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1)I don't know why you have issues with staying with the class... I can only state my own. Lawful characters are, in general, kinda boring to me. Although I DID quite enjoy playing lawful neutral Tyralandi back in the day, so it might just be a matter of finding the right class/deity combo.
Tyralandi?
Also I am curous how much of a say/ impact do you have on the PF Tales novels if any?
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1)I don't know why you have issues with staying with the class... I can only state my own. Lawful characters are, in general, kinda boring to me. Although I DID quite enjoy playing lawful neutral Tyralandi back in the day, so it might just be a matter of finding the right class/deity combo.Tyralandi?
Also I am curous how much of a say/ impact do you have on the PF Tales novels if any?
Yup! That's me!
(Tyralandi was my LN cleric of Wee Jas in Erik Mona's Age of Worms campaign he ran many, many years ago.
And I have full approval over the PF Tales, and periodically help with plots and stuff but 99% of that is James Sutter.)
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Is there an in-universe reason that succubi, mariliths, and erinyes are always female?
Succubi I kind of get (even if I don't necessarily like it), but it seems very odd that mariliths would be universally female. Same for erinyes.
I'm assuming the out-of-game reason is somewhere between "tradition" and "we want sexy-lady outsiders". I could be wrong though. As the author of Demons Revisited, I figured you would know. :)
Thank you! :)
got a question about Grappling for ya after some arguments in my game happened
the ending line for grapple " a successful check allows you to continue grappling the foe, and also allows you to perform one of the following actions (as part of the standard action spent to maintain the grapple)." and then
" Damage: You can inflict damage to your target equal to your unarmed strike, a natural attack, or an attack made with armor spikes or a light or one-handed weapon. This damage can be either lethal or nonlethal."
is this form of damage automatic or is it done with an attack role?
and what has to be done to have this sort of action to happen
like. your using both arms to grapple and you have a bite attack?
or if your grappling with one arm and have a free arm with a weapon does it go off of the
"Humanoid creatures without two free hands attempting to grapple a foe take a –4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll." line to do the grapple?
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Is there an in-universe reason that succubi, mariliths, and erinyes are always female?
Succubi I kind of get (even if I don't necessarily like it), but it seems very odd that mariliths would be universally female. Same for erinyes.
I'm assuming the out-of-game reason is somewhere between "tradition" and "we want sexy-lady outsiders". I could be wrong though. As the author of Demons Revisited, I figured you would know. :)
Thank you! :)
Succubi and incubi are two sides of the same coin. There are no male succubi because those are incubi.
As for erinyes, they're all female because Hell is a male dominated realm, and the erinyes are one of the few options for female devils to excel. Whether or not they cull the male erinyes or such creatures simply can't form is unclear.
There MIGHT be male mariliths out there... there's not really an in-game reason why there's not, apart from tradition/that's the way the Abyss wants it. The Abyss, unlike Hell, is a female dominated realm.
Is late, and I wrote Demons Revisited well over a year ago, so if I don't say much more about the reasons why (or why not), then there's not much more to say here.
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I'll take that response as a yes.Is there something beyond the Great Beyond? like other planes?That's an excellent question!
Take it how you wish. Whether or not there is or isn't remains an excellent question, and it's one that has long vexed scholars of the Great Beyond.
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got a question about Grappling for ya after some arguments in my game happened
the ending line for grapple " a successful check allows you to continue grappling the foe, and also allows you to perform one of the following actions (as part of the standard action spent to maintain the grapple)." and then
" Damage: You can inflict damage to your target equal to your unarmed strike, a natural attack, or an attack made with armor spikes or a light or one-handed weapon. This damage can be either lethal or nonlethal."
is this form of damage automatic or is it done with an attack role?
and what has to be done to have this sort of action to happen
like. your using both arms to grapple and you have a bite attack?
or if your grappling with one arm and have a free arm with a weapon does it go off of the
"Humanoid creatures without two free hands attempting to grapple a foe take a –4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll." line to do the grapple?
If you make your grapple check to maintain the grapple, that roll was your damage roll and that's what lets you do the damage.
That said, taking the question to the rules forums for a FAQ click is a good plan for questions like this.
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Is there an in-universe reason that succubi, mariliths, and erinyes are always female?
Succubi I kind of get (even if I don't necessarily like it), but it seems very odd that mariliths would be universally female. Same for erinyes.
I'm assuming the out-of-game reason is somewhere between "tradition" and "we want sexy-lady outsiders". I could be wrong though. As the author of Demons Revisited, I figured you would know. :)
Thank you! :)
Succubi and incubi are two sides of the same coin. There are no male succubi because those are incubi.
As for erinyes, they're all female because Hell is a male dominated realm, and the erinyes are one of the few options for female devils to excel. Whether or not they cull the male erinyes or such creatures simply can't form is unclear.
There MIGHT be male mariliths out there... there's not really an in-game reason why there's not, apart from tradition/that's the way the Abyss wants it. The Abyss, unlike Hell, is a female dominated realm.
Is late, and I wrote Demons Revisited well over a year ago, so if I don't say much more about the reasons why (or why not), then there's not much more to say here.
I figured it was so for succubi/incubi/erinyes.
Can individual succubi/incubi go the other way? A sweet, tempting incubus versus a violent, rapacious succubus? Or is their behavior locked into those gender stereotypes?
Also, Demons Revisited did say, "Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female". Are there exceptions to that?
I hope this doesn't sound hostile or demanding - I don't mean it that way at all, to be clear. Thank you for answering my questions! :)
As for erinyes, they're all female because Hell is a male dominated realm, and the erinyes are one of the few options for female devils to excel. Whether or not they cull the male erinyes or such creatures simply can't form is unclear.
Are devils' genders locked as either male or female? Could a male barbazu be promoted into a female erinyes?
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Can individual succubi/incubi go the other way? A sweet, tempting incubus versus a violent, rapacious succubus? Or is their behavior locked into those gender stereotypes?
Also, Demons Revisited did say, "Like succubi, mariliths are invariably female". Are there exceptions to that?
I hope this doesn't sound hostile or demanding - I don't mean it that way at all, to be clear. Thank you for answering my questions! :)
Yes, succubi and incubi could go either way, but that'd be rare. They are, after all, born out of the sins of their gender sterotypes, and as outsiders, don't have nearly the amount of free will a mortal has.
And as for maraliths... no reason that mortals know yet (aka there's not a deeper meaning, other than a combination of my preference for how they've traditionally been illustrated combined with my desire to ensure that there's at least one strong feminine role among demons).
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As for erinyes, they're all female because Hell is a male dominated realm, and the erinyes are one of the few options for female devils to excel. Whether or not they cull the male erinyes or such creatures simply can't form is unclear.Are devils' genders locked as either male or female? Could a male barbazu be promoted into a female erinyes?
They're not locked, but they STRONGLY skew toward male, due to the inherent male-dominated misogynistic rigidly structured nature of that realm.
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Also, I have a new avatar! :D
I just wanted to thank you for creating Arueshalae. She's most of the reason I decided to run Wrath. :)
Is there anything related to Arueshalae you wanted to put in, but didn't/couldn't?
Thank you! :)
Yay! Like the new avatar.
And I'm glad folks like Arueshalae; she's one of the core concepts that I've been wanting to get into an AP for a loooong time. I wanted to build in a stronger role for her into the AP, and indeed wanted stronger roles for most of the NPCs, but ended up spending the bulk of my time wrestling with the mythic content instead, alas.
I'd hoped to build up more of a role for her in part 4, in particular, with her being a trigger that helped explain a little bit Nocticula's role as a supporter and not an antagonist, but I didn't have time to write the whole adventure and had to split the duty with Greg who wrote the 2nd half concurrent with mine, which mean the Alaushiniira elements had to shrink a bit.
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(And because the First World is a brand new addition to the cosmology that has no real analogy to anything in previous editions of D&D, and as such when we built the Bestiary we didn't really have all those implications worked out for how fey work regarding extraplanar subtypes...)
Just as giants have become 'Humanoid (giant)', would it perhaps make sense for fey to eventually be subsumed into the Outsider type?
A Dryad or Nymph could thus become 'Outsider (fey, native),' and there'd be one less Type to deal with.
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Can someone be "marked" by demonic taint without being an actual tiefling? I got this idea for a character whose face was scarred by a demon attack, and now one of his eyes is black instead of white, and it never closes (solely cosmetic here, I actually think it's be a mechanical liability if it affected them at all). Would that be something a mere human could have due to lingering demonic taint in their blood/soul, or would you say at that point the character is actually an Abyssal tiefling who USED to be human? (And yes, said character would wear an eyepatch to hide the weird eye to avoid being burned at the stake as a demonic infiltrator.)
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Hey James,
Do you have an opinion on healing spells as conjurations vs. as necromancies? It's one of the 3.0 changes that still has me scratching my head, not least of all because 3.5, PF, and 5e have all stuck with it.
Thanks!
(And because the First World is a brand new addition to the cosmology that has no real analogy to anything in previous editions of D&D, and as such when we built the Bestiary we didn't really have all those implications worked out for how fey work regarding extraplanar subtypes...)Just as giants have become 'Humanoid (giant)', would it perhaps make sense for fey to eventually be subsumed into the Outsider type?
A Dryad or Nymph could thus become 'Outsider (fey, native),' and there'd be one less Type to deal with.
This would have some interesting effects on the stats of fey, since Outsider HD are d10/full BAB and Fey HD are D6/half BAB.
James, how do you think you'd deal with that? Reduce numbers of hit dice on fey monsters? Let them be better in melee? Or is that a big enough reason to not combine the types?
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How would you rate the movie I'm watching right now (Arachnophobia, in case you're not spying on me)?
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(And because the First World is a brand new addition to the cosmology that has no real analogy to anything in previous editions of D&D, and as such when we built the Bestiary we didn't really have all those implications worked out for how fey work regarding extraplanar subtypes...)Just as giants have become 'Humanoid (giant)', would it perhaps make sense for fey to eventually be subsumed into the Outsider type?
A Dryad or Nymph could thus become 'Outsider (fey, native),' and there'd be one less Type to deal with.
That's an enormous change. Furthermore, Outsider is already quite "bloated" enough as it stands. I'd rather not roll anything more into it, and an immense change like that isn't one we'd be able to simply errata anyway, especially since it's fine as it is.
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Can someone be "marked" by demonic taint without being an actual tiefling? I got this idea for a character whose face was scarred by a demon attack, and now one of his eyes is black instead of white, and it never closes (solely cosmetic here, I actually think it's be a mechanical liability if it affected them at all). Would that be something a mere human could have due to lingering demonic taint in their blood/soul, or would you say at that point the character is actually an Abyssal tiefling who USED to be human? (And yes, said character would wear an eyepatch to hide the weird eye to avoid being burned at the stake as a demonic infiltrator.)
Yes; tieflings are born to normal humans. The demonic taint in a bloodline skips generations now and then... but it's still there. How much that taint manifests is up to your GM.
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Hey James,
Do you have an opinion on healing spells as conjurations vs. as necromancies? It's one of the 3.0 changes that still has me scratching my head, not least of all because 3.5, PF, and 5e have all stuck with it.
Thanks!
I prefer healing as necromancy.
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(And because the First World is a brand new addition to the cosmology that has no real analogy to anything in previous editions of D&D, and as such when we built the Bestiary we didn't really have all those implications worked out for how fey work regarding extraplanar subtypes...)Just as giants have become 'Humanoid (giant)', would it perhaps make sense for fey to eventually be subsumed into the Outsider type?
A Dryad or Nymph could thus become 'Outsider (fey, native),' and there'd be one less Type to deal with.
This would have some interesting effects on the stats of fey, since Outsider HD are d10/full BAB and Fey HD are D6/half BAB.
James, how do you think you'd deal with that? Reduce numbers of hit dice on fey monsters? Let them be better in melee? Or is that a big enough reason to not combine the types?
I wouldn't. As stated above, I wouldn't roll fey into outsiders. The type is different enough that it's justified being it's own. Giants and humanoids were essentially the same type in D&D, so that was a non-issue.
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Creative Director
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tieflings are born to normal humans.Does the same hold for other planetouched as well, such as sylphs and undines, or is that something you did away with in PF? Can a human with a djinn ancestor give birth to a sylph?
Yes; a human with a djinn ancestor can birth a sylph, or sire a sylph. That's one way that can happen, but not the only one.
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Yes; a human with a djinn ancestor can birth a sylph, or sire a sylph. That's one way that can happen, but not the only one.tieflings are born to normal humans.Does the same hold for other planetouched as well, such as sylphs and undines, or is that something you did away with in PF? Can a human with a djinn ancestor give birth to a sylph?
While we're on the subject what about dhampirs? Can a Vampire birth a dhampir or can dhampirs only be sired?
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Creative Director
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While we're on the subject what about dhampirs? Can a Vampire birth a dhampir or can dhampirs only be sired?Yes; a human with a djinn ancestor can birth a sylph, or sire a sylph. That's one way that can happen, but not the only one.tieflings are born to normal humans.Does the same hold for other planetouched as well, such as sylphs and undines, or is that something you did away with in PF? Can a human with a djinn ancestor give birth to a sylph?
It's kinda that way for all the hybrid races. We generally prefer to leave it kinda open to what works best for your game rather than to say it only ever works one way.
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It's kinda that way for all the hybrid races. We generally prefer to leave it kinda open to what works best for your game rather than to say it only ever works one way.While we're on the subject what about dhampirs? Can a Vampire birth a dhampir or can dhampirs only be sired?Yes; a human with a djinn ancestor can birth a sylph, or sire a sylph. That's one way that can happen, but not the only one.tieflings are born to normal humans.Does the same hold for other planetouched as well, such as sylphs and undines, or is that something you did away with in PF? Can a human with a djinn ancestor give birth to a sylph?
Huzzah for vampire baby mommas!
How far have you got in Bloodborne?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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How far have you got in Bloodborne?Two bosses down. Just lost 25,000 or so blood for good in Old Yarnham to the dude with the machinegun thing up in the tower. I stopped playing before I threw my controller through the window.
I feel your pain. He is a dastardly good shot...
What did you pick for starting class and gear? I chose Troubled Childhood with the cane and blunderbuss.
What level is your character?
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How far have you got in Bloodborne?Two bosses down. Just lost 25,000 or so blood for good in Old Yarnham to the dude with the machinegun thing up in the tower. I stopped playing before I threw my controller through the window.
The next time some old guy with a Gatling gun tells you to get off his lawn, listen.
:3
What do you think of the Messengers in the game? From the trailer were you surprised at their actual actions and use in-game?
Is it true that NPC's in the Adventure Paths are bisexual unless otherwise stated?
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1) Can you tell me what you had in mind for Arueshalae and Nocticula? I'd like to integrate it into my campaign in Book 4.
Unless you're saving it for the Heretics, in which case: looking forward to it. :)
2) How do demons feel about qlippoth? Would qlippoth be killed on sight in the demons' rifts, or are they tolerated in places? Is Nocticula's capital such a place?
3) Do you have any plans for the qlippoth (that you can reveal)?
4) Of the ten fiendish races in Blood of Fiends, which Paizo staff member/contributor "owns" each one? e.g. demons are yours, kytons are Wes's, etc.
Thank you! :)
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How far have you got in Bloodborne?Two bosses down. Just lost 25,000 or so blood for good in Old Yarnham to the dude with the machinegun thing up in the tower. I stopped playing before I threw my controller through the window.I feel your pain. He is a dastardly good shot...
What did you pick for starting class and gear? I chose Troubled Childhood with the cane and blunderbuss.
What level is your character?
Noble with pistol and cane. I'm about 25th level I think?
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Is it true that NPC's in the Adventure Paths are bisexual unless otherwise stated?
Sort of. More accurately, unless their sexuality plays into something significant of their character (such as them being in an established relationship), it's not something we decide for NPCs. They can be whatever the GM wants them to be, which isn't EXACTLY the same as "always bisexual." The "Always bisexual" is a simplification.
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We know that Hell is sexist and misogynistic to the core.
Is Cheliax either of those things?
Is Hell anti-transgender? Is Cheliax?
Thank you! :)
The church of Asmodeus is. But House Thrune, which is NOT the church of Asmodeus, is not. Note that they've got a woman ruling their family.
Hell's take on pretty much anything is whatever the visitor is uncomfortable with, frankly. Hell's not a place you go to feel good about yourself, regardless of who you are.
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1) Can you tell me what you had in mind for Arueshalae and Nocticula? I'd like to integrate it into my campaign in Book 4.
Unless you're saving it for the Heretics, in which case: looking forward to it. :)
2) How do demons feel about qlippoth? Would qlippoth be killed on sight in the demons' rifts, or are they tolerated in places? Is Nocticula's capital such a place?
3) Do you have any plans for the qlippoth (that you can reveal)?
4) Of the ten fiendish races in Blood of Fiends, which Paizo staff member/contributor "owns" each one? e.g. demons are yours, kytons are Wes's, etc.
Thank you! :)
1) I can't. I never really developed or explored it more than what I said, since I knew pretty early on that I wouldn't have the wordcount to take care of it. There's not a stack of "cutting room floor" notes to share.
2) Demons do not like qlippoth, and yes, as a general rule, they'd attack. Some demons would tolerate them. Nocticula would not, but that's not to say there's not qlippoth lurking in the corners of her realm anyway.
3) Not at this time.
4) Me: Demons and qlippoth. Wes: Kytons and devils. Wes and I share "ownership" of the daemons, with Todd Stewart having a big share in it. Adam's all about Divs. That's about it, as far as I know.
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When someone casts a spell with verbal components, are they "words of power" in the sense that they're not found in any language and so it'll always sound like gibberish to the uninformed listener? Or would the verbal components sound like normal languages, so it would be understandable to a layperson as a phrase, likely rhyming but not necessarily so, that is magical when combined with the somatic and/or material components of the spell?
Basically, when casting a spell should I just say random nonsense words or make up a little poem like: "I summon the fancy creatures that wail in the light. I cast the fuzzy spells that something all night. Let nature come hence and heal thy wounds. Ressurect my friend, who is an utter n00b!"?
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When someone casts a spell with verbal components, are they "words of power" in the sense that they're not found in any language and so it'll always sound like gibberish to the uninformed listener? Or would the verbal components sound like normal languages, so it would be understandable to a layperson as a phrase, likely rhyming but not necessarily so, that is magical when combined with the somatic and/or material components of the spell?
Basically, when casting a spell should I just say random nonsense words or make up a little poem like: "I summon the fancy creatures that wail in the light. I cast the fuzzy spells that something all night. Let nature come hence and heal thy wounds. Ressurect my friend, who is an utter n00b!"?
We leave that up to you, really. My preference is that they're words of power and don't actually form a spoken language. That's why you need read magic to read scrolls, not comprehend languages.
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If I were to write out a campaign setting, is there a particular format that is generally accepted by publishers, or does it not matter? Should I follow the format that Paizo uses or should I try to copy whoever I am sending it to?My question must'v been lost within the crowd of other questions...
Yup; that happens.
There's not a particular format generally accepted by publishers when it comes to campaign settings; every publisher has different preferences and styles on how to present that type of product. That said, the publication of a campaign setting is an ENORMOUS undertaking that most companies won't undertake lightly, and I suspect that most companies would prefer to do in-house rather than seeking out an unsolicited manuscript from an out-of-house writer.
Certainly that's the case at Paizo, where beyond that, we're simply not interested in publishing additional campaign settings. Focusing exclusively on Goalrion has been good to us.
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We leave that up to you, really. My preference is that they're words of power and don't actually form a spoken language. That's why you need read magic to read scrolls, not comprehend languages.When someone casts a spell with verbal components, are they "words of power" in the sense that they're not found in any language and so it'll always sound like gibberish to the uninformed listener? Or would the verbal components sound like normal languages, so it would be understandable to a layperson as a phrase, likely rhyming but not necessarily so, that is magical when combined with the somatic and/or material components of the spell?
Basically, when casting a spell should I just say random nonsense words or make up a little poem like: "I summon the fancy creatures that wail in the light. I cast the fuzzy spells that something all night. Let nature come hence and heal thy wounds. Ressurect my friend, who is an utter n00b!"?
That was my impression, too. Thanks for the vote of confidence! :)
I don't know if you're the best person to ask about Kenabres, but what "druidic path" if you will, does the druid Crocris, who maintains Truestone Park, follow? Is he a Green Faither? A deity-worshiping druid? Something else entirely?
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1. Including the upcoming Occult classes, what are your favorite classes out of the classes released since the beginning, in order by theme?
2. How about by mechanics?
3. Did I even have a chance of getting the whole list in order either time? I thought not, so I didn't bother to ask for ALL of them in order.
4. So, since I hear Golarion folk went to Earth in Rasputin must die, and that Baba Yaga is from Earth originally, will we ever have adventures where Earthlings go to Golarion?
5. Would you use new classes for Earthlings? If so, what kinds?
6. What is the group name for people from Golarion? You know, like how people from Earth are Earthlings?
7. Given that on Golarion the Aboleths created humans, and we evolved naturally on Earth, does that mean Aboleths had knowledge of Earth humans and used them as a pattern or reference for their creation on Golarion? Did they port a handful over and start a colony? Did they just somehow randomly create the exact same species? Or are Golarion humans somehow different than Earthlings?