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

Mikhaila Burnett wrote:

How would you begin a letter to a retailer who has done wrong by you?

A retailer who does me wrong generally just gets ignored and not visited by me ever again. Actually writing a letter, though? Not sure... never actually done that.

Ok, I'll confess. It was a ruse to see if you knew the countersign from "Ask A Ninja" which can be found in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lVSub2wsys

Is there any information anywhere about Tsukuyomi, Prince of the Moon (one of the Azata Empyreal Lords)?

I'm asking because I'm trying, as the GM, to come up with ideas about who the Shadow Patron of one of my players (a chaotic good human witch) would be, and why. I'm having a real hard time of it, it seems.

Today I have discovered that I could have used the wrong interpretation on how Spell turning work.

I (and the people with which I usually play) have always considered a ray effect from a spell like a spell attack targeting someone, and so subject to spell turning.

At a more careful reading a ray is an effect of the spell and the spell is no targeted to anyone, the ray is targeted against someone.

So how it work in your games at Paizo? A ray is subject to spell turning or not?

Ray spells get reflected.

Is there any information anywhere about Tsukuyomi, Prince of the Moon (one of the Azata Empyreal Lords)?

I'm asking because I'm trying, as the GM, to come up with ideas about who the Shadow Patron of one of my players (a chaotic good human witch) would be, and why. I'm having a real hard time of it, it seems.

Not much yet.

But as a general rule, don't expect to be able to keep up with the super-numbercrunched weapon wielding fighter when it comes to damage. The game is not built so that every option is equal—and fists are simply not as deadly a weapon choice as, say, a sword, given everything else is equal. That's pretty much why we invented swords in the first place.

By the by.

The main reasons an unarmed fighter can't keep up with a weapon-using fighter are the lack of the two-handed bonus (both from strength and Power Attack) and the reduced crit range. If you want to homebrew something for your own game for a punchy fighter to keep up with a swordy fighter (or if Paizo wanted to wanted to bring them to par, whichever), you'd need to give Punchy these modifiers or compensate him for the loss.

James Jacobs wrote:

But as a general rule, don't expect to be able to keep up with the super-numbercrunched weapon wielding fighter when it comes to damage. The game is not built so that every option is equal—and fists are simply not as deadly a weapon choice as, say, a sword, given everything else is equal. That's pretty much why we invented swords in the first place.

By the by.

The main reasons an unarmed fighter can't keep up with a weapon-using fighter are the lack of the two-handed bonus (both from strength and Power Attack) and the reduced crit range. If you want to homebrew something for your own game for a punchy fighter to keep up with a swordy fighter (or if Paizo wanted to wanted to bring them to par, whichever), you'd need to give Punchy these modifiers or compensate him for the loss.

I don't want to home brew or change anything. I like fighters who use weapons being better than fighters who punch.

I don't want to home brew or change anything. I like fighters who use weapons being better than fighters who punch.

Well, that was more aimed at Davick than anything. Even with those two covered, there'd still be the gap between base weapon damage and base punching damage, but at least that way you're in the same ballpark.

Anyway, I'll ask a question. How do you engage a player who can't seem to make a character with any motivation to go out and adventure? He joined my group recently, and I get the feeling that he feels left out of the spotlight. I've tried to make hooks specifically for his character, but he seems oblivious or willfully disregards them, and when I've taken him aside to offer him a chance to make his own spotlight opportunities, he just kind of shrugged. It's not that he doesn't participate, he's just kind of sullenly subordinate in the game.

Diego Rossi wrote:

So how it work in your games at Paizo? A ray is subject to spell turning or not?

Ray spells get reflected.

hanks for the reply.

Marshall Fundaburk wrote:

Were Rovagug's minions/spawn originally created for Obox-ob and then continued in Pathfinder as Rovagug's, or did you create them for Rovagug specifically?

They were created for Pathfinder's version of Rovagug. Neither Rovagug nor Obox-ob had specific links to the Tarrasque (or other giant monsters in that vein) in my homebrew.

Marshall Fundaburk wrote:

Are all the obyrith lord-controlled layers in The Abyss as inherently dangerous and hostile as Zionin? Are they more dangerous than tanar'ri controlled layers since you said if the obyriths ruled the entire Abyss it would be much more deadly than it is currently?

Nope; while every layer of the Abyss is dangerous, some are less so and some are more so. The reason I think the Abyss would be more deadly if the obyriths/qlippoth ruled it is more or less because those guys don't partially rely upon human souls in any way. Humans are less than useless to them, unlike demons.

But it's like saying a 30 megaton nuke is more dangerous than a 29 megaton one, to a certain extent.

I see. Thanks for all your help, James. I really appreciate it. = ) Going back to Ixinix, lord of blackwater. It seemed to me as possibly the lord of ixitxachitl before Demogorgon took that over when it died after helping to destroy The Malgoth. But that's just my theory. Do you have any ideas on what Ixinix was like?

With Jade Regent on the horizon, is there any thoughts on revisiting NPCs from other APs?

ulgulanoth wrote:

in Golarion is there a country that is built on summoning outsiders to do their bidding? say summoning devils, demons and other evil outsiders for war, and good outsiders to keep the peace and help build laws ect?

Yup. Cheliax is all about using devils as tools and Hell itself as a blueprint for how to run a country efficiently. The government of Cheliax doesn't WORSHIP devils, but they are diabolists who are well-practiced at summoning and commanding devils as slaves. Including for war.

There are lots of other countries who incorperate the summoning/control of outsiders to lesser degree, but Cheliax is the one that immediately comes to mind.

EDIT: Katapesh and Qadira are also quite fond of using summoned/bound genies for work as well as Jalmeray. And on the demon front, the drow of the Darklands do a LOT of demon summoning and control. And even deeper, the urdefhans of Orv have a lot to do with daemons.

The question itself is kind of a broad one. For example does your answer mean that Devils are a common sight in Cheliax? That a legion of them guards the royal palace of the House of Thrune and that you can see them doing a Changing of the Guard type ceremony in front of the royal palace like the famous one in London? (although the idea of ufazable devil gateguards with those tall black hats is rather amusing)

On the other hand, I wouldn't dare approach Bruce Lee (Dead or alive) with a machine gun. And that's the kind of unarmed fighter you'd wanna play in an RPG.

The point of having a machine gun is that you DON'T approach Bruce Lee. If you're good at using one, you riddle him with bullets before he even gets close to you.

There's a major reason that Bruce Lee movies DON'T involve competent machine gunners and almost all of the people he fights whether mooks or boss types are martial artists like himself.

James Jacobs wrote:

I don't want to home brew or change anything. I like fighters who use weapons being better than fighters who punch.

Well, that was more aimed at Davick than anything. Even with those two covered, there'd still be the gap between base weapon damage and base punching damage, but at least that way you're in the same ballpark.

Anyway, I'll ask a question. How do you engage a player who can't seem to make a character with any motivation to go out and adventure? He joined my group recently, and I get the feeling that he feels left out of the spotlight. I've tried to make hooks specifically for his character, but he seems oblivious or willfully disregards them, and when I've taken him aside to offer him a chance to make his own spotlight opportunities, he just kind of shrugged. It's not that he doesn't participate, he's just kind of sullenly subordinate in the game.

You can lead a horse to water, but at some point it has to decide to drink.

Jeremy Mcgillan wrote:

Should I continue to convert my friends and acquaintances to pathfinder?

Of course!

I converted my sister to Pathfinder. And immediately regretted it when her BAB and CMB totally stomped over mine.

Dragon78 wrote:

If you were going to stat up the Leviathen would you make like a whale, a sea serpent, a dragon, or something else?

Leviathan would be a combination of all three, likely.

A DINOSAUR!

(No question, but I just had to add that I love the T-Rex avatar, because I always imagine that the dinosaur is actually saying all the things you say.)

Is there any information on the constellations of Golarion, if not will there be?

I'm hoping that the constellations will differ from one race to another. Human cultures will look up and see heroes. (That would be a nice collection of short fistion: the stories behind some of the constellations, as told by a Shoanti shaman.) Elves may see patterns of magic, or creatures of nature. Dwarves see stars.

Are attendees to the Paizo seminars featured at Gencon '11 allowed to bring digital recorders or any sort of audio recording device into the seminars?

Do you use miniatures, 2D counters, or some combination of both for use in the games that you run?

Do you use digital map projection, printed maps, 3D terrain, or some combination of those for use in the games that you run?

What edition of Gamma World do you usually run or play?

Dear James Jacobs,

I have a few questions concerning demonkind, if you don't mind.

First, do the drow of Golarion visualize their demonic lords as idealized (but obviously demonic) members of their own race, or do they revere them in their actual true forms?

Second, do you have any suggestions for music that would fit Nocticula, the Midnight Isles, succubi or incubi in general?

And last (but not least!), have you considered what Pathfinder's incubi may look like? For example, will they have horns, tails, claws and wings - or will they be flightless like the ones presented in the Malcanthet section of the Demonomicon? Beautiful article by the way.

I ask because I enjoy drawing things for my Pathfinder campaigns, so any sort of direction would be great!

(Warning, the following images might not be safe for work, although there is only implied sensuality which I find rather tame - better safe than sorry!) I thought this image was neat, and might be an idea for the incubi. Here is a more traditional interpretation I think. Thoughts?

Edit: Also, I hope you don't ever feel obligated to answer. I imagine you're quite busy, being an awesome game designer and all! This is just for fun, and thank you for your time. :)

Hello Mr. Jacobs,

Again, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to let us continue to pick your brains.

1) Is there any chance we might get to see an appearance by the Mordant Spire elves in the upcoming Skull & Bones? Maybe even a background article on them? Pretty pwease?

2) Any ideas/inclinations on styles of traditional elven dance? Would they be more likely to be all prim and stuffy, or something more passionate and improvisational, like the tango?

{leaves piping hot artichoke heart, jalapeno pepper, and garlic pizza}

what do you think of the warlord class?

Is there any chance of us getting more specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials (as in half-glabrezu, or half-lillend, for example).

James,
Do you happen to know if Lisa is going to the 20th anniversary of Vampire the Masquerade Grand Masquerade event this Sept in New Orleans?? I'm sure she's very busy with Paizo stuff, but I was just wondering.

If you don't know the answer, can you direct her here so she can answer please?

Also,
favorite chocolately type candy?? favorite non-chocolately type candy??

What are some ways, if any, that PCs could help Nocticula ascend??

Anyway, I'll ask a question. How do you engage a player who can't seem to make a character with any motivation to go out and adventure? He joined my group recently, and I get the feeling that he feels left out of the spotlight. I've tried to make hooks specifically for his character, but he seems oblivious or willfully disregards them, and when I've taken him aside to offer him a chance to make his own spotlight opportunities, he just kind of shrugged. It's not that he doesn't participate, he's just kind of sullenly subordinate in the game.

Rather than make hooks for the character, ask him what he wants out of the game and design hooks to match. It kind of sounds like you might have done this, though... and in that case, maybe the player just doesn't want to take an active role in the story.

But he might not be into that kind of game, remember; he might only enjoy the tactics of combat, or maybe just watching friends roleplay, or maybe just hanging out. He's got to be there for something, and if you can find out what that is, cool. If not, and if he's not disrupting the game for everyone else... it's okay to just let him be, of course.

I see. Thanks for all your help, James. I really appreciate it. = ) Going back to Ixinix, lord of blackwater. It seemed to me as possibly the lord of ixitxachitl before Demogorgon took that over when it died after helping to destroy The Malgoth. But that's just my theory. Do you have any ideas on what Ixinix was like?

Not many... I never got around to doing much more with Ixinix. My gut feeling was that he was some sort of giant sentient oil slick type blob thing, that the "blackwater" was literal, and he had no set form.

With Jade Regent on the horizon, is there any thoughts on revisiting NPCs from other APs?

I'm kind of waiting to see how folks react to that very thing in Jade Regent before doing something like that again. Jade Regent's not even out yet, after all.

The question itself is kind of a broad one. For example does your answer mean that Devils are a common sight in Cheliax? That a legion of them guards the royal palace of the House of Thrune and that you can see them doing a Changing of the Guard type ceremony in front of the royal palace like the famous one in London? (although the idea of ufazable devil gateguards with those tall black hats is rather amusing)

Devils are not a common sight in Cheliax. With the possible exception of imps, that is.

Is there any information on the constellations of Golarion, if not will there be?

Pathfinder #14 has some info about them; all of their names and such.

Some day we'll do more about them.

I'm hoping that the constellations will differ from one race to another. Human cultures will look up and see heroes. (That would be a nice collection of short fistion: the stories behind some of the constellations, as told by a Shoanti shaman.) Elves may see patterns of magic, or creatures of nature. Dwarves see stars.

Constelations would even vary from human culture to human culture... but just as we only use one calendar in world, we more or less only use one set of constellations in Golarion—the Varisian ones.

Are attendees to the Paizo seminars featured at Gencon '11 allowed to bring digital recorders or any sort of audio recording device into the seminars?

Do you use miniatures, 2D counters, or some combination of both for use in the games that you run?

Do you use digital map projection, printed maps, 3D terrain, or some combination of those for use in the games that you run?

What edition of Gamma World do you usually run or play?

They have in previous years.

Minis.

I use tactiles or battlemats, and draw the maps out for the players. I sometimes use flip maps and other pre-printed maps. I'm not a fan of 3D terrain since it looks cool but is distracting and hard to move minis around on.

I haven't played Gamma World in years... decades, even. If I were to play tomorrow, I'd fall back on 2nd edition, I suppose, but I'd be more likely to use my own Post-Apocalyptic rules, "Unspeakable Futures" instead. Since they're already heavily inspired by Gamma World... but without all the weird mutations.

First, do the drow of Golarion visualize their demonic lords as idealized (but obviously demonic) members of their own race, or do they revere them in their actual true forms?

They revere them in their true forms. A few of them might have penchants for appearing to the drow in drow form, though, particularly Nocticula and Socothbenoth.

Second, do you have any suggestions for music that would fit Nocticula, the Midnight Isles, succubi or incubi in general?

"The Lotus Eaters," by Dead Can Dance. Why this one? Because back in the day, we did a "soundtrack" for our Savage Tide Adventure Path. I chose "The Lotus Eaters" as Malcanthet's theme, since it's got a weird spooky kind of sexy feel to it, and since Nocticula is pretty close to Malcanthet... there ya go.

And last (but not least!), have you considered what Pathfinder's incubi may look like? For example, will they have horns, tails, claws and wings - or will they be flightless like the ones presented in the Malcanthet section of the Demonomicon? Beautiful article by the way.

I already know what Pathfinder's incubi look like; they're pretty cool. You'll see more of them by the end of the year. (They're not nearly as feral/bestial as Malcanthet's, and thanks for the compliment on that article. It was fun to write! Especially the poem... I got away with a lot with all the Demonomicon poems...)

1) Is there any chance we might get to see an appearance by the Mordant Spire elves in the upcoming Skull & Bones? Maybe even a background article on them? Pretty pwease?

2) Any ideas/inclinations on styles of traditional elven dance? Would they be more likely to be all prim and stuffy, or something more passionate and improvisational, like the tango?

{leaves piping hot artichoke heart, jalapeno pepper, and garlic pizza}

1) Not a big chance, no. Nearly zero, in fact. The Mordant Spire is a LONG way away from the Shackles. We're still saving up our Mordant Spire mojo for something else.

2) Hmm... I'd expect that elven dance would be pretty emotional and passionate, but not really like the tango since I imagine their music is a lot different. It's certainly not all prim and proper, though. They're chaotic!

what do you think of the warlord class?

Aside from knowing (barely) that it's a class from 4th edition D&D (correct?)...

...I don't think of it at all. I've never even looked at it. Don't really feel much of a need to.

Is there any chance of us getting more specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials (as in half-glabrezu, or half-lillend, for example).

Not a big one. They'd be cool... I've always felt that "half-fiend" and "half-celestial" were too generic... but we don't really have a good place to do a giant pile of specific templates that would just go from being a complete list to an incomplete one the next time we statted up a new outsider.

James,

Do you happen to know if Lisa is going to the 20th anniversary of Vampire the Masquerade Grand Masquerade event this Sept in New Orleans?? I'm sure she's very busy with Paizo stuff, but I was just wondering.

If you don't know the answer, can you direct her here so she can answer please?

Also,
favorite chocolately type candy?? favorite non-chocolately type candy??

What are some ways, if any, that PCs could help Nocticula ascend??

I don't know if Lisa's going to that or not. I'll ask her to pop in and reply unless I forget, which I might since it's 2:35 AM right now and I'm kinda out of it...

Favorite chocolatey one: Reeses' peanut butter cups, I guess.

Favorite non-chocolately type: I suppose probably something raspberry flavored.

Condolences.

He's got to be there for something, and if you can find out what that is, cool. If not, and if he's not disrupting the game for everyone else... it's okay to just let him be, of course.

Fair enough. I feel like I'm losing him, but you're right. If it's not a causing any disruption, I shouldn't let it worry me, because there's nothing I can do about it. I appreciate the advice.

Flicking through the Second Darkness manuals (having given up on trying to write my own given lack of time/funds/fact nobody has played this series yet) and I've noticed the Ghonhatine beastie, and the write-up states that the flesh-warped Trog requires ever greater supplies of food to sustain it's mutant physiology.

In that case, does it mean that a Ghonhatine could technically live for decades if wearing a Ring of Sustenance? Or would the ring only function for a short while before being 'overloaded' by the ever-increasing demands of it's wearer?

stuff

Shouldn't you be a charter superscriber or something? :-)

Run, Just Run wrote:

what do you think of the warlord class?

Aside from knowing (barely) that it's a class from 4th edition D&D (correct?)...

...I don't think of it at all. I've never even looked at it. Don't really feel much of a need to.

Actually adamant enterainment made it into a pathfinder class.

Kajehase wrote:

Is there any chance of us getting more specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials (as in half-glabrezu, or half-lillend, for example).

Not a big one. They'd be cool... I've always felt that "half-fiend" and "half-celestial" were too generic... but we don't really have a good place to do a giant pile of specific templates that would just go from being a complete list to an incomplete one the next time we statted up a new outsider.

Right... so I'm actually going to have to read the monster-creation bit in the Bestiary? Perkele! ;)

Condolences.

Mine as well.

Chris Mortika wrote:

Condolences.

Mine as well.

And mine.

Kajehase wrote:

Is there any chance of us getting more specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials (as in half-glabrezu, or half-lillend, for example).

Not a big one. They'd be cool... I've always felt that "half-fiend" and "half-celestial" were too generic... but we don't really have a good place to do a giant pile of specific templates that would just go from being a complete list to an incomplete one the next time we statted up a new outsider.

I think he means making specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials of the more common variety, i.e the succubi and incubi would be the most likely from the demons, the Erinyes from the devils, certain Devas (Astral, Monadic, Movanic) and maybe some Azatas.

I recall from Fiendish Codex 2, that the more human-like in appearance the devil was the more likely it would have the "The Propagation" factor, I think the same could be applied to the other outsiders, and thus only the most human like outsiders get half-templates, not all of them. Maybe only 3-6 from each division of outsider and no more.

To make the templates a like more flexible, instead of the fixed spell-like abilities at level X, have a racial casting level, with the progression of the spell thief from complete adventurer and with unique lists, 1/2-succubi would have enchantment and illusion spells. 1/2 Astral would get Abjuration and evocation spells. Do I need to go on?

Marshall Fundaburk wrote:

I see. Thanks for all your help, James. I really appreciate it. = ) Going back to Ixinix, lord of blackwater. It seemed to me as possibly the lord of ixitxachitl before Demogorgon took that over when it died after helping to destroy The Malgoth. But that's just my theory. Do you have any ideas on what Ixinix was like?

Not many... I never got around to doing much more with Ixinix. My gut feeling was that he was some sort of giant sentient oil slick type blob thing, that the "blackwater" was literal, and he had no set form.

Awesome! Kind of like a black pudding, maybe?

Since the 600th layer of The Abyss was apparently already a gigantic labyrinth before Baphomet got there, was it built by Pale Night and her minions or created by The Abyss itself?

Flicking through the Second Darkness manuals (having given up on trying to write my own given lack of time/funds/fact nobody has played this series yet) and I've noticed the Ghonhatine beastie, and the write-up states that the flesh-warped Trog requires ever greater supplies of food to sustain it's mutant physiology.

In that case, does it mean that a Ghonhatine could technically live for decades if wearing a Ring of Sustenance? Or would the ring only function for a short while before being 'overloaded' by the ever-increasing demands of it's wearer?

Technically yes... that ring would allow a ghonhatine to live a lot longer. But in practice, it probably wouldn't extend life much longer, since those things are violent and tend toward violent ends.

James Jacobs wrote:

Run, Just Run wrote:

what do you think of the warlord class?

Aside from knowing (barely) that it's a class from 4th edition D&D (correct?)...

...I don't think of it at all. I've never even looked at it. Don't really feel much of a need to.

Actually adamant enterainment made it into a pathfinder class.

First I've heard of this, actually.

It's kind of a cool thing, as far as I'm concerned, that there are more Pathfinder compatible products out there than I can ever hope to keep track of.

Since the 600th layer of The Abyss was apparently already a gigantic labyrinth before Baphomet got there, was it built by Pale Night and her minions or created by The Abyss itself?

It's unlikely Pale Night built it—I suspect it was there for a long time.

It remains to be seen exactly how much flavor we can squeeze into the book for all of the races, but I'd LOVE to be able to include notes on regional variants for all the races similar to how we treated elves, for example, with the forlorn and the Mordant spire and the Kyonin elves, etc

I thought I'd add here that it makes intuitive sense to me to have the Advanced Race Guide include new alternate racial traits (a la the APG) but have these racial traits tied to regions. For example:

Tribe fetish (Mwangi Expanse - Halfling)
While most halflings rely on good fortune to get by, a few halfling tribes of the Mwangi Expanse rely on the presence of a tribe shaman or spirit speaker who act as a living fetish. Such halflings grant all allies within 10 feet, other than the halfling himself, a +1 bonus to initiative and a +1 bonus to will saves. This racial trait replaces the halfling luck racial trait.

James Jacobs wrote:

Kajehase wrote:

Is there any chance of us getting more specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials (as in half-glabrezu, or half-lillend, for example).

Not a big one. They'd be cool... I've always felt that "half-fiend" and "half-celestial" were too generic... but we don't really have a good place to do a giant pile of specific templates that would just go from being a complete list to an incomplete one the next time we statted up a new outsider.

I think he means making specific templates for half-fiends and half-celestials of the more common variety, i.e the succubi and incubi would be the most likely from the demons, the Erinyes from the devils, certain Devas (Astral, Monadic, Movanic) and maybe some Azatas.

I recall from Fiendish Codex 2, that the more human-like in appearance the devil was the more likely it would have the "The Propagation" factor, I think the same could be applied to the other outsiders, and thus only the most human like outsiders get half-templates, not all of them. Maybe only 3-6 from each division of outsider and no more.

To make the templates a like more flexible, instead of the fixed spell-like abilities at level X, have a racial casting level, with the progression of the spell thief from complete adventurer and with unique lists, 1/2-succubi would have enchantment and illusion spells. 1/2 Astral would get Abjuration and evocation spells. Do I need to go on?

Nah, James answered exactly what I was asking. If not in the way I'd have wanted. ;)