Creative Director
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Me I'm more saddened by Jubilex. It's so weird I bet you'd be able to have a lot of fun with the big evil jelly-blob.
Hint: I'd really like to see more about what the heck is the deal with all these living jellies and puddings slithering all over the place!
Actually...
Jubilex is a demon lord we CAN still do things with (and we have... there's some Jubilex stuff in the revised Rise of the Runelords).
The thing is, we can't do anything with Juiblex. Note the slight spelling difference.
Jubilex (with the "B" before the "I") is one of the monsters that Necromancer Games was given permission to put into their Tome of Horrors, and that version of the slimy demon lord is open content and thus free for us to use. The version with the I before the B is the version owned by WotC. But apart from the slight spelling change, that's the only real difference between the two demons in-game.
Nabasu demons are similar. We can use the one-S version of these guys (again, thanks to Tome of Horrors) but not the two-S version, which is Wizards of the Coasts' intellectual property.
Why did Tome of Horrors change the spellings of these two creatures? I suspect it's simply a typo, since there are hundreds of other monsters in the book that are spelled exactly the same as their D&D versions. In the end, it does make for a weird kind of editing trap you have to watch out for if you use either Jubilex or nabasus in your OGL products!
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So if a Good person dies on the Abyss, the Demons don't get a chance to snatch the soul?what happens to a the soul of a mortal who dies deep in the outer planes? Do the psychopomps appear and retrieve them, is there a worry of being held up or stopped by others on the plane itself, and does the soul become a physical petitioner that the other PC's could potentially interact with or even see with the naked eye?Same thing that happens if a person dies anywhere else. The soul knows how to reach the soulstream wherever it dies—places in the Great Beyond where souls cannot escape are rare, but they do exist (even on the Material Plane). Psychopomps don't actually always have to be there to escort souls... the majority of them focus on guiding souls that are not able to find their way, or helping protect them in the Astral Plane, and so on. For the most part, the initial process of a soul leaving a dead body and entering the Soulstream is instant and automatic.
Demons aren't about snatching souls. They're about killing you or mutilating you—about destroying things, be they your bodies or your relationships or your reputation or your legacies. Once the soul is out, they're not all that interested as a race in where it goes or what happens to it (there are exceptions on an individual basis, of course).
And honestly, neither are devils. They're more interested in your mind and corrupting it. They DO want souls, but they don't want uncorrupted souls. If they can't get you to sign your soul over when you're alive, they're much less interested in it.
Daemons are the ones that are after your soul, because they eat them. Still, a person who dies on Abaddon still gets to have their soul go on to the boneyard. There are likely more places in Abaddon that block souls than anywhere else in the Great Beyond though... and there's CERTAINLY more monsters (many of them daemons) who have specific special abilities or attacks or spell-like abilities that specifically let them catch souls.
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So if a Good person dies on the Abyss, the Demons don't get a chance to snatch the soul?what happens to a the soul of a mortal who dies deep in the outer planes? Do the psychopomps appear and retrieve them, is there a worry of being held up or stopped by others on the plane itself, and does the soul become a physical petitioner that the other PC's could potentially interact with or even see with the naked eye?Same thing that happens if a person dies anywhere else. The soul knows how to reach the soulstream wherever it dies—places in the Great Beyond where souls cannot escape are rare, but they do exist (even on the Material Plane). Psychopomps don't actually always have to be there to escort souls... the majority of them focus on guiding souls that are not able to find their way, or helping protect them in the Astral Plane, and so on. For the most part, the initial process of a soul leaving a dead body and entering the Soulstream is instant and automatic.Demons aren't about snatching souls. They're about killing you or mutilating you—about destroying things, be they your bodies or your relationships or your reputation or your legacies. Once the soul is out, they're not all that interested as a race in where it goes or what happens to it (there are exceptions on an individual basis, of course).
And honestly, neither are devils. They're more interested in your mind and corrupting it. They DO want souls, but they don't want uncorrupted souls. If they can't get you to sign your soul over when you're alive, they're much less interested in it.
Daemons are the ones that are after your soul, because they eat them. Still, a person who dies on Abaddon still gets to have their soul go on to the boneyard. There are likely more places in Abaddon that block souls than anywhere else in the Great Beyond though... and there's CERTAINLY more monsters (many of them daemons) who have specific special abilities or attacks or...
Ty and really great answer will help a lot in my game tomorrow as the bard just died in a fortress on the 8th layer of the pit and I wasn't sure whether the souls are suppose to slip directly on or whether they would need to get her out. Now followup question, does a soul become a petitioner at the instant of death or do they have to wait until they reach the boneyard for their actual designation?
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Can the Myrmidarch archetype for Magus use spell combat with a ranged attack?
Was it ever your intent to be able to use Spell Combat with a ranged weapon? i.e. to function like rapid shot instead of two weapon fighting.
If the answer is no then how does the classes 11th level ability work?
I have not been involved with any of the actula design work for magi, so there's not an awful lot of my intent in there in the first place.
The fact that the myrmidarch gains a "ranged spellstrike" ability at 4th level implies to me that he would indeed be able to use spell combat with a ranged weapon, and the fact that he casts fewer spells than normal would support that—he augments an area of the magus that is normally not meant to be magus-flavored (ranged weapons) at the cost of some spellcasting.
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Now followup question, does a soul become a petitioner at the instant of death or do they have to wait until they reach the boneyard for their actual designation?
The timing of when a soul becomes a petitioner is fluid and variable. Since once a soul becomes a petitioner it's moved beyond the point at which the soul can be resurrected (or otherwise brought back to life) by mortal magic is gone, and since there are multiple limits on how long something can be dead and still be brought back to life depending on the spell and caster level in question, we can never really say exactly how long it takes a soul to travel to the Boneyard, get judged, and be sent on for its final reward or punishment. It's different for everyone.
Someone who dies on an outer plane has to go through the same steps as someone who dies on the Material Plane though.
Which of the Outer Planes would you assume that Pharasma would judge your soul to?
This question, of course, ignores the fact that Pharasma's judgment is incomprehensible by the mortal mind and therefore could never be 100% accurately judged by you or I.
My guess-answer for this question would be Nirvana. Tyrannosaurus Agathonian, anyone?
And honestly, neither are devils. They're more interested in your mind and corrupting it. They DO want souls, but they don't want uncorrupted souls. If they can't get you to sign your soul over when you're alive, they're much less interested in it.
...there are a ton of examples of uncorrupted souls trapped in Hell. There are spells that allow mortal clerics to unjustly damn anyone they like, with very little hope of ever getting the victims back. There is a type of devil (chortov, Council of Thieves 3) that is specifically stated to be deliberately crafted from hundreds of innocent souls, who cannot be salvaged by any means whatsoever.
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Which of the Outer Planes would you assume that Pharasma would judge your soul to?
This question, of course, ignores the fact that Pharasma's judgment is incomprehensible by the mortal mind and therefore could never be 100% accurately judged by you or I.
My guess-answer for this question would be Nirvana. Tyrannosaurus Agathonian, anyone?
My hope: Elysium.
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And honestly, neither are devils. They're more interested in your mind and corrupting it. They DO want souls, but they don't want uncorrupted souls. If they can't get you to sign your soul over when you're alive, they're much less interested in it....there are a ton of examples of uncorrupted souls trapped in Hell. There are spells that allow mortal clerics to unjustly damn anyone they like, with very little hope of ever getting the victims back. There is a type of devil (chortov, Council of Thieves 3) that is specifically stated to be deliberately crafted from hundreds of innocent souls, who cannot be salvaged by any means whatsoever.
Exceptions to the rule. There's lots of exceptions, but they're still exceptions.
The idea of Golarion being in the same universe as Earth, I suspect was more tongue in cheek than to suggest an actual connection. However if they actually do plan to make a bridging adventure to our world, I suggest they hook up with my friend Robert Schroeck who did the D%D in London adventure for Dragon 100.It's not tongue in cheek at all. Golarion and Earth have been in the same universe from the start. We've dropped hints as such several times, and I've confirmed this several times on the boards here.
AND! If your friend Robert's interested in writing for Paizo/Pathfinder still... have him shoot me an email! I'd love to chat with him! That adventure from Dragon 100 is a great one!
Just asking, but who own the Borribles intellectual property at this point? Paizo could make a mint on that!
James I did my best to pitch a few awesome ideas in Wes' direction about the campaign setting line. I just threw a couple at him I think you would love. What do you think?
Why did Tome of Horrors change the spellings of these two creatures? I suspect it's simply a typo, since there are hundreds of other monsters in the book that are spelled exactly the same as their D&D versions. In the end, it does make for a weird kind of editing trap you have to watch out for if you use either Jubilex or nabasus in your OGL products!
I think it's more than just a typo -- it's one of those psychological things that cause people to consistently misread or misremember phrases or words. I know I thought the original Monster Manual entry was "Jubilex" for more than twenty-five years, but actually going and looking says it ain't. :)
Had Dungeon remained in print and continued to be published by Paizo, the next AP we were tentatively planning on doing was going to be the one that ended up being Legacy of Fire. At that point in time we used the code-name of "Genie War" for the Adventure Path; the magazines got cancelled before we got far past that.
Legacy of Fire is a pretty unusual AP in several ways, since it deviates from the expected norm in the game of "European medieval swords & sorcery" that D&D and Pathfinder assume as the baseline.
Now that is interesting. Where in Greyhawk would you have placed it? I don't recall any particularly Arabian Nights-themed areas.
James, which would be better in a Pathfinder scenario, cybernetic dinosaurs or dinobots, with proper copyright and trademark permissions.
Actually...
Jubilex is a demon lord we CAN still do things with (and we have... there's some Jubilex stuff in the revised Rise of the Runelords).
The thing is, we can't do anything with Juiblex. Note the slight spelling difference.
Jubilex (with the "B" before the "I") is one of the monsters that Necromancer Games was given permission to put into their Tome of Horrors, and that version of the slimy demon lord is open content and thus free for us to use. The version with the I before the B is the version owned by WotC. But apart from the slight spelling change, that's the only real difference between the two demons in-game.
Nabasu demons are similar. We can use the one-S version of these guys (again, thanks to Tome of Horrors) but not the two-S version, which is Wizards of the Coasts' intellectual property.
Why did Tome of Horrors change the spellings of these two creatures? I suspect it's simply a typo, since there are hundreds of other monsters in the book that are spelled exactly the same as their D&D versions. In the end, it does make for a weird kind of editing trap you have to watch out for if you use either Jubilex or nabasus in your OGL products!
In that case, could we please have some gooey Jubilex goodness? Or wickedness?
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Now followup question, does a soul become a petitioner at the instant of death or do they have to wait until they reach the boneyard for their actual designation?The timing of when a soul becomes a petitioner is fluid and variable. Since once a soul becomes a petitioner it's moved beyond the point at which the soul can be resurrected (or otherwise brought back to life) by mortal magic is gone, and since there are multiple limits on how long something can be dead and still be brought back to life depending on the spell and caster level in question, we can never really say exactly how long it takes a soul to travel to the Boneyard, get judged, and be sent on for its final reward or punishment. It's different for everyone.
Someone who dies on an outer plane has to go through the same steps as someone who dies on the Material Plane though.
Really? I always thought that you became a petitioner instantly or at least almost immediately after you died heading off to the last reward and that when you are pulling someone back from the dead you are quite often pulling someone back from their final reward whatever that may be. Always seemed to nicely cover why most souls don't remember much of what happened in the afterlife (as they lose a lot of the memories when they get reconstituted back into mortality like they lost it when they became petitioners) and forces the PC's to ask a lot of moral questions about what bringing a friend out of their final reward to help them really means.
Anyways follow up follow up question: How does this work with spells like resurrection, and true resurrection which have much much longer to how long someone has been dead? Are they pulling them out of the afterlife or are they still assumed to be locked up in boneyard limbo? Also what about reincarnation?
Will you make an AP/bestiary/handbook featuring any of the tech/creatures(other then sonic dragon) from Numeria? Will it be saved untill after mythic levels are revealed? Will you do a mythic level handbook or are you just going to let us make it up? What will mythic levels be like? Any other things about mythic levels worth mentioning?
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However if they actually do plan to make a bridging adventure to our world, I suggest they hook up with my friend Robert Schroeck who did the D%D in London adventure for Dragon 100.AND! If your friend Robert's interested in writing for Paizo/Pathfinder still... have him shoot me an email! I'd love to chat with him! That adventure from Dragon 100 is a great one!
The adventure that showcased the Mace of St. Cuthbert?!! You are bringing tears to this old Grognard's eyes!!
If he ever writes an adventure for Paizo all I can say is PREORDERED!
James, as always thanks for all your answers and insights.
You seem to have a flair of writing short poems such as the Goblin song and poems that accompanied your articles for the Demonomicon of Iggwilv:
1. Would you be so kind and try your hand with a poem that would fit or accompany an article featuring Obox-ob?
And 2. While Wes is normally the resident patron of all things Hellish, would you please consider writing a poem composed by the Pit Fiend General Gorthoklek on the subject matter of Queen Abrogail II. It can be anything from a report to his masters in the Pit, or an idle love note, whatever stirs your fancy.
Oh, go see the Dark Knight Rises, your 20th Level Advanced Template Chaotic Good Rogue kicks serious ass. I dare say it exceeds even Prometheus, words I don't state lightly.
I've been hanging out on Robert Schroeck's own forum for years (he writes fanfiction, we discuss it and countless other random things) and I hope you do hire him, he's awesome. :)
In fact, I think I'll go point him at this page now. ^.^
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James I did my best to pitch a few awesome ideas in Wes' direction about the campaign setting line. I just threw a couple at him I think you would love. What do you think?
The Dark Tapestry and the Abyss are both topics I would love to write more about. And, perhaps unfortunately since my writing schedule isn't as open as I'd like due to having to scramble on other Paizo stuff... those aren't books I'll be able to write all that soon, but we'll see.
(And to be honest, those are both topics that I'd rather not assign to someone else... most of us on the development/design/editorial team have "pet projects" that we've placed our markers on, which means that fitting them in to a busy schedule is extra tricky...)
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Now that is interesting. Where in Greyhawk would you have placed it? I don't recall any particularly Arabian Nights-themed areas.Had Dungeon remained in print and continued to be published by Paizo, the next AP we were tentatively planning on doing was going to be the one that ended up being Legacy of Fire. At that point in time we used the code-name of "Genie War" for the Adventure Path; the magazines got cancelled before we got far past that.
Legacy of Fire is a pretty unusual AP in several ways, since it deviates from the expected norm in the game of "European medieval swords & sorcery" that D&D and Pathfinder assume as the baseline.
North of the Sea of Dust, southwest of Perrenland. Tusmit, I think, was the name of the region? Can't remember for sure, but it would have been set in the western central portion of the map where there really wasn't a whole lot of anything going on.
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James, which would be better in a Pathfinder scenario, cybernetic dinosaurs or dinobots, with proper copyright and trademark permissions.
Neither.
1) The more robot parts you add to dinosaurs, the less cool they get.
2) The more robot parts you add to a Pathfinder Society scenario, which is the shortest and most slimmed down adventure product we do on the smallest adventure budget we have, the less likely we are to be able to do those robot parts' rules the justice they deserve.
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Really? I always thought that you became a petitioner instantly or at least almost immediately after you died heading off to the last reward and that when you are pulling someone back from the dead you are quite often pulling someone back from their final reward whatever that may be. Always seemed to nicely cover why most souls don't remember much of what happened in the afterlife (as they lose a lot of the memories when they get reconstituted back into mortality like they lost it when they became petitioners) and forces the PC's to ask a lot of moral questions about what bringing a friend out of their final reward to help them really means.
Anyways follow up follow up question: How does this work with spells like resurrection, and true resurrection which have much much longer to how long someone has been dead? Are they pulling them out of the afterlife or are they still assumed to be locked up in boneyard limbo? Also what about reincarnation?
In Pathfinder, you don't immediatley become a petitioner. You have to be judged by Pharasma, and that takes time. Once you become a petitioner, you're no longer you—you're something else and can no longer be restored to your original character without your allies doing some pretty epic crazy harrowing stuff. And since we don't want PCs to not have the chance to come back from death... there needs to be a significant window for resurrections to happen.
The way it works with resurrection spells is simply that if the spell works, regardless of how long it's been, that means you haven't been judged yet. The line to wait to be judged is long. Longer than a galaxy, since it covers ALL of the galaxies' dead... plus the dead of the other planes as well. Furthermore, time doesn't work the same in the Boneyard.
SO... if you bring someone back to life, that means that they never became petitioners. If you can't because no one has access to a spell that's powerful enough, or because the person you're trying to resurrect doesn't want to come back... then they've probably (but not always) been judged and sent on to become a petitioner or whatever comes next.
And frankly... we keep all that timing and the like vague on purpose.
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Will you make an AP/bestiary/handbook featuring any of the tech/creatures(other then sonic dragon) from Numeria? Will it be saved untill after mythic levels are revealed? Will you do a mythic level handbook or are you just going to let us make it up? What will mythic levels be like? Any other things about mythic levels worth mentioning?
Inner Sea Bestiary, due out this winter, will have robots and things from Numeria. We don't need mythic stuff for robots. In fact, we've already published one robot, along with the robot subtype, in "Dungeons of Golarion," which features a dungeon built by a cyborg wizard.
As for "mythic" stuff... nothing new to announce there yet. I'd love to do something with it some day, if only so I can stat up some demon lords and Great Old Ones.
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Alas, at this point there's not a lot anyone can do... Second Darkness's fate is pretty much determined. We'll see what the future brings 5, 10, or 20 or more years down the road though...
But it's good to hear some folks enjoyed Second Darkness, because I'm actually quite fond of the bulk of it.
It is good to read, fairly hard to GM well.
I used it as a sequel to Curse of the Crimson Throne, taking the background story, allowing the PC to resolve some fight with extreme ease (they were level 15 at the start of the adventure) but keeping the adventure interesting thanks to the need to comprehend what was happening. I upgraded some of the key figures and battles to keep it challenging. The result lasted less than a normal 6 AP story but was fun to play.
I am a bit sad that I had to cut out the part about infiltrating the drow city, but running that with a high level group would have been very problematic.
So, we haven't run it as written, but it was a great inspiration and source for a high level campaign.
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You seem to have a flair of writing short poems such as the Goblin song and poems that accompanied your articles for the Demonomicon of Iggwilv:
1. Would you be so kind and try your hand with a poem that would fit or accompany an article featuring Obox-ob?
And 2. While Wes is normally the resident patron of all things Hellish, would you please consider writing a poem composed by the Pit Fiend General Gorthoklek on the subject matter of Queen Abrogail II. It can be anything from a report to his masters in the Pit, or an idle love note, whatever stirs your fancy.
Oh, go see the Dark Knight Rises, your 20th Level Advanced Template Chaotic Good Rogue kicks serious ass. I dare say it exceeds even Prometheus, words I don't state lightly.
I actually quite enjoy writing and reading poetry. It's not something that I get a chance to do often, so when I do get a chance (usually in the form of a handout in an adventure these days), I tend to get into it.
1) Writing poetry is really hard. The Goblin Song and the poems that started the Demonomicon articles took me hours to work out, and then I kept going back and revising and refining the words for days afterward. When I'm on a roll, I can churn out 1000 or even 2000 words of prose in an hour, but a single ten word line in a poem can take an hour in and of itself. All of which is saying that I really don't have the time (posting at 3:09 AM here) to do an Obox-ob poem now, but ALSO that I don't really have the heart to do one right now. Because I've pretty much accepted the fact that he's back with WotC now.
2) See #1 above. I'll see what I can do... but poetry is, again, really hard. I get all perfectionisty about it, and so the time kinda has to be right for it to happen if it's not something I've worked myself into the mindset to do on my own.
And don't worry... I'll be seeing Dark Knight Rises. Nolan's Batman movies are my favorite superhero movies ever.
Would you describe a day in the life of James Jacobs? I'm in the UK, and I frequently see you posting at what I think of as"odd hours", and it would be interesting to get an idea as to why.
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Daemons are the ones that are after your soul, because they eat them. Still, a person who dies on Abaddon still gets to have their soul go on to the boneyard. There are likely more places in Abaddon that block souls than anywhere else in the Great Beyond though... and there's CERTAINLY more monsters (many of them daemons) who have specific special abilities or attacks or spell-like abilities that specifically let them catch souls.
This touch, tangentally a discussion we have in another forum about the Heaven oracle capstone power:
Final Revelation: Upon achieving 20th level, your rapport with the heavens grants you perfect harmony with the universe. You receive a bonus on all saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier. You automatically stabilize if you are below 0 hit points, are immune to fear effects, and automatically confirm all critical hits. Should you die, you are reborn 3 days later in the form of a star child, who matures over the course of 7 days (treat as the reincarnate spell).
That "treat as the reincarnate spell" notwithstanding, I feel that if the soul isn't snatched away, destroyed, imprisoned in a undead body or suffering from a similar fate, the heaven oracle will reincarnate even if his body is totally destroyed by things like the incinerate powers of a great dragon or being devoured by a bag of devouring.
My opinion is that the star child power don't require physical remains to function and those effects stop raise dead and resurrection because there aren't physical remains.Another poster think that the text "Creatures destroyed in this way can only be restored to life through true resurrection or similar magic." trump the star child power.
What is your opinion?
For reference:
Incinerate (Su) A great wyrm red dragon can incinerate creatures in its fiery breath. A creature reduced to fewer than 0 hit points by its breath weapon must make a Fortitude save (using the breath weapon's DC). Failure indicates that the creature is reduced to ash. Creatures destroyed in this way can only be restored to life through true resurrection or similar magic.
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Would you describe a day in the life of James Jacobs? I'm in the UK, and I frequently see you posting at what I think of as"odd hours", and it would be interesting to get an idea as to why.
Insomnia's the current reason I'm posting at 3:34.
But sure... Yesterday's events would be...
6:30 Cat gets all loud and crawls on me while I try to sleep; shamble out to pour her some food.
9:30 alarm goes off, I hit snooze several times
10:30 I get out of bed
10:50 Head out to work
10:55 I get coffee at my favorite local coffee place
11:00 Arrive at work. Check messageboards, answer emails, work on developing the adventure for Pathfinder #63
1:00 Go get lunch at the Matador with Wes, Sarah, and Jessica
2:00 Get back, work on adventure some more.
2:30 Do a bunch of image approvals/selections for minis set with Erik
3:00 Editorial meeting; talk with Wes and Erik and Lisa about something I can't talk about in public yet but will be COOOL.
4:00 Back downstairs; check messageboards and email again... then back to work on the adventure
8:00 Get tired of working, go home
8:03 Get home. Feed cat. Microwave a burrito for dinner cause I forgot to go grocery shopping.
8:10 Turn on Netflix. Start watching more of season 4 of "Breaking Bad" (NO SPOILERS, PLEASE!)
11:00 After watching 3 episodes, consider going to do some freelance writing or to read a book or play a video game, but then start watching a 4th episode.
3:00 AM Realize I should stop watching "Breaking Bad" and should go to sleep, but I'm not sleepy. Go to messageboards and start answering questions here.
3:40 Here I am! Pretty exciting stuff, huh?
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That "treat as the reincarnate spell" notwithstanding, I feel that if the soul isn't snatched away, destroyed, imprisoned in a undead body or suffering from a similar fate, the heaven oracle will reincarnate even if his body is totally destroyed by things like the incinerate powers of a great dragon or being devoured by a bag of devouring.
My opinion is that the star child power don't require physical remains to function and those effects stop raise dead and resurrection because there aren't physical remains.
Another poster think that the text "Creatures destroyed in this way can only be restored to life through true resurrection or similar magic." trump the star child power.What is your opinion?
For reference:
Incinerate (Su) A great wyrm red dragon can incinerate creatures in its fiery breath. A creature reduced to fewer than 0 hit points by its breath weapon must make a Fortitude save (using the breath weapon's DC). Failure indicates that the creature is reduced to ash. Creatures destroyed in this way can only be restored to life through true resurrection or similar magic.
Honestly... the Star Child power is meant to be something that the GM and the Player get to have fun with. What its implications are and how it plays out should not only kind of be personalized for each campaign, but should also be personalized for each character who actually reaches that level.
Would the dodge bonus gained from fighting defensively as an APG Shielded Fighter count towards your fighting defensively dodge bonus for the purposes of the Cautions Fighter halfling feat chain from ARG? Same question for Crane Style feat from UC.
I dont remember if I asked, but is there a chance to see an elves of golarion revisted book that deals with elves on all of golarion instead of just Kyonin??
Actually, an elves revisted book, encompassing drow too, perhaps, would be an interesting way to avoid re-doing it in the companion line — and a great way to really pin down the Golarion flavor. James, would you ever consider doing a player race (obviously something multifaceted like elves/drow) in the revisited line?
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Really? I always thought that you became a petitioner instantly or at least almost immediately after you died heading off to the last reward and that when you are pulling someone back from the dead you are quite often pulling someone back from their final reward whatever that may be. Always seemed to nicely cover why most souls don't remember much of what happened in the afterlife (as they lose a lot of the memories when they get reconstituted back into mortality like they lost it when they became petitioners) and forces the PC's to ask a lot of moral questions about what bringing a friend out of their final reward to help them really means.
Anyways follow up follow up question: How does this work with spells like resurrection, and true resurrection which have much much longer to how long someone has been dead? Are they pulling them out of the afterlife or are they still assumed to be locked up in boneyard limbo? Also what about reincarnation?In Pathfinder, you don't immediatley become a petitioner. You have to be judged by Pharasma, and that takes time. Once you become a petitioner, you're no longer you—you're something else and can no longer be restored to your original character without your allies doing some pretty epic crazy harrowing stuff. And since we don't want PCs to not have the chance to come back from death... there needs to be a significant window for resurrections to happen.
The way it works with resurrection spells is simply that if the spell works, regardless of how long it's been, that means you haven't been judged yet. The line to wait to be judged is long. Longer than a galaxy, since it covers ALL of the galaxies' dead... plus the dead of the other planes as well. Furthermore, time doesn't work the same in the Boneyard.
SO... if you bring someone back to life, that means that they never became petitioners. If you can't because no one has access to a spell that's powerful enough, or because the person you're trying to resurrect doesn't want to come...
Cool now follow up follow up question, what happens to a petitioner that is killed? Are they obliterated or do they now that they are outsiders do they eventually reconstitute themselves like demons, devils, and other outsiders do?
Discussion about Baba Yaga on another thread put me in a mindset of thinking about the small amount of Russian writing that I have read.
James, have you ever read Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch, and New Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko?
-If so, what did you think of the books?
-If not, SHAME ON YOU! GO BUY THEM AND READ THEM NOW SO YOU CAN ANSWER MY QUESTION!!
-I mean, if not, why not?
-If you have not read them, (for what it's worth) I recommend them. They are a fun read. You could watch the movies too, but don't judge the books based on them.
One of the things about the books that I enjoyed was how Magicians and Witches, while very similar had very different means of gaining in power.
-Aaron
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Creative Director
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Would the dodge bonus gained from fighting defensively as an APG Shielded Fighter count towards your fighting defensively dodge bonus for the purposes of the Cautions Fighter halfling feat chain from ARG? Same question for Crane Style feat from UC.
Assuming you can activate all those abilities at the same time, dodge bonuses always stack. But if you can't activate multiple abilities, then those dodge bonuses don't have a way of stacking.
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Creative Director
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I dont remember if I asked, but is there a chance to see an elves of golarion revisted book that deals with elves on all of golarion instead of just Kyonin??
The info in Elves of Golarion isn't meant to be only about the elves in Kyonin. But we'll see... the race books have gone through a LOT of changes over the years.
6:30 Cat gets all loud and crawls on me while I try to sleep; shamble out to pour her some food.
My cat did this too. Our solution? Train her to a food alarm. We have a spare cellphone that we set with an alarm on. She doesn't get fed unless it goes off.
It took a bit of time but she stopped waking us up whenever she got hungry.
- Gauss
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Creative Director
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I dont remember if I asked, but is there a chance to see an elves of golarion revisted book that deals with elves on all of golarion instead of just Kyonin??Actually, an elves revisted book, encompassing drow too, perhaps, would be an interesting way to avoid re-doing it in the companion line — and a great way to really pin down the Golarion flavor. James, would you ever consider doing a player race (obviously something multifaceted like elves/drow) in the revisited line?
Covering a race in the Campaign Setting is an interesting idea, but since we do try to keep that line mostly to a GM's resource line... it's a weird choice in some regards. Still... Hmmm.
James, which would be better in a Pathfinder scenario, cybernetic dinosaurs or dinobots, with proper copyright and trademark permissions.Neither.
1) The more robot parts you add to dinosaurs, the less cool they get.
2) The more robot parts you add to a Pathfinder Society scenario, which is the shortest and most slimmed down adventure product we do on the smallest adventure budget we have, the less likely we are to be able to do those robot parts' rules the justice they deserve.
Okay, robotics are out of the question. But what about hyper-intelligent psionic dinosaurs that keep humanoids, human, and demi-humans as servants and pets.