Previously, Achaekek's realm was in Hell's Avernus layer, sharing with a disgruntled Barbatos (according to The Great Beyond), but Inner Sea Faiths (and now Planar Adventures) changed that to now being in the Boneyard Spire, and either only tangentially mentioned or entirely ignored his realm in Hell. So does he still have a realm in Hell, and what are the reasons for this change/shift?
How would you rate American Horror Story Cult in the seasons of American Horror Story.
By the way, I guess it goes up on Netflix the 15th or thereabouts.
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So, having gotten a gander at the Return of the Runelords player's guide...
How did you know that I was champing at the bit for some loopy chaotic good Yog-Sothoth worshipper action?
I didn't. But since Yog-Sothoth's been around for coming up on 100 years now, I'm not surprised that I'm not the only one who's a fan of him.
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Previously, Achaekek's realm was in Hell's Avernus layer, sharing with a disgruntled Barbatos (according to The Great Beyond), but Inner Sea Faiths (and now Planar Adventures) changed that to now being in the Boneyard Spire, and either only tangentially mentioned or entirely ignored his realm in Hell. So does he still have a realm in Hell, and what are the reasons for this change/shift?
The Great Beyond was for a prior edition of the game. We kept a LOT of that content when we rolled over to Pathfinder, but we changed some stuff here and there to match our setting more. Achaekek never had a realm in Hell, in other words, as far as current Pathfinder products are concerned. He's spent time stomping around in Hell for sure, but his domain is as detailed in the Pathfinder books, not older 3.5 OGL books.
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How would you rate American Horror Story Cult in the seasons of American Horror Story.
By the way, I guess it goes up on Netflix the 15th or thereabouts.
I've only seen part of Hotel and haven't watched Cult at all, but I'm eager for Apocalypse. Of the ones I've seen the whole season... I'd rate them as follows, starting with the best.
Asylum
Roanoke
Coven
Murder House
Freak Show
Hotel
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Dear James Jacobs,
I understand this isn't exactly your department, but would you say Paizo is what constitutes what is called a "medium business" (as opposed to a "small business" like politicians love so much to kiss on the cheek, a "big business", or even what may now need to be classified as "cyclopean business")?
Any companies you would consider "peers" to Paizo in terms of girth?
Dessert: Where would the Aspis Consortium fall on this scale, and to what real-world corporations would you be inclined to compare it?
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Dear James Jacobs,
I understand this isn't exactly your department, but would you say Paizo is what constitutes what is called a "medium business" (as opposed to a "small business" like politicians love so much to kiss on the cheek, a "big business", or even what may now need to be classified as "cyclopean business")?
Any companies you would consider "peers" to Paizo in terms of girth?
Dessert: Where would the Aspis Consortium fall on this scale, and to what real-world corporations would you be inclined to compare it?
I'd certainly call Paizo a medium business. We've not been a small business (my understanding is that to be a small business, you can't have more than 50 employees for certain legal stuffs) for many years.
Wizards of the Coast is a much larger company than us overall, but our RPG department is quite a bit larger than theirs, I believe. I consider Paizo to be peers to ALL other RPG companies though, personally. It's a small enough industry overall, after all.
Aspis Consortium would be big business, minimum.
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Where would you rate Jade Regent and Ruins of Azlant on the latter scale?How interested are you in setting an entire AP in Casmaron, Tian Xia or Arcadia, with nothing to do with the Inner Sea region whatsoever?On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being no thanks and 10 being yes please, I'd give this idea an 8.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being super easy and 10 being back-breakingly hard, I'd give this idea an 11.
I didn't actually develop either, so I can't say for sure, but I did develop the Dragon Empires book in preparation for Jade Regent and that was one of the most difficult things I've had to do for Paizo.
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What kind of research and brainstorming goes into reinvention of historical weapons and armor like 1-handed longswords, 2-handed falchions, tridents, leather and hide armor etc.?
I particularly am interested in the ratio of historical sources, like medieval treatises, vs mythical or fictional sources, like the Iliad or Lord of the Rings.
That's something that you'd need to ask the design team for; they're the ones who create the rules for weapons.
When I create weapons, they're generally fantasy/made-up ones inspired by history and fiction and art alike—things like the starknife, the sawtooth sabre, the dogslicer, the earthbreaker, the bladed scarf, and the rhoka sword aren't from the real world at all, so that gives me a lot more room to be creative in designing them. I generally base them on a similar weapon that's already created and go from there.
One thing I can say for sure is that this is first and foremost a GAME, not a historical study or an attempt to calculate real-world dynamics and physics of weapons into codified statistics that accurately represent how the weapons work. That way lies the route to overwhelmingly complex and thus boring/unworkable rules for what should be a fast-paced and enjoyable simulation.
Ever read any Larry Correia? I read some of his novels and those were good, but I just got his new anthology Target Rich Environment and he's really good at short stories. There's a Cthulhu Mythos and a kaiju story in there, among others, that I think you'd like.
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Ever read any Larry Correia? I read some of his novels and those were good, but I just got his new anthology Target Rich Environment and he's really good at short stories. There's a Cthulhu Mythos and a kaiju story in there, among others, that I think you'd like.
I have not, nor am I interested in his work.
Hello James, I was reading some of your posts and the name "Divine Adventures" came up as a theoretical. I was mostly hoping to bring the idea back into the conversation but I was also curious to what point do you draw the line in defining what the gods can do as well as their personal stories and beliefs, and at what point they should remain mysterious.
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Hello James, I was reading some of your posts and the name "Divine Adventures" came up as a theoretical. I was mostly hoping to bring the idea back into the conversation but I was also curious to what point do you draw the line in defining what the gods can do as well as their personal stories and beliefs, and at what point they should remain mysterious.
Today, I draw the line at "The gods don't need rules. What they can and can't do is best governed by imagination."
A game in which players play gods could be VERY fun, but I would rather see such an RPG be its own game, not a Pathfinder expansion. It could still use the Pathfinder rules, of course, in the same way Starfinder is not an "expansion" to Pathfinder.
Ever read any Larry Correia? I read some of his novels and those were good, but I just got his new anthology Target Rich Environment and he's really good at short stories. There's a Cthulhu Mythos and a kaiju story in there, among others, that I think you'd like.I have not, nor am I interested in his work.
Well, that certainly puts me in my place. Correia too I suppose. :-(
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And again folks... please keep your posts here to questions for me. If my answers aren't to your liking, and you want to know more, feel free to ask me to expand on an answer that you might feel didn't clear things up. But please avoid commentary; that's not the point of this thread and it only clutters things up when I invariably have to repost something like this reply.
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Dear Mister Jacobs,
If I'm an enterprising young Starfleet officer, and suddenly found myself on the planet Aucturn, would I be well advised to find a paladin or hope my phaser is enough to handle what the planet can throw at me?
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Dear Mister Jacobs,
If I'm an enterprising young Starfleet officer, and suddenly found myself on the planet Aucturn, would I be well advised to find a paladin or hope my phaser is enough to handle what the planet can throw at me?
I'd go with the phaser.
Hi James! We started Strange Aeons tonight and since this is a rare treat for me to play as opposed to GMing most of the time, I took the opportunity to test drive a new character race plucked from one of your most recent work, "Planar Adventures."
My character is a duskwalker and I am thoroughly fascinated by this new race addition. Could you please provide any insight about the race, advice, comments, anecdotes or any other stories you have about it? Thank you!
He was a farmer, family man and a generalist who could take care of shoeing horses, deliver calves, harvest crop and if time allowed, go fishing.
His low-born status meant he was nearly illiterate though, and throughout his life, was ever curious of books, libraries, universities, schools, etc.
He never got the opportunity to explore this desire to learn due to farm and family responsibilities.
When he died, he rose steadily in the ranks of Pharasma's servants. He became a psycopomp noisoi, roaming the eternal libraries for ages, and in the end became a yamaraj, serving as one of the judges of the dead and lords of the Boneyard.
For his eons of service to the Boneyard he was offered a rare chance as a second life.
He took it, eager to learn more and pethaps also CREATE new knowledge and uncover new mysteries.
When he incarnated on the mortal plane in his new duskwalker body, something went wrong.
While he was not expecting to retain memories, he realized that he did in fact retain most of his eons of knowledge... and immediately found himself deprived of his newly created vessel...
His body and mind were overtaken by a distant, remote, unknown being.
Everything went blank for what seems an eternity. Only flashes of some alien distant world remain. He doesn't even know his name: when he came back in his body... he was a blank slate.
He is an 8-year old duskwalker boy with no memories. The only thing he found was three weird letters sewn inside his sleeve: Aku.
Concept: neutral shaman (visionary) with lore spirit; whippoorwill familiar (thrush stats ) but doesn't know of it yet (whipporwill appointed to him by the Boneyard but since his mind was overtaken for centuries, the familiar drifted off and reverted to a more survivalist, animal status... but somehow became an immortal bird).
The familiar has the sage archetype and has accumulated knowledge for centuries in the mortal world since Aku's incarnation. Now that Aku awakens in his own body again- the alien presence has departed after a horrible bad dream about a man in tatters and some yellow fog- Mak-Ta (the familiar) receives a mental ping as his empathic link is restored. The familiar quickly finds Aku's location, his internal compass pointing true for the first time in centuries...
From this moment on, Aku grows at an exponential rate, his body going from the physical appearance of an 8-year old to a full-grown adult in the span of one week. Each night the boy, teenager, and finally young man grows through severe nightmares and seizures, his body catching up for months, years, decades (centuries?) of being cut-off from his soul.
Feedback: after the first game I must say I had a blast, and it is fun to see the interaction of an epic-wisdom boy who still has the emotional volatility and vulnerability of a 3rd-grader mind you, punctuated with momentary flashes of a nigh immortal being's life, where he goes dead calm and offers philosophical advice... :)
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they're generally fantasy/made-up ones inspired by history and fiction and art alikeI guess my question was a bit broad but I was more interested in the specifics of sources you would use. Seeing the kinds of weapons you were involved in, I can probably delve a bit more specific.
Can you name any sources you used when designing the Starknife?
Part of it was inspired by the glaive from Krull. Part was inspired by real-world boomerangs. Part was inspired by oversized shuriken. And part was inspired by me wanting to give the goddess of outer space a weapon that made sense, so something shaped like a star.
What shifter aspects would you recommend for Return of the Runelords.
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Would you support a sidebar appearing somewhere towards the front of the next Core Rulebook clarifying that these mechanics do not depict realistic combat, nor do the mundane arms and armor align with Earth's history?
I'm not sure that's really necessary in a game that has dragons and elves and fireballs and zombies...
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Hi James! We started Strange Aeons tonight and since this is a rare treat for me to play as opposed to GMing most of the time, I took the opportunity to test drive a new character race plucked from one of your most recent work, "Planar Adventures."
My character is a duskwalker and I am thoroughly fascinated by this new race addition. Could you please provide any insight about the race, advice, comments, anecdotes or any other stories you have about it? Thank you!
** spoiler omitted **...
I don't have much more insight about them yet... what's in print is pretty much the sum total of my development work on them so far. They're brand new, and other than "I want us to have a neutral planar scion" that's about it.
With Nocticula's redemption and rise the Godhood impending, will she be listed as a Core deity in Second Edition?
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With Nocticula's redemption and rise the Godhood impending, will she be listed as a Core deity in Second Edition?
Nope; the core 20 are staying the same. Nocticula will be in the same category as deities like Groetus, Milani, Achaekek, Besmara, and the like, though.
With Nocticula's redemption and rise the Godhood impending, will she be listed as a Core deity in Second Edition?Nope; the core 20 are staying the same. Nocticula will be in the same category as deities like Groetus, Milani, Achaekek, Besmara, and the like, though.
Are there any specific areas on Golarion where "heretical" worship of Nocticula is especially prevalent, or is it a sporadic group of individual "heretics" who worship her Chaotic Neutral portfolio?
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Are there any specific areas on Golarion where "heretical" worship of Nocticula is especially prevalent, or is it a sporadic group of individual "heretics" who worship her Chaotic Neutral portfolio?With Nocticula's redemption and rise the Godhood impending, will she be listed as a Core deity in Second Edition?Nope; the core 20 are staying the same. Nocticula will be in the same category as deities like Groetus, Milani, Achaekek, Besmara, and the like, though.
There certainly will be soon.
Coffee: light or dark roast?
In your opinion, which skill should be used for "making puppy-eyes"?
I can appreciate not wanting to put any rules to the deities, but what about additional information on them? I'm thinking along the lines of folk tales that we've never heard before, thought patterns and goals of various deities, and perhaps what ongoing business they have in the great beyond and on golarion that are unknown to most mortals. I just think it would be great to have this additional insight and it would be able to play with as well.
If you don't like the idea of this, could you explain why not?
Thank you James
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In your opinion, which skill should be used for "making puppy-eyes"?
If I miss a question, please just re-post the question rather than linking it. Links make it incrementally more difficult for me to zoom through the answers by adding one unnecessary step to the process. Especially since your link only links to a thread and not to a specific question as far as I can tell on this side.
If by "making puppy-eyes" you mean "trying to look pitiful and harmless so someone doesn't do something to you" then I guess Bluff.
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I can appreciate not wanting to put any rules to the deities, but what about additional information on them? I'm thinking along the lines of folk tales that we've never heard before, thought patterns and goals of various deities, and perhaps what ongoing business they have in the great beyond and on golarion that are unknown to most mortals. I just think it would be great to have this additional insight and it would be able to play with as well.
If you don't like the idea of this, could you explain why not?
Thank you James
We just did a fair amount of additional information in Planar Adventures for them. Plus there's lots already in Inner Sea Gods.
I do think that it'd be good to produce more of this mythology and in-world tales, but such a book would be, by its nature, rules-light, and that makes for a hard sale to management, since the perception is that rules-light books sell worse than crunchy ones.
I would LOVE to do a book like this, though, but can't. Instead, I'll sneak in flavor here and there, like I did with Planar Adventures, and periodically in adventure paths and modules as we get the chance to explore various deities.
In your opinion, which skill should be used for "making puppy-eyes"?
If I miss a question, please just re-post the question rather than linking it. Links make it incrementally more difficult for me to zoom through the answers by adding one unnecessary step to the process. Especially since your link only links to a thread and not to a specific question as far as I can tell on this side.
If by "making puppy-eyes" you mean "trying to look pitiful and harmless so someone doesn't do something to you" then I guess Bluff.
In the Return of the Runelords player guide pdf thread, link is to the specific post.
Well, that's one, but I was more thinking, trying to look cute/adorable because you want someone to give you something and/or change their mind about something.
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In your opinion, which skill should be used for "making puppy-eyes"?
If I miss a question, please just re-post the question rather than linking it. Links make it incrementally more difficult for me to zoom through the answers by adding one unnecessary step to the process. Especially since your link only links to a thread and not to a specific question as far as I can tell on this side.
If by "making puppy-eyes" you mean "trying to look pitiful and harmless so someone doesn't do something to you" then I guess Bluff.
In the Return of the Runelords player guide pdf thread, link is to the specific post.
Well, that's one, but I was more thinking, trying to look cute/adorable because you want someone to give you something and/or change their mind about something.
And the link doesn't lead to the specific post when I click on it, hence my request that you simply re-ask the question here.
And if you're wondering about a specific use of a skill, please be specific about that use rather than be vague. It's impossible to answer a question when the question doesn't give enough information to answer for.
With the added clarity that you're trying to get someone to give you something or change their mind, that's Diplomacy.
Dear James Jacobs,
If your party hates a paladin because they expect him to do something stupid (which he has yet to do), is it better to keep playing him or switch out for a hired killer like a tengu ninja that might have less ethical objections to the party's lack of focus in trying to be stealthy in Giantslayer part 4?
We'll be updating the timeline to 4719 AR and that will include canonical "ends" for all the Adventure Paths, which will for the most part assume the PCs were successful since I do NOT want and am NOT comfortable hard-coding PC failures into the game's setting.
I think it'd be interesting to see how screwed the world would be if ALL of them are PC failures... though I assume that many early APs being failures would likely prevent later ones from happening in the first place other than some that are way out there, like Jade Regent.
In your opinion, which skill should be used for "making puppy-eyes"?
If I miss a question, please just re-post the question rather than linking it. Links make it incrementally more difficult for me to zoom through the answers by adding one unnecessary step to the process. Especially since your link only links to a thread and not to a specific question as far as I can tell on this side.
If by "making puppy-eyes" you mean "trying to look pitiful and harmless so someone doesn't do something to you" then I guess Bluff.
In the Return of the Runelords player guide pdf thread, link is to the specific post.
Well, that's one, but I was more thinking, trying to look cute/adorable because you want someone to give you something and/or change their mind about something.
And the link doesn't lead to the specific post when I click on it, hence my request that you simply re-ask the question here.
And if you're wondering about a specific use of a skill, please be specific about that use rather than be vague. It's impossible to answer a question when the question doesn't give enough information to answer for.
With the added clarity that you're trying to get someone to give you something or change their mind, that's Diplomacy.
It's a problem with the thread for some weird reasons, two posts below your second one.
... you know, like a kid who just been turned around at an attraction for not meeting the "you must be this tall to enter", and try to look cute/adorable + "sad" to make the attendant at the entrance change their mind.
Different topic...
Ever had the crazy thought of doing something like Inner Sea Gods, but for the Mythos?
Hi James,
In general, what determines which monsters get to be mythic?
Edit: I mean in generic monster entries, as opposed to scenario-specific individual monsters.
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Dear James Jacobs,
If your party hates a paladin because they expect him to do something stupid (which he has yet to do), is it better to keep playing him or switch out for a hired killer like a tengu ninja that might have less ethical objections to the party's lack of focus in trying to be stealthy in Giantslayer part 4?
I'd talk with the other players and try to convince them to give the paladin a chance. If your game table is deep into complex ethical situations though, you shouldn't play a paladin in the first place unless you enjoy complexity.
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I think it'd be interesting to see how screwed the world would be if ALL of them are PC failures... though I assume that many early APs being failures would likely prevent later ones from happening in the first place other than some that are way out there, like Jade Regent.
We'll be updating the timeline to 4719 AR and that will include canonical "ends" for all the Adventure Paths, which will for the most part assume the PCs were successful since I do NOT want and am NOT comfortable hard-coding PC failures into the game's setting.
Not interested in telling everyone who's played an Adventure Path from Paizo that their characters are universally failures, as far as official canon is concerned. No thanks.
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Different topic...
Ever had the crazy thought of doing something like Inner Sea Gods, but for the Mythos?
Please PLEASE keep your posts to questions like this one.
Yes, in that I just did something akin to this. I wrote a significant portion of Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder.
From: Pathfinder Adventure Path: Return of the Runelords Player's Guide PDF
Which reminds me, any stats for half-Azlanti? (increased PB doesn't count)
Different topic...
Ever had the crazy thought of doing something like Inner Sea Gods, but for the Mythos?
Please PLEASE keep your posts to questions like this one.
Yes, in that I just did something akin to this. I wrote a significant portion of Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder.
Will try.
Now, where to get?
Are there any specific areas on Golarion where "heretical" worship of Nocticula is especially prevalent, or is it a sporadic group of individual "heretics" who worship her Chaotic Neutral portfolio?There certainly will be soon.
Nocticula is mentioned as being the patron of at least one Drow house. And, thanks to the efforts of the revamped Lantern Bearers and helped by Sarenrae, Drow aren't always chaotic evil any more.
Now, I don't think that an entire Drow house would suddenly "flip" alignment to follow Nocticula, but at least the odd exception here and there might obviously do so.
Question is: How prevalent would you think Nocticula would be under (non-evil) Drow past her (and their) redemption?
Some of them might want to stick to her for familiarity, but others might want to get as much distance from their past as possible, and I'm not sure which attitude might be more common.
Or is this (Drow redemption, and how it might interact with Nocticula) something that will mostly stay out of focus?