Darkness in the future?)


James Jacobs wrote:
Matrixryu wrote:

James,

So, you're pretty outspoken about not liking summoners, and you and a lot of other GMs seem to be banning them from games because people think they are disruptive or overpowered.

Personally, Summoner is my favorite class in the game just because of the flavor and variety you get can out of it, so I have to ask this: have you heard anything about any plans to somehow address the perceived issues with the class? I would rather it be nerfed or rewritten than outright banned from so many tables.

At this point, no—it's already in print and has been in play for years. The genie's out of the bottle, and cramming it back in would do more harm than good. If your GM is fine with the summoner, then you're good to go. If your GM is not, I would recommend playing a druid instead—they don't grant the ability to build a wacky outlandish minion, but in basic game play, they're probably the closest to what a summoner does.

Which, I suppose, is good news for anyone who really likes the summoner, because my required changes to the class would only disappoint and anger those gamers.

i can say something?

i guess theres are a lot of reason to not set a class with a lot of uniques spells, but in the case of alchemist... i dont know, the class is good. Did u notice the witcher system in the pc? he makes potions and mutagens and it dwell good in pfrpg (if not i recomend u to point of reference) and the system for bombs from assassins creed revelations?

i drop youre options for the alchemist which in the best of the case is: another wizard with another way to launch a spell (i make the adaptation to those i mencioning, if u want. but are in spanish)

i really love the class, but im so tired for the spellcaster classes doing or emulating the same spell at all.


James Jacobs wrote:
XperimentalDM wrote:

I'm planning on expanding the tower full of Will-o-wisps from Part 2 of Kingmaker(Rivers Run Red) . Since it mentions the tower being decorated in images with a strong connection to the dark tapestry i thought throwing in a nice mythos feeling monster might do the trick nicely. I've been looking at the appropriate bestiary entry from Carrion Crown and have leafed through the hardcover bestiaries but nothing feels right.

So any suggestions for a CR 7 - 10 Lovecraftian monster for my to stick in the tower on Candlemare?

Dimensional Shambler. From Pathfinder #46.

Thanks James!

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

First of all, happy Thanksgiving!

What do you think about the movie, The Man with the Iron Fists? Either based on seeing it or based on previews?

Liberty's Edge

A question about Windy escape:

PRD wrote:

Windy Escape

School transmutation [air]; Level bard 1, druid 1, magus 1, sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 immediate action
Components V, S
Range personal
Target you
Duration instantaneous

You respond to an attack by briefly becoming vaporous and insubstantial, allowing the attack to pass harmlessly through you. You gain DR 10/magic against this attack and are immune to any poison, sneak attacks, or critical hit effect from that attack.

You cannot use windy escape against an attack of opportunity you provoked by casting a spell, using a spell-like ability, or using any other magical ability that provokes an attack of opportunity when used.

The few posts that I have seen about this spell all assume that it can cast only before the attack roll, i.e. between the time in which the target is announced and the GM announce if the hit connect or not.

Honestly that interpretation seem to make the spell practically useless. Its duration is instantaneous so you benefit from it only if you are hit and then the protection isn't anything stellar unless, by chance, you are casting it exactly when the enemy get a critical hit. The only exception is against a rogue flanking you.

On the other hand casting it after you know that a hit is a critical make it too strong.

- * -

PRD wrote:


Ring of Force Shield

Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot ring; Price 8,500 gp; Weight —
Description

An iron band, this simple ring generates a shield-sized (and shield-shaped) wall of force that stays with the ring and can be wielded by the wearer as if it were a heavy shield (+2 AC). This special creation has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance since it is weightless and encumbrance-free. It can be activated and deactivated at will as a free action.

This ring give a shield bonus to AC or an untyped bonus that stack with everything?

"wielded by the wearer as if it were a heavy shield" mean that your hand is encumbered when wielding the ring?


James Jacobs wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:

blackbloodtroll Anchor questions:
1) How should I go about determining the weight and size of the Anchor created by the Anchor Feather Token?

2) Is there a weight/size listed for any Anchor?

3) Must there be a craft present to activate the Anchor Feather Token?

4) How much does a mundane Anchor cost?

JJ answers:
1) The anchor created by a feather token isn't a real anchor. It merely functions as an anchor to moor a vessel in the water, rendering it immobile for a day. The size or weight can be whatever you want, but since it's only a 25 gp item, it's not really appropriate to have it create a real, full sized anchor that you could use to drop on someone to do damage. My suggestion would be to say it doesn't even turn into an anchor, but instead just keeps the ship stuck in one place for the day it's active.

2) Not that I know of... but anchors are real-world objects that you can look up details for and use them in your game. For Example... clicky

3) You don't need a craft to activate an anchor feather token, but it doesn't have anything to do if you activate it when you're not on a boat in the water and you waste it.

4) It's part of the cost of a ship if you buy it. If you just want to buy an anchor, though... I'd say probably something like 5 gp for a 10 pound anchor, 10 gp for a 20 pound anchor, and so on.

Kinda feel video-gamey. Kinda like this.

Grand Lodge

James, question about the Elysian Titan from Bestiary 2. It says that it's a CR 21, but by making it a Prophet Elysian Titan, it gains the spells of a 20th level cleric for +1 CR? How? That's way to low an adjustment. Is it a typo? Do those spells replace the spell-like abilities? That'd make it a little easier to swallow. Or is that on top of the SLA? I know they don't get the domains or bonus spells from that, but that's still a lot of spells.

To put it in perspective that gives her 4/7/6/6/6/6/5/5/5/5. Having access to Antimagic Field, Fire Storm, and Implosion up to 5/day should be worth more than just a +1 CR.

Dark Archive

I've been looking at pathfinder society game and I thought, I like the idea of prestige points, but I have no idea how to award them to my players in non-PFS games, how would you do it?


Hi James, I've enjoyed the NPC Codex and it made me formulate new character ideas. I would like some input on what you think is appropriate action cost for the following concept: imagine I'm running a monk that wears multiple amulets of mighty fists at the same time, in a form of monastic rosary (picture the guy on page 61 in Ultimate Combat). The different amulets would be tied to different elements (i.e. a flaming amulet, a freezing amulet, and so forth). Naturally the monk only benefits from one at a time - the question is, what is an appropriate cost to switch the active amulet?

(I picture it taking 2 move actions, one to "take off" the prior amulet, and a second one to "put on" the follow-up amulet. But I'm keen to hear your perspective on this.)


Happy Thanksgiving, James!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?

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