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There's no Fiend Folio other than 1st edition. There was no Highlander 2. George Lucas only made three Star Wars films.
It threw me off; I didn't know he was talking about 1e.Comparing the 3.5 Fiend Folio (which was mostly written by Paizo Employees at the time) to Highlander 2 and the new Star Wars films is not an efficient way to maintain favor in the eyes of the Publisher or the Editor in Chief at Paizo.
Just sayin'. :-P
<shameless butt kissing> On the other hand, I think it was the best book ever written for 3.5. Wonderful. Can't get any better than this brilliant piece of work. The designers who worked on the book have nearly godlike minds. </shameless butt kissing>
In an attempt to wrest this thread back onto the subject of the Far Realm and the Dark Tapestry...
I created the kaorti. :-P
Ahh, the Kaorti. They played a part in my Planescape campaign when the far realm began to invade.
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<shameless butt kissing> On the other hand, I think it was the best book ever written for 3.5. Wonderful. Can't get any better than this brilliant piece of work. The designers who worked on the book have nearly godlike minds. </shameless butt kissing>There's no Fiend Folio other than 1st edition. There was no Highlander 2. George Lucas only made three Star Wars films.
It threw me off; I didn't know he was talking about 1e.Comparing the 3.5 Fiend Folio (which was mostly written by Paizo Employees at the time) to Highlander 2 and the new Star Wars films is not an efficient way to maintain favor in the eyes of the Publisher or the Editor in Chief at Paizo.
Just sayin'. :-P
I don't kiss no hiney.
I liked the book.
A better question is, is there going to be an Adventure Path that focuses on creatures or people that conspire with beings from the "Far Realms" (Dark Tapestry)? We've seen them appear from time to time in APs so far. But it would be super awesome to have a full AP that focused entirely on that.
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More seriously, both the ethergaunts and the kaorti have figured heavily into my past campaigns. They were a huge hit and just about scared the crap out of my players.
Fiend Folio is just as useful as the first Monster Manual and I made heavy use of it. Which is saying something as I tend to forget to use monster tomes outside of the MM1. The only other two that I have used with any frequency was the Monsternomicon from Iron Kingdoms and Tome of Horrors from Necromancer.
In an attempt to wrest this thread back onto the subject of the Far Realm and the Dark Tapestry...
I created the kaorti. :-P
Not to mention, you also tied them to the Imaskari in the Realms, which was awesome, because at the time Imaskar was still a lost empire and not the latest lost empire to show up in modern times . . .
Comparing the 3.5 Fiend Folio (which was mostly written by Paizo Employees at the time) to Highlander 2 and the new Star Wars films is not an efficient way to maintain favor in the eyes of the Publisher or the Editor in Chief at Paizo.
Shameless [and true] apple polishry.
In the great library purge, I kept only one Fiend Folio. The one mostly written Paizo employees...
Creative Director
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I've never seen the inside of this hypothetical 3.5 Fiend Folio. I've always assumed that, like the Monster Manual IX, it would be filled with things for which I had no use. I am willing to be persuaded.
Just sayin'. :-P
The Fiend Folio was fueled by a VERY different design philosophy than Monster Manuals 3, 4, and 5. The goal for the Fiend Folio for us authors was to bring a lot of the up-until-then not converted to 3rd edition monsters into the fold (including old favorites like demodands, a lot of planescape critters, shedus, etc.), to bring in more mythological monsters, to bring in several new detailed and flavorful races (on par with what the original Fiend Folio did with drow, kuo-toa, githyanki, svirfneblin, and githzerai), and to fill in the gaps with cool monsters.
If you're a fan of the types of monsters that end up in Pathfinder's bestiaries, chances are pretty good that you'll be a fan of a significant portion of the Fiend Folio since, as I mentioned earlier, the majority of the writers of the 3rd edition Fiend Folio worked at Paizo at the time (and some of us—me and Erik—still do).
Oh yeah, speaking of demodands.
They going to show up anywhere? :)
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Creative Director
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Oh yeah, speaking of demodands.
They going to show up anywhere? :)
Demodands also got into the Tome of Horrors, and so are open content. We like them at Paizo... to the extent that our first Adventure Path may well be the definitive demodand adventure (I'm not sure if they really ever got used much outside of Shackled City...). When they'll be officially statted up for PRPG? Who knows? Eventually!
Oh yeah, speaking of demodands.
They going to show up anywhere? :)
Their section in The Great Beyond was cut to come under the word limit.
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In an attempt to wrest this thread back onto the subject of the Far Realm and the Dark Tapestry...
I created the kaorti. :-P
Seriously? My version of AoW (in fact, the whole campaign) is based on an ancient kingdom of sorcerers who returned from the Far Realm as Kaorti! The minute I read the entry I knew that I wanted to write a whole campaign around them -- they are just so cool! :)
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A better question is, is there going to be an Adventure Path that focuses on creatures or people that conspire with beings from the "Far Realms" (Dark Tapestry)? We've seen them appear from time to time in APs so far. But it would be super awesome to have a full AP that focused entirely on that.
AoW works pretty well for that...
Anyone remember the Ethergaunts from...I think the MM2? Those were amazing mid-level bad guys. I had a lot of fun as a DM involving their rather sneaky genocide return storyline in one of my games.
I'm doing the same thing right now in Greyhawk! I've tied them to the Egg of Coot, Exag, the City of Clay, and a 3rd location I can't remember off the top of my head.
Nick Logue wrote that great adventure w/ Ethergaunts & Nerra--"Mask of Diamond Tears"--if anyone's interested in seeing them in a published adventure.
And they can be found in the last part of the
On topic, I like "The Dark Tapestry" answer, and of course the oldest parts of the Abyss work great too.
Outer space. The people of Golarion often call it "The Dark Tapestry" (meaning the black places between the stars). Basically, when you speak about the "Far Realms" you're talking about the Lovecraft-inspired stuff in D&D. For Golarion, we've decided to simply incorporate Lovecraft's vision and mythos into the world to a certain extent. We've come up with phrases like "The Dark Tapestry" and new content and monsters, but also have drawn upon the writings themselves.
That said, the Abyss itself is another place you can go to to get the creatures of madness. Things like the qlippoths and some of the demonic denizens of the Abyss are certainly quite crazy.
Finally, the plane of Shadow is another place with creatures of madness; as mentioned above, this is where Zon-Kuthon dwells.
I find it staggering that the alien'esque creatures are actually, in pathfinder, in space. It seems the obvious choice, but something never done. However, if things are out in space, how do you get there? A spelljammer approach? I assume, anyway, that you mean space by "between the stars."
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Having the 'Far Realms' type critters being extraterrestrial, rather than extraplanar, suggests that some other sort of spells than Summon Monster X would be needed to call them up. (Or, more accurately, bring them down...) Gosh, I'm all aflutter to see the Golarion equivalent of Wolfgang Bauers Sungazer (a Scimitars Against the Dark kit for Wizards who spent so much time staring at the sun that they had learned forbidden unearthly secrets, and, incidentally, gone mad) or the 3.X Alienist.
I happen to enjoy the Shadar-Kai. If they were open content they would make a great race of Zon-Kuthon worshiping fey.Love the Etherguants. Shame WoTC never really did anything with them...but they sure shove those stupid Shadar-Kai down everyone's throats!
I sooo totally agree.
I find it staggering that the alien'esque creatures are actually, in pathfinder, in space. It seems the obvious choice, but something never done. However, if things are out in space, how do you get there? A spelljammer approach? I assume, anyway, that you mean space by "between the stars."
Forgotten gates created by lost civilizations, obscure lore found in ancient tomes allowing for the use of Greater Teleport... etc
EDIT: Another option to winding up on some distant world, would be for a cataclysmic failure of a Gate spell returning you home from the Outter Planes.
Zon Kuthon worshipping fey sounds like a cool assed concept; I bet it could be done independently of Shadar Kai without the "mind splayer" or "eyebolder" kitsch that Paizo's refused to partake of--i.e. it wouldn't necessarily scream "kadar shai" ripoff.
I extend the sign of the Fonz to thee.
I don't remember that one. Which book is it in?3.5 Fiend Folio. Same book as ethergaunts and shadar-kai.
Oh shadar-kai, you mean the githyanki of the second Fiend Folio? Heh heh heh. ;)
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Forgotten gates created by lost civilizations, obscure lore found in ancient tomes allowing for the use of Greater Teleport... etc
EDIT: Another option to winding up on some distant world, would be for a cataclysmic failure of a Gate spell returning you home from the Outter Planes.
Kind of off topic, but some of 'my' Azlanti escaped to other worlds, Castrovel, Bretheda, and the Diaspora. There is an Azlanti/Elan(XPH)/Castrovel connection as well as an Azlanti/Atlan(SoPM)/Diaspora connection. Sone of the 'Worldgates' survived Skyfall, and some are truely 'Stargates' connecting to the stars.
Aside, is Triaxus based on Brian Aldiss' Helliconia trillogy?
IDK; maybe there was a 2e Fiend Folio wit' rabbit-shaped-tumor-headed mimics or whatever.
There was a 2nd ed Monstrous Compendium addition that was called the Fiend Folio.
The etheregaunts were awesome. The original material was damn cool, and the fluff that Mechalich wrote only further endeared them to me. Ended up using them on two occasions in my home campaign in the deep ethereal.
Man I Googled that bit of fluff and read it today! Thanks for the point out Todd, that was some phatty backstory on Mona's monster!
Silver Rose players beware. Sometime you will face them!
<cue evil laughter here>
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I sooo totally agree.I happen to enjoy the Shadar-Kai. If they were open content they would make a great race of Zon-Kuthon worshiping fey.Love the Etherguants. Shame WoTC never really did anything with them...but they sure shove those stupid Shadar-Kai down everyone's throats!
You could easily turn the Fetchlings into this...
--Vrock Candy
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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And they can be found in the last part of the ** spoiler omitted **
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).
I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
And they can be found in the last part of the ** spoiler omitted **
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).
I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
How is Kyle doing? We have not seen him around here in a long time.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012
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And they can be found in the last part of the ** spoiler omitted **
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).
I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
Thanks, Erik! I ask a fairly mundane question, and I'm getting an awesome "history" lesson. This is good stuff.
As far as fetchlings go, they're one of four monsters I claimed in Bestiary 2. :)
Cooooool :)
And they can be found in the last part of the ** spoiler omitted **
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).
I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
Awesome story behind the 3rd edition Fiend Folio. Thanks for the history!
[
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
Whoops, I misremembered that post I thought it was the shadar-kai that took the "Null-prize".
Apologies to James.
I actually really liked the Shadar-kai when they were ancient evil fey creatures that had made a bad pack with something in the Plane of Shadows and now has to cause themselves pain to not be claimed by that pact. They actually made for a cool, evil race of fey that could serve as decent enemies.
When Shadar-kai shifted to human kids that moved to the Shadowfell suburbs because their parents didn't understand them, and then they start wearing piercings and tatoos to show how "into" the Raven Queen they are, they immediately lost about a thousand points of cool.
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I actually really liked the Shadar-kai when they were ancient evil fey creatures that had made a bad pack with something in the Plane of Shadows and now has to cause themselves pain to not be claimed by that pact. They actually made for a cool, evil race of fey that could serve as decent enemies.
When Shadar-kai shifted to human kids that moved to the Shadowfell suburbs because their parents didn't understand them, and then they start wearing piercings and tatoos to show how "into" the Raven Queen they are, they immediately lost about a thousand points of cool.
Agreed. However, the shadow jaunt power they got was thematically cool. I want to figure out how to make it work in PFRPG while keeping them low level fey opponents.
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Zon Kuthon worshipping fey sounds like a cool assed concept; I bet it could be done independently of Shadar Kai without the "mind splayer" or "eyebolder" kitsch that Paizo's refused to partake of--i.e. it wouldn't necessarily scream "kadar shai" ripoff.
I was actually thinking of a name along the lines of stinovany jedna, which is Nidalese for shadowed one. Or maybe just stinovany, I'm not sure which. Ok so actuly it is Czech, but still...
Edit: Either that or svartálfar, the norse word for dark fey.
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And they can be found in the last part of the ** spoiler omitted **
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).
I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.
Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.
Hmmm... Monadic Deva... why am I not surprised this one is yours, Erik? ;)
Thanks for sharing that story; I personally think the art does not do justice to the Ethergaunts -- they're way cooler than those amateurish doodlings. I really liked FF, and have used a lot of those monsters -- there are some weird ones there, but mostly it's really good stuff; I liked the mix of new monsters with old ones, such as one of my all-time favorites; the dreaded Yellow Musk Creeper! :)
I also liked many monsters in MM III, but the shift in design philosophy which is apparent in MM IV and MM V was so different that I never bought them...
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Zon Kuthon worshipping fey sounds like a cool assed concept; I bet it could be done independently of Shadar Kai without the "mind splayer" or "eyebolder" kitsch that Paizo's refused to partake of--i.e. it wouldn't necessarily scream "kadar shai" ripoff.I was actually thinking of a name along the lines of stinovany jedna, which is Nidalese for shadowed one. Or maybe just stinovany, I'm not sure which. Ok so actuly it is Czech, but still...
Edit: Either that or svartálfar, the norse word for dark fey.
Or you could use 'Varjoiset', which means the same thing ("shadowed ones") in Finnish. ;)
FAR REALMS LEPRECHAUNS!!!!!