Caladfel's page

Dear Game Designers and Pathfinder rules enthusiasts,

I tried to find references for these questions but failed miserably, so question here:

1. Are golems able use or wear magic items?
2. How complex are the commands a golem can obey?
3. Can a character command a golem out of this combat turn?
4. Can control of the golem be permanently stolen from its creator?

Thank you.

Thank you gentlemen. This looks very promising.

Dear Mr Sutter,

I am planning to start a new campaign in the world of Golarion, and I want to tinge the campaign with the color of horror. Is there any Paizo material (adventure path, sourcebook etc) you would suggest for me to take a look to help me set up this mood?

Thank you sir.

Howdy.

Is there an adventure path that feels like an horror campaign? Is there any product that has details of Ustalav, or seems like the writer(s) read one too many Lovecraft stories? Perhaps something by James Sutter? :)

Thank you.

Caladfel wrote:

About why they care for mortals? If we assume what is written on the fluff of Princes of Darkness to be true (about the Seal, Ihys and Asmodeus), then mortals are, in a way, part of the gods, and their actions make them become part of other gods upon their deaths, which is something I bet some gods (probably the evil ones) dislike. And the good ones care because they are, well, good.

Further, please remember my point. I, as the DM, don't want a mystery as to why a story element was added. I want to know what purpose something serves. (I actually want a list of things they might be doing so I can choose the purpose they will serve and then make them a mystery in my own games.) Again, at the moment, without knowing what the gods are doing, why they care about mortals and what purpose they serve, there reason for being seems to be "because."

Oh, sorry. Got caught on the whole philosophical debate thing. Ok, things that the gods might really be and why they do the stuff they do?

Let us say the gods exist and influence all of the worlds contained within the material plane. That means Golarion could be "just another world". Let us say it is not: it is the world where Rovagug, that destroyed a crapload of other worlds, is imprisoned.

Why was he imprisoned here? It was what they had in hand at the moment. Why wasn't he relocated? No one wants to touch it. What does it mean to be "imprisoned"? It means he cannot rampage over worlds, nor can influence any world but this own.

Why the gods cannot be more active within the surface of Golarion? When they imprisoned Rovagug, the gods used their power together as never before, and created a set of laws of... let's call it 'physics', that impede gods to go there and affect the world directly. It means that when they come here, they have to be fighters, wizards, clerics, use spells, have bodies, which mean that they are hardcore and powerful, but in the reality of Golarion, they are just overpowered people.

They care about mortals, because that is the way they keep tabs on each other, and they created mortals to maintain the prison.

How about that?

Okay, but why is it Mutually Assured Destruction? If the gods don't get power from mortals in any way, what do they care what happens to mortals? It's not MAD from the gods standpoint, it's "acceptable losses" at best!

I'm trying to figure this out as well, so a lot of this is me talking out loud.

I agree they aren't omnipotent. But what are their motivations and what will they do to achieve those? Are the good gods sheparding us because they are good? Are they just opposing evil? Is evil messing with us because they are powerful bullies and they can?

I didn't see anything like the 3E Deities and Demigods for Pathfinder. That defined gods, in terms of how many avatars they could have and their relative power levels. I think it was in FR specifically that the gods got their power from the number of worshipers they have but Deities and Demigods might have done that as well. That gives ALL of the gods an incentive to protect mortals. In this case, maybe evil is more likely to sacrifice some but so would good if the stakes were that high.

What I'm saying is that nothing like that exists based on what I have read and responses here. So, why do these powerful beings care about the mortals on Golarion? Why do the deities give mortals that worship them part of their power?

The NPC: Well, if the gods are the reason for everything, then there are no natural laws because things happen due to the gods' will. If there are natural laws, then are the gods needed?

And with those questions, and with all things being equal, why would anymore make a "deal with the devil" when you can make a deal with the angels? If that's an option, why ever deal with evil? I mean, the gods seem to be divided into obvious good/evil camps. If you can invoke both sides and get them, or their representative, to appear, why call upon evil?

Not that this would make a paradise and not that there is not seduction or weakness or other reasons that evil would happen.

I wasn't fond of the "deities...

I think the MAD scenario is about escalation. God A sends a human to kill an animal that is special to God B. God B sends an outsider to kill the human for the murder of the animal. God A feels offended that God B sent an outsider, and send his herald to teach that outsider (and God B) a lesson. That outsider happened to be friends with the herald of God C, so the herald calls that out to God C and they team up with God B to somehow sanction God A. God D and E, allies of God A, do not care about how this started, and will not stand for the sanctioning of God A... So on, and so forth, until Groetus tells everyone to get off his lawn.

About why they care for mortals? If we assume what is written on the fluff of Princes of Darkness to be true (about the Seal, Ihys and Asmodeus), then mortals are, in a way, part of the gods, and their actions make them become part of other gods upon their deaths, which is something I bet some gods (probably the evil ones) dislike. And the good ones care because they are, well, good.

Now, why would mortals deal with evil? I can think of some reasons:

Mortals do not necessarily want to do good stuff. If they ask a representative of the upper planes for secksay powers, the representative is more likely to want to know what the mortal intends to do with the power, how the mortal has behaved so far in his life, make note of his virtues, his weaknesses, or how the newly supported mortal could mess with the other mortals that the representative is invested on. Evil representatives, most of the time, are just likely to be out for themselves, and then they will just ensure the mortal cannot mess with their plans and off you go.

TL:DR - Good has "higher standards" to who they help, and why. Evil cares less about the "bad" consequences, so they are not as anal on who they help, or why, as long as they get what they want.

Another reason, is that good Powers have a tendency of wanting their people to grow, and be strong, and be all they can be. Evil Powers are, most of the time, happy having tiny little slaves that cater to their every whim. Good Powers want their followers to have some kind of autonomy, to make good decisions for themselves (after all, being forced to do good deeds does not make a person good). They would like that their followers, when presented with choice between a good but hard solution and an evil but easy solution to a problem, will choose the former because that is their vision of a good universe: good people helping each other because it is the right thing to do.

Evil gods... they want to get ahead. Period. And they teach to their followers that if THEY also look out for #1, they will have advantages over the other people. So, a mortal might face the choice "You can be a rich king that sleeps with whatever person you want to sleep with, but you have to murder the current king, lie about his whereabouts and kill people in the name of Evilzilla once per month and let their minions run the country for you, assuring you will not have to work another day of your life, or you can be a farmer, following a kind and just king that earned his place there and keeps everyone as happy as humanly possible, although all have to work hard (including him) to make things like this."

Not all men will make the same choice here. Sometimes, evil is better for YOU. Specially if you could not care less about your mortal soul (hello there, wis 8 fighters).

Does it make sense to anyone?
Also, wall of text, HO! :p
EDIT: for typos.

1. By RAW, I do not believe so. The description of the other types of alchemical cartridges assume a 'soft' cartridge - basically just a sealed paper packet that you rip open and dump the contents into the gun's barrel. That said, things like dragon's breath cartridges (white phosphorous rounds) exist IRL, so I would probably allow them; I'd take the difference between the basic alchemical cartridge (12g) and the 'advanced' alchemical cartridge (dragon's breath, salt shot, etc.), then add that onto the base price of the metal cartridge.

2. I have always assumed that it takes it into account, since it is the only ammunition type that advanced firearms can use; if it doesn't take it into account, then what exactly are you loading the gun with alternatively? That said, I've FAQ'ed it before but didn't receive a response. I'll see if I can dig up that thread and link it.

3. This is the only one that has a sure answer. The description of an early firearm is that it is a muzzle-loaded weapon. An alchemical cartridge for an early firearm isn't 'loaded' into the weapon; it's a prepared packet of powder, shot, and other chemicals that is torn open and dumped down the barrel. Since you aren't 'loading' the cartridge, then you couldn't do it with a metal cartridge (unless you were strong enough to rip open metal, and if so, why do you need a gun?).

Thank you for your answers Xaratherus. :) Anyone else has a take on it?

Hello there,

While describing firearms ammo, Ultimate Combat states that alchemical cartridges lower the time to load the firearm in one step (full round to standard, standard to move, move to free).

While describing Advanced Firearms, Ultimate Combat states that all of them must use metal cartridges as ammunition, and that the action to reload an advanced firearm is a move action.

While describing metal cartridges, Ultimate Combat states that metal cartridges are a sturdier version of alchemical cartridges.

Based on that, my questions are:
1- Can advanced firearms use other alchemical cartridges? If yes, how much would they cost, and how would they work?

2- The listed time to reload an advanced firearm (move action) already takes in consideration that it is being loaded with a metal cartridge (i.e. it remains a move action when loaded with a metal cartridge)? Or, since it must be loaded with a metal cartridge it would take only a free action to load?

3- Can a metal cartridge be used to reload a non-advanced firearm? And if it can, would it lower the load time?

Thank you. Firearm rules fry my brain. >.<

Dear James,

While describing firearms ammo, Ultimate Combat states that alchemical cartridges lower the time to load the firearm in one step (full round to standard, standard to move, move to free).

While describing Advanced Firearms, Ultimate Combat states that all of them must use metal cartridges as ammunition, and that the action to reload an advanced firearm is a move action.

While describing metal cartridges, Ultimate Combat states that metal cartridges are a sturdier version of alchemical cartridges.

Based on that, my questions are:
1- Can advanced firearms use other alchemical cartridges? If yes, how much would they cost, and how would they work?

2- The listed time to reload an advanced firearm (move action) already takes in consideration that it is being loaded with a metal cartridge (i.e. it remains a move action when loaded with a metal cartridge)? Or, since it must be loaded with a metal cartridge it would take only a free action to load?

3- Can a metal cartridge be used to reload a non-advanced firearm? And if it can, would it lower the load time?

Thank you. Firearm rules fry my brain. >.<

3) Called creatures are physical here; you don't summon a "shade" or "eidolon" of them. They're the real thing. Give a called creature a sword, and if it's banished back home, it takes the sword with it.

Thank you for the answer. Following it up:

1) Can an Eidolon be 'called'?

EDIT: I just realized. "Eidolon" is a synonym of shade here. Therefore, the question would be if you can call the creature which you "generate" the eidolon from.

James sir,

I am trying to figure out how to treat summoned creatures on a Pathfinder game, and there are some "rules" that seem unclear to me. They are:
1) If I summon a creature, and give a sword (or any other piece of gear to it) what happens to the object when the creature is destroyed/dismissed?
2) Same question as 1, but applied to an Eidolon (which the rules state clearly that besides going into negative hit points and not being stopped by a 'protection from' spell, is still a summoned creature)?
3) Same question as 1, but change summon for call.

Thank you in advance. :)

Caladfel wrote:

James,

I have two issues that you might help me with:

2) The Cassisian Angel as a familiar feels too powerful for a level 7 feat (specially since it gives you access to a 5th level cleric spell with no component cost). Is my perception skewed? Is there a reasoning to remove the Faerie Dragon from the list, but leave the Cassisian Angel?

Thank you. :)

You'll find that a lot of the Improved Familiars grant commune. Nearly every extraplanar (The Lyraken I know also grants commune)

Thank you Xevious and James for the perspective. :)

James,

I have two issues that you might help me with:

1) Are advanced races (such as Aasimar or Tiefling) ok to play alongside standard races (such as Human or Dwarf)?

2) The Cassisian Angel as a familiar feels too powerful for a level 7 feat (specially since it gives you access to a 5th level cleric spell with no component cost). Is my perception skewed? Is there a reasoning to remove the Faerie Dragon from the list, but leave the Cassisian Angel?

Thank you. :)