Just popping this in if it ends up being overlooked, but with Hell's Rebels coming up you might want to somehow give Milani some Divine Obedience love beforehand. A lot of players will be asking about this around then.Chances are pretty much 100% that I thought of this many, many months ago.
Never fear.
YAY! :D
Hey JJ
Some of the art in Familiar Folio is that of a Aboriginal with a koala I was wondering what part of Golarion takes inspiration from Australian culture?
Does a tiefling's Darkness SLA count towards the second level arcane spell requirement for prestige classes? Example: tiefling 3rd lvl cleric, 1st lvl wizard qualify for mystic theurge?
also, I have a player who wants to play a bard and use Leadership to acquire a T-rex as a mount. is that possible? the feat description doesn't say anything about special mounts.
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Hi James I notice you worked on red hand of doom Which I'm currently updating to a home game and Ive hit a bit of a conundrum with the character of the Ghostlord since I dont think the blighter presitge class is currently in pathfinder and with druids not able to cast create undead (Which I assume was because of the prestige class) I was wondering if you had a suggestion on a possible alternative to building him?
Also any suggestions on what to replace greenspawn razorfiends with?
Thanks for your time
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Why do you think some people "sign" their forum posts here? I know they can see their name attached to every post. Yet they still tag it at the end.
-GuyWhoDoesntUnderstand
James I know Jason referenced this once, but I can only find it on the Third Party SRD page.
Drow Noble are suppose to be a Cr +1 right? But officially they are not currently? I mean to say that I should if one is in play have them be a level behind, but if I was following the rules strictly the player would be at the same level as the rest?
I ask because I am playing a slightly higher game and well one player wants to look into the Drow Noble, while the others are taking the Advanced Template to boost their overall power which will result in a lot of +6 bonuses depending on the races.
Also does Dispel Magic count as a divine spell for the purpose of Divine Protection feat?
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Question: Why are Monk's not given profiency with all weapon of the Monk fighter Group?
The Unarmed fighter is given profiency with them, which seems like a slap in the face to the Monk who has to burn a feat to get something like Emei Piercerswhich leads me to Question 2:
Benefit: The ring prevents the wielder from being disarmed and turns unarmed strikes into piercing attacks.Does this mean when attacking with this weapon.. you can instead use Unarmed Strike instead of the damage listed?
Jason and the design team can answer that better. I'm not sure why there's a discrepancy. That said, the fighter's all about fighting with weapons. The monk is more intended to be more defensive and to use unarmed strikes. Make of that what you will, I suppose.
As for question 2, it being a rules question from a hardcover book... you'll need to ask that question on the rules forums so it can be FAQed.
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Are there any plans to do more with Hermea?
Does Mengakare have any darker purpose behind the "utopia" he's created, or at least something beyond building a supposed perfect society?
No plans at this point. And it's unrevealed if there's anything darker going on there or not yet... but it sure does SEEM sinister, doesn't it?
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Hey JJ
Some of the art in Familiar Folio is that of a Aboriginal with a koala I was wondering what part of Golarion takes inspiration from Australian culture?
Mostly the distant and mostly undeveloped continent of Sarusan, but there are bits and pieces of it scattered throughout the setting.
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Does a tiefling's Darkness SLA count towards the second level arcane spell requirement for prestige classes? Example: tiefling 3rd lvl cleric, 1st lvl wizard qualify for mystic theurge?
It's my firm opinion that no, it should not. The rules team ruled differently a while back, and I think that's an error, but no prestige classes have ever been designed with the notion that spell-like abilities function as spells for filling prerequisites.
I don't use that rule in my home games, and won't be building NPCs in any published books we offer that do so.
Feel free to make whatever ruling works best for your game.
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also, I have a player who wants to play a bard and use Leadership to acquire a T-rex as a mount. is that possible? the feat description doesn't say anything about special mounts.
Leadership's intention is to let you gain a creature capable of following your leadership; that means something that can understand you. A cohort gained from Leadership serves the leader however the leader wants, and if that means as a mount, that's legal. See page 316 for a list of appropriate creature/monster cohorts and what their effective level would be.
A tyrannosaurus who's smart enough to be a cohort (perhaps after being hit with an awaken spell) would be a very powerful cohort, and would likely be pushing the envelope as to the limit of what a cohort could be. I'd probably say that an awakened T-rex would be about 15th level equivalent.
A much better option would be to play a druid who took a T-rex as an animal companion. Mounts and animal companions aren't really what bards are about. The bard's BEST bet would be to seek out a T-rex and cast charm monster on it.
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Hi James I notice you worked on red hand of doom Which I'm currently updating to a home game and Ive hit a bit of a conundrum with the character of the Ghostlord since I dont think the blighter presitge class is currently in pathfinder and with druids not able to cast create undead (Which I assume was because of the prestige class) I was wondering if you had a suggestion on a possible alternative to building him?
Also any suggestions on what to replace greenspawn razorfiends with?
Thanks for your time
You've a couple options for the Ghostlord.
1) Just convert his stats over from the 3.5 rules as best you can and don't worry too much about them being "legal." He's a unique creature, and it's okay to treat him as such. This essentially makes him a new monster rather than a templated classed creature.2) Use the siabre template from "The Worldwound." It's a lich-like template specifically designed to be put on druids.
I wouldn't replace the greenspawn razorfiends at all... although I'd just call them razorfiends. They're pretty important to the plot, so just update their stats and you should be good to go.
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Why do you think some people "sign" their forum posts here? I know they can see their name attached to every post. Yet they still tag it at the end.
-GuyWhoDoesntUnderstand
Because they're used to having signatures on other boards, and keep it as an obsession or affectation.
We chose NOT to allow signatures because (and I agree here) they clutter up threads.
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James I know Jason referenced this once, but I can only find it on the Third Party SRD page.
Drow Noble are suppose to be a Cr +1 right? But officially they are not currently? I mean to say that I should if one is in play have them be a level behind, but if I was following the rules strictly the player would be at the same level as the rest?
I ask because I am playing a slightly higher game and well one player wants to look into the Drow Noble, while the others are taking the Advanced Template to boost their overall power which will result in a lot of +6 bonuses depending on the races.
Also does Dispel Magic count as a divine spell for the purpose of Divine Protection feat?
CR does not matter if you're playing a race for a player. CR only matters for monsters and NPCs. It's a number used to summarize a creatures challenge rating, so that a GM can glance at a single number and know roughly how tough that creature is compared to other CRs of other creatures. It's used to determine things like how much treasure the monster has and how much XP it's worth. It's used to organize the monster statistics by CR in table 1–1 in the Bestiary. But it's not used in Pathfinder as a value for players. Previous editions of the game confused things by adding a Level Adjustment that was tangentially related to a creature's CR... but Pathfinder doesn't use that solution because it's to inaccurate and caused too many problems.
For example, I actually played what amounted to a drow noble in a 3.5 game once upon a time, and I was 1 or 2 levels behind the rest of the group most of the campaign. In the low levels, I did pretty well even then, but with each level I gained, the amount my race added to my overall power shrank compared to the amount my cumulative levels did. As a result, I grew increasingly less and less powerful compared to the rest of the player characters, and died more often as a result (which further hurt my leveling). Worse... at higher levels, when the VAST majority of the spells that are cast on you are buffs and healing from allied spellcasters, my spell resistance more than once caused me grief... it's rough bleeding to death because the party healer couldn't get through your SR! In effect, the character's "level adjustment" should have changed as she leveled up. And that's just one way that level adjustments didn't work.
If you want to let a player play a drow noble, you should check out the Advanced Race Guide's system for assigning race points to each option. Remember, with that system, a human is a 9 point race, while a drow noble is a 41 point race—in fact, I believe it's the HIGHEST race point in the book. It's really pushing the boundary of what is and isn't appropriate for a player to use as a character race.
In any event... CR doesn't matter for player characters.
As for the Divine Protection question... that's a rules question that should be asked on the rules board for a FAQ.
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James, I agree with what you said a couple days ago: post-apocalyptic games are best set on Earth because of familiarity. Would you consider a well known campaign setting such as Golarion, Aerth, or Faerun, etc., to be a viable alternative if the players are all fairly familiar with the setting? (By this, I mean the setting is Golarion, 10,000 AR.)
As a followup question: have you ever run a space-faring campaign? I know you said that you dislike "trek" campaigns. Can you suggest a way to run a "space pirates" campaign that isn't just a trek from one planetary body to another, rinse, and repeat?
Flavor wise does the default Golarion goblin hate of horses extend to all equine creatures (zebras, donkeys, mules, pegasus, unicorns, summoned mounts, and what not)? The don't seem like creatures into fine distinctions, so my knee-jerk reaction is that they'd hate them too.
Were you a fan of Monty Oum? If not, I'd suggest checking out his work.
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James, I agree with what you said a couple days ago: post-apocalyptic games are best set on Earth because of familiarity. Would you consider a well known campaign setting such as Golarion, Aerth, or Faerun, etc., to be a viable alternative if the players are all fairly familiar with the setting? (By this, I mean the setting is Golarion, 10,000 AR.)
As a followup question: have you ever run a space-faring campaign? I know you said that you dislike "trek" campaigns. Can you suggest a way to run a "space pirates" campaign that isn't just a trek from one planetary body to another, rinse, and repeat?
A well-known setting would certainly be viable... but would still pale in comparison to one set on Earth.
I've played in a space-faring campaign, and that's the primary reason I dislike that kind of campaign. It didn't feel like a campaign. It felt like a string of unconnected adventures that happened to feature the same characters. As a result, I never really got into the campaign at all.
Check out Skull & Shackles for how to run a space pirates game. Just turn the islands into planets. And make the ship a character as well, so that you at least have that carrying over from adventure to adventure.
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Flavor wise does the default Golarion goblin hate of horses extend to all equine creatures (zebras, donkeys, mules, pegasus, unicorns, summoned mounts, and what not)? The don't seem like creatures into fine distinctions, so my knee-jerk reaction is that they'd hate them too.
Pretty much, yes. If it's got hooves and a mane and neighs... kill it.
Were you a fan of Monty Oum? If not, I'd suggest checking out his work.Never heard of him before your post, so nope.
He was a fantastic animator and creator of wed content who passed away yesterday.
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Hello Mr. Jacobs I was wondering if you could answer some questions about the elfs who reside in the Mwangi Expanse.
- how do they feel about their kin in other parts of the world, do they even know about them.
- do they share the same affinity towards magic that other elves have?
- what gods do they worship or do they still worship the standard elf pantheon
- would they still be proficient in the standard elven weapons
- do they still act haughty towards others
- how does their appearance differ towards the "standard" elf
- what PC classes/ arc types do you think they would prefer (would a magus be too out of line)
- would one ever joint the pathfinder organization?
thanks in advance :3
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Check out Skull & Shackles for how to run a space pirates game. Just turn the islands into planets. And make the ship a character as well, so that you at least have that carrying over from adventure to adventure.
Thanks! Actually, reading Skull & Shackles is what prompted that question. When I first read it, I immediately began thinking about moving it to a space-based campaign.
Do you have recommendations for resources regarding space-based monsters? I know there are a few creatures in the bestiaries, such as the outer dragons, that have the ability of spaceflight. Or do you think I would be better off just modifying existing sea-monsters (i.e., giant octopi) to be space-faring? Finally, how does one accomplish the feel of "pulp" without being "cheesy"? (That's my biggest fear regarding things like a space octopus, for example.)
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(Things I collect include) Godzilla stuff, bigfoot stuff, Lovecraft books, dinosaur stuff, Fighting Fantasy books, RPG books.
Love this! Warlock of Firetop Mountain was given to me by an aunt when I was very young, and I credit/blame this book for my interest in fantasy and gaming in general.
What was your favorite FF adventure? What did you think about the modules that came out around the beginning of 3.0/3.5?
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Hello Mr. Jacobs I was wondering if you could answer some questions about the elfs who reside in the Mwangi Expanse.
- how do they feel about their kin in other parts of the world, do they even know about them.
- do they share the same affinity towards magic that other elves have?
- what gods do they worship or do they still worship the standard elf pantheon
- would they still be proficient in the standard elven weapons
- do they still act haughty towards others
- how does their appearance differ towards the "standard" elf
- what PC classes/ arc types do you think they would prefer (would a magus be too out of line)
- would one ever joint the pathfinder organization?thanks in advance :3
They are curious about them, and maybe a little afraid of/suspicious of them, but bear them no ill will at all. They do know about them. And note in some cases they have regular contact with them... not all Mwangi elven groups are isolationists.
Yes.
Same pantheon, pretty much, but Gozreh is certainly more commonly worshiped.
I could see them having different weapon proficiencies; that's actually a cool way to make them feel different without changing their actual stats.
Elves in Golarion generally DON'T act "haughty" toward others. That's the influence of D&D elves and Tolkein. It's unfortunately crept into some of our authors minds so deeply that it creeps into print for Golarion now and then... but it shouldn't. I try to excise that element from our products when I find it, but I don't see every word that goes to print.
They're darker complexioned, with darker hair and tend toward body art more.
They'd be about the same as any other elf for classes and archetypes, but when there's a choice of one that's influenced by terrain... they'd obviously gravitate toward jungle and away from non-jungle. Not a lot of winter witches among them.
Yes.
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Do you have recommendations for resources regarding space-based monsters? I know there are a few creatures in the bestiaries, such as the outer dragons, that have the ability of spaceflight. Or do you think I would be better off just modifying existing sea-monsters (i.e., giant octopi) to be space-faring? Finally, how does one accomplish the feel of "pulp" without being "cheesy"? (That's my biggest fear regarding things like a space octopus, for example.)
Beyond the ones you've already noticed in the Bestiaries... check out Iron Gods. There's a fair number of aliens that show up in the bestiaries to those installments.
As for how to accomplish a pulp feel without being cheesy? You just don't be cheesy. For myself, I know what pulp writers feel cheesy and what ones don't and I generally look to the ones I think are NOT cheesy as inspiration and ignore the ones who don't. Who those might be for you, I can't say.
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If you're locked into that time period, does this mean we might see a campaign setting product similar to "Masque of the Red Death"?If you did another journey to Earth in an adventure path like Reign of Winter, what are some time periods/locations you'd like to do?We've locked in the time period; time flows the same on Earth as it does Golarion, so going forward, we'd stay at that same progression. As for locations... depends on how outlandish I wanted to get. But it'd be influenced by real-world events of the year we decided to do the crossover.
That's not very likely, simply because we're not all that interested in building multiple campaign settings. That's one of the reasons TSR crashed and burned; they split their audience into to many factions with all their campaign settings.
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(Things I collect include) Godzilla stuff, bigfoot stuff, Lovecraft books, dinosaur stuff, Fighting Fantasy books, RPG books.Love this! Warlock of Firetop Mountain was given to me by an aunt when I was very young, and I credit/blame this book for my interest in fantasy and gaming in general.
What was your favorite FF adventure? What did you think about the modules that came out around the beginning of 3.0/3.5?
I think City of Thieves and House of Hell were tied for my favorite FF books... but my favorite books in that entire genre were the Sorcery! books. Khare, CItyport of Traps was my favorite in that series, but all four books taken together are among the best things of all time.
I was significantly disappointed by the modules that came out based on these books, primarily because of how underwhelming the maps were.
Certainly it passes the test of 'it accomplishes the narrative I want to tell', but I would love any input you might have on how reasonable this would be, setting-wise.
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Spoiler:I really like this AP, but would like to replace the last book with a war between Issia and the party's new kingdom... but I don't want to ditch Nyrissa. Do you feel it would fit, thematically, to place Briar in Silverstep's hoard, and have Eranex attempting to retrieve the artifact for safekeeping, while agents of Count Ranalc are trying to procure it in honor of the alliance between Nyrissa and Count Ranalc? This would place Briar in the players' hands before book 5, and then Nyrissa would directly aid Irovetti in assaulting the players' kingdom, adding her blooms to his armies.Certainly it passes the test of 'it accomplishes the narrative I want to tell', but I would love any input you might have on how reasonable this would be, setting-wise.
That could work... but I still think that focusing more on the PCs and their actions and less on the big war stuff is stronger. My preference is and remains what's in print for book six.
When you have PCs start a rules sub-system, like a skill challenge or something that can be outside the norm, do you explain everything ahead of time? Or try to lead them and their ideas to see what happens?I explain it to them ahead of time. It's not cool to "trick" the players into stumbling along blind and making mistakes based on knowledge they should have... ESPECIALLY when, in game, there's no reasonable in-game reason why their CHARACTER wouldn't know how to handle the situation. The character doesn't care what rules are used to resolve a situation, and so if you introduce a complex sub-system for resolving how to counterfeit coins, a player's rogue character who's got an in-world history of being a con-artist would know how to go about it whether or not you used your complex sub-system or simply had the player make a Craft check.
Does this apply to haunts as well? I find them frustrating because every time I've seen them used, the GM presents them as a puzzle for the players to figure out: "Nothing you're doing seems to have any effect! Keep thinking!"
I can kind of see where they're coming from, because the whole point of haunts is to be something scary and terrifying and not just another monster an adventurer can slay. But the way to neutralize them feels completely counterintuitive to me: "Wow, I'm being strangled by an animated object; I think I'll cast a cure light on it!"
If a player wants to not metagame by using fire or acid on a troll when it's the first time this particular PC has encountered a troll, he can roll a Knowledge (local) check to see if his PC has heard how to stop them from regenerating. Would you give PCs a Knowledge (religion) roll along with the notice check to understand what's happening, or just assume that the PCs will recognize a haunt and should know that positive energy shuts them down as part of common knowledge, or what?
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When you have PCs start a rules sub-system, like a skill challenge or something that can be outside the norm, do you explain everything ahead of time? Or try to lead them and their ideas to see what happens?I explain it to them ahead of time. It's not cool to "trick" the players into stumbling along blind and making mistakes based on knowledge they should have... ESPECIALLY when, in game, there's no reasonable in-game reason why their CHARACTER wouldn't know how to handle the situation. The character doesn't care what rules are used to resolve a situation, and so if you introduce a complex sub-system for resolving how to counterfeit coins, a player's rogue character who's got an in-world history of being a con-artist would know how to go about it whether or not you used your complex sub-system or simply had the player make a Craft check.Does this apply to haunts as well? I find them frustrating because every time I've seen them used, the GM presents them as a puzzle for the players to figure out: "Nothing you're doing seems to have any effect! Keep thinking!"
I can kind of see where they're coming from, because the whole point of haunts is to be something scary and terrifying and not just another monster an adventurer can slay. But the way to neutralize them feels completely counterintuitive to me: "Wow, I'm being strangled by an animated object; I think I'll cast a cure light on it!"
If a player wants to not metagame by using fire or acid on a troll when it's the first time this particular PC has encountered a troll, he can roll a Knowledge (local) check to see if his PC has heard how to stop them from regenerating. Would you give PCs a Knowledge (religion) roll along with the notice check to understand what's happening, or just assume that the PCs will recognize a haunt and should know that positive energy shuts them down as part of common knowledge, or what?
When we first introduced them, we made sure that there was ways for the players to learn about how they worked, but it was kind of a rocky start nonetheless. And in fact, my experience with that is part of what shaped my philosophy of game design over the years. Haunts are essentially the same as traps, more or less—a thing that lies in wait and then is triggered that has specific methods by which the PCs can detect and defeat them. The specifics on how to detect and defeat are different, but the basic execution is the same. But the game has decades of familiarity bred into it for traps, so players already know about them and how to deal with them. Even then, it's easy to turn a dungeon into a slog by throwing a random trap into a section of hallway for no apparent reason.
For traps AND haunts, they're best placed logically. If you're going into an old tomb or a thieves' guild or attacking a kobold warren or the like, you should know that traps are likely to show up and be ready for them. If instead you're exploring a cave or fighting a dragon or something else, traps should not be on theme.
Same with haunts. You should know to expect haunts (the theme, not the game mechanic) if you're heading to a haunted house. And now that we've had over half a decade of the haunt rules in play, I think that we're at a point where GMs and players are comfortable with them... but they could still stand to be more comfortable, I think.
A GM who says 'Nothing you're doing seems to work; keep thinking!" is kind of doing it wrong. If faced with that situation, the GM needs to have the PCs start making Knowledge checks or Perception checks or the like to start handing out clues. At the very least, if it's a persistent haunt (the only case where "keep thinking" really matters, since other haunts fire and forget and you move on) should be pretty obvious to players what's going on—I'd say a DC 10 Knowledge (religion) check should be enough to clue in the PCs that positive energy is what's needed to solve the situation. Actually putting a haunt to rest SHOULD be more difficult, and should require investigation.
And in the end... it IS a game. A certain level of metagaming should not only be expected, but allowed or even encouraged.
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I did have a question and it very well might be a rules question.
Weapon Versatility allows you to change your weapons damage type between the three times with a swift action. However, if I say took a Slashing Weapon and had Weapon Versatility to swift action it into piercing could I use Swashbuckler's deeds that require the piercing weapon type.
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Hi James,
Is adamantine magnetic?
Nope.
Unless some day in the future I decide it is, that is. ;-)
The APG says handheld magnets can be "used to detect or pull iron, mithral, or adamantine at a short range." If adamantine isn't magnetic, I need updating.
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The APG says handheld magnets can be "used to detect or pull iron, mithral, or adamantine at a short range." If adamantine isn't magnetic, I need updating.Hi James,
Is adamantine magnetic?
Nope.
Unless some day in the future I decide it is, that is. ;-)
Okay then. I guess it's magnetic then.
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I did have a question and it very well might be a rules question.
Weapon Versatility allows you to change your weapons damage type between the three times with a swift action. However, if I say took a Slashing Weapon and had Weapon Versatility to swift action it into piercing could I use Swashbuckler's deeds that require the piercing weapon type.
Yes.
James, wouldn't it be very difficult for someone to actually be an atheist on Golarion? It certainly seems like there is a considerable amount of evidence, if not downright proof, for the existence of deities on Golarion.
Edit: unless you are using "atheist" to mean "unaffiliated," in which case is there possibly a better word to use (such as "unaffiliated")?
The real-world English term you may be looking for is "antitheist". In Golarionspeak I suppose the terms are interchangeable.
There is also a prestige class in 3.5 called Ur-Priest which is antitheistic. I expect antitheistic clerics exist in Golarion but call themselves anything but 'clerics'?
As for my own question: how far does the influence of deities in the PF setting reach? Do the peoples of Castrovel and Akiton and the other planets in orbit of Golarion's homestar have their own pantheons? If not, might they have local deities that supplement the likes of Abadar, Desna, Sarenrae, and the rest of the crew?
Do the planets of other star systems in the same galaxy worship Golarion's known dieties, or even have knowledge of them?
Perhaps some younger deities are planet- or systemwide (Cayden, Iomedae), while other older ones are universal or will have cultivated interests beyond the Black Tapestry (Asmodeus). It is hard to imagine Pharasma being concerned only with the souls that live and die on just one or a handful of planets.
Would an adventuring party who took a ride via Interplanetary Transport to Golarion's nearest exoplanet (after lots of divinations) discover worshippers of familiar deities and personalities, though perhaps of alien names?
As unrelated questions, when could we expect an AP involving the Apostae worldship, and does Apostae's civilization have anything to do with the Androffan people? Could there have been an ancient war between them?
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Hello James! Hope you can answer a lycanthropy (or theriomorphic, if you prefer!) question.
Lycanthope alignments puzzle me somewhat. The case has been made in numerous threads that because the base creature retains their intelligence that they should have the ability to modify their alignment. You of course have stated before that alignment in the bestiaries is not 'hard and fast' and is merely a representation of the common denominator of a race.
I suppose my question is, why do afflicted lycanthropes go through an alignment change, even in their base form?
I've considered that maybe the 'urge to hunt' supercedes human desires in the chaotic evil lycanthropes (werewolf, weretiger), though can't these urges be suppressed? A classic form of 'dealing with' lycanthropy is to put yourself through self imposed exile or isolation so you do not hurt others, which seems overall pretty on the good scale, to me.
Would love some input, thanks!
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Is it true that all characters who act in a six second round are acting at the same time? If this is true, is it only true in a strictly thematic sense?
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Dear James Jacobs: One of the big shifts in 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder was a greater emphasis on planned character growth, versus organic character growth. The rules make it easier to start out a character above level 1, and the nature of feat trees (along with potential multi-classing synergy, which seems to now be part of class design) means that not only are players rewarded for planning their character growth, but they can be penalized for not doing so.
Is this movement towards planned character growth a positive or negative in your opinion? Do you think there is a market for games that encourage more organic, modular character growth, or was that an older style of play that has died off?
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Does a tiefling's Darkness SLA count towards the second level arcane spell requirement for prestige classes? Example: tiefling 3rd lvl cleric, 1st lvl wizard qualify for mystic theurge?It's my firm opinion that no, it should not. The rules team ruled differently a while back, and I think that's an error, but no prestige classes have ever been designed with the notion that spell-like abilities function as spells for filling prerequisites.
Not being able to use SLAs effectively renders many prestige classes entirely moot - take for example the Mystic Theurge, which even with the SLA trick, is arguably worse off due to needing to drop one caster level. If you do it in the traditional manner, without something like the 3.5 Practiced Spellcaster feat, you've pretty much made a fleshy paperweight. Is it the intention of the development team that these PrCs being entirely mechanically useless? Because as it is, if the ruling was changed the way you seem to desire, most of the caster PrCs seem to just be pointless fluff to pad out books.
Alternatively, is there any possibility of something akin to Practiced Spellcaster being introduced? Even if it were substantially weaker (1 or 2 caster levels, or a 1/1 split for theurges), it would go a long way toward making those sorts of PrCs viable without SLA cheese.
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James, wouldn't it be very difficult for someone to actually be an atheist on Golarion? It certainly seems like there is a considerable amount of evidence, if not downright proof, for the existence of deities on Golarion.
Edit: unless you are using "atheist" to mean "unaffiliated," in which case is there possibly a better word to use (such as "unaffiliated")?
The real-world English term you may be looking for is "antitheist". In Golarionspeak I suppose the terms are interchangeable.
There is also a prestige class in 3.5 called Ur-Priest which is antitheistic. I expect antitheistic clerics exist in Golarion but call themselves anything but 'clerics'?
Nope; all clerics on Golarion worship a specific single deity. It's kinda built into the class, but also implicit in the world.
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As for my own question: how far does the influence of deities in the PF setting reach? Do the peoples of Castrovel and Akiton and the other planets in orbit of Golarion's homestar have their own pantheons? If not, might they have local deities that supplement the likes of Abadar, Desna, Sarenrae, and the rest of the crew?Do the planets of other star systems in the same galaxy worship Golarion's known dieties, or even have knowledge of them?
Perhaps some younger deities are planet- or systemwide (Cayden, Iomedae), while other older ones are universal or will have cultivated interests beyond the Black Tapestry (Asmodeus). It is hard to imagine Pharasma being concerned only with the souls that live and die on just one or a handful of planets.
Would an adventuring party who took a ride via Interplanetary Transport to Golarion's nearest exoplanet (after lots of divinations) discover worshippers of familiar deities and personalities, though perhaps of alien names?
As unrelated questions, when could we expect an AP involving the Apostae worldship, and does Apostae's civilization have anything to do with the Androffan people? Could there have been an ancient war between them?
The influence of deities in Golarion can reach as far as it needs to. Not every deity is worshiped in every town, city, nation, region, continent, planet, solar system, or galaxy in the universe (aka Material Plane), but they could POTENTIALLY be worshiped anywhere there. Just as Lamashtu and Asmodeus are worshiped on Earth and on Golarion, Sarenrae and Desna (for example) are worshiped on Golarion and on other worlds... such as Droffa (the modern incarnation of ancient Androffa).
The exact mix of deities changes from area to area. There are certainly other planets that incorporate some or all of GOlarion's deities, and others who don't incorporate any of them.
Younger deities like Iomedae are FAR less widespread, and it'd be very unlikely to see them worshiped off-planet, or indeed, even outside of the Inner Sea Region. (Norgorber is an exception. both because of his nature and because he's the oldest of the "locally ascended deities"). Whether or not she's worshiped on all planets, Pharasma does indeed judge the dead of all planets.
A planetary traveler is likely to find worshipers of different religions... but if they find those who worship similar ones, they'd mostly worship under the same names. Remember, Asmodeus and Lamashtu didn't change their names for Golarion.
I highly doubt there'll ever be an Adventure Path involving Apostate. I can confirm, though, that they had no contact with Androffa; Golarion and Castrovel are the only two worlds in this system that have been visited by them.