Creative Director
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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?
Sarusan has always been the continent we've deliberately set aside as the mystery realm. A place shrouded in who knows what and possibility. It's outlines and major terrain features will appear on the global map we'll be rolling out later in the year for Golarion, but it'll remain mysterious for now.
It's not like Aroden's death. It's not something we intend to never answer. But so far, we've done campaign setting gazzeteers for the Inner Sea region, the Darklands, and Tian Xia. That leaves Azlant, Arcadia, Crown of the World, Garund, and Casmaron as five continents we'll do before we do Sarusan.
That's a lot of work. Considering we've done just 3 in ... what... over a decade? That means that at that rate we won't get to Sarusan for about another 30 years. I'll be long-since retired by then (I HOPE) so it's the type of thing that if it does some day happen... it's likely not do do so while I'm working for Paizo.
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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. ;-)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)
Oops, I think my brain is being too tired or something x-x; I have multiple pages open on sidetabs and I didn't realize this thread was the ask thread. I somehow thought I was replying in AP product thread. So umm, yeah, sorry about that. I don't know how I managed to mistake the thread
Ah, yeah, I had question to ask too: So are Eldest truly immortal even compared to other demigods? I mean, other demigods have "kill them twice during a year to permakill", but since fay in first world are always immortal, doesn't that apply to Eldest too?
The Whispering Tyrant appears on the cover of Campaign Setting and Inner Sea World Guide. Thus it seems that, instead of the runelords or other powerful beings, the Whispering Tyrant was the archenemy of Pathfinder RPG after all. Am I right? I'm not sure who created him, but surely it would not be easy to appear on the cover of Inner Sea World Guide unless he's the center of attention from the developers?
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Creative Director
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So are Eldest truly immortal even compared to other demigods? I mean, other demigods have "kill them twice during a year to permakill", but since fay in first world are always immortal, doesn't that apply to Eldest too?
Since even the gods can die (See Aroden), what exactly you mean by "truly immortal" is a problem.
NOTHING in Pathfinder is "truly immortal," because that means they can never die. That's not the case in this world. Anything can die.
The closest we get in the game are the Great Old Ones, I suppose, and even they in theory have ways that could get them killed forever—they just haven't been discovered yet.
The Eldest are demigods. They are equivalently immortal as other demigods, but until we stat one up we won't really know HOW those rules work.
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Creative Director
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The Whispering Tyrant appears on the cover of Campaign Setting and Inner Sea World Guide. Thus it seems that, instead of the runelords or other powerful beings, the Whispering Tyrant was the archenemy of Pathfinder RPG after all. Am I right? I'm not sure who created him, but surely it would not be easy to appear on the cover of Inner Sea World Guide unless he's the center of attention from the developers?
There is no one archenemy of Pathfinder RPG. If there were, we'd only ever do one adventure.
There are a limitless number of archenemies in Pathfinder.
Tar-Baphon was one of the very first things we ever created at Paizo that wasn't a D&D thing; he was the star of one of the first Compleate Encounters miniatures products we did back while we were still doing magazines, and thus one of the first non-D&D, truly OGL products we ever did. We put him on the cover of the book because of that, to honor the fact that he was one of the first.
Dear James Jacobs,
Since you apparently don't think much of dire (insert anything other than wolves) are there any other conventions from D&D that you'd drop from Pathfinder (besides Inevitables) ?
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
Since you apparently don't think much of dire (insert anything other than wolves) are there any other conventions from D&D that you'd drop from Pathfinder (besides Inevitables) ?
Dire wolves are in the fossil record, which is why I like them. All other dire animals are not.
As for the rest... ask me again later. ;-)
Unlike other demigods, demon lords can be revived via Abyssal resurrection. But now Nocticula would have lost this ability because she is not a demon lord anymore. Am I right? To know this, I should ask whether Lamashtu(who is not only a deity but also a demon lord) have the Abyssal resurrection ability or not.
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Creative Director
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Unlike other demigods, demon lords can be revived via Abyssal resurrection. But now Nocticula would have lost this ability because she is not a demon lord anymore. Am I right? To know this, I should ask whether Lamashtu(who is not only a deity but also a demon lord) have the Abyssal resurrection ability or not.
She's a full on deity now, so she can only be killed by plot, and thus doesn't need rules like Abyssal resurrection to come back from death.
Same with Lamashtu.
They don't have rules.
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Creative Director
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It's not like Aroden's death. It's not something we intend to never answer. But so far, we've done campaign setting gazzeteers for the Inner Sea region, the Darklands, and Tian Xia. That leaves Azlant, Arcadia, Crown of the World, Garund, and Casmaron as five continents we'll do before we do Sarusan.Would doing a Darklands or Tian Xia hardcover at the moment take more or less work than compared to when you did the first 3.5E Campaign Setting hardcover in 2008?
More.
It seems that Azlant and Thassilon knew about the Dark Tapestry and the Elder Mythos pretty well, considering Karzoug's close association with Leng. Did Azlant and Thassilon also know about the Dominion of the Black, another major faction in the Dark Tapestry?
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Creative Director
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It seems that Azlant and Thassilon knew about the Dark Tapestry and the Elder Mythos pretty well, considering Karzoug's close association with Leng. Did Azlant and Thassilon also know about the Dominion of the Black, another major faction in the Dark Tapestry?
Not really.
Hi James,
Can the Maelstrom erode the Akashic Record?
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Creative Director
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Could a Human AntiPaladin, it being an alternate class to the Paladin, take the Human Paladin Favored Class Bonus of +1 Energy Resistance? Or is it just different enough not to qualify and it only gets the default +1 to Hit/Skill points?
Antipaladin is not an alternate class. It's a well-developed archetype, and as such, as with any other archetype, can take paladin alternate class features.
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Creative Director
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Do you think that SF11's article about the ecology of the kytons/velstracs could be canonised in PF (with the obvious exception of the bits related to the Gap and post-Gap history and such)?
Probably not. It's kinda important to let both games have their own lore and canon without trying to make it work for both.
Sorry, I think you missed a question I asked earlier. Why did Paizo decide to treat succubi and lilitu as demons as opposes to Wizards treating them as devils. This is especcially confusing to me because these are seemingly the least chaotic of the demonic races.
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So Everdawn Pool was discovered by Sorshen, but its true creators are unknown(though probably either Scarlet Walkers or related to them). But who came up with the name? I started wondering why the said vortex of blood IS called Everdawn in first place.
Unrevealed.
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Sorry, I think you missed a question I asked earlier. Why did Paizo decide to treat succubi and lilitu as demons as opposes to Wizards treating them as devils. This is especcially confusing to me because these are seemingly the least chaotic of the demonic races.
Because up until 4th edition, in D&D succubi WERE devils. 4th edition changed that.
I was the one who brought the lilitu to D&D as well, and she was a demon there too back in 3rd edition. That version and the Pathfinder version are both inspired by the same real-world mythology, but took the details in different directions.
It was 4th edition D&D that made that change, not us.
For me, a creature that is completely all about destroying relationships and scandalizing things and disrupting society from within by corruption and temptation seems pretty dang chaotic though...
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Creative Director
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So one more Runelord question: Thinking of Lord of Runes book, even with his phylactery destroyed, is Zutha still technically "alive" by having his regenerating flesh endlessly devoured by ghouls at Cenotaph?
I'd say no.
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Oki :D And final question overall for now:
Where did Kazavon recruit his minotaurs? I'm kind of planning ahead in case he gets resurrected because it would be cool to get to use minotaurs so I wonder what is closest place to recruit them since that would help me figuring out how much time that would give for PCs to prepare while Kazavon is building up forces.
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Oki :D And final question overall for now:
Where did Kazavon recruit his minotaurs? I'm kind of planning ahead in case he gets resurrected because it would be cool to get to use minotaurs so I wonder what is closest place to recruit them since that would help me figuring out how much time that would give for PCs to prepare while Kazavon is building up forces.
He recruited them from the wilds of Belkzen and the Kodar foothills.
So for Pathfinder Friday's I would like to suggest Ninshabur and or the Pit of Gormuz.
And for my question what is the latest that you can solicit a book to Distribution?
It's outlines and major terrain features will appear on the global map we'll be rolling out later in the year for Golarion, but it'll remain mysterious for now.
Any chance this will be as big as the Inner Sea Poster Map? Because I want this on my wall.
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Creative Director
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So for Pathfinder Friday's I would like to suggest Ninshabur and or the Pit of Gormuz.
And for my question what is the latest that you can solicit a book to Distribution?
Normally we solicit several months out, with the timing mandated by big distributors and Amazon. But we can short-solicit books really late in the process. Often, we'll let key distributors know that there's something coming so that they're not caught totally off guard, since if we wait too long, there's no way for stores to get it on shelves on time because they don't know it can be bought.
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Creative Director
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Any chance this will be as big as the Inner Sea Poster Map? Because I want this on my wall.It's outlines and major terrain features will appear on the global map we'll be rolling out later in the year for Golarion, but it'll remain mysterious for now.
We've printed posters before and will continue to do posters going forward, so yes, there is a chance.
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Are all shoki psychopomps male? I ask because the name and general appearance seem to be inspired from a singular mythological figure, Zhong Kui, and a big part of his story is his...um...distinctive appearance. Plus apparently changelings who resist the call of their hag mothers get specially transformed into shoki after death, so would they become male upon becoming shoki, or would they be female shoki? And if the latter is true, then whose souls get made into male shoki?
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Creative Director
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Are all shoki psychopomps male? I ask because the name and general appearance seem to be inspired from a singular mythological figure, Zhong Kui, and a big part of his story is his...um...distinctive appearance. Plus apparently changelings who resist the call of their hag mothers get specially transformed into shoki after death, so would they become male upon becoming shoki, or would they be female shoki? And if the latter is true, then whose souls get made into male shoki?
They aren't all male.
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Creative Director
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Not sure whether the following can be considered spoiler(s), so:
** spoiler omitted **
Also (not a question, just a comment):
** spoiler omitted **
They all had some sort of magic garments, but the powers and names of those clothes aren't things I ever came up with. They'd all have similar abilities as you've seen, though. Maybe some day we'll explore that further.
How are your work from home (my assumption here) snow days?
Is there a topic for this Friday's Pathfinder Friday?
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Creative Director
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How are your work from home (my assumption here) snow days?
Is there a topic for this Friday's Pathfinder Friday?
I try not to do work from home days at all, because that erodes a valuable to me distinction between working on gaming stuff and playing with gaming stuff. The exception is freelance work, which is its own category and doesn't interact with snow days.
I live only a 10 minute walk from work though, so I don't have snow days as often as folks who live miles away and have to drive. I'm one of the few folks in the office now, and work today is going fast and furious for me without many distractions in the form of meetings and the like, so "snow days" for me are generally the more productive ones.
The current plan for this Friday's stream is Kyra.
Also: Don't forget to leave it to 1 question per post if you can.
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Were any of the final runelords parents?
How are your work from home (my assumption here) snow days?
Is there a topic for this Friday's Pathfinder Friday?
I try not to do work from home days at all, because that erodes a valuable to me distinction between working on gaming stuff and playing with gaming stuff. The exception is freelance work, which is its own category and doesn't interact with snow days.
I live only a 10 minute walk from work though, so I don't have snow days as often as folks who live miles away and have to drive. I'm one of the few folks in the office now, and work today is going fast and furious for me without many distractions in the form of meetings and the like, so "snow days" for me are generally the more productive ones.
The current plan for this Friday's stream is Kyra.
Also: Don't forget to leave it to 1 question per post if you can.
My apologies, as a long time poster to this thread I forgot what version of the number of questions rule we were on.
What has Tom Rex been up to?
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When is the Player's Guide to Tyrant's Grasp coming out?
These generally come out a few days before the street release date of the first volume. I'm not sure what that date is; I'm more into the "ship to the printer" date. It should be sometime this month though.
How do you think Xin would look upon New Thassilon?
Hi, James. I hope the day finds you well.
I am preparing to run a new Emerald Spire campaign and would like to incorporate Thornkeep as well. It seems that these projects were written in conjunction, but they don't really reference one another.
Do you have any suggestions for marrying the two locations? Such as quests that might carry players from one to the other location?
Thank you for your time.
How would you say Alaznist should act personality wise? What I mean is what kind of philosophy she follows, what particularly poses her off and if there's anything she actually likes doing.
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Hi, James. I hope the day finds you well.
I am preparing to run a new Emerald Spire campaign and would like to incorporate Thornkeep as well. It seems that these projects were written in conjunction, but they don't really reference one another.
Do you have any suggestions for marrying the two locations? Such as quests that might carry players from one to the other location?
Thank you for your time.
Those products were not written in conjunction. We created Thornkeep first. The Emerald Spire wasn't originally intended to be a giant dungeon at that point, but when we started looking for a next step to continue to build excitement for Pathfinder Online and its Kickstarter campaign, it made a lot of sense at the time to expand more on it.
The nature of how we built the Emerald Spire, though, which called upon a HUGE range of different authors, several of whom didn't know Pathfinder or Golarion lore as well, meant we needed to keep Emerald Spire itself pretty self-contained. The development process once all the individual levels were created did what it could to sync it up with the region, but its focus remained on "Let's do a giant dungeon that doesn't rely TOO much on the surrounding area so folks would have an easier time transporting it into their own campaign."
I don't have suggestions for building things up more, though. Aside from writing one of the dungeon levels for each book, my direct involvement in that was more at the outline stages and approval stages—I suggest checking out some of those products' pages to chat with other GMs who've run the adventure to find better inspiration than I can provide.