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If I may ask a lore question, what is the reason the daemons haven't yet made great foothold into Golarion yet? Devils have an entire nation as their pawns and demons had the Worldwound prior to its closure, but daemons currently seem content to be mostly summoned lackeys or individual antagonists (from what I've read at least). Is there an in-universe reasoning for this?
They aren't particularly interested in that sort of thing. They prefer tormenting and feeding on souls, and the meat of the flesh is kind of an inconvenience that gets in the way. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse usher in the endings, and the daemons personify methods of death, but all of them are patient as they wait for that inevitability to visit all living things. Why invade a world when time is already doing your bidding?
Why did the runelords create the Eyes? I mean, do Eyes make the runelords more powerful? If not, I honestly have no idea why Xanderghul, Sorshen, Karzoug, and Alaznist created runewells, and why Belimarius wished to create her own so much.
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Why did the runelords create the Eyes? I mean, do Eyes make the runelords more powerful? If not, I honestly have no idea why Xanderghul, Sorshen, Karzoug, and Alaznist created runewells, and why Belimarius wished to create her own so much.
That information's pretty well covered in the two Runelord adventure Paths and Shattered Star, as well as elsewhere, but the short version is that...
But the runelords created runewells long before Earthfall. Why did they think they need a hideout in the first place? Perhaps they predicted Earthfall?
Kind of following up on the above by Aenigma --Was it less "This is my Emergency Escape Clause In Case of Emergency Break Glass and Hope" and more "Crud crud crud I need a LOT of power to dodge this bullet... oh, hey... I have a Well..."?
If I may ask a lore question, what is the reason the daemons haven't yet made great foothold into Golarion yet? Devils have an entire nation as their pawns and demons had the Worldwound prior to its closure, but daemons currently seem content to be mostly summoned lackeys or individual antagonists (from what I've read at least). Is there an in-universe reasoning for this?They aren't particularly interested in that sort of thing. They prefer tormenting and feeding on souls, and the meat of the flesh is kind of an inconvenience that gets in the way. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse usher in the endings, and the daemons personify methods of death, but all of them are patient as they wait for that inevitability to visit all living things. Why invade a world when time is already doing your bidding?
Does that mean they are more interested in invading the outer planes then, where souls are more wild?
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But the runelords created runewells long before Earthfall. Why did they think they need a hideout in the first place? Perhaps they predicted Earthfall?
Sorshen was first; she created hers after being inspired by the Earthdawn Pool and Xanderghul was soon after. At that point, it wasn't so much a hideout as much as it was an experiment and a secure place to fall back to. Karzoug and Alaznist made theirs MUCH later. When Earthfall loomed, Karzoug was the first to learn about it so he built his runewell because he figured it would be a good place to hide, and Alaznist was the last. Belimarius tried but failed. Zutha and Krune had other methods to avoid Earthfall entirely (which is good for them because neither of them were powerful enough to make a runewell).
So when Earthfall came, Xanderghul and Sorshen had a handy pre-made place to fall back to, but it wasn't initially meant for that purpose.
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Kind of following up on the above by Aenigma --Was it less "This is my Emergency Escape Clause In Case of Emergency Break Glass and Hope" and more "Crud crud crud I need a LOT of power to dodge this bullet... oh, hey... I have a Well..."?
Different for each:
Sorshen: Oooh this *earthdwan pool* is neat and lets me live forever... I'll reverse engineer it and make my own mini-world to live in too!
Xanderghul: I can do better because I'm Xanderghul, and when others have successes I can't let that stand so I need to do it too.
Karzoug: Oh oh... I see via the Cyphergate that there's an apocalypse coming... Oh! if I make a runewell I can hide out inside of its demiplane.
Alaznist: I'd better do one too, I guess!
Belimarius: Me too oh noes I can't.
Zutha: You all are lame because you're afraid of death. I just get a new body if I die. Shrug.
Krune: I'm just gonna sleep and maybe some of my minions will bring me back to life later?
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Does that mean they are more interested in invading the outer planes then, where souls are more wild?If I may ask a lore question, what is the reason the daemons haven't yet made great foothold into Golarion yet? Devils have an entire nation as their pawns and demons had the Worldwound prior to its closure, but daemons currently seem content to be mostly summoned lackeys or individual antagonists (from what I've read at least). Is there an in-universe reasoning for this?They aren't particularly interested in that sort of thing. They prefer tormenting and feeding on souls, and the meat of the flesh is kind of an inconvenience that gets in the way. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse usher in the endings, and the daemons personify methods of death, but all of them are patient as they wait for that inevitability to visit all living things. Why invade a world when time is already doing your bidding?
They aren't that interested in invading at all on a mass scale, since plenty of souls come to them. Some of them, like astradaemons, do go hunt elsewhere outside of Abaddon though.
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What would you say makes kytons *lawful* fiends, as opposed to any other form of sadistic evil? I get that the BDSM overtones (goodness, they and Zon-Kuthon really have a fondness for black leather...) and the fact that chain devils in D&D are LE both make it a good fit aesthetically and continuity-wise, just curious if there were other reasons.
They're organized and have a very strict code of how they do things. You can bargain with them, and if you play by those rules, you can maybe even get away with things. But the main thing is that their obvious and original inspiration back when they were created for D&D in the early 90s (as well as Zon-Kuthon's original inspiration in the late 80s for me) are the cenobites from Clive Barker's "Hellraiser." And they very much play by the rules... cruel and sometimes obscure and weighted toward them rules, but rules nonetheless.
I suggest checking out the original "Hellraiser" and MAYBE "Hellbound," the first sequel, to see how velstracs (what we now call kytons, since "kyton" is a D&D invention, but also for me has always been a silly name since growing up, I used that word for this tide pool critter so the word always seemed goofy as a name for a powerful "race" of BDSM fiends) function in their rules with humanity. The other sequels to "Hellraiser" have more examples, but those movies quickly get increasingly awful and goofy and terrible... here's hoping the two new reboots in the works are better. AND I guess it goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, the "Hellraiser" movies are very hard R-rated movies, so keep that in mind I suppose.
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Now I can't get the idea of velstracs that are mollusks out of my head...I'm not sure if it's cute or horrifying.
The Hellraiser thing makes so much sense (I've seen the first movie and read "The Hellbound Heart")-I knew they were associated and am now headbanging over not realizing how that would play into velstrac morality lol.
Is Hellraiser where you got the idea to name "the fiend book" *The Book of the Damned*?
And I'm confident I know the answer to this because Paizo is awesome, but one assumes that celestials (Vildeis springs to mind as a particular favorite?) would be perfectly happy with good-aligned BDSM followers who follow the mantra of "safe, sane, consensual", and velstrac-affiliated BDSM is just, well, evil?
The Book of the Damned (and pretty much ALL genre-related evil books these days) is inspired by Lovecraft's Necronomicon. The name for the book itself was just something I came up with (perhaps with some help from Wes or Erik or others... was ages ago)... it's not really ALL that unusual of a title though, so I'm sure there's other examples out there with the same name that inspired me but that I forgot about. But it all really goes back to the Necronomicon as far as the original inspiration goes.
And yes. Consent is a key part of not being evil.
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Hey James, i have 2 questions to ask you.
1) If i use Persistent Spell (Metamagic) with shadow conjuration mimicking a spell with a saving throw, does the metamagic affect both saves or only the will save from SC?
2) If i get the Improved Eldritch Heritage feat and choose the 9th lvl power of the Arcane Bloodline (New Arcana) does the spell added have to be in the list of spells i can use? My character is an Oracle.
I don't answer rules questions here. That said, if you do ask rules questions on this site, make sure to be clear if you're asking about 1st or 2nd edition Pathfinder. It's best to ask rules-related questions first of your GM (since they'll give you the fastest feedback that's the most appropriate for your group), and then the rules forums or associated product threads here.
What is your favorite podcast?
We're (hopefully) going away on vacation over Christmas break, and will be boarding our three-year-old cat Soji for the first time. Our last cat was of the sort where she could be left alone at home, with someone checking on her every couple of days, but Soji doesn't seem the type where that will work.
Have you ever boarded Shimmy, and how was that experience for the both of you?
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Have you ever boarded Shimmy, and how was that experience for the both of you?
I haven't boarded her. I'm too nervous to do that. When I go away on vacations or am away for more than a night, I either bring Shimmy with me (if I'm driving, even though she sometimes gets car sick), or get a friend to drop in every evening while I'm gone to feed and water her.
Is there anything we can do to make your holidays better?
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Hello James. Ydersius The Headless King, who was decapitated by an Champion 6 hero. Is he a full deity?
If rulebook, FAQ, and your answer here conflict with each other; which is the highest priority?
I believe he's a full deity. He is in my homebrew world, where he comes from, in any event. His defeat was not something that played out by the rules with stats and combat rounds, though, but story. That's an advantage we have when we present plotlines that don't involve interaction with PCs.
Your GM gets to decide what answer has the highest priority, because a player shouldn't go to a GM and say "This source outstrips your authority, GM." And if you're the GM, YOU get to decide which source for a rule clarification gets the highest priority.
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What was the latest project you can and want to talk about? :3
None of them really. I'd rather talk about projects I know others are interested in, rather than stuff I'm interested in. That helps me to focus on things I know have been announced and avoid accidentally stealth announcing something, since several of the projects I'm working on now likely won't see the light of day until 2023 or 2024 or further out.
It also doesn't help that the projects I'm the most excited to work on are both things that are still in the very early planning stages, and as I've learned many times before... it's frustrating to get too far into that process only to get reassigned to something else and then see that passion project move on to another developer or writer. So I'm a bit wary about talking about them much at this time, if only to manage my own expectations.
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Is there anything we can do to make your holidays better?
Be kind to each other on these boards. I'll spoiler the next wall of text since I guess it gets a little personal.
So... yeah, I guess my request is to be kind and patient with each other, and with us. Things have been tough and awful at Paizo and we've been taking steps to correct them... so I'm told. One of the biggest issues I've felt Paizo has suffered is an inconsistent method of communicating, either with employees or customers. I will say that Erik Mona, my boss, has always treated me with respect and his management of me and my trust in him is, at this time, the primary reason I'm still working at Paizo. He's had to make a lot of tough decisions over the years, but has always made those decisions to protect those who report to him first and to grow the company second. As Paizo's grown in size, the company's culture has changed, and I can't speak to others' experiences myself... but for me, working with Erik as my boss and supervisor and friend has been rewarding.
Beyond that... I don't feel like it's my place as a non-manager to represent the company publicly, but as someone who's been at the company for nearly its entire life, neither do I feel like it's my place as the longest-employed Paizo employee who's also in the union to speak for those who have only been at the company for one or three or five or ten years, and whose experiences working here for different people in different departments in different times has faced challenges I've been mostly (but not entirely) able to avoid or at least endure.
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Is it "okay" to disagree with Mr. Mona's recent decision about Slavery in Golarion?
Yes, slavery is Evil and should have been more strongly flagged as such when the setting launched, but the surgical removal of it from the setting seems an overreaction.
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Is it "okay" to disagree with Mr. Mona's recent decision about Slavery in Golarion?
Yes, slavery is Evil and should have been more strongly flagged as such when the setting launched, but the surgical removal of it from the setting seems an overreaction.
It may be Erik's decision, but it's one I 100% support and am thankful that he made it and replied so quickly.
It hasn't been "surgically removed from the setting" as so many reactionary posts misunderstand. We aren't removing it from the world. It's still in the books we've published where it serves as an evil thing to fight against, and it's still in the upcoming Absalom book in historical context in the setting and as an illegal villainous thing for groups to fight against... but it's NOT a story element we'll be using going forward.
We have PLENTY of things for our villains to do that don't require slavery. Or rape or child abuse, for that matter–to name two other villainous activities that we don't think are appropriate to include in our products.
If slavery is required for your verisimilitude in your games, make sure your entire group consents and don't pursue those plots in public where they can be harmful or hurtful to others. If slavery issues don't bother you in an RPG, then you're lucky. If you don't care that it bothers other people and don't do what you can to help others who are bothered by it to feel comfortable by not wallowing in the subject or crusading to fight against imaginary publisher censorship, then Paizo isn't the correct game company for you.
Sorry if I come across a bit harsh on the topic, but the argument against this decision is REALLY not something that I have the patience any more to put up with.
So, yes, it's okay to disagree with the decision, but if you do, be at peace with the fact that we think the decision is the right one, and PLEASE do us and these boards and so many other gamers a HUGE FAVOR and quietly step back and don't publicly crusade against the decision.
Because this "holiday season" is awful enough for me already. I don't need more awfulness in this thread, of all places.
What is your opinion of James Randi, if any?
Is Ayrzul (the elemental lord of earth) supposed to be a tyrannosaurus? I remember the few pieces of art I have seen of him being a fossilized tyrannosaur, and his symbol being a dinosaur tooth and his sacred animal being a tyrannosaur, but 2es Gods & Magic doesn't mention any of that (instead saying that his form is mysterious, but maybe an undead crystal dragon or genie).
Apologies if this is elaborated on in Planar Adventures (I no longer have my copy of it).
By the way, I love the designs of the elemental lords from planar adventures (I am at least able to still google those pieces of art). I love that Ayrzul, Kelizandri, and Ymeri aren't just really big traditional elementals, and that Hshurha is a traditional elemental, but in a way that breaks the symmetry of the other elemental lords.
If slavery is required for your verisimilitude in your games, make sure your entire group consents and don't pursue those plots in public where they can be harmful or hurtful to others.
I already do this with some other issues. Discussing slavery in the setting had not occurred to me, but I will bring it up when we next meet in January.
If slavery issues don't bother you in an RPG, then you're lucky.
I have always treated it a Villainy.
Sorry if I come across a bit harsh on the topic, but the argument against this decision is REALLY not something that I have the patience any more to put up with.
It was not my intent to offend you. Please forgive me if I have.
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Is Ayrzul (the elemental lord of earth) supposed to be a tyrannosaurus? I remember the few pieces of art I have seen of him being a fossilized tyrannosaur, and his symbol being a dinosaur tooth and his sacred animal being a tyrannosaur, but 2es Gods & Magic doesn't mention any of that (instead saying that his form is mysterious, but maybe an undead crystal dragon or genie).
Apologies if this is elaborated on in Planar Adventures (I no longer have my copy of it).
By the way, I love the designs of the elemental lords from planar adventures (I am at least able to still google those pieces of art). I love that Ayrzul, Kelizandri, and Ymeri aren't just really big traditional elementals, and that Hshurha is a traditional elemental, but in a way that breaks the symmetry of the other elemental lords.
He's a reptilian/dragon/dinosaur/demigod mix. Not just one of them, but all of them. I think we illustrated him in Planar Adventures, in fact. But he's very much not "just a tyrannosaurus."
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It was not my intent to offend you. Please forgive me if I have.
That's good to know; thank you. It's a sore subject with me. It's also not open for a vote, though, so discussions on if it's "right" or "wrong" are irrelevant, and serve only to antagonize those who've been hurt by its inclusion in our products so we're trying to help them by no longer talking about it. That includes these threads, honestly.
So let's just move on to other topics.
I hope the holidays and life in general improves for you, everyone at Paizo, everyone on the message boards, and worldwide!
OK, I'm getting the gingerbread dough ready to roll out into cookies. In addition to some gingerbread rats (of course!) what other shapes or creatures should I bake?
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OK, I'm getting the gingerbread dough ready to roll out into cookies. In addition to some gingerbread rats (of course!) what other shapes or creatures should I bake?
Had someone bring me some gingerbread Totoros yesterday (thanks you know who you are; very delicious!), so that was fun! If I were making gingerbread cookies, though... I'd make either gingerbread Cthulhus or gingerbread Gary Buseys.
Merry Christmas James! Have you seen Santa Jaws? It's on Hulu and is... something special, even for a SyFy shark movie.