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Hello Mr. Jacobs,
I hope I find you well in this day.
Is Golarion considered remarkable because Pharasma herself has a widespread religion there (and not a proxy) or Pharasma´s Religion is onipresent and other Death Gods that are exceptions to the rule ?
Question further explanation (optional read): Above the other Inner Sea´s Gods, Pharasma holds a multiversal omnicultural undenialble station (she is the last to die), but there are still other gods of death in other worlds (and cultures) outside of Golarion (or even the Inner Sea Region), that (maybe) work for her. There is a "Earth" in Golarion´s multiverse with the same mythologies and Pharasma don´t have a great presence there.
As Creative Director, at any given time what is the average amount of projects that you are directly involved in (if there is such a thing as an average)?
Creative Director
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Hello Mr. Jacobs,
I hope I find you well in this day.
Is Golarion considered remarkable because Pharasma herself has a widespread religion there (and not a proxy) or Pharasma´s Religion is onipresent and other Death Gods that are exceptions to the rule ?
Question further explanation (optional read): Above the other Inner Sea´s Gods, Pharasma holds a multiversal omnicultural undenialble station (she is the last to die), but there are still other gods of death in other worlds (and cultures) outside of Golarion (or even the Inner Sea Region), that (maybe) work for her. There is a "Earth" in Golarion´s multiverse with the same mythologies and Pharasma don´t have a great presence there.
Pharasma's worship is very widespread throughout the Material Plane; she's worshiped on MANY worlds, and on the ones where she's not worshiped, the death gods who are worshiped are either her agents or her enemies anyway.
In the real world Earth, of course Pharasma doesn't have a "great presence" there because she's fictional. But in the Earth that is part of the Pathfinder setting, Earth is one of those worlds where her presence is behind the scenes, in that all of the fictional Earth's death deities are her agents or enemies.
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As Creative Director, at any given time what is the average amount of projects that you are directly involved in (if there is such a thing as an average)?
If by "directly involved in" you mean "In there developing text, writing text, hiring authors, etc.", then it varies. Among currently unpublished books, I'm involved to that extent with about a dozen projects of various lengths (probably more, but I might be forgetting some).
If by "directly involved in" you mean "deciding what books to publish, approving outlines, and approving final content choices," then it's all Pathfinder products.
I have thought that Amaznen was dead. Even Ruins of Azlant confirmed that after the Earthfall his clerics could not cast spells any longer. But according to Mythic Realms, Amaznen faded from being, taking the aboleth magic with him. According to The Flooded Cathedral, Amaznen siphoned the powerful alghollthu glyph magic from the interstellar debris, stepping over the edge of reality in the process and taking it all into himself before vanishing from existence. It seems that he just became unconscious or just faded from this reality, and not died. Am I correct? Will we ever see him reappear again?
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I have thought that Amaznen was dead. Even Ruins of Azlant confirmed that after the Earthfall his clerics could not cast spells any longer. But according to Mythic Realms, Amaznen faded from being, taking the aboleth magic with him. According to The Flooded Cathedral, Amaznen siphoned the powerful alghollthu glyph magic from the interstellar debris, stepping over the edge of reality in the process and taking it all into himself before vanishing from existence. It seems that he just became unconscious or just faded from this reality, and not died. Am I correct? Will we ever see him reappear again?
Amaznen is dead. Mythic Realms was alas somewhat rushed and some stuff slipped through that wasn't clear enough or wasn't quite accurate. In a case like this, where newer information (as in Ruins of Azlant) contraditcts old information (such as Mythic Realms) you can assume the new information is accurate, since that's how we correct errors that creep into print.
Amaznin is very dead though, and that has been the intent since I first invented him back during Serpent's Skull. He was the god of magic. He died. He got replaced.
He's not coming back.
Where would be the most likely place in Golarion to find a Charnal God of Aroden?
I would say in the starstone Temple a Secret room maybe or a long forgotten temple in the Precipice. Maybe it was buried in the earthquake that broke that region and dropped it into the sea.
How can the Earthfall kill two deities? They were not mere demigods. They were deities, who are so powerful that doesn't even have stats. First, Acavna was lethally wounded by the rain of otherworldly blades. Though the combined force of the interstellar debris and the ageless aboleth magic was very powerful, it was just a mortal force, and not enough to kill a deity. Second, Amaznen died after siphoning the dangerous magic from the debris. Why would dispelling the aboleth magic kill Amaznen in the process? I don't know which spell he cast, but casting Greater Dispel Magic or Disjunction would not hurt its caster, right?
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Hey James, got a monster advancement question for you.
If the girtablilu (or other creature) that have summon nature's ally or summon monster as spell-like abilities increased in monster HD, would their summoning spells also increase? For example, the girtablilu currently has 10HD and has summon nature's ally V for 1d3 giant scorpions. If it gained +1 or +2 HD, theoretically making it a CR 9, could it then instead have summon nature's ally VI (1d4+1 giant scorptions)?
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Where would be the most likely place in Golarion to find a Charnal God of Aroden?I would say in the starstone Temple a Secret room maybe or a long forgotten temple in the Precipice. Maybe it was buried in the earthquake that broke that region and dropped it into the sea.
Please keep posts to questions here.
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How can the Earthfall kill two deities? They were not mere demigods. They were deities, who are so powerful that doesn't even have stats. First, Acavna was lethally wounded by the rain of otherworldly blades. Though the combined force of the interstellar debris and the ageless aboleth magic was very powerful, it was just a mortal force, and not enough to kill a deity. Second, Amaznen died after siphoning the dangerous magic from the debris. Why would dispelling the aboleth magic kill Amaznen in the process? I don't know which spell he cast, but casting Greater Dispel Magic or Disjunction would not hurt its caster, right?
How deities get killed is goverened entirely by story, and when we decided it happens. For Earthfall, we decided that it happened. That's how.
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Hey James, got a monster advancement question for you.
If the girtablilu (or other creature) that have summon nature's ally or summon monster as spell-like abilities increased in monster HD, would their summoning spells also increase? For example, the girtablilu currently has 10HD and has summon nature's ally V for 1d3 giant scorpions. If it gained +1 or +2 HD, theoretically making it a CR 9, could it then instead have summon nature's ally VI (1d4+1 giant scorptions)?
When you advance a monster, you're rebuilding the monster. You should absolutely adjust its stats and abilities to match its new CR. The rules don't actually say you swap out spell-like abilities that scale to more powerful ones, but it makes sense to me.
Unlike the Worldwound, the Tanglebriar is not directly connected to the Abyss. Then how can Treerazer recruit new soldiers? How can his demonic minions come to Golarion?
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Hi James. A timeline question for you.
The Even-Tongued Conquest is well established across multiple sources as having started in 4081 AR. Aspex Even-Tongued then convinces Andoran to secede from Taldor, then uses the threat of force to take control of Isger and Galt. The timeline for Andoran, Galt, and Isger joining the Chelish cause however seems on unclear to me. The enumerated timeline in the ISWG places everything as happening in 4081, as does every timeline I can find in the campaign setting books. On the other hand, there are several references in the latter books saying that years passed between Cheliax taking control of each area. Is the intent that they all happened in 4081 or that they happened over the course of the conquest? Or is that intentionally left vague for the GM to decide?
Thanks as always.
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That reminds me - Riverford, a small town in Andoran, is supposed to have been the site of 10 major battles over the course of history. Yet Andoran has had few recorded wars on its soil. Can you give any hints as to the players in any of those battles? Are they as old as elven habitation, or did they happen during Taldor's expansion?
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Unlike the Worldwound, the Tanglebriar is not directly connected to the Abyss. Then how can Treerazer recruit new soldiers? How can his demonic minions come to Golarion?
Via magic. Either his own (I'm 100% sure he's got a few items or controls a few portals that allow for periodic demon conjuration), or via his worshipers, of which plenty have spells like plane shift or gate or planar binding or planar ally.
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Hi James. A timeline question for you.
The Even-Tongued Conquest is well established across multiple sources as having started in 4081 AR. Aspex Even-Tongued then convinces Andoran to secede from Taldor, then uses the threat of force to take control of Isger and Galt. The timeline for Andoran, Galt, and Isger joining the Chelish cause however seems on unclear to me. The enumerated timeline in the ISWG places everything as happening in 4081, as does every timeline I can find in the campaign setting books. On the other hand, there are several references in the latter books saying that years passed between Cheliax taking control of each area. Is the intent that they all happened in 4081 or that they happened over the course of the conquest? Or is that intentionally left vague for the GM to decide?
Thanks as always.
My preference is to keep it all in 4081.
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That reminds me - Riverford, a small town in Andoran, is supposed to have been the site of 10 major battles over the course of history. Yet Andoran has had few recorded wars on its soil. Can you give any hints as to the players in any of those battles? Are they as old as elven habitation, or did they happen during Taldor's expansion?
I cannot. I haven't put any creative direction thought into Riverford at all. Feel free to make up what works for your game.
On Deific alignment. Lissala seems to parallel the path of Thassilon, starting out as a goddess of rune magic and the seven virtues of rule. She must have been good, or at least Neutral, otherwise Certified Good Guy Xin wouldn't have imported her from Azlant.
In some fluff she supposedly gradually withdrew as the Runelords abandoned service to her and other gods in favor of pure arcane magic and perverted the seven virtues into the seven mortal sins, but in other materials she's a Lawful Evil goddess right in there with them and modern cults, doing Bad Shizz along with incidental rune magic.
So did she... change when the majority of her worshippers went evil? Did the runelords pervert or seduce her to the dark side? Was she always bad and Xin is just an epically bad judge of character(explaining how he didn't see the runelords coming either, I guess)?
The former is kind of horrifying, from a divine point of view. If a large enough ratio of your worshippers doing something forces changes in the god, then Naderi is doomed, which is sad. It also makes the Cult of the Dawnflower a threat to Sarenrae, at least from her current point of view. Retroactively she will have always been a goddess of assassins and warriors of empire.
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On Deific alignment. Lissala seems to parallel the path of Thassilon, starting out as a goddess of rune magic and the seven virtues of rule. She must have been good, or at least Neutral, otherwise Certified Good Guy Xin wouldn't have imported her from Azlant.
In some fluff she supposedly gradually withdrew as the Runelords abandoned service to her and other gods in favor of pure arcane magic and perverted the seven virtues into the seven mortal sins, but in other materials she's a Lawful Evil goddess right in there with them and modern cults, doing Bad Shizz along with incidental rune magic.
So did she... change when the majority of her worshippers went evil? Did the runelords pervert or seduce her to the dark side? Was she always bad and Xin is just an epically bad judge of character(explaining how he didn't see the runelords coming either, I guess)?
The former is kind of horrifying, from a divine point of view. If a large enough ratio of your worshippers doing something forces changes in the god, then Naderi is doomed, which is sad. It also makes the Cult of the Dawnflower a threat to Sarenrae, at least from her current point of view. Retroactively she will have always been a goddess of assassins and warriors of empire.
Lissala started as lawful neutral, but was always MUCH closer to evil than good. The tipping point of her to evil may have helped shape Thassilon's future, or Thassilon's transition from Xin to the runelords may have been the tipping point of Lissala to evil. It's kind of a chicken and the egg thing.
Xin himself was not a "certified good guy" either. He was lawful neutral. He had some very progressive and respectable ideas about equality of the races, but that doesn't mean he was a good guy... just that he wasn't evil.
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Dear Directorsaur, have you heard this?
I had not. Neat!
Xin himself was not a "certified good guy" either. He was lawful neutral. He had some very progressive and respectable ideas about equality of the races, but that doesn't mean he was a good guy... just that he wasn't evil.
that's interesting. I guess it's an artifact of trying to map complex multivariate ethics onto the alignment grid, but being progressive enough to found a new society largely in rejection of a deeply racist old one you grew up in not counting as "good" raises a lot of questions about morality to me.
Obviously Shelyn being a major god to the Azlanti, her worshippers must have mostly been pretty racist, in line with Azlant culture, but presumably they weren't evil, per one-step alignment rules for clerics.
If Treerazer can move his minions via portals or worshipers, then Deskari can do the same. So why did the demons need the Worldwound to invade Golarion in the first place? Even without the Worldwound, demons can freely come to Golarion via portals or powerful magic. Some of the powerful demon lords can cast Gate to move their minions to the Material Plane, I presume. Does that mean, even if the PCs close the Worldwound, the demons would still ceaselessly increase in number, because they can be replenished via other means?
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If Treerazer can move his minions via portals or worshipers, then Deskari can do the same. So why did the demons need the Worldwound to invade Golarion in the first place? Even without the Worldwound, demons can freely come to Golarion via portals or powerful magic. Some of the powerful demon lords can cast Gate to move their minions to the Material Plane, I presume. Does that mean, even if the PCs close the Worldwound, the demons would still ceaselessly increase in number, because they can be replenished via other means?
That's a lot of assumptions there. The situation in the Worldwound and the situation in Tanglebriar are not identical; there are differences. What works for Deskari doesn't work for Treerazer, and vice versa. The PRIMARY thing is a matter of scale, though. The Worldwound is MUCH MUCH MUCH bigger than Tanglebriar. Since Tanglebriar has less competition from other demons and less interference from enemies, and since it's so much smaller that new additions are more concentrated and more significant, percentage wise, adjustments to forces in Tanglebriar have a bigger effect.
For example, the difference between how full a bucket is when you pour a cup of water into it is VERY different than how full a swimming pool is when you pour a cup of water into it.
We've explored and described why the Worldwound was invaded EXHAUSTIVELY in "The Worldwound" and "Wrath of the Righteous." That's what you shouuld read to find out more about why that happened.
If the PCs close the Worldwound, it remains a wasteland haunted by demons. As an analogy, if you have a vast forest that's on fire and is haunted by fire cultists and arsonits... the forest remains burnt down and ashen even after the fire goes out, and those cultists and arsonists are still in there and could re-ignite tiny patches here and there. The difference is that now the forest fire won't keep spreading uncontrollably, and taking out those arsonists now isn't a hopeless task.
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Xin himself was not a "certified good guy" either. He was lawful neutral. He had some very progressive and respectable ideas about equality of the races, but that doesn't mean he was a good guy... just that he wasn't evil.that's interesting. I guess it's an artifact of trying to map complex multivariate ethics onto the alignment grid, but being progressive enough to found a new society largely in rejection of a deeply racist old one you grew up in not counting as "good" raises a lot of questions about morality to me.
Obviously Shelyn being a major god to the Azlanti, her worshippers must have mostly been pretty racist, in line with Azlant culture, but presumably they weren't evil, per one-step alignment rules for clerics.
If Xin had been well and truly good, he would not have had the attitude of "My people can benefit from being more diverse," and maybe more "All of us can benefit from being more diverse." But yes, it's a subtle element, and as with most matters alignment-related, subject to personal opinion. And keep in mind that while Azlantis were generally pretty proud of their humanity, they weren't violently racist against all others. They were just on the far side of Xin on the matter. Xin may have been lawful neutral (good tendencies) but the prevailing attitude of Azlant was probably more lawful neutral (evil tendencies), to use terminology from 1st edition D&D. We don't really use that terminology though, so they're both lawful neutral. I think that the game IMMENSELY benefits from having the 9 alignments to summarize basics, but beyond that is a waste of effort. The alignments are there to give folks a starting point. If you want to know the details of an NPC's or religion's or region's personality and ethics and morals and all that, you need to read the details.
Shelyn's worshippers were not racist at all. Not everyone in a nation has to exactly match that nation's alignment. That's not true of ANY nation in the Inner Sea Region, nor was it true of Azlant.
At first I thought that, even if the final bosses of adventure paths prevail, the world will be safe because the army of those big countries like Taldor or Cheliax will surely deal with the threats. Even the mighty Whispering Tyrant was utterly defeated by the human wave attacks of Taldor. But it seems that to the demons of the Worldwound, the human army is useless. Demons have a huge amount of damage reduction, so most attacks from low level soldiers would not be able to hurt them a bit. Demons can Greater Teleport at will, so they can attack vital strategic points and block the supply route freely. Thus, can I assume that, a large human force cannot stand a chance of stopping demons?
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At first I thought that, even if the final bosses of adventure paths prevail, the world will be safe because the army of those big countries like Taldor or Cheliax will surely deal with the threats. Even the mighty Whispering Tyrant was utterly defeated by the human wave attacks of Taldor. But it seems that to the demons of the Worldwound, the human army is useless. Demons have a huge amount of damage reduction, so most attacks from low level soldiers would not be able to hurt them a bit. Demons can Greater Teleport at will, so they can attack vital strategic points and block the supply route freely. Thus, can I assume that, a large human force cannot stand a chance of stopping demons?
The point of ANY Adventure Path is that the people to save the day should be the PCs, not some group of NPCs or an army or whatever. Otherwise... why bother making it an adventure path at all in the first place?
For the Worldwound in particular, again, you should read the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path and the Worldwound book.
But keep in mind that the actual goal of the demons and Deskari and the other demon lords allied with him is NOT "Kill all humans" or "Win a war." They want to foster and encourage sin while simultaneously destroying mortal works and mortal lives. If they kill everything... there's nothing left to kill and no one left to sin. Instead, Deskari and his allies have built up a situation that causes the defenders to mount a series of crusades that increasingly fall to corruption and the like, so that by the time the Adventure Path begins, there's lots of internal corruption and in-fighting; the idea of so many folks coming to join the crusade not because they're righteous and good, but because they see it as a way to make money or get "permission" to be violent or the like. The low templar prestige class from the Inner Sea World Guide plays specifically into this theme.
For the demons, a perpetual war where neither side wins but the good guys increasingly fall to temptation or break their codes of ethics or continue to be infested with the "low road" is as important as the opportunity to slaughter and wreck and ruin.
A large human force is thus NOT well equipped to stand up against demons, and it's in large part because the demons DON'T want to completely "win" the battle but instead want it dragged out for as long as possible that the crusades have gone on as long as they have.
And that gives us a reason to have the actual situation finally resolved for the good guys when the PLAYER CHARACTERS arrive on the scene.
Remember, Pathfinder is a game, first and foremost, that needs to set up exciting and adventurous stories for you, the players, to experience. It's not intended to be a closed ecosystem where things play out on their own without any player interaction.
According to Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, during his imprisonment by Asmodeus, Baphomet became almost emaciated in his build, yet grew much wiser. Does that mean, before his imprisonment, he was much more powerful than now? Like, his CR was higher than 27 then?
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According to Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, during his imprisonment by Asmodeus, Baphomet became almost emaciated in his build, yet grew much wiser. Does that mean, before his imprisonment, he was much more powerful than now? Like, his CR was higher than 27 then?
Nope. In fact, until Baphomet escaped and brought the labyrinth with him and established his domain in the Abyss, he was less powerful—merely a nascent demon lord in Lamashtu's service.
Do people make a big deal of Groundhog Day in Seattle.
What is your favorite holiday, if any.
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I'm not certain to what extent, if at all, this is your department, but any idea how soon and of what sort we might see more Racial Archetypes for Vishkanya? So far, all they've got are a couple Archetypes for classes of the "guile" sort (the Rogue/Bard family) - I'd really love to see Vishkanya Archetypes of "warrior" or "psychic" classes, like Bloodrager, Swashbuckler, Samurai, Medium, or a "psychic warrior" twist on the Mesmerist (a concept that would fit well with their Indian roots).
Similarly (but not specifically Vishkanya-related), what would also be great would be something like a Ninja or Alchemist Archetype, or even a Ninja/Alchemist hybrid class, in homage to the DARK SUN Bard (yes, I know you can't say "DARK SUN", or perhaps even risk implying it too strongly, but it's not like a secretive, unsavory Bard with poison instead of magic is any more exclusive to that setting than the Sha'ir is to AL-QADIM).
Since you've shared titles among classes and Archetypes many times before, a Sha'ir Archetype/alternate class for Arcanists could be really good too - even good enough to make me willing to play an Arcanist! ^^
Forgive me if I'm starting to make you feel like Santa Claus.
Hi, James.
I just read a review of a film called Hereditary, which premiered at Sundance, and I thought it might be in your wheelhouse.
That made me think: Which upcoming movies are you most excited for?
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Creative Director
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I'm not certain to what extent, if at all, this is your department, but any idea how soon and of what sort we might see more Racial Archetypes for Vishkanya? So far, all they've got are a couple Archetypes for classes of the "guile" sort (the Rogue/Bard family) - I'd really love to see Vishkanya Archetypes of "warrior" or "psychic" classes, like Bloodrager, Swashbuckler, Samurai, Medium, or a "psychic warrior" twist on the Mesmerist (a concept that would fit well with their Indian roots).
Similarly (but not specifically Vishkanya-related), what would also be great would be something like a Ninja or Alchemist Archetype, or even a Ninja/Alchemist hybrid class, in homage to the DARK SUN Bard (yes, I know you can't say "DARK SUN", or perhaps even risk implying it too strongly, but it's not like a secretive, unsavory Bard with poison instead of magic is any more exclusive to that setting than the Sha'ir is to AL-QADIM).
Since you've shared titles among classes and Archetypes many times before, a Sha'ir Archetype/alternate class for Arcanists could be really good too - even good enough to make me willing to play an Arcanist! ^^
Forgive me if I'm starting to make you feel like Santa Claus.
The most likely place that vishkanya stuff will pop in is in a Player Companion, but I can pretty much guarantee we will NEVER do a Player Companion that's only about vishkanyas. Your best bet is to ask on the player companion threads now and then if anything popped into print. But that said, as far as I know, nothing in our current announced upcoming products are particularly vishkanya flavored.
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Hello,
Of what has been released so far, what are the three tallest buildings/structures in Golarion? How tall are they?
This post breaks my 28 month hiatus from the boards.
I suspect the Spire of Nex is the tallest; I think we've said it's a mile high, which seems outlandish and excessive and I will likely try to ret-con that back to something less out of control if I can (A mile high building is INSANELY tall, and should be a campaign setting defining iconic location, to the extent that it should probably be featured on the cover of a setting book or at least illustrated often—we've done neither for the Spire of Nex, which underwhelms and undersells the fact that it's more than twice as tall as the tallest building in the history of Earth, and so I'd rather retcon it down to a couple thousand feet high if I can if and when we do something more with it.)
After that, I have no idea, but I suspect/hope the next one down from the mile-high Spire of Nex is more than a third as high. And until an adventure needs such a 2nd or 3rd tallest building in print and it needs to be the 2nd or 3rd tallest as part of the adventure's plot point, I very much doubt we'll nail that down in print at all anyway.
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Hi, James.
I just read a review of a film called Hereditary, which premiered at Sundance, and I thought it might be in your wheelhouse.
That made me think: Which upcoming movies are you most excited for?
It is indeed in my wheelhouse and is one of several movies I'm looking forward to seeing.
At this point, the first five upcoming movies I'm the most excited to see are:
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
The next Cloverfield Movie (originally called God Particle)
The upcoming Halloween remake
Annihilation
It: Chapter Two
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Thanks for the response. The next tallest I could find were the unnamed towers of the city of Shraen in the vault of the Black Desert in Orv.Hello,
Of what has been released so far, what are the three tallest buildings/structures in Golarion? How tall are they?
This post breaks my 28 month hiatus from the boards.
I suspect the Spire of Nex is the tallest...
After that, I have no idea, but I suspect/hope the next one down from the mile-high Spire of Nex is more than a third as high. And until an adventure needs such a 2nd or 3rd tallest building in print and it needs to be the 2nd or 3rd tallest as part of the adventure's plot point, I very much doubt we'll nail that down in print at all anyway.
"... the tallest spires of which rose up to and connected with the vault ceiling some 3,000 feet above."
Thanks again for your time.
At first I thought that, even if the final bosses of adventure paths prevail, the world will be safe because the army of those big countries like Taldor or Cheliax will surely deal with the threats. Even the mighty Whispering Tyrant was utterly defeated by the human wave attacks of Taldor. But it seems that to the demons of the Worldwound, the human army is useless. Demons have a huge amount of damage reduction, so most attacks from low level soldiers would not be able to hurt them a bit. Demons can Greater Teleport at will, so they can attack vital strategic points and block the supply route freely. Thus, can I assume that, a large human force cannot stand a chance of stopping demons?The point of ANY Adventure Path is that the people to save the day should be the PCs, not some group of NPCs or an army or whatever. Otherwise... why bother making it an adventure path at all in the first place?
For the Worldwound in particular, again, you should read the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path and the Worldwound book.
But keep in mind that the actual goal of the demons and Deskari and the other demon lords allied with him is NOT "Kill all humans" or "Win a war." They want to foster and encourage sin while simultaneously destroying mortal works and mortal lives. If they kill everything... there's nothing left to kill and no one left to sin. Instead, Deskari and his allies have built up a situation that causes the defenders to mount a series of crusades that increasingly fall to corruption and the like, so that by the time the Adventure Path begins, there's lots of internal corruption and in-fighting; the idea of so many folks coming to join the crusade not because they're righteous and good, but because they see it as a way to make money or get "permission" to be violent or the like. The low templar prestige class from the Inner Sea World Guide plays specifically into this theme.
For the demons, a perpetual war where neither side wins but the good guys increasingly fall to temptation or break their codes of ethics or continue to be infested with the "low road" is as important as the opportunity to slaughter and wreck and ruin.
A large human force is thus NOT well equipped to stand up against demons, and it's in large part because the demons DON'T want to completely "win" the battle but instead want it dragged out for as long as possible that the crusades have gone on as long as they have.
And that gives us a reason to have the actual situation finally resolved for the good guys when the PLAYER CHARACTERS arrive on the scene.
Remember, Pathfinder is a game, first and foremost, that needs to set up exciting and adventurous stories for you, the players, to experience. It's not intended to be a closed ecosystem where things play out on their own without any player interaction.
I'm not sure. Page 67 of City of Locusts said that if the heroes fail to close the Worldwound, demons start conquering the whole of Golarion, sacrificing and torturing any captured mortals in the process. So I thought demons are very eager to completely win the war as soon as possible and annihilate all humans. Am I missing something?
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I have thought that Amaznen was dead. Even Ruins of Azlant confirmed that after the Earthfall his clerics could not cast spells any longer. But according to Mythic Realms, Amaznen faded from being, taking the aboleth magic with him. According to The Flooded Cathedral, Amaznen siphoned the powerful alghollthu glyph magic from the interstellar debris, stepping over the edge of reality in the process and taking it all into himself before vanishing from existence. It seems that he just became unconscious or just faded from this reality, and not died. Am I correct? Will we ever see him reappear again?Amaznen is dead. Mythic Realms was alas somewhat rushed and some stuff slipped through that wasn't clear enough or wasn't quite accurate. In a case like this, where newer information (as in Ruins of Azlant) contraditcts old information (such as Mythic Realms) you can assume the new information is accurate, since that's how we correct errors that creep into print.
Amaznin is very dead though, and that has been the intent since I first invented him back during Serpent's Skull. He was the god of magic. He died. He got replaced.
He's not coming back.
1) Just want to know, when a god die, do they die from every world/plane/place they are worshipped on? Or only in relation to a specific world? (Like Golarion?)
2) The Azlanti Star Empire still exist, do they worship different gods now?
3) Will we see these gods and more information on the Star Empire in the future?
4) Is the Azlanti Star Empire kinda like space Nazis? Does this means the empire is like lawful evil in alignment as a whole?
5) Have the humans of the Azlanti Star Empire like normal humans or are they more like Azlantis? (aka, +2 to all ability scores)
Asking this, as I find a line that mention "To this date, humans of the Azlanti Star Empire consider those pure-blooded ancestors to be the universe's superior race."
Which seems to suggest they are different or weaker then their ancestors
6) Do the other less common races like Catfolk or Tengus exist in the Starfinder setting?
Sorry for the many Starfinder questions.
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Creative Director
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I'm not sure. Page 67 of City of Locusts said that if the heroes fail to close the Worldwound, demons start conquering the whole of Golarion, sacrificing and torturing any captured mortals in the process. So I thought demons are very eager to completely win the war as soon as possible and annihilate all humans. Am I missing something?
That's a consequence of the PCs getting VERY CLOSE to closing the Worldwound but failing, not an end game goal of Deskari. It's the price the world pays for heroes failing. In this scenario, where the PCs attempt to stop one thing and fail, they end up making things worse than if they hadn't tried at all in the first place.
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Creative Director
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I have thought that Amaznen was dead. Even Ruins of Azlant confirmed that after the Earthfall his clerics could not cast spells any longer. But according to Mythic Realms, Amaznen faded from being, taking the aboleth magic with him. According to The Flooded Cathedral, Amaznen siphoned the powerful alghollthu glyph magic from the interstellar debris, stepping over the edge of reality in the process and taking it all into himself before vanishing from existence. It seems that he just became unconscious or just faded from this reality, and not died. Am I correct? Will we ever see him reappear again?Amaznen is dead. Mythic Realms was alas somewhat rushed and some stuff slipped through that wasn't clear enough or wasn't quite accurate. In a case like this, where newer information (as in Ruins of Azlant) contraditcts old information (such as Mythic Realms) you can assume the new information is accurate, since that's how we correct errors that creep into print.
Amaznin is very dead though, and that has been the intent since I first invented him back during Serpent's Skull. He was the god of magic. He died. He got replaced.
He's not coming back.
1) Just want to know, when a god die, do they die from every world/plane/place they are worshipped on? Or only in relation to a specific world? (Like Golarion?)
2) The Azlanti Star Empire still exist, do they worship different gods now?
3) Will we see these gods and more information on the Star Empire in the future?
4) Is the Azlanti Star Empire kinda like space Nazis? Does this means the empire is like lawful evil in alignment as a whole?
5) Have the humans of the Azlanti Star Empire like normal humans or are they more like Azlantis? (aka, +2 to all ability scores)
Asking this, as I find a line that mention "To this date, humans of the Azlanti Star Empire consider those pure-blooded ancestors to be the universe's superior race."
Which seems to suggest they are different or weaker then...
1) Ask one question per post. For time management reasons, I no longer answer lists. I'll answer your question #1 here but the others should be asked separately, but see "STARFINDER QUESTIONS" below...
What happens when a god dies varies from god to god. Sometimes their bodies become new realms or planes. Sometimes they're reborn as mortals. Sometimes their bodies drop to the ground and rot. Sometimes they become fossilized in the walls of a vast chasm. Sometimes they vanish without a trace. Sometimes even vanishing without a trace is more information and they just cease to be and no one ever remembers them. It varies from deity to deity, as the needs of the story we or you want to tell dictate.
STARFINDER QUESTIONS I can't answer the Starfinder questions, because I'm not part of the Starfinder team and haven't had any input really into the setting and haven't worked on it at all.
Hi James,
1) Can a Samsaran reincarnate in a body that is very physically different from his previous incarnation (such as belonging to a different sex) or do they tend to cling to some sort of self-identity? Is it possible for them to keep ties to a magical lineages like sorcerer bloodlines?
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
1) Can a Samsaran reincarnate in a body that is very physically different from his previous incarnation (such as belonging to a different sex) or do they tend to cling to some sort of self-identity? Is it possible for them to keep ties to a magical lineages like sorcerer bloodlines?
ANYone can reincarnate into a totally different body, and that includes samsarans, but doing so is pretty rare and unusual and is mostly limited to atheists or agnostics or people who simply didn't have much interest in their life in faith AND lived in a society where belief in reincarnation is more widespread. It's more common in Tian-Xia, for example, than Avistan. When this happens, they don't retain memories of past lives or the like.
For samsarans, the vast majority reincarnate as samsarans. That's the way it works normally. When they reincarnate "out" of the samsaran cycle, it's unusual in the same way for anyone else to reincarnate rather than go on to another plane as a petitioner.
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Is this answer related to the recent website maintenance?
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James,
I believe that the website maintenance may have robbed me from your answer. Would you mind re-posting it, please?
Thanks in advance
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
1) Can a Samsaran reincarnate in a body that is very physically different from his previous incarnation (such as belonging to a different sex) or do they tend to cling to some sort of self-identity? Is it possible for them to keep ties to a magical lineages like sorcerer bloodlines?
Wow... that was a strange freakout.
So.
Normally a samsaran reincarnates as a samsaran. That's "normal" for them, where as for, say, a human, "normal" is the soul traveling the River of Souls to the Boneyard for judgment.
Now and then, a human (or whatever) soul can sometimes be judged in a way that reincarnates it as a very physically different body, in which case the reincarnated soul does not retain memories at all of the past life.
In order for this to happen to a samsaran, its soul needs to NOT follow the norm and move on to the River of Souls and then get judged and NOT be sent on to become a petitioner but instead to be reincarnated as something else entirely. In which case that new life lives and dies and then its soul goes and gets judged normally.
So, long story short, it's possible for a samsaran to reincarnate as a different race, but it's very rare and has nothing really to do with the typical samsaran reincarnation thing.