Baroth's page

I hope we'll get some more information on the deal Pharasma made with the Daemons and that was mentioned in their soft cover. Pharasma leaving the back door of the Boneyard open to them still surprises me.

I'm also curious if we'll get at least a new tidbit on Tabris, the author of the in-game version of the Book of the Damned.

As far as I know (first pages of the BotD3), there was no special deal between them. Pharasma simply did not have a portal to Abaddon for a long time and the daemons just kept pestering her (and threatened to steal even more souls). In the end, she realized that she could not withhold the souls destined for Abaddon forever. Thus, she gave them their portal as well (just like the portal to the abyss).

There might also be ecological reasons for only buying pdfs and thus, for wanting pdf only subscriptions.

@Baroth, sorry, that's what I was trying to say. That just because the Gods are above CR 30 doesn't mean there aren't other things that are above CR 30 but below a God that can be statted.

I think as fas as I understand JJ in this thread ( http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2svut?Power-level-of-various-gods ), it does seem that anything above CR 30 has no stats.

Demigods (which include things like demon lords and archdevils and great old ones) are generally CR 26 to CR 30 in power. Below them are the quasi-deities like nascent demon lords, mythic heroes with the divine source ability, and the like, which are generally CR 21 to CR 25 but can be lower or higher.

Above demigods, which includes all deities who grant 5 domains (note that demigods grant 4 domains, never 5 domains, and quasi-deities grant one to four domains, depending)... there are no rules for how powerful they are. The one thing they share (apart from granting 5 domain choices to clerics) is that they do NOT have stat blocks, and can as a result do more or less anything you want them to be able to do for your story. Obviously, since there's more than one deity at this level, there is a range of power. Pharasma is the most powerful of them all (even more so than Rovagug), but we haven't revealed who is the least powerful, nor have we really pegged the others in on any sort of power tier, since that's kind of irrelevant, since they don't have stats.

However, this might also be interpreted as describing only deities.

1) they have outright said we're getting all 4 Horsemen and all 8 Archdevils.

2) Just because Gods are above CR 30 doesn't mean there aren't other things above it.

1) Well, now I am surprised. There is still hope some high level Sahkils then and some daemonic harbingers (Aesdurath would be nice ^^).

2) Right. My mistake to say that "above CR 30" equals to god. But the "no stats thing" for power level "above CR 30" is correct. I thought they have even said as much, but perhaps I am just wrongly remembering stuff.

The Gold Sovereign wrote:

Berselius wrote:

Wait, the Horsemen of Abaddon? Wow, those stat blocks are going to be impressive at the very least. I'm expecting each of them to be CR 30/MR 20.

Also, I hope the next core hardcover after this is an Advanced NPC Codex featuring some of the other core classes. :D

I had always wondered if they ever got stat blocks, would they all be CR 30? If not, I believe it would be something along this:

Famine - CR 27 or 28
Pestilence - CR 28 or 29
War - CR 29
Death - CR 30

Anyway, are we really getting the four of them?

Considering that not a single foe of any measure of power has been able to unseat Charon from his throne of flesh, bone, and souls I'd assume that he'd have to be CR 30/MR 20 at the very least. This is a being who has either stood up against or outwitted Lamashtu herself (and probably other deities as well) and lived to tell about it.

Firstly, whilst I would like to get all four horsemen, it most likely will not happen. The most high CR monsters we got from one race in one book was (I think) the three demon lords in Bestiary 4.

Secondly, Charon might be anything from CR 26 to 30 (with an adequate numbers of mythic tiers). Just because he was able to hold his position for that long and outwit Lamashtu, does not mean that he is that powerful, he might be just that good at scheming. For instance, even Pazuzu (CR 30), who has an ongoing war/feud with her, is still alive. Thus, a being on a different plane might be even less powerful and survive and ongoing feud with a god. Although Lamashtu has been described as willing to even go to different planes and kill demi-gods (she killed at least 2 horsemen in Abaddon). I guess if she really wanted to (meaning really spending all her resources), she could probably go kill him, but that would be a really stupid move in terms of being vulnerable to other attacks.

Always remember, Pathfinder power levels so far are capped at CR 30. Anything above is considered a god and does not receive stats.

I would have hoped all those high-level things would end up in their own manual. But, oh well... Maybe in another life.

I agree but I guess that whilst this might be the logical thing to do in terms of order (either that or releasing all the monsters of the same time in the same book), it is probably muhc better financially speaking for Paizo to do it as they do now.

This applies actually to most material they release as they tend to spread it over various books. It is really annoying to navigate and I really wish they would release larger and more comprehensive books, but I think that it is not feasible. Although looking at the original (i.e. German) version of The Dark Eye, it seems feasible.

Fourshadow wrote:

DeciusNero wrote:

Yeah, as much as I like to see powerful archfiends, I'd like room for things that would see more play (lower and mid levels).

I approve of this message. CR 20+ gets very little usage, in my experience.

Not in mine. I'd rather have more big bads for a change.

Until I start running again, I can't really say I dislike having more CR 20+ creatures.

I would like to see more CR 17 to 30 monsters as well. Especially since creating high CR monsters is, in my opinion, more difficult than creating lower CR monsters as you have many more variables to deal with.

I am still hoping for stats for other daemonic harbingers (so far, there are only stats for Zelishkar) and at least one sahkil tormentors (or whatever their nascent demon lord equivalent is). Obviously, some daemons and sahkils in general would not go amiss as well as both races seem to have just a few high level representatives (especially the Sahkils that only have one CR 16 and CR 20 monster).

Paizo should just let Todd write another book about these beasties. :-)

Thanks for your help, Katina.

I will do so. I hope Paizo will create pdf-subs one day, as I really like your books but buying them physically just does not seem sensible anymore (ecologically as well as in terms of space).

Thanks again for the help.

Hey there,

I would like to cancel all my subscriptions (as there are no pdf-only subs). Could you cancel all my subs?

All the best,
Sebastian

Hey Katina,

thanks for your quick reply. As I do need the sleeves, I think ordering them is the best idea. I do not mind the delivery time.

Thanks for your help.

All the best,
Sebastian.

Hey there.
In the above mentioned order, I had ordered 2x "KMC Sleeves (80 pcs) Clear". However, I have just received the order and it contained 2x "Sleeves—Oversized Guard (60) Clear". Is there a way to replace these sleeves or at least send me the correct sleeves?

Thanks for your help in advance.

All the best, Sebastian

James, are there any plans for subscribers to somehow receive the pdf or ebook?

I mean what you are basically tell me, as a subscriber, is that you have remodeled the tales line: It will have a new look, it will have the same word count (as Dave said above), it will not have the free digital copy, but still you will have to pay more. Correct me if I am wrong but this sounds like a really bad deal, especially for people from overseas.

What I really dislike here is that you announced the deal with TorBooks and said there will be better possibilities with digital formats and the next thing you do is to cut the digital version out of the subscription. Granted it is my fault to not read the next couple of lines in the mail as I simply have assumed that the additional possibilities in digital versions do NOT result in the removal of the digital copy. Nevertheless, I am disappointed and this may very well be the first subscription I have to cancel permanently, albeit with a heavy heart.

Edit: Never mind, I just saw the thread in the tales forum about it. Apparently, the answer is no. You guys are more concerned about reaching a bigger audience than the existing subscribers.

Thanks for your answer. I just asked in case the expansion was still missing.

As it stands I do not need to worry. Thanks a lot.

Hi there,

it seems there is a delay for my October shipment because I added the Warhammer Invasion Cataclysm expansion to it. Did you receive the expansion already or is it the only thing that is still missing? If it is still missing, do you have an estimated time of arrival?

Thanks for your help in advance.

As an avid Malazan reader, I am not quite sure why you do not use the sorcerer as a base for Bottle. It would allow you to have free access to all the illusion spells you want and gives you the magical jack of all trades you want him to be (Human favorite class bonus). Furthermore, you could use his mother or the Eres'al as the patron that is responsible for his sorcerous power. Finally, Kobold Press released the 'Green' bloodline that provides the sorcerer with the 'speak with animals' ability.

Are there going to be pawns of the new monsters in the BotD-Series?

It might be a waste of space to you, who have been playing for a long time and have all those references.

It is not a waste of space for a newer player or GM who does not have those experiences.

So the book will go into the details of the Lolth-worshipping society of the not-born-as-elves race of drows?

Apart from the new rules, it seems many of these 'ecologies' have been printed before in either the Campaign Setting line or in the Adventure Path line (at least 75%). Is there sustantial new material concerning the background information of these monsters?

By chance I stumbled upon your kickstarter and I have to admit it looks really promising even though it is really expensive to get all three books. Since I live in Switzerland, orderning the books together seems a good idea as it will reduce the shipping costs but that would still cost 200$. You mentioned in another thread that there might be post-KS pledge options. How is this coming along? I recently have backed a project that used BackerKit which seems to be a good possibility to allow post-KS pledges.

Concerning your material, I checked your webpage and for your offerings and saw that you have quite a few types of monsters covered. Are you going to expand the mythic material to other races of outsiders, for example kytons or daemons?

I have just checked this out and whilst the sheet seem really nice, there is one big omission. Archetypes are not supported as far as I can see, at least I did not see them for monks or fighters. Without support for archetypes, the sheets seem only marginally helpful.

Nevertheless, thanks for the good work.

SLAYER: seeing as how they can choose to spend slayer talents to get extra feats, I don't see how slayers are anything except an improved version of fighters. Since that negates fighters altogether, I don't like this class unless the "slayer talent as combat feat" option is removed.

How is the Slayer able to spend talents for feats? As far as I can see, one can only take each talent once including the one that enables the slayer to take a combat feat, the one that gives Weapon Focues to the Slayer and the one that that enables the slayer to take any feat.

This looks really nice. Great work.

I have seen that there are no CR 20+ devils and daemons in there. Are you going to publish some of these in the near future?

Well, my part of this book focuses on the 20 major deities (and some other material we haven't announced yet). I don't what the book is doing with the not-a-true-deity-but-can-grant-spells creatures, but given that each category of them has its own 64-page book for the Pathfinder RPG, I doubt this book will have extensive writeups for such beings (because space limitations for the book means we can't set aside 10 pages for each of those categories, for example).

Thanks for your answers.

If you're talking specifically about mentioning those creatures in the Relations section of the gods writeups, I think we can make sure to mention any relationships that are significant to the deity (frex, Urgathoa's writeup mentions daemons because her realm is in Abaddon, and I think Sarenrae's mentions the other empyreal lords because she used to be an angel).

That you are going to mention all important relations is fantastic as it does really help to see how the deity acts and thus how it thinks.

As the updates of those entries aren't finished yet, I'll talk to Wes (who's in charge of this project) and see what he thinks of that idea. :)

Thanks, this is great to hear. Granted it might just be me but I do like neatly structured texts for the sake of clarification. Perhaps it is just a professional preference.

Generally, would it be possible to get more background history on the deities? Some of the articles seem to lack this more than others. For example, your article on Torag (AP 62) does not explain his history, but perhaps that is intended.

Yep, that's what I thought you were talking about. See, when we first started these god articles, there was no Core Rulebook, nor was there a campaign setting book for Golarion, so the articles were the only place to get that info. I can't remember why we did it in paragraph form like that instead of a little sidebar, but that's how we did it for the first one, and we used that same structure for the later articles. For this book, we've already talked about pulling that info into a sidebar for each entry (plus I'm sure we'll have a full-page table listing all of that info for at least the major gods), so it won't be in that running text format any more. :)

As for your comment about the Relations With Other Religions section, that's exactly the sort of thing I meant by my comment about how other deities (and aspects of the setting) hadn't been detailed yet. But they've now been detailed, so... :)

Thanks for your answer. I have hoped that you have realised this, but as it was never changed I thought I mention it.

Concerning the relations part, am I correct to assume that this does not imply that the book will include write-ups about beings of god-like power, i.e. Horsemen, Empyreal lords, etc?

Whilst you did not say that you want further suggestions, I will still write them down. I hope you do not mind.

Would it be possible to have a better distinction between the general topics in the articles? It would be nice to have three general sections about a given deity: one about the deity itself, one about its church/religion, and one about general and/or common information concerning the deity. For example in the article on Pharasma, the part on the deity itself is really lacking (if I remember correctly) and thus, unless this was intended, it could be avoided.

We're making sure that each of the main deity writeups has all of the same structural elements (a priest's role, dogma, relations with other religions). The formatting of my articles shifted a bit over the past 5 years, partly because of the 3.5 --> PF rules change, partly because the needs of the individual APs, and partly because of the nature of the deities (and how later deities hadn't been detailed yet, so the earlier ones don't have as many cross-references), and we're going to standardize them so any writeup that missed one of those major topics will now address it.

I think I know what "chart" material you're referring to, but if you can give me an example of what you mean, that would be helpful.

Thanks for your reply (and James' as well). I have hoped you would say something like that.

As for the example, generally speaking, your articles begin with a few really nice to read paragraphs on the background and history of the deity in question and continues with a description of the deity's realm. However, this is followed by a paragraph that is reciting information. For example, in the case of Irori, this paragraph reads as follows:
"Irori is lawful neutral and his portfolio is history, knowledge, and self-perfection. His weapon is the open hand, representing unarmed combat as well as the unlimited potential of mortal life guided by serene intelligence. His holy symbol is an open blue palm overlaid upon a circle, though in some lands his name-rebus (see page 70) is used more often than the hand. His domains are Healing, Knowledge, Law, Rune, and Strength. (Adventure Path 50, Page 71)"
This really interrupts the flow of the text, is boring to read, and most of the time repeats stuff one does already know. Such information is normally given in a table, for example the header tables to each Empyreal lord in the Chronicles of the Righteous, and I think such tables would work much better, especially if they are given at the start of the article.

If I may suggest something else, it seems a wasted opportunity to limit the section "Relations with Other Religions" to just religions, i.e. deities. For example, this part in the article on Pharasma (Adventure Path 42, Page 69) creates the impression that she has no true enemies. This might be true for deities, but her real enemies are the Daemons and Qlippoths and even though they are not deities, they are very significant nonetheless.

If you want to hear more suggestions or in-depth criticism to specific articles, I will be happy to oblige as I really enjoy these articles.

In fact, those writeups are going to form the backbone of the book. They'll mostly all be expanded upon as well.

Are you going to restructure these articles or will it be the same texts with additions? It seems necessary because the old texts include very clunky paragraphs that give information that should be given in a chart. Concerning additions, are you going to expand on the 'relations with other religions' parts?

Let me start with pointing out a few things about the Pathfinder RPG and Golarion.
Firstly, the Pathfinder RPG does not give any information about the exact power level of the planar lords and old ones, the powers of gods, how to attain divinity, and how these things interact.
Secondly, most of what is known about these things is only true for Golarion and can be found in the various setting books, i.e. BotDs, TGB, etc. It might be different in a different setting.
Thirdly, the gods of Golarion do not have stats and probably will never have stats. While there has been some discussion about that at the time when the mythic rules were announced, it is, as far as I know, still true that the people at Paizo do not intend to stat up gods.
Fourthly, Asmodeus is, according to Golarion-lore and to the bestiary as well, a god and not an archdevil.
Fifthly, the old ones are approximately on par with archdevils, demon lords, etc. as James mentioned that he will stat up a few of them when the mythic rules are released.

Therefore, as there are no stats and no indication about the power relation of the gods, it is not sensible to try to compare the powers of the gods with each other and with other beings and thus, your scenarios are not sensible as a god cannot be compared to other beings including other gods. However, as a general guideline, most outsider races have minor lords, i.e. harbingers, nascent demon lords, infernal dukes, etc., and 'major lords', i.e. horsemen, demon lords, archdevils, etc. The minor lords are intended to the be end game for a campaign going up to level 20. The major lords are mythic content and the gods are out of stat range.

If I were to guess I would say that while a god could kill another god or a major lord, it would not be easy. Furthermore, it is probably possible to kill a god, but one needs special conditions to do so. Thus, killing a planar ruler would deplete some of the resources of the god and leave him open to be killed by someone who is able to establish the special conditions needed to kill him. Therefore, you get some kind of stalemate where they do not dare to engage each other personally because the risks would simply be too high.

By the way, I guess that the Chronicle of the Righteous (PFRPG) will shed some light on the goodly lords.

A player in my group wants to play an Aasimar and thus, I had to read the Companion in greater detail. I really like the book. However, I have to give a fair warning to GMs about the "variant aasimar abilities" table (pages 18 - 19). The table is not really fair in any way. In theory, it could happen that a character gains two additional +2 ability modifiers in place of his daylight ability (sp) and even one additional ability modifier is much stronger than this. I hope that similar tables in future companions are more balanced than this one.

Great to see this. I really like pawns and as I currently use Daemons quite a lot, it is nice to have them as pawns as well. Are there any plans to create pawns of the new monsters found in the Campaign Setting line (especially the BotD ones)?

Concerning the bigger than huge monsters, I would be already happy if you produce appropriate bases for these monsters. I can still use the pawn of a smaller creature or create one myself, but the bases are great for visualization purposes.

I can tell you that Radovan, the count, and another established character are the lead characters. I can tell you that three other Pathfinder Tales characters make appearances (with their authors' approval), two of them substantial roles. I can tell you it's strongly connected to the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path--so much so that I'm hoping GMs will want their players to read it before running the AP.

Does this mean that we will see Gad and his fellows in the book? I assume so as he is already up there. In any case, it would be nice to see how Gad interacts with the two. :-)

James Jacobs wrote:

That's because Lorthact is only CR 25.

Just how many mythic tiers does Sorshen have? Just what is her CR? You said in an earlier post she was CR 24-25, but I guess that changed.

Speaking of CR, if she is that strong, how strong is the mighty Xanderghul?

If you have too few players, it might be a good idea to have one. Now the question is when do you have too few players? That depends entirely on the GM and the players. Some groups just prefer to have four or five characters in game because they feel that they cannot cover certain areas with only three or two characters. In any case, whenever I played a GMPC, I usually played a character who focused on re-active/passive roles in combat (buffing or tanking) and who was not the face of the party but still had a good personality to encourage role-playing with and among the other players. Basically, helping the group in the areas they are not able to cover without taking away the spotlight in and out of combat but still interacting with the characters to create the illusion of there being actually four or five characters.

Not presently.

I think it's fair to assume that some of the items generated as part of Pathfinder Online and this Kickstarter in particular may be available for purchase down the road (this is definitely true of the Emerald Spire, for example, though Kickstarter supporters will receive a unique limited-edition Wayne Reynolds cover), but there is currently no mechanism for this, no immediate plans for it, and no guarantees on things like price.

I do guarantee you, 100%, that picking up the Emerald Spire and the associated dungeon Flip-Mats as part of the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter will be much, much, much cheaper than buying them later as part of their eventual retail release.

Thanks for the answer. That is too bad. I was hoping there was a way to get the soundtrack in a package with the books as currently the only way to get the soundtrack is to commit a higher pledge tier.

As I said before, buying the books through pledging is not a problem and seems a good deal, I just wanted to buy the soundtrack as well without having to buy the game. Thus, I hope that it will be release separately and I can buy it like that.

Baroth wrote:

Is there a way to get the soundtrack with the books if one does not want the game? Basically, I want just the material I can use for Pen and Paper RPG, except the miniatures, without the MMO things. I will never play an MMO and I am not interested in giving money to an MMO.

Somebody did a cost analysis in another thread, the non-game rewards would cost more to buy individually than to make the pledge. You can either look at it as the game being free, or all of the PnP stuff being free, or everything is %50 off. give/sell the game to some friend or a random stranger.

Thanks for the answer, but this is not what I was asking for. I was just asking for a way to get the soundtrack without paying money of the MMO. Making a 5$ pledge and adding 100$ will get me just the books. Now, is there way to add a bit of money to the pledge to get me the soundtrack as well?

Is there a way to get the soundtrack with the books if one does not want the game? Basically, I want just the material I can use for Pen and Paper RPG, except the miniatures, without the MMO things. I will never play an MMO and I am not interested in giving money to an MMO.

no it's still "Das Schwarze Auge" (DSA, The Dark Eye in english). Published in 1984, it wasn't much more than a D&D clone first, but in the meantime it has developed it's own setting which may be even more detailed than the Forgotten Realms.

The game is a bit more "realistic" than D&D, more medieval and even high-level PCs aren't supposed to be god-like characters who can beat the hell out of demon lords. It also shares the Paizo approach to support the system and the setting mainly through adventures.

And interestingly enough, the publisher (Ulisses Spiele) is the same who publishes the german localisation of the Pathfinder RPG. Which ironically means that, while there is a german version of the Pathfinder Beginner Box, there is still nothing comparable for DSA.

Hey there, you play that as well or do you just know it?

However, Paizo could learn from them as well and create big hardcover setting books about Golarion. I still dream of 300 pages just about one region or one plane.... :-)

Baroth wrote:

1. Are there other sources about Riddleport besides the one I have checked?

2. Are there any hidden plotters in Riddleport like Lorthact and Ileosa (i.e. Sorshen) in Korvosa?

1) That's pretty much it for Riddleport for now that's in print. There's some cyphermage stuff here and tehre in other books, and there's a few Pathfinder Society scenarios set there but I'm not sure if those scenarios are out yet or still in development/design.

2) Yes.

Thanks for your answers.

As you have said that you could go on forever about Varisia which includes Riddleport, I will ask you:

I have checked the few sources available about Riddleport (Pathfinder 13 & 14, Player's Guide to Second Darkness, Varisia Birthplace of Legends, the Inner Sea World Guide, the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, and the Journal of Shattered Star). However, I am still not entirely satisfied with my knowledge of Riddleport as most of these sources repeat the same data.

1. Are there other sources about Riddleport besides the one I have checked?
2. Are there any hidden plotters in Riddleport like Lorthact and Ileosa (i.e. Sorshen) in Korvosa?

Patrick,

They gave you BotD3 as a first assignment as a developer? Is that like freshman hazing? :D

Todd 'How many obscure biology terms, scientific slang, and archaic english can I fit into this statblock let alone the ecology entry' Stewart

Because I am curious, I have to ask: How much creative freedom did you actually have to create BotD 3? Were you sort of filling in the blanks by a huge outline of the Jameses or the development team or creating something completely from scratch?

Other than that, it is a nice blog entry as usual. Have you guys planned something as a replacement for these after the anniversary is over?

There's not much I can think of, but the fiction in the Shattered Star Adventure Path is set in Riddleport.

Thanks for your answer. Perhaps it will help me to flesh out the feel of the city. Thanks in any case.

Instead of starting a new thread, I will ask here.
I am currently running a campaign that takes place in Varisia and now heads towards Riddleport. I have checked the few sources about Riddleport (Pathfinder 13 & 14, Player's Guide to Second Darkness, Varisia Birthplace of Legends, the Inner Sea World Guide, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting). However, I am still not entirely satisfied with my knowledge of Riddleport as most of these sources repeat the same data. Does anyone know of additional sources about Riddleport?

Baroth, what IS in the book is anything that was in the Pathfinder RPG line, and a lot of stuff from the Adventurer's Armory.

Otherwise, I think items were cherrypicked from various campaign setting books and APs, or are brand new.

It's impossible to list what's NOT in the book unless one has an eidetic memory and a copy of every book Paizo has ever published. That person is not me.

If there's a specific item you are hoping is in there, it would be better to ask for it and have people look it up.

Or check on d20PFSRD for equipment, if you see it in there, and it has a PAIZO tag, and it's not in the book, there you go.

No Wand Rifle...sucks. In a game that has firearms and added firearms, that should have made it in. It's one of my favorite items.

Thanks for the answers. I was not looking for a specific item. I had the, apparently false, impression that UE contains almost all items and thus, a list of the things that one has to search for somewhere else would be rather short. It would have made browsing the available items easier for my players. :-)

Is there a list of the equipment that is not included in this book? I really like the book, but almost every item is a bit unhelpful. :-)

What I am currently wondering about is whether or not the Mythic levels will grant different boni depending on the level of the character. For example, is the first level of Mythic archmage the same for a level 4 wizard and a level 20 wizard? The powers will have differ or the powers are extremely scalable or a level 20 character taking his first Mythic level might be a bit underwhelmed. The reason for my interest in this is that I am currently running a campaign that I would love to extend with Mythic level gameplay, but the characters will be level 20 before I could use the Mythic levels.

In the case of Time Stop, it entirely depends on what the ring modifies, i.e. what does "that spell remains in effect for 24 hours" mean, and how Time Stop works exactly, i.e. how long its duration is. It is probably safe to say that the "remains in effect"-clause means effect produced by the spell cast will not end after the time given by the spell, but after 24 hours. This need not mean that it only changes the 'Duration'-entry of the spell to 24 hours, because there are spells in the core rules with a 'Duration'-entry saying instantaneous but the spell text explains that it "remains in effect for x days". Given these spells do not have the appropriate range to be used with the ring, but still, the examples are there.
Therefore, the problem seems to be rather the second question, namely what variable of Time Stop defines the time it is in effect and what it effect is.

Effect:
Variant 1: Gain 1d4 + 1 rounds immediately
Variant 2: Gain 1d4 + 1 rounds for this action
Variant 3: Gain 1d4 + 1 rounds for each action

Time the spell remains in effect:
Variant 4: Instantaneous
Variant 5: 1 standard action
Variant 6: The spell's effect defines the duration

Given that the time the spell remains in effect can also be defined by its effects as given in variant 6, we have 5 different variants how the ring may interact with Time Stop.
Variant 4 seems the most realistic one as the "time the spell remains in effect" probably refers to normal time and in normal time, the spell takes up just the instant after the caster has finished casting the spell (during this instant the effect of the spell grants the caster 1d4 + 1 rounds of time). Thus, the combination with the ring would not be very advantageous for the caster as it would defeat the purpose of the spell.
The other variant that could probably work is variant 6 in combination with variant 1. This would result in the caster gaining 24 hours of time after having cast the spell as the duration of the spell is the "time the spell remains in effect" which is the effect of the spell in this case and so the ring modifies the effect of the spell indirectly and to the advantage of the caster.
I cannot see how the spell could actually imply something akin to variant 2, 3 or 5 but apparently some think it does.

I would probably decree that variant 4 is correct in my groups. I think Time Stop is just badly formulated. The duration should say "Instantaneous" and the effect should be "Gain 1d4 + 1 rounds of apparent time in which only you can act". Thus, one could not apply the Extend metamagic feat to it, but still the Empower metamagic feat.

Thanks a lot. The quality of your customer service still manages to amaze me. It is really great. :-)

Best wishes,
Sebastian

Hi there,

as the order in question has shipped, you may release the "Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition". Thus, it should be shipped with all the other hardcover stuff in August (and perhaps with the new KQ).

Thanks again,
Seb

I would prefer fewer books as well but only if the remaining ones get bigger. Most of the time, when I read a book in the Campaign Setting line, I feel like there is a lot of stuff that is not in there that I would really like to see.

Will do. That is the perfect solution for me.

Thanks again,
Seb

Thanks for the quick reply and for the solution for my problem. I can already tell you that you can unsuspend it as soon as the July shipment is shipped. Shall I just create a post in this thread at that time?

Sorry for the work that it created, I am surprised by the non-triviality of my request. :-)

Again, thanks for the great customer service (and for one of the best part of a blog entry I have read here on Paizo).

Best regards,
Sebastian