>>Ask *James Jacobs* ALL your Questions Here!<<

James Jacobs wrote:

But... children are so tender. AND DELICIOUS.

Sometimes us prehistoric critters just can't help ourselves.

LOL

But still, I watch TV to get away from stuff like that happening in the real world, so having it show up in a tv show kind of turns me off.

It's ironic that you have also recommended Top Gear then, they have genuinely spoiled things in the real world (smashed a car into a genuine ancient oak that was a centrepiece of a beautiful village, pulled wheelskids all over a beautiful piece of meadowland that was designated a site of special scientific interest for its rare species, etc.)

I should really be asking a question.

Are there any adventures/monsters/characters that you originally thought were a terrible idea (and might even have vetoed as editor) which turned out to be good things in the end?

off the current topic, and without my bestiary at hand right now this question is kind of crippled, but I have a high level party that needs to be challenged and I want to do something with dinosaurs, does an advanced fiendish T-Rex seem like it will be enough or should I throw in some minions along with it?

Thanks!
L76M

Add Hit Dice until terror strikes.

Dear JJ,

Will bards ever get spells titled: Cradenza or Fermata and on that note will there ever get meta magic feats based on the clefs (Alto, Tenor, Treble, and Bass)

Have a good one!

L.

(The original name changed from the Sylvestros, because we didn't have a Tweetiloth bird famiilar for it to chase.)

Boooooo!

Evil Lincoln wrote:

Which Imentesh protean illustration do you personally prefer?

None, so far...

How did the fall short of what was in the art order? I'm not looking to hate on artists, but I am personally curious about how art gets made for Paizo.

James Jacobs wrote:

Evil Lincoln wrote:

Which Imentesh protean illustration do you personally prefer?

None, so far...

How did the fall short of what was in the art order? I'm not looking to hate on artists, but I am personally curious about how art gets made for Paizo.

The original art was too CGI looking for me, and wasn't colorful enough.

The second art was too monocrome (all blue = bleh) and looks too much like Toucan Sam. Imentesh proteans... ALL proteans... should have heads that look like prehistoric deep sea reptiles... not birds.

Latigo Black wrote:

Dear JJ,

Will bards ever get spells titled: Cradenza or Fermata and on that note will there ever get meta magic feats based on the clefs (Alto, Tenor, Treble, and Bass)

Have a good one!

L.

Unlikely, since those are not very good names for spells... since most folks (including me) wouldn't know what "Cradenza" or "Fermata" mean in the first place.

What about a "Wall of Sharks" spell? (rapidly becomes "Pile of Sharks" when cast out of water)

James Jacobs wrote:

Latigo Black wrote:

Dear JJ,

Will bards ever get spells titled: Cradenza or Fermata and on that note will there ever get meta magic feats based on the clefs (Alto, Tenor, Treble, and Bass)

Have a good one!

L.

Unlikely, since those are not very good names for spells... since most folks (including me) wouldn't know what "Cradenza" or "Fermata" mean in the first place.

What about a "Wall of Sharks" spell? (rapidly becomes "Pile of Sharks" when cast out of water)

HA. I approve.

If I were to run a Sci-Fi / Future game using the PF system could one use Summon Monster (blank) to summon a fire elemental or air elemental in space? Elementals don't need to breathe, but are the elementals' physiologies such that they are reliant on air/oxygen to exist, or would the magical, extraplanar nature of their being make it unneccessary?

If I were to run a Sci-Fi / Future game using the PF system could one use Summon Monster (blank) to summon a fire elemental or air elemental in space? Elementals don't need to breathe, but are the elementals' physiologies such that they are reliant on air/oxygen to exist, or would the magical, extraplanar nature of their being make it unneccessary?

Yup; they'd probably do fine in outer space. Until they started taking cold damage, which would happen almost immediately. That'd hurt the fire elemental in particular right quick.

A few questions for you James.

First, why did your avatar bite off my head in the "Corrupt the Wish" thread?

Second, what resources would you advise folks to refer to to strengthen their writing techniques?

Third, will the APs ever take a jaunt off world, or will they remain rooted on Golarion? Or is that too far down the road for anyone to call at this time?

Fourth, as it looks like I will not be making PaizoCon this year (sob!), will there be anyone on hand doing an official recording of the event, in particular the post banquet Quiz game? I would like to at least be able to live vicariously through a recording of the event ... keeping fingers crossed on this one.

James,
What's the name of the badass Drow lass on the cover of Pathfinder #13(the Drow with the crossbow?)

James,

What's the name of the badass Drow lass on the cover of Pathfinder #13(the Drow with the crossbow?)

Depora Azrinae, If I remember correctly.

A few questions for you James.

First, why did your avatar bite off my head in the "Corrupt the Wish" thread?

Second, what resources would you advise folks to refer to to strengthen their writing techniques?

Third, will the APs ever take a jaunt off world, or will they remain rooted on Golarion? Or is that too far down the road for anyone to call at this time?

Fourth, as it looks like I will not be making PaizoCon this year (sob!), will there be anyone on hand doing an official recording of the event, in particular the post banquet Quiz game? I would like to at least be able to live vicariously through a recording of the event ... keeping fingers crossed on this one.

First, I was probably hungry and I like calamari.

Second, read "On Writing" by Stephen King. Best book about writing ever written. Beyond that... read a lot and write more.

Third, We've gone off-world a few times already, either into demiplanes or actual other planes. We'll certainly do it again.

Fourth, probably. Erik bought a fancy microphone/recorder dealy, and I bet he'll use the HECK out of it at Paizocon. Beyond that, I'm sure there'll be plenty of other recordings made by attendees.

Thanks for the quick reply James. I'll definitely hunt down Stephen King's book tomorrow when I hit the bookstore.

For the off world question, I was thinking more along the lines of the other planets that share the system with Golarion. The planar and demiplanar hops have been entertaining, but I was specifically thinking of a full off world (neighboring planet) AP, or more specifically, start on Golarion, quickly end up off world and end of the AP is getting back.

Anything like that been tossed around in the realm of possibility?

Thanks for the quick reply James. I'll definitely hunt down Stephen King's book tomorrow when I hit the bookstore.

For the off world question, I was thinking more along the lines of the other planets that share the system with Golarion. The planar and demiplanar hops have been entertaining, but I was specifically thinking of a full off world (neighboring planet) AP.

Anything like that been tossed around in the realm of possibility?

We've done a Pathfinder Society scenario set on another planet. Beyond that? Absolutely. We'll be going to another planet some day.

zylphryx wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply James. I'll definitely hunt down Stephen King's book tomorrow when I hit the bookstore.

For the off world question, I was thinking more along the lines of the other planets that share the system with Golarion. The planar and demiplanar hops have been entertaining, but I was specifically thinking of a full off world (neighboring planet) AP.

Anything like that been tossed around in the realm of possibility?

We've done a Pathfinder Society scenario set on another planet. Beyond that? Absolutely. We'll be going to another planet some day.

Will we see a reprinting of the giant space hamster?

James Jacobs wrote:

zylphryx wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply James. I'll definitely hunt down Stephen King's book tomorrow when I hit the bookstore.

For the off world question, I was thinking more along the lines of the other planets that share the system with Golarion. The planar and demiplanar hops have been entertaining, but I was specifically thinking of a full off world (neighboring planet) AP.

Anything like that been tossed around in the realm of possibility?

We've done a Pathfinder Society scenario set on another planet. Beyond that? Absolutely. We'll be going to another planet some day.

Will we see a reprinting of the giant space hamster?

Nope.

And not just because it's closed content that Wizards owns the rights to.

martinaj wrote:

Will we see a reprinting of the giant space hamster?

Nope.

And not just because it's closed content that Wizards owns the rights to.

What about regular hamsters?

On a less random note... how do you find pineapple?

Pineapple is a rather ignoble fruit. James, how do you feel about kiwis?

Pineapple is a rather ignoble fruit. James, how do you feel about kiwis?

Both are delicious. Kiwis are more so.

Speaking of kiwis: Ever had fruit pizza?

Giant sugar cookie for the crust. Cream cheese for the sauce. Sliced/chopped peaches, strawberries, kiwis, and blueberries piled on top. Served cool, preferably before it gets soggy.

YOU CAN'T MENTION STUFF LIKE THAT! It's hard enough finding good food that's not drowning in oil over here, and now you're planting fresh fruit and cream cheese in my brain? When I get fat from eating too much fruit-topped cake, it's on your head.

It's so good.[/harryosborn]

Yeah? Well you keep your tantalizing concoction of cookies, cream cheese, and chilled fruit. I'm going to gorge myself on sashimi.

Dear JJ:
Sorry if you've been asked this before, but there are 173 pages in this thread.
How exaclty are Sneak attacks supposed to work in regards to multiple attacks? Does Sneak attack damage get added to every attack, just once in the round, or is a sneak attack its own seperate attack?

James, I just signed up to RIFT and found my love of MMO's rekindled again.

Have you thought about trying this one out, or are you too deeply entrenched in WoW?

The game's storyline is fairly impressive from what I've seen so far, but my highes character is only level 12 so not sure how it progresses from there.

Cheers

Dear JJ:

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but there are 173 pages in this thread.
How exaclty are Sneak attacks supposed to work in regards to multiple attacks? Does Sneak attack damage get added to every attack, just once in the round, or is a sneak attack its own seperate attack?

I am taking this one since it is simple enough for the rules thread. James you(Paizo) can just owe me a free copy of every book that is published from this point on.

The sneak attack applies every time the trigger is met.
If the opponent is denied dex or flanked for that attacked then sneak attack damage applies for that attack. Sneak attack is not its own attack. It is conditional damage when the condition is met as I just described.

As an example if have 4 attacks and you flank someone then you get to apply sneak attack for every attack that hits.

James I don't want to be greedy so I will just accept the pdf form, thanks. :)

I figure if Sebastian can be counted as seen this one should be easy to pull off. Darn that did not come out right.

PS:The rules relevant part is bolded. Me trying to swindle, I meant make a deal with Paizo is not.

I absolutely do take the character's stats into account. Usually by asking a chatty PC to make a diplomacy check, though, which low Charisma PCs aren't usually expecting...

As for that argument... I'm not really interested in becoming part of it, since it sounds like an argument just for argument's sake.

More like an argument where the parties involved will never agree. :|

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

Speaking of kiwis: Ever had fruit pizza?

Giant sugar cookie for the crust. Cream cheese for the sauce. Sliced/chopped peaches, strawberries, kiwis, and blueberries piled on top. Served cool, preferably before it gets soggy.

Yup; it's good! If a little overly sugary... and the cream cheese is VERY easy to overdo.

Dear JJ:

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but there are 173 pages in this thread.
How exaclty are Sneak attacks supposed to work in regards to multiple attacks? Does Sneak attack damage get added to every attack, just once in the round, or is a sneak attack its own seperate attack?

Sneak attacks work each and every time you hit a foe who's denied his Dex bonus. If that means you stab them six times when you're flanking them, then you get six sneak attack damage.

It gets added to each and every appropriate attack, in other words.

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

That's a Jason question... but overall, magi do not use two-handed weapons. They need to keep a hand free for spellcasting—they're not "fighter/wizards" as much as they are two weapon fighters who just happen to use spells as their off-hand weapon. So two-handed weapons are nonsensical in most cases—the staff magus is the only one I know of that breaks that rule.

YamadaJisho wrote:

Dear JJ:

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but there are 173 pages in this thread.
How exaclty are Sneak attacks supposed to work in regards to multiple attacks? Does Sneak attack damage get added to every attack, just once in the round, or is a sneak attack its own seperate attack?

I am taking this one since it is simple enough for the rules thread. James you(Paizo) can just owe me a free copy of every book that is published from this point on.

Thank you for the input, Wraithstrike, but I still beleive this makes rogues too powerful, so I'll still request an official responce for this question as well.

Not really a question, but: a Thank You! I've been blown away by the rich diversity that is Ultimate Magic. Truly, it deserves the name. I'm sure everybody at Paizo is justifiably proud of this book - there's just so much going on, so many good ideas. Thank you, again, you and all of Paizo.

Just to add a question (don't want to break the thread :) - what have you (and Paizo) learned from Ultimate Magic that you are doing even better in Ultimate Combat?

wraithstrike wrote:

YamadaJisho wrote:

Dear JJ:

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but there are 173 pages in this thread.
How exaclty are Sneak attacks supposed to work in regards to multiple attacks? Does Sneak attack damage get added to every attack, just once in the round, or is a sneak attack its own seperate attack?

I am taking this one since it is simple enough for the rules thread. James you(Paizo) can just owe me a free copy of every book that is published from this point on.

Thank you for the input, Wraithstrike, but I still beleive this makes rogues too powerful, so I'll still request an official responce for this question as well.

Ummm, I disagree. I feel I makes rogues just as powerful as say a Wizard or a Fighter when it comes to doing damage.

Thank you for the input, Wraithstrike, but I still beleive this makes rogues too powerful, so I'll still request an official responce for this question as well.

Looks like James ninja'd you, four posts up from yours :D

Draznar wrote:

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

That's a Jason question... but overall, magi do not use two-handed weapons. They need to keep a hand free for spellcasting—they're not "fighter/wizards" as much as they are two weapon fighters who just happen to use spells as their off-hand weapon. So two-handed weapons are nonsensical in most cases—the staff magus is the only one I know of that breaks that rule.

Thanks a bunch for the input James! Any recommendations / advice on how I could best get an answer from Jason / Another Developer? There is this thread for you but I dunno how to best ask a Developer an offbeat question.

How glad are you that you do not have to pay current university of California fees?

Draznar wrote:

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

That's a Jason question... but overall, magi do not use two-handed weapons. They need to keep a hand free for spellcasting—they're not "fighter/wizards" as much as they are two weapon fighters who just happen to use spells as their off-hand weapon. So two-handed weapons are nonsensical in most cases—the staff magus is the only one I know of that breaks that rule.

We currently have an E.Knight in our group who uses an elven curveblade. He has a 3pp feat that lets him use a full round action to attack and then cast a spell in a single round.

From what you just said, he shouldn't be able to do that. We just figured that letting go and grabbing the sword in one hand is such an easy thing to do that it wouldn't be an issue with spellcasting. There isn't anything we could find in the rules that said two-handed weapons and spells didn't mix (besides the need for one hand with somatic components,) and a rules question post I made had plenty of people agree that he could do that.

Does this mean we were wrong and he shouldn't be interchanging two-handed weapon attacks with spellcasting?

James,

Paper, plastic, or those reusable bags they sell you?

James,

Paper, plastic, or those reusable bags they sell you?

Oh, I see what you did there.

Wow, much to my wife's annoyance, I've spent every free moment reading every post in this thread. Have there been any important world events that have occured in the last few weeks that I haven't noticed because I haven't been paying attention to anything not associated with James Jacobs?

I'll ask a few game related questions in another post, but I'm very suprised no one bothered to ask this important question: "If Mersiriel and Chuck Norris fought each other, who would win; how would the loser meet his/her demise?"

Thanks,
James

Hey James! First I would like to send my thanks and appreciation to you and your fellow employees for making such a wonderful game system! My group has yet to make the official jump from 3.5 but once we finish the campaign we are currently in we will do so. I plan on using the RotRL adventure path for their indoctrination and I have a few questions regarding converting it to PF rules.

That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure I'll have more later.

Thanks again!

James

James Jacobs wrote:

Draznar wrote:

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

That's a Jason question... but overall, magi do not use two-handed weapons. They need to keep a hand free for spellcasting—they're not "fighter/wizards" as much as they are two weapon fighters who just happen to use spells as their off-hand weapon. So two-handed weapons are nonsensical in most cases—the staff magus is the only one I know of that breaks that rule.

Thanks a bunch for the input James! Any recommendations / advice on how I could best get an answer from Jason / Another Developer? There is this thread for you but I dunno how to best ask a Developer an offbeat question.

Post it in the appropriate forum up above—in this case, I'd aim for posting in the Ultimate Magic messageboard. Of course, the fact that Ultimate Magic just came out and that means thousands of people are reading it and posting questions means that there's a LOT of questions floating around in there already. It's possible someone's already asked a similar question, in fact.

How glad are you that you do not have to pay current university of California fees?

Pretty good. I actually got through UC Davis without having any student loans at all, due to the help of Cal Grants and other scholarship monies—I know plenty of other people who are still paying off their student loans, and that's kinda scary!

James Jacobs wrote:

Draznar wrote:

James, a PC of mine wanted to know if the weapon limitations of a Bladebound Magus were for fluff or game balance? (Context : He wanted to have a greatsword as his Black Blade)

Any insider thoughts / info on the subject? Thank you!

That's a Jason question... but overall, magi do not use two-handed weapons. They need to keep a hand free for spellcasting—they're not "fighter/wizards" as much as they are two weapon fighters who just happen to use spells as their off-hand weapon. So two-handed weapons are nonsensical in most cases—the staff magus is the only one I know of that breaks that rule.

We currently have an E.Knight in our group who uses an elven curveblade. He has a 3pp feat that lets him use a full round action to attack and then cast a spell in a single round.

From what you just said, he shouldn't be able to do that. We just figured that letting go and grabbing the sword in one hand is such an easy thing to do that it wouldn't be an issue with spellcasting. There isn't anything we could find in the rules that said two-handed weapons and spells didn't mix (besides the need for one hand with somatic components,) and a rules question post I made had plenty of people agree that he could do that.

Does this mean we were wrong and he shouldn't be interchanging two-handed weapon attacks with spellcasting?

You misunderstood me.

I said that the magus and two handed spells don't mix.

There are plenty of other spellcasters in the game who aren't magi. :-)

THAT SAID: That feat you're using is super crazy powerful.

James,

Paper, plastic, or those reusable bags they sell you?

I have a cat, so alas, as much as I would prefer to go paper bags, I need a steady supply of plastic bags to deal with cat litter clumps.

I'll ask a few game related questions in another post, but I'm very suprised no one bothered to ask this important question: "If Mersiriel and Chuck Norris fought each other, who would win; how would the loser meet his/her demise?"

Obviously Merisiel would win. Because she'd sneak attack Chuck and he'd fall off a cliff and burst into flames on the way down.

I know that NPCs with PC classes in PFRPG are not the same CR as they were in 3.5. In your opinion, would it be better to have the encounters have the same CR after the conversion, or should it be a direct conversion and accept the new CR? If the former, is it better to adjust the NPC level to account for the CR, or give them minions to make up the difference? If the latter, does the new CR encounters seriously affect level advancement?

3.5 and Pathfidner use quite different level advancement rules. If you're playing 3.5, use the 3.5 rules for CR and class levels, since that's what the game's XP award curve expects. When you convert a 3.5 adventure to Pathfinder... you can either adjust all NPC CR scores down by 1 or, honestly, don't worry about it; if you don't worry about it, your PCs will gain XP faster, but since there's 3 different XP gain rates, you can adjust that simply by adopting a slower track if you want levels to come more slowly.

I know books and movies use Prologues to provide background information for the story. Have you tried this technique in a RPG session, and if so, was it successful? I am contemplating providing some of the background history of Thassilon and Karzoug (I thing that's the BBEG's name) in a flash back before we start BO. I'm thinking of something along the lines of describing the tower in Sandpoint before it fell down, Xin Shallast in all it's glory, describe some ruins in the hinterlands (before they were ruins), describe some stuff so that when the players come across these things later in their adventure they know a really long time has passed. As part of this I am contemplating cutting into Karzoug's lair while he is surrounded by minions and plotting and planning world domination; not giving out his name or anything, just describing the evilness. Then maybe I'll finish up with a description of the Earthfall before fading to black and then starting he adventure. Is this technique even feasable? Feasibility aside, is it even worth trying or should the players just discover things as they go?

I've tried things like this before, as have GMs who were running games I play in. It can be really cool, and it can really help the PCs identify the bad guys easier. That said, if you have players who have a hard time separating player knowledge from character knowledge... you should probably avoid this type of addition to the game.