I'm really glad you guys are trying to be more sensitive towards all players with your products and ethics.
That said, today I have 2 unrelated questions for you, JJ.
1. How do you envision starknives being carried when not wielded in hand? Sheathed? If so, how? Hung over a shoulder? From a strap at the belt? Perhaps an easy-to-undo knot, or a similar device?
2. I'm asking you all these things about Varisia and related matters because I'd like to convert RotR to P2 and my players are starting to play around with some ideas for characters. One asked me whether she could play Ameiko's little sister - not Amaya of Westcrown but an actual full sister. I think the idea could be interesting, but first I wanted to know your opinion (I know whatever we do it's our campaign now, but since Ameiko's one of your favorite n/pcs, iirc, it'd be nice to have your input). Do you think Ameiko having a sister would work, narratively speaking? If so, do you have any advice about her, the way she could have grown up, the way she might see the world? Or do you think she wouldn't really work as a character, and if so, why? As I said I'm really interested in your take on this matter because Sandpoint and the Kaijitsu are mostly your brainchild and I wanna get as close to your vision as possible before risking to change key social dynamics and weakening the AP's plotline (and others I'd like to convert, like Jade Regent, for instance).
Thank you in advance for your patience!
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Other than ogres and bugbears, are there other monsters that you wish to change arts in the Bestiary reprint?Yeah, I'd like to move away from the D&D interpretation fo the simurgh and have it be more of a bird creature rather than a rainbow-winged wolf, both to drift closer to the real-world myths and away from D&D's look from back in the third edition days. You can see a preview of this new look in an upcoming installment of Age of Ashes.
That's pretty much it though. For the vast majority of the Bestiary art I think it's pretty spot on.
Isn't simurgh with dog head from actual mythology though?(or at least she has dog head one of the myths and sassanid artifacts)
(that said, that still applies to point of being different from D&D since there are multiple different myths... But yeah, I'm fairly sure this one wasn't one of things D&D invented)
Simurge with a dog head is more obscure mythology. A search for simurgh art reveals that the bird version is MUCH more common overall... but that's all kind of beside the point if we want to step away from the presentation of a wolf with rainbow wings, which is D&D's take on them.
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I'm really glad you guys are trying to be more sensitive towards all players with your products and ethics.
That said, today I have 2 unrelated questions for you, JJ.
1. How do you envision starknives being carried when not wielded in hand? Sheathed? If so, how? Hung over a shoulder? From a strap at the belt? Perhaps an easy-to-undo knot, or a similar device?
2. I'm asking you all these things about Varisia and related matters because I'd like to convert RotR to P2 and my players are starting to play around with some ideas for characters. One asked me whether she could play Ameiko's little sister - not Amaya of Westcrown but an actual full sister. I think the idea could be interesting, but first I wanted to know your opinion (I know whatever we do it's our campaign now, but since Ameiko's one of your favorite n/pcs, iirc, it'd be nice to have your input). Do you think Ameiko having a sister would work, narratively speaking? If so, do you have any advice about her, the way she could have grown up, the way she might see the world? Or do you think she wouldn't really work as a character, and if so, why? As I said I'm really interested in your take on this matter because Sandpoint and the Kaijitsu are mostly your brainchild and I wanna get as close to your vision as possible before risking to change key social dynamics and weakening the AP's plotline (and others I'd like to convert, like Jade Regent, for instance).
Thank you in advance for your patience!
I'll answer both, but in the future please do one question per post. It's easier for me to manage and reply to this thread when I don't have long lists of questions... be it 2 wordy questions or 10 single sentence questions.
1) Starknives are either carried on a strap on the belt or strapped to a thigh or forearm like a buckler or or a dagger. When you're not expecting combat and doing long-distance travel or storing the weapon, the four blades are sheathed to protect them.
2) Ameiko's lineage is pretty complicated, what with her being the heir to Minkai's rule. In Rise of the Runelords, none of that matters so playing a brand-new little sister won't make a difference, but if you intend to play Jade Regent at some point later on, it would make a HUGE difference in that suddenly, a PC is one of those who could well end up becoming the ruler of Minkai. Which is actually a cool and compelling PC link and reason to play that adventure path, but also one that's fraught with the danger of making one PC so much more important to the plot that the other players could well end up feeling marginalized. (The whole reason I invented Amaya from the start is "plot insurance," so that if in a group's individual canon Ameiko dies or is lost or otherwise can't play the role she plays in Jade Regent that her sister can replace her in that role.)
So it really boils down to how comfortable you are either adjusting Ameiko's story in your game to have her NOT be in line to rule Minkai (and thus negating or at least heavily altering Jade Regent and the baseline assumption of world lore in 2nd edition as far as Minkai goes), or how comfortable you are having a PC perhaps be in that position to rule, and the weirdness that might happen if later you decide to run Jade Regent, and there's a PC heir who's 18th level, in which case why would Jade Regent ever happen? That PC would just "skip" to the last few encounters in the last adventure to fix things up.
My suggestion: Let your PC be Ameiko's sister. That's rad. And then just don't run Jade Regent at all, ever, and during the course of Rise of the Runelods, have that PC eventually learn the truth about her birthright and heritage, and then you can in your version of Golarion potentially have that PC be the one ruling Minkai in the aftermath of Runelords instead of Ameiko.
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Speaking of questions: Folks who have specific questions about the 2nd Age of Ashes Adventure Path—please head over to...
...and drop some questions in for Eleanor and myself. This show is being pre-recorded and will go live on Friday, so we won't be live on that day to ask questions directly from the audience, so we're hoping to get some fun questions queued up before hand. Thanks!
Do you have pets?
With a potential change of the slavery market in Kelesh, how would this effect Katapesh--specifically Okeno?
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With a potential change of the slavery market in Kelesh, how would this effect Katapesh--specifically Okeno?
It'd probably start up a conflict that's perhaps worthy of an entire campaign of its own. Slavery will increasingly move to the black market in Katapesh, in any event, particularly now that the Pactmasters have more evidence than ever that slavers bring the WRONG kind of attention to the city. Which will shift the focus of slave trade toward Okeno, and potentially allow for a campaign where a new group of PCs tackles the island to wipe out organized slavery in the inner sea region.
In fact, I started running the old D&D adventure Against the Slave Lords for the 2nd edition playtest with this exact plot—reskinning it to be the slavers of Okeno. But we only got a few encounters in before things fell apart with folks being frustrated with the playtest rules—playtesting being work, rather than actual play, as it was.
I have always thought that Pactmasters are greedy villains with alien mindsets who will do anything to increase their wealth. So I thought they would surely legalize slavery to earn more money. But you are saying that even the Pactmasters would outlaw slavery? Maybe they are not evil after all?
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I have always thought that Pactmasters are greedy villains with alien mindsets who will do anything to increase their wealth. So I thought they would surely legalize slavery to earn more money. But you are saying that even the Pactmasters would outlaw slavery? Maybe they are not evil after all?
Pactmasters are lawful neutral. They're not good guys, but neither are they "greedy villains."
That said, they ARE very smart, and if they see a shift in world view that people are increasingly intolerant of legalized slave trade, which is where Golarion is going, they are very likely to outlaw slave trade in Katapesh so that they don't end up spending more money fighting against abolitionists than they make selling slaves.
The shift from slavery being legal all over the place in Golarion to one that's illegal is an ongoing world-lore element, and as you're going to be seeing in Age of Ashes, we're only now just starting to see how Katapesh is handling this change in the tolerance of most nations toward the slave trade.
Where the Pactmasters end up is a story for the future, but it's either going to be:
1) The pactmasters decide to keep slavery legal, and shift toward lawful evil in alignment, or...
2) The pactmasters abolish slavery, or at least start to tax slavers into oblivion as their method of discouraging the practice, while simultaneously looking for ways to monetize anti-slaver needs, and remain lawful neutral.
Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh said that Pactmasters are witchwyrds. But I thought witchwyrds have four arms. So Pactmasters cannot be witchwyrds because they only have two arms, right?
Hi James,
Generally speaking, does Pharasma or her agents make any effort to keep each petitioner soul's specific destination in the Great Beyond a secret?
What is the nature of the Black Triune?
What's the deal with Demogorgon, Behemoth, Vepar, Marbas, and Ipos? Anything you can shed about who they are and what they want? Or just what they may look like.
The Alara'hai Ungarato was statted in Starfinder, but none of the rest have surfaced yet. Obviously any question regarding unreleased Starfinder content is entirely hypothetical, but I'm curious what form Garvok, Sword of Wrath, might take Post Gap. For instance Ungarato takes the form of a power-packed minigun with a bayonet. In your opinion, what type of gun would be really cool for a Wrathful artifact in Starfinder?
I'm not looking for a specific weapon, just a type. Shotgun, rocket launcher, assault rifle, mingun, etc.
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Are we likely to see Flumphs in a bestiary soon, maybe with a visual update? (Not that I think they need a visual update as they are perfect cinnamon rolls)
Would PF2 spell cards best be designed as 3 by 5 inches, or 4 by 6?
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Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh said that Pactmasters are witchwyrds. But I thought witchwyrds have four arms. So Pactmasters cannot be witchwyrds because they only have two arms, right?
They pose as humans now and then which means hiding their extra arms, either with plain old disguises or magic.
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What's the deal with Demogorgon, Behemoth, Vepar, Marbas, and Ipos? Anything you can shed about who they are and what they want? Or just what they may look like.
That's D&D lore these days mostly, I believe. Demogorgon's got plenty out there as for his appearance, but the others, not so much as far as I know.
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The Alara'hai Ungarato was statted in Starfinder, but none of the rest have surfaced yet. Obviously any question regarding unreleased Starfinder content is entirely hypothetical, but I'm curious what form Garvok, Sword of Wrath, might take Post Gap. For instance Ungarato takes the form of a power-packed minigun with a bayonet. In your opinion, what type of gun would be really cool for a Wrathful artifact in Starfinder?
I'm not looking for a specific weapon, just a type. Shotgun, rocket launcher, assault rifle, mingun, etc.
In my opinion, those swords "turned off" when Return of the Runelords ended. That was my original idea, to have the deactivation of the swords of sin play a stronger role in that AP, but then Starfinder put one into their setting so that made that plotline not so appealing to me anymore.
Whethere or not they put more of them into that setting is a question fro the Starfinder folks.
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Would you kindly twist whichever arms need to be twisted to get us the Web Supplements for Kyrion and the Pickled Ear employees?
Won't happen anytime soon, since I'd be the one to develop them and my time is pretty much spoken for. By the time I'm done with developing Bestiary 2 and the things coming next, we'll be well into the next AP at which point if ANY Web Supplement happens, it'll be for them.
AKA: Don't get your hopes up, alas.
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What is the nature of the Black Triune?I've no idea what you're talking about. So my guess is its nature is ... mysterious!
They're talking about the three secret ancient dudes that rule Nidal.
Also, in Irrisen it's noted that the bark of a witch-tree/winteryew can be shaved off and eaten. What kind of tavern fare or just plain home cooking would a peasant make with this? Would it be any good or would it just be depressing like some kind of bark-flavored jerky?
Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh said that Pactmasters are witchwyrds. But I thought witchwyrds have four arms. So Pactmasters cannot be witchwyrds because they only have two arms, right?They pose as humans now and then which means hiding their extra arms, either with plain old disguises or magic.
But they plainly reveal their inhuman face to everyone! If they really want to hide their true identity and pose as humans, shouldn't they disguise or hide their face first?
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What is the nature of the Black Triune?I've no idea what you're talking about. So my guess is its nature is ... mysterious!They're talking about the three secret ancient dudes that rule Nidal.
Also, in Irrisen it's noted that the bark of a witch-tree/winteryew can be shaved off and eaten. What kind of tavern fare or just plain home cooking would a peasant make with this? Would it be any good or would it just be depressing like some kind of bark-flavored jerky?
Ah, gotcha. I've put no thought into the Black Triune, so I can't help there.
Probably soup that tastes like syrup.
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But they plainly reveal their inhuman face to everyone! If they really want to hide their true identity and pose as humans, shouldn't they disguise or hide their face first?Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh said that Pactmasters are witchwyrds. But I thought witchwyrds have four arms. So Pactmasters cannot be witchwyrds because they only have two arms, right?They pose as humans now and then which means hiding their extra arms, either with plain old disguises or magic.
The real story is we screwed up with the art. It happens.
It is said that in 3725 AR the Pactmasters descended from the heavens in a craft designed to travel between planets and throughout the multiverse. Does that mean the Pactmasters secretly have lots of technological weapons that rival those found in Numeria?
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James, I don't think there's anything wrong with Pactmasters art. They've been quite persistently shown as wearing creepy masks which in fact hide how they really look like.
Oh, a question? Does the recent focus on Absalom (the upcoming AP, a setting book about the city) mean that Absalom is becoming more of an, erm, city at the center of the world in fact? I've felt that for reasons likely beyond Paizo's control or intent in the PF1 it was Varisia that was the "central" region.
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It is said that in 3725 AR the Pactmasters descended from the heavens in a craft designed to travel between planets and throughout the multiverse. Does that mean the Pactmasters secretly have lots of technological weapons that rival those found in Numeria?
It does not mean that.
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Oh, a question? Does the recent focus on Absalom (the upcoming AP, a setting book about the city) mean that Absalom is becoming more of an, erm, city at the center of the world in fact? I've felt that for reasons likely beyond Paizo's control or intent in the PF1 it was Varisia that was the "central" region.
The intent was for Absalom to be the city at the center of the world and thus the center of the setting, but we underestimated the value of having a focus on it from the start. When we started Golarion, the Adventure Path had to create Varisia as a setting to build stories in, and by the time we got the setting book in place there was already a lot of Varisia momentum built up. And then as we decided to place the organized play campaign in Absalom in an attempt to bring that region more attention, that had a side effect of not much print product support since coordinating between print products and the org play campaign involved so many moving parts that we didn't want to do it.
And then that was the way it went for a decade.
With the edition switch, it felt like a good time to learn from our mistakes, start over, and begin with a full-on focus on Absalom.
Hope folks like it. I already miss Varisia myself, but if folks get a kick out of Absalom, that's good too.
I assume that you have already begun work on the AP slated to release July 2020. Have you already outlined the AP for January 2021? has it been assigned to writers yet?
According to Lost Omens World Guide Poster Map, Thornkeep is in the east side of Echo Wood, which is odd because Thornkeep should be in the west side of Echo Wood. Then I found out that according to the map on page 25 of Lost Omens World Guide, Leydis is in the place where Thornkeep is in the poster map. But according to the poster map Leydis is in Emberbough Forest, not in Echo Wood. I'm really confused. Which is correct? And if the poster map is wrong and thus Leydis is not in Emberbough Forest, then what's in it?
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I assume that you have already begun work on the AP slated to release July 2020. Have you already outlined the AP for January 2021? has it been assigned to writers yet?
All the writing for the 2020 Adventure Paths is in and being worked on. We've already got a basic outline done for the 2021 January one, and the first author is assigned.
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According to Lost Omens World Guide Poster Map, Thornkeep is in the east side of Echo Wood, which is odd because Thornkeep should be in the west side of Echo Wood. Then I found out that according to the map on page 25 of Lost Omens World Guide, Leydis is in the place where Thornkeep is in the poster map. But according to the poster map Leydis is in Emberbough Forest, not in Echo Wood. I'm really confused. Which is correct? And if the poster map is wrong and thus Leydis is not in Emberbough Forest, then what's in it?
That might be an error in map tag placement, but if so, it's now canon.
That said, in your home game, feel free to use the tags you prefer. We're not going to be doing anything with Thornkeep or Emerald Spire or that region in 2nd edition, in any event, so using the locations in those settings won't mess anything up for you.
How would Irrisen arrange and equip it's standing army for a pitch battle? About what percentage of that army would be comprised of Ulfen soldiery as opposed to Fey, trolls, winter wolves, and giants? Are there any particularly notorious tactics their armies might employ to great effect?
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How would Irrisen arrange and equip it's standing army for a pitch battle? About what percentage of that army would be comprised of Ulfen soldiery as opposed to Fey, trolls, winter wolves, and giants? Are there any particularly notorious tactics their armies might employ to great effect?
Not really sure. We don't do much with mass combat in the game, so we don't put a lot of thought into how they'd set up their armies, in part because it's not the type of story we're generally interested in telling and in part because if, some day, we DO want to tell those stories, we want to make those decisions then with the proper game tools.
THAT SAID... I'd see their armies relying heavy on witch magic and fey magic and the like, not brute force. Cold attacks and disorienting attacks and curses/hexes and afflictions mostly.
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Since their appearance isn't really described (at least in the P2 Bestiary) and there's a lot of art between editions/games what is your preferred visual of a Quasit? Or is the varied appearances something to go with?
The P2 Bestiary has an illustration of a quasit... so, that. A little green horned humanoid with bat wings and sharp claws.
I have my conjectures, Rysky...
JJ, do some ancient Azlanti still have purple eyes in P2? If so, do Thassilonians, like the Runelords, have them too, or has that gene been diluted/phased out? Would it be possible for a modern-day Varisian to have purple eyes as well, as it was described in Inner Sea Races for individuals of Azlanti heritage, or that wouldn't work?
(I hope you're not counting this as 3 questions because then it will annoy you a great deal. It's... a single, 3-parts question?...).
Thank you as always,
Ros-