I want to thank you for keeping this thread going for so long, and for answering all of our questions. Not long ago I wrote that this was one of my favorite things about Paizo. The costumer contact that puts you above other companies, so I am sad that it has come to an end.
That said your mental health is paramount and I hope you get better soon.
I also have a Rise of the Runelords related question, that I hope you are up to answering:
RotR:
How quickly will Lamashtu turn off Nualia's spells and divine powers?
Thanks to a priestess of Desna, she was spurred to throw her lot in with the heroes as they descended into Mokmurian's library. Nualia is there to get Lyrie Akenja out of the library but along the way the PCs' heroism has truly started some doubt in her mind about her wicked ways. As they couldn't get into the library, she helped the heroes slay Mokmurian to gain the key.
Some struggles later Nualia just dealt the killing blow against one of Lamia clerics of Lamashtu, who are Mokmurians allies. We ended our session there, and afterwards I wondered if the slaying of a fellow Lamashtu worshiper would anger Lamashtu and make her stop granting spells and powers to Nualia?
I'm sorry to see that you are so frustrated and your patience has been worn so thin.
First I'd like to say that I think you do an amazing job, and this thread is one of the things that makes Paizo stand above other companies. Having a direct line to one of the creators is wonderful.
I hope that you feel better soon, and I am sorry that it is a fact in this world that it takes so long to build something positive up, and so little to tear it down.
What can we (the community) do to help?
How long has it been since you had a vacation?
What do you do to recharge your batteries?
What was your favorite role-playing moment in your most recent game?
2) The main reason prophecy is lost is because I, Erik, and other folks here feel that prophecy is the most overused cliche in fantasy, and as such it's something we want to avoid using in print in Golarion because it's tired, annoying, and overused. Furthermore, whenever you put prophecies in an RPG, the players ALWAYS wreck them and make them pointless and unusable and embarrassing. That's how lost prophecy is.
....
4) Converting a Thayvian enclave to chaotic good anti-Thay minions.
....
6) I'd like to say "Finishing off my Temple of Elemental Evil" game and setting the stage for the transition to the Slavelords game, but this game's been cancelled for months due to conventions and other reasons, so I'm hesitant to nominate it. And will instead nominate "the next episode of 'My Roanoke Nightmare'"..
Okay, so I think there is a difference between prophecy and divine guidance.
1) How much divine guidance can the gods give on Golarion?
1a) Do any gods, besides Pharasma, have knowledge of the future?
1b) If so, can they use this knowledge to warn their followers of impending/rising danger, and direct them towards a possible solution, without their followers asking for it through spells?
2) Before the Age of Lost Omens, who made the prophesies?
2a) If there were "prophets" did they have a particular class or power they then lost the use of?
3) Nice about the Thayvian-enclave :-) which character managed that? And at what level?
3a) How did Thay react?
4) is the Slavelords an old D&D module that has been converted to Pathfinder, or something else?
1. If a cleric of Desna wanted to enchant her starknife with elemental damage, which element would be most appropriate thematically for Desna? Cold?
2. How lost is prophecy on Golarion? Could Desna visit a particularly devout/receptive cleric in her dreams and let her know something along the lines: "You have to go here and save this person who will be there in two days, then help them rescue their friend and assist them in their mission or this rising evil will come and ravage the land"?
3. Have you had players, you felt chose neutral alignments to avoid spells and effects that target good aligned creatures, yet acted good? If so how would you handle it?
4. What is the greatest accomplishment one of your characters has achieved in a game?
5. Have you played as Merisiel in a game? If so, which?
6. What are you looking forward to the most this week?
1) If you runslave a dead runeslave, it doesn't stack with the previous template if that's what you're asking.
I was just wondering wether the Runeslave Cauldron can bring back dead runeslaves, that die from the runeslave curse/disease, effectively giving a limitless supply of slaves that can come back when they finally die?
I think a lich Mokmurian sounds pretty bad ass. Are there any other undead templates that Karzoug might inflict Mokmurian with?
I have a few questions about RotR: Fortress of the Stone Giants:
** spoiler omitted **
Have a nice day
Cheers
fortress of the stone giants:
1) The runeslave cauldron requires a dead giant to turn it into a runeslave. It doesn't care how that giant died. As detailed in the description, "The method of killing the giant [for preparation for transformation] is incidental." Since the effect mimics a true resurrection, the giant's body can be mutilated in any way the sacrificer wishes without compromising the resulting runeslave.
2) Any creature with the giant subtype can be turned into a runeslave, but traditionally it was only used on true giants.
3) I don't allow scry and fry tactics in my games, because I interpret the rules in a way that makes scry and fry simply not work. Teleport sends you to a location, while scry only lets you view a creature, NOT a location. Even though scry lets you see a TINY bit of area around the target, I don't feel that's NEARLY enough to inform teleportation. So, as far as I'm concerned, scry and fry doesn't work. That doesn't mean you can't have other methods of tracking down the PCs and learning their locations, either via other types of spells or good old-fashioned non-magic investigation. In any event, Mokmurian would ABSOLUTELY prepare for a third attack. I'd probably have him guess where the PCs will attack him next (if the previous two fights were in the same place, then that'd be the place) and set up an ambush, disguising a stone giant as Mokmurian and maybe setting traps and adding other foes and so on, while he himself then flees to Xin-Shalast to report to Karzoug. Turn him into a recurring villain, in other words.
A few follow up questions:
FotSG:
1) So a Runeslave can be resurrected again and again. What would you say about a Runeslave that has 'burned out'? (runescars greater than HD causing death?)
If Mokmurian retreats from Jorgenfist and goes to Xin-Shalast:
2) What will the giant army do?
3) Will Karzoug get angry with Mokmurian same as if he tried to escape via teleport, and Karzoug takes over to taunt the PCs?
I have a few questions about RotR: Fortress of the Stone Giants:
Fortress of the Stone Giants:
1) reading on the Runeslave Cauldron, it seems that it resurrects giants placed therein, and then additionally gives them the Runeslave template. What if a dead (through violence) Runeslave (which is still a giant) is placed in the cauldron can it be resurrected twice or more?
2) the text specifies giants, which I took to mean true giants, but could the trolls actually be resurrected this way, and gain the template?
3) after his minions have driven off the PCs, at considerable loss of life, twice (second time they faced Runeslaved giants, that they had already killed once, most of whom are now dead a second time), do you think Mokmurian would start scrying at his enemies to pull a "scry-and-fry" on them?
Or would he step up his time table and get his army moving?
Or Something else?
Hi James
Hope it is okay to ask about something we discussed quite a while ago. I haven't really been online a lot lately:
James Jacobs wrote:
Snowsarn wrote:
...
Having just watched Stranger Things for the 80'ies references, especially Dungeons and Dragons, I've found that while I enjoy the stories very much, I'm just not very good with horror. I get scared to easily and have trouble sleeping :-(
4) Does it get better the more horror one watches?
5) What is the scariest movie you've seen?
6) Scariest book you've read?
7) Scariest thing you've experienced in real life?
Cheers
...
4) I have no idea. It could get worse. If you don't enjoy horror, you shouldn't watch horror.
5) Not sure... but the short list that immediately comes to mind are "Martyrs," "Paranormal Activity," "Alien," "The Thing," "Blair Witch Project," and "Se7en." Paranormal Activity was the last movie I saw that made me lose sleep, though, for what that's worth.
6) Also not sure... "Ringu" was the last book I read that gave me nightmares.
7) Aging.
1) So did you enjoy horror from the moment you experienced it the first time?
2) Why do you still enjoy horror when it makes you lose sleep/get nightmares? - maybe that just doesn't bother you as much as me...
3) I was surprised to read that the creature in Stranger Things was primarily animatronic. I thought it was CGI.
Did you notice that?
4) Do you think that I/we have been so exposed to CGI that it can be difficult to distinguish? to chalk special effects up to good/bad CGI when the stand out?
1) When you play the game is it/has it been difficult for you to get out of the "game-designer headspace" and enjoy the game without thinking of design stuff?
2) Who is the most powerful humanoid melee-combatant on Golarion? (Maybe a weird phrasing but I want exclude monsters and not fixate on one class like Fighter)
3) What class/level is he/she?
Having just watched Stranger Things for the 80'ies references, especially Dungeons and Dragons, I've found that while I enjoy the stories very much, I'm just not very good with horror. I get scared to easily and have trouble sleeping :-(
4) Does it get better the more horror one watches?
5) What is the scariest movie you've seen?
6) Scariest book you've read?
7) Scariest thing you've experienced in real life?
Given your love of the horror genre, why did you end up working for gaming companies who are more famous for fantasy games (WOTC and Paizo), and not a more horror oriented system?
As I understand it, physics work the same way on Golarion as on Earth. If that is correct, why is the Roc an animal, and not a magical beast? No bird that big could fly on Earth, as I understand it.
All the recent talk of high CR statblocks and Mythic play have sparked a couple of questions in my mind. I apologize if some of this should be common knowledge:
1) Why did Paizo decide to not make high level play with levels above 20th?
2) Without access to Mythic powers can a party of 4 level 20 characters win against CRs 28+? I haven't tried it but an encounter of "epic" difficulty seems to be 6 CR higher than average party level.
3) What do you enjoy about designing statblocks in the late 20'ies range?
4) If I were to run a Wrath of the Righteous campaign, would you then recommend to reduce the amount of Mythic Tiers, or play as is?
Yeah; reading the original post better... we have no plans to publish the Harrowed Medium, and any AMAs that hinted that it's Coming Soon are lying or wishful thinking.
Again... it's too overly complex and long to publish in anything shorter than a 64 page book, and even THAT would be difficult to fit, and a 64 page book that's only of use to 1/40th of the classes is not a viable product... especially when the class in question is far from the most popular class we offer. It's just too narrow a focus combined with to complex of a design job.
For risk of sounding stupid, what is an AMA?
Other questions:
You've previously said you'd like to write a novel, if you had the time.
Say you suddenly had the time, finished it, was satisfied with it, and wanted it to be part of the Pathfinder Tales, would it then be a sure thing that Paizo would publish it, seeing you're the creative director?
Which type of elf from non-Paizo fiction do you like the most? (Here I mean Tolkien's elves, Dragon Age's, or what have you)
Torment is probably my favorite game of all time, but that may be because of nostalgia glasses. Somthing about it really resonated with my 17-year-old self, and has stuck with me since them. I stayed up until 3 am on a school night because I had to finish it then.
1) What did you particularly enjoy about Torment?
There are many cool things but one thing that stood out to me was Fall-From-Grace, the succubus that had "fallen" to good.
2) What is your favorite all time game, so far?
3) Do you, like books, mostly enjoy horror games?
4) Have you ever, perhaps when you were younger, encountered a book/movie/game that was so scary you had trouble getting through it?
Thank you for answers and I hope I didn't offend you about the mass combat rules, I took robust to mean something else.
So looking to King Maker for inspiration on a hero driven-form alliances-to stop big evil onslaught-campaign is a good idea?
I can see why you'd be loath to point out competitors but is there a game system that allows for both the war aspect and the heroes individual actions?
I only know of either or game systems.
More general questions:
What is the best part of having fans?
What do you think your young self would say, if you told it that one day you'd have fans?
It has probably been asked before, but how much time a day do you spend on this thread?
At any rate I want to thank you for taking the time for it
You've mentioned several times now that Pathfinder doesn't have "robust" rules for mass combat.
I take it that you do not like the mass combat rules from Ultimate Campaign then?
What are they lacking, in your opinion?
Do you think that Paizo will ever make more robust rules for this?
I very much want to run an epic/mythic campaign where the heroes have to gather allies and combine forces to defeat a massive invasion. Sort of like the first Dragon Age game (or some parts of Lord of the Rings).
Now I know that the game focuses on party level combat, but how would you run such a campaign?
Would you hand wave the battles?
I just thought it would be cool to somehow put the players in charge of their armies and play out the combat with the enemy, but if the Ultimate Campaign rules aren't robust enough for it, I don't know whether to shelf my plan or what?
thanks for the answers. I really want to check out Ramsey Campbell's stories :-)
Alas there is only so much time to do stuff in, and my life right doesn't afford me much time to read :-(
Do you find time to read books for leisure?
James Jacobs wrote:
...
Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author, and has been for a few decades. Why wouldn't I want my favorite living author to write a book set in Pathfinder?
....
James Jacobs wrote:
....
Me, because I've always wanted to write a novel. But assuming you're talking about NOT me... then George Martin, because he's my favorite fantasy writer, and he's got enough clout that we could do a super-mature Pathfinder Tales novel. ;-P
From your post back in April, I guess because he has more clout than Campbell?
Or is it because his name is more generally associated with fantasy books? (I May be way of base as I know very little about Campbell, but your advice on his works, make it seem like it is horror(ish)).
Who decides which authors get to write Pathfinder books?
Ohh! I just thought of another really interesting question(One that might have been asked before, so I apologize for a potential duplicate):
If you could get any current author to write a product for Paizo(preferably a Golarion specific one), who would you choose and what would he or she write?
By "current author" I will assume "living human who is a writer." Ramsey Campbell, any novel he wants set anywhere on Golarion.
I think I once asked a similar question and you replied with George R.R. Martin. (And that you'd like to write a novel yourself) :-)
Has Ramsey Campbell produced something recently to change your mind? Or is it more a factor, what you feel at the moment?
Do you have several authors "jockeying" in your mind for who you'd like the most?
If I wanted to start reading Campbell, which book would you recommend I start with?
1) is there an AP that you really want to play, but haven't had the chance to?
1b) if so which is it?
2) Which part of your home setting are you happiest about becoming a part of Golarion?
2b) If it is Sandpoint, what is number two?
3) Not sure if this is asking too much about internal Paizo "politics", but was you getting out of Gen Con something that ruffled some feathers, or was it amiable?
4) After begging for 8 years to get out of it, what made the difference this year?
1. What has made you the happiest this past week? :-)
2. Do you (still) get massive food cravings after your weight loss?
3. If you do, how do you stop yourself from giving in to them?
4. I believe some time ago, someone asked you if there were questions you've kinda been waiting to get asked by us but haven't. You replied that there were at the time. Have these questions been asked since?
5. If they have, what were these questions? At the time you didn't want to give hints as to what we hadn't asked you yet ;-)
1) when you run APs do you hand out XP or level the party up according to the advancement track?
2) If/when you use XP and your players end up doing things outside the scope of the AP, how do you handle them out leveling the AP content?
I ask because in my RotR game I did away with XP because they started to get too far ahead of the XP track. However now in Fortress of the Stone Giants I'm faced with a bit of a problem:
They have infiltrated the interior of Jorgenfist which should put them at level 12, but due to meeting Conna and being stealthy they are about to bypass the caverns and head straight to the library level, which should put them at level 13 without any more encounters. This kinda rubs me the wrong way because they gain a level for little effort, but I don't know whether to just let them do it or withholding level 13 until they delt with the library and thus may be too low level for that content?
How would you handle it?
Cheers
1) ** spoiler omitted **
2) ** spoiler omitted **...
Thank you for the excellent feedback :-)
This is the first time I've tried going story reward rather than XP and I guess I need to adjust my mindset for it.
Out of curiosity: if you ran FotSG and they managed to stealth all the way past the trolls and into the library level would you award them XP for the enire level? Or only for the encounters they bypass along the "branch" of the caverns they took?
Another FotSG question spoilered for my players at least:
FotSG question:
Can a soul only transmit its greed to Karzoug once if it is brought back to life?
I'm asking because I wonder if, with the Rune Cauldron Mokmurian could kill a giant with the Sihedron mark, stuff it in the cauldron and out comes a Runeslave through true resurrection and then kill it again and repeat the process again and again?
Reading through the Runeslave template there doesn't seem to be a built in way to control it?
Why would the dissenters Mokmurian puts through it be more inclined to serve afterwards?
1) when you run APs do you hand out XP or level the party up according to the advancement track?
2) If/when you use XP and your players end up doing things outside the scope of the AP, how do you handle them out leveling the AP content?
I ask because in my RotR game I did away with XP because they started to get too far ahead of the XP track. However now in Fortress of the Stone Giants I'm faced with a bit of a problem:
They have infiltrated the interior of Jorgenfist which should put them at level 12, but due to meeting Conna and being stealthy they are about to bypass the caverns and head straight to the library level, which should put them at level 13 without any more encounters. This kinda rubs me the wrong way because they gain a level for little effort, but I don't know whether to just let them do it or withholding level 13 until they delt with the library and thus may be too low level for that content?
I think that the whole POINT of sneak attack is that the rogue is able to reach a vulnerable spot. If you think a halfling wouldn't have a good way to deal a debilitating painful sneak attack wound to a hill giant... you've never stubbed your toe hard enough to cause the toenail to flip up like an open car hood. Having a sword stabbed in under the nail would be comparable.
I think I didn't write that properly because I agree that the rogue can always find something that is a vulnerable point. I merely tried to think of an example that potentially could mean trouble for the rogue...
So why is the stipulation, that the rogue has to be able to reach said vulnerable point, in the rules?
To me it just opens up for annyoing discussions about what is a vulnerable point and potentially disruptive arguments back and forth about it.
Other questions:
How are word limits for adventure length decided?
Are the somewhat flexible or are they set in stone?
I ask because to me it would seem hard to meet for example 20.000 words EXACTLY
as always thanks for taking the time to answer our questions :-)
When you GM how strictly do you enforce encumberance for player characters?
We tend to handwave it within reason i.e. not carryng around a lot of loot but not caring whether your clothes and tanglefoot bag weighs too much.
What about the rule that to be able to sneak attack, a rogue has to be able to reach a vulnerable spot?
While a halfling might have trouble sneak attacking a stone giant, it starts up discussions about what constitutes a vulnerable spot.
I have trouble wrapping my head around the rate at which longerlived races mature. I guess that is not strange because humans don't have that perspective. Living longer as an adult is easier to imagine, for me, than taking a 100 years+ to become an adult.
Is a ten-year-old elf still in diapers?
Can a five-year-old dwarf even talk?
What is the relative level of maturity between an 80-year old elf and one that is a 110?
Is their age proportional to a human, i.e. divide 110 by 18 and then you have a rough estimate, or is it more 'alien' than that compared to human nature?
The best way to fix this is to listen to those who are the target of such hate, to trust them and accept that what they're saying is real, and to support them as needed. This does NOT mean swooping in and trying to make it all about you—I can certainly understand the urge for men to fall into the "not all guys" defense, but that doesn't help the situation.
Listen instead of talking. That's the first real step to understanding.
How do I support the targets of such hate?
What would the next step be?
I'm at a loss how to combat toxicity in a thread for example without unintentionally adding to it.
I prefer female characters because they're more interesting. They're still (alas) less common than male characters as well, and I'm trying to do my small part as creative director to fix that disparity. And male characters tend to annoy me on top of that, perhaps because the whole toxic masculinity environment that's infected everything has always kind of ashamed me at being a man myself. So... the more female characters there are out there, the better. It's not unconscious at all, in other words.
Good to hear that your group's having fun with the stuff I've written! :-) Always nice to hear, especially in an environment that has been increasingly overwhelming these boards and the internet in general with more negativity than positivity.
Nualia is inspired by my frustrations at how a male-dominated society has a double standard at how they treat their daughters versus their sons, and how men don't understand women. Had Nualia's adoptive father been less of a failure at being a father, Sandpoint would not have suffered nearly so much. In fact, if I've one regret at her character, it's that I didn't build in a stronger option for her redemption/rescue from the situation she's found herself in.
My insight for her would be to give her a chance at redemption, particularly if the PCs have any interest or willingness to help her along the way. You can keep her backstage in the off chance that the PCs get into a TPK situation as well; have her swoop in at the last minute to rescue the PCs and perhaps that can trigger her redemption.
I can really relate to you feelings about 'toxic masculinity environment'. Something that made me feel out of place growing up and something I've only truly come to terms with after turning 30.
I agree that there is a need for more female and minority characters in fiction, but don't you think it would a good thing to show male characters, who showcase a different kind of masculinity?
I work with children and try to be a different male role model, than what is seen in a lot of fiction.
I've always thought the Paizo boards were very nice, especially compared to the rest of the internet, but maybe I've not been looking in the right (well wrong) places?
Almost forgot my players read the thread occasionally
Rise of the Runelords and Nualia spoiler:
I'm intrigued at your idea to try give the players an opportunity to redeem Nualia. I thought that she was too far gone now: After she fled Thistletop she went to Ironbriar who sent her to Xanesha, who eventually sent her to Lucrecia, who gave her a contingent of ogres. Nualia took them on a killing/burning spree and became a half-fiend.
Lamashtu didn't remove her "curse of beauty" though (because Nualia had failed the first time around).
But despite Lamashtu's aid and her new half-fiend powers, Nualia was defeated again, and Sandpoint was saved from the fire.
I guess that could make her start doubting the goddess' power?
I think at least she'll doubt her allies, who care little for her goals, and have only used her as a pawn.
Is there a way to undo the half-fiend transformation? Even if they push her to Chaotic Neutral, she'd still be a half-fiend.
Perhaps something with the Runeforge could help?
Who's your favorite iconic character, other than Merisiel?
Probably Kyra. With Jirelle third and Lini fourth and either Seoni or Feiya fifth.
Do you like any of the male Iconics?
Do you prefer female characters in general?
Lem is my favorite of the male iconics (he probably pops in at about 9 or 10 in the top ten iconics list), but in general I do prefer female characters to male characters.
Yeah I got that sense. Do you know why you prefer female characters?
Or is it more of an unconscious choice?
In our RotR game I really like the female characters you've made. Ameiko is friendly with the party still, and they loved her bashing her father with a soup ladle.
Shalelu is in a relationship with one of the characters
And Nualia has become something of a nemesis for them. They've faced her twice but haven't managed to kill her, and funnily enough she has lost her bastard sword both times :-) she is getting pissed at them.
After they found her journal in Thistletop they were actually quite sympathetic towards her and resented the people who had driven her to evil and despair.
Is Nualia inspired by something specific?
Nualia was part of the raid on Sandpoint in FotSG but got away. Now I'm debating whether she will go back to Mokmurian or maybe seek out Karzoug.
Do you have any insight to offer?
Have you tried the Pathfinder Adventures game from Obsidian?
If so do you like it?
I've never played the physical version but I like the game.
Especially the story mode where you get to see RotR from the Iconics view. I like how they react :-)
Which brings me to:
I don't know much about the Iconics, so forgive me if this is common knowledge:
Is there a romantic relationship between Kyra & Merisiel? Or is it deep friendship?
Cheers
I have not tried it; I keep forgetting to download it. I have read all of the dialogue for the game though as part of my job as Creative Director, and the dialogue is really fun! I particularly like Merisiel and Kyra's interactions, Valeros and Lem's interactions, and Lini is just awesome all the way through.
Merisiel and Kyra are in a romantic relationship. We'd revealed that years ago here on the boards, but wanted to wait until we had a chance to tell that story in print to "officially" reveal it. So we did in the first comic book series.
Cool, I'm really looking forward to when the rest of RotR becomes available in the game :-)
Shows how far I'm behind in knowledge about stuff like Merisiel and Kyra...
What about Valeros knowing Vale Temros? Is there more info on that?
Man, this really makes me want an RPG with full dialogue trees and choices set in Golarion, like Baldur's Gate.
Have you tried the Pathfinder Adventures game from Obsidian?
If so do you like it?
I've never played the physical version but I like the game.
Especially the story mode where you get to see RotR from the Iconics view. I like how they react :-)
Which brings me to:
I don't know much about the Iconics, so forgive me if this is common knowledge:
Is there a romantic relationship between Kyra & Merisiel? Or is it deep friendship?
My answers, extracted from in-movie info and logic...
** spoiler omitted **...
Thanks for the insightful and honest answers, James
I think I underestimated the pragmatism necessary to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
Over the last year-and-half I've lost about 66 pounds, and boy do I feel the difference. Its wonderful to feel lighter and have an easier time just getting around, not that I still couldn't stand to loose more weight.
How did you get started on your weight-loss?
Mine got started as a silver lining to being sick for a long time, where I almost couldn't eat, afterwards my stomach had shrunk so I had an easier time not overeating.
What has kept you motivated to keep loosing weight/keep it from coming back?
My weight has gone up and down many times throughout my life but always seems to come back. My motivation these days, besides being well healthy, is to look good/better for my upcoming marriage
So I finally saw Mad Max Fury Road the other day and I loved it. I know you're a fan too, so I wonder if the two (minor) issues that I had with it is something you agree on:
1) why are they so wasteful with their water, when they live in a wasteland? I know why Immortan Joe does it, but the women on the war rig? It just seemed a bit wrong.
2) I guess I know from a movie producer perspective that they want some beautiful women around, but I wondered why Furiosa (only) tried to rescue the pretty wives (or what they are called) and not the poor and less attactive (in many eyes) women who were forcefully millked?
I can imagine it would be difficult as you're a very busy man, but we do love your work :-)
Some questions about the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition:
Looking at the awesome piece of art on page 232, I wonder what spell is Kyra using, to make that cool energy shield that Mokmurian is trying to get around?
I noticed in Hook Mountain Massacre that neither Vale Temros nor Lucrecia have improved (or even greater) two-weapon fighting but still have iterative attacks, an error I assume?
Should I redistribute their feats to get the requirements for their attacks?
On another note we ran into this some weeks ago in our game:
A mounted foe used Mounted Combat to negate a hit on his mount from one of the players' char. I described it as the foe pulling on the reins to get the mount out of the way.
This bothered my player and he asked how is that possible?
He found it hard to believe and wondered why there isn't a feat to enable a character to make, say, an acrobatics check to negate a hit?
A medium humanoid should be able to get out of the way easier than a large quadrudped.
I hope you can offer any insight on his questions?
Did I describe it wrong?
While we know that "realism" kinda goes out the window in a fantasy game, we do like things to be internally logical.
For instance, without looking at whether the feats are balanced rule-wise, we didn't think it made sense that while Manyshot's two arrows, fired at the same time, take DR separately, if Clustered Shots feat is used, all those arrows fired consecutively take DR once.
Seems weird to be able to 'cheat' DR like that.
Do you agree?
Do things need to maintain some sort of "real-world" logic in your games, when we aren't talking actual magic?
If you could get anyone in the industry to come work for Paizo, who would it be? And why?
If you could get any author to write a Pathfinder novel, who would it be? And why? :-)
Heh... no comment. :P
Me, because I've always wanted to write a novel. But assuming you're talking about NOT me... then George Martin, because he's my favorite fantasy writer, and he's got enough clout that we could do a super-mature Pathfinder Tales novel. ;-P
Heh fair enough, but can you reveal if there is one such person out there who you'd love to get working at Paizo?
Well I could have been talking about you, if I'd known it was a possibility ;-)
Has it been your workload that has prevented you from writing a novel?
While I do think that there are a paralyzing amount of options, I don't agree that witches should just be wizards, or skalds should just be bards. If you want to play with those concepts, it's more fun to play with the actual classes.
That said, a CRB only game does have some appeal, ESPECIALLY if your group is a diverse mix of players who range from casual to numbercruncher. It can help to limit the overspecialization that some players get. It also helps when the GM isn't the one at the table who knows the rules the best.
I did not mean to imply that anyone should do it, I just wondered if you think it is possible? as a thought experiment
I'll be the first to admit that it is more fun to play as the actual class, and at least more elegant than multiclassing.
A related question: do you agree that a character concept can be just as defined, if not more, by its flavor and backstory as its class?
Do classes exist as a concept in the minds of people of Golarion?
Or do they think more along general lines of good at fighting, can cast spells, can channel a god's power?
If they think along more general lines, is that why so many of the NPCs in books are multiclassed? (thinking: "hey I want to be better at fighting so I'll practice that for a bit though it means neglecting my magic studies")
Recently my friend and I, being a bit put off by the immense amount of player options be it classes, feats etc, came to the agreement that it is more or less possible to make any kind of character (from fiction etc.) using only the Core Rulebook, by RPing flavor and multiclassing.
For example a Witch could be a wizard, sorcerer or maybe druid with witch flavor added.
A Skald could be different flavor for a bard.
A wizard specialist conjurer is almost a summoner
and so forth.
The only exceptions that spring readily to mind are the Cavalier (It is hard to be a mounted fighter in CRB without being a paladin, mount would die to0 easily on higher levels) and the Gunslinger (but some don't like that flavor in the game anyways)
Do you agree?
In your opinion, are there more exceptions for character concepts that are almost impossible to build with only access to CRB?
The fact that the prisoners continue to thrive despite the fact that the government's sealed the bottom levels off is indeed something that's increasingly puzzling and worrying the guards. There are any number of ways that the sealed levels can continue to gain food and water (and even air), including (but not limited to)...
** spoiler omitted **
I do have in mind a few more details on what's going on in the self-sustaining prison levels that are sealed away down there, but I'm not really ready to reveal what they are yet; the Hells is one of those areas I hope some day to do a bit more about, personally, and I don't want to spoil all the secrets now.
But I will say this, at least half of the explanations in the spoiler text above are accurate for the Hells.
If you want to expand the region for your own game, feel free to run with any or all of the reasons above.
As for Thassilon, the books where we've talked a bit about Thassilon and elements from it include, but are not limited to...
...
Nice those details really help, and I hope that some day you do get to do something with that. The Hells was really one of the things in the Magnimar book that I want to do something with in the future.
Do you have any idea how long it could be? 1-2-3-? years?
Ok thanks :-) I think I'll buy some of the AP pdfs when my budget allows.
There are vents and the like to keep air flowing, as with all dungeons. Some of these vents might be magic, but that's unlikely. The government COULD cut off their air, but that's not something that the government would do.
The true story of what's going on in the Hells is NOT public knowledge, nor is it even really known to the whole of Magniamr's government. And furthermore, suffocating an entire prison's populace is a pretty chaotic evil thing to do, and Magnimar is not chaotic nor evil.
Part of Aeryn Darvengian's power is that he's a VERY persuasive and charming bad guy. He's very much inspired by Hannibal Lecter. He's one of the highest level NPCs in the city. That he's managed to do what he's done is a SPECIFIC set up for a long-term campaign for play, not for a solution to be handled in a few lines of background flavor text.
Fair enough I just got the sense from the Magnimar book that the government was pretty scared of what might happen if the prisoners decided to push for the surface. Desperate Measures and all that might push neutral towards evil.
But how do Darvengian and his followers get food and water? Were there enough clerics imprisoned to provide for all?
I have the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords. Where might I find more info on ancient Thassilon?
The Lost Kingdoms book details what happens after. From comments in this thread I've gathered that people know a lot more than what is apparent from the AE.
