James, what happens if a mortal sold his soul to a deity, made a diabolical contract with a devil for his soul, made a pact with a demon for his soul and another one with a daemon?
My GM had the main villian do this same thing....he also had the villian set it so his soul would go into a item....what happen is it becomes very interesting for the PC as the various outsiders showed up to collect the soul of the villian.
Creative Director
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This might have been asked before given how many posts are in here (and if so, ignore) but has there ever been a book you wanted to work on in your career but didn't think/feel there was enough market for it?
Yup.
"Unspeakable Futures" is sort of like that, but different—I think there IS a market for postapocalyptic RPGs, but I don't think Paizo's got the resources to fully support a second genre of RPGs at this day, and an RPG without full support is a dangerous thing to try.
Maybe some day...
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James, what happens if a mortal sold his soul to a deity, made a diabolical contract with a devil for his soul, made a pact with a demon for his soul and another one with a daemon?
You'd want to run an adapted version of Mike Shel's first Dungeon adventure, "Sleepless," if I recall correctly. AKA: it makes for great adventuring!
So I was browsing the internet yesterday, and I thought I heard the sound of a James Jacobs Stamp of Approval. Reminded me to visit!
Dear JJ,
1) (General) Do you read any webcomics? If so, which ones?
2) (Pathfinder rules) Is there a spell, effect, way etc. that changes the way alignment-specific powers and spells affect a character? To provide specific example, is there any way for a Neutral character to gain the benefit of the APG Paladin spell Bestow Grace, or for an Evil character to not have their disguise foiled by the Celestial Sorcerer firing a Heavenly Fire at them?
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OK well i don't know how to contact you any other way....
my question is a rules question...
if an anti-paladin takes word of healing for his touch of corruption dose that mean he can do dmg at a rang of 30 ft....
the rules for the ability aren't unclear the feat itself is not clear enough for the anti-paladin side.
(RAW for Touch of Courruption and Word of Healing cut for space)
would that mean that you can only use it for healing.. such as healing and undead or any thing healed by neg energy. or dose that mean you can harm living but still do only half dmg?
Word of healing would allow an antipaladin to bolster his undead healing, but it would not help him cause damage a range with touch of corruption.
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Creative Director
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So I was browsing the internet yesterday, and I thought I heard the sound of a James Jacobs Stamp of Approval. Reminded me to visit!
Dear JJ,
1) (General) Do you read any webcomics? If so, which ones?
2) (Pathfinder rules) Is there a spell, effect, way etc. that changes the way alignment-specific powers and spells affect a character? To provide specific example, is there any way for a Neutral character to gain the benefit of the APG Paladin spell Bestow Grace, or for an Evil character to not have their disguise foiled by the Celestial Sorcerer firing a Heavenly Fire at them?
1) I do, but not any with any real frequency. I'm a fan of "Dinosaur Comics" of course, but beyond that I don't really read any web comics with a frequency enough for me to remember what the names of said web comics are.
2) There aren't many ways to trick alignments that way. The Use Magic Device skill lets a character trick a magic item to make it seem like his alignment's different, and I believe there were some monster abilities in 3.5 here and there that allowed for alignment manipulation in that way... but I'm pretty sure we haven't put that into Pathfinder yet. You'd want to ask Jason or the design team that question to be sure there, though.
Hi.
Apologies if this has been asked already, but I really enjoyed the Rival Guide, and was wondering if there were plans for any similar books? Essentially a big book of big bad evil guys in Golarion?
Correct, because their soul is no longer a soul, but a petitioner or something else. You can still restore them to life, but that requires a complex adventure where you seek out the petitioner or whatever on the outer planes and then convince it to die or return back to life by interacting with it and probably undertaking some high-level adventure stuff.So once someone has been judged, it is impossible to resurrect them?OK dumb question, but has a divinity ever been raised from the dead? If so how did Pharasma respond?It's probably happened, although I can't think of any examples off the top of my head. Pharasma would have likely responded the same way she does when a person is raised from the dead—they weren't judged yet because she knew they were going to be resurrected, so it's all according to plan.
Cool... That's actually a bit different than D&D was, but I like it better. At least unless it was a video game plot thing, pretty sure casting Resurrection on a 100 year old corpse worked, at least it did in Strahd's Possession, as you had to resurrect a priest guy with a Rod of Resurrection that died over 100 years ago as part of the story.
Oh and also is there any way yet for a Bard to get Inflict spells? They get Cure spells, but if they have a dhampir friend... not as useful. Heh.
OH and also what are the height/weight ranges of each size category, at least Tiny and small? I ask because the Fox is listed as Tiny as is a cat, but a Fox is bigger than a cat and almost (but not quite) as big as a gnome or halfling, so what is the cutoff for height/weight that makes them tiny and not small?
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Hi.
Apologies if this has been asked already, but I really enjoyed the Rival Guide, and was wondering if there were plans for any similar books? Essentially a big book of big bad evil guys in Golarion?
We haven't announced anything in those lines yet, but Rival Guide has been VERY well received. I'd be surprised if we never did a book like it again.
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Cool... That's actually a bit different than D&D was, but I like it better. At least unless it was a video game plot thing, pretty sure casting Resurrection on a 100 year old corpse worked, at least it did in Strahd's Possession, as you had to resurrect a priest guy with a Rod of Resurrection that died over 100 years ago as part of the story.
Oh and also is there any way yet for a Bard to get Inflict spells? They get Cure spells, but if they have a dhampir friend... not as useful. Heh.
Spells like resurrection and true resurrection still work the same way, more or less, that they did in 3.5. You can still resurrect something that's been dead for a long, long time... as long as the GM says you can, basically. The amount of time it takes for a soul to be judged is not linked to any particular passage of time on the Material Plane–it's elastic. If the GM wants an NPC to be resurrectable, he can simply say that soul hasn't yet been judged. And if it's a PC, that player gets to decide if his character's soul's judged (effectively by saying yes or no when something attempts to resurrect his dead character). So in the case of the rod of resurrection in Strahd's Possession... if the story wants that to work, it'd still work the same way in Pathfinder.
Bards cannot learn inflict spells, but they can certainly use the Use Magic Device skill to use wands or scrolls of those spells.
The Tiny fox listed there is a particularly little one. But as a general rule, Tiny includes things that are one to two feet long, while Small is things from just over two feet long up to four feet long.
The Tiny fox listed there is a particularly little one. But as a general rule, Tiny includes things that are one to two feet long, while Small is things from just over two feet long up to four feet long.
Hmmm actually I went back and applied your "general rule", and red fox (largest variety of fox) Wikipedia page says...
On average, adults measure 35–50 cm (14–20 in) high at the shoulder and 49–90 cm (19–35 in) in body length with tails measuring 53–60 cm (21–24 in).
By the "general rule", sans the tail, the average fox would in fact be tiny but small ones would be common (but tiny works best for a familiar). :)
Plus, since this fox is to be the familiar of a White Witch, an Arctic Fox is definitely tiny at an average of 9.8-11.8in high at the shoulder. :)
Thanks again, especially for that "general rule" as it helps in more than just the fox case.
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We haven't announced anything in those lines yet, but Rival Guide has been VERY well received. I'd be surprised if we never did a book like it again.
I hope you do release a Rival Guide II, but if you do could you please cut one of the teams to add a little more flavor to the others? The high-level party only had about a paragraph (or less) of information on each member.
On to my question:
Is there any chance we will see an outer planes based adventure path? Ala Planescape?
Hi James--
In your Golarion, is there any truth to the rumours of the Issian people of Brevoy making strange deals with creatures from the Lake of Mists and Veils?
--Mike
We haven't announced anything in those lines yet, but Rival Guide has been VERY well received. I'd be surprised if we never did a book like it again.I hope you do release a Rival Guide II, but if you do could you please cut one of the teams to add a little more flavor to the others? The high-level party only had about a paragraph (or less) of information on each member.
On to my question:
Is there any chance we will see an outer planes based adventure path? Ala Planescape?
That would be cool... I'd like to know more about the various other planets that are habitable... then Eox, the Undead planet too...
1)Is there any reason why the asian dragons are no longer based on the elements of fire, water, metal, wood, and earth?
2)Will there be any new azatas, angels, archons or agathions in the beastairy III?
3)Is there any chance of a "book of the damned" style book for celestials, aeons, or proteons?
4)We have stats for Tengu but what about Kenku?
5)Will we ever have a book(s) about the magical and mundane uses for parts and byproducts of monsters like dragon(horns, eyes, teeth, heart, etc.) pixie dust, pheonix feathers, unicorn horn, etc.?
6)Will the advance races book have racial traits and feats for the non standard races? if so my vote for a trait that gives Dhampir a bite attack and a feat tree for some vampire themed abilities
7)would it be to powerful for a feat(possibly racial) to grant the scent ability?
I was just looking at the Worg/Winter Wolf entries, and it brought three questions to my mind regarding werewolves. First, would a worg be friendly to werewolves? Second, would Wolf Empathy apply to a worg/winter wolf? Then finally, could a particularly powerful werewolf in fact be a wereworg instead?
1)Is there any reason why the asian dragons are no longer based on the elements of fire, water, metal, wood, and earth?
2)Will there be any new azatas, angels, archons or agathions in the beastairy III?
3)Is there any chance of a "book of the damned" style book for celestials, aeons, or proteons?
4)We have stats for Tengu but what about Kenku?
5)Will we ever have a book(s) about the magical and mundane uses for parts and byproducts of monsters like dragon(horns, eyes, teeth, heart, etc.) pixie dust, pheonix feathers, unicorn horn, etc.?
6)Will the advance races book have racial traits and feats for the non standard races? if so my vote for a trait that gives Dhampir a bite attack and a feat tree for some vampire themed abilities
7)would it be to powerful for a feat(possibly racial) to grant the scent ability?
I can answer 7 for ya: Absolutely not, as it already exists in the APG. The feet is called Keen Scent, for Orcs and Half-Orcs only
James, I really don't like asking rules questions of you, since you were probably not at all involved in their creation, but I need an answer and I know you'll at least give me one.
The 9th level ability of the Tattooed Sorcerer, Enhanced Varisian Tattoos confuses me a lot. It says "You pick any one spell for which you have the Varisian Tattoo feat, and can use that spell as a SLA 1/day". However, the feat gives you a spell, of I believe 0 level, that you use as a SLA 3/day. So that makes no sense to me.
Was Enhanced Varisian Tattoo supposed to apply to your bloodline spells, which are boosted via Varisian Tattoo thanks to the Bloodline Tattoos ability of the Tattoo Sorc, or is there something else I am missing??
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The Tiny fox listed there is a particularly little one. But as a general rule, Tiny includes things that are one to two feet long, while Small is things from just over two feet long up to four feet long.Hmmm actually I went back and applied your "general rule", and red fox (largest variety of fox) Wikipedia page says...
On average, adults measure 35–50 cm (14–20 in) high at the shoulder and 49–90 cm (19–35 in) in body length with tails measuring 53–60 cm (21–24 in).
By the "general rule", sans the tail, the average fox would in fact be tiny but small ones would be common (but tiny works best for a familiar). :)
Plus, since this fox is to be the familiar of a White Witch, an Arctic Fox is definitely tiny at an average of 9.8-11.8in high at the shoulder. :)
Thanks again, especially for that "general rule" as it helps in more than just the fox case.
That's more or less what I looked at when justifying the Tiny size for the fox... which, really, needs to be Tiny since most familiars are Tiny, not Small. (I realize we introduced Small familiars recently... but that's not a design decision I'm particularly fond of. Small creatures are much more effective in combat, and familiars aren't supposed to be combat support—that role is for animal companions.)
In any event, yes, the fox familiar is indeed to support our iconic witch. If you want a Small fox, though, you can easily just create one by using the size advancement rules... or just use a small dog.
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We haven't announced anything in those lines yet, but Rival Guide has been VERY well received. I'd be surprised if we never did a book like it again.I hope you do release a Rival Guide II, but if you do could you please cut one of the teams to add a little more flavor to the others? The high-level party only had about a paragraph (or less) of information on each member.
On to my question:
Is there any chance we will see an outer planes based adventure path? Ala Planescape?
If we do another big NPC book, it won't be called Rival Guide II. With the exception of the Bestiaries, I'm not a fan of sequel titles with numbers behind them for RPG books.
And cutting one team wouldn't really let us do more flavor. One of the things we pride ourselves on is the look and layout of our books. Rival guide, like the Bestiaries, limits each NPC to a full page, so you can easily navigate the book. Looking for an NPC's hit points? They're always on the same spot more or less on a page. Trying to photocopy an NPC to bring that NPC to the table? He's only one page. It also looks better overall for each individual page to have all the information more or less in the same spot. Cutting 4 NPCs would only give us four blank pages, unless we decided to do 2 page entries for one group, which is possible, but it disrupts the "feng shui" of the book overall...
At this point, if I were to do a "sequel," it would actually be a book about famous and powerful NPCs in Golarion, and at that point I'd be tempted to give each NPC a two page entry. Maybe do two chapters; 15 major NPCs with 2 pages each, then 32 minor NPCs with a page each.
We'll certainly go to the outer planes now and then in an AP, but an entire adventure path set on the outer planes? Probably not... we like to stay relatively focused on Golarion.
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after the planet guide, can we have a monster guide for the alien species? similar to the revisited lines?
There'll certainly be some new aliens in "Distant Worlds," and there'll be more alien type creatures in Bestiary 3... but a revisited line about them? That's a bit weird, since it's tough to "revisit" something that we haven't detailed yet. And weird to revisit something that we just visited a few months before.
The revisited lines are more about breathing new life into well-established monsters, like vampires and goblins and trolls and the like.
If we did do a book about aliens, it'd not be in the Revisited line and would likely look completely different from those books. I'm not saying we'll never do such a book, because it's certainly an interesting idea... it's just not a book we'd do in a revisited line.
Unless it's 10 years from now and those aliens have remained favorites for those 10 years, of course!
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Creative Director
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1)Is there any reason why the asian dragons are no longer based on the elements of fire, water, metal, wood, and earth?
2)Will there be any new azatas, angels, archons or agathions in the beastairy III?
3)Is there any chance of a "book of the damned" style book for celestials, aeons, or proteons?
4)We have stats for Tengu but what about Kenku?
5)Will we ever have a book(s) about the magical and mundane uses for parts and byproducts of monsters like dragon(horns, eyes, teeth, heart, etc.) pixie dust, pheonix feathers, unicorn horn, etc.?
6)Will the advance races book have racial traits and feats for the non standard races? if so my vote for a trait that gives Dhampir a bite attack and a feat tree for some vampire themed abilities
7)would it be to powerful for a feat(possibly racial) to grant the scent ability?
1) Yes, because we just did dragons based on the elements in Bestiary 2, and I don't want to repeat ourselves in the very next book. Also... the "based on elements" trope is one of the more cliched tropes in gaming... we kind of HAD to do it for dragons, but now that we've done so for the primal dragons in Bestiary 2, I wanted to do something different for the Imperial Dragons in Bestiary 3. (Also, doing something different helps these dragons to be more unique to Paizo, and less like just another batch of elemental dragons anyway.)
2) Some, but not all, of those races will be represented in Bestiary 3.
3) If we do a book like that for the good guys, it won't be in the "Book of the Damned" line. It'll be something new. But yes there is indeed a chance of a book like that.
4) There's no need; tengu and kenku are pretty close to being the same thing. We chose to call them tengu and gave them different powers since the kenku is more or less the product identity of Wizards of the Coast; the name itself might be from mythology, but the monster as it exists in D&D is not something we can duplicate while keeping that name. And that's why we have tengu doing what they do in Pathfinder.
5) Probably not. I'm not a fan of turning every single monster into a walking bag of treasure, first of all. Mostly because that would mean we'd have to rebuild the entire economy system for how treasure works, because if a monster's parts are worth something, they suddenly can't have as much treasure if we want to keep balanced treasures for monsters. It's also an overwhelming project, considering we've got nearly a thousand monsters we'd have to talk about in the three Bestiaries alone...
6) Advanced Race Guide will have new options for every zero HD race we've published up through the end of the year... which includes a little less than a dozen no one outside of Paizo and our authors/artists have seen yet.
7) Depends on the race, and it's more a flavor issue than anything else. As mentioned above, half-orcs can get it as a feat, but I'd not let elves get it or humans or halflings or gnomes or dwarves or half elves.
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Use Magic Device can be used for alignment emulation but only for the purposes of activating an aligned device. Again you're only jiggering a device to operate, you're not changing your own essential nature. If you're evilly aligned, you remain so for the purposes of how spells effect you even if you've managed to trigger a good device to operate.So I was browsing the internet yesterday, and I thought I heard the sound of a James Jacobs Stamp of Approval. Reminded me to visit!
Dear JJ,
1) (General) Do you read any webcomics? If so, which ones?
2) (Pathfinder rules) Is there a spell, effect, way etc. that changes the way alignment-specific powers and spells affect a character? To provide specific example, is there any way for a Neutral character to gain the benefit of the APG Paladin spell Bestow Grace, or for an Evil character to not have their disguise foiled by the Celestial Sorcerer firing a Heavenly Fire at them?
1) I do, but not any with any real frequency. I'm a fan of "Dinosaur Comics" of course, but beyond that I don't really read any web comics with a frequency enough for me to remember what the names of said web comics are.
2) There aren't many ways to trick alignments that way. The Use Magic Device skill lets a character trick a magic item to make it seem like his alignment's different, and I believe there were some monster abilities in 3.5 here and there that allowed for alignment manipulation in that way... but I'm pretty sure we haven't put that into Pathfinder yet. You'd want to ask Jason or the design team that question to be sure there, though.
That's correct, but I wasn't really sure what Hungry Dragon was fishing for, so I mentioned it anyway.
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I was just looking at the Worg/Winter Wolf entries, and it brought three questions to my mind regarding werewolves. First, would a worg be friendly to werewolves? Second, would Wolf Empathy apply to a worg/winter wolf? Then finally, could a particularly powerful werewolf in fact be a wereworg instead?
Depends on the story you want to tell. I could see worgs being allies or enemies to werewolves.
Wolf empathy doesn't need to apply to worgs or winter wolves at all, since those aren't animals and you can just talk to them and use Diplomacy.
Technically... no. Because a lycanthrope is a humanoid and an animal, not a humanoid and a magical beast. If you want a particularly powerful werewolf, just give it a few more class levels.
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James, I really don't like asking rules questions of you, since you were probably not at all involved in their creation, but I need an answer and I know you'll at least give me one.
The 9th level ability of the Tattooed Sorcerer, Enhanced Varisian Tattoos confuses me a lot. It says "You pick any one spell for which you have the Varisian Tattoo feat, and can use that spell as a SLA 1/day". However, the feat gives you a spell, of I believe 0 level, that you use as a SLA 3/day. So that makes no sense to me.
Was Enhanced Varisian Tattoo supposed to apply to your bloodline spells, which are boosted via Varisian Tattoo thanks to the Bloodline Tattoos ability of the Tattoo Sorc, or is there something else I am missing??
If you see rules content in a hardcover rulebook, chances are good that I didn't have much to do with them (although there's also a chance that I did... I designed the original alchemist class, for example, and some of the content of the rulebooks are from things I originally worked on in other books we published).
If you see rules content in any other book we do, PARTICULARLY in the Campaign Setting Line, chances approach 100% that I had something to do with it, since those are the books I'm directly responsible for.
SO in this case, the tattooed sorcerer question is indeed something I was involved with.
You're correct that the Varisian Tattoo feat grants you a zero level spell usable as a spell-like ability 3/day.
The Enhanced Varisian Tattoo allows you to pick any one spell you know as a sorcerer and make that spell a spell-like ability you can use 3/day; it doesn't have to be a zero-level spell. It can be any spell that the sorcerer knows that doesn't cost money to cast (in the form of an expensive material component or focus)—she just has to pick a spell from the same school as her Varisian Tattoo feat.
So, if your sorcerer gains the Varisian Tattoo feat for evocation, she could then eventualy use Enhanced Varisian Tattoo to gain the use of fireball 3/day as a spell-like ability (provided fireball is one of the spells she knows).
Basically, Enhanced Varisian Tattoo lets you cast one of your spells 3 extra times a day.
The power is a little awkwardly written, though, I'll grant you that. A clearer way to have written the first sentence of the power would have been:
"At 9th level, the tattooed sorcerer can pick any one spell she knows that matches the school of a Varisian Tattoo feat she possesses."
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If we do another big NPC book, it won't be called Rival Guide II. With the exception of the Bestiaries, I'm not a fan of sequel titles with numbers behind them for RPG books.
Fine fine, "Bigwigs of Golarion" it is.
At this point, if I were to do a "sequel," it would actually be a book about famous and powerful NPCs in Golarion, and at that point I'd be tempted to give each NPC a two page entry. Maybe do two chapters; 15 major NPCs with 2 pages each, then 32 minor NPCs with a page each.
So one page of flavor and one page of statblock for the bigwigs then? That would work fine for me.
We'll certainly go to the outer planes now and then in an AP, but an entire adventure path set on the outer planes? Probably not... we like to stay relatively focused on Golarion.
I didn't really mean a completely plane focused campaign, more along the lines of Jade Regent, except you travel the planes from Golarion to do... something. Or it could be more like the Savage Tide Adventure Path from Dungeon, where the last few issues more or less entirely took place in the outer planes. Would that be an option?
Speaking of Savage Tide, if you were to rebuild Iggwilv from the second to last Dungeon, would you recreate her as a Wizard or as a Witch? If a witch, what would her patron be?
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I didn't really mean a completely plane focused campaign, more along the lines of Jade Regent, except you travel the planes from Golarion to do... something. Or it could be more like the Savage Tide Adventure Path from Dungeon, where the last few issues more or less entirely took place in the outer planes. Would that be an option?
Speaking of Savage Tide, if you were to rebuild Iggwilv from the second to last Dungeon, would you recreate her as a Wizard or as a Witch? If a witch, what would her patron be?
Well, we've gone to the Plane of Fire and the First World once already, and we've gone to demiplanes several times. Chances of an AP going to another plane again are more or less 100%, although probably not for a bit. Eventually, one that goes to another plane for one or maybe even two adventures will happen again.
If I were to rebuild Iggwilv, I would be very tempted to rebuild her as a witch. Unfortunately, witches don't have much in the way of summoning powers, which is something that Iggwilv needs to be able to do. Which is sort of why I designed the Dimensional Occultist, frankly, in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide. If I were to build Iggwilv today using the current Pathfinder Rules, I'd probably build her as a witch 20 (dimensional occultist)/loremaster 10... but that starts getting weird with the post 20th level stuff.
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Do you see Unspeakable Futures in a format similar to FFG's WHM40k RPGs? One hardcover book per year, supported not by APs but modules? Especially if the most of the rules stay the same as in Pathfinder.
That would be kind of possible, right?
That would, I suppose, be possible... but all of those products would have to happen IN ADDITION to our regular products. We wouldn't replace one of our current products with a new game, after all. Doing just +1 hardcover a year is getting deep into the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
That said... if Paizo were to publish Unspeakable Futures, I generally see two options:
1) The "fire and forget" option, where we publish the game as a standalone product that never gets any support at all. I don't like this option, and Lisa HATES "fire and forget" mentality, so this is not really an option at all.
2) The "full support" option. Release an "Unspeakable Futures" game as a large hardcover, similar in format to a combined APG and Bestiary and Inner Sea World Guide (complete with new races, new classes, new spells, new equipment, and new monsters, along with a healthy dose of campaign support), and then do Adventure Paths and Player's Companions for the line. This would require us to probably hire at least half-a-dozen new editors, developers, designers, and art directors to be able to pull off, all for an unprooven new game in an genre (sci fi) that traditionally doesn't do NEARLY as well as fantasy in the tabletop RPG business.
Only supporting a new game with modules is kind of weak sauce. Adventure Paths are SO much more profitable and popular, and SO much more good at expanding worlds and providing solid support. If only because they have a spine that allows them to be displayed in book stores. You can't do that with modules, which is why we have such a hard time getting modules into book stores.
2) The "full support" option. Release an "Unspeakable Futures" game as a large hardcover, similar in format to a combined APG and Bestiary and Inner Sea World Guide (complete with new races, new classes, new spells, new equipment, and new monsters, along with a healthy dose of campaign support), and then do Adventure Paths and Player's Companions for the line. This would require us to probably hire at least half-a-dozen new editors, developers, designers, and art directors to be able to pull off, all for an unprooven new game in an genre (sci fi) that traditionally doesn't do NEARLY as well as fantasy in the tabletop RPG business.
Only supporting a new game with modules is kind of weak sauce. Adventure Paths are SO much more profitable and popular, and SO much more good at expanding worlds and providing solid support. If only because they have a spine that allows them to be displayed in book stores. You can't do that with modules, which is why we have such a hard time getting modules into book stores.
Why do you think sci fi genre rpgs don't do as well as fantasy rpgs? I often think they could, but many people say this about the genre and I think it has everything to do with a lack of support for the genre with a combination of the fantasy genre being around longer. Of course I could be wrong and I would really like to hear someone's input from the "inside" so to speak.
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I know that I'm bugging you with all these questions about UF, but I am in love with your setting and I would love to see it published. Especially since it is really an excellent time to do so.
Is there any way to gauge the interest of the public about the publishing of UF, with Lisa's approval?
Public interest isn't the issue. I'm pretty sure that there's interest out there for a post-apocalyptic RPG based on the Pathfinder rules, especially if it incorporates Lovecraftian elements.
It's almost entirely an issue of manpower and resources, honestly. Unless I decide to self-publish, I guess.
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Why do you think sci fi genre rpgs don't do as well as fantasy rpgs? I often think they could, but many people say this about the genre and I think it has everything to do with a lack of support for the genre with a combination of the fantasy genre being around longer. Of course I could be wrong and I would really like to hear someone's input from the "inside" so to speak.2) The "full support" option. Release an "Unspeakable Futures" game as a large hardcover, similar in format to a combined APG and Bestiary and Inner Sea World Guide (complete with new races, new classes, new spells, new equipment, and new monsters, along with a healthy dose of campaign support), and then do Adventure Paths and Player's Companions for the line. This would require us to probably hire at least half-a-dozen new editors, developers, designers, and art directors to be able to pull off, all for an unprooven new game in an genre (sci fi) that traditionally doesn't do NEARLY as well as fantasy in the tabletop RPG business.
Only supporting a new game with modules is kind of weak sauce. Adventure Paths are SO much more profitable and popular, and SO much more good at expanding worlds and providing solid support. If only because they have a spine that allows them to be displayed in book stores. You can't do that with modules, which is why we have such a hard time getting modules into book stores.
I think there's three reasons:
1) The fantasy genre has a lot more RPG inertia. Having D&D's legacy to ride is a HUGE boost. And what's good for a fantasy game (killing monsters and taking their stuff) isn't necessarily good for a sci-fi game (how often do you see Kirk or Han Solo kill monsters and take their stuff?), but since that central trope is SO overwhelming in the fantasy genre it tends to distract things. (As an aside... a postapocalytpic setting, I think, DOES benefit from this type of game play.)
2) Not enough support material: Many classic sci-fi RPGs are done as additional games rather than a company's SOLE game, and as such tended not to get the ammount of support as the main line got.
3) Lack of a Focused setting—many sci-fi games don't have a relatively focused setting, because they try to offer an entire universe instead of, say, a small region of a post-apocalyptic planet as their setting.
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James,
Has Paizo considered moving into the realm of comics? Maybe graphic novels? There's got to be some artists out there who'd want to give it a try.
Edit: This question brought to you in lieu of another I wanted to ask, knowledge of which was driven out of my head by the un-fun situation that's been occuring in my basement.
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If you see rules content in any other book we do, PARTICULARLY in the Campaign Setting Line, chances approach 100% that I had something to do with it, since those are the books I'm directly responsible for.
Perfect, so I can ask you 2 questions about Inner sea magic (and one about simulacrum):
1) magic Guilds: Ecletic training. the bonus seem very strong when compared with other bonuses you get with 5 fame in other magic schools. Isn't it a bit unbalanced? It can be applied to divine spell casting classes?
2) the prestige classes in the Inner Sea magic booklet use the text "When a xxxx gains a level, he gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained."
If they are spontaneous spellcasters, they get to know new spells or they only get the capability to cast more spells?
To reiterate: Inner Sea Magic is great, I very like the flavour of it.
3) Non about Inner Sea magic. Someone has suggested in the forum to use a simulacron of a efreeti to get wishes with ease. My opinion is that, as when you make a simulacron it has "only half of the real creature's levels or HD (and the appropriate ..... special abilities for a creature of that level or HD)" it will lose the capacity to cast wish.
There is any official ruling?
BTW, a simulacron of a dragon with half of the HD of the original will have the stat of a dragon of that kind, but with half the HD? i.e. the simulacron of a young black dragon (10 HD) will have 5 HD and the stats of a wyrmling black dragon?
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Creative Director
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James,
Has Paizo considered moving into the realm of comics? Maybe graphic novels? There's got to be some artists out there who'd want to give it a try.
Edit: This question brought to you in lieu of another I wanted to ask, knowledge of which was driven out of my head by the un-fun situation that's been occuring in my basement.
Paizo isn't really interested in moving into the realm of publishing comics or graphic novels. That said, a Pathfinder comic would indeed be super awesome, and it'd be a neat license to see manifest some day. It's certainly something we've considered, along with Pathifnder video games, Pathfinder movies, Pathfinder music, Pathfinder anything! As with all such licenses, though... we want to wait for the right opportunity rather than the FIRST opportunity.
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I think there's three reasons:
1) The fantasy genre has a lot more RPG inertia. Having D&D's legacy to ride is a HUGE boost. And what's good for a fantasy game (killing monsters and taking their stuff) isn't necessarily good for a sci-fi game (how often do you see Kirk or Han Solo kill monsters and take their stuff?), but since that central trope is SO overwhelming in the fantasy genre it tends to distract things. (As an aside... a postapocalytpic setting, I think, DOES benefit from this type of game play.)
2) Not enough support material: Many classic sci-fi RPGs are done as additional games rather than a company's SOLE game, and as such tended not to get the ammount of support as the main line got.
3) Lack of a Focused setting—many sci-fi games don't have a relatively focused setting, because they try to offer an entire universe instead of, say, a small region of a post-apocalyptic planet as their setting.
I think that you can add that a sci-fi game is a very open ended and sandbox setting.
People say that they want those, but most players don't really like them and the GM like them even less.Then the games suffer more for a perceived lack of verisimilitude. Everyone has opinions and knowledge about how science work. That can cause clashes with how the game world will work.
When something involve magic ...well it is magic, it can do anything.
You need boundaries, but those boundaries should be self consistent with the game, not with "reality" as we think it is.
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Creative Director
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1) magic Guilds: Ecletic training. the bonus seem very strong when compared with other bonuses you get with 5 fame in other magic schools. Isn't it a bit unbalanced? It can be applied to divine spell casting classes?
2) the prestige classes in the Inner Sea magic booklet use the text "When a xxxx gains a level, he gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained."
If they are spontaneous spellcasters, they get to know new spells or they only get the capability to cast more spells?3) Non about Inner Sea magic. Someone has suggested in the forum to use a simulacron of a efreeti to get wishes with ease. My opinion is that, as when you make a simulacron it has "only half of the real creature's levels or HD (and the appropriate ..... special abilities for a creature of that level or HD)" it will lose the capacity to cast wish.
There is any official ruling?BTW, a simulacron of a dragon with half of the HD of the original will have the stat of a dragon of that kind, but with half the HD? i.e. the simulacron of a young black dragon (10 HD) will have 5 HD and the stats of a wyrmling black dragon?
1) This would indeed apply to divine spellcasting, and it's not as strong as it looks. It's actually pretty much useless for most single classed spellcasters. It does help multiclassed spellcasters stay "caught up" sort of, as long as they don't split their caster levels too much. Note that an increase to your caster level only applies to how your spells function (with regard to things like caster level checks, SR penetration checks, duration, damage, range, and other variables influenced by caster level). An increased caster level does NOT grant you access to additional spells per day; that is not a function of caster level but of a class level.
2) Spontaneous spellcasters who take prestige class levels get new spells as if they gained a level in their previous class, yes.
3) Simulacrum is a really fun spell with a LOT of possibilities... but like similar spells (awaken, reincarnate, and even miracle and wish), it also needs a heavy dose of GM intervention to keep things running smoothly. Especially since every time anyone anywhere publishes stats for a new monster, the spell's possible effects grow. My suggestion is that questions like "can you make a simulacrum of an efreeti to gain access to a wish?" should only be answered by a particular game's GM—that's also more or less the official ruling. My advice as a GM myself? No way. I'd let you make an efreeti, but it wouldn't have the ability to grant a wish. And if you make a black dragon, it does indeed have half the HD but it's still a simulacrum of a young black dragon—it doesn't "downgrade" to a wyrmling. Just ignore those dragon aging rules entirely when you make a dragon simulacrum.
Frankly, were I redesigning the spell, I'd actually put into the bestiary, or into the spell itself (even better!) a new monster template for simulacrum.
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What was your favourite comic from the pages of Dungeon and Dragon?That'd be a tie between Wormy and Zogonia/Mt. Zogon.Do you know if the continuation of Wormy was published anywhere?
It was cut from Dragon in a brutal way.
My original post was, "Do you have any special knowledge of Tony Moseley and David Trampier?" Trampier is missing, believed by some to be dead and by others to be a taxi cab driver. Moseley, last I heard, had discontinued Zogonia.
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Creative Director
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Are there any books that you recommend just for the art (I'm not talking about a roleplaying game book necessarily, but a fantasy art book)?
My two favorite art books that I own (A bit pricey, but still super incredibly awesome and inspiring):
A Lovecraft Retrospective
Knowing Darkness
If you're just looking for fantasy RPG art, though... you can do a whole lot worse than The Art of Dragon Magazine, which we still have plenty of in stock.
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Creative Director
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What was your favourite comic from the pages of Dungeon and Dragon?That'd be a tie between Wormy and Zogonia/Mt. Zogon.Do you know if the continuation of Wormy was published anywhere?
It was cut from Dragon in a brutal way.
The end of Wormy's run in Dragon is one of the great mysteries of the RPG world. It's also one of the big D&D Mysteries we talked about in the last print issue of Dragon. David Trampier's reasons for ending the comic are unknown; whether it was his choice or the magazine's editors is not known to me, but from what I know, David wants nothing to do with the strip itself or the gaming industry today. It's unfortunate, but sometimes, folks just want to move on.