If, say, years after some grand adventure path, an older paladin wanted to retire to farm the countryside rather than continue his work as a paladin by training the next generation or seeking out some last adventure to give his life to, has he turned his back on his calling? Do you think he would fall?
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Hi James,
1) Have you seen the trailer for the upcoming Mummy movie? If so what do you think?
2) What in general is your feeling about the proposed "Universal Movie Monster" Universe they are trying to put together, starting with The Mummy?
3)I know you at least watched one season of Penny Dreadful. Did you ever finish it? If so what did you think?
1) Cautiously optimistic. I've enjoyed pretty much all of Tom Cruise's movies over the last decade or so, and the visuals and themes of the trailer look pretty neat... but the way Universal has handled their latest classic monster movies (Dracula and Frankenstein) have been pretty lame and/or sanitized.
2) Also cautiously optimistic. If they do so while maintaining a gritty and dark and creepy and horrific theme, then it could be pretty fun. If they fall into camp and sanitized mass-market tepid horror, then meh.
3) I've only seen season 1 of Penny Dreadful, and it was a mixed bag for me. The good (Eva Green and Eva Green adjacent plots) was outweighed by the bad (all the rest) for me, and I' don't really feel the need to watch seasons 2 or 3 when better shows are available for me to watch.
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If, say, years after some grand adventure path, an older paladin wanted to retire to farm the countryside rather than continue his work as a paladin by training the next generation or seeking out some last adventure to give his life to, has he turned his back on his calling? Do you think he would fall?
If a paladin manages to retain his/her paladinhood over the course of decades and manages to reach old age and chooses to retire, then he/she gets to retire. They have not turned their back on their calling, and do not fall from grace.
How big is an average great red wyrm? More specifically...
-How long is it, from nose to tail?
-How tall is it at the shoulder?
-What's its wingspan?
-If I were to scale it up to a monster with the same space as Mogaru (which I have), how much would these increase?
Also, about that deity I mentioned yesterday... I had him as basically the ultimate bad cop. He can't be considered lawful, because he doesn't follow rules if they get in the way of enforcement. He can't be considered good because of his brutality. Nevertheless, his end goal is a utopia; Gray (CE god of ruthlessness, smoke, time travel and vigilante justice) wants a world where thugs like him are no longer needed.
Any additional thoughts on Gray?
1. Have you seen Doctor Strange? if you have did you like it?
2. What's your favorite superhero film of this year?
3. What's your opinion of the Ghost in the Shell film that's coming out?
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1. Have you seen Doctor Strange? if you have did you like it?
2. What's your favorite superhero film of this year?
3. What's your opinion of the Ghost in the Shell film that's coming out?
1) I saw it and enjoyed it.
2) They're all about the same to me. None I've seen this year stands out particularly more than any of the others.
3) Scarlett Johansson is one of my favorite actresses, but since I've never seen the original anime the movie is based on (and thus have no nostalgia for it) and since the fact that this is another example of "whitewashing" in cinema, I'm not all that interested in the movie. If the reviews are outstanding I'll see it in the theater, maybe, but otherwise if I see it it'll be via Netflix or the like.
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How big is an average great red wyrm? More specifically...
-How long is it, from nose to tail?
-How tall is it at the shoulder?
-What's its wingspan?
-If I were to scale it up to a monster with the same space as Mogaru (which I have), how much would these increase?Also, about that deity I mentioned yesterday... I had him as basically the ultimate bad cop. He can't be considered lawful, because he doesn't follow rules if they get in the way of enforcement. He can't be considered good because of his brutality. Nevertheless, his end goal is a utopia; Gray (CE god of ruthlessness, smoke, time travel and vigilante justice) wants a world where thugs like him are no longer needed.
Any additional thoughts on Gray?
It's smaller than a kaiju. Probably about 100 feet long or so from nose to tail. Wingspan about the same.
The way you presented the deity made it look like you were running roughshod over the alignment system and that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
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James,
Have you seen Fantastic Beasts and where to find them? Are you a Harry Potter fan?
I haven't seen it. There's a slight chance I'll see it this weekend, but it's probably gonna be a Netflix thing for me.
I'm not really a Harry Potter fan at all.
Now I recall in the back of the Core Rulebook, a list of books inspiring Pathfinder. (Or just D&D in general)
I loaned my core rulebook out so I can't check, but I believe in the back Les Miserables is listed as inspiration. I'm just curious, what do you get from there? I'm thinking alignment as it certainly has strongly-aligned characters.
One of the things I like to do is to determine the alignments of random characters...
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Now I recall in the back of the Core Rulebook, a list of books inspiring Pathfinder. (Or just D&D in general)
I loaned my core rulebook out so I can't check, but I believe in the back Les Miserables is listed as inspiration. I'm just curious, what do you get from there? I'm thinking alignment as it certainly has strongly-aligned characters.
One of the things I like to do is to determine the alignments of random characters...
I got nothing. I've never seen it. I don't like musicals.
That said, the list of inspirations are not just mine—they were compiled by several folks here to represent that there's more than just one vision in the game, and thus more than just one type of inspiration to run the game or to create the game.
In this case, Les Miserables was put on there by Wes, so you'd have to ask him about what was inspiring.
Now I recall in the back of the Core Rulebook, a list of books inspiring Pathfinder. (Or just D&D in general)
I loaned my core rulebook out so I can't check, but I believe in the back Les Miserables is listed as inspiration. I'm just curious, what do you get from there? I'm thinking alignment as it certainly has strongly-aligned characters.
One of the things I like to do is to determine the alignments of random characters...
I got nothing. I've never seen it. I don't like musicals.
That said, the list of inspirations are not just mine—they were compiled by several folks here to represent that there's more than just one vision in the game, and thus more than just one type of inspiration to run the game or to create the game.
In this case, Les Miserables was put on there by Wes, so you'd have to ask him about what was inspiring.
I'm pretty sure the Les Miserables entry on the "Recommended Reading" list in GameMastery Guide was referring to the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo. I take it you haven't read that novel?
On a related note: We all know you're primarily a horror literature fan, but what kind of things do you like to read as a change of pace?
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Question involving deities. Are events that take place between deities common knowledge? For example, would anyone know why pharasma and iomedae don't get along? Would just anyone have this info, or would it be more of a religious thing, where only higher up members of the faith would have that kind of information?
They're not common knowledge. They're part of the teachings of faith, and that means that they often contradict between faiths. Whether or not someone knows this information depends on how religious that person is, and whether or not their religion includes that information. So, it's not really "common knowledge" shared by everyone.
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I'm pretty sure the Les Miserables entry on the "Recommended Reading" list in GameMastery Guide was referring to the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo. I take it you haven't read that novel?
On a related note: We all know you're primarily a horror literature fan, but what kind of things do you like to read as a change of pace?
I haven't read the novel, no.
As a change of pace from horror, I assume you mean? Science fiction and fantasy are my second go-to genres (I tend to prefer authors who write gritty/dark stuff, sometimes to the extent that the end result could still be called "horror"), as is simply weird fiction (much of which is also horror, but not all of it), as is non-fiction when it's about a topic I'm interested in (which ranges from whaling to Werner Herzog to sleep paralysis to dinosaur literature to Bigfoot to fossils to nautical history to all sorts of other diverse topics).
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Is there precedent of Cthulhu Mythos entities causing people to go blind from their presence?Yes. In particular, a relatively obscure one named Zu-Che-Quon, invented by Henry Kuttner, I believe, in "The Bells of Horror."
Are there otherworldly pact-makers who the Riftwardens would be willing to work with? I like the Pact Wizard introduced in the Haunted Heroes Handbook, and feel like it'd be interesting in Strange Aeons, but I like the feel of the Riftwarden too, and I wonder if the nature of the archetype clashes with the ideals of the prestige class.
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What interests you about whaling?
With all the mentions of the nautical have you heard of/played Sunless Sea?
The physicality, the nature, the history, the mystique, the cruelty, and the adventure all interests me about whaling. Being the son of a commercial fisherman and growing up on the coast in the fishing industry kinda bred interest in that type of vocation into me, more or less.
I own Sunless Sea but haven't played it much; I keep forgetting about it.
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There are several metamagic feats that don't have a corresponding metamagic rod.
** spoiler omitted **Some of these feats are newer and might not have a rod for that reason. Others have prerequisites which could make a rod unbalanced.
1. Are there any plans to release an updated list of metamagic rods?
2. Are there any feats on this list that should have a rod in your opinion? If so, which ones?
3. Should players stick to the given list of metamagic rods or use the list as a guideline and price out the remaining feats accordingly?
1. Not as far as I know.
2. The metamagic rod is an interesting magic item, but it's also kinda boring. It's not very flavorful. It's more utility than fun, and as such I don't have much of an opinion about them.
3. Players should stick to the ones given. GMs should feel free to design new ones as much as they want. If a player wants to get heavy into item design, they should work with their GM.
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Are there otherworldly pact-makers who the Riftwardens would be willing to work with? I like the Pact Wizard introduced in the Haunted Heroes Handbook, and feel like it'd be interesting in Strange Aeons, but I like the feel of the Riftwarden too, and I wonder if the nature of the archetype clashes with the ideals of the prestige class.Is there precedent of Cthulhu Mythos entities causing people to go blind from their presence?Yes. In particular, a relatively obscure one named Zu-Che-Quon, invented by Henry Kuttner, I believe, in "The Bells of Horror."
I've put no thought into it, but generally speaking, the whole "pact making" aspect of horror magic works best with devils and demons, and not so much with Lovecraftian mythos stuff.
Out of curiosity, if the Dungeon/Dragon contract had continued with D&D would Pathfinder have never been or was it in the works already? Secondly, how did you guys manage to consolidate all the major talents (yourself, Eric Mona, Adam Daigle, ect) barring perhaps only Sean K. Reynolds? As an aside, as a 40+ year player of the game I do miss the reverence and nostalgia and respect Paizo always paid to the original Greyhawk setting in both Dungeon and Dragon and it is a shame that that setting has faded to obscurity.
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Out of curiosity, if the Dungeon/Dragon contract had continued with D&D would Pathfinder have never been or was it in the works already? Secondly, how did you guys manage to consolidate all the major talents (yourself, Eric Mona, Adam Daigle, ect) barring perhaps only Sean K. Reynolds? As an aside, as a 40+ year player of the game I do miss the reverence and nostalgia and respect Paizo always paid to the original Greyhawk setting in both Dungeon and Dragon and it is a shame that that setting has faded to obscurity.
There's no way to know, frankly, but we were having a GREAT time with the magazines, and if we hadn't lost the license we would have likely loved to keep on going with them for as long as we could. One of my life goals was to become the editor in chief of Dungeon Magazine, and I got to realize that goal with the first volume of Savage Tide. I found out that the magazine was doomed about a month later. Still, one year is better than none!
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This is something I was wondering... Did the red Dragon on the cover of the Core Rulebook ever have name? Has/will it ever show up in a scenario/AP?
Have you seen the Kingsglaive final fantasy XV movie? What did you think?
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This is something I was wondering... Did the red Dragon on the cover of the Core Rulebook ever have name? Has/will it ever show up in a scenario/AP?
Nope. Just a red dragon. Since the Core Rulebook was intended to be world-neutral, it made no sense to illustrate a specific named dragon on the cover, and there's no real context to ever use the cover to that book in an encounter.
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Have you seen Moana yet? If so, what'd you think? If not, any plans?
I did indeed see it.
I liked the art style quite a lot—very pretty movie. But the plot was kinda samey—I may have seen my fill of Disney movies in which an attractive young person goes out on a quest after the death of a family member and teams up with a quirky animal and a weird magical sidekick and they periodically break out into song. Or I may just not be in a mood these days where optimism does much other than annoy me.
Drawing from Polynesian mythology was a plus, and that certainly helped to keep my interest, though.
Nope.Have you read Robert Silverberg's sequel novel to the same?I have indeed red HG Wells. "The Time Machine" is my favorite. It's why Pathfinder has morlocks in the game.Have you read HG Wells? If so favorite book?
I like the Island of Dr. Moreau. A bit disturbing and horrific, but all for the more fun.
It pretty much takes the novel to it's logical extension. He did the same with Issac Asimov's classic short story "Nightfall", in the novel of the same name. Have you read much of Asimov?
DM to DM (I'm not looking for an official ruling), in your game would a dwarf barbarian lose his enhanced land speed from being a barbarian for wearing heavy armor or would you allow his racial ability to be unhindered by armor to allow him to still move at the faster speed?
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If a paladin has the ability to make sneak attacks, such as from multiclassing as a rogue, does utilizing sneak attack constitute a violation of the paladin's code of conduct?No.
Yay! I can go forward with my Paladin of Ragathiel/Crimson Templar idea! Thanks for the clarification, James! :)
Are there instructors for arcane magic at Lepidstadt University, or is its curriculum focused exclusively on "magic-adjacent" studies like alchemy?
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DM to DM (I'm not looking for an official ruling), in your game would a dwarf barbarian lose his enhanced land speed from being a barbarian for wearing heavy armor or would you allow his racial ability to be unhindered by armor to allow him to still move at the faster speed?
Dwarves ignore the effects of armor or encumbrance on their speed. They do not ignore the way armor interacts with them in other ways, including class limitations. A dwarf barbarian in full plate loses his fast movement from being a barbarian.
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If a paladin has the ability to make sneak attacks, such as from multiclassing as a rogue, does utilizing sneak attack constitute a violation of the paladin's code of conduct?No.Yay! I can go forward with my Paladin of Ragathiel/Crimson Templar idea! Thanks for the clarification, James! :)
Are there instructors for arcane magic at Lepidstadt University, or is its curriculum focused exclusively on "magic-adjacent" studies like alchemy?
Since I'm not your GM, you still need to clear with your GM that the sneak attack paladin works in his/her game, of course. Some GMs interpret things differently, and that doesn't make them wrong or right, but a player who argues with a GM about a ruling like this is often wrong.
I've always seen Lepidstadt U as a more classic university you might see in the real world rather than a Harry Potter school. I believe there's more info about it in the 2nd Carrion Crown adventure.
Hey James, are you familiar with the Kingdom Death: Monster boardgame? I saw its getting an updated reprint on Kickstarter and I've been thinking about backing it.
If you are familiar with it, is it worth the hefty price tag?
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Hey James, are you familiar with the Kingdom Death: Monster boardgame? I saw its getting an updated reprint on Kickstarter and I've been thinking about backing it.
If you are familiar with it, is it worth the hefty price tag?
Very, very, very familiar with it. In that I play the game pretty regularly. Adam (the designer) is friends with Wes Schneider. The game is incredible, in any event; very moody and elegant and fun and exciting. You should ABSOLUTELY back it.
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Since I'm not your GM, you still need to clear with your GM that the sneak attack paladin works in his/her game, of course. Some GMs interpret things differently, and that doesn't make them wrong or right, but a player who argues with a GM about a ruling like this is often wrong.
Of course, that's just good roleplaying etiquette. Thank you!
I've always seen Lepidstadt U as a more classic university you might see in the real world rather than a Harry Potter school. I believe there's more info about it in the 2nd Carrion Crown adventure.
That's what I figured, thank you for confirming.
Which spelling of this name looks/sounds better or more Chelaxian to you?
CORINEUS
or
CORINAEUS
1. Is Andoran a representative democracy or parliamentary democracy?
2. Are there political parties in Andoran?
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Since I'm not your GM, you still need to clear with your GM that the sneak attack paladin works in his/her game, of course. Some GMs interpret things differently, and that doesn't make them wrong or right, but a player who argues with a GM about a ruling like this is often wrong.Of course, that's just good roleplaying etiquette. Thank you!
I've always seen Lepidstadt U as a more classic university you might see in the real world rather than a Harry Potter school. I believe there's more info about it in the 2nd Carrion Crown adventure.That's what I figured, thank you for confirming.
Which spelling of this name looks/sounds better or more Chelaxian to you?
CORINEUS
or
CORINAEUS
both and neither
Roll randomly I guess?
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James, I have a question on art for Pathfinder. Is there some way Paizo could do the contracts for art so that a Paizo partner Hero Lab could use the wonderful art in its program?
Would it be possible for Paizo to make a section on the website for artists to do commission work for your players?
Probably not; sorry.
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I know you've listed it as one of your favourite movies, so I thought you might be interested to know that there's going to be showings of Princess Mononoke the 5th (Subbed) and 9th (dubbed) of January for the 20th anniversary.