See part 4 of Return of the Runelords. That's the first time we've really made an effort to associate colors with the seven Thassilonain schools; they are the same colors of the seven hues of a prismatic ray, but I don't remember them off the top of my head.
Richard of York gave battle in vain. (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet). :-)
Would the Magnimar Construction Company hire mages to help, by using magic, in building things in the city? Would the Magnimar Mining Company hire mages to help in quarrying stone, or extracting metals or gems from the ground? Would the local Sears sell magic based Roombas? How ubiquitous is magic in Golarion, anyway?
Hello James. One of my players is making a character and getting ready for a modified verion of strange aeons that I'll be running. They've asked to play a third party class called a clever godling (which I approved) and wish to pair that with an assimar as a race (or something thematically equivalent).
Essentially, they are wanting to be a direct decendant of a deity, and pairing that with the fugue state at the beginning of the adventure, they've given me a great deal of creative liberties with choosing their origins.
Because of this, I was hoping to hear any ideas on your end as to what might be an intresting or compelling godly parent that would mix well with the horror themes provided already, and how might this relation appear over time as their connection grows?
As a reference, I'm currently considering Shub Niggurath as a mother, but I'm open to any ideas.
Kobolds are absolutely subservient, focusing their efforts toward pleasing their draconic ally. But kobolds have scales that match those of chromatic dragons, not metalic dragons. And kobolds are mostly evil. So, can I assume that kobolds don't like the company of good dragons? Maybe they don't want to submit to good dragons? Can I at least assume they much prefer evil dragons to good ones?
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** spoiler omitted **
Sorry, there's nothing more to say about this off the top of my head.
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Half a dozen years ago you answered a question about how Magical Knack interacts with other Caster Level increases, which I believe set a precedent for how effects with a level cap should interact with other such increases.
Other people disagree, so here's the relevant abilities and the question we're discussing.
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** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
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Let's say a level five (Rogue 3/Fighter 2) character with Accomplished Sneak Attacker has 3d6 Sneak Attack.
In some way or another, they benefit from a CL 3 casting of Sense Vitals, which would normally raise their Sneak Attack by 1d6.
What is their number of Sneak Attack dice?
"Other people disagree" is part of the reason I don't answer rules questions on this thread anymore. For some folks, the game is arguing about rules semantics and parsing rules text like they're math equations rather than telling stories that are supported by rules, which is my preference. If you have an answer for rules you prefer, go with those. Even better, let your GM make the call. In any case, if you absolutely need someone at Paizo to answer you, please ask the question in the forum for asking rules questions, not here. The design team won't see questions asked here, and you can't hit the FAQ button. And when/if you get a rules answer from someone at Paizo, please don't turn it into a debate and try to prove us wrong or sway us to rule in a different way. That's not asking for rules answers; that's asking for debates. And I'm not into debating rules online.
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See part 4 of Return of the Runelords. That's the first time we've really made an effort to associate colors with the seven Thassilonain schools; they are the same colors of the seven hues of a prismatic ray, but I don't remember them off the top of my head.Richard of York gave battle in vain. (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet). :-)
Would the Magnimar Construction Company hire mages to help, by using magic, in building things in the city? Would the Magnimar Mining Company hire mages to help in quarrying stone, or extracting metals or gems from the ground? Would the local Sears sell magic based Roombas? How ubiquitous is magic in Golarion, anyway?
I remember the colors. That's not an issue. I don't remember which colors I assigned to each of the 7 Thassilonian schools. Richard of York can't help there.
Magic is not ubiquitous. It's pretty expensive and specialized. It's easy to forget that while magic is common in an adventuring party and among the foes they meet, it's not all over the place. A group like the Magnimar Construction Company wouldn't hire magic helpers because they'd go bankrupt. But also, they wouldn't because that turns Golarion into something different–a "magic is everywhere" setting, like what you seen in Final Fantasy games or Eberron is a different flavor of game.
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Kobolds are absolutely subservient, focusing their efforts toward pleasing their draconic ally. But kobolds have scales that match those of chromatic dragons, not metalic dragons. And kobolds are mostly evil. So, can I assume that kobolds don't like the company of good dragons? Maybe they don't want to submit to good dragons? Can I at least assume they much prefer evil dragons to good ones?
That's hyperbole. Kobolds are NOT "absolutely subservient." Some groups do fawn over dragon overlords, but not all. Some worship devils. Some worship other things. Some aren't particularly religious at all.
Most kobolds wouldn't seek the company of good dragons because they're philosophically inclined to beliefs and practices that are in opposition to those dragons.
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Hello James. One of my players is making a character and getting ready for a modified verion of strange aeons that I'll be running. They've asked to play a third party class called a clever godling (which I approved) and wish to pair that with an assimar as a race (or something thematically equivalent).
Essentially, they are wanting to be a direct decendant of a deity, and pairing that with the fugue state at the beginning of the adventure, they've given me a great deal of creative liberties with choosing their origins.
Because of this, I was hoping to hear any ideas on your end as to what might be an intresting or compelling godly parent that would mix well with the horror themes provided already, and how might this relation appear over time as their connection grows?
As a reference, I'm currently considering Shub Niggurath as a mother, but I'm open to any ideas.
I wouldn't use any of the Lovecraftian deities in this manner. That's better fodder for building NPC enemies, not PC backgrounds. The deities of the Elder Mythos are stronger thematically as mysterious oppositions. If you WERE to do something with having a PC be someone who's descended from them, the best bet would be to use corruptions from the Horror Adventures book... and to use them in the variant that focuses on the downsides rather than the upsides.
Furhtermore, if a PC is playing an aasimar, then they're descended from a celestial like an archon or angel or azata or agathion. None of those are Shub-Niggurath. There are plenty of examples of celestial deities, ranging from Sarenrae down to the numerous empyreal lords. I would look for an empyreal lord that matches the PCs' themes and go with that one if I were you.
The best way to model being the direct descendant of a deity in Pathfinder at this point for a PC is to use Mythic Rules. Those rules transform the standard fantasy genre into something more akin to the superhero genre, which is the opposite direction to go if you're playing a dark fantasy campaign like Strange Aeons.
I hope you don't mind me following up in response.
I have no intention of making this a mythic campaign, I'm actually making it a 10 point buy game. The abilities granted by this third party class are the only major abilities I expect will be used to show any godlike powers, and from looking it over, it remains balanced.
As for the aasimar aspect, I don't think their expectation is to be closer to the celestial side of things, but simply that they are using a native outsider race to represent who they are. As I said, they've intentionally given me a lot of flexibility.
What I'm interested in is more a stance on what kind of diety would accompany the themes of a horror campaign best, and how might this reveal itself through the course of play?
I was planning on treating it as a mystery and whether it was positive or negative would be largely unknown for the first half of the adventure. You might think of it similarly to a D&D 5e warlock's patron in how I'm hoping to treat it.
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I hope you don't mind me following up in response.
I have no intention of making this a mythic campaign, I'm actually making it a 10 point buy game. The abilities granted by this third party class are the only major abilities I expect will be used to show any godlike powers, and from looking it over, it remains balanced.
As for the aasimar aspect, I don't think their expectation is to be closer to the celestial side of things, but simply that they are using a native outsider race to represent who they are. As I said, they've intentionally given me a lot of flexibility.
What I'm interested in is more a stance on what kind of diety would accompany the themes of a horror campaign best, and how might this reveal itself through the course of play?
I was planning on treating it as a mystery and whether it was positive or negative would be largely unknown for the first half of the adventure. You might think of it similarly to a D&D 5e warlock's patron in how I'm hoping to treat it.
If you're going for a low-power, 10 point buy game, then my suggestion would be to have the divine ancestry be what is allowing the powers and abilities of the class. As for what deity would work best... I would suggest looking at the backstory the player comes up with for the character and using that to guide you rather than the campaign itself, which doesn't suggest anything in particular. That said, perhaps go with Black Butterfly, since she's associated with outer space and Desna and Desna has a tradition of working against the Elder Mythos's influence.
But to be honest, since I'm not familiar with your play style, the 5th edition D&D warlock, the third party product you're running, and frankly Strange Aeons itself (I outlined it but didn't develop it, so I'm not familiar with its finer details), I'm not sure how much more help I could give.
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So I really want to run Curse of the Crimson Throne, but I have a problem player. She doesn’t cheat, she doesn’t meta game, she doesn’t min-max. Nothing like that.
Nay, the problem is that she is a huge fan of Batman, like a really huge fan of Batman, and I’m worried she will see right through Vencarlo and out him as Blackjack when the players go to see him after the failed execution, especially when she sees Trinia there.
How should I handle this if this happens? It could change things up if this happens, and I’m not experienced enough to save the campaign from potential derailing if this occurs.
Sounds like that player would be SUPER interested in perhaps becoming the next Blackjack. My suggestion would be to let the player build her character's history and background as normal, but then have Vencarlo know about her PC from the VERY START of the campaign. If you think that she'd enjoy having her character become the new Blackjack, then have Vencarlo contact her via mysterious notes or something. Reward her interest and make it into a positive for the game. So that rather than being excited to blow his cover, she's more excited to keep the secret so her PC could train up to be the new Blackjack.
In a worst case scenario, if a PC learns about Blackjack's true identity early, that's not derailing anything at all. Just moves the reveal of who he is from the third adventure to earlier. The campaign expects that the players will learn this secret at some point, and in fact kind of relies upon it, since a PC becoming the new Blackjack is a great plot development, particularly in the last adventure when Blackjack's legacy is taken over by the enemy for a bit. It's much more compelling if that element is stealing reputation from a PC rather than an NPC!
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What if she confronts him in Chapter 2, when the PCs go visit him? She will likely be able to recognize his handwriting on the letter he sends the PCs in comparison to the mysterious notes being sent to her. The book says if he is confronted about his identity (with the proof of his gear when the PCs find it, but this is similar proof, so I feel it should work), he will admit to it and propose the transition of his secret persona at once. If Blackjack (PC) is running around in Chapter 2 and 3, in Korvosa, before the rebels become an actual thing, that will make the other PCs wanted criminals for teaming up with Blackjack, since he did just stop an execution and threatened the Queen’s authority. How should I handle this?
Recognizing handwriting is a subset of the Linguistics skill, as part of detecting a forgery; it shouldn't be automatic. But again, if the PCs figure it out before hand, he'll admit it and the PC can potentially start being the new Blackjack at once. A PC Blackjack is going to be a wanted criminal, yes, but that means the PC is going to also have to hide that secret and you, the GM, shouldn't go out of your way to have the NPCs figure it out until later. Remember that the PCs are going to end up wanted criminals very soon anyway.
I can't do all the work for you, though, since a lot of the job of handling how these things work out depends on the nature of the player and the game in play.
Hey James, I was wondering if the Paizo staff have their own head cannon concerning why Golarion's societies for the most part have technology behind what we have, despite being thousands of years older. I understand the main reasin is because that's the setting you want to use, but is there a lore reason as well?
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Hey James, I was wondering if the Paizo staff have their own head cannon concerning why Golarion's societies for the most part have technology behind what we have, despite being thousands of years older. I understand the main reasin is because that's the setting you want to use, but is there a lore reason as well?
Because the presence of magic makes technology not as important to develop. Magic does many of the things that technology would otherwise do, and since it exists, there's not as strong a drive to innovate technology.
Because the presence of magic makes technology not as important to develop. Magic does many of the things that technology would otherwise do, and since it exists, there's not as strong a drive to innovate technology.
A few posts upthread you said that magic is expensive and specialized and not everywhere. How do you reconcile that with this? The two statements seem contradictory.
Kobolds are absolutely subservient, focusing their efforts toward pleasing their draconic ally. But kobolds have scales that match those of chromatic dragons, not metalic dragons. And kobolds are mostly evil. So, can I assume that kobolds don't like the company of good dragons? Maybe they don't want to submit to good dragons? Can I at least assume they much prefer evil dragons to good ones?That's hyperbole. Kobolds are NOT "absolutely subservient." Some groups do fawn over dragon overlords, but not all. Some worship devils. Some worship other things. Some aren't particularly religious at all.
Most kobolds wouldn't seek the company of good dragons because they're philosophically inclined to beliefs and practices that are in opposition to those dragons.
Well, actually the word "absolutely subservient" can be seen on page 8 of Kobolds of Golarion. I thought it would not be a hyperbole because the book said so. Anyway, I have another question. Once I planned to master a campaign whose main enemies are kobolds. More specifically, an underground kobold kingdom with numerous kobold soldiersm several high level characters, and powerful magical and technological weapons. Yes, I admit, it was mostly inspired by the Skaven from Warhammer. But then I found out a problem. It seems that traditionally kobolds have been regarded as one of the weakest monsters in the world. Thus I want to ask you. Do you think kobolds are too weak and stupid to be used as the sinister underground forces with advanced magitech? Maybe they would be better off serving as cannon fodders, and I should let other more powerful races like derro or duergar take the role of the main villains?
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How does the clergy of Pharasama in Tian Xia sees the Terra-Cotta army of Lingshen?
Dunno. Can't remember what that army's thing was. If it's about trapping souls in receptacles her church doesn't approve. If it's about golems, they're less annoyed thaq\n they would be if they were undead.
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Because the presence of magic makes technology not as important to develop. Magic does many of the things that technology would otherwise do, and since it exists, there's not as strong a drive to innovate technology.A few posts upthread you said that magic is expensive and specialized and not everywhere. How do you reconcile that with this? The two statements seem contradictory.
I don't feel a need to reconcile it completely and entirely; I'd rather spend those creative moments building stories for the setting. If the fact that Golarion's got a long history but doesn't have Earth equivalent technology equal to the year in which the game was published, then go ahead and use the rules in Technology Guide or Starfinder to adjust your Golarion as you see fit. Earth made it for thousands of years without inventing modern tech, and that was without magic to fill the gaps. Even if magic isn't everywhere, its mere presence is enough, in my book, to slow the advance of technology even further. And since there's no real-world magic analogue to have to stick to, we have the luxury of being able to imagine whatever we want in order to generate a fantasy-based setting to tell our stories in.
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Once I planned to master a campaign whose main enemies are kobolds. More specifically, an underground kobold kingdom with numerous kobold soldiersm several high level characters, and powerful magical and technological weapons. Yes, I admit, it was mostly inspired by the Skaven from Warhammer. But then I found out a problem. It seems that traditionally kobolds have been regarded as one of the weakest monsters in the world. Thus I want to ask you. Do you think kobolds are too weak and stupid to be used as the sinister underground forces with advanced magitech? Maybe they would be better off serving as cannon fodders, and I should let other more powerful races like derro or duergar take the role of the main villains?
I don't think kobolds are an appropriate threat for high level play, nor am I a fan of high-level koblds existing. Thematically, they work best as low level threats. It's not that I think they're stupid. It's just from an artistic point, they're more appropriate to be threats faced at low level.
Tar Baphon is said to have used a spell to summon General Arnisant's heart from his chest. Would this be Death Clutch from Horror Adventures?
Speaking of Tar-Baphon, he rose from the dead as a lich some 2400 years, give or take, after Aroden killed him. Where was his soul in all that time? Did it go to the Boneyard, only to have Pharasma say "you're not done yet" and send it back to Golarion 2400 years later? Or was something else going on?
Come to think on it, do licheshave souls?
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Speaking of Tar-Baphon, he rose from the dead as a lich some 2400 years, give or take, after Aroden killed him. Where was his soul in all that time? Did it go to the Boneyard, only to have Pharasma say "you're not done yet" and send it back to Golarion 2400 years later? Or was something else going on?
Unrevealed.
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Come to think on it, do licheshave souls?
That's what lives in their phylactery. All undead have souls, but they're corrupted and warped from the necromantic unlife, which is the whole reason why Pharasma and her faith are anti-undead in the first place.
I have always thought Tar-Baphon's wish that nearly summoned Arnisant's heart from his chest would be different from normal wish, because if not, PCs will abuse the rule by saying they will cast wish to instantly kill Karzoug or Alaznist by summoning the runelords' heart. Maybe he cast mythic wish instead of wish? Or maybe a wish cast by a mythic character would be much more powerful than a wish cast by a non-mythic character?
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I have always thought Tar-Baphon's wish that nearly summoned Arnisant's heart from his chest would be different from normal wish, because if not, PCs will abuse the rule by saying they will cast wish to instantly kill Karzoug or Alaznist by summoning the runelords' heart. Maybe he cast mythic wish instead of wish? Or maybe a wish cast by a mythic character would be much more powerful than a wish cast by a non-mythic character?
PCs can't abuse a wish because the GM runs the game and thus gets to decide how a wish's effects work. Likewise, she gets to decide how wishes used by NPCs work as well.
Dexterity is the stat that determines how nimble someone is, usually also affecting their reaction times accordingly. But the word dexterity means skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands. Shouldn't Paizo name this stat differently? I think Agility would be a good alternative.
Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?
Does a unicorn pooping sparkly slime sound healthy to you, or would you recommend I call the vet.
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This is from the Oracle description: Although the gods work through many agents, perhaps none is more mysterious than the oracle. These divine vessels are granted power without their choice, selected by providence to wield powers that even they do not fully understand. Unlike a cleric, who draws her magic through devotion to a deity, oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those patron deities who support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs.
So that's not the class I was looking for. Which class would be appropriate for something like the reverse--someone who derives power from faith in one god who didn't give them power in advance of their faith developing (Iomedae specifically in this context), but lacks formal religious education and isn't part of that god's church? (Is there one, or have I described a character who wouldn't exist in Pathfinder?)
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Dexterity is the stat that determines how nimble someone is, usually also affecting their reaction times accordingly. But the word dexterity means skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands. Shouldn't Paizo name this stat differently? I think Agility would be a good alternative.
It's been Dexterity for decades, so I'm pretty okay with it staying Dexterity for decades more.
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This is from the Oracle description: Although the gods work through many agents, perhaps none is more mysterious than the oracle. These divine vessels are granted power without their choice, selected by providence to wield powers that even they do not fully understand. Unlike a cleric, who draws her magic through devotion to a deity, oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those patron deities who support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs.
So that's not the class I was looking for. Which class would be appropriate for something like the reverse--someone who derives power from faith in one god who didn't give them power in advance of their faith developing (Iomedae specifically in this context), but lacks formal religious education and isn't part of that god's church? (Is there one, or have I described a character who wouldn't exist in Pathfinder?)
Cleric is what you want. A cleric worships a single deity, but doesn't have to belong to that deity's formal church. Rules wise, a loner cleric is identical to a cleric who is part of the organized religion. That distinction is mostly one that gets played out in roleplay. OR via archetypes, of which there are plenty to choose from.
It strikes me that one way you could model a cleric who doesn't have formal religious education would be to just dump-stat their Intelligence score. You could also simply build a cleric who never takes ranks in Knowledge (religion).
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I have one final question about Vencarlo. In the book, it says in two places (his NPC statblock description, and the list of Blackjack’s gear) that Vencarlo’s glove that has his fake wooden fingers is on his right hand, but on the full body picture, the glove is on his left hand. Which is correct?
The text. Sometimes, art gets flipped or mirrored in order to make it fit more pretty on the page. We try not to have this happen with asymmetrical characters (it caused a problem with Ameiko's shoulder tattoo a while back) but sometimes we miss them.
I was really surprised to hear that goblins will be the new playable race in Second Edition, because I have always thought that goblins are creatures of pure evil who entirely lack empathy. Even in Burnt Offerings and other several books, we can see how vile and ruthless they are. We also cannot forget about the fact that they eat human babies and very abusive to their own children. Thus I thought that, although goblins are very comical, they really cannot become a PC race. But turns out they will be playable in Second Edition. I'm not particularly against that, but... am I missing something?
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I was really surprised to hear that goblins will be the new playable race in Second Edition, because I have always thought that goblins are creatures of pure evil who entirely lack empathy. Even in Burnt Offerings and other several books, we can see how vile and ruthless they are. We also cannot forget about the fact that they eat human babies and very abusive to their own children. Thus I thought that, although goblins are very comical, they really cannot become a PC race. But turns out they will be playable in Second Edition. I'm not particularly against that, but... am I missing something?
"Creatures of pure evil who entirely lack empathy" applies mostly to undead and evil outsiders, not everything else.
A lot has changed in the decade-plus since Burnt Offerings. Goblins have become very popular, and making them officially one of the core PC races, and transitioning them from an "always bad guy race" to not is something we felt made sense as a step toward making Pathfinder its own thing and not just a D&D clone.
In addition, I feel that we've pretty much done the stories about evil goblins we want to tell at this point. Time to move on to other stories.
How does Cheliax view aasimars compared to tieflings?
I believe I read somewhere that combat assumes the player is at a "hustle" pace, which is where the speed comes into play. If player were only walking during battle, would this halve their combat speed?
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What are some of your favourite characters from Warcraft (if you have any)?Haven't played Warcraft in ages, so I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to current characters. My favorite from the original MMO was King Mosh though.
*googles* Ooooo, I remember that sneaky jerk!
Question, what games are you playing now?