Wes,
How much ink have you spilled in the name of the Golarion God's book?
Is there any elements of that tome that excite you?
A FLUID TON.
Aside from the usual development and work to bring our 2009 standards to our 2014 standards, it was a chance to open up the patient and make quite a few tinkers. I ended up going into both Erastil and Asmodeus with both red and black pens. So, if you haven't seen yet, check those out for some revisions, redactions, and wholly new content.
Mark Moreland, Jessica Price, James Sutter, and I did the lion's share of the development on this and it was QUITE a task. That's why you see Jessica's name hop up from Project Management into the developer's list—it was very much a all-hands on deck sort of thing. I think this was the book where we finally, firmly realized there's no such thing as an easy hardcover.
That said, I think it came out pretty brilliantly.
As for personal favs, I love the new altars—having a temple-specific magic item for each deity is pretty cool. I also really like the prestige classes and their wide variety. All the monsters are pretty cool too. But—because I'm going to be THAT nerd—I think the massive table at the end is my favorite. We took a pretty obvious cue from the giant charts in the back of AD&D's Deities and Demigods for our charts. It's a massive amount of data with tons of inspiration and potential on every line. It's total data-porn and I love it!
If you want to know more about what I think about Inner Sea Gods, I just did an interview with Know Direction. You can watch the whole thing right here!
That episode of Know Direction was great. It was so much fun to listen with the book right in front of me, so I could follow along with your tour: "look at this cool thing on page X.... oh now go look at page Y", etc. Your enthusiasm was infectious.
Also, you win the internet for "data-porn".
Wes, what do you think about the Native American monster named Uktena?
The giant serpent with antlers and a gem on its forehead which it uses to take away the will of its victims.
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Hello Pazio's Duke of Perdition,
Two questions.
I have a Way of the Wicked campaign set on Golarion, one of the players is playing a Hungry Ghost Monk Archtype, and wanted to be a cultist of the Horseman of Famine.
Since it is more in keeping to be in league with Hell, which Archdevil or of Duke of Hell best fits as a Hungry Ghost Monk's patron?
Are you playing in Rob's Way of the Wicked campaign?
Thanks for sparing a bit of your eternal time.
On the Coolness scale of 1-10, with 10 being the coolest:
Eye of Fear and Flame, is that a 10, or an 11?
:)
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Since it is more in keeping to be in league with Hell, which Archdevil or of Duke of Hell best fits as a Hungry Ghost Monk's patron?
I'm not Wes, but if I had to guess based on the appendix for Inner Sea Gods, maybe Circiatto, the Glutton Slaver of the Malebranche? Death, Evil, Law, and Magic domains and the Devil, Fear, Slavery, and Undead subdomains with his symbol being "rotten food on gold platter" sounds pretty much the epitome of Hungry Ghost Monk, but maybe a bit too literal.
(Wes, thank you a thousand times over for the appendix. It saves me more time than I ever really realized, not having to go to the Pathfinder Wiki every time I just wanted a list of deities that offered a given domain.)
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This just popped into my head while working on stuff for my home game but I thought I'd ask.
How do traditional Orcs view homosexuality in lands like the Hold of Belkzen? Is it different based on paring, do they have any concepts of trans orcs and if so how does that diversity of non-traditional genders (assuming they share the same 2 sexes we have) factor into their culture?
I also asked this over on the JJ thread but kind of wanted to get some perspective and see what you thought as well.
Hi Wes,
I had asked this to James as well but someone had mentioned that she might be devil related and I should ask you.
So...I was flipping through the back of Inner Sea Gods and stumbled across a deity that I hadn't heard of and couldn't find much about...who is Feronia?
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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In looking at real world inspirations to expand the Golarion juju religion I found a couple curious things.
First, in the real world juju and voodoo are two different things. Voodoo is a religion and juju is more or less folk magic with similar practices. In fact I came across a few places where practitioners of voodon did very well in being clear that juju should not be confused with their religion. In some places it isn't even a practice of magic but a phrase that refers to a type of karma one might have based on their actions.
I also found that juju was the only real world phrase or word in the write up in the Golarion religion inspired by voodoo, which juju isn't typically actually a part of.
This leads to asking why use juju for the name of the religion instead of coming up with a new one? Wouldn't doing so create less confusion and be more respectful?
Second related question:
There are essentially three versions of voodoo. West African Voodon, Haitian Voodou, and Louisiana Voodoo. The last one is the most well known and often used in popular culture. As you move from Africa to New Orleans it becomes more and more organized and also borrows from Catholicism more and more. Effectively the voodoo of New Orleans is very different from West African Voodon, with Haitian voodou being somewhere in the middle of both but still practically being its own form of religion. Kind of like how Catholicism, Mormonism, and Baptists are all Christians but completely different in most respects.
In Golarion, would there be a similar religious phenomenon with juju (the Golarion religion)? Do you think there might be something like Louisiana voodoo that mixes juju with Varisian beliefs and worships saints of other religions with their wendo?
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As you move from Africa to New Orleans it becomes more and more organized and also borrows from Catholicism more and more. Effectively the voodoo of New Orleans is very different from West African Voodon, with Haitian voodou being somewhere in the middle of both but still practically being its own form of religion. Kind of like how Catholicism, Mormonism, and Baptists are all Christians but completely different in most respects.
There's also Santeria, which is basically fully Catholocized voodoo, and Houdoo, which is basically what happened when New Orleans voodoo escaped into the Appalacians and got mashed together with European folk magic and witchcraft (including spellbooks/grimoires).
Who's covering for you while you're at playing for Holland in the World Cup?
Good luck in the quarter final!
Mr. Schneider I have a question regarding the psychopomps in the inner Sea Bestiary. I noticied that unlike other psychopomps they lack a DR. Was this an oversight or intentional?l
Also is there a specific reason adamantin was chosen for their DR?
I just got Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh (or however you editors spell it*) and read the article on the river of souls. I don't have a question, but wanted to tell you that it has immediately become one of my favourite AP back matter articles ever. You should do less editor-in-chiefing and more writing, I say. (Or maybe more of both - I have it on good authority that you're the best editor-in-chief going around).
Really, thoroughly, totally awesome work. <- (doesn't have an editor)
I just got Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh (or however you editors spell it*) and read the article on the river of souls. I don't have a question, but wanted to tell you that it has immediately become one of my favourite AP back matter articles ever.
Came here to second this opinion. Been eagerly waiting for the article since Sutter told me it would answer any questions I had regarding the lifecycle of souls. He was very right.
You should do less editor-in-chiefing and more writing, I say.
Seconded, someone needs to make sure empyreal lords get some love (and decent stats).
Say, would your Tumblr be a better place to ask these questions? You update that frequently.
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I think most would prefer the elixir over either - it's an instant one-and-done, not vulnerable to disjunction, remove curse or other similar magic. :)That or the cord should be much much cheaper.I'd imagine that many transgendered people within the Cult would still probably prefer the girdle over the cord, if only because the "cursed" magic item doesn't require you to wear it after it has changed your gender.
And because you asked for meaty, here's something that I think would be right up the cult of Arshea's alley:Well good news!
Keep an eye out in 2014. :D
Just wanted to let you know that wording issues aside (I realize vocabulary can change rapidly in an identity group just finding their feet, which is why I let "biological sex" slide even though it's incorrect - I trust you to do better next time), I really liked the Elixir of Sex Shift in Advanced Class Guide.
9/10. ;)
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So I just read the River of Souls article in AP 34 (which was awesome, and neatly addressed stuff like 'why does Pharasma oh-so-conveniently never judge/sort people before they get resurrected'), and noticed a bit about outsiders 'quintessence' sort of flowing back (eventually) to the Maelstrom or their plane-of-residence if they are destroyed, and that tied interestingly to the bit about souls kind of 'showing up' when a new mortal is born.
Would it be possible for someone to explain their infernal bloodline sorcery to be the result of an imp dying somewhere in their hometown of Korvosa the night of their birth, and part of its 'quintessence' getting mixed up with it's fledgling soul?
Similarly, could the death of demons in the Worldwound/Mendev area, and lingering abyssal quintessence swirling around the area, having not yet spiraled into the giant crapper that is the Worldwound, have some sort of effect on local mortal births (perhaps both humanoids and animals), as they 'get a little bit of demon in them,' resulting in everything from a completely normal child of two mortals being born a half-demon (woops, got a big chunk of demon in that one!), or a tiefling, or with a gift for abyssal bloodline sorcery (or bloodragery, or whatever), or just freakish events like chicken eggs cracking open to reveal crawling eyeballs or two-headed calves with people faces?
That would be kind of neat, and lead to some interesting story options, particularly in the Worldwound / Mendev area, or devil-haunted Cheliax (where a particularly ambitious/callous/strange sort of parent might arrange to have a few imps or lemures called up and ganked just before the birth of their latest little bundle of joy, to give the infant an infernal advantage baked in from the start, as it's newly forming / arriving soul is awash in infernal soulstuff/quintessence...), or even Qadira / Katapesh, home to both lots of genie-summoners *and* lots of Ifrits, Sylphs, Undines and Oreads, perhaps not-so-coincidentally.
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So I just read the River of Souls article in AP 34 (which was awesome, and neatly addressed stuff like 'why does Pharasma oh-so-conveniently never judge/sort people before they get resurrected'), and noticed a bit about outsiders 'quintessence' sort of flowing back (eventually) to the Maelstrom or their plane-of-residence if they are destroyed, and that tied interestingly to the bit about souls kind of 'showing up' when a new mortal is born.
Would it be possible for someone to explain their infernal bloodline sorcery to be the result of an imp dying somewhere in their hometown of Korvosa the night of their birth, and part of its 'quintessence' getting mixed up with it's fledgling soul?
Similarly, could the death of demons in the Worldwound/Mendev area, and lingering abyssal quintessence swirling around the area, having not yet spiraled into the giant crapper that is the Worldwound, have some sort of effect on local mortal births (perhaps both humanoids and animals), as they 'get a little bit of demon in them,' resulting in everything from a completely normal child of two mortals being born a half-demon (woops, got a big chunk of demon in that one!), or a tiefling, or with a gift for abyssal bloodline sorcery (or bloodragery, or whatever), or just freakish events like chicken eggs cracking open to reveal crawling eyeballs or two-headed calves with people faces?
That would be kind of neat, and lead to some interesting story options, particularly in the Worldwound / Mendev area, or devil-haunted Cheliax (where a particularly ambitious/callous/strange sort of parent might arrange to have a few imps or lemures called up and ganked just before the birth of their latest little bundle of joy, to give the infant an infernal advantage baked in from the start, as it's newly forming / arriving soul is awash in infernal soulstuff/quintessence...), or even Qadira / Katapesh, home to both lots of genie-summoners *and* lots of Ifrits, Sylphs, Undines and Oreads, perhaps not-so-coincidentally.
I've always assumed that as many sorcerer/native-outsider bloodlines were the result of this kind of 'pollution' as actual interbreeding (I mean, in a Pathfinder world, we know Lamarckian evolution and the Principle of Contagion are real things.)
Your point about an imp being slain in Korvosa raises an interesting scenario: The Infernal bloodline makes a bigger deal about diabolic pacts than devilish blood. We also know that devils are callous, cruel, and often consider minions expendable. I imagine a parent praying for their child to be successful and have power. The response is to send an imp with a silver knife, and instructions that the father must kill the imp when the mother's water breaks. That makes him complicit in the 'blessing' in a way that would please Asmodeus.
Hi Wes, hope you're well!
I asked this question to James in his thread, and he directed me to you in case you has any information on the subject. :)
So:
Are you and the good folks at Paizo planning to release any more information/details about the Seventh Accord?
If not, do you have any personal ideas about what the Accord may have been? :)
It seems Wes has set up an Ask.fm account to answer any questions. You might get an answer sooner if you ask there.
If a Shabti was made of a worshipper of the Old Cults deities, would it be sent off to the Dark Tapestry rather than to an outer plane? Did this happen in Old Osirion?
Hi Wes, the infernal duke Lorcan has as his unholy symbol a "bloody bassinet". This may be a very stupid question, but does that mean a bassinet in the sense of a helmet or in the sense of a baby's cot.....given his link to vampires, i suppose it could be either. Thanks for your thoughts. Tim
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Mr. Schneider, 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 don't know if you're still doing this, but I have an odd question about a monster from Bestiary 5.
So I'm aware that the Ahool is based on a mythical bat monster, but I also noticed a few similarities between it and the Gyaos from Gamera in the fluff. Were the Gyaos an inspiration in addition to the folklore?
After recently watching Crimson Peak, my group decided they were interested in running Carrion Crown. So, in light of this development, I wonder if you could offer some insight for a PC backstory. =]
A player decided he wanted to play a Dhampir Alchemist with the Subject of Study campaign trait, focusing on magical beasts. He was also interested in the idea of being descended from one of the minor noble families in Ustalav and, without any knowledge of major locations in the AP, pointed to the hills Southwest of Lepidstadt and the Shudderwood as the location of his family home. One thing led to another and we decided it made sense for the magical beast attack he survived to have attacked and taken that home. The Basilisk seems like a good choice, being a nice challenge for them once they finish The Haunting of Harrowstone and head North.
Rule of Fear has a nice section on Lozeri county, but it's mostly on the Shudderwood, with the section mentioning the hills near Courtaud just a paragraph long while the section on Canterwall county's Tamrivena doesn't give any details on the hills at all.
Is that area more like a highlands or a moor, flavor-wise?
Are there other appropriate magical beasts in the area? I know there are Worgs, but that seems a little on the nose.
After possibly reclaiming his family home and crest/signet, would it be too disruptive to the plot for him to have a shot at honorary membership on the Palatine Council of Lozeri? Not right away, but perhaps during or after Trial of the Beast?
Thanks! :D
Hello, Wes!
As you're the creator of the shabti and the writer of the River of Souls article, I felt you'd be best to ask: could a shabti of an undead (say, a lich) exist? Or would undeath obviate the need for or activation of a sovereign shabti?
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Huh. Looks like I am necromancing a thread.
So, Mr. Schneider!
I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed In Search of Sanity! What were your influences in coming up with the idea?
Oh! Ohohohohohoh~! Sooooooooooon~!
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Wes.
Wwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss.
Super-serious series of questions*:
*
If you could have different super-powers, what would they be and why?
(Assume corollary powers required to make a given power work are part of it; i.e. Since you'd need super tensile strength/durability to, you know, not-die when you made use of your super-strength power, you get them both when you say "super strength" as a singular option.)
Why?
If, instead, you could be a gestalt of super heroes, who would you gestalt to be yourself? Why? Which comic universe would you run around in? Would you prefer to be in that one, or this one?
On the other hand: BAM! You just gained levels in a Pathfinder class (or classes)! Which class(es) do you pick, and why? Incidentally, if you could spontaneously switch races, would you? And if so, to which?
Similarly, you won the super-lottery, and gained mythic tiers! of 'em! (And you gain class levels to match; please feel free to change your previous answer if this does so for some reason.) What path do you take? (Alternate option: substitute a single tier for a simple mythic template.)
Yet another query: you monster. Specifically, you (or less) monster! Which are you?! ... and would this have been your first choice? If not, which would be?
But the wheels of fate-time have spun again, and your everything has been transposed into that of someone else! You've just become a prepublished NPC from an official source! Which prepublished NPC is it?
What campaign setting do you run around in? Why?
As a final thing: blend any and/or all of the above questions into a single ginormous question: an optional blend of a prepublished NPC, monster, and some superheroes all walk into a bar... and out comes you, as a gestalt of those guys, the race you choose, some extra superpowers, and have extra class levels and mythic tiers on top! What are you?! (Other than "awesome" - naturally.)
Equipment is a non-issue (like adjunct super-powers; what you need to do <X> is assumed). Also note that any significant others can be brought with you.
"Official" and "Pre-published" are loose terms, but general expect something that has a solid publishing company and identifiable map/world/conceits behind it (like WotC for Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, etc; or Green Ronin for Blue Rose, but not "True20"; or Paizo for Golarion, or the Maelstrom, or the upcoming Starfinder; but not "the Bestiaries" or "the Planes" or things like that - basically things that people can find and nerd out about with you). Similarly, if it has a solid AP out for it, that, too, is acceptable (like Legendary Planet; or any of Paizo's APs). It should probably be a d20 variant, but it can be whatever you like of those many variants (True20, Blue Rose, Paizo, 3.5, 3rd; etc.). That said, if a Homebrew or otherwise "weak" entry just needs to be there due to compelling reasons... okay. Similarly other systems. Let us know why! Computer and video game translations of such (Neverwinter Nights and/or expansions/sequels; PFO; etc) are acceptable as interpretations as well.
Similarly, for comics, it needs to be superheroes that people can reasonably be expected to come across - "that one I made up with my cousin as a kid" is an awesome answer, and worth noting and why, but prrrrooooobabaly isn't the best choice, unless it's just so powerful that you've GOT to. In which case: sure, but bring us along for the ride! Related, the super need not come from one of the "big two" in comics, so long as the people and world is both recognizes me and accessible - choosing The Incredibles world is valid, as is Spawn (blech); you're not just limited to Marvel or DC. Similarly "standard" powers need not apply - so long as it is clearly communicable, it's fine (even if all the field specifics aren't clear, that's okay - knowing you're powered by our yellow star is fine; you don't need to know this, but it's acceptable if you do).
Finally, presume you have the basics necessary for a happy life. Your spouse, best friend, and so on, can all be considered to "come with you" (should they choose to do so) wherever it is that you go.
Oh, and one more thing: if you lived through a Legend of Zelda (as one of the Links); which would it be, and why?
Thanks! Enjoy!
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Ice Bear is your biggest fan.
I have found this thread once again!
Question: what can you tell me about the Orchard of Tears in the new Blue Rose setting?
EDIT: pretty sure this wasn't in the old version of the setting.
Also, as I'm not on any Green Ronin forums (and am not terribly certain if they exist, though I think Mr. Stevens is there, too): is there anything like the Pathfinder Wiki for Blue Rose/Aldis? If so, why or why not?
How are you doing?