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In my Kingmaker campaign I am thinking to introduce a Numerian faction ** spoiler omitted ** so I have some question about two of your creations:
1)Members of the Technical league have access to androids and robots?
2) Androids and robots are spawned by sentient AIs in the belly of the Iron mountain (sp) and operate under orders from them?
3) or are created by automatic systems with no special programming?
4) There are androids that go around thinking to be free beings but in reality have hidden programs in their mind that will override their free will and make them obey their masters (that could be the above sentient AIs or members of the Technical league)?
1) They have access to both, but robots and especially androids do not take kindly to being poked and prodded. Some robots, like the gearsmen, work well with the Technic League, but others do not. Androids are probably hunted down and captured for interrogation and vivisection and the like by the Technic League. I imagine that androids HATE the Technic League.
2) We haven't revealed exactly where or exactly what creates robots or androids, or even if they're created by the same thing or in the same place.
3) See #2 above. We're not ready to reveal that.
4) It's possible... but that's more of a gearsman schtick, though.
Nice, that will create a "the enemy of my enemy is a friend or at least an ally .... unless he is a brainwashed puppet" scenario.
Plenty of evil possibilities there.- * -
What is the lifespan of a android?
Normal cure spells work on them and mending or make whole don't work, right?
(i.e. they are mostly organic or pseudorganic, not full machines)
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Are you familiar with Eve Online? Because many of the ways that PFO has been sold to this crowd by Ryan Dancey has been refernces to Eve Online. And that game is essentially gangs of players attacking other gangs of players in unending corporate warfare. From my understanding Eve Online does seem to be the main inspiration with how they are looking to make the game work.I've tried playing Eve Online twice. I quit playing both times after an hour or so because I got bored, frustrated, and annoyed. And while I don't enjoy Eve Online, I do recognize that a lot of people do. I'm certainly hoping that Pathfinder Online plays and feels a LOT different than Eve Online, obviously.
I liked EVE on line but I hope that the percentage of PvPers will be way lower in PFO. If present in a limited way a bit of PVP will spice up the game but it can easily dominate the whole game if you get too many players that care only about it.
I love the idea of being capable to build something and even have to defend it, but seeing it destroyed every other day by a coalition of other players will annoy me monstrously.It is a fine line to walk for the developers.
You are more the "explore and know any location of the world type" or the "settle in an area e develop it" kind of player?
For me I would say about a 30/70% split.
Creative Director
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James:
I was wondering how you would run a certain encounter in CoT:
** spoiler omitted **
- Gauss
No two game groups are exactly alike. We try to build the encounters in our adventures to fit along a relatively average baseline of varying difficulties, but some encounters will be tougher for some groups than others.
As a GM, one of your jobs is to be able to recognize when an encounter is just too tough for your particular group, in which case you should absolutely adjust it to be more appropriate.
I would have run it as appropriate for my group, which it sounds like is the same thing you did for yours.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
Just found myself wondering about why will you never release the truth about Aroden's death. I mean, if you never release it, it's actually totally irrelevant that there exists the "Truth" of the matter.
So I guess my question is, what is your motivation for saying there is a definitive canon reality to the how and why of Aroden's death, but no one will ever know?
I ask this for two reasons, the first being that this kind of definite "I know the truth, but you will never know!" really tweaks my insatiable curiosity - if it exists, I want to know about it, particularly if it's a secret :)
(So why you mess with my mind like this!?!?!)
But also, I tend to be one of those GMs that like to stick to canon in published CSs, and such a statement makes me unlikely to go anywhere near Aroden. Likewise Sorshen - the hints that she may be appearing in future products means I don't want to raise her from her slumber myself, as I really want to run any Sorshen-related adventures when they appear. In a similar way, I feel it's unlikely that no one but you will ever know what happened to Aroden, and so the eventual publishing of this little secret seems inevitable ;)
So, why do you tell us there exists a canonical reality concerning Aroden, but that we will never know?
(If I didn't want people annoying me with stupid questions like this, I probably wouldn't mention that a canonical truth, that they would never know, existed - which makes this stupid question kind of your fault :) )
Also, does anyone else know? I mean, surely you've let it slip to others, hmmm? Because I absolutely would not start hassling these other potential weak links...
Mysteries are intriguing, first of all. If we were to reveal how Aroden died, that mystery would be robbed from the setting, and that's bad.
But having some elements in the setting that are deliberate mysteries that will be secrets that are never revealed DO keep people interested and intrigued. It's a way we hook customers into caring about the setting, a way that they can be intrigued and have their curriosity stimulated.
In a nutshell... it's more fun to try to figure the mystery out than it is to find out what's really going on. Look at the TV show "Lost" for proof.
I have told a few others of my theory of what happened to Aroden, yes. It's not actually the OFFICIAL thing that happened to him, but it fits all the missing pieces perfectly, and whenever we do something in print that vaguely or slightly touches on the mystery, I make sure it fits my theory still. So that some day, if we DO decide to reveal the truth (something we'd not be likely to do until we're done with Golarion... which isn't something I want to ever happen), it'll still make sense.
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As you have said that you could go on forever about Varisia which includes Riddleport, I will ask you:
I have checked the few sources available about Riddleport (Pathfinder 13 & 14, Player's Guide to Second Darkness, Varisia Birthplace of Legends, the Inner Sea World Guide, the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, and the Journal of Shattered Star). However, I am still not entirely satisfied with my knowledge of Riddleport as most of these sources repeat the same data.
1. Are there other sources about Riddleport besides the one I have checked?
2. Are there any hidden plotters in Riddleport like Lorthact and Ileosa (i.e. Sorshen) in Korvosa?
1) That's pretty much it for Riddleport for now that's in print. There's some cyphermage stuff here and tehre in other books, and there's a few Pathfinder Society scenarios set there but I'm not sure if those scenarios are out yet or still in development/design.
2) Yes.
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Creative Director
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What is the lifespan of a android?
Normal cure spells work on them and mending or make whole don't work, right?
(i.e. they are mostly organic or pseudorganic, not full machines)
As a general rule, if we do a zero HD race and don't say otherwise, their lifespan can be assumed to be that of a human. We may expand further on that once we start using that race more, of course. And hopefully we won't make an error on those races like we did with the native outsider races like tiefling and aasimar in Advanced Race Guide... :(
Androids are living creatures, although they are created via technology. Cure spells work fine on them, and mending/make whole do not.
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Creative Director
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You are more the "explore and know any location of the world type" or the "settle in an area e develop it" kind of player?
For me I would say about a 30/70% split.
I'm much more an "explore the world" kind of video game player. The leveling up and questing in Warcraft, for example, is by far my favorite part of that game. PVP is my least favorite.
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Hey James, how exactly does the Adopted social trait from the Advanced Player's Guide work? Basically I'm asking, define "Racial Traits".
If I chose to be Adopted by humans, do I get access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic and Aspiring Bard, or do I get actual human "racial traits" such as +2 to any ability score, a bonus feat, or +1 skill rank per HD, or do I get access to Alternate racial traits such as Adoptive Parentage, or Eye for Talent?
This is very important to know as ALL of them are RACIAL TRAITS by definition. It just depends on which one we're supposed to be using.
I took it as it gave you access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic. However, the GM originally thought it meant you gained actual racial abilities such as low-light vision and darkvision, or poison attacks.
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Creative Director
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Does Wyroot work on undead? And does it work even if no damage is inflicted, such as with a high DR?
The flavor of the weapon, which talks about absorbing "life force" makes me decide that it does not work on undead OR constructs.
All you need to do to absorb a life point with a wyroot weapon is to confirm a critical hit. You don't need to actually do damage with the critical hit, so if you don't get through the target's damage reduction, that's fine.
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Hey James, how exactly does the Adopted social trait from the Advanced Player's Guide work? Basically I'm asking, define "Racial Traits".
If I chose to be Adopted by humans, do I get access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic and Aspiring Bard, or do I get actual human "racial traits" such as +2 to any ability score, a bonus feat, or +1 skill rank per HD, or do I get access to Alternate racial traits such as Adoptive Parentage, or Eye for Talent?
This is very important to know as ALL of them are RACIAL TRAITS by definition. It just depends on which one we're supposed to be using.
I took it as it gave you access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic. However, the GM originally thought it meant you gained actual racial abilities such as low-light vision and darkvision, or poison attacks.
It's long overdue for there to be a distinction made between RACIAL traits, and SOCIAL traits.
So, if you were brought up by dwarves, you could justify being taught to use their ancestral weapons, or defensive tactics vs giants, but you'd never spontaneously sprout the organs that enable darkvision.
Whether the adoptive parent's tribe view the PC in question, as a 'cuckoo in the nest', or as 'disabled', and how they respond to that, will vary from race to race.
You're going to have a much better chance of surviving to adulthood, being raised by a race that tends toward altruism, than a race that preaches selfishness.
So, if a player were to attempt using this trait to justify learning a trait from the drow, duergar, etc, I'd ask them how they avoided being used as a sacrificial offering.
James:
I was wondering how you would run a certain encounter in CoT:
** spoiler omitted **
- Gauss
No two game groups are exactly alike. We try to build the encounters in our adventures to fit along a relatively average baseline of varying difficulties, but some encounters will be tougher for some groups than others.
As a GM, one of your jobs is to be able to recognize when an encounter is just too tough for your particular group, in which case you should absolutely adjust it to be more appropriate.
I would have run it as appropriate for my group, which it sounds like is the same thing you did for yours.
Hmmm, I wish I could say that is a satisfactory answer but it really isn't. My group normally handles challenges 2CR above itself as a nearly equal fight. But this CR12 (equal) challenge can easily TPK groups that are not built along ranged lines. I just feel there is a problem with 'at will' powers like this. Oh well. Thanks for your answer.
- Gauss
Kevin Video and Snorter: In order to respect JJ's request that we take answers and discussions elsewhere I have created a thread to talk about Race vs Racial Traits.
- Gauss
Mysteries are intriguing, first of all. If we were to reveal how Aroden died, that mystery would be robbed from the setting, and that's bad.
But having some elements in the setting that are deliberate mysteries that will be secrets that are never revealed DO keep people interested and intrigued. It's a way we hook customers into caring about the setting, a way that they can be intrigued and have their curriosity stimulated.
In a nutshell... it's more fun to try to figure the mystery out than it is to find out what's really going on. Look at the TV show "Lost" for proof.
I have told a few others of my theory of what happened to Aroden, yes. It's not actually the OFFICIAL thing that happened to him, but it fits all the missing pieces perfectly, and whenever we do something in print that vaguely or slightly touches on the mystery, I make sure it fits my theory still. So that some day, if we DO decide to reveal the truth (something we'd not be likely to do until we're done with Golarion... which isn't something I want to ever happen), it'll still make sense.
Good answer!
You have certainly hooked me further into the setting, intrigued me, and stimulated my curiosity with this one :) Thanks for the lengthy response! If you are really never intending to publish your official thing, I might just be able to bring myself to homebrew it, despite my canon-loving disposition ;)
1. Are there other sources about Riddleport besides the one I have checked?
2. Are there any hidden plotters in Riddleport like Lorthact and Ileosa (i.e. Sorshen) in Korvosa?1) That's pretty much it for Riddleport for now that's in print. There's some cyphermage stuff here and tehre in other books, and there's a few Pathfinder Society scenarios set there but I'm not sure if those scenarios are out yet or still in development/design.
2) Yes.
Thanks for your answers.
May I follow up with a question to your answer to my second question? If so, could you be more specific as who these hidden plotters are and what their motives and goals are?|
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Got a couple of questions for you.
First off, you said there were errors in the advanced race guide. Where do I find those corrections?
Secondly, a very touchy subject for many players. I'm going to be GMing skulls and shackles in a couple months and I have seen the way my group plays with our current GM. When my shift for GM comes up, I need to do something that has been bugging me a long time. I need advice for working on a system to track alignment. What I mean is that there are players that say their character is CE for the purposes of prestige classes, but they are always pleasant, helpful, and calm. Same goes for someone lawful or good doing things that are random, dangerous, or illegal. Is there any advice you could help me for tracking this sort of thing so I can drive into their heads that their alignment does actually matter and can't be just a thing for getting prestige classes, paladins,monks, and being clerics of certain deities? Just going to give one example of what I mean. In our Jade Regent game, one player is a Zen Archer monk who is lawful neutral but keeps flipping out on NPCs and shooting at any creature that looks funny regardless of what they are doing.
Sorry for the huge, poorly made paragraph and I still can't get over the single space after a period. Two spaces just looks cleaner than one space.
First off) The errors in the Advanced Race Guide has not yet been released, I believe. The errors I mention in particular are that tieflings and aasimars should have lifespans and aging thresholds and starting ages equal to those of humans.
Secondly) One option is to just not allow prestige classes that require alignments as prerequisites—if your group isn't into actually playing alignments, they shouldn't be able to play the "rewards" for playing alignments.
A better option, though, but one that requires you to do more work, is to assign scores to each alignment component. Lawful, Chaotic, Good, and Evil, for example, would all be represented for each character as scores ranging from 1 to 100 on two axises. On the first axis, Lawful is 100 and Chaotic is 1. On the second axis, Good is 100 and Evil is 1. Neutral is 50 on either axis, and transitions out of neutral once it passes 66 going up or 33 going down. When you start your campaign, whatever alignment the PCs pick should start with a value close to or equal to that alignment's score.
So... a paladin would start out, say, with a score of 100/100 (lawful good), while an antipaladin would start at 1/1 (chaotic evil). Listen to your players describe their characters, and then assign the scores as makes sense to you. A druid that's totally about preserving balance might be 50/50 (true neutral). A priest of Sarenrae who's more interested in doing good deeds than in crusading against the enemies of the church might be 40/90 (neutral good). A rogue who's had a hard life and has been doing an increasing number of crimes and is only barely hanging on to his morality might be 10/35 (chaotic neutral, but very very close to becoming chaotic evil).
You'll then need to create a big public list of example alignment scale "awards" for a number of in-game acts. I suggest listing 5 sample acts for each alignment on how you can adjust your actions.
Something like casting a spell with an alignment descriptor might shift that allignment scale 5 points in the appropriate direction. Saving a child from a burning house might slip you 10 points toward good. Lighting an orphanage on fire might either slip you 50 points toward evil, or you could even arbitrarily re-set that character's good/evil score to 20 or whatever. I would recommend making it easier to be evil and easier to be chaotic.
Now the problem there is that system would be a fair amount of work... and in order for it TO work, you really need your players to buy in on it AND to respect your decisions on what shifts to alignment any action might cause. If your players don't respect your decisions, or if your players just happen to hate the alignment system or enjoy abusing it, nothing you can do will really solve your problem, alas. But if your players are just having trouble with the alignments because there's no organization to them... a system like this can work.
You can also use a reward system to encourage PCs to play their indicated alignments. At the start of a campaign, each player should pick their character's intended alignment. Each time they end a session and are still that intended alignment, give them bonus experience points or a free plot twist card or a hero point or whatever. If a player ends a session without being his alignment, the reward he would have normally been given gets "banked." When he ends another game session at his official alignment again, he gets his reward for that session in addition to all the "banked" awards. You don't want to just punish players for missing an alignment reward, in other words. You want to reward them for staying in character (and in alignment), but also to reward them for getting BACK in alignment after a fall from grace.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, how exactly does the Adopted social trait from the Advanced Player's Guide work? Basically I'm asking, define "Racial Traits".
If I chose to be Adopted by humans, do I get access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic and Aspiring Bard, or do I get actual human "racial traits" such as +2 to any ability score, a bonus feat, or +1 skill rank per HD, or do I get access to Alternate racial traits such as Adoptive Parentage, or Eye for Talent?
This is very important to know as ALL of them are RACIAL TRAITS by definition. It just depends on which one we're supposed to be using.
I took it as it gave you access to Human racial traits such as Fanatic. However, the GM originally thought it meant you gained actual racial abilities such as low-light vision and darkvision, or poison attacks.
Adopted merely lets you pick a race trait from another race.
NOTE: There are racial traits and race traits, and those are VERY different things.
Racial traits are abilities granted you by your race, such as a human's bonus feat, a dwarf's stonecunning, a tiefling's darkness spell-like ability, an elf's low-light vision... or ANY race's ability score modifiers. Adopted does NOT let you mess with these. At all.
Race traits are minor boons about the power level of a "half-feat." The Advanced Player's Guide gives two example race traits for the core races on pages 331-332, and more race traits appear all over in our other books, primarily and mostly in our 32 page Player Companion line of books. If you're a non-human and choose "adopted," you get to pick, for example, Scholar of Ruins or World Traveler (from page 332 of the Advanced Race Guide) as your race trait.
Normally, you are limited to choosing a race trait from your own race. If you take Adopted, you're basically trading in your social trait for a chance to pick up a race trait that you otherwise would not be able to select.
IN HINDSIGHT: We should have not called the race traits in the Trait system "race traits" but something else entirely, like "biological traits" or "heritage traits" or "inherited traits" or something like that to avoid this confusion.
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Creative Director
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James:
I was wondering how you would run a certain encounter in CoT:
** spoiler omitted **
- Gauss
No two game groups are exactly alike. We try to build the encounters in our adventures to fit along a relatively average baseline of varying difficulties, but some encounters will be tougher for some groups than others.
As a GM, one of your jobs is to be able to recognize when an encounter is just too tough for your particular group, in which case you should absolutely adjust it to be more appropriate.
I would have run it as appropriate for my group, which it sounds like is the same thing you did for yours.
Hmmm, I wish I could say that is a satisfactory answer but it really isn't. My group normally handles challenges 2CR above itself as a nearly equal fight. But this CR12 (equal) challenge can easily TPK groups that are not built along ranged lines. I just feel there is a problem with 'at will' powers like this. Oh well. Thanks for your answer.
- Gauss
I've not looked at the encounter in a long time, so there's absolutely the chance that we built it too tough. CR is not an exact science, after all. According to the CR system, a 20th level commoner is the same CR (18) as a 17th level human wizard lich capable of casting several wish spells. Obviously, those two creatures are NOT the same power level. Likewise, the difference between a dragon who doesn't use his magic treasure and a dragon who has "spent" his treasure to gain things like a ring of protection, an amulet of mighty fists, and other bolstering items is going to be a lot tougher even though both dragons are technically the same CR.
We DO try to build appropriate encounters, but sometimes unintended errors and miscalculations in the encounter's design slip in.
A classic example from Council of Thieves is from part 3, where I had the PCs encounter several Small sized shadows. I didn't have the room to print a full stat block for these shadows, and so instead just placed the "Young" template on the shadows to make them into Small ones. The "Young" template reduces most monsters' power by reducing their natural armor, decreasing their damage, and reducing their Strength and Constitution. They DO gain a bonus to Dexterity. And then in the end, the template tells you to reduce the monster's CR by 1. Now... if you put this template on a shadow... that all works fine if you just use the quick rules—suddenly the shadow has fewer hit points and takes penalties on every roll. BUT! Folks didn't do this when they ran the encounter—they prepared for it by using the Rebuild rules. Now... shadows are incorporeal. They don't have natural armor scores, and so a penalty to its natural armor is ignored. They don't have strength or constitution scores, so penalties to those scores are ignored as well. Its damage is 1d6 Strength damage, and reducing that to 1d4 Strength damage is technically a disadvantage, but not NEARLY as much as reducing 1d6 hp of damage to 1d4 hp of damage. Then the shadow gains a bonus to its Dexterity, which in addition to increasing its initiative, its reflex, and its AC, also increases its attack rolls since incorporeal creatures use Dexterity, not Strength, for that roll. And then it gains bonuses to its attack rolls and armor class on top of THAT because it's smaller in size. The result of this is a shadow who essentially gains a +3 bonus to AC, a +3 bonus to attack rolls, a +2 bonus to Reflex saves, a +2 bonus to Initiative checks, does 1d4 Strength damage instead of 1d6 strength damage... and has its CR reduced by 1. Obviously an error.
What I'm saying is that errors in encounter design slip into print. It's the adventure developer's job to minimize those, but they still slip by. And it sounds like this erinyes encounter is one of those.
Which, in the end, still means it's your job as GM to fix it. But absolutely let us know when something like that comes up, because that's something that we as developers need to keep in mind.
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Creative Director
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hi! while showing a feat from the cheliax companion to a friend i came upon this feat that i had completely forgotten:
Hamatula Strike (Combat):
You can catch your opponents on your weapon and hold
them in place.
Prerequisites: Improved Grapple, Strength 13, Base
Attack Bonus +7.
Benefit: Whenever you damage an opponent with a
piercing weapon, you can immediately make a grapple
check; success means the opponent is impaled on your
weapon and you both gain the grappled condition. While
the opponent is impaled, as an attack action you may make
a grapple check on your turn at a –4 penalty to damage the
opponent with your weapon, even if your weapon cannot
normally be used in a grapple.and it gave me an idea for a "plan b character"(back up character for when my current one die in the gutter he's in), but i'm not sure exactly how this feat works with other feats like greater grapple and rapid grappler or vital strike / two weapon fighting, or even impaling critical, and with high critical threat weapon like rapiers.
edit: there's also feats that allow you to strike with more than one weapon at once(i'm thinking about the tiger claw feat from UC that let you hit with both hands with a single attack) and i'm also wondering about the penalty on grapple for each non-free hand. there's also feats like the turtle style that allow you to make a grapple check against someone who miss an attack against you, given the situation of an enemy that you're impaling that attacks you and miss can you use Hamatula Strike with that grappling riposte?Also the feat don't restrict to melee hits can this be used to make porcupines out of enemies with a bow or crossbow?
And how would the poor soul take out the arrows? Grapple check against the shooter's cmd?
Or simply automatic while having to use a standard action for each impaling arrow?
And with two weapon fighting with let's say armor spikes plus two one handed weapon could I impale the enemy with one weapon then the second then the armor spikes ?
1st of all... the Cheliax companion was written right at the start of the Pathfinder game, at a time when even we at Paizo didn't fully understand how the rules all interacted, and as a result, feat balance and interaction wasn't as refined as it is today. There's some stuff in Hamatula Strike that, in my opinion, make it way too powerful for a feat. If I were revising it today, I'd say that the auto grapple check would only trigger on a successful critical hit, and would limit it to melee piercing weapons.
Here's how I would say this feat interacts with the various situations you brought up; hopefully this advice allows you to extrapolate answers to similar combinations you haven't mentioned here.
Hamatula Strike + Greater Grapple: When you get the chance to grapple a foe by using Hamatula Strike, you gain the extra +2 bonus on your grapple check granted by Greater Grapple. This counts as one of the 2 grapple checks you get to make in the round.
Hamatula Strike + Rapid Grappler: Doesn't interact at all. Hamatula Strike does not allow you to make a grapple check to maintain a hold, and that's what Rapid Grappler augments.
Hamatula Strike + Vital Strike: Doesn't interact at all. Your weapon damage increases from Vital Strike, but the amount of damage you do doesn't matter to Hamatula Strike.
Hamatula Strike + Two-Weapon Fighting: More piercing attacks mean that you get a chance to use Hamatula Strike more often, but once you grapple a foe, you can't grapple another foe; two weapon fighting with Hamatula Strike doesn't let you stick yourself to more than one foe.
Hamatula Strike + Impaling Critical: These two feats overlap in theme and partially in effect, but they still work. If you attack a foe with your weapon, you get to do several things—you get to make your grapple check. If that attack was a successful critical hit, you ALSO get to enjoy all the benefits of Impaling Critical... but also the disadvantages. If you choose to remove your weapon from the foe, you're no longer grappling the foe either.
Hamatula Strike + high critical threat range: These two effects don't interact. Hamatula Strike only cares if you hit a foe in order to activate. It doesn't care if that hit is a regular hit or a critical hit; both are identical as far as Hamatula Strike cares.
Hamatula Strike + feats that let you strike with more than one weapon at once: See the Two-Weapon Fighting bit above. Once you grapple a foe, you can't grapple more foes. Grapple is generally a one grapple at a time thing. If you choose to grapple a new foe, you release the previous one.
Hamatula Strike + ranged attacks: The flavor, both written and implied by the feat's name, indicates to me that it only works with melee weapons. You can't use Hamatula Strike with a ranged weapon.
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Creative Director
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1. Are there other sources about Riddleport besides the one I have checked?
2. Are there any hidden plotters in Riddleport like Lorthact and Ileosa (i.e. Sorshen) in Korvosa?1) That's pretty much it for Riddleport for now that's in print. There's some cyphermage stuff here and tehre in other books, and there's a few Pathfinder Society scenarios set there but I'm not sure if those scenarios are out yet or still in development/design.
2) Yes.
Thanks for your answers.
May I follow up with a question to your answer to my second question? If so, could you be more specific as who these hidden plotters are and what their motives and goals are?
I can't be more specific about the hidden plotters involved with Riddleport at this time. Those are ideas I've had stored in the back of my head for an upcoming product.
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Creative Director
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Hamatula Strike + Greater Grapple: does this mean that I could grapple more than once with the weapon or that I could grapple once with the weapon and once the normal way?
Hamatula Strike only lets you grapple once when you stick a foe with a piercing weapon. Greater Grapple won't increase this; your extra grapple check must be made normally.
Hamatula Strike + high critical threat range: the question was more along the way of if my weapon crit on lets say 15-20, does a roll of 15 on the grapple check (with the impaling weapon i mean) is a critical threat?(since the grapple check is to damage with the weapon)
The initial hit with the rapier functions normally, including its increased chance to do critical damage. Then, when you make the free grapple check Hamatula Strike allows, you roll that normally; the rapier's critical threat range doesn't impact that grapple check roll at all.
Hamatula Strike + feats that let you strike with more than one weapon at once: i was thinking of feats like:
Tiger Claws (Combat):
Again... all Hamatula Strike cares about is if you damage a foe with a piercing weapon. It doesn't care how you get that damage done, or how much it is. If you damage the foe, Hamatula Strike lets you make a grapple attempt. Combining grapples with other combat maneuvers might not make sense—you can't grapple a foe you push away from you or bull rush away from you, so if you use Tiger Claws to bull rush a foe out of your reach, the grapple stuff won't work at all because the foe is now out of reach. Not all feats work well together.
Hamatula Strike + Rapid Grappler: i think you confused rapid grappler with and other feat(or i didn't understood your anwser on gretter grapple) here is
rapid grappler::
It's a good idea to cite where the rules you're asking questions about are from, first of all. Chances are good that you're more familiar with where the rules you're asking about are printed than I am. In any event, if you use Greater Grapple to do something, that's not using Hamatula Strike to do something, and so Hamatula Strike isn't involved in the situation. If you use Hamatula Strike to grapple a target with a piercing weapon, you're using that feat, NOT Greater Grapple, and as such Rapid Grappler, which specifically says that it triggers when you use Greater Grapple, doesn't do anything.
One thing to keep in mind as well is that it's REALLY EASY to overcomplicate your character if you super-hyper-specialzie in anything. Especially if you incorperate multiple rules options taken from multiple books written by multiple designers over the course of multiple years, when some of those rules elements (such as Hamatula Strike) may have been written MUCH EARLIER when we didn't have as much rules mastery over what was then a brand new system, or rules elements written more recently by designers who might not have in mind how those elements might interact with much older rules elements that don't see a lot of play.
AKA: Overspecialization can go beyond the point of fun into needless complication. This is a case where that's happening. If you were playing such a character in my game, I would strongly recommend not over-complicating the character to this extent and instead taking another feat. And if you chose to not take that advice, I would expect you to abide by my rulings and not try to continue to argue interpretations for the rules that might not work completely to your advantage.
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What was you're inspiration for Sorshen, anyway?The name's inspired from the name Sorsha from Willow and Shensen, one of my favorite PCs. The character of Sorshen herself is a mix of the classic succubus, various evil queens from Disney movies, Elizabeth Batheroy, and various other evil queens who've inspired me through the age
The Batheroy influence was obvious. ;)
1. So, what various historic evil queens would you be referring to?
2. I only found two actual queens among the list of Disney villains, and there's already a character like the Queen of Hearts (I certainly got the reference in Pathfinder #7, p.56). I presume you mean any villainess as poised as Grimhilde?
3. Do you think it's a possibility that Sorshen ditched her Xin-given weapon of rule and opted to incorporate a transformative guisarme into her mithral staff, thinking a blade on each end would look more elegant than two blades on one end? I suggest this because a) it would provide an in-game explanation for why she has what looks like a double-weapon and b) I can't see her holding a staff in one hand and a polearm in the other.
4. The vampires in Sorshen's tomb, how did they serve her in life? Would they be able to serve her again when she wakes up or are they too crazy?
5. In general, how well were Sorshen's personal slaves treated?
6. What countries did Sorshen trade with? The only ones I've read of from Thassilon's era were itself and Azlant.
7. What was Sorshen's relationship with Xanderghul?
8. Was the weather in Eurythnia like 10,000 years ago? Warmer, or the same?
9. What was Xin-Eurythnia like as a city, and how did it function?
10. You said fleshwarping was big in Eurythnia. Besides giants, what monsters did they focus on? I'm guessing nymphs were a big deal due to their beauty and high Fort saves.
11. What would Sorshen do with Korvosa when she wakes up? Would work behind the scenes or she rule overtly? If she is overt, would she use a pseudonym like "Domina II" or somesuch?
12. What would Sorshen want to do with Castle Korvosa; remodel the exterior or tear it down?
13. When Ultimate Campaign -- the book that's supposed to let me run a kingdom -- comes out, will there be rules for post Level 20 play? Not rules for "epic levels" or somesuch, but things to do once you've maxed out.
14. You said that you only want Core material for the runelords, but Karzoug has plenty of custom goodies beyond what's needed to put his stats in line with his CR. Would you explain the discrepancy?
15. What's the upper limit for the number of questions in one comment?
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Creative Director
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1. So, what various historic evil queens would you be referring to?
2. I only found two actual queens among the list of Disney villains, and there's already a character like the Queen of Hearts (I certainly got the reference in Pathfinder #7, p.56). I presume you mean any villainess as poised as Grimhilde?
3. Do you think it's a possibility that Sorshen ditched her Xin-given weapon of rule and opted to incorporate a transformative guisarme into her mithral staff, thinking a blade on each end would look more elegant than two blades on one end? I suggest this because a) it would provide an in-game explanation for why she has what looks like a double-weapon and b) I can't see her holding a staff in one hand and a polearm in the other.
4. The vampires in Sorshen's tomb, how did they serve her in life? Would they be able to serve her again when she wakes up or are they too crazy?
5. In general, how well were Sorshen's personal slaves treated?
6. What countries did Sorshen trade with? The only ones I've read of from Thassilon's era were itself and Azlant.
7. What was Sorshen's relationship with Xanderghul?
8. Was the weather in Eurythnia like 10,000 years ago? Warmer, or the same?
9. What was Xin-Eurythnia like as a city, and how did it function?
10. You said fleshwarping was big in Eurythnia. Besides giants, what monsters did they focus on? I'm guessing nymphs were a big deal due to their beauty and high Fort saves.
11. What would Sorshen do with Korvosa when she wakes up? Would work behind the scenes or she rule overtly? If she is overt, would she use a pseudonym like "Domina II" or somesuch?
12. What would Sorshen want to do with Castle Korvosa; remodel the exterior or tear it down?
13. When Ultimate Campaign -- the book that's supposed to let me run a kingdom -- comes out, will there be rules for post Level 20 play? Not rules for "epic levels" or somesuch, but things to do once you've maxed out.
14. You said that you only want Core material for the runelords, but Karzoug has plenty of custom goodies beyond what's needed to put his stats in line with his CR. Would you explain the discrepancy?
15. What's the upper limit for the number of questions in one comment?
1) Not really any "historic" evil queens as much as evil queens from books and legends... and none in particular, just the overall idea of an evil queen.
2) I mean the evil queen from Snow White, mostly.
3) The fact that she's got a "double weapon" is, alas, due to an artist error that wasn't caught in time. Her weapon is supposed to have two blades at one end, not one at both ends. How I intend on fixing this, or if I even do, is something I'll decide to do later once she gets statted up. But I'll probably be simply ret-conning the image from Inner Sea Magic to a certain extent.
4) That's not something I'm ready to reveal.
5) If they displeased her, she got rid of them, but if they pleased her, they were treated VERY well.
6) She traded with other Thassionian nations now and then, with the elves of Mierani, and with otherplanar races for the most part.
7) Their nations were on opposite ends of Thassilon, so they didn't have a LOT of interactions. While Xanderghul was stronger, Sorshen was pretty close to him in power and had more friends to boot. They had a mutual respect for each other that sometimes looked like friendship but usually looked like competition and rivalry.
8) The same.
9) Like a super-decadent cross between Rome and Atlantis.
10) They didn't focus on monsters for fleshwarping in Eurythnia. It was more akin to cosmetic surgery, stuff to torment and horrify those she disliked, and stuff to pleasure those she felt needed a reward.
11) Something that could fuel an entire adventure path I haven't yet started working on, probably.
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Creative Director
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Dear James,
That alignment system you mentioned earlier looks similar to one that was in Continuallywinter Nites video game I played before. Or am I way off?
I'm not sure what videogame you're talking about. The system I outlined was pretty much the same that the various Baldur's Gate video games used though.
In case you forgot these questions, and aren't just still working on them:
12. What would Sorshen want to do with Castle Korvosa: remodel the exterior or tear it down?
13. When Ultimate Campaign -- the book that's supposed to let me run a kingdom -- comes out, will there be rules for post Level 20 play? Not rules for "epic levels" or somesuch, but things to do once you've maxed out.
14. You said that you only want Core material for the runelords, but Karzoug has plenty of custom goodies beyond what's needed to put his stats in line with his CR. Would you explain the discrepancy?
15. What's the upper limit for the number of questions in one comment? Given the last response, I'm guessing 11.
since the Permanency spell is universal, does that means that a Broodmaster, Master Summoner and Summoner can learn it?
First off) The errors in the Advanced Race Guide has not yet been released, I believe. The errors I mention in particular are that tieflings and aasimars should have lifespans and aging thresholds and starting ages equal to those of humans.
...welp. A lot of my setting revolves around the birth of the only aasimar 75 years ago. Oh well, far too late to change that now. Though this means I can let tieflings exist in the setting so that's cool.
Does the same apply to the four elemental races?
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.
I did indeed read Wake of the Watcher, and it was most exceptionally excellent! As for a book with more about the Old Cults, most especially a book on the subject written by you, THAT is something for which I eagerly await and am actively looking forward to! Please, do make every effort to get this book made as soon as possible. I know that many, many people besides myself are also anxiously awaiting more on the subject, and with you writing it, having such an excellent grasp on the material, it could absolutely not be anything but marvelously horrid (horrid in the most utterly complimentary terms, of course!)
And from what you said about the Black Blades, am I correct then in assuming that they don't actually have anything to do with Golarion at all, and are actually alien to the world, history, and lore of Golarion? Which opens up all kinds of ideas for me. Thank you!
Thank you for your reply!
(A few weeks ago I came across the Halloween writing contest, albeit long after the contest was already over; however, I still can't help but be fascinated by the possibilities of such a story, and I've been working on one ever since I read about the guidelines, tying the Black Blades to the Dark Tapestry and the Flumphs and other forces opposing Aucturn and the Old Cults - for my own amusement, if nothing else.)
I would also like to ask another question: what was the extent of Nyarlathotep's influence in ancient Osirion? I have gleaned that there were at the very least some cults and covens dedicated to him among some groups of arcane magic-users and witches (I mean, Narly having the Black Pharaoh as a Mask is rather telling, and I can't be sure if it's merely just a carryover from Earth, especially considering the Osirian culture of Golarion.) This, along with the hints of a connection between ancient Osirion and Aucturn, and other tidbits sprinkled throughout various books tying Osirion to the Dark Tapestry, leads me to believe that the ancient Osirians had relatively frequent dealings with some very dark, Chaotic, sanity shattering entities. Was perhaps one of the Pharaohs of Ancient Osirion actually a Mask of Nyarlathotep him/it/self? I've just been idly wondering on the possibilities...
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Creative Director
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In case you forgot these questions, and aren't just still working on them:
12. What would Sorshen want to do with Castle Korvosa: remodel the exterior or tear it down?
13. When Ultimate Campaign -- the book that's supposed to let me run a kingdom -- comes out, will there be rules for post Level 20 play? Not rules for "epic levels" or somesuch, but things to do once you've maxed out.
14. You said that you only want Core material for the runelords, but Karzoug has plenty of custom goodies beyond what's needed to put his stats in line with his CR. Would you explain the discrepancy?
15. What's the upper limit for the number of questions in one comment? Given the last response, I'm guessing 11.
That's a great reason to keep numbered lists of questions to 10 or less at a time. If the list gets too long, it's easy to miss questions once the wall of text starts extending off a page or when the quote button truncates a list.
12) Remodel it and expand it.
13) No rules for post-20th level play in Ultimate Campaign. Our take on post 20th-level play is Mythic Adventures.
14) I only want core classes for the runelords. They're single class wizards without archetypes. Beyond that, anything is possible. Certainly introducing new items and feats and the like that are unique to them helps to make them memorable.
15) 10 is the best upper limit.
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Creative Director
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Not sure if you're joking, but I think he's referring to Neverwinter Nights - both of the games in that series used a 1-100 scale for either axis of the alignment chart.I'm not sure what videogame you're talking about. The system I outlined was pretty much the same that the various Baldur's Gate video games used though.Dear James,
That alignment system you mentioned earlier looks similar to one that was in Continuallywinter Nites video game I played before. Or am I way off?
Oh... yeah. Turns out it's possible to be TOO cute with how you rename things in posts... at a certain point, you stop making sense.
I've played the HECK out of Neverwinter Nights. It's made by a lot of the same folks who made Baldur's Gate, so that's the same alignment system in both games pretty much.
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Creative Director
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First off) The errors in the Advanced Race Guide has not yet been released, I believe. The errors I mention in particular are that tieflings and aasimars should have lifespans and aging thresholds and starting ages equal to those of humans....welp. A lot of my setting revolves around the birth of the only aasimar 75 years ago. Oh well, far too late to change that now. Though this means I can let tieflings exist in the setting so that's cool.
Does the same apply to the four elemental races?
The age categories you use for races in your setting are whatever you need them to be; don't feel bound by anything we publish! :-)
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Creative Director
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I would also like to ask another question: what was the extent of Nyarlathotep's influence in ancient Osirion? I have gleaned that there were at the very least some cults and covens dedicated to him among some groups of arcane magic-users and witches (I mean, Narly having the Black Pharaoh as a Mask is rather telling, and I can't be sure if it's merely just a carryover from Earth, especially considering the Osirian culture of Golarion.) This, along with the hints of a connection between ancient Osirion and Aucturn, and other tidbits sprinkled throughout various books tying Osirion to the Dark Tapestry, leads me to believe that the ancient Osirians had relatively frequent dealings with some very dark, Chaotic, sanity shattering entities. Was perhaps one of the Pharaohs of Ancient Osirion actually a Mask of Nyarlathotep him/it/self? I've just been idly wondering on the possibilities...
For now, I'm not ready to reveal what Nyarlathotep's influence over Ancient Osirion was. That's a secret that'll be revealed at some point in the future.
related to ancient osirion, what is the relationship between the modern osrionic speaking countries, particularly the garundi ones (not absalom)? do they see themselves all as different surviving strains of the ancient culture? was osironic adopted by some of them as a language, but not so much culture-wise? in particular, i'm interested in nex. also, does osirionic influence extend further, into southern garund, or other territories to the east?
about the state of the pathfinder game as a whole, what do you think of the precedent of 3.0->3.5? with the amount of world material that you have done, and plan to do in the PRPG system, would a 99.5% 'revised edition' update that doesn't disrupt those products (that are still in inventory and you want to sell, presumably) be the most likely future development of the PRPG core rules?
I would also like to ask another question: what was the extent of Nyarlathotep's influence in ancient Osirion? I have gleaned that there were at the very least some cults and covens dedicated to him among some groups of arcane magic-users and witches (I mean, Narly having the Black Pharaoh as a Mask is rather telling, and I can't be sure if it's merely just a carryover from Earth, especially considering the Osirian culture of Golarion.) This, along with the hints of a connection between ancient Osirion and Aucturn, and other tidbits sprinkled throughout various books tying Osirion to the Dark Tapestry, leads me to believe that the ancient Osirians had relatively frequent dealings with some very dark, Chaotic, sanity shattering entities. Was perhaps one of the Pharaohs of Ancient Osirion actually a Mask of Nyarlathotep him/it/self? I've just been idly wondering on the possibilities...For now, I'm not ready to reveal what Nyarlathotep's influence over Ancient Osirion was. That's a secret that'll be revealed at some point in the future.
Cool :) I really dig the Lovecraft crossover thing.
Speaking of which, have you worked Lovecraftian elements into a RotRL campaign before? If not, what do you imagine would be some great ways to bring a bit of Cthulhu to that AP?
What do you picture the House of Oblivion in Thuvia looking like?
Vampires and vampire hunting has been on the brain of a couple people in my gaming group, what with Blood of the Night coming out on the 19th, and one of them recently brought up the idea of a Paladin of Pharasma, kind of a super undead hunter character.
Does Pharasma even have Paladins for this purpose? What might their code look like?
1) My players have loved the Lovecraft elements in Carrion Crown; would you ever consider doing an AP that is fully about mythos creatures involving themselves with Golarion? If so, I think it would be a hit.
2) If you did get an opportunity to make such an AP, which Elder Gods would be the focus/who would be the big bad?
3) Would you be interested in fully exploring some of the more established Lovecraftian "planes" like the Dreamlands in such an AP and associated products?
4) Are you familiar with Jason Thompson and his mythos comics? They're quite excellent.
5) Do you think Wrath of the Righteous will be more of a one-off or do you think it will become more of a common thing to have APs that delve into mythic tiers in a post-mythic adventures world (assuming Mythic Adventures is successful)?
6) Will Ultimate Campaign be expanding on Kingmaker's hex-based system for establishing a kingdom or will it be establishing a new system entirely?
7) Will it have any elements of the old Stronghold Builders Guide for determining the costs associated with players building their own keep?