What kind of cheese do you like the taste of the best?
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You probably answered that somewhere... but oh well, why not again? :P Many people liked Warlock-class idea. While I know that Warlock is trademarked, etc. Is it possible to make a class with a similar spellcasting system?
Have you considered some shadowy magic? Like the shadow source in 4 th or Shadowcaster from 3,5 ed? I find very inspiring the ideas from "Descent of Shadows", especially the Hollow class: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74519 If you have time, maybe take a look ;-)Hollow is a warrior-like character that is kind of cursed. He is being devoured by shadows, but gains power from it. Thing that is very creepy about him is that his addiction to shadows causes the environment to change around him, lights become dim, colors more gray-like, emotions become dull, etc. :P
Is Nidal literally shrouded in eternal night, or only figuratively? I've seen fluff that implies each in different books.Nidal's day and night work the same as anywhere else for the most part. There's probably some small scale eternal shadowy light spots here and there, but they're not that big. For the most part, the "shadow over Nidal" is a metaphor for Zon-Kuthon. Just as the darkness in "Age of Darkness" is a metaphor (the actual physical darkness caused by Earthfall probably only lasted a few weeks at most).
...wait. The story behind the orc conquest of Avistan has always been that the orcs were able to manage it because the lighting conditions favored them for centuries, and they were only overthrown when the literal darkness ended.
How does this work now?
Creative Director
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You probably answered that somewhere... but oh well, why not again? :P Many people liked Warlock-class idea. While I know that Warlock is trademarked, etc. Is it possible to make a class with a similar spellcasting system?
Have you considered some shadowy magic? Like the shadow source in 4 th or Shadowcaster from 3,5 ed? I find very inspiring the ideas from "Descent of Shadows", especially the Hollow class: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74519 If you have time, maybe take a look ;-)Hollow is a warrior-like character that is kind of cursed. He is being devoured by shadows, but gains power from it. Thing that is very creepy about him is that his addiction to shadows causes the environment to change around him, lights become dim, colors more gray-like, emotions become dull, etc. :P
Since it was done in 3.5, I'd say it's absolutely possible. The alchemist is actually pretty close already—just change his bombs into rays and presto!
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Creative Director
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Is Nidal literally shrouded in eternal night, or only figuratively? I've seen fluff that implies each in different books.Nidal's day and night work the same as anywhere else for the most part. There's probably some small scale eternal shadowy light spots here and there, but they're not that big. For the most part, the "shadow over Nidal" is a metaphor for Zon-Kuthon. Just as the darkness in "Age of Darkness" is a metaphor (the actual physical darkness caused by Earthfall probably only lasted a few weeks at most)....wait. The story behind the orc conquest of Avistan has always been that the orcs were able to manage it because the lighting conditions favored them for centuries, and they were only overthrown when the literal darkness ended.
How does this work now?
That also is, frankly, metaphor. Garnished with a heavy dose of orc revisionist history. What's more likely is that orcs managed to power through their light blindness and managed their conquering nonetheless.
I'm pretty sure that a thousand years of actual darkness would have caused a lot more ecological damage to Golarion than we want. And even if it DID last that long... it would have had to have been a magical darkness, since Earthfall itself as a physical event couldn't blanket a planet in darkness for that long. Dust settles faster than that.
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Is Nidal literally shrouded in eternal night, or only figuratively? I've seen fluff that implies each in different books.Nidal's day and night work the same as anywhere else for the most part. There's probably some small scale eternal shadowy light spots here and there, but they're not that big. For the most part, the "shadow over Nidal" is a metaphor for Zon-Kuthon. Just as the darkness in "Age of Darkness" is a metaphor (the actual physical darkness caused by Earthfall probably only lasted a few weeks at most)....wait. The story behind the orc conquest of Avistan has always been that the orcs were able to manage it because the lighting conditions favored them for centuries, and they were only overthrown when the literal darkness ended.
How does this work now?
Not James, but this is my interpretation of that:
Google "the year without summer". Actual lightning conditions probably weren't that bad (but even a small percentage difference would have been bad for plant life), but the volcanic gases from the area of Earthfall (almost certainly a asteroid of that size had punched its way to he planet mantle) and the impact dust will have changed the planet climate for decades or hundred of years.
The races that had adapted biologically and culturally to the previous condition would have been badly damaged. The newcomer predators (the orcs) would have found the perfect situation for encroaching. But as the climate shifted back and the old plants and animals started to be dominant again they were the ones that needed to adapt tot eh changing conditions, while the old surface races were again in their preferred environment.
Add to that the description of Light Sensitivity:
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Creatures with light sensitivity are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
It speak of "bright sunlight", not simply sunlight. If the environmental conditions after Earthfall did increase the number of overcast days even by a small margin it mean that the orcs were suffering more rarely for that drawback. So the importance of that racial drawback was reduced for a period. when the climate returned (more or less) to the original patterns they started to suffer more from it.
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Mr. Jacobs,
Did you read and enjoy the Wheel of Time books so far? I confess to not being able to read past the 7th book (realized I just read 200 pages about the characters doing nothing except being uncomfortably warm and stopped), but after hearing that the wonderful Brandon Sanderson made the last books good again, I was thinking about picking it up again.
would you recommand that?
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a couple questions about alchemists and deities and alignments...
1. other than Norgorber and Haagenti are there any other deities (especially non-evil) that favour or have an interest in/look kindly on alchemy as an art or science?
2. Is following or paying tribute to a demon lord or evil deity inherently evil? Does it change your alignment over time just by the fact of your worship (even if it's only lip-service or to gain insight solely on their aspect of alchemy), or do you actively have to perform evil acts in their name for your alignment to be affected?
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Creative Director
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Mr. Jacobs,
Did you read and enjoy the Wheel of Time books so far? I confess to not being able to read past the 7th book (realized I just read 200 pages about the characters doing nothing except being uncomfortably warm and stopped), but after hearing that the wonderful Brandon Sanderson made the last books good again, I was thinking about picking it up again.
would you recommand that?
I read about the first third or half of the first book and got bored with it.
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Creative Director
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a couple questions about alchemists and deities and alignments...
1. other than Norgorber and Haagenti are there any other deities (especially non-evil) that favour or have an interest in/look kindly on alchemy as an art or science?
2. Is following or paying tribute to a demon lord or evil deity inherently evil? Does it change your alignment over time just by the fact of your worship (even if it's only lip-service or to gain insight solely on their aspect of alchemy), or do you actively have to perform evil acts in their name for your alignment to be affected?
1) Any deity that's into magic would be a good choice for alchemy. Nethys comes to mind. Frankly, the better bet is to look at not how a deity might promote alchemy but instead look at how worshiping a deity might change the ALCHEMIST's personality instead. In this way, ANY deity works well.
2) Yes. Granting insight in return for corrupting mortals is pretty much all about how powerful fiends work. It's their whole point.
Do you have minis? If so, what do you store them in? I just started collecting them via Pathfinder Battles and I feel super guilty that my new minis are just chilling out without a home in the remains of my booster box.
You've said several times in this thread and elsewhere that you aren't a big fan of dragons masquerading as humanoids, saying that it is overdone so the Golarion dragons are more like the old legends of them being terrible beasts, etc. I don't disagree that it has been overdone, but... (and I have to put these questions in a spoiler, sorry)
2) Or is Kazavon the exception that proves the rule? Without having as cool a story as his, a dragon is not pretending to be humanoid.
I'm reading through Crimson Throne in preparation for running it and I was surprised to see it in only the second Golarion adventure path. I think you even recommended to people writing their own dragon stories to specifically not do it and instead have a dragon be pulling the strings behind the scenes of a humanoid coming into power. I realize that is similar to what is happening during the adventure part of Crimson Throne, but it's not what happened during Kazavon's life.
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Creative Director
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Do you have minis? If so, what do you store them in? I just started collecting them via Pathfinder Battles and I feel super guilty that my new minis are just chilling out without a home in the remains of my booster box.
I do have minis. I keep them in cardboard boxes lined with foam if they're unpainted, in a plastic tacklebox type tray if they're pre-painted plastic, and on display if they're metal painted.
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Creative Director
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You've said several times in this thread and elsewhere that you aren't a big fan of dragons masquerading as humanoids, saying that it is overdone so the Golarion dragons are more like the old legends of them being terrible beasts, etc. I don't disagree that it has been overdone, but... (and I have to put these questions in a spoiler, sorry)
** spoiler omitted **
To be precise... I'm not a big fan of overdoing the dragons masquerading as humanoids. With Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms out there... it HAS been overdone.
As for your spoiler...
1) Is Kazavon something you would do differently today?
2) Or is Kazavon the exception that proves the rule? Without having as cool a story as his, a dragon is not pretending to be humanoid.
I'm reading through Crimson Throne in preparation for running it and I was surprised to see it in only the second Golarion adventure path. I think you even recommended to people writing their own dragon stories to specifically not do it and instead have a dragon be pulling the strings behind the scenes of a humanoid coming into power. I realize that is similar to what is happening during the adventure part of Crimson Throne, but it's not what happened during Kazavon's life.
1) No, but I would be even more specific and obvious about the fact that Kazavon was not a normal dragon—he was an INSANE dragon who not only was a zealot for Zon-Kuthon but who enjoyed being in human form more than dragon form.
2) If we DO do a dragon masquerading as a human... it needs to have a big important storyline like this. I'm not a fan of casually mentioning "the shopkeeper is also a dragon." Making the general and champion of Zon-Kuthon who brought a nation to its knees and goes on to become more powerful after he dies and has his body parts turned into artifacts is more the level of a storyline I'd want a dragon masquerading as a human to have.
And even then... he's not the point or the star of the story. He's merely a tool that the ACTUAL bad girl of the campaign uses to gain power.
And you'll note we've not done much at all with dragons posing as humanoids ever since.
And you'll ALSO note that even when Kazavon was in human form... he STILL acted like a dragon. He wasn't a baker or an innkeeper. He was a nation-conquering treacherous villain who served the god of pain and darkness.
There has been pirates and ninjas, any interest in a cpwboy/southwestern themed ap? Where might such an AP take place?
No interest really... cowboys/westerns are to anachronistic.
I suppose Coridan could've meant something along the lines of Firefly, where it's a "space western". Is there any interest for an AP whose themes borrow from old westerns? Much in the same way that some of Carrion Crown drew a fair number of themes from 19th century horror.
I just recently got to read The Wormwood Mutiny, homerun on that by the way, and greatly enjoyed it.
My question is, how did the design team manage to pluck all the cool things I've ever wanted in a pirate themed AP from my head without me noticing?
To be precise... I'm not a big fan of overdoing the dragons masquerading as humanoids. With Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms out there... it HAS been overdone.
As for your spoiler...
** spoiler omitted **...
Thanks. I agree about Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. To respond quick...
2) I agree on all points. In fact, not only does Crimson Throne do a great job of introducing the players to the queen, it has a very strong lineup of humanoid allies and villains. I foresee my players being bittersweet when they get to the Cinderlands and have to leave so many people they know behind.
Figured you wouldn't mind a non-question post since I'm complimenting a job well done :)
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Creative Director
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I just recently got to read The Wormwood Mutiny, homerun on that by the way, and greatly enjoyed it.
My question is, how did the design team manage to pluck all the cool things I've ever wanted in a pirate themed AP from my head without me noticing?
If you've ever touched a penny, we have your DNA and are thus able to clone you and use your clone to answer questions about your innermost desires. But don't tell anyone that. It's kinda a secret.
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Creative Director
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...built (not commandeered or otherwise acquired, but BUILT) a grandiose castle that, in his natural great wyrm (!) form, he couldn’t even fit into 90% of. He may have been crazy and may have preferred to be in human form but his castle just never made sense to me.
I hope if Paizo ever does do an AP featuring dragons we’ll get dragon liars representative of what powerful intelligent dragons would build to suit their actual form and abilities instead of simple caves with a twist (in a volcano!) or medium sized humanoid inspired layouts.
Yup. Again... he was relatively insane in that he preferred his human form over his dragon form. Crazy people do things that don't make sense.
We've put PLENTY of dragons in our adventures, and I feel that they've all had "dragony" lairs.
Quick question on *symbol* spells: The *symbol of death* spell description states that the symbol is plainly visible, but it takes a DC33 Perception check for a rogue to find it. Is it just that everyone can see it, but only a perceptive rogue recognizes it as a magical trap? What if the party has come across like 12 of them now...wouldn't they start to recognize them, even though they don't have the trapfinder ability? And would *detect magic* normally detect a symbol spell, or only if it's been activated?
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Creative Director
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Quick question on *symbol* spells: The *symbol of death* spell description states that the symbol is plainly visible, but it takes a DC33 Perception check for a rogue to find it. Is it just that everyone can see it, but only a perceptive rogue recognizes it as a magical trap? What if the party has come across like 12 of them now...wouldn't they start to recognize them, even though they don't have the trapfinder ability? And would *detect magic* normally detect a symbol spell, or only if it's been activated?
The DC 33 Perception check is to realize it's a trap before it goes off. To everyone who fails that check, it's just a marking on a wall. One way to disguise it further is to put it in a dungeon where ALL the walls are covered with markings, and have the symbol be hidden in plain sight among the markings. Detect magic would note the symbol's aura, but wouldn't indicate that it's a trap.
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We've put PLENTY of dragons in our adventures, and I feel that they've all had "dragony" lairs.
Paizo has done a great job in keeping telling terrific stories in the adventure path line, so i have faith that someday you will tell a nice story about the dragonkind of golarion, their politics and conflicts.
My only question is how much the dragon´s backstory from PfAP#4 "Dragons of Golarion" will survive ? You have often said that much from the earlier lore would be retconed, but dragons since then got a lot reduced screen time, labeled only as individuals who get killed for their treasure without much conversation. I really miss a dragon in spotlight.
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Creative Director
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My only question is how much the dragon´s backstory from PfAP#4 "Dragons of Golarion" will survive ? You have often said that much from the earlier lore would be retconed, but dragons since then got a lot reduced screen time, labeled only as individuals who get killed for their treasure without much conversation. I really miss a dragon in spotlight.
That remains to be seen.
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Creative Director
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Going by the preview art of the Catfolk for the Advanced race guide and the one from bestiary 3 is it safe to assume that both styles of catfolk are found on Golarion? or is one more a generic setting one and if so which is which?
Pick the style you like better.
Personally, I much prefer the art from Bestiary 3.
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Going by the preview art of the Catfolk for the Advanced race guide and the one from bestiary 3 is it safe to assume that both styles of catfolk are found on Golarion? or is one more a generic setting one and if so which is which?Pick the style you like better.
Personally, I much prefer the art from Bestiary 3.
Maybe we could see a male catfolk done in this style? ^^
On the topic of art, did you like the Bestiary 3 Ratfolk or Monday's Blog's Ratfolk better? I preferred the blog's personally, which I assume is also from the Advanced Race Guide.
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Creative Director
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On the topic of art, did you like the Bestiary 3 Ratfolk or Monday's Blog's Ratfolk better? I preferred the blog's personally, which I assume is also from the Advanced Race Guide.
It's a tossup for me.
The Monday ratfolk looks more like a mousefolk, but I like the illustration better than the Bestiary 3 one which has a "what is that giant rat" thing in the way.
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So, out of curiosity, are there any places other than Alkenstar that actually make guns?
Anywhere in Tian Xia, for example?
Or is Alkenstar (and occasional expatriates trained there) really the only origin for such things in Golarion?
And if there are such places, where are they?
I'm actually cool with either answer, I'm just deeply curious which is more true, and really curious where such alternate locations are if they do exist.
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When the zombie apocalypse strikes, where will you go to hide? Will you take your cat with you? How well prepared are you - do you have a zombie survival kit on hand?Alaska (or somewhere the temperature will freeze the dead zombies solid so they're even easier to flee from).
Of COURSE I'll take Shimmy with me.
I'm poorly prepared for the event, though.
That's cool, I have a cat named Shimmy too. Is yours short for Shimmy Coco Puff?
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Creative Director
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So, out of curiosity, are there any places other than Alkenstar that actually make guns?
Anywhere in Tian Xia, for example?
Or is Alkenstar (and occasional expatriates trained there) really the only origin for such things in Golarion?
And if there are such places, where are they?
I'm actually cool with either answer, I'm just deeply curious which is more true, and really curious where such alternate locations are if they do exist.
At this point, the only locations that make guns are in the eastern Mana Wastes (there are some factories that are technically outside of the city of Alkenstar there). There's probably a few gunsmiths operating elsewhere in the world, but on a one-person level, where they're creating guns at such a slow pace that they don't really factor in on a large scale.
For now, with guns having only recently emerged into the scene in Golarion, Alkenstar is the main and pretty much only place that's producing them.
(This, by the way, is on purpose—we may or may not do a "guns" themed adventure path or something like that some day, and if we do, I'd like the plot to be able to do something along the lines of having the PCs either help spread guns around or stop them entirely, depending on the plot I end up liking more... but in either case, the idea of having the PCs involved in the next stage of firearm spread through the world of Golarion is too cool an idea to abandon by saying there's gunsmithing happening anywhere other than Alkenstar.)
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Creative Director
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When the zombie apocalypse strikes, where will you go to hide? Will you take your cat with you? How well prepared are you - do you have a zombie survival kit on hand?Alaska (or somewhere the temperature will freeze the dead zombies solid so they're even easier to flee from).
Of COURSE I'll take Shimmy with me.
I'm poorly prepared for the event, though.
That's cool, I have a cat named Shimmy too. Is yours short for Shimmy Coco Puff?
Woah.
Nope. Just Shimmy.
Do races with darkvision also get the benefits of low-light vision? Or is it just normal vision in the presence of light and darkvision in the absence of it, without any extra range in dim light?
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does the sprinter racial trait apply before or after you multiply their speed ie. if a character with a 30ft movement speed & sprinter charged would his speed be 80ft or would it be 70ft?Where's that trait from?
Catfolk get it as part of their standard racial package and one can build it into a race with the advanced races playtest (it's under movement abilities).
Also does the dwarves slow but steady racial ability not cost any RP to put on a race during race creation?
Doc, I suspect the rules were changed a fair amount since beta. I'd just wait to see.
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well the sprinter piece is in the catfolk racial build in B3 and that one has bothered me since launch as it can have some very big connotations when it comes down to movement. As for the second part I was just curious on that one.
Here's what I'm talking about with sprinter