Could be! Rust monsters work better as bad guys I think.That would be an elegant way of handling it, but still a potentially very disruptive thing to give a party access to. You'd have to rewrite/rebalance every single adventure that involves things like, say, locked doors.
Had a few seconds of "but doors aren't all made of metal", then had the "ah [redacted], the locks themselves". well, it was a crazy idea to start with.
Could still be something for NPCs. < killer DM/GM idea?
and kinda good Siege Weapons.
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That does not match my experience at all. Do you think that perhaps player experiences might cause them to eschew something and tell others how bad it is because they had bad experiences with it even though others might embrace it because they had good experiences? How would you get more players into something that they might avoid because "common wisdom" says it'll bad when you know it can be good and they could enjoy it if done right?
Everyone plays the game differently and has different notions of what's fun or not. We've arrived at the way we handle it after looking at how tens of thousands of players play the game and using that research to come to an "average," more or less.
In any case, player experiences would absolutely color the perception of a game. That's fine. That's why there's multiple types of games to choose from. It's best to find a game that ALL the players are into rather than try to force someone to play a game they don't like... but that said, it's also good to volunteer to run someone through a game that they think they won't like based on guesses or hearsay, so they can make their own decision.
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and kinda good Siege Weapons.Could be! Rust monsters work better as bad guys I think.That would be an elegant way of handling it, but still a potentially very disruptive thing to give a party access to. You'd have to rewrite/rebalance every single adventure that involves things like, say, locked doors.
Had a few seconds of "but doors aren't all made of metal", then had the "ah [redacted], the locks themselves". well, it was a crazy idea to start with.
Could still be something for NPCs. < killer DM/GM idea?
Please limit posts to this thread to questions; it's a giant thread and limiting posts like this helps it from going off the rails and being impossible to maintain.
Are you going to announce new PF products for 2021 (any time soon)?
I am very happy with Edgewatch and Kingmaker, I am just curious.
I asked this already in December here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42vkx?What-books-to-come-in-2021
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Are you going to announce new PF products for 2021 (any time soon)?
I am very happy with Edgewatch and Kingmaker, I am just curious.I asked this already in December here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42vkx?What-books-to-come-in-2021
We've always announced lots of products for the next year during Paizo con, and in fact I think that there'll be some announcements right now on the stream on our Twitch channel.
We've always announced lots of products for the next year during Paizo con, and in fact I think that there'll be some announcements right now on the stream on our Twitch channel.Are you going to announce new PF products for 2021 (any time soon)?
I am very happy with Edgewatch and Kingmaker, I am just curious.I asked this already in December here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42vkx?What-books-to-come-in-2021
I haven't seen any announcements, did I miss it?
Or should I just wait till Monday, when it is all over the "news"?I honestly don't know why I care at all about this, maybe you have an answer?
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We've always announced lots of products for the next year during Paizo con, and in fact I think that there'll be some announcements right now on the stream on our Twitch channel.Are you going to announce new PF products for 2021 (any time soon)?
I am very happy with Edgewatch and Kingmaker, I am just curious.I asked this already in December here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42vkx?What-books-to-come-in-2021I haven't seen any announcements, did I miss it?
Or should I just wait till Monday, when it is all over the "news"?I honestly don't know why I care at all about this, maybe you have an answer?
Looks like the announcements I was thinking would happen will happen later in the week. Checking the Paizo blog in the early afternoon at around 2:00 Pacific time will also get you the info for that day's announcements, I believe.
And As to why you care? My guess is that you're passionate and invested in a hobby and are excited and eager to find out what's coming next for it. In the same way I'm excited to see the announcement for Stephen King's next novel or the next Godzilla movie, for example. It's part of being a fan.
Please limit posts to this thread to questions; it's a giant thread and limiting posts like this helps it from going off the rails and being impossible to maintain.and kinda good Siege Weapons.Could be! Rust monsters work better as bad guys I think.That would be an elegant way of handling it, but still a potentially very disruptive thing to give a party access to. You'd have to rewrite/rebalance every single adventure that involves things like, say, locked doors.
Had a few seconds of "but doors aren't all made of metal", then had the "ah [redacted], the locks themselves". well, it was a crazy idea to start with.
Could still be something for NPCs. < killer DM/GM idea?
Sorry, kinda got a bit carried away with something...
Anyway, does it ever bother you that many people don't think of using monsters to their full potential? How much might be due to stereotypes? Like Rust Monsters only "being good for destroying Weapons and Armors".
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Anyway, does it ever bother you that many people don't think of using monsters to their full potential? How much might be due to stereotypes? Like Rust Monsters only "being good for destroying Weapons and Armors".
Nope. In fact, it kind of bothers me when a GM tries to make every single encounter in the game be completely maximized and number-crunched to perfection. Real people make mistakes. Character flaws are what makes characters interesting. I like Batman more than Superman because he has weaknesses and makes mistakes; for Superman, they had to invent a nonsense word to create a weakness for him, and that's kinda lame and lazy, I think. Monsters that make mistakes are often more memorable encounters than those who somehow manage to know exactly the best thing to do every round.
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What about just using them more "realistically" rather than as things-that-blindy-fight-to-death-without-a-suitable-motivation?
For example, a bunch of goblins try to raid a caravan which has the PCs and a bunch of gpblins die, the rest are going to either lose morale and flee or realize the battle is lost and retreat. Even animals don't fight to the death without a really good reason, like protecting young. In fact, the creatures that will fight to the death as the norm are colony insects which treat individuals as expendible.
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What about just using them more "realistically" rather than as things-that-blindy-fight-to-death-without-a-suitable-motivation?
For example, a bunch of goblins try to raid a caravan which has the PCs and a bunch of gpblins die, the rest are going to either lose morale and flee or realize the battle is lost and retreat. Even animals don't fight to the death without a really good reason, like protecting young. In fact, the creatures that will fight to the death as the norm are colony insects which treat individuals as expendible.
Depends on what you're trying to accomplish in the story. Goblins are certainly smarter than animals, but they're also prone to character flaws like foolhardiness, vengeance, pride, and overconfidence, all of which can make them behave in ways that aren't logical but are still, for goblins, realistic.
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Hello, this might end up to be a little long so sorry about that in advance.
So... it is about the "staggered" condition. Its entry says that "A staggered creature may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can he take full-round actions). A staggered creature can still take free, swift, and immediate actions." and some people in my group argued that because of the way that it was written you can't take any kind of extra actions (for example you can't use a quick runners shirt or you can't benefit from the "Accelerate" wordspell in the Words of Power variant magic ruleset in the Ultimate Magic book).
So my first question is: how true is this assumption? I think they are correct by RAW and wrong by RAI but I am not sure either.
And my second question is: if you CAN take extra move actions from other sources and that move action has no limitations like how you SHOULD use that move action to move while using quick runners shirt, is it possible to take a full-round action while staggered? Because if you can take an extra move action you have all the actions you would normally have in a standard round (1 standard action, 1 move action, 1 swift action and free actions) so I can't see any reason (other than balance issues) that would result in you not being able to take a full-round action.
Thank you for your time and ı hope you have a good day!
I generally don't answer rules questions, but this one is pretty cut and dried.
When you're staggered (in 1st edition), you can do a move action or a standard action in a round action. You can't do both in a round. You cant do two move actions in a round. You can't do a full-round action. You can still do as many free actions and swift actions and immediate actions as normally allowed to you. Staggered ONLY limits your move, standard, and full action options, REGARDLESS of how many move, standard, or full actions you could take nomrally, even if you've gained additional move, standard, or full actions from magic or other sources.
Short version: A quick runner's shirt does not override staggered. Staggered overrides a quick runner's shirt.
When converting a 1st edition adventure to 2nd edition, how do you handle loot? Say the 1st edition adventure, there is a chest with 8000 gp. As a level 4-5 group, in P1 while a substantial amount of money, it really just works out to a Ring of Protection or +1 weapon for each PC. Not nothing, but not a ton of money. But in P2 that's the entire expected wealth for whole party a whole part of level 10 PCs. A LOT!
Do you just cut all the numbers by a factor of 10 and call it a day? or do you consider what you could have purchased with the amount in P1 and then try to find the value to make a similar purchase in P2?
When making art orders, how in depth are your requests? like is it one or two sentences about the monster or is it really precise, this kind of expression, and hands like this, etc.?
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When converting a 1st edition adventure to 2nd edition, how do you handle loot? Say the 1st edition adventure, there is a chest with 8000 gp. As a level 4-5 group, in P1 while a substantial amount of money, it really just works out to a Ring of Protection or +1 weapon for each PC. Not nothing, but not a ton of money. But in P2 that's the entire expected wealth for whole party a whole part of level 10 PCs. A LOT!
Do you just cut all the numbers by a factor of 10 and call it a day? or do you consider what you could have purchased with the amount in P1 and then try to find the value to make a similar purchase in P2?
I look at what the encounter should give out in 2nd edition, using Table 1–3 on page 51 of the Gamemastery Guide, then rebuild the treasure to fit one of those values, starting over from scratch but using the original treasure as thematic inspiration.
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When making art orders, how in depth are your requests? like is it one or two sentences about the monster or is it really precise, this kind of expression, and hands like this, etc.?
I try hard to be as precise as possible and use as few words as possible.
Anyway, does it ever bother you that many people don't think of using monsters to their full potential? How much might be due to stereotypes? Like Rust Monsters only "being good for destroying Weapons and Armors".Nope. In fact, it kind of bothers me when a GM tries to make every single encounter in the game be completely maximized and number-crunched to perfection. Real people make mistakes. Character flaws are what makes characters interesting. I like Batman more than Superman because he has weaknesses and makes mistakes; for Superman, they had to invent a nonsense word to create a weakness for him, and that's kinda lame and lazy, I think. Monsters that make mistakes are often more memorable encounters than those who somehow manage to know exactly the best thing to do every round.
Sorry, I meant more about people (in and out of universe) not using monsters for things they should be able to do, often due to some stereotypes, like the rust monsters only "being good at destroying weapons and armors", so no one really think of using them for other things, like destroying metalic structures. Is it easier to understand?
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Sorry, I meant more about people (in and out of universe) not using monsters for things they should be able to do, often due to some stereotypes, like the rust monsters only "being good at destroying weapons and armors", so no one really think of using them for other things, like destroying metalic structures. Is it easier to understand?Anyway, does it ever bother you that many people don't think of using monsters to their full potential? How much might be due to stereotypes? Like Rust Monsters only "being good for destroying Weapons and Armors".Nope. In fact, it kind of bothers me when a GM tries to make every single encounter in the game be completely maximized and number-crunched to perfection. Real people make mistakes. Character flaws are what makes characters interesting. I like Batman more than Superman because he has weaknesses and makes mistakes; for Superman, they had to invent a nonsense word to create a weakness for him, and that's kinda lame and lazy, I think. Monsters that make mistakes are often more memorable encounters than those who somehow manage to know exactly the best thing to do every round.
Some monsters really DON'T have much to do outside of their role. Rust monsters are a good example. They're a gimmick monster that doesn't really make sense to do much with outside of what it does. Mimics are another good example of a gimmick monster like this. If you're annoyed by "Monster cliches" then it's best to just avoid putting things like rust monsters and mimics in your adventures.
Some monsters really DON'T have much to do outside of their role. Rust monsters are a good example. They're a gimmick monster that doesn't really make sense to do much with outside of what it does. Mimics are another good example of a gimmick monster like this. If you're annoyed by "Monster cliches" then it's best to just avoid putting things like rust monsters and mimics in your adventures.
Can get weird if people want new monsters for X, Y and/or Z, even if there are already monsters that could do those.
Ever ran into that?
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Some monsters really DON'T have much to do outside of their role. Rust monsters are a good example. They're a gimmick monster that doesn't really make sense to do much with outside of what it does. Mimics are another good example of a gimmick monster like this. If you're annoyed by "Monster cliches" then it's best to just avoid putting things like rust monsters and mimics in your adventures.Can get weird if people want new monsters for X, Y and/or Z, even if there are already monsters that could do those.
Ever ran into that?
Yup!
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Erik Mona just let Adam Daigle spoil that you're writing a haunted house adventure for the spring! Anything you want to (and are allowed to) say about it?
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Erik Mona just let Adam Daigle spoil that you're writing a haunted house adventure for the spring! Anything you want to (and are allowed to) say about it?
Not yet, although I hope Erik approves my title for it 'cause I loves it! I will probably be able to talk a little bit more about it after Gen Con, which is I think when it was otherwise gonna get announced.
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Erik Mona just let Adam Daigle spoil that you're writing a haunted house adventure for the spring! Anything you want to (and are allowed to) say about it?Not yet, although I hope Erik approves my title for it 'cause I loves it! I will probably be able to talk a little bit more about it after Gen Con, which is I think when it was otherwise gonna get announced.
If Erik doesn't approve the title, will you be able to tell us what your idea for the title would have been?
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If Erik doesn't approve the title, will you be able to tell us what your idea for the title would have been?Erik Mona just let Adam Daigle spoil that you're writing a haunted house adventure for the spring! Anything you want to (and are allowed to) say about it?Not yet, although I hope Erik approves my title for it 'cause I loves it! I will probably be able to talk a little bit more about it after Gen Con, which is I think when it was otherwise gonna get announced.
Absolutely!
Any pentecostal epiphanies had today?
are you writing the abomination AP for next year, or just developing it>
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are you writing the abomination AP for next year, or just developing it>
I wrote pretty much all of the first book (adventure, the Otari gazetteer, all of the toolbox and all of the new monsters), helped Ron come up with the overall plot, am writing a support article in book 3, and designed all of the maps for every level of the dungeon.
There might be an Archetype like that but: a "Pet Class" whose pet, work something like a Tsukumogami (Bestiary 5), a 'Force' animating an object and somewhat giving it life + mind.
What kind of idea would that be?
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There might be an Archetype like that but: a "Pet Class" whose pet, work something like a Tsukumogami (Bestiary 5), a 'Force' animating an object and somewhat giving it life + mind.
What kind of idea would that be?
I don't get the question... it'd be an idea for an archetype, but you answered that.
If you're asking if I think it's a good or a bad idea, I can't tell you since that's not answering questions—that's providing development feedback, and I avoid doing that unless you're working for me as a freelancer, for legal reasons and time management reasons.
There might be an Archetype like that but: a "Pet Class" whose pet, work something like a Tsukumogami (Bestiary 5), a 'Force' animating an object and somewhat giving it life + mind.
What kind of idea would that be?
I don't get the question... it'd be an idea for an archetype, but you answered that.
If you're asking if I think it's a good or a bad idea, I can't tell you since that's not answering questions—that's providing development feedback, and I avoid doing that unless you're working for me as a freelancer, for legal reasons and time management reasons.
Inspired by Horror stories, supernatural mystery and/or drama, etc...
Like a little creepy kid with a creepy doll/toy, puppets without puppeter, someone begging a loved one "don't leave me", and something animate the body, etc.
Alternative to Undeads, Haunts and Ancient spellcaster's contruct #666'111'337.
That kind of idea never fueled some creative fire at Paizo?
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There might be an Archetype like that but: a "Pet Class" whose pet, work something like a Tsukumogami (Bestiary 5), a 'Force' animating an object and somewhat giving it life + mind.
What kind of idea would that be?
I don't get the question... it'd be an idea for an archetype, but you answered that.
If you're asking if I think it's a good or a bad idea, I can't tell you since that's not answering questions—that's providing development feedback, and I avoid doing that unless you're working for me as a freelancer, for legal reasons and time management reasons.
Inspired by Horror stories, supernatural mystery and/or drama, etc...
Like a little
creepykid with a creepy doll/toy, puppets without puppeter, someone begging a loved one "don't leave me", and something animate the body, etc.Alternative to Undeads, Haunts and Ancient spellcaster's contruct #666'111'337.
That kind of idea never fueled some creative fire at Paizo?
We've done lots of construct pet type options over the years; they're mostly spread out through the various player companions we did, but I think there's one in the Construct Handbook, and might be a summoner archetype in one of the rulebooks.
Can you tell us anything about the Roving Sphere from the Ruins of Azlant Gazetteer?
are you writing the abomination AP for next year, or just developing it>I wrote pretty much all of the first book (adventure, the Otari gazetteer, all of the toolbox and all of the new monsters), helped Ron come up with the overall plot, am writing a support article in book 3, and designed all of the maps for every level of the dungeon.
WOW! I really look forward to this, loved all your AP/modules contributions all the way back to Red Hand of Doom, which was my first intro to modules as I started looking at the stories so I could GM them.
So my question is, what does a typical work day/week look like for James Jacobs? As in how/where do you fit in and find the time to do Creative Director, editing, freelance and...you know...eat and breathe?
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are you writing the abomination AP for next year, or just developing it>I wrote pretty much all of the first book (adventure, the Otari gazetteer, all of the toolbox and all of the new monsters), helped Ron come up with the overall plot, am writing a support article in book 3, and designed all of the maps for every level of the dungeon.WOW! I really look forward to this, loved all your AP/modules contributions all the way back to Red Hand of Doom, which was my first intro to modules as I started looking at the stories so I could GM them.
So my question is, what does a typical work day/week look like for James Jacobs? As in how/where do you fit in and find the time to do Creative Director, editing, freelance and...you know...eat and breathe?
There's not really such a thing as "typical" anymore, but basically, it's a 40 hour work week for Creative Director/Developer stuff, and if I'm doing a freelance project, that's up to 20 hours a week on weekends or after work spent writing or mapping or whatever is needed. If I'm freelancing, it's usually more like 6 hours over the weekend and 2 hours on a few weekdays, but as the deadline approaches I tend to hunker down and do longer stints of writing. I try not to let things get bunched up at the end but they often do, at which point I'll sometimes end up writing an entire weekend.
And glad you enjoyed Red Hand of Doom! That was a fun one to work on!
We've done lots of construct pet type options over the years; they're mostly spread out through the various player companions we did, but I think there's one in the Construct Handbook, and might be a summoner archetype in one of the rulebooks.
They are more about "regular" Constructs than thing like Tsukumogami, which are kinda living constructs, or dual typed / hybrid type.
How's the morale these days?
What is the last animated TV show and/or movie that you watched?
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What is the last animated TV show and/or movie that you watched?
Probably season one of Aggretsuko. Or maybe Secret Life of Pets 2 when it was in theaters a year ago and my Mom was visiting for a week.
I still don't watch much animated stuff at all, in any event.
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What tools do you use to draw/design maps?
I draw them on graph paper with mechanical pencils, then ink them with pens, then scan them and add in final touches like color and make corrections with Pixelmator (a photoshop-type program). Come Friday, though, I'll have a brand new fancy iPad Pro and I look forward to drawing them all by hand on that instead.
Is there a way to stop a dead person from coming back as a 'spontaneously created' undead like a mohrg or spectre? The write-ups in Bestiary 2 make it sound like those undead can form without the intervention of a necromancer, but are there any other requirements/limitations? For example, does a proper burial ceremony stop this happening, or is it basically something that you can't ever prevent 100%?
Some context from my game: I'm running Kingmaker, and my players have recently killed the Stag Lord. He sounds like the perfect candidate for becoming a spectre or mohrg, but the PCs gave him a proper burial ceremony.
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Is there a way to stop a dead person from coming back as a 'spontaneously created' undead like a mohrg or spectre? The write-ups in Bestiary 2 make it sound like those undead can form without the intervention of a necromancer, but are there any other requirements/limitations? For example, does a proper burial ceremony stop this happening, or is it basically something that you can't ever prevent 100%?
Some context from my game: I'm running Kingmaker, and my players have recently killed the Stag Lord. He sounds like the perfect candidate for becoming a spectre or mohrg, but the PCs gave him a proper burial ceremony.
It's left pretty vague so that writers can have more freedom for storytelling. There are methods you can use to prevent it. Gentle repose will prevent it but the spell'd need to be recast on the body each day. In 1st edition, there was a spell called hallow that prevented it as well, but we haven't updated that one to 2nd edition yet.
The right solution for your game is to let the PCs do the proper ceremony, and then respect their work by not having him come back as an undead later. You as the GM are the one that gets to make the decisions when a creature becomes undead, after all, so by just not running a plot where the Stag Lord comes back from the dead as an undead, that's all you need to do.
If you DO intend to do this plot, you should foreshadow it somehow so that it doesn't look like you're just arbitrarily undoing the PCs' work.
And if you've done this plot many times before in your games, you've already trained your PCs to expect such a plot. In this case, I'd suggest NOT having the Stag Lord come back, telling the PCs that "By performing this ritual you are consecrating the body and hastening its trip to the Boneyard" or something like that. And then give them a bit of extra XP as "proof" that they prevented a future undead Stag Lord. And then honor that by never having him come back as undead.