>>Ask *James Jacobs* ALL your Questions Here!<<

Is Planar Adventures still a Spring release or has that changed?

This isn't the place to make announcements like that. Keep an eye on the store page for when the book gets its product page.

What is the creative process of doing a hardcover RPG line book? Do you guys take turns suggesting/coming up with ideas/concepts, is it done as a group, or a combination of both?

Having read the threads for both Adventurer's Guide and Book of the Damned, I know there was a lot of people who weren't keen on the combining of campaign setting and RPG line.

If possible without giving us numbers, have those books been generally well received? I love them both(as I said above), and hope to see this trend continue.

Have you seen any animated movies this year? If so then wich one(s) and what did you think of it/them?

What is the creative process of doing a hardcover RPG line book? Do you guys take turns suggesting/coming up with ideas/concepts, is it done as a group, or a combination of both?

It's a little bit of that, and a lot of "what makes sense for us to publish this year" and "What does management want to do" and "What sort of book would help us produce adventure paths and other products?" and "What do we think customers want?"

Having read the threads for both Adventurer's Guide and Book of the Damned, I know there was a lot of people who weren't keen on the combining of campaign setting and RPG line.

If possible without giving us numbers, have those books been generally well received? I love them both(as I said above), and hope to see this trend continue.

Sorry... not possible. That said, going forward, the RPG hardcover line will continue to use the campaign setting line in the way it has been since Bestiary 6 last year. AKA: It's not a "trend." It's the way it is now.

Have you seen any animated movies this year? If so then wich one(s) and what did you think of it/them?

No animated movies come to mind. The closest I guess would be the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie, which I really quite adored, and hope some day to watch all of the anime stuff for at some point... but that's a lot of content to watch when I could be watching found footage horror movies.

Hmm, I thought the Kingdom of Zog was very powerful, but it seems not. How big was the Kingdom of Zog? Did it include Lambreth and the Protectorate of Black Marquis? Or maybe its territory only include the whole of the Echo Wood?

Hmm, I thought the Kingdom of Zog was very powerful, but it seems not. How big was the Kingdom of Zog? Did it include Lambreth and the Protectorate of Black Marquis? Or maybe its territory only include the whole of the Echo Wood?

I've done no thinking about them, frankly. I suspect the members of the Kingdom of Zog fancied THEMSELVES as very powerful, but in fact they're a very local tribe of goblins that, in the grand scheme of things throughout the Inner Sea Region as a whole, are a drop in the bucket.

So this is probably a stupid question since I googled it and never found topic discussing it meaning I'm probably only person wondering this due to my lack of social skills, but I'm asking since I see both interpretations valid and I'd like second opinion on it.

Is Queen Ileosa attracted to anyone or not? I first got impression that she was into women only considering her lover and most of her minions being beautiful women, but later on I got impression that reason she has Gray Maidens recruit beautiful talented women is so she can have them scar their beauty due to her narcissism and considering she has Sabina scar herself as well it gave me impression she doesn't truly care about anyone besides how they benefit her. I guess she can be both cruel self absorbed narcissist and attracted to women, but like I said, decided to ask since I'm bit unsure which is the case.

I guess this question is technically "Did Ileosa ever actually love Sabina or did she only use her since from beginning just like how she used Eodred II?" since I'm bit confused whether pre Kazavon Ileosa is basically same person, but with less imagination and confidence.

I know you would refuse to answer rule questions. But this question is not about arguing the GM or rules lawyering. So I think this question can be tolerated.

Karzoug has a special ability called Exceptional Stats which means his ability scores were generated using 25 points rather than 15 points. Elvanna has a special ability called Exceptional Resources which means her ability scores were generated using 20 points rather than 15 points. Considering these, it is obvious that stat boosts means higher CR. Even the advanced simple template, which grants +4 bonus to all ability scores, grants you one additional CR. But then I found out that Karzoug gains no addditional CR even though he has inherent bonus of +5 to intelligence and +4 to other five scores. Elvanna has +5 inherent bonus to Dexterity and Constitution but also has no additional CR. Maybe the bonus to ability scores is not significant enough to increase CR? But then again, Exceptional Stats clearly increased his CR. So I'm honestly not sure.

So this is probably a stupid question since I googled it and never found topic discussing it meaning I'm probably only person wondering this due to my lack of social skills, but I'm asking since I see both interpretations valid and I'd like second opinion on it.

Is Queen Ileosa attracted to anyone or not? I first got impression that she was into women only considering her lover and most of her minions being beautiful women, but later on I got impression that reason she has Gray Maidens recruit beautiful talented women is so she can have them scar their beauty due to her narcissism and considering she has Sabina scar herself as well it gave me impression she doesn't truly care about anyone besides how they benefit her. I guess she can be both cruel self absorbed narcissist and attracted to women, but like I said, decided to ask since I'm bit unsure which is the case.

I guess this question is technically "Did Ileosa ever actually love Sabina or did she only use her since from beginning just like how she used Eodred II?" since I'm bit confused whether pre Kazavon Ileosa is basically same person, but with less imagination and confidence.

Ileosa is not a nice person. She doesn't really love anyone, and uses emotions to manipulate others, be they men or women, to do her bidding. The pre-Kazavon Ileosa is indeed the same person—she's not "possessed" by Kazavon. Think of his teeth as playing a role more like a muse for her, but instead of inspiring her in an artistic way, the teeth inspire her cruelty and greed and vanity and lust for power, giving her the motivation she needed to actually act on her plans to gain power. King Eodred and Sabina and the rest are tools she uses as stepping stones to get her power, be those steps taken before or after she gains the Fangs.

I know you would refuse to answer rule questions. But this question is not about arguing the GM or rules lawyering. So I think this question can be tolerated.

Karzoug has a special ability called Exceptional Stats which means his ability scores were generated using 25 points rather than 15 points. Elvanna has a special ability called Exceptional Resources which means her ability scores were generated using 20 points rather than 15 points. Considering these, it is obvious that stat boosts means higher CR. Even the advanced simple template, which grants +4 bonus to all ability scores, grants you one additional CR. But then I found out that Karzoug gains no addditional CR even though he has inherent bonus of +5 to intelligence and +4 to other five scores. Elvanna has +5 inherent bonus to Dexterity and Constitution but also has no additional CR. Maybe the bonus to ability scores is not significant enough to increase CR? But then again, Exceptional Stats clearly increased his CR. So I'm honestly not sure.

The Advanced Creature simple template is the simplest way to equate a stat boost to a CR boost. That template pretty much just gives you +4 to all stats and little else for a +1 CR boost.

But in truth, it's how an NPC's or monster's numbers match up to the values on table 1—1 of the Bestiary that determines their CR. Manipulating a creature's ability scores is a great way to adjust those numbers. In most cases, building an NPC using the strict rules like you would for a PC results in a monster whose table 1–1 values are low, so that's why you often see us do things like give NPCs items to boost their stats, or ad-hoc abilities like Exceptional Stats or Exceptional Resources or whatever.

It's all sort of smoke and mirrors, honestly. The whole point is to get the NPCs' numbers where they should be for AC, saves, hp, attacks, damage and save DCs, pretty much.

Honestly, I sort of wish we didn't put that "behind the scenes" information into our stat blocks and simply built the NPCs the way we wanted so they'd match their numbers as needed. That's how we build new monsters, after all—we just give them ability scores and adjust as needed or give them special abilities or whatever until they're where they need to be.

If the 1987 film Mannequin were to be remade by a current day film director, who do you think might do the most interesting job of it, and why?
(I enquire since the 1987 Mannequin aired on terrestrial TV earlier this month here in the UK and it got me wondering about a Del Torro version would look like...)

Which Horror-based anime do you watch near Halloween?

If the 1987 film Mannequin were to be remade by a current day film director, who do you think might do the most interesting job of it, and why?

(I enquire since the 1987 Mannequin aired on terrestrial TV earlier this month here in the UK and it got me wondering about a Del Torro version would look like...)

David Cronenberg, since that would transform the movie into something I'd be interested in seeing. A body horror movie about a mannequin that doesn't understand the difference between the flesh and the plastic.

Which Horror-based anime do you watch near Halloween?

None. I barely watch anime at all. And I watch horror stuff all the time, so it's not like I watch more of it around Halloween time... :P

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

If the 1987 film Mannequin were to be remade by a current day film director, who do you think might do the most interesting job of it, and why?

(I enquire since the 1987 Mannequin aired on terrestrial TV earlier this month here in the UK and it got me wondering about a Del Torro version would look like...)

David Cronenberg, since that would transform the movie into something I'd be interested in seeing. A body horror movie about a mannequin that doesn't understand the difference between the flesh and the plastic.

Ah. That might be interesting and the idea actually reminds me of a John Wyndham short story Compassion Circuit, although that came at the flesh and not-flesh theme from a slightly different angle.

Honestly, I sort of wish we didn't put that "behind the scenes" information into our stat blocks and simply built the NPCs the way we wanted so they'd match their numbers as needed. That's how we build new monsters, after all—we just give them ability scores and adjust as needed or give them special abilities or whatever until they're where they need to be.

Hmm, does that mean you wish you didn't have increased Karzoug's CR because of him using 25 points system, because it is just another "behind the scenes" information? Sorry for my nonfluent grammar. I ask this because I am currently building a custom boss and I am not sure if I should increase his CR just because I made him with 25 points system or not.

James Jacobs wrote:

Honestly, I sort of wish we didn't put that "behind the scenes" information into our stat blocks and simply built the NPCs the way we wanted so they'd match their numbers as needed. That's how we build new monsters, after all—we just give them ability scores and adjust as needed or give them special abilities or whatever until they're where they need to be.

Hmm, does that mean you wish you didn't have increased Karzoug's CR because of him using 25 points system, because it is just another "behind the scenes" information? Sorry for my nonfluent grammar. I ask this because I am currently building a custom boss and I am not sure if I should increase his CR just because I made him with 25 points system or not.

If you're building NPCs for your game, you can just arbitrarially give them the numbers they need if you want. Build them as you would a monster. Building things for the PCs to fight should aim to hit those numbers, NOT build a "legal for play player character" because they're NOT player characters.

And when I built Karzoug, I knew from the START the target CR I wanted him to be. I gave him ad hoc boons and benefits to get him there. I could have written anything in there to explain why he wasn't built as a PC legal for play character, including just that, but the choice I made was to explain it and build him via the 25 point buy, which I'm happy with.

Baba Yaga has 30 CR. But normally a 20th level and 10th tier character would have 24 CR. She has so high CR because of her various special abilities like Hut Familiar or Forceful Presence that boosts her CR. I want to make a custom human sorcerer 20/archmage 10 final boss who has 30 CR, which made me devise several special abilities but I'm not sure. So I must ask you.

If I give him an ability that enables him to cast one additional quickened spell in a round(just like the Multispell feat in Epic Level Handbook), how many CR would it increase? +1 or +2? And if I give him an ability that enables him to maximize any spell he casts without increasing spell level(which means he doesn't even need to learn the Maximize Spell feat), would it increase +1 CR or +2 CR?

Have you seen Happy Death Day yet? If so what did you think?

Do you get a lot of trick or treaters on Halloween.

Do you have any plans for Halloween?

Who makes up “management” at Paizo? I’d always assumed creative director would be included in that category.

Have there been any hardcover books that was the dreamchild of only one person?

Sir,

When you run a game, what does it mean to be a "god of X?" (Sun, farming, assassination, dwarves). I'm having trouble coming up with a good way to present a god like sarenrae who is concerned with the sun, but doesn't appear to affect the sun.

I could be watching found footage horror movies.

Any recent entries in the genre you can recommend?

Have you seen Wer? (its a movie)

Baba Yaga has 30 CR. But normally a 20th level and 10th tier character would have 24 CR. She has so high CR because of her various special abilities like Hut Familiar or Forceful Presence that boosts her CR. I want to make a custom human sorcerer 20/archmage 10 final boss who has 30 CR, which made me devise several special abilities but I'm not sure. So I must ask you.

If I give him an ability that enables him to cast one additional quickened spell in a round(just like the Multispell feat in Epic Level Handbook), how many CR would it increase? +1 or +2? And if I give him an ability that enables him to maximize any spell he casts without increasing spell level(which means he doesn't even need to learn the Maximize Spell feat), would it increase +1 CR or +2 CR?

Again, just build the character to aim at the CR 30 numbers from Table 1–1 (you'll want to use the table as it appears in a later Bestiary, like Bestiary 6, since the original table only went to CR 25). Don't worry about trying to reach CR 30 by adding abilities that modify CR. That's not the way to do it. Just give the creature abilities to bolster its numbers until it hits the CR 30 expectations, and then match it against other CR 30 foes for other things to see if it's about on par.

You don't need to list what a CR modifier does to a creature like I did for Karzoug for a creature you're building for your own game.

YAY, this is back!

Anyhow: on a whim a while back, I went through and counted all the deities/demigods/other divine-spell-granting beings that I could find, and it seems like the numbers skew heavily towards evil (~50 neutral, ~100 good, and ~200 evil) while being largely balanced on the law-chaos scale. The core deities and other major regional pantheons (Osirian, Tian Xia) are pretty mixed, but there are a lot more evil groups of lesser deities (demon lords, infernal dukes, malebranche, qlippoth, whore queens, orc gods, etc.) than good (very few other than empyreal lords), and very few neutral ones. Does this reflect the balance of power in Golarion (as perhaps best exemplified by the evil elemental lords defeating the good ones), or are the good/neutral ones generally more powerful to balance things out?

And on a more meta level, is this imbalance because evil ones are easier or more fun to write, and neutral the hardest?

Have you seen Happy Death Day yet? If so what did you think?

I haven't yet.

The previews have looked pretty cliche and underwhelming, and I'm generally wary of PG-13 horror movies since the vast majority of them are de-fanged soulless attempts by studios who don't understand what makes horror interesting.

But the reviews for it are unexpectedly promising. So I might be going to see it this weekend.

Do you get a lot of trick or treaters on Halloween.

Nope.

Do you have any plans for Halloween?

Nope.

Who makes up “management” at Paizo? I’d always assumed creative director would be included in that category.

Management at Paizo does include the Creative Director and lots of other folks.

Which makes me realize that when I use the term "Management" it's often from my own personal viewpoint... A more accurate term I should use instead is "The Executive Team." Which includes Erik and Lisa and Vic and a few others (but not me).

Have there been any hardcover books that was the dreamchild of only one person?

Not really, no. That's not really the way we do things at Paizo.

Sir,

When you run a game, what does it mean to be a "god of X?" (Sun, farming, assassination, dwarves). I'm having trouble coming up with a good way to present a god like sarenrae who is concerned with the sun, but doesn't appear to affect the sun.

Check out Inner Sea Gods, first of all; that's currently the best place to go to find out about the Pathfinder deities.

The upcoming Planar Adventures book will have a bit more information about the actual powers and goals and drives of the gods.

When I run a game, the gods now and then do show up to affect things and when they do, I take that as an opportunity to break rules for the good of the story. I don't do it often, and it requires pretty much the 100% trust of your players that you aren't going to just arbitrarily ruin their game for them.

But for example, if Sarenrae were to show up in a game, I'd likely have it suddenly seem to be high noon, despite the actual time of day or whether or not the PCs were indoors or underground at the time. If the sun wasn't there, her hair would be the "sun" in the scene. As for what she'd do in the scene... that 100% depends on the nature of the scene at the time. I can't just say what she'd do without knowing what there is to be done, if that makes sense.

James Jacobs wrote:

I could be watching found footage horror movies.

Any recent entries in the genre you can recommend?

A few fun ones I've seen recently:

Found Footage 3D: This one's quite delightful and entertaining.

Bad Ben (and the two sequels, Steelmanville Road and Badder Ben): A no-budget series that's available via Amazon Prime that has a lot of charm; it's a fun combination of comedic and creepy, but it's not for anyone who doesn't have patience for VERY low budget movies.

Lunopolis: Saw this one a few months back; very cool combo of mockumentary and found footage.

And I'm very much looking forward to "Creep 2" in a few days.

Have you seen Wer? (its a movie)

Not yet, but it has been on my "to see someday" list for a few years.

YAY, this is back!

Anyhow: on a whim a while back, I went through and counted all the deities/demigods/other divine-spell-granting beings that I could find, and it seems like the numbers skew heavily towards evil (~50 neutral, ~100 good, and ~200 evil) while being largely balanced on the law-chaos scale. The core deities and other major regional pantheons (Osirian, Tian Xia) are pretty mixed, but there are a lot more evil groups of lesser deities (demon lords, infernal dukes, malebranche, qlippoth, whore queens, orc gods, etc.) than good (very few other than empyreal lords), and very few neutral ones. Does this reflect the balance of power in Golarion (as perhaps best exemplified by the evil elemental lords defeating the good ones), or are the good/neutral ones generally more powerful to balance things out?

And on a more meta level, is this imbalance because evil ones are easier or more fun to write, and neutral the hardest?

Because the game is about conflict, and for NPCs or monsters or the divine, what we produce skews towards potential conflict causers for PCs, that means a lot of that stuff skews toward evil. In a world where good has the advantage, there's less of a reason for heroes to exist.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Who makes up “management” at Paizo? I’d always assumed creative director would be included in that category.

Management at Paizo does include the Creative Director and lots of other folks.

Which makes me realize that when I use the term "Management" it's often from my own personal viewpoint... A more accurate term I should use instead is "The Executive Team." Which includes Erik and Lisa and Vic and a few others (but not me).

Ah, gotcha. Thanks.

I'm really depressed because there will be no Dominion of the Black adventure path in 2018. I like Taldor and Thassilon very much, but 2018 should have been the year of the Dominion, because according to Occult Mysteries the famous countdown clocks are counting down to early 4718 AR. I even asked about this topic a year ago in this post. I thought Paizo likes the Dominion a lot, so I'm very surprised at this result. I even suspected Paizo decided not to publish the prearranged Dominion AP because the developers regarded that the Dominion should be handled in Starfinder instead. Now I come to think of it, Paizo already missed the right time to present the Harbingers of Fate in an adventure path according to this post, and thus we will never be able to have an adventure path about the Book of 1,000 Whispers and the Harbingers of Fate. Is this another great example that proves tying something directly into the timeline is a bad idea? In other words, do you think specifying the end date of the countdown clock was a bad idea?

Harbingers of Fate got dealt with in Pathfinder Society Special scenario.

Anyway, BTW, why is hardcover version of Crown of the Fangs have 20 ego (instead of 10) even though Ileosa doesn't have all seven relics? Is it part of the crown's buffs or is there story related reason to it?

Aenigma wrote:

Baba Yaga has 30 CR. But normally a 20th level and 10th tier character would have 24 CR. She has so high CR because of her various special abilities like Hut Familiar or Forceful Presence that boosts her CR. I want to make a custom human sorcerer 20/archmage 10 final boss who has 30 CR, which made me devise several special abilities but I'm not sure. So I must ask you.

If I give him an ability that enables him to cast one additional quickened spell in a round(just like the Multispell feat in Epic Level Handbook), how many CR would it increase? +1 or +2? And if I give him an ability that enables him to maximize any spell he casts without increasing spell level(which means he doesn't even need to learn the Maximize Spell feat), would it increase +1 CR or +2 CR?

Again, just build the character to aim at the CR 30 numbers from Table 1–1 (you'll want to use the table as it appears in a later Bestiary, like Bestiary 6, since the original table only went to CR 25). Don't worry about trying to reach CR 30 by adding abilities that modify CR. That's not the way to do it. Just give the creature abilities to bolster its numbers until it hits the CR 30 expectations, and then match it against other CR 30 foes for other things to see if it's about on par.

You don't need to list what a CR modifier does to a creature like I did for Karzoug for a creature you're building for your own game.

You know, I never really thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. Thanks James, that advice is actually going to make me a better GM!

Question: One of the most unexpected twists in Book of the Damned was that the Rakshaka Immortals all grant the same domains and sub-domains. What led to that decision? Was it something that was known by the creative team about the Immortals and this was the first good chance to write it down or was it a newly developed facet of the setting for this book?

I'm really depressed because there will be no Dominion of the Black adventure path in 2018. I like Taldor and Thassilon very much, but 2018 should have been the year of the Dominion, because according to Occult Mysteries the famous countdown clocks are counting down to early 4718 AR. I even asked about this topic a year ago in this post. I thought Paizo likes the Dominion a lot, so I'm very surprised at this result. I even suspected Paizo decided not to publish the prearranged Dominion AP because the developers regarded that the Dominion should be handled in Starfinder instead. Now I come to think of it, Paizo already missed the right time to present the Harbingers of Fate in an adventure path according to this post, and thus we will never be able to have an adventure path about the Book of 1,000 Whispers and the Harbingers of Fate. Is this another great example that proves tying something directly into the timeline is a bad idea? In other words, do you think specifying the end date of the countdown clock was a bad idea?

We're far from done doing Dominion of the Black stuff. In the meantime, I assume you've checked out Iron Gods?

Harbingers of Fate got dealt with in Pathfinder Society Special scenario.

Anyway, BTW, why is hardcover version of Crown of the Fangs have 20 ego (instead of 10) even though Ileosa doesn't have all seven relics? Is it part of the crown's buffs or is there story related reason to it?

Probably because it's a typo. It doesn't matter much at all for the way the adventure path plays out though so I wouldn't worry about it.

Question: One of the most unexpected twists in Book of the Damned was that the Rakshaka Immortals all grant the same domains and sub-domains. What led to that decision? Was it something that was known by the creative team about the Immortals and this was the first good chance to write it down or was it a newly developed facet of the setting for this book?

What led to that was the simple fact that there was no room in the spread for Rakshasa Immortals to include the table and have all of the immortals we'd already listed in the Bestiary. So... if I'd included that big chart of different domains and all that, I would have had to cut some of them from the book.

So I thought it over, and decided that having them be SO disdainful of their worshipers that they simply all grant the same domains actually made the pantheon more unusual and interesting and unique. Since we'd never before listed any of their domains (we couldn't do this trick with the daemon harbingers, for example, and so they ended up getting very truncated descriptions as a result), this was an option that was open.

This is a great example of the limitations of a book's layout encouraging and resulting in a more interesting flavor, I think.

FallenDabus wrote:

Question: One of the most unexpected twists in Book of the Damned was that the Rakshaka Immortals all grant the same domains and sub-domains. What led to that decision? Was it something that was known by the creative team about the Immortals and this was the first good chance to write it down or was it a newly developed facet of the setting for this book?

What led to that was the simple fact that there was no room in the spread for Rakshasa Immortals to include the table and have all of the immortals we'd already listed in the Bestiary. So... if I'd included that big chart of different domains and all that, I would have had to cut some of them from the book.

So I thought it over, and decided that having them be SO disdainful of their worshipers that they simply all grant the same domains actually made the pantheon more unusual and interesting and unique. Since we'd never before listed any of their domains (we couldn't do this trick with the daemon harbingers, for example, and so they ended up getting very truncated descriptions as a result), this was an option that was open.

This is a great example of the limitations of a book's layout encouraging and resulting in a more interesting flavor, I think.

Cool! For what it's worth, I think you made the right call.

Do you have any favourites amongst the Rakshasa Immortals?

Do you have any favourites amongst the Rakshasa Immortals?

Ravana.

FallenDabus wrote:

Do you have any favourites amongst the Rakshasa Immortals?

Ravana.

Any particular reason on that one (not that disagree, he is awesome)?