What's your least favourite dinosaur?
Fey-warped dinosaurs: thoughts?
This may seem like a odd/obvious question and answer, but if a werewolf character is level 4 and takes a +1 str at level 4 for his ability bonus, does that +1 apply in hybrid and animal forms too, or only if it brings his human str higher than his animal str?That only applies to his human form. If the +1 (or later boosts) bring his human form's score above the animal's score, then that new value replaces the animal/hybrid score.
Alright cool. That's actually what I was thinking it might actually be intended to work but it didn't seem 100% obvious to me so I thought I'd ask to be sure since I am running a game with a friend who is a weretiger and besides that, as I'm sure anyone who pays attention to my questions, I'm a huge werewolf fan. Heh.
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Alright cool. That's actually what I was thinking it might actually be intended to work but it didn't seem 100% obvious to me so I thought I'd ask to be sure since I am running a game with a friend who is a weretiger and besides that, as I'm sure anyone who pays attention to my questions, I'm a huge werewolf fan. Heh.This may seem like a odd/obvious question and answer, but if a werewolf character is level 4 and takes a +1 str at level 4 for his ability bonus, does that +1 apply in hybrid and animal forms too, or only if it brings his human str higher than his animal str?That only applies to his human form. If the +1 (or later boosts) bring his human form's score above the animal's score, then that new value replaces the animal/hybrid score.
Good lord. Still, don't tick him/her off. All of the players in my group(s) are human, so far.
Good lord. Still, don't tick him/her off. All of the players in my group(s) are human, so far.Alright cool. That's actually what I was thinking it might actually be intended to work but it didn't seem 100% obvious to me so I thought I'd ask to be sure since I am running a game with a friend who is a weretiger and besides that, as I'm sure anyone who pays attention to my questions, I'm a huge werewolf fan. Heh.This may seem like a odd/obvious question and answer, but if a werewolf character is level 4 and takes a +1 str at level 4 for his ability bonus, does that +1 apply in hybrid and animal forms too, or only if it brings his human str higher than his animal str?That only applies to his human form. If the +1 (or later boosts) bring his human form's score above the animal's score, then that new value replaces the animal/hybrid score.
Ditto, I've never had the (mis)fortune to play with anything but a human. Could you imagine trying to play with a goblin? He'd eat the dice!
AbsolutGrndZer0, I would read the rest of the posts James Jacobs made on the werewolf topic. The initial response could be misleading.
- Gauss
Does energy resistance cold and fire reduce the effects of environmental damage?
I know in 3.5 it did. Did it stay over?
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Does energy resistance cold and fire reduce the effects of environmental damage?
I know in 3.5 it did. Did it stay over?
Not sure if we specifically state that's the case... but if we don't that's because the environmental rules had to fit in a pretty small section of the book and we had to compress and squeeze.
Logically... being resistant to cold should make you able to endure (and even enjoy or prefer) cold environments. Being resistant to fire should make you able to endure (and even enjoy or prefer) hot environments.
JJ,
Heard a rumor that we can be expecting an Aldori Swordlord PrC. Any truth to that, and if so, when can we expect it?
Erinyeses and Shadow Angels are said to be angels who fell to evil during a war between the angels.
is the war of angels simply a throwback to the heavenly war of christian belief or is there a specific event in pathfinder Golarian history? If so where can I find more info about this war?
THANX
OH... and on a side note... are Erinyeses supposed to have 'flyby attack' or does 'shot on the run' allow them to shoot while flying?
Dear J.Jacobs-
Is there an Olympics on Golarion? If not, could there be?
I have the Olympic fever!!!!!
I believe Sargava holds a competition similar to the Olympics, called the Sargava Chalice.
EDIT: Found it, Inner Sea World Guide p167. Turns out it's just one event -- a marathon cross-country footrace. Sounds kind of like the Ididerod or the Tour de France, but without dogsleds or bicycles.
Golarion Solstices?
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Erinyeses and Shadow Angels are said to be angels who fell to evil during a war between the angels.
is the war of angels simply a throwback to the heavenly war of christian belief or is there a specific event in pathfinder Golarian history? If so where can I find more info about this war?
THANX
OH... and on a side note... are Erinyeses supposed to have 'flyby attack' or does 'shot on the run' allow them to shoot while flying?
The vast majority of erinyes are created normally, as all other devils. The first ones were indeed fallen angels, and now and then new ones are created that way still, but it's rare.
Not sure where shadow angels come from off the top of my head.
You might want to check out Book of the Damned I for more details.
And shot on the run can indeed be used with any movement type, including flight. Flyby attack is a LOT easier to qualify for, but it doesn't negate attacks of opportunity like Shot on the Run does.
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Yes Man.Caesar Legion, NCR, Mr. House or Yes man?Stormcloaks or Imperial Legion?Stormcloaks
I think it is were I will end too. I wish I could do half of this, one quarter of that and another quarter of another.
In Skyrim I sided with the legion. The stormcloak had some positive aspect, but they are too similar to one of the separatist political movements in my home country.
Yes Man.Caesar Legion, NCR, Mr. House or Yes man?Stormcloaks or Imperial Legion?StormcloaksI think it is were I will end too. I wish I could do half of this, one quarter of that and another quarter of another.
In Skyrim I sided with the legion. The stormcloak had some positive aspect, but they are too similar to one of the separatist political movements in my home country.
Ugh, what a tough question. On the one hand, I want the Empire to stand strong through the ages, but on the other, I hate the Thalmor, but I'm not very fond of the Stormcloaks themselves. I ended up, ultimately, siding with the Stormcloaks simply because you don't end up killing one of the Jarl's that way, and upsetting things in Skyrim even more.
FireclawDrake, rogues also get a bonus to detecting and disarming traps that put them significantly ahead of most other classes who try to do the same thing.
- Gauss
Eh... Don't get me wrong, the 1/2 level bonuses can certainly make a difference, but then if we're gonna argue like that, we might as well say that bards are the best users of the knowledge skills because of their 1/2 level bonus.
Either way, I think my main beef with Haunts is that, when I first read the rules concerning them, I kinda did a "huh"? I felt like sections of the haunt rules had been left out of the GMG. They didn't feel very complete. For example... when do you assign XP for haunts? When the manifest? If they manifest and are subsuquently defeated? Only if the party (somehow) discovered the way to put the haunt to rest?
There are lots of... unanswered questions in the rules on how, exactly, to run haunts. Maybe that put a bad taste in my mouth (especially since the first AP I ever ran was Carrion Crown, and the Haunting of Harrowstone was completely awesome, except for all the haunts, and me with no idea how to run them properly.
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Eh... Don't get me wrong, the 1/2 level bonuses can certainly make a difference, but then if we're gonna argue like that, we might as well say that bards are the best users of the knowledge skills because of their 1/2 level bonus.
Who are the best knowledge users, if not bards?
Who are the best knowledge users, if not bards?Eh... Don't get me wrong, the 1/2 level bonuses can certainly make a difference, but then if we're gonna argue like that, we might as well say that bards are the best users of the knowledge skills because of their 1/2 level bonus.
Yeah, was about to say, Bards pretty much own the Knowledge skills. Even a Wizard can't keep up with them after a certain point, at which their higher INT can no longer match the Bardic Knowledge bonus.
Faster if he starts with 14 INT or higher, as most Bards I've seen played did, or if the wizard has less.
Yeah, was about to say, Bards pretty much own the Knowledge skills. Even a Wizard can't keep up with them after a certain point, at which their higher INT can no longer match the Bardic Knowledge bonus.
Yeah. Plus once you factor in the bard's ability to take 10 when he otherwise could not, and to take 20 when he REALLY wants to know something, the bard is the clear winner vs the wizard.
I could see an argument for lore oracle, but tbh it seems like even if you select every knowledge-related revelation, you might barely keep pace with a bard. Even the capstone ability to take 20 on all knowledge checks all the time doesn't put them ahead, since the bard at that point can take 10 with a +10 bonus (the wish component of that ability is obviously amazing however). The only thing the oracle can really do that the bard cannot is retry a knowledge check, which admittedly is potentially very helpful.
3rd edition D&D had problems with people conflating the personality traits of gnomes with those of halflings, and vice versa. 4th edition addressed this issue by dropping gnomes from the list of core PC races, whereas Pathfinder attempted to push them into more divergent conceptual space by making gnomes more fey and alien, while emphasizing halflings' homeyness and socially symbiotic relationship with humans. An effort was also made to differentiate them visually (halflings don't wear shoes, gnomes have crazy hair). Would you say this is fairly accurate, and if so, what has been the degree of success of Pathfinder's approach in your opinion?
3rd edition D&D had problems with people conflating the personality traits of gnomes with those of halflings, and vice versa. 4th edition addressed this issue by dropping gnomes from the list of core PC races, whereas Pathfinder attempted to push them into more divergent conceptual space by making gnomes more fey and alien, while emphasizing halflings' homeyness and socially symbiotic relationship with humans. An effort was also made to differentiate them visually (halflings don't wear shoes, gnomes have crazy hair). Would you say this is fairly accurate, and if so, what has been the degree of success of Pathfinder's approach in your opinion?
I'm not James, but I think Golarion's approach is AWESOME. Doesn't leave many people wanting to play halflings though, in my experience...
I'm not James, but I think Golarion's approach is AWESOME. Doesn't leave many people wanting to play halflings though, in my experience...
I also think Golarion/Pathfinder's approach is awesome, and I still love both gnomes and halflings. I can't pick a favorite, so it usually comes down to which one am I playing right now.
got a couple of questions this time:
1. If you could game with any celebrity, who would it be?
2. Do Control Weather effects work at all in the region of the Eye of Abendego?
3. What's the relationship like with Ragathiel and his father? Any sort of "Sure my kid's Good, but he can kick all your kid's butts."
Oh mighty theropod!
As another cryptozoology fan, can we expect to see in the Mystery Monsters revisited new variants of cryptid monsters reflecting different descriptions given in different areas?
So like, besides the dinosaur chupacabra, a variant that is more like the dog creatures in Texas or aliens in Puerto Rico? Or sea serpents fitting into some of the different classifications given by Heuvelmans (although some of those probably would work better as completely different monsters)?
Dear JJ,
Can you make this real?
Will you make this real?
IIRC he does not care too much for Eberron's Warforged so I doubt he will pitch it to the team. Personally I like the idea of a sentient construct PC race.
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I'm in the process of converting Second Darkness to PFRPG and am finishing up Shadow in the Sky. I've been applying your suggestion of increasing NPCs by one level to keep the CRs equivalent, and that has been working great. Regarding the final encounter of that module (and future encounters with that creature type), since the 3.5 level advancement doesn't exist in PF, do you recommend increasing those NPC levels by two to maintain CR, or only increase by one but add in more bodies to fight?
Thanks.
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So, Drow Nobles. Fairly simple question, but where do they come from?
Both from standard Bestiary and Advanced Race Guide perspectives, they're DRASTICALLY more powerful, with no other (obvious) explanation than "well, they're better."
What happened to the Drow to give their genetics such a massive power-boost? Is this something that Elves could get in on as well?
(I'm using the ARG to build Elven counterparts, and any backstory for the Drow Nobles would really help me flesh out their origin story).
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Creative Director
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Who are the best knowledge users, if not bards?Eh... Don't get me wrong, the 1/2 level bonuses can certainly make a difference, but then if we're gonna argue like that, we might as well say that bards are the best users of the knowledge skills because of their 1/2 level bonus.
Bards are absolutely intended to be the best at knowledge skills. Wizards come in 2nd, but mostly only because they generally have a high Intelligence score. There's a disconnect out there among some folks who think that wizards should be the best at knowledge... but in fact their focus is being the most versatile with arcane magic.
Whereas a wizard can certainly be a brilliant person at one or two knowledge skills... it's the bard that is easiest to be brilliant at all of the knowledge skills.
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Creative Director
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Dear JJ,
Can you make this real?
Will you make this real?
Sorry, but no.
The warforged were, in fact, my 2nd least-favorite part of Eberron (which is, itself, my least favorite official D&D setting).
Further, the warforged are not open content, and I'm not interested in publishing elements for Pathfinder that are deliberately built to duplicate closed content intellectual property.
The race-building options in the Advanced Race Guide were published PRECISELY for cases like this, honestly, so that folks who DO want to go down that road for their games, or would like to have some guidelines for converting races like thri-kreen or gully dwarves or rakastas or warforged would have them.
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Creative Director
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3rd edition D&D had problems with people conflating the personality traits of gnomes with those of halflings, and vice versa. 4th edition addressed this issue by dropping gnomes from the list of core PC races, whereas Pathfinder attempted to push them into more divergent conceptual space by making gnomes more fey and alien, while emphasizing halflings' homeyness and socially symbiotic relationship with humans. An effort was also made to differentiate them visually (halflings don't wear shoes, gnomes have crazy hair). Would you say this is fairly accurate, and if so, what has been the degree of success of Pathfinder's approach in your opinion?
It's quite accurate. In previous editions of the games, I feel that gnomes and (to a lesser extent) halflings never really had a "champion" among the game's design staff. As a result, these races got less attention than humans or elves or dwarves. (Just look at how 2nd edition handled the race books—gnomes and halflings were lumped into one book together.)
I'm actually a pretty big fan of halflings AND gnomes, so I was one of the folks here at Paizo who really wanted to make sure Golarion's halflings and gnomes had stronger support.
We're not 100% there yet. Halflings have pointed ears and gnomes don't, for example, and that's something that we're still not completely able to make happen right with every piece of art.
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Creative Director
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got a couple of questions this time:
1. If you could game with any celebrity, who would it be?
2. Do Control Weather effects work at all in the region of the Eye of Abendego?
3. What's the relationship like with Ragathiel and his father? Any sort of "Sure my kid's Good, but he can kick all your kid's butts."
1) Kate Beckinsale!
2) Not well.
3) We'll likely say more about that some day, but not right now.
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Creative Director
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Oh mighty theropod!
As another cryptozoology fan, can we expect to see in the Mystery Monsters revisited new variants of cryptid monsters reflecting different descriptions given in different areas?
So like, besides the dinosaur chupacabra, a variant that is more like the dog creatures in Texas or aliens in Puerto Rico? Or sea serpents fitting into some of the different classifications given by Heuvelmans (although some of those probably would work better as completely different monsters)?
We often talk about variant creatures in our Revisited line. I'm not sure how this will be handled in Mystery Monsters, though, as I'm not really involved in this one much more than helping to concept the basics for the book.
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Creative Director
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I'm in the process of converting Second Darkness to PFRPG and am finishing up Shadow in the Sky. I've been applying your suggestion of increasing NPCs by one level to keep the CRs equivalent, and that has been working great. Regarding the final encounter of that module (and future encounters with that creature type), since the 3.5 level advancement doesn't exist in PF, do you recommend increasing those NPC levels by two to maintain CR, or only increase by one but add in more bodies to fight?
Thanks.
Honestly... I'd mix it up a bit. However you advance the NPCs, though... look at their AC and attacks and average damage and hit points and saves and ability DCs and compare those numbers to Table 1–1 in the Bestiary, and THAT should be the main way by which you assign CRs to them.
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Creative Director
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So, Drow Nobles. Fairly simple question, but where do they come from?
Both from standard Bestiary and Advanced Race Guide perspectives, they're DRASTICALLY more powerful, with no other (obvious) explanation than "well, they're better."What happened to the Drow to give their genetics such a massive power-boost? Is this something that Elves could get in on as well?
(I'm using the ARG to build Elven counterparts, and any backstory for the Drow Nobles would really help me flesh out their origin story).
They're born, for the most part, to drow noble mothers. Now and then a drow with the capability to be a noble is born to the common drow, and if such a drow lives to maturity she'll have a significant advantage over the others—it's these rare cases where new noble families rise up.
Why does this happen?
The Golarion reason = now and then, the demonic energies the drow worship, combined with stranger eldritch forces tied to Rovagug and the Darklands (which originally caused the drow to appear in the first place), periodically bolster a fetus during gestation and turn it into a drow noble. In Golarion, there is no real way to do an elven counterpart, but if you wanted to do something like that in a homebrew, I would recommend having the elves worship something akin to Empyrial Lords and have them live in an area where there's some powerful magic that can periodically enhance unborn babies.
And of course, once nobles are born, they can pass those traits on to their children via simple genetics.
Are Golarion halflings nomadic?
Are Golarion halflings nomadic?
I guess that depends on whether being traded as slaves counts as nomadic?
I guess that depends on whether being traded as slaves counts as nomadic?
Ouch. Low blow. (nyuk nyuk nyuk)
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The warforged were, in fact, my 2nd least-favorite part of Eberron (which is, itself, my least favorite official D&D setting).
1: So what was your number-one least-favorite part of Eberron?
2: What would you say about a Brutal Pugilist who focuses on grapple and unarmed damage (especially featwise)? Possibly giving him a monk's robe.
3: Parchment or papyrus?
So, Drow Nobles. Fairly simple question, but where do they come from?
Both from standard Bestiary and Advanced Race Guide perspectives, they're DRASTICALLY more powerful, with no other (obvious) explanation than "well, they're better."What happened to the Drow to give their genetics such a massive power-boost? Is this something that Elves could get in on as well?
(I'm using the ARG to build Elven counterparts, and any backstory for the Drow Nobles would really help me flesh out their origin story).They're born, for the most part, to drow noble mothers. Now and then a drow with the capability to be a noble is born to the common drow, and if such a drow lives to maturity she'll have a significant advantage over the others—it's these rare cases where new noble families rise up.
Why does this happen?
The Golarion reason = now and then, the demonic energies the drow worship, combined with stranger eldritch forces tied to Rovagug and the Darklands (which originally caused the drow to appear in the first place), periodically bolster a fetus during gestation and turn it into a drow noble. In Golarion, there is no real way to do an elven counterpart, but if you wanted to do something like that in a homebrew, I would recommend having the elves worship something akin to Empyrial Lords and have them live in an area where there's some powerful magic that can periodically enhance unborn babies.
And of course, once nobles are born, they can pass those traits on to their children via simple genetics.
Would their presence near the Gate in Kyonin (who's name escapes me), be sufficient for the transformation, or the presence of Treerazer nearby? Little has been published about the Elven Kingdom of Kyonin, so it's possible there is some unmentioned artifact that permeates the ground, and a combination of the artifact, gate(s) and Treerazer presence can enhance elves into "Nobles".
Also, if the slumbering form of Rovagug is enough to interact with unborn drow to make them Nobles, could the nearby presence of the Starstone enhance people in Absalom? Considering the Starstone is powerful enough to raise a mortal to level of deific power that they become major gods on Golarion, I'd imagine it's mere presence would have some sort of effect over the nearby population and land.