Have you ever been to Drumheller ? And if not what's stopping you?
Creative Director
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Since the term grub is usually used for the larval stage of an insect; what is the adult stage in the Rot Grub life-cycle, and is it a horrible creature fit only for burning?
Rot grubs likely become giant rot grubs when they grow up, but I'm not 100% sure. I do think that rot grubs are more interesting if they DON'T follow that normal grub life cycle.
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Creative Director
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James -
What do we know about Taldan Royal Houses? Are there any listed in the canon? Do we treat them pretty much like British houses, post-empire? If a Taldan royal dies, leaving a bastard son, a legitimate daughter, a sister and a brother-in-law as his next of kin, who inherits? Can they contest?
We've not done much with Taldor's royal houses yet, but as a general rule, you can assume that they function similarly to British nobility, since that's the closest real-world analog for Taldor.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever been to Drumheller ? And if not what's stopping you?
I've not been there yet. Things that have stopped me in the past:
1) No passport. I know you don't need one to go to Canada from the US, but still... best to have a passport.
2) Distance. It's not just across the street, and although I just took a week off from work to unwind... it's hard to do that too often with our monthly deadlines that keep going and going and going.
3) Until this post, I'd never heard of Drumheller, believe it or not.
Have you ever been to Drumheller ? And if not what's stopping you?I've not been there yet. Things that have stopped me in the past:
1) No passport. I know you don't need one to go to Canada from the US, but still... best to have a passport.
2) Distance. It's not just across the street, and although I just took a week off from work to unwind... it's hard to do that too often with our monthly deadlines that keep going and going and going.
3) Until this post, I'd never heard of Drumheller, believe it or not.
Now that you know it's there and not too far away, does it make you want to go?
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Creative Director
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Now that you know it's there and not too far away, does it make you want to go?Have you ever been to Drumheller ? And if not what's stopping you?I've not been there yet. Things that have stopped me in the past:
1) No passport. I know you don't need one to go to Canada from the US, but still... best to have a passport.
2) Distance. It's not just across the street, and although I just took a week off from work to unwind... it's hard to do that too often with our monthly deadlines that keep going and going and going.
3) Until this post, I'd never heard of Drumheller, believe it or not.
A little... but if I'm going to Canada, Lake Okanagan is still a stronger draw for me right now...
Dear James Jacobs,
I'm taking an IRL adventure to visit the internet equivalent of a pen pal for the first time this weekend for the next week. She's never played a pen-and-paper game before but her husband has, so I decided that I wanted to introduce her to Pathfinder during my vacation. I'm already running another campaign, however, and I didn't want to have to deal with trying to throw another one together so I decided to purchase volumes 1 and 2 of Carrion Crown instead.
Since its only going to be the three of us, my question is whether or not you think I can get away with them playing two 3rd-level characters instead of having a full party of four heroes for 'The Haunting of Harrowstone.' I want them to have fun while attempting to maintain as much of the intended difficulty as possible. What do you think? Is there anything else I can do without having to resort to a bunch of GM PCs to round out their party?
A little... but if I'm going to Canada, Lake Okanagan is still a stronger draw for me right now...
Oh? Drop in for a beer when you're up there.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
I'm taking an IRL adventure to visit the internet equivalent of a pen pal for the first time this weekend for the next week. She's never played a pen-and-paper game before but her husband has, so I decided that I wanted to introduce her to Pathfinder during my vacation. I'm already running another campaign, however, and I didn't want to have to deal with trying to throw another one together so I decided to purchase volumes 1 and 2 of Carrion Crown instead.
Since its only going to be the three of us, my question is whether or not you think I can get away with them playing two 3rd-level characters instead of having a full party of four heroes for 'The Haunting of Harrowstone.' I want them to have fun while attempting to maintain as much of the intended difficulty as possible. What do you think? Is there anything else I can do without having to resort to a bunch of GM PCs to round out their party?
Well... one thing to keep in mind is that someone who's never played an RPG before won't be as skilled as someone who has. Which means two things:
1) They won't be as good at tactics and the metagame (even if you don't encourage metagaming, the fact is that Pathfinder is a game, and knowing how to play the game is a skill that, when you get better at it, makes the game easier).
2) Playing one alter-ego is weird enough for a new player—having them play two or more alter-egos is even worse.
My advice would be to have both of them make 3rd level characters (or perhaps just play characters you made) using a 20 or 25 point buy so they have better stats. Then make up a few NPCs to go along with them—perhaps some of the friendly villagers and allies they encounter in town join them to aid in the investigation of Harrowstone. That way, as long as there's a few NPCs in the party, there's a TPK cushion.
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Creative Director
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Dear James
From a creative director's point of view, Why does the ninja NOT have evasion? I would be under the impression that that particular class would have that.. Oh and tell all paizo staff happy 4th of july and Paizocon.. I can't go. uhh WAAAAHH!!
Frankly, I would have tried to find a way to let the ninja keep evasion, but the reason the design team decided not to was to try to keep the ninja from being a better rogue. It has to lose something, in other words, and sneak attack makes even more sense for them than evasion does.
Well... one thing to keep in mind is that someone who's never played an RPG before won't be as skilled as someone who has. Which means two things:
1) They won't be as good at tactics and the metagame (even if you don't encourage metagaming, the fact is that Pathfinder is a game, and knowing how to play the game is a skill that, when you get better at it, makes the game easier).
2) Playing one alter-ego is weird enough for a new player—having them play two or more alter-egos is even worse.
My advice would be to have both of them make 3rd level characters (or perhaps just play characters you made) using a 20 or 25 point buy so they have better stats. Then make up a few NPCs to go along with them—perhaps some of the friendly villagers and allies they encounter in town join them to aid in the investigation of Harrowstone. That way, as long as there's a few NPCs in the party, there's a TPK cushion.
I'm not as worried about #2 because she's not an inexperienced roleplayer. We've RPed together on one of Warcraft's RP servers for about a year now, and she's RPed on other servers long before our move to our current server.
I might just pull out a couple of pre-made NPCs from my GameMastery Guide then, just to stay safe. Thanks, James!
If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?
Should I reply to the questions in the Ask Lem thread?
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Creative Director
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If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?
Where's that lullaby from?
Where's that lullaby from?If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?
Ultimate Magic, page 23. It's one of the bardic Masterpieces introduced in that book.
Just curious, what do you guys do if one of you creates some new content for a book, but then finds that some 3rd party publisher or homebrewer has already put out something very similar for Pathfinder? Assuming that this has ever happened of course... I was just thinking that when you're creating things based on mythology the possibility that someone else has already created something similar does exist.
So being a big Greyhawk fan, what was your opinion of the Greyhawk Wars? My own feeling was that it was an organic and indeed inevitable (in the timeline) way to really move a lot of pieces around in an interesting and logical way, for the most part. On the other hand, such a huge reshuffling of the status quo made a lot of products obsolete. What are your thoughts?
I misread that as "Designated Hitler" :)
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Creative Director
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Is southern garund still african themed? Northern garund seems to have hit most if not all those notes.
Garund is as Africa themed as Avistan is Europe themed. There are areas that are complete fantasy and areas that are real-world inspired but not from Africa, but mostly the continent is indeed Africa themed.
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Creative Director
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WHEN WILL WE SEE A KICKSTARTER FOR A SPECIAL EDTION LEATHERBOUND PATHFINDER RULEBOOK!
I LOVE THE OLD D&D 3.5 leatherbound rulebooks, BUT I WANT A UPDATE A PATHFINDER LEATHERBOUND SPECIAL EDTION, THAT WOULD BE A DREAM COME TRUE...
PLEASE START A KICKSTARTER
My guess? Never.
Paizo is a pretty established and, these days, quite successful business. A special edition Core Rulebook would be easier to pull off than the special limited edition Rise of the Runelords book we're putting out. In other words... we could do a special edition of the Core Rulebook today if we wanted. We don't want to yet, though. The time's not yet right.
Maybe some day. For now, though, we're focused more this year on celebrating Paizo's 10th and Pathfinder's (the brand) 5th anniversary. We're still a few years away from the first significant (aka 5th) anniversary of the Core Rulebook.
We've not done much with Taldor's royal houses yet, but as a general rule, you can assume that they function similarly to British nobility, since that's the closest real-world analog for Taldor.James -
What do we know about Taldan Royal Houses? Are there any listed in the canon? Do we treat them pretty much like British houses, post-empire? If a Taldan royal dies, leaving a bastard son, a legitimate daughter, a sister and a brother-in-law as his next of kin, who inherits? Can they contest?
At the risk of stepping on James' toes...
You might check out Tomb of the Iron Medusa - it may shed a little light on your query. It also provides a bit of information on three previous Taldan monarchs: Beldam IV, Micheaux the Magnificent, and Stavian I, the latter two being direct ancestors of the current occupant of the throne.
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Creative Director
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Ultimate Magic, page 23. It's one of the bardic Masterpieces introduced in that book.Where's that lullaby from?If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?
1) Yes. The effect functions as the spell deep slumber—you get a save.
2) Nope; once they fail a save, they stay asleep until the performance ends (or until they're woken up by someone following the rules for waking someone from a deep slumber, at which point if the bard's maintaining the performance, they must save again the next round).3) The bard can indeed quit that performance and start a new one the next round to try again... that'd cost one more use of the performance.
4) If the bard's got lingering performance, that just adds on to the time the target remains asleep or could be affected by the effect... the bard still needs to stay in close range of the target, regardless.
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Creative Director
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Just curious, what do you guys do if one of you creates some new content for a book, but then finds that some 3rd party publisher or homebrewer has already put out something very similar for Pathfinder? Assuming that this has ever happened of course... I was just thinking that when you're creating things based on mythology the possibility that someone else has already created something similar does exist.
This happens relatively often. A great example would be the Tome of Horrors Complete, which has a lot of parallel monsters to our Bestiaries that don't exactly match up precisely.
When it happens, we just let it happen. That's one of the great things about the open game license, in my opinion—it lets multiple companies present their own different takes on similar subjects. Not everyone will like our version of the witch, for example, but maybe they'll like some other company's version and use that one in their game.
It creates a certain amount of additional competition between publishers, and competition is good because it keeps everyone innovating and sharp.
Not that we'd have the time or resources to do this any other way, of course! :P
WHEN WILL WE SEE A KICKSTARTER FOR A SPECIAL EDTION LEATHERBOUND PATHFINDER RULEBOOK!
I LOVE THE OLD D&D 3.5 leatherbound rulebooks, BUT I WANT A UPDATE A PATHFINDER LEATHERBOUND SPECIAL EDTION, THAT WOULD BE A DREAM COME TRUE...
PLEASE START A KICKSTARTER
My guess? Never.
Paizo is a pretty established and, these days, quite successful business. A special edition Core Rulebook would be easier to pull off than the special limited edition Rise of the Runelords book we're putting out. In other words... we could do a special edition of the Core Rulebook today if we wanted. We don't want to yet, though. The time's not yet right.
Maybe some day. For now, though, we're focused more this year on celebrating Paizo's 10th and Pathfinder's (the brand) 5th anniversary. We're still a few years away from the first significant (aka 5th) anniversary of the Core Rulebook.
Seems to me the best time to do a special edition (from a consumer perspective) would be once you're not going to do any new prints - so that the nice, leatherbound version is also the final version - but that's maybe just me.
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Creative Director
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So being a big Greyhawk fan, what was your opinion of the Greyhawk Wars? My own feeling was that it was an organic and indeed inevitable (in the timeline) way to really move a lot of pieces around in an interesting and logical way, for the most part. On the other hand, such a huge reshuffling of the status quo made a lot of products obsolete. What are your thoughts?
The original design of Greyhawk was a lot more like Golarion's design—a bunch of nations not necessarilly built to interact with each other, but that COULD if you wanted them to. With the reboot of the setting that included the Greyhawk Wars, I actually think that whole event was a pretty interesting attempt on changing that philosophy and setting things up for a more "realistic" portrayal of how all the diverse nations might interact. As far as "world-shaking events" go, it's probably my favorite, since it doesn't change the status quo nearly as much as the various similar events did for the Forgotten Realms (such as the Time of Troubles).
Of course... I never had much of a problem in not changing things that happened in the Greyhawk Wars in my version of Greyhawk if I liked how things were before.
What's the chance of you using any of the monsters from the Midgard Bestiary in a Paizo product?
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Creative Director
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Seems to me the best time to do a special edition (from a consumer perspective) would be once you're not going to do any new prints - so that the nice, leatherbound version is also the final version - but that's maybe just me.
Not sure such a time will ever come, alas. With each printing, and with each incorporation of errata, the Core Rules do get more and more precise... but the game is INCREDIBLY complex. And I'm pretty sure we'll never reach a point where the rules are "perfect."
And that's not something I'd qualify as a requirement for a special edition anyway. A special edition of a book is all about celebrating the book, not providing perfection.
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Creative Director
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What's the chance of you using any of the monsters from the Midgard Bestiary in a Paizo product?
In the same way we sometimes use monsters from other 3rd party publishers? Like the Book of Fiends, or Tome of Horrors Complete?
The chances of that happening some day are pretty much 100%.
With Daigle on board, I think those chances are about 110%.
The original design of Greyhawk was a lot more like Golarion's design—a bunch of nations not necessarilly built to interact with each other, but that COULD if you wanted them to. With the reboot of the setting that included the Greyhawk Wars, I actually think that whole event was a pretty interesting attempt on changing that philosophy and setting things up for a more "realistic" portrayal of how all the diverse nations might interact. As far as "world-shaking events" go, it's probably my favorite, since it doesn't change the status quo nearly as much as the various similar events did for the Forgotten Realms (such as the Time of Troubles).Of course... I never had much of a problem in not changing things that happened in the Greyhawk Wars in my version of Greyhawk if I liked how things were before.
Can you foresee a set of circumstances that would lead Paizo to do something similar with Golarion?
Also, can you believe it's PaizoCon time already? I wish I could join you for the big convention!
Ultimate Magic, page 23. It's one of the bardic Masterpieces introduced in that book.Where's that lullaby from?If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?1) Yes. The effect functions as the spell deep slumber—you get a save.
2) Nope; once they fail a save, they stay asleep until the performance ends (or until they're woken up by someone following the rules for waking someone from a deep slumber, at which point if the bard's maintaining the performance, they must save again the next round).
3) The bard can indeed quit that performance and start a new one the next round to try again... that'd cost one more use of the performance.
4) If the bard's got lingering performance, that just adds on to the time the target remains asleep or could be affected by the effect... the bard still needs to stay in close range of the target, regardless.
Last follow-up, sorry: when a bard can perform as a move action would they then be able to use this ability twice in one round.
We've not done much with Taldor's royal houses yet, but as a general rule, you can assume that they function similarly to British nobility, since that's the closest real-world analog for Taldor.James -
What do we know about Taldan Royal Houses? Are there any listed in the canon? Do we treat them pretty much like British houses, post-empire? If a Taldan royal dies, leaving a bastard son, a legitimate daughter, a sister and a brother-in-law as his next of kin, who inherits? Can they contest?
At the risk of stepping on James' toes...
You might check out Tomb of the Iron Medusa - it may shed a little light on your query. It also provides a bit of information on three previous Taldan monarchs: Beldam IV, Micheaux the Magnificent, and Stavian I, the latter two being direct ancestors of the current occupant of the throne.
Stuff like this happened in real life too, can depends on the legetimacy (or lack of) of the person being known.
We've not done much with Taldor's royal houses yet, but as a general rule, you can assume that they function similarly to British nobility, since that's the closest real-world analog for Taldor.
At the risk of stepping on James' toes...
You might check out Tomb of the Iron Medusa - it may shed a little light on your query. It also provides a bit of information on three previous Taldan monarchs: Beldam IV, Micheaux the Magnificent, and Stavian I, the latter two being direct ancestors of the current occupant of the throne.
Stuff like this happened in real life too, can depends on the legetimacy (or lack of) of the person being known.
I'm always surprised to hear James cite the English monarchy as the prime inspiration for Taldor. The whole thing seems completely Byzantine to me, with the remnant of a once-glorious empire lost in decadence, intrigues, and bureaucracy, and subject to invasion by pseudo-Arabs.
Well, if you listen to certain people on the far right of British politics... *eye-roll*
Well, if you listen to certain people on the far right of British politics... *eye-roll*
*rimshot* Well played, sir. Or madame. I can't tell from here.
Well, if you listen to certain people on the far right of British politics... *eye-roll**rimshot* Well played, sir. Or madame. I can't tell from here.
Madame. Well, that sure looks like a Gal(ley).
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Creative Director
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The original design of Greyhawk was a lot more like Golarion's design—a bunch of nations not necessarilly built to interact with each other, but that COULD if you wanted them to. With the reboot of the setting that included the Greyhawk Wars, I actually think that whole event was a pretty interesting attempt on changing that philosophy and setting things up for a more "realistic" portrayal of how all the diverse nations might interact. As far as "world-shaking events" go, it's probably my favorite, since it doesn't change the status quo nearly as much as the various similar events did for the Forgotten Realms (such as the Time of Troubles).Of course... I never had much of a problem in not changing things that happened in the Greyhawk Wars in my version of Greyhawk if I liked how things were before.
Can you foresee a set of circumstances that would lead Paizo to do something similar with Golarion?
Also, can you believe it's PaizoCon time already? I wish I could join you for the big convention!
Having a complete or near-complete turnover of creative staff would do it—in fact, that's partially the reason you see things like this happen from time to time, and not just in RPGs, but in comics. The established canon for a world is so complex that when you have a big turnover in staffing, the new employees are often intimidated by the game of catch-up they face... and as a result, the world gets reset to something simpler that the new staff can then shape as they need.
So sure... in some dark future where the current staff at Paizo is replaced, I could see some sort of big upheaval happening to Golarion in that way. It's not something I'm planning to do to the world though.
And yeah... PaizoCon's looming large on the horizon... and I don't have my 2 games ready yet! AIEEEE!
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Creative Director
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Last follow-up, sorry: when a bard can perform as a move action would they then be able to use this ability twice in one round.Ultimate Magic, page 23. It's one of the bardic Masterpieces introduced in that book.Where's that lullaby from?If a bard uses The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient then:
1: do they get a saving throw as per Deep Slumber?
2. if the initial save is successful, but the performance is maintained, must they save again?
3: if the bard fails can they try again?
4: how does lingering performance effect this/ maintaining the performance?1) Yes. The effect functions as the spell deep slumber—you get a save.
2) Nope; once they fail a save, they stay asleep until the performance ends (or until they're woken up by someone following the rules for waking someone from a deep slumber, at which point if the bard's maintaining the performance, they must save again the next round).
3) The bard can indeed quit that performance and start a new one the next round to try again... that'd cost one more use of the performance.
4) If the bard's got lingering performance, that just adds on to the time the target remains asleep or could be affected by the effect... the bard still needs to stay in close range of the target, regardless.
Correct. At the cost of not maintaining the previous performance (which is a good reason to have lingering performance) and at the cost of spending additional uses per day of his performance abilities.
Have you ever read The Deed Of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon? IF so, did you like it?
I meant to ask this Friday, but then the derecho hit. That was... inconvenient.
I'm thinking of a samsaran wizard as my next PC, so, questions:
1) Do samsarans just sort of snap in existence? If I understood the Dragon Empires book and the Advanced Races Guide, samsarans are never born.
2) So a reincarnated samsarans just appears as a child in some spot?
3) Does anything govern or influence where reincarnated samsarans appear?
4) Do they tend to show up in samsaran households/clans?
5) Do they just show up in civilized areas?
6) Are young samsarans extremely unlikely to show up in places that don't already have a samsaran population?
7) What could cause a samsaran to reincarnate up in a locale that doesn't normally have them?
Now, samsarans are pretty long lived (dwarf life span it looked like), so it's pretty reasonable for a samsaran to have migrated to an unusual location.
8) Are there nations outside the usual suspects (Cheliax, Ustlav, Galt, Nidal, the Darklands, the Worldwound, etc.) that would be a bad place for a samsaran to migrate to/through? What would be causing problems?
Thanks!