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Question..
As a GM and/or Player do you feel that, besides a few Archtypes, the Fighter and Rogue classes have become obsolete?
Not at all! Rogues are still my go-to class. People can argue numbers and compare builds all they want, but for me, Pathfinder is a storytelling game, and rogues and fighters are at the center of a lot of my favorite fantasy stories.
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Not at all! Rogues are still my go-to class. People can argue numbers and compare builds all they want, but for me, Pathfinder is a storytelling game, and rogues and fighters are at the center of a lot of my favorite fantasy stories.Question..
As a GM and/or Player do you feel that, besides a few Archtypes, the Fighter and Rogue classes have become obsolete?
Thanks for the reply.
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Mr. Sutter, question on roleplaying. As a player and/or GM, when you roleplay your character/NPC, how do you roleplay a high(16+) mental ability score? What are some of the ways you've seen it potrayed?
Also how do you roleplay mental ability scores below 10? Say only a couple points like a score of 9 or 8. What about lower?
What was one of your favorite characters that you played?
I'm looking for more ideas for roleplaying various ability scores.
Thank you. I appreciate being able to talk to you.
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Mr. Sutter, question on roleplaying. As a player and/or GM, when you roleplay your character/NPC, how do you roleplay a high(16+) mental ability score? What are some of the ways you've seen it potrayed?
Also how do you roleplay mental ability scores below 10? Say only a couple points like a score of 9 or 8. What about lower?
What was one of your favorite characters that you played?
I'm looking for more ideas for roleplaying various ability scores.
Thank you. I appreciate being able to talk to you.
I find it much easier to roleplay characters of low intelligence—it's often more fun, too, because it allows you to stop making the strategic choices all the time and just do whatever comes to mind or seems funny. I often get bored if the group is sitting around carefully plotting how to circumvent every challenge in the dungeon, and having a character who can keep the action moving by yelling "BORING!" and kicking in the door is a valuable addition to any game. (This is presumably why Seoni and the others keep Valeros around.)
Roleplaying characters of high intelligence can be harder, especially if (like me) you're quickly bored by certain types of puzzles. My go-to strategy is just to regularly ask the GM to make knowledge checks, so that I can be a know-it-all—or, depending on the game master, make up whatever esoteric trivia I want and trust the GM to back me up. ;) Also, remember that intelligence isn't the same as wisdom—you can be the learned wizard and still yell "BORING!" and kick open that door!
I'd say that my current favorite character is Artemis Kraugh, self-proclaimed tengu folk hero, from Erik Mona's Kings of Absalom game. He's a wizard who carries a sword as his bonded object, just because he thinks it looks cool, and is fond of making stirring speeches and screeching battle cries in my best death-metal scream. :)
James, you are GMing and you have the PCs in a tower full of undead, you've got them a little creeped out with what they've seen so far; how do you keep the suspense up?
Turn down the lights. Then just keep ramping up the horror—steal shamelessly from all your favorite horror movies. And it never hurts to throw hints that someone in the party might secretly be working against the others...
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Mr. Sutter, question on roleplaying. As a player and/or GM, when you roleplay your character/NPC, how do you roleplay a high(16+) mental ability score? What are some of the ways you've seen it potrayed?
Also how do you roleplay mental ability scores below 10? Say only a couple points like a score of 9 or 8. What about lower?
What was one of your favorite characters that you played?
I'm looking for more ideas for roleplaying various ability scores.
Thank you. I appreciate being able to talk to you.I find it much easier to roleplay characters of low intelligence—it's often more fun, too, because it allows you to stop making the strategic choices all the time and just do whatever comes to mind or seems funny. I often get bored if the group is sitting around carefully plotting how to circumvent every challenge in the dungeon, and having a character who can keep the action moving by yelling "BORING!" and kicking in the door is a valuable addition to any game. (This is presumably why Seoni and the others keep Valeros around.)
Roleplaying characters of high intelligence can be harder, especially if (like me) you're quickly bored by certain types of puzzles. My go-to strategy is just to regularly ask the GM to make knowledge checks, so that I can be a know-it-all—or, depending on the game master, make up whatever esoteric trivia I want and trust the GM to back me up. ;) Also, remember that intelligence isn't the same as wisdom—you can be the learned wizard and still yell "BORING!" and kick open that door!
I'd say that my current favorite character is Artemis Kraugh, self-proclaimed tengu folk hero, from Erik Mona's Kings of Absalom game. He's a wizard who carries a sword as his bonded object, just because he thinks it looks cool, and is fond of making stirring speeches and screeching battle cries in my best death-metal scream. :)
Thanks for the reply, Artemis sounds like a fun character.
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What you did...I'd say that my current favorite character is Artemis Kraugh, self-proclaimed [/b]tengu[/b] folk hero,
HA!
I'm asking because my PCs went a bit murder hobo in Berkanin Ardoc's House. My intend next game is to have Besel Ardoc and his 3 Iron Golems arrest them on their way to the Duskwarden Househouse. Herifax the Harpy escaped the PCs and is the one who is asking the Ardocs for an official judgment.
Right now I can think of 5 charges against the PCs.
Illegal trespassing. (They were warned in the stairway.)
Theft. (Everything was looted.)
Assault. (PC won the initiative against Herifax and without saying a word, started to attack her.)
2 counts of Murder for Berkanin Ardoc and Kanya Ismahe. (Herifax was gone at this point but the bodies found cast a serious doubt if it was self-defense or not.)
Destruction of Private Property. (The various golems destroyed.)
I should also note that this little courtroom action with a zone of truth in the Kiln with Merriman Ardoc won't end or derail the AP. However, I'm not opposed to them losing a few knuckles. But who knows, maybe they will diplomacy their way out of it without any blame.
Thanks!
1)Any chance we will find out what the name of Castrovel's moon and/or fourth continent in the next few years?
2)What was your favorite book/book series when you were a kid? currently?
3)What were your favorite shows growing up? Do have any favorites currently?
What does the Sutter Signal look like?
Unfortunately I'm all out of mob bosses.
** spoiler omitted **
I imagine they have plenty of normal laws as well, involving fines, imprisonment, community service, etc. But for what you're talking about, I think we're looking at a lot of knuckles. :)
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1)Any chance we will find out what the name of Castrovel's moon and/or fourth continent in the next few years?
2)What was your favorite book/book series when you were a kid? currently?
3)What were your favorite shows growing up? Do have any favorites currently?
1) I'd love to do more with Castrovel, but there's nothing currently on the docket. (For now.)
2) I had a ton of favorites! Some of the top ones were the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, and The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. In terms of current favorites... while all my childhood favs hold a special spot in my heart, some new series that have really grabbed me are Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, Justin Cronin's Passage books, and Robert J Bennet's City of Stairs (the sequel to which comes out this month!).
3) My favorite shows as a child were probably Voltron and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At the moment, my favorites are Sherlock and Game of Thrones.
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Did I see you on the news this morning?
If it was on TV, probably not (as far as I know!). But if you mean the newspaper, I was actually on the front page of the Seattle Times for an article about group housing.
What does the Sutter Signal look like?Unfortunately I'm all out of mob bosses.
Have you never been to Illinois, here take these, there's plenty to spare.
How was your Christmas? Did you get anything good?
I imagine they have plenty of normal laws as well, involving fines, imprisonment, community service, etc. But for what you're talking about, I think we're looking at a lot of knuckles. :)** spoiler omitted **
Thanks for the input James. They managed to avoid the trial by asking a favor to Dakar. (I had run before the City of Strangers PFS scenarios and they thought that he could use his influence with the Ardocs). Boy I am going to have fun planning what they have to do to repay that favor. He warned them that it would be a big one. :)
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How was your Christmas? Did you get anything good?
It was great! On the gift side, I got a kindle (my first!) and a rad peacoat that makes me look even more like Wes than I already did. :P
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Thanks for the input James. They managed to avoid the trial by asking a favor to Dakar. (I had run before the City of Strangers PFS scenarios and they thought that he could use his influence with the Ardocs). Boy I am going to have fun planning what they have to do to repay that favor. He warned them that it would be a big one. :)I imagine they have plenty of normal laws as well, involving fines, imprisonment, community service, etc. But for what you're talking about, I think we're looking at a lot of knuckles. :)** spoiler omitted **
Ah, Dakar! He was the first naga we ever introduced, way back in Pathfinder #3, and I'm still rather fond of him. :)
Recently James Jacobs mentioned that you prefer the Tales authors to try and follow the rules when making characters (at least to a point.) What if they needed something that didn't exist within the rules as-is?
It's not just a preference—it's a requirement! Every character that shows up in Pathfinder Tales needs to be able to be adequately modeled by a class combination. Which doesn't mean they need to be optimized, or even use every possible ability—for instance, there might be plenty of politicians best modeled as rogues who never backstab anyone—but they should never display abilities that aren't explainable under the current rules set.
That said, novels are about adding to the game and the canon, not just displaying it—it's the same philosophy that guides our adventures and other books. If an author has a cool idea for, say, a spell or magic item that isn't in the game yet, but would be a cool and balanced addition to the system, there's no reason for us to not put it in there (likely statting it up in a later game book).
The important thing to remember is that the rulebooks we've published don't represent everything that's possible—if that were true, we'd never be able to publish new books without breaking the world. Instead, the rulebooks try to present the underlying laws of Golarion's universe and show examples of what's possible. As long as an author's idea fits within that framework, we consider it just one more tool for GMs to draw inspiration from.
Hope that answers the question!
Based on a tweet you sent yesterday, did Wes tell you you're pretty? (based on your twitter profile pic, the objective answer is yes.)
Also, what did you mean by "review season"? Is it performance review week at Paizo?
Is there any chance that we will someday see a revised Planet Stories line? It's one of my favorite product lines from Paizo's "youth".
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Based on a tweet you sent yesterday, did Wes tell you you're pretty? (based on your twitter profile pic, the objective answer is yes.)
Also, what did you mean by "review season"? Is it performance review week at Paizo?
Wes always tells me I'm pretty. (He knows the consequences if he doesn't.) And thank you. :)
And yeah, like any other company, Paizo has annual performance reviews so we can help each other improve and do the best work we can. I joke about it, but I actually feel like it's really important—I ask all my employees to send feedback to my bosses so that the reviews work both ways, not just top-down.
Is there any chance that we will someday see a revised Planet Stories line? It's one of my favorite product lines from Paizo's "youth".
Until Erik wins the lottery, I think it'll remain on hiatus. Planet Stories was never a big seller, just a project of passion, and these days the opportunity cost is just too great.
That said, if you really like that old pulp stuff, keep an eye on the comics line after Pathfinder Hollow Mountain... ;)
Really! I had no idea—that's fascinating!
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As far as I can gauge, PF (if it were rated by an inappropriate rating system such as the following) would have a PG-13 rating.
Under that assumption (and feel free to correct me if you feel that's an erroneous one) would you allow one of your authors to use the F-word in a novel?
Would you be willing to suggest (perhaps spoilered) any alternatives if you don't allow the F-word?
I grew up in a very Irish household, so the F-word is common parlance here.
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As far as I can gauge, PF (if it were rated by an inappropriate rating system such as the following) would have a PG-13 rating.
Under that assumption (and feel free to correct me if you feel that's an erroneous one) would you allow one of your authors to use the F-word in a novel?
Would you be willing to suggest (perhaps spoilered) any alternatives if you don't allow the F-word?
I grew up in a very Irish household, so the F-word is common parlance here.
In general, you're right that PG-13 is roughly the mark we strive to hit with the Pathfinder Tales novels. While I'm personally a big fan of letting kids read pretty much whatever they want—I sure learned some interesting things from Tom Robbins and Stephen King as a child—I can appreciate that a lot of parents feel differently, and so we try to walk a line that's edgy enough to keep everyone interested but not so far that the average parent (or teacher, or librarian) is going to have to worry about graphic sex scenes or explicit language. (There IS a lot of violence, though, and some books like Nightglass get pretty darn dark. Somehow that doesn't raise as many eyebrows, though. I have no idea why the USA is still so permissive of severed limbs but freaked out by nipples, but so it goes.)
For that reason, I don't allow authors to drop F-bombs in the books. Instead, I often encourage them to introduce profanity that feels more rooted in the world and its religions—for instance, in the comic scripts I write for Dynamite, I have Valeros say things like "Cayden's balls!" It still gets the point across, and feels in keeping with the setting, but isn't going to trigger some folks' profanity filters in the same way.
Outside of the books, of course, I, too, use the F-word more than I probably should. :P
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Hi James, I think I found a picture of your extended family, which one is you? Or were you the one taking the pic?
Who is the camera whore of the family?
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What's your favorite f+$!ing t.v. show right now?
What's your favorite f@*#ing instance of f@!*ing swearing in a g~#*~#n movie?
:-)
Seen any movies lately? If so what did you think?
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Hi James, I think I found a picture of your extended family, which one is you? Or were you the one taking the pic?
Who is the camera whore of the family?
I can never tell which is me in those pictures, but that's definitely my brother in the back—he's *way* taller than me, and much handsomer.
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What's your favorite f+#*ing t.v. show right now?
What's your favorite f$+%ing instance of f%#+ing swearing in a g~!!#&n movie?
:-)
My favorite TV show right now is a toss-up between Sherlock and Game of Thrones. Both are among the best shows I've ever seen, in terms of writing and acting, though these days I'm a touch afraid that GoT might pull a Rome and just go down the rabbit hole of despair, forgetting that what makes the grim elements of shows work is the dynamic range, the contrast. Once you lose hope, grimdark just becomes painful and unsatisfying.
Favorite swearing: There's a scene in an early season of The Wire where two detectives do an entire crime scene investigation and share their conclusions using only the word "f%*+" and body language. It's a stunt, but one that the actors totally nail, making for one of the most brilliant pieces of screenwriting I've seen. :)
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Seen any movies lately? If so what did you think?
I'm woefully behind on my movie-watching! The last one I saw was The Force Awakens. My potentially contentious thoughts here:
I enjoyed it, but I found myself resenting that it was basically a reboot instead of a sequel—so many story beats and scenes were stolen outright from the original trilogy that it just felt like a rehash (albeit a totally fine one). I think I understand why they were doing it—so that new fans who saw only this movie would still share most of the key nostalgia points with old-time fans without having to watch movies released decades before they were born. And I'll totally forgive that if it means that, having laid that necessary groundwork, they can now go make a ton of new Star Wars movies that do interesting new things. But it means that I won't really feel like I've seen a *new* Star Wars movie until the next one comes out. I hope. :P
Also, the bad guy speech before the firing of the planet-killer was a little painful. I don't have a lot of tolerance for unexplained evil anymore, and I felt like 5 minutes from a Game of Thrones writer could have easily given the new bad guys a compelling reason for doing what they're doing. (There are PLENTY of logical reasons to want a new empire, and even to justify what they're doing to achieve it, but the film went instead for unexplained mustache-twirling evil, which just feels sloppy and uninteresting to me.)
I agree with everything you just said about movie:)
Have you seen any interesting TV shows?
Speaking of mustache-twirling, have you watched any Epic Rap Battles of History?
Not yet! I'm sadly so busy these days that I have a "youtube to watch" section of my to-do list app. :P
I agree with everything you just said about movie:)
Have you seen any interesting TV shows?
See my notes above about Game of Thrones and Sherlock! Other than that, I just started Carnivale, which I'm enjoying as much as everyone around Paizo said I would. :)
Do you watch Drunk History.
Do you watch Drunk History.
I watched two episodes, and it was hilarious!
Came here after asking the Directorsaur if you and him had ever talked about doing a collection of short stories in the Tales line.
Is that something you would be interested in?
A short story anthology is something we've always wanted to do, but they're just really hard to sell in the current fiction market. That said, for several years we were able to get away with publishing short Pathfinder Stories for free online, and they're all still up there!
They have it on DVD now, first two seasons, unedited. It's even more hilarious.
It's my almost 12 year old daughter's favorite show. :-)
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A short story anthology is something we've always wanted to do, but they're just really hard to sell in the current fiction market. That said, for several years we were able to get away with publishing short Pathfinder Stories for free online, and they're all still up there!Came here after asking the Directorsaur if you and him had ever talked about doing a collection of short stories in the Tales line.
Is that something you would be interested in?
Ahh, you reminded me of the web fiction, now I'm sad :(
