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Any insight into why Pharasma sends souls to him when he moves toward her spire? This seems to be a huge offer of appeasement but if she outranks him, as it were, why would she do this? She hates sending souls rightfully doomed to become daemons because that's her function not to mention the fallout that would occur if she cherry picked where souls would go. I can't see her simply satiating the whims of a deity especially one that essentially invades her realm on occasion.


Voyd211 wrote:

Have you ever made such stat blocks just for fun?

Also, I just read that evidently you planned on putting a kaiju template in Bestiary 3. I am sadface if this was a true, unsuccessful endeavor, but adding the giant template a bunch is also an option. Unless the kaiju template would have had more to it....

I guess you didn't notice this? Ah well.

Silver Crusade

How many times a week does this happen at the office?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:
How many times a week does this happen at the office?

Ha!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Buri wrote:
Any insight into why Pharasma sends souls to him when he moves toward her spire? This seems to be a huge offer of appeasement but if she outranks him, as it were, why would she do this? She hates sending souls rightfully doomed to become daemons because that's her function not to mention the fallout that would occur if she cherry picked where souls would go. I can't see her simply satiating the whims of a deity especially one that essentially invades her realm on occasion.

The souls she sends to daemons or Groetus or whatever are supposed to go there. She might not like it, but she's mature enough to know that's the rules. She's not simply satiating the whims of a deity. It's more complex than that, and as a result various religions get it confused or wrong.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Voyd211 wrote:
Voyd211 wrote:

Have you ever made such stat blocks just for fun?

Also, I just read that evidently you planned on putting a kaiju template in Bestiary 3. I am sadface if this was a true, unsuccessful endeavor, but adding the giant template a bunch is also an option. Unless the kaiju template would have had more to it....

I guess you didn't notice this? Ah well.

I do make stat blocks just for fun now and then.

And yes...there was going to be a kaiju template in Bestiary 3, but after tinkering with it, I realized that would have been a VERY disappointing method to handle kaiju... and also a very complex one. I did this very thing several years ago for Dragon magazine, and in order to cover the range of what a kaiju should be able to do and all the options they should have, that template ended up being about 8 pages long. That's 6 pages too long for a bestiary entry.

It's a MUCH better idea to do specific kaiju, similar to how we treat the Spawn of Rovagug, or demon lords, than try to go the lazy route and just do a template.

Sovereign Court

do elementals have genders?

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
How many times a week does this happen at the office?
Ha!

Was serious question :3 How many expert fort builders are there at paizo?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
How many times a week does this happen at the office?
Ha!
Was serious question :3 How many expert fort builders are there at paizo?

Well... the serious answer then is zero. No one's ever built a castle out of their cube at Paizo.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Malikjoker wrote:
do elementals have genders?

No. They can appear male or female, but are themselves gender neutral. Although that only applies to the plain old generic elementals. Some of the more specific ones, like salamanders, do have genders.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
How many times a week does this happen at the office?
Ha!
Was serious question :3 How many expert fort builders are there at paizo?
Well... the serious answer then is zero. No one's ever built a castle out of their cube at Paizo.

... this must be rectified begins plotting

Liberty's Edge

Okay, I've got a few questions:

1. Any chance of the Sumatran Rat Monkey from Dead Alive showing up as a Pathfinder monster (Albeit renamed ala the "Sandpoint" Devil), or does the Akata cover that territory well enough already?

2. If Golarion shares the same planes as the other D&D settings minus Eberron and The Nentir Vale, then where are the Slaad, Modrons and Rilmani on their respective planes? Do they just not travel into Golarion's metaphysical neck of the woods? Are they just hiding?

3. If you were going to put an equivalent of Neon Genesis Evangelion's Angels in Pathfinder, how and where would you put them in. If you don't know what those are, the short version is giant religious symbolism-y space monsters with massively varying forms and a link to mankind's origins. For the long version, look here.

4. If you were going to create an equivalent to the Evas (Basically giant meat-robots made out of one of the Angels and piloted by teenagers with abandonment issues), how would you create that?

5. Any chance of your answers to 3 or 4 making it into the game?

6. If you were creating a Mega Man-type "Steal the powers of defeated constructs" power that the Android race could acquire, how would you do do it? As a feat, a class feature, a prestige class or something else?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

tbok1992 wrote:

1. Any chance of the Sumatran Rat Monkey from Dead Alive showing up as a Pathfinder monster (Albeit renamed ala the "Sandpoint" Devil), or does the Akata cover that territory well enough already?

2. If Golarion shares the same planes as the other D&D settings minus Eberron and The Nentir Vale, then where are the Slaad, Modrons and Rilmani on their respective planes? Do they just not travel into Golarion's metaphysical neck of the woods? Are they just hiding?

3. If you were going to put an equivalent of Neon Genesis Evangelion's Angels in Pathfinder, how and where would you put them in. If you don't know what those are, the short version is giant religious symbolism-y space monsters with massively varying forms and a link to mankind's origins. For the long version, look here.

4. If you were going to create an equivalent to the Evas (Basically giant meat-robots made out of one of the Angels and piloted by teenagers with abandonment issues), how would you create that?

5. Any chance of your answers to 3 or 4 making it into the game?

6. If you were creating a Mega Man-type "Steal the powers of defeated constructs" power that the Android race could acquire, how would you do do it? As a feat, a class feature, a prestige class or something else?

1) Unlikely; we tend to avoid statting up direct ports of creatures that are not in the public domain.

2) They can travel to Golarion if you want them to. The Great Beyond has room for more planes like Limbo or Mechanus.

3) I'm not familiar enough with Neon Genesis Evangelion to make those decisions. I also think that the niche of giant space monsters is already covered well enough by the Lovecraft mythos and the Dark Tapestry.

4) Same as #3 above. The idea of any mech-like thing would require a brand new subset of rules, I think, although we tinkered a bit with the idea in Ultimate Magic with golem armor or something like that. Although it, alas, raised more questions than answers.

5) Not much of a chance, no.

6) Prestige class. Maybe even a base class.


James Jacobs wrote:
Set wrote:

Since none of that was printed in the text, which describes Hermea as populated by volunteers who have been recruited to join the 'Great Experiment,' would a version that stuck entirely to the printed word, and didn't include any of this slavery stuff or forced breeding programs or other stuff that doesn't exist in the published material, retain a good (or at least non-evil) alignment?

I kind of like the published version, which seems totally compatible with a good alignment, as Golarion really isn't lacking in non-good (or flat-out evil) nations or societies.

Is there room in Golarion for good guys?

Of course there's room in Golarion for good guys. There's LOTS of examples of them in the Inner Sea World Guide.

The published version is VERY cagey about how it presents Hermea. James Sutter is a VERY good writer, one of the best at Paizo, and I've often accused him (half-jokingly) of being able to break rules by writing things that are so excellent that the rules have no option but to bow down before his words.

Sutter for sure has some great material. Regarding Hermea, I for one would love an AP or at the very least a module where a party could adventure there. The setup as to why they are there could be one of many: invited, natives, sent to investigate etc. In the end do the pcs fight goldie, ally with him or whatever. Anyways thinking out loud. Any chance? :)

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James,

I have a Golarion/PC backstory question. Or more like a request for advice/guidance.

I've never played a "normal" primary caster. That is, a PC whose sole focus is their spellcasting.

So I'm going to start up such a character in PFS, but I'm at a loss for potential backstory. What would be a good part of Golarion/the Inner Sea to look at for where a spellcasting-focused character might hail from? Where might he likely have trained? Would a sorcerer be likely to have any magical training in their background, or not? What areas (geographical, political, or whatever) would be interesting as the source of a spellcaster who decides to join the Pathfinder Society?

Basically, where should I look first to inspire a backstory for a 100% magical character?

Thanks!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Lemartes wrote:
Sutter for sure has some great material. Regarding Hermea, I for one would love an AP or at the very least a module where a party could adventure there. The setup as to why they are there could be one of many: invited, natives, sent to investigate etc. In the end do the pcs fight goldie, ally with him or whatever. Anyways thinking out loud. Any chance? :)

Never say never... but there's not a very good chance at all of a Hermea Adventure Path.

1) There's too many other locations I'm more interested in covering in an AP.

2) I'm not eager at all to officially state the dragon's alignment, since I'm afraid I'd have to pull out my Creative Director powers to make James Sutter sad. The alternative, making ME sad, is merely a confirmation of no AP, because unless I'm passionate and happy about an AP plot, it probably won't happen at all.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jiggy wrote:

James,

I have a Golarion/PC backstory question. Or more like a request for advice/guidance.

I've never played a "normal" primary caster. That is, a PC whose sole focus is their spellcasting.

So I'm going to start up such a character in PFS, but I'm at a loss for potential backstory. What would be a good part of Golarion/the Inner Sea to look at for where a spellcasting-focused character might hail from? Where might he likely have trained? Would a sorcerer be likely to have any magical training in their background, or not? What areas (geographical, political, or whatever) would be interesting as the source of a spellcaster who decides to join the Pathfinder Society?

Basically, where should I look first to inspire a backstory for a 100% magical character?

Thanks!

That depends entirely on the race and class. There's over a dozen spellcaster choices, after all. Inner Sea Magic might help you out a bit, though; there's a section at the start that talks in particular about certain regions well-known for specific types of magical traditions.

But yeah... without knowing what class, my answer is "Anywhere is appropriate." Which can also be "Just go with your character coming from Absalom."

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James Jacobs wrote:
Jiggy wrote:

James,

I have a Golarion/PC backstory question. Or more like a request for advice/guidance.

I've never played a "normal" primary caster. That is, a PC whose sole focus is their spellcasting.

So I'm going to start up such a character in PFS, but I'm at a loss for potential backstory. What would be a good part of Golarion/the Inner Sea to look at for where a spellcasting-focused character might hail from? Where might he likely have trained? Would a sorcerer be likely to have any magical training in their background, or not? What areas (geographical, political, or whatever) would be interesting as the source of a spellcaster who decides to join the Pathfinder Society?

Basically, where should I look first to inspire a backstory for a 100% magical character?

Thanks!

That depends entirely on the race and class. There's over a dozen spellcaster choices, after all. Inner Sea Magic might help you out a bit, though; there's a section at the start that talks in particular about certain regions well-known for specific types of magical traditions.

But yeah... without knowing what class, my answer is "Anywhere is appropriate." Which can also be "Just go with your character coming from Absalom."

Okay, good point. Odds are we're looking at a human sorcerer (quite possibly the Starsoul bloodline, if that makes a difference).


On the Mega Man Style Android Class:

Why not make it an Racial Archetype for the Druid or Summoner? They can take on the Form of a Construct instead of an Animal or normal Eidolon.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Do you consider wayfinder material cannon?

Dark Archive

have you read the latest wayfinder yet?

Silver Crusade

Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.


Over your years in publishing have you gotten used to the stress of the constant deadlines, or does it ever wear on you?

I deal with deadlines all the time, and I HATE them....

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
tbok1992 wrote:


2. If Golarion shares the same planes as the other D&D settings minus Eberron and The Nentir Vale, then where are the Slaad, Modrons and Rilmani on their respective planes? Do they just not travel into Golarion's metaphysical neck of the woods? Are they just hiding?

Actually, all three races are WotC IP and can't be used by Paizo.

Dark Archive

Rysky wrote:
Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.

James has previously mentioned Shelyn likes cats.

I'm partial to Nethys, myself.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jiggy wrote:
Okay, good point. Odds are we're looking at a human sorcerer (quite possibly the Starsoul bloodline, if that makes a difference).

Human sorcerers are all over, but the Starsoul bloodline? I'd say your character has ancestors who were associated with the Saoc Brethren of Lirgen... which is, of course, now known as the Sodden Lands.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Azaelas Fayth wrote:

On the Mega Man Style Android Class:

Why not make it an Racial Archetype for the Druid or Summoner? They can take on the Form of a Construct instead of an Animal or normal Eidolon.

Because I like prestige classes better than archetypes.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

GM_Solspiral wrote:
Do you consider wayfinder material cannon?

Not unless we pick up material from Wayfinder and put it into print in a Paizo product.

The entire POINT of Wayfinder is that it's non-canon, really. It's a place for folks to do whatever they want with Golarion without worrying about me or Paizo saying "that works, that doesn't."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

ulgulanoth wrote:
have you read the latest wayfinder yet?

I've glanced at it but I've not really had a chance to sit down and read it yet, alas.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:
Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.

The inside back cover of Animal Archive lists all the animals sacred to the core 20 deities. According to that list, the following gods find cats to be sacred:

Abadar (house cats)
Asmodeus (lions)
Gozreh (all animals)
Iomedae (lions)
Irori (white tigers)
Shelyn (cats)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
MeanDM wrote:

Over your years in publishing have you gotten used to the stress of the constant deadlines, or does it ever wear on you?

I deal with deadlines all the time, and I HATE them....

Deadlines wear at me in two ways—ones I have to make, and ones my authors have to make.

They're necessary. But they're also one of the main sources of stress for me... for ANYONE in the publishing industry, in fact.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.

The inside back cover of Animal Archive lists all the animals sacred to the core 20 deities. According to that list, the following gods find cats to be sacred:

Abadar (house cats)
Asmodeus (lions)
Gozreh (all animals)
Iomedae (lions)
Irori (white tigers)
Shelyn (cats)

You heard it here folks! House Kitties improve Civilization!

Many thankies to you and Set for the answers :3

Silver Crusade

While were on the animal subject, which would you assign to the 4 horseman?

I'm thinking Vulture for Szuriel. Possibly Turtle for Charon.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

James Jacobs wrote:
GM_Solspiral wrote:
Do you consider wayfinder material cannon?

Not unless we pick up material from Wayfinder and put it into print in a Paizo product.

The entire POINT of Wayfinder is that it's non-canon, really. It's a place for folks to do whatever they want with Golarion without worrying about me or Paizo saying "that works, that doesn't."

Does that ever happen? If so Neat! If you do does that wayfinder author get a credit in the pub?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:

While were on the animal subject, which would you assign to the 4 horseman?

I'm thinking Vulture for Szuriel. Possibly Turtle for Charon.

Hmm... I'd have to think about that. Charon in particular, since he's from mythology...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

GM_Solspiral wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
GM_Solspiral wrote:
Do you consider wayfinder material cannon?

Not unless we pick up material from Wayfinder and put it into print in a Paizo product.

The entire POINT of Wayfinder is that it's non-canon, really. It's a place for folks to do whatever they want with Golarion without worrying about me or Paizo saying "that works, that doesn't."

Does that ever happen? If so Neat! If you do does that wayfinder author get a credit in the pub?

I don't THINK it's happened yet, but never say never! We would credit the author, in any event.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

While were on the animal subject, which would you assign to the 4 horseman?

I'm thinking Vulture for Szuriel. Possibly Turtle for Charon.

Hmm... I'd have to think about that. Charon in particular, since he's from mythology...

Take your time :3 I'm really anticipating this

Sovereign Court Contributor

Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Are there any gods in Golarion who favor cats? I'm guessing they're would be some in the Osirian pantheon but I haven't seen them if they've even been revealed.

The inside back cover of Animal Archive lists all the animals sacred to the core 20 deities. According to that list, the following gods find cats to be sacred:

Abadar (house cats)
Asmodeus (lions)
Gozreh (all animals)
Iomedae (lions)
Irori (white tigers)
Shelyn (cats)

You heard it here folks! House Kitties improve Civilization!

Many thankies to you and Set for the answers :3

House cats keep mice and rats from stealing all the food and kill snakes, who are a danger to humans. Pretty useful for the god of hoarding (I mean, being a merchant).

At least that's my take on Abadar.
What's the difference between "cats" and "house cats"? Is Shelyn partial to all felines, including the wild and feral kind, and the big ones?


Dogs actually have proven to be better rounded at Mousing and killing Snakes.

Rat Terrier anyone?


Im sure this has been covered before of in my many days of scouring the message boards I have not found a definitive answer.

If a weapon is listed in a class proficiency(the katana in ninja for example) is it treated as if you have the Exotic weapon proficiency and both 1 and 2 handed use or is it treated as if you only have matrial weapon proficiency in the weapon and need to take exotic weapon proficiency to gain weapon use 1 handed?

And on a more general question could it be said that any specifically named weapon is treated as complete proficiency?

Silver Crusade

Azaelas Fayth wrote:

Dogs actually have proven to be better rounded at Mousing and killing Snakes.

Rat Terrier anyone?

Shun the nonbeliever!

I kid, I kid, I love all animals :3


The difference is that Dogs can be trained to do the activity consistently. Cats can't be trained to do t consistently. They will if they have to. A Dog will do it if commanded.

(I have worked with an Animal Trainer. It was... Educational to say the least...)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jeff Erwin wrote:
What's the difference between "cats" and "house cats"? Is Shelyn partial to all felines, including the wild and feral kind, and the big ones?

The difference is indeed that Shelyn is partial to all cats, from house cats to tigers.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

GMonkey wrote:

Im sure this has been covered before of in my many days of scouring the message boards I have not found a definitive answer.

If a weapon is listed in a class proficiency(the katana in ninja for example) is it treated as if you have the Exotic weapon proficiency and both 1 and 2 handed use or is it treated as if you only have matrial weapon proficiency in the weapon and need to take exotic weapon proficiency to gain weapon use 1 handed?

And on a more general question could it be said that any specifically named weapon is treated as complete proficiency?

If you have proficiency with a weapon due to a class proficiency, assume the best possible case. Therefore, the ninja is equivalently proficient as if she had Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana).


You've said before that the Great Beyond has enough space for multiple cosmologies (e.g. Great Wheel, Great Tree, and so on). If, in these multiple cosmologies, Nocticula and Malcanthet were to encounter one another, in the inevitable power struggle that would ensue, who do you think would be most likely to wind up on top?


If you had to choose 1 Real World Mythology to make a Pathfinder RPG Setting of which would you prefer?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Azaelas Fayth wrote:

On the Mega Man Style Android Class:

Why not make it an Racial Archetype for the Druid or Summoner? They can take on the Form of a Construct instead of an Animal or normal Eidolon.

If anyone can't see the massive disconnect between Druids and Android/Constructs, you really don't get the zeitgeist of either.


As a question regarding the upcoming Mythic rules and the potential for characters to be able to grant spells, if you're able to say, can you say whether it will require a specific "Mythic Path" to grant spells to followers, or would it be possible for ANY Mythic character to do so, assuming they reach the required tier to grant spells (e.g. an Archmage path, Champion path, or even Trickster path could all grant spells)? As it stands, the easiest "fit" for granting spells seems to be Hierophant, but not all players will obviously want to go with that path.


LazarX wrote:
Azaelas Fayth wrote:

On the Mega Man Style Android Class:

Why not make it an Racial Archetype for the Druid or Summoner? They can take on the Form of a Construct instead of an Animal or normal Eidolon.

If anyone can't see the massive disconnect between Druids and Android/Constructs, you really don't get the zeitgeist of either.

I was saying the Druid provides a nice Basis for an Android Archetype that permits them to transform Temporarily into more powerful Constructs. It is a framework. Nothing more.

A Normal Druid allows a Human to become a T-Rex. The Archetype would allow an Android to become a Iron Golem. Well it would be more of an Alternate Class really...


Hello James,

What are the requirements an entity has to meet for gettings souls sent to herself by Pharasma?

Full deific status? In this case, no one worshipping e.g. a demon lord, or nascent demon lord, would get to his patron directly.

Demigod status? Ability to grant spells? Having a cult at all?

Cheers, and thanks!

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