Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Think about every movie or story you've read that involves someone with mind control powers. Let me know if you can come up with any that portray the mind controller as anything other than a monster or a villain.Would the Jedi in Star Wars count? (Perhaps the very transitory nature of ‘Jedi mind tricks’ makes that the exception that proves the rule.)
"Jedi Mind Tricks" are more akin to telepathic diplomacy/deception, I think. They don't control the target's mind so much as they alter what they see. It's more mental illusion than reaching in there and controlling them.
Mr. James Jacobs,
Earlier in this thread you made mention that you were of the LGBTQ community. Which of those descriptors would you apply to yourself?
Is Charles Xavier a villain, then?
|
Creative Director
|
Is Charles Xavier a villain, then?
That's a good example of someone who isn't a villain ... but also, he's got a LOT of different powers. He's more akin to a Pathfinder psychic who has things like telepathy, remote veiwing, illusions, and others in addition to mind control.
In most of the stories I've read about X-men (my memories of the movie are mostly him searching the world for mutants or just telepathy), it's not mind control he does much at all, which means I wouldn't count Xavier stories as "only" about mind control. That helps him to not be a villain for sure!
|
How does Pharasma judge individuals who've conducted serious acts of Evil (like, war crimes serious) during their lives but make a grand, sweeping act of Good that results in their death? You know, like Darth Vader?
Obviously they're not sent to a Good-aligned afterlife, but do they continue their trajectory to an Evil-aligned afterlife essentially rendering the good deed that resulted in their death moot, or are they put in a Neutral one, which, while not outright ignoring the seriousness of the evil deeds they'd done like Star Wars does, still kind of disrespects the person's victims by minimizing it?
And on that note, who ARE some examples of the worst war criminals in Golarion's history besides The Whispering Tyrant and Abrogail Thrune (and the Hell's Vengeance PCs who helped her)?
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
How does Pharasma judge individuals who've conducted serious acts of Evil (like, war crimes serious) during their lives but make a grand, sweeping act of Good that results in their death? You know, like Darth Vader?
Obviously they're not sent to a Good-aligned afterlife, but do they continue their trajectory to an Evil-aligned afterlife essentially rendering the good deed that resulted in their death moot, or are they put in a Neutral one, which, while not outright ignoring the seriousness of the evil deeds they'd done like Star Wars does, still kind of disrespects the person's victims by minimizing it?
And on that note, who ARE some examples of the worst war criminals in Golarion's history besides The Whispering Tyrant and Abrogail Thrune (and the Hell's Vengeance PCs who helped her)?
Same way as the rest. Evil souls who fail are either sent on to a lower plane to be punished as appropriate or, if they fail because they repent or redeem or whatever, might be sent to a different plane to either become soil or a petitioner who might some day ascend to outsider.
It's harder for evil souls who become petitioners to ascend to more powerful outsider roles than good souls, since evil planes are less forgiving.
If I had to pick one "Worst War Criminal" from Golarion's history, it'd probably be Alaznist.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I see. Could you elaborate more on the "Evil souls who fail" bit? What exactly are they failing in this instance?
An evil NPC who has a plot to do something big but is defeated before completing it by PCs is the classic "evil soul who fails." They're failing at being successfully evil.
Two weapon fighting in 1e has always been complicated for me, rules-wise.
My understanding is that the only way a typical PC under normal conditions could use both melee weapons once as a standard action is to take the feat Weapon Trick: Dual Strike. Is this correct?
J
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Two weapon fighting in 1e has always been complicated for me, rules-wise.
My understanding is that the only way a typical PC under normal conditions could use both melee weapons once as a standard action is to take the feat Weapon Trick: Dual Strike. Is this correct?
J
Dunno. I've pretty much scrubbed my brain of a lot of the corner case stuff from 1st edition. That said, rules questions for any edition are better asked in other rules-based forums here, since I generally don't answer rules questions here; sorry!
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I see. Could you elaborate more on the "Evil souls who fail" bit? What exactly are they failing in this instance?An evil NPC who has a plot to do something big but is defeated before completing it by PCs is the classic "evil soul who fails." They're failing at being successfully evil.
Ah, and an evil NPC who decides ruin that something big at the last minute because of their personal issues SUPER fails at being evil, then?
That really explains a lot about why there's such an emphasis on "punishment" in Evil planes: if you'd succeeded you wouldn't be dead in the first place. And that also explains why so many evil mages turn to undeath: they're doing evil RIGHT by making sure they DON'T die. Thanks, James! This really put things in perspective!
What's your favorite PF deity, of each alignment?
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ah, and an evil NPC who decides ruin that something big at the last minute because of their personal issues SUPER fails at being evil, then?
Depends entirely on how they "ruin" it. An evil NPC who ruins their big plans by having a change of heart and doing a significant act of good might end up being redeemed and be sent on to a good plane rather than being sent on to be punished on an evil one. It's very much a case by case basis that's the creator of the story gets to decide.
|
|
Ah, and an evil NPC who decides ruin that something big at the last minute because of their personal issues SUPER fails at being evil, then?Depends entirely on how they "ruin" it. An evil NPC who ruins their big plans by having a change of heart and doing a significant act of good might end up being redeemed and be sent on to a good plane rather than being sent on to be punished on an evil one. It's very much a case by case basis that's the creator of the story gets to decide.
What kinds of good acts would be enough to earn redemption from committing war crimes?
Historically the only redemption war criminals have received is execution, right?
I see what you're saying about case-by-case bases but isn't Pharasma's judgment supposed to be consistent and infallible?
|
Creative Director
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ah, and an evil NPC who decides ruin that something big at the last minute because of their personal issues SUPER fails at being evil, then?Depends entirely on how they "ruin" it. An evil NPC who ruins their big plans by having a change of heart and doing a significant act of good might end up being redeemed and be sent on to a good plane rather than being sent on to be punished on an evil one. It's very much a case by case basis that's the creator of the story gets to decide.What kinds of good acts would be enough to earn redemption from committing war crimes?
Historically the only redemption war criminals have received is execution, right?
I see what you're saying about case-by-case bases but isn't Pharasma's judgment supposed to be consistent and infallible?
Pharasma's judgment is infallible, but not consistent. She's not lawful, remember. She judges each and every soul individually, not on some sort of supernatural conveyor belt. Her judgements are each tailor-made customized results as varied as each and every single person's life and personality and goals and failings and triumphs are.
What good act is enough to earn redemption for a war crime is left to the storyteller or GM to determine, but it should be significant and probably come with some level of personal sacrifice of wealth or power or prestige or more.
It's not really appropriate to bring in real-world war crimes to this sort of discussion though. This is a game, not real life, and treating real life atrocities like they can be summarized in a game–even in a way that might seem harmless—isn't something I'm going to go into.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I respect that, and thank you.
Hey, how long were...** spoiler omitted **
Took me by surprise, but it was quite a pleasant surprise! :)
I have no idea. Had no part in their creation. I suspect they were something Patrick had been plotting to unleash for some time, perhaps years, but he kept those proverbial cards close to his chest.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
What's your favorite PF deity, of each alignment?LG Iomedae
You like Iomedae?
|
Creative Director
|
What's your least favorite alignment? Actually, how would you rank all nine alignments?
My ranking of alignment preferences, in order from favorite down to least favorite, varies if we're talking about my own PCs/NPC allies or NPC villains (I don't really have any favorites for other players' NPCs
For my own PCs and NPC allies: CG, CN, NG, N, CE, NE, LE, LG, LN
For NPC vilains: CE, LN, NE, LE, N, CN, LG, NG, CG
Did you consult for Owlcat's latest Wrath of the Righteous game yet? or will that come down the pipe later? if you have, mind sharing some cool stuff with us? :)
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Have you gotten to play Nioh 2 any?Yup! Having an absolute blast with it!Yay!
What is your favourite Yokai os far? Sampuss? Nure-onna?
I'm still relatively early in the game, but Scampuss is pretty awesome. The horse-head yokai are pretty frightening too.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Did you consult for Owlcat's latest Wrath of the Righteous game yet? or will that come down the pipe later? if you have, mind sharing some cool stuff with us? :)
Yup, I've been working with Owlcat on Wrath for about a year already. I can't remember the exact date they first started talking to us about what they wanted to do next, but it was early 2019 if I recall correctly.
|
I'm still relatively early in the game, but Scampuss is pretty awesome. The horse-head yokai are pretty frightening too.Have you gotten to play Nioh 2 any?Yup! Having an absolute blast with it!Yay!
What is your favourite Yokai os far? Sampuss? Nure-onna?
Yessss, Scampuss is awesome! And yeah the horsies are scary and cool.
What weapons are you using?
Did you consult for Owlcat's latest Wrath of the Righteous game yet? or will that come down the pipe later? if you have, mind sharing some cool stuff with us? :)Yup, I've been working with Owlcat on Wrath for about a year already. I can't remember the exact date they first started talking to us about what they wanted to do next, but it was early 2019 if I recall correctly.
Ratfolk, Kitsune or Catfolk? :P :D :)
|
|
What weapons are you using?Ninja mode!
I was focusing on hatchets for the first 3 missions since I got some GREAT hatchets early on, but then once I just unlocked the blacksmith I'm on to the kusarigama, which is where I want to be.
Nice! I do love the hatchets and switchglaive, but the loot gods decided to bribe me continuously with odachis.
What do you think of the Yokai Mode/forms?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What do you think of the Yokai Mode/forms?
I'm slowly growing to like them. There's SO MUCH to unpack in the game. Today's triumph was finally getting comfortable with using the quick forward dodge thing and the top ability; haven't yet started working in the second Yokai one, and whenever I assume Yokai form there's just so much mayhem going on that I end up wasting the whole thing running around or stabbing the air. BUT I do like my glowing golden antlers when I'm all yokaied out!
|
|
What do you think of the Yokai Mode/forms?I'm slowly growing to like them. There's SO MUCH to unpack in the game. Today's triumph was finally getting comfortable with using the quick forward dodge thing and the top ability; haven't yet started working in the second Yokai one, and whenever I assume Yokai form there's just so much mayhem going on that I end up wasting the whole thing running around or stabbing the air. BUT I do like my glowing golden antlers when I'm all yokaied out!
Antler buddies yay! (I picked them too)
What’s been your favourite QoL improvement from the first game?
Mine’s probably that your guardian spirit is automatically returned to you when you enter boss arenas.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
What do you think of the Yokai Mode/forms?I'm slowly growing to like them. There's SO MUCH to unpack in the game. Today's triumph was finally getting comfortable with using the quick forward dodge thing and the top ability; haven't yet started working in the second Yokai one, and whenever I assume Yokai form there's just so much mayhem going on that I end up wasting the whole thing running around or stabbing the air. BUT I do like my glowing golden antlers when I'm all yokaied out!Antler buddies yay! (I picked them too)
What’s been your favourite QoL improvement from the first game?
Mine’s probably that your guardian spirit is automatically returned to you when you enter boss arenas.
Clearly antlers are the horn of choice for discerning yokai!
My favorite QoL improvement is that you get to build your own character, so I don't have to play a dude.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We just finished our Wrath of the Righteous campaign (after two, three years?) and it was amazing!
The militant nature of the LG deities and planes in contrast to the other Good aspects is interesting to explore. I gained a lot of respect for Iomedae and the crusades after the AP (and after reading about the shining crusade etc).
I'm looking forward to seeing how Owlcat pull this one off. Are there any scenes or parts of the adventure you really want to see carried over in the game?
So in first edition when you are confused one of the possibilities is babbling incoherently. Did you have any favourite things to babble when you were playing a character rolled that result?
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
We just finished our Wrath of the Righteous campaign (after two, three years?) and it was amazing!
The militant nature of the LG deities and planes in contrast to the other Good aspects is interesting to explore. I gained a lot of respect for Iomedae and the crusades after the AP (and after reading about the shining crusade etc).
I'm looking forward to seeing how Owlcat pull this one off. Are there any scenes or parts of the adventure you really want to see carried over in the game?
Yay, glad you liked it!
And yeah, it's important to remember that just because two groups or two people have the same alignment, they won't automatically have the same opinions.
I'm particularly excited to see how they implement the mythic elements, now that the world is armed with several more years of experience and feedback and knowledge about how high level play and mythic play interact (at the time we were working on the adventure path, there was pretty much NO information there, since the playtest focused more on low level play—a flaw in our playtest methods we didn't really start working out until the 2nd edition playtest which had folks playtest EVERY level, not just the lower level stuff.)
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
So in first edition when you are confused one of the possibilities is babbling incoherently. Did you have any favourite things to babble when you were playing a character rolled that result?
Not particularly, but my go-to babble is to slur and mumble my words and speak fast while now and then dropping in a perfectly enunciated word here and there that's out of context but just enough IN context that everyone listening can fill in the blanks and get different (and thus confusing) results in their minds as to what I'm babbling about.
Think "The grizzled old drunk prospector just ran into town and is excited to talk about the bigfoot he just saw down by the river but is too worked up and drunk and out of breath to say anything more than... 'ess b bure suldlsfd down sfsdlku udur vsde foot sdsd hesrru suuf mffre by the river!'"
| 10 people marked this as a favorite. |
Do you think you'll ever stop getting rules questions in this thread?
What would you define as 'essential personnel' for a society? (Pathfinder setting question, not IRL)
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hey, James! Here with an odd question that can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending....
If your question requires that much text, I'm probably not going to be able to help you. Either rephrase as one sentence, or, if as it looks like, you're asking about a 1st edition rules question, please ask on the 1st edition boards for advice from other gamers. I try to avoid answering rules questions here because it makes people crazy–they try to use my answers to bully GMs, push boundaries in PFS, or confront the Design team with my replies as ammunition in an attempt to force them to agree. It's caused a fair amount of drama for me in real life and work life alike, so... sorry, I don't answer rules questions.
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Do you think you'll ever stop getting rules questions in this thread?
Nope... but I still try to let folks know so that, hopefully, they're know where to ask next time around. I honestly don't mind telling folks that I don't answer rules questions, and try to explain why I don't (see previous post)... it's not that I can't or don't want to answer them. It's just that I've been told to avoid doing so... and that's good advice, seeing as how me answering rules questions here has caused internal strife at Paizo.
That said... in a way, that means that as long as I continue getting rules questions, that could mean that we've constantly got new folks coming into Pathfinder or gaming, and that's a good thing!