Creative Director
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Do you see Rovagug as an ascended qlippoth lord, the way Lamashtu was/is a demon lord? Or his he a qlippoth the way Asmodeus is a devil or Sarenrae is an angel; similar to them but also predating them?
The latter—Rovagug was one of the first deities. But unlike the case of Asmodeus or Sarenrae, who basically set the mold/rules for what is a devil or angel, there were already qlippoth at that point. When Asmodeus and Sarenrae came into being, they were, respectively, the first devil and the first angel. Mythology is unclear as to when more angels and devils came along, but the fact that they're there is a big part of why humanoids in Pathifnder look the way they do. Had Rovagug been more involved in creating reality rather than just destroying it, the core races would look a lot uglier, in other words.
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Do you see Rovagug as an ascended qlippoth lord, the way Lamashtu was/is a demon lord? Or his he a qlippoth the way Asmodeus is a devil or Sarenrae is an angel; similar to them but also predating them?The latter—Rovagug was one of the first deities. But unlike the case of Asmodeus or Sarenrae, who basically set the mold/rules for what is a devil or angel, there were already qlippoth at that point. When Asmodeus and Sarenrae came into being, they were, respectively, the first devil and the first angel. Mythology is unclear as to when more angels and devils came along, but the fact that they're there is a big part of why humanoids in Pathifnder look the way they do. Had Rovagug been more involved in creating reality rather than just destroying it, the core races would look a lot uglier, in other words.
Well, thank goodness for small favors.
How would you say Rovagug differs from an Outer God? I know he's ancient, evil and nigh-indestructible even for a deity, traits he shares with that group.I loved the Windsong Testaments, by the way.
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Creative Director
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Do you see Rovagug as an ascended qlippoth lord, the way Lamashtu was/is a demon lord? Or his he a qlippoth the way Asmodeus is a devil or Sarenrae is an angel; similar to them but also predating them?The latter—Rovagug was one of the first deities. But unlike the case of Asmodeus or Sarenrae, who basically set the mold/rules for what is a devil or angel, there were already qlippoth at that point. When Asmodeus and Sarenrae came into being, they were, respectively, the first devil and the first angel. Mythology is unclear as to when more angels and devils came along, but the fact that they're there is a big part of why humanoids in Pathifnder look the way they do. Had Rovagug been more involved in creating reality rather than just destroying it, the core races would look a lot uglier, in other words.Well, thank goodness for small favors.
How would you say Rovagug differs from an Outer God? I know he's ancient, evil and nigh-indestructible even for a deity, traits he shares with that group.I loved the Windsong Testaments, by the way.
Rovagug is different from the Outer Gods in that he values his worshipers and approves of those of his faith spreading his work through the worlds. He's also tied to the outer planes.
The Elder Mythos deities (with a very few exceptions) largely have no interest in their worshipers. They don't care about them at all, and are tied to dimensions or the Material Plane.
And thanks for the kind words about Windsong! :)
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Are internal employees in non-creative positions (eg. customer service reps, warehouse workers, web design, etc.) allowed to make unsolicited pitches if they've been with Paizo for some time? Or do the same rules apply to them?
Rarely, but generally if an employee wants to write for us and they've never done so before, the better route is to contact us and let us know they're interested in work and chat with a developer about potential assignments to show us what they can do.
Our schedule is pretty tight, and for the most part, all of the books we do are not solicited at all. We come up with the books ourselves, with a few exceptions.
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As probably the voluminous RPG company, how extensively are APs and modules play tested prior to publication? Does Paizo have external players with non-disclosure agreements? Is there a team that does this in house?
I like to imagine a room full of dozens of Oompa-Loompas employed by Paizo, joyfully playing through all the content filling out play test questionnaires.
Which sword in Pathfinder would you use to represent a cavalry sabre?
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Creative Director
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As probably the voluminous RPG company, how extensively are APs and modules play tested prior to publication? Does Paizo have external players with non-disclosure agreements? Is there a team that does this in house?
I like to imagine a room full of dozens of Oompa-Loompas employed by Paizo, joyfully playing through all the content filling out play test questionnaires.
Playtesting of an adventure is the author's responsibility. When they get to the office, we don't have time or resources to playtest them all in house. That said, the process of development does pretty much all of the work a playtest would. In some cases, there's so much development that significant parts of the author's turnover gets rewritten even for clarity or to take things back where the outline wanted them to be.
What would you do, or have done, during a game night where the dice have decreed the players will die? Every skill check they roll fails spectacularly, every attack is a miss, more '1's are rolled than any other number. Meanwhile, there's at least one critical threat per round from the opponenets, and often multiple. Damage rolls are near max, and every save they make succeeds.
Perhaps a bit dramatic, but have you had a situation, as a GM, where the players cannot succeed, and their foes are trouncing them due to bad rolls. And how do you deal with it as a GM?
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Creative Director
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What's the intended use case for a CR 25 creature like Treerazer? They seem to be off the scale of what a L20 party could handle (CR 24 counts as 'extreme'; XP values are only listed for creatures within 4 levels of the party).
A foe like that is intended to be a boss for an entire campaign, during which the whole campaign has been about building up the power and resources to face such a target. Normally a level 25 creature (remember, "CR" doesn't exist in 2nd edition) would indeed be beyond extreme, but for a 20th level party who's been building up specific resources and skills and solving problems the entire way aimed at this one fight, it's where it needs to be.
An encounter like that should also likely award extra bonus XP, but to be honest that'd be pointless since the PCs would be 20th level and wouldn't have anything to do with XP earned anyway.
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What would you do, or have done, during a game night where the dice have decreed the players will die? Every skill check they roll fails spectacularly, every attack is a miss, more '1's are rolled than any other number. Meanwhile, there's at least one critical threat per round from the opponenets, and often multiple. Damage rolls are near max, and every save they make succeeds.
Perhaps a bit dramatic, but have you had a situation, as a GM, where the players cannot succeed, and their foes are trouncing them due to bad rolls. And how do you deal with it as a GM?
I have always used things like Hero points, or allowed the PCs to earn things in play (such as deific boon or whatever) that put the "let's not die" emergency button in their hands, so a TPK doesn't happen TOO often for games I run (although the players themselves don't realize that).
In a case where the dice simply run foul for the PCs and hot for the NPCs and it's just rando chance that things are going well, I might do one of these things:
1) The enemies see fortune swinging their way and start to get sloppy or overconfident, "wasting" actions on gloating or doing things to mock or humiliate the PCs rather than press the advantage. This has the added benefit of being a VERY strong story beat, since it adds a very cinematic element to the fight where the PCs are on the ropes and things look dire, but then some flaw in the enemy's tactics or personality (one not ruled by random die rolls, but made out of a mistake on the enemy's part) grants the endangered PCs the chance they need.
2) I play it out but don't kill the PCs; instead, they get captured. This then segues into an "escape captivity" adventure. Those adventures can make for a fun change of pace, but they're AWFUL to force on PCs with read aloud text. If the opportunity happens naturally, though, go for it. You never know what might play out; I did this once back in college with a group that got TPKed and they were instead taken prisoner and forced to help awaken a lost slumbering empire of wizards. They eventually escaped and then went on several adventures to defeat the wizards as best they could. This whole thing would never have happened if the party hadn't had bad luck with a vampire fight, and since that whole slumbering wizard empire would, a few decades later, inspire and lay groundwork for Thassilon and the Runelords... Golarion would have been a different setting.
3) Have an NPC ally swoop in to save the day. This works best if the NPC is someone that owes the PCs a favor or has a strong tie to them and who it makes sense for them to be available to do a rescue. It can also work if it's a brand new NPC or an enemy who suddenly turns against their allies, in which case you can throw it in as an unexpected plot twist that can fuel an entire new campaign arc.
4) If the campaign feels like this is a good ending point and I get the feeling after playing with the players for the whole time that they're perhaps ready for something new... I play it out and the campaign is over. The next one might be a sequel, or it might be something new. I don't do this if I get the idea that the players are eager and hopeful to win though.
Simple question really. Need clarification because I disagree with endless cackles. Pathfinder 1st edition, witch, advanced players guide.
Is cackle meant to only extend the specific hexes list by 1 round, or was it designed for endless 1 round extensions? So as to get an entire group hexed and have all creatures affected during the entire battle? I.E.
1st level witch with extra hex feat
round 1
Miss fortune 1st creature, cackle to extend by 1 round
round 2
miss fortune another creature, cackle to extend 1st and 2nd creature hex by 1 round
round 3
miss fortune another creature, cackle to extend 1st, 2nd, and 3rd creature hex by 1 round.
round 4
cackle to extend all hexes for 1 more round, move action
round 5
save or suck spell, cackle to extend all hexes for one round.
Seems like cackle is the infinite loop for extended an otherwise very low duration ability of 3 rounds at level 16 for miss fortune.
Or,
Was cackle designed for an extension of the hex by a maximum of one round. Miss fortune would only have a maximum of 4 rounds at level 16.
My thinking was because of the 24 hour duration for a hex, and by the time the second round is up that miss fortune wouldn't be active, so you're basically cackling a cackle. Sounds funny, but why give an unlimited duration hex for 5 hexes? Why not just make them witch level plus int mod for duration and take out the cackle hex.
Edited for bad spelling, grammar, and clarifying which system...
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I want to have an army of Cinderclaw charau-ka cultists attack Akrivel, prior to the PCs leaving, to add more urgency to hunting down and destroying the cult, but information on the city is sparse.
What is the population of Akrivel? Is there more information on the city that had to be cut for space?
Is Achaekek the template for Aeons, or any other form out outsider, in the same way that Asmodeus and Sarenrae are for Devils and Angels?
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Creative Director
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Simple question really. Need clarification because I disagree with endless cackles. Pathfinder 1st edition, witch, advanced players guide.
Is cackle meant to only extend the specific hexes list by 1 round, or was it designed for endless 1 round extensions? So as to get an entire group hexed and have all creatures affected during the entire battle? I.E.
1st level witch with extra hex feat
round 1
Miss fortune 1st creature, cackle to extend by 1 round
round 2
miss fortune another creature, cackle to extend 1st and 2nd creature hex by 1 round
round 3
miss fortune another creature, cackle to extend 1st, 2nd, and 3rd creature hex by 1 round.
round 4
cackle to extend all hexes for 1 more round, move action
round 5
save or suck spell, cackle to extend all hexes for one round.Seems like cackle is the infinite loop for extended an otherwise very low duration ability of 3 rounds at level 16 for miss fortune.
Or,
Was cackle designed for an extension of the hex by a maximum of one round. Miss fortune would only have a maximum of 4 rounds at level 16.
My thinking was because of the 24 hour duration for a hex, and by the time the second round is up that miss fortune wouldn't be active, so you're basically cackling a cackle. Sounds funny, but why give an unlimited duration hex for 5 hexes? Why not just make them witch level plus int mod for duration and take out the cackle hex.
Edited for bad spelling, grammar, and clarifying which system...
I'm always amused by the combination of "simple question" and then a long wall of text that is hard to quote due to the way the forum works...
In any event, I didn't design cakcle nor did I do much work on the 1st edition witch's design, nor have I ever played a witch. I don't know what the intent was, so I suggest asking on the APG forum or a witch-flavored rules section of the boards.
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Creative Director
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Spoiler:I want to have an army of Cinderclaw charau-ka cultists attack Akrivel, prior to the PCs leaving, to add more urgency to hunting down and destroying the cult, but information on the city is sparse.What is the population of Akrivel? Is there more information on the city that had to be cut for space?
If you're asking about specific adventures or products, it's best to not only mention what adventure or product you're asking about (because I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all we publish), but also to use spoilers to avoid ruining things accidentally for folks.
But since the point of Akrivel is to have some non-combat roleplay stuff, and since it came out at a point where we were still not sure how to present city stat block information in 2nd edition stuff, we ended up erring on the side of vagueness there.
If you wanna have a charau-ka attack, the bet bet is to foucus on a fight with the PCs and say that there's fighting in the background and keep the bigger picture vague as nothing more than "set dressing," in any event, but also you'll want to be careful of setting up a perception by the PCs that the elves are cowards or fools for not wanting to suddenly throw everything they've got against the charau-ka in light of the escalation. Furthermore, Akrivel is intended to feel like a safe place for the PCs to shelter in, since there's not a lot of that once you go into the jungle, so you need to be careful of making the PCs feel like there's nowhere to go to rest and recover.
Otherwise, it's pretty much up to you. I've no more information off the top of my head to share. Personally, the flavor and feel of Akrivel, to me, feels like a small town of not more than 2,000 elves, and probably a fair bit less. I'd say go with the smallest number you can do that doesn't start to make you feel like the map is off target for the size of the settlement. Settlement population numbers are mostly just flavor anyway...
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Creative Director
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Is Achaekek the template for Aeons, or any other form out outsider, in the same way that Asmodeus and Sarenrae are for Devils and Angels?
Nope. He's not a template for anything in that way.
Of the initial nine deities, Asmodeus and Sarenrae are pretty much the only ones who do that sort of thing. MAYBE the Speakers of the Depths and the proteans, but that's still kinda all unresolved and mysterious there.
Pathfinder is such a massive and rich game world, it makes me wonder, how do you lot keep track of it all and make sure you don’t accidentally step on what you have already established?
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Pathfinder is such a massive and rich game world, it makes me wonder, how do you lot keep track of it all and make sure you don’t accidentally step on what you have already established?
By cross checking content and being familiar with our own work, really. It helps to have everyone in-house so we can simply talk in person, and also helps that we have multiple people reading over things who are all in-house and keep track of things. And having everything we've published in PDFs that we can search quickly also helps.
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And for folks who might be wondering: I do indeed play Pathfinder AND Starfinder. My current regular games are:
Extinction Curse: Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month I'm playing Wrin Sivinxi, a tiefling sorcerer with a fey bloodline and pet dinosaurs in this campaign. Ron Lundeen's running this game.
Whispers in Ravounel: Every Wednesday I run a Pathifnder game set in a small town called Crookcove—I'm the GM of this one and it's all homebrew made up for the game content that isn't published. It's a sandbox style campaign with the players having their own personal quests and larger concerns in the region—currently, they're tackling the exploration of a haunted house that has deep ties to SOMETHING from outer space...
Dead Suns: Every other Thursday I play Zeru Zinzi, an envoy/operative sniper grafitti-artist pop-culture troublemaker. Rob McReary's running this Starfinder game. Next game's this evening, in fact, and we're about to wrap up the end of the 4th adventure.
Each of these games generally runs for about 3–4 hours after work, so overall I'm getting in about 8 to 12 hours of gaming in each week.
I'm still enjoying RPGs a lot, and I don't see that changing any time soon, if ever.
EDIT: I don't mind answering questions about myself like this at all, but please don't ask them in abrasive ways.
Do you have a particular favorite piece of equipment, augmentation or weapon for your Envoy?
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Is Whispers in Ravounel a 1e or 2e game?
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Do you have a particular favorite piece of equipment, augmentation or weapon for your Envoy?
Not really.
For my character, yes: My sniper rifle and my can of violet spray paint and my motorcycle and my camera and my t-shirt collection.
Of those five things, I use the sniper rifle a lot (as an operative, not as an envoy). I get yelled at by the other players a lot for things like "defacing cultural iconography" (rolls eyes). I haven't yet had a chance where I can actually use my motorcycle in the adventure (also rolls eyes). I use the camera a lot but since I've never gotten back to Absalom I have never been able to upload any of the footage so that my followers for Violet Riot can see my shenanigans (rolls eyes harder). I get to wear my various t-shirts like "Zombie Donkey" (BRAAAAYYYYNS!) wherever though, so that's good!
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Is Whispers in Ravounel a 1e or 2e game?
It's 2nd edition. At first because I wanted to learn how to play 2nd edition, but now because I can't really imagine going back to 1st edition. It's so much easier to build content for 2nd edition.
But yeah, pretty much anything and everything I do from now going forward that's Pathfinder RPG related is 2nd edition.
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I don't understand how building content could be easier for something other than a d20 derivative. How is it pf2 is easier for you in this way?
The rules are simpler and more elegant in 2nd edition. Compare how monsters are made between the two editions for the best example.
I built a world where magic, psionics, and technology all collide with over 53,000 years worth of storyline with multiple dimensions and galaxies, and my goal is to make this into a VR MMORPG, wanna help me turn this into a reality? :)
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Do you think that demon lords and other level 26+ creatures can be statted up in 2E now, or would Mythic be necessary for that?
The math for how monsters work scales much better in 2nd edition. It's absolutely possible to build monsters up to an infinite level at this point, but level 30 will remain the cap for our products (with an infinite cap there's no way to make "the most powerful" of anything, and that's frustrating). So, the CR of a demigod and the like in 1st edition will be the level of that creature in 2nd edition, when we stat them up.
We won't need Mythic rules at all.
Your player characters will need some sort of expansion to the rules to be able to face them in anything approaching a fair fight, or might need artifacts or lots of allies. We'll figure that out at some point when we need to. My preference is to do something entirely different than the mythic rules, and whatever we do, to spend more time playtesting it at high level rather than at any other level.
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I built a world where magic, psionics, and technology all collide with over 53,000 years worth of storyline with multiple dimensions and galaxies, and my goal is to make this into a VR MMORPG, wanna help me turn this into a reality? :)
Pay me a LOT more than I'm currently getting paid, and then convince me you have a story worth telling, then prove to me that you have the business skills and funding to make it happen without crashing and burning, and give me part ownership and creative control over sections of the project, and instead of a VR MMORPG make it into a single player non-VR game that's more like Skyrim or Witcher 3 and MAYBE I'll be interested... but even then maybe not, since I know a lot more people who went broke and/or ended up being out of a job as a result of switching from RPG jobs to video game jobs.
(I'm not a fan of MMORPGs at all, and since I wear glasses, VR is awkward to use at best.)
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Creative Director
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What are your thoughts on The Princess Bride book (not the movie, I hear you don't like the movie)?
I've never read it and have no interest in reading it, and it's one of those books that the more people try to convince me to read it, the less interest I have in it. No thanks.
(I generally do NOT enjoy fiction that's framed as fiction—it makes me feel like the writer doesn't trust my imagination or ability to suspend my sense of disbelief when they frame their story in a "Don't worry; this is a fantasy book but it's all make-believe and I've wrapped it up in a framing story that keeps you from having to imagine that the characters are anything more than words on a page." Not a fan of Never-Ending Story for the same reason. Even stories that get meta, and place the author or creator of the work in the story they're creating start to make me annoyed, with rare exceptions where the story is a genre I already adore and the writer is exceptionally skilled—such as the Dark Tower books by Stephen King.)
(I'm not a fan of MMORPGs at all, and since I wear glasses, VR is awkward to use at best.)
Prescription VR headsets? :-)
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Question based on Lost Omens Gods and Magic (which is awesome!):
When in the winter months is Crystalhue (Shelyn's kinda Christmasy holiday) in relation to Candlemark (Sarenrae's new holiday which is explicitly on the Winter Solstice)? I thought Crystalhue was ON the solstice back when I first read about it in 1e, but that may have just been an assumption on my part, since a lot of "fantasy-Christmas" holidays get lumped in with the solstice as a way to differentiate them from actual Christmas.
Should I be wishing my friends here on the Paizo boards a "Merry Crystalhue" or a "Merry Candlemark" this coming December? :3
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Creative Director
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(I'm not a fan of MMORPGs at all, and since I wear glasses, VR is awkward to use at best.)Prescription VR headsets? :-)
Even if those are a thing, my vision is slowly creeping worse and worse by the year, so a prescription VR headset purchased today would be increasingly useless. As far as I can tell, contact lenses are the best way to deal with VR headsets.
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Creative Director
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Question based on Lost Omens Gods and Magic (which is awesome!):
When in the winter months is Crystalhue (Shelyn's kinda Christmasy holiday) in relation to Candlemark (Sarenrae's new holiday which is explicitly on the Winter Solstice)? I thought Crystalhue was ON the solstice back when I first read about it in 1e, but that may have just been an assumption on my part, since a lot of "fantasy-Christmas" holidays get lumped in with the solstice as a way to differentiate them from actual Christmas.
Should I be wishing my friends here on the Paizo boards a "Merry Crystalhue" or a "Merry Candlemark" this coming December? :3
We'll get around to nailing down specific dates for these holidays and many more soon, I suspect, but for now if they're not listed on pages 248–249 of the Inner Sea World Guide, exact dates haven't yet been decided on.
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Creative Director
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Stories in stories, what about such occasions when the outer story is not simply framing but the fact that the inner story is a story is important to the outer story, such as the Star Trek Voyager episode where the doctor wrote a holodeck story but the episode was about how the crew found the story insulting?
That's fine. It's when the WHOLE story is presented as fiction that I get annoyed.
The "It was all a dream" ending is a variant on the same thing. It makes the whole story meaningless to me.
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Mmos, what do you dislike about them? Is it just the "wow-clone" stupidity that seems to infect the everything, or the other people, or something else? I know I hate 90% of all mmos because they are "wow-clones" which is the worst game template ever for me, but I always look forward to the rare exceptions, such as Mabinogi used to be.
So is it something inherent to mmos (meeting extra people) or just that no one has made an mmo that actually worked in the way you like?
I don't like the fact that my character in the game has no lasting impact or agency on the storyline of the game. It's frustrating to do an entire quest, only to see that quest reset for another person waiting in line, or to come back later and nothing's changed, or to have to sit there and wait for a chance to finish the quest after other players finish. On top of that, griefers and trolls are awful and they are really good at ruining a game for me. When I play a video game, I prefer to do so on my own or with close friends so I don't have to worry about some random jerk ruining things.
Warcraft is more or less the only MMO I've ever really enjoyed, and that's in part because of the outstanding art direction and in part because a lot of my friends were playing too. As my friends drifted away to other things, I increasingly lost interest. But the Warcraft model is hands down my favorite type of MMO... but it requires friends.