Creative Director
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Okay, I figured as much, but I was a little uncertain. Follow up question: do incubi have the same weakness?Succubi have a very weird change to their mechanics: the ability to harm them psychically with rejection. Does this mean that asexual or homosexual characters just deal damage to them by existing near them?No.
The mechanics by which this weakness comes into play are specifically detailed in the text, and mentions nothing about homosexuality, aesexualty, or anything else. It ONLY triggers when the specific situation in the text occurs. The sexuality of the succubus or the other person involved is entirely and completely irrelevant to how this works.
We haven't created incubi in the game yet. The design team wanted to make sure that we preserved incubi as a potential different demon (my preference was to not include incubi and have the word "incubus" simply be a word for a male-presenting succubus, but that got overruled), so that means they should be their own thing and not just a re-skinned succubus; they should have different powers and abilities and weaknesses, which they did in 1st edition.
So, while the incubus hasn't yet been statted up for 2nd edition, no, it won't have the same weakness as a succubus.
(I'm not sure we'll ever update the incubus for 2nd edition, frankly. I feel like the succubus, with their ability to change shape, covers the role perfectly already. The succubus is already uncomfortably close to a rapist demon... language we deliberately tried our best to avoid while still retaining the thematic elements of the monster. A male version of the same is even more difficult to pull off, and I really think that sort of creature is best reserved for home games in groups who are consenting to the inclusion of that sort of content at their table. Pathfinder is increasingly a mass market high-profile game, and full-on violent, graphic sexual content is not something we want to include in print.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Are there cambions on Golarion?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Might Cambions, Apostate Devils, and Locust Demons end up in Bestiary 2? Or is that too far off?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since many of us are still evaluating the new rules (just look at the long threads), what is a good way to distinguish between "Broken" and "Do Not Like"?
For example, I "do not like" the new PF2 monetary system, but it is not actually "Broken".
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hi James! Just digging into 2e now, been enjoying it so far!
At its height, about how far did Tar Taargadth’s territory extend?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Would it be safe to assume there's no real way to "ethically source" dragon scales for the purposes of armor-crafting, like by exclusively using scales shed by still-living dragons? Like, to get enough useable dragon scales to make a suit of armor, you pretty much HAVE to kill a dragon and flay it?
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Might Cambions, Apostate Devils, and Locust Demons end up in Bestiary 2? Or is that too far off?
Anything's possible. The list of Bestiary 2 monsters is complete and writing is almost done and all the art has been ordered.
I know what that list is, and it's one that I advised on but did not craft myself. In any case, we're many months away from starting to talk in detail about it.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Since many of us are still evaluating the new rules (just look at the long threads), what is a good way to distinguish between "Broken" and "Do Not Like"?
For example, I "do not like" the new PF2 monetary system, but it is not actually "Broken".
If you try something out in play and it ruins the experience by making the game unplayable or simply doesn't work as it was intended, then it's broken. You won't know if it's broken or not, really, until you play.
Do not like is more emotional and opinion based. It's something that someone else might like a lot.
Note that often, broken content is things that folks REALLY like because it gives them unfair advantages in the game. If we'd published something that allowed fighters to regain twice the damage that they suffer in combat as healing, that's obviously broken, but I bet there'd be lots of those who like playing fighters loving it!
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hi James! Just digging into 2e now, been enjoying it so far!
At its height, about how far did Tar Taargadth’s territory extend?
See page 213 of the Inner Sea World Guide. (AKA: About as far as the Five Kings Mountains does today, but into Darkmoon Vale as well.)
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Would it be safe to assume there's no real way to "ethically source" dragon scales for the purposes of armor-crafting, like by exclusively using scales shed by still-living dragons? Like, to get enough useable dragon scales to make a suit of armor, you pretty much HAVE to kill a dragon and flay it?
Scales fall off of things. You could scavange scales like that, or strike a deal with a dragon to get scales. It'd be analogous to someone harvesting hair or fingernail clippings from someone... but maybe a little less creepy.
I was curious if you know (or had a head canon) which “criminal syndicate” was “exploiting” Rodric’s Cove that Jana G. ford to? Was it a crime boss? An unaffiliated criminal organization? Are they a Riddleport-specific thing, or just kind of happen to be in the area? (Like an unofficial arm of the Aspis Consortium or something, maybe called the “Cindersnake Aquirers” or whatever; not necessarily that name or group, but as an example.)
And how does that work, exactly?
Is it something like:
- OFFICIALLY: the ‘Cove pays protection money “taxes” to Riddleport
- UNOFFICIALLY: JG Sr. was skimming the “taxes” and sharing with <crime group>
?
It’s an interesting tidbit I’m interested in weaving into background material as we play through Second Darkness, but is love to know how such things fit in. Thanks!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since many of us are still evaluating the new rules (just look at the long threads), what is a good way to distinguish between "Broken" and "Do Not Like"?
For example, I "do not like" the new PF2 monetary system, but it is not actually "Broken".
If you try something out in play and it ruins the experience by making the game unplayable or simply doesn't work as it was intended, then it's broken. You won't know if it's broken or not, really, until you play.
Do not like is more emotional and opinion based. It's something that someone else might like a lot.
Note that often, broken content is things that folks REALLY like because it gives them unfair advantages in the game. If we'd published something that allowed fighters to regain twice the damage that they suffer in combat as healing, that's obviously broken, but I bet there'd be lots of those who like playing fighters loving it!
When posting commentary, is it helpful for developers (of which you are one) for us to designate "do not like" as opposed to "broken"?
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was curious if you know (or had a head canon) which “criminal syndicate” was “exploiting” Rodric’s Cove that Jana G. ford to? Was it a crime boss? An unaffiliated criminal organization? Are they a Riddleport-specific thing, or just kind of happen to be in the area? (Like an unofficial arm of the Aspis Consortium or something, maybe called the “Cindersnake Aquirers” or whatever; not necessarily that name or group, but as an example.)
And how does that work, exactly?
Is it something like:
- OFFICIALLY: the ‘Cove paysprotection money“taxes” to Riddleport
- UNOFFICIALLY: JG Sr. was skimming the “taxes” and sharing with <crime group>
?It’s an interesting tidbit I’m interested in weaving into background material as we play through Second Darkness, but is love to know how such things fit in. Thanks!
One of the crimelords in Riddleport; there's several of them who serve as the city's ruling council. It never really mattered in the flow of the adventure so I never really put much thought into exactly which one was the one exploiting Roderic's Cove. But it was basically "We'll not attack your town if you pay us regular, understand?" and then Jana was skimming those taxes for herself.
|
Creative Director
|
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
When posting commentary, is it helpful for developers (of which you are one) for us to designate "do not like" as opposed to "broken"?
It's good to not use either, frankly, but if you want to use one, use "Do not like" or, perhaps, "do not understand." The word "broken" has been used SO much on the internet as a one-word version of "the game designer doesn't know the rules to their own game and are bad at their job which is the only way this rule could ever have seen print" that when we see someone complaining about a "broken" thing, it puts us on the defensive and makes us sad and less likely to want to delve into the topic because there's enough depression in the world already.
If you see a rule that seems strange or faulty or whatever... be calm and respectful and don't be insulting and you'll get a lot more mileage. And if no one answers your question, don't get impatient and entitled... stay patient, post again, and stay calm.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Which characters come to your mind on the topic of great female role models in fiction? (I'd also be interested in the why, if you care to elaborate).The first five who come to mind for me:
Robin from Stranger Things 3.
Ellen Ripley from Alien.
Uhura from Star Trek.
Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.
If possible, would you be so kind to give like one trait per person that makes them strong or just that you associate with them?
I will research them anyway, but I also value your opinion, seeing the great job you guys at Paizo are doing in depicting female characters. And I'm trying to do a better job as DM in the same vein.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, now that Xulgath is for all of the Reptilians Formerly Known as Troglodytes, what does that mean for the Qlippoth-worshipping, occult magic-using, "slaughter their miserable [Troglodyte] kin on sight" Xulgaths who showed up in the Occult Bestiary?
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Which characters come to your mind on the topic of great female role models in fiction? (I'd also be interested in the why, if you care to elaborate).The first five who come to mind for me:
Robin from Stranger Things 3.
Ellen Ripley from Alien.
Uhura from Star Trek.
Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.
If possible, would you be so kind to give like one trait per person that makes them strong or just that you associate with them?
I will research them anyway, but I also value your opinion, seeing the great job you guys at Paizo are doing in depicting female characters. And I'm trying to do a better job as DM in the same vein.
Robin: Pro-active, doesn't wait for the guys to come up with an idea because she has a better idea first and goes for it. Plus the fact that...
Ellen Ripley because the original character was written as a man in the original script, but when they cast Sigourney Weaver in the role and didn't adjust the role to make it stereotypically feminine resulted in a MUCH more realistic character, and the fact that she was a strong, hyper-capable female hero in a genre dominated by male heroes at the time opened up a lot of eyes that needed opening AND gave women a strong character to identify with.
Uhura for being a black woman on network TV who wasn't cast in a role as a maid. I think this one more than the others is pretty much the most universally obvious role model choice.
Scout: Being not racist in a racist regime.
Arya Stark: For being strong enough to resist turning into a villain, despite having stuff happen to her that in lesser hands would push toward a cliched villain origin story. And for being a member of a royal family who wasn't a pushover princess.
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
So, now that Xulgath is for all of the Reptilians Formerly Known as Troglodytes, what does that mean for the Qlippoth-worshipping, occult magic-using, "slaughter their miserable [Troglodyte] kin on sight" Xulgaths who showed up in the Occult Bestiary?
A lot of the monsters in Occult Bestiary came into existence with a "Let's take a current monster but re-skin it as a slightly more/less powerful version with occult magic." It wasn't a very enjoyable matrix to design and develop new monsters, frankly, and was kind of restrictive.
There will still be some occult-magic using Xulgaths out there who worship qlippoth, but they'll likely be presented as members of a specific group, and the use of the name for them (which wasn't the original intent) will be, at some point, forgotten.
AKA: It was an error, and we are fixing it.
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Why were some PF1 magical beasts (like ankhegs and purple worms) and shoggoths re-classified in PF2 as animals and aberrations respectively?
Because we got rid of the "magical beast" category. Whether or not we gave a creature a beast or aberration trait depended on a combination of things ranging from that person's personal taste and desire, the amount of "weird" in the monster, and whether or not we had a glut or shortage of beast or aberration in that level band.
I would have preferred keeping the shoggoth with the ooze trait, but the design team felt it was important to keep creatures with the ooze trait as being relatively simple and very unintelligent, neither of which a shoggoth is.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hi, James.
There's an NPC in Hellknight Hill called Alak Stagram. He is presented with a polearm weapon on pg. 20, but his stats mention that he uses a greatsword. My question is: What is the weapon that he holds in the illustration?
The art is wrong. Think of it as a "what if" illustration of him in the future after he becomes a Hellknight of the Nail (the weapon he holds is a halberd, the weapon of choice of that Hellknight order).
His stats are correct.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
During the 2E Advanced Player's Guide announcements, it seemed that it would be positioned as a "core" book (pretty much a baseline book expected at every table along with the CRB and Bestiary). However, in the 2E APG, we will be getting "new" Ancestries in the planar scions, tengu, catfolk etc (the 1E APG included ideas that became core to Pathfinder including traits, archetypes and new classes but did not have new Races).
Does this mean we might expect broader representation of these "new" Ancestries in future materials (NPCs in adventure paths, number of feats and story development on part with those in CRB, possibly even an iconic from those races)?
And now that 2E has launched, is there any chance we will continue with exploring the iconics on Twitch?
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
During the 2E Advanced Player's Guide announcements, it seemed that it would be positioned as a "core" book (pretty much a baseline book expected at every table along with the CRB and Bestiary). However, in the 2E APG, we will be getting "new" Ancestries in the planar scions, tengu, catfolk etc (the 1E APG included ideas that became core to Pathfinder including traits, archetypes and new classes but did not have new Races).
Does this mean we might expect broader representation of these "new" Ancestries in future materials (NPCs in adventure paths, number of feats and story development on part with those in CRB, possibly even an iconic from those races)?
And now that 2E has launched, is there any chance we will continue with exploring the iconics on Twitch?
It does mean that you can expect more of those ancestries to show up. Stay tuned.
As for the iconics Twitch stream, I'd LOVE to keep doing them, but the switchover on the team there has thrown some monkey wrenches into the scheduling, combined with the 2nd edition launch wreaking havoc. Hopefully we'll get back to regular weekly lore shows some day soon.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
See page 213 of the Inner Sea World Guide. (AKA: About as far as the Five Kings Mountains does today, but into Darkmoon Vale as well.)Hi James! Just digging into 2e now, been enjoying it so far!
At its height, about how far did Tar Taargadth’s territory extend?
Ah, derp, I totally forgot they were on that map. Thanks!
In 1e, I always felt like Pathfinder stayed very on message with “the Paladin is this specific thing, with this specific alignment, the antipaladin is the only exception and there are no other alignments.” What then promoted the change to the Champion in 2e, especially since it feels like there is room in that class to grow into the other six alignments?
|
Creative Director
|
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
In 1e, I always felt like Pathfinder stayed very on message with “the Paladin is this specific thing, with this specific alignment, the antipaladin is the only exception and there are no other alignments.” What then promoted the change to the Champion in 2e, especially since it feels like there is room in that class to grow into the other six alignments?
The association with the word "paladin" to the lawful good alignment is not something that was ever seriously on the table to be changed, but the idea of having a sort of crusader-type religious warrior role that wasn't shackled to one alignment was something important to the game. The role and niche of this character is too important to throw away, but having it only be for paladins made it too limiting—paladins ended up being more disruptive to most groups than evil characters, since at least evil characters have three alignments they can use to at least fit partially in.
By changing the name of the class but then keeping "paladin" as the name of the lawful good version of the class, we got to have our cake and eat it too. There was already a precedent for this sort of thing with some other classes (Wizards have necromancers and illusionists and so on under their group, for example), and once we figured that out, the rest eventually fell into place. There was a lot of back and forth as to what to call the overall class—my preference was to have called it the Knight, since to me, "champion" is a weird thing to call a neutral character and an even weirder thing to call an evil character, whereas "knight" feels alignment agnostic. Crusader and templar and a few other names were in the mix. Champion won out in the end tough as you see.
The fact that this change comes with some built-in areas to expand into was particularly exciting, though. But just as exciting to me, this lets us keep the word "paladin" and what that means in-world completely the same. Paladins and Lawful Good go together in the same way peanut butter and chocolate do, and the idea of a non-lawful good paladin always left a bitter taste in my mouth. But now... there are NEVER going to be non-lawful good paladins, and there'll be plenty of other champions to fill the other alignments. It's a solution that works for eveyrone.
I just hope we come up with compelling niches for those other 6 roles. I was hired to write alternate paladins for the other 8 alignments for Dragon Magazine #310 and #312 many years ago, and coming up with roles for a few were easy... but those neutral ones were TOUGH.
Might Cambions, Apostate Devils, and Locust Demons end up in Bestiary 2? Or is that too far off?Anything's possible. The list of Bestiary 2 monsters is complete and writing is almost done and all the art has been ordered.
I know what that list is, and it's one that I advised on but did not craft myself. In any case, we're many months away from starting to talk in detail about it.
So you're saying I should wait until Bestiary 3 to see any the ones I wanted? Does that include Rakshasas?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Having worn a sword as part of my uniform on occasion during my active duty days, I can attest that drawing with your left hand a sword hung on the left side of your belt is... awkward, to say the least. Yet I've noticed several illustrations recently where characters with their scabbard hung from the left side of their belt are wielding the sword with their left hand. What's up with that?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Come to think on it, it seems like almost every character depicted lately is left handed. Was that deliberate, a coincidence, or something else?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've some more questions about "elfropology:"
The 2e Corebook states that the average elf only shares their personal name with family members, providing a nickname for others to refer to them, and one elf can accumulate a large number of these nicknames over the course of their long life. Are the sample names that follow (Aerel, Dardlara, etc.) supposed to be examples of real elven personal names or nicknames? Are the nicknames supposed to be "name-like" or would they be something more like "Greenleaf" or "Strongbow?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In 1e, I always felt like Pathfinder stayed very on message with “the Paladin is this specific thing, with this specific alignment, the antipaladin is the only exception and there are no other alignments.” What then promoted the change to the Champion in 2e, especially since it feels like there is room in that class to grow into the other six alignments?...
The fact that this change comes with some built-in areas to expand into was particularly exciting, though. But just as exciting to me, this lets us keep the word "paladin" and what that means in-world completely the same. Paladins and Lawful Good go together in the same way peanut butter and chocolate do, and the idea of a non-lawful good paladin always left a bitter taste in my mouth. But now... there are NEVER going to be non-lawful good paladins, and there'll be plenty of other champions to fill the other alignments. It's a solution that works for eveyrone.
I just hope we come up with compelling niches for those other 6 roles. I was hired to write alternate paladins for the other 8 alignments for Dragon Magazine #310 and #312 many years ago, and coming up with roles for a few were easy... but those neutral ones were TOUGH.
Yeah, I remember you talking about those issues in the past. If it's any conciliation, they were and remain two of my favourite articles from Dragon Magazine! I'm looking forward to seeing another take on it with the Champion!
Thanks as always for your patience with our questions. That was some valuable insight, I really appreciate it.
I just hope we come up with compelling niches for those other 6 roles. I was hired to write alternate paladins for the other 8 alignments for Dragon Magazine #310 and #312 many years ago, and coming up with roles for a few were easy... but those neutral ones were TOUGH.
Do you think this could work?
Use clerics' divine font as a precedent. Have three pairs of reaction - LG/LE, NG/NE, CG/CE. If you're any of those alignments, it's easy: you get the appropriate champion reaction.
If you're LN, TN, or CN, though, it depends on whether your god allows heal or harm.
An LG Abadar champions gets the LG reaction, and if LE gets LE, but if he's LN he gets to pick because Abadar lets his clerics pick.
But a LN champion of Torag can only get the LG reaction. An LG champion of Zon-Kuthon can only get the LE reaction.
LN Pharasmin champions get the LG reaction. True neutral Pharasmins get the NG reaction.
---
(Personally, if a player wanted to play LG, but wanted the CG champion reaction, I don't think it'd break anything, honestly.)
---
Now, what should the evil champion reactions do?
All the good ones block damage when people attack your allies (or noncombatants, if you consider them your allies?). Do any of these options sound good?
1. Super simple and boring: the evil ones give them extra damage on their next attack against whoever attacks them.
2. The evil ones could reward the champion when people attack his allies or noncombatants. (It means he wants you to kill his minions first, or to fight when innocents are around to target. However, this is useless if he's the only foe you're facing.)
3. The evil ones could punish you for missing his allies (and him?). Adding insult to injury.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
So you're saying I should wait until Bestiary 3 to see any the ones I wanted? Does that include Rakshasas?Might Cambions, Apostate Devils, and Locust Demons end up in Bestiary 2? Or is that too far off?Anything's possible. The list of Bestiary 2 monsters is complete and writing is almost done and all the art has been ordered.
I know what that list is, and it's one that I advised on but did not craft myself. In any case, we're many months away from starting to talk in detail about it.
I'm not saying that at all.
Those monsters might show up in Bestiary 3, Bestiary 4, Bestiary 34, or never in a bestiary at all.
They also might show up in an Adventure Path Bestiary, or a product akin to Inner Sea Bestiary, or in an appendix in another adventure or world book... Or never at all.
And there's a TINY chance that they might be things that get into Bestiary 2 at the last minute. Sometimes we have art or alphabetization issues that require last-minute swap outs, and being able to pull a monster with existing art helps in that regard if it's a late game change.
No plans yet for cambions, apostate devils, and locust demons. That doesn't mean NEVER plans, nor does it mean "in the next unannounced book."
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Having worn a sword as part of my uniform on occasion during my active duty days, I can attest that drawing with your left hand a sword hung on the left side of your belt is... awkward, to say the least. Yet I've noticed several illustrations recently where characters with their scabbard hung from the left side of their belt are wielding the sword with their left hand. What's up with that?
Artists are often not weapon-trained, and as such they sometimes make errors like that. A left side scabbard is less of an issue to me than, say, a bowstring on the outside of the arm (my personal pet peeve).
But it's not the type of error most folks will notice, so I'm not too worried about it.
If it bothers you, remember that we don't have rules for hand dominance in the game so feel free to assume whenever you see an illustration like this that the character is ambidextrous.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Come to think on it, it seems like almost every character depicted lately is left handed. Was that deliberate, a coincidence, or something else?
Coincidence. As I said earlier the game doesn't care if you're left-handed, right-handed, or ambidextrous.
This is in part to simplify game play.
But it's also because that way we don't have to track hand dominance for every single creature we might illustrate more than once, and don't have to worry about what happens if, for layout reasons, we have to mirror a piece of art so that it looks more elegant on the page.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've some more questions about "elfropology:"
The 2e Corebook states that the average elf only shares their personal name with family members, providing a nickname for others to refer to them, and one elf can accumulate a large number of these nicknames over the course of their long life. Are the sample names that follow (Aerel, Dardlara, etc.) supposed to be examples of real elven personal names or nicknames? Are the nicknames supposed to be "name-like" or would they be something more like "Greenleaf" or "Strongbow?"
Those are personal names. Nicknames would be things like Cutter or Skywise or the like, yeah.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, I remember you talking about those issues in the past. If it's any conciliation, they were and remain two of my favourite articles from Dragon Magazine! I'm looking forward to seeing another take on it with the Champion!
Thanks as always for your patience with our questions. That was some valuable insight, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for the feedback, but please justify and validate posts here by asking questions, so that the cadence of the thread continues along. :-P
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just hope we come up with compelling niches for those other 6 roles. I was hired to write alternate paladins for the other 8 alignments for Dragon Magazine #310 and #312 many years ago, and coming up with roles for a few were easy... but those neutral ones were TOUGH.Do you think this could work?
Use clerics' divine font as a precedent. Have three pairs of reaction - LG/LE, NG/NE, CG/CE. If you're any of those alignments, it's easy: you get the appropriate champion reaction.
If you're LN, TN, or CN, though, it depends on whether your god allows heal or harm.
An LG Abadar champions gets the LG reaction, and if LE gets LE, but if he's LN he gets to pick because Abadar lets his clerics pick.
But a LN champion of Torag can only get the LG reaction. An LG champion of Zon-Kuthon can only get the LE reaction.
LN Pharasmin champions get the LG reaction. True neutral Pharasmins get the NG reaction.
---
(Personally, if a player wanted to play LG, but wanted the CG champion reaction, I don't think it'd break anything, honestly.)
---
Now, what should the evil champion reactions do?
All the good ones block damage when people attack your allies (or noncombatants, if you consider them your allies?). Do any of these options sound good?
1. Super simple and boring: the evil ones give them extra damage on their next attack against whoever attacks them.
2. The evil ones could reward the champion when people attack his allies or noncombatants. (It means he wants you to kill his minions first, or to fight when innocents are around to target. However, this is useless if he's the only foe you're facing.)
3. The evil ones could punish you for missing his allies (and him?). Adding insult to injury.
I don't want to set a precedent for a back and forth design workshop in this thread. My preference would be to hand-craft each champion rather than follow patterns or templates. They're more interesting that way.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Is there a named devil or some other evil outsider that uses halberd as a personal weapon?
Yup. A quick scan through the favored weapons of these fiend demigods in Inner Sea Gods lists the following:
Tresmalvos (daemon harbinger)
Deumus (infernal duke)
Yamasoth (qlippoth lord)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The 2e Corebook states that the average elf only shares their personal name with family members, providing a nickname for others to refer to them, and one elf can accumulate a large number of these nicknames over the course of their long life. Are the sample names that follow (Aerel, Dardlara, etc.) supposed to be examples of real elven personal names or nicknames? Are the nicknames supposed to be "name-like" or would they be something more like "Greenleaf" or "Strongbow?"
Was this concept at all inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem "The Naming of Cats", or is it just a coincidence?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The 2e Corebook states that the average elf only shares their personal name with family members, providing a nickname for others to refer to them, and one elf can accumulate a large number of these nicknames over the course of their long life. Are the sample names that follow (Aerel, Dardlara, etc.) supposed to be examples of real elven personal names or nicknames? Are the nicknames supposed to be "name-like" or would they be something more like "Greenleaf" or "Strongbow?"Was this concept at all inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem "The Naming of Cats", or is it just a coincidence?
As far as I'm aware it's a coincidence.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
How happy are you about Bezlarue being the “iconic” Tiefling in the Bestiary?
Heh. I was wondering if anyone'd notice that. I had Sarah use Bezlarue's art as the reference for the Bestiary tiefling; it's not QUITE scientifically accurate, since Bezlarue has red horns, black hair, and fights with daggers, not a staff... but yeah, still fun!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
How happy are you about Bezlarue being the “iconic” Tiefling in the Bestiary?Heh. I was wondering if anyone'd notice that. I had Sarah use Bezlarue's art as the reference for the Bestiary tiefling; it's not QUITE scientifically accurate, since Bezlarue has red horns, black hair, and fights with daggers, not a staff... but yeah, still fun!
Yay! And hehe, I had noticed it right off, but since I got my books early I had to sit on that knowledge... then I got distracted hehe.
Did you create any of the new monsters in the Bestiary?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Those monsters might show up in Bestiary 3, Bestiary 4, Bestiary 34, or never in a bestiary at all.
Sweet! Bestiary 34 confirmed!!! (I kid xD )
I have noticed that 2e has a much more GM driven focus (rather then the PC driven focus I have noticed 1e had). As the creative director, how much influence did you have with the developers in making the new edition?
|
Creative Director
|
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have noticed that 2e has a much more GM driven focus (rather then the PC driven focus I have noticed 1e had). As the creative director, how much influence did you have with the developers in making the new edition?
I like to think I had a lot of influence, but in fact this is a direction pretty much ALL of us, be we developers or designers or editors or publishers, wanted the game to go in. It was one of the original core goals of the game's reworking—to give more agency to GMs.
The player-driven focus of 1st edition was a legacy of 3rd edition D&D, which was an innovation at the time (with earlier editions being very GM driven, tonally). At the time, that was a much-needed adjustment to the hobby as a whole, but the course correction went too far. With 2nd edition Pathfinder (and from what I've heard with D&D as well as with other games) the correction swings back. Someday, hopefully, we'll find a place where GM agency and player agency are at a happy balance.