Creative Director
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I wonder some things concerning the fluff of the Witch class, and how it interacts with Golarion's metaphysics.
1. Could you give some examples of things that could, in Golarion, be examples of Patrons? Deities? Fiends? Living, specific creatures? Fictive creatures? Abstract forces?
2. Reading it, the description of a Witch's Patron seems much like the Mystery of an Oracle. What makes them different? Would it be correct to say that the Mystery brings the energy in from an external divine source to cast a spell (making the magic divine), using the innate insights of the caster (making the Oracle a spontaneous caster with a Spells Known table), whereas the Patron does not provide the energy for the magic (making the magic arcane), but provides the "blueprints" for how to shape that energy into a spell (making the Witch a prepared caster)?
3. Rules-wise the familiar is a living spellbook. Is this also what happens fluff-wise? That is, is the familiar a repository of the spell knowledge, or is it merely the interface to the knowledge and/or energy of the Patron?
4. Would it be appropriate to allow Witches to take the Spell Mastery feat, selecting a set of spells they could then prepare without their familiar?
5. What, exactly, does it mean to commune with the familiar to prepare spells? Meditating in its presence? Playing with it? Performing rituals while it watches?
6. Do familiars age at the rate of normal animals, or do they age with the Witch? Some of those animal choices would need to be replaced every few years, and presumably the spells with them.
7. What kind of Patrons empower the Irrisen Witches and/or Baba Yaga? 8. Could those Witches be indirectly weakened by striking at the Patrons?
9. If the Patron of a Witch is destroyed, can she make a pact with another?
10. On the subject of pacts, does Witch magic come with obligations, so that it can be withheld by the Patron unless the Witch carries out its will? Or are they more like Oracles (or Wizards, for that matter) in this regard?
11. What kind of familiar does Baba Yaga have?
woah....
1) Any deity or demigod or philosophy or creature above CR 20.
2) A mystery is something that an oracle draws power from, whereas a patron is something that grants power to a witch. In other words... the witch's patron is active, and the oracle's mystery is not.
3) The familiar is the repository of the witch's spell knowledge. She can contain in her mind all the spells she can prepare, but all the spells she knows are in the familiar's soul.
4) Up to your GM.
5) Up to your GM. (In my games it would be meditating with the familiar in your presence, perhaps as the familiar crawls on you—traditionally, some witch legends get pretty graphic and... well... "adult" with what this could mean...)
6) They age with the witch, since they share a bonded life.
7) I'm not ready to reveal this info yet.
8) No. Defeating a witch's patron should be just as difficult as slaying a cleric's deity.
9) Yes.
10) Nope; no obligations.
11) I'm not ready to reveal this info yet.
Very interesting, thank you! : )
Any deity or demigod or philosophy or creature above CR 20.
Fafnheir! (And Treerazer and Ruthazek, for that matter.) Annnd... this means Nex (wherever he is) can act as someone's patron, yes?
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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I wonder some things concerning the fluff of the Witch class, and how it interacts with Golarion's metaphysics.
5. What, exactly, does it mean to commune with the familiar to prepare spells? Meditating in its presence? Playing with it? Performing rituals while it watches?
I recommend downloading Wayfinder #5, and reading the short story "The Staring Contest" by K. Neil Shackleton. A great interpretation of communing.
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Creative Director
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Oh mighty T.Rex, a few small questions for your great brain.
Firstly, I find one thing about the Church of Razmir confusing. I understand how easy it is for them to con everyone else, but how do they con themselves? Obviously they aren't getting spells by praying to Razmir, since he can't bestow spells on them (not being a real God). According to the Inner Sea Guide, they use arcane magic to trick people into thinking they can cast clerical spells (or some-such, I might have read wrong). For arcane magic, the process of getting the actual spells is drastically different (active study or internal knowledge). Surely, the priests themselves would notice something amiss when they realize that the "holy books" they're studying to gain magic are suspiciously akin to spellbooks...wouldn't they?
Also, concerning Ratfolk. Why'd you guys make them? Do they feature prominently in Golarion? If they haven't yet, will they? Have you ever used them or seen them used (as NPCs or PCs) in your own campaigns?
The number of people who are in on the truth of Razmir are relatively small—aka, the actual number of supposed "clerics." They aren't conning themselves at all. They're enjoying their little secret club. AKA: actual "clerics" of Razmir are not suitable, really, as PCs.
We made ratfolk because several of us here at Paizo like ratfolk. For me, it's 100% due to the stories of Fritz Leiber. Before we had ratfolk, when we wanted to do rat-human adventures we more or less had to use wererats... but honestly, in pretty much EVERY case you've seen us use wererats in an adventure, if I had a time machine I'd probably sub in ratfolk.
In any event... in Golarion, the majority of the ratfolk dwell in the darklands below central Tian-Xia; they've got a much bigger role over there, similar to the role duergar or drow play in the Darklands of the Inner Sea Region.
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Creative Director
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Any deity or demigod or philosophy or creature above CR 20.Fafnheir! (And Treerazer and Ruthazek, for that matter.) Annnd... this means Nex (wherever he is) can act as someone's patron, yes?
If you want. I'm not sure I would want that. It'd be a decision I made on a case-by-case basis.
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Creative Director
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Been playing Mass Effect 3?
Finished it yet?
What's your opinion of the ending?
I'm still only just starting into Mass Effect 3. More or less been working 60 to 70 hour weeks ever since it came out to get the Runelords hardcover and several Pathfinder volumes done, which means that when I get home I'm pretty tired and don't really want to do much more than sleep or watch mindless TV or idly surf the internet.
SO! No spoilers about the ending!
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Until we do something more significant with Numeria, I'm not gonna say.Did you let any good Golarion tidbits slip out in chat last night? (11 P.M. is too late to stay up)Nope; chatroom was relatively non-inquisitive last night.Only because I was busy, and you won't answer my questions about unannounced releases anyway. ;)
Was there only one starship crash in Numeria or have there been several? Are there other places that starships have crashed?
Can you hurry up and do something more significant with Numeria then? ;)
I recommend downloading Wayfinder #5, and reading the short story "The Staring Contest" by K. Neil Shackleton. A great interpretation of communing.I wonder some things concerning the fluff of the Witch class, and how it interacts with Golarion's metaphysics.
5. What, exactly, does it mean to commune with the familiar to prepare spells? Meditating in its presence? Playing with it? Performing rituals while it watches?
Very interesting read, indeed. I like that the familiar isn't necessarily an agent or emissary of the Patron, but rather an assistant to the Witch in reaching for it, and that it doesn't necessarily know more about it either.
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Oh mighty T.Rex, a few small questions for your great brain.
Firstly, I find one thing about the Church of Razmir confusing. I understand how easy it is for them to con everyone else, but how do they con themselves? Obviously they aren't getting spells by praying to Razmir, since he can't bestow spells on them (not being a real God). According to the Inner Sea Guide, they use arcane magic to trick people into thinking they can cast clerical spells (or some-such, I might have read wrong). For arcane magic, the process of getting the actual spells is drastically different (active study or internal knowledge). Surely, the priests themselves would notice something amiss when they realize that the "holy books" they're studying to gain magic are suspiciously akin to spellbooks...wouldn't they?
Also, concerning Ratfolk. Why'd you guys make them? Do they feature prominently in Golarion? If they haven't yet, will they? Have you ever used them or seen them used (as NPCs or PCs) in your own campaigns?
The number of people who are in on the truth of Razmir are relatively small—aka, the actual number of supposed "clerics." They aren't conning themselves at all. They're enjoying their little secret club. AKA: actual "clerics" of Razmir are not suitable, really, as PCs.
We made ratfolk because several of us here at Paizo like ratfolk. For me, it's 100% due to the stories of Fritz Leiber. Before we had ratfolk, when we wanted to do rat-human adventures we more or less had to use wererats... but honestly, in pretty much EVERY case you've seen us use wererats in an adventure, if I had a time machine I'd probably sub in ratfolk.
In any event... in Golarion, the majority of the ratfolk dwell in the darklands below central Tian-Xia; they've got a much bigger role over there, similar to the role duergar or drow play in the Darklands of the Inner Sea Region.
Cool. Is their presence in the Darklands make them evil, as the drow and duergar are, or are they more neutral aligned, as the svirfneblin?
A question regarding one of your previous answers, if a familiar's soul stores all of a witch's spell knowledge, if said familiar dies, would raising it from the dead after it departed allow you to effectively not lose those spells that aren't patron spells? (There's a rule somewhere that says if a witch ever has to get a new familiar, the spells that new familiar knows are rather limited; i.e., spells added to the old familiar from scrolls and the like are lost).
CAn black blooded oracle drown in the sea of black blood in orv if they do not come ot the surface? The immunity does not mean they can breathe it right?
Hey James, I started working on a character concept of a female varisian oracle, loosely based off of Cassandra from Greek myth. Basically she has death visions, however she has no control over the visions and when they happen, and she often has no idea what they mean. Since no Oracle curse currently fits the bill I started to develop my own where effectively the character is always fatigued from nightmares and the toll of the visions when they happen to her. Do you think it is a cool idea so far? Do you think being fatigued constantly is to severe of a penalty? And do you have any suggestions?
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Creative Director
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Cool. Is their presence in the Darklands make them evil, as the drow and duergar are, or are...
The ratfolk of Diguo-Dashu, the so-called "Empire of Rats" that exists in Sekamina deep under central Tian-Xia, is actually mostly neutral aligned, as are most ratfolk. They bicker and fight among themsevles a lot, though... just as humans (who are also mostly neutral aligned) do up on the surface. Their society goes through cycles, though... sometimes they've got a lot of evil rulers, ohters not so much. Back during Lung Wa's rule, Diguo-Dashu was ruled by particularly evil ratfolk and they actually waged war on the surface.
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Creative Director
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A question regarding one of your previous answers, if a familiar's soul stores all of a witch's spell knowledge, if said familiar dies, would raising it from the dead after it departed allow you to effectively not lose those spells that aren't patron spells? (There's a rule somewhere that says if a witch ever has to get a new familiar, the spells that new familiar knows are rather limited; i.e., spells added to the old familiar from scrolls and the like are lost).
Correct.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, I started working on a character concept of a female varisian oracle, loosely based off of Cassandra from Greek myth. Basically she has death visions, however she has no control over the visions and when they happen, and she often has no idea what they mean. Since no Oracle curse currently fits the bill I started to develop my own where effectively the character is always fatigued from nightmares and the toll of the visions when they happen to her. Do you think it is a cool idea so far? Do you think being fatigued constantly is to severe of a penalty? And do you have any suggestions?
Sorry, no suggestions—I actually try not to get involved in commenting on or giving feedback to design work unless it's for something we're publishing—but I recommend you post this to one of the other forums here for feedback.
Hey James,
I know it's not usual to the class, but can an oracle be empowered by a single god/goddess instead of a pantheon or a philosophy, similar to a cleric? If so, is it required that the person take a mystery that has their god as part of the "deities" section of the mystery description or are those moreso examples instead of a finite, final list?
Oh, and a follow up question...
Are there plans to introduce more oracle mysteries in any of the products in the near future? Perhaps ones that may be appropriate for the Calistrian faith?
Can dragons wield weapons with their 'hands'?
They can apparently do somatic gestures for spells just fine, I'm not sure if that extends to scrolls/wands?
I am asking the weapon question in the context of whether you can do so while in Dragon Form or not.
Dear James Jacobs,
What is the source of your unfathomable energy to singlehandedly wrangle the entire Paizo forums most difficult questions?
Follow-up: Would you consider bottling it?
Dear James Jacobs,
What is the source of your unfathomable energy to singlehandedly wrangle the entire Paizo forums most difficult questions?
Follow-up: Would you consider bottling it?
And shipping me a sample?
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
I know it's not usual to the class, but can an oracle be empowered by a single god/goddess instead of a pantheon or a philosophy, similar to a cleric? If so, is it required that the person take a mystery that has their god as part of the "deities" section of the mystery description or are those moreso examples instead of a finite, final list?
That's a decision for your GM to answer. There's certainly no reason why an oracle COULDN'T worship a single deity, though. And whatever mystery you want to pick is fine... if someone did something like this in my game I'd only require them to justify their Mystery and deity choice with a cool backstory.
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Creative Director
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Oh, and a follow up question...
Are there plans to introduce more oracle mysteries in any of the products in the near future? Perhaps ones that may be appropriate for the Calistrian faith?
Yes. We'll periodically introduce new mysteries in the future. And as it stands, the fact that Calistria got left off that list is essentially a typo... frankly, I wish we hadn't associated deities with oracle mysteries at all, since that just confuses things.
Anyway... as I mentioned in my previous reply... there's no reason you can't take ANY mystery if you worship Calistria; in fact, Battle and Life work pretty well.
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Creative Director
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Can dragons wield weapons with their 'hands'?
They can apparently do somatic gestures for spells just fine, I'm not sure if that extends to scrolls/wands?
I am asking the weapon question in the context of whether you can do so while in Dragon Form or not.
My preference is no, they cannot.
If only because the mental image of a dragon fighting with a sword is, to me, silly. But also because dragons already do a LOT of damage, and replacing one of their 5+ natural attacks with a weapon capable of doing iterative attacks is just brutal and needless overkill.
So... no. They cannot wield weapons.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
What is the source of your unfathomable energy to singlehandedly wrangle the entire Paizo forums most difficult questions?
Follow-up: Would you consider bottling it?
Raspberry juice. You can get it at most stores.
Note. Said raspberries must be harvested by zoogs in the enchanted forest during a noontime eclipse...
Can dragons wield weapons with their 'hands'?
They can apparently do somatic gestures for spells just fine, I'm not sure if that extends to scrolls/wands?
I am asking the weapon question in the context of whether you can do so while in Dragon Form or not.My preference is no, they cannot.
If only because the mental image of a dragon fighting with a sword is, to me, silly. But also because dragons already do a LOT of damage, and replacing one of their 5+ natural attacks with a weapon capable of doing iterative attacks is just brutal and needless overkill.
So... no. They cannot wield weapons.
*insert mental image of a colossal greatsword wielding Great wyrm Gold Dragon fighting a collosal greataxe wielding Great wyrm Red Dragon*
Isn't it part of the essential theme of the oracle, the part that distinguishes it from the cleric that unlike the former who may have gone to seminary or somesuch and signed up to be a servant of his or her god, that oracles were essentially drafted by powers they may not even like or know the identity of?
The "Theme" of the Oracle, as it were, is that that you weren't really given a choice as to whether or not you have powers. They were sort of just thrust upon you. There are plenty of oracles in real-world mythology that knew the name of their patron, i.e. the Oracle at Delphie, mostly because Apollo revealed himself to her.
If only because the mental image of a dragon fighting with a sword is, to me, silly.
They have such stubby little arms! It would be like asking if T-Rexes with an Intelligence of 3+ could wield weapons. Yeah, technically they could ... but it would look absolutely ridiculous.
If you're going to give a dragon a "weapon," fluff it as something like a piece of tail armor with a morning star ball attacked to the end that augments the natural attack (i.e. piercing and bludgeoning instead of just bludgeoning, plus armor spikes appropriate for the dragon's size). That's about the only reasonable weapon I could see a dragon using, and even that can be a little bit silly.
Thank you again for taking the time to answer the questions of obsessive-compulsive geeks like us. : )
A Witch theory follow-up: If the Witch is granted power for her magic by an active external source, what does it actually mean that the magic is arcane rather than divine? You mentioned earlier how the magic of an Oracle requires faith of some sort because it is divine rather than arcane magic, even where it does not require the intervention or approval of a deity or other active source of power. Would the opposite be true here, that Witch magic is arcane rather than divine because she can approach it without faith or devotion and shape the spells herself, even when the power is granted by an active Patron?
That's a decision for your GM to answer. There's certainly no reason why an oracle COULDN'T worship a single deity, though. And whatever mystery you want to pick is fine... if someone did something like this in my game I'd only require them to justify their Mystery and deity choice with a cool backstory.Hey James,
I know it's not usual to the class, but can an oracle be empowered by a single god/goddess instead of a pantheon or a philosophy, similar to a cleric? If so, is it required that the person take a mystery that has their god as part of the "deities" section of the mystery description or are those moreso examples instead of a finite, final list?
Thanks! I thought I read somewhere that it was supposed to be like that but that "somewhere" wasn't in the APG.
Hey James, for once I have setting questions for you rather than rules questions!
1. Assuming Daikitsu wasn't always a goddess, did she start off as a fox or a Kitsune? Of course, I'm referring to Pathfinder's version of the Kitsune.
2. Which came first, the goddess Daikitsu or the Kitsune race?
3. Does Paizo have any plans on making an animal/fey creature version of the kitsune race for a future bestiary so that there can be "nine tailed foxes" and foxes at various stages of becoming a ninetails, or are these roles being filled by Daikitsu and the Kitsunes?
I'm asking these questions because I have this theory that Daikitsu was once a 'fey creature' fox, and similar to the Japanese legend grew in power (and tails) as she aged. When she reached nine tails, she became a goddess. The kitsune race itself was actually created by her at some point either before or after she ascended. I'm curious about how far off my theory is ;)
Though, with my luck, the answers to these questions will be "We are not ready to answer these yet". XD
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Creative Director
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Isn't it part of the essential theme of the oracle, the part that distinguishes it from the cleric that unlike the former who may have gone to seminary or somesuch and signed up to be a servant of his or her god, that oracles were essentially drafted by powers they may not even like or know the identity of?That's a decision for your GM to answer. There's certainly no reason why an oracle COULDN'T worship a single deity, though. And whatever mystery you want to pick is fine... if someone did something like this in my game I'd only require them to justify their Mystery and deity choice with a cool backstory.Hey James,
I know it's not usual to the class, but can an oracle be empowered by a single god/goddess instead of a pantheon or a philosophy, similar to a cleric? If so, is it required that the person take a mystery that has their god as part of the "deities" section of the mystery description or are those moreso examples instead of a finite, final list?
Yup.
Just because you choose to worship a specific deity doesn't mean that's where your mystery and spellcasting actually come from, you know... ;-)
They're called mysteries for a reason. So if a GM wants to play up the fact that your powers come from something other than the deity you worship... oracle's more or less the perfect choice for that kind of character.
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Creative Director
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If only because the mental image of a dragon fighting with a sword is, to me, silly.They have such stubby little arms! It would be like asking if T-Rexes with an Intelligence of 3+ could wield weapons. Yeah, technically they could ... but it would look absolutely ridiculous.
If you're going to give a dragon a "weapon," fluff it as something like a piece of tail armor with a morning star ball attacked to the end that augments the natural attack (i.e. piercing and bludgeoning instead of just bludgeoning, plus armor spikes appropriate for the dragon's size). That's about the only reasonable weapon I could see a dragon using, and even that can be a little bit silly.
And even then, you'll still have the problem of the fact that the dragon's damage output just bumped it up several CR's worth of expected damage steps.
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Creative Director
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A Witch theory follow-up: If the Witch is granted power for her magic by an active external source, what does it actually mean that the magic is arcane rather than divine? You mentioned earlier how the magic of an Oracle requires faith of some sort because it is divine rather than arcane magic, even where it does not require the intervention or approval of a deity or other active source of power. Would the opposite be true here, that Witch magic is arcane rather than divine because she can approach it without faith or devotion and shape the spells herself, even when the power is granted by an active Patron?
The magic is still arcane. She's granted additional knowledge of that magic, but she's free to use or ignore it as she wishes.
Part of the goal with the witch was to try to blur the lines a little bit between the two magic sources, though...
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Creative Director
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Hey James, for once I have setting questions for you rather than rules questions!
1. Assuming Daikitsu wasn't always a goddess, did she start off as a fox or a Kitsune? Of course, I'm referring to Pathfinder's version of the Kitsune.
2. Which came first, the goddess Daikitsu or the Kitsune race?
3. Does Paizo have any plans on making an animal/fey creature version of the kitsune race for a future bestiary so that there can be "nine tailed foxes" and foxes at various stages of becoming a ninetails, or are these roles being filled by Daikitsu and the Kitsunes?
I'm asking these questions because I have this theory that Daikitsu was once a 'fey creature' fox, and similar to the Japanese legend grew in power (and tails) as she aged. When she reached nine tails, she became a goddess. The kitsune race itself was actually created by her at some point either before or after she ascended. I'm curious about how far off my theory is ;)
Though, with my luck, the answers to these questions will be "We are not ready to answer these yet". XD
1) Kitsune.
2) Unknown... depends who you ask! (I generally prefer NOT to nail down things like creation myths and the like as having one real answer...)
3) No; the idea was that a kitsune and the nine-tailed-fox are the same... just that the nine-tailed-fox is a high level kitsune.
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Creative Director
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Thanks again for answering my previous questions. On a slightly unrelated note, how do you personally deal with evil PCs in your campaigns? Have you ever encountered this before? Do you even allow it in your games? Just a curiosity.
I allow it, but I inform the player of the evil character that if they ever start messing with the other PCs... I won't take steps to hide that. It all plays out on the table. And if that player's playing of an evil character makes the game less fun for the other players... he has to be willing to retire that character as an NPC under my control and then replace that character with a brand new one.
AKA: It requires a really mature group of players to pull off.
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Creative Director
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In Shattered Star will there be any rivals to hunting down the star pieces? A group similar to the Stormblades for example. Adventure seems ripe for it.
Nope. That's a good idea, but the setup of the adventure is that the PCs are the only ones tracking the shards down. In a few of the adventures, there'll be rivals going for that adventure's shard, but there's no "Stormblades" type rivalry going on, since that kind of element actually requires a pretty big footprint in the adventures and one of the big goals for "Shattered Star" is to maximize the dungeons and encounters to give it a more classic feel, similar to Runelords in a lot of ways.
Hey James, for once I have setting questions for you rather than rules questions!
1. Assuming Daikitsu wasn't always a goddess, did she start off as a fox or a Kitsune? Of course, I'm referring to Pathfinder's version of the Kitsune.
2. Which came first, the goddess Daikitsu or the Kitsune race?
3. Does Paizo have any plans on making an animal/fey creature version of the kitsune race for a future bestiary so that there can be "nine tailed foxes" and foxes at various stages of becoming a ninetails, or are these roles being filled by Daikitsu and the Kitsunes?
I'm asking these questions because I have this theory that Daikitsu was once a 'fey creature' fox, and similar to the Japanese legend grew in power (and tails) as she aged. When she reached nine tails, she became a goddess. The kitsune race itself was actually created by her at some point either before or after she ascended. I'm curious about how far off my theory is ;)
Though, with my luck, the answers to these questions will be "We are not ready to answer these yet". XD
1) Kitsune.
2) Unknown... depends who you ask! (I generally prefer NOT to nail down things like creation myths and the like as having one real answer...)
3) No; the idea was that a kitsune and the nine-tailed-fox are the same... just that the nine-tailed-fox is a high level kitsune.
Thanks for the answers! As expected, my theory was only partially right at best.
Hmmmm... I guess I'll treat the 'fey animal' multi-tailed fox that I'm designing as a unique creature with just a distant connection to the Kitsune race now that I know more about your intents when you designed the Kitsunes.
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Creative Director
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Haven't there been times when you've wanted nothing more than to go for brutal and needless overkill?Can dragons wield weapons with their 'hands'?
They can apparently do somatic gestures for spells just fine, I'm not sure if that extends to scrolls/wands?
I am asking the weapon question in the context of whether you can do so while in Dragon Form or not.My preference is no, they cannot.
If only because the mental image of a dragon fighting with a sword is, to me, silly. But also because dragons already do a LOT of damage, and replacing one of their 5+ natural attacks with a weapon capable of doing iterative attacks is just brutal and needless overkill.
You can do that with a dragon without giving him a vorpal sword. Just give him more hit dice or advance his age category. Presto... you have a brutal and needless overkiller that isn't silly. Which is what dragons who use swords are, in my opinion.
Here's an odd little question that may (or may not) require some background.
For my campaign setting, I'm toying with the idea that Samsarans look exactly like humans except for two key differences. The first is that they keep their clear blood, and the second is that they don't have "belly buttons." I figured that since the individual sort of just popped into existence, there wouldn't have been the need for such a thing. I suppose its a very Kyle XY concept.
So that got me thinking; would ALL resurrection magic function like that? After all, if the spell just poofs a new, young adult body from nothing, what would be the point of adding something like a belly button? So, yes, my extremely odd question is "Do you still have a belly button if your body is completely remade from resurrection magic, such as raise dead or reincarnation?"
I know I'm free to make my own calls on the subject, but I'm curious to see what you think, as its not really a detail that people would think about when their character returns from the dead.
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Creative Director
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Actually in a home game I do have a Dragon NPC who has a sword he's fond of. Because he spends most of his time in Human guise, looking to destabilise things in the local kingdom. (He's got his eye on the throne as a long-distance goal) So he generally tries to avoid fighting as a dragon.
What I've done is for his human guise is essentially apply a reverse of Form of the Dragon 3 to convert him from his Ancient Red Dragon form that of an apparant Human male. I figure his Hit Dice suffice sufficiently for effective BAB. And equip him with human scale magic gear that melds into his Dragon form in those rare occasions he sheds his disguise.
Does that approach sound consistent?
If you have a big NPC in your game and you want to equip it as such... it doesn't matter if the NPC is a collection of levels or a collection of racial HD.
What I do is look at the monster's CR, and if I want it to have NPC gear, I give it NPC gear as an equal CR NPC. Or if I really wanna go crazy, PC gear.
In such a case, I'd probably have the dragon fight the PCs in his human guise then escape to fight them again in dragon guise.