Creative Director
|
What do you consider the job/role of the Creative Director? I think I've seen you answer that before, but having more time for it might have changed things a little.
I'm focusing more on my other job—the Creative Director job, which has long competed for time with my job as Lead Developer for adventure paths. I'm also switching over to other projects, as needed. For example, I swooped in to develop next year's Free RPG day product, and have come by to write some emergency art orders for other products. I also outlined the AP that will be happening after Strange Aeons (won't be developing it though).But all that said, I've got two SIGNIFICANT development/writing projects I'm currently lined up to do, but neither of them have been announced yet.
I help to set the tone and flavor for the products we publish, and help to decide what books and products we even make. I work with licensors to ensure that what they do with our intellectual property, be it comics or video games or board games or audio dramas or plushes or miniatures or t-shirts or whatever all functions right. I share final approval on all our products, along with Erik, Wes, and Sarah. I hold and mold a lot of the vision of where the campaign setting goes, and what it encompasses, and help to manage lots of the products. And I jump in to help with design, development, and editing on projects when needed.
Having more time to focus on all of that doesn't change the responsibilities; it just means I get to give them the attention they deserve rather than either working long hours or letting things go by without being involved in them.
To James:
http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qow
This FAQ talks about creatures with SLAs. It specifically calls out the barghest. Does this FAQ also cover creatures like a Gnome or Elf? What is the ruling about SLAs gained from other sources like Class Features or Feats?
|
Creative Director
|
To James:
http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qow
This FAQ talks about creatures with SLAs. It specifically calls out the barghest. Does this FAQ also cover creatures like a Gnome or Elf? What is the ruling about SLAs gained from other sources like Class Features or Feats?
It covers all creatures with spell-like abilities. Elves don't have them, so that doesn't matter. But if there were a feat that, say, had a prerequisite of "Must be able to cast speak with animals" then any gnome with a Charisma of 11 or higher would auto-qualify, since that's one of their spell-like abilities.
It doesn't matter where you gain the spell-like ability.
Have been since day one, yup!Hi, James.
I just stumbled across Richard Pett's Kickstarter for his swords & sorcery urban horror campaign setting, "The Blight."
This setting really seems like your cup of tea. Are you a backer?
A good point well raised Haladir, I thank you for it.
You are Mr Jacobs, as I have said before, a singularly very talented and excellent likeable person who happens to have superb taste too...if it hadn't been for James re-writing and bashing and leeching the good words from the chaff over many years at Paizo the Blight would never have happened - he makes me a better writer. Like all my Paizo stuff he's a co-author of anything I write as far as I'm concerned.
Hey, wait - the Blight by James Jacobs and Richard Pett has a nice ring to it:)
And Haladir, when you say stumbled, does that mean you haven't pledged yet? Hmmm, Sister Blight can get very angry when she's ignored, and now she's burst from her cellar, blinking, she's so hungry. There are still a few safe days to feed her before she slithers away to find her own way and home, looking for those who did not give her succor in her hour of need...
Mnaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!
Awww... thanks!
Can't wait to see what horrors you unleash with this one, Rich! Mnaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr indeed!!!
Erm, is this a Poison Elves reference, by any chance?
==Aelryinth
I'd just like your opinion, as a DM I've struggled to interpret Holy Smite's (and the like) increased damage threshold for evil (or good) outsiders. Would you consider the higher damage for outsiders with that subtype? Or would a good aligned aasimar, tiefling or sylph suffer the higher damage despite not having the alignment subtype? In my own campaign I have only applied the higher damage to outsiders with the alignment subtype (although the spell description does not single out a subtype being necessary like the quench spell does. So after years of ruling this way I am now in a quandary because I can see this vulnerability to aasimar/tiefling/ elemental blooded characters of specific alignments a trade off for their more powerful base nature. Just wondered how you rule it in your campaign.
Hello James! Had a quick question for you on an odd wording of an ability from the kinslayer archetype in the advanced race guide.
Devastating Brand: When the kinslayer attacks a creature that she has branded with her slayer's brand, she threatens a critical hit on a roll of 19–20. If the kinslayer is good, she also gains a +2 sacred bonus on all rolls to confirm critical hits on a branded creature.
Does this mean that weapons that normally threaten on a 19-20 gain no benefit and that weapons that normally threaten on a 18-20 are actually made worse by the ability? I suppose you would gain the benefit of your spells being able to crit on a 19, but it seems to not function very well for a large variety of weapons. Thanks James!
|
So if Pharasma knows the future and future can change, does that mean Pharasma knows when the future will be changed?
I'd guess that would make her pretty much omniscient if she can see all the possible futures, but thats probably old news that everyone knew already, whats with her portfolio including fate and such xD
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'd just like your opinion, as a DM I've struggled to interpret Holy Smite's (and the like) increased damage threshold for evil (or good) outsiders. Would you consider the higher damage for outsiders with that subtype? Or would a good aligned aasimar, tiefling or sylph suffer the higher damage despite not having the alignment subtype? In my own campaign I have only applied the higher damage to outsiders with the alignment subtype (although the spell description does not single out a subtype being necessary like the quench spell does. So after years of ruling this way I am now in a quandary because I can see this vulnerability to aasimar/tiefling/ elemental blooded characters of specific alignments a trade off for their more powerful base nature. Just wondered how you rule it in your campaign.
Holy smite says nothing at all about the evil subtype whatsoever. It just says "evil outsider" and so that works against an evil outsider. Including native outsiders. Including outsiders that have an evil alignment but lack the evil subtype. This is the easy way to handle it too; you just look at two things—monster type and alignment. No need to over-complicate things. It's no more a "disadvantage" against tieflings and their types than any other magical effect that affects a specific creature type; there's stuff for everyone, be they ranger favored enemies, bane swords, or spells like this.
|
Creative Director
|
Hello James! Had a quick question for you on an odd wording of an ability from the kinslayer archetype in the advanced race guide.
Devastating Brand: When the kinslayer attacks a creature that she has branded with her slayer's brand, she threatens a critical hit on a roll of 19–20. If the kinslayer is good, she also gains a +2 sacred bonus on all rolls to confirm critical hits on a branded creature.Does this mean that weapons that normally threaten on a 19-20 gain no benefit and that weapons that normally threaten on a 18-20 are actually made worse by the ability? I suppose you would gain the benefit of your spells being able to crit on a 19, but it seems to not function very well for a large variety of weapons. Thanks James!
I had very very little to do with the Advanced Race Guide; questions about it should be directed to the rules team or the rules forum.
The way I'd interpret that ability is that yes, it doesn't help weapons that already have an increased threat range. Not every option has to be equally good for every combination.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So if Pharasma knows the future and future can change, does that mean Pharasma knows when the future will be changed?
I'd guess that would make her pretty much omniscient if she can see all the possible futures, but thats probably old news that everyone knew already, whats with her portfolio including fate and such xD
If ANYONE in the great beyond has this level of omniscience, it's Pharasma. The fact that she generally doesn't share this information with anyone effectively means that for the rest of existence, it doesn't really matter at all if she can or can't see the future. It's kind of a pointless thing to worry about, in other words...
Are there Half-Giants in Pathfinder? Or do they have some kind of analogue?
|
About the recent Pathfinder Comics in Hollow Mountain:
I know Xandergul words, being master of pride, are not trustable enough, but that´s a lot of plot reveal.
1- Its a politics change to be more open about the end of Thassilon, or this was a once in a lifetime breadcrumb ?
2- It was revealed before that Aroden and the Runelords were aware of each other ?
3- Xandergul said Aroden was a cult hero, he was already in a Mythic Path by then ?
4- Xandergul said Veiled Masters were the defacto rulers of Azlant and they decided to throw the Earthfall after Aroden took the Sword of Rulership. It all happened in just a day ? Earthfall was Aroden fault ?
5- We were allways told the runelords were aware of the end of Thassilon and prepared according. Alaznist seemed a lot clueless about what were happening. Is that so ?
Thank you for all the good work and love you give to it.
Are you familiar with Powerglove?
Thanks for the quick response James, stay awesome!
|
Creative Director
|
...I swooped in to develop next year's Free RPG day product...Goblins, something else, or "sorry, can't divulge at present"?
You'll see when we announce it if we haven't already (can't remember off the top of my head if we have or not, frankly, so that's why I was vague about it other than the obvious bit that we WILL do something for Free RPG Day as we have for the past ten years or so).
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
About the recent Pathfinder Comics in Hollow Mountain:
Spoiler:Xandergul meet Alaznist on the big EF Day, saying that he just come from Azlant´s Imperor Throne Room and he lost the right to be the new emperor because Aroden took it first.
I know Xandergul words, being master of pride, are not trustable enough, but that´s a lot of plot reveal.
1- Its a politics change to be more open about the end of Thassilon, or this was a once in a lifetime breadcrumb ?2- It was revealed before that Aroden and the Runelords were aware of each other ?
3- Xandergul said Aroden was a cult hero, he was already in a Mythic Path by then ?
4- Xandergul said Veiled Masters were the defacto rulers of Azlant and they decided to throw the Earthfall after Aroden took the Sword of Rulership. It all happened in just a day ? Earthfall was Aroden fault ?
5- We were allways told the runelords were aware of the end of Thassilon and prepared according. Alaznist seemed a lot clueless about what were happening. Is that so ?
Thank you for all the good work and love you give to it.
Answers:
2) I'm not sure we ever said so in print, but since Aroden was alive at the same time as the Runelords, and the Runelords were among the most powerful things on Avistan, it's pretty common sense/logical that he'd know about them.
3) Unrevealed. "Cult hero" does not necessarily mean "Mythic" at all though. It could be as simple as an insult. "Cult hero" to some people, particularly those in power, is not a compliment.
4) Not quite. Xanderghul doesn't have all the information, and there's a little bit of "time compression" showing up due to the fact that everything in comics gets compressed down to a few pages.
5) She wasn't clueless about it at all. She simply wasn't all that willing to play along with Xanderghul, and knows that a Runelord of Pride is relatively susceptible to underestimating enemies, and doesn't want to give him any reason to suspect she might have an upper hand over his plans.
To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
|
Creative Director
|
To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
That's a good question for the rules forum and a FAQ tag.
That's a good question for the rules forum and a FAQ tag.To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
Two people in the rules forum said no. Do you know what the initial intent of creating this ability was? [There are currently no feats, traits, or options that rely on Ranger or Druid levels that also modify or improve animal companions (assuming the Ranger thing above does not work).]
If ANYONE in the great beyond has this level of omniscience, it's Pharasma. The fact that she generally doesn't share this information with anyone effectively means that for the rest of existence, it doesn't really matter at all if she can or can't see the future. It's kind of a pointless thing to worry about, in other words...So if Pharasma knows the future and future can change, does that mean Pharasma knows when the future will be changed?
I'd guess that would make her pretty much omniscient if she can see all the possible futures, but thats probably old news that everyone knew already, whats with her portfolio including fate and such xD
Also worth noting that in another thread, Mr. Jacobs has said...
Of course, Pharasma herself knew this was coming all along. She has a plan. (She's not a cylon, though.)
Of particular relevance to this discussion is the second half of the fourth sentence in the first paragraph.
|
Creative Director
|
How do Inner Sea residents format their dates?
MM/DD/YYYY?
or
DD/MM/YYYY?
And if they were to write it out, would they include the weekday?
EX: Abadius 14th Oathday 4716 AR
or
Oathday 14th Abadius 4716 AR?
MM/DD/YYYY
Written out, whether or not they include the weekday depends on personal preference.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Two people in the rules forum said no. Do you know what the initial intent of creating this ability was? [There are currently no feats, traits, or options that rely on Ranger or Druid levels that also modify or improve animal companions (assuming the Ranger thing above does not work).]That's a good question for the rules forum and a FAQ tag.To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
I have no idea what the intent was. I wasn't really involved at all with the design of anything in that book whatsoever. I could certainly make a ruling here, but it'd only cause people to fight over whether or not my ruling counted or not, and would ruffle feathers on the design team for the perception of me stepping on their turf, and would (as has in the past) run the risk of customers on these boards posting angry posts about Paizo not having their "house in order."
As a result, for raw rules questions like this, you need to take the question to the rules forum. That way the Design Team will see the question and that way others can tag it with a FAQ request.
will we get any lore about the Ishians the fiendish and half fiendish humans that live in ishair(dagons realm)?
since the fiendish template doesn't make them outsiders do they have souls what happens to a fiendish giant or human or whatever when it dies
and can a creature with the fiendish template be called with planer binding?(I know I its not a outsider it cant be planer binded but its a staple of the summon monster spells so I wanted to ask)
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
will we get any lore about the Ishians the fiendish and half fiendish humans that live in ishair(dagons realm)?
since the fiendish template doesn't make them outsiders do they have souls what happens to a fiendish giant or human or whatever when it dies
and can a creature with the fiendish template be called with planer binding?(I know I its not a outsider it cant be planer binded but its a staple of the summon monster spells so I wanted to ask)
No plans for more lore about them anytime soon, nope.
Fiendish humans do have souls. What happens to their souls is the same as with any other creature.
A creature with the fiendish template can't be called with planar binding, but a half-fiend can be.
will we get any lore about the Ishians the fiendish and half fiendish humans that live in ishair(dagons realm)?
since the fiendish template doesn't make them outsiders do they have souls what happens to a fiendish giant or human or whatever when it dies
and can a creature with the fiendish template be called with planer binding?(I know I its not a outsider it cant be planer binded but its a staple of the summon monster spells so I wanted to ask)No plans for more lore about them anytime soon, nope.
Fiendish humans do have souls. What happens to their souls is the same as with any other creature.
A creature with the fiendish template can't be called with planar binding, but a half-fiend can be.
thankyou.
|
|
Sorry if this has been asked but I just read the intro to Hell's Rebels breaking the bones of hell. May I ask what you will be doing other then your other duty's as creative director, which I am sure could cover your whole day job by itself. I am looking forward to the next 2 aps including Adam developing the whole ap of Strange Aeons, but the aps you developed where always my favorites.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
1) You explained awhile back that the PCs in Hell's Rebels shouldn't kidnap the pro-Thrune noble families. Understandable. Should the PCs be allowed to take any action against them at all? After Song of Silver is finished, would there be any penalties for exiling them?
2) There are a few high-ranking enemy NPCs in Song of Silver who have what appear to be important positions in Kintargo: Tombus Regegious, head of the Chelish Citizen's Group, Vannases Trex, the leader of Kintargo's Dottari, and Paralictor Kyrre Exodyre, representing the Order of the Rack. Seeing as how they all lead prominent pro-Thrune factions, should I foreshadow these people in earlier volumes or try to give them a bigger presence in the story, or would that be a waste of time?
3) Correct me if I'm wrong, but Barzillai probably has a group of high-ranking pro-Thrune people who he holds council with on a regular basis, right? And if so, would those people be Regegious, Grivenner, Trex, Exodyre, and maybe Tiarise Izoni?
4) How likely are there to be defectors from the Dottari? Enough for the PCs to scrape together a good-aligned "Thrune Troop" to take part in the Bleakbridge combat?
5) I was thinking of directly transplanting Druvalia Thrune and her naval force from Skulls in Shackles to Hell's Rebels; so they can make a move on Kintargo in Volume 5. The idea being that Barzillai requested reinforcements and this is the response. Do you think that could be interesting, or is it an incredibly lame idea? How would you handle it.
|
|
So something I'm curious about: So why in setting with objective methaphysical force of good and evil, killing another intelligent being isn't always evil?
Like seriously, its pretty much only evil act of its caliber which's evilness is depending on situation and context. I know that out of universe reason is "Because combat and killing bad guys is part of this game", but in universe reason eludes me
Are there Half-Giants in Pathfinder? Or do they have some kind of analogue?There are ogrekin, who are half ogres. That's about it.
Are "true" giants (frost, hill, stone, fire, storm, ect.) and humans STILL compatible in Pathfinder? Or are Ogres their own race now? Are there such things as Frost Ogres (a union between a human and a frost giant produces a frost ogre?), etc.?
|
|
Hmmm ....
1-) Were Xanderghul and Aroden rivals for the Azlant´s Throne or they never met ? Did they fight ?
2-) Aroden were aware of the Runelords survival in Thassilon but never had the time to do anything about it or their survival was a really well guarded secret ?
Non-followup questions ahead:
3-) We know that Azlant is under the ocean, but maps show there is some continental sized islands still over there. They are empty ?
4-) Both Xanderghul and the Peacock Spirit uses the peacock symbolism. Was the Peacock Spirit welcome in his realm or seen as a threat ?
Thank you again for your patience, and excuse me if i did bother you anyway.
Two people in the rules forum said no. Do you know what the initial intent of creating this ability was? [There are currently no feats, traits, or options that rely on Ranger or Druid levels that also modify or improve animal companions (assuming the Ranger thing above does not work).]That's a good question for the rules forum and a FAQ tag.To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
I have no idea what the intent was. I wasn't really involved at all with the design of anything in that book whatsoever. I could certainly make a ruling here, but it'd only cause people to fight over whether or not my ruling counted or not, and would ruffle feathers on the design team for the perception of me stepping on their turf, and would (as has in the past) run the risk of customers on these boards posting angry posts about Paizo not having their "house in order."
As a result, for raw rules questions like this, you need to take the question to the rules forum. That way the Design Team will see the question and that way others can tag it with a FAQ request.
To James:
My bad, Imbicatus has found one really niche method of using the Nature Training class feature. If a Hunter chooses the Feral Hunter archetype, levels to 4 as a Feral Hunter, then multiclasses in Ranger, and then they take a feat called Shapeshifing Hunter; then their Hunter levels would count as both Druid and Ranger levels for the purpose of this feat.
Shapeshifting Hunter Feat: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/ultimateCombatFeats.html# shapeshifting-hunter
My question is: once the character has the favored enemy // favored terrain class features, would the Hunter levels start counting as addition Ranger levels to improve these two class features (without taking the Shapeshifting Hunter feat)?
|
Creative Director
|
Sorry if this has been asked but I just read the intro to Hell's Rebels breaking the bones of hell. May I ask what you will be doing other then your other duty's as creative director, which I am sure could cover your whole day job by itself. I am looking forward to the next 2 aps including Adam developing the whole ap of Strange Aeons, but the aps you developed where always my favorites.
A big part of what I'll be doing is special projects. The ones I"m working on now haven't been announced, so I can't say much more there. But I'll also be focusing more on helping to guide the path all our products take—what books we choose to do, how we go about doing them, and so on; that's the Creative Director side of things. In fact, I've been doing lots of that already, but by shifting away from doing an AP every year, I'll not be so overwhelmed with stuff.
I WILL still be doing APs now and then, though. Just not as often. Which is a good thing, since that gives other talented folks here the opportunity to do that instead and that'll help keep the AP line fresh!
|
Creative Director
|
1) You explained awhile back that the PCs in Hell's Rebels shouldn't kidnap the pro-Thrune noble families. Understandable. Should the PCs be allowed to take any action against them at all? After Song of Silver is finished, would there be any penalties for exiling them?
2) There are a few high-ranking enemy NPCs in Song of Silver who have what appear to be important positions in Kintargo: Tombus Regegious, head of the Chelish Citizen's Group, Vannases Trex, the leader of Kintargo's Dottari, and Paralictor Kyrre Exodyre, representing the Order of the Rack. Seeing as how they all lead prominent pro-Thrune factions, should I foreshadow these people in earlier volumes or try to give them a bigger presence in the story, or would that be a waste of time?
3) Correct me if I'm wrong, but Barzillai probably has a group of high-ranking pro-Thrune people who he holds council with on a regular basis, right? And if so, would those people be Regegious, Grivenner, Trex, Exodyre, and maybe Tiarise Izoni?
4) How likely are there to be defectors from the Dottari? Enough for the PCs to scrape together a good-aligned "Thrune Troop" to take part in the Bleakbridge combat?
5) I was thinking of directly transplanting Druvalia Thrune and her naval force from Skulls in Shackles to Hell's Rebels; so they can make a move on Kintargo in Volume 5. The idea being that Barzillai requested reinforcements and this is the response. Do you think that could be interesting, or is it an incredibly lame idea? How would you handle it.
1) The only penalties I would think about from exiling them would be that you're basically sending free support to your enemies. An exiled Kintargan noble would have a lot of insider knowledge about the city, after all. That said, it's not that big a deal at this point, and it would really depend on HOW the exile went about. In fact, some of the noble families who support Thrune may well change their tune when it becomes apparent that the Silver Ravens are indeed better at leading the city than Thrune is, and certainly by the end of Song of Silver Thrune will have given the city PLENTY of hands-on reasons and proof of his evil. Plenty of justification for a previous supporter of Thrune to abandon those ways.
2) Feel free to give those characters a bigger presence—we mention them in the first adventure in the gazetteer precisely for that reason. We didn't include them in the adventures before because once you put an NPC in an adventure, they have a way of getting themselves killed by PCs OR killing the PCs because they're too tough. But if you can get them "on screen" more, then having the PCs face them in Song of Silver will be much more satisfying from a story perspective, yes. It wouldn't be a waste of time at all. Just be careful about setting the thing up so it might turn into a fight, because those NPCs are tough.
3) Barzillai's "inner circle" of folks he holds council with would be Tiarise, Corinstian, Aluceda, Zella Zidlii, and Trex. Regegious is not in this circle; he's one tier down. And Ekodyre is a mercenary/employee; she works for Thrune, but isn't part of his inner circle. He doesn't trust either of those two with his deep plans for the region.
4) As the AP goes on, I think it's increasingly likely for there to be defectors. None are "built in" to the adventure, but if you have PCs who are particularly glib or seeking this route, any of them who aren't in the "inner circle" would make good choices for potential switcharoos. I wouldn't advise giving the PCs a "Thrune Troop" to fight with though. That kinda takes the action away from the heroes to a certain extent and saddles the players with weird rules they might not be comfortable dealing with.
5) I think that's a bad idea, especially since so much of the previous adventures is about securing alliances with aquatic elves and other elements to PREVENT reinforcements from the sea. If you do this, it undermines the value of the PCs' accomplishments in the previous adventures. In fact, I might actually tell the PCs that they've heard rumors that a fleet of Chelish reinforcements WAS on the way to Kintargo but that they were forced to turn back once they ran into trouble with aquatic elves or Vyre or whatever, to make it feel even more like what the PCs accomplished in the earlier adventures really ended up mattering.
|
Creative Director
|
So something I'm curious about: So why in setting with objective methaphysical force of good and evil, killing another intelligent being isn't always evil?
Like seriously, its pretty much only evil act of its caliber which's evilness is depending on situation and context. I know that out of universe reason is "Because combat and killing bad guys is part of this game", but in universe reason eludes me
That's a philosophical question that doesn't really have an answer that works for everyone. For me, it's not always evil to kill another creature in the game because there ARE fundamentally evil creatures in the game. We try hard to present these as fundamentally evil so many tables won't have to grapple with the philosophical question of whether it's "right" to kill for the greater good.
At the same time, other tables quite enjoy that level of complexity to the game. I for one do, and often have "evil" characters in my games be complex characters that the PCs can, if they wish, defeat without killing them.
It varies from table to table what works for each group, and for some groups, grappling with these questions is part of the fun. If it's not part of the fun for you, talk to your GM and other players to see if perhaps a solution could be had—maybe focusing adventures on things like fiends or undead or non-intelligent creatures with more opportunities to have non-violent solutions when facing evil intelligent mortal creatures is the solution.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Are "true" giants (frost, hill, stone, fire, storm, ect.) and humans STILL compatible in Pathfinder? Or are Ogres their own race now? Are there such things as Frost Ogres (a union between a human and a frost giant produces a frost ogre?), etc.?Are there Half-Giants in Pathfinder? Or do they have some kind of analogue?There are ogrekin, who are half ogres. That's about it.
No. Mostly because physically they aren't; the size difference is significant. But beyond that, they're different creatures; the fact that ogres can breed with other creatures is part of the unique thing that makes an ogre an ogre, and not some other creature. But also keep in mind the information about half-ogres we present in Inner Sea Monster Codex; this is essentially the template you use to make a creature that's the result of an ogre and Large humanoids.
THAT said... I've been VERY hesitant about putting lots more hybrid templates in the game. Frankly, they're kinda boring to me. I would much rather see NEW monsters in a bestiary. Furthermore, all of this talk tends to drift toward the topic of rape (an ugly but inevitable result of the internet culture we're surrounded by, and one that I hope we shed SOON), and as a result, I'm very hesitant to start saying, in the rules, "It's okay for all these types of evil creatures to cross breed with other creatures that are traditionally victims to those creatures." This element of violence IS in the game already with the ogres, and that's probably more than enough of it.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hmmm ....
Spoiler:1-) Were Xanderghul and Aroden rivals for the Azlant´s Throne or they never met ? Did they fight ?2-) Aroden were aware of the Runelords survival in Thassilon but never had the time to do anything about it or their survival was a really well guarded secret ?
Non-followup questions ahead:
3-) We know that Azlant is under the ocean, but maps show there is some continental sized islands still over there. They are empty ?
4-) Both Xanderghul and the Peacock Spirit uses the peacock symbolism. Was the Peacock Spirit welcome in his realm or seen as a threat ?
Thank you again for your patience, and excuse me if i did bother you anyway.
2) The fact that the Runelords went into stasis/hiding after Earthfall is secret, and Aroden didn't know about it. He (and everyone else, pretty much) assumed all of Thassilon died during Earthfall.
3) Azlant is MOSTLY under the ocean. There's lots of islands and crags sticking up from the ocean there. There's all sorts of things living there, but we haven't done much info about it yet.
4) There's a lot more to say about that, but now is not the time. More to come in the (eventual) future!
|
Creative Director
|
Two people in the rules forum said no. Do you know what the initial intent of creating this ability was? [There are currently no feats, traits, or options that rely on Ranger or Druid levels that also modify or improve animal companions (assuming the Ranger thing above does not work).]That's a good question for the rules forum and a FAQ tag.To James:
The Hunter ability 'nature training (ex)' says "a hunter counts her total hunter level as both druid levels and ranger levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats, traits, and options that modify or improve an animal companion”
The Ranger class under Animal Companion says "A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses."
Does a Hunter gain favored enemy/favored terrain class feature as a Ranger of equal level, so the Hunter can share this 'option' with their Animal Companion?
I have no idea what the intent was. I wasn't really involved at all with the design of anything in that book whatsoever. I could certainly make a ruling here, but it'd only cause people to fight over whether or not my ruling counted or not, and would ruffle feathers on the design team for the perception of me stepping on their turf, and would (as has in the past) run the risk of customers on these boards posting angry posts about Paizo not having their "house in order."
As a result, for raw rules questions like this, you need to take the question to the rules forum. That way the Design Team will see the question and that way others can tag it with a FAQ request.
To James:
My bad, Imbicatus has found one really niche method of using the Nature Training class feature. If a Hunter chooses the Feral Hunter archetype, levels to 4 as a Feral Hunter, then multiclasses in Ranger, and then they take a feat called Shapeshifing Hunter; then their Hunter levels would count as both Druid and Ranger levels for the purpose of this feat.
Shapeshifting Hunter Feat: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/ultimateCombatFeats.html# shapeshifting-hunter
My question is: once the character has the favored enemy // favored terrain class features, would the Hunter levels start counting as addition Ranger levels to improve these two class features (without taking the Shapeshifting Hunter feat)?
And again... this type of pure rules question is simply not the type of question I'm comfortable answering here. Honestly, it's the GM's call, and I am uncomfortable answering this question to a player—if you were the GM running this campaign, I'd feel better about telling you what I would do in a game I'm running, but I've simply been burned too many times by players asking rules questions from me and then using my answers to either strongarm their GM or as ammunition to fuel a rules argument elsewhere on these boards—and in the latter case, that has actually had ripple effects all the way back to me with MY manager/boss asking me to not confuse things/muddy the water by answering rules that the rules team should be answering.
Now that all said, my personal preference on how to resolve these questions when a player finds a niche method of using rules in ways that may not have been originally intended is to simply rule in the way that's the least advantageous to the player's character. If it weren't a niche case, I would rule as the most advantageous.
|
Creative Director
|
Do you think the brotherhood of steel in fallout 3 was evil?
I pretty much come to the decision that, overall, the Brotherhood of Steel is evil in EVERY Fallout game I've played. A few of them have set up individual Brotherhood of Steel characters who didn't feel too evil, but overall, yeah, my personal play style and all that tends to interpret the Brotherhood as bad guys.
Fallout 3 is the most significant exception, but that's pretty much because the actual bad guys, the Enclave, are basically just the Bigger Badder Brotherhood of Steel. Only by doubling down on "brotherhood of steel" themes and values in designing the Enclave were they able to get me to think of the actual Brotherhood as less bad.
How widely known within Paizo are the "big secrets" (Aroden's death being the obvious one, but things like that)?
Do you have a central group who nut these things out?
Do you sort those things out pretty much solo (or just you and Erik or something) and then tell people on a 'need to know' basis?
Does it depend on the nature of the mystery (eg does Wes get to shape Ustalav and it's 'big mysteries' but not get consulted on other regions he's less interested in)?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
How widely known within Paizo are the "big secrets" (Aroden's death being the obvious one, but things like that)?
Do you have a central group who nut these things out?
Do you sort those things out pretty much solo (or just you and Erik or something) and then tell people on a 'need to know' basis?
Does it depend on the nature of the mystery (eg does Wes get to shape Ustalav and it's 'big mysteries' but not get consulted on other regions he's less interested in)?
It really depends on the secret in question. For Aroden, for example, the solution I came up with is one that I built myself and then ran by Erik, Wes, James, and a few others to get input and refinement for. For that one in particular it is indeed a "need to know" basis, but generally if someone here at Paizo wants to know I'll tell them.
But it also really depends on the nature of the secret. If it's Ustalav themed, Wes does indeed more or less get final call, for example. If it's Varisia, it's me. If it's Nex, it's Erik. And so on.
In a fair amount of cases, though, especially for minor "secrets," we DON'T know the exact solution and won't until we decide to further explore that little tidbit in a future product. In others, we might know the answer but may wait YEARS to reveal it; such as the case of "where did Norgorber get his start as a mortal?" I've known the answer to that since "The Skinsaw Murders" back in Pathfinder #2, but it wasn't until Pathfinder #99 that I was ready to reveal that to the public.
Cheers. From a layperson perspective, that part of the job sounds fun. Is it ever painful (or tedious)? Like if you have to come up with some good quality background stuff for an area you really don't care for that much?