A question. I was looking at the Skeleton and Zombie templates and they both have tables for creatures with "1/2 HD". What has 1/2 HD?
Heck most players who want to play those two races tend to be players who don't get invited back to games.
... what?
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Heck most players who want to play those two races tend to be players who don't get invited back to games.... what?
I feel that way about more drow players to be honest. I'll be frank, I'm tired of seeing drow. DnD 3.5 and 4e really crammed drow (and dragonkin) down our throats to the point where I'm very weary of them. Forgotten Realms is probably their most popular setting, but so much time and adventures are spent on the Underdark and fighting drow or being that one special, Byronic Hero drow. Me and my friends joke, saying that Forgotten Realms is really just the Underdark and nothing else actually exists. Drow get so much spotlight that it's a relief to see them downplayed in Golarion.
@ Orthos and Odrauda: I responded to you both in Private messages as not to derail this thread anymore.
Question for James,
Did any of the Runelord followed any of the gods?
@ Orthos and Odrauda: I responded to you both in Private messages as not to derail this thread anymore.
Question for James,
Did any of the Runelord followed any of the gods?
Lissala was basically the patron of the Thassilonian Empire and the Goddess of Runes. She taught the original Seven Virtues of Rule that were corrupted into the Seven Sins that the Runelords embraced. Krune, the Runelord of Sloth was Lissala's High Priest.
There is also the Peacock Spirit that was worshiped by Xanderghul, the Runelord of Pride.
Creative Director
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4) Are we going to see a Drow of Golarion Player's companion any time soon?
4) Nope. Probably never. Drow are not meant to be PC races; that's a really Forgotten Realms thing, and I'd rather not poach that from them.
This is kinda of annoying for two reasons...
1) You guys have done orcs and Goblins....and now you guys are going to do kobolds. I can see orcs due to the half orc connection....but Goblins and Kobolds meant to be PC races....as much as drow at least...if not less. Heck most players who want to play those two races tend to be players who don't get invited back to games.
2) You do realize that FR setting has been around for so long and so much was written about it that Golarion already 'poaches' on it in serveral areas.
I love the Realms but it annoys me when I get a response to things like drow PCs as 'That is a FR thing' when I was doing it way before the FRs was out.
1) If we feel like the customer base is eager for a product, we do it. People love Paizo goblins, and so doing a goblin Player Companion was sort of a no-brainer. Since then, we've had a lot of folks asking for the same treatment of kobolds, and so there ya go. If folks really start asking for and want a Player Companion for drow, we'll consider doing one. Personally... I'd love to do a drow book. I'm actually quite a fan of drow. But I'm pretty sure that folks aren't really eager for a drow book.
2) I do realize that. Which makes it all the more important NOT to do something that's BLATANTLY Forgotten Realms, on the one hand. And on the other, I was sort of implying that the anti-drow crowd who hate Driz'zt and decry PC drow as being lame are pretty vocal. Again, that's a shame because I quite like drow.
All of which is my way of saying I just don't see a demand for a drow book. I wish I was wrong, and some day I might be, I hope.
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@ Orthos and Odrauda: I responded to you both in Private messages as not to derail this thread anymore.
Question for James,
Did any of the Runelord followed any of the gods?
Yeah... Krune worshiped Lissala. Xanderghul was a follower of the Peacock Spirit (although whether or not that's a deity or something else is still unrevealed). Alaznist worshiped several demon lords. The other Runelords didn't really worship many deities at all... some (like Karzoug) allowed their minions to worship deities, while others did not.
A question. I was looking at the Skeleton and Zombie templates and they both have tables for creatures with "1/2 HD". What has 1/2 HD?Nothing. That's a leftover from 3rd edition that sneaked into the game and until now apparently no one noticed. Cute!
I'm not you (SPOILERS!) but that's not 100% true. Humanoids with 1 level in any PC classes have CR 1/2. As a matter of fact, the aasimar cleric in that same book has CR 1/2.
So if you want to make a Zombie or Skeleton aasimar cleric, all of a sudden that table's looking pretty handy! :-P
Mr. James Jacobs,
How would you go about updating and interfacing the Aberrant feats from Lords of Madness with the Dark Tapestry oracle mystery?
A question. I was looking at the Skeleton and Zombie templates and they both have tables for creatures with "1/2 HD". What has 1/2 HD?Nothing. That's a leftover from 3rd edition that sneaked into the game and until now apparently no one noticed. Cute!I'm not you (SPOILERS!) but that's not 100% true. Humanoids with 1 level in any PC classes have CR 1/2. As a matter of fact, the aasimar cleric in that same book has CR 1/2.
So if you want to make a Zombie or Skeleton aasimar cleric, all of a sudden that table's looking pretty handy! :-P
Yeah but those all still have 1 HD. I was curious, mostly because I'm building up a zombie adventure and planned on having zombified wildlife. Things like fast plague zombie vultures (Which are definitely not CR 1/4 as I found out ;) ), exploding fast plague zombie ravens, a fast plague grizzly, and fast zombie wolves. This would culminate with a two headed fast plague zombie chimera boss, whose goat head was the last to fall to the infection and thus eaten by the other heads.
Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?
Can lycanthropes still speak and cast spells in animal form?
A question. I was looking at the Skeleton and Zombie templates and they both have tables for creatures with "1/2 HD". What has 1/2 HD?Nothing. That's a leftover from 3rd edition that sneaked into the game and until now apparently no one noticed. Cute!I'm not you (SPOILERS!) but that's not 100% true. Humanoids with 1 level in any PC classes have CR 1/2. As a matter of fact, the aasimar cleric in that same book has CR 1/2.
So if you want to make a Zombie or Skeleton aasimar cleric, all of a sudden that table's looking pretty handy! :-P
Yeah but those all still have 1 HD. I was curious, mostly because I'm building up a zombie adventure and planned on having zombified wildlife. Things like fast plague zombie vultures (Which are definitely not CR 1/4 as I found out ;) ), exploding fast plague zombie ravens, a fast plague grizzly, and fast zombie wolves. This would culminate with a two headed fast plague zombie chimera boss, whose goat head was the last to fall to the infection and thus eaten by the other heads.
Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?
Ooooooooooooooh, 1/2 HD. I misread your post and thought you said 1/2 CR. Carry on, then!
If Paizo had been publishing Paranoia, do you think you'd have done something to celebrate the newly instituted Orwell Day? (Which is today, in case you hadn't heard - like I said, it's a new thing.)
Since Earth will be visited in the upcoming Reign of Winter AP, is the AP going to contain rules on how magic works in low magic earth. Something like increased spell misfire rate or something. Or will wizard/sorceror characters function the same on Earth as they do on Golarion?
I have been trying to scour the web in order to try to find some clarifications about polymorph and its effects on armor and other items, so I thought I'd ask for a few clarifications since a few of the answers are already buried in this thread but not entirely satisfactory. I'll number my questions as they are quite annoying...
There is an old thread where you post that polymorph+wild armor means you do not suffer any of the penalties associated with wearing armor (but for balance reasons you believe the player should also get armor proficiency; similar to the way Mithral works?). Does this then mean that:
1) Polymorph + Heavy Armor + Non-proficiency gives penalties according to RAW or is it merely RAI?
2) If I have evasion (as a druid/rogue) and wear a wild hide armor (medium armor), can I use evasion or am I prohibited from doing so?
3) If (2) works, so would Monk bonuses while shapeshifted and using Wild armor+shield, right?
4) Would a heavy fortification dragonhide full plate without Wild enhancement provide non-proficiency penalties or interfere with class abilities that require you to wear lighter armor?
As for magic item bonuses themselves, I have found so many contradicting answers online. I won't list them, instead quoting the core rulebook...
Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form.
Bonus: Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores.
I have always assumed this means magic items cannot be activated, but continuous effects persist. But it could also be read as only numerical bonuses working (so only Amulet of Mighty Fists with +enhancement bonus for Druids and no abilities). So I need to ask some more questions...
5) Does Ring of Evasion and Amulet of Mighty Fists [Flaming] work while polymorphed (continuous effects)?
6) What about Bodywraps of Mighty Strikes while polymorphed; since it requires no action, is it an activation?
7) What about Shield of Arrow Deflection. It also requires no action, and is only a little silly for roleplaying reasons as the shield is merged with the player?
8) What about Boots of Speed (free action)?
9) If only bonuses remain, does this mean any penalties associated with some cursed items disappear (let's say a necklace of strangulation or headband of stupidity)?
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My players have defeated a cyclops graveknight and now have the problem of dealing with his armor.
Their solution was to cast rock to mud on a big rock, push the armor in the mud and then dispelling the spell, so entombing the armor in solid rock.
Two questions:
1) that will stop the graveknight from regenerating in your games?
(I ruled that it work at least temporarily, the PC have no idea if the graveknight will be capable to burst out of the stone sooner or later);
2) The PC lack an handy volcano. Where are the active volcanoes in the Inner Sea?
From what I recall one of the Five Kings Mountains should be an active volcano, but checking Dwarves of Golarion I don't see any mention of that.
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A question. I was looking at the Skeleton and Zombie templates and they both have tables for creatures with "1/2 HD". What has 1/2 HD?Nothing. That's a leftover from 3rd edition that sneaked into the game and until now apparently no one noticed. Cute!I'm not you (SPOILERS!) but that's not 100% true. Humanoids with 1 level in any PC classes have CR 1/2. As a matter of fact, the aasimar cleric in that same book has CR 1/2.
So if you want to make a Zombie or Skeleton aasimar cleric, all of a sudden that table's looking pretty handy! :-P
It actually IS 100% true. Half hit dice are a figment of prior editions. CR is quite different than HD.
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Mr. James Jacobs,
How would you go about updating and interfacing the Aberrant feats from Lords of Madness with the Dark Tapestry oracle mystery?
I wouldn't update them with that mystery in mind at all; I'd more or less update them exactly as they are—as options anyone can take. There's more than Dark Tapestry mystery oracles who might want to take those feats; aberrant sorcerers, for one, and monsters for another.
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Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?
There certainly should be. Bumping CR up by +1 isn't a bad idea, but that might be too much in some cases. As always, double check a monster's final strengths after design or advancement or templating against table 1–1 in the Bestiary and adjust CR as appropriate.
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A undead can become dazed?
Originally we had only a few enchantment spells doing that, so it was a no brainier saying no, but now we have a plethora of effects that can do that and have no qualificator, so people argue that an undead can get dazed. Being mostly immune to physiological effects seem a good reason to be immune to the dazed condition, but that is not spelled anywhere.
Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?There certainly should be. Bumping CR up by +1 isn't a bad idea, but that might be too much in some cases. As always, double check a monster's final strengths after design or advancement or templating against table 1–1 in the Bestiary and adjust CR as appropriate.
Yeah good thing I did. Fast Zombie Vultures are pretty mean, with their only real weakness being the clumsy flying and loss of the Fly skill, giving them a -6 to Fly. Woof.
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If Paizo had been publishing Paranoia, do you think you'd have done something to celebrate the newly instituted Orwell Day? (Which is today, in case you hadn't heard - like I said, it's a new thing.)
I've never heard of Orwell Day, but I don't make the list of what days Paizo celebrates... so who can say?
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Since Earth will be visited in the upcoming Reign of Winter AP, is the AP going to contain rules on how magic works in low magic earth. Something like increased spell misfire rate or something. Or will wizard/sorceror characters function the same on Earth as they do on Golarion?
Magic actually isn't "lessened" on Earth at all. It's just much rarer. We'll have more to say about that once Reign of Winter gets going into part 5.
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I have been trying to scour the web in order to try to find some clarifications about polymorph and its effects on armor and other items, so I thought I'd ask for a few clarifications since a few of the answers are already buried in this thread but not entirely satisfactory. I'll number my questions as they are quite annoying...
There is an old thread where you post that polymorph+wild armor means you do not suffer any of the penalties associated with wearing armor (but for balance reasons you believe the player should also get armor proficiency; similar to the way Mithral works?). Does this then mean that:
1) Polymorph + Heavy Armor + Non-proficiency gives penalties according to RAW or is it merely RAI?
2) If I have evasion (as a druid/rogue) and wear a wild hide armor (medium armor), can I use evasion or am I prohibited from doing so?
3) If (2) works, so would Monk bonuses while shapeshifted and using Wild armor+shield, right?
4) Would a heavy fortification dragonhide full plate without Wild enhancement provide non-proficiency penalties or interfere with class abilities that require you to wear lighter armor?
As for magic item bonuses themselves, I have found so many contradicting answers online. I won't list them, instead quoting the core rulebook...
Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form.Bonus: Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores.I have always assumed this means magic items cannot be activated, but continuous effects persist. But it could also be read as only numerical bonuses working (so only Amulet of Mighty Fists with +enhancement bonus for Druids and no abilities). So I need to ask some more questions...
5)...
All questions that are best served over in the rules forums, so folks can FAQ them and the design staff can see them and decide what to do with them; sorry, can't answer that here.
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My players have defeated a cyclops graveknight and now have the problem of dealing with his armor.
Their solution was to cast rock to mud on a big rock, push the armor in the mud and then dispelling the spell, so entombing the armor in solid rock.Two questions:
1) that will stop the graveknight from regenerating in your games?
(I ruled that it work at least temporarily, the PC have no idea if the graveknight will be capable to burst out of the stone sooner or later);2) The PC lack an handy volcano. Where are the active volcanoes in the Inner Sea?
From what I recall one of the Five Kings Mountains should be an active volcano, but checking Dwarves of Golarion I don't see any mention of that.
1) No. He'd come back but with earth powers of some sort.
2) There are volcanoes in the Five Kings Mountains (Droskar's Crag is the tallest and most active). There are also volcanoes in the Kodar Mountains, in the Shackles, and in the Barrier Wall of Garund. There are more, but those are the primary volcanic sites that come to mind.
New spell idea: Create Blood.
Would Vampires like this?
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A undead can become dazed?
Originally we had only a few enchantment spells doing that, so it was a no brainier saying no, but now we have a plethora of effects that can do that and have no qualificator, so people argue that an undead can get dazed. Being mostly immune to physiological effects seem a good reason to be immune to the dazed condition, but that is not spelled anywhere.
"Dazed" is a specific condition, and it's not one that undead are specifically immune to. But the majority of effects that cause this condition are mind-affecting or effects that only affect living creatures or otherwise are effects that undead are immune to.
I kind of think that "dazed" should be something that undead are immune to. It's a quality that didn't get a lot of play in 3rd edition, and as such it kinda got skipped over, I suspect, kind of like how the bleed effect initially got forgotten when it comes to undead.
Not if they enjoy hunting living creatures, or revel in the act of the kill or the sensation of biting into a living body.New spell idea: Create Blood.
Would Vampires like this?
Well, some vampire might be trying to stop doing that, or have reasons to avoid doing that. ... or they just can't anymore because everyone is an undead.
2) There are volcanoes in the Five Kings Mountains (Droskar's Crag is the tallest and most active). There are also volcanoes in the Kodar Mountains, in the Shackles, and in the Barrier Wall of Garund. There are more, but those are the primary volcanic sites that come to mind.
Also the Hellrung Mountains in the Crown of the World, just off the map to the north.
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Well, some vampire might be trying to stop doing that, or have reasons to avoid doing that. ... or they just can't anymore because everyone is an undead.Not if they enjoy hunting living creatures, or revel in the act of the kill or the sensation of biting into a living body.New spell idea: Create Blood.
Would Vampires like this?
Which is why I qualified my reply the way I did. I suspect vampires that want to get off the evil train would like a create blood spell, but that starts taking vampires into "True Blood" territory. Now... I like that show fine enough... but it's a different type of vampire in that show than what we're doing in Golarion.
Which is why I qualified my reply the way I did. I suspect vampires that want to get off the evil train would like a create blood spell, but that starts taking vampires into "True Blood" territory. Now... I like that show fine enough... but it's a different type of vampire in that show than what we're doing in Golarion.Well, some vampire might be trying to stop doing that, or have reasons to avoid doing that. ... or they just can't anymore because everyone is an undead.Not if they enjoy hunting living creatures, or revel in the act of the kill or the sensation of biting into a living body.New spell idea: Create Blood.
Would Vampires like this?
The Golarion types are better at keeping their Reg Grundies on?
Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?There certainly should be. Bumping CR up by +1 isn't a bad idea, but that might be too much in some cases. As always, double check a monster's final strengths after design or advancement or templating against table 1–1 in the Bestiary and adjust CR as appropriate.
Do you (or Paizo) do this 'ad hoc' CR adjustments for encounters in published APs/ modules?
I mean, if such combos yielded CRs that were just not close to accurate, they WOULD either need to be adjusted (ad-hoc), or that monster/template should probably just not be used,and actually using interesting monster/templates seems like a good thing... But could be confusing,
especially for GMs sharp enough to catch those crunch details in monster stat blocks.
Mr. James Jacobs,
A few question: First what is the name of the creator of chaosium's Call of Cthulu rpg?
2nd: Do you like gifts of fanart?
3rd: What Shelyn do if she came across a mortal who had fallen in love with a god?
Thank you for your time.
Hi James, If a drow vampire of House Shraen had a child by a human female, the result would, I presume, be a half-drow dhampir. To stat such a "creature" would you stat it as a half-elf and then apply the dhampir template to the half-elf? I'm assuming you have to do this in two steps because otherwise a dhampir born of a human vampire would be identical to one born of a drow vampire - or is that the intention?
Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?There certainly should be. Bumping CR up by +1 isn't a bad idea, but that might be too much in some cases. As always, double check a monster's final strengths after design or advancement or templating against table 1–1 in the Bestiary and adjust CR as appropriate.Do you (or Paizo) do this 'ad hoc' CR adjustments for encounters in published APs/ modules?
I mean, if such combos yielded CRs that were just not close to accurate, they WOULD either need to be adjusted (ad-hoc), or that monster/template should probably just not be used,
and actually using interesting monster/templates seems like a good thing... But could be confusing,
especially for GMs sharp enough to catch those crunch details in monster stat blocks.
I know they do that kind of adjustment on the zombie statblocks in the Carrion Crown AP #4 (I think it's four). The fast zombie wolf should be a CR 1/2, but because it has the stats of a CR 1 monster, it gets bumped up to a CR 1. Same thing with the mummy cleric in Classic Horrors Revisited, although that one has stats all over the place. I actually asked about that in this thread a while ago.
cool, just couldn't think of specific examples off-hand...
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Another question. Are there CR changes to the fast and plague variations of zombies or not?There certainly should be. Bumping CR up by +1 isn't a bad idea, but that might be too much in some cases. As always, double check a monster's final strengths after design or advancement or templating against table 1–1 in the Bestiary and adjust CR as appropriate.Do you (or Paizo) do this 'ad hoc' CR adjustments for encounters in published APs/ modules?
I mean, if such combos yielded CRs that were just not close to accurate, they WOULD either need to be adjusted (ad-hoc), or that monster/template should probably just not be used,
and actually using interesting monster/templates seems like a good thing... But could be confusing,
especially for GMs sharp enough to catch those crunch details in monster stat blocks.
We try hard to not build creatures that "abuse" the CR rules, but when we have something that ends up stronger or weaker than intended, we do try to adjust the CR as appropriate. Sometimes, though, they slip through the cracks. But when they do show up, we do indeed adjust the CR as appropriate.
And of course, there's also the fact that a specific character mixes in a party can make CRs unreliable too (a party full of clerics is going to be less challenged by a bunch of shadows than a party full of rogues, for example).
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Mr. James Jacobs,
A few question: First what is the name of the creator of chaosium's Call of Cthulu rpg?
2nd: Do you like gifts of fanart?
3rd: What Shelyn do if she came across a mortal who had fallen in love with a god?
Thank you for your time.
1) Sandy Petersen was the man most involved with the creation of the Call of Cthulhu RPG.
2) I do!
3) Encourage both to explore that love!
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Hi James, If a drow vampire of House Shraen had a child by a human female, the result would, I presume, be a half-drow dhampir. To stat such a "creature" would you stat it as a half-elf and then apply the dhampir template to the half-elf? I'm assuming you have to do this in two steps because otherwise a dhampir born of a human vampire would be identical to one born of a drow vampire - or is that the intention?
Nope; I would treat it as a plain-old dhampir, although I'd look through Blood of the Night for some possible inspiration for customization. I MIGHT do some unique character build options or design choices, depending on the story I wanted to tell... but the best bet is to just make the character a dhampir with some cosmetic changes (drow ears, etc.).
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Frankly, I think instating the policy of 'No rules questions, folks' as a response to that ominous 'get your house in order' thread was... kind of an overreaction.
There are many forumites (myself included) who liked to get an opinion on how the creative director was seeing the rules without intending to use the 'JJ said this, so your differing opinion must be ZOMGBADWRONG!!1!11' hammer.
Might I kindly ask you to return to giving out your personal opinion about how you think some things should be resolved?
If a player were to put items in a chest, then cast Shrink Item on the chest, would it explode or would the items get shrunk along with the chest?
For every five forumites that were cool with JJ's opinion, there's one guy who starts "Paizo needs to clean their house" threads.
And the old business truth of one dissatisfied customer doing more damage than five happy ones do good holds true.
Sean has commented recently that the design team is ramping up to get more regular FAQs. While it appears that we're in a bit of an awkward phase right now, things are moving.