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

What is the Infinite program you mentioned in the previous page? I have never even heard it.

What is the Infinite program you mentioned in the previous page? I have never even heard it.

We just announced it a few days ago at Gen Con. Here ya go; from the front page's announcements.

So the Infinite program basically means the third party products, right? I'm confused, because I thought people are already producing many third party products for Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder long before the announcement of the Infinite program.

So the Infinite program basically means the third party products, right? I'm confused, because I thought people are already producing many third party products for Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder long before the announcement of the Infinite program.

Infinite allows for individuals to publish content using our setting material and get paid for it, unlike the community use policy (which does not) or the OGL (which only allows use of rules we've designated as open content, but nothing more).

On page 270 of The Mwangi Expanse, there is an art of an old man who looks like a mage. And on page 271, there is an art of a man who looks like a warrior. Which of these two arts depicts Shosenbe? While he's a wizard, it's also mentioned that he uses transmutation spells to maintain his warrior appearance. So I honestly have no idea.

On page 270 of The Mwangi Expanse, there is an art of an old man who looks like a mage. And on page 271, there is an art of a man who looks like a warrior. Which of these two arts depicts Shosenbe? While he's a wizard, it's also mentioned that he uses transmutation spells to maintain his warrior appearance. So I honestly have no idea.

Dunno. That's why I have pushed for us to caption those images going forward.

Aenigma wrote:

On page 270 of The Mwangi Expanse, there is an art of an old man who looks like a mage. And on page 271, there is an art of a man who looks like a warrior. Which of these two arts depicts Shosenbe? While he's a wizard, it's also mentioned that he uses transmutation spells to maintain his warrior appearance. So I honestly have no idea.

Dunno. That's why I have pushed for us to caption those images going forward.

I'm not sure to whom I should ask. Who wrote the Usaro part of that book?

Did you write the section in the Numeria book on Lady Altouna and Hajoth Hakados? I have a pretty niche question about her, and figured you're the first place to ask.

James Jacobs wrote:

Aenigma wrote:

On page 270 of The Mwangi Expanse, there is an art of an old man who looks like a mage. And on page 271, there is an art of a man who looks like a warrior. Which of these two arts depicts Shosenbe? While he's a wizard, it's also mentioned that he uses transmutation spells to maintain his warrior appearance. So I honestly have no idea.

Dunno. That's why I have pushed for us to caption those images going forward.

I'm not sure to whom I should ask. Who wrote the Usaro part of that book?

For questions about a book like that, look at the credits and seek out the names listed near the top of the credits for the developer leads on the book. In this case that'd be Eleanor and Luis. Your BEST bet is to ask that question in the book's product thread, I guess.

Did you write the section in the Numeria book on Lady Altouna and Hajoth Hakados? I have a pretty niche question about her, and figured you're the first place to ask.

Ask away!

keftiu wrote:

Did you write the section in the Numeria book on Lady Altouna and Hajoth Hakados? I have a pretty niche question about her, and figured you're the first place to ask.

Ask away!

So Lady Altouna and her witchwyrd pal Cythrul run some kind of underground organization that aim to smuggle aliens to safety and liberate them from the Technic League. This group is unnamed, but demands to see play at the table, so I'd love to ask - what might such a group be called?

I can't tell you more other than what's been said already. We'll have more to say eventually, for sure, but not today.

I feel like I missed an announcement. Would you mind pointing us to it? thank you!

Who would be the right person to ask what that sword that Aroden is carrying here is?

Aenigma wrote:

What is the Infinite program you mentioned in the previous page? I have never even heard it.

We just announced it a few days ago at Gen Con. Here ya go; from the front page's announcements.

WwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwOW.

That's... really remarkable!

I'm shocked and pleased you're letting people go creative with your IPs! That's amazing! Hype!

How do you pronounce Anghazan, charau-ka, derhii, girallon, Kaava, Mzali, Ruthazek, Saventh-Yhi, Savith, Senghor, Shosenbe, Walkena?

James Jacobs wrote:

keftiu wrote:

Did you write the section in the Numeria book on Lady Altouna and Hajoth Hakados? I have a pretty niche question about her, and figured you're the first place to ask.

Ask away!

So Lady Altouna and her witchwyrd pal Cythrul run some kind of underground organization that aim to smuggle aliens to safety and liberate them from the Technic League. This group is unnamed, but demands to see play at the table, so I'd love to ask - what might such a group be called?

Oh! Haven't actually put any thought into that at all—it's firmly in the category of "if we explain one thing that we've been vague on before, we should drop in at least two new vague things to make up for that." Sort of the writing version of a lumberjack planting more trees than they cut down.

Now that the Technic League has been busted up and decentralized, this organization will likely change as well in some way. But that said, I don't have any suggestions off the top of my head for what the group should be called—other than that perhaps the lack of a name at the time of the publication was intentional, since once you name something, it's easier to mobilize forces against it, and by being nameless (and thus more anonymous) the group was more able to do their job of rescuing folks.

James Jacobs wrote:

I can't tell you more other than what's been said already. We'll have more to say eventually, for sure, but not today.

I feel like I missed an announcement. Would you mind pointing us to it? thank you!

As is normal on a Gen Con week we announced a LOT of things. I have no idea which one your'e talking about here, but I believe all of the announcements are going on to the main page here, or if they're not yet, they will be shortly.

Who would be the right person to ask what that sword that Aroden is carrying here is?

Erik Mona, although you can maybe learn a bit more about it in the article he wrote about Aroden in Pathfinder #100. And I suspect there'll be a bit more about it in the upcoming "Dead God's Hand" adventure that'll be out next year.

In the meantime, the name of the sword is Azlanti Diamond.

How do you pronounce Anghazan, charau-ka, derhii, girallon, Kaava, Mzali, Ruthazek, Saventh-Yhi, Savith, Senghor, Shosenbe, Walkena?

ANG-ah-zan

CHAR-oo KA

DARE-he

guh-RALL-on

KAH-vah

mmm-ZAL-ee

RUTH-ah-zek

SAH-venth YEE

SAH-veth

SENG-or

show-SEN-be (this is the first time I recall seeing this word, so that one's a guess based on sounding it out)

wall-KEEN-ah

How do you pronounce Anthusis, Hyrantam, Jaha, Kibwe, k'nonna, Kokutang, mbe'ke, Mwangi, Nantambu, Osibu, Ulduvai, Umnyango, Vidrian?

How do you pronounce Anthusis, Hyrantam, Jaha, Kibwe, k'nonna, Kokutang, mbe'ke, Mwangi, Nantambu, Osibu, Ulduvai, Umnyango, Vidrian?

This is starting to feel like you're gonna ask me how to pronounce every made-up word we've published.

Also, a lot of these words from the Mwangi book are pronounced in ways that I'm hardly an expert, and I suspect are based on real-world languages that I can not speak.

Maybe ask in the Mwangi thread, but morale is pretty low these days to be quite honest, so you might not get an answer. But I'd rather no answer than me misrepresent something that an expert would do better to explain.

Do you like omelettes?

Do you like omelettes?

Depends what's in them. The fewer the mushrooms, the more I like them.

The fewer the mushrooms, the more I like them.

Can you rate mushrooms?

If Paizo decides to publish a book that brings characters from 21st level to 30th level and lets you supervise the details of that book, which would you choose (in other words, which do you prefer): epic levels or mythic tiers?

So, I understand that Outsider souls and body are the same thing, being formed from the essence of their respective plane. But their body is also a physical material thing. They have blood, hearts, skin and all that fine stuff.

So, when a called outsider dies on the material plane, their soul/body decays and returns its essence to the material plane, presumably.

Does the collection of outsider body parts have any impact on the disposition of the outsider's soul?

This question was raised in relation to Arazni, who died as an outsider and then whose body was transformed into a lich, but lichs typically have their phylacteries contain their souls. I posited that the Canopic Jars containing Arazni's organs might have been a phylactery of sort.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

James Jacobs wrote:

The fewer the mushrooms, the more I like them.

Can you rate mushrooms?

Yeah, at the bottom. They're one of my least favorite foods. I don't mind them when they're mixed into something so that the texture and flavor are indistinguishable (like in a sauce) but otherwise? Gross.

Rating: F

If Paizo decides to publish a book that brings characters from 21st level to 30th level and lets you supervise the details of that book, which would you choose (in other words, which do you prefer): epic levels or mythic tiers?

Neither. I think epic and mythic both were good attempts but were also flawed, and I learned a lot from being involved in creating content for both.

I'd do something new and different that evolves from the strengths of the epic level and mythic tier systems.

And the game itself would level cap PCs at a point that's 4 or 5 levels BELOW what the monster side caps at, because no matter how powerful your group of PCs gets, there needs to be more powerful things to serve as villains or antagonists capable of challenging your group.

So, I understand that Outsider souls and body are the same thing, being formed from the essence of their respective plane. But their body is also a physical material thing. They have blood, hearts, skin and all that fine stuff.

So, when a called outsider dies on the material plane, their soul/body decays and returns its essence to the material plane, presumably.

Does the collection of outsider body parts have any impact on the disposition of the outsider's soul?

This question was raised in relation to Arazni, who died as an outsider and then whose body was transformed into a lich, but lichs typically have their phylacteries contain their souls. I posited that the Canopic Jars containing Arazni's organs might have been a phylactery of sort.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

It's kind of unclear what happens if a creature of the category we used to call "outsider" dies on a non-outer plane. My preference is that their souls simply move on to get recycled into the Positive energy, while their bodies retrograde decay back into normal materials like a normal body would—but that the site of their death would also be infused a little bit with supernatural effects of that death. So that you get something powerful enough, or enough of a bunch of somethings, and you can get areas in the Material Plane that are warped or tainted or thinned or whatever—a place that can down the line cause tieflings or aasimar to form, or end up being pilgrimage sites, or so on.

Arazni is a weird unique case, in part because her story is so strange, but in part because until the tail end of 1st edition, she never had a single person's vision for her plot. I created her first in "Skinsaw Murders," the 2nd Runelords adventure, with the intention of telling a revenge/regains her agency story arc, but then I wasn't able to follow up on that story ever and her tale started developing in ways I hadn't intended. The "canopic jar" stuff is a great example, in that we accidently published information in a product that claimed she was a mummy, not a lich. And since chances to tell her story kept getting sideswiped, the perception that she was a "forever victim" took control and gave the wrong impression that the whole point of her was to have a woman in perpetual servitude/peril. It wasn't.

I'm delighted that today, she's got champions on staff who can tell her story as intended, and I've learned that when creating characters like these it does no one any favors keeping the goal secret until you publish it.

** spoiler omitted **

I think it's a good change, because...

I do think having demigod on material world does raise lot of questions :'D

But yeah, on night of the gray death: if it had been published in 1e, would it have featured Citizen Goss?

But yeah, on night of the gray death: if it had been published in 1e, would it have featured Citizen Goss?

I much prefer to have big world events happen "on screen" in adventures, but in the edition change, we had to move some of those things forward "off screen."

Whether or not Goss would have played a role in a hypothetical 1st edition version of this adventure or not... my guess would be no, because in 1st edition we had a really tough time getting adventures that make significant changes to the world greenlit. It was a different era in a lot of ways, and the stewardship of the adventure line was always in flux since it ended up being the first place we went when we needed pressure relief to help keep other product lines on schedule.

I get if you can answer this, but: is Droon on the western or eastern side of Garund? All the other iruxi populations seem to be on the west coast, but I wanted to be sure.

I get if you can answer this, but: is Droon on the western or eastern side of Garund? All the other iruxi populations seem to be on the west coast, but I wanted to be sure.

In my head, it's both, with Droon potentially being the largest and maybe oldest nation on the continent. Droon occupies the southernmost portion of Garund, so the west AND the east coast to a certain extent... looking at the map though I'd say it's more east coast and south coast but also a bit of west coast.

Whether or not that's how it might eventually end up in print, who can say. A lot can change between "today" and "tomorrow."

How do you feel about Pathfinder Infinite? Are you excited to see what people can write and add to the world(s)? (Even though, I do understand that everything in Pathfinder Infinite program is non canon)

As Creative Director (and Golarion is based on your homebrew setting) does it make you nervous to let go of some of that control of the setting?

How do you feel about Pathfinder Infinite? Are you excited to see what people can write and add to the world(s)? (Even though, I do understand that everything in Pathfinder Infinite program is non canon)

As Creative Director (and Golarion is based on your homebrew setting) does it make you nervous to let go of some of that control of the setting?

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet... I guess a combination of excited and wary. I love the idea about opening up the lore for anyone to write about, though, particularly since it, in theory, would also allow ME to write about the things I made up decades ago even if I no longer work at Paizo. To me, it opens up a new avenue of income, but I'm not sure how robust that will be yet, since we're still sorting out how employees interact with Infinite.

I've already let go of a lot of "control" of the setting by not micromanaging and approving every single word that gets published about it. Golarion is not my setting, it's Paizo's setting, and the more diverse voices there are telling Golarion stories, the better. I see it as an expansion of the content you see show up in Wayfinder. I don't vet any of that content, and there's some great stuff in there.

The "wary" part comes from being nervous about some writers not getting it and doing something gross, I guess, but that's a small price to pay for opening it up for more people to enjoy and explore.

The idea that you can create a product and get paid for it as long as it continues to sell rather than just once when you write the words is very very very compelling and interesting though, that's for SURE.

As a GM, how do you handle uncommon character options?

As a GM, how do you handle uncommon character options?

On a case by case basis. If a player has a cool idea for a character and the options are uncommon or even rare, I'll let them run with it.

I haven't run much 2nd edition yet, alas, but there's also the element for me of letting a designer in my game play with an uncommon or rare element because of the above but ALSO to playtest it. (In this case, dhampir and some associated stuff.)

As a GM, what do you think about "get benefit from background story" beyond the game mechanics?

This story from my community's GM

A few weeks ago, he ran a session 0 and said every players should write 150 words background story so that he can use these story to layout some flavor to each player, he also said each player can choose a magic item freely according their background story.

Recently, one of his player gave the character sheet, a level 2 wizard, have a
Ancient archmage teacher and gave he a "ROBE OF THE ARCHMAGI(75000gp)"

Needless to say, this item is too powerful, so the GM let the player choose another one and give a limit.

I also experienced similar situation, some of players wants to write a gorgeous backstory not just to rich their character,but also want to get benefit on game mechanics or gameplay course, like "I have done many different jobs, so even I can't make knowledge check, according rule, but I certainly know who can help us in this town, right? No Diplomacy or other check."

What do you think of it and what do you deal with it?

Spoiler:

In the PC game, Deskari literally one-hit killed Terendelev. It wasn't even a fight. It was a slaughter. How can this happen? While Deskari would definitely be more powerful than Terendelev, I thought she is much more powerful than normal silver dragons and maybe even have some mythic tiers. Was she not that powerful after all? In other words, instead of Deskari, if Deskari's elite minions like Hepzamirah, Ylleshka, Areelu Vorlesh, Khorramzadeh or maybe Baphomet assaulted Terendelev in that scene, she would still have been defeated pretty easily or may have been one-hit killed?

That happened because...

As a GM, what do you think about "get benefit from background story" beyond the game mechanics?

This story from my community's GM

A few weeks ago, he ran a session 0 and said every players should write 150 words background story so that he can use these story to layout some flavor to each player, he also said each player can choose a magic item freely according their background story.

Recently, one of his player gave the character sheet, a level 2 wizard, have a
Ancient archmage teacher and gave he a "ROBE OF THE ARCHMAGI(75000gp)"

Needless to say, this item is too powerful, so the GM let the player choose another one and give a limit.

I also experienced similar situation, some of players wants to write a gorgeous backstory not just to rich their character,but also want to get benefit on game mechanics or gameplay course, like "I have done many different jobs, so even I can't make knowledge check, according rule, but I certainly know who can help us in this town, right? No Diplomacy or other check."

What do you think of it and what do you deal with it?

Whenever I have a player who's so interested in the game or the setting I've worked so hard to create be so interested in it that they want to build a large and detailed background... rewarding the player for that is the least I as GM can do in thanks.

This is the whole reason why I pioneered the trait system in 1st edition... it was tough going because the design team didn't want power creep in the game, so traits had to be pretty low powered. The background system in 2nd edition is a built-in evolution of that that establishes a baseline rather than creeping power, so that's a win!

In a case like yours, where a player obviously tried to take an entire store when the storekeeper said "You can have a free piece of candy," I'd say that the GM was right in setting the limit—should say something like "A free level 2 magic item" or "a free 300 gp item" or something like that.

Players who think that they can get free power-ups by writing a huge story might not be actually interested in playing a game as much as writing a novel.

I had one player in particular back in college who often tried to bake in extra powers to his background, and in those cases I always tried to work with the player to build new options that would build up as they played the game rather than got awarded to them all at once.

In 2nd edition, the easiest way to do this is to work with the player to create a custom archetype.

Do you like omelettes?

.

OMG

All of a sudden I have a craving for an omelet? I mean, like, a craving that would make a Ghoul or Vampire sympathize with me. It's totally out of the blue, I just happened to see your post and it just hit me.

Rysky wrote:

Do you like omelettes?

.

OMG

All of a sudden I have a craving for an omelet? I mean, like, a craving that would make a Ghoul or Vampire sympathize with me. It's totally out of the blue, I just happened to see your post and it just hit me.

Only seeing one question in there, and it looks like you answered it yourself. But on the off chance you didn't, and you are asking me, then...

Yes, you do have a sudden craving for an omelet.

[/ Threadjack]
(sorry)

Then make sure to add questions of your own, please, even if they're questions about non-Paizo topics or silly like "Do you like omelettes" because even those can be fun! And in fact, those type of questions are the MOST fun for me to answer.

Okay then,...

Regarding Pathfinder Infinite -- and considering your recent answer of something like, 'both excited and wary,' ....Which areas of the campaign setting are you more, hmm, attached to than others? Which ones are you more likely to start reading than others, and thus be more or less 'excited' or 'wary' of?

....So, I happen to love (your) Varisia more than any other part of the Campaign Setting (which I call "Golaria" instead of "Golarion," cuz I like it better), and thus the work in my Homebrew games has produced SO Much Varisia 'evolution' that parts of it have become quite different than Canon. Korvosa especially: I turned Old Korvosa into "The Styes" by Richard Pett. Then added "House on Hook St" after establishing The Styes as the same location.

Pett wrote the first AP volume that takes place in Old Korvosa as well as the gazetteer for Old Korvosa in that AP volume. I felt that Old Korvosa was a nod to "The Styes," and so that particular Chapter of a Varisia campaign I ran was a very successful 3-4 months.

As such, the NPCs from "The Styes" -- such as the Gnome Wererat Lich -- are Very prominent NPCs in my Homebrew (Sliris is the Korvosa Magistrate of Health, heeheehee, a Wererat Lich!) ....Meanwhile, one of my own PCs became a big mover-and-shaker in Kaer Maga. And one of my player's PC is the Druid Hierophant (Gygax-1st-Edition-themed-Hierophant) in the southern part of The Sanos.

Further, the village of Avenia -- from Dungeon 42's "Lady of the Mists" -- is shrouded in fog on the eastern shore of Ember Lake. While the village of Orlane (from "Against the Cult of the Reptile God") is on the north shore, south of Viperwall. Your very own "My Lady's Mirror" castle is in northern Cheliax where 'The Lady of the Mist's' sister moved to after stealing her own potion of super-long-life. EDIT: Oops, I think I misremembered, "My Lady's Mirror" was Chris Perkins' rather than Jacobs' -- sorry.

Years ago in Ilsurian one of my Player's Paladins met Ragathiel in human disguise -- actually fought the Archangel sword-to-sword in the Ilsur Arena -- the climax of a player-driven Alignment struggle with the conundrum that helping the Vampire Ramoska Arkminos might be evil. Ragathiel (disguised as a traveling gladiator) kicked the PC's ass before allowing a winning Critical Hit and revealing himself, to the PC only, that he was actually Ragathiel, and that the Archangel personally supported the PC Paladin. ....So now, years later, the Ilsur Arena is consecrated to Ragathiel and that PC Paladin (now retired), runs the Ilsur Arena (where Ragathiel himself fought a duel for the ticket holders once upon a time).

....Pathfinder Infinite.
Varisia is your baby. (Kaer Maga I guess is Sutter's.) But it has from Day One been my favorite as well, and I have DMed and played SO MUCH there that there's quite a bit of Lore I could put in 'Pathfinder Infinite.' (Copywrite of ye olde D&D intellectual property notwithstanding!!!!)

Is community work on Varisia something you personally would be more 'excited' or 'wary' to see -- compared to say, community work on The Spire of Nex or Katapesh?

(Just a reminder, about 8-10 years ago I mentioned on The Boards that my idea of The Sandpoint Devil was this gleaming, jet-black Unicorn looking Fiend instead of the half-upright, snaggletooth, poop-brown horse-fiend he is in RotRL. And you did not like that.)

Ooops... normally I prefer folks to limit things to one question per post, but I asked for this one, so here goes!

Regarding Pathfinder Infinite -- and considering your recent answer of something like, 'both excited and wary,' ....Which areas of the campaign setting are you more, hmm, attached to than others?

Varisia, Kyonin, Mediogalti Island, New Thassilon, Numeria, Ravounel, the Darklands, Minkai, and a lot of the deities.

Which ones are you more likely to start reading than others, and thus be more or less 'excited' or 'wary' of?

Ones that are built off of things I worked on directly, since I'm more curious to see how folks react to my work, I guess... but that said, I'm not sure I'll have the time or energy to read much of what comes out of Infinite unless looking through it becomes part of my job (which, at this point, it looks like it's not). I don't have much time or energy to read the Chaosium books I still buy, because after working 40+ hours on Pathfinder in a week, I'm usually eager to do something else, so I'm honestly not sure how much time and energy I'll have to read stuff on Infinite. It's a brand new thing though, so I can't say for sure.

Oh! There were fewer questions than I thought in there.

....Pathfinder Infinite.

Varisia is your baby. (Kaer Maga I guess is Sutter's.) But it has from Day One been my favorite as well, and I have DMed and played SO MUCH there that there's quite a bit of Lore I could put in 'Pathfinder Infinite.' (Copywrite of ye olde D&D intellectual property notwithstanding!!!!)

Is community work on Varisia something you personally would be more 'excited' or 'wary' to see -- compared to say, community work on The Spire of Nex or Katapesh?

Yeah, as mentioned above, community work on elements I've written or had a heavy hand in developing will interest me more, from a purely egotistical viewpoint, I guess. Maybe because I already know what I'd do for more of that stuff, so I'm more curious to see other takes, whereas for things like Nex or Razmir or Arcadia, which are things that other staff members are super passionate about, I'm more eager to see what THEY do with those topics rather than someone else.

Hey James! I'm running / playing Extinction's Curse and having a blast! My paladin died last session in a super epic battle in: