Creative Director
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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?
It IS absolutely fun. Even after working in the industry for coming up on 15 years, I still have to stop and boggle/marvel now and then at the fact that it's my job and I get paid to do things like figure out what shape an elf's ears should be or to write about why a particular dragon might have become a cleric of the death goddess or draw pictures of dungeons and so on. Of course, there are other times when it DOES feel like work—don't get me wrong. But overall... it's a pretty swell gig.
Awesome, thanks. I think enjoying what you do is such a blessing. Glad you get that to. :)
That's good to hear. Lately a lot of your comments made it seem like you were experiencing burnout, and it seems like getting others into the AP-running job has given you a bit of a reprive?
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Creative Director
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That's good to hear. Lately a lot of your comments made it seem like you were experiencing burnout, and it seems like getting others into the AP-running job has given you a bit of a reprive?
That's a huge part of it, frankly. Building Adventure Paths is really fun... but it's also really hard, and after 12 or so years of doing it... I'm ready to tackle something else now and then.
What should I do if I suspect I've been replaced by a Synth?
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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.
In some ways, this has got to be a sort of depressing part of the job. As a GM, part of the fun for me is creating backstories and background and getting to reveal it to the players over time, it kind of sucks if I come up with something I really like or think is cool, but never get to reveal it.
The worst part is, I run games for all of my friends, so even if I come up with something really cool, I can't even share it with a friend on the side to vent my excitement.
I imagine some of the secrets for Golarion are kind of like that, except, on a much larger scale. Though, I guess you get to share your excitement with your co-workers if you want to.
1. What is Toth Bhreachers view on Ardoc family busisness?
2. Are the Golemworks rivals with Ardocs in terms of construct trading?
3. From who, if they are, Riddleport and Korvosa citizens buy constructs most in Varisia?
4. Was Telandia Edasseril Queen of Elvish nation at the time of Earthfall?
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Did Aroden ever sire demigod progeny before his death? If such progeny, were, say, ignorant of their true nature, could it be possible for a PC to discover they're related to Aroden, and thus qualify for things like the Divine Scion prestige class or the Godling paths for mythic? Obviously if they wield actual divine power they'd likely either get it from a "mysterious source" and thus be an oracle, or gain patronage from Iomedae...Or would Aroden's death have some sort of metaphysical feedback that destroyed any kids he might have had? Or was he just not that kind of guy, and didn't have any kids at all?
I confess, Aroden got a LOT more interesting with that article on him in A Song of Silver and the information in Arcane Anthology, so I've developed an interest in playing characters following his legacy and stuff, and matching his divine feats by warring against Deskari in Wrath of the Righteous? What could be more awesome?!
Let's say there's a PC for Rise of the Runelords who's an angelkin aasimar bard acting as a priest of Arshea...
1. Given how the place fetishizes aasimar to the point of being a plot point, how much (entertaining) trouble would this cause?
2. In addition to the below, what sort of trouble would this cause? (You might think of something I haven't.)
3. How many of the women would want his child?
4. How many of the men would lust after him as well?
Hi James
In wrath of the righteous:
Not sure how to handle this one.
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Hi James,
some Taldor questions. Some referring year-old comments of yours I stumbled upon while looking stuff up.
1. You said you want to retcon out the whole bearded/unbearded thing because it's too complex. Does this mean the whole "rigid class structure" is something you want to remove?
2. If not, how exactly would one go about to raise to the bearded ranks? If a character joined the Taldan army trying to rise through the ranks, could he ever truly become a noble?
3. You said you are getting leery of Taldor (though that was quite some time ago). Is this still the case and why is that?
4. Is there another book on Taldor planned besides the now almost 7 year old "Echoes of Glory"?
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Creative Director
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In some ways, this has got to be a sort of depressing part of the job. As a GM, part of the fun for me is creating backstories and background and getting to reveal it to the players over time, it kind of sucks if I come up with something I really like or think is cool, but never get to reveal it.
The worst part is, I run games for all of my friends, so even if I come up with something really cool, I can't even share it with a friend on the side to vent my excitement.
I imagine some of the secrets for Golarion are kind of like that, except, on a much larger scale. Though, I guess you get to share your excitement with your co-workers if you want to.
It's not depressing at all, in fact. We reveal PLENTY of secrets to folks, so that itch is constantly getting scratched. Having a few secrets that we'll never reveal actually helps keep interest and keep folks engaged, and that's very important.
And I do get to share even those secrets with friends; folks like Erik and Wes and Rob and Sutter and so on. You don't have to share a secret with the world and thus make it not a secret to enjoy sharing the secret, in other words.
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Creative Director
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1. What is Toth Bhreachers view on Ardoc family busisness?
2. Are the Golemworks rivals with Ardocs in terms of construct trading?
3. From who, if they are, Riddleport and Korvosa citizens buy constructs most in Varisia?
4. Was Telandia Edasseril Queen of Elvish nation at the time of Earthfall?
1) Haven't done much thought here, but he likely considers them to be amateurs and/or criminals.
2) They're not direct rivals, no; the Golemworks doesn't consider the Ardocs to be a worthy rival and the Ardocs aren't all that interested in a competition with Magnimar. The two are far apart and their spheres of influence don't really overlap much directly at all.
3) The Golemworks.
4) Nope. Earthfall was thousands and thousands of years before she was born.
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Creative Director
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HI James! Hope you've been having a good new year.
I would appreciate your thoughts on a fluff questionThe Setup:
Our nigh omnipotent Mr. Mxyzptlk expy, is about to pluck our group of heroes from their Earth for a short stay in Golarion. Their Earth is in a separate multiverse (not a future version of 1919 Earth in Golarion's timeline, different cosmology).The Fluff:
Pharasma. To paraphrase: you mentioned in a post if a "fateless" character whose fate Pharasma did not see showed up, Pharasma would probably either (i) not care or (ii) consider it a major threat and would take measures against the character.The Issue: The heroes here are interlopers to the Pathfinder universe, essentially putting something new in a previously closed ecosystem. In other words, Pharasma probably didn't see them coming, may not know what they'll be up to, or when/or if they're going to leave.
Question: How do you think Pharasma would approach interlopers appearing in her "from her standpoint" ordered universe? It isn't necessarily that they don't have fates, they just weren't supposed to be where they are, a cosmic fly in the soup. Would she suddenly know everything that is going to happen and have no issue?
From a game standpoint I hadn't even considered the possibility until I saw your earlier reply and I'm not likely to pull on this thread unless the heroes overstay but I really dig your lore.
Slightly more childishly, is there any entity or combination of entities (gods, etc.) in Pathfinder that you think could chase out a Mxyzptlk-like character who shows up and starts turning galaxies into cotton candy? (Just a prank! It wouldn't be permanent.)
My thoughts:
First, call it "flavor," not "fluff." Fluff is demeaning and kind of insulting, in my opinion.
Second, I was never a fan of the "people from Earth are the stars of the fantasy setting" at all. That feels better in science fiction. It's one of the main reasons I never really got into the Narnia books, and was my least favorite part of the D&D cartoon.
Third, I don't think Pharasma would approach interlopers like that at all. That'd be the job of her faithful to confront the intrusion of "fateless" creatures into this reality. If the thing that placed the PCs in Golarion's reality is on the power of a full deity, she'd get involved with that entity in opposing it, but not the PCs themselves.
That said, it doesn't sound like your PCs are actually "fateless" in the way I was talking about. Not being where you're supposed to be is a fate, as is whatever happens to you there, so if I were you, I'd just run with the PCs having just as much fate as if they'd been born on Golarion.
There's not really anything in Golarion lore that can cause that much disruption to reality, really. That's not really appropriate for the setting's themes. It's a case of defining a setting by what we DON'T include, I guess.
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Creative Director
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Did Aroden ever sire demigod progeny before his death? If such progeny, were, say, ignorant of their true nature, could it be possible for a PC to discover they're related to Aroden, and thus qualify for things like the Divine Scion prestige class or the Godling paths for mythic? Obviously if they wield actual divine power they'd likely either get it from a "mysterious source" and thus be an oracle, or gain patronage from Iomedae...Or would Aroden's death have some sort of metaphysical feedback that destroyed any kids he might have had? Or was he just not that kind of guy, and didn't have any kids at all?
I confess, Aroden got a LOT more interesting with that article on him in A Song of Silver and the information in Arcane Anthology, so I've developed an interest in playing characters following his legacy and stuff, and matching his divine feats by warring against Deskari in Wrath of the Righteous? What could be more awesome?!
Unrevealed at this time. Certainly a PC could play a descendant of Aroden, and some folks have done just that in Wrath of the Righteous or other Mythic games, I believe. It's absolutely possible, but it's not something we've talked about in print much yet.
Personally, my opinion is that the more mysterious Aroden is, the better, and his faith and themes work best in the background rather than in the front and center, because too many people get frustrated when/if they realize that they're never going to get answers to the big question at the core of all this. I prefer players to play characters who CAN learn the secrets of their past.
If I were to let a PC in my game play a child of Aroden, I'd have that PC eventually learn the truth about Aroden's death. I wouldn't publish it, though. This is a perfect case of something a non-Paizo employee GM can pull off better for their home campaign than anyone who works here ever could, I suppose.
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Let's say there's a PC for Rise of the Runelords who's an angelkin aasimar bard acting as a priest of Arshea...
1. Given how the place fetishizes aasimar to the point of being a plot point, how much (entertaining) trouble would this cause?
2. In addition to the below, what sort of trouble would this cause? (You might think of something I haven't.)
3. How many of the women would want his child?
4. How many of the men would lust after him as well?
1) It doesn't fetishize aasimar to plot points at all. One important aasimar in the story doesn't set a precedent. That said, if the PC aasimar started in Sandpoint and was eerily beautiful, I would absolutely have that character start to have some of the same uncomfortable/awkward experiences with locals that Nualia did; folks asking for locks of hair, for blessings, and so on. How that PC reacts would fuel how I reacted, and this could either end up with Nualia becoming an even more important enemy in the AP (I'd consider having her even replace Mokmurian's role in some way as the "second in command" of the AP), or she'd become an NPC that the PCs have a great chance at redeeming if they play their cards right. In any event, Nualia would play a much larger role overall, but what role would depend 100% on how that aasimar character was played.
2) I don't think it'd cause "trouble" at all. It'd open up tons of new story options that could be really fun and compelling to explore.
3) That's up to the GM and the table's comfort level with how themes of sex are handled in that particular game group.
4) Same as above, but complicated further by the table's comfort level with same-sex relationships.
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Creative Director
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Hi James
In wrath of the righteous:
Spoiler:my players have redeemed the coruption forge into a redemption forge. And now try want to redeem soulshear. In the wright up for the forge it says it turned evil weapons into good ones. However soulshear being an intelegent weapon with the soul of a babu demon in it, how would that work exactly? Would the demon be forced out and destroyed leaving it just a +2 transformative weapon? Would the babu be redeemed as well making it good? If so how would that effect its ability to summon more babu? Or could the soul be replaced by a willing good outsider with an equivalent CR?Not sure how to handle this one.
Any of your suggestions would work fine. My preference would be for it to either...
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
some Taldor questions. Some referring year-old comments of yours I stumbled upon while looking stuff up.
1. You said you want to retcon out the whole bearded/unbearded thing because it's too complex. Does this mean the whole "rigid class structure" is something you want to remove?
2. If not, how exactly would one go about to raise to the bearded ranks? If a character joined the Taldan army trying to rise through the ranks, could he ever truly become a noble?
3. You said you are getting leery of Taldor (though that was quite some time ago). Is this still the case and why is that?
4. Is there another book on Taldor planned besides the now almost 7 year old "Echoes of Glory"?
1) The whole bearded/unbearded thing has been retconned for some time now. It's not a thing in modern Taldor—like the church of Sarenrae being outlawed, it's now a part of Taldor's history that's been abandoned by the people of Taldor for the most part. The nation still has a class structure, though. It's just not mired in a silly beard/no beard thing.
2) No such thing as "bearded ranks" in Taldor. If you want to become a noble in Taldor, the route is more or less the same as in standard fantasy. Taldor is probably the closest direct analogue we have to the standard "eurocentric fantasy setting" after all.
3) Leery? Not sure I ever said that, but I'm fine with it now that it's in better hands (aka our current writers) and better managed (aka now we have a Creative Director in a role that oversees the world's flavor development).
4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.
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Creative Director
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Thanks for answering my earlier question, James. I'll quickly apologize, "fluff" wasn't intended to be disrespectful and for me, holds the same positive meaning as "flavor". I'll chalk it up to unfortunate word choice.
With respect to my pure Golarion campaign, do you have a listing/ranking for meaningful noble titles in Taldor, that is
does it run off of a somewhat traditional Grand Prince/(Arch)Duke/Marquis/Count... or more exotic e,g, consul, praetor.I recall reading in this thread a few years back that divine source mythic characters have some non-mechanical influence over their domains. Can you provide a little more flavor in that respect? What kind of influence may a character with a magic domain have over magic, for example.
Unrelated note: When will we get Sorshen to wake up? :)
My retired mythic magus in a Sorshen body has been itching to give the runelord a piece of her mind....
No worries on the word choice!
There is no current listing or ranking for noble titles in Taldor.
Mythic characters who have divine source don't get influence over their domains; neither do deities. That's not what domains are about. The influence comes in for a deity's "Areas of influence" which, among other things, influence the domains they grant to clerics. What a deity can do to influence their areas of influence depends on their abilities; for a full deity we don't give out rules. For a PC with divine source, and who is thus a "quasi-deity," it's not so much that they gain the ability to influence those areas as it is they gain the expectation and responsibility to influence those areas with the powers they already have.
Not this year. Patience is a virtue!
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Creative Director
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Have you seen the trailer of 10 Cloverfield Lane? Seems like that kind of psychological horror is right up your alley, especially with a connection of some kind to a giant monster from the first movie.
I have indeed seen it, and it catapulted into the number one most anticipated movie of 2016 for me.
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Unrevealed at this time. Certainly a PC could play a descendant of Aroden, and some folks have done just that in Wrath of the Righteous or other Mythic games, I believe. It's absolutely possible, but it's not something we've talked about in print much yet.
Personally, my opinion is that the more mysterious Aroden is, the better, and his faith and themes work best in the background rather than in the front and center, because too many people get frustrated when/if they realize that they're never going to get answers to the big question at the core of all this. I prefer players to play characters who CAN learn the secrets of their past.
If I were to let a PC in my game play a child of Aroden, I'd have that PC eventually learn the truth about Aroden's death. I wouldn't publish it, though. This is a perfect case of something a non-Paizo employee GM can pull off better for their home campaign than anyone who works here ever could, I suppose.
That makes sense. Personally the idea of following Aroden's example is probably less setting-shattering as far as I can see, especially since it opens up more possibilities campaign-wise (that new Child of Acavna and Amazen archetype for Fighters looks PERFECT for Serpent's Skull, for example)!
If PCs are successful in Hell's Rebels, would Cheliax regard opening negotiations with Andoran to be a traitorous act, jeopardizing Kintargo's newfound freedom?
On that note, is Hell's Vengeance going to err towards "Maintain the status quo" or more "Make a bad situation WORSE?"
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Have you seen the trailer of 10 Cloverfield Lane? Seems like that kind of psychological horror is right up your alley, especially with a connection of some kind to a giant monster from the first movie.I have indeed seen it, and it catapulted into the number one most anticipated movie of 2016 for me.
Same here. I'm always much happier with JJ Abrahms' involement in original IP rather than when he plays in someone else's world.
4) Nope. Earthfall was thousands and thousands of years before she was born.
Hm. But, if I remember correctly, in The Dead Hearth of Xin, it is said that first Runelord of Envy named his domain after elven princess Telandia Edasseril. Is this an error or is coincidence, and the two Telandias are related only by being from the same noble line?
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1) The whole bearded/unbearded thing has been retconned for some time now. It's not a thing in modern Taldor—like the church of Sarenrae being outlawed, it's now a part of Taldor's history that's been abandoned by the people of Taldor for the most part. The nation still has a class structure, though. It's just not mired in a silly beard/no beard thing.
(...)
4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.
Okay, one follow-up questions:
Inner Sea World Guide doesn't mention anything about the bearded class structure, neither that it exists nor that it has been abolished.
I cannot find information on Taldor besides The ISWG and Echoes of Glory.
So, I assume there a list of all the retcons that happened so far. Does Paizo plan on releasing this at any time?
(It's quite frustrating not finding information on a subject and the only mention of it being retconned is on TVTropes or buried in some forum thread. Also for the historic value. ;))
Here's the leery-post. As I said, it's a bit old and I stumbled upon it while looking up some Taldor stuff.
And I just noticed you elaborated on why you chose Andoran/Taldor as answers immediatly afterwards. I need to clean my glasses.
(EDIT: If my post comes of as confrontational or annoyed, this is not the intention. It's just the way I write and you're awesome for answering all our questions.)
Sorry to take up your time, but my hope is this is a simple one.
We have 20th level Game, can't even get it started as we'er stuck on this one point.
Q: Do the souls from EARTH get judged by Pharasma?
Thread here.
http://paizo.com/campaigns/DawnOfTheMaterialPlane/discussion
I am arguing that the cosmos big [No really its really really big] and that gods, from where ever are local and buffer up to other gods, greater outer gods, other pantheons, god-likes etc. High tech [SIFI as magic] like worlds have there one god-likes, other forms of souls, "Mind State back ups and the like, etc. Having one god act as the soul collector cosmos wide, just seems to de-rich the setting.
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Creative Director
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If PCs are successful in Hell's Rebels, would Cheliax regard opening negotiations with Andoran to be a traitorous act, jeopardizing Kintargo's newfound freedom?
On that note, is Hell's Vengeance going to err towards "Maintain the status quo" or more "Make a bad situation WORSE?"
Depends on how well the PCs do during the treaty negotiations. If they do well, probably not.
Hell's Vengeance is going to "err" toward maintaining status quo. It won't in and of itself make Thrune more powerful than it was before the campaign began. Whether or not your characters go on after Hell's Vengeance to do more may change things in your game.
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4) Nope. Earthfall was thousands and thousands of years before she was born.Hm. But, if I remember correctly, in The Dead Hearth of Xin, it is said that first Runelord of Envy named his domain after elven princess Telandia Edasseril. Is this an error or is coincidence, and the two Telandias are related only by being from the same noble line?
Not quite. The Edasseril family existed back then, and they were powerful back then, but they didn't rule Kyonin. Belamarius stole the name for her nation because the most beautiful elf in nearby Mierani was an Edasseril. If we have indeed said that it was a "Telandia Edasseril" in that volume, that's not the same one who currently rules Kyonin.
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1) The whole bearded/unbearded thing has been retconned for some time now. It's not a thing in modern Taldor—like the church of Sarenrae being outlawed, it's now a part of Taldor's history that's been abandoned by the people of Taldor for the most part. The nation still has a class structure, though. It's just not mired in a silly beard/no beard thing.
(...)
4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.Okay, one follow-up questions:
Inner Sea World Guide doesn't mention anything about the bearded class structure, neither that it exists nor that it has been abolished.
I cannot find information on Taldor besides The ISWG and Echoes of Glory.So, I assume there a list of all the retcons that happened so far. Does Paizo plan on releasing this at any time?
(It's quite frustrating not finding information on a subject and the only mention of it being retconned is on TVTropes or buried in some forum thread. Also for the historic value. ;))
Here's the leery-post. As I said, it's a bit old and I stumbled upon it while looking up some Taldor stuff.
And I just noticed you elaborated on why you chose Andoran/Taldor as answers immediatly afterwards. I need to clean my glasses.(EDIT: If my post comes of as confrontational or annoyed, this is not the intention. It's just the way I write and you're awesome for answering all our questions.)
Inner Sea World Guide not mentioning it at all is because it doesn't exist in the current setting. The 3.5 original Campaign Setting is out of date and no longer considered canon; at this point, folks should be looking to the Inner Sea World Guide for the baseline information about the setting, and that means there's no bearded/unbearded stuff in the setting. If an individual GM likes that element, they're free to pick it up from what is essentially a "prior edition" of the campaign setting if they want, but that's essentially a house rule and no different than them adding or subtracting other elements of their own design to the setting.
We don't actively track "retcons." It makes things too confusing, and even talking about something we no longer want in the setting can have the exact opposite effect by further confusing things.
There IS some more information about Taldor in the Taldan section of Inner Sea Races, in the meantime.
4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.
Is this a good thread to beg and plead for a campaign setting book like this? If not, where should I post such a (hypothetical) entreaty?
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Sorry to take up your time, but my hope is this is a simple one.
We have 20th level Game, can't even get it started as we'er stuck on this one point.
Q: Do the souls from EARTH get judged by Pharasma?
Thread here.
http://paizo.com/campaigns/DawnOfTheMaterialPlane/discussionI am arguing that the cosmos big [No really its really really big] and that gods, from where ever are local and buffer up to other gods, greater outer gods, other pantheons, god-likes etc. High tech [SIFI as magic] like worlds have there one god-likes, other forms of souls, "Mind State back ups and the like, etc. Having one god act as the soul collector cosmos wide, just seems to de-rich the setting.
You asked this exact same question to me via PM. I think that this thread is proof that I'm pretty diligent about answering things here, so to save both of us time, you don't need to double-duty questions to me. Just post here so everyone can see the answers. (This goes for everyone, of course!)
Pharasma judges all souls in the Multiverse. This includes souls from Earth. Obviously, feel free to change this in your home game if you want. ALSO obviously, this may not be entirely accurate in the real world, but I doubt we'll ever have proof about it either way.
Other worlds may have different deities of death and whatnot, but in canonical Golarion... Pharasma's the one who judges all the souls themselves when they reach the Boneyard.
How that works in your game is up to you. If you change it, which is fine, then it works how you want, but you're no longer running a canonical Golarion game.
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4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.Is this a good thread to beg and plead for a campaign setting book like this? If not, where should I post such a (hypothetical) entreaty?
If you want to suggest books, the best place to go is to post a request in that book's line. That said, I'm pretty sure everyone at Paizo knows that folks are eager for a Taldor book, and if you look at the books we've released recently for regions so far (Andoran, Cheliax, Osirion)... it sure does look like we might indeed some day get to Taldor, doesn't it?
If you want to suggest books, the best place to go is to post a request in that book's line. That said, I'm pretty sure everyone at Paizo knows that folks are eager for a Taldor book, and if you look at the books we've released recently for regions so far (Andoran, Cheliax, Osirion)... it sure does look like we might indeed some day get to Taldor, doesn't it?4) We're not done talking about Taldor, but we have no Taldor-themed books announced at this time.Is this a good thread to beg and plead for a campaign setting book like this? If not, where should I post such a (hypothetical) entreaty?
It does. Yay!
There's a bunch of regions I'm keen to see explored, but Taldor remains the one big outstanding one, in my view.
I think it was you who mentioned at one time that there are a number of areas in Golarion who have a kind of "champion" on staff and that Taldor doesn't really have anyone particularly enamored with it. Has that changed in recent years (with the increase in staff) or is it still "unchampioned"? (I don't mean that in any pejorative sense, I'm just curious who is likely to have significant input into it).
Taldor being the closest you have to "standard western/european fantasy" seems to be a negative for many, but that's why it's the most desirable region for expansion in my eyes (alongside Varisia).
Out of interest, with Druids and Witches having the ability to reincarnate anyone with 'an entirely new young adult body' isn't immortality cheap in Golarion basically?
Why is the Sun Orchid Elixir so expensive, comparatively and why is immortality treated as something so rare and often requiring great sacrifice or taboo in light of the above?
1)Seen any good movies lately? and if so what did you think of them?
2)Are there any animated films(new or old) that you are interested in seeing?
3)Do you have any interest in Final Fantasy VII(remake), Dragon Quest XI, Persona 5, Final Fantasy XV, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Nights of Azure, Dark Souls 3, Dragon Quest Heroes, Scalebound, Doom(remake), Legend of Zelda Hyrule Warriors and/or No Man's Sky?
I don't think it'd cause "trouble" at all. It'd open up tons of new story options that could be really fun and compelling to explore.Let's say there's a PC for Rise of the Runelords who's an angelkin aasimar bard acting as a priest of Arshea...
In addition to the below, what sort of trouble would this cause? (You might think of something I haven't.)
I agree, it's just that fun and compelling new story options involving relationships (especially sexualized ones) in RPGs tend to involve getting into (fun and solvable) trouble.
That said, what new story options that could be really fun and compelling to explore were you thinking of?
If the PC aasimar started in Sandpoint and was eerily beautiful, I would absolutely have that character start to have some of the same uncomfortable/awkward experiences with locals that Nualia did; folks asking for locks of hair, for blessings, and so on. How that PC reacts would fuel how I reacted.
Let's say "amorously;" an Arshean's blessing would likely be complementing somebody's physical appearance at the very least, and in most cases would end up being as sexual as morally permissible (especially when supplicants ask to have children sired). The town brothel will look comparatively chaste. What then?
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I think it was you who mentioned at one time that there are a number of areas in Golarion who have a kind of "champion" on staff and that Taldor doesn't really have anyone particularly enamored with it. Has that changed in recent years (with the increase in staff) or is it still "unchampioned"? (I don't mean that in any pejorative sense, I'm just curious who is likely to have significant input into it).
Taldor being the closest you have to "standard western/european fantasy" seems to be a negative for many, but that's why it's the most desirable region for expansion in my eyes (alongside Varisia).
In fact, Taldor DOES have a champion on staff: Rob. That's not a new change, but Rob's been insanely busy doing Adventure Path stuff and hasn't really had the chance to do much beyond the APs since, well, since Serpent's Skull more or less.
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Out of interest, with Druids and Witches having the ability to reincarnate anyone with 'an entirely new young adult body' isn't immortality cheap in Golarion basically?
Why is the Sun Orchid Elixir so expensive, comparatively and why is immortality treated as something so rare and often requiring great sacrifice or taboo in light of the above?
First, druids and witches capable of casting reincarnate are not common on Golarion; don't mistake the fact that player characters reach that level relatively often for the norm.
Second, druids and witches are often not the types who are eager to interact with society, and aren't often interested in selling their spells for gold.
Third, reincarnate gives you a random body, and that can be scary and distressing for a lot of folks.
Fourth, in most cases, when someone dies, they're judged and move on to their role in the afterlife. How often and whether an NPC gets to come back from death, regardless of how "common" spells like reincarnate or raise dead might be, is up to the GM. It's not a guarantee that everyone who dies can come back. Very few are given this chance.
Fifth, dying is traumatic, and even if you DO come back, it's not enjoyable. Hence the level penalty.
The Sun Orchid Elixir bypasses all of that AND lets you keep your body AND doesn't run the risk of you being judged and sent on to the Great Beyond before someone can bring you back (again; that's an "honor" that should be reserved for the rare few, such as PCs and key NPCs in the GM's eye).
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1)Seen any good movies lately? and if so what did you think of them?
2)Are there any animated films(new or old) that you are interested in seeing?
3)Do you have any interest in Final Fantasy VII(remake), Dragon Quest XI, Persona 5, Final Fantasy XV, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Nights of Azure, Dark Souls 3, Dragon Quest Heroes, Scalebound, Doom(remake), Legend of Zelda Hyrule Warriors and/or No Man's Sky?
1) I quite enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And saw a fun little old movie called "Night of the Blood Beast."
"The Revenant" is an INCREDIBLE movie... definitely in my top five of 2015.
Also just saw "Bone Tomahawk," which is a GREAT movie. One of the best Kurt Russell movies AND the best Westerns I've seen in a long time. Potentially my second favorite western, after "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly."
My top five movies of 2015—Mad Max: Fury Road, It Follows, Bone Tomahawk, The Revenant, and We Are Still Here.
2) Not at the moment, no. None come to mind off the top of my head.
3) I'm VERY interested in Dark Souls 3, and looking forward to the next Doom game. The others I'm ambivalent toward at this point.
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I don't think it'd cause "trouble" at all. It'd open up tons of new story options that could be really fun and compelling to explore.Let's say there's a PC for Rise of the Runelords who's an angelkin aasimar bard acting as a priest of Arshea...
In addition to the below, what sort of trouble would this cause? (You might think of something I haven't.)
I agree, it's just that fun and compelling new story options involving relationships (especially sexualized ones) in RPGs tend to involve getting into (fun and solvable) trouble.
That said, what new story options that could be really fun and compelling to explore were you thinking of?
If the PC aasimar started in Sandpoint and was eerily beautiful, I would absolutely have that character start to have some of the same uncomfortable/awkward experiences with locals that Nualia did; folks asking for locks of hair, for blessings, and so on. How that PC reacts would fuel how I reacted.Let's say "amorously;" an Arshean's blessing would likely be complementing somebody's physical appearance at the very least, and in most cases would end up being as sexual as morally permissible (especially when supplicants ask to have children sired). The town brothel will look comparatively chaste. What then?
I wasn't thinking of any story options, just that the interaction between Nualia's story and character and a similar PC would suggest lots of them. Without knowing the particular PC and the player's preferences, there's no input and thus no story output.
As for the other question... what then would depend entirely on the table's comfort level with sexual themes in the game. I'm not going to go into much more detail on the topic here because the level of detail you seem to be asking for in this line of questions isn't really an appropriate topic for these boards. Sorry!
Hi James
In wrath of the righteous:
** spoiler omitted **
Not sure how to handle this one.
Any of your suggestions would work fine. My preference would be for it to either...
** spoiler omitted **
Hi James
How does this sound to you...
If I decide to go for the legion archon the idea I came up with for the replacement abilities was, in place of misdirection 3 per day, going with energy weapon 3 per day fire only. And instead of summon monster 5 once per day, having the archons "aura of menace" and toungs ability allways active. I would also change its mental stats to match the archons: 10 INT 15 WIS 17CHA instead of the listed 16,12, 14.
Does that soud OK to you? Are those abilities a fair replacement from the original or are they slightly under powered? If they are underpowered what would you suggest I change.
In fact, Taldor DOES have a champion on staff: Rob. That's not a new change, but Rob's been insanely busy doing Adventure Path stuff and hasn't really had the chance to do much beyond the APs since, well, since Serpent's Skull more or less.I think it was you who mentioned at one time that there are a number of areas in Golarion who have a kind of "champion" on staff and that Taldor doesn't really have anyone particularly enamored with it. Has that changed in recent years (with the increase in staff) or is it still "unchampioned"? (I don't mean that in any pejorative sense, I'm just curious who is likely to have significant input into it).
Taldor being the closest you have to "standard western/european fantasy" seems to be a negative for many, but that's why it's the most desirable region for expansion in my eyes (alongside Varisia).
Awesome. I never realised that. Cheers. :)
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Creative Director
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Hi James
In wrath of the righteous:
** spoiler omitted **
Not sure how to handle this one.
Any of your suggestions would work fine. My preference would be for it to either...
** spoiler omitted **Hi James
How does this sound to you...
** spoiler omitted **
I'm not familiar with your game table or play style or anything like that, so it's really difficult for me to say if that sounds too good or not good enough, frankly. That said, I wouldn't consider a good outsider giving up its soul be all that great a solution. I still prefer the idea I came up with since it makes the weapon feel more bound to the specific PC. But again... what works for your table isn't what works for mine.
You asked this exact same question to me via PM. I think that this thread is proof that I'm pretty diligent about answering things here, so to save both of us time, you don't need to double-duty questions to me. Just post here so everyone can see the answers. (This goes for everyone, of course!)
Thanks for the replay both times James, and I did post to you two ways, sorry about that, I'll remember not to do that again. Cool that you did give feed back both time. Now that's dedication right there.
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Hi James!
I'd appreciate your input for my longest-running campaign! In a long-coming turn of events, I have a villainous protagonist who is now seeking a relic stashed away by the in-setting Pathfinder Society in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. I have the Seekers of Secrets book in hard copy, but I believe I have read that you took issue with the book due to how it portrayed the faction.
The Villainous PC is currently attempting to join the Pathfinder Society in order to gain access to it's vaults. With that out of the way, I ask this:
Seeker of Secrets makes it sound like the Pathfinders will take anyone, but surely they have had previous attempts by villainous individuals to infiltrate the society and steal their artifacts? How likely are they to sniff out the Evil Cleric before he's able to make his attempt on their vaults?
And on that note, since I have portrayed the Pathfinder Society as force of "Mostly Goodness" upon Golarion, what kind of difficulty should such a heist be? Should the PC expect to go up against the Golarion Justice League/Avengers or what other kind of defenses would you place in the way of stealing from the Decemvirate?
At this time I'm prepared to throw the entire Iconic list at him, leveled at an appropriately difficult challenge.
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Creative Director
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Hi James!
I'd appreciate your input for my longest-running campaign! In a long-coming turn of events, I have a villainous protagonist who is now seeking a relic stashed away by the in-setting Pathfinder Society in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. I have the Seekers of Secrets book in hard copy, but I believe I have read that you took issue with the book due to how it portrayed the faction.
** spoiler omitted **
The Villainous PC is currently attempting to join the Pathfinder Society in order to gain access to it's vaults. With that out of the way, I ask this:
Seeker of Secrets makes it sound like the Pathfinders will take anyone, but surely they have had previous attempts by villainous individuals to infiltrate the society and steal their artifacts? How likely are they to sniff out the Evil Cleric before he's able to make his attempt on their vaults?
And on that note, since I have portrayed the Pathfinder Society as force of "Mostly Goodness" upon Golarion, what kind of difficulty should such a heist be? Should the PC expect to go up against the Golarion Justice League/Avengers or what other kind of defenses would you place in the way of stealing from the Decemvirate?
At this time I'm prepared to throw the entire Iconic list at him, leveled at an appropriately difficult challenge.
That's a fun graphic you built for the campaign! Seekers of Secrets isn't so much a problem with how it portrays the faction as much as it just didn't have as good a quality-control development phase as it should have had—it could have done with one more development pass to iron out several errors that crept in (for example, it gets Sheila Heidmarch's classes completely wrong).
As for your questions... that's something you need to determine for yourself. The Pathfinder Society's been around a LONG time, and its leaders and resources are significant. If they don't sniff out the evil cleric on their own, you run the risk of making them look ineffective. My suggestion would be to have the heist require numerous preliminary adventures and quests to set things up and to gather resources and intelligence or to plant distractions or generate other aid that will force the Pathfinders to split their resources. In effect, robbing the Grand Lodge is a Big Deal, and would make a pretty good campaign theme with the final invasion of the lodge being the end-game adventure when the PCs are 15th or so level (or higher), so the amount of adventures they should go on to prepare for the heist should be as however many as it needs to get to that level.