Are the NPC gallerys that appear in Jade Reagent going to be a permanent fixture to the APs? I hope so, those things are brilliant.
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So then, my question is in the case of a +1 or +2 race, would they get a level between 3 and 4, then no more (for the +1), one more (For the +2), or would they not get that level between 3 and 4? I personally read it as they would get the single level, then no more, but some of my friends have interpreted it as the +1 would not get any free levels and the +2 would only get a single level.
I know this isn't the answer you're looking for... but I can't help you. You have to decide on your own within the context of your own game when levels are gained and what the repercussions are—I don't run games with PCs who have racial HD and never have, really, so I have no real experience at running these kind of games and thus have no real experience on the matter.
I guess if this were my game, I'd just default to the option that's less appealing to the player, honestly, since it's a LOT easier to give a player character a boost in power later on if it becomes obvious that the character has too many disadvantages. Giving a character TOO much is a lot harder to fix, if only because taking perks away from a character makes the player sad.
What is your favorite core race?
When playing a character with a familiar, what is your favorite familiar to take?
When playing a character with an animal companion, what is your favorite animal companion to take?
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My question is... Since she woke up naked in a ditch she's figured out intellectually what's going on. But she failed her will save to figure out what's going on. Does she still have the memory blackout? Does she have to make that will save in order to retain those memories despite all the overwhelming evidence?
Essentially... When confronted with overwhelming evidence does an oblivious werewolf get the flashbacks then? Or do they still go into a crazy rant of denial? Or is it both where they can have their crazy rant of denial but end up getting flashbacks later on even without the successful will save?
One of the tougher roleplay challenges out there is playing a character who doesn't realize what's going on when the player knows exactly what's going on. Memory blackout situations are particularly difficult. If the GM has the opportunity and knows there's gonna be a memory blackout, the best way is to have the saving throw to retain memories be rolled BEFORE the PC experiences whatever trigger causes the memory blackout. That way, if that save fails, the GM can say something like, "You drink the wine, and then the next thing you know you're waking up in a ditch and it's 3 days later."
As for how a PC reacts to the mounting evidence that they're a werewolf or something like that... that depends entirely on the player and the PC. Some might love it. Some might hate it.
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Are the NPC gallerys that appear in Jade Reagent going to be a permanent fixture to the APs? I hope so, those things are brilliant.
So far, they're looking like they're going to be permanent fixtures... although we'll probably be skewing back a bit and only doing 2-3 NPC once we get to Shattered Star (Skull & Shackles already has a pretty giant cast of NPCs in it...).
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What is your favorite core race?
When playing a character with a familiar, what is your favorite familiar to take?
When playing a character with an animal companion, what is your favorite animal companion to take?
Favorite Core Race: Human... although most of my current characters are half-elves. Hmm. So maybe half-elf?
Favorite Familiar: I generally pick familiars that match the personality of the character, so this can vary... but all things being equal, this is a tie between a cat and a lizard.
Favorite Animal Companion: Deinonychus.
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Hi there!
~Does anyone call you Jim/Jimmy/etc, or does everyone call you James?
~If a monster wanted to pull a rider off of his/her mount during combat, do you think the rider should get some kind of bonus or extra Ride check to oppose the CMB to Grapple (and pull off) or Bullrush (to knock him out of the saddle)?
~
Im getting ready to run the first part of Fortress of the Stone Giants for my group tomorrow. I had to increase the number of bad guys (large party). I printed off a large (3x3 pages) map of Sandpoint for reference to where stuff is in town overall, and have a couple flip maps I'll be using for the actual combat. Do you have any suggestions to make such an epic battle run more efficiently and smoothly?
Ive been looking forward to this attack for awhile now and want it to be as awesome as the general idea sounds. So, please, help?
~Im planning to buy the RotR hardcover when it comes out, and I may actually get to utilize some it, since my group only meets about once a month (*sadface*). Ive also heard one of the upcoming APs you guys are putting out is going to be a sequel to RotR. Any chance of some sneak peak info or something that GMs of RotR could use to foreshadow into the sequel?
~Is Shattered Star the RotR sequel, or is it something else?
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Hi there!
~Does anyone call you Jim/Jimmy/etc, or does everyone call you James?
~If a monster wanted to pull a rider off of his/her mount during combat, do you think the rider should get some kind of bonus or extra Ride check to oppose the CMB to Grapple (and pull off) or Bullrush (to knock him out of the saddle)?
~** spoiler omitted **
~Im planning to buy the RotR hardcover when it comes out, and I may actually get to utilize some it, since my group only meets about once a month (*sadface*). Ive also heard one of the upcoming APs you guys are putting out is going to be a sequel to RotR. Any chance of some sneak peak info or something that GMs of RotR could use to foreshadow into the sequel?
~Is Shattered Star the RotR sequel, or is it something else?
1) Nope. People call me James. MAYBE "Jacobs" depending on Sutter's location.
2) Nope.
3) The Runelords hardcover will have a bit more information about how to run that encounter, including a few extra maps to support it.
4) Shattered Star is indeed the sequel to both Rise of the Runelords AND Curse of the Crimson Throne. What's in those two adventures already does the job at foreshadowing the sequel.
Which is cooler: carnivorous kangaroos (these actually once existed, but they went extinct) or saber toothed cats?
Which is cooler: carnivorous kangaroos (these actually once existed, but they went extinct) or saber toothed cats?Sabre tooth cats.
I like the 'roos. Something about a predatory 'roo scares me. I like the saber toothed cat, too, but the 'roos sound awesome. They will be in my homebrew campaign setting.
When it comes to pets, are you a cat or dog person? Or something else?
What milkshake is the best: chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?
M&Ms or Skittles?
If Pharasma is the oldest and Cayden Cailean is the youngest, where do Desna, Asmodeus and Rovagug fit in terms of age?
My question is... Since she woke up naked in a ditch she's figured out intellectually what's going on. But she failed her will save to figure out what's going on. Does she still have the memory blackout? Does she have to make that will save in order to retain those memories despite all the overwhelming evidence?
Essentially... When confronted with overwhelming evidence does an oblivious werewolf get the flashbacks then? Or do they still go into a crazy rant of denial? Or is it both where they can have their crazy rant of denial but end up getting flashbacks later on even without the successful will save?
One of the tougher roleplay challenges out there is playing a character who doesn't realize what's going on when the player knows exactly what's going on. Memory blackout situations are particularly difficult. If the GM has the opportunity and knows there's gonna be a memory blackout, the best way is to have the saving throw to retain memories be rolled BEFORE the PC experiences whatever trigger causes the memory blackout. That way, if that save fails, the GM can say something like, "You drink the wine, and then the next thing you know you're waking up in a ditch and it's 3 days later."
As for how a PC reacts to the mounting evidence that they're a werewolf or something like that... that depends entirely on the player and the PC. Some might love it. Some might hate it.
Mwahahahaaa...
That's about how I handled it. Just "the moon's rising, you never realized before just how pretty it is, and then you wake up in a ditch. Someone stole your clothes."
I talked to my PC and I've been given carte blanche to go to town with this. And I was worried about needing insanities for Wake of the Watcher...
As for a question...
Have you ever read the Harrow in-game? Actually used it as a divinatory tool in-game without GM-tweaking to make it say something special?
If so, how accurate were your results?
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Creative Director
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Which is cooler: carnivorous kangaroos (these actually once existed, but they went extinct) or saber toothed cats?Sabre tooth cats.I like the 'roos. Something about a predatory 'roo scares me. I like the saber toothed cat, too, but the 'roos sound awesome. They will be in my homebrew campaign setting.
When it comes to pets, are you a cat or dog person? Or something else?
What milkshake is the best: chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?
M&Ms or Skittles?
Cat person, vanilla, M&Ms (with peanut butter in them!).
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Creative Director
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If Pharasma is the oldest and Cayden Cailean is the youngest, where do Desna, Asmodeus and Rovagug fit in terms of age?
Desna and Rovagug are both very old as well—in fact, those two might well be the 3rd and 2nd oldest deities. I've never bothered mapping out a deity timeline, so I reserve the right to change my mind, but those two are VERY old deities who both vastly predate the rise of mortal life.
Asmodeus is a medium-aged deity, although depending on the legends, he's older or younger. He certainly claims to be an older deity. He certainly predates mortal life though.
Exact details, ESPECIALLY for deities who predate mortal life, are going to remain deliberately vague, in any event.
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Will Seoni ever take Improved Familiar? How about this one?
Probably not. And a komodo dragon is an animal companion, not a familiar.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever read the Harrow in-game? Actually used it as a divinatory tool in-game without GM-tweaking to make it say something special?
If so, how accurate were your results?
I've used the Harrow quite a few times in game, and the results were QUITE accurate...
...because I knew where the game's plot was headed, and knew about the PCs and their backstories, and thus skewed the reading to be accurate and to foreshadow things I knew were coming.
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Yea, but Im running that encounter tomorrow! Suggestions?3) The Runelords hardcover will have a bit more information about how to run that encounter, including a few extra maps to support it.
I would suggest heading over to the "Fortress of the Stone Giants" threads and looking/asking for advice, honestly. It's been a LONG time since I've looked at that adventure in detail, and I'm currently just now starting up the revisions to "Hook Mountain Massacre," and as such I don't have the luxury of disrupting that work pattern to skip ahead and really delve into the next adventure down the pipe... I can't really provide many suggestions at this time.
Hay, James. Do you know of any resources for converting AD&D 2E materiel to 3E? There is a REALLY good AD&D 2E supplement that I want to convert to Pathfinder, but I never played AD&D 2E, so I've never seen the system. If I had a conversion guide I could convert it to 3E and then to Pathfinder. Do you know of one?
Exact details, ESPECIALLY for deities who predate mortal life, are going to remain deliberately vague, in any event.
By vague, do you mean contradictory? It seems many source books are quite explicit about early deity timelines, but they don't match up. Pharasma is the oldest in one spot. In the devil book, Asmodeus is one of the first two deities out of the seal. In gods and magic, Apsu may have come first and helped create the other gods. Given, my memory may be mixing stories, but I'm pretty sure this is less an area of vagueness and more that many of the source books must, by default, be wrong :P
Exact details, ESPECIALLY for deities who predate mortal life, are going to remain deliberately vague, in any event.By vague, do you mean contradictory? It seems many source books are quite explicit about early deity timelines, but they don't match up. Pharasma is the oldest in one spot. In the devil book, Asmodeus is one of the first two deities out of the seal. In gods and magic, Apsu may have come first and helped create the other gods. Given, my memory may be mixing stories, but I'm pretty sure this is less an area of vagueness and more that many of the source books must, by default, be wrong :P
Contradictory sources are ways to remain vague.
No one said the author of the sourcebooks is reliable ;)
Hay, James. Do you know of any resources for converting AD&D 2E materiel to 3E? There is a REALLY good AD&D 2E supplement that I want to convert to Pathfinder, but I never played AD&D 2E, so I've never seen the system. If I had a conversion guide I could convert it to 3E and then to Pathfinder. Do you know of one?
2nd ed material, I have played in a short campaign of it and read the 2nd Ed PHB.
I could help you translate the information.
If you see a 18/XX (where XX is 1->00(100)) in strength just call it an 18.
THAC0 is To Hit Armour Class 0,
since AC was between -10(best) and 10(worst).
So THAC0 is BAB+stat MOD.
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Creative Director
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Hay, James. Do you know of any resources for converting AD&D 2E materiel to 3E? There is a REALLY good AD&D 2E supplement that I want to convert to Pathfinder, but I never played AD&D 2E, so I've never seen the system. If I had a conversion guide I could convert it to 3E and then to Pathfinder. Do you know of one?
Wizards of the Coast produced a conversion guide at the start of 3rd edition to help people make the switch. Not sure if that guide exists today in an easy-to-reach way.
When I convert 1st or 2nd edition adventures over, I generally just convert the stat blocks. The types of monsters and creatures and foes you have in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd edition are all more or less the same—a minotaur is a minotaur is a minotaur—so just rebuilding stat blocks is a good first step.
THAT SAID... there's a lot of online resources out there, and chances are good if you look hard enough, you might find a 3rd edition/Pathfinder conversion for the product already done out there on the internets.
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Creative Director
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Exact details, ESPECIALLY for deities who predate mortal life, are going to remain deliberately vague, in any event.By vague, do you mean contradictory? It seems many source books are quite explicit about early deity timelines, but they don't match up. Pharasma is the oldest in one spot. In the devil book, Asmodeus is one of the first two deities out of the seal. In gods and magic, Apsu may have come first and helped create the other gods. Given, my memory may be mixing stories, but I'm pretty sure this is less an area of vagueness and more that many of the source books must, by default, be wrong :P
Vague CAN mean contradictory. When we do a book where we do get into the prehistory of the world, we don't want to just ignore things. And so getting contradictory is a good way to maintain doubt about what is and isn't true. To a certain extent, every religion will have its own creation myth, and that myth is true to that religion's followers. Which one is the ACTUALLY true one isn't something we'll ever say.
Do you like paleontology? Did you enjoy Jurassic Park?
Do you think zombie dinosaurs, animated dinosaur fossils (Libris Mortis has rules for this), and dinosaur flesh golems are cool? What template would a dinosaur flesh golem even use?
Is it weird having your own Wikipedia article?
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Do you like paleontology? Did you enjoy Jurassic Park?
Do you think zombie dinosaurs, animated dinosaur fossils (Libris Mortis has rules for this), and dinosaur flesh golems are cool? What template would a dinosaur flesh golem even use?
Paleontology was one of my possible career choices, so yeah, I quite like it. And Jurassic Park's one of my favorite movies.
And undead dinosaurs are indeed cool. I've put them into adventures many times. And Bestiary 3 will address your question about fossils and golems.
Treerazer was your idea, wasn't it.
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Is it weird having your own Wikipedia article?Yes.
Have you ever edited the page yourself? Either to correct stuff (not like spelling or grammar) like how you're a T-rex who works for a gaming company writing adventures and such for puny little humans; or changing stuff to something off the wall, such as you being some regular guy who has hobbies and stuff???
Vague CAN mean contradictory. When we do a book where we do get into the prehistory of the world, we don't want to just ignore things. And so getting contradictory is a good way to maintain doubt about what is and isn't true. To a certain extent, every religion will have its own creation myth, and that myth is true to that religion's followers. Which one is the ACTUALLY true one isn't something we'll ever say.
I know. I had my troll hat on a bit ;) If I could make a serious critique though, considering the sheer amount of things that are meant to be vague in the setting, it would be nice if they were more clearly indicated. Princes of Darkness did a good job with its universe origin story being from an in-setting book, not hard fact.
Sometimes, I feel like I should read every sentence like this: "Aroden took the test of the starstone and became a god...or did he? Aroden rose the starstone out of the sea...or did he? James Jacobs likes dinosaurs...or does he?" Perhaps in my Golarion campaign, James Jacobs does not like dinosaurs.
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Have you ever edited the page yourself? Either to correct stuff (not like spelling or grammar) like how you're a T-rex who works for a gaming company writing adventures and such for puny little humans; or changing stuff to something off the wall, such as you being some regular guy who has hobbies and stuff???Is it weird having your own Wikipedia article?Yes.
I've never touched the page. I don't even know who set the page up.
I've been tempted to edit the page a few times to correct the error with my date of birth (I was actually born in 1972, not 1974) but never got around to it, especially since it says that on the disambiguation page and not on the main page.
And I'd hardly count the draknor as being one of my most prominent monster creations... if I had to pick a replacement for the draknor I'd probably choose the ulgurstasta.
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I know. I had my troll hat on a bit ;) If I could make a serious critique though, considering the sheer amount of things that are meant to be vague in the setting, it would be nice if they were more clearly indicated. Princes of Darkness did a good job with its universe origin story being from an in-setting book, not hard fact.
Sometimes, I feel like I should read every sentence like this: "Aroden took the test of the starstone and became a god...or did he? Aroden rose the starstone out of the sea...or did he? James Jacobs likes dinosaurs...or does he?" Perhaps in my Golarion campaign, James Jacobs does not like dinosaurs.
Since we often leave things vague because that gives us a bit more leeway to change things in the future if we come up with a better idea. To a lesser extent, leaving things vague allows individual GMs to replace things with their own concepts without feeling like they're "breaking" anything.
And I'm pretty confident that we're only vauge about a pretty small fraction of the overall amount of words we publish for Golarion anyway.
The context? Three 3rd level characters and 1 2nd level character versus a CR 8 encounter when we were asleep at the start of said encounter, despite the fact that we were supposedly safe in an inn in the middle of the city is the context. (grumble grumble)
No, I'm not a big fan of encounters where you die because you happened to roll an average initiative check. Give me save or die effects any day of the week instead... at least you get to roll a save in the first place!
I can't think of a smiley emote to properly express my sadness for your loss. I hope you weren't too attached to that character ...
Is that what Game Designers do in their free time? Try to completely destroy each other with the rules? If so, there's something awesome about that in a horrible way.
4) Shattered Star is indeed the sequel to both Rise of the Runelords AND Curse of the Crimson Throne. What's in those two adventures already does the job at foreshadowing the sequel.
~Is Shattered Star the RotR sequel, or is it something else?
I totally understand Paizo's commitment to sequels from a business standpoint, especially with Runelords getting a updated hardcover. But if Shattered Star is a sequel to RotR AND Crimson Throne, understand that those of us who have steered clear of those APs consider that a turnoff.
Now, I've only run one AP and am not finished with it yet. And that's Legacy of Fire. I've been very pleased with it and chose it even though I knew there would be some conversion, because I liked the theme before reading it. (Aside: I wished it had more Arabian theme than it had. Desert of Desolation was my fav old school)
I also understand that Paizo is very good at, "If you don't like this upcoming AP, you've only got to wait 6 months for a new one." And so my next AP that I run will be Carrion Crown or Skull & Shackles. Cause from what I've read Jade Regent is a bit of a sequel to RotR as well.
If I was in on Paizo as a customer from the beginning with RotR I could totally understand the appeal of these sequels coming as they have, but as someone who hasn't been they are a bit of a turnoff being labeled as such.
No question for you James, but thanks for your continued presence on the boards. Just wanted to provide feedback.
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If I was in on Paizo as a customer from the beginning with RotR I could totally understand the appeal of these sequels coming as they have, but as someone who hasn't been they are a bit of a turnoff being labeled as such.
Which is why I very much doubt we'll be saying "SEQUEL" on the cover of Shattered Star volumes, or why we're calling it "Shattered Star" in the first place and not, say, "Rise of the Runelords II."
Shattered Star assumes that the continuity of Runelords and Crimson Throne have occurred, and several of the elements in Shattered Star develop organically from those previous AP's events... but the storyline of Shattered Star is its own story. You can play it and enjoy it fine if you have no knowledge at all of Runelords or Crimson Throne.
Shattered Star is more like a James Bond movie, in other words, than it is like "The Two Towers" or "Return of the King."
Did you have anything to do with 3.5 Oriental Adventures? If so, how do you justify this?
I noticed that your name is one of the few that is on the cover of my Frostburn book (one of my favorite books ever-love artic settings!), a book I still regularly use with PF. What content in it are you responsible for?
Can Alchemical Weapon from the Grenadier Achetype (PFS Field Guide) and Explosive Missle from UC stack?
And if so does the Alchemist get to use his INT bonus for both?
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Can Alchemical Weapon from the Grenadier Achetype (PFS Field Guide) and Explosive Missle from UC stack?
And if so does the Alchemist get to use his INT bonus for both?
Nope; they do different but similar things. If both options are available to a character, you could pick which effect you want to do.
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I noticed that your name is one of the few that is on the cover of my Frostburn book (one of my favorite books ever-love artic settings!), a book I still regularly use with PF. What content in it are you responsible for?
The parts I wrote, if I recall correctly, were:
Chapter 2: Almost all of it.
Chapter 3: Cloud Anchorite, Frost Mage, Frostrager, Knight of the Iron Glacier, Primeval, Rimefire Witch, Stormsinger, and Winterhaunt of Iborighu
Chapter 4: All of the weapons, all of the exotic materials, some of the equipment
Chapter 5: A handful of the spells, maybe 6 or 8 in all; all of the magic items
Chapter 6: Neanderthal, Rimefire Eidolon, Shivhad, Spirit Animal, Tlalusk, Uldra
Chapter 7: All of it. Including the maps, pretty much, which aside from one or two quick photoshop filters are my exact turnovers. Hence my cartography credit in the book. Heh.
So...a lot!
Great job-I'm particularly fond of the Knight of the Iron Glacier.
Is there any plans for a similar ice and snow book for Golarion/Pathfinder (or is there one that I'm not aware of)?
I noticed that your name is one of the few that is on the cover of my Frostburn book (one of my favorite books ever-love artic settings!), a book I still regularly use with PF. What content in it are you responsible for?
I also loved the Frostburn book, what I like cold climates.
And it's great to see our favorite T-Rex having put a lot of work into it.
I loved the Blue Ice material and the weapons.
I admit to making a slightly broken combo using Frost Rager and Human Half-Dragon(Red)(<- I did a slight mod to it) for an NPC in my homebrew game (used Draconicon and Races of the Dragon to help create a more believable persona for her from her dragon heritage).