I have to have faith in them. I have to trust them.
Because they're the only window through which most of the players of Pathfinder adventures can see what we've done with those adventures.
A bad GM (and yes they DO exist, and in greater numbers than GMs are likely willing to admit) can ruin a great adventure really easily, and that can result in unfairly bad reviews of an adventure or even in loss of revenue when players assume the fault was with the adventure, not the GM.
So yeah. If I don't have faith in and trust the GMs out there who run Pathfinder, I'd probably lose interest in designing for the game entirely.
<_<
>_>
Make senses.
Dear James,
What constitutes an item being "held" for the purposes of an ability like the wrecker oracle curse? The reason I ask is that I am making an oracle of Time and I planned on reflavoring the curse to be that items the character held aged into disrepair. I wanted to know whether armor is affected by the ability. My thinking is "yes" because of the word 'equipped,' but I wanted to know what you think.
** spoiler omitted **
"Held" means precisely that—held in your hand.
A shield would be affected by the ability, but worn armor would not be.
Wrecker is intended to affect shields, weapons, and items you carry and use in your hands (like wands, staves, and rods).
Really? Nice! You just gave my oracle a +4 armor bonus. :)
Let's say we had rules for crafting a portable hole of any shape and size (hint, hint) what size would you make it and what would you use it for?I already did this. Size and shape = The Universe. We're all in it right now.
(takes a bow)
What kind of epic magic did you do to allow breathable air inside of a portable hole?
And does that mean I can blame you for Ke$ha?
If so, I'll give you a head start because I like the cut of your jib.
EDIT: NOOOOOOOOOOO! KE$HA ATTACKED MY PANDORA JUST AS I POSTED THIS!
WHY JAMES JACOBS, WHY?!
Let's say we had rules for crafting a portable hole of any shape and size (hint, hint) what size would you make it and what would you use it for?I already did this. Size and shape = The Universe. We're all in it right now.
(takes a bow)
But, but, but... Who's carrying us around? Are we all just lootz in some other adventurer's career? Maybe we're all in some giant kind of Portable Hole/Bag of Tricks and that's why all the farm people get abducted?
I guess... It's not possible to think outside the box, we've got to think outside the Bag/Hole!
Is that a discworld reference?But, but, but... Who's carrying us around?A turtle is.
Or a Nehwon reference?
Is that a discworld reference?
No, it's a Amerind/Chinese/Hindu myth that the world travels on the back of a turtle, rather than an elephant.
-Ben.
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You can't fool me, young man. It's turtles all the way down!
Who is currently the most popular bard in Golarion?
Ahem...
Who is currently the most popular bard in Golarion?Ahem...
Shensen? Lem moves around too much.
whats the DC of the save to not be teased relentlessly for using the word zeitgeist while talking about a rubber suit monster?
(note: all in fun Lazar ^_^)
Shensen? Lem moves around too much.Who is currently the most popular bard in Golarion?Ahem...
Yay!
I'm sure it's been asked, but did you purposely plan the inner sea region to look like the Mediterranean region to give players a sense of comfort, or do I sense a tip of the hat to Terry Brooks and we're going to find out Golarion is actually earth 50,000 years in the future?
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I'm sure it's been asked, but did you purposely plan the inner sea region to look like the Mediterranean region to give players a sense of comfort, or do I sense a tip of the hat to Terry Brooks and we're going to find out Golarion is actually earth 50,000 years in the future?
It looks familiar because that helps newcomers to the setting ease into the region a little faster and easier.
It's not Earth 50,000 years in the future or the past. Earth is a separate planet in the same universe as Golarion... it's really far away though.
I'm sure it's been asked, but did you purposely plan the inner sea region to look like the Mediterranean region to give players a sense of comfort, or do I sense a tip of the hat to Terry Brooks and we're going to find out Golarion is actually earth 50,000 years in the future?It looks familiar because that helps newcomers to the setting ease into the region a little faster and easier.
It's not Earth 50,000 years in the future or the past. Earth is a separate planet in the same universe as Golarion... it's really far away though.
Is Golarion a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?
If so, is Luke a neighbor?
James, out of curiosity:
Does damage received via the spell Shield Other bypass regeneration in any way?
*ducks*
- Gauss
1. How do you handle Knowledge checks to indentify creatures? Is it a free action; you either know it or you don't? Do you ask players to actively spend actions to try to identify? How much knowledge is given out with a success?
2. If and when there were ever another hardcover compilation of an AP, which one would you do? Which 3.5 AP and which PFRPG AP would reprint?
I have a question about Baba Yaga's hut.
1. What started the whole "Hut of Extradimensional Travel" aspect of the hut? I never really saw it in the mythology so is it a DnD only thing?
2. A sillier question. I know the chicken legs of Baba Yaga's hut are based on the Uralic people's storehouses. So does that mean her hut has six legs or two?
Thanks again!
2. A sillier question. I know the chicken legs of Baba Yaga's hut are based on the Uralic people's storehouses. So does that mean her hut has four legs or two?
That one appears to have six. Or is that a perspective trick?
You are right... my eyes went wonky when counting it...
I!
Have!
Only!
ONE!
Eye!
I'm sure it's been asked, but did you purposely plan the inner sea region to look like the Mediterranean region to give players a sense of comfort, or do I sense a tip of the hat to Terry Brooks and we're going to find out Golarion is actually earth 50,000 years in the future?It looks familiar because that helps newcomers to the setting ease into the region a little faster and easier.
It's not Earth 50,000 years in the future or the past. Earth is a separate planet in the same universe as Golarion... it's really far away though.
That breaks my brain... because the physics are all wrong.
is that an aspect of the magic of golarion?
did the gods of golarion create golarion alone, that area of space... or the whole universe?
Can one teleport between golarion and earth since they are on the same plane?
I think Teleport's range limitations make that a non-issue....
I think Teleport's range limitations make that a non-issue....
er yea.. i mean greater teleport.
This spell functions like teleport, except that there is no range limit and there is no chance you arrive off target.
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I think Teleport's range limitations make that a non-issue....er yea.. i mean greater teleport.
That won't work either due to the distance limit of 100 miles/level. Now Interplanetary Teleport, that I have to check.
EDIT: Interplanetary Teleport would work, however you need to know your destination, and I am not sure that there is a divination spell with enough range to find Earth.
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If a group of Pathfinder-loving geologists were looking to do a professional-grade "Geological Survey of Golaron" (finding geological ways to explain the shape of the continents, mountain-building events, etc), is there any chance of getting to speak with one of the creators of the map/shape of the game-world (aside from the forums)?
The project is still in the planning stages, but it's something that is seriously being planned :)
(while it would be an entertaining read to go through every published gaming resource for clues we can use - it might save lots of time if we'd be able to, say, put questions in an email or somesuch...)
Nice!
If you get some result published on the net, send me a link, I would like to read them.|
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Are there any plans to release/produce more content expanding upon the caravan rules, kingdom building, exploration rules, or the township building rules presented in game mastery guide?Yes. There'll be a LOT more about kingdom building, exploration, and town building in the upcoming Ultimate Campaign. No plans at this point to do much with the caravan rules.
Can you print that yesterday? I would love to have it now for my Kingmaker campaign. :-)
It will be a spring 2013 product, right?
I suppose that you are reading the Kingmaker forum carefully for problems and suggestion about the kingdom rules. I see your head poking in that forum from time to time. Anything that we can do to help you guys create a better product?
Contributor
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I would LOVE to hear what some actual geologists thought of Golarion. Best place to talk to me is via email, at the Tuesday night chats (where you can set up private rooms), or at Gen Con or Paizocon.If a group of Pathfinder-loving geologists were looking to do a professional-grade "Geological Survey of Golaron" (finding geological ways to explain the shape of the continents, mountain-building events, etc), is there any chance of getting to speak with one of the creators of the map/shape of the game-world (aside from the forums)?
The project is still in the planning stages, but it's something that is seriously being planned :)
(while it would be an entertaining read to go through every published gaming resource for clues we can use - it might save lots of time if we'd be able to, say, put questions in an email or somesuch...)
I won't be able to make it to this week's chat, but I'll shoot for next week perhaps, or email you through the boards.
Related question - what's the etymology of the word "Golarion" ?
Geo = Earth from the Latin, but instead of a Geological Survey of Golarion, I'm wondering if it would be a Golarogical Survey or somesuch :)
Thanks and talk to ya soon!
James....
How do you feel about the feat
Antagonize
I have personally banned it in all games I GM and every game I have seen it used has lead to issues of one sort or another and most gamers I know either love it because its so exploitable and unrealistic or hate it because its so unrealistic and exploitable.
whats your opinion on it? working as intended, needs fixin, or not important enough to address?
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Creative Director
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James, out of curiosity:
Does damage received via the spell Shield Other bypass regeneration in any way?
*ducks*
- Gauss
Nope. If you get hit with fire damage, and that damage is split, the person who takes half from your shield other spell just takes raw, unspecified damage. Which is pretty much regenerabtable by all forms of regeneration.
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Creative Director
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1. How do you handle Knowledge checks to indentify creatures? Is it a free action; you either know it or you don't? Do you ask players to actively spend actions to try to identify? How much knowledge is given out with a success?
2. If and when there were ever another hardcover compilation of an AP, which one would you do? Which 3.5 AP and which PFRPG AP would reprint?
1) I generally let folks make the check as a free action, and then the higher the roll, the more they learn. I don't allow retries. How much info I give out varies depending on what types of things the players ask for and what they roll over the DC.
2) Second Darkness would be the one I'd like to reprint the most, since I'd kind of like to rewrite vast portions of the 5th adventure... but that's also one that's probably the least in demand AND has the most copies still in stock... so it'll likely never happen. Honestly... I'm not really eager to reprint any of the APs at this point... but if the stars came right I'd love to Pathfinderize Age of Worms or Savage Tide...
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Creative Director
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I have a question about Baba Yaga's hut.
1. What started the whole "Hut of Extradimensional Travel" aspect of the hut? I never really saw it in the mythology so is it a DnD only thing?
2. A sillier question. I know the chicken legs of Baba Yaga's hut are based on the Uralic people's storehouses. So does that mean her hut has six legs or two?
Thanks again!
1) That was to a certain extent D&D. And a necessary one... one we enhance in pathfinder. Because the hut comes from Earth mythology. It kind of HAS to be able to travel to other worlds.
2) It's got 2 legs. We've already illustrated it, in fact, in the Inner Sea World Guide.
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Creative Director
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I'm sure it's been asked, but did you purposely plan the inner sea region to look like the Mediterranean region to give players a sense of comfort, or do I sense a tip of the hat to Terry Brooks and we're going to find out Golarion is actually earth 50,000 years in the future?It looks familiar because that helps newcomers to the setting ease into the region a little faster and easier.
It's not Earth 50,000 years in the future or the past. Earth is a separate planet in the same universe as Golarion... it's really far away though.
That breaks my brain... because the physics are all wrong.
is that an aspect of the magic of golarion?
did the gods of golarion create golarion alone, that area of space... or the whole universe?
Can one teleport between golarion and earth since they are on the same plane?
How are the physics wrong?
The universe is big enough for pretty much ALL campaign settings. That's kind of my take on things.
Whether the deities of Golarion created anything at all, or whether the planes were already here when they showed up is an open question we've not definitively answered y et.
You can teleport between Golarion and Earth, but not with greater teleport. You have to use interplanetary teleport (see Inner Sea World Guide).
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Creative Director
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I think Teleport's range limitations make that a non-issue....er yea.. i mean greater teleport.That won't work either due to the distance limit of 100 miles/level. Now Interplanetary Teleport, that I have to check.
EDIT: Interplanetary Teleport would work, however you need to know your destination, and I am not sure that there is a divination spell with enough range to find Earth.
Whether or not the GM wants to include Earth in his/her game is the REAL limitation on if your PC can teleport to earth via interplanetary teleport... or if you even KNOW about Earth.
James, out of curiosity:
Does damage received via the spell Shield Other bypass regeneration in any way?
*ducks*
- Gauss
Nope. If you get hit with fire damage, and that damage is split, the person who takes half from your shield other spell just takes raw, unspecified damage. Which is pretty much regenerabtable by all forms of regeneration.
Well there goes my one (non-RP) method for nerfing the 'Improved Familiar hp sponge'. LOL
Familiar with regen (Inevitable Arbiter or Kyton Augur) casts Shield Other on an ally. Familiar sucks up half of alot of damage. Main effect: Cleric doesn't have to heal half of the damage (ever) and can thus gain some extra actions doing other things.
For safety (in it's unconcious state) the familiar hides out in the ally's backpack.
Note: This was just an idea I had that I will disallow if anyone used it at my table. I was just curious if there was a mechanical reason it wouldn't work.
- Gauss
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Creative Director
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Are there any plans to release/produce more content expanding upon the caravan rules, kingdom building, exploration rules, or the township building rules presented in game mastery guide?Yes. There'll be a LOT more about kingdom building, exploration, and town building in the upcoming Ultimate Campaign. No plans at this point to do much with the caravan rules.Can you print that yesterday? I would love to have it now for my Kingmaker campaign. :-)
It will be a spring 2013 product, right?
I suppose that you are reading the Kingmaker forum carefully for problems and suggestion about the kingdom rules. I see your head poking in that forum from time to time. Anything that we can do to help you guys create a better product?
Ultimate Campaign has indeed been announced as a 2013 Spring product.
And I'm not the one building and designing and developing it—that's the design team, and they're certainly keeping an eye on those boards. And hired someone to write it who has a lot of experience with the rules. At this point, we've got a pretty good amount of feedback on the system (including a LOT from our CEO, who is currently running a Kingmaker game)... but more feedback is always welcome.
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Creative Director
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I won't be able to make it to this week's chat, but I'll shoot for next week perhaps, or email you through the boards.Related question - what's the etymology of the word "Golarion" ?
Geo = Earth from the Latin, but instead of a Geological Survey of Golarion, I'm wondering if it would be a Golarogical Survey or somesuch :)
Thanks and talk to ya soon!
The word "Golarion" was invented by Erik Mona, so he'd be the one to ask that. My guess is that it was just a cool sounding word he made up.
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Creative Director
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James, Savage Tide question.
Provided they all survive the events of the campaign what would you say would be the ultimate fate for the individual members of the Jade Ravens? It seemed like they were on the verge of breaking up as a group when they got to Farshore, I don't imagine the incident in Scuttlecove will really have improved things.
Likewise what about Lavinia? Would she be more likely to stay on Farshore or head back to Sasserine? And provided the PC's decided to ressurect Vanthus in the last stretch of the campaign what is the likelihood him finding redemption and his sister forgiving him?
The fate of the Jade Ravens should be intrinsically tied to the fate of the PCs. They're kind of meant to be the "here's what happens to the PCs if they weren't the PCs, and thus weren't the main characters of the campaign." If the PCs don't help, they do indeed break up and go their separate ways. If they live at all.
As for Lavinia, what happens to her depends on the PCs as well. If they cut her loose, she'll end up staying at Farshore and building a brand new life there. My assumption has always been that she hooks up with a PC as a romantic interest though.
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Creative Director
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James....
How do you feel about the feat
Antagonize
** spoiler omitted **I have personally banned it in all games I GM and every game I have seen it used has lead to issues of one sort or another and most gamers I know either love it because its so exploitable and unrealistic or hate it because its so unrealistic and exploitable.
whats your opinion on it? working as intended, needs fixin, or not important enough to address?
It's broken, and as far as I know it got errataed. I've not yet had a player in a game I run use it, so I've not yet had to worry about it.
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Creative Director
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Right, let me rephrase that. Should the Jade Ravens break up what would each of the individual members likely wind up doing?
Oof... I'm honestly not sure. It's been over 5 years since I've had my head in Savage Tide after all... And in any case, I'd let their interactions with the PCs influence their fate. A Jade Raven that was disliked would likely become a villain later on, while one that was liked may well become a PC cohort.
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Dear Mr. Jacobs,
Despite loving Golarion and really devote myself to it, I have a long history of past adventures in Mystara and many beloved characters left there. In my campaign, I thought of putting the Mystara star system near the Golarion system (enough to travel from one to another with a regular teleport). So, knowing that you also like to Mystara, I would consult you about some doubts on how to deal with the system Pathfinder and the Golarion setting.
I) How to represent the clergy of the alignments of Mystara? With priests, oracles or customized cleric´s archetype to represent that they are not real true clerics when they are in Golarion?
II) In your opinion, the gods of Golarion and immortals of Mystara are different enough to be not considered equivalent, or travelers simply think they are the same just called by another name and only connoisseurs know the difference?
III) As on Mystara the really important part of the alignment is if it is lawful, neutral or chaotic. I thought the Paladin as the champion of order, the cavalier as champion of neutrality in place of the knight and antipaladin occupying the place of avenger and champion of chaos. Do you think that these classes work well in this role or any change would be necessary to represent that the paladin is not necessarily good and antipaladin not necessarily evil ?
IV) Without having to think too deeply about it, is there any class, race, ability or feat of the Pathfinder RPG that did not particularly make sense coming from a character born in Mystara (which has not been covered by previous questions)?
V) Taking advantage of the trip, one of Planescape: Rules for the factions of the Pathfinder RPG is enough to deal with the factions in Planescape or is it better to create a entire different system?
Again thank you for the effort to answer these annoying fans and their random questions. Until next time.
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Creative Director
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I) How to represent the clergy of the alignments of Mystara? With priests, oracles or customized cleric´s archetype to represent that they are not real true clerics when they are in Golarion?
II) In your opinion, the gods of Golarion and immortals of Mystara are different enough to be not considered equivalent, or travelers simply think they are the same just called by another name and only connoisseurs know the difference?
III) As on Mystara the really important part of the alignment is if it is lawful, neutral or chaotic. I thought the Paladin as the champion of order, the cavalier as champion of neutrality in place of the knight and antipaladin occupying the place of avenger and champion of chaos. Do you think that these classes work well in this role or any change would be necessary to represent that the paladin is not necessarily good and antipaladin not necessarily evil ?
IV) Without having to think too deeply about it, is there any class, race, ability or feat of the Pathfinder RPG that did not particularly make sense coming from a character born in Mystara (which has not been covered by previous questions)?
V) Taking advantage of the trip, one of Planescape: Rules for the factions of the Pathfinder RPG is enough to deal with the factions in Planescape or is it better to create a entire different system?
Again thank you for the effort to answer these annoying fans and their random questions. Until next time.
I) Oracles actually sound like a great solution to this one.
II) I would say that the immortals of Mystara ARE deities. Mystara just happens to have rules for them.
III) If you're going with only the three alignment system, I would honestly consider dropping elements from the game that require the good/evil axis. You can define a world by what you don't put into it as much as you can by what you DO put into it.
IV) Honestly... Mystara is a lot like Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, and Golairon in that the underlying baseline is very similar. Despite my answer to III above, I think that it'd be pretty easy to fit anything from Pathifnder into Mystara.
V) Both systems for factions work—pick the one you prefer and convert the ones you need.