James, why has my copy of Star Wars(tm): The Old Republic(tm) been impounded by Australian Customs? It was bought from Amazon.com. Any light you could shed on the subject is appreciated.
Kthx.
Creative Director
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I'm confused. Is James allowed to ask questions here?
Absolutely! Especially when it's Justin trying to trick me into announcing things ahead of schedule. I've done that before and the results have been frustrating and destructive and annoying.
Oh yeah, someone asked what spells you might normally ban, but i think they gave a list of things from the PH. I'm assuming by your other reply that you don't ban spells that are in the PH, like haste or fireball.
That sound about right?
Correct. As it turns out, I'm pretty pleased with the game I helped design. When I think something's bad enough to ban, I generally get to do so long before the suspect in question ever sees print.
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No, of course not! Would you like to confirm something? ;)Are you trying to trick me into confirming something there?Are you looking forward to detailing Baba Yaga?What are runelords and white witches, anyway?Runelords are powerful ancient wizards who once ruled the northwestern reaches of Varisia before 10,000 years ago. They're the primary theme of the first Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rise of the Runelords, and have been part of various other APs and books ever since.
The white witches are the descendants of Baba Yaga who rule the frozen nation of Irrisen.
Not until the time is right.
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Do you like Lord of the Rings? I, surprisingly enough for a Pathfinder player, do not.
I enjoyed the books, although not enough to read anything other than The Hobbit and the trilogy.
I thought Peter Jackson improved on the story in countless ways—I like the movies MUCH better than the books.
I think Tolkien is an incredible world designer, in other words, but a subpar storyteller. And the fact that he's so incredibly gifted at world design helps enormously in shoring up his shortfalls in the actual story-telling department.
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James, why has my copy of Star Wars(tm): The Old Republic(tm) been impounded by Australian Customs? It was bought from Amazon.com. Any light you could shed on the subject is appreciated.
Kthx.
Probably because someone in customs is a Star Wars fan who wanted to play the game. That, or it got eaten by a drop bear.
If James Jacobs asks a question in the "Ask James Jacobs" thread, is James Jacobs required to answer it?
Probably because someone in customs is a Star Wars fan who wanted to play the game. That, or it got eaten by a drop bear.James, why has my copy of Star Wars(tm): The Old Republic(tm) been impounded by Australian Customs? It was bought from Amazon.com. Any light you could shed on the subject is appreciated.
Kthx.
....dammit....
I knew it...damnable drop bears at Aussie Customs!
Drop Bears .... my god I remember terrorizing my American Guild-Mates in Molten Core when the wind outside my house was going full-bore, and all they could hear was this irregular loud, banging noise over vent.
"Dude, what the hell is that noise?"
"What? Oh, don't worry, it's just the Drop Bear migration seasons."
"........what?"
"The Drop Bears start jumping from roof to roof as they move across the suburbs to find new trees. We're all inside or at work today, in case they land on anyone and start gnawing away."
"Jesus ......"
And G~+ D@!n Me, they believed every word. All Hail the 'Dumb Yank' Archetype.
Right, Srs Bsns time.
I play the GM's assistant for our 'Young-Blood' Group, a bunch of mid-teens to early-twenties, so the GM can focus on story-telling rather than checking up on the rules and keeping a 'diary' of the game. We're running through the Savage Tide campaign, and they are chomping at the bit. Very silly atmosphere, armor that completely averts it's purpose, near-Dragonball levels of combat at times and cohorts mindlessly loyal to their incompetent and self-absorbed masters. Fun times.
Our problem is that our Alchemist keeps trying to come up with reasons that it is perfectly acceptable to stuff his Halfling Fighter Cohort into a cannon barrel and shoot him at the enemy because his full-plate armor with it's fire-resistance will protect him from the explosion and the 'attack' (as such) should be resolved as a charge attack. After weeks of "Can I use the cannon attack?" "NO!" "Aaaaaw c'mon!", should we just throw out hands in the air and let him do it, should we have the cohort take impact damage at the end of his 'charge' or should we stick to our guns on the issue (pun not intended).
Dear James Jacobs,
I am working on a Prestige Class for my campaign that utilizes the Animal Domain and an altered version of Wild Shape (it only lets you assume a single form based on your deity). Most of the class features goes into this special version of Wild Shape, and in designing the class, some question came up that I'd like to ask you.
#1 - When making a full attack in Wild Shape, do you make iterative attacks like you would normally do or do you make one attack per natural weapon of the assumed animal form?
i.e. I'm an 8th level Druid (BAB +6) who takes a wolf form (2 claws and 1 bite). Do I make one bite at +6 and one claw at +1, discarding the other claw attack, or do I make one bite and two claw attacks at +6?
#2 - Do size-altering effects stack with a change in size from a polymorph spell?
i.e. - I'm awesome and have beast shape IV. I transform into a Huge animal, gaining the normal size modifiers for changing size. Can my party wizard cast enlarge person on me to transform me into a Gargantuan creature?
Thanks in Advanced!
If James Jacobs asks a question in the "Ask James Jacobs" thread, is James Jacobs required to answer it?Nope!
Then who will?
Dear James Jacobs,
I am working on a Prestige Class for my campaign that utilizes the Animal Domain and an altered version of Wild Shape (it only lets you assume a single form based on your deity). Most of the class features goes into this special version of Wild Shape, and in designing the class, some question came up that I'd like to ask you.
#1 - When making a full attack in Wild Shape, do you make iterative attacks like you would normally do or do you make one attack per natural weapon of the assumed animal form?
i.e. I'm an 8th level Druid (BAB +6) who takes a wolf form (2 claws and 1 bite). Do I make one bite at +6 and one claw at +1, discarding the other claw attack, or do I make one bite and two claw attacks at +6?
#2 - Do size-altering effects stack with a change in size from a polymorph spell?
i.e. - I'm awesome and have beast shape IV. I transform into a Huge animal, gaining the normal size modifiers for changing size. Can my party wizard cast enlarge person on me to transform me into a Gargantuan creature?
Thanks in Advanced!
I would recommend asking the Rules Questions forums.
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Our problem is that our Alchemist keeps trying to come up with reasons that it is perfectly acceptable to stuff his Halfling Fighter Cohort into a cannon barrel and shoot him at the enemy because his full-plate armor with it's fire-resistance will protect him from the explosion and the 'attack' (as such) should be resolved as a charge attack. After weeks of "Can I use the cannon attack?" "NO!" "Aaaaaw c'mon!", should we just throw out hands in the air and let him do it, should we have the cohort take impact damage at the end of his 'charge' or should we stick to our guns on the issue (pun not intended).
Depends if the GM feels it's too silly or not. Sounds like the campaign's already got a fair amount of whimsy and wacky going on.
I would have the poor halfling take damage from the impact for sure—I might even rule it an automatic critical hit on the ammo. Being used as a cannonball should not be conducive to your long-term health.
I'm confused. Is James allowed to ask questions here?Absolutely! Especially when it's Justin trying to trick me into announcing things ahead of schedule. I've done that before and the results have been frustrating and destructive and annoying.
I like to think of it as trying to discover what is forthcoming in my subscriptions. Although I never expect James to answer seriously.
So what will the next Book of the Damned going to be? :D
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Dear James Jacobs,
I am working on a Prestige Class for my campaign that utilizes the Animal Domain and an altered version of Wild Shape (it only lets you assume a single form based on your deity). Most of the class features goes into this special version of Wild Shape, and in designing the class, some question came up that I'd like to ask you.
#1 - When making a full attack in Wild Shape, do you make iterative attacks like you would normally do or do you make one attack per natural weapon of the assumed animal form?
i.e. I'm an 8th level Druid (BAB +6) who takes a wolf form (2 claws and 1 bite). Do I make one bite at +6 and one claw at +1, discarding the other claw attack, or do I make one bite and two claw attacks at +6?
#2 - Do size-altering effects stack with a change in size from a polymorph spell?
i.e. - I'm awesome and have beast shape IV. I transform into a Huge animal, gaining the normal size modifiers for changing size. Can my party wizard cast enlarge person on me to transform me into a Gargantuan creature?
Thanks in Advanced!
Cheapy's right—this is the type of question that's probably better served over in the rules questions forum.
That said...
You never make iterative attacks with natural weapons.
Size altering effects generally don't stack—in particular, when you're under the effects of a polymorph effect, "other spells that change your size have no effect on you..." (see the rules for polymorph spells on pages 211-212).
That villainous organizations would you love to flesh out more in the future?Ummm... that question makes no sense. If by "that" you meant to type "what" though...
Some of the bad guy organizations I'd like to flesh out more in the future would include but would not be limited to:
Runelords
Technic League
White Witches
Demon Cults
Aspis Consortium
Orvians
Intellect Devourers
Hmmmmm. What a coincidence that that's the next round of RPG Superstar!
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Hmmmmm. What a coincidence that that's the next round of RPG Superstar!That villainous organizations would you love to flesh out more in the future?Ummm... that question makes no sense. If by "that" you meant to type "what" though...
Some of the bad guy organizations I'd like to flesh out more in the future would include but would not be limited to:
Runelords
Technic League
White Witches
Demon Cults
Aspis Consortium
Orvians
Intellect Devourers
Keep in mind that I'm not judging the next round of RPG superstar at all, so attempts to appeal to me in that round would be wasted. (And note that even if I were... I'd be HYPER-CRITICAL of things like the above since I'm super interested in seeing them done right.)
The red redoubt of something or another from the Dungeons of Golarion has an item in there that's battery operated.
I am anxiously awaiting a Numeria book.
How many D&D/Pathfinder campaign settings do you know of that give Native American culture a lot of treatment? That's one of the main things I'm doing in my homebrew campaign setting.
Keep in mind that I'm not judging the next round of RPG superstar at all, so attempts to appeal to me in that round would be wasted. (And note that even if I were... I'd be HYPER-CRITICAL of things like the above since I'm super interested in seeing them done right.)Hmmmmm. What a coincidence that that's the next round of RPG Superstar!That villainous organizations would you love to flesh out more in the future?Ummm... that question makes no sense. If by "that" you meant to type "what" though...
Some of the bad guy organizations I'd like to flesh out more in the future would include but would not be limited to:
Runelords
Technic League
White Witches
Demon Cults
Aspis Consortium
Orvians
Intellect Devourers
Still good information to know. If only because it allows those of us, shall we say, more capable of thinking outside of human boundaries to detail an organization with such "unknowable" goals.
Heeheeheeheeeheeeee.......
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I see the Homosexuality in Golarian thread is over a thousand posts long now and apparently still going. Which leads me back to my old unanswered question: just who are the gay iconics? Did they ever get outed? If not, shouldn't somebody do so before they run out of air?
Dear James Jacobs,
You mentioned earlier that the giant skunk was, more likely than not, accidentally left off the list of available animal companions. Is there some kind of formula that goes into generating those animal companion statistics so I could make it up myself, or will you be super nice and awesome and post it for me? :D
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I don't have to answer this question since it's not written in proper English. POW!!!So what will the next Book of the Damned going to be? :D
Well then Mythic rules in 2013, yes, no, or you know I ain't answering that? :D
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I see the Homosexuality in Golarian thread is over a thousand posts long now and apparently still going. Which leads me back to my old unanswered question: just who are the gay iconics? Did they ever get outed? If not, shouldn't somebody do so before they run out of air?
As a gaymer I have to suggest that a reveal of some publicly LGBT iconics could give Paizo some good rep. In gaymer blogs and sites anyway.
EDIT: fixed dislexic fit (GLBT? whats dat?)
If you could kill and replace any of the iconics which one would it?
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Not how I imagined you (except the glasses), I also thought you were older.JJ, is that you?Yup!
The way James describes himself as an ex-fisherman from Sandpoint, i really expected something more rugged, used to battle mountain lions and bigfoots in the forest.
1- If Point Arena is Sandpoint, which city is Seattle ? Magnimar ?2- Varisia has any renomed dragons (beside the ones in Xin-Shalast) ?
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If you're worried about players "maximally optimizing" characters, just give them 20 points but tell them their stats must be a minimum of 10; that keeps them from min-maxing too much.Why would you do that? Making a PC is the only part of a game the PCs have control over... even if you're going to increase things, it's better to tell the players before hand so they don't feel like you're just changing things willy-nilly.I'm not exactly sure. I like to use APs with as little on the wing modification as possible. And I like my players to feel like they are awesome. At the same time I want to be able to provide 'good' fights for them to feel challenged by. I think that perhaps I thought that by me applying the extra points they would be more awesome but not necessarily have maximally optimized abilities.
I should probably just relax and let them build with more points.
Does that make sense?
In the campaign that I have started this fall I have used a mixed system.
In a old Dungeon, the one with d20 Gamma World article there was a character generation system I like.Roll 4d6, keep the highest 3 for each characteristic in order.
Then reroll one of the stats and decide if you want to keep the old result or the new one.
After that, if you want, you can swap 2 characteristics (for example exchange charisma with strength).
This system give you the odd fighter with very high intelligence or other "weird" combinations. it helps MAD classes.
The drawback is that sometime you can roll very badly (I had a guy roll the equivalent of a -7 point build!), so I added a corrective: you can always chose to take a 20 points build instead of what you rolled.
The group is more powerful than a standard group (and that was a given from the start, with a 20 point build) and has some unusual character (half orc witch with 14 str, dex and con, she rolled very well).
I feel that having high "secondary" characteristics for your class is way less overpowering that maximizing the primary characteristic.
And sometime you have guys keeping a character with a bad characteristics because his/her other characteristics are good, but at least it will not always be the "wizard with bad strength" option.
What do you think?
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As for why so many Mesopotamian deities are demon lords in D&D/Pathfinder... that's because Gygax set many of them up that way and we've just been going along with it. There are plenty of Mesopotamian deities that we HAVEN'T put into Pathfinder yet, of course... but it's true that the few we have put in are demon lords. Blame "The Exorcist" if you want.That might have something to do with the application of modern sensibilities to deities whose worshippers practiced human sacrifice; we tend to think of any being that demands offerings of human (and especially infant human) lives as evil by definition.
I know I have a tendency to jump in in other people discussions, but personally I feel this require a comment:
At least for the Phoenician/Carthaginian deities the "infant human sacrifices" are a mix of bad press from theirs enemies and bad interpretations of their findings by the first archaeologists.What was thought were the remains of child sacrifices have been recently identified as the remains of purification rites for children that had died for natural causes.
As the death ratio of children in that period was appalling high (something like a 25% death ratio in the first few years of life) there are wast cemeteries of dead children and there was the custom to cremate them, so the burnt bones finding.
That don't mean there weren't deities requiring human sacrifices, but they were way less common than popular culture would make us think.
There are the monsters from Bestiary 2 which I don't understand the CR from, most I would expect weaker or stronger than they are in the book.
1) Why is the Nereid CR10 while the much more powerful Marid is only CR9?
2) Why is the Athach so high CR? I always thought they were weaker giants?
3) Why are the Parasaurolophus (cr4 for something that can't even defend itself) and Allosaurus (much weaker tyrannosaur version) so powerful? Aren't they much weaker dinosaurs?
4) Why is the Draugr only cr2
5) Why are the two horned rhino and the Glyptodon more powerful than the king of the megafauna the Megatherium?
6) Giant mosquito cr6?? while most giant vermin are around cr1!
7) Quicklings only cr3? Aren't they the fastest creatures out there?
8) Moby Dick/White Whale only Cr14? I would expect Cr20+ for such an legendary creature.
8) Moby Dick/White Whale only Cr14? I would expect Cr20+ for such an legendary creature.
That's 'a' white whale. I'm sure The Great White Whale would be an advanced version.
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Probably because someone in customs is a Star Wars fan who wanted to play the game. That, or it got eaten by a drop bear.James, why has my copy of Star Wars(tm): The Old Republic(tm) been impounded by Australian Customs? It was bought from Amazon.com. Any light you could shed on the subject is appreciated.
Kthx.
....dammit....
I knew it...damnable drop bears at Aussie Customs!
Age 16+. Australia hasn't some law against games rated above 13+?
From what I recall I read that months ago on the internet so I can't be wrong :).
James,
I hear there will be a Pathfinder Comic book. Will your likeness grace the pages?
He's the T-Rex.
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I think Tolkien is an incredible world designer, in other words, but a subpar storyteller. And the fact that he's so incredibly gifted at world design helps enormously in shoring up his shortfalls in the actual story-telling department.
I am thrilled to see someone else express this opinion. Now I just need someone to admit that Lovecraft is the same way. Neat stories, but a galumphing, dragged out, maybe even boring writing style. Zhangar handed me the Conan novels after I'd read his Lovecraft collections. They are much more fun to read.
Have you read any of the old Conan novels?
If so, then what is your opinion of those James?
Also, as an experiment... What question would you like to be asked James?
And as a request... Answer the above question in a different post to see if the universe folds in on itself.
Thanks!
-Tundra
1)If you crossblood the Dragon bloodline and the fire elemental(primal) your fire spells do +2 per dice damage, correct?
2)Do bloodline arcanas function for all classes or just the sorcerer's?
ex: fey bloodline +2DC for compulsion spells work for you if you were multiclassed with wizard and you cast sleep from your wizard class.
3)Why don't Genies have DR/magic or any DR at all? I think they used to need +1 to hurt them in first edition.
4)What is the marrying age or age of consent in the innersea region? How do they treat single parents or teen mothers?
5)Is there any place on Golarion that Halflings live without Humans? A kingdom/land to call there own?
6)Any details on what Marriage cerimonies are like in the Innersea? Do the bride's father still pay for the cerimony?
7)Are there any cultures in the Innersea that use banishment as a form of punishment instead of jail and/or exicution?
1)If you crossblood the Dragon bloodline and the fire elemental(primal) your fire spells do +2 per dice damage, correct?
2)Do bloodline arcanas function for all classes or just the sorcerer's?
ex: fey bloodline +2DC for compulsion spells work for you if you were multiclassed with wizard and you cast sleep from your wizard class.
1) Yes. They are untyped bonuses and there's no text to even imply they do not work.
2) There's a FAQ entry for this. The answer is yes, they function for all spells.
Are there drop bears on Saurasan?
I;m confuzzled on something that's been batted around the boards but hasn't, to my knowledge, received an official clarification, so maybe you could help me out.
The question comes in with the Boar Style feat chain, here copied in full from the PRD:
Boar Ferocity (Combat)
Your flesh-ripping unarmed strikes terrify your victims.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Boar Style, Intimidate 6 ranks.
Benefit: You add piercing damage to the damage types you can deal with your unarmed strikes. Further, you gain a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks to demoralize opponents. While using Boar Style, whenever you tear an opponent's flesh, you can spend a free action to make an Intimidate check to demoralize that opponent.
Boar Shred (Combat)
The wounds you inflict with your unarmed strikes bleed, giving you renewed vigor.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Boar Ferocity, Boar Style, Intimidate 9 ranks.
Benefit: You can make an Intimidate check to demoralize an opponent as a move action. While using Boar Style, whenever you tear an opponent's flesh, once per round at the start of that opponent's turn he takes 1d6 bleed damage. The bleed damage dealt while using Boar Style persist even if you later switch to a different style.
Boar Style (Combat, Style)
Your sharp teeth and nails rip your foes open.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidate 3 ranks.
Benefit: You can deal bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with your unarmed strikes—changing damage type is a free action. While using this style, once per round when you hit a single foe with two or more unarmed strikes, you can tear flesh. When you do, you deal 2d6 bleed damage with the attack.
As written, it looks to me like Boar Style, a feat a monk can get at 3rd level, produces a 2d6 bleed effect without a saving throw. Inflicting 2d6 damage that bypasses DR at the start of every round is excessive, so I think there must be something wrong there.
Compounding this is the wording of Boar Shred. Since all bleed damage is ongoing and happens at the beginning of the bleeder's round, what does the 1d6 bleed actually achieve? Bleed damage doesn't stack under normal rules. It says it continues if the attacker changes styles, but the Boar Style bleed doesn't say the 2d6 bleed from that ends if the attacker changes styles.
As I see it, there are two possibilities:
1. The Boar Style bleed effect happens only once, on the round after the attacker hits with two unarmed attacks, and can be avoided by timely application of a healing effect, whereas the Boar Shred bleed effect is a regular bleed that continues until stopped by healing or death, or
2. The Boar Style 2d6 bleed effect is an ongoing effect that ends if the attacker changes styles, while the Boar Shred 1d6 bleed is added to that 2d6 bleed and continues even if the attacker changes styles.
Of those, 1 seems much closer to being balanced (though still VERY powerful). Possibility 2 seems like a gamewrecker. So was the first interpretation what was intended? Or is there a third possibility I haven't even considered?
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The red redoubt of something or another from the Dungeons of Golarion has an item in there that's battery operated.
I am anxiously awaiting a Numeria book.
There's actually more than that one item that dips its toe into science fantasy—that entry in the book was actually a "testing ground" to see how folks would react to that type of content, and it seems that they've reacted quite well.
I've actually got an entire game built set in a Post-apocalyptic Earth (originally written using the 3.0 d20 rules, updated several times and now most recently to Pathfinder) that the sci-fi elements in Dungeons of Golarion were taken from, so I've actually got a fair amount of work done already on what could work for Numeria... but the time has to be right to delve in there for real.
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How many D&D/Pathfinder campaign settings do you know of that give Native American culture a lot of treatment? That's one of the main things I'm doing in my homebrew campaign setting.
There's a fair amount of Native American influence in the Shoanti of Golarion for one. Of course, there's other things going on with the Shoanti as well, so they're not really meant to be a precise Native American analogue... We've also got some inuit-based stuff going on at Golarion's north pole (particularly detailed in Pathfinder #51).
It's not a culture that a lot of game companies have done much with, alas. D&D's touched on it here and there over the editions/ages though.