Do you think Bruce Campbell would have made a good host for Jeopardy?
I wish to know whether Terendelev is a normal silver dragon or not. In The Worldwound Incursion, Terendelev had no stat block. She was mentioned as an ancient silver dragon, and that's all. If you included the full stat block of Terendelev in that book, would she have been much more powerful than other normal ancient silver dragons? Would you have given her several class levels and even mythic tiers or mythic ranks? And if you have done that, what would be the class and mythic path appropriate for her?
Is there a project you were initially reluctant to give away but that turned out way better than your original plan?
Has Vildeis ever visited Golarion, and if so what did she do while there?
If you could be a master at any one martial art, which would you choose?
Creative Director
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Unfortunately, I don't know much about Numeria, having never run Iron Gods. Do you have any suggestions on which official material I can read for inspiration on my potential next character's backstory? Thanks again!
Best place to go would be the 64 page Numeria world book we published alongside of Iron Gods, I suppose; LOTS of info there to go on!
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I play a human-raised half-orc Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor of Iomedae named Redgar in the Wrath PC game. I find it amazingly satisfying and gave him the Noble/Courtier background. I loaded him with Teamwork feats since Solo Tactics allows him to benefit from his allies presence even though they don't have those feats, so he's right up there with Seelah and Camilla using his Shield Wall and Precise Strike feat (the latter stacks with his Sneak Attack dice). I gave him Skill Focus Persuasion so he's acing most out of combat interactions as well.
What character are you playing?
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I wish to know whether Terendelev is a normal silver dragon or not. In The Worldwound Incursion, Terendelev had no stat block. She was mentioned as an ancient silver dragon, and that's all. If you included the full stat block of Terendelev in that book, would she have been much more powerful than other normal ancient silver dragons? Would you have given her several class levels and even mythic tiers or mythic ranks? And if you have done that, what would be the class and mythic path appropriate for her?
She's just an ancient silver dragon. If I had included her full stat block, I would have customized her a little, maybe swapped around some ability scores by a few points here and there and certainly given her a bespoke spell list, but no, she doesn't have class levels or mythic ranks.
She's "just" an ancient silver dragon. Which is still a really powerful thing!
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Is there a project you were initially reluctant to give away but that turned out way better than your original plan?
Absolutely! The one that I'm the most amazed by how it's turning out isn't yet announced though... so ask this question again in a few months and I'll have more to say. ;-)
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I play a human-raised half-orc Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor of Iomedae named Redgar in the Wrath PC game. I find it amazingly satisfying and gave him the Noble/Courtier background. I loaded him with Teamwork feats since Solo Tactics allows him to benefit from his allies presence even though they don't have those feats, so he's right up there with Seelah and Camilla using his Shield Wall and Precise Strike feat (the latter stacks with his Sneak Attack dice). I gave him Skill Focus Persuasion so he's acing most out of combat interactions as well.
What character are you playing?
I'm playing a version of Shensen, which I pretty much do in every computer game. ;-)
In Kingmaker I went with a more accurate version of the character and played a fighter/bard, but in Wrath, I instead went with a chaotic good cleric of Sarenrae who took the Azata path. The favored group I'm going with is Seelah (who I had multiclass into Hellknight—she's a great tank and does super well against demons), Camellia (who I've rebuilt as an Aldori swordlord/fighter/rogue to maximize DPS in the form of vital strike or sneak attacks), Ember (who's all about spamming slumber hexes and fire spells with the mythic ability to do fire damage to things normally resistant or immune to fire), Arueshalae (who's the machine-gun ranged support but also has the mythic abilities to expand spell effects up to 24 hours to give lots of effectively permanent ability score boosts and the like all around), and Nenio (who's got more of the fire stuff to augment Ember, but also a lot of illusion and defensive/support arcane magic like haste or displacement or the like).
Teamwork feats are great in the game—I'm particularly leaning on Precise Strike and Outflank for my character and anyone else who does melee.
Personally I like Taiji Chuan.
Ever hear Bill Cosby's routine about karate? :)
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Personally I like Taiji Chuan.
Ever hear Bill Cosby's routine about karate? :)
I used to enjoy a lot of Bill Cosby's humor back in the 80s, but not any more. I won't be clicking that link.
When was the last time you cried
* from sadness/despair?
* from something you saw/read?
* from laughter/joy?
I heard that there will be a new book called Dark Archive and it will contain two new classes: psychic and thaumaturge. I'm disappointed because I have always wished to see mesmerist, occultist, and spiritualist again. Is there no hope for me to see these classes in Second Edition?
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Dear James,
I notice the term "tap into" (and variants) shows up rather a lot in Paizo sourcebooks. Is that something in your in-house style-guide or whatever?
If you don't mind some kibitzing/feedback, it's not a term/concept I care for (largely for metaphysical reasons); it certainly has its uses, but I think Paizo's overused it.
P.S.: You seriously need to fumigate Your Closet; it's absolutely riddled with trilobites.
*dons terrifying gas-mask in anticipation*
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I heard that there will be a new book called Dark Archive and it will contain two new classes: psychic and thaumaturge. I'm disappointed because I have always wished to see mesmerist, occultist, and spiritualist again. Is there no hope for me to see these classes in Second Edition?
We won't re-publish every class we published in 1st edition.
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Dear James,
I notice the term "tap into" (and variants) shows up rather a lot in Paizo sourcebooks. Is that something in your in-house style-guide or whatever?
If you don't mind some kibitzing/feedback, it's not a term/concept I care for (largely for metaphysical reasons); it certainly has its uses, but I think Paizo's overused it.P.S.: You seriously need to fumigate Your Closet; it's absolutely riddled with trilobites.
*dons terrifying gas-mask in anticipation*
It's not.
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Beroli: yes actually, they are mostly early game enemy so later you get into game, less there are. I don't remember seeing them after Kenabres with exception of one army battle
But yeah I wanted to ask about deities, portfolios and domains:
With how gods can share portfolios, areas of concern and domains, am I right to understand that legend of Lamashtu stealing Cuchanus' domain over the beasts and Desna inheriting travel domain is more of legend rather than metaphysics of how it happened?
Like the way I understand how domains and portfolios work is this: nothing prevents gods sharing portfolios or domains as domains and portofolios just represent what is gods area of concern, but if god has most influence on planet over the other gods, they essentially dominate that domain on the planet as they have most influence over other gods sharing same portfolio? So its not about "beasts are scary because of Lamashtu stole gentle god's beast domain" its "beasts are scary because Lamashtu is most prominent beast god on Golarion"?
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Beroli: yes actually, they are mostly early game enemy so later you get into game, less there are. I don't remember seeing them after Kenabres with exception of one army battle
But yeah I wanted to ask about deities, portfolios and domains:
With how gods can share portfolios, areas of concern and domains, am I right to understand that legend of Lamashtu stealing Cuchanus' domain over the beasts and Desna inheriting travel domain is more of legend rather than metaphysics of how it happened?
Like the way I understand how domains and portfolios work is this: nothing prevents gods sharing portfolios or domains as domains and portofolios just represent what is gods area of concern, but if god has most influence on planet over the other gods, they essentially dominate that domain on the planet as they have most influence over other gods sharing same portfolio? So its not about "beasts are scary because of Lamashtu stole gentle god's beast domain" its "beasts are scary because Lamashtu is most prominent beast god on Golarion"?
The concept of a deity "stealing" another's portfolio is very much a D&D trope that we picked up early on but then never really did much with ever again as we sought to go our own route with lore. As such, it's more of a legend or a myth than anything to do with rules.
What is currently the most upsetting and awful thing in your life that if it was somehow gone/resolved then you would be much much happier?
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What is currently the most upsetting and awful thing in your life that if it was somehow gone/resolved then you would be much much happier?
Not something I care to get into, sorry, but the fact that I can't pick just one thing is certainly a factor.
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Hi James. I just want to say that I believe you and Bulmahn are the true continuators of Arneson and Gygax (he's Gygax's and you're Arneson's). You are my heroes. (And Paizo is the true continuator of TSR.)
Now for my questions.
Do you realize that the future of role-playing is this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fiHRHIqCiI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wNFXfq_i08And this:
https://culture.vg/forum/topic?f=28&t=7276
Do you want/plan to be a part of it?
Please re-ask your question in a brief-as-possible written format. I don't really have the time to watch a bunch of youtube videos before replying, sorry!
I think the poster is excited about 3d rendered immersive environments/maps.
So I guess the question is, do you want tabletop gaming to trend towards more dependent on technology or less so?
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James,
I am a 6th grade teacher starting a gaming group using Pathfinder First Edition. I think I have a very high interest. Is there anything I need to know before I get going. I am using the beginner box. I also have almost all the books for first edition. Do you know where I can find the link to extra classes for the Beginner Box?Thank you Great One. I am humbled as always.
Dinkster the Dinkmeister
It's been quite a while since I've thought about the first edition Beginner Box, but it's meant to be an all in one product. Starting a new game with more stuff than in that box is a bit more than is probably needed for new players. I suggest sticking with just the Beginner Box for the first few games and then going from there.
I don't recall there being a link to extra classes for the Beginner Box, but again, it's been several years since we've focused on that product so I might be forgetting something.
Does Shadowtongue have an alphabet, and if so what might it look like?
If you could change one huge thing about Pathfinder/D&D's mechanics, what would you change? Like, fundamental mechanics.
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Does Shadowtongue have an alphabet, and if so what might it look like?
It does have an alphabet, but we don't really have the resources to invent new languages, which just leads to our editors having to be expert at editing made-up words and runs the risk of errors or even unacceptable content getting snuck into an illustration. So we generally don't build alphabets for our languages.
In my head, written Shadowtongue looks like "spooky backwards cursive script" though.
We do sometimes create characters for other languages; we did so for Thassilonian and Abyssal in the first few years of Pathfinder, before the RPG came along, but since then we've largely abandoned this.
I do want to get to a point where we can do so again, so that we CAN use appropriate-looking language in art, but we'll never do a code-wheel type thing that allows folks to translate our made up languages. At least, not until we hire a language specialist whose only job is to edit and maintain that sort of thing, and that's not a job we really can afford to host at Paizo at this time.
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Wow, it's been longer than I thought-just caught up with everyone else's comments!
That being said, going off the "Deskari fighting Terendelev" question-how easily *can* demon lords and other demigods breach the Material Plane? If it's only a *plane shift* spell away, is the main reason they don't do it mainly due to "I don't want to get stabbed by adventurers"? Or is it not that easy to get here?
They can do it pretty easily. It's as easy for them to plane travel as high level PCs. The main reason they don't just invade other places is because they're also incredibly intelligent and crafty and know better.
To a demon, particularly a demon lord, it's generally so much better to use a material plane world as a "sin farm" than a place to destroy, and the more direct interraction they have, the more they run the risk of bolstering the mortals to a common cause and the more they put themselves at risk.
A demon lord is immortal. Most of them have been alive for well over ten thousand years. Look at Deskari as an example. He invaded Golarion, and he got destroyed as a result. Yes, it took just over a century for that to happen, but when you're looking at something that's been alive for over a hundred times as long as that... that's a pretty swift bit of proof that invasion is not a great tactic.
The majority who visit the Material Plane or other planes do so subtly, and probably more often than any of us think.
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If you could change one huge thing about Pathfinder/D&D's mechanics, what would you change? Like, fundamental mechanics.
A fair amount of those changes I've recently hoped for you'll see in 2nd edition. A big one there is getting rid of Hit Dice.
Going forward, I guess I'd change the way that rules and lore interact... and make it more so. There's more lore in Pathfinder 2e than 1e, but I'd like more.
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Can't help it if my t-rex arms are longer than an entire kobold. It's just science.
As for how I'm an "absolute legend"? I don't feel like one, so I don't really know what to say there, other than maybe I'm just stubborn and stuck with this industry long enough to carve out a little niche of reputation for myself despite it being a really long road of "almost but not quite" attempts to work in the industry. Combined with patience and empathy, although the latter gets me in trouble I've been told.
I feel like I've still got a long way to go, though, and a lot more to learn about being worthy of that sort of praise. Thank you though!
Can't help it if my t-rex arms are longer than an entire kobold. It's just science.
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"What you remembered... was false!"Can't help it if my t-rex arms are longer than an entire kobold. It's just science.
In my head, written Shadowtongue looks like "spooky backwards cursive script" though.
Would something like tagalog be thematically similar then?
As an aside, in 1e Shadowtongue was a mortal created mix of Taldane, Infernal, and Azlanti. Is that still the case in 2e, or is it an official planar language?
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In my head, written Shadowtongue looks like "spooky backwards cursive script" though.Would something like tagalog be thematically similar then?
Nope. That looks too regular and modern to my eye.
I'd suggest writing out some sentences in cursive with your non-dominant hand, then holding that up to a mirror or reversing it with a bit of photoshoppery, and then cleaning up the script so that the lines are more graceful and fluid than you'd get for writing with an off hand, but make sure to preserve the weird variations of writing.
It should look vaguely familiar but unsettlingly WRONG to someone who looks at it. The Shadow Plane is, after all, a distorted reflection of the real world.
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As an aside, in 1e Shadowtongue was a mortal created mix of Taldane, Infernal, and Azlanti. Is that still the case in 2e, or is it an official planar language?
It's an official "planar" language. In the same way Aklo and Sylvan have ties to the First World, Shadowtongue is the language of the Shadow Plane.