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Liberty's Edge

Hey James,

Is there any chance we can get some semi-official feedback on the topic of: Are Magical Staffs (Eg, Staff of Fire) considered "Specific Magic Weapons" for the purposes of applying Property Runes to them such as the Shifting, Flaming, or Wounding Runes?

The PF2 forums have multiple threads about if one or more of these work, how they work, and if it's intended as possible in the first place which speaks to the ambiguity of the rules in question.

EDIT: I typed out Potency instead of Property Runes while giving examples of Property Runes- My bad D:

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Themetricsystem wrote:

Hey James,

Is there any chance we can get some semi-official feedback on the topic of: Are Magical Staffs (Eg, Staff of Fire) considered "Specific Magic Weapons" for the purposes of applying Potency Runes to them such as the Shifting, Flaming, or Wounding Runes?

The PF2 forums have multiple threads about if one or more of these work, how they work, and if it's intended as possible in the first place which speaks to the ambiguity of the rules in question.

From the Core Rules:

Core Rulebook, page 592 wrote:
Staves are also staff weapons (page 280), included in their Price. They can be etched with runes as normal for a staff. This doesn't alter any of their spellcasting abilities.

So... yes.

Scarab Sages

I apologize in advance, this is another Ed.1 Weapon Finesse question (I know I know)!!!!

The Versatile Design Weapon Modification states:
"choose a fighter weapon group. The modified weapon is considered to be a weapon of that weapon group (such as for the fighter’s weapon training class feature)"
As one of the fighter groups is "light blades," then what is stopping anyone from choosing the "light blades" fighter group on, for example, a scythe modified in such a way, thus making it finesse-able?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Sira Ulo Ako wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is another Ed.1 Weapon Finesse question (I know I know)!!!!

The Versatile Design Weapon Modification states:
"choose a fighter weapon group. The modified weapon is considered to be a weapon of that weapon group (such as for the fighter’s weapon training class feature)"
As one of the fighter groups is "light blades," then what is stopping anyone from choosing the "light blades" fighter group on, for example, a scythe modified in such a way, thus making it finesse-able?

The GM is stopping them. Or allowing them if they are fine with it.

Dark Archive

I just got the Lost Omens Character Guide and was wondering how is Aiudeen (p 13, elven 'returners') pronounced?

My first read was 'Wa-Deen' but that was the product of too much Dune as a child, and doesn't seem likely... :)

Scarab Sages

James Jacobs said wrote:
The GM is stopping them. Or allowing them if they are fine with it.

So technically, it is a legal route to do that and should be acceptable from a RAW standpoint...pending GM disapproval?

And thank you for your time!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Set wrote:

I just got the Lost Omens Character Guide and was wondering how is Aiudeen (p 13, elven 'returners') pronounced?

My first read was 'Wa-Deen' but that was the product of too much Dune as a child, and doesn't seem likely... :)

AYE-uh-deen

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Sira Ulo Ako wrote:
James Jacobs said wrote:
The GM is stopping them. Or allowing them if they are fine with it.

So technically, it is a legal route to do that and should be acceptable from a RAW standpoint...pending GM disapproval?

And thank you for your time!

"Legal" is what your GM decides. If you're playing PFS, "legal" is what the organizers and campaign runners decide.

I"m neither, so I can' tell you what's "legal" for your particular character.

And the idea that some things are "legal" and some are not as far as rules interpretation is limiting, I feel, in that it sets an implication that a GM can't adjust the rules or cut them or add new ones. Games are better when the GM has the ability to tailor the experience to their specific table.

Dark Archive

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Hi I'm somewhat curious for the kingmaker anniversary edition if the plot will be the same as the origonal or if it will cleave closer to the video game? (I know several NPCS in the video game have diffrent/expanded roles)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Kevin Mack wrote:
Hi I'm somewhat curious for the kingmaker anniversary edition if the plot will be the same as the origonal or if it will cleave closer to the video game? (I know several NPCS in the video game have diffrent/expanded roles)

Closer to the original. The companion characters from the video game will be presented as optional NPC companions for the tabletop game in a separate book.

The 640 page Adventure Path itself takes some of the additional storylines from the video game (such as the introduction, the "secret ending" and the season of bloom chapter) and transports them back into the tabletop experience, and adds some brand new content as well, but the goal is to revisit the tabletop version, not the computer game in the Adventure Path itself.

If only because the roles those companion NPCs played in the videogame are roles that, in the tabletop game, are played by players, not the GM.


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Here's an alignment question for you. (I know you don't enjoy playing paladins, but I don't either or I'd probably have a better feel for this.)

In a game I'm GMing, a cleric of Iomedae negotiated with a bad guy: To gain the freedom of a child hostage, he agreed to hand over a necromantic MacGuffin that could conceivably be used to create an army of undead.

I'm not interested in playing alignment-police to penalize the character in any way, but I can't figure out how NPCs in the church of Iomedae should react to the PC's actions. On a scale from horrified to not-that-big-a-deal-at-least-the-kid's-safe, what's the prototypical LG response to an act that definitely prioritizes an innocent individual over the greater good?

(Obviously, the next step of the campaign is for the party to go after the bad guy and try to reclaim the MacGuffin.)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Joana wrote:

Here's an alignment question for you. (I know you don't enjoy playing paladins, but I don't either or I'd probably have a better feel for this.)

In a game I'm GMing, a cleric of Iomedae negotiated with a bad guy: To gain the freedom of a child hostage, he agreed to hand over a necromantic MacGuffin that could conceivably be used to create an army of undead.

I'm not interested in playing alignment-police to penalize the character in any way, but I can't figure out how NPCs in the church of Iomedae should react to the PC's actions. On a scale from horrified to not-that-big-a-deal-at-least-the-kid's-safe, what's the prototypical LG response to an act that definitely prioritizes an innocent individual over the greater good?

(Obviously, the next step of the campaign is for the party to go after the bad guy and try to reclaim the MacGuffin.)

Let's just ignore alignment entirely and work from the very most basic level of Iomedae's faith, using only her edicts and anathemas:

Core Rulebook wrote:

Edicts: Be temperate, fight for justice and honor, hold valor in your heart.

Anathema: Abandon a companion in need, dishonor yourself, refuse a challenge from an equal.

The church would 100% support the cleric's choice in this case, becasue not doing so would break an edict (fighting for justice for the hostage, and being stubborn and not going for this solution simply because of semantics is NOT temperate), and would trigger an anathema (abandoning the child, dishonoring yourself in so doing, and stubbornly refusing the diplomatic challenge posed by the necromancer).

So by doing this, the cleric saves a child TODAY and sets up a possilbe danger (not a guarenteed one) in the FUTURE.

The child is saved. And that lets the cleric (or other church members) then go after the necromancer to stop him from any thing he MIGHT do in the future.

Especially since you're setting up the campaign so that the PCs are the ones going after the necromancer, punishing the PC for following the intended plot for your story is only going to reinforce in your player's minds that "If we play the story you set before us, you'll punish us."

If a player in the group takes advantage of this moment to be disruptive and use sematntics or argue that the PC cleric should fall because they're helping a bad guy, your role as GM is to step in and support the cleric player's choice and, if you have to, step out of your role as storyteller and into your role as referee to explain to the player that they're not the ones who get to decide what is and isn't appropriate for a church run by you the GM and a character run by another player. Diplomatically, of course, but if there's a problem player at a table who seems to have more fun trying to sabotage the story or other players' choices, your game would probably be strengthened by uninviting that player from the group.

A character who refused to bargain with the necromancer and stubbornly let the child remain endangered is, to me, a perfect example of Lawful Evil, in that you're using semantics to perpetuate cruelty.


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Hi James!

Pharasmas daughter Atropos is called "the last sister" are there any references to Pharasmas other children scattered about?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Mathota wrote:

Hi James!

Pharasmas daughter Atropos is called "the last sister" are there any references to Pharasmas other children scattered about?

Not that I'm aware of.


Mr. James Jacobs,

There are now male changelings, does that also mean there are male hags, even if rare?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

There are now male changelings, does that also mean there are male hags, even if rare?

Unrevealed... although there MIGHT just be a male-themed not-hags-but-sorta thing in the works. Maybe.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Hello,

I was looking at creature heights this week. How did the decision to make rune giants 40 feet, nearly twice the height of a storm giants, come about? It is very tall and I think really makes book six feel unique.

How do you visualize fights between warriors and extremely tall monsters? As a GM, do you call attention to it and require players to describe how they reach, or do you handle it?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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BobTheCoward wrote:

Hello,

I was looking at creature heights this week. How did the decision to make rune giants 40 feet, nearly twice the height of a storm giants, come about? It is very tall and I think really makes book six feel unique.

How do you visualize fights between warriors and extremely tall monsters? As a GM, do you call attention to it and require players to describe how they reach, or do you handle it?

At the time we created rune giants, there were no giants that big in the game, so making them giants even compared to other giants was important. At 40 feet, they're twice as tall as storm giants.

One of the themes of Runelords was that each of the 6 adventures had an increasing size for it's theme monsters... goblins to ghouls to ogres to stone giants to rune giants (book 5 kinda breaks the theme a little unless you count the Karzoug stone golem I guess).

For fights between Medium/Small creatures and larger creatures, I absolutely involve the size difference in the flavor of the fight, but don't require players to do the same.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
BobTheCoward wrote:

Hello,

I was looking at creature heights this week. How did the decision to make rune giants 40 feet, nearly twice the height of a storm giants, come about? It is very tall and I think really makes book six feel unique.

How do you visualize fights between warriors and extremely tall monsters? As a GM, do you call attention to it and require players to describe how they reach, or do you handle it?

At the time we created rune giants, there were no giants that big in the game, so making them giants even compared to other giants was important. At 40 feet, they're twice as tall as storm giants.

One of the themes of Runelords was that each of the 6 adventures had an increasing size for it's theme monsters... goblins to ghouls to ogres to stone giants to rune giants (book 5 kinda breaks the theme a little unless you count the Karzoug stone golem I guess).

For fights between Medium/Small creatures and larger creatures, I absolutely involve the size difference in the flavor of the fight, but don't require players to do the same.

[For reference] a human fighting a rune giant would be equivalent to a Barbie/old GI Joe fighting a human.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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BobTheCoward wrote:
[For reference] a human fighting a rune giant would be equivalent to a Barbie/old GI Joe fighting a human.

If you want to see "live-action" examples of how a fight like this might play out, play a game like Shadow of the Colossus or do one of several boss fights from the various Souls games.

Anyway, please keep in mind that this thread is for asking questions and limit posts to it to that topic.


Did you put the dinosaurs and related creatures in the adventure path extinction curse?
I know how much you like them.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Paizoxmi wrote:

Did you put the dinosaurs and related creatures in the adventure path extinction curse?

I know how much you like them.

I didn't. That would have been Ron. I'm not the only one at Paizo who likes dinosaurs.

That said, I DID associate the demon lord worshiped by the xulgath with dinosaurs, and set up other ties between them and dinosaurs in Deep Tolguth back in "Into the Darklands," so if Ron was just following up on those things that I did years ago, then maybe I did in a way.


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Hi James!

Do you think if any of the monitor outsiders ever “fall” for doing things that are not exactly antithetical to their nature? We do know one of the four queens of Hell was a Psychopomp Usher and she fell (I presume) because she abandoned her allegiance to Pharasma, as well as her duties as a Psychopomp. Hypothetically, an inevitable can also be “corrupted” by aligning itself with forces of chaos; however, would a Neutral outsider become Good/Evil for actions taken while in pursuit of their duties? For example, if a Zelekhut knowingly slew innocent mortals while pursuing his quarry, does he become LE? I can certainly see an LN character doing this becoming LE right away, but are aligned outsiders bound by the same morality as mortals?


Have you ever played a TTRPG that has a more dynamic initiative system? For instance Savage Worlds has the players draw a card every round for initiative instead only once during a fight.

If so, what are your thought on that mechanic and do you think it would be an interesting house-rule in Pathfinder2?

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Helluin wrote:

Hi James!

Do you think if any of the monitor outsiders ever “fall” for doing things that are not exactly antithetical to their nature? We do know one of the four queens of Hell was a Psychopomp Usher and she fell (I presume) because she abandoned her allegiance to Pharasma, as well as her duties as a Psychopomp. Hypothetically, an inevitable can also be “corrupted” by aligning itself with forces of chaos; however, would a Neutral outsider become Good/Evil for actions taken while in pursuit of their duties? For example, if a Zelekhut knowingly slew innocent mortals while pursuing his quarry, does he become LE? I can certainly see an LN character doing this becoming LE right away, but are aligned outsiders bound by the same morality as mortals?

Absolutely. The best in-world example I can think of is the Queen of the Night, Mahathallah.

Alignment doesn't grant any inherent "resistance" to an outsider type shifting its alignment. It's super rare regardless, but not any more rarer for fiends or monitors or celestials.

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Kelseus wrote:

Have you ever played a TTRPG that has a more dynamic initiative system? For instance Savage Worlds has the players draw a card every round for initiative instead only once during a fight.

If so, what are your thought on that mechanic and do you think it would be an interesting house-rule in Pathfinder2?

Yes. D&D had a pretty dynamic initiative system until 3rd edition came along and innovated. In earlier editions, every PC and every creature rolled initiative fresh every round. And if I recall correctly, the weapon you held also adjusted initiative—daggers went faster than two-handed swords, for example.

At the time, when I was playing D&D 1st and 2nd edition, it made sense and I didn't question it, but now that I've gotten used to the method of rolling once per combat and letting it stay static... I don't think I'd ever want to go back. Combat is already so complex. Cyclic initiative, where everything goes in the same order once it's established, lets the game play settle into a very workable pace, gives everyone plenty of time to plan their next move, and is all around SO much more fun and less frustrating than having to reroll every round.

Rolling every round might be "more realistic," but the game isn't trying to be realistic. It's trying to be a game. AKA It's trying to be fun. And for me, rolling initiative each round isn't fun. It's clutter.


I am currently playing in Strange Aeons. We have located the following swords in the course of our adventures and I am curious about these blades.

I noticed one thread indicated that the Red Destiny has no back story. This is mildly interesting and taken with the Lowls crusader sword, seems to be indicating some sort of pattern. So I am asking for information explaining the placement of these items.

One of the Lowls ancestors has a longsword +1 that sheds a pale purple light. This is a unique light color choice. I am unaware of any such color choice prior, even going back through the days of AD&D. Couple this choice with the fact that this ancestor is a Mendevian Crusader, if not a knight very close to a knight. I could not help but conclude a possible homage to Mace Windu the only other purple blade wielding knight I can think of.

Did I puzzle out some clever homage?

Thanks.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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lordrichter wrote:


I am currently playing in Strange Aeons. We have located the following swords in the course of our adventures and I am curious about these blades.

I noticed one thread indicated that the Red Destiny has no back story. This is mildly interesting and taken with the Lowls crusader sword, seems to be indicating some sort of pattern. So I am asking for information explaining the placement of these items.

One of the Lowls ancestors has a longsword +1 that sheds a pale purple light. This is a unique light color choice. I am unaware of any such color choice prior, even going back through the days of AD&D. Couple this choice with the fact that this ancestor is a Mendevian Crusader, if not a knight very close to a knight. I could not help but conclude a possible homage to Mace Windu the only other purple blade wielding knight I can think of.

Did I puzzle out some clever homage?

Thanks.

I only outlined Strange Aeons and wrote a bunch of the monsters and backmatter articles. I wasn't directly involved in the writing or development of the adventures, nor have I read them.

Space is often an issue in products, though, and part of the developer's job is to pick and choose what gets explained or expanded on, and what doesn't. It's almost NEVER a case where the author provides backstories and answers for everything and then during development the developer has to cut content. In fact, it's very often the case that the developer ends up adding in this content to give weapons, NPCs, locations, whatever more flavor and more backstory (it's not uncommon for an adventure turnover to even omit something as simple as an NPC's physical description).

So my guess in this case was that there just wasn't words to expand on the topics in question, so the developer never created the additional lore in the first place.

Certainly neither of those things are from Lovecraftian lore, so there's no pre-Pathfinder stuff to explore there either.

Considering the theme of the Adventure Path, I suspect a purple glowing sword is more an attempt to do something unusual and creepy in a Lovecraft way. Purple is a color I've often used to make a monster feel more alien, since it's not a very common color in creatures in the real world. I doubt it has anything to do with Mace Windu's light sabre at all.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

It just hit me that Shensen is half sea-elf, but we don't have sea elves in PF2e yet (assuming we had them in pf1e, which I wasn't actually here for) but it should fit in just fine as a heritage, my question is, do you see it as being part of the 'Elves Heritages based off adaption to terrain' that the Wandering Heart feat references?

Like in a lore sense, would an elf with a heavily aquatic lifestyle slowly become a sea elf over time?

or is that too extreme physiologically?

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The-Magic-Sword wrote:

It just hit me that Shensen is half sea-elf, but we don't have sea elves in PF2e yet (assuming we had them in pf1e, which I wasn't actually here for) but it should fit in just fine as a heritage, my question is, do you see it as being part of the 'Elves Heritages based off adaption to terrain' that the Wandering Heart feat references?

Like in a lore sense, would an elf with a heavily aquatic lifestyle slowly become a sea elf over time?

or is that too extreme physiologically?

There were aquatic elves in 1st edition, yes. They're still in the world.

Half-aquatic elves are also known as shoreborn; they're briefly mentioned in Lost Omens: Character Guide.

While Shensen is indeed a shoreborn half-elf, there aren't yet, as far as I know, any ancestry options to lean in to that specifically.

Aquatic elves very much did develop after living for many years on the ancient coastline of Ravounel in a very pre-Earthfall era, though. By the time humanity started growing along the coast there, they'd long since moved into the ocean.

The amount of time it takes an elf to adjust and change from living in an environment is something that happens over the course of centuries. It's not something that most adventuring PC elves would ever experience, especially since they'd need to remain in that region the whole time and their non-elf adventuring companions would be dead of old age before it had noticeable effects.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
The-Magic-Sword wrote:

It just hit me that Shensen is half sea-elf, but we don't have sea elves in PF2e yet (assuming we had them in pf1e, which I wasn't actually here for) but it should fit in just fine as a heritage, my question is, do you see it as being part of the 'Elves Heritages based off adaption to terrain' that the Wandering Heart feat references?

Like in a lore sense, would an elf with a heavily aquatic lifestyle slowly become a sea elf over time?

or is that too extreme physiologically?

There were aquatic elves in 1st edition, yes. They're still in the world.

Half-aquatic elves are also known as shoreborn; they're briefly mentioned in Lost Omens: Character Guide.

While Shensen is indeed a shoreborn half-elf, there aren't yet, as far as I know, any ancestry options to lean in to that specifically.

Aquatic elves very much did develop after living for many years on the ancient coastline of Ravounel in a very pre-Earthfall era, though. By the time humanity started growing along the coast there, they'd long since moved into the ocean.

The amount of time it takes an elf to adjust and change from living in an environment is something that happens over the course of centuries. It's not something that most adventuring PC elves would ever experience, especially since they'd need to remain in that region the whole time and their non-elf adventuring companions would be dead of old age before it had noticeable effects.

Thanks for the thorough answer, I love this kind of stuff, incidentally, what's your favorite kind of worldbuilding to do?

History, Characters, Places, the fantastical 'science' of it, or something else?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The-Magic-Sword wrote:

Thanks for the thorough answer, I love this kind of stuff, incidentally, what's your favorite kind of worldbuilding to do?

History, Characters, Places, the fantastical 'science' of it, or something else?

Deity lore/mythology, small towns, and adventures are my favorite type of worldbuilding.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Paizoxmi wrote:

Did you put the dinosaurs and related creatures in the adventure path extinction curse?

I know how much you like them.

I didn't. That would have been Ron. I'm not the only one at Paizo who likes dinosaurs.

That said, I DID associate the demon lord worshiped by the xulgath with dinosaurs, and set up other ties between them and dinosaurs in Deep Tolguth back in "Into the Darklands," so if Ron was just following up on those things that I did years ago, then maybe I did in a way.

Who made the connection between aeon orbs and the light of the black desert? And to use that location?


James Jacobs wrote:

I only outlined Strange Aeons and wrote a bunch of the monsters and backmatter articles. I wasn't directly involved in the writing or development of the adventures, nor have I read them.

Space is often an issue in products, though, and part of the developer's job is to pick and choose what gets explained or expanded on, and what doesn't. It's almost NEVER a case where the author provides backstories and answers for everything and then during development the developer has to cut content. In fact, it's very often the case that the developer ends up adding in this content to give weapons, NPCs, locations, whatever more flavor and more backstory (it's not uncommon for an adventure turnover to even omit something as simple as an NPC's physical description).

So my guess in this case was that there just wasn't words to expand on the topics in question, so the developer never created the additional lore in the first place.

Certainly neither of those things are from Lovecraftian lore, so there's no pre-Pathfinder stuff to explore there either.

Considering the theme of the Adventure Path, I suspect a purple glowing sword is more an attempt to do something unusual and creepy in a Lovecraft way. Purple is a color I've often used to make a monster feel more alien, since it's not a very common color in creatures in the real world. I doubt it has anything to do with Mace Windu's light sabre at all.

Well it certainly grabs your attention. Thank you.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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BobTheCoward wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Paizoxmi wrote:

Did you put the dinosaurs and related creatures in the adventure path extinction curse?

I know how much you like them.

I didn't. That would have been Ron. I'm not the only one at Paizo who likes dinosaurs.

That said, I DID associate the demon lord worshiped by the xulgath with dinosaurs, and set up other ties between them and dinosaurs in Deep Tolguth back in "Into the Darklands," so if Ron was just following up on those things that I did years ago, then maybe I did in a way.

Who made the connection between aeon orbs and the light of the black desert? And to use that location?

That was a combination of myself, Erik Mona, and Ron Lundeen.


Are you interested in joining the PFRPG Discord server?


Hi JJ!

I'm following your advice re: checking the Magnimar and Sandpoint sourcebooks for more info on Varisian culture, and I'm understanding a lot about them (I think!), so I wanted to thank you for your patient advice and explanations. I'm thinking that in fact Varisians aren't just a bunch of Esmeraldas (that might be the way they're portrayed in Magnimar's harrow parlors by foreigners perhaps!), but something much more original and complex, and I like it very much. I feel kinda silly in having tried to shoehorn them as Rromani at all costs when the similarities are superficial at best (I did have to study and understand Rromani culture a bit to grok it, though, so net gain after all).

Right! That's for the thanking you part, but I *do* have a question - I don't think I've yet seen in 2e official sources what settlement level is Sandpoint. Or Magnimar as for that! If you're using them in your campaigns, what level have you given them? Is it working as intended? If you're not using them, what do you reckon would be appropriate? Do they have special features (like Kovlar in AoA #4, where you can get higher level items because it's full of great dwarven artisans - or other special abilities like the sample ones in the GMG)?

I don't know how much if at all you were involved in Turtleback Ferry but that would be of interest as well!

I don't wanna bother you overmuch though, and I hope these don't count as multiple questions in a single post (or if they do, that they're similar enough to be okay...).

Oh, and I hope the stress from overseeing/writing the new Kingmaker has lessened. Or at least that you found a good way to cope. I love that we're gonna have an officially 2e-converted Kingmaker with extra stuff inspired from Owlcat's version, but I don't love that the process is being this tough on you.

Actually I should leave you to it, sorry. Cheers! R-

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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HTD wrote:
Are you interested in joining the PFRPG Discord server?

Thanks for the invite, but I don't have the time or the social energy for something like that. I can answer questions here, and will periodically be active on Discord servers or the like during conventions, but I need to keep my idle hobby side of RPG chatting to my personal life. Hope you understand! :-)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Roswynn wrote:

Right! That's for the thanking you part, but I *do* have a question - I don't think I've yet seen in 2e official sources what settlement level is Sandpoint. Or Magnimar as for that! If you're using them in your campaigns, what level have you given them? Is it working as intended? If you're not using them, what do you reckon would be appropriate? Do they have special features (like Kovlar in AoA #4, where you can get higher level items because it's full of great dwarven artisans - or other special abilities like the sample ones in the GMG)?

I don't know how much if at all you were involved in Turtleback Ferry but that would be of interest as well!

I don't wanna bother you overmuch though, and I hope these don't count as multiple questions in a single post (or if they do, that they're similar enough to be okay...).

Oh, and I hope the stress from overseeing/writing the new Kingmaker has lessened. Or at least that you found a good way to cope. I love that we're gonna have an officially 2e-converted Kingmaker with extra stuff inspired from Owlcat's version, but I don't love that the process is being this tough on you.

Actually I should leave you to it, sorry. Cheers! R-

A lot of folks (both customers and Paizo employees) are super eager to go new places in 2nd edition, so I really doubt we'll see anything more about Sandpoint in the game anytime soon, if ever, for 2nd edition. Furthermore, the rules so far for how to assign a level to a settlement seem to be a lot of "Uhh, dunno, do what you want" and not really anything tied to populations or city size or the like, so I'm not comfortable at this point nailing down a settlement level for Sandpoint. Same with Turtleback Ferry or Magnimar for that matter.

I'm not using any of them in my campaigns at this point so I don't even have that to fall back on. So... I guess, feel free to do what sounds good for your game without worrying to much about us printing something else about these settlmeents anytime soon!

Kingmaker stress has, alas, only increased.


James Jacobs wrote:

A lot of folks (both customers and Paizo employees) are super eager to go new places in 2nd edition, so I really doubt we'll see anything more about Sandpoint in the game anytime soon, if ever, for 2nd edition. Furthermore, the rules so far for how to assign a level to a settlement seem to be a lot of "Uhh, dunno, do what you want" and not really anything tied to populations or city size or the like, so I'm not comfortable at this point nailing down a settlement level for Sandpoint. Same with Turtleback Ferry or Magnimar for that matter.

I'm not using any of them in my campaigns at this point so I don't even have that to fall back on. So... I guess, feel free to do what sounds good for your game without worrying to much about us printing something else about these settlmeents anytime soon!

Kingmaker stress has, alas, only increased.

I'm really sorry to hear that! At this point I hope you'll be able to finish it soon and get back to a semblance of normalcy, or something close to it.

I'll try to let you work undisturbed. Thank you for the info and tips re: settlement levels, I'll eyeball it then. I know everyone wants to see other locales, I think with the Mwangi Expanse and Absalom you're already doing a great job lately, looking forward to more seldom seen lands and cultures in the future!

Right, so, question to legitimize this post and then I'm out of your hair - do you like The Cure? What are your favorite songs by them?

Please take care of yourself! Hugs, R-

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Roswynn wrote:

Right, so, question to legitimize this post and then I'm out of your hair - do you like The Cure? What are your favorite songs by them?

Please take care of yourself! Hugs, R-

Never really got into them.

But thanks for the hugs! :)

(AND no worries about the questions! I don't mind answering them here at all!)


How do you feel about dragonkin as an ancestry? I was surprised to see them playable in starfinder due to their similarities to D&Ds dragonborn and them being odd intelligent mounts in PF1

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Tender Tendrils wrote:
How do you feel about dragonkin as an ancestry? I was surprised to see them playable in starfinder due to their similarities to D&Ds dragonborn and them being odd intelligent mounts in PF1

I'd rather leave the "you get to play a dragon person" thing to WotC and D&D.


Is there a type of story that you would like to tell that you can't do in Pathfinder?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kelseus wrote:
Is there a type of story that you would like to tell that you can't do in Pathfinder?

Yes. A lot. Anything that's more mature in content that, if it'd be a movie, would be rated R.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Hey James! I'm running Edgewatch, and its relatively difficult at times to know what is and isn't a crime sometimes. Can my Tengu Ancestral Oracle use Animate Dead, or is that a crime in Absalom? What does and doesn't warrant a trip to the slammer?
Capital punishment for serial killers, or life in prison?

Basically, I know the laws of Absalom change a lot... But what are some of the core tenets of law here?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Derry L. Zimeye wrote:

Hey James! I'm running Edgewatch, and its relatively difficult at times to know what is and isn't a crime sometimes. Can my Tengu Ancestral Oracle use Animate Dead, or is that a crime in Absalom? What does and doesn't warrant a trip to the slammer?

Capital punishment for serial killers, or life in prison?

Basically, I know the laws of Absalom change a lot... But what are some of the core tenets of law here?

You need to work with your players to come to a good solution as works for your table. I don't know your players so I'm not comfortable nor qualified to decide that for you.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Are you going to play Wasteland 3 (just released today)?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Fumarole wrote:
Are you going to play Wasteland 3 (just released today)?

Yup. I backed it in the crowdfunding stage, in fact. I'm at work for another 26 minutes, though, so I can't start playing it yet. I can go start downloading it though, since it's after 5:00... Thanks for the reminder!


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

The current year appears to be 4720 AR. When was Valeros born?

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