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Silver Crusade Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:
baron arem heshvaun wrote:
I am not sure, is this lady trying to cos play Merisiel?
I'd say no.

If I may?

That's the Dark Brotherhood gear, from Skyrim (and presumably other Elder Scrolls games). The black hand-print is their symbol.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Christopher Wasko wrote:
Can a sylph rogue with the Cloud Gazer feat sneak attack a target within 15 feet in an obscuring mist or fog cloud spell?

Should ask that question in the rules forum.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

I forget if I have asked you this and with the coming Occult Adventures it must be asked again:

Considering that Nethys and his priesthood only care if you have magic power, be it arcane or divine, does this extend to psychic magic as well?

Yes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kalindlara wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
baron arem heshvaun wrote:
I am not sure, is this lady trying to cos play Merisiel?
I'd say no.

If I may?

That's the Dark Brotherhood gear, from Skyrim (and presumably other Elder Scrolls games). The black hand-print is their symbol.

Hence my no.

Silver Crusade Contributor

Sorry.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

James Jacobs wrote:
Christopher Wasko wrote:
Can a sylph rogue with the Cloud Gazer feat sneak attack a target within 15 feet in an obscuring mist or fog cloud spell?
Should ask that question in the rules forum.

It was asked there and the question led to some tense disagreement, so I thought I'd ask here to try and find a definitive answer.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Christopher Wasko wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Christopher Wasko wrote:
Can a sylph rogue with the Cloud Gazer feat sneak attack a target within 15 feet in an obscuring mist or fog cloud spell?
Should ask that question in the rules forum.
It was asked there and the question led to some tense disagreement, so I thought I'd ask here to try and find a definitive answer.

I don't answer rules questions here BECAUSE they tend to divide the boards into "James is right" and "James isn't a designer so he CAN'T be right" and all sorts of camps spread in between. It's unfortunate, I suppose, but these boards have shown that me answering rules questions tends to cause more problems than it solves and has backlash on me from the design team and management as a result.

So I tend to avoid answering rules questions, and instead send folks to the rules forums for the answers. And if that doesn't work, then I request they ask their GM and respect the GM's ruling.

If this were MY game... I'd have to look up the Cloud Gazer feat first of all, and I have no idea of where it's from... the Internet tells me it's from the Advanced Race Guide.

So that question solved, I'd say, in my game, and NOT in your game (unless you happened to be a player in my game, of course), then I would absolutely allow a sylph to use the feat to get sneak attacks, since otherwise, that feat's kinda underwhelming, and the "if it was created by magic" clause is, in my opinion, kinda rules cluttery.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

James Jacobs wrote:
Christopher Wasko wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Christopher Wasko wrote:
Can a sylph rogue with the Cloud Gazer feat sneak attack a target within 15 feet in an obscuring mist or fog cloud spell?
Should ask that question in the rules forum.
It was asked there and the question led to some tense disagreement, so I thought I'd ask here to try and find a definitive answer.

I don't answer rules questions here BECAUSE they tend to divide the boards into "James is right" and "James isn't a designer so he CAN'T be right" and all sorts of camps spread in between. It's unfortunate, I suppose, but these boards have shown that me answering rules questions tends to cause more problems than it solves and has backlash on me from the design team and management as a result.

So I tend to avoid answering rules questions, and instead send folks to the rules forums for the answers. And if that doesn't work, then I request they ask their GM and respect the GM's ruling.

If this were MY game... I'd have to look up the Cloud Gazer feat first of all, and I have no idea of where it's from... the Internet tells me it's from the Advanced Race Guide.

So that question solved, I'd say, in my game, and NOT in your game (unless you happened to be a player in my game, of course), then I would absolutely allow a sylph to use the feat to get sneak attacks, since otherwise, that feat's kinda underwhelming.

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm certainly not trying to cause headaches for anybody. I won't ask rules questions here anymore.

For what it's worth, I'm asking as the GM, and I would rule the same way. Thanks!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Christopher Wasko wrote:
For what it's worth, I'm asking as the GM, and I would rule the same way. Thanks!

That's worth a lot. And in fact, the BEST way to ask a question in this case would be something like this:

"I'm the GM, and in my group the Cloud Gazer feat's been causing confusion. I've decided to allow the feat to let a sylph who takes it make sneak attacks inside of a fog cloud or obscuring mist. Is that what you'd do in your games?"

In this case, you're not only making it apparent that the discussion is between two GMs (you and me) and not someone seeking an overarching rules clarification that the entire world can then use as leverage against their own GMs or in a PFS game to force a resolution that might not be appropriate for that GM... but also you clear up the fact to me that you're asking as a GM and not as a player who's surreptitiously seeking permission in writing from a Paizo employee to try to undermine his/her GM's authority in a home game or PFS game. ;-)

In fact... that advice on phrasing your questions goes for anyone who posts here. I'm MUCH more comfortable interacting with you on a GM to GM basis on rules interpretations, since anyone who would use my responses in that context would, I would hope, be called out for taking my words OUT of context.

Of course... the Internet is good at disappointing... so we'll see!


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

In Golarion terms, what is a priest?

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

James Jacobs wrote:
Christopher Wasko wrote:
For what it's worth, I'm asking as the GM, and I would rule the same way. Thanks!

That's worth a lot. And in fact, the BEST way to ask a question in this case would be something like this:

"I'm the GM, and in my group the Cloud Gazer feat's been causing confusion. I've decided to allow the feat to let a sylph who takes it make sneak attacks inside of a fog cloud or obscuring mist. Is that what you'd do in your games?"

In this case, you're not only making it apparent that the discussion is between two GMs (you and me) and not someone seeking an overarching rules clarification that the entire world can then use as leverage against their own GMs or in a PFS game to force a resolution that might not be appropriate for that GM... but also you clear up the fact to me that you're asking as a GM and not as a player who's surreptitiously seeking permission in writing from a Paizo employee to try to undermine his/her GM's authority in a home game or PFS game. ;-)

In fact... that advice on phrasing your questions goes for anyone who posts here. I'm MUCH more comfortable interacting with you on a GM to GM basis on rules interpretations, since anyone who would use my responses in that context would, I would hope, be called out for taking my words OUT of context.

Of course... the Internet is good at disappointing... so we'll see!

Awesome response, thanks! I'll be clearer in the future, and hopefully this makes the forums steadier ground for everybody.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So... were you waiting on baited breath for the signals of the Pluto flyby to let us know whether we were going to witness the last planetary flyby in our lifetime, or whether New Horizons had met an untimely end?

Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:
Drow nobles have better stat mods and abilities than pretty much all other zero-HD races, after all, if the Race Builder Guide is to be believed.

That's true, but Pureblood Azlanti beat them out if we use Golarion material.

Or used to, anyway. ;-)

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Do elves make use of last names? If so, what'd be a good way to make up an elven last name without directly cribbing from good ol' Professor Tolkien?

Lantern Lodge

James Jacobs wrote:
Secane wrote:
If you are running an adventure path and an intelligent weapon is listed as a plot important loot for your party, but no one in the party has the right alignment to properly wield this weapon. How would you resolve this issue? (Without having the weapon become effectively a useless loot.)

Before the PCs find the weapon, I'd make sure to change the weapon from whatever it was into a weapon that'd best be used by the PC in the party who's the most about weapons, and/or change the alignment of the weapon if needed to fit that PC. The transformative weapon quality helps too. Further, I'd hopefully KNOW about said weapon before hand, and would encourage the players to play that alignment before hand. Either by flat out saying "If you are a neutral good scimitar fighter... it'll pay off!" or by being tricky and saying "This campaign has a Sarenrae feel, so plan accordingly." If, for example, the weapon in question was a NG scimitar.

If you have a specific AP or weapon in mind, of course... you'd do better to not beat around the bush and flat out ask me specifically about your specific case, though.

Sorry! I do have a specific AP in mind. Question under spoilers:

AP spoiler:
It is for the Kingmaker AP that I'm GMing. My party consist of:
Party:
Lv 6 LG Paladin of Ragathiel - Warden
Lv 6 CG Soundstriker Bard - Ruler
Lv 6 NG Druid of Erastil - Councilor
Lv 6 NG Evocation Wizard - Magister
Lv 6 NG Cleric of Sarenrae - High Priest
Lv 6 NG Card Caster Magus - Spymaster (Tempory on hiatus)
&
A possible 7th player playing an archer-type character. Totally new to RPG player. Last played DnD like... 15 years ago. Not certain if he will be joining.
+
Lv 6 Akrios - LG Paladin of Erastil - NPC Bard's Cohort (modified leadership feat) *Restored as Paladin of Erastil

And the 2 main weapons I'm concern about are Ovinrbaane in book 3 and Briar in book 5-6.

Both are CN weapons that the main weapon users, the two Paladins can't use. And as I don't know if the new player would be joining us full-time, I'm can't count on him to make a character suited to wield either weapons.

I could remake Briar into bow or other suitable weapon for the Bard/ruler to wield effectively. But is this the only/best option? Briar after all is an important plot item for the AP.

But Ovinrbaane, being a Gorum influenced weapon, with quite a bit of flavor... I'm stumped.

Sorry for asking such a long question. Really hope you can help me.
Thank you.

PS: Kingmaker is really nice. My players love the map and kingdom building (UC rules). Hope you all can come up with something just as sandbox like in a future AP!
\


Hello James, I want your opinion on wealth and artifacts.

Essentially, most artifacts don't really have any real price, and, with exceptions of weapons, play a utility role. Should they count towards player wealth by level of be in their own categories? In some Adventure paths there are plenty of such artifacts and if you simply approximate their price and try to sell them for whatever maximum price players can get, they can skew the wealth progression quite heavily. What's your take on seemingly priceless items?

Sovereign Court

Hi James,

Firstly, I'd like to thank you for all the effort you put into Pathfinder. Secondly, I'd like your advice on something. I've been running a Golarion based campaign for the better part of two years now, with the group being based almost exclusively out of Absalom (a city I've grown fond off). The group love using a city as their base of operations, but they're really keen to go alittle more extraplanar with their higher level exploits. Keeping with the theme of using a city as their base of operations, I've looked at some extraplanar cities, like Sigil, but I'd like to use something alittle more grounded in the Golarion lore. Is their a city or resource you would recommend as a springboard for extraplanar adventures? Is there a location built into lore that has access to many, if not all, planes?

Thanks

Sovereign Court

Just out of curiosity mostly, I know most people like to use Cthulhu, Hashtur for their Great Old ones stories, but do you feel there is actually one of the less popular great old ones that have a great potential for stories/campaign?


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Is there any way you guys can relocate Paizo publishing somewhere more central? I only ask cause according to seismologists. You guys are due for a huge 8.0-9.2 scale earthquake really soon. As on average one strikes that area once every 243 years and you are already overdue. :(
News Linky


Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Are you excited that they names part of Pluto Cthulhu?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Ed Reppert wrote:
In Golarion terms, what is a priest?

A faithful member (regardless of actual character class) of an organized religion who holds a ranked position within that religion's order (not just a worshiper but someone who works at a church or as a missionary or the like).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
LazarX wrote:
So... were you waiting on baited breath for the signals of the Pluto flyby to let us know whether we were going to witness the last planetary flyby in our lifetime, or whether New Horizons had met an untimely end?

With interest and anticipation, but not really baited breath. I'm actually REALLY optimistic about space travel continuing to move forward in the future, in that I'm not part of the group of "space travel/exploration is dying/dead." I fully expect to see a human on Mars in my lifetime.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Alexander Augunas wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Drow nobles have better stat mods and abilities than pretty much all other zero-HD races, after all, if the Race Builder Guide is to be believed.

That's true, but Pureblood Azlanti beat them out if we use Golarion material.

Or used to, anyway. ;-)

Pureblood Azlanti are only humans with a +2 to every stat.

Drow have excellent stat mods, plus everything that elves have, and on top of that have spell like abilities, spell resistance, poison use, and much more. And that's not even touching the drow nobles.

Pureblood Azlanti don't beat them out at all. Not even close.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Do elves make use of last names? If so, what'd be a good way to make up an elven last name without directly cribbing from good ol' Professor Tolkien?

Most of those who do are forlorn.

Our in-house guide to naming elves is to take the architecture of angel names and tinker with the spelling and such to end up with long, melodic names. The names in the Inner Sea World Guide on page 25 are examples; build names that would look and sound appropriate among those names and you'll be set.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Secane wrote:

Spoiler:
It is for the Kingmaker AP that I'm GMing. My party consist of:

Party:
Lv 6 LG Paladin of Ragathiel - Warden
Lv 6 CG Soundstriker Bard - Ruler
Lv 6 NG Druid of Erastil - Councilor
Lv 6 NG Evocation Wizard - Magister
Lv 6 NG Cleric of Sarenrae - High Priest
Lv 6 NG Card Caster Magus - Spymaster (Tempory on hiatus)
&
A possible 7th player playing an archer-type character. Totally new to RPG player. Last played DnD like... 15 years ago. Not certain if he will be joining.
+
Lv 6 Akrios - LG Paladin of Erastil - NPC Bard's Cohort (modified leadership feat) *Restored as Paladin of Erastil
And the 2 main weapons I'm concern about are Ovinrbaane in book 3 and Briar in book 5-6.

Both are CN weapons that the main weapon users, the two Paladins can't use. And as I don't know if the new player would be joining us full-time, I'm can't count on him to make a character suited to wield either weapons.

I could remake Briar into bow or other suitable weapon for the Bard/ruler to wield effectively. But is this the only/best option? Briar after all is an important plot item for the AP.

But Ovinrbaane, being a Gorum influenced weapon, with quite a bit of flavor... I'm stumped.

Sorry for asking such a long question. Really hope you can help me.
Thank you.

PS: Kingmaker is really nice. My players love the map and kingdom building (UC rules). Hope you all can come up with something just as sandbox like in a future AP!

Spoiler:
It's been a long time since I've had my head in Kingmaker, but Ovinrbaane doesn't strike me as being weapons that must be wielded in order for the AP's plot to work. In particular, Ovinrbaane is cursed and probably not appropriate as a weapon for a PC at all. Briar's a different story, and in fact we DO talk about how to adjust it to fit your players better on page 9 of the 6th volume of Kingmaker. That advice is basically "Turn Briar into a weapon one of your PCs can use, and if that means it's not a slashing weapon, rename the "vorpal" ability to something like "brainpiercing" or "skullsmashing."

With the makeup of your party being what it is, seeing to the destruction of Ovinrbaane is a MUCH better plot point than making it into something the PCs can use; in fact, in this case, you might even consider deliberately making it into a weapon no PC in your group CAN use in order to subtly drive this point home.

As for Briar, I wouldn't rebuild it to be something for a paladin; in my experience, paladins are already plenty powerful and it'd be better suited to give this upgrade to any other class.

I would suggest changing Briar into either a rapier (so the CG soundstriker or the spymaster could perhaps make use of it), or even better, into a scimitar (which puts it into the potential hands of the druid or the Sarenite cleric). In the latter case, I'd change Briar's alignment to NG and explain that as being a personification of the inherent goodness that Nyrissa lost when she went from Chaotic Good to Chaotic Evil—NG being the closest alignment there is to "pure good unadultrated by law or chaos" after all. And of course, if you make it into a rapier or whatever for the bard, you can do the same and just say that Briar is now CG and represents Nyrissa's original alignment.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Keydan wrote:

Hello James, I want your opinion on wealth and artifacts.

Essentially, most artifacts don't really have any real price, and, with exceptions of weapons, play a utility role. Should they count towards player wealth by level of be in their own categories? In some Adventure paths there are plenty of such artifacts and if you simply approximate their price and try to sell them for whatever maximum price players can get, they can skew the wealth progression quite heavily. What's your take on seemingly priceless items?

Artifacts should be introduced into a campaign for story reasons first and foremost, and as such should not count toward player wealth at all whatsoever. When we put artifacts into APs, we generally do so to help bolster the PCs against built-in challenges they'll be facing in the adventure to come.

If the PCs attempt to sell an artifact... finding a buyer should be a quest in and of itself, and even then... there's no way really that selling an artifact should ever really be something that a seller should feel satisfied with. Very few can afford to buy them, after all, so if the PCs (and players) don't want to just deal with the fact that they'll take whatever price the world wants to pay, they simply won't be able to sell the item. And furthermore, when word gets out that the PCs have an artifact and want to sell it... well, that's when those who want to TAKE the artifact can come after the Pcs. You can also have the artifact be something the PCs trade in place of a big cost for some other favor or the like—if you're on the cusp of a TPK, perhaps the artifact might teleport away but heal all the PCs in its wake or the like.

But in the end, priceless artifacts are not in the game to be sold, and if that's all your players want do do with them... then either you shouldn't use them, or you should adjust the flavor and plot of your campaign to "Finding a buyer for this artifact."

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
LazarX wrote:
So... were you waiting on baited breath for the signals of the Pluto flyby to let us know whether we were going to witness the last planetary flyby in our lifetime, or whether New Horizons had met an untimely end?
With interest and anticipation, but not really baited breath. I'm actually REALLY optimistic about space travel continuing to move forward in the future, in that I'm not part of the group of "space travel/exploration is dying/dead." I fully expect to see a human on Mars in my lifetime.

But this is the last time we'll every have a moment like Mariner 4... the first flyby of a planet. And it's highly unlikely we'll get a second look at Pluto in our lifetimes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Stemboy wrote:

Hi James,

Firstly, I'd like to thank you for all the effort you put into Pathfinder. Secondly, I'd like your advice on something. I've been running a Golarion based campaign for the better part of two years now, with the group being based almost exclusively out of Absalom (a city I've grown fond off). The group love using a city as their base of operations, but they're really keen to go alittle more extraplanar with their higher level exploits. Keeping with the theme of using a city as their base of operations, I've looked at some extraplanar cities, like Sigil, but I'd like to use something alittle more grounded in the Golarion lore. Is their a city or resource you would recommend as a springboard for extraplanar adventures? Is there a location built into lore that has access to many, if not all, planes?

Thanks

Axis is the best bet for you, I suspect—it's a city the size of an entire plane. It is, in fact, the lawful neutral outer plane in Golarion's Great Beyond.

If you're looking for an edgier and more dangerous planar city, there's always DIs in Hell, the City of Brass in the plane of fire, or my favorite ('cause I made it up), Alushinyrra in the Abyss.

Dis is detailed a bit in Book of the Damned 1.
Axis is detailed a bit in The Great Beyond.
The City of Brass is detailed in the 5th Legacy of Fire installment.
Alushinyrra is detailed in the 4th Wrath of the Righteous installment.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
j b 200 wrote:
Are you excited that they names part of Pluto Cthulhu?

Ha. Amused for certain, although also a little annoyed, since if they were going to name ANYTHING on Pluto after Lovecraft, it should have been Yuggoth.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Eltacolibre wrote:
Just out of curiosity mostly, I know most people like to use Cthulhu, Hashtur for their Great Old ones stories, but do you feel there is actually one of the less popular great old ones that have a great potential for stories/campaign?

I think most of them do. I've gotten a LOT of milage out of one of Thomas Ligotti's creations, Cynothoglys, for example.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The Minis Maniac wrote:

Is there any way you guys can relocate Paizo publishing somewhere more central? I only ask cause according to seismologists. You guys are due for a huge 8.0-9.2 scale earthquake really soon. As on average one strikes that area once every 243 years and you are already overdue. :(

News Linky

Certainly not if they expect me to remain employed at Paizo. If Paizo moves off the West Coast, I'll quit and find a different job, so for my own continued employment, I really do hope Paizo doesn't move!

Reacting like that to the possibility of a big earthquake or tsunami or volcano (the three things we're the most threatened by here) is no different than doing the same to avoid hurricanes or tornadoes or floods or blizzards or heat waves or any other natural disaster. And that doesn't even touch extinction level events like supervolcanoes or asteroid impacts or giant solar flares or Verneshots or all that.

If a disaster like that happens, it happens. I'm not interested in living my life in fear of something like that.

There's a MUCH better chance of a disgruntled fan showing up at Paizo and shooting us all and/or burning the building down, frankly, and that's not something that moving out of the northwest would unfortunately help. Even if that is something I'm personally more afraid of happening than any earthquake or volcano or asteroid impact...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
LazarX wrote:
So... were you waiting on baited breath for the signals of the Pluto flyby to let us know whether we were going to witness the last planetary flyby in our lifetime, or whether New Horizons had met an untimely end?
With interest and anticipation, but not really baited breath. I'm actually REALLY optimistic about space travel continuing to move forward in the future, in that I'm not part of the group of "space travel/exploration is dying/dead." I fully expect to see a human on Mars in my lifetime.
But this is the last time we'll every have a moment like Mariner 4... the first flyby of a planet. And it's highly unlikely we'll get a second look at Pluto in our lifetimes.

Possibly the last time. There's more planets out there in the universe. They're a lot harder to get to than the ones in our system, yes... but I've seen inventions in my lifetime that I didn't think were possible for us to have in my lifetime (be they the internet, an iPhone, a face transplant, a cloned sheep, a computer that weighs less than a piece of bread, or any of the other marvels we've come up with in the past 43 years), and as such I'm not going to discount the possibility of something in the near future coming along to fundamentally change the way space exploration works.

And personally... I'm much more interested in seeing exploration of places like Europa or some of the other moons out there that might hold life.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

HI James,

I've been reading through my PDF of Occult Adventures (which I'm adoring) and I'm wondering if there has been any thought to putting out new character sheets that would be better suited to the ever increasingly complex classes? Maybe even class specific character sheets?

Thanks.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kieviel wrote:

HI James,

I've been reading through my PDF of Occult Adventures (which I'm adoring) and I'm wondering if there has been any thought to putting out new character sheets that would be better suited to the ever increasingly complex classes? Maybe even class specific character sheets?

Thanks.

As far as I know, nope, no thought at all. I'm actually a bit curious/concerned as to how some of the stat blocks for these complicated classes might look in print as NPCs, to tell the truth! ;-P

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Do elves make use of last names? If so, what'd be a good way to make up an elven last name without directly cribbing from good ol' Professor Tolkien?

Most of those who do are forlorn.

Our in-house guide to naming elves is to take the architecture of angel names and tinker with the spelling and such to end up with long, melodic names. The names in the Inner Sea World Guide on page 25 are examples; build names that would look and sound appropriate among those names and you'll be set.

Oh, I see! Thanks for the tip! :)

So a half-elf kid, if their elven parent doesn't use a surname, takes their human parent's surname, then?

Lantern Lodge

James Jacobs wrote:
Secane wrote:
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **...

Thanks for the advice! It fits perfectly with the story and what I have in mind for the party.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:


There's a MUCH better chance of a disgruntled fan showing up at Paizo and shooting us all and/or burning the building down, frankly, and that's not something that moving out of the northwest would unfortunately help. Even if that is something I'm personally more afraid of happening than any earthquake or volcano or asteroid impact...

Is this something that you guys worry about? People can be weird...


Mr. James Jacobs,

Which country/ethnicity is closest to the Turks ala 1430 to 1450?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

Which country/ethnicity is closest to the Turks ala 1430 to 1450?

I know pretty much nothing about the Turks in that era, so I have no idea.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

3 people marked this as a favorite.
MeanDM wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


There's a MUCH better chance of a disgruntled fan showing up at Paizo and shooting us all and/or burning the building down, frankly, and that's not something that moving out of the northwest would unfortunately help. Even if that is something I'm personally more afraid of happening than any earthquake or volcano or asteroid impact...
Is this something that you guys worry about? People can be weird...

It's absolutely something I worry about. Because, as you say, people can be weird.

Seeing how many death threats and the like have been thrown around the internet toward video game creators, and knowing some of the creators who were threatened, and being on the periphery of those threats, and even having had some fans of the game get disproportionally outraged/angry/furious over things I have done... yes, it's absolutely something I seriously worry about. Not to the extent that I'm retreating entirely from society, but enough that a few months ago I went in and purged several hundred friends from my facebook account and narrowed that whole thing down to people I only know personally (reducing my friend total down to about 25% of its previous total).

Gamergate and similar hate groups are real, and the threat and distress they cause is also very real.

There's a reason, in other words, why Stephen King wrote Misery (or even his latest novel, Finders Keepers).

Fans can be frightening. A lot more frightening than the potential devastation of an earthquake, because unlike an earthquake, you don't increase the likelihood of something bad happening by being successful at what you do.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Do elves make use of last names? If so, what'd be a good way to make up an elven last name without directly cribbing from good ol' Professor Tolkien?

Most of those who do are forlorn.

Our in-house guide to naming elves is to take the architecture of angel names and tinker with the spelling and such to end up with long, melodic names. The names in the Inner Sea World Guide on page 25 are examples; build names that would look and sound appropriate among those names and you'll be set.

Oh, I see! Thanks for the tip! :)

So a half-elf kid, if their elven parent doesn't use a surname, takes their human parent's surname, then?

Sometimes.


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:
In Golarion terms, what is a priest?
A faithful member (regardless of actual character class) of an organized religion who holds a ranked position within that religion's order (not just a worshiper but someone who works at a church or as a missionary or the like).

That's pretty much what I'd guessed. Thanks!


James Jacobs wrote:
MeanDM wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


There's a MUCH better chance of a disgruntled fan showing up at Paizo and shooting us all and/or burning the building down, frankly, and that's not something that moving out of the northwest would unfortunately help. Even if that is something I'm personally more afraid of happening than any earthquake or volcano or asteroid impact...
Is this something that you guys worry about? People can be weird...

It's absolutely something I worry about. Because, as you say, people can be weird.

Seeing how many death threats and the like have been thrown around the internet toward video game creators, and knowing some of the creators who were threatened, and being on the periphery of those threats, and even having had some fans of the game get disproportionally outraged/angry/furious over things I have done... yes, it's absolutely something I seriously worry about. Not to the extent that I'm retreating entirely from society, but enough that a few months ago I went in and purged several hundred friends from my facebook account and narrowed that whole thing down to people I only know personally (reducing my friend total down to about 25% of its previous total).

Gamergate and similar hate groups are real, and the threat and distress they cause is also very real.

There's a reason, in other words, why Stephen King wrote Misery (or even his latest novel, Finders Keepers).

Fans can be frightening. A lot more frightening than the potential devastation of an earthquake, because unlike an earthquake, you don't increase the likelihood of something bad happening by being successful at what you do.

That makes sense. I'm sorry you've had to go through that.

On a lighter note, how was Finders Keepers? It's loaded on my kindle but I've not had a chance to read it yet.

Dark Archive

Have Paizo considerd putting a 10foot tall golden goblin statue outside there front office?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

MeanDM wrote:


On a lighter note, how was Finders Keepers? It's loaded on my kindle but I've not had a chance to read it yet.

I'm not quite done with it yet, but it's a fun read! I like the previous book in the series, Mr. Mercedes, better... but there is a VERY TINY element in Finders Keepers that is REALY interesting and could be setting up a pretty cool future book in the series that, if I"m anticipating things right, would be really nifty.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kevin Mack wrote:
Have Paizo considerd putting a 10foot tall golden goblin statue outside there front office?

Nope.

I have been pushing us to get a life-size goblin statue though. It'd be only 3 feet tall though. A 10 foot tall one would be off-model and thus a fantastic expense of money to do something wrong. ;P


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

The feat Polytheistic Blessing from Tombs of Golarian got me thinking a bit. Generally, are gods okay with being worshiped in a pantheon? The main one that I am asking about is Urgathoa in particular, if that narrows it down a bit. Does being worshiped in a pantheon change much for a deity in particular?

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
Have Paizo considerd putting a 10foot tall golden goblin statue outside there front office?

Nope.

I have been pushing us to get a life-size goblin statue though. It'd be only 3 feet tall though. A 10 foot tall one would be off-model and thus a fantastic expense of money to do something wrong. ;P

What if it was a pile of goblins climbing all over each other?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Zangy wrote:

The feat Polytheistic Blessing from Tombs of Golarian got me thinking a bit. Generally, are gods okay with being worshiped in a pantheon? The main one that I am asking about is Urgathoa in particular, if that narrows it down a bit. Does being worshiped in a pantheon change much for a deity in particular?

Not really. It mostly just decides whether or not you can be a cleric or not.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Zangy wrote:

The feat Polytheistic Blessing from Tombs of Golarian got me thinking a bit. Generally, are gods okay with being worshiped in a pantheon? The main one that I am asking about is Urgathoa in particular, if that narrows it down a bit. Does being worshiped in a pantheon change much for a deity in particular?

Not really. It mostly just decides whether or not you can be a cleric or not.

Nifty. Does it do anything different for the deity in particular? Or is being part of a pantheon just another way to get worshipers?

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