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You'll have to wait and see.Hi James!
Will you be using the word "cyclopean" during your AP seminar at GenCon?
Haha, I expected Lovecraft themes to feature in the AP (when don't they?) but had no idea I'd get that close!
Do you find that announcing APs so early takes away from the excitement of the ones releasing before it? Personally, I'm really looking forward to Hell's Rebels, but now even more looking forward to Strange Aeons... I guess it won't stop me buying them all, though...
I do, actually, find that when we announce an AP that it tends to blunt the anticipation building for the previous one, which is kinda frustrating to Rob in particular since his APs, which generally get announced at Paizocon, usually only have a month or two to start building steam and anticipation before the next one cuts that out from under them.
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James, while you normally aren't involved in the RPG hardcover line, with the announcement of Horror Adventures, will you be writing any? Such as the Lovecraftian or insanity rules?
We're still sorting things out, but chances are pretty good that I'll be writing a large chunk of that book and will be VERY involved in its development.
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James, I finished reading Occult Adventures and some of the ideas behind Strange Aeons look to be entrenched in the same lore. So I took a detour into the Great Beyond, read up on aeons in Bestiary 2, Great Old Ones in Bestiary 4, the River of Souls in Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh (AP 84) and the Groetus article from Beyond the Shattered Door (AP 64). I have come to the following conclusions:
1) Groetus may be some form of aeon tasked with finishing the current cycle of creation.
2) Cthulhu himself is a twisted aeon (hence, why he is an aberration) locked away by uncorrupted aeons that were unable to destroy him.
Now the questions:
A) Do aeons worship a deity?
B) Was/is there a being responsible for starting creation? (If Groetus is tasked with ending it.)
C) How do incorporeal undead end up in the accretion disks of black holes?
D) Could you thank whoever wrote the Esoteric Planes articles in Occult Adventures for me?
A) Yes. The Monad.
B) Yes. It's unrevealed.
C) By having living creatures die and their bodies destroyed so that all that remains behind is a corrupted undead soul.
D) Ok.
While I expect it will be hush-hush, is there any chance of seeing SKR do write ups for two of the Old Gods? And will be be seeing new Great Old Ones in the Beastiaries?No chance at all. Those write ups are going to be written by someone else. If I can swing it, they'll be by me.
There will be at least one new great old one in the bestiary, but that's probably going to be it. We'll see.
Okay. Fingers crossed you do get a chance to write them!
Who did write the Esoteric Planes in Occult Adventures? That was one of my favourite parts since I'm a huge Planescape fan. I'm also hoping that means we get more on the Aeons and Monad soon.
Hope Gencon wasn't too bad this year and you're recovering well!
So they are finally letting you do the Lovecraft AP, huh? Anything you want to spill? Do we get to fight Cthulu or Dagon, cuz I have miniatures for those? :)Actually... while I wrote the outline for Strange Aeons, I'm neither going to be writing any adventures for it nor am I going to be developing it—Adam Daigle will be developing it. As it turns out, while I'd thought I would be able to develop it, there's another project I need to work on instead.
So... it's happening, and I'll be helping Adam out on it here and there, but technically, "they" aren't actually letting me do it.
At this point, I don't have much more to say about the AP though... it's over a year away. Have patience!
Am I right in assuming that this is an unannounced project that I can look forward to hearing about?
Nevermind, I am guessing this project will be Horror Adventures. Well if everything goes to plan you can tell me about it at PaizoCon. :D
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While I expect it will be hush-hush, is there any chance of seeing SKR do write ups for two of the Old Gods? And will be be seeing new Great Old Ones in the Beastiaries?No chance at all. Those write ups are going to be written by someone else. If I can swing it, they'll be by me.
There will be at least one new great old one in the bestiary, but that's probably going to be it. We'll see.
Okay. Fingers crossed you do get a chance to write them!
Who did write the Esoteric Planes in Occult Adventures? That was one of my favourite parts since I'm a huge Planescape fan. I'm also hoping that means we get more on the Aeons and Monad soon.
Hope Gencon wasn't too bad this year and you're recovering well!
I'm not sure who wrote that section. It was probably written by several folks, but I know Erik and Brandon had a LOT of influence on that section. I suspect they did it all. The design team would know for sure.
Gen Con was what it was. There were a few moments of awesome that made it worth the trip, but 95% of it was really nervewracking and stressful. Spending the bulk of today decompressing and still not quite recovered... :(
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So they are finally letting you do the Lovecraft AP, huh? Anything you want to spill? Do we get to fight Cthulu or Dagon, cuz I have miniatures for those? :)Actually... while I wrote the outline for Strange Aeons, I'm neither going to be writing any adventures for it nor am I going to be developing it—Adam Daigle will be developing it. As it turns out, while I'd thought I would be able to develop it, there's another project I need to work on instead.
So... it's happening, and I'll be helping Adam out on it here and there, but technically, "they" aren't actually letting me do it.
At this point, I don't have much more to say about the AP though... it's over a year away. Have patience!
Am I right in assuming that this is an unannounced project that I can look forward to hearing about?
Nevermind, I am guessing this project will be Horror Adventures. Well if everything goes to plan you can tell me about it at PaizoCon. :D
There's a few of them. Horror Adventures is one. There's some other stuff. Remember... We announce our Summer APs WAY early compared to most other lines...
The amount of time it takes is fluid, and never gets in the way of any spells that bring folks back from the dead unless the controller of that character (you in this case) says otherwise.Hi James
In our game my character just died and was brought back via raise dead a few days later. She is true nutral and follower of calistria, who is a Sylph rogue/ duelist. My main question is how long would it take for pharasma to sort her soul and send her to purgatory, and how much would she remember about the experiance when she comes back? I know as a petitioner of that plane she would become a skeleton basically and it's the plane of the aeons. Wich is like a vast bleak graveyard. Not something that's very pleasant but not torture Thule the abyss would be. Would she remember enough to Warnent a change of heart towed good or would she remember nothing and go on as she is, a lusty somewhat vengeful pirate captain? (Playing skull and shackles by the way)
How much of the afterlife would she remember upon her return to the world of the living? Would it be vague memorys or more like a foggy dream about being there or would she remember nothing of the experiance at all
I've heard that writers are only allowed to make up one name with an apostrophe in it as long as they work for Paizo. Have you used your apostrophe yet?Near the start. Cyth-V'sug.
Does Paizo have the same sort of rule about hyphens, or are you just using those things like a kid spending pennies at the candy store?
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Does Paizo have the same sort of rule about hyphens, or are you just using those things like a kid spending pennies at the candy store?I've heard that writers are only allowed to make up one name with an apostrophe in it as long as they work for Paizo. Have you used your apostrophe yet?Near the start. Cyth-V'sug.
No special rule. Hyphens are always available to make compound nouns, even if they're Proper Nouns.
The problem with putting an apostrophie in a name is that it doesn't actually do what most fantasy authors think it does.
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How much of the afterlife would she remember upon her return to the world of the living? Would it be vague memorys or more like a foggy dream about being there or would she remember nothing of the experiance at allThe amount of time it takes is fluid, and never gets in the way of any spells that bring folks back from the dead unless the controller of that character (you in this case) says otherwise.Hi James
In our game my character just died and was brought back via raise dead a few days later. She is true nutral and follower of calistria, who is a Sylph rogue/ duelist. My main question is how long would it take for pharasma to sort her soul and send her to purgatory, and how much would she remember about the experiance when she comes back? I know as a petitioner of that plane she would become a skeleton basically and it's the plane of the aeons. Wich is like a vast bleak graveyard. Not something that's very pleasant but not torture Thule the abyss would be. Would she remember enough to Warnent a change of heart towed good or would she remember nothing and go on as she is, a lusty somewhat vengeful pirate captain? (Playing skull and shackles by the way)
Pretty much none of it. Maybe vague memories. But not details.
Does Paizo have the same sort of rule about hyphens, or are you just using those things like a kid spending pennies at the candy store?I've heard that writers are only allowed to make up one name with an apostrophe in it as long as they work for Paizo. Have you used your apostrophe yet?Near the start. Cyth-V'sug.No special rule. Hyphens are always available to make compound nouns, even if they're Proper Nouns.
The problem with putting an apostrophie in a name is that it doesn't actually do what most fantasy authors think it does.
What do most fantasy authors think it does and what does it actually do?
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What do most fantasy authors think it does and what does it actually do?Does Paizo have the same sort of rule about hyphens, or are you just using those things like a kid spending pennies at the candy store?I've heard that writers are only allowed to make up one name with an apostrophe in it as long as they work for Paizo. Have you used your apostrophe yet?Near the start. Cyth-V'sug.No special rule. Hyphens are always available to make compound nouns, even if they're Proper Nouns.
The problem with putting an apostrophie in a name is that it doesn't actually do what most fantasy authors think it does.
I'd include most gamers in that list as well. It seems like what they usually want to do is add a hyphen but they add an apostrophie to make the word look more "exotic," kind of like how you see folks replace "i" with "y" in names, or "c" with "k" (magik, ork, etc.) or don't put a "u" after a "q" in order to make something look more fantasy and less like something mundane.
But often, they just end up looking like spelling errors. I get it that folks are trying to make things fantastic, but please try to respect the language you're writing about that thing is. You want the reader to be amazed by the imaginative thing you're describing, not distracted by the imaginative ways you're altering/breaking the rules of spelling and grammar.
For me... seeing something like that takes me out of what I'm reading. It breaks verisimilitude to see it spelled "ork" more often than not.
What an apostrophe like that actually does is indicate a glottal stop.
Which is incorporated into, say, Cyth-V'sug's name. The space between the V and the sug is a glottal stop.
SO! If an author who uses one in their writing lets me know it's an intentional glottal stop, then I'll let it through. But in over 10 years of editing and developing RPG products... I've yet to have an author say so. They just drop that apostrophe in there like they're replacing an I with a Y or a C with a K.
Sometimes I let it stand. Sometimes I don't. But often, it's a symptom of larger writing problems... and it's a very VISIBLE symptom.
Assuming the players and GM are all on board, how would Hell's Vengeance accommodate someone who serves Zepar, Socothbenoth, or someone similarly vile.That'd be a pretty terrible choice. Save those character concepts for Hell's Vengeance.
I know they'd be terrible for Hell's Rebels, which is why I specified Hell's Vengeance in my original question.
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stuff about apostrophes and glottal stops
Thanks, James. I will number my questions inline to facilitate your answering.
I have a Qadiran* character named Na'idrahezade bint al-Djinn. (1) I realize that Kelish is not real-world Persian nor Arabic, but does it have similar usages?
The apostrophe in the first name was to break up the hiatus "ai". Originally, her name was Na'i'adrahezade, with naiad as the root, but that is obviously too crazy. (2) Does Kelish forbid a hiatus? If not, then Naidrahezade would work (but it looks wrong, because it looks like Nād-ra-hə-zād, instead of Na-ē-dra-hə-zād).
(3) If I were submitting a piece of writing to you, would this level of thoughtfulness surrounding the dreaded apostrophe be sufficient to mitigate your eye-rolling at its use? :)
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I know they'd be terrible for Hell's Rebels, which is why I specified Hell's Vengeance in my original question.Assuming the players and GM are all on board, how would Hell's Vengeance accommodate someone who serves Zepar, Socothbenoth, or someone similarly vile.That'd be a pretty terrible choice. Save those character concepts for Hell's Vengeance.
Take that as an indication of my frustrations, then, I suppose, for reading posts where folks intentionally seek to be disruptive by playing agents of Thrune or whatever in Hell's Rebels, combined with me being exhausted after Gen Con.
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Are there any plans to publish a beetle-like race? And do you like, dislike or have no opinion about insectoid or arachnid player races?
No plans at all, unless we make one up as a monster race. I vastly prefer human or humanoid races for player characters, and vastly prefer to let the more outlandish or monstrous options serve as monsters or foes or NPC allies or whatever. Furthermore, a beetle race changes FAR too many assumptions about the expected norm, where player characters have 2 hands and 2 legs (or even have hands and feet at all!) and don't have armor plated skin or natural attacks and can walk down a typical human city street without causing a panic and so on.
A playable beetle race can certainly be built within the rules and can even be balanced with the core races, but it wouldn't really have a place to adventure on Golarion without disrupting said adventure since Golarion is humanocentric.
Part of why we created the race builder guide was to give players and GMs tools to build the things we aren't really all that interested in building.
Some day we might have an arachnid or insect race, I suppose, but not for the Inner Sea region of Golarion, and not one that'd be easy to fit into the typical adventure or campaign set there.
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stuff about apostrophes and glottal stopsThanks, James. I will number my questions inline to facilitate your answering.
I have a Qadiran* character named Na'idrahezade bint al-Djinn. (1) I realize that Kelish is not real-world Persian nor Arabic, but does it have similar usages?
The apostrophe in the first name was to break up the hiatus "ai". Originally, her name was Na'i'adrahezade, with naiad as the root, but that is obviously too crazy. (2) Does Kelish forbid a hiatus? If not, then Naidrahezade would work (but it looks wrong, because it looks like Nād-ra-hə-zād, instead of Na-ē-dra-hə-zād).
** spoiler omitted **
(3) If I were submitting a piece of writing to you, would this level of thoughtfulness surrounding the dreaded apostrophe be sufficient to mitigate your eye-rolling at its use? :)
** spoiler omitted **
Note that what any of you name your PCs is none of my business, unless you're naming a PC in a game I'm running. Which for most folks here won't be an issue.
I'm no expert on "real world Persian/Arabic" naming conventions, so it's not my place to decide if that name is right or wrong. If someone came up with it for an adventure, I'd consult with our editors, who ARE experts in the language. And if said character was, say, an Ulfen, I'd change the name entirely.
And for what it's worth, I didn't name the nation of Qadira.
So, all that in mind:
1) Yes.
2) No.
3) As long as you explained yourself, no, it would not cause eye-rolling. But if you presented the information in a condescending way (which you did not), it most certainly would.
The Nerdist ranked their top 10 D&D modules of all time, and they put Red Hand of Doom at #4. Kinda cool?
Do you know of a good King in Yellow miniature?
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Have you seen Vin Diesel's birthday cake?
What do you think?
I had not. Cool! Only he misspelled the names of the Core Rulebook and the Bestiary. ;-P
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I had not. Cool! Only he misspelled the names of the Core Rulebook and the Bestiary. ;-PHave you seen Vin Diesel's birthday cake?
What do you think?
I had to think on this for a sec... and then I lolled. In his defense I think the cake was a gift, he himself did not make it I believe.
James, how do dragons and other natural spellcasters deal with material components? Sorcerers get eschew components for free, and most wizards have a pouch, but I never see red dragons carrying a pinch of guano or a small glass rod or the like.
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James, how do dragons and other natural spellcasters deal with material components? Sorcerers get eschew components for free, and most wizards have a pouch, but I never see red dragons carrying a pinch of guano or a small glass rod or the like.
We handwave that more or less. You can basically assume that dragons and the like have a spell component pouch on them, but we often don't bother listing it in gear or illustrating it because it's kinda clutter at that point.
It'd probably be better had we just given them all Eschew Materials as a bonus feat, and if you'd rather handle it that way, that works fine as well.
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Is this bee high-five among the most adorable things you've ever seen?Nope.
Then what is, if you don't mind me asking?
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So I'm kinda wondering, how does death of the god affect world physically in Pathfinder?
Like, okay, if Pharasma dies, things obviously go horribly wrong since she judges the dead. But if she was just sealed, like Rovagug, would world still function or would it be same as if she died? Do other god's death's affect world physically? Like, Aroden's death apparently caused lot of calamities and if Ydersius is killed permanently serpentfolk become further degenerated, does death of gods mean that laws of physics can fail too?
That brings out question that if Götterdämmerungor/Ragnarök style of mass death of gods happened(I guess if Rovagug ever got out again), who besides Pharasma would have to survive for material plane to be recognizable physically?
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Then what is, if you don't mind me asking?Is this bee high-five among the most adorable things you've ever seen?Nope.
I don't keep track of adorable things I've seen. But I suspect it had something to do with one of the cats I've had as pets over the past 4 decades.
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So I'm kinda wondering, how does death of the god affect world physically in Pathfinder?
Like, okay, if Pharasma dies, things obviously go horribly wrong since she judges the dead. But if she was just sealed, like Rovagug, would world still function or would it be same as if she died? Do other god's death's affect world physically? Like, Aroden's death apparently caused lot of calamities and if Ydersius is killed permanently serpentfolk become further degenerated, does death of gods mean that laws of physics can fail too?
That brings out question that if Götterdämmerungor/Ragnarök style of mass death of gods happened(I guess if Rovagug ever got out again), who besides Pharasma would have to survive for material plane to be recognizable physically?
It affects the world in any way you want. It's not something we'll ever quantify with rules or even guidelines, because a god's death is supposed to be ENORMOUS and its impact on the world should be limited only by your imagination. It might do nothing. It might make all members of a single class change into frogs. It might switch your rules from Pathfinder to GURPS. It might cause all water and land to switch places. It might make butterflies carnivorous.
Anything you want. Depends on the god. Depends on the way the god died.
The death of one god, Aroden, more or less serves as the fundamental baseline event of our campaign world though. It's not something you can expect to see us do often. Wrath of the Righteous is the only time I can think of when we did it again, but the repercussions of killing Deskari or a few other demon lords is less than would be the death of one of the core deities. At least... to the Inner Sea Region.
ahem! The perma-kill of Yderthius (?), the serpent folk demi-god, is an option after you decapitate him in Serpent's SKull, if you can arrange to get him in front of Pharasma...I suspect the perma-kill isn't the focus for the book because you end at level 15-16ish, instead of 20+ like Wrath.
Did you get enough hours of sleep to recover from Gen Con yet? :)
I know you have a lot of stressful moments leading UP to Gen con, getting product there, getting things set up, but it sounds like you are very stressed being AT Gen Con. What are some of the issues that come up to pour the stress over you like that? It would seem to dampen down any excitement for going to the point of 'why bother'.
==Aelryinth
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I was a big fan of the Mythic Adventures book you guys put out and while it can feel a bit like rocket tag at higher levels when both enemies and player characters are mythic I've found that
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ahem! The perma-kill of Yderthius (?), the serpent folk demi-god, is an option after you decapitate him in Serpent's SKull, if you can arrange to get him in front of Pharasma...I suspect the perma-kill isn't the focus for the book because you end at level 15-16ish, instead of 20+ like Wrath.
Did you get enough hours of sleep to recover from Gen Con yet? :)
I know you have a lot of stressful moments leading UP to Gen con, getting product there, getting things set up, but it sounds like you are very stressed being AT Gen Con. What are some of the issues that come up to pour the stress over you like that? It would seem to dampen down any excitement for going to the point of 'why bother'.
==Aelryinth
Yes. Partially because I actually slept a lot AT Gen Con... I tried to go back and take a nap on a break each day and also aimed to be in bed and asleep by 9:00 PM if not earlier each night.
The thing that stresses me out about Gen Con is that I've a pretty significant fear of crowds, don't enjoy noisy rooms, don't enjoy the hawking/pushing of products (aka I don't enjoy being a salesman), don't enjoy the weather and food and appearance of Indianapolis, don't enjoy the time zone change, don't enjoy not having control over my schedule, don't enjoy the fact that the con puts me weeks behind schedule at work, and don't enjoy being away from my cat or the comforts of home.
It very much DOES dampen down my excitement for going to the point of why bother. As for why I DO bother? Because it's my job, and I get paid to go there to work. Attending Gen Con is without a doubt my least favorite part of the job.
I do try to endure and keep the proverbial stiff upper lip so that everyone else who goes can have fun and my own discomfort doesn't dampen anyone else's mood... but after 11 straight years of it, I'm pretty much worn out entirely on the convention.
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I was a big fan of the Mythic Adventures book you guys put out and while it can feel a bit like rocket tag at higher levels when both enemies and player characters are mythic I've found thatSpoiler:using Mythic on certain final bosses and enemies in this adventure path has been used to great effect. My players were shocked and awed when they fought Hellion below Scrapwall and then completely baffled when he then went twice in initiative. It was great and it turned a great boss fight into one that literally stunned my players by how different and alien it felt. I think that this is a great use for Mythic and I was wondering if you guys are going to continue using this as a way to further enhance certain "Boss" fights?
I think that Mythic works best when its used to enhance boss monsters or other tough foes, rather than as options for PCs. We will continue to use Mythic rules for things like that now and then, but not in every adventure. It's not really gonna show up much at all in Hell's Rebels, for example, with the possible exception of the last adventure.
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Where would you say the "scariness" in Lovecraftian fiction comes from? The being ripped from one's comfort zone/world into a terrifying new reality? The sense of being so small and insignificant compared to beings like the Great Old Ones? The idea that "it's not what the monsters are that's scary, what's scary is that they're there, or more accurately that they were there the whole time and it's only through merciful luck that we hadn't noticed each other?"
I'm trying to explain this sorta stuff to a friend who thinks Lovecraft is "interesting, but not scary."
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Where would you say the "scariness" in Lovecraftian fiction comes from? The being ripped from one's comfort zone/world into a terrifying new reality? The sense of being so small and insignificant compared to beings like the Great Old Ones? The idea that "it's not what the monsters are that's scary, what's scary is that they're there, or more accurately that they were there the whole time and it's only through merciful luck that we hadn't noticed each other?"
I'm trying to explain this sorta stuff to a friend who thinks Lovecraft is "interesting, but not scary."
It comes from the realization that humanity isn't any more important than a pile of dirt or one of those ants you just didn't notice you'd stepped on. It comes from the realization of just how insignificant earth is in the vastness of the universe. It comes from the corruption of humanity into something else, and the loss of control of your mind and body. It comes from the frightening parts of sex or the loss of identity.
That said, not everyone is frightened by the same thing. I'm terrified of crowds and clowns, for example, but not all that bothered at all by snakes or heights. Some folks are frightened by the concept that they're not as important to the world as they think they are, and that's the fundamental core thing that Lovecraft's writings build upon—that no matter what we do, we aren't significant in the grand scheme of things. Oh... and the horror might not be from elsewhere... it might have been here all along and WE are the intruders in a world not meant for us.
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For all these years I didn't know that this was just an accepted house rule because there's nothing written down anywhere, but can mindless creatures make attacks of opportunity? This in includes constructs, zombies (especially staggered ones), skeletons, and the like. Also, does having less than 10 Dex stop you from making an AoO as well?
What do fire beetles eat? Are they carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores? predators, or scavengers which attack when disturbed rather than out of hunger?
I think my favorite scare in any of Lovecraft's short stories is Shadow Out of Time's ultimate payoff; that final sentence is SO scary!
What's your favorite Lovecraft scare?
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For all these years I didn't know that this was just an accepted house rule because there's nothing written down anywhere, but can mindless creatures make attacks of opportunity? This in includes constructs, zombies (especially staggered ones), skeletons, and the like. Also, does having less than 10 Dex stop you from making an AoO as well?
Yup, mindless creatures can make attacks of opportunity. Your Dexterity has no interaction at all with your number of attacks allowed at all UNLESS you take the Combat Reflexes feat, at which point it can only INCREASE your attacks of opportunity.