Guang's page

How do you say Paizo? You say it reverently, with a tear in your eye, while reaching for your wallet.

Thanks James!

Hmmm, but Tengu are flightless, I think? I'm looking for a flying creature.

Does a thematically equivalent for Aarakocra exist in official Pathfinder material (either version)? Besides Jyoti - they're physically flying avian humanoids, but I don't think there's much resemblance beyond that.

It wouldn't change their stats, but it may change how certain abilities interact. For instance, if goblins are fey they can be summoned by summon fey, gnomes with fey fellowship get benefits when interacting with them, etc.

Very interesting stuff, and an aspect I hadn't dreamed of! Is there a reason to avoid changing how abilities interact like that, whether for PCs or NPCs? Would it be bad for a goblin to be a fey creature? Why isn't a standard gnome mechanically a fey creature, for that matter?

Would adding the Fey and Gremlin types to a goblin change it mechanically? Would adding the Humanoid and Goblin types to a Mitflit change it mechanically?

How would the transition from gremlin to goblin work? What obstacles need to be overcome, besides the ability stat bonus differencea? How similar/disimilar are their stats to a theoretical "fey type gremlin subtype primordial goblin"?

Yes, the lore can be changed easily enough. But how does that affect gameplay, stats, abilities, crunch? In PF2 subtypes don't seem to change very much - at least the Fey, Gremlin, and Humanoid subtypes.

I believe the lore on Goblins is that they came from Barghest (somehow), for whatever it's worth.

So it might be a coincidence that Mitflits and Goblins look similar.

Yup, I'm aware of that lore. This is more of a...

What if - the goblin creation myth is a lie. What if they came from a Mite/Mitflit-like gremlin ancestor?

Mitflits look very goblin-y to me. My kid thinks so too - ("hey, is this a goblin or not?" "yes"). Which would mean that goblins could have originally been a type of gremlin, gradually losing contact with their fey side. Which sounds like a fun idea - soooooo.....

How would the transition from gremlin to goblin work? What obstacles need to be overcome, besides the ability stat bonus differencea? How similar/disimilar are their stats to a theoretical "fey type gremlin subtype primordial goblin"?

James Jacobs wrote:

Guang wrote:

Is somebody new working on individual monster fluff? Many of them are among the best and most interesting (maybe THE best) I've ever read from any product or system.

If you're talking about the sidebar information in the Bestiary, the majority of those were written by Patrick, Daigle, and myself (we also split the task of doing a flavor/initial rules development pass on the whole book), but some of them were written by others.

Glad you like them though!

And for the body descriptions of the creatures, those came from our amazing set of bestiary authors, in alphabetical order: Alexander Augunas, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Eleanor Ferron, Leo Glass, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Jason Keeley, Lyz Liddell, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Tim Nightengale, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Alex Riggs, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Chris S. Sims, Jeffrey Swank, Jason Tondro, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

So in addition to the developers, the authors are veterans as well. No one was new, per se.

However, one big thing that changed for the descriptions was that Logan came up with a new guide for writing them and sent it out to all the authors, making sure that you lead with a compelling hook that tells you what the monster is, for instance.

Amazing authors indeed! The sidebars definitely add to the whole experience as well, but it was the body descriptions that really caught my attention. Monsters that had previously been meh for me are now fascinating. I would love any and all info about Logan's new description writing guide, what's in it and what else it applies to. Bestiary 2, as well, I assume, but anything else in particular?

I am very excited for the "Bestiary Battle Cards", a monster deck of 408 cards (picture on one side, stats on the other) which are scheduled for a december 2019 release.

Seconded! Really hoping they have the flavor/fluff on there as well - that would make int'l shipping the physical product worth it to me.

Is somebody new working on individual monster fluff? Many of them are among the best and most interesting (maybe THE best) I've ever read from any product or system.

... some APs are pretty low key from a historical point if the PCs win (which is going to be the assumption for all of them, I suspect... I'm not too fond of hard-coding into the campaign something that says YOUR PLAYER CHARCTERS ARE FAILURES by assuming one of the Adventure Paths is a canonically regarded a failure...).

I would be very interested in an alternate post-apocalyptic Golarion "failed omens world guide" in which Golarion is reeling from the successive shocks of every AP's worst case scenario coming to pass. Probably at odds with what you have planned for the core setting, but a later supplement perhaps?

Backpack wrote:

In response to the kind and polite criticism thing here are three posts with the same content and consider which would get something actually changed.

1. This game is f*****g broken and literal garbage, whoever decided I can't draw a weapon as part of my move should get his hands cut off so he can never write trash for garbagefinder 2.0
2. Wow, the new action economy seems dumb. Can't even draw a weapon as part of a move. Thanks a lot paizo. Ruined
3. I find that by not being able to draw a weapon as a non action on your turn it really bogs down combat and leads to the party walking with their weapons drawn everywhere as to not "waste" an action. I'm not sure it quite is helpful enough to warrant a feat, ala quickdraw, but perhaps whatever is replacing traits could be used. Even possibly a martial reaction that can be used at the start of combat.

1. Is abusive and will get removed and likely a warning email. Repeated posts like that will likely see the poster banned from paizo.com. Paizo employees are a part of the community and posts calling for them to lose their jobs, cussing them out, threatening physical violence is abusive. It is not only unhelpful but the presence of a post like that on our forums would be a negative drain on the community (both other fans and employees).

2. Isn't particularly helpful and I would consider it baiting. It's a post that provokes arguing–an insult wrapped with a hyperbolic bow. It might stay if people avoid starting a fight over it. It might be removed if it starts a chain of bickering.

Our goal with the paizo.com forums is to foster a welcoming environment for our community. That includes fans, customers, other gaming publishers, our licensees, retailers, GM's, players, people who like Starfinder, or Pathfinder (P1E included), or the Adventure Card Game or all of the above, and employees. If you think that demeaning, screaming at, insulting or threatening people over their preference in hobbies or calling their work trash is okay,...

I guess I just have a request for the mods along these lines: When someone has posted something expressing an opinion in a terrible way that needs deletion, would you please add a few words to the effect of "several posts were deleted. This behavior will not be tolerated. BY THE WAY, the posters liked drawing a weapon as part of a move action". That way, people who are interested in seeing the balance is shifting between different ways of looking at playtest rules questions will not see a skewed result.

I don't think it's wise to assume that vocal response on a forum is indicative of the majority of fans. We're going to see a lot of people voicing their opinions very frequently and vocally throughout this playtest, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are actually part of a majority.

I recommend that Paizo implement some way of taking a survey of the community in such a way that each of us only gets one vote. Or even each subscriber gets a vote - doesn't really matter to me. I just would like them to get some kind of feel for what we as a community think, rather than just hearing the most vocal 1%. (and if they choose to ignore some of that input, well, at least they are doing so from an informed position instead of a position of ignorance).

It all began with the death of Aroden. His own prophecy predicted his death and he couldn't prevent it or it would break his own power.

However, Rovagug, trapped though he was within the heart of Golarion, reached his power as it and perfected the moment of Arodens death by 1 day.

It was enough to tilt the axis of balance and begin a collapse of space and time as a synchronised unit. The error began small, barely noticed by even the most powerful of creatures, but through time the error began to manifest in strange ways.

Events that were for all intents and purposes co synchronous in time and only separated by space, seemed to occur across months of separation to those living them to those hearing of them later.

The collapse of the Wardstone barrier at the world wound occurred within the same month as the first goblin attacks on Sandpoint that lead to the rediscovery of xin Shallast, the lost rune lord city. And yet for those who experienced those events it felt as if years separated those events.

Eventually it was Pharasma who saw the danger. This new twisted reality would rend the chains to contained Rovagug himself. If the great destroyer were to escape, all creation would be destroyed. Pharasma is the last great power, for even gods must eventually present before her grace and face judgement for their deeds.

Calling on the energy potential that lingered from Arodens death, she reached out and excised the entire section of space time that had been affected. But like a cancer, she couldn't risk even the slightest memory of Rovagug and his twisting reality to remain. Her excision spanned more than just those years directly affected by the events discussed above, she cut a thousand years either side of that boundary and used the edges to wrap the corrupt and wounded planet of Golarion in its own cocoon of shattered space time.

Absalom is the pin, a single tear from the death goddess that had to be shed in order to seal the final hole where the edges were re sewn. It sits at the tip of a...

The only problem with this is that it's so good that searching for, finding, and fixing Golarion should be an AP of its own.

Unmentioned study right before bedtime every night since the last level.

A pen pal, magic mouth pal, or what have you.

The equivalent of listening to language teaching audio files while asleep for the last level.

Divine revelation, gift of tongues as a sign of favor.

(Just a few ideas from a polyglot who wishes it had been that easy)

Angel food cake and devil's food cake have taken on entirely new meanings

Reading this thread I now have a mental image of the First World being a lot like Cloud Cuckoo land in the lego movie. Thank you for that?

Have you tried something along the lines of The One Ring RPG? The mechanics of falling to the Shadow lead to a less morally ambiguous game.

Check out AAW's Rise of the Drow AP. It's less AP than enormous world book set in the Underdark (or Darklands, whatever). And it has an enormous hugely populated Dwarven city with a lot of interesting culture and detail.

I tried to like Rise of the Drow, back when ToN went dark. It really didn't do much for me. Maps were vague, with the city map being labelled colored blobs. It also felt really railroady. Some of the artwork was amazing though, including the main city pic.

Years ago I had layered the ToN map under Kingmaker, but ended up abandoning that idea.

Guang wrote:

Last night I dreamed book 3 came out. Took me awhile after I woke up to realize that it hadn't actually happened.

It's tough for me to let go of this AP. I've been re-examining the Fungal Forest to find out why - the thing I find, well, perfect is the thing where he made entire communities into Factions, and scaled NPC reactions up into a reaction from the entire Xan species and Skis'raal species. I absolutely love that, and would like to apply it to whatever other communities PCs come across, no matter the setting.

Has this species-in-a-location community-as-faction concept been explored in any other rpg product that you guys know of?

Not sure about species, but the community-as-faction and evolving as you evolve was in Shackled City. At least, the hardcover reprint has it. Don't know about the original Dungeon Magazines. The hardcover had to be rewritten for the 3.5 system (originally done in 3.0 and then changed to 3.5 part way through) and they had to add in an extra module for the characters to not need a sudden level bump to continue.

And maybe come May we'll see that Book 3 come out. Gary has until then to make good on his end of the bargain before people are allowed to go headhunting.

Not going to lie, I can't get over the AP either. Still constantly check my KS app for updates or seeing if people have commented.

I've looked through Shackled City two or three times, and always gotten lost and confused. It sounds like you're talking more about the home base leveling up as you level, rather than a Faction Score that you have to earn points and avoid losing points with the various communities. Is that what you mean, or something else?

Another related thing I absolutely loved was the tease about how the PCs would be able to influence important NPCs (and by extension, entire communities)to become more and more Good or more and more Evil - I love how dynamic that makes a setting. Everything hinges on the actions and examples of the PCs, everything is dynamic, not just changeable, but shapeable, whether on purpose or inadvertently.

Finding a good dwarven city map with dozens of locations was yet another thing I just haven't seen elsewhere.

I really hope you're right about May. There was so much potential in that overview of the AP.

Last night I dreamed book 3 came out. Took me awhile after I woke up to realize that it hadn't actually happened.

It's tough for me to let go of this AP. I've been re-examining the Fungal Forest to find out why - the thing I find, well, perfect is the thing where he made entire communities into Factions, and scaled NPC reactions up into a reaction from the entire Xan species and Skis'raal species. I absolutely love that, and would like to apply it to whatever other communities PCs come across, no matter the setting.

Has this species-in-a-location community-as-faction concept been explored in any other rpg product that you guys know of?

One of my PCs would be willing to chip in a few thousand gold pieces.

I think they could, should, and will make such a galaxy map eventually, maybe a couple of years down the line. It'll look awesome.

The "two regions" would be a bunch of little one-star spots all over the galaxy for Near Space and everything else for the Vast. It wouldn't be a very pretty map.

You're assuming that they'll be drawing it to be scientifically/astronomically accurate. Paizo doesn't seem to be all that good at that - look at all "maps" of the Golarion/Pact Worlds system. None of them have Triaxus drawn with anything close to its proper orbit. The line of its orbit should cut across inner planet orbit lines, from Castrovel on out. Instead, they drew a stylized chart with near-perfect circles for orbits - completely inaccurate and insufficient for any practical use, but ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. And that is what I think they'll do. A stylized known galaxy chart that makes perfect sense from a Starfinder gaming perspective, and absolutely no sense from a Traveller or astronomical perspective, but so beautiful that the most simulationist player will be happy to put it on their wall.

This idea has gotten stuck running around and around in my head, so thought I'd inflict it on you all. Inner Sea Gods had great detail on gods for every occasion.

The Doctor somehow feels like he would fit right in.

This weird idea actually has two parts:
1. What would a cult dedicated to the Doctor look like, and how could he be divinely statted up?
2. If we start worldbuilding from scratch, with the Doctor as the first deity, what kinds of personalities would work well with him to form a balanced pantheon?

Styx is not a Pathfinder goblin. He's nothing like a Pathfinder goblin.

A dust mite. Might or might not be in your bestiaries, depending on your cleaning habits.

Oh, wow. Endzeitgeist in the flesh. I love your reviews, and read them often. Thanks!

What would I lose if I ran the Lost City of Barakus in S&W instead of PF? I can see the appeal of a simpler system and combat in the S&W version, but am concerned about dumbing down or replacement of monsters, NPCs, story hooks, magical abilities, and so forth. Could anyone pls tell me what specifically I would lose, and why running it in PF would be better?

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Guang wrote:

Two people enter. One person leaves.

Come to think of it, maybe just lock the gate so they both have to stay in there forever and let us get on with our lives.

James Jacobs for President 2016!

I still can't believe Dwarves For Jacobs is a real political movement! Have you heard the elf supremacist rhetoric that candidate has uttered in the last year alone?

I plan to vote for the candidate promising to endorse aasimar interests on the prime material plane. I know they don't have a snowball's chance in the City of Brass of actually winning the ticket, but I feel like putting my vote there says something about the current dwarf v elf politics as usual.

I miss Aroden. Now there was a candidate you could really get behind.

So we live in the City of Brass? That does explain a few things.

Two people enter. One person leaves.

Come to think of it, maybe just lock the gate so they both have to stay in there forever and let us get on with our lives.

James Jacobs for President 2016!

My prediction: We'll see 2 or 3 books together, but not until June. Late June. June 24 is the date I keep telling myself.

This sucks.

I give up. I've lost faith that we'll ever see another book. Was looking forward to that underground ocean too.

Still, there are parts I want to keep, especially the fungal forest and svirf lands.

Speaking of which, I think I've found a good candidate for Kladdenvalt. Necromancer Games' Shades of Grey has a svirfneblin city with map, laid out similarly to Faustervalt. It's the right size, and even the right distance if you attach the underdark map to the western side of the ToN map. It would make the Svirfneblin a little more sinister, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing :)

Stay in a bathhouse instead of a hotel one night. It's cheaper, and you would be amazed at the variety of hot springs type pools to soak in. Sulfur, herbal tea, a column of water massaging your shoulders from 3 stories up, and 4 or 5 more that I can't remember anymore. FYI: Naked, you have a robe for outside the pool, and men and women are separate.

Guang wrote:

Happened to me too, several years ago. My wife and I share an account, and a user name. Had no problems until I contacted customer service about an unrelated issue. Their (very quick) response was to lock me out while not responding to the issue I was bringing to their attention. Only got it unlocked by changing my user name. We still share an account, and a user name, only now one of us is the first name, and one of us the middle name. We kind of need Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family spread out all over the world.

Moral of the story: Don't write to Facebook customer service. Stay under their radar and be happy with whatever they choose to give you.

Truly, THIS is the answer? To love the shackles Facebook places upon you? You've got to be kidding me!!!

Who said love? I've just accepted that I have to pay a certain price for a product I've come to need. How else will we know what my niece is eating for breakfast thousands of miles away?

Happened to me too, several years ago. My wife and I share an account, and a user name. Had no problems until I contacted customer service about an unrelated issue. Their (very quick) response was to lock me out while not responding to the issue I was bringing to their attention. Only got it unlocked by changing my user name. We still share an account, and a user name, only now one of us is the first name, and one of us the middle name. We kind of need Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family spread out all over the world.

Moral of the story: Don't write to Facebook customer service. Stay under their radar and be happy with whatever they choose to give you.

This looks like fun! Been looking forward for a free moment when I could try.

Going to make it a halfling god, see what happens:

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domain 1: 7 Death. (Ooo, a good god of death. Interesting already.)
Domain 2: 5 Community. (Very Halflingy)
Domain 3: 23 Strength.
Domain 4: 21 Repose. (Weird that got both death and repose.)
Domain 5: 28 Water. (hmmmmm)

From the sea we came, and to the sea we return, those of us that are worthy. Together, we are strong, and those who spend their strength for the group are also strong. They tirelessly watch over the living from the water. It is an honor and a privilege to be chosen by the Spiritwhale, to be one of it's watchers. Petitioners of the Spiritwhale take an active role, often appearing to the faithful, and those that use their strength to make the whole community stronger. It's servitors appear as ghostly dolphins of light.

Colors: a deep sea blue, and bone grey.

Favored weapon: net

Holy symbol: A petrified clam or mussel

Priesthood: Main job is escorting the bodies of the worthy on their journey back to the sea. Funerals are worship ceremonies.

I've lived overseas for 2 dozen years. Always did enjoy getting off a cross-country bus or train at the wrong stop, and then figuring out how to get home. It takes a few days. You end up meeting lots of nice people, eventually, trying interesting new food, and learning a bit of whatever the local language/dialect is out of necessity. You also get really good at sign language (need a bathroom, where is the train station, etc.)

Have fun. The local experience is well worth doing, however you end up doing it.

Now I have images of the Klingon Empire conquering Golarion dancing in my head. Fun to think about.

Paizo tends to copy/reinterpret creatures from every source they can. Looking forward to their continuing the process with Starfinder, getting the sci-fi alien tropes all paizobestiarified.

But my number one pick? Heinlein's Star Beast. I've always wanted to see that one statted out and drawn prettily. Eats iron for a snack, hit it with a two by four as a gentle nudge, and overeating causes it to get bigger like a goldfish. Lives for an age, and talks in a lisping little kid voice.

I ran across an article thought people in this thread might be interested in reading, if you all haven't yet:

article

Seems like history really does repeat itself.
Hopefully ToN has a similar ending to its story - i.e. fully printed and popular.

I'll be adding the gnome kingdom

If you're going to detail Kladdenvalt or Voldenhammer, I'd love to see it.

An exact date in the old Golarion A.R.

A future technological history for each of the core races.

A different look-and-feel for tech from each core race. Like elven phasers are made out of wood, dwarven phasers are made out of stone.....only better than that of course ;)

As a rule I try not to be too personal on anonymous message boards because quite frankly, I'm not too interesting. I mean yes, it's true I'm incredibly smart and sexy, have excellent taste, and my opinions are pretty much facts, but other than that I'm just a regular dude who's super cool.

Seriously though, as a psych major (who is presently in a field that has zilch to do with psychology, but oh well) I am interested in the mental state of my peers. With that said!

Is anyone else as screwed up as me? I've dealt with severe depression my whole life and have obsessive-compulsive disorder that, at times, verges on crippling. Those are crummy and exhausting, but the condition that has perhaps most defined my life is an obscure little dealy termed schizoid personality disorder (SPD). The name is deceptive, in that it has nothing to do with schizophrenia. Rather, people with SPD tend to be weird in some very specific ways.

The most relevant of those for this discussion is my habit for existing inside my own head, having a rich inner life, indulging in fantasies, and so forth. Or to put it another way: Pathfinder is pretty much my personal little paradise. And just so I don't weird anyone out too much, I'll note that an important distinction for people with SPD is that we don't actually believe our inner worlds are real. In real life I'm an agnostic with heavy atheist leanings, find most conspiracy theories just dumb, don't believe in astrology, mysticism, cryptozoology, or the like, and am about as pragmatic a person as you'll find. I like facts, proof, and logic.

But man, crack open my brain pan and it's all wizards, dragons, alternate universes, monsters, etc. I have this vast and elaborate inner world that I've been building since I was a preteen, and it might just be the most important thing to me other than a few loved ones. I've officially been a grownup for a while now, and I see no signs of this letting up. Nor do I want it to. I am who I am.

On one level there's a sadness to my...

Sounds like you're an awesome DM. Your gameworlds must really come to life.

I think I'm mentally healthy. Hard to be sure, of course. I do need to escape reality from time to time, and "wizards, dragons, alternate universes" is one of the ways I do it.

You can say almost anything without actually lying. The trick is in avoiding actually answering the question that is asked.

example:
"Why are you home so late?"
"Wow, so many things happened today.(true) There was heavy traffic (true, but only for 30 seconds). People don't know how to drive in the rain (true, but didn't see anything like that on the way). It's been raining so much lately. (true, and beginning to get off topic) Did you get wet on the way home? (subject successfully changed and now talking about them instead of answering questions)

Or: "What is the secret to killing the Ogre of the Mountain?"
"Ogres are solitary creatures, and they live a long time. But there was not always an Ogre in the Mountain. And one day, once you have killed him, there will once again be no Ogre in the Mountain. Preparation is key, of course.....how have you prepared for your quest?"

Nothing is forcing you to give a straight answer. So don't. Ever.

Steve: My bad. And also thank you! I had no idea I was missing that. FGG releases can be confusing.

If you want another underground adventure, Cyclopean Deeps from Frog God Games may be worth examining. It's complete at two large volumes, and available right here on Paizo.com (PDF version, printed version also available), as well as FGG's website (Free PDF with printed book).

I actually wouldn't call it complete. 2 areas out of, what, 15? 20? fully detailed. Seems more like a long-term series that may get gradually filled out to me.

Are the 2 already released pdf worth buying on their own?

Yes. Best underground hexsandbox I've seen.

I just wish Mielville would write more Bas-Lag. Most amazing fantasy novels I've read in quite some time.

What about Brogali, from Abrogail 1, first monarch of house Thrune?