Sabbat's page

Hey folks! I just noticed PathfinderWiki now lists land-area figures for regions—e.g., Ustalav — 135,965 mi² and Tian Xia — 25,439,938 mi².

Does anyone know where these numbers come from and whether they’re canon?
Are they derived from official map scales (Lost Omens / Inner Sea maps), a dev post, or another Paizo source? If there’s a citation or methodology write-up somewhere, I’d love a pointer.

Sorry if this has been asked before—couldn’t find a definitive thread. Thanks!

TL;DR: PathfinderWiki lists specific land areas for places like Ustalav and Tian Xia. Are those values canon, and what’s the primary source/calc method?

Sabbat wrote:

Hey James,

just one question this time. I'll ask a second and a third one later (feels chaotic).

Are genies outsiders in a sense that a mortal soul after death can turn into one?
Like a worshipper of Lysianassa sent to the Plane of Water and instead of reincarnating as a water elemental it is "rewarded" to become a marid.

First of all... "outsider" as a game term is not part of 2nd edition. I wish we had kept it as a term, or come up with a replacement, but we don't have a term for "all creatures from planes other than the Material Plane" anymore. (In part because that category of monster was so overwhelmingly everywhere, since we had to use it every time we did something from somewhere other than the material plane, that it sort of ended up being an "insider" because it was the most common monster type, which clashed against the whole point of the concept.)

That said, yes, genies are that. A mortal who worships Lysianassa and is sent to the Plane of Water becomes a petitioner on that plane, and in time that petitioner might be transformed into a marid.

Thanks for the clarification and the answer, I'm really happy about the latter (always thought marids are only born to genie parents)!

This brings me to the next one (as proposed): can a deity send a follower to another plane of existence and also turn it into another kind of "creature" than it's usual to the specific deity?

Let's look at two examples: Dispater is a lawful evil archdevil, but also allows lawful neutral souls to worship him. So, you said before, that Erecura sends the goodly souls of her flock to other planes. Can Dispater do it too, and as an evil divinity, will he do such a thing? Like allow these souls to be reincarnated in Axis as aeons? I'm just curious, because Dispater specifically seems to be that kind of evil guy, who plays a long game, and bolsters his resources on another planes of existence apart from the infernal hierarchy.

Another example in line with my first question: sticking to Lysianassa, can she turn a worshiper into a nereid? She is not a fey creature, and only shares the water trait with said follower.

Hey James,

just one question this time. I'll ask a second and a third one later (feels chaotic).

Are genies outsiders in a sense that a mortal soul after death can turn into one?
Like a worshipper of Lysianassa sent to the Plane of Water and instead of reincarnating as a water elemental it is "rewarded" to become a marid.

Okay, I'll edit the post later this week and make sure to add a note about the soul anchor, too.

You already helped a lot, I was only pushing my luck. :)

re 2):

Paragraph breaks for a start. People bounce off a wall of text. At least four in a piece that long, maybe more.

How did he actually get incarnated as a unique nereid with all his memories? Just dying tragically doesn't seem enough, people do that all the time.

Also it generally reads as wish fulfillment which sets my teeth on edge. That may be intentional judging by the mention of self-therapy at the top of course. Just a personal preference.

Alright, my next project is an infernal duke, I'll heed your advice, thanks a lot. :)

Well, I thought that among others he did favors the worshipers of Mahathallah, and they made a soul anchor for him to preserve mortal memories (In Hell's Bright Shadow, p. 5.)

Indeed, it is (partially) a wish fulfillment project, yet the wording might be a bit misleading. The whole thing is like stepping forward and leaving the past behind and I wrote it all out. For me, it was great to do that. :)

Btw what do you think about the creature itself. Is the power level accurate? Is it broken somewhere or seems right?

Off-topic: regarding the infernal duke I mentioned above - He'd be named as Nekozuki (Neko and Mikazuki portmanteau), the Hexing Moon or Fatal Feline, a demigod of cats, luck and the Moon (still unsure about the portfolio), with a center of worship in Tian Xia (Minkai). He's based on a nekomata, psychic uniila and Queen Nehelenia. (Sailor Moon - Dead Moon Circus). He'd be the keeper of occult lore, a corrupter of dreams and a curse-bringer. What do you think about it? I deem, it could be valid, based on Japanese mythology and lore.

First, the name (really close to the word salacious) added to the title the foaming pillar may offend or cause people to refuse to engage.

The background of a god won't matter pretty much ever. Which is good because that one reads...poorly.

What actual role in the game does this deity or his cult serve?

Fair enough, you mentioned a lot of things need clarification:

1) The name is as much accidental as deliberate. The ancient Roman goddess of salt water is called Salacia. Since quite a lot of Latin names have a female and a male version (usually ending with an -a and an -us), I thought it would be easy to masculinize.
Yeah, salacious and the title itself are kinda (the Foaming Pillar) suggestive, I might use his other title (the Nereid King) instead.

2) His background is connected to a pride month project, but I'm more than happy to get some insightful comments about things that should be changed. :)

3) His role is threefold: he's a pragmatic marine "commerce deity" (a niche in the pantheon), a patron of seductive water fey (who are neither overseen by Ragadahn - linnorms - nor the Green Mother - fey of the forest and the land -) and a gregarious party host, who understands the need of fun and encourages his followers to exploit the revelers.

Folks, could you please rate my very first demigod concept? Never did something like this before, but I did my homework and tried my best.

Posted him on Reddit, I'll give you the link below. Also made a 2E deity conversion, might post it later in 2E Advice.

Go to Salacius, the Foaming Pillar.

Hey James, first something unrelated: in the meantime after your answer I created a new Eldest and gonna post him on reddit soon to test both the idea/flavor and the demigod himself so again, thanks for the clarification about the Eldest. If interested, I can link him to use freely.

The question: Could be a dead demon lord (whose soul residing in the Rift of Repose) revived?
Wish to bring Ibdurengian back and you never exactly said, that it is impossible.

Sabbat wrote:

Hey James,

I've a couple of (mostly fey-related) questions, hope I won't tire you too much and nobody asked them (at least, recently). :)

1) Is it possible to have male nymphs in 2e, as well?

In Planes of Power you had Acsiso the Younger (N male oceanid alchemist) and in the comics there was Akony, the dryad.

2) Slightly connected to the one above, do you plan to come up with fey of CR 21-25, to fill the niche?

Built a draft of a nereid king (Salacus, the Foaming Pillar), with a focus on coral, sea and sexuality. Would be amazing if you could justify the concept in either or both ways.:)

3) As non-outsiders, could fey shift in alignment without repercussions, like change in stats?

4) Will there be new Pathfinder Tales novels soon? (Also, is it possible for existing ones to continue to be translated into German?)

+1: Love the occult tradition and can't wait to see the finalized witch class in Advanced Player's Guide (I'm living for the class). Hope witches will rub shoulders with fey like they did before.

Have a great Sunday!!

Please do one question per post going forward, since long lists of questions can quickly get difficult to format and reply to.

1) Yes.
2) Yes.
3) Yes.
4) No plans at this time.

Thanks a lot and sorry for piling them up!!

Do you plan to visit Minkai or the untapped lands/history of Tian Xia in the (near) future again, within the scopes of an Adventure Path?

Hey James,

I've a couple of (mostly fey-related) questions, hope I won't tire you too much and nobody asked them (at least, recently). :)

1) Is it possible to have male nymphs in 2e, as well?

In Planes of Power you had Acsiso the Younger (N male oceanid alchemist) and in the comics there was Akony, the dryad.

2) Slightly connected to the one above, do you plan to come up with fey of CR 21-25, to fill the niche?

Built a draft of a nereid king (Salacus, the Foaming Pillar), with a focus on coral, sea and sexuality. Would be amazing if you could justify the concept in either or both ways.:)

3) As non-outsiders, could fey shift in alignment without repercussions, like change in stats?

4) Will there be new Pathfinder Tales novels soon? (Also, is it possible for existing ones to continue to be translated into German?)

+1: Love the occult tradition and can't wait to see the finalized witch class in Advanced Player's Guide (I'm living for the class). Hope witches will rub shoulders with fey like they did before.

Have a great Sunday!!

Actually, I just saw an episode of Aladdin the animated series and I came across this amazing illusion-weaving, fire-throwing villainess called Mirage. An elemental school combined with an arcane one could be interesting as well.

Thanks for all of the contributions you made, I love each of the concepts.

Conjuration + Illusion is classic. Which of my summons/walls is real

Divination + Abjuration. I know whats coming and it will not work

Enchantment + Illusion. Can't find a build that makes this work but these spells make up the classic trickster spells

Evocation + Necromancy. Abuse those betrayal feats

Necromancy + Conjuration(divine). Master of life and death

Enchantment + Necromancy. Dominate everything

Con. + Ill. is pretty clever, yet it somehow gives me the sense of being a one-trick-pony (it revolves around summoning/creation). Although, it's still a solid choice.

Div. + Abj. sound and useful, especially for NPCs or kingdom building PCs.

Ench. + Ill. classic. After a few Mythic tiers, you basically become an unstoppable force.

Evo. + Necro. never heard about this one, but fits well for a spellcasting, cruel warlord.

Necro + Con. almost the same as Ill. + Con., but with a more tangible sense of dread.

Ench. + Necro. another I never thought of, great pair. :)

Thanks for the ideas so far. Forgot to mention my story will be taking place in Ustalav. Any unconventional ideas for conventional gothic villains?

Hey folks, could you provide some assistance with my project? I'm trying to create unique/less common arcane school combinations for spellcasters to build some flavorful characters.

I got inspiration from the last two parts of the Jade Regent AP, Tide of Honor and The Empty Throne respectively: good people of Paizo combined illusion with necromancy twice to give us some cutting edge villains (Yugureda Shosaito, Shojinawa Ito). I found it really intriguing and surprised to see how well illusion teams up with necromancy (shadows, disguised undead soldiers etc.)

My question is: what do you think, which two schools of magic would be worth of pairing? I'm toying with the concept of a Seducer Witch, who is focusing on enchantment and divination to steal secrets, kisses and stuff.

Looking forward to seeing your amazing ideas. :)

I'm planning to recreate one of the fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty) through the ways of Pathfinder, and now I'm stucked with my main antihero, who is actually a witch (modeled after Maleficent). Well, my main concept is to create a witch with strong ties to the First World, but I couldn't find an appropriate patron for her, so now I'm thinking about multiclassing with the sorcerer class (fey bloodline). My goal is to create a lvl 20+ character, who can cast Maleficent's iconic spells (for example: dragon form III/shapechange, eternal slumber, wall of thorns), while has a unique feature found just in my campaign (i imagined two main ways: a shadow weaver sorceress-witch similar to the Fellnight Queen, or a cold Irriseni Feycaller which role I find really interesting). The place and remaining aspects of the story depends on this choice.
I'm a newcomer in the terms of playing, but consider myself a great fan and used to create stories based on Pathfinder, I know, I'm kinda dreamer. :) Anyway, could you give me some advice how to fabricate her to be the most effective and mythical she can be?
Thank you. :)