If there were no heroes to thwart the Yamasoth cultists’ effort to resurrect Krune, how would Krune have reacted to their demands for his resurrection?Honestly I think he'd deny the request. Fits his personality to be too lazy to come back to life.
You have no idea how much that answer pleased me. It then made me wonder where did Krune end up in the afterlife? As the high priest of Lissala did he end up somewhere cushy?
Will Sorshen be inclined to keep Karzoug’s visage looming over Xin-Shalast, as a part of rembering the old Thassilon?Let's hold off on 2nd edition lore questions for a few months, please.
My apologies, I didn’t realize I was tipping into 2nd Edition.
How did you decide on which two runelords would survive to rule New Thassilon?
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You have no idea how much that answer pleased me. It then made me wonder where did Krune end up in the afterlife? As the high priest of Lissala did he end up somewhere cushy?If there were no heroes to thwart the Yamasoth cultists’ effort to resurrect Krune, how would Krune have reacted to their demands for his resurrection?Honestly I think he'd deny the request. Fits his personality to be too lazy to come back to life.
Unrevealed/undetermined/up to your GM.
If given the option, would Xanderghul accept the call of resurrection? Or would that wound his pride too much?
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Will Sorshen be inclined to keep Karzoug’s visage looming over Xin-Shalast, as a part of rembering the old Thassilon?Let's hold off on 2nd edition lore questions for a few months, please.My apologies, I didn’t realize I was tipping into 2nd Edition.
How did you decide on which two runelords would survive to rule New Thassilon?
A combination of personal preference and the logical needs of the "Return of the Runelords" plot, which itself was determined by personal preference.
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If given the option, would Xanderghul accept the call of resurrection? Or would that wound his pride too much?
Also up to your GM, but canonically I suspect he's too proud to be resurrected by anyone but himself, which means he'll stay dead.
Which is also important to the game setting. If every bad guy keeps coming back, that gets frustrating and old and makes players feel like they're wasting their time playing heroes.
I heard that we will visit Arcadia in Tyrant's Grasp. Does that mean we will see a campaign setting book for Arcadia, just like Dragon Empires Gazetteer?
How would you rank the final runelords in terms of your personal preference and interest in them?
Were Ameiko Kaijitsu and Shalelu Andosana your PCs in your custom campaign? Especially Shalelu's backstory seems like that of a PC to me.
Canonically who slew Deskari? I didn’t think he died at the end of Wrath of the Righteous. Then I read Rasping Rebirth, and see that he’s deceased. So, who did the noble deed?
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If there were no heroes to thwart the Yamasoth cultists’ effort to resurrect Krune, how would Krune have reacted to their demands for his resurrection?Honestly I think he'd deny the request. Fits his personality to be too lazy to come back to life.
I love this answer so much it made me laugh out loud. The ultimate incarnation of sloth indeed.
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Were Ameiko Kaijitsu and Shalelu Andosana your PCs in your custom campaign? Especially Shalelu's backstory seems like that of a PC to me.
"Ameiko" was the name of a Planescape PC I played back in the day; she was a master spy swashbuckler type and her appearance and personality is vaguely what inspired Ameiko's Pathfinder incarnation, but her history is 100% something I made up new for Rise of the Runelords.
Shalelu is 100% a new character I made for Rise of the Runelords.
Both of them I later got to expand siginifcantly upon when writing the first Jade Regent adventure.
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Canonically who slew Deskari? I didn’t think he died at the end of Wrath of the Righteous. Then I read Rasping Rebirth, and see that he’s deceased. So, who did the noble deed?
Player Characters. Who did it in your game depends on which player's character landed the death blow.
Canonically, we'll just say he was defeated by a group of heroes and leave it at that. We can't say "Merisiel killed him," because Merisiel has multiple implied stories (she appears in numerous Adventure Paths, comics, and more), whereas the world itself has only one story (the baseline campaign).
Thus... heroes done it.
But I thought that the PCs didn't kill Deskari because the Rasping Rifts revived him via his Abyssal resurrection. And the closing of the Worldwound doesn't seem to be able to momentarily disrupt Deskari's connection to the Rasping Rifts. So how could the PCs kill Deskari, who retreated into the depths of his realm to await his year of recovery?
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But I thought that the PCs didn't kill Deskari because the Rasping Rifts revived him via his Abyssal resurrection. And the closing of the Worldwound doesn't seem to be able to momentarily disrupt Deskari's connection to the Rasping Rifts. So how could the PCs kill Deskari, who retreated into the depths of his realm to await his year of recovery?
Again, how it plays out depends on your campaign.
You keep asking questions about how the setting is changing in 2nd edition once we codify the Adventure Paths into the historical timeline of the 10 years or so that 1st edition took place... now isn't the time to go into those details, for this exact reason—it's just confusing people.
So... for all of these "How does this adventure path's ending impact the world canonically" questions... please wait until 2nd edition is out to ask them.
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Once all nations in the Inner Sea region have received their own Campaign Setting books, do you think that you'll start doing CS books for nations outside the Inner Sea region?
I doubt we'll ever see a world in which we've done Campaign Setting books for every one of the nations in the Inner Sea Region... but even if we DO sometime get there, I very strongly suspect you'll see books outside of the Inner Sea Region.
AKA: We don't need to finish the Inner Sea to do something beyond that.
What has been your favorite adventure to write?
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Dear James Jacobs,
What's the situation with marshmallows on Golarion? How about lokum?
One could go the easy route and say the latter were brewed up in Qadira or one of its neighbors, the former in Ancient Osirion, but of course I wouldn't want to put words in your mouth...after all, it could also have been Ustalav....
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What has been your favorite adventure to write?
I would have said "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk" because it was a BLAST to do a deep dive into Greyhawk lore and tie things together and explore one of D&D's most iconic locations, but the delve format took a lot of the joy out of writing that one, alas.
"Burnt Offerings" was my favorite for a long time, since it let me put so much of my own ideas and elements in and it was an adventure that was pretty much 100% me and not so much a collaboration with anyone else.
But now, I thinks I'll say "Song of Silver," since it was surrounded by so many amazing authors that their amazing work helped to inspire me to build what I think is a pretty fun action-packed adventure that still has a lot of fun roleplay moments.
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Hi James
With the Whispering Tyrant's impending "death by PCs", any thoughts on who will be the iconic villain for Pathfinder in the next edition?
Yes. But I'm not ready to reveal that yet. 2nd edition questions are still in a holding pattern till the game is out, or at least closer to being out.
That said... liches are among the toughest creatures to "kill" in the game. You can defeat them a lot without permanently removing them as threats, as the Whispering Tyrant himself has proved multiple times over they centuries...
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Dear James Jacobs,
What's the situation with marshmallows on Golarion? How about lokum?
One could go the easy route and say the latter were brewed up in Qadira or one of its neighbors, the former in Ancient Osirion, but of course I wouldn't want to put words in your mouth...after all, it could also have been Ustalav....
There are marshmallows on Golarion (they were invented many centuries ago, so there's nothing anachronistic about them), but I've given zero brainpower over to WHERE they can be found. Any large city, I guess, without much fanfare. They aren't exotic candies.
I've never heard of lokum, but a WIkipedia search helped there. Looks like it wasn't invented until 1777, according to wikipedia, so my gut feeling is that no, there's no lokum on Golarion. That said, it's not particularly something that requires more modern era resources, so maybe... but I've put even less thought into lokum than marshmallows.
What has been your favorite adventure to write?I would have said "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk" because it was a BLAST to do a deep dive into Greyhawk lore and tie things together and explore one of D&D's most iconic locations, but the delve format took a lot of the joy out of writing that one, alas.
"Burnt Offerings" was my favorite for a long time, since it let me put so much of my own ideas and elements in and it was an adventure that was pretty much 100% me and not so much a collaboration with anyone else.
But now, I thinks I'll say "Song of Silver," since it was surrounded by so many amazing authors that their amazing work helped to inspire me to build what I think is a pretty fun action-packed adventure that still has a lot of fun roleplay moments.
“Burnt Offerings” and “Song of Silver” have been two of my favorite adventures to read. Silver is especially cinematic and grandiose in all the right ways. I especially loved the villains striking back at the end. It feels like the ending of the AP, but you still have two more volumes to go. It’s one of my favorites.
I’m going to have to track down Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. I have the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, and the format of that book is so confusing, but the adventure is great. Is Greyhawk your favorite D&D setting, if so, why?
Hi James,
I am GMing Giantslayer and I wanted to develop a weather table for the PC's travels. I am not sure what the weather would be in Trunae and the Minderhal cathederal. Is there a real world region comparison I can look up eg. like you have with Sandpoint and your home town.
If not, Minderhal Cathederal is at the base of a mountain valley so would it be considered cold or temperate and Lowland (1000ft-5000ft) or highland (above 5000ft).
Thanks
Blackcat
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Hi James,
I am GMing Giantslayer and I wanted to develop a weather table for the PC's travels. I am not sure what the weather would be in Trunae and the Minderhal cathederal. Is there a real world region comparison I can look up eg. like you have with Sandpoint and your home town.
If not, Minderhal Cathederal is at the base of a mountain valley so would it be considered cold or temperate and Lowland (1000ft-5000ft) or highland (above 5000ft).
Thanks
Blackcat
I wasn't involved in that Adventure Path's creation and haven't done too much development of stuff in the region, so your guess is as good as mine! :-P
So...how exactly did Sorshen's (and Nocticula's) redemption work? The way I understand it they pretty much just decided not to be evil, correct? What was the impetus? And what about the fact they've got a lot to make up for?
(Still good to see Best Runelord out and about, though.)
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So what DOES happen to dead gods' souls after they are judged by Pharasma? Do they break into quintessence like other outsiders, do they become petitioners or powerful outsiders, can they get reincarnated or do they just get access to exclusive VIP club house they can never leave?
It's different for every god, happens rarely enough that it's not worth standardizing, and is more valuable for story reasons to leave it something that whoever can make up what happens to the dead god as the story needs. Because a god should never die just because... it should always be the result of or the cause of a story or major adventure or entire campaign or a whole campaign setting.
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So...how exactly did Sorshen's (and Nocticula's) redemption work? The way I understand it they pretty much just decided not to be evil, correct? What was the impetus? And what about the fact they've got a lot to make up for?
(Still good to see Best Runelord out and about, though.)
That's covered in Return of the Runelords, and particularly the sixth adventure. The short version:
Nocticula: Combination of self redemption and maybe influence from time traveling PCs who worshiped her as the Redeemer Queen who then went back in time to a point before she started down that path.
So...how exactly did Sorshen's (and Nocticula's) redemption work? The way I understand it they pretty much just decided not to be evil, correct? What was the impetus? And what about the fact they've got a lot to make up for?
(Still good to see Best Runelord out and about, though.)
That's covered in Return of the Runelords, and particularly the sixth adventure. The short version:
** spoiler omitted **
Does her encounter with the PCs from Wrath of the Righteous help to push her in that direction?
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Does her encounter with the PCs from Wrath of the Righteous help to push her in that direction?So...how exactly did Sorshen's (and Nocticula's) redemption work? The way I understand it they pretty much just decided not to be evil, correct? What was the impetus? And what about the fact they've got a lot to make up for?
(Still good to see Best Runelord out and about, though.)
That's covered in Return of the Runelords, and particularly the sixth adventure. The short version:
** spoiler omitted **
Yes.
Hi James,
I'm running a homebrew campaign using the Pathfinder Playtest rules. We love the game, and are looking forward to switching to second edition when it's released.
In the meantime, though, I'm looking for a recommendation: when creating NPCs that will get into combat with the PCs, should I use the rules for building player characters, or use the stats for a humanoid monster of a similar CR (where they exist) and add/swap abilities/spells?
I've got enough monsters in the playtest bestiary, but worry that without human(ish) enemies to fight other than the 5 or 6 in the back of the book, things might get a bit stale.
Thanks!
How’s Socothbenoth managing now that his sister has turned a new leaf?
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Hi James,
I'm running a homebrew campaign using the Pathfinder Playtest rules. We love the game, and are looking forward to switching to second edition when it's released.In the meantime, though, I'm looking for a recommendation: when creating NPCs that will get into combat with the PCs, should I use the rules for building player characters, or use the stats for a humanoid monster of a similar CR (where they exist) and add/swap abilities/spells?
I've got enough monsters in the playtest bestiary, but worry that without human(ish) enemies to fight other than the 5 or 6 in the back of the book, things might get a bit stale.
Thanks!
Use whatever works better for you. My preference is to use the monster creation rules for NPCs; it's easier AND less restrictive AND allows for so much more creativity in designing the NPCs.
Any recent horror movies you care to recommend?
Yes.
Does her encounter with the PCs from Wrath of the Righteous help to push her in that direction?
First off, I just want to say how much I enjoyed Wrath, it was a complete blast to run. I really loved the porphyry city and the midnight isles, it was really flavorful. I can't wait to bring my PCs there again!
On to the question (this may be too far into second edition, I understand if it is), how did you all come up with the four magical essences?
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What's the reason behind Mhar's alignment shift from CN (originally) to CE in Rise of New Thassilon?
I think it might be because his Strange Aeon's article lists him both as CN and CE. There is no other reason really given for it being CE instead of CN.
Do note though, this version of Mhar isn't same as original version considering its background doesn't cover Leng and Mhar's Fossa <_< This Mhar is from material plane instead of being from Leng and trying to enter Material Plane, this Mhar wants to get AWAY from material plane.(at least originally)
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Any recent horror movies you care to recommend?
My favorites of 2018... I'm sure I forgot a few...
The Endless
Suspiria (2018)
Hereditary
Halloween (2018)
A Quiet Place
Annihilation
Mandy
Overlord
Cam
The Night Eats the World
Revenge
Terrified
Haunting of Hill House
Upgrade
The Ritual
Pyewacket
Cold Skin
The Devil's Doorway
Ghost Stories
Apostle
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What's the reason behind Mhar's alignment shift from CN (originally) to CE in Rise of New Thassilon?
Typo. Not sure which one I prefer to be correct, since we've published him as CN twice on tables and as CE twice in stat blocks.
I prefer CN, but the CE ones are more prominent, and he works just as fine as CE, so I think CE is the official call at this point.
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Yes.
Does her encounter with the PCs from Wrath of the Righteous help to push her in that direction?First off, I just want to say how much I enjoyed Wrath, it was a complete blast to run. I really loved the porphyry city and the midnight isles, it was really flavorful. I can't wait to bring my PCs there again!
On to the question (this may be too far into second edition, I understand if it is), how did you all come up with the four magical essences?
By brainstorming and thinking it over, I guess. That was originally an idea on the design team, but I helped build up all the flavor to justify each as being a logical category.
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What's the reason behind Mhar's alignment shift from CN (originally) to CE in Rise of New Thassilon?I think it might be because his Strange Aeon's article lists him both as CN and CE. There is no other reason really given for it being CE instead of CN.
Do note though, this version of Mhar isn't same as original version considering its background doesn't cover Leng and Mhar's Fossa <_< This Mhar is from material plane instead of being from Leng and trying to enter Material Plane, this Mhar wants to get AWAY from material plane.(at least originally)
Keep in mind that this is where folks ask me questions, and that I'm pretty active and devoted to answering the questions, so folks who aren't me might wanna not answer for me to help avoid cluttering up the thread. ;-)
Dear James Jacobs,
If you were snowed in for a month, but had access to anything you wanted, what you do for that month? Also how do you feel about dire penguins?
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Dear James Jacobs,
If you were snowed in for a month, but had access to anything you wanted, what you do for that month? Also how do you feel about dire penguins?
I'd read, watch movies, game, eat, surf the net, and sleep.
I adore the giant penguins in Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness." Calling them "dire penguins" is goofy, though. In fact, calling anything other than dire wolves dire anything is goofy, but increasingly so when applied to animals that are not frightening in the first place.
You mentioned that campaign settings outside of the Inner Sea Region were possible even before the whole Inner Sea Region is fleshed out. Feel free to answer as vaguely as possible, but is there any chance of Sarusan-related content or lore in the future?