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What about a hammer dulcimer? Also, considering the first place I ever saw one played, do you ever go to ren-fests in your free time, or would that remind you too much of work?Question I got after reading the new Healer's Handbook: The new bardic masterpiece, Symphony of Sylandurla's Ascent, is described as an "elaborate arrangement for traditional elven instruments," and the Perform skills used to play it are Percussion and Wind. It's easy for me to imagine traditional wind instruments for elves, it seems like whenever elves are depicted playing music it's either on harps or flutes. But what kinds of percussion instruments are traditional to the elves? I've always imagined percussion instruments like drums as the purview of less dainty types like dwarves, orcs and tribal human societies. Traditional ELVEN percussion instruments sound cool and interesting!None come to mind.
I've always kinda though of dulcimers as more like keyboard instruments. I do love them; my favorite band, "Dead Can Dance," uses them a lot. But yeah, a hammer dulcimer or a xylophone would be pretty elfy. Maybe bells too.
I've been to renaissance festivals before, but not recently, which is weird since I live like 15 minutes away from one that's kinda year round to a certain extent. Should go there again soon. They don't remind me of work at all, because it's outside and real rather than inside and typing.
Hello, James!
1. Is there any date, even approximate one, on when did Allevrah turned drow or started her research on how to "copy" Earthfall?
2. Did elves came to Golarion sometime after Azlant won the war with Serpentfolk?
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Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?Good husband and father are unlikely to be options at this point. Not really sure, frankly, how I'd like to be remembered... I guess as someone who brought at least a little bit of entertainment into the world?
Speaking for myself, you've brought a lot of entertainment, joy, and insanity into the world ^w^
So thank you.
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Hello, James!
1. Is there any date, even approximate one, on when did Allevrah turned drow or started her research on how to "copy" Earthfall?
2. Did elves came to Golarion sometime after Azlant won the war with Serpentfolk?
1) There is, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head because I haven't looked into Second Darkness in nearly a decade. Sometime before you start the first adventure, basically. Off the top of my head, I'd say she turned drow a decade ago, but that's just a kinda random guess. Pick a number that makes sense to you if you run the game.
2) The exact date elves first came to Golarion is unrevealed, but I like to think they were here before Azlant, just not in big numbers. By the time Thassilon was founded, they certainly had been around long enough to build cities and a whole nation in the Mierani Forest that was powerful enough that Thassilon's settlers couldn't claim that region for their own, which is why the maps of ancient Thassilon have that large section in the northwest that isn't Thassilon. It's the Mierani nation.
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Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?Good husband and father are unlikely to be options at this point. Not really sure, frankly, how I'd like to be remembered... I guess as someone who brought at least a little bit of entertainment into the world?
You've done that. In spades.
Thanks for bringing us so much fun.
Even on Friday the 13th, my gaming fun is linked to Paizo.
1 Does Korvosan Acadamae have tuition or does the 3 years slave labor count as the cost.
2 if the Acadamae has tuition what would be the cost.
3what is the age of most people who join the Acadamae(aka can I play a harry potter expy)
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1 Does Korvosan Acadamae have tuition or does the 3 years slave labor count as the cost.
2 if the Acadamae has tuition what would be the cost.
3what is the age of most people who join the Acadamae(aka can I play a harry potter expy)
1) It has tuition; see page 20 of Inner Sea Magic.
2) 100 gp per 3 months.
3) Young adults (same ages as starting ages for wizards, basically).
13. Is Unity a quantum computer?13. I don't know what you mean by that.
1. A quantum computer is this. In short, it's a super powerful supercomputer. Is Unity one of these?
2. Unity's current CR is 20. Then, if it becomes a demigod, how many CR do you think would it have? Maybe 30? I really wish Paizo will include demigod version Unity's stats into one of the future books someday so that I can use that information to play a What If the PCs Lose campaign.
3. In Valley of the Brain Collectors, it's mentioned that the Dominion reprogrammed the two annihilator robots. I'm curious, because I thought that the Dominion are not good at science or technology(though they seem very good at biology). Is the Dominion of the Black also good at various high technology, too?
4. Given enough time and resources, would Unity be able to excavate and repair the starship Divinity? Or it cannot be done, because the significant portion of Androffan technology was already lost and Divinity's damage was so severe?
5. In The Divinity Drive, there's a lashunta settlement in Divinity. Page 17 of the book said that the crew of Divinity harvested the inhabitants and local plants from Castrovel when they first arrived in Golarion's system thousands of years ago. Could they do that? I thought becasue of the Dominion mind attack, the crew was in no shape to do such a thing even after they successfully arrived in Golarion's system. Wasn't the ship taking heavy damage and uncontrollably crashing into Golarion? Did they have time to land on Castrovel and harvest local life forms?
6. It seems that the views of Unity and aboleths regarding faiths are strangely similar. They both don't value free will and want to utterly dominate everything. Do you think so?
7. In page 4 of The Midnight Isles, there's a gorgeous illustration that depicts Nocticula stepping on a dead demon's head. Is that dead demon Vyriavaxus, Lord of Shadows? Or maybe Colyphyr? And what is the big object in Nocticula's hand? Maybe the Nahyndrian Crystal, the fossilized lifeblood of the slain demon lord?
8. I thought there would be an article about Nocticula in The Midnight Isles because Nocticula played an important role in the book. But there wasn't. Why didn't you do that? I thought it was a perfect place to include an article like that.
9. In Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, it's mentioned that the priest who called upon the herald to aid in an attack on Raliscrad has taken his own life in shame over his role in allowing the herald to be taken. I'm curious. In the world of Golarion, is committing suicide considered a sin? I'm not sure if a follower of a good/neutral/evil god who committed suicide would be allowed to go to his god's domain after death or not.
10. Do you think the act of this priest(calling upon the herald) would be considered a sin? Because of him, Iomedae's herald was taken captive. And unlike Sarenrae, Shelyn, or Desna, Iomedae is not a nice woman and has no interest in forgiveness. So even if he didn't take his own life, surely he is damned to hell, right?
11. I read the article about Baphomet in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth. It said that Baphomet was captured and marked on his forehead with Asmodeus's pentagram. And the pentagram still exists. I thought a regenaration spell can erase this pentagram easily. Maybe because it was marked by a deity himself, thus it cannot be removed by a non-deity?
12. And the fact that Lamashtu didn't remove it proves Asmodeus is more powerful than Lamashtu, right? The article said Baphomet reconciled with Lamashtu. So surely she would have removed the pentagram if she was able to, right?
16. I found that the dungeon maps in Thornkeep and the Emerald Spire Superdungeon are of the exactly same size. They all are horizontally 100 feet and vertically 150 feet. It's like somebody wanted to make them fit exactly into one page. Is it intentional?
17. Anyway, I think the maps of the Emerald Spire are too small. Compared to other dungeons, the spire is definitely much smaller. It's like it should be called the Emerald Spiore Minidungeon instead. I know there's no chance for Paizo to revisit the spire, but do you think the dungeons in the spire are too small either?
16. Both of those books were part of a kickstarter campaign and part of that campaign was a promise that every dungeon would be published as a flip mat. So every dungeon level did indeed end up the same size, because of a kickstarter promise and the physics of how big a flip map is. Has nothing to do with in-world construction goals of the dungeons.
17. I do indeed, but it was a requirement of the kickstarter campaign.
13. It seems that giving flip maps to the players is considered a good bonus, considering the fact that Paizo promised to publish the dungeons in the two books as flip maps. Is it? I ask this because I don't quite like flip maps because of their limited size. A huge dungeon cannot be placed on a flip map after all. Do most players like flip maps?
14. I'm curious. I found that the current cover of The Emerald Spire Superdungeon is different from that was shown in this page. Maybe the latter was an entirely different book that I didn't know?
15. What is the spiderlike construct shown in the link above? I have never seen such a monster in Pathfinder books.
16. In Mythic Adventures, there's an archmage path ability called Tangible Illusion, which lets me temporarily transform an illusory object into a real one. Its duration is 10 minutes per tier. I'm curious, because I cannot imagine how to use this ability practically. The only thing that I can think of is making an illusion of an atomic bomb and exploding it just before I teleport away, or making an illusion of a car and enjoying a drive. Do you think this is possible?
17. If I make a warhammer with Tangible Iillusion and then hit an orc with it, the orc will die and not be resurrected even though its duration expires. Then what would happen if I make a hamburger with this ability and then eat it? After its duration expires, what would happen? Would the nutrition gained from the hamburger vanish and the hunger come back?
18. I have always thought Improved Unarmed Strike feat is bad. I mean, even a 20th level fighter who can slay a gigantic monster with his greatsword still provokes attacks of opportunity while making an unarmed strike and cannot even deal lethal damage with his bare hands, only because he doesn't have Improved Unarmed Strike feat. It seems unfair. Do you think removing this feat and this restriction from the game breaks the balance of the game? Well, maybe monks might sufffer some disadvantage because of this change, but I think they are already quite powerful anyway.
Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?Good husband and father are unlikely to be options at this point. Not really sure, frankly, how I'd like to be remembered... I guess as someone who brought at least a little bit of entertainment into the world?
19. Does that mean you have never married?
20. I heard that the Lands of the Linnorm Kings is Erik Mona's pet nation. But he's so busy that he has no time to answer questions. And I found that Rob McCreary is one of the authors that wrote the campaign setting book Lands of the Linnorm Kings. And you are a creative director who would know nearly anything about Golarion. So I have to ask you, who would be the most appropriate person for me to ask about the Lands of the Linnorm Kings? Erik? Rob? Or you, James?
21. Who would be the appropriate person for me to ask about Serpent's Skull and Jade Regent? James Jacobs? Rob Mccreary?
22. Did Paizo originally intend to make Baba Yaga's class as witch? Or Paizo origianlly thought otherwise, but after the publication of Advanced Player's Guide it changed its mind?
23. If Paizo didn't publish witch class, which class do you think appropriate for Baba Yaga? Maybe sorcerer with boreal bloodline?
24. How big is Absalom Station? Maybe as big as the city of Absalom? Or as big as the planet of Golarion?
25. Can a player make a divine spellcaster PC in Starfinder? I ask this because I'm not sure if the gods ceased to give spellcasting abilities to their followers or not.
26. Would the Dominion of the Black be one of the primary enemies in Starfinder?
27. I found in this post the word Pact Worlds. What is Pact Worlds?
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Spoiler:1. A quantum computer is this. In short, it's a super powerful supercomputer. Is Unity one of these?2. Unity's current CR is 20. Then, if it becomes a demigod, how many CR do you think would it have? Maybe 30? I really wish Paizo will include demigod version Unity's stats into one of the future books someday so that I can use that information to play a What If the PCs Lose campaign.
3. In Valley of the Brain Collectors, it's mentioned that the Dominion reprogrammed the two annihilator robots. I'm curious, because I thought that the Dominion are not good at science or technology(though they seem very good at biology). Is the Dominion of the Black also good at various high technology, too?
4. Given enough time and resources, would Unity be able to excavate and repair the starship Divinity? Or it cannot be done, because the significant portion of Androffan technology was already lost and Divinity's damage was so severe?
5. In The Divinity Drive, there's a lashunta settlement in Divinity. Page 17 of the book said that the crew of Divinity harvested the inhabitants and local plants from Castrovel when they first arrived in Golarion's system thousands of years ago. Could they do that? I thought becasue of the Dominion mind attack, the crew was in no shape to do such a thing even after they successfully arrived in Golarion's system. Wasn't the ship taking heavy damage and uncontrollably crashing into Golarion? Did they have time to land on Castrovel and harvest local life forms?
6. It seems that the views of Unity and aboleths regarding faiths are strangely similar. They both don't value free will and want to utterly dominate everything. Do you think so?
2) Whatever you want it to be to provide a great and memorable challenge for your group. We assume that the PCs defeat Unity before this happens, and so it's somewhat a waste of our time to expend our resources to provide what-if stats for future campaign possibilities; we do a little of this in the various "Continuing the Campaign" articles but they're meant to inspire GMs rather than do the work for them. A big part of the fun of being a GM is building your own stuff, after all.
3) Turns out they are, yes.
4) Unlikely. He's been in there for thousands of years and isn't anywhere close to that. Nor is he really interested in repairing it. An AI doesn't really need an enormous colony ship to fly around in space in any case.
5) They did, so obviously they could. There were a LOT of people on Divinity, and perhaps some of them manifested their madness by focusing on their original goals to an obsessive level and thus gathered some Castrovel stuff.
6) No. The aboleths don't understand faith and aren't interested in it and underestimate it. Unity thinks he understands faith and is VERY interested in it and understands its power. In a lot of ways, they're opposite in their regard and view on faith.
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Spoiler:7. In page 4 of The Midnight Isles, there's a gorgeous illustration that depicts Nocticula stepping on a dead demon's head. Is that dead demon Vyriavaxus, Lord of Shadows? Or maybe Colyphyr? And what is the big object in Nocticula's hand? Maybe the Nahyndrian Crystal, the fossilized lifeblood of the slain demon lord?8. I thought there would be an article about Nocticula in The Midnight Isles because Nocticula played an important role in the book. But there wasn't. Why didn't you do that? I thought it was a perfect place to include an article like that.
9. In Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, it's mentioned that the priest who called upon the herald to aid in an attack on Raliscrad has taken his own life in shame over his role in allowing the herald to be taken. I'm curious. In the world of Golarion, is committing suicide considered a sin? I'm not sure if a follower of a good/neutral/evil god who committed suicide would be allowed to go to his god's domain after death or not.
10. Do you think the act of this priest(calling upon the herald) would be considered a sin? Because of him, Iomedae's herald was taken captive. And unlike Sarenrae, Shelyn, or Desna, Iomedae is not a nice woman and has no interest in forgiveness. So even if he didn't take his own life, surely he is damned to hell, right?
11. I read the article about Baphomet in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth. It said that Baphomet was captured and marked on his forehead with Asmodeus's pentagram. And the pentagram still exists. I thought a regenaration spell can erase this pentagram easily. Maybe because it was marked by a deity himself, thus it cannot be removed by a non-deity?
12. And the fact that Lamashtu didn't remove it proves Asmodeus is more powerful than Lamashtu, right? The article said Baphomet reconciled with Lamashtu. So surely she would have removed the pentagram if she was able to, right?
[/spoier][spoiler]7) Yes, it is a dead Vyriavaxus. The thing in her hand is supposed to be his heart.
8) Because we generally only do 2 deity articles in an AP volume, and we focused those two on other deities. And because we had other things we wanted to do in that volume.
9) Suicide is a sin to some faiths, not to others. Suicide that causes excessive pain and disruption to society is enough of a sin that it helps spawn demons as well. There's a neutral god on Golarion who includes suicide as part of her interests. Some faiths would count suicide as a noble and good act when it provides aid or inspiration in a martyr sort of way. It varies.
10) It's shame and cowardice that drove him to suicide. His suicide didn't cause the herald to be taken though, so that's irrelevant. If anything, his sin would be pride or something along those lines. Whether or not he's damned to the Abyss or Hell or wherever is irrelevant to the plot as focused on in Wrath, so that bit is left to the individual GM to decide upon.
11) The pentagram is more than a wound. It's a fundamental scar on his existance. Regeneration can't fix that.
12) Nope. Lamashtu probably didn't bother removing it because she wanted Baphomet to bear the scar as a reminder for failure. Or more likely because she enjoyed how it made Baphomet feel bad. She's not a nice person, and is not likely to do charity.
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13. It seems that giving flip maps to the players is considered a good bonus, considering the fact that Paizo promised to publish the dungeons in the two books as flip maps. Is it? I ask this because I don't quite like flip maps because of their limited size. A huge dungeon cannot be placed on a flip map after all. Do most players like flip maps?14. I'm curious. I found that the current cover of The Emerald Spire Superdungeon is different from that was shown in this page. Maybe the latter was an entirely different book that I didn't know?
15. What is the spiderlike construct shown in the link above? I have never seen such a monster in Pathfinder books.
16. In Mythic Adventures, there's an archmage path ability called Tangible Illusion, which lets me temporarily transform an illusory object into a real one. Its duration is 10 minutes per tier. I'm curious, because I cannot imagine how to use this ability practically. The only thing that I can think of is making an illusion of an atomic bomb and exploding it just before I teleport away, or making an illusion of a car and enjoying a drive. Do you think this is possible?
17. If I make a warhammer with Tangible Iillusion and then hit an orc with it, the orc will die and not be resurrected even though its duration expires. Then what would happen if I make a hamburger with this ability and then eat it? After its duration expires, what would happen? Would the nutrition gained from the hamburger vanish and the hunger come back?
18. I have always thought Improved Unarmed Strike feat is bad. I mean, even a 20th level fighter who can slay a gigantic monster with his greatsword still provokes attacks of opportunity while making an unarmed strike and cannot even deal lethal damage with his bare hands, only because he doesn't have Improved Unarmed Strike feat. It seems unfair. Do you think removing this feat and this restriction from the game breaks the balance of the game? Well, maybe monks might sufffer some disadvantage because of this change, but I think they are already quite powerful anyway.
13) Many, many many many GMs like them, yes. If they didn't, they wouldn't sell well, and we wouldn't still be making them. They're particularly useful at conventions, but for specific dungeons, lots of GMs like them because they're orders of magnitude more pretty and beautiful looking than what the typical GM can draw on a battlemat.
14) In most cases, when we announce a book, we don't have the final cover ready to show off. In a lot of cases, we don't even have the final art yet. But retails, particularly Amazon.com, require us to give them information about new products months in advance, so we have to make what is called "mock up" covers, where we make a fake cover out of old art from another book. (In the case of that one, that crab robot thingy is from a chapter opener in Ultimate Equipment, I believe.) We then use those fake covers on our own website until we get the final covers, and send them off to Amazon.com or wherever for them to use. When we get the final covers, we update them on our website, but Amazon.com is a big company and for whatever reason never bothers to update them, despite our requests, and so those fake covers remain out there in the forever that is the internet.
15) It's an apparatus of the crab, which is a magic item in the game, and is an item also presented in the Ultimate Equipment chapter that the illustration originally opened for.
16) Doesn't matter if I think it's possible; your GM is the one you'd have to convince. I can think of countless ways to use this power. Make an iron bar to wedge a collapsing roof up long enough to escape. Create a block of gold to sell to a merchant before you run off with the profits. Create a lantern to light up a dark room. Whip up a slashing weapon to fight a monster with DR/slashing. And so on and so on. If you don't think these are good enough uses for the power, or can't think of a use for the power, no worries. Just take a different power. There are choices.
17) You'd be hungry again. If all you ate was food that vanishes some time after you eat it but before you could digest it, you'd starve. If the food lasts long enough for you to digest, you'll be fine.
18) Then don't take the feat. Not every feat needs to be the best feat for every person for every situation.
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Disregarding the easy answers like good Husband, Father, etc. How would you like to be remembered?Good husband and father are unlikely to be options at this point. Not really sure, frankly, how I'd like to be remembered... I guess as someone who brought at least a little bit of entertainment into the world?19. Does that mean you have never married?
20. I heard that the Lands of the Linnorm Kings is Erik Mona's pet nation. But he's so busy that he has no time to answer questions. And I found that Rob McCreary is one of the authors that wrote the campaign setting book Lands of the Linnorm Kings. And you are a creative director who would know nearly anything about Golarion. So I have to ask you, who would be the most appropriate person for me to ask about the Lands of the Linnorm Kings? Erik? Rob? Or you, James?
21. Who would be the appropriate person for me to ask about Serpent's Skull and Jade Regent? James Jacobs? Rob Mccreary?
22. Did Paizo originally intend to make Baba Yaga's class as witch? Or Paizo origianlly thought otherwise, but after the publication of Advanced Player's Guide it changed its mind?
23. If Paizo didn't publish witch class, which class do you think appropriate for Baba Yaga? Maybe sorcerer with boreal bloodline?
19) That's exactly what it means, among other things.
20) Me. I might say "I don't know" or "That's a better question to ask Erik or Rob or whoever," but I also might know the answer.
21) Either of us. But keep in mind that we aren't obliged to answer. I answer lots of questions on this thread because it amuses me to answer and because I enjoy answering them, and don't mind doing so, for example, at 9:34 PM on a Friday night. Other people aren't as active as I am at answering questions here, and that's something you need to respect. It's not part of the job duty to answer all questions that fans have. It's not a service you're entitled to.
22) We put witches in the Advanced Player's Guide pretty much BECAUSE we have a nation of witches that's ruled by Baba Yaga. Yes, we wanted her to be a witch from the start, even though at the start we didn't know how we would stat up a witch.
23) If we didn't publish a witch, we wouldn't have put a nation of witches in our game. If we still wanted to stat up Baba Yaga, we could have made her a druid or a wizard or a sorcerer and still covered her flavor well enough.
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24. How big is Absalom Station? Maybe as big as the city of Absalom? Or as big as the planet of Golarion?
25. Can a player make a divine spellcaster PC in Starfinder? I ask this because I'm not sure if the gods ceased to give spellcasting abilities to their followers or not.
26. Would the Dominion of the Black be one of the primary enemies in Starfinder?
27. I found in this post the word Pact Worlds. What is Pact Worlds?
24. I have no idea. I'm not working on Starfinder and have close to nothing to do with it.
25. Yes, there are divine spellcasters in Starfinder, and gods give spellcasting powers the same way they do in Pathfinder as far as I know.
26. Maybe, you'll need to be patient and wait and see like the rest.
27. Have no idea, See #24 above.
1. Actually, I thought that the lashunta part in The Divinity Drive is somehow out of place. So I suspected that you didn't intend to include lashunta at all, but the author of that book mistakenly included them in the book because of a lack of communication or something like that and when you found out it was already too late to change that. Am I right?
2. I thought you didn't include a Nocticula article in The Midnight Isles because you still have more to say about Nocticula and intend to include her in a future adventure path, so you plan to put her article in that future book instead. Am I right?
3. Many GMs like flip maps? Curious. I don't like them because a huge dungeon cannot be described on a flip map. Maybe most GMs and players aren't that interested in the size of a dungeon that much, maybe?
4. You like elves and want to write more about them, right? Then who in Paizo likes dwarves and wants to write more about them?
5. I found that you originally intended to make a different firearm rules in this page. I think your original version is good too. Do you think it is easier and more realistic than the current firearm rules?
6. In your Unspeakable Futures, do medieval cannons and high technology weapons(laser guns) use same firearm rules like those in current Pathfinder RPG? Or do they also use penetration score rules?
7. Do you still play Unspeakable Futures?
8. Even in Jade Regent, I couldn't find a clear explanation about the parentage of Tsuto Kaijitsu. So I made my own theory. I cannnot find where, but I remember that you said in this thread before that a child of two humans can be a half-elf, if one of his ancestor is an elf. Which means the elven gene is susceptible to atavism. Then I realized the one thing that was not meant to know. Maybe Atsuii Kaijitsu was innocent? Lonjiku became angry when he found out his newborn son is a half-elf and concluded that his wife cheated on him. But as we said, the elven gene is atavistic, and there are many elves in Tian Xia too. So, maybe a very remote ancestor of his or hers was an elf, and that elven gene was manifested to Tsuto Kaijitsu? That Atsuii did nothing wrong? It's really sad. All these tragedies could be avoided if Lonjiku had studied genetics, or asked a cleric to cast detect relations spell.
9. Can a child of two humans be an elf(not an half-elf) if one of the parents has an elf ancestor?
10. I thought I read somewhere in a book that Pharasma judged Aroden's soul, but now I couldn't find it. Where can I find it?
11. If Pharasma judged him, he would have gone to Axis, right? Then does that mean somewhere in the Eternal City of Axis, the PCs can find the petitioner Aroden?
12. A petitioner loses his memory. Does that mean those damned to hell, or those that became abyssal larvae, lose their memory too? If so, they would be tormented till the end of the world, for the sin even they don't remember?
13. If a prophet of Kalistrade dies and is judged by Pharasma, would he stay in the Boneyard because prophets of Kalistrade are atheists?
14. Which plane is older, the Abyss or the Maelstrom?
Do all deities maintain their own afterlives for their worshippers? Or do some deities dump all of their worshippers in some other deity's afterlife to deal with or otherwise avoid that responsibility?
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Hello Mr. James Jacobs
This question may seem a little bit late but I still hope you can answer it nonetheless.
During the Mythic playtest it was mentioned that Mythic could be used to run adventures with a solo PC but at the end it did not appear in the final book. Could you share how it was supposed to function or at least the idea behind using Mythic for solo characters?
Thanks in advance.
I think you mentioned this before but I can't find it,
How do you think other cartomancy might fit in Golarion, such as tarot, three dragon ante, or a custom deck (which I was recently inspired to make)?
How about one such deck being affiliated with a religion or monastary and have teachings and lessons throughout.
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1. Actually, I thought that the lashunta part in The Divinity Drive is somehow out of place. So I suspected that you didn't intend to include lashunta at all, but the author of that book mistakenly included them in the book because of a lack of communication or something like that and when you found out it was already too late to change that. Am I right?
2. I thought you didn't include a Nocticula article in The Midnight Isles because you still have more to say about Nocticula and intend to include her in a future adventure path, so you plan to put her article in that future book instead. Am I right?
3. Many GMs like flip maps? Curious. I don't like them because a huge dungeon cannot be described on a flip map. Maybe most GMs and players aren't that interested in the size of a dungeon that much, maybe?
4. You like elves and want to write more about them, right? Then who in Paizo likes dwarves and wants to write more about them?
1) Actually, you can cut them from your game if you want. That said, no, you are not right about a "lack of communication."
2) Nope. Didn't do one because, as I said there was no room and we already had 2 deity articles and we had other things to do in that volume anyway.
3) Flip maps are GREAT for wandering monster encounters, one-shot encounters in smaller buildings or in the wilds, and so on. The vast majority of flip maps are things like a tavern or a bridge or a swamp or a mountain trail. But yes, most folks like them a lot. Not everyone likes the same things and that's fine.
4) I like elves, but I don't necessarily want to write more about them. I believe Owen and Jason both like dwarves, but whether or not they want tow write more about them... I can't say. I'm not them.
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5. I found that you originally intended to make a different firearm rules in this page. I think your original version is good too. Do you think it is easier and more realistic than the current firearm rules?
6. In your Unspeakable Futures, do medieval cannons and high technology weapons(laser guns) use same firearm rules like those in current Pathfinder RPG? Or do they also use penetration score rules?
7. Do you still play Unspeakable Futures?
8. Even in Jade Regent, I couldn't find a clear explanation about the parentage of Tsuto Kaijitsu. So I made my own theory. I cannnot find where, but I remember that you said in this thread before that a child of two humans can be a half-elf, if one of his ancestor is an elf. Which means the elven gene is susceptible to atavism. Then I realized the one thing that was not meant to know. Maybe Atsuii Kaijitsu was innocent? Lonjiku became angry when he found out his newborn son is a half-elf and concluded that his wife cheated on him. But as we said, the elven gene is atavistic, and there are many elves in Tian Xia too. So, maybe a very remote ancestor of his or hers was an elf, and that elven gene was manifested to Tsuto Kaijitsu? That Atsuii did nothing wrong? It's really sad. All these tragedies could be avoided if Lonjiku had studied genetics, or asked a cleric to cast detect relations spell.
9. Can a child of two humans be an elf(not an half-elf) if one of the parents has an elf ancestor?
5) I'm more interested in rules that are easy and catch the general drift of what they're trying to model than realism. Obviously since I made the post you reference, that's my preference, but which version you prefer is up to you.
6) They've used various rules. The game isn't finished/published yet, and I'm constantly tinkering so there's not a set-in-stone final rule yet. And I don't generally want to discuss those rules in public anyway.
7) No. Haven't had time. I play once every 2 or 3 PaizoCons but that's about it.
8) When you can't find an explanation to something you're looking for, making up your own is the right way to go. Atsuii did indeed have an affair with an elf and that's where Tsuto came from though. And the tragedies happened mostly because Lonjiku was a terrible person and intolerant and unfair and no good. Had nothing to do with genetics.
9) No.
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10. I thought I read somewhere in a book that Pharasma judged Aroden's soul, but now I couldn't find it. Where can I find it?
11. If Pharasma judged him, he would have gone to Axis, right? Then does that mean somewhere in the Eternal City of Axis, the PCs can find the petitioner Aroden?
12. A petitioner loses his memory. Does that mean those damned to hell, or those that became abyssal larvae, lose their memory too? If so, they would be tormented till the end of the world, for the sin even they don't remember?
13. If a prophet of Kalistrade dies and is judged by Pharasma, would he stay in the Boneyard because prophets of Kalistrade are atheists?
14. Which plane is older, the Abyss or the Maelstrom?
10) We've never said that in print, but I have said that in passing on the boards. Pharasma judges all those who die, including gods, in any event.
11) Not necessarily. What happens to a god when they die and are judged is not known to mortals but rest assured, they do not follow the same standard path a mortal soul takes.
12) That's exactly what it means.
13) Maybe, maybe not.
14) Depends who you ask. I say the Abyss, though.
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Hello Mr. James Jacobs
This question may seem a little bit late but I still hope you can answer it nonetheless.
During the Mythic playtest it was mentioned that Mythic could be used to run adventures with a solo PC but at the end it did not appear in the final book. Could you share how it was supposed to function or at least the idea behind using Mythic for solo characters?
Thanks in advance.
I can't. I wasn't part of the playtest or the creation of Mythic Adventures to that extent. To my knowledge, the design team never made much headway in developing solo mythic rules in that regard.
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I think you mentioned this before but I can't find it,
How do you think other cartomancy might fit in Golarion, such as tarot, three dragon ante, or a custom deck (which I was recently inspired to make)?How about one such deck being affiliated with a religion or monastary and have teachings and lessons throughout.
Golarion is built to be able to model most sorts of fantasy elements, including elements from other games, your homebrew, or the real world. I think that things like the tarot or three dragon ante or the Tarroka or any other similar thing would fit in fine, but it would be on you the GM to do the fitting. I wouldn't fit them in in print or in my home game at all because I prefer the Harrow.
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I once spent the summer at a friend of mine's place and their father who was a Hungarian who played the Hammer Dulcimer at Ukrainian places in New Brunswick NJ. His instrument was awesome... but definitely not something you'd pack as an adventurer.
Let's keep non-me posts to questions, please. This thread does not benefit by getting derailed into non-question discussions.
Golarion is built to be able to model most sorts of fantasy elements, including elements from other games, your homebrew, or the real world. I think that things like the tarot or three dragon ante or the Tarroka or any other similar thing would fit in fine, but it would be on you the GM to do the fitting. I wouldn't fit them in in print or in my home game at all because I prefer the Harrow.I think you mentioned this before but I can't find it,
How do you think other cartomancy might fit in Golarion, such as tarot, three dragon ante, or a custom deck (which I was recently inspired to make)?How about one such deck being affiliated with a religion or monastary and have teachings and lessons throughout.
I understand that a home game can include whatever the gm allows, that should be a given. But many gm's don't want to include anything unless there is some source official or non-official-but-reliable (like you) says there is a place. No, I'm not asking you to counter a gm's decision, but this came up because another player actually didn't want me to use tarot because he didn't know of any material that allowed stuff other than harrow, and while we have it resolved in that game, it'd be nice to know for the future.
Especially for pfs games.
Personally, I have a severe distaste for harrow , so I normally use tarot or minchiate.
So the question is less about what can be included in a home game with a gm that'll add anything, and more about whether there is anything official or semi-official that could say or even imply that other cartomancy decks can be found in Golarion for pfs games or for gms that are sticklers for official material based fluff. Note, this is not for use with mechanics really, aside from rare Proffesion (fortuneteller) checks, but mostly just fluff, bg, and character making references in speech.
So in that sense, and sorry for not being clear the first time, is there anything official or semi-official that states or implies that other forms of cartomancy exist in Golarion?
If so, what are some of the most likely places in Golarion to find alternate cartomancy traditions?
Should such a thing be allowed in pfs games?
What would you think of supplemental material for mice sized games in Golarion?
Something like Mouseguard or redwall, but in Magnimar or somewhere, where players are trying to survive in a world created and run by massive giants (normal pc races) that would not notice stepping on you by accident.
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Golarion is built to be able to model most sorts of fantasy elements, including elements from other games, your homebrew, or the real world. I think that things like the tarot or three dragon ante or the Tarroka or any other similar thing would fit in fine, but it would be on you the GM to do the fitting. I wouldn't fit them in in print or in my home game at all because I prefer the Harrow.I think you mentioned this before but I can't find it,
How do you think other cartomancy might fit in Golarion, such as tarot, three dragon ante, or a custom deck (which I was recently inspired to make)?How about one such deck being affiliated with a religion or monastary and have teachings and lessons throughout.
I understand that a home game can include whatever the gm allows, that should be a given. But many gm's don't want to include anything unless there is some source official or non-official-but-reliable (like you) says there is a place. No, I'm not asking you to counter a gm's decision, but this came up because another player actually didn't want me to use tarot because he didn't know of any material that allowed stuff other than harrow, and while we have it resolved in that game, it'd be nice to know for the future.
Especially for pfs games.
Personally, I have a severe distaste for harrow , so I normally use tarot or minchiate.
So the question is less about what can be included in a home game with a gm that'll add anything, and more about whether there is anything official or semi-official that could say or even imply that other cartomancy decks can be found in Golarion for pfs games or for gms that are sticklers for official material based fluff. Note, this is not for use with mechanics really, aside from rare Proffesion (fortuneteller) checks, but mostly just fluff, bg, and character making references in speech.
So in that sense, and sorry for not being clear the first time, is there anything official or semi-official that states or implies that other forms of cartomancy exist in Golarion?
If so, what are some of the most likely places in Golarion to find alternate cartomancy traditions?
Should such a thing be allowed in pfs games?
Nope.
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What would you think of supplemental material for mice sized games in Golarion?
Something like Mouseguard or redwall, but in Magnimar or somewhere, where players are trying to survive in a world created and run by massive giants (normal pc races) that would not notice stepping on you by accident.
Not a fan.
What are your favorite kind of questions to answer?
Hopefully this one! :P
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Creative Director
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What are your favorite kind of questions to answer?
Hopefully this one! :P
My favorites are questions about subjects I'm passionate about. There's lots of them; you can tell when you get one cause I write a lot. I prefer single questions to complex lists, though, since lists take a long time to answer, especially if each question in the list is super complex...
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Question about a certain cursed item.
Periapt of Foul Rotting
Aura moderate abjuration; CL 10th
Slot neck; Weight —
DESCRIPTION
This engraved gem appears to be of little value. If any character keeps the periapt in her possession for more than 24 hours, she contracts a terrible rotting affliction that *permanently drains* 1 point of Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma every week. The periapt (and the affliction) can be removed only by application of a remove curse spell followed by a cure disease and then a heal, miracle, limited wish, or wish spell. The rotting can also be countered by crushing a periapt of health and sprinkling its dust upon the afflicted character (a full-round action), whereupon the periapt of foul rotting likewise crumbles to dust.
Is this different than normal ability drain? Is there any way to cure it?
It's a curse. The drain lasts as long as the curse lasts, and cannot be cured, save for by the method described right there in the text you quote.
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I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's triggering my "are you being racist?" reflex, so I hope I'm at least wrong there...James,
Are black dwarves with red hair a thing in golarion?
I'm sorry, that was not my intention. What I meant to ask you is are there dwarves with black skin in Golarion, as I don't remember seeing any art of that, AND if they could have red hair and beards, or that would be too uncommon. I've seen some art of dwarves like that in other places and I always liked it.
Again, sorry if I was offensive.
When Areelu Vorlesh is in her Demoniac form, what does it look like? If it's the illustration by her stats, then when she isn't in this Demonic form, she looks like a normal human woman?
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Creative Director
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When Areelu Vorlesh is in her Demoniac form, what does it look like? If it's the illustration by her stats, then when she isn't in this Demonic form, she looks like a normal human woman?
Its' what she looks like in the illo; succubusy. In human form, she looks like that but no wings or horns or other succubus parts.
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I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's triggering my "are you being racist?" reflex, so I hope I'm at least wrong there...James,
Are black dwarves with red hair a thing in golarion?I'm sorry, that was not my intention. What I meant to ask you is are there dwarves with black skin in Golarion, as I don't remember seeing any art of that, AND if they could have red hair and beards, or that would be too uncommon. I've seen some art of dwarves like that in other places and I always liked it.
Again, sorry if I was offensive.
Whew, I didn't THINK you were trying to be offensive, but I couldn't think of why black dwarves with red hair was an issue at all.
There certainly could be dwarves with dark skin. We haven't illustrated any yet, alas. Red hair is certainly common, regardless of skin color.
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Does a person's religion trump their actions to a certain extent for determining where they go in the afterlife? For example, if a person did a lot of altruisticly good deeds , enough to classify them as Neutral Good, yet also devoutly worshiped Pharasma, would they end up in Nirvana or in the Boneyard as their final destination?
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Does a person's religion trump their actions to a certain extent for determining where they go in the afterlife? For example, if a person did a lot of altruisticly good deeds , enough to classify them as Neutral Good, yet also devoutly worshiped Pharasma, would they end up in Nirvana or in the Boneyard as their final destination?
It can, but it also varies. Typically, if you're devout, you'll end up in your deity's realm though. Not always. There is no room for hyperbole in the afterlife.
What are your most recent non-Paizo projects? Any chance that you'll show up on Patreon or something like it?