Creative Director
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Something I've been pondering on for a bit, how long do you envision it takes wounds to last before they can't be healed/turn into permanent scars?
The game doesn't really address that at all, since from a player standpoint, that's not fun to be forced into lasting injuries. That's not the game's theme. As for NPCs, it takes precisely as long as you the GM want them to, since for NPCs you get to make arbitrary decisions like that. Without any other rules... I suggest just using real world scar formation information.
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Creative Director
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In your Demons vs Elves video, you mentioned you don't attend GenCon anymore. Can I ask why?
Because I don't enjoy conventions or crowds; they really bother me. Going to a convention when I am expected to be "on" pretty much 24/7 wrecks me both physically and even more so emotionally, and as a result I end up losing about 3 weeks (minimum) of productivity, and in the months leading up to it the building dread of the looming convention gives me insomnia and (in a few of the worst case scenarios) panic attacks. PaizoCon is bad enough... the fact that I can escape that convention as needed since it's local AND it's tens of thousands of people smaller makes it bearable for me, but that PLUS GenCon is a ruinous combination for me.
Beyond that, having a few people stay behind at Paizo who are in the upper tier of management while the bulk of the company is thousands of miles away is really helpful should any situation rise back at the home office.
And sending an employee to GenCon is a not-inconsiderable cost to the company—it makes sense to focus on sending employees who look forward to the show, will have fun at the show, and most importantly will be able to add a positive experience to the show both for themselves and for everyone they interact with. Me not going means that someone who can do those things CAN go, so that's a win for everyone involved.
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Does your dislike of conventions apply even if you were able to go as just another attendee, and not 'on the clock' as a representative of Paizo? Not just GenCon or PaizoCon, but conventions in general?
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Does your dislike of conventions apply even if you were able to go as just another attendee, and not 'on the clock' as a representative of Paizo? Not just GenCon or PaizoCon, but conventions in general?
I don't feel comfortable in crowds regardless of the reason I'm in a crowd. When I'm at a convention and I'm not working I can moderate my exposure to crowds and leave early, which helps. It also helps if I've got someone to hang out with which isn't always the case. So for the most part I just don't go to conventions at all. Not counting the ones I've been to as an employee to work the show, I've been to PAX once (spent the day with my nephew), DundraCon back in College once (a day trip since Davis was an hour drive away or so, but I was only at the convention itself for a few hours)... and that's about it.
People scare me, basically, I guess.
People scare me, basically, I guess.
We can be really scary!
On a less-frightening (maybe) topic, what is your favorite animal, and why?
EDIT: Ugh, the tone and grammar of this post reads all over the place. Editing for clarity.
Also, what animal (as in the type) do you wish made more appearances in various RPG products?
What non-animal creature do you wish made more appearances in various RPG products?
Also, for my own clarification, are the multiple posts (as done above) your preferred method of folks asking questions?
(I believe you've clarified in the past that it is, but it's so contrary to my normal habits of focusing on a single post, I am asking to be sure I'm doing it in the manner you find most preferable.)
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Creative Director
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People scare me, basically, I guess.We can be really scary!
On a less-frightening (maybe) topic, what is your favorite animal, and why?
EDIT: Ugh, the tone and grammar of this post reads all over the place. Editing for clarity.
It's a tie between cat and alligator lizard. Because they're adorable.
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Creative Director
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Also, for my own clarification, are the multiple posts (as done above) your preferred method of folks asking questions?
(I believe you've clarified in the past that it is, but it's so contrary to my normal habits of focusing on a single post, I am asking to be sure I'm doing it in the manner you find most preferable.)
Absolutely, because this makes posts easy to reply to, easy to reference when replying to, puts a throttle on walls of text, feels more interactive, and allows me to handle questions in bite sized chunks as I can rather than forcing me to sit down for a long period to answer a wall of text.
Awesome! Thanks!
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Creative Director
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How might a Pleroma Aeon become disconnected with the Monad? What type of event would cause that? Going to close to Greotus? Not coming back to home base for too long? Getting older and more powerful and starting to question your role in it all?
Dunno, haven't put any thought at all into that sort of story, but whatever it would be should be akin to an angel falling or a demon being redeemed; aka rare and worth telling a significant story/adventure about.
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Creative Director
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...didn't ask a question...
That's fun... but please only post questions here; the more there's back and forth discussion, the more difficult the thread gets to navigate for me and the more off-track it grows. So, please refrain from posting non-question posts in this thread. Thanks!
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Do you have a favorite Psychopomp Usher?
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Dear James Jacobs,
If people scare you, would you feel more comfortable in a crowd of gnomes or a crowd of goblins if such things had conventions?
Also would it help your anxiety to have either Robert J Schwalb or Wes Schneider with you? Or you prefer Erik Mona?
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
If people scare you, would you feel more comfortable in a crowd of gnomes or a crowd of goblins if such things had conventions?
Also would it help your anxiety to have either Robert J Schwalb or Wes Schneider with you? Or you prefer Erik Mona?
Neither. People are people, and crowds weird me out. I don't know Robert well enough to hang out with him. Hanging out with Wes or Erik would help, sure, but they're busy folks and have better things to do than babysit my neurosis.
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I don't think it's neurosis, but that's my opinion. Have you considered that these big conventions may become less attractive with age? It's called wisdom and... serenity, I think. I haven't been to a big crowd 'anything' for years now, and I prefer to hand out quests to young, willing adventurers.
For instance, I may join my family at a {medium to small} county fair, grab something to eat, watch my kids do a few rides, but there's an internal digital clock with a countdown of one hour, after which I hand out cash like crazy and disappear to my car or the lonely bleachers where they parade prized livestock, where I can read away the rest of the afternoon. I'm glad I never took a liking to drugs and alcohol... :P
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In theme with the agoraphobia (assuming that would be a valid term for it), do you also eschew musical concerts?
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Hello James and thank you for your time! Here's something I've been wondering about. All signs on earth and sky (as far as they are visible to the fans at least) point to the Oracle becoming essentially a Sorcerer class option. Now, that in and of itself raises a lot of questions (Are we going to see bloodlines modeling mysteries? What's happening with Curses? Archetypes? Part of the "mysterious bloodlines"? Ahhhh!), but my guess would be that you're not at liberty to reveal that information at the moment :) . So, here's my actual question: how does Oracle becoming part of the Sorcerer class going to affect Golarion lore? Are Oracles still considered a seperate thing? Or are they being retconned into literal "divine sorcerers"?
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Creative Director
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In theme with the agoraphobia (assuming that would be a valid term for it), do you also eschew musical concerts?
I've only been to one concert: John Carpenter. It was amazing. I don't avoid concerts because of the crowds though. Same thing for movies or plays. Once the lights go down you can focus on the stage or screen and forget you're in a crowd. I do prefer sitting in the back though so I don't feel surrounded while I wait for the show to start.
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Creative Director
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I don't think it's neurosis, but that's my opinion. Have you considered that these big conventions may become less attractive with age? It's called wisdom and... serenity, I think. I haven't been to a big crowd 'anything' for years now, and I prefer to hand out quests to young, willing adventurers.
For instance, I may join my family at a {medium to small} county fair, grab something to eat, watch my kids do a few rides, but there's an internal digital clock with a countdown of one hour, after which I hand out cash like crazy and disappear to my car or the lonely bleachers where they parade prized livestock, where I can read away the rest of the afternoon. I'm glad I never took a liking to drugs and alcohol... :P
I've not enjoyed conventions or crowds or parties or things like that from the start. It's not an age thing. It's a me thing.
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Creative Director
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Hello James and thank you for your time! Here's something I've been wondering about. All signs on earth and sky (as far as they are visible to the fans at least) point to the Oracle becoming essentially a Sorcerer class option. Now, that in and of itself raises a lot of questions (Are we going to see bloodlines modeling mysteries? What's happening with Curses? Archetypes? Part of the "mysterious bloodlines"? Ahhhh!), but my guess would be that you're not at liberty to reveal that information at the moment :) . So, here's my actual question: how does Oracle becoming part of the Sorcerer class going to affect Golarion lore? Are Oracles still considered a seperate thing? Or are they being retconned into literal "divine sorcerers"?
Still not time to do deep dives into 2nd edition. Please ask again after Gen Con.
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Suppose somehow, through some powerful magic/winning some lottery that gives you controlling interest in Toho Studios/whatever, that you, James Jacobs, got to make a Godzilla movie.
Would you go relatively heavy on multiple other kaiju (in the vein of Destroy all Monsters, or Final Wars, or Giant Monsters All-Out Attack) or would you keep it just Godilla and maybe one other creature (Gojira, Godzilla Raids Again, The Return of Godzilla, or the likes of Godzilla vs. Biollante?
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Creative Director
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What would be your top choice for an IP to be converted to a movie or TV series (aside from Pathfinder), which has never been done before, or at least never done with high budgets and production values?
Lovecraft. Which, hopefully, Lovecraft Country, coming soon on HBO thanks to Jordan Peele, will soon be taken care of!
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Creative Director
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Suppose somehow, through some powerful magic/winning some lottery that gives you controlling interest in Toho Studios/whatever, that you, James Jacobs, got to make a Godzilla movie.
Would you go relatively heavy on multiple other kaiju (in the vein of Destroy all Monsters, or Final Wars, or Giant Monsters All-Out Attack) or would you keep it just Godilla and maybe one other creature (Gojira, Godzilla Raids Again, The Return of Godzilla, or the likes of Godzilla vs. Biollante?
It'd be more akin to Cloverfield and the original Godzilla. A kaiju movie that's also a horror movie, but that also serves to explore an allegory in a way similar to the original being about nuclear bombs, or Shin Godzilla being in part about the earthquake and Fukushima disaster.
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Would you have gone to Woodstock (the original one in 1969) had you been of an age to do so? I might have, but the Army wanted me in Texas. :-)
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Creative Director
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Would a Dominion of the Black book be more likely to pop up in Starfinder or Pathfinder 2nd Edition? I'd love to see stats on the Dominion top brass but I understand that's a tricky situation picking between the two systems.
Why can't it be both?
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You don't need paperwork to go to Hell. I'm not sure what you're asking for.So what is the best ways to obtain paperwork for traveling to Hell?
(yes, my party insist on obtaining those :p They want to have something to show patrols and guards)
Ah, sorry.
I meant that they are trying to figure out how to obtain paperwork they could show to Hell's guards and patrols to get them off their backs (in the "Hey, we have legal means to be here so you can't touch us!" kind of way), so I'm kind of unsure on how to deal with that.
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You don't need paperwork to go to Hell. I'm not sure what you're asking for.So what is the best ways to obtain paperwork for traveling to Hell?
(yes, my party insist on obtaining those :p They want to have something to show patrols and guards)
Ah, sorry.
I meant that they are trying to figure out how to obtain paperwork they could show to Hell's guards and patrols to get them off their backs (in the "Hey, we have legal means to be here so you can't touch us!" kind of way), so I'm kind of unsure on how to deal with that.
Would an infernal contract with a high-ranking devil to allow free passage in Hell in exchange for your soul be something that works in terms of 'paperwork'? :P :) :P
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Creative Director
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You don't need paperwork to go to Hell. I'm not sure what you're asking for.So what is the best ways to obtain paperwork for traveling to Hell?
(yes, my party insist on obtaining those :p They want to have something to show patrols and guards)
Ah, sorry.
I meant that they are trying to figure out how to obtain paperwork they could show to Hell's guards and patrols to get them off their backs (in the "Hey, we have legal means to be here so you can't touch us!" kind of way), so I'm kind of unsure on how to deal with that.
If you want to give the PCs a chance to not fight in Hell and just wander around like they're supposed to be there, make it easy for them. If that feels anticlimactic and off-kilter to you, make it harder, or make them have to make checks more often to prove their legitimacy of their papers. It'd be Forgery to do fake ones, and Diplomacy to arrange real ones. It's really left to you to decide as the GM, depending on what sort of adventure you want to run.
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Creative Director
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Would an infernal contract with a high-ranking devil to allow free passage in Hell in exchange for your soul be something that works in terms of 'paperwork'? :P :) :P
Again... it could absolutely do this, but only if you, the GM, want to run a combat light or no combat adventure set in Hell.
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Thank you for the tip! Also, speaking of hell and infernal contracts, that reminded me of one question:
What happens to infernal contract if creatures dies while trying to fulfill it, but archfiend/Asmodeus decides to restore creature back to life later on? Is contract considered nulled/fulfilled or does it still apply?
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Creative Director
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Thank you for the tip! Also, speaking of hell and infernal contracts, that reminded me of one question:
What happens to infernal contract if creatures dies while trying to fulfill it, but archfiend/Asmodeus decides to restore creature back to life later on? Is contract considered nulled/fulfilled or does it still apply?
In most cases, the dead creature's soul just goes straight to Hell, and whatever closure conditions for the contract take place. A devil restoring someone to life after this is VERY rare, and while the previous one is fulfilled, I can't imagine any scenario where the resurrectee doesn't get a new, MUCH more restrictive and punishing and disadvantageous to them contract put on them this second go at life.
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Thank you :) I was trying to figure out whether Ileosa should retain devilbound template if I used the "she comes back as mythic vampire" option from continuing the campaign section, but I did want to know in general how the contracts work.
There is one more devil related question I'm trying to figure out: So Lorthact's goal is to buy himself back into hell after he got exiled by Eiseth unless I misunderstood something. Thing I'm wondering about though is that who in Hell has power to protect him from Eiseth? I mean, queens of night and archfiends are equal power wise and I don't think Eiseth can be easily placated with bribes.
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I'm currently reading through Rise Of The Runelords (little late to the party) and one particular sentence stood out to me. In the part about the Ravenous Crypts of Gluttony it says (paraphrasing from the German book): "Zutha instructed his deputies in the runeforge to find a way to split his phylactery into three parts. [...] Should the PCs try to find out more about it, even magic like Commune or Contact Other Planes fail, as not even the gods know what happened to it."
I was pretty surprised by this and it got me thinking:
What was the reason to include this part? Was Zutha so powerful In-world that he was able to hide his phylactery even from the gods through magic?
Or was it mainly to prevent spoiling this information for later adventures like Return Of The Runelords?
(I know this is an incredibly specific question and I'm sorry, I'm just a sucker for details in this magnificent world you guys created :))
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Going off my earlier question: what is the limit of a gods' knowledge (apart from me as the DM deciding giving out certain information is bad for the game/plot/fun)?
Or put another way: how do gods perceive reality, which (if any) barriers exist for their senses to enter?
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Creative Director
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There is one more devil related question I'm trying to figure out: So Lorthact's goal is to buy himself back into hell after he got exiled by Eiseth unless I misunderstood something. Thing I'm wondering about though is that who in Hell has power to protect him from Eiseth? I mean, queens of night and archfiends are equal power wise and I don't think Eiseth can be easily placated with bribes.
That's all part of the ongoing story; not everything involved there has been laid out in full detail, but to a certain extent in situations like this, there are stipulations in contracts or the like that offer protection and such. I'm 99% sure we haven't gone into detail on that yet in this case, and don't know if or when we ever will.