Traditionally Sunday is the first day of the week. But according to Absalom Reckoning Sunday is the last day of the week, and Moonday(Golarion equivalent of Monday) is the first day of the week. What is the reason behind this decision?
Creative Director
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Traditionally Sunday is the first day of the week. But according to Absalom Reckoning Sunday is the last day of the week, and Moonday(Golarion equivalent of Monday) is the first day of the week. What is the reason behind this decision?
I've always thought of Monday as the first day of the week. The weekend includes Saturday and Sunday, and thus a day of the weekEND isn't part of the weekBEGINNING.
Golarion's week begins on Monday and ends on the last day of the weekend, because that's always the way I've thought of it, and as creative director for Pathfinder that got to be my decision to make.
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Do you think that the serpentfolk could be a viable playable ancestry?
They could, but I don't think they should. They're better as bad guys or NPCs; keep them mysterious and don't normalize them into a PC option, I say.
The "Humanoid snake race" role is already an option, in any case, as the nagaji.
I know serpentfolk should be an evil race, but allowing players to make a serpentfolk PC seems like a good idea. Sigh. Will serpentfolk never be a playable race? Even other evil races like goblins, kobolds or gnolls are playable in Second Edition. So maybe...?
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I know serpentfolk should be an evil race, but allowing players to make a serpentfolk PC seems like a good idea. Sigh. Will serpentfolk never be a playable race? Even other evil races like goblins, kobolds or gnolls are playable in Second Edition. So maybe...?
I'd rather not. As I just said, play nagaji. They're MEANT to be PC snake people options. Not everything should be for PCs.
On page 530 of Second Edition Core Rulebook, Seoni is fighting two monsters. What are they? At first I thought they are hobgoblins because they look like First Edition hobgoblins. But since hobgoblins look different in Second Edition, they cannot be hobgoblins. They have pointed ears but since elves are never bald they cannot be drow either.
If one were to go looking for the Ancient Osirion gods in the Great Beyond, where would their Realms be?
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On page 530 of Second Edition Core Rulebook, Seoni is fighting two monsters. What are they? At first I thought they are hobgoblins because they look like First Edition hobgoblins. But since hobgoblins look different in Second Edition, they cannot be hobgoblins. They have pointed ears but since elves are never bald they cannot be drow either.
I don't have a copy of the book here at home so I can't say.
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Spoilered because it the following suggestion starts going creepy and dark.
** spoiler omitted **
Wow, literal 'pain tasters,' where the suffering of 'the dish' is part of the enjoyment of the feast. (And regenerative magic might even be explicitly forbidden, since *loss* is part of the theme.)
Do any of the churches have particular foods associated with them? (Other than Cayden and beer, obviously!)
It could be fun if Desnan churches handed out candies and cookies shaped like butterflies on holy nights, or Calistria's church handed out naughty-shaped honey biscuits, with a spicy 'sting' in the middle.
What is the etymology of the Aspis Consortium? At first I thought the etymology of the word Aspis would be a venomous viper native to southwestern Europe. But later I found out that the word aspis means a type of round shield borne by ancient Greek soldiers. So now I'm not sure.
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What is the etymology of the Aspis Consortium? At first I thought the etymology of the word Aspis would be a venomous viper native to southwestern Europe. But later I found out that the word aspis means a type of round shield borne by ancient Greek soldiers. So now I'm not sure.
I'm not 100% sure; I didn't make them up and haven't spent nearly as much time exploring them as has the PFS folks. I'm pretty sure it speaks to the round shield, but I don't know why whoever named them chose that name.
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The Aspis Consortium is viewed as a villain organization while the Pathfinder Society is viewed as a protagonist organization. Even by the people on Golarion, the Aspis Consortium is viewed as evil while the Pathfinder Society is viewed as good or neutral. I'm not sure because they seem to do similar things. Yes, the Aspis agents are evil grave robbers who don't believe the indigenous people guarding the ancient sites are worth considering a bit. They take the treasure for themselves to hoard in a private collection or to sell it to the highest bidder. But isn't it the exact same thing that the Pathfinders do? Sure, maybe Pathfinders give the treasure to the museum instead of the highest bidder. But they are still grave robbers who destroy ancient ruins, kill their guardians and take anything valuable. Yes, I know that is exactly what adventurers(aka PCs) are supposed to do, but my main question is, aren't the Aspis Consortium and the Pathfinder Society not so different after all?
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The Aspis Consortium is viewed as a villain organization while the Pathfinder Society is viewed as a protagonist organization. Even by the people on Golarion, the Aspis Consortium is viewed as evil while the Pathfinder Society is viewed as good or neutral. I'm not sure because they seem to do similar things. Yes, the Aspis agents are evil grave robbers who don't believe the indigenous people guarding the ancient sites are worth considering a bit. They take the treasure for themselves to hoard in a private collection or to sell it to the highest bidder. But isn't it the exact same thing that the Pathfinders do? Sure, maybe Pathfinders give the treasure to the museum instead of the highest bidder. But they are still grave robbers who destroy ancient ruins, kill their guardians and take anything valuable. Yes, I know that is exactly what adventurers(aka PCs) are supposed to do, but my main question is, aren't the Aspis Consortium and the Pathfinder Society not so different after all?
The two groups DO do similar things... but the ways they go about it are different. The fact that they're similar is intentional, since it's showing how there are multiple ways to go about being an adventurer.
Not everything who has the same job is the same.
I really wished to see a Lastwall campaign setting book before. Now that Lastwall is gone, I'm really sad, because it means Lastwall will never be able to have its own setting book. Sigh. Have you guys(aka the developers in Paizo) always planned to destroy Lastwall and thus thought that a Lastwall campaign setting book is not needed because every adventure hook or seed in Lastwall will be meaningless once the country is conquered by the undead horde? Now I come to think of it, I really wish Paizo has published a Lastwall setting book instead of an Andoran setting book, considering the fact that Andoran didn't have an adventure path centered around it. :(
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Have you guys(aka the developers in Paizo) always planned to destroy Lastwall and thus thought that a Lastwall campaign setting book is not needed because every adventure hook or seed in Lastwall will be meaningless once the country is conquered by the undead horde?
Nope; it just worked out that way.
And Lastwall being destroyed doesn't mean we won't do more with the region, or the knights of Lastwall. We'll see.
Dear James Jacobs,
Since you mentioned Lastwall, does Virlych and/or Gallowspire and the rest still might come back into play in the future?
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And Lastwall being destroyed doesn't mean we won't do more with the region, or the knights of Lastwall. We'll see.
Will their perhaps be an influx of soldiers returning to Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, etc. from Lastwall and / or Mendev, and possibly resulting in power shifts in those nations?
An army with no more war to fight can be rowdy houseguests... :)
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How do I tread the line between "trying to make a PC that fits seamlessly into the narrative of an Adventure Path but ends up being boring because of it" and "trying to make a PC that's interesting to me but ends up not having any connection to the AP's narrative at all?"
And how do I actually have fun with the game instead feeling the delusional anxiety that one of my old English professors will come out of a well to publically shame me for crafting sub-par narratives with it?
I have always regarded Varisians as fantastic Romani, because they dress like Romani, live like Romani, and also have olive-colored skin. But you once said that Varisians were originally intended to be a completely NON-Earthly analogue, an ethnicity that was completely fabricated and with no obvious ties to real-world cultures. I'm not sure. Does that mean, instead of olive skinned roamers, you originally intended to make them as white skinned settlers or something like that(to make them as less Romani as possible)?
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Dear James Jacobs,
Since you mentioned Lastwall, does Virlych and/or Gallowspire and the rest still might come back into play in the future?
Probably not.
The Whispering Tyrant always felt to me to be an awkward thematic fit into Ustalav, to be honest. Sure, he's undead, but he's not born out of the same traditions as those that live in Ustalav, which looks to horror, gothics, weird fiction, and the like. The Whispering Tyrant is something more out of the tradition of Sauron, Vecna, Warcraft's Lich King, and the like—super-powerful undead who form massive armies and are end of the world scourge-like threats... not subtle creeping moody atmospheric horror, like Dracula or Dunwich Horror or Frankenstein or the like.
Moving the Whispering Tyrant to the middle of the lake onto the Isle of Terror helps him do his own thing without forcing us to go off-theme for Ustalav stuff in the future.
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And Lastwall being destroyed doesn't mean we won't do more with the region, or the knights of Lastwall. We'll see.Will their perhaps be an influx of soldiers returning to Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, etc. from Lastwall and / or Mendev, and possibly resulting in power shifts in those nations?
An army with no more war to fight can be rowdy houseguests... :)
Could be, sure. The Knights of Lastwall kind of fill the role that the Mendev Crusaders used to fill, but they're not limited to one area.
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How do I tread the line between "trying to make a PC that fits seamlessly into the narrative of an Adventure Path but ends up being boring because of it" and "trying to make a PC that's interesting to me but ends up not having any connection to the AP's narrative at all?"
And how do I actually have fun with the game instead feeling the delusional anxiety that one of my old English professors will come out of a well to publically shame me for crafting sub-par narratives with it?
You have to make those decisions for yourself. I can't tell you what you'll find boring. If you find that you can't build an appropriate PC for an adventure path, that might mean that the adventure path itself isn't interesting to you and you should let your GM know and hopefully the group can switch to a campaign that everyone can have fun with.
It almost sounds like you're burning out on the game. If you worry more about making something boring for the game, be it a PC or an adventure, perhaps it's time to look at playing a different game? It's important to spread out the gaming so you don't burn out. Starfinder's a different feeling game... but you'll need to find your own "palate cleanser" game for you. For me, it's Call of Cthulhu.
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I have always regarded Varisians as fantastic Romani, because they dress like Romani, live like Romani, and also have olive-colored skin. But you once said that Varisians were originally intended to be a completely NON-Earthly analogue, an ethnicity that was completely fabricated and with no obvious ties to real-world cultures. I'm not sure. Does that mean, instead of olive skinned roamers, you originally intended to make them as white skinned settlers or something like that(to make them as less Romani as possible)?
No. It means that they aren't meant to have ANY direct real-world analogue. There's elements of Romani culture in their setup, but also elements of Spanish culture and Italian culture and a few more, but beyond that elements of made-up culture also.
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Sigh. I'm really sad that your original intention regarding Varisians collapsed in the haze of miscommunications and distractions. Well, now that Second Edition is out, in the future books maybe you can completely ignore the previous books that made Varisians as fantastic Romani so that they would have no real-world analogue?
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Sigh. I'm really sad that your original intention regarding Varisians collapsed in the haze of miscommunications and distractions. Well, now that Second Edition is out, in the future books maybe you can completely ignore the previous books that made Varisians as fantastic Romani so that they would have no real-world analogue?
I think that 99% of what we've done with Varisians is fine. No need to ignore everything. We'll fix and adjust and improve as we go. It's our job. Don't worry.
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I love that in the Inner Sea, "Common" is just another name for one of the languages in the region that's widespread enough to be a lingua franca.
If you were setting a campaign entirely in Tian Xia, would you say that Common is Tien with Taldane as a separate language that needs to be learned, or have everyone start with Tien and put Common (i.e. Taldane) in the language list?
Why did Paizo choose to use the word ancestry instead of race in Second Edition? Was it because the word race is to racist?
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I love that in the Inner Sea, "Common" is just another name for one of the languages in the region that's widespread enough to be a lingua franca.
If you were setting a campaign entirely in Tian Xia, would you say that Common is Tien with Taldane as a separate language that needs to be learned, or have everyone start with Tien and put Common (i.e. Taldane) in the language list?
Yes. "Common" changes depending where you're from.
From a pure game standpoint, "Common" is the most common language spoken by your NPCs and the PCs, because if you make it so that there's not a shared language, gameplay bogs down.
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Why did Paizo choose to use the word ancestry instead of race in Second Edition? Was it because the word race is to racist?
The word "race" as used in RPGs has unwanted baggage to it.
The word "ancestry" does not. More importantly, the word "ancestry" lets us get a lot more creative in approaching things from multiple angles, since ancestry is as much genetics as it is society and culture and tradition. It's a more interesting word that allows for a more interesting way to present where your PC comes from and who they are.
In First Edition, griffons can understand language(but cannot speak) and have Int 5. While in Second Edition, griffons cannot even understand language and have Int 2(their Int modifier is -4, which means their Int is 2). Why did Paizo choose to downgrade griffons? They were originally magical beasts, but now they are merely animals. :(
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What would you think of Keleshite-descended groups near Iobaria, serving as Fantasy Counterpart Cultures to Chechnya and other Central Asian muslim peoples?
I'd think I'd want to hire experts on those cultures to make sure we're doing it right and not being blind or making assumptions—or even better, hiring them to write those sections in the first place.
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In First Edition, griffons can understand language(but cannot speak) and have Int 5. While in Second Edition, griffons cannot even understand language and have Int 2(their Int modifier is -4, which means their Int is 2). Why did Paizo choose to downgrade griffons? They were originally magical beasts, but now they are merely animals. :(
That was a design team decision, and it wasn't a high enough priority to me to fight against it, since the idea of animal-intelligence griffons works fine for me considering their role in Pathfinder is to serve as mounts or predators, not things you talk to.
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Will we be seeing any of the other Golarion regions outside of the Inner Sea expanded upon further in the future? Southern Garund, Arcadia, and Casmaron could all stand to benefit from being expanded Dragon Empires Gazetteer style.
Also, will Razmir ever get his own AP?
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Will we be seeing any of the other Golarion regions outside of the Inner Sea expanded upon further in the future? Southern Garund, Arcadia, and Casmaron could all stand to benefit from being expanded Dragon Empires Gazetteer style.
Also, will Razmir ever get his own AP?
Absolutely (to the other regions).
Unlikely (to a Razmir getting his own Adventure Path—we DO have plans for him, eventually, but not in the form of a Razmir-focused Adventure Path).
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Oh I agree, but just do you consider it plausible?What would you think of Keleshite-descended groups near Iobaria, serving as Fantasy Counterpart Cultures to Chechnya and other Central Asian muslim peoples?I'd think I'd want to hire experts on those cultures to make sure we're doing it right and not being blind or making assumptions—or even better, hiring them to write those sections in the first place.
I see Iobaria as more of a Russia/Northern Asia analogue.
Hey James - yet another Sandpoint region question from me. :-)
How do you as a GM handle making sure that the PCs don't wander too deep into something like The Pit without just completely railroading them? How to let them know that they might not want to go down to that next level just yet?
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2nd Edition seems to have coincided with a fairly systematic decision to move the game away from D&D, in terms of lore as well as mechanics (e.g. your comments about avoiding gnoll ancestries), but I haven't seen it discussed much explicitly: what are the reasons for doing so, insofar as you're allowed to discuss them? In particular, how much is it to do with the OGL not working for you as well as it used to?
(It makes me a bit sad: I'd always seen the OGL as a means of making sure D&D stayed available, and for a long time Paizo's products demonstrated that worked in practice as well as theory, which is why I followed to Paizo after 4e came out.)
The reasons are pretty much Paizo wants to expand and build on the Paizo brand, and get out from under the shadow of D&D a bit more. In part that's to do with the fact that we're increasingly doing stuff with Golarion that doesn't work well with OGL stuff (audio dramas, fiction, comics, video games, etc.), but also in part because we're proud of what WE'VE created and want things like sinspawns and runelords and Treerazers and leshies and so on to get more of a spotlight. For RPG stuff, the OGL works great, and we're not going to abandon it. But when we call something a xulgath in a novel, it helps for gamers to know what we're talking about without having to break the narrative flow, for example.
And these days, D&D doesn't need our help being super successful. Folks who enjoy D&D have a really fun game to play too, so that's good for everyone!
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Hey James - yet another Sandpoint region question from me. :-)
How do you as a GM handle making sure that the PCs don't wander too deep into something like The Pit without just completely railroading them? How to let them know that they might not want to go down to that next level just yet?
If you run a fully sandbox game, then you need to tell the PCs at the start of the campaign that there'll be some places that aren't appropriate for them go go to because they're too dangerous. Then, as play proceeds, you can curate what the players know about adventure sites by not giving them quests or rumors that send them to areas that are too dangerous. If the PCs persist, then give them signs that they're getting in over their heads—if they're approaching a powerful monster lair, maybe they stumble upon the carcass of a dead, slaughtered monster of lesser power that would still wreck them. Finding a half-eaten hill giant on the road up toward the intriguing cave when you're 1st level should be a warning sign to all adventurers, but if they persist in climbing over the dead hill giant and go into the cave anyway, they have only themselves to blame for the resulting wrath they'll face against the gug for example.
The Pit in particular is NOT too dangerous for 1st level. It's Sandpoint's local megadungeon. As long as the PCs start at the top and don't go too deep too fast, they should be fine.
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Totally different question: I’m running Savage Tide on Golarion (well, actually on a Golarion/Mystara mashup, but let’s pretend it’s Golarion). It’s easy enough to use Demogorgon as-is, but any thoughts as to how to fit the Malcanthet/Shami-Amourae tangle into Golarion succubus lore? (Malcanthet and Nocticula differ in a bunch of ways, and while the Nocticula redemption arc hasn’t happened in my metacampaign yet, it would be nice to not close off the option.) Making Shami-Amourae into Nocticula and letting her depose Malcanthet is my best idea so far, though it still requires fairly significant lore changes.
YAY Savage Tide!
I'd keep Malcanthet and Shami-Amourae as-is. There's plenty of room for all sorts of succubui, and as you note, Nocticula is pretty different from Malcanthet. And if you set your Savage Tide in current Golarion... Nocticula isn't a succubus at all anymore, so Malcanthet can fill that void perfectly.
So yeah, if I were to run Savage Tide in Golarion, I'd do so for 2nd edition Pathfinder and set it in the current day and Nocticula wouldn't play a role at all and Malcanthet would be a succubus who stepped in to take over the role of the succubus demon lord.