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showed off a prestige class!
Looks pretty fun! My main feedback is to keep an open mind and consider the first time through with someone playing the class as a playtest. Don't be afraid to change things that end up being too powerful or not powerful enough, and make sure the player of the class knows this. If the changes end up being no fun for the player, let them rebuild their character using other options without penalizing them for retraining, and take that as valuable feedback that the prestige class could use some reconcepting work.
And "Ultimate Necromancer" as the name is something I'd suggest changing to something less jargony. Makes it sound like the prestige class is a book, not a class. Think about in-world, what the character would call themselves, and if it sounds like over-the-top boasting or breaking the fourth wall to speak to the players of the game rather than the characters (which is what "ultimate necromancer" does for me), go with a different name.
I would add "Must be evil" as an alignment requirement.
I don't have many other specific feedbacks on the abilities, other than that for me, I tend to prefer playing prestige classes that offer a bunch of brand new abilities rather than handing out class abilities from other classes (like channel energy).
Have fun trying it out in play though!
ALSO: This ended up being a much larger post for review than I'd expected... in the future, let's keep this thread to simpler questions for me to answer. I don't really have the time to do critiques and reviews of design work, and don't want to set false expectations that this thread is a place where that can happen.
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Hi James! I'm going to DM for my in-laws next week. She is completely new to RPGs and also fantasy (apart from Harry Potter), he at least read some Tolkien when he was younger. Both are in their late 50s.
How would you approach running a game for such an audience?
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Hi James! I'm going to DM for my in-laws next week. She is completely new to RPGs and also fantasy (apart from Harry Potter), he at least read some Tolkien when he was younger. Both are in their late 50s.
How would you approach running a game for such an audience?
By focusing on the story and going light on the rules, and by adjusting the story to contain elements I knew that the players would enjoy.
The thing that grabs new gamers to RPGs is the fact that they get to be in a story and affect it's outcome. The delight in the stats and numbers comes later.
I would use the Beginner Box to run this game.
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Hi James! I'm going to DM for my in-laws next week. She is completely new to RPGs and also fantasy (apart from Harry Potter), he at least read some Tolkien when he was younger. Both are in their late 50s.
How would you approach running a game for such an audience?By focusing on the story and going light on the rules, and by adjusting the story to contain elements I knew that the players would enjoy.
The thing that grabs new gamers to RPGs is the fact that they get to be in a story and affect it's outcome. The delight in the stats and numbers comes later.
I would use the Beginner Box to run this game.
Thanks for the hints! I will be using the beginner box rules and an adventure similar in scope and structure.
Question for clarification: how would you go about focusing on the story instead of rules? Make them roll seldom in general? Allow use of spells even outside their normal scope etc.?
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Emporium Isitalba from Hell Unleashed lists "The Soul of King Oligaphius This bombastic monarch was one of Taldor’s early rulers." as one of special items you can buy from the shop. Does this mean this guy is from one of states Taldor was composed of before Taldaris united Taldor and became the first emperor?
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What was the inspiration for the name “Sarzari” as the great library of the Red Mantis in the Faynas of The Crimson Citadel? Who created the name? Was it just a random name a Designer imported from his or her homegame, maybe an old PC or BBEG?
....Also, what does the name, the word “Sarzari” mean to the Red Mantis (Does it just translate to ‘lore’ or ‘library’ or something — or is it something else?)?
Many thanks!
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Question for clarification: how would you go about focusing on the story instead of rules? Make them roll seldom in general? Allow use of spells even outside their normal scope etc.?
By not stopping game play to look up rules and instead just going with the flow, and by presenting the game with obvious choices for the players rather than making them decide (particularly by coaxing them with phrases like, "You enter a twenty foot square room. Do you want to try to investigate the weird statue of the bug man, look for secret doors? Or check out the blue curtain on the wall?"). Spells are fine, but don't give the player a list of 20 spells and ask them to pick which 3 they want; pick the 3 for them based on what you know will be useful for the adventure. Don't spend time agonizing over character creation. Give them pre-built characters; the Beginner Box is a HUGE help here.
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Emporium Isitalba from Hell Unleashed lists "The Soul of King Oligaphius This bombastic monarch was one of Taldor’s early rulers." as one of special items you can buy from the shop. Does this mean this guy is from one of states Taldor was composed of before Taldaris united Taldor and became the first emperor?
I have no idea. I wasn't involved significantly in either of those products and have put no thought into this. I suspect King Oligaphius is very ancient and obscure and unmemorable as far as lasting marks on Taldor though.
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What was the inspiration for the name “Sarzari” as the great library of the Red Mantis in the Faynas of The Crimson Citadel? Who created the name? Was it just a random name a Designer imported from his or her homegame, maybe an old PC or BBEG?
....Also, what does the name, the word “Sarzari” mean to the Red Mantis (Does it just translate to ‘lore’ or ‘library’ or something — or is it something else?)?Many thanks!
I suspect that name came from Nick Logue, who wrote the first Red Mantis article for Pathfinder a decade or so ago, building off of extensive notes from me about how the Red Mantis worked in my homebrew. Sarzari wasn't part of my homebrew, and Nick came next, so that's my guess... a random bunch of letters he threw together because they made a word that sounded kinda scary.
As for what the word means in-world... unrevealed; we haven't decided or made that lore up yet.
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Dear James Jacobs,
I wanted to thank you for your assistance with my "Apostate Devil corrupts a Shinigami" question. Now I need further assistance;
If I were to set up this plot for a bunch of low level adventures, (IE since both the Shinigami and the Apostate Devil are clearly high level IE above 15th), is there some recommended places in Golarian I might try? Also what would you recommend more, a kind of murder mystery for this? Or Horror?
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Dear James Jacobs,
I wanted to thank you for your assistance with my "Apostate Devil corrupts a Shinigami" question. Now I need further assistance;
If I were to set up this plot for a bunch of low level adventures, (IE since both the Shinigami and the Apostate Devil are clearly high level IE above 15th), is there some recommended places in Golarian I might try? Also what would you recommend more, a kind of murder mystery for this? Or Horror?
I'd set it in Chelaix, and the type of adventure could be anything you want. If it's for lower level characters, then the PCs should be dealing directly only with the mortal agents or cultists or followers of the corrupted shinigami.
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So the planar hopping organisations Riftwardens and Black Fire adepts, is Golarion their "main" location on material plane, or do they appear all over different places in material plane?
Golarion is their home.
We don't do many adventures or stories set elsewhere, so as a result don't expect us to use them in many places other than Golarion.
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Incoming question for James Jacobs!
Do you have any designer tips for creating stat blocks for demigods?
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James:
Any sense of what’s up with the Moonscar and the succubi living there in wake of Nocticula’s redemption and accession? I may be running this soon, and I’d like to be able to relate the game to the latest state of the Golarion canon.
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Hey James,
What would happen if a creature without an alignment (such as one with the Beyond Morality mythic ability) were to ascend to godhood?
To be more specific, would they suddenly gain an alignment or continue to have none?
That's 100% up to your or your GM. I'm not a fan of Beyond Morality. To me, alignment is as fundamental a concept in the game as hit points or AC. A creature without alignment is, to me, as unusable and nonsensical as one without an armor class or hit points. It's no longer a creature in my opinion.
So, no comment beyond that. Up to you how you handle it in your game. It won't ever come up in a game I'm running, or in a product I'm the lead developer for.
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Incoming question for James Jacobs!
Do you have any designer tips for creating stat blocks for demigods?
Look at other demigod stat blocks and use them as guides, and as with ANY monster, make sure it's key touchstones are matching up to whatever values its CR expects.
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James:
Any sense of what’s up with the Moonscar and the succubi living there in wake of Nocticula’s redemption and accession? I may be running this soon, and I’d like to be able to relate the game to the latest state of the Golarion canon.
Moonscar is meant to be run before Nocticula's redemption. If you run it after, how it plays out is up to you, but in my opinion, it'd be better to run it as a "historical" adventure.
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Hello,
Some of the freelancers and team members at Paizo may have had their most formative gaming years on products you have created. As a writer/developer, what new things have you learned from junior freelancers?
In the LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES category: How important it is to hit deadlines, since when one misses it, it messes up everything down the road.
In the LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES category: How important it is to check your privilege and that it's super important to hire freelancers from as wide a range of backgrounds as possible.
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For a more specific example related to the above, have Sorshen and Nocticula gone basically chaste, or do they still indulge so long as it’s safe, sane, and consensual? Likewise, will Arshea and Lymnieris be “cleaned up” the next time they appear, if they ever do again?
The reason I’m asking these questions is that sex positivity, the notion that sex isn’t inherently bad, is a major component of social justice that often gets neglected for the sake of mainstream respectability.
Absolutely not chaste. You can be sexually active without being ONLY sexually active. Arshea and Lymnieris are fine as-is. It's not so much the sexuality that we wanted to clean up, but the cliche of "sexy woman has to be evil woman" one.
AKA: I hope we can continue to use sexuality and sex as story elements in the game as needed, in ways that won't scandalize a sizable portion of the public BUT also in ways that fight against portraying sex as evil. This is one of the MAIN reasons why I wanted to adjust the Azlanti virtues of rule, to change "chastity" into "love," for example.
That said, it's never going to be a topic we can tackle head on with the attention it deserves, I fear, since the whole fear//hatred of sex that infects the world (including the United States) means that Paizo is pretty timid about facing stories like this. We'll do what we can where and when we can, though, that's for sure.
A pity about the last part, but good to know Paizo's heart is in the right place, and belated thanks for your answer! : )
So, question, question... Ah, how about I get back to the first part?
So...does Sorshen have a type? (I'm guessing creative introverts. ; ) )
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So...does Sorshen have a type? (I'm guessing creative introverts. ; ) )As in a "Type" of thing she's into? She's bisexual, and isn't into overly masculine people, but otherwise doesn't really have a "type" that she prefers.
Well...that is informative, but I was asking about personality; what sorts interest her in particular?
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Hello, i was wondering if when you possess someone if you can give them control over the body while you're still inside their body.
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Well...that is informative, but I was asking about personality; what sorts interest her in particular?So...does Sorshen have a type? (I'm guessing creative introverts. ; ) )As in a "Type" of thing she's into? She's bisexual, and isn't into overly masculine people, but otherwise doesn't really have a "type" that she prefers.
That's not something that we've yet needed to explore in an adventure, so feel free to go with whatever you want, I guess. (We generally don't do full dating profiles for our NPCs.)
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Hello, i was wondering if when you possess someone if you can give them control over the body while you're still inside their body.
You absolutely can, but you can also seize back control in an instant as long as the possession is still active. You can let them do whatever you want to let them do, but nothing that you don't want to let them do.
It's not a nice thing to do, in other words.
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Dear James Jacobs,
If you did do dating profiles on the NPCs/major characters you've created, what would be the profile type for Nyarlathotep? What about Asmodeus?
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Dear James Jacobs,
If you did do dating profiles on the NPCs/major characters you've created, what would be the profile type for Nyarlathotep? What about Asmodeus?
Congratulations on asking a question so goofy that I'm not interested in dignifying it with an answer. :-P
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Seen the new Pet Sematary?
Hellknights and Eagle Knights both protect the weak and punish the weak. So I thought they would be best friends. But it is mentioned that the Goblinblood Wars were the only time they have fought alongside each other. So I have to ask you. Do they like each other, or hate each other?
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Hellknights and Eagle Knights both protect the weak and punish the weak. So I thought they would be best friends. But it is mentioned that the Goblinblood Wars were the only time they have fought alongside each other. So I have to ask you. Do they like each other, or hate each other?
That's grossly oversimplifying things. Particularly on the Hellknight side; they don't seek to protect the weak or punish the weak at all... they seek to protect the law and punish those who break the law, with each Hellknight order focusing on a specific type of laws. Eagle Knights exist to protect Andoran, which includes protecting weak AND strong in Andoran, and punishing weak AND strong enemies of Andoran. There's not really anything in either that compels them to "protect/punish the weak" at all.
Furthermore, Cheliax and Andoran are NOT allies. The Eagle Knights are very Andoran, and the Hellknights are very Cheliax. That alone would make them being "best friends" problematic at best.
The Goblinblood Wars took place in Isger, a country that shares borders with Andoran and Cheliax, and as such, danger and peril there is equally of interest to both nations to either side, for different reasons, and as such, organizations from those two nations did take part in the Goblinblood Wars. They had a common goal there—fight goblins.
The Eagle Knights hate diabolists and devils and those who would plot against Andoran. That includes some Hellknights, but by no stretch does it include all Hellknights. Furthermore, the Hellknights are mercenaries; they were founded in Cheliax and most of them live there, but they aren't government agents. They do their own thing and don't follow Cheliax's government's orders.
The Hellknights hate those who break laws. That does not include many Eagle Knights at all.
They don't "hate" or "like" each other as an overarching theme as a result.
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Oh, I'm sorry. I tried to write "protect the weak and punish the evil". I have no idea why I ended up writing "protect the weak and punish the weak" instead. Well, can I at least assume that both organizations protect the weak and punish the evil?
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Oh, I'm sorry. I tried to write "protect the weak and punish the evil". I have no idea why I ended up writing "protect the weak and punish the weak" instead. Well, can I at least assume that both organizations protect the weak and punish the evil?
Doesn't change my response at all. They don't seek to protect the weak and punish the evil.
They do different things, as detailed above. "Protect weak, punish evil" is an oversimplification and, frankly, kind of a boring creed for ANY group.
You can be weak and break the law, or evil and follow the law (and thus won't get in trouble with the Hellknights), and you can be weak and threaten Andoran and evil and not threaten Andoran (and thus you won't attract the attention of the Eagle Knights).
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Hellknights are very pro-Chelish groups. Most of the Hellknights orders are in Cheliax or pro-Chelish countries(Isger and Korvosa). But I found out the Order of the Scar operates in Taldor, Cheliax's sworn enemy. So I have a question. If an existing lesser Hellknight order decides to move their headquarters to Andoran, or if a newly created lesser Hellknight order decides to establish their headquarters in Andoran, would the Andoren government allow it? As you know, Hellknights are very pro-Cheliax and Andoran is very anti-Cheliax. So I honestly have no idea.
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Hellknights are very pro-Chelish groups. Most of the Hellknights orders are in Cheliax or pro-Chelish countries(Isger and Korvosa). But I found out the Order of the Scar operates in Taldor, Cheliax's sworn enemy. So I have a question. If an existing lesser Hellknight order decides to move their headquarters to Andoran, or if a newly created lesser Hellknight order decides to establish their headquarters in Andoran, would the Andoren government allow it? As you know, Hellknights are very pro-Cheliax and Andoran is very anti-Cheliax. So I honestly have no idea.
A Hellknight order springing up in Andoran is an interesting idea for an adventure or campaign. I could see that being an entire Adventure Path where all the players are Hellknights or Hellknight allies who are seeking to build a lawful good order in Andoran, and the campaign would be about securing the alliance and support of Andoran's government while simultaneously dealing with rival Hellknights and shenanigans from Cheliax.
So yeah, absolutely this could happen, but it wouldn't benefit from being a throwaway reference in a book. It'd deserve it's own big event to properly explore.
Among the Eagle Knights, the Gray Corsairs are infamous for raiding slave vessels and free the slaves, which would be a very illegal act according to the Chelish law. So, if the Gray Corsairs are discovered by some passing Hellknights while raiding slavers, would the Hellknights regard the Eagle Knights as criminals and attack them?
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Among the Eagle Knights, the Gray Corsairs are infamous for raiding slave vessels and free the slaves, which would be a very illegal act according to the Chelish law. So, if the Gray Corsairs are discovered by some passing Hellknights while raiding slavers, would the Hellknights regard the Eagle Knights as criminals and attack them?
If breaking slaver law is something that order of Hellknights was focused on punishing, yes. If not, maybe not.
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Hi James,
I've been watching and reviewing, in order of production, all of the Godzilla and Godzilla related Toho Kaiju films over the last few months. I am still somewhat in the middle of the Showa era of movies (Man there is a lot of these...).
Off the top of your head, what would be your favorite Toho Kaiju movies of this era?
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Hi James,
I've been watching and reviewing, in order of production, all of the Godzilla and Godzilla related Toho Kaiju films over the last few months. I am still somewhat in the middle of the Showa era of movies (Man there is a lot of these...).
Off the top of your head, what would be your favorite Toho Kaiju movies of this era?
First one's the best, hands down and no contest. It's one of my favorite Godzilla movies of them all.
Beyond that, I quite like Destroy All Monsters. And I've a soft spot in my heart for Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. Overall I enjoy most of them, with All Monsters Attack (AKA Godzilla's Revenge) being the one I like the least.
And it's not Godzilla, but War of the Gargantuas freaked me out as a kid—the idea of a kaiju eating people and spitting out their clothes left a mark on my brain.
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And it's not Godzilla, but War of the Gargantuas freaked me out as a kid—the idea of a kaiju eating people and spitting out their clothes left a mark on my brain.Hi James,
I've been watching and reviewing, in order of production, all of the Godzilla and Godzilla related Toho Kaiju films over the last few months. I am still somewhat in the middle of the Showa era of movies (Man there is a lot of these...).
Off the top of your head, what would be your favorite Toho Kaiju movies of this era?
Funny you mention that, I literally just watched that movie. And yeah, I was surprised how much people eating was in that movie.
I am super excited to get to the Heisei era films...I've only every seen the Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Destroyah. Do you have a favorite of those set of films?
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So, just got my PDF copy of Concordance of Rivals.
Given what we know of the shift away from Inevitables to Aeons as representatives of Law for 2E, how likely are the Primal Inevitables to crop up in the future?
(And the addition of The Survivor to the Asmodeus/Ihys story? GLORIOUS)
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Funny you mention that, I literally just watched that movie. And yeah, I was surprised how much people eating was in that movie.
I am super excited to get to the Heisei era films...I've only every seen the Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Destroyah. Do you have a favorite of those set of films?
Godzilla vs. Destroyah and Godzilla vs. Biolante are my favorites, but I need to give the Mothra and Ghidorah movies another look since I have only seen them in pan'n'scan dubbed.
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So, just got my PDF copy of Concordance of Rivals.
Given what we know of the shift away from Inevitables to Aeons as representatives of Law for 2E, how likely are the Primal Inevitables to crop up in the future?
(And the addition of The Survivor to the Asmodeus/Ihys story? GLORIOUS)
Very unlikely. Personally, I'm much more interested these days in exploring things we invent, rather than building off of purely D&D mythology. Which is what inevitables are.