James,
Does the plane of shadow touch the First World? If so do you feel it would behave any differently than previously presented due to the first world's morphic nature?
Follow-up: Does the ethereal plane touch the first world?
edit: how the smurfing smurf did my avatar become a smurf?
1) Churtle
Isn't that a Kobold name? ;)
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As a supporter of both Pathfinder MMO Kickstarter campaigns, I just read this in the FAQ:
"I have heard that you're going to have unrestricted PvP and I don't like that. What are my options?
The game is designed to maximize meaningful human interaction. In most of the game world the players will be able to attack one another freely. However in some areas such combat may be subject to harsh penalties and in others it may be forbidden completely.
Avoiding PvP entirely may be very difficult, but you can minimize the amount it will affect you by carefully choosing where you travel and by taking precautions as you move around the game world.
Last updated: Tuesday Nov 27, 3:17pm EST"
Unlimited PvP is childish, like 5 YO kids playing King of the Mountain. Fun at their age, just plain silly once anyone is past age 10. I would like for Paizo to address this issue head on, as it has killed other MMO's in the past, Ultima Online being a prime example of a once thriving MMO that allowed unlimited PvP, which drove away most of the players. As a financial backer, I would like to see a Pathfinder MMO succeed, and only by limiting PvP to special areas can I see this happening. As a former owner of the text-based MO, Eaxia Online, I speak from experience, so I hope you will consider this Mr Jacobs. On Facebook people are already shying away from contributing because of this game mechanic, not a very hopeful sign.
Thank you for your time.
1) ChurtleIsn't that a Kobold name? ;)
I think it's a Pokemon. Or a Smurf.
ETA: And now my avatar changed to a smurfing Smurf as well. What the smurf?
1) ChurtleIsn't that a Kobold name? ;)I think it's a Pokemon. Or a Smu^f.
ETA: And now my avatar changed to a smu^fing Smu^f as well. What the smu^f?
It does that if you use that word in your post ;)
Churtle was the name of the kobold cook/alchemist in the first chapter of Savage Tide.
Oh god we've awakened some kind of weird forum avatar curse.
Quickly, let the misguided blood sacrifices to Ja'Mes J'Acobsthotep begin in hope of salvation :(
It worked!? Unhallowed blood magic saves the day again!
I'm hoping to have some time to put toward testing out mythic rules soon, and I was hoping for some input on whether my initial idea would be helpful or not.
In the ongoing campaign in which I play, our GM uses the abyssal pantheon and stat blocks from the 3.5 Fiendish Codex I. Graz'zt has been a constant thorn in our sides, and in my PC's particularly. I was thinking of buffing up my PC with extra levels and mythic tiers and seeing if he could take on Graz'zt in a one-on-one fight.
To make my results as valuable as possible for playtesting purposes, should I take the time to fully convert/rebuild Graz'zt to Pathfinder standards, or can I simply eyeball it by adding 1 hp per HD and giving him extra feats as appropriate for his HD/class levels and still consider him on par with other CR 22 monsters in Pathfinder?
1. What sorts of good outsiders will be interested in guarding the lab of a wizard whose interest is in creating new species?
2. Was fleshwarping pervasive throughout Thassilon or was it only heavily practiced in particular domains?
3. Could polymorph any object be used for cosmetic surgery?
4. How would transhumanism work in a setting where the afterlife is known to exist, like Pathfinder? Death really is a new beginning and petitioners, particularly good-aligned ones, have a real chance of becoming superpowered beings.
5. This raises the question of why anyone would be evil if they weren't an immortal wizard or somesuch. What do Asmodeus worshippers think happens to them when they die?
Creative Director
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which do you like better lich, vampire or grave-knight? what are your top 10 classes in order? And finally what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Thanks in advance.
Lich.
Bard, cleric, rogue, druid, alchemist, ranger, witch, sorcerer, fighter, barbarian.
23 trillings per tick.
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Creative Director
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the mythic material mythic weakness...
what happens when you choose one of them and get locked in chains made out of them, do they burn like the 9 hells or does your character just go weak and helpless???What would happen if Superman were locked up in kryptonite chains? He'd need his friends to save him.
Don't get locked in kryptonite chains!
butrles in hte playtest are not pthat clear..... all it says is hit with weapon made of said material, when it should say comes into contact of said material.....
and besides samson had goat hair rope and his head shaved
GL had the color yellow,
Ummm... huh? "Butrles?" "Pthat?" Not sure what exactly is going on here... and not seeing a question mark to indicate there's a question at all...
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A question about the Fungus Queen from the Inner Sea Bestiary:
The Create Spawn ability of the Fungus Queen say:
"Fungoid creatures are under the control of the fungus creature that created them, and remain enslaved until their mistress is destroyed or until they are cured of the infestation (see the facing page)."
but the facing page has no information on how the infestation can be cured.My impression is that if the Fungus Queen is slain the fungoid creature simply become free but still retain the fungoid template with all the effects, so a way to cure the affected characters is important.
I am thinking to use a Fungus Queen in a Kingmaker campaign, maybe making her a bit more fey like so I am interested on their capabilities.
BTW you would feel that I am distorting your creation if I were to make them succubus that where reshaped after a falling in battle with a fey lord?
- * -
The sporepod ability of fungus Queen: it refer to Transport via plants, so it is a teleportation ability.
Fungus patches often have interlocking roots, so it would be unbalancing to say that the sporepod grow in the area covered by the Fungus queen root system and that instead of a teleportation effect it is a form of movement along her roots?
It will make a small difference for a few spells and will baffle the players a bit when some spell fail or other work better than intended.You would give a increase in Cr for this kind of change?
Answered one in the other thread. No need to spam the forums with the same question. (But since you asked again: Heal, wish, miracle, or kill the fungoid creature and bring it back to life all remove the effect.)
Making the fungus queen into something created by a fey lord would indeed distort my creation. I'm fine with that. That's what's so great about tabletop RPGs. We get to change/adapt/distort things to fit our own preferences and story needs.
Saying that the sporepods have an underlying root system that the fungus queen travels through instead of teleports between is a more complicated version of its current ability (does this movement provoke attacks of opportunity? What speed does she move at when traveling like this? and so on), so I wouldn't do this simply on that account. Simpler is usually better. I wouldn't change the CR of the monster based on somethiing as minor a change as this though.
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Working on a shapeshifter trapper ranger ettercap as a boss encounter for my home game and am currently stuck on what shapeshift would be the most appropriate. Care to weigh in?
Also will we ever see a class, archetype, or prestige class like the machine smith from the neoexodus line from paizo as we draw hopefully closer to that long awaited numeria tie in?
Spider. If the setup won't allow the ettercap to change into a spider, I'd actually cut the shapeshifter element from the character entirely.
I'm not familiar with the machine smith. In my homebrew game "Unspeakable Futures," I have a class called the scavenger which patches together junk and artifacts scavenged from postapocalypitc wastelands to make weapons and robot minions, to fix vehicles, and to make armor... so if that's what you're asking about, then my answer is "probably some day, yes" because I'm quite fond of both Unspeakable Futures AND the scavenger class and would like some day to see them in print.
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Um... Book of the Damned 3 has the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in it, doesn't it?
B) Demon lords, Great Old Ones, kaiju, the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Empyreal Lords, Archdevils, and several categories of monsters that we've been talking about in-house but haven't yet mentioned in public.
Yeah. I'm talking about things like stats. I want to stat up Charon, for example.
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So I've got this fun idea for a Mythic character in a friend of mines upcoming Mythic test game but he only uses "canon" Golarion so I wanted to make sure this would work in that setting and since you're JAMES JACOBS! I figured you'd be the one to ask.
The basic idea is a Thassilon Eldritch Knight who was trapped in some kind of magical stasis shortly before Earthfall and was awoken somehow shortly after Rise of the Runelords took place. Could something like that have possibly happened in a "canon" Golarion setting? Normally I wouldn't ask questions like this but it's the kind of thing my friend likes to get the "official" ruling on.
The problem with that build as a PC is that you probably don't have enough information about Thassilon to pull off a character who remembers Thassilon at that time in history as if it were yesterday, and so your group and GM would HAVE to be comfortable with your character talking about Thassilon and making stuff up as you go that may end up some day contradicting something we might say about Thassilon.
The basic idea is absolutely something that could have happened in canon. And in fact, this very thing has happened several times in canon—there's many examples of characters who have been in stasis that long who in the course of an adventure "wake up" and start interacting with modern day Golarion.
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Generally the errata in the Paizo product section of the forum don't get a reply, so I posted there to signal the error, while I posted here to ask some question about the creature to the creator.
I know that rarely Campaign setting books will see a second printing, so signalling possible errors isn't so useful, but the Fungus Queen is an interesting creature that could be reprinted in a Bestiary 4 so it is worth the few minutes spent making a post about the missing part of the description.
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Mr. James Jacobs,
How would 20th level Mountebank (Dragon Compendium) with 10 mythic tiers rank and interact in the Hellish Aristocracy?
How would (s)he fit if (s)he was not in fact not evil?
Would I be correct in thinking that such an individual could make offer the mountebank deal themselves?
It's been over half a decade since I've looked at Dragon Compendium, and I didn't really even look at it much at the time it was being made since I was working on Dungeon. So, how a 20th level Mountebank (Dragon Compendium) with 10 mythic tiers would rank and interact in the Hellish Aristocracy is not something I'm able to answer.
If they're not evil, they wouldn't fit in at all and would likely end up being murdered by an archdevil or infernal duke or something before long.
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Dear James,
How deeply are the Old Cults intertwined with society? Are they mostly just insane, isolated backwater rednecks (Deliverance with the Old Cults!) and gibbering ghouls and aberrations in the Darklands and in the Vaults of Orv, or are there cultists in all levels of society, from the high to the low? (as in the original "The Call of Cthulhu" story.) Are they prevalent in the higher levels of society as well, like maybe corrupted groups of nobles performing twisted ceremonies to try to ascend to the Court of Azathoth? (I'm already fairly positive that Nyarlathotep was previously extremely, possibly directly, active in ancient Osirion.)
Ar we ever going to get a deeper look at the workings of the larger cells of Old Cults? I could easily envision a faction of Druids who worship Shub-Niggurath as a fertility goddess. I'd absolutely LOVE to see some things like that.
Are we ever going to get any information on the origins of the Black Blades of the Bladebound Magi? Were do their intelligences come from? And just what are the Black Blades made of, anyway? Are they some kind of otherplanar creature transmuted into the form of a sword (a la` Stormbringer?) Are they formed of some kind of magical/psychic material? Or are they just normal steel infused with a whole lot of magical power? (I ask because of their immunity to being broken as long as they have some of their mojo left - at least one point left in their Arcane Pool. I figure there must be SOMETHING rather extraordinary about them, and I am assuming they share an origin since they are all black one-handed slashing weapons. There's obviously some sort of magical principle at work there; it's not just a kind of Goth fashion statement among Magi!) :)
And lastly; please, pretty please, could we get some more info on the Sincomakti School of Sciences? I've been just dying to know more about Golarion's Miskatonic analogue.
More Lovecraft and the Mythos in Golarion, please. :)
Thank you in advance. :P
The old cults are not very intertwined with society at all. They're private, remote, and secretive things that the bulk of the citizens of the Inner Sea region don't really realize exist at all, or if they do, only know of them as myths and campfire stories and vague threats. Some of the cults are pretty active in some elements in some places, but they're secretive and quiet about it.
There will be more stuff about the cults in the future. I assume you already know about the article in Pathfinder #46. At some point, there'll be more about them... but the problem is that I want to be the one to write that book, and I've got other things to write before that book gets written.
As for the black blades of the bladebound magi... that's not something we really have invested much in beyond the archetype in the book. It's not something we picked up from Golarion lore, and as a result, it's not something that we really have plans to do much more with at any time in the future.
So I've got this fun idea for a Mythic character in a friend of mines upcoming Mythic test game but he only uses "canon" Golarion so I wanted to make sure this would work in that setting and since you're JAMES JACOBS! I figured you'd be the one to ask.
The basic idea is a Thassilon Eldritch Knight who was trapped in some kind of magical stasis shortly before Earthfall and was awoken somehow shortly after Rise of the Runelords took place. Could something like that have possibly happened in a "canon" Golarion setting? Normally I wouldn't ask questions like this but it's the kind of thing my friend likes to get the "official" ruling on.
The problem with that build as a PC is that you probably don't have enough information about Thassilon to pull off a character who remembers Thassilon at that time in history as if it were yesterday, and so your group and GM would HAVE to be comfortable with your character talking about Thassilon and making stuff up as you go that may end up some day contradicting something we might say about Thassilon.
The basic idea is absolutely something that could have happened in canon. And in fact, this very thing has happened several times in canon—there's many examples of characters who have been in stasis that long who in the course of an adventure "wake up" and start interacting with modern day Golarion.
Thank you for the reply, I'm glad to hear that the basic idea is possible although you are right that the lack of released information about Thassilon would make playing such a character difficult. I'll definitely need to take that into consideration before I seriously decide to play that character. Could always use the tried and true amnesia plot. I bet not all the stasis causing magic worked exactly as intended.
Another question that is connected to the last one. How common were Eldritch Knights in Thassilon?
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Creative Director
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What alignment do you think a were-gorilla would posses?
Do you think there could be a species of lycanthrope that would normally be LG?
If so what animal species would you imagine that to be?
In Golarion, the Gorilla King is a chaotic evil demon worshiper, and rules a nation of like-minded primates. So in Golarion, I would say that chaotic evil is the best and most logical alignment for a were-gorilla.
Lycanthropy is a pretty powerful character addition. The fact that in Pathifnder your alignment isn't changed when you contract it means that a player character can get a pretty much free power upgrade... and a SIGNIFICANT one... by deliberately becoming a lycanthrope. As a result, and because the majority of legends and movies and stories about lycanthropes portray them as bad guys, I much prefer having lycantrhopes skew toward evil alignments —this helps to keep them as monsters and not as tempting character options.
Gorilla King! That reminds me. Awhile ago you mentioned something about the gorilla king and his stolen cannon. Are there plans to build on that anytime soon?
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Creative Director
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What's your favorite archetype from a game design point of view? What's your favorite archetype from a "Jiminy, I'd like to play THAT!" point of view?
On an unrelated note, assume that, for some reason, you have to make a single MAJOR canon change to Golarion (that could include having a final victor emerge in the Geb/Nex fight, having the Whispering Tyrant get loose, slamming shut the Worldwound, having Aroden come back in some fashion, or something similarly significant). What would be the most interesting to you personally, and do you think it would be the same one that the other decision-makers at the company would settle on?
My favorite archetype so far is probably the scout, since it really really helps rogues get their sneak attacks on. The bard dawnflower dervish is fun too, since it's a neat way to turn a bard from a support character into a pretty viable frontline fighter character.
As for the major canon change... I'm not gonna say, since the one I want to do is one that'll probably some day happen, and I don't want to reveal those cards yet. Whether or not the other decision-makers in the company would agree... I'm not sure. But I can say that they're pretty supportive of my opinions and decisions for Golarion—that's why they made me the Creative Director, after all. Some of my ideas may need more convincing than others, but I don't think that management thinks any of those ideas have been bad yet (although reviews are coming up soon... my story may change in a week!).
As for the major canon change... I'm not gonna say, since the one I want to do is one that'll probably some day happen, and I don't want to reveal those cards yet. Whether or not the other decision-makers in the company would agree... I'm not sure. But I can say that they're pretty supportive of my opinions and decisions for Golarion—that's why they made me the Creative Director, after all. Some of my ideas may need more convincing than others, but I don't think that management thinks any of those ideas have been bad yet (although reviews are coming up soon... my story may change in a week!).
Oooh! I'm excited. I think Golarion's status quo is great, but I also love the occasional big change to keep things fresh and bring up new ideas. Now I'm just gonna sit here and speculate unfoundedly...
Forgive my youthful ignorance, but what in the Nine Hells is
the Oliphaunt of Jandelay
?
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Creative Director
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James,
Does the plane of shadow touch the First World? If so do you feel it would behave any differently than previously presented due to the first world's morphic nature?
Follow-up: Does the ethereal plane touch the first world?
edit: how the xxx smurf did my avatar become a xxx?
Not sure how your avatar did that. It happens. Usually when you use the word "you know what."
But no, the Plane of Shadow does not touch the First World. The Ethereal Plane touches both of them.
Lycanthropy is a pretty powerful character addition. The fact that in Pathifnder your alignment isn't changed when you contract it means that a player character can get a pretty much free power upgrade... and a SIGNIFICANT one... by deliberately becoming a lycanthrope. As a result, and because the majority of legends and movies and stories about lycanthropes portray them as bad guys, I much prefer having lycantrhopes skew toward evil alignments —this helps to keep them as monsters and not as tempting character options.
Don't Infected lycanthropes still go on uncontrollable murderous rampages regardless of alignment though?
*checks template* Huh, I see that the template mentions uncontrolled transformations and loss of identity, but not that he necessarily goes on rampages, interesting...
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.
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Creative Director
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As a supporter of both Pathfinder MMO Kickstarter campaigns, I just read this in the FAQ:
"I have heard that you're going to have unrestricted PvP and I don't like that. What are my options?
The game is designed to maximize meaningful human interaction. In most of the game world the players will be able to attack one another freely. However in some areas such combat may be subject to harsh penalties and in others it may be forbidden completely.
Avoiding PvP entirely may be very difficult, but you can minimize the amount it will affect you by carefully choosing where you travel and by taking precautions as you move around the game world.Last updated: Tuesday Nov 27, 3:17pm EST"
Unlimited PvP is childish, like 5 YO kids playing King of the Mountain. Fun at their age, just plain silly once anyone is past age 10. I would like for Paizo to address this issue head on, as it has killed other MMO's in the past, Ultima Online being a prime example of a once thriving MMO that allowed unlimited PvP, which drove away most of the players. As a financial backer, I would like to see a Pathfinder MMO succeed, and only by limiting PvP to special areas can I see this happening. As a former owner of the text-based MO, Eaxia Online, I speak from experience, so I hope you will consider this Mr Jacobs. On Facebook people are already shying away from contributing because of this game mechanic, not a very hopeful sign.
Thank you for your time.
If it were up to me, Pathfinder Online would have no PVP and would be more of a theme-park style MMO. Actually, scratch that. If it were up to me, the game wouldn't be an MMO at all, but something more akin to Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, or Skyrim. A massive single player game.
That's not the game that Goblinworks pitched to Paizo, though, and it's not the game Pathfinder Online is being built as. I can say that the Goblinworks team is very aware of the stigma that PVP has attached to it, and that they're doing their best to make sure that the repercussions for your character if you decide to be a griefer in the game and only want to attack other players and make things a living hell for that type of player will be significant enough. HOPEFULLY significant enough that the classic PVP mindset you see in most MMOs or first person multiplayer games won't ruin the game.
Pathfinder is, after all, a cooperative game. One where you and several other adventurers get together and adventure together. My hope is that Pathfinder Online ends up being a cooperative game as well. And it has that possibility.
I agree, though, that the idea of "unrestricted PVP" is a SIGNIFICANT turn-off and not something that compels me to want to play an RPG game of any sort. Goblinworks is doing a lot of brand new stuff with Pathfinder Online, though... it's not really the same thing as the MMOs out there right now, and hopefully that means that since it's not a Warcraft clone, it'll be able to do what it needs to do without having the PVP folks ruin it for the rest of us.
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Creative Director
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I'm hoping to have some time to put toward testing out mythic rules soon, and I was hoping for some input on whether my initial idea would be helpful or not.
In the ongoing campaign in which I play, our GM uses the abyssal pantheon and stat blocks from the 3.5 Fiendish Codex I. Graz'zt has been a constant thorn in our sides, and in my PC's particularly. I was thinking of buffing up my PC with extra levels and mythic tiers and seeing if he could take on Graz'zt in a one-on-one fight.
To make my results as valuable as possible for playtesting purposes, should I take the time to fully convert/rebuild Graz'zt to Pathfinder standards, or can I simply eyeball it by adding 1 hp per HD and giving him extra feats as appropriate for his HD/class levels and still consider him on par with other CR 22 monsters in Pathfinder?
I would suggest using the Graz'zt from the Demonomicon article I wrote for one of the first Online Dragon Magazines. That version was like CR 32 or thereabouts.
Using the CR 22 version of him from Fiendish Codex wouldn't help as much for me, since we already know how to design CR 22 foes and know what average level a party should be in order to deal with a CR 22 foe.
But if you're just looking to playtest the Mythic rules, using the CR 22 Graz'zt from the Fiendish Codex is a pretty good choice. Converting it over to Pathfinder rules is a good idea too—use the extended version of table 1–1 to ensure that his hp and AC and attacks and all that are right for the CR is all.
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Creative Director
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1. What sorts of good outsiders will be interested in guarding the lab of a wizard whose interest is in creating new species?
2. Was fleshwarping pervasive throughout Thassilon or was it only heavily practiced in particular domains?
3. Could polymorph any object be used for cosmetic surgery?
4. How would transhumanism work in a setting where the afterlife is known to exist, like Pathfinder? Death really is a new beginning and petitioners, particularly good-aligned ones, have a real chance of becoming superpowered beings.
5. This raises the question of why anyone would be evil if they weren't an immortal wizard or somesuch. What do Asmodeus worshippers think happens to them when they die?
1) Depends on what the new species is. New animals? New dragons? New aberrations? New humanoids? I could see any type of good outsider becoming interested in aiding such a wizard, given the right story background.
2) Fleshwarping was mostly something that happened in Bakrakhan, with the sinspawn being the major and most successful result. Other nations picked it up, though... particularly Eurythnia and Shalast.
3) Yes.
4) With a new set of rules to support this type of currently relatively unsupported mode of play, perhaps with a title like "Afterlife Adventures" or the like.
5) An Asmodeus worshiper who does well and dies can expect to be swiftly promoted to being a devil, and will be rewarded in Hell. The damned of Hell are populated by the souls of lawful evil worshipers who failed (including evil NPCs who tried to do a plot and failed because heroic PCs killed them), or by non-evil people who failed to live up to the expectations of their beliefs and faith.
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S morph
Edit: As in 'world's morphic'
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Creative Director
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Generally the errata in the Paizo product section of the forum don't get a reply, so I posted there to signal the error, while I posted here to ask some question about the creature to the creator.
I know that rarely Campaign setting books will see a second printing, so signalling possible errors isn't so useful, but the Fungus Queen is an interesting creature that could be reprinted in a Bestiary 4 so it is worth the few minutes spent making a post about the missing part of the description.
I generally tend to keep an eye on the products I helped write and develop, and when questions come up about them that I can answer, I often step in to those forums to answer them if I can. In a case like Inner Sea Bestiary, I outlined and assigned the book, and I wrote some of the monsters, but I didn't develop the book (with the exception of the robots, which I did help develop). I can offer opinions on the errata for other stuff in the book, but in the case of the fungus queen, which is indeed something I wrote, I was able to step in there and say specifically what was missing.
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Creative Director
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Gorilla King! That reminds me. Awhile ago you mentioned something about the gorilla king and his stolen cannon. Are there plans to build on that anytime soon?
We've actually done things with the Gorilla King a few times already. "Heart of the Jungle," "Serpent's Skull," and the old "Throne of the Gorilla King" compleate encounter minis pack from years ago come to mind. We'll certainly be doing more with the Gorilla King in the future. No plans anytime in the NEAR future, though...
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Forgive my youthful ignorance, but what in the Nine Hells is
the Oliphaunt of Jandelay?
A creature that, during Thassilonian times, was so powerful and difficult to control that it was summoned but once during the age of Thassilon to destroy an invading army from Azlant, and even so, dismissing the monster afterward destroyed a quarter of the legion under Runelord Xanderghul's control. In other words... it's a monster that the most powerful runelord summoned to fight off the best Azlant had to attack with, and in so doing defeated Azlant's forces, but then nearly had his own army (the most powerful army in Thassilon) destroyed merely getting rid of the monster.
That's pretty much all we've said about the Oliphaunt. We've illustrated a tiny part of its head (most recently in Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition).
Folks were intrigued by this, and latched on to the creature, and it's something we've steadfastly avoided saying much more about during the past five years because the rules to stat it up did not yet exist.
One of my demands and hopes for Mythic Adventures is that book will give us those rules.
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Creative Director
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Lycanthropy is a pretty powerful character addition. The fact that in Pathifnder your alignment isn't changed when you contract it means that a player character can get a pretty much free power upgrade... and a SIGNIFICANT one... by deliberately becoming a lycanthrope. As a result, and because the majority of legends and movies and stories about lycanthropes portray them as bad guys, I much prefer having lycantrhopes skew toward evil alignments —this helps to keep them as monsters and not as tempting character options.Don't Infected lycanthropes still go on uncontrollable murderous rampages regardless of alignment though?
*checks template* Huh, I see that the template mentions uncontrolled transformations and loss of identity, but not that he necessarily goes on rampages, interesting...
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.
That sounds too much like Eberron's shifter to me for met to be comfortable doing such a race in Pathfinder.
And to those who want to play werewolves and the like... that solution is a diluted, unsatisfying one.
I'd much rather present rules and ways for PCs to actually play full-on lycanthropes in a way that doesn't give them too much power as compared to the other players in the group.
And as a result... stay tuned!
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.
Not official, but have a look at the 'wolf shifter' in Wayfinder #5 (it's free!).
Don't Infected lycanthropes still go on uncontrollable murderous rampages regardless of alignment though?
*checks template* Huh, I see that the template mentions uncontrolled transformations and loss of identity, but not that he necessarily goes on rampages, interesting...
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.
That sounds too much like Eberron's shifter to me for met to be comfortable doing such a race in Pathfinder.
And to those who want to play werewolves and the like... that solution is a diluted, unsatisfying one.
I'd much rather present rules and ways for PCs to actually play full-on lycanthropes in a way that doesn't give them too much power as compared to the other players in the group.
And as a result... stay tuned!
Well, Lycanthropy can help some casters (if they can cast in Hybrid form).
Personally, I want to play one for the animal form.
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.
That sounds too much like Eberron's shifter to me for met to be comfortable doing such a race in Pathfinder.
And to those who want to play werewolves and the like... that solution is a diluted, unsatisfying one.
I'd much rather present rules and ways for PCs to actually play full-on lycanthropes in a way that doesn't give them too much power as compared to the other players in the group.
And as a result... stay tuned!
Ah, I haven't really looked at Eberron, so I don't know much about the shifters. But yea, from what I know about them, anything like them probably would be a pretty unsatisfying solution.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see what you guys come up with if you do tackle this! I just hope that having them fight with with little to no armor or weapons will be viable, the fact that Worgen fought like any other race in WoW seemed a bit weird ;)
Here's a related question: have you guys thought about creating classes or races based upon the idea of a person or group who can control their lycanthropy? Something that would allow a player to play a lycanthrope without having to deal with a game balance destroying template? Yea, I know it isn't "traditional", but this sort of thing has been popular in games and fiction for a while now.Not official, but have a look at the 'wolf shifter' in Wayfinder #5 (it's free!).
Hmmm, I've seen this mentioned before, but my groups are pretty resistant to using 3rd party rules. Still, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look, thanks ;)
Wow, I'm suddenly asking you a bunch of questions in a row. I hope I don't make a habit out of this.
Anyways, in a recent game I'm running a few of the players have requested that I add Seltyiel in as a recurring ally/party member since they recently discovered the Iconics were more than just pretty pictures in the core rulebook. Now he was always one of the Iconics I've been the most intrigued by so I figured I'd put some thought into this. The party is made up of mostly good people, with one being chaotic neutral but he might as well be good with how he plays his character and I'm trying to figure out why the lawful evil Seltyiel might suddenly find himself working with them. I've seen him pictured with Seelah so I know he can work with good characters, it's just figuring out why he's working with them is the problem.
The simplest way I can ask this without going on for too long is if you were placing him in a party of good characters in a campaign that's meant to start off as simple dungeon crawling adventure, how might you go about it?
Regarding Graz'zt: Thanks for your response! I don't know of any legitimate way to obtain the Demonomicon material from Dragon 360. (Links to that content on wizards.com redirect to their home page now.) Would this do in a pinch? My plan is to go all out, 20 character levels and 10 mythic tiers.
How would transhumanism work in a setting where the afterlife is known to exist, like Pathfinder? Death really is a new beginning and petitioners, particularly good-aligned ones, have a real chance of becoming superpowered beings.With a new set of rules to support this type of currently relatively unsupported mode of play, perhaps with a title like "Afterlife Adventures" or the like.
1. I mean how would the philosophy work? Why bother enhancing mortal experience when there's post-mortal experience? Why bother with invention and technology at all when enhancement is based on the afterlife?
"The damned of Hell are populated by the souls of […] non-evil people who failed to live up to the expectations of their beliefs and faith."
2. Could you elaborate on that? That reads like more than hypocrites going to Hell. How much do people have to live up to their ideals to avoid damnation? Because "people who failed to live up to the expectations of their beliefs and faith" applies to just about everybody! Would someone who only pays lip service to a belief, but isn't sanctimonious about it, end up in hell? Do people who like a belief have to be activists to avoid damnation? And what about people who try their best and fail?
3. Something else to think about, what about lawful evil people who don't worship The Devil? I know people don't think in game-stat terms but where do people who justify cruelty think they go when they die?
4. How does Asmodeus measure success? Would a high priest who got killed off but managed to preserve his accomplishments end up damned rather then a devil? Would a small-time cultist who dies of old age become a devil rather than be damned?
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Creative Director
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Wow, I'm suddenly asking you a bunch of questions in a row. I hope I don't make a habit out of this.
Anyways, in a recent game I'm running a few of the players have requested that I add Seltyiel in as a recurring ally/party member since they recently discovered the Iconics were more than just pretty pictures in the core rulebook. Now he was always one of the Iconics I've been the most intrigued by so I figured I'd put some thought into this. The party is made up of mostly good people, with one being chaotic neutral but he might as well be good with how he plays his character and I'm trying to figure out why the lawful evil Seltyiel might suddenly find himself working with them. I've seen him pictured with Seelah so I know he can work with good characters, it's just figuring out why he's working with them is the problem.
The simplest way I can ask this without going on for too long is if you were placing him in a party of good characters in a campaign that's meant to start off as simple dungeon crawling adventure, how might you go about it?
Seltyiel is evil, but he also knows that it's better to have friends than enemies. The reason we've pictured him with Seelah isn't because we're trying to show off that he can hang out with good guys, though... but that with Pathfinder, a paladin can work with an evil ally if the ends justify the means.
As for how I'd introduce him... I'd start by reading his background here on the blog and go from there... likely introducing him as a support character who's always trying to help other PCs out by aiding another or helping flank or otherwise being a team player. Who happens to worship Asmodeus and periodically does some pretty vile stuff.
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Creative Director
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Regarding Graz'zt: Thanks for your response! I don't know of any legitimate way to obtain the Demonomicon material from Dragon 360. (Links to that content on wizards.com redirect to their home page now.) Would this do in a pinch? My plan is to go all out, 20 character levels and 10 mythic tiers.
Once upon a time, that volume of Dragon was free online; it came out before D&D Insider was fully up and running, I believe. If that's now under the umbrella of their pay-to-view option... that is indeed unfortunate.
Whether or not the linked stats would do, I can't say. I don't currently have the energy to dissect those stats...