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Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lord Snow wrote:

Hey James! :)

Am I right in my guess that the Shatterd Star AP is as close as Paizo is currently willing to get to a mega-dungeon AP? seeing as how each module is a big adventure anyway and all...

You're not right. I'd love to some day do an entire Adventure Path set completely in a single dungeon. Whether or not that dream of mine ever gets a chance to live depends in large part how much folks like the big dungeons in Shattered Star, though...


Hi James,

1) Does the Arcanamirium of Absalom allow witches to attend?

When a white-haired witch (Dragon Empires Primer pag. 23) grapples with her hair it doesn't gain the grappled condition.
2) Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage on a successful check to mantain the grapple?
3) Can she use her hair to grapple an oponent without striking with the natural attack first?

Thank you for your time.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Tels wrote:
Steg wrote:

Hi James,

Would you be willing to post the stats (or at least the main relevant stat) for ** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for your time!

While I don't own the book yet, so can't be sure, the Artifacts and Legends book is supposed to have the breakdown on all of the Seven Swords in there.
They are... but none of them have their specific statistics listed (it was tough enough fitting seven swords into the book in that section in the first place!).

What? no Stats for them? But... But... That only leaves us with the types of swords and Two particular examples (one of which is 3.5) Will you ever release stats for those swords? Maybe in Shattered Star?


James,

I seem to recall reading somewhere that for higher level play, you would have liked to see PC stats able to go to 35th Level with non-PCs capping out around a CR40.

With the Mythic rules coming out, do you still anticipate eventually doing post 20th level rules or do you think Paizo will stop with Mythic? (as far as rules go post 20th level play)

-TimD


Stratagemini wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Tels wrote:
Steg wrote:

Hi James,

Would you be willing to post the stats (or at least the main relevant stat) for ** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for your time!

While I don't own the book yet, so can't be sure, the Artifacts and Legends book is supposed to have the breakdown on all of the Seven Swords in there.
They are... but none of them have their specific statistics listed (it was tough enough fitting seven swords into the book in that section in the first place!).
What? no Stats for them? But... But... That only leaves us with the types of swords and Two particular examples (one of which is 3.5) Will you ever release stats for those swords? Maybe in Shattered Star?

No stats? That blows, I guess I read too much into F. Wesley Schneider's post in another thread about the 7 Swords.

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:

There will be significantly more on the Swords of Sin by the end of the year, so keep an eye out.

For now, though, Tels has some great ideas here. I'd steal liberally from there to tide you over.

He was referencing a post I made about how I was working on my own version of the 7 Swords, just in case my PCs wanted to know more about them as I was running the Seven Swords of Sin Module at the time.

I was really looking forward to Artifacts and Legends primarily for the 7 Swords Stats, but I am a little disappointed they aren't in there. I'm still going to pick it up though, a book on Artifacts and Legends is a great source to farm for ideas and plot hooks.


Would any potential Missus be required to wear these shoes at least once?


James Jacobs wrote:
Lord Snow wrote:

Hey James! :)

Am I right in my guess that the Shatterd Star AP is as close as Paizo is currently willing to get to a mega-dungeon AP? seeing as how each module is a big adventure anyway and all...

You're not right. I'd love to some day do an entire Adventure Path set completely in a single dungeon. Whether or not that dream of mine ever gets a chance to live depends in large part how much folks like the big dungeons in Shattered Star, though...

Is Kaer Maga's undercity at least on the short list for this type of thing?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Amaranthine Witch wrote:

Hi James,

1) Does the Arcanamirium of Absalom allow witches to attend?

When a white-haired witch (Dragon Empires Primer pag. 23) grapples with her hair it doesn't gain the grappled condition.
2) Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage on a successful check to mantain the grapple?
3) Can she use her hair to grapple an oponent without striking with the natural attack first?

Thank you for your time.

1) Yes.

2) Yes, but doing so downgrades her hair attack to a secondary attack, which reduces her CMB checks by a like number (it's a –5 penalty for a secondary attack).

3) Yes, because her hair is the thing that is making the attack. You can't grapple with your hair until you hit with it though.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Stratagemini wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Tels wrote:
Steg wrote:

Hi James,

Would you be willing to post the stats (or at least the main relevant stat) for ** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for your time!

While I don't own the book yet, so can't be sure, the Artifacts and Legends book is supposed to have the breakdown on all of the Seven Swords in there.
They are... but none of them have their specific statistics listed (it was tough enough fitting seven swords into the book in that section in the first place!).
What? no Stats for them? But... But... That only leaves us with the types of swords and Two particular examples (one of which is 3.5) Will you ever release stats for those swords? Maybe in Shattered Star?

When and if we do another adventure featuring one of the swords, yeah. The swords do not play a role in Shattered Star.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

TimD wrote:

James,

I seem to recall reading somewhere that for higher level play, you would have liked to see PC stats able to go to 35th Level with non-PCs capping out around a CR40.

With the Mythic rules coming out, do you still anticipate eventually doing post 20th level rules or do you think Paizo will stop with Mythic? (as far as rules go post 20th level play)

-TimD

With Mythic rule coming out, it's looking like the CR cap is gonna be 35, which is, frankly, fine enough for me. That means that a 20th level character with 10 mythic tiers would be about as challenged resource and ability wise facing a CR 35 foe as would be a 20th level character facing a CR 25 foe. More or less.

We have no plans to expand the level cap beyond 20th into the old Epic rules type game play. Mythic is our answer for that.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tels wrote:
Would any potential Missus be required to wear these shoes at least once?

Wow.

She would not be required... but if she did I would be amused.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Evil Lincoln wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lord Snow wrote:

Hey James! :)

Am I right in my guess that the Shatterd Star AP is as close as Paizo is currently willing to get to a mega-dungeon AP? seeing as how each module is a big adventure anyway and all...

You're not right. I'd love to some day do an entire Adventure Path set completely in a single dungeon. Whether or not that dream of mine ever gets a chance to live depends in large part how much folks like the big dungeons in Shattered Star, though...
Is Kaer Maga's undercity at least on the short list for this type of thing?

Kaer Maga's undercity is the location of part of the third Adventure Path in Shattered Star.

It's also been the focus of two other adventures: "Seven Swords of Sin" and "The Godsmouth Heresy." We'll likely be going back to the Undercity now and then in the future.

As such... it's already being developed, which means that if I do someday do an All Dungeon AP like I mention above, it will NOT be Kaer Maga/Undercity. It'll be some place we've teased folks about but never really fully detailed. Like a siege castle near Absalom, probably. Or maybe Hollow Mountain.


Pardon, sir JJ ^_^

When a creature undergoes a Polymorph effect, by spell or otherwise, to become a new type of creature... (Say, a humanoid to an animal)... Does their Creature Type change as well, for the duration of the effect?

For example: Can a Kitsune, that uses Fox Shape (otherwise behaves like Beast Shape II), then use a Hat of Disguise (or Disguise Self by any other source) to appear as a different type of animal? (say, a cat)

Edit: shouldn't say 'For Example'... just one example that relies on a change of creature type to function by RAW. Other more important examples would be the use of different Traits granted by creature type... and spells that only function for, or detect, certain creature types.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Bane Wraith wrote:

Pardon, sir JJ ^_^

When a creature undergoes a Polymorph effect, by spell or otherwise, to become a new type of creature... (Say, a humanoid to an animal)... Does their Creature Type change as well, for the duration of the effect?

For example: Can a Kitsune, that uses Fox Shape (otherwise behaves like Beast Shape II), then use a Hat of Disguise (or Disguise Self by any other source) to appear as a different type of animal? (say, a cat)

Edit: shouldn't say 'For Example'... just one example that relies on a change of creature type to function by RAW. Other more iportant examples would be the use of different Traits granted by creature type...

That seems like a good assumption to me. Especially since Pathfinder spells are weirdly resistant to the concept of using magic to disguise yourself as specific people...


James Jacobs wrote:
Bane Wraith wrote:

Pardon, sir JJ ^_^

When a creature undergoes a Polymorph effect, by spell or otherwise, to become a new type of creature... (Say, a humanoid to an animal)... Does their Creature Type change as well, for the duration of the effect?

For example: Can a Kitsune, that uses Fox Shape (otherwise behaves like Beast Shape II), then use a Hat of Disguise (or Disguise Self by any other source) to appear as a different type of animal? (say, a cat)

Edit: shouldn't say 'For Example'... just one example that relies on a change of creature type to function by RAW. Other more iportant examples would be the use of different Traits granted by creature type...

That seems like a good assumption to me. Especially since Pathfinder spells are weirdly resistant to the concept of using magic to disguise yourself as specific people...

Thank you ^///^

Now, I can sense the impending bombardment of questions from druids and rangers abound... Do you mind going into details about what might carry over, if Creature Type changes?

For the example provided, it's rather simple.

But what about polymorphing into an Angel's body? Would they gain electricity resistances? traits, immunities, need to breathe, etc.

Do they detect as their original creature type, or the new form they've taken?

What about features and abilities like the Ranger's favored enemy; do they cease to grant a benefit, if the Dwarf they've trained themselves to hunt all their lives suddenly becomes a Bear?


Someone on another thread pulled up this quote, from Jason Bulmahn, 2009...

http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz1hme?Polymorph-need-clarification#3

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Stardust is correct. Polymorph spells do not change your type.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

... Forgive me for not doing research sooner. But, which is it? Does it change creature type, or not?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Bane Wraith wrote:

But what about polymorphing into an Angel's body? Would they gain electricity resistances? traits, immunities, need to breathe, etc.

Do they detect as their original creature type, or the new form they've taken?

What about features and abilities like the Ranger's favored enemy; do they cease to grant a benefit, if the Dwarf they've trained themselves to hunt all their lives suddenly becomes a Bear?

Whether or not you gain more traits of an assumed form will and is covered by the various polymorph spells themselves.

You probably should detect as the new form, and you should trigger things like favored enemy based on BOTH forms, or at the very least, the form you assume. Otherwise, suddenly favored enemy becomes a polymorph deception breaker.


Thanks for the advice, great sir. ^_^

I'm sorry, I've been informed that in this particular case, Jason's word trumps most in determining whether creature type changes or not...

Just wanted closure on whether that was true. (see my last post)

I will happily inform our GM of your recommendation for favored enemy, disguise self, and detecting as the new form, though, see if he'll go for it. ^_^


James Jacobs wrote:
If I do someday do an All Dungeon AP like I mention above, it will NOT be Kaer Maga/Undercity. It'll be some place we've teased folks about but never really fully detailed. Like a siege castle near Absalom, probably. Or maybe Hollow Mountain.

Or beneath Castle Korvosa? :3

I also have a question: do immortal humans gain the bonuses to mental stats for aging?


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
If I do someday do an All Dungeon AP like I mention above, it will NOT be Kaer Maga/Undercity. It'll be some place we've teased folks about but never really fully detailed. Like a siege castle near Absalom, probably. Or maybe Hollow Mountain.

Or beneath Castle Korvosa? :3

I also have a question: do immortal humans gain the bonuses to mental stats for aging?

The answer to this appears to be yes.

RotRL Spoiler:
Karzoug's stat block specifically calls out that, being immortal and older than venerable, he gets the mental stat boosts without the physical penalties.

Liberty's Edge

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?


I was directed here by way of the Rules Questions forum, my apologies if this is too long.

A ranger of Besmara may take a familiar (from a limited list) instead of an animal companion, effective wizard level = ranger level - 3. The "effective level" idea I think was very easy to apply with animal companions, a bit more tricky with familiars.

The stuff listed in the table in the familiar section is easy enough to figure out (natural armor, int, special). Master Class = Ranger class - 3. But what about the other stuff?

How many hit die? Use the master's actual character level or his "effective wizard level"?

Hit points I think is pretty straight forward.

Attacks? My main question. Use the ranger's BAB or a Wizard's BAB 3 levels lower?

Saving Throws? Linked to master's actual saves or the saves of a wizard 3 levels lower?

Skills, again I think is pretty straight forward.

Finally, does the Besmaran familiar gain the favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses like the animal companion would? Animal companion is replaced with a familiar, but if I interpret it correctly I think Hunter's Bond would remain the same otherwise.


UnboltedAKTION wrote:

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?

Don't need James for this one. DR that includes the word AND requires BOTH types of damage. If it was either/or the DR would actually say OR, like the Bearded Devil, for example.


So we're planning on starting up the gaming sessions soon now that fall is upon us and school is well on it's way. I've currently got a Wizard playing in Kingmaker and my GM is determined to portray my wizard to the populace as an Evil Tyrant Overlord, and I'm looking to change that.

My first idea is to make like, a daycare/pre-school for the people of my city. I've got ideas for a magical ball pit, an illusionary story room that uses either Silent Image and Ghost Sound or Minor Image to enhance the story being told by the caretakers (kind of like a holodeck). I'd already planned on creating an item that allowed an at-will Prestidigitation, but the Apprentice's Cheating Gloves inspired me to make something a little better, and use Prestidigitation and Mending (instead of Mage Hand) but in more of a Bracelet or Necklace form, that way they can create toys, sparkles, bubbles, clean with ease, re-heat/re-flavor food etc. and if the children break anything, the caretakers can easily repair it. I'd also like to work on a Permanent Unseen Servant, but that's a little out of my level at the moment.

I've been working on pricing as much as I can from the books (food, hirelings, toys, books, etc) but I have no idea what I should use for a price for the building itself. Do you have any recommendations on what you would feel a suitable building would cost? Also, any ideas you can throw my way to help my Wizard's standing?

Kingmaker:
My Wizard has such a bad standing in the populace because of the Gregory interaction. My party has three faces, a Sorcerer, a Rogue and a Cleric, but at the time, the Sorcerer was ill and wasn't at the table, and neither the Rogue or Cleric felt like talking. I was doing my best to match wits with the GM and everyone, the GM included, acknowledged that in real life, I was winning, but I couldn't beat Gregory in 5 straight Diplomacy checks with a modifier of +1. Our Royal Assassin didn't like what Gregory was doing, so he physically attacked him, so now both the Wizard and Assassin are viewed as tyrants by the people since we were the only ones to do anything.


James Jacobs wrote:
Amaranthine Witch wrote:

Hi James,

1) Does the Arcanamirium of Absalom allow witches to attend?

When a white-haired witch (Dragon Empires Primer pag. 23) grapples with her hair it doesn't gain the grappled condition.
2) Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage on a successful check to mantain the grapple?
3) Can she use her hair to grapple an oponent without striking with the natural attack first?

Thank you for your time.

1) Yes.

2) Yes, but doing so downgrades her hair attack to a secondary attack, which reduces her CMB checks by a like number (it's a –5 penalty for a secondary attack).

3) Yes, because her hair is the thing that is making the attack. You can't grapple with your hair until you hit with it though.

I think I have not explained myself correctly.

When you make a successful check to mantain a grapple (core rulebook pag 200), you can perform one of the listed actions as part of the standard action to mantain the grapple and one of them is inflict damage. As the white-haired witch does not gain the grappled condition when using her white hair class feature, she has her hands free. Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage?

The third quesion was if you could initiate a grapple with the hair without hitting with it.

Silver Crusade

Heya James!

I am a huge fan of the Iconics, both in concept as well as their IMO massive potential for other products in Paizo's already amazing stable. The Pathfinder comic is a great start, and I hope to see them in novels soon. Sutter, hear me! *grin*

Ok, so along those lines I've always wondered:

1] Do the Iconics have champions/owners at the Paizo offices that have more of a say or control of them? Would you run down those you're aware of please?

2] Do any of them come from home campaigns?

3] Are there any avenues that you personally would like to see the Iconics branch off into (animations, licensing, novels, module appearances)? No official Paizo commitment here, just what you'd like to see.

4] What was, and have they lived up to what you saw their purpose at the beginning?

Cheers, James! Oh and a HUGE thank you for the earlier Cthulhu Mythos recommends, especially for the amazing Call of Cthulhu film adaptation. I was awestruck when I finally was able to order the DVD and sit down and devour it! What atmosphere on such a limited budget. Lovecraft was totally new to me, and now I sit in sheer devotion.

Here's hoping that Del Toro gets to make his Cthulhu film eventually.


Gorbacz wrote:
Kajehase wrote:
Next Adventure Path will be PCs versus the demons of the Worldwound and is called Wrath of the Righteous. Pretty neat name, no? Wonder who came up with it? ;)
Likely some guy from Sweden. It's always them. First they build their IKEAs in my backyard, then they name my APs... It's 1655 all over again.

Are you saying you want an Adventure Path based on the Deluge?

*steals back his car*

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Kajehase wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Kajehase wrote:
Next Adventure Path will be PCs versus the demons of the Worldwound and is called Wrath of the Righteous. Pretty neat name, no? Wonder who came up with it? ;)
Likely some guy from Sweden. It's always them. First they build their IKEAs in my backyard, then they name my APs... It's 1655 all over again.

Are you saying you want an Adventure Path based on the Deluge?

*steals back his car*

Now I know which t-shirt I'll wear the next time I'm across the sea!


If you were running a more light-hearted campaign, would you let a player-character start with a curse that causes them to change shape when splashed with cold water (with hot water turning them back)?

For anyone who recognises the reference, yeah - I've been re-watching it lately.

Liberty's Edge

The Block Knight wrote:
UnboltedAKTION wrote:

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?

Don't need James for this one. DR that includes the word AND requires BOTH types of damage. If it was either/or the DR would actually say OR, like the Bearded Devil, for example.

Thanks! See that's what I figured. But what about vampires. They have silver and magic which leads me to believe that one would need a magical silver weapon. However, don't +1 weapons count as silver and coldiron? And if so wouldn't you just need a +1 to get past that DR?


IANJ, but...

UnboltedAKTION wrote:
However, don't +1 weapons count as silver and coldiron? And if so wouldn't you just need a +1 to get past that DR?

Negative on that, Houston. A +3 (or better) weapon counts as silver and cold iron for purposes of DR.


Why do mortal creatures possess a dual nature unlike outsiders?


Outsiders possess a dual nature, when they are home (I would imagine).

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber

So, I'm wondering if the real reason that no one has been able to cajole an answer out of Pharasma about what Aroden's disposition after his death was, is that whoever or whatever took out Aroden also took out Pharasma, and is masquerading as her as part of a deep, dark, one might almost say Eldritch plan; thus since this thing doesn't do prophecy, that would be why prophecy doesn't work any more...

(I decided this thread was better than the chat for this question...)


Do you think races with +2 to all physical ability scores and -2 to two mental (or vice-versa) would be balanced? It's really awkward to build such a thing with the race builder.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Bane Wraith wrote:

Thanks for the advice, great sir. ^_^

I'm sorry, I've been informed that in this particular case, Jason's word trumps most in determining whether creature type changes or not...

Just wanted closure on whether that was true. (see my last post)

I will happily inform our GM of your recommendation for favored enemy, disguise self, and detecting as the new form, though, see if he'll go for it. ^_^

And your GM's word trumps everything Jason says. So if your GM prefers my interpretation, there ya go. If he prefers Jason's rulings, that's fine too. But neither of us gets to trump your GM.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
If I do someday do an All Dungeon AP like I mention above, it will NOT be Kaer Maga/Undercity. It'll be some place we've teased folks about but never really fully detailed. Like a siege castle near Absalom, probably. Or maybe Hollow Mountain.

Or beneath Castle Korvosa? :3

I also have a question: do immortal humans gain the bonuses to mental stats for aging?

Yes; Immortal humans gain those bonuses AND penalties. Usually. Depending on if we remember or not. Sometimes they only gain some of them depending on the method used to gain immortality.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

UnboltedAKTION wrote:

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?

The "and" means it has to be both. If it was either/or, its damage reduction would be "15/piercing or good."

Simply using a piercing weapon or a good weapon isn't enough to get through a rakshasa's DR.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tom_Servo wrote:

I was directed here by way of the Rules Questions forum, my apologies if this is too long.

A ranger of Besmara may take a familiar (from a limited list) instead of an animal companion, effective wizard level = ranger level - 3. The "effective level" idea I think was very easy to apply with animal companions, a bit more tricky with familiars.

The stuff listed in the table in the familiar section is easy enough to figure out (natural armor, int, special). Master Class = Ranger class - 3. But what about the other stuff?

How many hit die? Use the master's actual character level or his "effective wizard level"?

Hit points I think is pretty straight forward.

Attacks? My main question. Use the ranger's BAB or a Wizard's BAB 3 levels lower?

Saving Throws? Linked to master's actual saves or the saves of a wizard 3 levels lower?

Skills, again I think is pretty straight forward.

Finally, does the Besmaran familiar gain the favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses like the animal companion would? Animal companion is replaced with a familiar, but if I interpret it correctly I think Hunter's Bond would remain the same otherwise.

They'd all be the effective wizard level. So, ranger level – 3.

The familiar does not gain favored enemy or terrain bonuses, since it's a familiar, not an animal companion. It serves an entirely different role.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The Block Knight wrote:
UnboltedAKTION wrote:

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?

Don't need James for this one. DR that includes the word AND requires BOTH types of damage. If it was either/or the DR would actually say OR, like the Bearded Devil, for example.

I will (and did) answer the question anyway, so while I appreciate the help, it's not entirely necessary. :P


James Jacobs wrote:

They'd all be the effective wizard level. So, ranger level – 3.

The familiar does not gain favored enemy or terrain bonuses, since it's a familiar, not an animal companion. It serves an entirely different role.

Thank you.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tels wrote:

So we're planning on starting up the gaming sessions soon now that fall is upon us and school is well on it's way. I've currently got a Wizard playing in Kingmaker and my GM is determined to portray my wizard to the populace as an Evil Tyrant Overlord, and I'm looking to change that.

My first idea is to make like, a daycare/pre-school for the people of my city. I've got ideas for a magical ball pit, an illusionary story room that uses either Silent Image and Ghost Sound or Minor Image to enhance the story being told by the caretakers (kind of like a holodeck). I'd already planned on creating an item that allowed an at-will Prestidigitation, but the Apprentice's Cheating Gloves inspired me to make something a little better, and use Prestidigitation and Mending (instead of Mage Hand) but in more of a Bracelet or Necklace form, that way they can create toys, sparkles, bubbles, clean with ease, re-heat/re-flavor food etc. and if the children break anything, the caretakers can easily repair it. I'd also like to work on a Permanent Unseen Servant, but that's a little out of my level at the moment.

I've been working on pricing as much as I can from the books (food, hirelings, toys, books, etc) but I have no idea what I should use for a price for the building itself. Do you have any recommendations on what you would feel a suitable building would cost? Also, any ideas you can throw my way to help my Wizard's standing?

** spoiler omitted **...

The building itself should be part of the construction of the town, so it should probably use build points. Just ballparking it, I'd say it'd be about the same as an Inn in cost and effect on the city.

As for how to fix your wizard's reputation... keep being nice. Spend money on the locals for things that they'd appreciate. Make public your persona as being someone who wants forgiveness and seeks redemption in the eyes of the locals, even if you don't personally think you need to do so. Go on adventures for the locals; do them favors. Stand up to cruelty and violence even (especially) if your fellow PCs are causing it. And in game... start spending skill ranks on Diplomacy and on Profession (teacher).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Amaranthine Witch wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Amaranthine Witch wrote:

Hi James,

1) Does the Arcanamirium of Absalom allow witches to attend?

When a white-haired witch (Dragon Empires Primer pag. 23) grapples with her hair it doesn't gain the grappled condition.
2) Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage on a successful check to mantain the grapple?
3) Can she use her hair to grapple an oponent without striking with the natural attack first?

Thank you for your time.

1) Yes.

2) Yes, but doing so downgrades her hair attack to a secondary attack, which reduces her CMB checks by a like number (it's a –5 penalty for a secondary attack).

3) Yes, because her hair is the thing that is making the attack. You can't grapple with your hair until you hit with it though.

I think I have not explained myself correctly.

When you make a successful check to mantain a grapple (core rulebook pag 200), you can perform one of the listed actions as part of the standard action to mantain the grapple and one of them is inflict damage. As the white-haired witch does not gain the grappled condition when using her white hair class feature, she has her hands free. Can she use a two-handed weapon to deal damage?

The third quesion was if you could initiate a grapple with the hair without hitting with it.

She can indeed use a two-handed weapon to deal damage.

The hair is still part of her, so you'd need to hit her first before grappling the hair. The witch and her hair are the same target.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ShadowFighter88 wrote:

If you were running a more light-hearted campaign, would you let a player-character start with a curse that causes them to change shape when splashed with cold water (with hot water turning them back)?

For anyone who recognises the reference, yeah - I've been re-watching it lately.

I'd allow that, probably even in a NON-lightheartd campaign.


If I am the white-haired witch can I use a combat maneuver action to grapple and state that I use the hair so I don't gain the grappled condition?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber
TetsujinOni wrote:

So, I'm wondering if the real reason that no one has been able to cajole an answer out of Pharasma about what Aroden's disposition after his death was, is that whoever or whatever took out Aroden also took out Pharasma, and is masquerading as her as part of a deep, dark, one might almost say Eldritch plan; thus since this thing doesn't do prophecy, that would be why prophecy doesn't work any more...

(I decided this thread was better than the chat for this question...)

Oh, yeah... the obligatory question part: "Am I onto something?" *grin*

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tels wrote:

So we're planning on starting up the gaming sessions soon now that fall is upon us and school is well on it's way. I've currently got a Wizard playing in Kingmaker and my GM is determined to portray my wizard to the populace as an Evil Tyrant Overlord, and I'm looking to change that.

Is it because by any chance that your wizard IS an Evil Tyrant Overlord?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Winter_Born wrote:

Heya James!

I am a huge fan of the Iconics, both in concept as well as their IMO massive potential for other products in Paizo's already amazing stable. The Pathfinder comic is a great start, and I hope to see them in novels soon. Sutter, hear me! *grin*

Ok, so along those lines I've always wondered:

1] Do the Iconics have champions/owners at the Paizo offices that have more of a say or control of them? Would you run down those you're aware of please?

2] Do any of them come from home campaigns?

3] Are there any avenues that you personally would like to see the Iconics branch off into (animations, licensing, novels, module appearances)? No official Paizo commitment here, just what you'd like to see.

4] What was, and have they lived up to what you saw their purpose at the beginning?

Cheers, James! Oh and a HUGE thank you for the earlier Cthulhu Mythos recommends, especially for the amazing Call of Cthulhu film adaptation. I was awestruck when I finally was able to order the DVD and sit down and devour it! What atmosphere on such a limited budget. Lovecraft was totally new to me, and now I sit in sheer devotion.

Here's hoping that Del Toro gets to make his Cthulhu film eventually.

The iconics are very unlikely to appear as characters in novels. Their great strength is their visual appeal, and that makes them PERFECT as characters in the comic, but not so great as characters in a novel. In addition, we don't want to have to track continuity between two different lines in that way—that gets way too complicated too quickly.

1) I'm pretty much the champion/owner for all of the iconics to a certain extent. Deciding their personalities is mostly my job as Creative Director, although in many cases I've recruited other folks around the office (often James Sutter) to help build their personalities or write the Meet the Iconics blogs. I'm the one who approves those blogs though. But as it works out, folks DO end up associating and claiming iconics as their, I guess, mascots for lack of a better term. Crystal's quite fond of Imrijka, for example, and Sara Marie likes the witch, and Wes is fond of Seltyiel. Merisial's my personal favorite of the bunch.

2) Nope. They were all created by Wayne Reynolds from a super short art order we wrote for him. Seoni's for example, said something like: "She's an exotic looking sorcerer with mystical tattoos" or something like that... we might not even have mentioned tattoos, in fact... can't remember. Wayne pretty much built everything in them.

3) I'd love to see them show up in video games, movies, and premium cable TV shows!

4) They were originally created so that we could show, not tell, our artists what a wizard or a rogue or a barbarian looked like. The vast majority of our artists do not play RPGs, so if we simply asked for a wizard, we could well get a bearded dude in a pointy hat, but we might also get a dude with a sword or wearing armor. It's a LOT easier to say "paint this guy" than to say "paint this wizard—a wizard can't wear armor and he has not many weapon choices and should have lots of bags for spell components and should have magic effects coming from his outstretched hands." Furthermore! The iconics are intended to serve Paizo as a sort of brand mascot. We're at the point now that if you see Seoni on a book cover, you'll know it's a Pathfidner book, just like how you'll know what's going on in a comic book with Batman on the cover.

AND: Glad you enjoyed those movies!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

UnboltedAKTION wrote:
The Block Knight wrote:
UnboltedAKTION wrote:

Dear JJ,

So I have a question about an upcoming encounter in my Serpent's Skull game. The party will be facing off with a rakshaska (you may recall the one I'm speaking of).

My question pertains to DR. It has 15/ piercing and good. Now does that mean the the weapon must be good aligned and piercing or either/or? We've always played it as either/or however, reading the rules on DR in the back of the Bestiary is leading me to believe other wise.

What is the official ruling?

Don't need James for this one. DR that includes the word AND requires BOTH types of damage. If it was either/or the DR would actually say OR, like the Bearded Devil, for example.
Thanks! See that's what I figured. But what about vampires. They have silver and magic which leads me to believe that one would need a magical silver weapon. However, don't +1 weapons count as silver and coldiron? And if so wouldn't you just need a +1 to get past that DR?

Nope; you need a +3 weapon to fake having cold iron or silver. A +1 or +2 weapon won't help against a vampire's DR unless the weapon is also silver/mithral.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

redliska wrote:
Why do mortal creatures possess a dual nature unlike outsiders?

Because that's one way the original designers of 3rd edition decided to differentiate between mortals and outsiders.

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