
![]() |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

I made a post-apocalyptic Golarion setting based on the End Times prophecy from Concordance of Rivals. I have my own version of events, but I am left wondering what Pharasma's official motivation was for engineering the apocalypse?
Was she disgusted by Asmodeus, Ihys, and their conflict? Did she just throw up her arms in frustration over entropy being introduced after Ihys created free will in mortals and decide to wipe it all away? Does she have a a grandiose view of her role in the greater universe and views her actions as part of some cosmic cycle? Is she doing it so she can harvest the energy released from countless deaths to somehow bring her own reality back? Or is she just crazy and wants to replicate her reality's downfall for whatever reason?
All up to you, frankly. The information in Concordance of Rivals doesn't precisely match up to my own take on the setting's mythology. These bits of contradiction are in there to help preserve the stories as myths, rather than facts, and to encourage each GM to make their own decisions when it comes to things like this.
That said, in my take, Pharasma isn't ANYTHING about Asmodeus and Ihys; she doesn't get frustrated when the kids fight, since she knows that they're just doing what they'll do. It's a big part of what makes her neutral. The fact that Asmodeus murdered Ihys, to Pharasma, was always going to happen.
I've been re-reading Watchmen thanks to the HBO show, and a lot of the personality traits that made Dr. Manhattan an impartial outsider from society who doesn't really know how to interact with people is a great place to go for inspiration on how Pharasma interacts with the other deities.

Kairos Dawnfury |

Is there a group in Golarion that expies Mandalorians well?
In your mind, what are the factors that influenced your answer?

![]() |

Would a fire elemental die if forced underwater? Say a room filling with water and they can't get out for example. I ask because nothing actually says they're harmed by water but they also cannot enter water.
That's left to the GM to decide, but as written in the rules, fire elementals don't take extra damage from water-based attacks. If you say a fire elemental takes damage in water, then spells like hydraulic push should do extra damage to them as well, yes?
Up to you.
In my games I would probably rule that smaller doses of water, including spells like hydraulic push, wouldn't have any particular extra effect, but that total immersion would inflict a small amount of damage per round, say, 2d6.

![]() |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

How plausible is it that Sorshen used to worship Y'golonac back in the day?
Implausable, for three different reasons, as far as I'm concerned.
1) Unlike the Great Old Ones created by Lovecraft (and thus in public domain), Y'golonac was created by Ramsey Campbell, who's still not only alive but very actively publishing stories, including mythos stories (he just recently finished up his "Three Births of Daoloth" trilogy, and it's really great!). As such, Y'golonac is NOT public domain. Chaosium gets to use him because they've arranged permission with Ramsey Campbell. We could as well if we wanted to go that route, and I for one am a HUGE fan of Ramsey Campbell (he's one of my top 5 favorite writers ever), but then there's the following point:
2) Y'golonac, and many of the mythos additions invented by Ramsey Campbell, deviates (pun intended) into some VERY mature contents that are simply put, not appropriate for Paizo-published official Pathfinder products. I'm not interested in presenting a sanitized, non-sexualized version of Y'golonac at all, since that's against the whole theme and point of the creature, so I'd rather not include him in the setting at all.
Feel free to do so if you want, but then take a bonus point into consideration:
3) Y'golonac's theme and appearance and goals and story don't match up with Sorshen's themes and appearance and goals.
Oh and part 4:
4) Y'golonac is canonically imprisoned on Earth. And unlike Cthulhu, who is also imprisoned there, he doesn't really have an established tradition of influencing things via dreams, so it's trickier getting him off-world to have a presence anywhere else.

![]() |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

What's your opinion on Rorschach from Watchmen?
I've just been re-reading Watchmen, as a result of the excellent HBO series. ALL of the characters in the comic are amazing characters. Rorschach, like the rest, is a deeply flawed hero who is capable of great good and great evil. I think he's a fascinating character, but not a likable character.

![]() |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Is there a group in Golarion that expies Mandalorians well?
In your mind, what are the factors that influenced your answer?
** spoiler omitted **
I honestly have no idea. Apart from knowing that Boba Fett is a Mandalorian, I don't really know much about them at all. Haven't seen the show, nor do I plan to (not interested in a Disney + sub).

Kairos Dawnfury |

Kairos Dawnfury wrote:I honestly have no idea. Apart from knowing that Boba Fett is a Mandalorian, I don't really know much about them at all. Haven't seen the show, nor do I plan to (not interested in a Disney + sub).Is there a group in Golarion that expies Mandalorians well?
In your mind, what are the factors that influenced your answer?
** spoiler omitted **
I gotcha, who at Paizo are the resident Star Wars fans?

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

James Jacobs wrote:I gotcha, who at Paizo are the resident Star Wars fans?Kairos Dawnfury wrote:I honestly have no idea. Apart from knowing that Boba Fett is a Mandalorian, I don't really know much about them at all. Haven't seen the show, nor do I plan to (not interested in a Disney + sub).Is there a group in Golarion that expies Mandalorians well?
In your mind, what are the factors that influenced your answer?
** spoiler omitted **
Feels like pretty much everyone else, but none of them even come CLOSE to Lisa and Vic. In fact, I'd say that there's probably only a handful of Star Wars fans on the planet who are bigger fans than they! :-)

Kelseus |

Feels like pretty much everyone else, but none of them even come CLOSE to Lisa and Vic. In fact, I'd say that there's probably only a handful of Star Wars fans on the planet who are bigger fans than they! :-)
Didn't Paizo start off running the Star Wards d20 equivalent of Pathfinder Society?

![]() |

James Jacobs wrote:Feels like pretty much everyone else, but none of them even come CLOSE to Lisa and Vic. In fact, I'd say that there's probably only a handful of Star Wars fans on the planet who are bigger fans than they! :-)Didn't Paizo start off running the Star Wards d20 equivalent of Pathfinder Society?
As part of our license working with Wizards of the Coast, yeah, we did some Star Wars stuff in the first few years.

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

What are marriages between elves and humans like? Do they ever get married or are half-elves always born out of wedlock?
The same as marriages between humans and humans. AKA: There are so many different customs and beliefs and traditions that it doesn't make sense to make generalizations.
Other than that they tend to usually end in sadness when the elf outlives the human, I guess.

Mantriel |

Could you talk about Demons, Daemons, Devils and angels on one of the "Pathfinder Fridays" Twitch streams? Perhaps even about the Alghollthu, The Astral Plane/Aeons, Psychopmops, the Boneyard, Heaven, Nirvana & Elysium, Hell & Abyss)
This is still a topic that is confusing to me and I can't really explain it to my players. It would be cool to have a video where you explain it all and I could just point to it, so my players could get all their questions answered.
(I have read Planar Adventures).
Thanks in advance, either way!

![]() |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Could you talk about Demons, Daemons, Devils and angels on one of the "Pathfinder Fridays" Twitch streams? Perhaps even about the Alghollthu, The Astral Plane/Aeons, Psychopmops, the Boneyard, Heaven, Nirvana & Elysium, Hell & Abyss)
This is still a topic that is confusing to me and I can't really explain it to my players. It would be cool to have a video where you explain it all and I could just point to it, so my players could get all their questions answered.
(I have read Planar Adventures).
Thanks in advance, either way!
So far, I'm not the one making the decisions on those shows' themes. I'd be willing to talk about anything and everything Pathfinder related, of course, but I don't make those decisions. Let your preference be known in the comment threads on those videos, or let Payton or others on the marketing team know, and that will help more than me saying in-house "I like to talk about demons and monsters."

Mantriel |

Mantriel wrote:So far, I'm not the one making the decisions on those shows' themes. I'd be willing to talk about anything and everything Pathfinder related, of course, but I don't make those decisions. Let your preference be known in the comment threads on those videos, or let Payton or others on the marketing team know, and that will help more than me saying in-house "I like to talk about demons and monsters."Could you talk about Demons, Daemons, Devils and angels on one of the "Pathfinder Fridays" Twitch streams? Perhaps even about the Alghollthu, The Astral Plane/Aeons, Psychopmops, the Boneyard, Heaven, Nirvana & Elysium, Hell & Abyss)
This is still a topic that is confusing to me and I can't really explain it to my players. It would be cool to have a video where you explain it all and I could just point to it, so my players could get all their questions answered.
(I have read Planar Adventures).
Thanks in advance, either way!
So you won't be talking about it till the "Epic level" book comes out, or the " Lost Omens Planar Guide".
Thanks anyway!

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

James Jacobs wrote:Mantriel wrote:So far, I'm not the one making the decisions on those shows' themes. I'd be willing to talk about anything and everything Pathfinder related, of course, but I don't make those decisions. Let your preference be known in the comment threads on those videos, or let Payton or others on the marketing team know, and that will help more than me saying in-house "I like to talk about demons and monsters."Could you talk about Demons, Daemons, Devils and angels on one of the "Pathfinder Fridays" Twitch streams? Perhaps even about the Alghollthu, The Astral Plane/Aeons, Psychopmops, the Boneyard, Heaven, Nirvana & Elysium, Hell & Abyss)
This is still a topic that is confusing to me and I can't really explain it to my players. It would be cool to have a video where you explain it all and I could just point to it, so my players could get all their questions answered.
(I have read Planar Adventures).
Thanks in advance, either way!
So you won't be talking about it till the "Epic level" book comes out, or the " Lost Omens Planar Guide".
Thanks anyway!
Your lack of wendigo documentary suggestions does not protect you! Please keep posts to this thread to questions for me to answer; thanks!
(THAT SAID: I would like to get to a place where we can do shows that aren't also trying to directly be advertisements for specific books... but we'll see.)

Ed Reppert |

If I remember correctly, August Derleth introduced the Elder Gods into the Cthulhu Mythos. Benign opponents of the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods. Does Golarion know anything of these gods?

TheKillingJay |

Hi James! We met at Paizocon this year, at the banquet I was the one pestering you with questions about Runelords and Rune magic.
That whole convention I had a lot of questions and what not going into my mind to ask you about Sandpoint, Runelords, this and that, and one big one that flew from my mind at one of the panels right when it was my turn to ask *finally* came back to me!
What's at the end of the Turandarok river?
Also, I stumbled across your discussion on The Pit as a megadungeon and how some 200 pages were cut from Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast and ohhhh myyyy, they really dropped the ball on that one haha. I bet it would have been so much more epic! Any idea if that content will ever be finished? I'd love to get that signed too if it does!
I have some ideas bouncing around about the Pit but man not on the scale you hinted at. I'll have to include Pazuzu and Lamashtu's true showdown and influences in a later adventure I run I suppose!
The Temple of Lissala I was working came out well I think, but real life struggles have decimated actually playing through it.
Sorry this got long, I don't post around here much and don't know the true spirit of this thread yet. Hope life's treating you well, and maybe I'll see you next year!

![]() |

One of my group's are playing Skull & Shackles now, and there's something keeps coming up that's left me wondering -
Just what constitutes as illegal contraband to other pirates?
Port Peril having a black market that isn't just its regular market really makes me wonder.
Let your imagination run wild, I guess.

![]() |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Can I get uhhhhhhhhh boneless pizza with a 2-liter of Coke?
While goofy questions are fun, I don't always have the mindset to reply to them with an equal shade of irreverence, so when folks ask questions like this, depending on my mood and time and stress level... you might get a different reply.
But yes you can.

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

Hi James! We met at Paizocon this year, at the banquet I was the one pestering you with questions about Runelords and Rune magic.
That whole convention I had a lot of questions and what not going into my mind to ask you about Sandpoint, Runelords, this and that, and one big one that flew from my mind at one of the panels right when it was my turn to ask *finally* came back to me!
What's at the end of the Turandarok river?
Also, I stumbled across your discussion on The Pit as a megadungeon and how some 200 pages were cut from Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast and ohhhh myyyy, they really dropped the ball on that one haha. I bet it would have been so much more epic! Any idea if that content will ever be finished? I'd love to get that signed too if it does!
I have some ideas bouncing around about the Pit but man not on the scale you hinted at. I'll have to include Pazuzu and Lamashtu's true showdown and influences in a later adventure I run I suppose!
The Temple of Lissala I was working came out well I think, but real life struggles have decimated actually playing through it.
Sorry this got long, I don't post around here much and don't know the true spirit of this thread yet. Hope life's treating you well, and maybe I'll see you next year!
I pretty much reveal what's at the end of the Turandarok River in the Sandpoint Book.
And it's not that 200 pages were cut from the book. I wrote the contents to fill a 96 page book. It went a little over and I had to cut maybe a dozen pages or so, but not 200. My original outline for the book was for a 320 page hardcover, but once management decided that Paizo wanted to focus its hardcover editing and layout and printing resources elsewhere, I rebuilt that outline for the 96 page book that exists today. I COULD write hundreds of more pages about Sandpoint and the hinterlands, but I haven't yet, so there was nothing to cut. It never physically existed in the first place to BE cut. I doubt there'll be much more about Sandpoint or the hinterlands as it seems like things are moving in other directions. Maybe I can pitch a big module for the future, but that line's got other things that management has planned for it as well, and I feel like there's a growing desire to go elsewhere in the world anyway. If folks wanna see an adventure set in the Pit or have more Sandpoint stuff, please let Paizo know! (Not just me; in fact, just telling me isn't really gonna move any needles anywhere, since I'm already eager and ready to do more content set in the Sandpoint region.)
Anyway; thanks for the kind words! They really do help! :-)

Zhangar |

Zhangar wrote:Let your imagination run wild, I guess.One of my group's are playing Skull & Shackles now, and there's something keeps coming up that's left me wondering -
Just what constitutes as illegal contraband to other pirates?
Port Peril having a black market that isn't just its regular market really makes me wonder.
Along the lines of "even pirates have standards?"

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

James Jacobs wrote:Along the lines of "even pirates have standards?"Zhangar wrote:Let your imagination run wild, I guess.One of my group's are playing Skull & Shackles now, and there's something keeps coming up that's left me wondering -
Just what constitutes as illegal contraband to other pirates?
Port Peril having a black market that isn't just its regular market really makes me wonder.
Sure.

GM PDK |

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:Can I get uhhhhhhhhh boneless pizza with a 2-liter of Coke?While goofy questions are fun, I don't always have the mindset to reply to them with an equal shade of irreverence, so when folks ask questions like this, depending on my mood and time and stress level... you might get a different reply.
But yes you can.
Aren't all pizzas boneless?

Oliver Springett |
Hey James, I noticed that aldori swords look like katana (I guess those swords also look like the European Messer, which is probably more fitting thematically but I digress.)
I re read the tale of Sirian Aldori and it feels like perhaps he journeyed to Tian Xia and was inspired or learned of samurai and katana.
I realise this could constitute a spoiler; but id love to know where he learned those moves, haha!

![]() |

My group is trying to catch up on 1E APs. Which 1E APs will be most relevant for the upcoming 2E APs? Hells Rebels was relevant to Age of Ashes. I assume Tyrant's Grasp will be referenced in the next AP (since they travel around Kortos)?
Oh and modules! I noticed W2: River into Darkness was fairly relevant to Cult of Cinders. We're never going to be able to finish ALL the 1E APs and modules, but we do love understanding references.

![]() |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

James Jacobs wrote:Aren't all pizzas boneless?Archpaladin Zousha wrote:Can I get uhhhhhhhhh boneless pizza with a 2-liter of Coke?While goofy questions are fun, I don't always have the mindset to reply to them with an equal shade of irreverence, so when folks ask questions like this, depending on my mood and time and stress level... you might get a different reply.
But yes you can.
Usually yes. In related news, not all questions are serious.