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Pathfinder's version of psionics will be called psychic magic and will be nothing like the magic point system from past systems.
From what's been said about this, Paizo isn't a fan of the power-point system, which is one of the reasons why they wouldn't just use DSP's system.
I'm not heavily invested in the idea of point-based mechanics for psionics - I just like Dreamscarred's work and appreciate the fact that they're the only ones doing it.
Having said that, I'd rather a point-based system than a "psychic magic" system that just treats psionic powers as spells with different names. Seems to me that psionics should feel different from spells; otherwise, there is really not much point in having them, in the first place. I suspect that Paizo feels similarly but is unsure as to how they would make the two phenomena feel different without using a point-based system. Figuring that out is probably not a high priority, for them - they have a lot of stuff in the works, already, that is.
So, in the meantime, I'll stick with Dreamscarred.
If you don't like the pathfinder version of psionics then you can use the third party one but if you do like it then hey win, win. Also if you end up liking both maybe you could just change the flavor context of one so you can use both.
I would like a way for a character who isn't a cleric to get the benefits(not spells) of one domain of a deity the character worships.
I would also love to get low level healing spells on a classes spell list like sorcerers and wizards.
Creative Director
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Is this covering the Gods of the Inner Sea, or the Gods of Golarion as a whole?
The Title sort of conflicts with the given description...?
Its focus is on covering deities of the Inner Sea Region. There won't be anything much at all about deities of, say, Tian Xia or other planets or the like, but there'll be a LOT of deities covered in the Inner Sea lists that are worshiped in regions beyond the Inner Sea.
Yay! Finally. (^o^)=b
Can't wait.
Carry on!
--C.
Eh, we can hash out that difference later. Best not to derail a new product!
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Creative Director
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Unless I'm misremembering, the statements about "not liking point-based psionic powers" and "using 'psychic magic' instead" are the thoughts and ideas of James Jacobs, rather than Paizo as a whole.
In other words, one employee's opinion is not the company's definitive take on the subject.
True... but the Creative Director's opinion counts for a fair amount. :-P
I feel this book is way overdue, but maybe it actually is coming at the right time. Either way, I'm going to be impatient for this book to come out.It *is* kind of overdue, but it's also something we couldn't really do until now.I'm curious as to what has changed recently that allows you to do it now rather than earlier?
Looking forward to the book.
My guess would be the fact that they were waiting for all the deity articles for the Big 20 to be finished first. That only recently happened with Shattered Star finally finishing off the list.
Let me also say that I'm really excited for this book. I have every AP issue with a deity article but it will be nice to see it all collected in one place with expanded info as well as to see the older 3.5 articles get updated for PFRPG.
I'm not heavily invested in the idea of point-based mechanics for psionics - I just like Dreamscarred's work and appreciate the fact that they're the only ones doing it.
Having said that, I'd rather a point-based system than a "psychic magic" system that just treats psionic powers as spells with different names. Seems to me that psionics should feel different from spells; otherwise, there is really not much point in having them, in the first place. I suspect that Paizo feels similarly but is unsure as to how they would make the two phenomena feel different without using a point-based system. Figuring that out is probably not a high priority, for them - they have a lot of stuff in the works, already, that is.
So, in the meantime, I'll stick with Dreamscarred.
I see the point of that, but the argument that powers from your mind need not be any more different than powers from books or powers from bloodline or powers granted by deities are from each other kind of made me think about it differently. Though honestly I'm now halfway on the fence of "maybe divine and arcane magic should be more different."
I'm kind of shocked by just how underwhelmed I feel about this book.
Between the lack of stats for gods/avatars (especially since Mythic will have been out for quite some time when this book is released), the continued expansion of class/feat/spell/etc. bloat, and what I'm guessing will be quite a bit of rehashing from Gods & Magic and the various AP articles on the gods, I'm not sure how much is here that I'll really find interesting.
That said, hopefully I'll be proven wrong by some very strong fluff writing on the character of the gods themselves and the details and history of their religions, a la TSR's old Faiths & Avatars book.
Unless you mean archetype bloat (And remember that archetypes are Paizo's answer to 3.5's prestige class bloat) you realize that there hasn't been a truly new base class in about two years, right? Also, there's no such thing as too many spells and feats.
Just to get this on the table: I not only want, but demand, that this include reprints/rewrites of SKR's writeups.In fact, those writeups are going to form the backbone of the book. They'll mostly all be expanded upon as well.
Hooray! ^.^
Wow, it has been two years since we got a new character class.
I have no problem with getting new feats, spells, magic items, mundane items, alchemical items, prestige classes, etc. so I say bring it on.
Really looking forward to this! :)
You know the cover kind of reminds of the Planescape On Hallowed Ground cover.
Anyway I would like in this book...
Each of the 20 main deities recieve 15 pages each. In those page besides the PrCs, feats, spells, etc. I would like Holidays detailed, wedding, funerel, investment as a priest, etc detailed, A few priest and followers of these faiths, organizations within the churches, herseys exposed, and atleast one temple deailed.
The rest of the 20 pages can deal with the minor deities.
I know it probably be that much detail but one can hope...
I'd actually love it if the new spells were deity specific. That was one of the things I loved about Faiths & Avatars from the Realms. Three-to-five new spells per deity for his/her clergy would be great!
I am actually really excited about this...as someone relatively new to Pathfinder it would be nice to have all the main deities described in one place. hopefully there will also be useful stuff for non cleric/paladin/Inquistor/druid players...After all the majority of the faithful are not priests, but lay people.
In fact, those writeups are going to form the backbone of the book. They'll mostly all be expanded upon as well.
Are you going to restructure these articles or will it be the same texts with additions? It seems necessary because the old texts include very clunky paragraphs that give information that should be given in a chart. Concerning additions, are you going to expand on the 'relations with other religions' parts?
The 3e Forgotten Realms book Faiths and Pantheons was my most used 3.X book by a long shot, even more than the Player's Handbook. It's suffered physically from being handled so much. I'm looking forward to giving this book the same kind of attention.
The gods are one of the most important aspects of the campaign world to me, plain and simple. If I don't like a setting's pantheon, I don't like the setting.
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In fact, those writeups are going to form the backbone of the book. They'll mostly all be expanded upon as well.Are you going to restructure these articles or will it be the same texts with additions? It seems necessary because the old texts include very clunky paragraphs that give information that should be given in a chart. Concerning additions, are you going to expand on the 'relations with other religions' parts?
We're making sure that each of the main deity writeups has all of the same structural elements (a priest's role, dogma, relations with other religions). The formatting of my articles shifted a bit over the past 5 years, partly because of the 3.5 --> PF rules change, partly because the needs of the individual APs, and partly because of the nature of the deities (and how later deities hadn't been detailed yet, so the earlier ones don't have as many cross-references), and we're going to standardize them so any writeup that missed one of those major topics will now address it.
I think I know what "chart" material you're referring to, but if you can give me an example of what you mean, that would be helpful.
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Creative Director
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In fact, those writeups are going to form the backbone of the book. They'll mostly all be expanded upon as well.Are you going to restructure these articles or will it be the same texts with additions? It seems necessary because the old texts include very clunky paragraphs that give information that should be given in a chart. Concerning additions, are you going to expand on the 'relations with other religions' parts?
EDIT: Ninjaed by master ninja Reynolds!
Jessica Price is my guess.
I am but one of many factors making it possible. :-)
Really looking forward to this one!
While part of me wishes that the Tian Xia gods could have been fit in, I wouldn't want them to be reduced to having smaller write-ups. Better to just wait and hope that they'll get full write-up in a later book :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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My guess would be the fact that they were waiting for all the deity articles for the Big 20 to be finished first. That only recently happened with Shattered Star finally finishing off the list.I feel this book is way overdue, but maybe it actually is coming at the right time. Either way, I'm going to be impatient for this book to come out.It *is* kind of overdue, but it's also something we couldn't really do until now.I'm curious as to what has changed recently that allows you to do it now rather than earlier?
Looking forward to the book.
That's most of what I meant, yeah. That, plus the fact that we wanted Gods & Magic to be sold out before this appears (and it looks like it probably will be).
*collapses*
That's most of what I meant, yeah. That, plus the fact that we wanted Gods & Magic to be sold out before this appears (and it looks like it probably will be).
Do you think it will still sell out now though...considering this book is coming out? Perhaps you annouced this book too soon.
Though I guess the completetionist out there like I will still pick it up.
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We're making sure that each of the main deity writeups has all of the same structural elements (a priest's role, dogma, relations with other religions). The formatting of my articles shifted a bit over the past 5 years, partly because of the 3.5 --> PF rules change, partly because the needs of the individual APs, and partly because of the nature of the deities (and how later deities hadn't been detailed yet, so the earlier ones don't have as many cross-references), and we're going to standardize them so any writeup that missed one of those major topics will now address it.
I think I know what "chart" material you're referring to, but if you can give me an example of what you mean, that would be helpful.
Thanks for your reply (and James' as well). I have hoped you would say something like that.
As for the example, generally speaking, your articles begin with a few really nice to read paragraphs on the background and history of the deity in question and continues with a description of the deity's realm. However, this is followed by a paragraph that is reciting information. For example, in the case of Irori, this paragraph reads as follows:
"Irori is lawful neutral and his portfolio is history, knowledge, and self-perfection. His weapon is the open hand, representing unarmed combat as well as the unlimited potential of mortal life guided by serene intelligence. His holy symbol is an open blue palm overlaid upon a circle, though in some lands his name-rebus (see page 70) is used more often than the hand. His domains are Healing, Knowledge, Law, Rune, and Strength. (Adventure Path 50, Page 71)"
This really interrupts the flow of the text, is boring to read, and most of the time repeats stuff one does already know. Such information is normally given in a table, for example the header tables to each Empyreal lord in the Chronicles of the Righteous, and I think such tables would work much better, especially if they are given at the start of the article.
If I may suggest something else, it seems a wasted opportunity to limit the section "Relations with Other Religions" to just religions, i.e. deities. For example, this part in the article on Pharasma (Adventure Path 42, Page 69) creates the impression that she has no true enemies. This might be true for deities, but her real enemies are the Daemons and Qlippoths and even though they are not deities, they are very significant nonetheless.
If you want to hear more suggestions or in-depth criticism to specific articles, I will be happy to oblige as I really enjoy these articles.
"Irori is lawful neutral and his portfolio is history, knowledge, and self-perfection. His weapon is the open hand, representing unarmed combat as well as the unlimited potential of mortal life guided by serene intelligence. His holy symbol is an open blue palm overlaid upon a circle, though in some lands his name-rebus (see page 70) is used more often than the hand. His domains are Healing, Knowledge, Law, Rune, and Strength. (Adventure Path 50, Page 71)"
Yep, that's what I thought you were talking about. See, when we first started these god articles, there was no Core Rulebook, nor was there a campaign setting book for Golarion, so the articles were the only place to get that info. I can't remember why we did it in paragraph form like that instead of a little sidebar, but that's how we did it for the first one, and we used that same structure for the later articles. For this book, we've already talked about pulling that info into a sidebar for each entry (plus I'm sure we'll have a full-page table listing all of that info for at least the major gods), so it won't be in that running text format any more. :)
As for your comment about the Relations With Other Religions section, that's exactly the sort of thing I meant by my comment about how other deities (and aspects of the setting) hadn't been detailed yet. But they've now been detailed, so... :)
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Depends on whether James is the last person to fiddle with the text in layout, or I am. >:)
Hey, if SKR gets more favorites on his post about Asmodean paladins, can we have them?
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Chief Technical Officer
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That's most of what I meant, yeah. That, plus the fact that we wanted Gods & Magic to be sold out before this appears (and it looks like it probably will be).Do you think it will still sell out now though...considering this book is coming out? Perhaps you annouced this book too soon.
Though I guess the completetionist out there like I will still pick it up.
There are fewer than 200 copies remaining, so I'm not too worried.
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Developer
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Hey, if SKR gets more favorites on his post about Asmodean paladins, can we have them?
No. Paladins are LG and get their powers from deities within one step of that alignment. How many favorites Sean's trolling gets doesn't change the way paladins work in our setting, despite unfortunate elements that may have seen print in the past saying otherwise.
Am I the only one who would love to see this include a "Fallen Paladin" prestige class? They could lose their paladin powers, but receive replacement powers from their new (usually chaotic and/or evil) patron god.
Paizo decided years ago to not use the 3.5 Blackguard prestige class, instead using the Anti-Paladin variant base class.
If you prefer law in your evil pallies, there's always the Hellknights.
I'm assuming this means no more nonsensical paladin/hellknight multiclasses? :D
Hellknights can be LG, after all. You just have to value the L a lot more than the G.
The alignment isn't the issue to me. It is more the idea that a character who is supposed to be devoted to battling evil (to some degree at least) would decide to affiliate himself with hell in any way. While the Hellknights technically aren't evil, they sure are modeling themselves after something that is evil.
But hey, it is up to Paizo and not me whether or not this is allowed :)
*does some edits*
You know the cover kind of reminds of the Planescape On Hallowed Ground cover.
Anyway I would like in this book...
Each of the 20 main deities recieve 15 pages each. In those page besides the PrCs, feats, spells, etc. I would like Holidays detailed, wedding, funerel, investment as a priest, etc detailed, A few priest and followers of these faiths, organizations within the churches, herseys exposed, and atleast one temple deailed.
The rest of the 20 pages can deal with the minor deities.
I know it probably be that much detail but one can hope...
If this were the case I would buy this book without a thought.