Is the clothing on the kayal in the ARG a specific item or just a generic, hooded robe?I have no idea what a kayal is.
What fetchlings prefer to be called? :-P
Creative Director
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What fetchlings prefer to be called? :-PIs the clothing on the kayal in the ARG a specific item or just a generic, hooded robe?I have no idea what a kayal is.
Ah.
Turns out, i've barely had a chance to look through Advanced Race Guide and had nothing to do with its design or development or editing, so deep-continuity hidden lore in that book isn't on my radar.
The clothing the guy's wearing on page 109? It's just a black robe.
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Dear Mr. Jacobs,
What AP would take the least work to make it appropriate for a 7-year old?
Well... when I was about that age (maybe 8 or 9), my grandma gave me a copy of Cujo to read. Pet Semetery followed next year.
AKA: What's appropriate for one 7 year old isn't for another.
All of our adventure paths are PG-13 rated, if they were to be rated in the American movie ratings system. Many of them edge into (or fully dive into ) R rated territory—they're really meant for mature players (which can certainly include children—I've met several kids who are much more mature than several adults I've met).
Now, that said...
The Beginner Box is what you should probably check out for introducing a kid to Roleplaying Games with. Not only is it kid-appropriate in content, but it's also kid-appropriate in length.
Ah.
Turns out, i've barely had a chance to look through Advanced Race Guide and had nothing to do with its design or development or editing, so deep-continuity hidden lore in that book isn't on my radar.
The clothing the guy's wearing on page 109? It's just a black robe.
No worries. What you do in this thread is awesome. Thanks!
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Mr jacobs
speaking hypothetically, if you had the money/time/ all other resources to make a movie about golarion
- how would it be?
- would you like an animated movie or not?
- In case you do not like an animated movie, what actors would you choose for the cast? who would you lie to be the director?
It would be awesome! Live action. It'd be best if it were a series on HBO, I think, but a movie would work fine as well. As for who was in it... that'd depend on the story, of course.
And since we're talking best case scenario, I'd like Guillarmo del Toro to direct it, probably. Since he's yet to direct a movie I didn't love.
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Creative Director
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well then, what actor would you choose for
1) - Jatembe
2)- Geb
3)- Queen Abrogail
4)- Asmodeus
5)- Iomedae
6)- Queen Talandia
7)- The iconics
1) Tony Todd
2) Idris Elba3) Noomi Rapace
4) Cristoph Waltz
5) Scarlett Johansen
6) Lena Headey
7) I've actually listed the iconics before... there's 20 or so of them so I'm kinda not up to doing that again at the moment...
I always pegged Jatembe as Danny Glover but I can definitely see Tony "The Candyman" Todd :)
well then, what actor would you choose for
1) - Jatembe
2)- Geb
3)- Queen Abrogail
4)- Asmodeus
5)- Iomedae
6)- Queen Talandia
7)- The iconics1) Tony Todd
2) Idris Elba
3) Noomi Rapace
4) Cristoph Waltz
5) Scarlett Johansen
6) Lena Headey
7) I've actually listed the iconics before... there's 20 or so of them so I'm kinda not up to doing that again at the moment...
As long as Drandle Dreng is played by Per Andersson...
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A question about the Horacalcum skymetal:
Horacalcum: The rarest of the known skymetals, this
dull, coppery substance warps time around it, making things seem to speed up or slow down.
...
A weapon made of horacalcum gains a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls (ammunition can be made of horacalcum, but does not grant any
bonus on attack rolls). An entire suit of armor made from this rare metal is fantastically expensive, but since a suit of horacalcum armor simultaneously allows its wearer to react more quickly while perceiving time more slowly, some consider the cost justifiable. A suit of light horacalcum armor grants a +1 bonus on Initiative checks, medium horacalcum armor grants a +2 bonus on Initiative checks, and heavy horacalcum armor grants a +3 bonus on Initiative checks.
....
The weapon bonus to attack rolls is a circumstance bonus.
The armor bonus to initiative is unnnamed.They stack with other bonuses? In particular, a magic weapon made by horacalcum will retain the +1 competence bonus to attacks or it will be overlapped by the magical bonus?
As it is a competence bonus the user benefit from it even if the weapon has a +5 enhancement?
I see no reason why it shouldn't work, but maybe I am missing something.
Can all of the mightiest NPCs such as Geb, Nex, Jatembe, Baba Yaga, The Whispering Tyrant etc. be considered Mythic characcters?
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As long as Drandle Dreng is played by Per Andersson...
No worries there. Drandle is so far away from any storyline I'd like to tell via a movie or HBO series that he'd be very very very unlikely to be a part of it.
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Question abbout the Oracle--I am given to understand that the class represents all of the variations of faith, like prophet, some types of shaman, those possessed by Loa/Kami/Manitou/whatever name you want to put on it, many historical mystics and that the term Oracle, kinda falls short of what you were shooting for.
Some examples of RW or mythological oracles
Joan of Arc-Battle Oracle
Francis Of Assisi-Nature Oracle
Moses-Oracle with cool homebrew studder curse.
Tiresias-Knowledge Oracle who paid for his/her knowledge intimately.
Black Elk-Lakota Prophet who had a vision at a very young age.
Many RW examples of possesed oracles.
Do I have this right.
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Creative Director
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A question about the Horacalcum skymetal:
Horacalcum: The rarest of the known skymetals, this
dull, coppery substance warps time around it, making things seem to speed up or slow down.
...
A weapon made of horacalcum gains a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls (ammunition can be made of horacalcum, but does not grant any
bonus on attack rolls). An entire suit of armor made from this rare metal is fantastically expensive, but since a suit of horacalcum armor simultaneously allows its wearer to react more quickly while perceiving time more slowly, some consider the cost justifiable. A suit of light horacalcum armor grants a +1 bonus on Initiative checks, medium horacalcum armor grants a +2 bonus on Initiative checks, and heavy horacalcum armor grants a +3 bonus on Initiative checks.
....
The weapon bonus to attack rolls is a circumstance bonus.
The armor bonus to initiative is unnnamed.They stack with other bonuses? In particular, a magic weapon made by horacalcum will retain the +1 competence bonus to attacks or it will be overlapped by the magical bonus?
As it is a competence bonus the user benefit from it even if the weapon has a +5 enhancement?
I see no reason why it shouldn't work, but maybe I am missing something.
The weapon bonus stacks with all other bonuses except circumstance bonuses. It absolutely stacks with magical enhancement bonuses.
The initiative bonus stacks with everything becasue it is unnamed.
That's why horacalcum weapons are expensive.
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What does Mythic mean?
Mythic means "More powerful than a mortal normally can be." If you're familiar with D&D's epic level rules, "mythic rules" are going to be our version of those rules... but they can apply to characters of any level. Mythic Adventures comes out this Gen Con, to support our first Mythic AP, "Wrath of the Righteous."
To use a historical example... some tough general or bad-ass mercenary would be a high level fighter... but he's no match to Hercules, who's the son of a god. Hercules is a mythic character.
To use a fictional example... in the movie "The Avengers," Hawkeye is a high level character who's a badass but he has no superpowers. Iron Man, on the other hand, has a super-powerful suit of armor that gives him superpowers. Hawkeye is a normal high level character, while Iron Man (and Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk) are mythic high-level characters.
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Question abbout the Oracle--I am given to understand that the class represents all of the variations of faith, like prophet, some types of shaman, those possessed by Loa/Kami/Manitou/whatever name you want to put on it, many historical mystics and that the term Oracle, kinda falls short of what you were shooting for.
Some examples of RW or mythological oracles
Joan of Arc-Battle Oracle
Francis Of Assisi-Nature Oracle
Moses-Oracle with cool homebrew studder curse.
Tiresias-Knowledge Oracle who paid for his/her knowledge intimately.
Black Elk-Lakota Prophet who had a vision at a very young age.Many RW examples of possesed oracles.
Do I have this right.
Those are pretty good examples—all of those characters were in some way inspired and empowered by their mysterious divine source of power, had visions, and suffered for their divine power. You could certainly argue that some of them might have been clerics or paladins or druids, but that's nothing new.
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3)- Queen Abrogail3) Noomi Rapace
I have a few actresses that I bounce around that could play the Imperial Majestrix of Infernal Cheliax, but among the top contenders has to be Gemma Arterton.
And Monica Bellucci is still among my top pick for a certain Para Countess that likes to give out prestige points and lashings to certain PFS characters. I think at the back of my mind I always thought of the Para Countess as quite attractive but not someone I myself would be attracted to.
Hmm which brings to whit, James, between year zero and currently, how has your opinion of PFS changed/developed?
What are some things about the campaign setting that you currently would like to change, and/or re-introduce in a new and different light?
(I voluntarily exclude all rule mechanics from the question. Also, it's meant as a safe, fun, interesting question, not a trick "gotchya" question. List as many as you like, and with as much detail as you wish.)
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Hmm which brings to whit, James, between year zero and currently, how has your opinion of PFS changed/developed?
I've come to appreciate the loyalty and passion that PFS players bring to the game quite a lot—PFS players are like our crusaders!
That said, I'm still not a fan, personally, of the org-play style of playing RPGs at all.
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What are some things about the campaign setting that you currently would like to change, and/or re-introduce in a new and different light?
(I voluntarily exclude all rule mechanics from the question. Also, it's meant as a safe, fun, interesting question, not a trick "gotchya" question. List as many as you like, and with as much detail as you wish.)
The bulk of those changes I already made in the Inner Sea World Guide.
The thing currently at the top of my list that I'd like to change would probably be one of several minor frustrations about choices previously put into canon that aren't "off model" enough for me to take drastic action—such as Shimye-Magalla.
Hey James,
My questions today is in regards to PF on the big screen...or small screen.
1) Would pazio ever considers this?
2) Are there in deals currently in the works?
3) Was Pazio approached by somebody but did not go through with it?
Personaly I think the APs would make great TV shows on cable or AMC.
Pathfinder Comics as a Web Series!
Sean Bean as Valeros!
Now, Now. Eddard Stark lasted a Full Season.
In fact he has played some very long lived Characters... And wow he plays Zeus in Percy Jackson!?
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
My questions today is in regards to PF on the big screen...or small screen.
1) Would pazio ever considers this?
2) Are there in deals currently in the works?
3) Was Pazio approached by somebody but did not go through with it?
Personaly I think the APs would make great TV shows on cable or AMC.
1) Absolutely, but we won't jump at the first chance. It'd have to be someone capable of making a Pathfinder movie/series that would live up to our standards, which are pretty high.
2) If there were, and if they were public, we would have said. If there were and they WEREN'T yet public, I wouldn't say.
3) Not yet.
Hmm...
What do you think of the "A Song of Ice & Fire RPG" Ruleset?
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
If you have a moment, you you mind answering the question over in this thread in the Rules Question forum, since it refers to you directly: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2plpb?Can-we-get-an-official-ruling-on-the-Haun ted#18
Thanks for your help!
Sorry, I'd rather not. My tolerance and patience this week for arguing with folks on the internet over whether or not my rulings are legit or not is not high enough to endure a cameo in the rules forums. Ditto the "get involved in a home game and have my words used as ammo to fight the GM's ruling" scenario.
Haven't had a chance to read it in detail, but I own the RPG and like how it looks and approve heartily of its subject matter.Hmm...
What do you think of the "A Song of Ice & Fire RPG" Ruleset?
If you want to watch in on the game I am in on here in the PbP Forum I am sure Wandslinger(the GM) wouldn't mind.
Heck, I am trying to figure out a way to include Magic into the System for a Higher Fantasy Game.
The Chronicle System is really nice.
Just out of curiosity, what was the logic behind drinking blood (for vampires and Dhampir) being an always evil act? I figure as the Creative Director you're probably the best person to ask about something like that (or I could be dead wrong).
I got into this a while back with SKR, and he left me with many more questions than answers, including a little tidbit along the lines of "Drinking blood is fine, but if you gain any bonus/power from it it is evil", which confuses me greatly.
I think it would be Evil if the target was unwilling otherwise it was neutral.
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Hi James,
If you have a moment, you you mind answering the question over in this thread in the Rules Question forum, since it refers to you directly: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2plpb?Can-we-get-an-official-ruling-on-the-Haun ted#18
Thanks for your help!
Sorry, I'd rather not. My tolerance and patience this week for arguing with folks on the internet over whether or not my rulings are legit or not is not high enough to endure a cameo in the rules forums. Ditto the "get involved in a home game and have my words used as ammo to fight the GM's ruling" scenario.
To be fair, it only came about because the GM spotted your words and decided they constituted errata to what the book says, which is why I was asking you to please clarify. Besides, I'm hardly the only person with this question, I counted at least 5 or 6 threads on the topic when I went looking for a definitive answer, if not more.
Oh well, hope next week is a happier one for you.
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Question about Absalom. When I was "getting into" Pathfinder it initially seemed to me that Absalom would be the hub of the setting. However that certainly is not the case in terms of focus of the support material. What level of interest is there in Absalom going forward? It certainly seems like it could support an entire hardback of its own.
Just out of curiosity, what was the logic behind drinking blood (for vampires and Dhampir) being an always evil act? I figure as the Creative Director you're probably the best person to ask about something like that (or I could be dead wrong).
I got into this a while back with SKR, and he left me with many more questions than answers, including a little tidbit along the lines of "Drinking blood is fine, but if you gain any bonus/power from it it is evil", which confuses me greatly.
Not to steal JJ's thunder {apologies JJ), but Azaleas is right about Dhampir. It even states in the feat Blood Drinker
Prerequisite: Dhampir.
Benefit: Choose one humanoid subtype, such as “goblinoid” (this subtype cannot be “dhampir”). You have acquired a taste for the blood of creatures with this subtype. Whenever you drink fresh blood from such a creature, you gain 5 temporary hit points and a +1 bonus on checks and saves based on Constitution. The effects last 1 hour. If you feed multiple times, you continue to gain hit points to a maximum of 5 temporary hit points for every three Hit Dice you have, but the +1 bonus on Constitution-based skill checks and saving throws does not stack.
Normally, you can only drink blood from an opponent who is helpless, grappled, paralyzed, pinned, unconscious, or similarly disabled. If you have a bite attack, you can drink blood automatically as part of your bite attack; otherwise, you must first cut your target by dealing 1 hit point of damage with a slashing or piercing weapon (though you may feed upon a creature with severe wounds or a bleed effect without cutting it first). Once you cut the target, you can drink from its wound as a standard action. Drinking blood deals 2 points of Constitution damage to the creature you feed upon. The blood must come from a living creature of the specified humanoid subtype. It cannot come from a dead or summoned creature. Feeding on unwilling intelligent creatures is an evil act.
As for normal vampires, I have my own thoughts on that, perhaps for a different topic.
That's not the whole discussion, but it really boiled down to a few what-if scenarios, which culminated in this post by SKR:
If Rolf has to kill someone in order to defend himself, we accept that.
If Rolf is attacked and has to resort to biting his attacker in order to escape or avoid being killed, we accept that.
If Rolf bites his attacker and decides to swallow the attacker's blood, that's just creepy and inappropriate.
If Rolf swallow's the attacker's blood and his eyes light up with joy and he gets stronger for doing so, that's evil.
Other than that, the question was dodged multiple times ("You should know why this is evil, I shouldn't HAVE to explain it"), and I'm still curious as to what the logic behind it is. Doesn't really affect my game, I'll houserule it anyway, but I'd like to know the official in-universe explanation for why it's evil.
Are they tapping into the Negative Energy Plane through their blood or something and it makes them more evil somehow?
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Creative Director
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Just out of curiosity, what was the logic behind drinking blood (for vampires and Dhampir) being an always evil act? I figure as the Creative Director you're probably the best person to ask about something like that (or I could be dead wrong).
I got into this a while back with SKR, and he left me with many more questions than answers, including a little tidbit along the lines of "Drinking blood is fine, but if you gain any bonus/power from it it is evil", which confuses me greatly.
First off... as Creative Director, my job is to set the overall tone for Golarion, not to micromanage every bit of text that goes into every publication. I can't do that—we publish too much stuff for me to be able to do that.
That said... you'll note that the rules in that book state that drinking blood is NOT an evil act if the blood is freely given. It's when you attack someone to drink their blood and take it without securing permission that it's an evil act... which is how the VAST MAJORITY of blood drinking vampires and dhampir get their blood.
If you, as the GM, disagree... you can change it in your game.
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To be fair, it only came about because the GM spotted your words and decided they constituted errata to what the book says, which is why I was asking you to please clarify. Besides, I'm hardly the only person with this question, I counted at least 5 or 6 threads on the topic when I went looking for a definitive answer, if not more.
Fair enough. And to be fair right back, it was GMs and players misunderstanding my rules clarifications as "writ in stone errata" that resulted in me taking a more hands-off approach when it comes to answering questions about the hardcover rulebook line or about fiddly rules conflicts that arise during character creation.
I certainly am the person among all of us designers, developers, and editors at Paizo who has the most active presence on these boards (I might even be the most active of everyone at Paizo... THEY had stats for that at one point but I can't remember if I outdid Customer Service or not...), but that doesn't mean I'm here to answer every question. Nor does that mean I'm the right person to answer ay one question. Problem is that lots of people mistake my active presence on the boards as an invitation to solve all of their rules problems, and that's just not something I can do without causing confusion and clashes in public, since my take on the philosophy of rules design and the interpretation of those rules differs greatly in some regards from the design team.
And so rules question clarifications need to and must come from the design team. The fact that they're not as active as I am on the boards may frustrate those folks who want more interactivity with the design team, but apart from my frequent requests for that team to be more active on the boards... there's not much I can do to make that change, alas.
Because one of the many things Creative Director is NOT is "Manager of the Design Team."
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Creative Director
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Question about Absalom. When I was "getting into" Pathfinder it initially seemed to me that Absalom would be the hub of the setting. However that certainly is not the case in terms of focus of the support material. What level of interest is there in Absalom going forward? It certainly seems like it could support an entire hardback of its own.
Initially, that was indeed one idea—to make Absalom the center of the world. Problem was, our idea to do that was overshadowed by the fact that by the time we got around to getting the Gazetter published, we were already 3 Adventure Paths in, and that made Varisia the hub of the setting, for better or worse. This was complicated more by the fact that we kind of jumped the gun in my opinion with "Guide to Absalom." Publishing it in the waning days of Pathfinder's 3.5 era meant that we were very timid about making some decisions, were scrambling to stay afloat, and weren't able to give the book the attention it deserved during development. Furthermore, we decided that there would be NO game content in the book, which for a game book is a pretty bad idea, in my opinion. And beyond that, development of Absalom up to that point was very scattershot, with the city being developed piecemeal by different authors in chunks spread out across a few different adventures.
The result is that Absalom is a long, long way from being as heartily supported as I would like it to be.
Some day, I would love to publish a big giant Inner Sea World Guide sized hardcover about Absalom. At that point, I wouldn't be surprised to see the "hub of the setting" shift away from Varisia and over to Absalom, but until that happens, we've pretty much decided to go with the flow and keep Varisia as that hub. It won't stay that way forever, I don't think, and Absalom's a VERY strong contender for the role of the setting's next "hub," if and when we decide to shift.
If you had a chance to use some "classic" monsters in Pathfinder that are copyright/trademark WotC, do you have a "Top 5" list?
I've been trying to go through this massive thread to see if that was answered, so sorry if I missed it.
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Creative Director
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That's not the whole discussion, but it really boiled down to a few what-if scenarios, which culminated in this post by SKR:
If Rolf has to kill someone in order to defend himself, we accept that.
If Rolf is attacked and has to resort to biting his attacker in order to escape or avoid being killed, we accept that.
If Rolf bites his attacker and decides to swallow the attacker's blood, that's just creepy and inappropriate.
If Rolf swallow's the attacker's blood and his eyes light up with joy and he gets stronger for doing so, that's evil.Other than that, the question was dodged multiple times ("You should know why this is evil, I shouldn't HAVE to explain it"), and I'm still curious as to what the logic behind it is. Doesn't really affect my game, I'll houserule it anyway, but I'd like to know the official in-universe explanation for why it's evil.
Are they tapping into the Negative Energy Plane through their blood or something and it makes them more evil somehow?
I answered the original question above. I'm not equipped to explain SKR's thought processes—that requires its own thread. One that likely should involve SKR.
Again... it's evil to drink blood from an unwilling intelligent creature. It's not evil to drink blood from an untelligent creature or a willing intelligent creature.
It's evil to drink blood from an unwilling intelligent creature for the same reason it's evil to torture a creature. Inflicting psychological and physical pain and damage, which is what drinking someone who doesn't want you to's blood IS, is evil.
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If you had a chance to use some "classic" monsters in Pathfinder that are copyright/trademark WotC, do you have a "Top 5" list?
I've been trying to go through this massive thread to see if that was answered, so sorry if I missed it.
Yup. That list would probably be, in descending order of desire:
1) Obox-ob
2) Demogorgon
3) Mind flayer
4) Githyanki
5) Kopru