Creative Director
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Hey James, I'm hoping you could help me with some rules questions I have about the Monk of The Empty Hand.
Let's say my character has a +1 quarterstaff, and Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff. Since I am now treating the +1 Quarterstaff as a improvised weapon that acts as itself.. do those bonuses still apply to attack and damage rolls?
Nope. You have weapon focus with the quarterstaff, not with an improvised weapon.
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Creative Director
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Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.
Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.
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How much does the average Gillman know about the aboleth? Assuming I was a slimehunter variant (reminder: they trade the usual magic +2 magic resistance/ -2 penalty vs. aboleth magic penalty for just a straight +2 vs. aboleth magic) and an Eldritch Raider rogue archetype with ranks in Dungeoneering and the Scholar feat tied to dungeoneering... a GM I threw a concept to still thinks I shouldn't be able to say I 'hate aboleth' because I don't know what they are. My main reason for asking this is to get some input from the creative director might help since most of what he knows about the gillmen is just what's on the IP-stripped d20pfsrd. Part of the reason he's so critical is he's had issues in the past with players who equate I am an elf with I am an expert on elves and elven history, what's this silly knowledge skill crap? and while I'm not looking to be an expert on aboleth, it seems to me a gillman should know the basics about their ancestral enemy, especially one that is from a family that has broken the chains in active defiance (that's how I see the slimehunter variant)
The average gillman knows nothing about them. Other than PERHAPS some "boogeyman" stories.
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Creative Director
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James, thanks for the excellent list. Your inclusion of Alien, the Thing, and especially 2001 (with caveat) was all I needed to convince my girlfriend to watch everything on it we haven't seen yet.
You may have missed this question because you compiled that excellent list, but:
If you were to try and capture the horror in Absentia as a Pathfinder module, what kind of beastie would you use? Where would you set it?
Of course, perhaps you declined to answer because it's such a cool idea that you might actually want to publish it some day, in which case feel free to ignore me.
Hmmmmm. Phase spider, probably. Maybe a xill. I would set it in Ustalav, in one of the cities.
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Have you ever had a character you yourself (as a GM or fellow player) wanted to Blast with the Horns of Iomedae's Annoyance?
Are there any plans on doing another AP section or standalone adventure like RoW 4(The Frozen Stars) where the players have the option of choosing sides in a battle or war?
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Nope. You have weapon focus with the quarterstaff, not with an improvised weapon.Hey James, I'm hoping you could help me with some rules questions I have about the Monk of The Empty Hand.
Let's say my character has a +1 quarterstaff, and Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff. Since I am now treating the +1 Quarterstaff as a improvised weapon that acts as itself.. do those bonuses still apply to attack and damage rolls?
Is there such a thing as Weapon Focus: Improvised Weapon? I know MoTEH is considered proficient with improvised weapons, and Weapon Focus' only prereq is proficiency.
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Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Well, write if you ever want to visit West Virginia. We have wonderful caves.
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Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.
What's his evil laugh like? Subtle chuckling? Loud and bombastic "MOO-HA-HAing?" Insane cackling of the variety that Mark Hammill built his post-Star-Wars career on? I'm curious and if I ever run this AP myself I wanna do it justice.
I suppose the Runelords ARE Golarion's supervillains.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever had a character you yourself (as a GM or fellow player) wanted to Blast with the Horns of Iomedae's Annoyance?
Are there any plans on doing another AP section or standalone adventure like RoW 4(The Frozen Stars) where the players have the option of choosing sides in a battle or war?
I have. What GM hasn't?
Frozen Stars was a tricky one, since it had to walk a VERY thin line of "How do we do this without making half the adventure useless to half the games?" I'm not sure we'll be trying it again anytime soon. It was, if I recall correctly, hands down the HARDEST adventure to develop in that AP as a result.
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Creative Director
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My PFS Summoner has Armiger rank in the HellKnights thanks to Cheliax faction Prestige. He doesn't wear the armor, nor have any ranks in the PrC. The one benefit he has from this is +3 to Diplomacy/Intimidate rolls vs. HellKnights.Is levels in one of the Hellknight prestige classes required to be a Hellknight? What about wearing the armor? Can a person join the Hellknights, earn the right to wear the armor, yet not take the prestige class?Since the Hellknight prestige class is a prestige class... no. You don't have to have levels in the class to be in a Hellknight order. Most folks who don't are known as armigers, but there are some non-Hellknights in the group as well. You can likely earn the right to wear the armor in some rare situations (and of course anyone who wants to wear it can anyway, which isn't as big a problem in regions the Hellknights don't patrol)... but you have to have levels in the class to gain those special Hellknight armor perks of course.
Let's keep the thread to questions, please; thanks! ;-)
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Creative Director
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Is there such a thing as Weapon Focus: Improvised Weapon? I know MoTEH is considered proficient with improvised weapons, and Weapon Focus' only prereq is proficiency.Nope. You have weapon focus with the quarterstaff, not with an improvised weapon.Hey James, I'm hoping you could help me with some rules questions I have about the Monk of The Empty Hand.
Let's say my character has a +1 quarterstaff, and Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff. Since I am now treating the +1 Quarterstaff as a improvised weapon that acts as itself.. do those bonuses still apply to attack and damage rolls?
There's not really.
Weapon Focus is not a great feat to choose if you're a Monk of the Open Hand. That's perfectly fine. Not every feat needs to be equally good for every character.
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Creative Director
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Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.What's his evil laugh like? Subtle chuckling? Loud and bombastic "MOO-HA-HAing?" Insane cackling of the variety that Mark Hammill built his post-Star-Wars career on? I'm curious and if I ever run this AP myself I wanna do it justice.
I suppose the Runelords ARE Golarion's supervillains.
Vincent Price of course.
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Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Wow! Knowing that you're such a Lovecraft fan, I find that surprising!
Any place in New England you'd like to visit some day?
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Vincent Price of course.Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.What's his evil laugh like? Subtle chuckling? Loud and bombastic "MOO-HA-HAing?" Insane cackling of the variety that Mark Hammill built his post-Star-Wars career on? I'm curious and if I ever run this AP myself I wanna do it justice.
I suppose the Runelords ARE Golarion's supervillains.
*takes notes for his mocking laughter in Fortress of the Stone Giants*
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Since the Hellknight prestige class is a prestige class... no. You don't have to have levels in the class to be in a Hellknight order. Most folks who don't are known as armigers, but there are some non-Hellknights in the group as well. You can likely earn the right to wear the armor in some rare situations (and of course anyone who wants to wear it can anyway, which isn't as big a problem in regions the Hellknights don't patrol)... but you have to have levels in the class to gain those special Hellknight armor perks of course.
Okay, yeah cause I have a character I really want to be a hellknight "profession" wise, but the class itself doesn't interest me nearly as much as (Un)Holy Vindicator... bleeding stigmata in the name of the Godclaw... She's a LE antipaladin (Fire Mountain's Way of the Wicked archetype)
On a side note based on that, I know you have disavowed the Paladins of Asmodeus (and I agree) but what is your current stance on Paladins being Hellknights of the Order of the Godclaw? One of the current leaders is like a level 5 paladin or something. Is she in imminent danger of falling from grace?
The average gillman knows nothing about them. Other than PERHAPS some "boogeyman" stories.
Okay, that does make some sense, but then what about the language they speak? They automatically get Aboleth and Common then can learn Aklo and a few others as bonus languages. Do they just know their language is called Aboleth? Or, better question, if I was playing a gillman with a +8 Dungeoneering in your game*, what info would I know about the aboleth?
(I tried for fun "rolling" and got a 19 total, but then I decided to consolidate the two posts I had made, and ended up with a 10 lol so I just deleted the roll.)
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Creative Director
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Who would you assign Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi's laughs and exprssions to? Bonus points for Mark Hamill.Vincent Price of course.Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.What's his evil laugh like? Subtle chuckling? Loud and bombastic "MOO-HA-HAing?" Insane cackling of the variety that Mark Hammill built his post-Star-Wars career on? I'm curious and if I ever run this AP myself I wanna do it justice.
I suppose the Runelords ARE Golarion's supervillains.
Dunno.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Wow! Knowing that you're such a Lovecraft fan, I find that surprising!
Any place in New England you'd like to visit some day?
Providence, Rhode Island.
The Smithsonian.Point Pleasant, VA.
New York.
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Creative Director
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Since the Hellknight prestige class is a prestige class... no. You don't have to have levels in the class to be in a Hellknight order. Most folks who don't are known as armigers, but there are some non-Hellknights in the group as well. You can likely earn the right to wear the armor in some rare situations (and of course anyone who wants to wear it can anyway, which isn't as big a problem in regions the Hellknights don't patrol)... but you have to have levels in the class to gain those special Hellknight armor perks of course.
Okay, yeah cause I have a character I really want to be a hellknight "profession" wise, but the class itself doesn't interest me nearly as much as (Un)Holy Vindicator... bleeding stigmata in the name of the Godclaw... She's a LE antipaladin (Fire Mountain's Way of the Wicked archetype)
On a side note based on that, I know you have disavowed the Paladins of Asmodeus (and I agree) but what is your current stance on Paladins being Hellknights of the Order of the Godclaw? One of the current leaders is like a level 5 paladin or something. Is she in imminent danger of falling from grace?
The average gillman knows nothing about them. Other than PERHAPS some "boogeyman" stories.Okay, that does make some sense, but then what about the language they speak? They automatically get Aboleth and Common then can learn Aklo and a few others as bonus languages. Do they just know their language is called Aboleth? Or, better question, if I was playing a gillman with a +8 Dungeoneering in your game*, what info would I know about the aboleth?
(I tried for fun "rolling" and got a 19 total, but then I decided to consolidate the two posts I had made, and ended up with a 10 lol so I just deleted the roll.)
*...
Paladins in the order of the Godclaw seem weird, but possible. Still, weird.
Oh... hmm. Nevermind. If they automatically start with Aboleth, then I think perhaps that they DO know about them a bit more, but still think of them as boogyemen. (Honestly, I've not yet really done a LOT of thinking about gillmen.)
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Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Wow! Knowing that you're such a Lovecraft fan, I find that surprising!
Any place in New England you'd like to visit some day?
Providence, Rhode Island.
The Smithsonian.
Point Pleasant, VA.
New York.
Believe it or not Boston can be a great place to visit as well.:)
*New England unfortunately doesn't have the Smithsonian or Point Pleasant. It's the state region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Plus Massachusetts is also the setting of many of Lovecraft's works; Bonus Points ;)*
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Creative Director
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Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Wow! Knowing that you're such a Lovecraft fan, I find that surprising!
Any place in New England you'd like to visit some day?
Providence, Rhode Island.
The Smithsonian.
Point Pleasant, VA.
New York.Believe it or not Boston can be a great place to visit as well.:)
*New England unfortunately doesn't have the Smithsonian or Point Pleasant. It's the state region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Plus Massachusetts is also the setting of many of Lovecraft's works; Bonus Points ;)*
Heh... there ya go. My interest in New England is sparse enough that I don't really even know what it is, I guess.
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The Smithsonian is a pretty cool visit, even if you've never seen the movies.
I personally love the gemstone exhibits in the Museum of Natural History.I think the movie actually only involves the Museum of Natural History.
FYI, 'the Smithsonian' is EVERY museum around the National Mall, the stretch of open grassland at the center of them between the Washington National Monument and the Senate Building. I actually didn't know that until I walked up on it...who calls an open park a Mall?
Boston has one major problem...getting around by car is a total pain. At least both places have good public transportation.
==Aelryinth
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Oh... hmm. Nevermind. If they automatically start with Aboleth, then I think perhaps that they DO know about them a bit more, but still think of them as boogyemen. (Honestly, I've not yet really done a LOT of thinking about gillmen.)
Okay, thanks, again for that (though for reasons I'll not get into, it's no longer necessary haha but still useful in other games), and as to the Hellknight info, thanks also. I kinda agree, it's weird which is why I asked... I was like "Wait what? One of the leaders of the Godclaw is a paladin?"
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A while ago I asked you about paladins and The Green Faith, noting its emphasis on cycles and natural laws and stuff. Your response made sense: Paladins are all about doing what's right and honorable, and the Green Faith is about nature, which ISN'T right and ISN'T honorable.
I'm curious now about on the other end. Followers of the Green Faith can be any Neutral, including LN and NG. I'm wondering how "paladin-like" a NG druid of the Green Faith could get away with being. Working to venerate and protect nature, destroy those who despoil it, maintain the balance of it, etc. seems pretty straightforward, but how much leeway does such a person get before their alignment is essentially LG and nature ceases to empower them? I suppose the root of the question is that I have a hard time understanding how to separate the various Good alignments from one another in terms of behavior, especially if such a character believes in things like maintaining or restoring the balance and cycles of the world where they've been damaged (like in the Worldwound for example).
What separates a NG person from a LG person?
Which AP villain would you say would be the best disposed to do an evil laugh about their plans and stuff? I know usually the protagonists aren't present in the exposition scenes those laughs normally accompany so the odds of the villain doing so in front of the PCs is slim, but I'm curious all the same.Karzoug. He kinda does this already a few times during the AP; once at the end of part 4 and again at the end of part 5.
Apropos of nothing much, I saw some TV show the other day — "The Flash" I think — in which there was a minor villain who looked an awful lot like Karzoug.
Have you ever been to New England?Nope.
Furthest east I've been is somewhere in Atlanta, at the airport, which was a long complicated flight to Gen Con. The furthest east I've been OUTSIDE of an airport is Indianapolis, for Gen Con. Not counting trips to Gen Con... I've never left the Washington/California (and thus Oregon) side of things.
Wow! Knowing that you're such a Lovecraft fan, I find that surprising!
Any place in New England you'd like to visit some day?
Providence, Rhode Island.
The Smithsonian.
Point Pleasant, VA.
New York.Believe it or not Boston can be a great place to visit as well.:)
*New England unfortunately doesn't have the Smithsonian or Point Pleasant. It's the state region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Plus Massachusetts is also the setting of many of Lovecraft's works; Bonus Points ;)*
Maine is also Stephen King country, if you're into that.
James,
In Casmaron, does the top part of Kelesh butt right up against the south part of Iobaria, or is there an intermediary area? Also, is there an intermediary zone or a strict border between Kelesh and Vudra? I understand you can't say anything concrete on these but just a general sense of how tightly packed and large the known major countries in that area are.
Also, The Panotti race statted up in Muder's Mark is really cool, and looking it up I learned about all the other races that are supposed to be from the same area. Do you have any desire or plans to stat up Blemmyes or Monopods? I guess Cynocephali could be done with existing things but the others are pretty distinctive.
Contributor
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Hey, I couldn't find this in a thread search, so I decided to ask. Sorry if this has been asked before. (It's about Mythic, too. Sorry.)
One of my Wrath of the Righteous players is taking the full Divine Source series for his paladin. One of the (sub)domains he wants is Resurrection, which would give the character raise dead, resurrection, and true resurrection as spell-like abilities (removing the gp cost). Which way of handling this do you think would be best?
1) Allow the full use of these abilities, with no gp cost, just as written. Free resurrections!
2) Allow the use of the spell-like abilities, but require the player to provide material components.
3) Deny the subdomain entirely. I'd rather avoid this option, though...
For context, I'm planning for the campaign to go to 20th level and 10 tiers, just as written. Also, the party has no cleric, just an inquisitor and a bloodrager.
Thank you! :)
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The first two plots have been translated into Pathfinder APs already—Curse of the Crimson Throne and Serpent's Skull. I've not yet translated the third into one yet, because I don't think management will let me kill off Irori with a transplanar supernatural immense faith parasite monster that siphons belief and digests it into anti-belief and then shoots it across the planes to kill a god.
What about Abadar?
When you summon a creature using summon monster or summon natures ally, how does it work? Does it conjure a likeness of that creature to fight for you or does it bring a real creature from somewhere?
Have you seem the film "Resolution"? It's on netflix now if you haven't. Judging by the films you like (which are very similar to mine), I think you'll really like it.
Where did Lini find Droogami?
James,
is the Cult of the Dawnflower problem with insufficiently good and merciful followers an issue in kelesh as a whole, or is it mostly a Qadiran-and-Avistani thing?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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James, is this horrorific pie for you?.
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What would you do if you had an Eidolon?
If there any hope for a type of Eidolon that is smarter or more charismatic than most NPCs in anything coming out?
Thinking of setting a campaign in the fantasy equivilent of the American Southwest (i.e. home, only about 700 years ago). How would you approach an area like this which is not your usual fantasy setting?
Thanks for your answers in advance.
Hello!
Thank you for your answer about the dreaded Queen Ileosa. The thought of her at a national level of power is pretty scary.
Could you talk about this a bit more, "transplanar supernatural immense faith parasite monster that siphons belief and digests it into anti-belief and then shoots it across the planes to kill a god.", Because frankly that sounds amazing!
Also, what have/are the aboleth up to in your homebrewed game?
Hope you have a great weekend!
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Creative Director
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A while ago I asked you about paladins and The Green Faith, noting its emphasis on cycles and natural laws and stuff. Your response made sense: Paladins are all about doing what's right and honorable, and the Green Faith is about nature, which ISN'T right and ISN'T honorable.
I'm curious now about on the other end. Followers of the Green Faith can be any Neutral, including LN and NG. I'm wondering how "paladin-like" a NG druid of the Green Faith could get away with being. Working to venerate and protect nature, destroy those who despoil it, maintain the balance of it, etc. seems pretty straightforward, but how much leeway does such a person get before their alignment is essentially LG and nature ceases to empower them? I suppose the root of the question is that I have a hard time understanding how to separate the various Good alignments from one another in terms of behavior, especially if such a character believes in things like maintaining or restoring the balance and cycles of the world where they've been damaged (like in the Worldwound for example).
What separates a NG person from a LG person?
Lawful neutral is not paladin-like at all.
What separates neutral good from lawful good is that the neutral good person is willing to give up more to do good. They aren't going to be shackled by tradition or laws. Neutral good is, in a lot of ways, the most "pure" form of good.
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Creative Director
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In Casmaron, does the top part of Kelesh butt right up against the south part of Iobaria, or is there an intermediary area? Also, is there an intermediary zone or a strict border between Kelesh and Vudra? I understand you can't say anything concrete on these but just a general sense of how tightly packed and large the known major countries in that area are.
Also, The Panotti race statted up in Muder's Mark is really cool, and looking it up I learned about all the other races that are supposed to be from the same area. Do you have any desire or plans to stat up Blemmyes or Monopods? I guess Cynocephali could be done with existing things but the others are pretty distinctive.
Unrevealed.
And I'm pretty sure we'll not be doing much more with the Panotti anytime soon. I'm not super fond of them. We'll see, in time, I guess.
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Creative Director
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Hey, I couldn't find this in a thread search, so I decided to ask. Sorry if this has been asked before. (It's about Mythic, too. Sorry.)
One of my Wrath of the Righteous players is taking the full Divine Source series for his paladin. One of the (sub)domains he wants is Resurrection, which would give the character raise dead, resurrection, and true resurrection as spell-like abilities (removing the gp cost). Which way of handling this do you think would be best?
1) Allow the full use of these abilities, with no gp cost, just as written. Free resurrections!
2) Allow the use of the spell-like abilities, but require the player to provide material components.
3) Deny the subdomain entirely. I'd rather avoid this option, though...
For context, I'm planning for the campaign to go to 20th level and 10 tiers, just as written. Also, the party has no cleric, just an inquisitor and a bloodrager.
Thank you! :)
1) Allow full use. Mythic is mythic, after all. Frankly, I think that the GP cost for resurrections is kinda lame. It's already bad enough if your character dies since you have to sit quietly at the game table and not play and watch while everyone else has fun and you get to stew in the humiliation of being dead. Having to spend money to fix that is kinda kicking someone when they're down.
I would MUCH rather have an in-world reason why not everyone gets raised than "only the rich get it."
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When using Cleave, does the attacker have to finish the Cleave with the same weapon he started it with? For example, could a Fighter begin a Cleave with a reach weapon at a foe 10' away, then switch to Armor Spikes or a Spiked Gauntlet and finish the Cleave against a foe within 5'?
For that matter, does a Great Cleave all have to be with the same weapon?
That's a good question for the rules board and a FAQ. My take? Yes, it has to be with the same weapon, because it's called "Cleave," not "Hit A Foe With All Your Weapons And Stretch Credulity Even More About What You Can Do In One Round."
And the mental image of cleaving from one foe to the next with one mighty blow is just more interesting to picture than swapping weapons out.