Encounter with the Unknown is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Wow that was fast good job joana
1) I'm not sure what site you're talking about, so I can't say. If it's a fan site, then probably not.
2) Again... not sure what site you're talking about.
B) We published the Buff deck which could help. And we're looking at options and possibilities to create more game play aids in the future. In the meantime... it might be a good idea not to wait and build something like that for your players.
A) http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
B) Going to work on it.
Is the Survivalist's Endure Elements SLA 1/Day, 3/Day, At-Will, or what?
I am pretty sure it is 1/Day but I just want to make sure... don't wanna screw over my player...
James,
Is the offspring of a changeling and a male humanoid another changeling? Or is it an humanoid from the father's race?
Creative Director
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What is the strangest thing the guys at the office have caught you doing?
How do I get an open-world campaign off the ground.
That's a question you'll have to ask "the guys at the office."
As for an open-world campaign... if you want to home-brew, start small. Detail a small village and the hinterlands around it, along with a few dungeon sites. Something like what I did with Sandpoint in Pathfinder #1 would be the way I'd go at it. And then I'd turn the PCs loose in the setting and do my best to stay ahead of them, designing the expansion to the world where they're heading before they get there.
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Creative Director
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Yeah same for me with that deep dark hole story..i cant remeber if it said where in missouri it was supposed to be..i was over on your blog (which is awsome) and the tv show just popped in my head..i have the thing on vhs somehere in storage boxs but its been years...i hope you find it
Found it! You Tube to the rescue.
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Creative Director
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A) http://www.d20pfsrd.com/1) I'm not sure what site you're talking about, so I can't say. If it's a fan site, then probably not.
2) Again... not sure what site you're talking about.
B) We published the Buff deck which could help. And we're looking at options and possibilities to create more game play aids in the future. In the meantime... it might be a good idea not to wait and build something like that for your players.
Ah.
d20pfsrd.com isn't a site that we at Paizo work on; it's entirely handled out of house. It's not a place where we test out new formats, nor is it a place where we preview them.
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Creative Director
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Is the Survivalist's Endure Elements SLA 1/Day, 3/Day, At-Will, or what?
I am pretty sure it is 1/Day but I just want to make sure... don't wanna screw over my player...
Not sure. It's a 24 hour spell, so I'd guess 1/day. I would suggest posting to the rules forum to get the question FAQed.
Not sure. It's a 24 hour spell, so I'd guess 1/day. I would suggest posting to the rules forum to get the question FAQed.Is the Survivalist's Endure Elements SLA 1/Day, 3/Day, At-Will, or what?
I am pretty sure it is 1/Day but I just want to make sure... don't wanna screw over my player...
Will do... Tomorrow... As it is 00:15 here in Missouri.
And yes you are J2... Sorry been Watching/Reading a lot of Code Geass...
And the reason I was asking is the fact that underneath my Hometown of Crane, Missouri we literally have a natural Tunnel system that is potentially large enough to contain a Great Wyrm Dragon easily. Heck, one of the Chambers is estimated at around 50 Feet high and 100 Feet long/wide and is supported by natural Columns.
I am looking into getting a map made to use for a Campaign I want to run.
It's a regular creature of the humanoid parent's race.James,
Is the offspring of a changeling and a male humanoid another changeling? Or is it an humanoid from the father's race?
So what happens if we have a transsexual changeling who dons a belt of opposite gender, marries another changeling, and they have offspring?
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I have recently joined a gestalt game as a barbarian/druid whose alignment has been described as 'chaotic hungry'.
I just discovered dinosaur cultist and conceived the following plan:
1. Prestige druid into dinosaur cultist.
2. Pick up body bludgeon rage talent.
3. Turn into a tyrannosaur, grab enemies in giant toothy maw, smash them onto other enemies.
Is this awesome?
James,
I have some magic theory and history questions. : )
1. The Azlanti were, it seems, taught wizardly magic by the Aboleths. Does this mean that traces of Aboleth language/runes/glyphs/symbols are traceable (if nothing else then to a superbly trained linguist) in the verbal and somatic (glowing runes around hands) components of Azlanti, and by extension, Thassilonian (and maybe later inheritors around the Inner Sea) spells?
2. If so, do sorcerers descended from magical empires like Thassilon or Azlant instinctively call on those runes, chants, symbols etc. when their spells come to them, or will their verbal/somatic component be personal and individualized without the trappings of the origin of their bloodline?
3. Does the magic of Jatembe or the Shory share historical roots with Azlant and the Aboleths?
4. If not, does this mean traces of Aboleth glyphery would, conversely, not be visible in those magical styles?
5. Are any other magical traditions in Golarion based on instruction/revelation from creatures with innate magical abilities (dragons, maybe serpentfolk, outsiders, etc.); if so, would you give some examples?
6. For outsiders (angels, demons etc.) that cast spells, would their verbal/somatic components and trappings of spellcasting be based in the languages spoken on their home planes, the symbols and imagery of their deities etc? If so, can this also be assumed to hold for divine spellcasters on Golarion (i.e. Old Cultists chanting spells in Aklo, clerics of Sarenrae chanting in Celestial, and so forth)?
7. Similar to question 2), will sorcerers descended from e.g. devils instinctively chant their spells in infernal, those of elemental heritage in the appropriate languages and so on, without needing to be taught that language to do so?
8. Did any human culture develop wizardry all on its own? If so, were there multiple such origins independently (i.e. the first wizards of Tian Xia, of Vudra, etc., or even of specific traditions such as classic elemental, eastern elemental etc. magic)?
9. Were some (or all, or none) of the discoverers of wizardry born sorcerers who then multiclassed to wizards as they codified their knowledge? Alternately, were there philosophers or shamans who found out how to prepare and cast spells without any precursor of this type, or from studying natural magical phenomena or the spell-like abilities of monsters?
10. I note that under the rules a wizard, in theory, could leave all their spell slots open, then take 15 minutes to prepare each and every spell separately before they cast it. Done this way, the "Vancian" system really looks very much like a ceremonial magic system (with spell preparation not so much memorizing content from a book but performing chants in ritual circles, offering up material components as sacrifice etc.). Might a practice like this resemble some of the historically earliest forms of wizardry on Golarion? I.e. proto-wizards who learn to manipulate elemental forces through time-consuming ritual magic, then later additionally learn how to "lock" the spell energies in place as prepared spells, so that they can leave their ritual circles and finish each casting when each spell is needed?
Thank you for all your good work!
Hey James,
1) Ever had a real life scarey or creepy encounter that you could not explain later?
2) Are we going to see a AP that includes both demons and devils working together?
3) Do you keep your characters on paper or computer/electronic device? Me I am old fashioned and keep them on paper( or the PF player character folios which I love by the way)...but sometimes I look up and all I see is a wall of laptops around the table...that is kinda of depressing.
4) So now that Ultimate Campaign is coming out...and Mythical Adventures is conming out soon...what topics of hardcovers would you like to see next? Besides a new NPC codex and Bestiary.
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Creative Director
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So what happens if we have a transsexual changeling who dons a belt of opposite gender, marries another changeling, and they have offspring?It's a regular creature of the humanoid parent's race.James,
Is the offspring of a changeling and a male humanoid another changeling? Or is it an humanoid from the father's race?
Neither is a hag, so the offspring is human (or whatever).
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Creative Director
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I have recently joined a gestalt game as a barbarian/druid whose alignment has been described as 'chaotic hungry'.
I just discovered dinosaur cultist and conceived the following plan:
1. Prestige druid into dinosaur cultist.
2. Pick up body bludgeon rage talent.
3. Turn into a tyrannosaur, grab enemies in giant toothy maw, smash them onto other enemies.Is this awesome?
Yes.
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Creative Director
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1. The Azlanti were, it seems, taught wizardly magic by the Aboleths. Does this mean that traces of Aboleth language/runes/glyphs/symbols are traceable (if nothing else then to a superbly trained linguist) in the verbal and somatic (glowing runes around hands) components of Azlanti, and by extension, Thassilonian (and maybe later inheritors around the Inner Sea) spells?
2. If so, do sorcerers descended from magical empires like Thassilon or Azlant instinctively call on those runes, chants, symbols etc. when their spells come to them, or will their verbal/somatic component be personal and individualized without the trappings of the origin of their bloodline?
3. Does the magic of Jatembe or the Shory share historical roots with Azlant and the Aboleths?
4. If not, does this mean traces of Aboleth glyphery would, conversely, not be visible in those magical styles?
5. Are any other magical traditions in Golarion based on instruction/revelation from creatures with innate magical abilities (dragons, maybe serpentfolk, outsiders, etc.); if so, would you give some examples?
6. For outsiders (angels, demons etc.) that cast spells, would their verbal/somatic components and trappings of spellcasting be based in the languages spoken on their home planes, the symbols and imagery of their deities etc? If so, can this also be assumed to hold for divine spellcasters on Golarion (i.e. Old Cultists chanting spells in Aklo, clerics of Sarenrae chanting in Celestial, and so forth)?
7. Similar to question 2), will sorcerers descended from e.g. devils instinctively chant their spells in infernal, those of elemental heritage in the appropriate languages and so on, without needing to be taught that language to do so?
8. Did any human culture develop wizardry all on its own? If so, were there multiple such origins independently (i.e. the first wizards of Tian Xia, of Vudra, etc., or even of specific traditions such as classic elemental, eastern elemental etc. magic)?
9. Were some (or all, or none) of the discoverers of wizardry born sorcerers who then multiclassed to wizards as they codified their knowledge? Alternately, were there philosophers or shamans who found out how to prepare and cast spells without any precursor of this type, or from studying natural magical phenomena or the spell-like abilities of monsters?
10. I note that under the rules a wizard, in theory, could leave all their spell slots open, then take 15 minutes to prepare each and every spell separately before they cast it. Done this way, the "Vancian" system really looks very much like a ceremonial magic system (with spell preparation not so much memorizing content from a book but performing chants in ritual circles, offering up material components as sacrifice etc.). Might a practice like this resemble some of the historically earliest forms of wizardry on Golarion? I.e. proto-wizards who learn to manipulate elemental forces through time-consuming ritual magic, then later additionally learn how to "lock" the spell energies in place as prepared spells, so that they can leave their ritual circles and finish each casting when each spell is needed?
1) Probably.
2) Not always; sorcery can come from other places than wizardly magic traditions. For arcane bloodlines, perhaps, but not so much the others.
3) Both developed from Azlanti magic, so yes.
4) Maybe... but we haven't really nailed down what aboleth glyph magic is, so I can't say for sure yet.
5) Lots. Some from fiends, some from deities, some from ancient elemental sources, some from serpentflk, some from the elves, and so on.
6) Magic words for spellcasting are not really based on communication languages; when an outsider casts a spell, it makes the same basic sounds as a human or an aberration or a dragon or whatever. That's why Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft work to identify spells without the need of knowing additional languages.
7) Nope. But some do because it's an affectation.
8) Unrevealed at this point.
9) Perhaps. And some discoveries were by bards, and some by clerics, and some by paladins, and so on.
10) I wouldn't say a practice like that would resemble early magic, really... but we haven't done much work on developing ancient magical traditions like that so who can say?
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
1) Ever had a real life scarey or creepy encounter that you could not explain later?
2) Are we going to see a AP that includes both demons and devils working together?
3) Do you keep your characters on paper or computer/electronic device? Me I am old fashioned and keep them on paper( or the PF player character folios which I love by the way)...but sometimes I look up and all I see is a wall of laptops around the table...that is kinda of depressing.
4) So now that Ultimate Campaign is coming out...and Mythical Adventures is conming out soon...what topics of hardcovers would you like to see next? Besides a new NPC codex and Bestiary.
1) I've heard plenty of unexplained sounds in the woods. And I've had plenty of unusual coincidences. Nothing particularly stands out as memorable, alas.
2) Probably not.
3) Both. I'm eager to see Hero Lab get their program onto the iPad... I would LOVE to keep my character sheet on an iPad. I don't think that seeing laptops at the table is depressing at all, in any event, assuming that the players are using them to play the game and not goof around.
4) I can't say, because the ones I tend to want to see next are the ones we're already working on but haven't announced.
6) Magic words for spellcasting are not really based on communication languages; when an outsider casts a spell, it makes the same basic sounds as a human or an aberration or a dragon or whatever. That's why Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft work to identify spells without the need of knowing additional languages.
Thank you, this is very interesting! Does that mean the verbal components of spells effectively make up a universal (multiversal?) pseudo-language of its own? Like some sort of native language of reality itself?
How do natural lycanthropes come about?
Human carrying a specific gene gets bit by an Animal?
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Analysis' questions made me think: what are those strange floating runes that are always depicted in art around character's hands in the hardcovers? Do those show up whenever spellcasters use spells in Golarion? Or is this an old Azlanti magic thing? Or is that just artistic license on the part of the illustrators? In addition, what do you personally imagine spellcasting to look like (i.e. what do you presume a somatic component would look like) and could you give an example?
Ah.
d20pfsrd.com isn't a site that we at Paizo work on; it's entirely handled out of house. It's not a place where we test out new formats, nor is it a place where we preview them.
NP and thanks for the reply. I like the bright background when playing in darker venues.
How do natural lycanthropes come about?
I'm curious to see James' response on this too.
In my homebrew world, the Azlant / Thalassion equivalent society created the predecessors of lycanthropy to mutate rebellious lawbreakers into animalistic hybrids as a combination of control, practicality, and humiliation.
When the civilization fell, the lycanthropic disease mutated out of control and presto! Modern lycanthropy. Also, most of the "anthromomorphic" races in my world descend from ancient lycanthropes who regained some sembience of humanity through breeding over generations, so I didn't have to justify things like werefoxes and kitsune existing at the same time (unless I really want to, and I did for wererats and ratfolk).
Plus it was an awesome tie-in as to why kitsune can shapechange into humans in my world. ^_~
I have a question on the cosmology of Golarion. How is it handled when someone is of an alignment that doesn't remotely match, or even diametrically opposes, the deity(ies) that govern their occupation? Historically people tended to pray to the deity that had dominion over the place they were praying and/or the activity they were performing at the time, but that doesn't seem to be the case in Golarion.
Take the example of a chaotic evil farmer. Pretty much all his time is taken up by farming, and farming governs his livelihood and his continued survival. Obviously he'd pray to the god of farming, Erastil, for success with his crops, right? Only Erastil is lawful good and he hates chaotic evil types, so he wouldn't welcome the farmer's prayers, right? So the farmer looks around for a god more closely matching his alignment, but what do Lamashtu, Rovagug, or any of the demon lords care about farming, which is what keeps him and his family alive? Even taking it one step further along the alignment spectrum doesn't help much, since Calistria, Gorum, Norgorber, and Urgathoa don't give much thought to sowing and reaping. What's a chaotic evil farmer to do?
Would this sort of a system tend to mitigate toward most farmers being lawful good, or would most sailors be neutral because that's Gozreh's alignment, for example?
On another divine note, the Inner Sea World Guide says that Shelyn's worship originated in Taldor. However, Shelyn was worshiped in ancient Azlant, and Taldor didn't arise until the descendants of a few surviving Azlanti colonists mingled with some natives thousands of years after Azlant was dead and gone. What's the dealie-o?
I have a game design question, although it is one that is unfortunately ripe for inciting debate. Therefore, I can understand if you chose not to answer it, although you're welcome to PM me the answer.
I've always wondered how much CR takes into account stat boosting items (Belts, Headbands, Cloaks of Resist). Do they assume a certain amount of said items, or is that assumption minor/non-existant? Thanks for any answer.
Why are so many female characters in Skull & Shackles so prominently defined by their sexual promiscuity (Tessa, Cerise) or sexual assault (Adelita), including implicit (Locke) or threatened (Caulky) rape?
Your traditional pirate is usually a scumbag male?
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Creative Director
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6) Magic words for spellcasting are not really based on communication languages; when an outsider casts a spell, it makes the same basic sounds as a human or an aberration or a dragon or whatever. That's why Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft work to identify spells without the need of knowing additional languages.Thank you, this is very interesting! Does that mean the verbal components of spells effectively make up a universal (multiversal?) pseudo-language of its own? Like some sort of native language of reality itself?
Not really. You can't really communicate with magic words. They're as much sounds as anything else—they don't really have definitions in a dictionary sense.
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Creative Director
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How do natural lycanthropes come about?
As many ways as you want them to. They could be the children of lycanthropes. They could be cursed or blessed by a god or an artifact. They might be those who contracted the disease from a mythic or other potent lycanthrope. They might be lycanthropes who've lived with their condition for a set period of time. And so one.
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Creative Director
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Analysis' questions made me think: what are those strange floating runes that are always depicted in art around character's hands in the hardcovers? Do those show up whenever spellcasters use spells in Golarion? Or is this an old Azlanti magic thing? Or is that just artistic license on the part of the illustrators? In addition, what do you personally imagine spellcasting to look like (i.e. what do you presume a somatic component would look like) and could you give an example?
They're a flourish that Wayne adds into his paintings that other artists and our art directors have picked up on. They're also the same runes that you see written in a spellbook or on a scroll when they contain a spell. Again... it's not a spoken or written language as much as it is just a magical representation of a spell. You don't use Linguistics ranks or cast comprehend language to read those runes; you have to have Spellcraft ranks or cast read amagic.
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Creative Director
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I have a question on the cosmology of Golarion. How is it handled when someone is of an alignment that doesn't remotely match, or even diametrically opposes, the deity(ies) that govern their occupation? Historically people tended to pray to the deity that had dominion over the place they were praying and/or the activity they were performing at the time, but that doesn't seem to be the case in Golarion.
Take the example of a chaotic evil farmer. Pretty much all his time is taken up by farming, and farming governs his livelihood and his continued survival. Obviously he'd pray to the god of farming, Erastil, for success with his crops, right? Only Erastil is lawful good and he hates chaotic evil types, so he wouldn't welcome the farmer's prayers, right? So the farmer looks around for a god more closely matching his alignment, but what do Lamashtu, Rovagug, or any of the demon lords care about farming, which is what keeps him and his family alive? Even taking it one step further along the alignment spectrum doesn't help much, since Calistria, Gorum, Norgorber, and Urgathoa don't give much thought to sowing and reaping. What's a chaotic evil farmer to do?
Would this sort of a system tend to mitigate toward most farmers being lawful good, or would most sailors be neutral because that's Gozreh's alignment, for example?
On another divine note, the Inner Sea World Guide says that Shelyn's worship originated in Taldor. However, Shelyn was worshiped in ancient Azlant, and Taldor didn't arise until the descendants of a few surviving Azlanti colonists mingled with some natives thousands of years after Azlant was dead and gone. What's the dealie-o?
In most cases, a person who is associated with a deity and follows their teachings WILL have an alignment that closely matches that deity. In the same way that water poured into a star-shaped hole tends to end up looking like a star-shaped pool of water, so do actions and beliefs end up shaping a character's alignment.
If, though, you're asking about what happens when a merchant who's a cheat and a scoundrel and is, basically, chaotic evil, even though he spends his life being a merchant he's not really worshiping the god of merchants at all. If he DOES worship a deity, with a chaotic evil attitude he probably worships a demon lord or the like.
Comparing historical religion to Golarion's in-game religions is a slippery slope and the comparasions break down really fast.
So, taking your example of a chaotic evil farmer... what is it he does that makes him chaotic evil? If he spends all his time farming... he's actually NOT doing chaotic evil acts. At all. Farming is not chaotic, nor is it evil. He has to do something chaotic and evil like murder the neighbor farmer and use his body for fertilizer and then lie to that farmer's wife, convince her that her husband ran off, then seduce her and get her to sign her farm over to him and then kill her so he can have TWO farms.
If he's just farming, he's not chaotic evil. Simple as that.
The act of praying to a lawful good deity is a lawful good act. If you do it a lot and all the time and are reverent, you'll be lawful good. If you basically only do lip service and don't really go to church, but do it because it's expected of you in your job... you won't be lawful good. You might be neutral, at best, unless you do a lot of other things that might pull you in different directions.
But if your entire existence is defined by farming and lip-service to Erastil and do NOTHING ELSE... then the only thing that defines you is your farming and lip service. You're probably lawful good. Just not very good at it. And when you die, you can expect to either end up in Erastil's domain as a very low-ranking petitioner, or in hell or somewhere else in one of the least horrific of punishments... depending on what side of mediocrity you ended up on at death.
Shelyn was worshiped in Azlant, but in a relatively different way. Earthfall more or less created a gap in her faith, and when it resurfaced again, it had changed.
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Creative Director
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I have a game design question, although it is one that is unfortunately ripe for inciting debate. Therefore, I can understand if you chose not to answer it, although you're welcome to PM me the answer.
I've always wondered how much CR takes into account stat boosting items (Belts, Headbands, Cloaks of Resist). Do they assume a certain amount of said items, or is that assumption minor/non-existant? Thanks for any answer.
When we build an NPC, we try to build that NPC to match the numbers in table 1–1 of the Bestiary. Often, when we give an NPC stat boosting items and the like, it's specifically to boost their numbers up to their expected CR; if we didn't give NPCs these items, they'd actually end up being weak for their normal CR of character level –1.
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Creative Director
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Why are so many female characters in Skull & Shackles so prominently defined by their sexual promiscuity (Tessa, Cerise) or sexual assault (Adelita), including implicit (Locke) or threatened (Caulky) rape?
That's a question you'd have to ask Rob and the adventure path authors, since I didn't have much involvement in the creation and development of that AP (with the exception of the 5th adventure, which I did develop).
My guess is because the AP is a pretty edgy one with regards to cruelty and the like, it being all about pirates.
Analysis' questions made me think: what are those strange floating runes that are always depicted in art around character's hands in the hardcovers? Do those show up whenever spellcasters use spells in Golarion? Or is this an old Azlanti magic thing? Or is that just artistic license on the part of the illustrators? In addition, what do you personally imagine spellcasting to look like (i.e. what do you presume a somatic component would look like) and could you give an example?They're a flourish that Wayne adds into his paintings that other artists and our art directors have picked up on. They're also the same runes that you see written in a spellbook or on a scroll when they contain a spell. Again... it's not a spoken or written language as much as it is just a magical representation of a spell. You don't use Linguistics ranks or cast comprehend language to read those runes; you have to have Spellcraft ranks or cast read amagic.
In that case, does the fact that you use Spellcraft rather than a specific language mean that these things (glowing runes, symbols in spellbooks, and verbal component magic words) look the same for any given spell across traditions, cultures and even across planes?
(Sorry about the semi-repetitive questions, but I find this really, really interesting. : ) )
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Analysis' questions made me think: what are those strange floating runes that are always depicted in art around character's hands in the hardcovers? Do those show up whenever spellcasters use spells in Golarion? Or is this an old Azlanti magic thing? Or is that just artistic license on the part of the illustrators? In addition, what do you personally imagine spellcasting to look like (i.e. what do you presume a somatic component would look like) and could you give an example?They're a flourish that Wayne adds into his paintings that other artists and our art directors have picked up on. They're also the same runes that you see written in a spellbook or on a scroll when they contain a spell. Again... it's not a spoken or written language as much as it is just a magical representation of a spell. You don't use Linguistics ranks or cast comprehend language to read those runes; you have to have Spellcraft ranks or cast read amagic.
The Order of the Tome would like to have words with you.
Contributor
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Analysis' questions made me think: what are those strange floating runes that are always depicted in art around character's hands in the hardcovers? Do those show up whenever spellcasters use spells in Golarion? Or is this an old Azlanti magic thing? Or is that just artistic license on the part of the illustrators? In addition, what do you personally imagine spellcasting to look like (i.e. what do you presume a somatic component would look like) and could you give an example?They're a flourish that Wayne adds into his paintings that other artists and our art directors have picked up on. They're also the same runes that you see written in a spellbook or on a scroll when they contain a spell. Again... it's not a spoken or written language as much as it is just a magical representation of a spell. You don't use Linguistics ranks or cast comprehend language to read those runes; you have to have Spellcraft ranks or cast read amagic.In that case, does the fact that you use Spellcraft rather than a specific language mean that these things (glowing runes, symbols in spellbooks, and verbal component magic words) look the same for any given spell across traditions, cultures and even across planes?
(Sorry about the semi-repetitive questions, but I find this really, really interesting. : ) )
To my biased perspective they resemble a mixture of Tibetan and Tolkien's elven script. Which I think is very cool...
When we build an NPC, we try to build that NPC to match the numbers in table 1–1 of the Bestiary. Often, when we give an NPC stat boosting items and the like, it's specifically to boost their numbers up to their expected CR; if we didn't give NPCs these items, they'd actually end up being weak for their normal CR of character level –1.I have a game design question, although it is one that is unfortunately ripe for inciting debate. Therefore, I can understand if you chose not to answer it, although you're welcome to PM me the answer.
I've always wondered how much CR takes into account stat boosting items (Belts, Headbands, Cloaks of Resist). Do they assume a certain amount of said items, or is that assumption minor/non-existant? Thanks for any answer.
Weird. I was having a similar thought myself. I was working up an NPC. His HP is horrendously low for his CR. His AC is on target as is his attack bonus with his first attack, but his saves, and damage dont really seem near high enough for the CR he should be. the issue being, following the wealth chart he's out of gold and can't really afford more save/stat boost items. Is this one of those art rather than science situations and i should ignore the wealth chart and give him some extra gear? I know there are some spots in Council of Thieves part 6 where some NPCs have higher than normal stats and gear, but that increases there CR in that case.
But if your entire existence is defined by farming and lip-service to Erastil and do NOTHING ELSE... then the only thing that defines you is your farming and lip service. You're probably lawful good. Just not very good at it. And when you die, you can expect to either end up in Erastil's domain as a very low-ranking petitioner, or in hell or somewhere else in one of the least horrific of punishments... depending on what side of mediocrity you ended up on at death.
Thanks for answering Gregg's question, JJ. I find this sort of stuff really interesting. If I can, let me follow up with a couple of queries of my own:
1. Due to the deities of Golarion being an observable, known quantity, how motivated would you say that the average person would be in regards to looking after their afterlife?
1a. In an addendum to this: is there the habit of last rites/deathbed confessions to try and elevate one's soul to a better place, or does Pharasma judge based on the overall quality of a person's life?
2. How horrific is the least horrific of punishments? I'm trying to think of something suitable, but any kind of punishment magnified by the fact that it lasts an eternity still seems pretty horrific to me.
When we build an NPC, we try to build that NPC to match the numbers in table 1–1 of the Bestiary. Often, when we give an NPC stat boosting items and the like, it's specifically to boost their numbers up to their expected CR; if we didn't give NPCs these items, they'd actually end up being weak for their normal CR of character level –1.I have a game design question, although it is one that is unfortunately ripe for inciting debate. Therefore, I can understand if you chose not to answer it, although you're welcome to PM me the answer.
I've always wondered how much CR takes into account stat boosting items (Belts, Headbands, Cloaks of Resist). Do they assume a certain amount of said items, or is that assumption minor/non-existant? Thanks for any answer.
Thanks for the insight, although what I meant was on the player side. How much does CR and table 1-1 in the Bestiary assume that players have certain items, like belts and cloaks of resist?
Also, another question. How do you do the stat blocks of a creature capable of some kind of possession already inside of a body? Things like a shadow demon inside of their victim, or an intellect devourer inside of someone with class levels?
1) What's the samsaran term for a divine champion?
2) Do the samsaran have a specific term or title for Pharasma? I was planning on having my samsaran just refer to Pharasma as "Mother" but if there's a more appropriate term I'd rather use that.
3) Are there any notable samsaran colonies on the other planets in Golarian's solar system?
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Creative Director
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In that case, does the fact that you use Spellcraft rather than a specific language mean that these things (glowing runes, symbols in spellbooks, and verbal component magic words) look the same for any given spell across traditions, cultures and even across planes?
(Sorry about the semi-repetitive questions, but I find this really, really interesting. : ) )
Nope. Because it's magic, the runes change and look different, which is why if you decipher a magic missile scroll with Spellcraft you don't automatically get to decipher a second magic missile scroll found in the next room.