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Paizo Employee Creative Director

Joana wrote:
James, what Knowledge would you use to identify an alchemical tool like a smoke pellet or troll styptic?

I'd actually allow Craft (alchemy) to identify those things, along with Knowledge (arcana).


RPG related Kickstarters seem to be picking up a lot more attention since the Reaper Kickstarter. Do you find yourself browsing these Kickstarters more often now, or more often before the Reaper Kickstarter?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tels wrote:
RPG related Kickstarters seem to be picking up a lot more attention since the Reaper Kickstarter. Do you find yourself browsing these Kickstarters more often now, or more often before the Reaper Kickstarter?

I do indeed browse them now and again, but I've not kicked in on many of them; I did for Monte's game, and just threw in some money for Razor Coast though...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:

So speaking of iconics, I was thinking about Seltyiel today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he started out as the iconic Multiclass character, then became the iconic Eldritch Knight in the Core Rulebook (sort of, as Prestige Classes typically don't have iconic characters), and finally settled down as the iconic Magus in Ultimate Magic.

Does this make Seltyiel the character of the Iconic Player Who Rebuilds His/Her Character Every Time A New Sourcebook Comes Out?

Nope. It means that we invented Seltyiel before we were sure how our new game would work; he, like the other first 12 iconics, was invented when we were using D&D's 3.5 rules. We wanted to put iconics on our covers for the first 12 Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes... but there were only 11 open content base classes in 3.5. That meant we had to be a little creative with slot #12.

Then, a few years later, when we made the magus, it just made sense to make him the iconic magus instead of leaving him as an eldritch knight. We should probably replace the artwork for the eldritch knight in the Core Rulebook one of these days.

Or you could just leave him as he is... He could be the alternate Seltyiel from Second Golarion (a movie aliteration :)


LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:

So speaking of iconics, I was thinking about Seltyiel today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he started out as the iconic Multiclass character, then became the iconic Eldritch Knight in the Core Rulebook (sort of, as Prestige Classes typically don't have iconic characters), and finally settled down as the iconic Magus in Ultimate Magic.

Does this make Seltyiel the character of the Iconic Player Who Rebuilds His/Her Character Every Time A New Sourcebook Comes Out?

Nope. It means that we invented Seltyiel before we were sure how our new game would work; he, like the other first 12 iconics, was invented when we were using D&D's 3.5 rules. We wanted to put iconics on our covers for the first 12 Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes... but there were only 11 open content base classes in 3.5. That meant we had to be a little creative with slot #12.

Then, a few years later, when we made the magus, it just made sense to make him the iconic magus instead of leaving him as an eldritch knight. We should probably replace the artwork for the eldritch knight in the Core Rulebook one of these days.

Or you could just leave him as he is... He could be the alternate Seltyiel from Second Golarion (a movie aliteration :)

Second Golarion? What about Elevensie Golarion?

Shadow Lodge

Is it because of the elven immunities or elven blood racial traits that elves and half-elves are immune to ghoul's paralysis, or is it because they have the elf (or half-elf?) subtype?

And is your messageboard ruling considered official enough for PFS (albeit trumped by Mike Brock?)

Trying to understand how to get an official ruling on this, "don't play with that GM anymore" isn't really solid.

The Exchange

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

How many megadungoens do you think are in Tian Xia? Or Arcadia?


Do you recall who designed the First World Summoner archetype for Inner Sea Magic?

Do you guys plan on including who did what in the future, like you did with Inner Sea Bestiary?

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

No question. I just read that Pathfinder Online will be Mac compatible, and like a little kid I wanted to tell you. Pleased I imagine?


James Jacobs wrote:
Nicos wrote:

Hi Mr jacobs.

Is there a chance to eliminate the line "You can only - insert apropiate combat maneuver here- an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you" or it would be to much a chance for a CRB rule?

Also, the next bestiary the tradition of high level mosnter being most likely large or larger?

Too much of a change.

And I do hope to introduce more monsters that are high CR but not big.

Would you like or not a feat that remove that restriction?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Avatar-1 wrote:

Is it because of the elven immunities or elven blood racial traits that elves and half-elves are immune to ghoul's paralysis, or is it because they have the elf (or half-elf?) subtype?

And is your messageboard ruling considered official enough for PFS (albeit trumped by Mike Brock?)

Trying to understand how to get an official ruling on this, "don't play with that GM anymore" isn't really solid.

Elves (and by extension in Pathfinder, half-elves) are immune to ghoul paralysis because they've ALWAYS been immune to it, from pretty much the earliest days of the game. For a long time, no reason was given and no one really thought to ask why. While other editions of the game may have offered explanations eventually, in Pathfinder the reason is hinted at in "Lords of Chaos," on page 18

Spoiler:
(aka: the first ghoul rose from the body of an elf and became Kabriri, the demon lord of ghouls, which is not only why ghouls have long ears, but why elves alone are immune to the paralysis).

Half elves have the trait "elf blood" which means they count as elves for any effect related to race. There's not a lot of these effects in the game, and most of them are bad for you (such as favored enemy or bane weapons)... but there are good things too. Since a half-elf treats effects as if she were an elf AND a human, that means that as an elf she's immune to ghoul paralysis but as a human she's not... but since you have to be completely affected by the effect in order to be paralyzed, half elves get to take the better option here and not get paralyzed by ghouls.

NOW... that said: Mike Brock's rulings are the official rules for PFS, not mine. I and others here can certainly help him and advise him, but as far as the PFS should be concerned, his word is law.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

TheLoneCleric wrote:
How many megadungoens do you think are in Tian Xia? Or Arcadia?

As many as there needs to be. Which means fewer than there are in the Inner Sea region but only because we do more stuff with the Inner Sea region.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cheapy wrote:

Do you recall who designed the First World Summoner archetype for Inner Sea Magic?

Do you guys plan on including who did what in the future, like you did with Inner Sea Bestiary?

I don't recall off the top of my head, and we don't have plans on including who did what. For Inner Sea Bestiary, it was pretty simple because monsters are so compartmentalized, and because there were so many authors on the book it made a little more sense. For books like Inner Sea Magic, which have fewer authors, and which have less obvious author splits, and for which we have a better idea for the first two pages of the book... well, there ya go.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Nicos wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Nicos wrote:

Hi Mr jacobs.

Is there a chance to eliminate the line "You can only - insert apropiate combat maneuver here- an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you" or it would be to much a chance for a CRB rule?

Also, the next bestiary the tradition of high level mosnter being most likely large or larger?

Too much of a change.

And I do hope to introduce more monsters that are high CR but not big.

Would you like or not a feat that remove that restriction?

Wouldn't like that feat. Feats are more fun when they give you new things rather than slightly adjust things that, in my opinion, aren't all that terrible a disadvantage in the first placy.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jim Groves wrote:
No question. I just read that Pathfinder Online will be Mac compatible, and like a little kid I wanted to tell you. Pleased I imagine?

Relieved is a better word! :-)


1. Are Aballonians immune to mind-affecting effects? I'm guessing they are since they have construct immunities.

2. How pretty do adventure maps have to be for RPG Superstar? Would a simple (but thoroughly-labeled) graph-paper dungeon be acceptable?

3. How do you pronounce "daemon?"

4. If devils represent roles and demons represent sins, what do azaleas represent?

5. What are the hazards on Elysium?

6. Are there fey creatures in Elysium?

7. What's your particular interest in Nocticula and other ur-succubi? I'm sure sex is part of it but what else?

8. What language does Thassilonian sound like?

9. If a dominated character is ordered to dance sexy, or anything similarly detailed, will he do so to the best of his ability or do I have to guide him through it?

10. Are there any sort of spell "loadouts" you would consider antagonistic GMing?


Mr. Jacobs,

Did you contribute to the kickstarter for the reprinting of Horror on the Orient Express by Chaosium?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

MeanDM wrote:

Mr. Jacobs,

Did you contribute to the kickstarter for the reprinting of Horror on the Orient Express by Chaosium?

Yes, I did. In fact, I first heard of it at Gen Con from the Chaosium folks themselves, which more or less had me signing up within the hour via iPhone.

In the end, I ended up pledging at the "Seasoned Traveler" level. Can't wait to see the final product!!!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:

1. Are Aballonians immune to mind-affecting effects? I'm guessing they are since they have construct immunities.

2. How pretty do adventure maps have to be for RPG Superstar? Would a simple (but thoroughly-labeled) graph-paper dungeon be acceptable?

3. How do you pronounce "daemon?"

4. If devils represent roles and demons represent sins, what do azaleas represent?

5. What are the hazards on Elysium?

6. Are there fey creatures in Elysium?

7. What's your particular interest in Nocticula and other ur-succubi? I'm sure sex is part of it but what else?

8. What language does Thassilonian sound like?

9. If a dominated character is ordered to dance sexy, or anything similarly detailed, will he do so to the best of his ability or do I have to guide him through it?

10. Are there any sort of spell "loadouts" you would consider antagonistic GMing?

1) Yup; it lists "construct traits" in it's immune line, and a glance at the "construct traits" in the Bestiary lists immunity to all mind-affecting effects, among other things.

2) As pretty as possible. And beyond that... as IMAGINATIVE as possible and as CLEAR as possible. To be quite honest, relatively few of the maps I've seen for RPG Superstar the last few years have really "lit me on fire." Most of them (not all, alas) are serviceable, but this is RPG Superstar. I'd hope that the maps the finalists were producing were all of a quality that is heads and shoulders above average. But since the bulk of RPG superstar is about advancing based solely on your writing skills, it's kind of unfair to expect that, I guess. Taking RPG Superstar 2012 as an example and looking at the 8 finalist maps... I'd rank them like this:
Excellent (little to no additions from us needed): Eightfinger's Tomb, Mushti's Beguiling Oddities, Brike Isle
Serviceable (they'll work, but there's issues and/or they might be kinda boring looking): Crimsondale Villa, Hungry Mountain Dragon, Sequestered Palace,
Problematic (in that we'd have to redraw these maps in house before sending them on to the cartographer): Fort Walmor, The Thanatoptic Amphisbaena

3) The correct way is more or less indistinguishable from "demon." But I tend to pronounce it more like Matt Damon's last name, with a hard "a" sound. So that it rhymes with "caiman."

4) Ummmm... pretty pink and purple flowers?

5) Too numerous to list here.

6) Probably, but not a lot, and those that are probably have the celestial or half-celestial or some similar template on them.

7) The fact that they're sexy is certainly one factor, but I've just always liked how tricky and sneaky succubi are in the game; most of the other demons are pretty much combat monsters, but succubi are much more subtle and manipulative. They're also the most humanoid of the various demons, which means that they translate into being NPCs with gear and class levels better than any other demon. All of which combines to make them the most interesting demons to build stories and adventures and encounters out of. And I take a perverse sort of delight, I guess, in how uncomfortable a succubus can make the gaming table feel! :P

8) That's not something I've done much thought into, but I suspect it's closest analogue would be a mix between Latin and Japanese as far as the basic sounds of the syllables and words.

9) Nope; the dominated character does what you command as best they can. You don't have to guide them at all, but you can if you want, I guess.

10) Yes: A character who prepares a lot of summoning spells when the group he's a part of has 9 players in it.


"Ummmm... pretty pink and purple flowers?"

*checks previous question, notices "azaleas"*

F#$%ING SPELLCHECKER!

1. If devils represent roles and demons represent sins, what do azatas represent?

2. How many times have you yelled at your spellchecker?

3. "Me: Are there any sort of spell "loadouts" you would consider antagonistic GMing?"

"You: Yes: A character who prepares a lot of summoning spells when the group he's a part of has 9 players in it."

I'll rephrase the question: If I'm designing a NPC wizard, what sort of spell loadouts would be considered antagonistic GMing?

4. Do you know of any graph paper drawing programs? I don't want mistakes being time-costly.

5. I wanted to enter RPG Superstar but didn't because I was intimidated by the map requirements. What advice do you have for me (besides "learn to draw")?

6. What sort of monsters do the petitioners of Elysium have to worry about?

7. What does Taldane (aka Common) sound like?

8. How come succubi are in the combat role rather than the skill role?

9. Are there any "crawly" (e.g., ants, spiders) agathions?

10. Are you familiar with Ashton Sperry's's artwork? And before you mention Wayfinder #2, I found out about him another way (do a DA search for who I've ask you a lot about to see what I mean).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:

1. If devils represent roles and demons represent sins, what do azatas represent?

2. How many times have you yelled at your spellchecker?

3. "Me: Are there any sort of spell "loadouts" you would consider antagonistic GMing?"

"You: Yes: A character who prepares a lot of summoning spells when the group he's a part of has 9 players in it."

I'll rephrase the question: If I'm designing a NPC wizard, what sort of spell loadouts would be considered antagonistic GMing?

4. Do you know of any graph paper drawing programs? I don't want mistakes being time-costly.

5. I wanted to enter RPG Superstar but didn't because I was intimidated by the map requirements. What advice do you have for me (besides "learn to draw")?

6. What sort of monsters do the petitioners of Elysium have to worry about?

7. What does Taldane (aka Common) sound like?

1) We don't really have the good outsider races organized in that way. They have themes, though. Azatas represent goodness and free spirits, artistry and pleasure, and generally have themes along the lines of fey or elves and shiny stuff like fire or light.

2) Several.

3) OH! Spells that you pick specifically to vex the specific characters in your group, then, and that focus specifically on your group's weaknesses.

4) Photoshop is my favorite at this moment for fixing errors to maps. If, for example, I make a mistake while inking a hand drawn map, I'll scan the map and use Photoshop to correct the error.

5) If you want to take part in RPG Superstar, the inescapable fact of the matter is that if you win, you get to (HAVE to) design an adventure for us, and that means that you'll need to map for us. My advice for folks who want to up their map skills is to buy a notebook with graph paper pages (or even just a big stack or tablet of graph paper) and practice, practice, practice. Draw maps of dungeons and towns and wildlands and whatever while you watch TV or listen to music. You can even start by picking maps from published adventures that you like the look of and copying the map by hand as best you can. Do this often. Eventually, you'll switch to drawing maps on your own; don't try to build them for any specific encounter. Just draw them. Worst case scenario, you'll have a stack of maps to draw upon the next time you run a campaign. But that's not the worst case by far... because you'll be getting better and better at drawing maps the whole time, and for a GM (whether or not you actually publish the adventure) that's a great skill to build.

6) Invading fiends, superpowered animals, and adventurers for the most part. But that said... it's Elysium! It's pretty safe to the locals, as long as you're not causing trouble!

7) English.

Silver Crusade

Before Earthfall, if Karzoug had a WMD/Megaweapon on the scale of

adventure module spoiler here:
the walking fortress from Clash of the Kingslayers
, which fellow Runelord would he have been most likely to send it against? (or have it "programmed" to go after?)


A few more questions I must have added while you were busy:

8. How come succubi are in the combat role rather than the skill role?

9. Are there any "crawly" (e.g., ants, spiders) agathions?

10. Are you familiar with Ashton Sperry's's artwork? And before you mention Wayfinder #2, I found out about him another way (do a DA search for who I've ask you a lot about to see what I mean).

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

James Jacobs wrote:
Cori Marie wrote:
What does Celestial sound like?
Like angels singing.

That's pretty impressive. How does a singular person speak it so that it sounds like multiple angels singing? Or can only good outsiders speak it like that?

Sovereign Court Contributor

JoelF847 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Cori Marie wrote:
What does Celestial sound like?
Like angels singing.
That's pretty impressive. How does a singular person speak it so that it sounds like multiple angels singing? Or can only good outsiders speak it like that?

Now, I'm imagining hound archons singing.

Silver Crusade

Jeff Erwin wrote:
JoelF847 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Cori Marie wrote:
What does Celestial sound like?
Like angels singing.
That's pretty impressive. How does a singular person speak it so that it sounds like multiple angels singing? Or can only good outsiders speak it like that?
Now, I'm imagining hound archons singing.

Which puts their non-lawful celestial neighbors in the position of having to call in a noise complaint. ;)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Mikaze wrote:

Before Earthfall, if Karzoug had a WMD/Megaweapon on the scale of ** spoiler omitted **, which fellow Runelord would he have been most likely to send it against? (or have it "programmed" to go after?)

Alaznist and Karzoug had a pretty rocky relationship. Just sayin'.

Silver Crusade

Something to map out for the upcoming campaign then! Thanks! :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:

A few more questions I must have added while you were busy:

8. How come succubi are in the combat role rather than the skill role?

9. Are there any "crawly" (e.g., ants, spiders) agathions?

10. Are you familiar with Ashton Sperry's's artwork? And before you mention Wayfinder #2, I found out about him another way (do a DA search for who I've ask you a lot about to see what I mean).

8) Roles are determined by the monster's stats, not its personality. Specifically, how those stats synergize with character classes. Pretty much every monster synergizes well with the combat classes, because of the basic nature of those classes; they don't rely upon existing abilities like spellcasting, sneak attack, bardic performances. A succubus, while she's a subtle and sneaky monster, gains a greater advantage from gaining fighter levels than she does from bard or rogue levels. At least, that's the theory. If she had sneak attack damage (like a babau) or didn't have a strength score at all (like a shadow demon) or had bardic power (like a lillend), then she'd be a better candidate for a skill role. But she doesn't.

9) Not yet.

10) Yup; I'm familiar with his work, and was so well before Wayfinder. I'm not sure when and where I first noticed his work but it was a LONG time ago. He's a semi-regular at Paiocon and I've chatted with him several times. He's actually drawn some of the characters I've created. Some of those even have their clothes on!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

JoelF847 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Cori Marie wrote:
What does Celestial sound like?
Like angels singing.
That's pretty impressive. How does a singular person speak it so that it sounds like multiple angels singing? Or can only good outsiders speak it like that?

A singular person speaks it poorly. Like how I speak French.


Hi James,

What was the idea behind the iconics in Council of Thieves, specifically putting a paladin and a LE dude together in the party? I mean, obviously no one has to play an iconic, but if everyone did, there'd be issues once they got to lvl 5 and Seelah could ping Seltyiel with detect evil. Was it possibly to make some parties explore the RP dynamics of a paladin and an evil PC in the same party?

I can't see how things wouldn't get messy if Seltyiel's player didn't want to change AL. Not that messy bothers me - I think those situations are very cool. I'm just wondering what the specific motivations for that decision were.

Thanks!


Mr. James Jacobs,

What is the distance in miles between Sandpoint and Seinaru Heikiko? Additionally, if you were running Jade Regent and one of the players was a planar oracle of the Abyss or one of the Fiendish planes how would have them react when they enter the well of demons? How would you play it? In the game I run the character in question is 15th level and should be entering soon. He might even be 16th when he enters.

Also, I get the feeling of late that some of my posts might have seemed a bit rude. If they came off as such I apologize.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:


5. I wanted to enter RPG Superstar but didn't because I was intimidated by the map requirements. What advice do you have for me (besides "learn to draw")?
5) If you want to take part in RPG Superstar, the inescapable fact of the matter is that if you win, you get to (HAVE to) design an adventure for us, and that means that you'll need to map for us. My advice for folks who want to up their map skills is to buy a notebook with graph paper pages (or even just a big stack or tablet of graph paper) and practice, practice, practice. Draw maps of dungeons and towns and wildlands and whatever while you watch TV or listen to music. You can even start by picking maps from published adventures that you like the look of and copying the map by hand as best you can. Do this often. Eventually, you'll switch to drawing maps on your own; don't try to build them for any specific encounter. Just draw them. Worst case scenario, you'll have a stack of maps to draw upon the next time you run a campaign. But that's not the worst case by far... because you'll be getting better and better at drawing maps the whole time, and for a GM (whether or not you actually publish the adventure) that's a great skill to build.

About that advice, from what you know it is legal to redraw maps of real locations and use them in public manifestations or published adventures?

As an example at work I have got a copy of Tycho Brahe Stjerneborg observatory. It is a great setting for a wizard laboratory.
That map is the reproduction of a XVI century planimetry of the observatory, so I doubt there is any problem, but maybe there can be some problem with maps of still existing buildings.

- * -

Spoiler:
In the River Kingdom sourcebook there is a guy that has lived 1.000 years through reincarnation and now he is frantic to find a new solution because the local druids are refusing him further reincarnations. But a witch can easily cast that spell and will have less problems with it than a druid. How would you change that scenario to factor the existence of witches in it?

Dark Archive

James, of the APs that you've played in or run, which have been your favourite moments?


Do you think there could be overlap between the excitement for Rasputin Must Die! and Numeria?


What does demonic, abyssal, elvish, dwarfish, and draconic sound like?


Jaçinto wrote:
what are the penalties to spot the "casting" of a spell from an item like a sword or whatever since it is a spell like ability, and therefore has no verbal or somatic components? I am guessing -10 for no verbal and -10 for no visual...

ahem... rules question...


Cheapy wrote:
Do you think there could be overlap between the excitement for Rasputin Must Die! and Numeria?

James, please keep in mind that some of us have no desire to rain on the parade of folks that are excited about this with negative posts in a product thread, but this is now 4 APs in a row that I've not only had no interest in but have actively disliked. I'm starting to feel like a chump for keeping my subscription active in the belief that Paizo would bounce back to stories I'm interested in being a part of pretty soon.

Is the staff losing interest in the "classic-fantasy-trope" APs? Because the hook for the last two "traditional" APs has boiled down to "Hot woman asks you to work for her." I want to feel like the story's about a group of adventurer-heroes making their own decisions and discoveries, not an NPC protagonist pursuing her goals with the help of her loyal followers. It seems like your hearts aren't in the "safe" APs enough to give the players any personal motivation to undertake them beyond "this is the plot train; get on or stay home" (she types, hoping the internet conveys a tone of genuine bewilderment rather than coming across as an insult).

EDIT: I know, I know: Wrath of the Righteous coming soon. I just hope it's not necessary to play paladins or otherwise Lawful soldiers who follow the orders of some NPC higher-up. :P

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
littlehewy wrote:

Hi James,

What was the idea behind the iconics in Council of Thieves, specifically putting a paladin and a LE dude together in the party? I mean, obviously no one has to play an iconic, but if everyone did, there'd be issues once they got to lvl 5 and Seelah could ping Seltyiel with detect evil. Was it possibly to make some parties explore the RP dynamics of a paladin and an evil PC in the same party?

I can't see how things wouldn't get messy if Seltyiel's player didn't want to change AL. Not that messy bothers me - I think those situations are very cool. I'm just wondering what the specific motivations for that decision were.

Thanks!

One of the changes we made to paladins in Pathfinder was that we specifically wrote down IN THE TEXT that a paladin can work with an evil ally in order to achieve a greater good. The relaxing of the "paladins can never knowingly work with an evil ally" rule is something that we really wanted to do, because that rule in 3rd edition kept cramping the style of a lot of games and adventures. It made paladins the most intolerant of classes to use in an adventure... it in fact made them more difficult to use in a party on average than an assassin, and that's goofy, in my opinion.

So we relaxed those strictures. After all... if a paladin can adventure in the same party as a chaotic good character, why couldn't she adventure in a party with a lawful evil character? Both chaotic good and lawful evil are equally far from lawful good, after all. The paladin would just need to keep her eye on her evil and chaotic companions to make sure that they kept their evil and chaotic urges under control, and keep in mind that working with these companions is for the greater law and/or the greater good.

And since Council of Thieves was the first Pathfinder adventure, and since both Seelah and Seltyiel are good fits on their own for a Cheliax adventure... we put them together to drive home without a shadow of a doubt that Paizo says "it's okay for a paladin to adventure with an evil ally."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

What is the distance in miles between Sandpoint and Seinaru Heikiko? Additionally, if you were running Jade Regent and one of the players was a planar oracle of the Abyss or one of the Fiendish planes how would have them react when they enter the well of demons? How would you play it? In the game I run the character in question is 15th level and should be entering soon. He might even be 16th when he enters.

I honestly don't know the distance in miles between those two locations. It's far. Beyond the reach of teleport far.

In any event, I didn't write or develop or edit the last 5 volumes of Jade Regent. I wrote the first adventure and outlined the whole adventure path, but my involvement beyond that was pretty much only as an advisor to Rob, who did all the rest of the work on developing the campaign. As a result... I'm not sure what you're looking for with a planar oracle's reaction to the Abyss... that'd be the player's choice in any event, and not something I would want to say what's right or wrong anyway.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:

About that advice, from what you know it is legal to redraw maps of real locations and use them in public manifestations or published adventures?

As an example at work I have got a copy of Tycho Brahe Stjerneborg observatory. It is a great setting for a wizard laboratory.
That map is the reproduction of a XVI century planimetry of the observatory, so I doubt there is any problem, but maybe there can be some problem with maps of still existing buildings.

- * -

In the River Kingdom sourcebook there is a guy that has lived 1.000 years through reincarnation and now he is frantic to find a new solution because the local druids are refusing him further reincarnations. But a witch can easily cast that spell and will have less problems with it than a druid. How would you change that scenario to factor the existence of witches in it?

Real-world maps generally don't translate all that well to Pathfinder locations, because a Pathfinder map has to sacrifice realism in order to make for fun game play. That's why there's so many ten-foot-wide and five-foot-wide hallways in Pathfinder maps. Real-world buildings don't "snap" to a five or ten foot grid.

As for whether it's legal to redraw maps and use them in public adventures... I don't see how it could be illegal (unless you revealing maps of government secrets), but it's not something that I'd really be interested in seeing happen in a Pathfinder adventure ever. Since there are no AMC theaters, Dairy Queens, or US Post Offices on Golarion.

As for the River Kingdom character... I wouldn't change the scenario at all. That dude just doesn't know any witches. And perhaps that's what's making him frantic—he's been trying to find a new solution but there's no cooperative witches available for him to get the spell cast on him.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ulgulanoth wrote:
James, of the APs that you've played in or run, which have been your favourite moments?

Becoming captain of a ship in Skull & Shackles is pretty high up on the list.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cheapy wrote:
Do you think there could be overlap between the excitement for Rasputin Must Die! and Numeria?

Yes, in that there's a certain amount of excitement for Rasputin Must Die! that comes from folks who just get excited WHENEVER they see us do something that's new and experimental and risky and unexpected and not something they've seen done before in previous RPGs.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Run, Just Run wrote:
What does demonic, abyssal, elvish, dwarfish, and draconic sound like?

Demonic is not a language.

Abyssal sounds scary and harsh.

Elvish is not a language. Elven, on the other hand, is, and it sounds musical and melodic.

Dwarfish is not a language. Dwarven, on the other hand, is, and it sounds like rocks being chewed in a mouth filled with hair and beer.

Draconic sound like guttural growls and snorts and roars and rumbles.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Quandary wrote:
Jaçinto wrote:
what are the penalties to spot the "casting" of a spell from an item like a sword or whatever since it is a spell like ability, and therefore has no verbal or somatic components? I am guessing -10 for no verbal and -10 for no visual...
ahem... rules question...

It is indeed. And it's in the right place on the boards. That's not a part of the boards I visit often though.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Joana wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Do you think there could be overlap between the excitement for Rasputin Must Die! and Numeria?

James, please keep in mind that some of us have no desire to rain on the parade of folks that are excited about this with negative posts in a product thread, but this is now 4 APs in a row that I've not only had no interest in but have actively disliked. I'm starting to feel like a chump for keeping my subscription active in the belief that Paizo would bounce back to stories I'm interested in being a part of pretty soon.

Is the staff losing interest in the "classic-fantasy-trope" APs? Because the hook for the last two "traditional" APs has boiled down to "Hot woman asks you to work for her." I want to feel like the story's about a group of adventurer-heroes making their own decisions and discoveries, not an NPC protagonist pursuing her goals with the help of her loyal followers. It seems like your hearts aren't in the "safe" APs enough to give the players any personal motivation to undertake them beyond "this is the plot train; get on or stay home" (she types, hoping the internet conveys a tone of genuine bewilderment rather than coming across as an insult).

EDIT: I know, I know: Wrath of the Righteous coming soon. I just hope it's not necessary to play paladins or otherwise Lawful soldiers who follow the orders of some NPC higher-up. :P

Well... I'm sorry that there's been four adventure paths in a row that you've actively disliked. We DO try to vary our adventure paths a lot, because we DO want folks to like at least every other one if possible. Further, we do NOT do adventure paths that bore us or don't interest us... doing an adventure path that we find uninspiring is the best way to get an AP that everyone is disappointed in.

You certainly don't need to keep a subscription to a line that isn't interesting to you. We generally reveal information about new APs well in advance so that if you have indeed dropped a sub, there's always plenty of time to re-sub once the new storyline starts.

The staff is NOT losing interest in the "classic fantasy trope." In fact, I would qualify Shattered Star as a classic fantasy trope—the "go gather the shattered artifact from a bunch of dungeons" is, in my opinion, just about as classic a fantasy trope as you can get. In that AP, Sheila Heidmarch's role in the adventure is, in the end, so minor that it's almost an afterthought—you can either replace her with her husband or any other character and the adventure path itself plays out pretty much exactly the same. If your players are self-motivated enough that you can tell them "There's a 7 part artifact out there waiting to be discovered," you're a lucky GM—I've seen very few groups who are that self-motivated at the start of a campaign, and I certainly can't assume the majority of groups out there function that way. And personally... I think that there's been PLENTY of male NPCs in RPGs already—when the gender doesn't matter, I'll freely admit that I tend to cast female NPCs in roles instead of male ones, if only to try to even up the playing field against things like Lord of the Rings or the majority of video games or RPGs who present no female characters of note in their stories.

What I can say is that, from our viewpoint, the Adventure Paths are continuing to be a success—we've not really ever seen a significant slide in the income or reviews or feedback overall for any one of our adventure paths that would give us concern that we've been taking them in the wrong direction.

In the end, it very well might be that the stories we're interested in telling and the ways we're interested in telling them (both of which are informed by and supported by the bulk of our customer feedback) simply might have drifted away from your preferences. That happens.

All I can ask is that you check out the new APs once they begin. If we've done adventures that you've loved before, chances are that we'll do one again some day...

(And no... it's not required at all to play paladins or lawful soldiers in Wrath of the Righteous. There IS an element of following orders near the start of the adventure, but again... when you're low level and when the players don't have any context as to where the adventure that's been written wants to take them... having NPCs give you quests is pretty much required. We can't tailor an adventure to fit every party. That's the GM's job.)

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:


As for whether it's legal to redraw maps and use them in public adventures... I don't see how it could be illegal (unless you revealing maps of government secrets), but it's not something that I'd really be interested in seeing happen in a Pathfinder adventure ever. Since there are no AMC theaters, Dairy Queens, or US Post Offices on Golarion.

Well, my advantage is that I have access to reproductions of maps of middle age and later buildings and cities, so they wouldn't be AMC theaters, Dairy Queens, or US Post Offices but Benedictine monasteries, XII century maps of Venice or Vienna, XIV century castles and so on.

They would still need to be adjusted to the 5' standard we use and to the effects of magic, but they seem a good start point to draw a map.

- * -

You have ever considered doing an adventure or an AP with a Chaos vs Law theme, where he Good vs Evil theme is minor or absent?


James Jacobs wrote:
The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

What is the distance in miles between Sandpoint and Seinaru Heikiko? Additionally, if you were running Jade Regent and one of the players was a planar oracle of the Abyss or one of the Fiendish planes how would have them react when they enter the well of demons? How would you play it? In the game I run the character in question is 15th level and should be entering soon. He might even be 16th when he enters.

In any event, I didn't write or develop or edit the last 5 volumes of Jade Regent. I wrote the first adventure and outlined the whole adventure path, but my involvement beyond that was pretty much only as an advisor to Rob, who did all the rest of the work on developing the campaign. As a result... I'm not sure what you're looking for with a planar oracle's reaction to the Abyss... that'd be the player's choice in any event, and not something I would want to say what's right or wrong anyway.

He's a planar oracle who's plane is the abyss and The Well of Demons lies under the Imperial Shrine and contains the evil of the imperial families some of whom have become demons, devils, daemons, and undead.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
So we relaxed those strictures. After all... if a paladin can adventure in the same party as a chaotic good character, why couldn't she adventure in a party with a lawful evil character? Both chaotic good and lawful evil are equally far from lawful good, after all. The paladin would just need to keep her eye on her evil and chaotic companions to make sure that they kept their evil and chaotic urges under control, and keep in mind that working with these companions is for the greater law and/or the greater good

Numerically they may be the same number steps away. But I have some serious thematic problems in the idea that a Paladin would consider a chaotic good Azata in the same league as a lawful evil devil. Because while Law IS very important to a Paladin, Good is the higher priority. After all while a Paladin may need atonement for indulging in chaos, she FALLS if she deliberately commits an evil act.

Shadow Lodge

I've seen a few references to a place called the Nahari Desert (mainly in regards to Trilochan), but I can't seem to find anything that says where that is on Golarion - any thoughts?

Also, are there any hand/sign languages on Golarion other than "Pathfinder hand signal" that appears in the Field Guide?

Thanks!

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