Do you like Pokemon?
Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
Are there any gods that can let their clerics use the Whimsy subdomain from Blood of Angels, or is it only for non-deity divine casters?
Thanks! :D
Some of the Empyreal Lords probably grant that subdomain, as do some of the Eldest. As for core deities... not sure. Calistria, Cayden Caylean, Desna, and Shelyn all seem like they might.
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Creative Director
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Do you like Pokemon?
Kinda, yeah, but mostly because it's becasue of Wizards of the Coast's success with Pokemon back in 1999 that they started hiring a lot of folks on, including several temps who were working there (like me), and then the runaway success ended up getting me a lot of money in the form of some pretty healthy bonuses. :-)
I've played the card game a few times... it was fun, but not really something I felt the need to play more than that few times.
And I do have a pikachu in my home. For luck!
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Creative Director
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I was just reading a fun Wikipedia page on Iggwilv and Zagig Yragerne and Tsojcanth and such, and it got me thinking...
1. What is your favorite unpronounceable Greyhawk name?
2. What is your most hated unpronounceable Greyhawk name?
1) Tsojcanth is preety high up on the list.
2) Not sure; I probably forgot it.
Woah, what did Wizards do with Pokemon?
Woah, what did Wizards do with Pokemon?
Card game I think.
I'll bite
So where is Far Far Paratha? Don't remember running across this before?
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Creative Director
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Woah, what did Wizards do with Pokemon?
Yeah; at about the same time they were doing the 3rd edition of D&D, they were publishing the Pokemon trading card game. So... what they did with it was pretty much create the entire USA Pokemon craze and made a LOT of money. And the success with Pokemon was the final straw that convinced Hasbro to buy Wizards of the Coast (I believe they were already interested in WotC for Magic and D&D, but the smash success of Pokemon was the big reason).
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Taking time to play a campaign or two as a player is really important if you want to become a better GM.
For years, I was almost always the GM in the game. Finally getting to play the game as a player, and not just as a one-shot game but in a whole campaign, kind of opened my eyes to how I as a GM could be more entertaining to my players.
I hesitate to write a "me too" post without a question, but I am having the same experience. Its taken me a while to learn to enjoy playing again, but I am getting there, and it is opening my eyes.
Taking time to play a campaign or two as a player is really important if you want to become a better GM.
For years, I was almost always the GM in the game. Finally getting to play the game as a player, and not just as a one-shot game but in a whole campaign, kind of opened my eyes to how I as a GM could be more entertaining to my players.
On that note, what would you say are the five most important things that a GM should keep in mind?
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That said I think that some kind of hindrance for dying should exist. I am not convinced that a money cost is the best way to implement that. At the same time is the simplest and more manageable way for a GM.
In my Kingmaker campaign I am using prestige points as a added reward so people can be raised with them, not only with cash.Honestly... I think the fact that you have to sit out some of the game play when you're dead, that the loss of your character's resources to the party as long as you're dead, and the money it costs to get brought back to life AND to have those permanent negative levels removed is quite enough for the "hindrance" effect.
As a player who's had a character die, not getting to play the game I came to play for a short or longer amount of time, and then basically having to pay gold to get back into the game is PLENTY huge of a hindrance as it stands.
We have a long thread on that. I agree that the money cost is not a good solution, but for the sake of the world setting there should be some limitation to the availability of raise dead or death from accidents would become practically unknown in every large city.
A quest seem even worse than a money as creating an appropriate quest, tailored for the character and the priest religion, can be a headache for the GM and can be difficult to connect it to what the PC are doing.A risk of permanent death, like in the earlier editions? Again an unacceptable solution.
To me the money cost seem the lesser of several evils. If the GM is confident in his ability to inject an appropriate side quest to "pay" from the return from the dead every time it is needed it would be the better solution, but implementing it right would require a lot of work for the GM.
You have a alternate solution?
(beside trying to keep the death toll low, that is something I am already doing)
- * -
Trying to look it with a player eyes:
- I would like a well done quest. A badly implemented one could break my enjoyment of the game/character.
- after I have reached a sufficiently high level a money cost would be part of my "living expenses" and will not have a lasting impact on my character.
- raise dead for free: I would question why it is not available to the common people.
The language spoken in Senghor is a very limited scope regional language that isn't all that widespread. As for the apparent disconnect with the slavery issues... that sounds like it's a development error. Senghor is absolutely against slave trade, and so if the Ombo want to do slave trade, they'll have to do so in secret if they do business in Senghor. Not sure much more about them, since I've actually not done a lot of writing or development for Senghor or this region... but not every group needs to have a religious affiliation.
cool, thanks, i will take it that the vast majority of Ombo who actually live in Senghor aren't involved in slaving and support the anti-slavery policy, although outsider/itenerant Ombo may be involved, and some local criminal elements may be discretely involved (having spies would make sense to avoid naval patrols). my question about religion was based on the popular Deity of the Ombo/Bonuwat, Shimye-Magala, not seeming very appropriate to slavers, and pondering if the Ombo slavers may also worship demon gods like the slaving Bekyar do.
i did some more source research, and the Senghor language seems to be officially classed as a dialect of Polyglot, so whatever unique elements it has that may be drawn from some other locale were just integrated into the local Polyglot language.
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Creative Director
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On that note, what would you say are the five most important things that a GM should keep in mind?Taking time to play a campaign or two as a player is really important if you want to become a better GM.
For years, I was almost always the GM in the game. Finally getting to play the game as a player, and not just as a one-shot game but in a whole campaign, kind of opened my eyes to how I as a GM could be more entertaining to my players.
Hmmm...
1) Don't be afraid to make up a rule to keep the game going.
2) Make sure everyone at the table's having fun.
3) Make sure YOU are having fun.
4) Don't rush the game.
5) Don't fall into the "me vs. the players" mindset.
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Creative Director
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We have a long thread on that. I agree that the money cost is not a good solution, but for the sake of the world setting there should be some limitation to the availability of raise dead or death from accidents would become practically unknown in every large city.
A quest seem even worse than a money as creating an appropriate quest, tailored for the character and the priest religion, can be a headache for the GM and can be difficult to connect it to what the PC are doing.
A risk of permanent death, like in the earlier editions? Again an unacceptable solution.To me the money cost seem the lesser of several evils. If the GM is confident in his ability to inject an appropriate side quest to "pay" from the return from the dead every time it is needed it would be the better solution, but implementing it right would require a lot of work for the GM.
You have a alternate solution?
(beside trying to keep the death toll low, that is something I am already doing)- * -
Trying to look it with a player eyes:
- I would like a well done quest. A badly implemented one could break my enjoyment of the game/character.
- after I have reached a sufficiently high level a money cost would be part of my "living expenses" and will not have a lasting impact on my character.
- raise dead for free: I would question why it is not available to the common people.
You misunderstand me. I think the money cost is an excellent solution. Far better than permanent debilitating conditions to your character that only further increase the chance of you dying again, which is what the permanent level loss of 3rd edition meant.
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You misunderstand me. I think the money cost is an excellent solution. Far better than permanent debilitating conditions to your character that only further increase the chance of you dying again, which is what the permanent level loss of 3rd edition meant.
A bit of self aggrandizing on my part :-P, but what do you think of this solution?
With the sub-theme of reimaginings of famous paintings when dealing with Andoran, is there any chance of there being a Golarion-version of Alexandre Dumas père's père?
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With the sub-theme of reimaginings of famous paintings when dealing with Andoran, is there any chance of there being a Golarion-version of Alexandre Dumas père's père?
For the non-French speaking: "Père" is French for "father," and is added to Dumas's name to avoid confusing him with his son, the playwright Alexandre Dumas fils (son).
Actually he is Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806) father of Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870) the writer and grandfather of Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895), the playwright.
Three generations with the same name ....
With the sub-theme of reimaginings of famous paintings when dealing with Andoran, is there any chance of there being a Golarion-version of Alexandre Dumas père's père?
For the non-French speaking: "Père" is French for "father," and is added to Dumas's name to avoid confusing him with his son, the playwright Alexandre Dumas fils (son).
Actually he is Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806) father of Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870) the writer and grandfather of Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895), the playwright.
Three generations with the same name ....
Which would make him Alexandre Dumas père's père, as I said. ;)
James, can we get a FAQ entry as to which exact type of attack hooves on a horse animal companion count, especially after it gets combat training? My head about exploded when I tried to find an answer, due to the plethora of opinions and the general confusion about the topic. The best semi-official answer was an unofficial FAQ entry by you from 2009.
To summarize:
- Under the druid animal companion entry on page 54 CRB, the horses hooves are listed as secondary.
- At 4th level, the horse companion gets combat trained.
- Combat training under the Handle Animal skill, page 98 CRB, does not list anything special about attack types for a horse.
- However the horse entry in the bestiary, page 177, says that the hoof attacks transform into primary attacks when the horse receives combat training.
Should that not be officially clarified after so many years, especially since horse companions should be some of the most common animal companions for at least the Cavalier and Samurai?
Does the pictured anti-paladin have a name? Are there any famous golarion anti-paladins?
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Creative Director
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You misunderstand me. I think the money cost is an excellent solution. Far better than permanent debilitating conditions to your character that only further increase the chance of you dying again, which is what the permanent level loss of 3rd edition meant.
A bit of self aggrandizing on my part :-P, but what do you think of this solution?
Again... I don't think it's a problem. Turns out, the method for dealing with death that we put into Pathfinder is the one we felt was the right solution. It might not be for other game groups, which is where house rules can come in and kick ass... but it's not my place to say yay or nay to house rules.
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Creative Director
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With the sub-theme of reimaginings of famous paintings when dealing with Andoran, is there any chance of there being a Golarion-version of Alexandre Dumas père's père?
** spoiler omitted **
Probably not... the experiment of re-imagining famous paintings for Andoran is something we're not likely to continue doing. It was an interesting experiment and an unusual way to get the point of the region across... but going forward, I'd like to focus more on totally new imagery for the region.
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Creative Director
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Recently I was doing the DM in a pathfinder tournment but I having found other in my opinion evolved and therefore better games: world of darkness and marvel heroic roleplaying game. It is possible that this is written a manual with alternative rules which make the game more realistic? Yeah, I know that a game is good if the people that play it are goods too, but I want to change. In addition, I have some rules questions.
Deadly stroke and crossbowman with a double crossbow and other questions.
1) Is considered flat-footed an opponent shooted by a crossbowman with improved deadshot for the purpose of deadly stroke?
2) What it's doubled with deadly stroke? Weapon magical bonus? d6s from magical properties? Wounding? The other d8 from the double crossbow?
3) One-handed firearms are considered light for the purpose of two weapon fighting?
4) Must I add bonuses from amulet of mighty fists when I'm using awesome blow?
5) Why the vivisectionist (alchemist archetype) have in discoveries some bombs even if he can't use them?
In my opinion... sacrificing game play for "more realisim" is not a good thing for a game.
As for the rules questions... they should be taken over to the rules forums for answers and potential FAQing.
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Creative Director
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James, can we get a FAQ entry as to which exact type of attack hooves on a horse animal companion count, especially after it gets combat training? My head about exploded when I tried to find an answer, due to the plethora of opinions and the general confusion about the topic. The best semi-official answer was an unofficial FAQ entry by you from 2009.
To summarize:
- Under the druid animal companion entry on page 54 CRB, the horses hooves are listed as secondary.
- At 4th level, the horse companion gets combat trained.
- Combat training under the Handle Animal skill, page 98 CRB, does not list anything special about attack types for a horse.
- However the horse entry in the bestiary, page 177, says that the hoof attacks transform into primary attacks when the horse receives combat training.Should that not be officially clarified after so many years, especially since horse companions should be some of the most common animal companions for at least the Cavalier and Samurai?
I don't handle the FAQ process, nor am I particularly involved in it. You'll need to bring this to the design team's (Jason, Sean, and Stephen) attention, or simply post the question again over on the rules forums to re FAQ it.
Me responding here would likely only cause MORE general confusion and claims that Paizo's house isn't in order.
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Creative Director
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James,
Have you taken a look at the Razor Coast Kickstarter yet?Will you be backing it?
I have... and I have indeed backed it. I've been eager to see Razor Coast for years.
And I just had dinner with Nick Logue last night, and I can confirm that HE is eager to see it come out as well! :-)
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Creative Director
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Does the pictured anti-paladin have a name? Are there any famous golarion anti-paladins?
He does not; he's not an iconic. Wayne Reynolds is the only one who paints iconic characters for Pathifnder, because we want our iconics to all be done in the same artistic style.
No famous Golarion anti-paladins come to mind yet... but that may change by this time next year...
hi james i asked further up if you read comics and if you are a marvel or dc guy..just wondering if you read comics at all and if so whats your favorite
James, can we get a FAQ entry as to which exact type of attack hooves on a horse animal companion count, especially after it gets combat training? My head about exploded when I tried to find an answer, due to the plethora of opinions and the general confusion about the topic. The best semi-official answer was an unofficial FAQ entry by you from 2009.
To summarize:
- Under the druid animal companion entry on page 54 CRB, the horses hooves are listed as secondary.
- At 4th level, the horse companion gets combat trained.
- Combat training under the Handle Animal skill, page 98 CRB, does not list anything special about attack types for a horse.
- However the horse entry in the bestiary, page 177, says that the hoof attacks transform into primary attacks when the horse receives combat training.Should that not be officially clarified after so many years, especially since horse companions should be some of the most common animal companions for at least the Cavalier and Samurai?
I don't handle the FAQ process, nor am I particularly involved in it. You'll need to bring this to the design team's (Jason, Sean, and Stephen) attention, or simply post the question again over on the rules forums to re FAQ it.
Me responding here would likely only cause MORE general confusion and claims that Paizo's house isn't in order.
Will do, thanks!
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Creative Director
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hi james i asked further up if you read comics and if you are a marvel or dc guy..just wondering if you read comics at all and if so whats your favorite
Nope; don't really read comics much. I did read Sandman back in the day, and I did work for one summer as an assistant to Olyoptics with Steve Oliff at creating color guides for various titles he was doing at the time, though, so I do have SOME comic cred...
What are the dimensions of the Grand Mastaba?
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So speaking of iconics, I was thinking about Seltyiel today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he started out as the iconic Multiclass character, then became the iconic Eldritch Knight in the Core Rulebook (sort of, as Prestige Classes typically don't have iconic characters), and finally settled down as the iconic Magus in Ultimate Magic.
Does this make Seltyiel the character of the Iconic Player Who Rebuilds His/Her Character Every Time A New Sourcebook Comes Out?
Dear James, I was wondering, what does a earth elemental "see" underground, do they notice different types of stone? If they don't how do they navigate? Would they be able to recognize, tell appart limestone and marble?
(Refining last question, damn the inability to edit past an hour.)
What are the dimensions of the Grand Mastaba? Height, base, top, that sort of thing. Also, what height is the Thassilonian dungeon at?
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Creative Director
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(Refining last question, damn the inability to edit past an hour.)
What are the dimensions of the Grand Mastaba? Height, base, top, that sort of thing. Also, what height is the Thassilonian dungeon at?
Ah. Well... the place we've said the most about that is in Pathfinder #12, which I'm also too lazy to look up at the moment... ;P
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Creative Director
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So speaking of iconics, I was thinking about Seltyiel today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he started out as the iconic Multiclass character, then became the iconic Eldritch Knight in the Core Rulebook (sort of, as Prestige Classes typically don't have iconic characters), and finally settled down as the iconic Magus in Ultimate Magic.
Does this make Seltyiel the character of the Iconic Player Who Rebuilds His/Her Character Every Time A New Sourcebook Comes Out?
Nope. It means that we invented Seltyiel before we were sure how our new game would work; he, like the other first 12 iconics, was invented when we were using D&D's 3.5 rules. We wanted to put iconics on our covers for the first 12 Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes... but there were only 11 open content base classes in 3.5. That meant we had to be a little creative with slot #12.
Then, a few years later, when we made the magus, it just made sense to make him the iconic magus instead of leaving him as an eldritch knight. We should probably replace the artwork for the eldritch knight in the Core Rulebook one of these days.
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Creative Director
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Dear James, I was wondering, what does a earth elemental "see" underground, do they notice different types of stone? If they don't how do they navigate? Would they be able to recognize, tell appart limestone and marble?
Earth elementals, like most things that burrow, can't see through solid earth or rock or stone while burrowing. They use tremorsense to navigate while burrowing.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs
I was running skulls and shackles and got into an argument with a player over a situation. Stupidly, I gave up but I refuse to set precedent, so I told them I would try to find the actual rules in case it comes up again.
My question is, what are the penalties to spot the "casting" of a spell from an item like a sword or whatever since it is a spell like ability, and therefore has no verbal or somatic components? I am guessing -10 for no verbal and -10 for no visual. The player kept saying that if I can't find the actual rules, then there is no penalty and I refuse to accept that, so I want to check with people that know things here better than I do. I mean, if sound and visual cues don't affect the perception/spellcraft roll, then what is the point in things like silent and still spell metamagics if someone wants to be a stealthy caster?
I know that as the GM, it is my job to put my foot down and enforce the rules I state, but this guy just wouldn't shut up and it was 2AM at that point.
There are no components, but as with all spells, there are sensory displays; flashing lights and colors, strange sounds and smells, and all that. The rules don't really say much, as far as I know, on how difficult it is to spot spellcasting—they more or less assume it's automatic if you're looking.
If not... I would say it'd be either a Bluff opposed by Sense Motive, or a Stealth opposed by Perception.
James, what Knowledge would you use to identify an alchemical tool like a smoke pellet or troll styptic?