Hi James! I hope you're doing well!
What domains and subdomains would you suggest for Graz'zt in Pathfinder 1e?
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Hi James! I hope you're doing well! I'm currently updating the 3.5 Thrall of Graz'zt PrC to Pathfinder 1e. It has a d6 HD, poor BaB, and good Will save, which fit for a full caster PrC. I also think most of its abilities can remain the same. However, it grants 6/10 spellcasting progression. Would you keep this the same, or update the spellcasting progression to be more in line with similar PrCs (like the demoniac, diabolist, etc.)? Thank you for any thoughts you have on this.
If designing a demon lord to represent the black goat of folklore (for example, Black Phillip in The Witch) what would you assign as its areas of concern?
Hello,
If creating a mothman-like demon lord, what would you assign as its areas of concern?
Hi James! What evil deity or demon lord of Golarion would you say is most like the one in the Witch?
Hello James, What are your top three favorite monsters from Greek mythology?
Hi James! Is Shorafa Pamodae a call out to Tyralandi of Scuttlecove? I notice they both have fiendish blood, violet skin, thorn tattoos, and similar professions.
Hello, James. Thank you for answering my previous questions! Do harpies lay eggs or give birth? And are they still capable of having children with humanoids (since there are male harpies now)?
I really adored the art used for the couatl and harpy in Mythic Monsters Revisited. The detail and the artist’s take on feathers was really great! I think it’s possibly the best depiction of either monster I’ve seen. Any chance these art pieces will be reused for the Pathfinder 2E Bestiary?
Hi James! If you were to run a campaign set exclusively in the Darklands, which native Darklands races would you make available to players?
Hi James! I hope you've been well! Since male harpies are now confirmed to exist, what would you say their roles are like in harpy society (such as it is) in comparison to the females? Are they rarer than the females?
Hi, James! I hope you're doing well. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Pathfinder Second Edition brings! What are your thoughts on the cryptid known as dogman?
Hello, please cancel my subscriptions for the time being. Thank you.
So excited for this book! I've been a fan of fiends (specifically demons) since the Demonomicon of Iggwilv articles written by James Jacobs for Dragon magazine years ago. They are (IMO) some of the best articles to have been released in Dragon. They not only tipped the balance to me becoming a D&D player and DM, but also set me upon the path of following James' work all the way to Pathfinder back in 2008. Since then I've spent many hours having fun with friends DMing and playing Pathfinder. I've enjoyed seeing Pathfinder's take on the various fiendish races, and many other things besides. Needless to say, I'm glad that the Book of the Damned is finally getting its due. And the cover art (Nocticula by Wayne Reynolds!) is fantastic as always. While I know producing these amazing books is very much a team effort by all the great people at Paizo, I wanted to give a shout-out to James here. SO PUMPED. GO JAMES! YOU ROCK!
Hello, please cancel my most recent order and subscriptions for the time being. Thank you!
Hey, James Jacobs! 1) If Graz'zt had been included in Pathfinder, what three things do you suspect would be contained in his portfolio? 2) How do you think he and Nocticula would have gotten along? Thank you again for answering questions in this thread, it's really awesome of you!
Hi, James! What class would you assign to Elluvia Maure, if you were to stat her up using Pathfinder rules?
Hey, James! Out of the seven deadly sins, which one would you say is Graz'zt most guilty of?
Hi James! I hope you've been well. 1) What CR would you assign to Socothbenoth? 2) Do you have any suggestions as to what kind of abilities he might have if I were to homebrew his stats? 3) Is there anything you would change about the Demoniac PrC, or are you satisfied with it? Thanks for any answers you can provide! I also wanted to let you know I'm really enjoying Hell's Rebels so far, and the artwork of the strix on the cover of part 5 is pretty amazing. I was lukewarm on Cheliax for a long while, but I really feel like you guys have done a fantastic job in its presentation lately.
Hey, I moved it back to the shopping cart. Things should be good to go now! Thanks!
Hello, I'm trying to start a Pathfinder Adventure Path Ongoing Subscription starting with Pathfinder Adventure Path #98: Turn of the Torrent, and purchase Pathfinder Adventure Path #97: In Hell's Bright Shadow, along with it. However, step 4/Subscription Options remains red, and the Hold for Monthly Shipment or Ship As Soon As Possible options are greyed out, preventing me from confirming the order. Also, could this and Order 3545514 be combined?
Hey, James! 1) If you were making an elf cleric of Desna using 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8, how would you assign the ability scores? 2) What do you think of this pic? 3) Heard any new music lately that has reminded you of Desna? Or have any suggestions for music to play in the background while meeting a star monarch? As always, thanks for any answers!
Hey, James! 1) Will Inner Sea Races have much info on the drow? 2) Will a follower of Nocticula fit in well in Hell's Vengeance? 3) What would you say is the best way a cleric/demoniac of Nocticula could go about assassinating people? Hold Person and coup-de-grace comes to mind.
Here's another vote for a revised core rulebook. Errata for the core classes, cleaning up ambiguous wording, perhaps making the core book somewhat smaller, etc. I'd greatly prefer that over a new edition. I quite like some of the changes in Pathfinder Unchained, for example.
<Informative response!> Thanks so much for the great feedback, James! I really appreciate it!
Hi James! Baba Yaga has an ability called Forceful Presence (Ex) which allows her to add her Charisma modifier to her AC and saving throws, and she uses her Charisma score in addition to her Constitution in determining hit points. It increases her CR by +1. 1) If her main casting stat had been Charisma instead of Intelligence, do you think this would have increased her CR by +2 instead? 2) Based on the above, what CR adjustment would you assign to the ability below for a NPC sorceress villain I'm designing (actually inspired by Iggwilv a bit!)? Profane Beauty (Ex) The sorceress adds her Charisma modifier as a profane bonus to her Armor Class and on all saving throws, and uses her Charisma score in addition to her Constitution score when calculating hit points. Those looking directly at her take a -2 penalty on saving throws against any enchantment spells and effects she casts, and on attack rolls against her. Thanks for any thoughts you have!
Hi, James! What would you recommend for a witch wanting to have a wolf as her familiar?
Kaer Maga fan here, too. Honorable mentions to Riddleport, Magnimar, Korvosa, and Sandpoint. Varisia in general is a fantastic region.
James have you gotten to the Ball with Empress Celine yet? And could we get a module/ap issue similar to that whole sequence? Seconding this. The Ball is what prompted my previous question about Orlais. The whole thing was really fun. I'd love to see an adventure path issue with a similar theme!
Hello, James. How far have you gotten in Dragon Age Inquisition? Which nation of the Inner Sea has the most similar culture to Orlais (the masks, courtly intrigue, assassination plots, etc)?
Hi, James! I was curious, what were the drow like in your homebrew world of Baria? Were they much different than Golarion's drow?
All of those sound like good choices. Thanks for the quick reply!
Hi James! What would you say are appropriate and flavorful witch patrons for those who revere Nocticula? I would guess Deception, Dimensions, Enchantment, Moon, Shadow, and maybe Trickery.
1) If you were to recreate Nocticula using a PC race and class, which would you say would most closely approximate her abilities? Maybe a demon-spawn tiefling bard or slayer?1) Ummm... I suppose a demon-spawn bard/assassin. I guess. Or maybe just check out Areelu Vorlesh in the last Wrath of the Righteous. That said... why bother making her out of a PC race when she actually has stats already? I guess I worded that weird. I should have asked, "How would a PC best be able to imitate Nocticula's abilities?" Though I suppose anyone capable of seducing and murdering someone would come close enough! Thanks for the answers, James! Demon-spawn bard/assassin sounds accurate!
Hello James! I have some demon-related questions for you. 1) If you were to recreate Nocticula using a PC race and class, which would you say would most closely approximate her abilities? Maybe a demon-spawn tiefling bard or slayer? 2) Are masquerade balls and opera houses popular in Alushinyrra? 3) What would the offspring of a human(oid) and a cambion be? 4) When you imagine a Demoniac (the Prestige Class) of Nocticula, what race and class seem most iconic? 5) Are followers of Nocticula any less likely to be assaulted by demons while visiting Alushinyrra than other mortals?
Hi James! What class(es) would you recommend for someone looking to recreate the flavor of a Thrall of Graz'zt in Golarion?
I agree that killing sentient beings on sight, no questions asked, would be evil, but wanted to correct the above - a good-aligned drow does not become an elf. The drow transformation is one way (from evil elf to drow, and not the other way around), at least in Golarion.
Hello, please cancel my Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription for the time being. Thanks!
I still agree with the OP in general, though I'm not sure there is much more for me to add. I'm pretty sure that Paizo has heard the concerns. I posted in the previous thread, including pictures of what I personally considered attractive males as examples, so yeah that was probably me. Personal tastes and preferences being what they are, I'm not surprised the pics I posted didn't seem that much different from the 'feminine males' to some. What is considered attractive, beautiful, and sexy definitely varies from one person to the next, and I doubt we'll ever come to a consensus on what is considered such in these threads. Variety is the spice of life, YMMV, opinions, etc. I will say that it's interesting to see the list of Bestiary monsters. I'd considered going through them to see how many female races there were, but just didn't have the time. Thanks for the list, Xeose4! The list of monsters from the Bestiary 5 wishlist thread is neat. Also agreeing that Cayden Cailean is pretty awesome! :)
I thought I read that one of the reasons she destroyed the city was because they killed her herald, but I can't seem to find it now...
Just a heads up, in book 2 of Wrath of the Righteous... Spoiler:
There is Sosiel (a priest of Shelyn) and Aron (a rogue/Low Templar), a gay male couple, however both seem very dedicated to the crusade. Book 6 mentions that should both of them survive, the church of Shelyn helps Sosiel found a temple of Shelyn back in his home town of Carpenden in Andoran, and the two are wed. I'd suggest Kingmaker, personally. The kingdom building rules can always be downplayed, but it seems very much like a traditional wilderness exploration campaign. Fighting bandits, trolls, barbarian tribes, and exploring ancient ruins. I really enjoy the Fey NPCs, and they could certainly make for many amusing encounters when they begin playing pranks and such, and later could make excellent allies. Check this thread out for prank ideas!
Hello, Yuugasa! Welcome to the LGBT Gamer Community Thread! It's always good to see new folks around. :) I don't comment a lot in this thread, but I do browse it quite a bit, and I can say it's usually a very good source if you're looking for something positive, uplifting, or interesting on the LGBT front. Glad to hear that you're liking Pathfinder's Campaign Setting of Golarion so far! It's been my setting of choice since Pathfinder came out. If you're looking for more information, the PathfinderWiki is a great source of lore. Also glad that you are enjoying Pathfinder. Folks are generally quite friendly and helpful here on the forums. I hope you enjoy your stay, and Happy Gaming!
Very excited for this book! So many great monstrous races getting covered. It's like an expanded Classic Monsters Revisited. There's not a single monster in the list I'm not interested in, fantastic! A lot of the monsters included are classics, but I'm looking forward to seeing an updated Pathfinder focus on them. Other races that are somewhat newer like ratfolk and serpentfolk are very promising, and I hope they become new classics. Maybe we'll see more ratfolk in Avistan! Drow? Yes! Probably my favorite race. I've been wanting to see more of them in Pathfinder, ever since the switch from 3.5. The Second Darkness adventure path just didn't do it for me. Wayne's artwork is always great, love his style. I quite like the skin tone of the drow on the cover, and how she seems none too impressed with that vampire, haha.
Hello, James! 1) Do moths and butterflies have different symbolic meanings to the faithful of Desna? 2) What are a few gemstones sacred to Desna? I was thinking rose quartz, turquoise, and maybe moonstones. I'm in the process of moving my drow worshiper of Eilistraee to Golarion, but figured I would make an elf instead of a drow, and replace Eilistraee with Desna. With that in mind... 3) Using the human ethnicities of Golarion as a guide, what's the darkest skin tone you suspect a non-drow, full-blooded elf would be capable of having while still retaining silvery-white hair? I really like Desna, and in a lot of ways she reminds me of Eilistraee. Her Deific Obedience even includes dancing beneath the light of the stars. So, thanks for her!
Lamashtu is probably among the most unfriendly deities in terms of appropriate content for the average Pathfinder group, but she and her faithful make for great villains, so I'm glad that she is included. I wouldn't view Lamashtu as homophobic, not necessarily. I could actually see certain same-sex couples praying to Lamashtu for the ability to conceive a child. While Inner Sea Gods says that some men are envious of womens' ability to give birth (going to gross lengths to mimic it, such as being hosts for rot grubs, xill eggs, etc), and that women tend to have high ranks because they can bear children, it also mentions that some sects of her cult have discovered magical means of impregnating both men and women (see the module "Broken Chains"). Poof! Same-sex couples could theoretically have (likely monstrous...) children! Such magical means of conception could also aid in fulfilling Lamashtu's Demonic Obedience, which has the devotee engaging in a tryst with the 'sincere intention' of being impregnated by or impregnating their partner. Of course, it also gives the option to simply sacrifice a creature no more than a week old, and Lamashtu's Deific Obedience involves killing a creature in an awful manner, and then some. But there are options out there, for those who seek them! :P On a side-note, I think the Demon Mother's Mask is a really interesting and flavorful (if horrifying!) item. A cultist dressed in a black-feathered cloak with a gold hyena/jackal mask, guarded by his/her fiendish children? A neat encounter, but also a disturbing one!
1) Drow
I also may have felt inspired by or connected to her in a way due to how her followers were persecuted, but still tried to do good in the world. When I first read about Eilistraee, I was facing a lot of vitriol about my sexual orientation, and most of that hatred was coming from my own family. I've heard a few detractors of hers criticize the nudity aspect, but I've never seen nudity as an exclusively sexual thing. Eilistraee choosing to take such a form seemed more like a celebration of joy and freedom, and a sign of their purity, than some base fanservice on the author's part. Her death was one of the nails in the coffin concerning the Realms and 4E for me, and I still think it was a mistake on the part of WOTC to kill her off. She would have made a great 'point of light' in the setting. But the anti-good drow crowd seems to have won out, here, and got her decapitated in the lore and story. I've encountered several posters of this mindset who, to this very day, gleefully and seemingly spitefully say that Eilistraee was an abomination and it's a good thing she is dead, etc. I've never understood wanting to 'twist the knife,' so to speak. Mikaze's Post Here illustrates my point. Then again, she could have also been killed off because Drizzt needed to stay unique to continue earning income, and an entire cult of good drow on the surface was in the way of that. All IMO, of course. The Lolth-worshiping drow of other settings never really interested me. I found them boring, bland and homogeneous. Oh, another dominatrix-dressed hater of men? Okay... (To be fair, I liked pre-Lolth when she was presented as Araushnee, the Weaver of Destiny.) But when Golarion's dark elves were said to worship various demon lords, I was intrigued. I had developed an interest in Demon Lords in no small part thanks to James Jacobs articles of the Demonomicon series in Dragon. Learning about Iggwilv, Malcanthet, and Graz'zt were what really drew me in. I quite like Golarion's evil drow, especially with the Demoniac Prestige Class, though I wished we saw more of them (either raiding the surface, or in confrontations with foolish surface-dwellers who delve into the darklands). Nocticula is really cool, even better than Malcanthet I think, and not as sexist either, since Nocticula allows male Demoniacs and clerics. But I've yet to find a full stand-in for Graz'zt, who was by far my favorite demon lord. Socothbenoth tries to fill his shoes, but I've found him lacking thus far (probably due to the scant info on him). Maybe that will change in the future! But yeah, demon-worshiping drow? Count me in! 2) Elves
3) Humans
4) Merfolk
5) Tieflings
In summary, the thing that typically draws me to a race is its aesthetics. I'm a sucker for pretty things. But above that, I like VARIETY. It strikes me as more realistic (and yes, I know how describing something as such in a fantasy world can be seen). But also IMO it provides more opportunities for someone, somewhere, to like that particular aspect of that race, whereas before they may not have been a fan. For me, that would be dwarves. It's not that I dislike them. It's just that I never found them particularly interesting. I think they have a valuable place in fantasy tradition, sure, but I would have never considered playing one personally. However, Golarion's recent inclusion of the Pahmet dwarves in Osirion has made me pause for a moment. There are also several tribes of 'wild' dwarves in the Mwangi Expanse. While I'd still say it's unlikely for me to play one, the fact that it gave me pause is a neat thing! Variety, diversity, new takes on races, or even just fresh takes of the same old concept, can be great things. :) Just my 2 cents!
Hi, James! Cambion as presented in The Midnight Isles are described in the text as having cloven hooves for feet (like their incubi fathers), but the artwork shows them with humanoid legs (like their mothers). Which one is intended? Also, do incubi have tails like succubi? Thanks!
Hi, James! 1) Would you consider Areelu Vorlesh or Sorshen to be more powerful? 2) Do you happen to recall what method was used to generate Areelu's base ability scores (the elite array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, a 20-point buy, etc)? 3) I like Pathfinder's take on cambion in Pathfinder #76 The Midnight Isles. Do you know who designed them? 4) Drow are one of my favorite races, along with elves. I've love to see more of them. Do you think they'll get any more appearances in the future? 5) You receive dinner invitations from both Areelu and Sorshen, but they're scheduled for the same time. Whose dinner do you attend, and who do you fear offending more by declining? :P
Hi, James. In Golarion, how are gay male drow treated in their society (Zirnakaynin specifically)? Would you expect there to be much societal prejudice or persecution against them from the matriarchs? Or would it be a non-issue? I was curious, as I'm considering creating such a character and wondering what, if anything, he might have to deal with in regards to that. Thanks for any thoughts you may have on the subject!
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