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Paizo Employee Creative Director

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CorvusMask wrote:

Okai, I'll write just the questions without wall of text pondering then:

1) What would you recommend to make players arriving at Dam during ogre/troll fight fun and challenging? Should I have majority of them fight each other and few buffed ones(either from monster codex, templates, mythic ranks, I haven't figured out yet) or should I have them fight large amount of ogres and trolls who are also fighting each other?

(thats of course assuming they are joining the fray instead of watching from afar and deciding to pick off stragglers or doing something more creative)

2) Players are planning to lure out ogres from Fort over course of days after doing initial attack to weakspots(lizards, barracks, etc). Would it'd be good idea to have Jagrath & Lucrecia and rest of ogres hunt them down or ambush them because they haven't discovered the traitor? I feel like they are too smart to just let players kill rest of the ogres by "luring them out" if they strike, burn the barrack and smoke the lizard.

Thats basic of those two. I got new questions not related to campaign at the moment, just something I'm wondering about:

3) So how was Xanesha going to involve Nualia in the whole "collect greedy souls" thing? I mean her thing seem to be Wrath rather than Greed... Would she have had Nualia have goblins do siheidron ritual when they finally raid the town or did she do mistake in thinking she can make Nualia into tool?

4) So would have Aldern actually died to goblins at start of adventure if PCs weren't there? He is rather high level after all. If he would survive and would survive Sandpoint being burned by Nualia + Malfeshnekor's goblin army, would he just become Skinsaw Man in Magnimar instead?

5) So are Runelords sinful with all sins(with focus on their own sin), or just sinful in particular one they embody? Or Are they like "Karzoug is super greedy, somewhat sinful in other ones and not sinful at all regarding sins that are Greed's opposition schools?"

6) How does Karzoug and players survive Mhar's erupting and exploding the mountain anyway? If players can survive it, can any of named npcs at Xin-Shalast or Spire survive?

7) Out of curiosity, what would Karzoug do to servants of other Runelord in other sections of Runeforge? Would he just kill them all or force them to switch sides to him?

1) If what's presented as-is isn't challenging, just add a few more trolls or ogres. Maybe some trollhounds thrown in to the mix.

2) Yes; once the ogres realize there's troublemakers in the woods, they'd not just sit around. They'd become active hunters, and if they haven't discovered the traitor, finding the PCs should be easier.

3) By having an increasingly powerful ally to help with her plans. She hadn't yet worked out all the details, since she was focusing more on Magnimar and thought she'd have more time in the future to ally up with Nualia.

4) Whether or not he would have died if the PCs didn't save him is left to you to decide, but since he's got a big role to play in part 2, logic dictates he should survive. The whole point of him in the 1st adventure isn't to put him in mortal danger, but to introduce him to the PCs before he's a monster. Further, even if the PCs fail to stop the goblins, Sandpoint won't burn in that first attack. The goblins aren't there to burn the town, but to distract folks from Nualia snatching up Tobyn's remains. The "burn Sandpoint" attack is scheduled for later, and in effect only has a chance of happening if the PCs leave town or get TPKed or otherwise just ignore the adventure's plot.

5) They focus on their thematic sin, but certainly act in sinful ways otherwise. Karzoug, for example, is pretty vain and arrogant and wrathful in addition to being greedy. They aren't extremely limited to how they act by their chosen "focus sin."

6) If the PCs can survive it, then several of the powerful NPCs in the region can as well. Who does and doesn't survive is left to the GM to decide; but if the volcano explodes, it's pretty obvious the GM wants to go forward not with Karzoug as the plot but Mhar, so survivals in Xin-Shalast are not all that important to that storyline.

7) He likely wouldn't intrude on Runeforge because he'd be nervous about rallying the other 6 runelords against him. If he did, he'd likely try to intrude in a subtle way and leave little evidence behind of his meddling.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:

Will Mr. Wertz really get that angry if you feed Abadar to a deity-eating ultragod?

...is it safer not to find out?

I'm not so much concerned about Vic's reaction to the reaction to all the players who have Abadar worshipers. That type of stunt is the type of thing that "fired" a lot of Forgotten Realms plans when TSR did the Time of Troubles.

If I'm gonna do something like this to Golarion, I'm going to spend a few years dropping hints and doing foreshadowing about the POSSIBILITY of such an event in the future, rather than just springing it out of the blue.

*begins scouring over books for portents foreshadowing the Coinhoarder's end*

I can save you some time there. There's no such portents. It's not in the works. Folks would have picked up on that, in the way folks have picked up on the whole "Nocticula may be at some point in the future redeemed." If that story happens, it's not going to surprise those who have been paying attention.

Silver Crusade

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James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:

Will Mr. Wertz really get that angry if you feed Abadar to a deity-eating ultragod?

...is it safer not to find out?

I'm not so much concerned about Vic's reaction to the reaction to all the players who have Abadar worshipers. That type of stunt is the type of thing that "fired" a lot of Forgotten Realms plans when TSR did the Time of Troubles.

If I'm gonna do something like this to Golarion, I'm going to spend a few years dropping hints and doing foreshadowing about the POSSIBILITY of such an event in the future, rather than just springing it out of the blue.

*begins scouring over books for portents foreshadowing the Coinhoarder's end*
I can save you some time there. There's no such portents. It's not in the works. Folks would have picked up on that, in the way folks have picked up on the whole "Nocticula may be at some point in the future redeemed." If that story happens, it's not going to surprise those who have been paying attention.

:(

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ah, I meant by 4th question if PC had died in first encounter and then later tpk'd resulting in Nualia succeeding in burning down Sandpoint :'D Anyway, thank you for answers!

Radiant Oath

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

What's the deal with "The Hearse Song?!" It starts out with "Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by..."

I ask you: what kind of jerkface laughs at a random stranger's funeral procession?! "Ha ha, someone died!" M'DUUDE WTF?!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

What's the deal with "The Hearse Song?!" It starts out with "Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by..."

I ask you: what kind of jerkface laughs at a random stranger's funeral procession?! "Ha ha, someone died!" M'DUUDE WTF?!

Have you seen the internet? People laughing at a hearse seems tame.

Silver Crusade

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James, does Pazio have plans to release Beasteraies 2-5 in the soft cover format?


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So, assuming your Hell's Vengeance PC takes over Cheliax, what specific changes will she make (that you can mention on the boards)?

Silver Crusade

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James, what would you think of a narrow hybrid of a slayer and Paladin of Ragatheil that removed the slayers sneak attack and replaced it with a power called Wrath that does 1d8 of divine damage like Flamestrike every other level. They hybrid class is only 10 levels. The Wrath power is only useable on studied targets.

Silver Crusade

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James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lou Diamond wrote:
James, does Pazio have plans to release Beasteraies 2-5 in the soft cover format?

I dunno... should we?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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AlgaeNymph wrote:
So, assuming your Hell's Vengeance PC takes over Cheliax, what specific changes will she make (that you an mention on the boards)?

Dunno yet. She's not thought that far ahead. She's chaotic evil, so it won't be good for the nation and she's unlikely to remain in power long if she gets what she thinks she wants.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lou Diamond wrote:
James, what would you think of a narrow hybrid of a slayer and Paladin of Ragatheil that removed the slayers sneak attack and replaced it with a power called Wrath that does 1d8 of divine damage like Flamestrike every other level. They hybrid class is only 10 levels. The Wrath power is only useable on studied targets.

Don't like it.

Silver Crusade

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James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Pazuzu?


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James Jacobs wrote:
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

Is it possible for a Lawful Neutral separatist cleric of Iomedae to come to the conclusion that since arcane magic could be used to summon demons, that all arcane practioners must either renounce their powers or die to do the following.

1. Continue to receive spells and powers from Iomedae, or perhaps some other lawful god associated with proper causes such as Torag?

2. To found a separatist cult of "witch" (using the figurative term as opposed to the game class construct) burners? Presumably this cult would find itself at odds with the main church, but keeping itself alive by means of sympathetic informers inside.

It's possible, yes, but sort of the line of reasoning that an insane person would get obsessed with. It wouldn't be long before such a fanatic would find themselves losing their powers if they let their hatred of arcane spellcasters propel them to commit evil acts. Which hatred tends to do in short order.

1) Yes, unitl the seperatist crosses the line into evil too far. At which point Torag wouldn't touch them at all, and in fact, acting in an evil way when you supposedly worship a good deity is kind of chaotic, so if ANYONE were to start trying to seduce the character with power it'd be a chaotic evil god. Probably Pazuzu, since he's into the corruption element.

2) A cult of "anything" burners would head into evil territory even faster and would cause more harm than good. See the repercussions of the Third Crusade of Mendev for an example.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Witch Burning cleric of Pelor mentioned in the old Weapons of Legacy book. It's a schism in the Church of Pelor but it's mentioned that Pelor is still granting those clerics all of their powers. I figured that if Pelor could be doing this as a Neutral Good power, a diety that's less good centered such as Iomedae might see fit to tolerate witch burning given the history of the arcane on Golarion.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Wouldn't such a book be out of date before it even entered into print?

Silver Crusade

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Quote:
Quote:
James, does Paizo have plans to release Beasteraies 2-5 in the soft cover format?
I dunno... should we?

I would most defiantly buy them if Paizo produced them.

Sorry for my dyslectic spelling of your cooperate name. My spelling often frustrates the spell checker. [Just added Paizo to the word dictionary]

Grand Lodge

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

Is it possible for a Lawful Neutral separatist cleric of Iomedae to come to the conclusion that since arcane magic could be used to summon demons, that all arcane practioners must either renounce their powers or die to do the following.

1. Continue to receive spells and powers from Iomedae, or perhaps some other lawful god associated with proper causes such as Torag?

2. To found a separatist cult of "witch" (using the figurative term as opposed to the game class construct) burners? Presumably this cult would find itself at odds with the main church, but keeping itself alive by means of sympathetic informers inside.

It's possible, yes, but sort of the line of reasoning that an insane person would get obsessed with. It wouldn't be long before such a fanatic would find themselves losing their powers if they let their hatred of arcane spellcasters propel them to commit evil acts. Which hatred tends to do in short order.

1) Yes, unitl the seperatist crosses the line into evil too far. At which point Torag wouldn't touch them at all, and in fact, acting in an evil way when you supposedly worship a good deity is kind of chaotic, so if ANYONE were to start trying to seduce the character with power it'd be a chaotic evil god. Probably Pazuzu, since he's into the corruption element.

2) A cult of "anything" burners would head into evil territory even faster and would cause more harm than good. See the repercussions of the Third Crusade of Mendev for an example.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Witch Burning cleric of Pelor mentioned in the old Weapons of Legacy book. It's a schism in the Church of Pelor but it's mentioned that Pelor is still granting those clerics all of their powers. I figured that if Pelor could be doing this as a Neutral Good power, a diety that's less good centered such as Iomedae might see fit to tolerate witch burning given the history of the arcane on Golarion.

Pelor is lowkey evil though.


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Starfinder Superscriber

Do you have anything to do with Starfinder?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Wouldn't such a book be out of date before it even entered into print?

If by "out of date" you mean "won't have the spells that are published after its publication," yes. In the same way a Bestiary goes out of date, I guess, but since gamers have been trained over the past 40 or so years to expect and accept that for monster books, it works there. Doesn't work so well for spells. Furthermore... since all our rules are open, such a book would have to compete against the ease-of-use and greater versatility of online spell collections that already exist.

AKA: it's a book we COULD do, but I'm not sure it's a book we SHOULD do. I wouldn't separate it into Arcane and Divine though, because that just gives folks even more reasons not to buy one or the other. And personally, I'd rather we focused our efforts on more interesting offerings than reprints like this.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

DJEternalDarkness wrote:
Do you have anything to do with Starfinder?

Not so far, no.


Oncoming_Storm wrote:
Pelor is lowkey evil though.

Lowkey?

Pelor, the Burning Hate... is LOKI. IT ALL MAKES SENSE.

*ahem*

Mr. Jacobs, what work on D&D 3rd edition/3.5 are you most proud of/would you most recommend to someone not largely familiar with what you've done before Pathfinder?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Belltrap wrote:
Mr. Jacobs, what work on D&D 3rd edition/3.5 are you most proud of/would you most recommend to someone not largely familiar with what you've done before Pathfinder?

Dungeon Magazine. Issues #103–#150. Particularly the Savage Tide Adventure Path, which was pretty much mostly me at the helm there.


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Firefly Animated Adventures Teaser Trailer!

I didn't know this was a thing! Did you know this was a thing!? Why did no one tell me this was a thing!?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Tels wrote:

Firefly Animated Adventures Teaser Trailer!

I didn't know this was a thing! Did you know this was a thing!? Why did no one tell me this was a thing!?

I didn't, but neither do I feel all that interested in watching it. The thing that appealed to me the most about Firefly was the actors and the fact that it was live action—less interested in an animated version.


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Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Pazuzu?

James, have you seen the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler comedy "Sisters" from last year? One of my favorite jokes involved a drug dealer whose name was Pazuzu.

Radiant Oath

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

What's the deal with "The Hearse Song?!" It starts out with "Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by..."

I ask you: what kind of jerkface laughs at a random stranger's funeral procession?! "Ha ha, someone died!" M'DUUDE WTF?!

Have you seen the internet? People laughing at a hearse seems tame.

Touché.

Does it feel like there are more jerkfaces out there than ever before, or is it just that the jerkfaces were always there, but just feel more comfortable being jerkfaces in public? (Desna, I so HOPE it's the latter!)

Grand Lodge

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Is there an exclusive Monster from the D&D Bestiaries you wish you could use in Golarion? If not do you have any favorites from those bestiaries?


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Hey James, I have a Mythos question for you. Specifically, can you think of any societies, cultures, civilizations, etc. where the Old Cults are particularly active? Either past or present?

I know the ancient Kellids of Ustalav were probably the biggest offenders. I also know Nyarlathotep was active in both Ancient Osirion and Thassilon, but not to what extent. For some reasons I have a feeling some Mwangi tribes or lost cities may have had their fingers in the Mythos pie; likewise with certain Darklands races. But that's mostly just speculation on my part.

The main reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of designing a sort of Old Cult museum, and was wondering what cultures/races would be represented most therein.

*Edit: upon reviewing Occult Realms, the cyclopes of Ghol-Gan were also Old Cultists to some extent.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So if I remember right, giants under Mokmumarian have Siheidron tattoos right?(hence Karzoug's "You fools helped me" speech) Do Kreeg ogres also have siheidron somewhere on their body?


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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber

I'm running Wrath of the Righteous (as DM) and have a wizard with the metamagic feat Empower spell (+50%) and the archmage ability channel power (+50% spell damage). As DM if a spell did say 100 hp damage would you combine the bonus so the spell does 200hp damage or would you empower the spell then add the channel power damage for 225 damage? I have already DM ruled in this case (temporarily allowing the higher damage- it just seems more mythic), but wonder how you would interpret this?


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Similarly to the above: mythic empower deals +75%, while archmage ability channel deals +50%

1) does mean an ability deals +125% (in your opinion, which is in no way binding, and should not be used in rules arguments here or with other people, but purely as one GM to me, another) for a total of 225%?

2) why or why not?

Thanks!

My answer, if you want it:
I would say yes, as, from a GM perspective, I enjoy being highly permissive. Such rulings generally allow the PCs to do what they want to do with their characters and to feel cool, but also generally allow me to - by applying them evenly to NPCs - create powerful, terrible, and deadly foes that can reasonably threaten the village/region/nation/land/world/etc. without relying on NOC-exclusive rulings.

Beyond that, I've found that most players tend to find having the ability to put combinations together to create things that are effective together feel good about themselves if I allow it to work and have fun and feel clever - they feel rewarded for being thoughtful and creative. That tends to be something I like to encourage.

Thanks for all your answers! You... are a busy guy! We appreciate you taking so much time for your thread, James!


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James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:

Will Mr. Wertz really get that angry if you feed Abadar to a deity-eating ultragod?

...is it safer not to find out?

I'm not so much concerned about Vic's reaction to the reaction to all the players who have Abadar worshipers. That type of stunt is the type of thing that "fired" a lot of Forgotten Realms plans when TSR did the Time of Troubles.

If I'm gonna do something like this to Golarion, I'm going to spend a few years dropping hints and doing foreshadowing about the POSSIBILITY of such an event in the future, rather than just springing it out of the blue.

*begins scouring over books for portents foreshadowing the Coinhoarder's end*
I can save you some time there. There's no such portents. It's not in the works. Folks would have picked up on that, in the way folks have picked up on the whole "Nocticula may be at some point in the future redeemed." If that story happens, it's not going to surprise those who have been paying attention.

One of things I truly love about Paizo and Golarion is the resistance to pull Time of Troubles shenanigans on players and DMs. I vividly recall how many campaigns I was in back in the day when my cleric of Bane and other player's characters were rudely told "well you don't really exist anymore" because of the surprise changes to deities and settings. I absolutely hate that kind of treatment to the source material and to the fans.


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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Hey James, this is something I'm curious about.

Are you able to take us behind the scenes in describing how an AP gets developed? No need for minute details. Just the broad strokes. From the first time it gets mentioned in a meeting to sending out for art. I'm curious as to how/when things get developed.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Plausible Pseudonym wrote:
Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
James, would Pazio consider making a Book of Arcane Spells and Divine spells [2 separate books] that contained all released spells?

I dunno, should we?

Oh, and by the way... it's spelled "Paizo" and not "Pazio."

Pazuzu?
James, have you seen the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler comedy "Sisters" from last year? One of my favorite jokes involved a drug dealer whose name was Pazuzu.

That amuses me... but I haven't seen the movie and have no plans to. Not generally a fan of comedies.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Does it feel like there are more jerkfaces out there than ever before, or is it just that the jerkfaces were always there, but just feel more comfortable being jerkfaces in public? (Desna, I so HOPE it's the latter!)

It's that the jerkfaces have always been there, but as Pathfinder grows more popular, it attracts more people overall, and that includes a subset of new jerkfaces. The thing I am concerned and worried about is that so-called jerkfaces drive away people, so the longer you have trolls active, and the more good folks they drive off, the more the ratio of good folk to troll skews toward troll.

They're parasites in that regard. And that's why it's SO IMPORTANT to not feed the trolls.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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IDTheftVictim wrote:
Is there an exclusive Monster from the D&D Bestiaries you wish you could use in Golarion? If not do you have any favorites from those bestiaries?

When we first started Pathfinder 10 or so years ago, there were plenty of monsters I would have loved to put into Pathfinder, but today that's not the case. I'm more of the mind these days of being thankful that WotC let us play with SO MUCH of D&D's legacy. I don't begrudge them holding back a relatively small handful of monsters at all.

Short answer; No.


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Tacticslion wrote:

Similarly to the above: mythic empower deals +75%, while archmage ability channel deals +50%

1) does mean an ability deals +125% (in your opinion, which is in no way binding, and should not be used in rules arguments here or with other people, but purely as one GM to me, another) for a total of 225%?

2) why or why not?

Thanks!

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for all your answers! You... are a busy guy! We appreciate you taking so much time for your thread, James!

You do realize that "Mythic Empower" is 3rd party and pretty badly written, right?

Also JJ tries to avoid commenting on rules issues, take this to the 3rd party/house rules boards.

Edit, forgot to include my question!

Sir Dinosaur, when a character starts granting spells to followers via the mythic ability Divine Source, should they pick a favored weapon to grant their clerics? Or is that limited to when something becomes a demigod?

What are the benefits of worshiping a quasideity PC over something more established?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Generic Villain wrote:

Hey James, I have a Mythos question for you. Specifically, can you think of any societies, cultures, civilizations, etc. where the Old Cults are particularly active? Either past or present?

I know the ancient Kellids of Ustalav were probably the biggest offenders. I also know Nyarlathotep was active in both Ancient Osirion and Thassilon, but not to what extent. For some reasons I have a feeling some Mwangi tribes or lost cities may have had their fingers in the Mythos pie; likewise with certain Darklands races. But that's mostly just speculation on my part.

The main reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of designing a sort of Old Cult museum, and was wondering what cultures/races would be represented most therein.

*Edit: upon reviewing Occult Realms, the cyclopes of Ghol-Gan were also Old Cultists to some extent.

I like to think that Nyarlathotep is the one responsible, ultimately, for all the bad things that humans do to each other, and by that viewpoint, there's no society at all in which the Elder Mythos aren't particularly active.

That said, there's Thassilon, Versex, Osirion, the Land of Black Blood, Denebrum, the Midnight Mountains, the Parchlands of Casmaron, the Kodar Mountains, certain stretches of the Yondabakari. There's certainly more, but those come to mind immediately. There'll be more information on this topic in the last volume of SStrange Aeons.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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CorvusMask wrote:
So if I remember right, giants under Mokmumarian have Siheidron tattoos right?(hence Karzoug's "You fools helped me" speech) Do Kreeg ogres also have siheidron somewhere on their body?

I don't believe it's specifically stated so, but there's no reason why the Kreegs wouldn't have the mark on them.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Jareth Elirae wrote:
I'm running Wrath of the Righteous (as DM) and have a wizard with the metamagic feat Empower spell (+50%) and the archmage ability channel power (+50% spell damage). As DM if a spell did say 100 hp damage would you combine the bonus so the spell does 200hp damage or would you empower the spell then add the channel power damage for 225 damage? I have already DM ruled in this case (temporarily allowing the higher damage- it just seems more mythic), but wonder how you would interpret this?

I'd go with 200 points of damage. I generally add all the percentages up before applying them to the base number.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Tacticslion wrote:

Similarly to the above: mythic empower deals +75%, while archmage ability channel deals +50%

1) does mean an ability deals +125% (in your opinion, which is in no way binding, and should not be used in rules arguments here or with other people, but purely as one GM to me, another) for a total of 225%?

2) why or why not?

Thanks!

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for all your answers! You... are a busy guy! We appreciate you taking so much time for your thread, James!

My preference in that case would be +125% damage. Just add all the percentage increases together, then adjust the number by that new total. It's easier and faster math, and results in lower numbers overall, which is good for gameplay since the assumption is, as a general rule, the base numbers.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Mogloth wrote:

Hey James, this is something I'm curious about.

Are you able to take us behind the scenes in describing how an AP gets developed? No need for minute details. Just the broad strokes. From the first time it gets mentioned in a meeting to sending out for art. I'm curious as to how/when things get developed.

A super brief (but still long) timeline would be:

Spoiler:
1) A lead developer comes up with an idea for an Adventure Path.
2) A small team of 2-3 fellow AP developers talk it over and brainstorm ideas.
3) The lead developer writes the 20,000 word outline and comes up with the titles for all six adventures.
4) The outline is approved by the creative director and the publisher.
5) The lead developer (hereafter simply referred to as the "developer") assigns the 6 adventures to 6 authors.
6) When the text comes in, the developer decides if it's good enough to start work on or if it needs to be sent back to the author for revisions or re-assigned to a different author.
7) The developer reads the adventure, then creates the art order for the adventure by deciding what gets illustrated and sends that information to the art department.
8) The developer reviews the maps for the adventure, and in many cases ends up redrawing the maps him/herself. Once the maps are done, they're sent on to the art department with a written map order to describe other needs from the cartographer.
9) The developer then develops the text of the adventure, which is a combination of editing the language, fixing errors in the rules, and rewriting content to either make the text fit better with the other 5 parts of the adventure or to fix poorly written portions of the text. There's also a lot of additional text that gets written—in many cases, a developer is really an uncredited co-author. In the most extreme cases, where a developer has to write more than half of the adventure, the developer may take a co-author credit.
10) The developer inserts art and map placement notes into the text, and then the text goes off to get its first edit pass by an editor.
11) The editor brings any questions to the developer who helps solve any additional problems that first edit pass uncovered.
12) The edited text is sent up to the art department, and the adventure is laid out.
13) The developer then copy-fits the adventure, adding or deleting text to make the adventure fit the page count as needed.
14) The adventure is edited several more times.
15) The developer provides the art department with all the tags for the maps.
16) Eventually, the last round of editing—copyediting—happens.
17) The developer gives the final laid-out and edited text a lookover to approve it.
18) The entire product then goes through approvals with the editor in chief, the creative director, the art director, and the publisher. Assuming they all approve the final product, the files are then sent to the printer.
19) 3 to 5 months later, we have a book!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Desril wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:

Similarly to the above: mythic empower deals +75%, while archmage ability channel deals +50%

1) does mean an ability deals +125% (in your opinion, which is in no way binding, and should not be used in rules arguments here or with other people, but purely as one GM to me, another) for a total of 225%?

2) why or why not?

Thanks!

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for all your answers! You... are a busy guy! We appreciate you taking so much time for your thread, James!

You do realize that "Mythic Empower" is 3rd party and pretty badly written, right?

Also JJ tries to avoid commenting on rules issues, take this to the 3rd party/house rules boards.

Edit, forgot to include my question!

Sir Dinosaur, when a character starts granting spells to followers via the mythic ability Divine Source, should they pick a favored weapon to grant their clerics? Or is that limited to when something becomes a demigod?

What are the benefits of worshiping a quasideity PC over something more established?

I did not know Mythic Empower was 3rd party, and that would perhaps explain to me why I felt it was over the top.

Divine Source does not allow you to choose a favored weapon. As written, a cleric of a quasi deity does not gain a favored weapon. I suspect this is an accidental error of omission... but I also like the precident that it sets that a cleric of a quasi deity is just a little bit less powerful than a cleric of a demigod.

The benefit of worshiping a quasideity is that your god or goddess is more approachable and lives in the same world as you, so you can have a much closer relationship with the object you worship. That, of course, can also be a disadvantage. In almost all cases, it's more advantageous to worship a demigod or deity, which is one reason why it's tough to be a quasideity.


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Which of these two authors do you prefer, H.P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard?


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Do you like Ramsey Campbell's early Lovecraft stories (i.e., the stuff in the Inhabitant of the Lake anthology)?

Also, do you prefer mythos stories where the Horrors (Old Ones, monsters, etc.) can be fought and even defeated by the protagonists, or the ones where it's hopeless and the best the narrator can hope for is to escape alive and with his mind reasonably intact?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Grond wrote:
Which of these two authors do you prefer, H.P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard?

Lovecraft is my all-time favorite author, so him.

Howard's in my top 11 list though. Which is probably as follows, with Lovecraft in the top spot and the other 9 in random order:

1) Lovecraft
2) Stephen King
3) Clark Ashton Smith
4) Algernon Blackwood
5) George R. R. Martin
6) Ramsey Campbell
7) Clive Barker
8) T. E. D. Klein
9) F. Paul Wilson
10) Dan Simmons
11) Robert E. Howard

No women on that list, which sucks, and is something I'm trying to address. The ones who are currently closest to breaking into my top 10 author list would be:

James Tiptree Jr.
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Shirley Jackson

Which also needs work.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Andrew Crossett wrote:

Do you like Ramsey Campbell's early Lovecraft stories (i.e., the stuff in the Inhabitant of the Lake anthology)?

Also, do you prefer mythos stories where the Horrors (Old Ones, monsters, etc.) can be fought and even defeated by the protagonists, or the ones where it's hopeless and the best the narrator can hope for is to escape alive and with his mind reasonably intact?

I very much do adore his early Lovecraft stories. Those are the first of his I read, so they've a nostalgic special place in my heart.

I prefer mythos stories that are well-written and spooky. Whether or not the humans win or the monsters win is kinda irrelevant to me.


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Are you excited for the upcoming Firefly Online, with all the original Big Damn Heroes voice acting their characters?

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