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I did say that about this book, and I stand by it. I actually had to put it down a couple of times so that I could let ideas percolate properly.
"You're the... the Planescape guy? You wrote some novels? So you're Monte Cook?" Incidentally, I would be delighted to sign copies of books presented to me under the guise of mistaken identity. I'll bet your (ahem) "legions" of fans would be delighted to discover the versions of monsters that you originally wanted to include in the adventure. I'm betting that alternate-Brandon would reveal that flumphs should feature prominently as the main villains. They're all aberrations anyway, right?
And I would totally be down for arm-wrestling for charity. I think that onlookers would love to see two spindly (perhaps I should say "wiry"?) guys pretending to be actually tough.
In addition to the folks listed above, there's always a bunch of our awesome freelancers who stop by the booth throughout the weekend who always love to sign stuff and chit chat. In addition, of course, to the less-awesome freelancers who hang around the booth and hope to be noticed. On a totally unrelated note, I'll be stopping by the Paizo booth!
Absolutely. James was very clear in his direction to Hal and me. It's just, y'know... they're filled with fiend blood. Being good is a lot harder a choice for a tiefling. Oh, you're totally taken care. We call out Desna specifically as a deity who welcomes tiefling worshippers; there's a picture of a cleric in Sarenrae's robes. We have a short talk about how you can play a tiefling paladin. And there are a couple of paragraphs about tieflings who choose to turn from evil. That's not all, but that's what I got from a quick refresher of the text. So yeah, you should be okay. :)
Absolutely. James was very clear in his direction to Hal and me. It's just, y'know... they're filled with fiend blood. Being good is a lot harder a choice for a tiefling.
yes, there is some discussion of non-human variants. I haven't seen the book for months, so I can't speak to what's happening with it in house, but I want to stress that I am not sure how in-depth this discussion goes, nor how mechanical it becomes. Because of the powers of tieflings, and because of the powers of non-humans, the non-humans might see their natural abilities subsumed under the fiendish blood. On the other hand, multiple fiendish bloodlines! Wow!
The Painter from Planescape being the iconic tiefling? :D I was actually talking about daemonspawn, but... sure!* I remember the artwork for the 2nd edition planescape, they had the best pic of a female Catlord I have ever seen. I also really like the pics for the Erinyes devil and the Lilind. Tony DiTerlizzi has all that stuff up on his website if you want to look those over again. And yes, I totally had a crush on the Catlord. I am curious to know if there are going to be variant options or suggestions for tieflings that are not of human-fiend stock but have a different core race as a parent, such as a halfling or elf. I'm not sure how much James is going to let me say here (he walks jauntily past my house swinging chains sometimes, looking meaningfully in through the window), but I'm pretty sure I can say that yes, there is some discussion of non-human variants. I'll let James talk about it further, though, because I hear his distinctive whistling now. *The Painter will not actually appear in this supplement.
So hey, is it impolite to toot my own horn (or squawk my own beak or whatever that vrock avatar is likely to say) and sort of quietly announce that I think this is a pretty excellent book? I mean, I haven't seen the final product or anything, but I really like this book. Just saying. And yes, Todd, you will get your wish.
Is the flavor awesome? Of course the flavor's awesome! On the other hand, my avatar is a vrock. What do I know about flavor?
Faiths of Purity covers paladin codes for Erastil, Iomedae, Sarenrae, Shelyn, and Torag. No paladins for CC. :)
Well, thanks. As I noted above, much of the credit should go to the developer for this section (I'll say SKR, because he was my in-house guy for the project). It's his friendly hand you see there, fixing my mistakes. :)The kudos go to Stephen in this case, as he developed all of UC (I only did an initial pass on the feats, and he looked at them after that). Well, all right then - SRM it is. Thanks, Stephen!
Well, thanks. As I noted above, much of the credit should go to the developer for this section (I'll say SKR, because he was my in-house guy for the project). It's his friendly hand you see there, fixing my mistakes. :)
Thanks, Dave. I should add that the developers did a fantastic job of taking the initial design and turning it into what you see there; I don't know if they ever get enough credit, and they really should.
Likewise, I'd be delighted to get feedback on the Performance Combat and Health/Vitality sections. It was definitely a challenge to try to keep those sections simple enough to be playable but robust enough to provide flavor.
You will, in fact, have to wait for Faiths of Corruption for antipaladins. Or so I have been told by a little golem.
Curses; June is upon us and still no actual release date. D: I would just like to reply with this: " PDF:Will be available for purchase Wed, Jun 15, 2011. "
If it's cool with our golemy overlords, I can provide a brief and non-mechanical description of the spells that got cut.
Does stuff that freelancers write that don't make it in generally show up in other work they make?I have a humble request: is there any way we could know which designer did which part of UM?That can be tricky to work out even as the designers, at least for freelancers. I know what I wrote, but I don't have the book yet so I can't say for certain what made it in. And even when I do get the book, development can change/rename/combine freelancer contributions until we aren't sure what to take credit for. Sometimes! Sometimes Paizo will let us post those things up here, and sometimes they suggest that we not do so (in quiet, menacing tones of voice, sometimes accompanied with a few quick strikes from an iron bar to our typing fingers). These spells might have been cut for flavor, for balance, for space, or for any number of reasons.
Very cool, as the first thing I thought of when I saw the new cover was the "Frost Giant's Daughter" Conan story. You mean this? My first thought, too. Fantastic cover.
You don't want to know where the other rings are. Just... just trust me on this one.
I for one will be very disappointed if they are just a rehash of stuff I already have...these are going to be make or break books for me on this subscription+1. I love the articles in the AP's but I would have no need to buy three new books if they just reposted stuff. I seriously doubt they will do simple cut and pastes. I can understand reprinting some of the information, but I also want more information. I am very interested to see the Paladin codes presented! I am pleased to report that this is almost-all-new stuff. I did reference source material in writing this and had to cover some domains and portfolios to make it accessible for players, but the text is all new. The Knights of Ozem get a couple of paragraphs - it's not a hugely indepth exploration, but combined with the information on Iomedae's faithful, it should be enough for you to understand and create their organization more fully.
Crawl from the darkness, my pretties!
Apologies, but this is going to be a TL;DR for many people.
Apparently, they were defeated by bugs. I was a little dumbfounded as well.
That was at least a part of the thinking. There were some complaints that the focus of the game was too faction-heavy, and people felt constrained in all they did and said in the city. Further, there was some concern that the factions were isolating audience members and creating an artificial barrier to entry to certain of the books and the setting itself--people didn't want to HAVE to be forced to play a faction, and apparently a lot of people felt like the setting was demanding they pick one (and perhaps it was). Faction War wasn't supposed to be the final word in the setting; management's decision came as a bit of a surprise, and there were future plans for the setting. But don't take my word for it!
My pleasure! No, seriously. I'm thrilled that people are still finding it enjoyable. That said, it's totally valid to tweak or even scrap factions completely for you setting. Because I've only been running PS for under a year now, I've still got lots of material to work with within the original 15, I can understand how if you've been using the setting... Absolutely. I don't want to tell anyone that there's a right way or wrong way to play the game. I'm not here as the final arbiter. Consider me a resource instead. Tweak your campaigns how you want to play them - especially since there's little chance that WotC is going to add anything to the canon. Cool, part of my next adventure will feature a tweaked form of The Mazes adventure. For example, I'm replacing Timlin with a warforged incantifer. I think I'll have the incantifers be a sect of the Fraternity of Order that was formed by this character, and then mostly dissolved after she was mazed. But of course those who remain loyal need the PCs to get her out! Guvners never truly change their loyalties. You can always refer them back to their origin and show them that they should have taken another path (using charts, if necessary), and you'll have the old gang back together in no time!
This has pretty much always been the intent of the PEP. Remember, the elemental planes are the building blocks of all of the Material, and so everything natural in the Material has at least a portion of the essence of every plane. None of these things are, in and of themselves, evil. This is a concept that has no meaning at the elemental stage. This is pre-lizard brain. This is not about thought and belief and morality, but merely about action. The animating forces of the elemental planes are not good and evil - they are existence and non-existence. The two poles of positive and negative force their tendrils into each of the other elemental planes, and so everything there is more or less a creator and more or less a destroyer. The PEP is the force of creation, this is true - but this is not a "good" thing, necessarily, especially when you consider that it animates not only the creatures we think of as good and fine and noble, but also the things we find terrible, horrifying, and disgusting. Bacteria. Viruses. Mold spores. Guinea worms. Endless colonies of insects swarming and crawling across each other mindlessly, their only goal to expand, with no thought of sustainability.
I rember there being sects(which were I think described as minor factions) in the various MM of planescape back in 2nd ed. Somethem might be a springboard to creat a new fraction. Right. The major difference is that factions are Sigil-based and generally have a broader applicability, and sects are non-Sigil-based and frequently echoed the philosophy of the plane on which they quartered. Some of them sought to destroy factions within the Cage so as to supplant them, and others didn't care about Sigil except insofar as they could recruit believers from there.
Well, there are already factions that one could consider at least partially Buddhist in nature--the Godsmen and the Dustmen in particular. The Harmonium could be considered largely Confucian, though any school with a hard-headed adherence to rules and tradition could apply. And while Lao Tzu could be thought of the father of Taoism, that belief system seems more philosophical to me (though perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I studied it as a philosophy rather than a religion). Btw, what area of PS did you write for? Let's see... Well of Worlds, some add'l design in the original Planescape Boxed Set (a couple of monsters, if I recall correctly, plus general brainstorming with Zeb), Planes of Law, Planes of Conflict, Hellbound, Faces of Evil, the Great Modron March, On Hallowed Ground, and general idea-stuff with the others.
Also, worth noting that Colin, one of the original Planescape design team members, hangs out here on the Paizo boards and posts from time to time (being a freelancer for Paizo on a number of projects). If you're lucky, he might chime in. Yes, but that was only twice, so I'm afraid you're out of luck. Oh, what the hell, I'm here now. As noted above, the world presented in the Planescape campaign was a snapshot of a few brief moments in time with a background of uncounted millenia. Factions rise, factions fall, sects gain influence and then fade away. In other words, fads in thinking come and go, and while this happens over a longer time period in Sigil because the philosophies are reinforced by beliefs from countless Prime Material worlds and buttressed by immigrants, ideas change there too. Some of the more chaotic and independent factions rush to embrace the new ideas; those of a more lawful and orderly bent either try to slow the influx or stop it altogether. Each of the factions was based on real-world philosophies and given a hard tweak to make them palatable for the game. You can tweak your own as well, though I'd recommend NOT using the ones based off a specific individual's deeds--that's a religion, not a philosophy, though you can certainly use the *teachings* of those individuals as a basis for a new faction rising up. You might also find The Mimir helpful: http://mimir.net/sects/sects.shtml
I'm pretty sure that the paladin code for Torag is in Faiths of Purity.Argh, I was wrong. I remember having a discussion about it with James Jacobs but I mentally had placed it in this book. That is not the case. If you pulled it, can I post it here? :)
Yeah, I'm also intrested in Paladin codes for Abadar. Unfortunately, by then, we'll probably finish Council of Thieves where I'm playing Paladin of Abadar, but still would like to see them at least... I think James mentioned in Faiths of Purity topic that only LG, NG and LN gods can have paladins, does that mean we will see paladin codes for Abadar paladins? Yes. :)
Any time I make an obvious mistake, I need to apologize so I can point back from posterity and say, "See? I own up to my mistakes!" and this distracts people from noticing that I still make them. Couple this with the ninja smoke bombs (when fighting hellspawn, I include sulfur and the aroma of unbaptized baby tears in the ingredients - it's like putting in a cloud of peppermint, tantalizing and distracting in its deliciousness), and I'm nigh uncatchable. I'd like to see a trapper that could take on a whole squad - a Great Mother that devours 20 at a time - but I'm thinking, "How would she get that much food, and what would it do to the underground ecology?" On the other hand, I think about the Armillaria ostoyae, and I realize that the rays don't necessarily need humanoids to sustain a viable ecosystem.
That's because of... of... I... would a ninja smoke bomb be appropriate here? I can only say it was an oversight. The lurker above gets one target because it's a predator, focusing on an individual, but should definitely get the 50/50 damage. For the trapper, you should definitely include Envelope as an attack that can take 1 character for a M size, 1d2 for an L-sized ray, 1d4 for Huge, and 1d6 for anything larger. Many apologies.
This project is Sean's problem now. I'm moving on to other, secretive projects that will hopefully get a rousing welcome when given their own messageboard topic. :)Unless I send your manuscript back for revisions, mister I-finished-writing-early.... Yeah, but what the chances of th-... wait a second, let me check my mail. Nooooooooooooooooooo
This project is Sean's problem now. I'm moving on to other, secretive projects that will hopefully get a rousing welcome when given their own messageboard topic. :)
I was looking mainly for groups associated with various churches, but I've incorporated a number of these ideas. And yeah, I think Gorum's people would just be delighted that they could prove themselves against someone who boasts of their mettle. They would neither ask nor give quarter, but neither would they be cruel in their in their victory over a fellow Gorumite.
Update: The faiths are done. Now it's onto the "short articles with innovative new rules for social, magic, religious, and combat-focused characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign." Except that the traits are folded into the faiths directly. At least in the version I'll be turning over. Who knows what magic lurks in the dark heart of Paizo?
Are you doing True Neutral religious organizations? Just curious: I'm apathetic about them... First: Ho ho! Second: Really, any neutral along the ethical axis - from lawful to chaotic - would be appropriate.
Perfect. No, seriously, perfect.
This is probably a bit late to be asking for this, but what the hey. I'm collecting references in Pathfinder products to neutral religious organizations, neutral knightly orders, and similar groups associated with the neutral deities of the campaign setting. I want to be sure we don't miss any obscure sources. If you know of any, please post them here. I don't want to hear anyone complaining that I missed Pharasma's Chicken Lickers (don't worry, I'll include them). :) Also, if you're running a paladin of Abadar, what do you want to see as the basis for the faith? No guarantees it'll make it in, but I'd love to integrate stuff on request.
Oh, wait. I don't need to be coy about this; I see I'm announced as writing it. Well then, yes, this is not a book about the religion, but rather how the religion is practiced. And right now I'm writing about Nethys. Well, Sean will kill me if I focus on clerics here, but I CAN guarantee you two new traits for the lover of all things Nethys. Oh. And what's the adjective for Nethys, anyway? Nethyian? Nethysian? Nethystics? Also, Sean is going to send over his extended writeup for Pharasma to me any day now (note to Sean: HINT HINT), so that material will be getting integrated as well. I should probably get off the messageboards and direct this energy to actual writing.
Oh, wait. I don't need to be coy about this; I see I'm announced as writing it. Well then, yes, this is not a book about the religion, but rather how the religion is practiced. And right now I'm writing about Nethys.
I totally understand your concern, and more to the point, Paizo does too. When I was writing up the Faiths of Purity book, Sean made clear to me that the book was not to be a rewrite of the major faiths, and in fact, I was allowed perhaps 7% of the article to summarize the god quickly. The rest of the god-article was primarily what it meant to worship a god, who was most likely to do so, what various classes thought of the god, and how to identify other worshipers. While I did use the extensive articles as reference material for the gods and their churches, this book is focused on the average worshiper. Essentially, to use a real-world analogy, this would be a book talking about the Catholic experience and how it relates to the church, rather than a book detailing the doctrinal points of the faith and how the cardinals relate to the Pope.
For the most part, I used the faith itself as the inspiration for the paladin codes. Someone who follows Erastil, a god of homespun wisdom and small communities, is going to have a significantly different outlook on what is good than someone who follows Iomedae, the crusader and caller-to-adventure. For each faith, I asked the Conan Question ("Conan! What is best in life?"), and extrapolated. That said, I drew at least part of Iomedae's from the Marine Corps. I drew on Arabic history for Sarenrae. I drew Erastil's from my grandfather's hazy recollection of his pastoral boyhood, and what I imagined he would say about it filtered through his ideal conservative vision. Like that.
Freelance status means nothing to me! I should mention that I really do love Golarion. Reading through the campaign setting for the first time, I thought, "Holy crap, these guys have created almost exactly the world I always wanted to play in." The only problem is that it's so richly imagined that I keep finding things that force me to re-evaluate my foundations, and so I'm always concerned that I'm missing a crucial piece. This really is one of my favorite campaign worlds - EVER - and I'm honored that they asked me to handle this book.
Thanks, Wolf! This became one of my top favorites to write, and reading through the other contributions made me very happy about being in the book. And thanks, Elorebaen and JohnH. I hope it lives up to your standards!
I would think an item like that would be really cool if given a couple tweaks. For instance, it seems to work most of the time, but every once in a while it sends the party haring off to a totally random location, much like a compass needle becomes distorted by local magnetic variances. Also, one would have to ask: who made this item? This might be an item created by a monster that creates trust in its bearers, right up to the point when it points them into its maw.
Thank you Paizo for having this one out 1 day before my presentation of the setting at a local RPG club. Made it all much easier. This book is a great primer on Golarion for new players. Handing it over to Colin "What, I wrote something for Planescape ?" McComb was a brilliant move, he sure knows how to paint a picture with words. I swear I did not write this myself under a secret account. (however, I should note that the check will be arriving shortly)
Well, I see Adam has saved me the trouble of speaking for him, and I will say that I am delighted that WiSC is properly entertaining people now. Also, "slurry". Mmmmm.
Yes, come a little closer to the PDF, my children. And when the book arrives in the mail, do not be suspicious. Open it immediately. It's just a book. Yessssssssssss
Flailing themselves with their tentacles?I wonder if the aboleths count as part of that cohort... and if so, I'll bet the flumphs were really kicking themselves when the Starstone fell. Okay, fine, I'll bet they're really indulging in some serious self-flagellation.
Wouldn't they only warn us if Cthulu or one of his cohorts was involved?I would hope so.Just guessing, but I bet the wait right now is based solely on getting the book into the warehouse so they can ship it. The boat's probably in the harbor.Do you think the flumphs would have warned us if anything... bad... happened to the boat? I wonder if the aboleths count as part of that cohort... and if so, I'll bet the flumphs were really kicking themselves when the Starstone fell.
Paizo have said elsewhere that they aren't changing the monster's stats other than to update them to Pathfinder.Dragon had a great article on them before WotC pulled the license so you could go off that it you really wanted to. Modrons are one of those monsters I find so goofy their worth having around for comic relief if nothing else. But I felt the same about flumpfs.That said, I hope one of the things they didn't play with too much with the loveable losers was their alignment. Having something in the dungeon that might help the PCs and is not simply a floating cash box is a good thing.Just guessing, but I bet the wait right now is based solely on getting the book into the warehouse so they can ship it. The boat's probably in the harbor.Do you think the flumphs would have warned us if anything... bad... happened to the boat? I can say with great authority and no hesitation that their alignment remains the same. And also, they are no longer losers. |
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