Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs:
Wouldn´t be a great moment to map and create the countries of southern Garund when the Advanced Race Guide comes out?
After all there are bug people and lizardfolk and "amazons" and Azata workshippers...
Could be cat-peope, monkey-people and a lot of races in this "expanded" mwangi expanse?
By the way, I love maps and gazzeteers... Tian Xia getting one is great! (So are Lands of LK and Rule of Fear) I would like to see Casmaron and Arcadia too. (I know that there are time-consuming and difficult books to do).
Well... since Advanced Race Guide has no world content in it, an expansion of the map of Garund would HAVE to happen in another product. And since we've got all of our products locked in to the schedule through about next Gen Con right now, and since none of them would be appropriate to map out southern Garund, we'd either have to do some major restructuring or we'd have to wait.
Furthermore, having just finished detailing not only the Crown of the World, but also Tian Xia, the memories of the incredible amount of work and stress associated with generating what's essentially an entirely new campaign setting are still far too fresh in my mind for me to want to attempt the same stunt again for a few months. Probably for a year or two, in fact.
That said, I can confirm that cat people live in southern Garund. Monkey people do not—they live in Vudra.
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Does a Paladin's Smite ability (which says it gets around any and all DR a character may possess) get around DR x/-?
I had always believed it did, but then found in the PRD that in the universal monster rules, it says "When a damage reduction entry has a dash (—) after the slash, no weapon negates the damage reduction."
Thanks for the clarification!
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A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
Yes!
Do you?
1)What is your favorite Sorcerer Bloodline? Oracle Mystery? Cleric Domains(2)? Witch Patron?
2)Will we ever see rules for Human dwarfs/midgets, alergies(food, materials, pollen, etc.), humaniod and animal mutations(real world), etc.?
3)In order from weakest to strongest, what is the power level comparison of the Imperial Dragons to each other?
4)Have you seen both Mannequin movies? did you like them?
5)What are favorite episodes of the original Twilight Zone series?
6)The 2d6 extra damage from Bane weapons, is that just physical damage or untyped damage that can bypass DR?
7)Have you seen the Grumpy old men movies? did you like them?
8)Will we ever see the Magic Beans? if so will they have random effects like the old editions or will be more like the Fairytails?
9)Are there any types energy(acid, sonic, force, etc.) that bypasses hardness?
10)Are there any continents on Golarion that humans are the minority?
Count me in on the side of more archetypes, fewer (but not no) prestige classes. (Prestige classes should either be short, 3 to 5 levels, or complete career changes with their own capstones, like the first version of the Hellknight. Ten-level classes just seem clumsy to me.)
Have the Chelaxians added Arcadian tomatoes to their cuisine yet?
A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
For me? In principle I'm okay with it--I think it's a neat idea for presenting information in a concise way (and therefore achieves what you hint at in your response--more adventure), and is in reality no different to referring to the Bestiaries.
Having said that, I know plenty of people who own Bestiaries, and far fewer who own the GameMastery Guide, so based on my limited sample it appears that some incremental effort or expense is likely required by most GMs to access these statblocks.
It does, however, make the encounters involving the statblocks seem inherently less valuable to me--like they're less there to advance the plot and more there to provide bridging XP towards the next level. Personally I prefer the approach from Second Darkness where a couple of generic NPC types specific to the adventure were defined in the first volume. Of course, the nature of The Hungry Storm
I asked the question on a purely personal basis to see whether I should go and pick up a copy of the GameMastery Guide; if it's a one-off I can probably borrow my friend's copy or print the statblocks from the PRD when I run Jade Regent, but if it's a pattern for the future I will get my own.
Dear James Jacobs,
Can you give some hints on the lore surrounding the nagaji? I've been trying to decide if I want to replace my races of foxfolk / reptilian humanoids with the kitsune and vulsune and not many people have asked about the nagaji, from what I can dig up.
A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
Yes!
Do you?
No, I wasn't a fan of doing the beastry 2 like this, even less a fan of doing yet more books in this manner.
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Creative Director
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Does a Paladin's Smite ability (which says it gets around any and all DR a character may possess) get around DR x/-?
I had always believed it did, but then found in the PRD that in the universal monster rules, it says "When a damage reduction entry has a dash (—) after the slash, no weapon negates the damage reduction."
Thanks for the clarification!
Looks like you answered your own question! This thread is EASY now!
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Creative Director
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A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
Yes!
Do you?
I do. Which is why we tried it out in the first place. It's frustrating having minor encounters with, say, thugs or city guards, and not being able to represent them with short stat blocks in the same way we'd represent minor encounters with things like giant ants.
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Creative Director
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Count me in on the side of more archetypes, fewer (but not no) prestige classes. (Prestige classes should either be short, 3 to 5 levels, or complete career changes with their own capstones, like the first version of the Hellknight. Ten-level classes just seem clumsy to me.)
Have the Chelaxians added Arcadian tomatoes to their cuisine yet?
Tomatoes were already there.
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Creative Director
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Super-passionate fans are not a great way to encourage the idly curious.Have you ever met any Pathfinder fans? "Hello, Pot. Why yes, I decided to dress in my formal Kettle dress today...."
But you're right. It takes Diff'rent Strokes to rule the world, Hmmmm.
Actually, I've met a HECK of a lot of Pathfinder fans in unexpected places. Including waiters at restaurants, cops, and district attorneys. None of them are what I would categorize as "super-passionate fans."
The type of fan I'm talking about are the fans that are, say, SO enamored with something (say, Firefly, for example) that their constant praising and near-worship of the entertainment property causes those who would probably enjoy Firefly a lot to never even give the show a try, simply because the fan was annoying.
On one level, it's quite delightful to have fans who are that dedicated... but they can cause more problems than they solve.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
Can you give some hints on the lore surrounding the nagaji? I've been trying to decide if I want to replace my races of foxfolk / reptilian humanoids with the kitsune and vulsune and not many people have asked about the nagaji, from what I can dig up.
The nagaji are basically humanoid reptiles created in ancient times by the naga to serve them as a servant caste. Eons later, the nagaji FAR outnumber the naga, but they remain loyal to their naga rulers out of tradition and honor. They're big and muscular. If one were to call them Reptilian Klingon Samurai, that wouldn't be THAT far off target.
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Creative Director
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Where is the most likely place in Golarion for a surface incursion of the Serpentfolk? If they aren't in the sunlight already...
The Serpent's Skull Adventure Path covers that for Garund.
In Avistan, the most likely place for an incursion would be Varisia, I suspect, or maybe Numeria or the Hold of Belkzen.
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Creative Director
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No, I wasn't a fan of doing the beastry 2 like this, even less a fan of doing yet more books in this manner.A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
Yes!
Do you?
We'll be doing the same for Bestiary 3 for sure. That's no longer really open for negotiation.
But I'm eager to hear lots more feedback about doing the same with NPC stats.
Keeping in mind that all of these stats are free online for folks to print out and have handy for their games.
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Creative Director
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1)What is your favorite Sorcerer Bloodline? Oracle Mystery? Cleric Domains(2)? Witch Patron?
2)Will we ever see rules for Human dwarfs/midgets, alergies(food, materials, pollen, etc.), humaniod and animal mutations(real world), etc.?
3)In order from weakest to strongest, what is the power level comparison of the Imperial Dragons to each other?
4)Have you seen both Mannequin movies? did you like them?
5)What are favorite episodes of the original Twilight Zone series?
6)The 2d6 extra damage from Bane weapons, is that just physical damage or untyped damage that can bypass DR?
7)Have you seen the Grumpy old men movies? did you like them?
8)Will we ever see the Magic Beans? if so will they have random effects like the old editions or will be more like the Fairytails?
9)Are there any types energy(acid, sonic, force, etc.) that bypasses hardness?
10)Are there any continents on Golarion that humans are the minority?
1) Sorcerer bloodline: Destined. Oracle mystery: none, yet. Cleric domains: travel and luck, or maybe luck and charm. Witch patron: None yet.
2) Probably not.
3) Underworld, Sea, Sky, Forest, Sovereign.
4) Haven't seen either.
5) Woah... too many to choose from.
6) That extra damage is extra weapon damage that adds on to whatever type of damage the weapon does.
7) Haven't seen them, or if I have, they left no mark on my memory.
8) Not sure what magic beans you're talking about. Anything is possible, though.
9) Nope.
10) Probably not, but it's perhaps possible...
Have you had any issues with the rogue's power level? I've heard a LOT of complains about it being weak and useless compared to other Pathfinder classes, but I haven't actually played one.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Where is the most likely place in Golarion for a surface incursion of the Serpentfolk? If they aren't in the sunlight already...The Serpent's Skull Adventure Path covers that for Garund.
In Avistan, the most likely place for an incursion would be Varisia, I suspect, or maybe Numeria or the Hold of Belkzen.
I feel dumb now. I own the Serpent's Skull AP, but haven't actually looked them over. And then there is the cover art. I guess I will blame my wife for opening and organizing all the books I received during my desert vacation.
And I am a fan of the shorter stat blocks since I have most of the books. The short blocks leave more room for art or more typed words. Having the full blocks was mostly a waste since I didn't need most of the info.
Thanks again for this epic thread!
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Creative Director
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Have you had any issues with the rogue's power level? I've heard a LOT of complains about it being weak and useless compared to other Pathfinder classes, but I haven't actually played one.
I think a lot of people just like to complain. I think a lot of other people play the rogue like they would play a fighter and are annoyed when things don't work out like they want. I think even more people have intolerant GMs who work against them to prevent the rogue from being able to get sneak attacks or otherwise do rogue stuff.
Rogues are my 3rd favorite class, and I've played a few in the game. I enjoyed playing rogues. My favorite iconic character is the rogue iconic.
But you don't play a rogue the same way you play other classes. If all classes were so similar that side-by-side comparisons would even matter or be relevant, we wouldn't have so many classes, first and foremost.
Rogues offer a different sort of game play than some folks are expecting. Same goes for clerics and bards and monks and all the other classes people enjoy complaining about.
Have you had any issues with the rogue's power level? I've heard a LOT of complains about it being weak and useless compared to other Pathfinder classes, but I haven't actually played one.I think a lot of people just like to complain. I think a lot of other people play the rogue like they would play a fighter and are annoyed when things don't work out like they want. I think even more people have intolerant GMs who work against them to prevent the rogue from being able to get sneak attacks or otherwise do rogue stuff.
Rogues are my 3rd favorite class, and I've played a few in the game. I enjoyed playing rogues. My favorite iconic character is the rogue iconic.
But you don't play a rogue the same way you play other classes. If all classes were so similar that side-by-side comparisons would even matter or be relevant, we wouldn't have so many classes, first and foremost.
Rogues offer a different sort of game play than some folks are expecting. Same goes for clerics and bards and monks and all the other classes people enjoy complaining about.
I see.
This isn't a question so much as a statement, but thanks for the way Pathfinder makes 3/4 and 1/2 BAB classes cool. I never, ever played anything without a full BAB in 3.5, but in Pathfinder sorcerer and witch are two of my favorite classes, I'm highly intrigued by the alchemist and magus, and some of the bard archetypes look like fun. Pathfinder eliminated my hatred of anything without a full BAB by adding more options to those classes, and for that I thank you. You've opened up a lot of very fun concepts I never would have considered before.
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Actually, I've met a HECK of a lot of Pathfinder fans in unexpected places. Including waiters at restaurants, cops, and district attorneys. None of them are what I would categorize as "super-passionate fans."
Waiters, cops, and district attorneys? In that order? Wow, never take a T-rex to a restaruant, more trouble than its worth. :)
A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
For me, anything available for quick look up via the PRD is fair game.
How long has Pathfinder Society been around? Not PF organized play, but the organization in Golarion.
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Creative Director
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Waiters, cops, and district attorneys? In that order? Wow, never take a T-rex to a restaruant, more trouble than its worth. :)Actually, I've met a HECK of a lot of Pathfinder fans in unexpected places. Including waiters at restaurants, cops, and district attorneys. None of them are what I would categorize as "super-passionate fans."
Heh... nah, the order was in order of me remembering the fans in question. The cop was the one that surprised me the most—the next-door building had a false alarm one day on a Saturday while I was in the office, and a bunch of police officers came to investigate and they were talking to me about whether I'd seen anyone skulking about (I had not—turns out the alarm next door had a short circuit or something like that), and when he asked what company it was that I worked for and I told him Paizo he sort of geeked out a bit, which was neat and unexpected and cool.
I know you aren't an expert lawyer, but could you help me with a copyright question?
I love Eberron, and I just acquired some Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Iron Kingdoms books. Let's say I wanted to write guides to playing each with Pathfinder (I'm not promising to do it, but I'm considering it), and I wanted to offer these guides online for free. Does doing this violate any copyrights?
I think even more people have intolerant GMs who work against them to prevent the rogue from being able to get sneak attacks or otherwise do rogue stuff.
It's both funny and disheartening how many people don't want to play a rogue for what they are; a skill specialist that dabbles in dirty fighting. There are tons of people who try to make builds and character concepts that make me shake my head and go "I think you want to be a Finesse Fighter."
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Creative Director
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I know you aren't an expert lawyer, but could you help me with a copyright question?
I love Eberron, and I just acquired some Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Iron Kingdoms books. Let's say I wanted to write guides to playing each with Pathfinder (I'm not promising to do it, but I'm considering it), and I wanted to offer these guides online for free. Does doing this violate any copyrights?
It does. All of those settings are copyright, and you'd have to secure permission from the owners of those copyrights before you could legally publish a Pathfinder guide to them. Even if you do so for free—copyright doesn't really care, as far as I understand things, whether or not you're doing things for free or not.
My take is that you could not offer these guides for free and would only be able to maintain them for personal use... UNLESS you get permission from WotC or whomever to do this.
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Creative Director
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I think even more people have intolerant GMs who work against them to prevent the rogue from being able to get sneak attacks or otherwise do rogue stuff.It's both funny and disheartening how many people don't want to play a rogue for what they are; a skill specialist that dabbles in dirty fighting. There are tons of people who try to make builds and character concepts that make me shake my head and go "I think you want to be a Finesse Fighter."
Absolutly.
I think the problem is compounded, alas, by the fact that a "finesse fighter/swashbuckler" isn't really a well-supported baseline option in the game. Ranger, honestly, comes the closest, but rangers come with so much Nature and Spell baggage that, flavor-wise, they don't really make sense.
Back in the early days of the APG concepting, I pushed hard for one of the new base classes to be a swashbuckler base class—a full BAB fighter-type that, instead of focusing on armor and big weapons, focuses on speed and light armor/no armor and light weapons. Alas, I was not able to convince the design team that a swashbuckler was different enough to warrant being its own base class, so that was that.
I know you aren't an expert lawyer, but could you help me with a copyright question?
I love Eberron, and I just acquired some Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Iron Kingdoms books. Let's say I wanted to write guides to playing each with Pathfinder (I'm not promising to do it, but I'm considering it), and I wanted to offer these guides online for free. Does doing this violate any copyrights?
It does. All of those settings are copyright, and you'd have to secure permission from the owners of those copyrights before you could legally publish a Pathfinder guide to them. Even if you do so for free—copyright doesn't really care, as far as I understand things, whether or not you're doing things for free or not.
My take is that you could not offer these guides for free and would only be able to maintain them for personal use... UNLESS you get permission from WotC or whomever to do this.
Follow up question. If I am running a Play by Post and I distribute such a guide to the players via email to help them play the campaign setting with Pathfinder rules, is that considered personal use?
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Creative Director
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Follow up question. If I am running a Play by Post and I distribute such a guide to the players via email to help them play the campaign setting with Pathfinder rules, is that considered personal use?
Yup. As long as the stuff's sent via email, or I believe even if it's on a private website behind passwords that (in theory) only those in your group can access, I believe that's all okay. Certainly just sharing among friends is fine, though.
Thanks. One last question and I'll get out of your hair for a bit.
Do you like Ravenloft, and if so, is Masque of the Red Death as awesome as it appears?
I would like to know if Inquisitors and Oracles can count as priests for a religion? I'm fairly sure I saw a named Inquisitor in Rule of Fear that was referred to as being a head priest of his church, but I was just wondering if you could give a solid answer.
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Creative Director
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Thanks. One last question and I'll get out of your hair for a bit.
Do you like Ravenloft, and if so, is Masque of the Red Death as awesome as it appears?
I do quite like Ravenloft. Some of the adventures tend to get a bit TOO over-the-top... like any genre, some writers are better than others... but overall it's a pretty cool setting. Masque of the Red Death? I've never played it as intended, but it looks cool, and I have used some of those supplements and adventures for Call of Cthulhu to great effect.
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Creative Director
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I would like to know if Inquisitors and Oracles can count as priests for a religion? I'm fairly sure I saw a named Inquisitor in Rule of Fear that was referred to as being a head priest of his church, but I was just wondering if you could give a solid answer.
Any class can serve as a priest, actually. Even arcane spellcasters. Even NON-spellcasters. It's unusual, sure, but we've deliberately kept the word "priest" generic as a term you can apply to any character who is part of a religion. I suppose the only REAL requirement would be ranks in Knowledge (religion).
That said... most priests are indeed divine spellcasters, in which case inquisitors and oracles can absolutely serve as priests.
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I do quite like Ravenloft. Some of the adventures tend to get a bit TOO over-the-top... like any genre, some writers are better than others... but overall it's a pretty cool setting. Masque of the Red Death? I've never played it as intended, but it looks cool, and I have used some of those supplements and adventures for Call of Cthulhu to great effect.Thanks. One last question and I'll get out of your hair for a bit.
Do you like Ravenloft, and if so, is Masque of the Red Death as awesome as it appears?
I could still make room in my Ravenloft PBP. They're homebrew adventures in the Ravenloft setting (2e boxed set version) using PFRPG rules. You know you want in ;)
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1. What is your favorite number?
2. What is your favorite color?
3. What is your favorite food?
4. What is your favorite book?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. Who is your favorite celebrity and why?
7. What do you wish that someone would hurry up and invent?
8. What is your favorite animal?
9. Who is your favorite Pathfinder NPC, and why?
10. What PC did you have the most fun playing?
I think the problem is compounded, alas, by the fact that a "finesse fighter/swashbuckler" isn't really a well-supported baseline option in the game. Ranger, honestly, comes the closest, but rangers come with so much Nature and Spell baggage that, flavor-wise, they don't really make sense.
Back in the early days of the APG concepting, I pushed hard for one of the new base classes to be a swashbuckler base class—a full BAB fighter-type that, instead of focusing on armor and big weapons, focuses on speed and light armor/no armor and light weapons. Alas, I was not able to convince the design team that a swashbuckler was different enough to warrant being its own base class, so that was that.
I find it interesting that their position didn't budge enough to make a finesse-focused archetype for Fighter in either Advanced Player's Guide or Ultimate Combat 0_0.
Heys James,
I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving to say thank you again for answearing our questions.
Now to the question...
Would you allow a witch whose patron may be a God take the False Focus feat from Inner Sea Magic even if the witch is not from Razmiran?
A question: James, in The Hungry Storm a large number of foes are listed simply as references to statblocks in the GameMastery Guide. Can we expect this to continue as a trend in the future?Do you want this trend to continue?
Given that the alternatives would either be reprinting full statblocks (and thus having less actual adventure ) or cutting encounters with NPCs (and thus having less actual adventure).
Keep in mind that all of this ison the official SRD. I dont really see it as a problem. I'm all for it!
Oh yeah, Thanksgiving. You Yanks and your strange customs... Hope you have a good one. :P
What did you eat? On a scale of one to delicious... how delicious are we talking here?
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Creative Director
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I could still make room in my Ravenloft PBP. They're homebrew adventures in the Ravenloft setting (2e boxed set version) using PFRPG rules. You know you want in ;)I do quite like Ravenloft. Some of the adventures tend to get a bit TOO over-the-top... like any genre, some writers are better than others... but overall it's a pretty cool setting. Masque of the Red Death? I've never played it as intended, but it looks cool, and I have used some of those supplements and adventures for Call of Cthulhu to great effect.Thanks. One last question and I'll get out of your hair for a bit.
Do you like Ravenloft, and if so, is Masque of the Red Death as awesome as it appears?
Thanks for the invite, but I don't really do the PBP scene. Also, Wes Schneider's running me and Jason and Rob and Mark through "A Light in the Belfry" so I've got my Ravenloft itch scratched.
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Creative Director
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1. What is your favorite number?
2. What is your favorite color?
3. What is your favorite food?
4. What is your favorite book?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. Who is your favorite celebrity and why?
7. What do you wish that someone would hurry up and invent?
8. What is your favorite animal?
9. Who is your favorite Pathfinder NPC, and why?
10. What PC did you have the most fun playing?
1: 666
2: Green3: Abalone
4: The Dunwich Horror and Others
5: Alien
6: Werner Herzog, because he's the most interesting man alive, despite what those other commercials might say.
7: A cure for cancer
8: Tyrannosaurus
9: Ameiko, because she's awesome
10: Shensen.
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Creative Director
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Heys James,
I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving to say thank you again for answearing our questions.
Now to the question...
Would you allow a witch whose patron may be a God take the False Focus feat from Inner Sea Magic even if the witch is not from Razmiran?
Nope. You certainly could, but in games I run, False Focus is for Razmiranis.