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James Jacobs wrote:
Void Munchkin wrote:
Good/neutral aligned ghosts running on Positive Energy instead of Negative?
Would not work. Ghosts, regardless of alignment, use negative energy. A "ghost" that uses positive energy wouldn't be a ghost. It wouldn't even be undead; it'd probably be an outsider.

There are quite a few differences between Undeads and Outsider, granted, a "Spirit" That is like a ghost but run on Positive Energy, isn't mindless and is affected by mind-affecting effects (and with different Special Attacks) might be a bit much...

And/Or maybe you (and most DM/GM) don't want too many ghostly PCs


Merry Christmas!

James Jacobs wrote:
If we were to do more of these types of codes, they'd have to be for specific organizations for deities—paladin orders being one such specific organization. We might do more of them for other groups some day... we'll ABSOLUTELY do one for Irori some day... but none are planned for publication anytime soon.

Would that "some day" by any chance be the same day a module, supplement, or AP detailing Vudra comes out? Of all the thus-far-unexplored parts of the Pathfinder world, the Impossible Kingdoms interest me the most; I've never seen a fantasy RPG setting based on India before, which strike me as something of an oversight, considering what a rich source of history, culture and mythology the South Asian subcontinent provides.

Grand Lodge

Jacobs (or anyone),

Do you know where the names "Baatezu" and "Tanar'ri" came from, etymologically?

Who among Dave Cook, Dr. Rateliff, Tim Beach, Jeff Grubb, Steve Winter, etc., etc. proposed those to be the names for demons & devils and, more importantly how did those names become accepted for publication (as opposed to other names)?

Thanks for any insight!


Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a great one.

We are having a lively debate about the Cleric archtype Merciful Healer. In the archtype it describes how the Channel Energy feature works like the Paladin Mercy ability. And then the last sentence in the ability says:

(UC page 41) wrote:

Feats and effects

that affect a paladin’s mercy also affect this ability.

1) Does the Cleric: Merciful Healer's Channel Energy feat count as a Paladin's Lay on Hands and Mercy ability for qualifying for feats like Greater Mercy and Ultimate Mercy?

2) Does the number of Channels per day (e.g. 10/day), qualify and usable by the Ultimate Mercy feat?

3) Once you qualify for the Ultimate Mercy feat with 10 channels per day, can you mix some of your Lay on Hands as a multi-classed Paladin for the 10 uses? (e.g. use 6 Channels and 4 Lay on Hands to get the 10 uses)

If #1 and #2 are true then that means you can have Ultimate Mercy at level 5, 3 levels of which must be Cleric of this archtype.


Hi James, wanted to wish you and your the rest of the Pazio staff Happy Holidays and to thank you guys for the great game and the Season Greating card I got in the mail.

To keep in spirit of this thread a question....

So is the upcoming year going to be better for Pazio?


harmor wrote:

1) Does the Cleric: Merciful Healer's Channel Energy feat count as a Paladin's Lay on Hands and Mercy ability for qualifying for feats like Greater Mercy and Ultimate Mercy?

2) Does the number of Channels per day (e.g. 10/day), qualify and usable by the Ultimate Mercy feat?

3) Once you qualify for the Ultimate Mercy feat with 10 channels per day, can you mix some of your Lay on Hands as a multi-classed Paladin for the 10 uses? (e.g. use 6 Channels and 4 Lay on Hands to get the 10 uses)

If #1 and #2 are true then that means you can have Ultimate Mercy at level 5, 3 levels of which must be Cleric of this archtype.

Not James Jacobs, but you lost me with "Does a Merciful Healer's Channel Energy class feature count as a Paladin's lay on hands?"

Lay on Hands is its own mechanic; a paladin merely expends uses of lay on hands to fuel their own Channel Energy ability. The two are still separate abilities, however, and there are several archetypes that trade Channel Positive Energy but not Lay on Hands.

To me, all three of your questions seem like a very poor attempt at rules lawyering, but I didn't read most of the thread you linked and therefore don't know where you're coming from with this post.

Your thread actually confuses me the more I read into it. Where exactly are you getting the Channel Energy 11/Day thing from?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kavren Stark wrote:
Would that "some day" by any chance be the same day a module, supplement, or AP detailing Vudra comes out? Of all the thus-far-unexplored parts of the Pathfinder world, the Impossible Kingdoms interest me the most; I've never seen a fantasy RPG setting based on India before, which strike me as something of an oversight, considering what a rich source of history, culture and mythology the South Asian subcontinent provides.

Nope; the Irori paladin info is coming in a different package than an adventure.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

W E Ray wrote:

Jacobs (or anyone),

Do you know where the names "Baatezu" and "Tanar'ri" came from, etymologically?

Who among Dave Cook, Dr. Rateliff, Tim Beach, Jeff Grubb, Steve Winter, etc., etc. proposed those to be the names for demons & devils and, more importantly how did those names become accepted for publication (as opposed to other names)?

Thanks for any insight!

I know Wolfgang Baur helped come up with "Tiefling," but I'm not sure who came up with Baatezu or Tanar'ri. I can't really say much about the etymology of the words as a result, although they did first come into being in mid second edition.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
harmor wrote:

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a great one.

We are having a lively debate about the Cleric archtype Merciful Healer. In the archtype it describes how the Channel Energy feature works like the Paladin Mercy ability. And then the last sentence in the ability says:

(UC page 41) wrote:

Feats and effects

that affect a paladin’s mercy also affect this ability.

1) Does the Cleric: Merciful Healer's Channel Energy feat count as a Paladin's Lay on Hands and Mercy ability for qualifying for feats like Greater Mercy and Ultimate Mercy?

2) Does the number of Channels per day (e.g. 10/day), qualify and usable by the Ultimate Mercy feat?

3) Once you qualify for the Ultimate Mercy feat with 10 channels per day, can you mix some of your Lay on Hands as a multi-classed Paladin for the 10 uses? (e.g. use 6 Channels and 4 Lay on Hands to get the 10 uses)

If #1 and #2 are true then that means you can have Ultimate Mercy at level 5, 3 levels of which must be Cleric of this archtype.

Those are Jason questions.

If they were to pop up in a game I were running, I'd probably err on the side of giving the character more options if the player weren't a big optimizer, but would err on the side of restrictions and nos to a player who WAS a big optimizer.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Golden-Esque wrote:
harmor wrote:

1) Does the Cleric: Merciful Healer's Channel Energy feat count as a Paladin's Lay on Hands and Mercy ability for qualifying for feats like Greater Mercy and Ultimate Mercy?

2) Does the number of Channels per day (e.g. 10/day), qualify and usable by the Ultimate Mercy feat?

3) Once you qualify for the Ultimate Mercy feat with 10 channels per day, can you mix some of your Lay on Hands as a multi-classed Paladin for the 10 uses? (e.g. use 6 Channels and 4 Lay on Hands to get the 10 uses)

If #1 and #2 are true then that means you can have Ultimate Mercy at level 5, 3 levels of which must be Cleric of this archtype.

Not James Jacobs, but you lost me with "Does a Merciful Healer's Channel Energy class feature count as a Paladin's lay on hands?"

Lay on Hands is its own mechanic; a paladin merely expends uses of lay on hands to fuel their own Channel Energy ability. The two are still separate abilities, however, and there are several archetypes that trade Channel Positive Energy but not Lay on Hands.

To me, all three of your questions seem like a very poor attempt at rules lawyering, but I didn't read most of the thread you linked and therefore don't know where you're coming from with this post.

Honestly, it sounds that way to me as well. And in the end... Lay on Hands and Channel Energy ARE two different abilities, even when they do the same things. Helping to qualify for a feat is NOT the same as "being interchangeable."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
John Kretzer wrote:

Hi James, wanted to wish you and your the rest of the Pazio staff Happy Holidays and to thank you guys for the great game and the Season Greating card I got in the mail.

To keep in spirit of this thread a question....

So is the upcoming year going to be better for Pazio?

If the patterns established from the Pathfinder AP's launch hold steady... yes, 2012 is gonna be Paizo's best year.

A lot can happen to disrupt patterns though. I'd say at this point one of the greatest perils Paizo faces in 2012 is the danger of growing complacent.


If it's not a too-personal question, what race/gender is your Skyrim character and what skills did you end up using?

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

When I wrote:
There's one obvious gold dragon currently active in the campaign: Mengkare. Does it seem plausible to you that a sorcerer might trace a bloodline to the lord of Hermea?
James Jacobs wrote:
A gold dragon bloodline makes the most sense from Hermea... but there are plenty of other gold dragons out there, both in canon and not yet in canon. If you want to be able to trace your bloodline to Mengkare... get your permission from the GM first! It might be more fun, in fact, to just tell the GM "My character has gold dragon blood" and let the GM build a storyline for you to uncover as the campaign progresses as regards your bloodline.

In a normal campaign, it certainly would be! Regrettably, this is Pathfinder Society I'm speaking of; there's no GM to give permission, and certainly no GM able to provide a storyline for the PC.

Thanks again.


If a player wants to mine the diaspora for skymetals with a spaceship is trying to make that into an adventure a productive way of handling that?


I trust you had a good Christmas, James.

1) Are there any plans to eventually do a revised Gods & Magic that compiles Sean K. Reynold's expanded articles and the herald entries? I assume not, but never hurts to ask...

2) What can change the nature of a man?

I told Ravel:
"Regret," and was rather pleased when the Good Incarnation answered the same.

3) Were the lyrakien originally intended as a replacement to the coure? Or did it just very conveniently work out that way? I was a little surprised to find out that the lyrakien were initially written up as a dedicated servitor race for Desna.

4) Can an outsider be summoned by its original mortal name? Or does the transformation sever the connection to the outsider's past self?

5) Is there a reasonably reliable way to find out if a mortal has become a serious (better than petitioner) class of outsider? For example: a party is researching an ancient hero who had fallen in battle against some monstrosity that is waking up again, and how the thing was sealed in the first place has been lost. The ancient hero now does battle across the cosmos as a planetar. What do you think would help for determining the current disposition of a soul and how to meet it once more? The best I can think of right now, for Golarian, would be to travel to Pharasma's court and try to find the psychopomp that handled the case.


1)Have you seen Sucker Punch yet? did you like it? favorite part(s)?

2)What did you get for christmas?

3)Of the remaining continents of Golarion that have not been fleshed out, wich is the one that interest you most?

4)Did you hear about that "The Munsters" revamp? what did you think about it?

5)Have you seen the tim burton/disney Alice in wonderland movie? if so did you lke it?

6)What was the best present you have ever gotten for christmas?

7)Have you seen the previews for the new clash of the titans movie? what did you think?

8)Do you have any interest in seeing the following movies;"Paranorman", "The Lorax", "Brave", "Frankenweenie", "Pirates a band of misfits", "A monster in Paris", "Dorathy of Oz", "The secret world of Arrietty","Rise of the Guardians"?

9)Which comic book movie are you most excited to see next year?

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

Hope you and all the Pazio staff had a happy holiday.

Is there any plan to add an Ameiko icon to the message board options? Or am I just blind and missed it?


Locke1520 wrote:

Hope you and all the Pazio staff had a happy holiday.

Is there any plan to add an Ameiko icon to the message board options? Or am I just blind and missed it?

I'd like to see that; I'd also like one derived from the illustration of Sandru Vhiski in the Jade Regent Players' guide. I could use that one -- finally a character who wears a goatee but doesn't look evil.


James Jacobs wrote:
Run, Just Run wrote:
What alignments are aloud to torture enimes for their reasons, why.

Torture, in my opinion, is evil. If you torture someone, you're committing an evil act. Whether or not one act of torture is enough to change your alignment toward or to evil depends on a lot, though; on how heinous the torture is, on how often you do it, on the GM's interpretation of what is torture, and so on.

In any case, alignment itself doesn't allow or prevent anything. Alingment is a result of actions, not the cause of actions.

As a follow up question would you then say Batman is CG with LE tendincies or LE with CG tendincies? Thanks for your time,

Run, Just Run


Run, Just Run wrote:

As a follow up question would you then say Batman is CG with LE tendincies or LE with CG tendincies? Thanks for your time,

Run, Just Run

IANJ, but in my opinion most vigilante type superheroes fall under the Chaotic Good banner. They are good guys stopping bad guys, but vigilantism is illegal, so they are breaking the law. I've not read the new Batman comics, but the old Batman I don't remember doing much on the way of "evil" at all. Now, a non-CG "hero" would be Punisher... I'd almost make him neutral evil since he's pretty selfish, and with how he kills criminals without any regard for public safety (human shield? Shoot the hostage. Better one innocent die, than the criminal go free).

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

James, thanks for mentioning (many pages back) your software for cataloging your book collection. I got something similar (the one you use was Mac only), with a scanner, for Christmas and it's very cool.

Which leads me to a question: Why do some Paizo products have a standard sized ISBN/bar code, but others have a shorter (in height) one that takes up less space? As far as I can tell, it's not a chronological issue, since they seem to flip back and forth over time, and not only older products use the shorter bar code, or vice versa.


1)What monsters from the Bestairy 3 are based on works by the creater of Conan the barbarian?

2)Would the Leviathan be classified as a type of Behemoth?

3)Shouldn't the Plasma ooze be immune to fire?

4)Why no familiar option for Demodands?

5)Why wasn't the Porcupine or Skunk an option for animal companions?

6)Why not have the Atomie as a familiar option?

7)Why does the Sprite have only Int6/Cha10 and lost its invisability spell power? Why only a CR1/3?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Golden-Esque wrote:

How crazy would I have to be to allow a 4th level Shadow Dancer to take the Dimensional Agility feats? Would you allow it? Can you see anything game-breaking about it?

Shadow Jump (Su) wrote:


At 4th level, a shadowdancer gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some dim light. A shadowdancer can jump up to a total of 40 feet each day in this way; this may be a single jump of 40 feet or four jumps of 10 feet each. Every two levels higher than 4th, the distance a shadowdancer can jump each day doubles (80 feet at 6th, 160 feet at 8th, and 320 feet at 10th). This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.
Dimensional Agility wrote:


Teleportation does not faze you.

Prerequisites: Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door.

Benefit: After using abundant step or casting dimension door, you can take any actions you still have remaining on your turn. You also gain a +4 bonus on Concentration checks when casting teleportation spells.

I think that would be fine. Shadow Jump is more or less identical in use to abundant step or dimension door, so letting Dimensional Agility work with it is cool.

Would it even be needed? If I recall correctly, Shadow Jump doesn't subject you the the disorientation that Dimension Door does.


HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
If it's not a too-personal question, what race/gender is your Skyrim character and what skills did you end up using?

Not James Jacobs, but I'm a Catfolk with One-Handed Weapons and Blocking (sword and board!) with Archery and Sneaking as subskills. I use Light Armor so I don't have to worry as much about noise while Sneaking and I'm planning on putting some perks into Enchanting if I can.


LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Golden-Esque wrote:

How crazy would I have to be to allow a 4th level Shadow Dancer to take the Dimensional Agility feats? Would you allow it? Can you see anything game-breaking about it?

Shadow Jump (Su) wrote:


At 4th level, a shadowdancer gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some dim light. A shadowdancer can jump up to a total of 40 feet each day in this way; this may be a single jump of 40 feet or four jumps of 10 feet each. Every two levels higher than 4th, the distance a shadowdancer can jump each day doubles (80 feet at 6th, 160 feet at 8th, and 320 feet at 10th). This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.
Dimensional Agility wrote:


Teleportation does not faze you.

Prerequisites: Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door.

Benefit: After using abundant step or casting dimension door, you can take any actions you still have remaining on your turn. You also gain a +4 bonus on Concentration checks when casting teleportation spells.

I think that would be fine. Shadow Jump is more or less identical in use to abundant step or dimension door, so letting Dimensional Agility work with it is cool.
Would it even be needed? If I recall correctly, Shadow Jump doesn't subject you the the disorientation that Dimension Door does.

Read my post that you quoted. Shadow Jump says "as if by dimension door". It doesn't mention ANYTHING about altering how the dimension door effect works except that the distance is limited compared to the spell (40 feet, doubling every 2 levels beyond 4th) and that entry and end points must be within areas of shadow.

Even if Shadowdancer WASN'T limited in the same ways as the spell, the Dimensional Agility feat chain is amazing for anyone with levels of rogue, as most Shadowdancers do. You get things like this:


  • Ability to charge enemies with the Shadow Step class feature (Dimensional Assault).
  • Ability to effectively perform a limited Shadow Step in 5-ft. increments (Dimensional Dervish).
  • Ability to effectively flank enemies for sneak attacks by yourself (Dimensional Savant).

It's an incredibly powerful, versatile feat line for ANYONE who can qualify for it.

Silver Crusade

Hi James,

I've been thinking lately about music in Golarion, and I'd like to hear your take on it.

While a detailed description of what Golarion music sounds like is appropriately absent from any published sources, the setting seems to have a mashup of musical elements dating from ancient instruments up to 18th and 19th century instruments and genres. What do you imagine the music of Golarion sounds like? Does it depend on the culture? Do you think certain cultures lend themselves to certain styles?

I'm not looking for anything official here, because I know no such thing exists, but I'm curious about how you imagine it.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Golden-Esque wrote:
LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Golden-Esque wrote:

How crazy would I have to be to allow a 4th level Shadow Dancer to take the Dimensional Agility feats? Would you allow it? Can you see anything game-breaking about it?

Shadow Jump (Su) wrote:


At 4th level, a shadowdancer gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some dim light. A shadowdancer can jump up to a total of 40 feet each day in this way; this may be a single jump of 40 feet or four jumps of 10 feet each. Every two levels higher than 4th, the distance a shadowdancer can jump each day doubles (80 feet at 6th, 160 feet at 8th, and 320 feet at 10th). This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.
Dimensional Agility wrote:


Teleportation does not faze you.

Prerequisites: Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door.

Benefit: After using abundant step or casting dimension door, you can take any actions you still have remaining on your turn. You also gain a +4 bonus on Concentration checks when casting teleportation spells.

I think that would be fine. Shadow Jump is more or less identical in use to abundant step or dimension door, so letting Dimensional Agility work with it is cool.
Would it even be needed? If I recall correctly, Shadow Jump doesn't subject you the the disorientation that Dimension Door does.

Read my post that you quoted. Shadow Jump says "as if by dimension door". It doesn't mention ANYTHING about altering how the dimension door effect works except that the distance is limited compared to the spell (40 feet, doubling every 2 levels beyond 4th) and that entry and end points must be within areas of shadow.

Even if Shadowdancer WASN'T limited in the same ways as the spell, the Dimensional...

Yes the feat chain is a good one. I'm inclined to thing that text about Shadow Jump was mainly referring to it's movement properties given that shadow jump has a different scale of both resource allocation and limitations. If shadow jump were to disable you the way that dimension door does than it would be practically useless to a shadow dancer whose very theme is mobility.

Dark Archive

James Jacobs wrote:
A lot can happen to disrupt patterns though. I'd say at this point one of the greatest perils Paizo faces in 2012 is the danger of growing complacent.

With Rise of the Runelords, Pathfinder, and Paizo's anniversary one would almost expect something right?

;)


LazarX wrote:

Yes the feat chain is a good one. I'm inclined to thing that text about Shadow Jump was mainly referring to it's movement properties given that shadow jump has a different scale of both resource allocation and limitations. If shadow jump were to disable you the way that dimension door does than it would be practically useless to a shadow dancer whose very theme is mobility.

If you want to make that rule for your games, fine, but as written the power functions exactly like dimension door. If any aspect of the ability functioned differently than dimension door already did, they would have listed it in the ability; especially considering that the Shadow Jump power already has some alterations from the default spell.

This is another reason why Dimensional Agility and its feats are so good; they're all direct buffs to the Shadowdancer's strengths; mobility. If you do ever play with a Shadowdancer, I think it's easier to convince your GM to let you take the featline then to baseline give you a power buff, but that's just from my experience as a GM. This is going to be my last post on the subject here, though. If you want to talk about it elsewhere, open up a thread on the Rules forum and I'd be happy to partake.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Zhangar wrote:


4) Can an outsider be summoned by its original mortal name? Or does the transformation sever the connection to the outsider's past self?

There's no rules text that answers this question, but I'd say that an outsider by becoming an outsider has redefined itself in a way that severs it's previous mortal existence. In the process it gains a true name that defines it's new identity as such. Which is why any outsider of significant power MUST have a truename.

Most outsiders by definition have no real memory of their mortal lives, assuming they were even created from a single mortal soul. Some are created from elements drawn from more than one.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
If it's not a too-personal question, what race/gender is your Skyrim character and what skills did you end up using?

Female Breton archer/sniper/stealthy type.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Chris Mortika wrote:
When I wrote:
There's one obvious gold dragon currently active in the campaign: Mengkare. Does it seem plausible to you that a sorcerer might trace a bloodline to the lord of Hermea?
James Jacobs wrote:
A gold dragon bloodline makes the most sense from Hermea... but there are plenty of other gold dragons out there, both in canon and not yet in canon. If you want to be able to trace your bloodline to Mengkare... get your permission from the GM first! It might be more fun, in fact, to just tell the GM "My character has gold dragon blood" and let the GM build a storyline for you to uncover as the campaign progresses as regards your bloodline.

In a normal campaign, it certainly would be! Regrettably, this is Pathfinder Society I'm speaking of; there's no GM to give permission, and certainly no GM able to provide a storyline for the PC.

Thanks again.

Well... in a Pathfinder Society game, your character's background and history are more or less irrelevant to the game itself, so you can pretty much say whatever you want about your player's background, I guess, since it won't really ever factor into the campaign. It's not part of the world continuity of anyone but your own character.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

doctor_wu wrote:
If a player wants to mine the diaspora for skymetals with a spaceship is trying to make that into an adventure a productive way of handling that?

An adventure? not really. A complete campaign, more like!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Zhangar wrote:

I trust you had a good Christmas, James.

1) Are there any plans to eventually do a revised Gods & Magic that compiles Sean K. Reynold's expanded articles and the herald entries? I assume not, but never hurts to ask...

2) What can change the nature of a man?

** spoiler omitted **

3) Were the lyrakien originally intended as a replacement to the coure? Or did it just very conveniently work out that way? I was a little surprised to find out that the lyrakien were initially written up as a dedicated servitor race for Desna.

4) Can an outsider be summoned by its original mortal name? Or does the transformation sever the connection to the outsider's past self?

5) Is there a reasonably reliable way to find out if a mortal has become a serious (better than petitioner) class of outsider? For example: a party is researching an ancient hero who had fallen in battle against some monstrosity that is waking up again, and how the thing was sealed in the first place has been lost. The ancient hero now does battle across the cosmos as a planetar. What do you think would help for determining the current disposition of a soul and how to meet it once more? The best I can think of right now, for Golarian, would be to travel to Pharasma's court and try to find the psychopomp that handled the case.

1) We have not yet announced any such plans. That said... what do folks think? Would such a book be cool?

2) I think that's what I said too.

3) Nope; it works out fine that way, though. In my homebrew, the lyrakien were actually a halfling subrace that was very druid-themed, though... they changed quite a lot when they transformed into Pathfinder.

4) That's up to your GM. As written, though, an outsider's "original mortal name" doesn't really do much.

5) No, not really. Especially since in almost all cases, the mortal's memories wipe away upon that transformation. It'd be a case that could exist special for a specific storyline though, in which case it could be part of an investigatory adventure.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Zhangar wrote:

I trust you had a good Christmas, James.

1) Are there any plans to eventually do a revised Gods & Magic that compiles Sean K. Reynold's expanded articles and the herald entries? I assume not, but never hurts to ask...

1) We have not yet announced any such plans. That said... what do folks think? Would such a book be cool?

For what it's worth, a hardback compilation of the 20 6-page core god articles + 20 2-page Herald Bestiary entries + 96 pages of support material + 1 page for cover art + 5 pages of ads + 2 page intro + 2 pages for table of contents and title page = awesome 256-page book idea.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:

1)Have you seen Sucker Punch yet? did you like it? favorite part(s)?

2)What did you get for christmas?

3)Of the remaining continents of Golarion that have not been fleshed out, wich is the one that interest you most?

4)Did you hear about that "The Munsters" revamp? what did you think about it?

5)Have you seen the tim burton/disney Alice in wonderland movie? if so did you lke it?

6)What was the best present you have ever gotten for christmas?

7)Have you seen the previews for the new clash of the titans movie? what did you think?

8)Do you have any interest in seeing the following movies;"Paranorman", "The Lorax", "Brave", "Frankenweenie", "Pirates a band of misfits", "A monster in Paris", "Dorathy of Oz", "The secret world of Arrietty","Rise of the Guardians"?

9)Which comic book movie are you most excited to see next year?

1) Not yet; it's on my Netflix queue, and I hope it's the unrated version, since I'm not interested in seeing a PG13 movie built from that movie's trailers...

2) Lots of little stuff, a new coffee maker, a Kindle Touch, a remote control shark, a whole set of dishes and utensils, gift cards, too much candy, and other fun stuff.

3) Probably Arcadia.

4) I've heard of it. Not really interested.

5) I have. It was quite entertaining!

6) There's no way I can answer that... sooo many neat toys and stuff over the past many years! Although the sound-effects machine I got as a kid was pretty cool indeed...

7) I have. It looks cool... but the trailer for the previous one looked cool, and it ended up being the worst movie of the year. I am regarding the movie with a SIGNIFICANT amount of skepticisim.

8) "Brave," perhaps.

9) Dark Knight Rises

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Locke1520 wrote:

Hope you and all the Pazio staff had a happy holiday.

Is there any plan to add an Ameiko icon to the message board options? Or am I just blind and missed it?

Speaking of which, when I get back to work in a few days, I need to get Gary to set me up with my own Ameiko icon...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Run, Just Run wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Run, Just Run wrote:
What alignments are aloud to torture enimes for their reasons, why.

Torture, in my opinion, is evil. If you torture someone, you're committing an evil act. Whether or not one act of torture is enough to change your alignment toward or to evil depends on a lot, though; on how heinous the torture is, on how often you do it, on the GM's interpretation of what is torture, and so on.

In any case, alignment itself doesn't allow or prevent anything. Alingment is a result of actions, not the cause of actions.

As a follow up question would you then say Batman is CG with LE tendincies or LE with CG tendincies? Thanks for your time,

Run, Just Run

I only make Batman alignment proclamations when I want to derail threads. I don't want to do so here, so I won't answer.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

JoelF847 wrote:


Which leads me to a question: Why do some Paizo products have a standard sized ISBN/bar code, but others have a shorter (in height) one that takes up less space? As far as I can tell, it's not a chronological issue, since they seem to flip back and forth over time, and not only older products use the shorter bar code, or vice versa.

That's actually an excellent question... I don't really know. I suspect it's because the actual shape of a bar code is somewhat open to adjustment, and when art directors and graphic designers change or fiddle with cover layouts, they do the same with the bar codes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Dragon78 wrote:

1)What monsters from the Bestairy 3 are based on works by the creater of Conan the barbarian?

2)Would the Leviathan be classified as a type of Behemoth?

3)Shouldn't the Plasma ooze be immune to fire?

4)Why no familiar option for Demodands?

5)Why wasn't the Porcupine or Skunk an option for animal companions?

6)Why not have the Atomie as a familiar option?

7)Why does the Sprite have only Int6/Cha10 and lost its invisability spell power? Why only a CR1/3?

1) The zuvembe. It's from his (brilliant) short story, "Pigeons from Hell."

2) Maybe... maybe not.

3) It's not? It probably should be.

4) Because demodands are intended to skew to the high-level side of things.

5) Because they got missed by whoever compiled the animal info, I suspect.

6) Because not every Tiny creature needs to be a familiar.

7) You sure you're not confusing things a bit? In 3.5, I believe "sprite" was not a monster but a monster type. I think you're thinking about pixies. In Pathfinder, sprites are monsters, not a generalized TYPE of monster.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Celestial Healer wrote:

Hi James,

I've been thinking lately about music in Golarion, and I'd like to hear your take on it.

While a detailed description of what Golarion music sounds like is appropriately absent from any published sources, the setting seems to have a mashup of musical elements dating from ancient instruments up to 18th and 19th century instruments and genres. What do you imagine the music of Golarion sounds like? Does it depend on the culture? Do you think certain cultures lend themselves to certain styles?

I'm not looking for anything official here, because I know no such thing exists, but I'm curious about how you imagine it.

Music on Golarion could fill a book. Whether or not that book would be interesting or not... I guess that depends on who we get to write it.

In any case, music on Golarion depends VERY MUCH on the region and the culture. I do know that there are pianos on Golarion... they're pretty much where the state-of-the-art in musical instruments is at. But as for what it sounds like...yeah, depends on the region and the culture.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Kvantum wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zhangar wrote:

I trust you had a good Christmas, James.

1) Are there any plans to eventually do a revised Gods & Magic that compiles Sean K. Reynold's expanded articles and the herald entries? I assume not, but never hurts to ask...

1) We have not yet announced any such plans. That said... what do folks think? Would such a book be cool?
For what it's worth, a hardback compilation of the 20 6-page core god articles + 20 2-page Herald Bestiary entries + 96 pages of support material + 1 page for cover art + 5 pages of ads + 2 page intro + 2 pages for table of contents and title page = awesome 256-page book idea.

When you put it that way, it almost looks like we planned things like that from the start! Heh heh... :-)

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
5) No, not really. Especially since in almost all cases, the mortal's memories wipe away upon that transformation. It'd be a case that could exist special for a specific storyline though, in which case it could be part of an investigatory adventure.

I think the key thing that people need to remember is that rules are just a skeleton starting point, a set of mechanics for the usual activities of the game. The better story seeds are found outside the rules, and knowing when to make exceptions is part of the art.


The Sprite is in the 3.0/3.5 Tome of Horrors and should be in the Tome of Horrors complete.

Creatures classified as Sprites from 2nd edition and 3rd
Sprite, Sea Sprite, Nixie, Pixie, Atomie, and Grig

The Sprite(or Sea Sprite) stats has not been translated from the Tome of Horrors complete to d20pfsrd.com yet.

Sprites(Tiny size, 1') were a smaller weaker version of Pixies they could detect good/evil and could become invisible at will

Sea Sprites were wingless sprites with light blue skin and dark green hair and stood around 1'-1'6"tall, could detect good/evil, cast 3/day slow by touch, 1/day airy water(I remembder this spell) and could become invisible but I think underwater only.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Kvantum wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zhangar wrote:

I trust you had a good Christmas, James.

1) Are there any plans to eventually do a revised Gods & Magic that compiles Sean K. Reynold's expanded articles and the herald entries? I assume not, but never hurts to ask...

1) We have not yet announced any such plans. That said... what do folks think? Would such a book be cool?
For what it's worth, a hardback compilation of the 20 6-page core god articles + 20 2-page Herald Bestiary entries + 96 pages of support material + 1 page for cover art + 5 pages of ads + 2 page intro + 2 pages for table of contents and title page = awesome 256-page book idea.
When you put it that way, it almost looks like we planned things like that from the start! Heh heh... :-)

Just wanted to pop in and say that I would be more than happy to fork over some cash for a product like this ;-)


2 people marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:

Music on Golarion could fill a book. Whether or not that book would be interesting or not... I guess that depends on who we get to write it.

In any case, music on Golarion depends VERY MUCH on the region and the culture. I do know that there are pianos on Golarion... they're pretty much where the state-of-the-art in musical instruments is at. But as for what it sounds like...yeah, depends on the region and the culture.

It would make an excellent blog for Golarion day. Or a series of blogs, covering the famous songs and styles of each region. Tie in one bardic masterpiece for each!


1) If Merisiel Sillvari existed in real life, would would marry/date her?

2) I see that Medusa don't have immunity against petrification or petrifying gaze, does that mean two medusa looking at each other could be both turned to stone?

3) I have 2 ideas for gods: a) a god of Nothingness, Negation, Adaptability and Paradoxes , and b) a god of Circus and weirdness. How does it sounds?


Have you seen Gamers: Dorkness Rising?
What did you think of it?


1)Is there any rules/guidlines that prevents contriputors from revealing what they have worked on for paizo? like who did what for the 3 Bestairies.

2)Would the Cheshire Cat be a Tane?

3)The Advanced Races book only has 4 chapters correct?

4)What movies, if any, did you like there sequal(s) better then the original?

5)Does the Advance races book have any race fluff or is it mostly/all crunch?


Hi james

Did you saw the trailer of The Hobbit? what is you opinion on the book and your expectation for the film?

I wish you a happy new year.

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