How do you decide what weapons your pcs will use?
Creative Director
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Heh. I figured you'd answer that in a way that makes me chuckle. So, what is your sin? And as long as I'm asking Deep, Meaningful Questions from cult sci-fi shows --
Who are you?
What do you want?
Why are you here?
Where are you going?
Questions and jests aside, it strikes me that if any one of Thassilon's seven virtues of rulership characterizes Paizo more than the others, it would have to be eager striving. Not envy -- I don't believe for a minute that you and Lisa and Eric and Jason and the rest could have accomplished all that you have if the focus was on "beating WotC" -- but striving rather toward the abstract goal of creating the best fantasy role-playing game the RPG community has ever seen. So far, you're doing a fantastic job, in my humble opinion.
<Kavren wanders off, humming "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha>
According to my belly, my sin is gluttony.
For the other questions, simply compile all my previous answers and run them all together in one long run-on sentence.
And thanks for the kind words!
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Creative Director
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What?! You don't have all the Paizo PDF neatly stored in your PC? I am shocked!
;-)To be honest I have several of them on my PC, but that PZOXXX label Someday I should spend a couple of day renaming and reordering them in the right folders. The problem is that it is too similar to my RL job.
I suspect it is the same reason why you don't have everything in your t home PC.
I actually use Paizo.com to store the PDFs. I can pretty much download any of our products anytime to any computer I'm on once I'm logged in, so there's no real need for me to store them locally. And yes, when I do download them, renaming them into english words rather than PZOXXXX is step one.
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Creative Director
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Thank you for your answer! It would still show up under undead detection spells, then, and be harmed by positive energy? But what of something like a ghoul or a vampire, though, who seems to have their souls more or less in place, or a lich that has a soul, only it is placed somewhere else? Would you say that biological life in Pathfinder is dependent on the presence of an untainted soul within the body, or is the distinction here something more subtle and metaphysical than whether biological processes occur or not?
Also, on the subject of polymorphs: "What can change the nature of a man?"
Ghouls and vampires don't have living souls, though. They have undead souls that have avoided the journey to Pharasma's boneyard.
The topic of what exactly happens when a living creature polymorphs into an undead or vice-versa isn't a topic that's really got ANY details on in the game though. So for now, it's pretty much 100% in the GM's court. My take would be that they'd still be hurt normally by positive energy and healed by negative energy, and spells would still detect them as undead.
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Creative Director
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I just got another idea for a question from this line I seemed to have missed in the past. "Abadar is credited with guiding the advancement of the demihuman races towards the point where they could establish civilized societies of their own."
So, Abadar has followers among demihumans because of this, or do these "demihuman" races deny this claim that Abadar's clergy have? Because this is giving me more ideas for making that one race of mine seem more consistent ( while Aroden might have played a part in trying to turn them human, it's Abadar who they venerate for introducing civilization to them...or maybe they worshipped the two as a divine duo of some sort... *Brain overloading* )
Abadar... as well as ALL of the core 20 deities, counts "demihumans" among his worshipers. The core pantheon isn't the "Human" pantheon, after all. They're worshiped by ALL SORTS of things. Ropers worship Rovagug, for example. They're the "core deities" because they're worshiped by most races to a certain extent.
James, I'm looking for a book of Asian inspired monsters for 3E, 3.5, or Pathfinder. I forget the name and which edition it's for, but I think I might have seen you mention it once. What books of Asian inspired monsters do you know of?
I think it had Jade in the title, but I'm not 100% positive.
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Creative Director
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That said, I'm also interested in what the differences in that AP were before they were edited for content.
Turns out... Nick's adventures aren't the only ones that get edited for content... they ALL do to a certain extent. Although, in fact, the vast majority of changes to an adventure are ADDITIVE when a developer puts additional stuff into an adventure... so for most adventures, I suspect that seeing the "author's final draft" would end up, overall, having less content than the final published version did.
In any case, there's pretty much only two ways to see the differences between an author's final draft and the final publication—know (or be) an author and convince him/her to share, or to come work for Paizo! :-)
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Creative Director
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Some questions;
Which do you like most (for the sake of creating monsters out of them):
Spider VS Scorpion VS Mantis VS Centipede VS Wasp
Can you place these insect/arachnids in order from best to most useless?Did you ever create monsters out of a Chameleon? Or would you ever create a chameleon-based monster? Rock Reptile in the new Misfit-monsters manual for the win :P
Which do you like more:
Mountain Dwarf or Duergar
Drow or Wood Elf
In order, from best to worst: Spider, Scorpion, Mantis, Centipede, Wasp
Yes. Check out Bestiary 3.
Duergar.
Drow.
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Creative Director
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How do you decide what weapons your pcs will use?
By deciding what weapon looks coolest and matches that character's personality and religion the best. Most of my PCs are religious, even when they're not divine spellcasters, so choosing a weapon associated with their deity is the norm for me.
James, did you have any part in the creation of the demon lord Nurgal? He seems to be the first ever official D&D deity-level being (as in, can grant domains) that grants the Sun domain to his followers despite being Evil.
Also, can we live in the hopes of seeing a darkness deity that isn't Neutral or Evil?
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Creative Director
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James, I'm looking for a book of Asian inspired monsters for 3E, 3.5, or Pathfinder. I forget the name and which edition it's for, but I think I might have seen you mention it once. What books of Asian inspired monsters do you know of?
I think it had Jade in the title, but I'm not 100% positive.
Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts? That's a Green Ronin book. It gets used at least once by us in "Jade Regent."
WotC's "Oriental Adventures" has a lot of 3rd edition stats for Asian-inspired monsters. There's a pretty nifty bestiary book put out for Rokugan as well, although since that book's monster's names are NOT open content, you'll never see us use any of that book in print.
Bestiary 3, as well as the bestiaries in the Jade Regent Adventure Path, have a pretty large amount of monsters inspired by Asian mythology.
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Creative Director
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James, did you have any part in the creation of the demon lord Nurgal? He seems to be the first ever official D&D deity-level being (as in, can grant domains) that grants the Sun domain to his followers despite being Evil.
Also, can we live in the hopes of seeing a darkness deity that isn't Neutral or Evil?
Brandon Hodge came up with the idea of adding Nurgal into Pathfinder. He and I worked together to develop the demon lord. Nurgal is, of course, a slightly changed-spelling of the real-world mythological entity Nergal.
As for a good deity of darkness... that's not impossible at all, but it's tricky, since the Darkness domain grants the ability to summon shadows with summon monster V, which is an Evil spell, which means that it's weird to grant a domain to a good deity when one of the spells would be one that the deity's clerics could never really cast.
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Creative Director
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Why do you hate horses?
I don't hate horses at all.
I hate it when horse stat blocks take up more room than they need, though. In the 3rd edition Monster Manual, horse and horse-identical stat blocks took up two whole pages. That's room that could have been used for more interesting animals. That's a MUCH different thing than hating horses.
Well, do take into consideration that you guys (at least in PFS organized play if I recall right) did edit domains like with Pharasma's clerics and their inability to cast undead-related spells. So, if a deity of a good alignment did have the Darkness domain, wouldn't it be easy to just edit it so that the Shadow's alingment matches that of the Cleric's? (Like with the Shadowdancer)
James, I'm looking for a book of Asian inspired monsters for 3E, 3.5, or Pathfinder. I forget the name and which edition it's for, but I think I might have seen you mention it once. What books of Asian inspired monsters do you know of?
I think it had Jade in the title, but I'm not 100% positive.
Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts? That's a Green Ronin book. It gets used at least once by us in "Jade Regent."
WotC's "Oriental Adventures" has a lot of 3rd edition stats for Asian-inspired monsters. There's a pretty nifty bestiary book put out for Rokugan as well, although since that book's monster's names are NOT open content, you'll never see us use any of that book in print.
Bestiary 3, as well as the bestiaries in the Jade Regent Adventure Path, have a pretty large amount of monsters inspired by Asian mythology.
That's it ^_^
I heard that the Rokugan bestiary isn't really useable for anything other than Rokugan. Is that true? If it is, I'm not interested in it, but if it isn't and I can use it for other campaigns I may get a copy.
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Creative Director
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Well, do take into consideration that you guys (at least in PFS organized play if I recall right) did edit domains like with Pharasma's clerics and their inability to cast undead-related spells. So, if a deity of a good alignment did have the Darkness domain, wouldn't it be easy to just edit it so that the Shadow's alingment matches that of the Cleric's? (Like with the Shadowdancer)
Note that the editing of Pharasma's domains has not yet happened in print, because doing so keeps slipping under the radar. Which is FANTASTICALLY frustrating to me, enough so that I'm really wary of doing anything similar in the future... such as giving a good deity access to the Darkness domain.
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Creative Director
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I heard that the Rokugan bestiary isn't really useable for anything other than Rokugan. Is that true? If it is, I'm not interested in it, but if it isn't and I can use it for other campaigns I may get a copy.
Whether or not it's usable outside of Rokugan in a home game I can't say. I can say that it's unusable by anyone who wants to expand upon the monsters in print like we have with books from Necromancer Games, Green Ronin, and others, due to the fact that it's got crippled open content.
I heard that the Rokugan bestiary isn't really useable for anything other than Rokugan. Is that true? If it is, I'm not interested in it, but if it isn't and I can use it for other campaigns I may get a copy.Whether or not it's usable outside of Rokugan in a home game I can't say. I can say that it's unusable by anyone who wants to expand upon the monsters in print like we have with books from Necromancer Games, Green Ronin, and others, due to the fact that it's got crippled open content.
Oh, well. I won't get it.
You say Bestiary 3 has lots of Asian stuff? You just made Paizo 35 (or is it 40?) bucks.
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Creative Director
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I heard that the Rokugan bestiary isn't really useable for anything other than Rokugan. Is that true? If it is, I'm not interested in it, but if it isn't and I can use it for other campaigns I may get a copy.Whether or not it's usable outside of Rokugan in a home game I can't say. I can say that it's unusable by anyone who wants to expand upon the monsters in print like we have with books from Necromancer Games, Green Ronin, and others, due to the fact that it's got crippled open content.Oh, well. I won't get it.
You say Bestiary 3 has lots of Asian stuff? You just made Paizo 35 (or is it 40?) bucks.
In fact... if Bestiary 3 were to have a theme, it would be "Monsters from around the world." We did indeed put a lot of monsters from Asia in there to support Jade Regent and Tian Xia... but there's also monsters from pretty much every other continent as well.
In fact... if Bestiary 3 were to have a theme, it would be "Monsters from around the world." We did indeed put a lot of monsters from Asia in there to support Jade Regent and Tian Xia... but there's also monsters from pretty much every other continent as well.I heard that the Rokugan bestiary isn't really useable for anything other than Rokugan. Is that true? If it is, I'm not interested in it, but if it isn't and I can use it for other campaigns I may get a copy.Whether or not it's usable outside of Rokugan in a home game I can't say. I can say that it's unusable by anyone who wants to expand upon the monsters in print like we have with books from Necromancer Games, Green Ronin, and others, due to the fact that it's got crippled open content.Oh, well. I won't get it.
You say Bestiary 3 has lots of Asian stuff? You just made Paizo 35 (or is it 40?) bucks.
Even better. You guys shall receive my money as soon as the book is released.
What's your favorite non-core base class in Pathfinder? I can't decide if I like the witch or the alchemist better.
What's your favorite non-core base class in Pathfinder? I can't decide if I like the witch or the alchemist better.It's probably one of those two. I did the initial design on the alchemist, though, so I'm kinda biased there...
Favorite alchemist archetype?
Will Paizo ever make any more base classes? Will Paizo ever make any more archetypes? Aside from Bestiary 3 and the Advanced Race Guide (both of which I intend to purchase), will there be more core rulebooks?
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Creative Director
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Favorite alchemist archetype?What's your favorite non-core base class in Pathfinder? I can't decide if I like the witch or the alchemist better.It's probably one of those two. I did the initial design on the alchemist, though, so I'm kinda biased there...
Don't have one. I'm actually not all that familiar with all the archetypes out there, since they're a lot more useful for players than they are for GMs and adventure writers. And the further you get from the classes I do quite like (bard, cleric, druid, rogue), the more likely you are to delve into areas where I just don't have opinions formed yet about class options.
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Creative Director
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Will Paizo ever make any more base classes? Will Paizo ever make any more archetypes? Aside from Bestiary 3 and the Advanced Race Guide (both of which I intend to purchase), will there be more core rulebooks?
We're VERY unlikely to make more base classes anytime soon, and while the rate at which we produce archetypes will slow down significantly now that Ultimate Combat's out... we'll still be making new ones there—primarily in the Campaign Setting and Player's Companion lines, though.
There's only ever going to be one core rulebook. But we'll continue doing 3 hardcover rulebook expansions each year.
The game system works a lot differently than it did in Oblivion, first of all. I haven't tried this stunt out yet, but even if it did work, I'd not bother, because it's cheating. If you don't like it because it makes the game too easy... just don't do it. Just because you CAN take advantage of a design element doesn't mean you have to.Ok, so I Got to ask you guys... Did they fix GODMODE yet? By God Mode i mean the ability to enchant 5 pieces of armor/jewelry with 20% Chameleon, giving you 100% Chameleon for a permanent invisibility. NOTHING can see you NOTHING can hurt you... it is... God mode. Been able to do it in both Morrowind and Oblivion.One of the things I am really enjoying in Skyrim is the crafting, being able to make better and better weapons and armor (and the ability to turn that terrible Flaming Burst Iron Sword into a [Epic] Flaming Burst Iron Sword to hand off to a follower) and potions, enchantments and the like. Do you also enjoy this facet of the game? Or are you too busy off shanking the Thalmor/Bandits/Guards/Dragons/EVERYTHING?I do indeed like that aspect of the game a lot. In fact, there's relatively little about Skyrim that I don't find completely compelling and awesome.
MAYBE chopping firewood. But only because lugging around a woodsman's axe is tiring.
OH yeah I agree. I always beat the game first, then did it to screw around when all the other quests were done. But, I've known players that did it from the start soon as they could and it's just like.... Really how is that fun to cheat like that? OH it's not cheating because they let you do it. Then I have another friend who used to play some Elway football game back on the Genesis where you could put in a button combination that would make John Elway invincible and pretty much instantly teleport for a touchdown or some crap. He thinks because the game's programmers put that in there, it's a 100% viable strategy to win.
Hey, James, let's say I'm a witch, and I want to hide my grimoire and spell components somewhere in my house so that witch hunters don't find them and burn me at the stake. Which skill do I use to do this?
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Creative Director
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Hey, James, let's say I'm a witch, and I want to hide my grimoire and spell components somewhere in my house so that witch hunters don't find them and burn me at the stake. Which skill do I use to do this?
Fortunately for you, witches use familiars to keep their spells, not grimoires. And you can disguise your components as medicinal supplies. Tell those witch hunters you're just a harmless herbalist who lives alone with only the kitty for companionship and they're SURE to leave you be!
Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?
Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?
Sleight of Hand.
As for a good deity of darkness... that's not impossible at all, but it's tricky, since the Darkness domain grants the ability to summon shadows with summon monster V, which is an Evil spell, which means that it's weird to grant a domain to a good deity when one of the spells would be one that the deity's clerics could never really cast.
Hmmm. Not something I'd expect to see in print, but a GM who felt that Desna, as a goddess of dreams and stars, ought to grant that domain, could easily edit it to replace the shadow with some kind of appropriate-CR nocturnal fae or something of the sort.
Interestingly, the most entertaining story in a thread I participated in a few months ago about Black Magga involved a sorcerer with the Shadow bloodline from Wayfinder #1, which allowed Summon Monster III to summon shadows (making it, probably, a good example of over-powered third-party publisher munchkinry, but his GM allowed it, so there it was). Someone neglected to make Black Magga resistant to negative energy (weird, because she has an energy-drain attack), and the GM interpreted a natural twenty on the character's maxed-out Knowledge: Planes skill to mean that he not only recognized the Mother of Oblivion, but knew its strengths and weaknesses. Shadows' strength drain is a touch attack that doesn't allow a saving throw or spell resistance; five summoned, hasted shadows curb-stomped the biggest, baddest monster in the first half of Rise of the Runelords, leaving the party completely unharmed by the encounter.
Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?Sleight of Hand.
So, Sleight of Hand is used for hiding stuff anywhere, like in a bed or under a floor board, not just on one's person? I'm trying to figure out which skill to use to hide stuff in a building.
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So, Sleight of Hand is used for hiding stuff anywhere, like in a bed or under a floor board, not just on one's person? I'm trying to figure out which skill to use to hide stuff in a building.Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?Sleight of Hand.
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Creative Director
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Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?
You could use Sleight of Hand, or you could use Stealth or even Disguise.
My preference would be to use Stealth, though, since that has built-in rules for how folks notice things in the first place (with an opposed Perception check).
Contributor
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So, Sleight of Hand is used for hiding stuff anywhere, like in a bed or under a floor board, not just on one's person? I'm trying to figure out which skill to use to hide stuff in a building.Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?Sleight of Hand.
Sounds like a handy use for the Profession (smuggler) skill to me, as an alternative.
So, Sleight of Hand is used for hiding stuff anywhere, like in a bed or under a floor board, not just on one's person? I'm trying to figure out which skill to use to hide stuff in a building.Well, let's say I was a rogue and wanted to hide stolen goods. What skill do I use for that?Sleight of Hand.
It depends.
If I were the GM and a player asked me that, I would ask them to tell me what their skills are (if I didn't already know, which as a GM I should). If they had Knowledge (engineering), I would let them roll that. If they had Craft (ships), I'd let them roll that (particularly if they're on a sailing vessel of some sort).
If I were the GM. Others may decide differently.
OMG other Pathfinder employees are coming out of the woodwork!! What did you guys do to James? You aren't holding him for ransom are you??
EDIT: Ah good there you are! They didn't hurt you did they?
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There ya go.Sorry, but I failed my Will ST:
- 5th printing has changed the disguise modifier to +10;
- AFAIK in Pathfinder the Polymorph effect don't end when the target die. At least I can't find any rules saying that.
It is something that hasn't been ported over from 3.x.
As I put in my profile, I have 6 levels in rule lawyer. That is a -6 to the will ST to intervene in a rules discussion.
James, if one of the town guards is sexually harassing my paladin and I knock him unconscious, and then several others try to arrest me for assaulting a guard and I manage to knock all of them out in the resulting fight, did I violate the code of conduct by fighting against representatives of the law making a lawful arrest? I'm trying to figure out if the epic bar fight in which I took out five of the guys singlehandedly was a violation of the code of conduct.
There ya go.Sorry, but I failed my Will ST:
- 5th printing has changed the disguise modifier to +10;
- AFAIK in Pathfinder the Polymorph effect don't end when the target die. At least I can't find any rules saying that.
It is something that hasn't been ported over from 3.x.As I put in my profile, I have 6 levels in rule lawyer. That is a -6 to the will ST to intervene in a rules discussion.
And this is why I'm a rakshasa and not a devil. Same alignment, much less urge to rules lawyer. Much more urge to poke at people and laugh at their indignancy, though.
A question... Hey, James, what's your favorite seasonal candy? I love peppermint sticks and candy corn.
Yeah, not sure what riled them all up. Weird.OMG other Pathfinder employees are coming out of the woodwork!! What did you guys do to James? You aren't holding him for ransom are you??
EDIT: Ah good there you are! They didn't hurt you did they?
It was my 48 Charisma :D