Creative Director
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But you can't be tricked, right? I remember in 3.x I always thought you could, but I am thinking I remember someone at Pathfinder saying you always get an option of a saving throw once you know what the spell actually does. So, if I hand you a potion and say "Here, drink this potion of healing" and it's a potion of inflict light wounds, you get a saving throw. If I say I am going to cast cure light wounds on you, but instead cast inflict, you still get your saving throw. Right or wrong?
Yes. You can voluntarily fail any saving throw, including a Fortitude save. Saving throws no more model reality than do hit points, after all.
You can absolutely be tricked... but tricking a player can be tough.
In the case of "drink this potion of healing" and it's actually a potion of inflict light wounds, you aren't being tricked. You don't have to choose to fail a save for healing, so you wouldn't actively choose to fail a save when you drink a potion of healing. And therefore, the potion of inflict wounds would surprise you and you'd get a save.
In order for that stunt to work, you'd have to do something like "This potion will heal your wounds but it has some side effects—make sure to let yourself accept the potion so you can get the healing. Don't worry; the side effects are painless." And then the PC would probably have to both fail a Sense Motive check AND the player would have to trust you.
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Creative Director
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The Hybridization Funnel from UE creates a mixture of two splash weapons. When thrown, "Creatures are affected as if hit by both".
How does that work with PBS and the Alchemist's damage bonus? It seems to me that PBS should only apply once, but the Alchemist ability twice. Opinions?
When you mix two splash weapons together, they become one splash weapon. Since it's just one weapon, the alchemist only gets his damage bonus once.
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Creative Director
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A couple of artifact, creature and country questions:
1) If a Harrow Deck of Many Things was used and the Empty Throne (character inherits a noble title + 15000gp) is drawn, what noble title would you have the character inherit if it happened to be Qadira?
2) Fafnheir is an extraordinarily powerful Linnorm, but he still served as adviser to Xanderghul, reportedly. Did Xanderghul have to beat him into submission, or was he smart enough to bow down rather than fight?
3) Along a similar tack, did any Runelord ever attempt to make a deal with, or converse with, Treerazer? I could see Alaznist doing so, given her predilection for demons.
4) If Treerazer and Fafnheir came to blows for whatever reason, which of them is most probable to come out on top (percentage chance)?
5) What about Lorthact versus either Treerazer or Fafnheir?
6) Should Treerazer (or any other nascent demon lord or the like) be hit with Fafnheir's death curse, and said curse allowed to run its course to trigger the resurrection of the Father of Linnorms, how would this interact with the nature of demons? Would they be "respawned" by the Abyss eventually at a great loss of power? Would the curse even take?
1) A title that sounds Arabian/Persian/Middle-Eastern.
2) Xanderghul is smart enough and powerful enough that he didn't have to flex a single muscle in getting the linnorm to help him out.
3) Treerazer didn't exist during the time of Thassilon; he came along a bit after that.
4) Treerazer would be the likely winner.
5) I'd like to say Treerazer would win again. That all said, one reason we published stats for these characters and others is so that folks could look at the stats and decide for themselves. They can even fight them against each other to see how things play out!
6) That's a good question. The curse would probably play out as normal, but it'd be unlikely to ever finish the job since Treerazer's got a pretty good Will save and lots of resources to remove curses.
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Creative Director
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I'm planning on using Chant of the Paladin as the theme for Queen Ileosa when I run Curse of the Crimson Throne. Just imagining it playing when the PCs are first escorted into her throne room seems really fantastic.And what is your favourite Dead Can Dance song right now?The Host of Seraphim.
Not a bad choice. I'd probably use "The Lotus Eaters" myself though; sounds more decedent and exotic.
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Creative Director
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Would comprehend languages be able to decipher*:
1) words pieced together from 2 (or more) alphabets?
2) sentances using the same alphabet, but different languages?
3) slang?
4) L33T speak styled words?How does comprehend languages deal with words with no direct translation into the caster's tongue? (e.g. all the different Eskimo words for ice/snow)
* I understand all responses reflect the personal opinions of James Jacobs and no way reflect upon Paizo's official rules interpretations.
1) No. But if you didn't speak those two languages, it would then allow you to make a Linguistics check to figure the message out.
2) On a sentence by sentence basis, yes.
3) Yes.
4) Yes. You'd know L33T means "elite" but it wouldn't tell you WHY it did; that's a Linguistics check.
Words with no direct translation are simply "substituted." You can't get the poetry or the lyric quality of something via comprehend languages; just the facts. So it would translate all of those different Eskimo words into "snow."
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Creative Director
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Just to make your brain hurt: Treerazer vs 20th level synthesist.
G'day! :D
But, really, you've mentioned things that aren't exactly squarely in the text of the rules for what he could do. Do you speak with the same flexibility you would have as a GM in your home setting? Or, are you actually giving a good representation of what he can do as always-imagined but may not have had room to print?
Furthermore, do you encourage GMs to take flexibility with what beings such as demon lords can do even though something may not be in their stat block?
Doesn't make my brain hurt at all, since I'd never have to run that battle in my world! POW!!!
And what have I mentioned that he can't exactly do?
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Hi James, sorry if this is the wrong forum for this but I figured that you would know :)
The Master Summoner archetype states you halve your level for your eidolon's hit dice, feats, evolution pool, etc.
Does the level halving thing effect evolutions themselves, or is it just the entry in the table of Eidolon stats?
Say I am a 10th level summoner and choose Resistance(cold) for my eidolon. Does it count my summoner level as 10, and give the eidolon 15 cold resistance, of is it halved and counts as summoner level 5 and gives the Eidolon only 10 resist?
If it works the second way, how does that interact with the Aspect ability? If I pick Cold Resistance for example with my 1 evolution point I can take from the eidolon, does it give me 15 energy resistance (since it is My evolution and not the eidolon's) or 10 cause it all works the same way?
Thanks for any answers. I am going to be playing a master summoner in Reign of Winter, and I have this sneaking suspicion that the cold resistance issue will be important at some point ^_^
You're right. This is the wrong forum for that question—I'd post it again over in the rules forum for folks to FAQ away at.
Not a bad choice. I'd probably use "The Lotus Eaters" myself though; sounds more decedent and exotic.I'm planning on using Chant of the Paladin as the theme for Queen Ileosa when I run Curse of the Crimson Throne. Just imagining it playing when the PCs are first escorted into her throne room seems really fantastic.And what is your favourite Dead Can Dance song right now?The Host of Seraphim.
I hadn't even considered that song, wow. Just looked it up to refresh my memory and, man, it's a really elegant choice! Thanks for the suggestion.
And what have I mentioned that he can't exactly do?
Going back it wasn't so much something that you said he could do that isn't on his sheet. It was more dealing with his existence on the material plane. So, while the RAW text of spells like banishment should work to give him the boot you insinuate those alone wouldn't do it. This appears to me at least like you've taken some liberty to inject a reason why they don't work. I was curious if this is either an invention on your part due to something in your home setting or if there is an aspect of demons, Treerazer himself, magic, etc that is either wholly intended but unpublished for whatever reason. Does this clear up my question?
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Something I have been wondering about with coup de grace for a long time. Ok, you use a melee weapon on a helpless target and deal crit damage, then they roll fort 10 + damage if they survive to see if they die anyways. What would the rule be on just snapping the neck of a helpless target? The enemy is paralyzed or asleep. You take their head in your hands and just twist. Well I know there is no rule for it, but I am just wondering what would happen.
Snapping the neck of a helpless target would do the same thing. You'd basically do damage as if you were grappling the foe—as detailed on page 200 of the core rules, you can do lethal damage equal to your unarmed strike. For most folks, this would be a mere 1d3 damage, but add in your Strength bonus and that starts doing more and more damage. The damage itself is probably not enough to kill the foe, but that Fort save gets tough quick.
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And what have I mentioned that he can't exactly do?Going back it wasn't so much something that you said he could do that isn't on his sheet. It was more dealing with his existence on the material plane. So, while the RAW text of spells like banishment should work to give him the boot you insinuate those alone wouldn't do it. This appears to me at least like you've taken some liberty to inject a reason why they don't work. I was curious if this is either an invention on your part due to something in your home setting or if there is an aspect of demons, Treerazer himself, magic, etc that is either wholly intended but unpublished for whatever reason. Does this clear up my question?
Oh! Yah; he's got the native subtype, you'll note. That means that he's considered to be a native of the Material Plane—banishment and the like won't work on him as a result since he doesn't have the extraplanar subtype. If the conditions of his exile change and he loses the native subtype and becomes extraplanar again, then yeah... banishment and the like would fix it.
That's also why he can't just have a minion cast gate for him to let him walk back to the Abyss, or use plane shift. He'd be able to physically reach the Abyss that way, but while there he'd have the extraplanar subtype and wouldn't be considered a native of that plane, which causes problems.
That makes sense! Since I don't have stat block handy I didn't even think of that. What sort of badness happens if you're not native to a plane? If that's covered in an already published book just let me know and I'll dig through my library.
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Not a bad choice. I'd probably use "The Lotus Eaters" myself though; sounds more decedent and exotic.I'm planning on using Chant of the Paladin as the theme for Queen Ileosa when I run Curse of the Crimson Throne. Just imagining it playing when the PCs are first escorted into her throne room seems really fantastic.And what is your favourite Dead Can Dance song right now?The Host of Seraphim.
What do you think of Persephone? It's my favourite right now.
And curse you for turning me on to new music! :3
Greetings Mr. Jacobs,
Thanks for answering so quickly my first question (waaaaay back...) in this thread. Maybe I just got lucky?
Anyway, here is another one:
Which do you think would be the outsider who better represent chaos and rage?
(Excluding demon lords and other godlike beings...)
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Did the runelords and Xin have any familiars or did they all choose the item arcane bond option?It was tradition for them to choose the arcane bond, but some chose otherwise. I suspect Alaznist had a quasit, for example.
hmm out of all of them I figured she would definitely have a weapon bond, but she did like her some CE outsiders.
Speaking of did she deal with both Qlippoth and Demons or just Qlippoth?
Ah, that's probably it Rysky.
Ok, question for James since I've revealed my lurking!
Is there room for an Aeon that is a manifestation of the opposing forces of law and chaos? Or is that too close to other Aeons (logic vs. emotion, creation vs. destruction, etc.)?
Law vs Chaos is WAAAAY to broad a theme for aeons, since that's pretty much the entire point of the inevitables vs the proteans.
Also, we're moving away from aeons and toward psychopomps as our favored neutral outsider race anyway.
That makes sense, considering that psychopomps are based on mythology, while I don't think Aeons are. Plus aeons have always struck me as a race that wouldn't want to interact much with the cosmos anyway.
Is there a good chance we'll see some psychopomps in the Core Rulebook line?
James,
I read Stephen King's The Dark Half many years ago. I'm suddenly recalling the only thing the villain was afraid of were the sparrows.
Would that be a fair example of a psychopomp and an evil spirit at odds?
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That makes sense! Since I don't have stat block handy I didn't even think of that. What sort of badness happens if you're not native to a plane? If that's covered in an already published book just let me know and I'll dig through my library.
Aside from the humiliation of being banished from your own home plane, there's a fair amount of things that an outer plane like the Abyss does to you if you're not native to it. The Abyss is a varied place though, and those effects vary as well.
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Creative Director
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Did the runelords and Xin have any familiars or did they all choose the item arcane bond option?It was tradition for them to choose the arcane bond, but some chose otherwise. I suspect Alaznist had a quasit, for example.hmm out of all of them I figured she would definitely have a weapon bond, but she did like her some CE outsiders.
Speaking of did she deal with both Qlippoth and Demons or just Qlippoth?
Both.
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James,
I read Stephen King's The Dark Half many years ago. I'm suddenly recalling the only thing the villain was afraid of were the sparrows.
Would that be a fair example of a psychopomp and an evil spirit at odds?
In fact, that book specifically talks about psychopomps—they're very much a big part of that story's plot. They're also a pretty significant and creepy part of Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror," which is also why whippoorwils are sacred to Pharasma.
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Both.Did the runelords and Xin have any familiars or did they all choose the item arcane bond option?It was tradition for them to choose the arcane bond, but some chose otherwise. I suspect Alaznist had a quasit, for example.hmm out of all of them I figured she would definitely have a weapon bond, but she did like her some CE outsiders.
Speaking of did she deal with both Qlippoth and Demons or just Qlippoth?
That must've made for some awkward moments.
As always, thankies for your responses.
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You know, if this forum was a list of Jumba's Experiments, we'd finally be at Stitch's page. That's pretty awesome in my opinion.
I can't remember if you liked Lilo and Stitch or not, so as the mandatory question for this post, did you?
Can you think of a set of circumstances where you'd apply for the one-way-ticket to Mars?
In Golarion lore is it possible for an outsider with an alignment subtype to have an alignment shift? Be it through "character development" or powerful magic forcing it. Like a demon becoming neutral on either axis or even lawful or good.
And if so, what would happen to the outsider then? (aside from its social life becoming much more complicated)Also about dragons, I read in Dragons Revisited from 3.5 that chromatic and metallic dragons can in rare cases change their alignment, which also has a cosmetic change as a consequence (metallic dragon scales dulling etc). Is this still canon to golarion?
It's absolutely possible. That's how we get fallen angels, for one thing. And there'll be a a reverse of that—a risen demon—in Wrath of the Righteous. What would happen to the outsider would depend on lots of variables—it's not as easy as designing a template, since each case should be unique and handled as appropriate.
Thanks.
By "what happens to them" i am not talking about game mechanics rather mean, do they change to a different outer plane, according to their new alignment, to which they would be sent if killed on the material plane or would they still be connected to their plane of origin as they were before?
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It's worse. I felt a little guilty about it, and am still kinda shocked Sarah allowed me to order the art in the first place.Hmm thinking either crushed by a Glabrezu that or granted wish gone horribly wrong (Or right far as the demon is concernd.)I see. I may have asked this before but is it proper battle? More like the undead revisited (Ie Iconic beat down?) or more the daemons doing there normal thing (Succubus seducing Glabrezu tempting etc.). Also Invidiak that's the name for the shadow daemon right?Varies by picture. In some cases, it's proper battle. In some it's kinda more like torture. In some it's flat out PC death.
Demons are bad. And by torturing and killing and otherwise doing their thing against the iconics we all know and love, that point comes across with pretty visceral impact.
Lini's situation is particularly horrifying. I'm kinda sadistically proud of it.
There's also hidden easter eggs in there. For example... Jason's favorite demon is the vrock, and his favorite race is the dwarf, so in the art, the vrock is killing the dwarf. Likewise, Wes's favorite demon is the babau and his favorite iconic is Seltyiel, and so in the illo, Seltyiel is being ambuhsed and jack-the-rippered by a babau.
And yes. Invidiak is the race name for the shadow demon. Took over 3 editions of the game's history for them to get what all other demons had from the start. No WONDER they're so envious.
Okay I find myself morbidly curious about this still so going to ask a few questions
1 is Lini dead or getting killed in the picture?
2 is it bloody?
3 If yes to the other two I'm taking a guess and saying the Glabrezu tearing her to bits?
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Creative Director
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You know, if this forum was a list of Jumba's Experiments, we'd finally be at Stitch's page. That's pretty awesome in my opinion.
I can't remember if you liked Lilo and Stitch or not, so as the mandatory question for this post, did you?
Lilo & Stitch is my all time favorite best ever Disney movie. So... yes. I like it.
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By "what happens to them" i am not talking about game mechanics rather mean, do they change to a different outer plane, according to their new alignment, to which they would be sent if killed on the material plane or would they still be connected to their plane of origin as they were before?
Ah. That too would vary, depending on the outsider and the specific situation of their unusual alignment. The standard would be that they'd return to the proper plane of their current alignment, though.
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Okay I find myself morbidly curious about this still so going to ask a few questions
1 is Lini dead or getting killed in the picture?
2 is it bloody?
3 If yes to the other two I'm taking a guess and saying the Glabrezu tearing her to bits?
Wait and see! It's all about the anticipation!
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A question regarding Nalinivati (with spoilers) and Ydersius.
1. Did Nalinivati achieve divinity before or after Ydersius?
2. Do these ascension events of Ydersius and Nalinivati have anything in common, or is one possibly the instigator for the other, or are they completely unrelated?
3. Did they use something other than the Starstone, or perhaps another Starstone? If not, did they discover a different and completely separate method of achieving divine ascension on their own?
4. Did Nalinivati actually give birth to nagas of different types for the first time ever, or could it just be a myth to support her status as a fertility goddess?
5. What kind of naga would/might Nalinivati have been?
Thanks again.
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1) If a Harrow Deck of Many Things was used and the Empty Throne (character inherits a noble title + 15000gp) is drawn, what noble title would you have the character inherit if it happened to be Qadira?1) A title that sounds Arabian/Persian/Middle-Eastern.Hmm, fair enough.
What degree of importance would you give the noble title? How far up in the hierarchy of a nation could the Empty Throne be reasonably expected to place you? For example, I would think that suddenly becoming the next heir to the throne of Cheliax or Taldor is significantly less likely to happen than gaining a Baronetcy or the like within the ranking nobility.
In Absalom, House Damaq (according to the Guide to Absalom) is loyal to Qadira. Does the family own a Keep or a Palace in the "social structure" of the city? What about House Shamyyid, who only have Qadiran sympathies?
I'd first do a lot of research and re-reading of everything we've published so far about Qadira, then combine that with real-world history and myth and then come up with a cool title. I've not done either of those things, and don't have time to do so, so I can't say exactly how important the title would be or what it would be off the top of my head... especially since we've only really brushed against the Keleshite empire as a whole.
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A question regarding Nalinivati (with spoilers) and Ydersius.
Spoiler:In the PFS module, 'Red Harvest,' Nalinivati is described as being a mortal naga who achieved divine ascension "several thousand years ago," and is described often as having given birth to the different races of nagas, and was the first queen of Nagajor.
1. Did Nalinivati achieve divinity before or after Ydersius?
2. Do these ascension events of Ydersius and Nalinivati have anything in common, or is one possibly the instigator for the other, or are they completely unrelated?
3. Did they use something other than the Starstone, or perhaps another Starstone? If not, did they discover a different and completely separate method of achieving divine ascension on their own?
4. Did Nalinivati actually give birth to nagas of different types for the first time ever, or could it just be a myth to support her status as a fertility goddess?
5. What kind of naga would/might Nalinivati have been?
Thanks again.
Answers also spoilered.
2) Her transformation into a deity and Yedersius's first appearance have nothing to do in common. They are both deities worshiped by scaly folk, but that's about the extent of any similarities between them.
3) Neither used the Starstone, since both likely became deities long before the Starstone fell to Golarion. There are countless ways to become a deity—as many as the writers of Golarion can imagine.
4) It's certainly a myth. Whether or not it's truth, we'll be unlikely to say, since that turns it from a myth into a fact. We don't like creation myths to become creation facts.
5) She was a unique naga.
In the case of "drink this potion of healing" and it's actually a potion of inflict light wounds, you aren't being tricked. You don't have to choose to fail a save for healing, so you wouldn't actively choose to fail a save when you drink a potion of healing. And therefore, the potion of inflict wounds would surprise you and you'd get a save.
Then what about Spell Resistance? For example, on the Skull and Shackles Obituary thread, there is a guy who's drow died because he was at negative hit points and therefore unconscious. As he could not take a standard action to turn off his spell resistance, and the healer was unable to overcome it, he died. Is this correct interpretation also? Further, if he HAD been conscious (say 1 hit point) and voluntarily lowered his save for the cleric, then the cleric was malicious and cast inflict critical wounds, he's been tricked, yes or not?
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Then what about Spell Resistance? For example, on the Skull and Shackles Obituary thread, there is a guy who's drow died because he was at negative hit points and therefore unconscious. As he could not take a standard action to turn off his spell resistance, and the healer was unable to overcome it, he died. Is this correct interpretation also? Further, if he HAD been conscious (say 1 hit point) and voluntarily lowered his save for the cleric, then the cleric was malicious and cast inflict critical wounds, he's been tricked, yes or not?
In the case of "drink this potion of healing" and it's actually a potion of inflict light wounds, you aren't being tricked. You don't have to choose to fail a save for healing, so you wouldn't actively choose to fail a save when you drink a potion of healing. And therefore, the potion of inflict wounds would surprise you and you'd get a save.
Spell resistance always applies against spells cast on you (as appropriate for the spell); this also applies to magic from spell trigger and spell activation items. Potions are neither, and therefore aren't blocked by spell resistance.
But if you're unconscious and your cleric only has spells prepared, then yes, you might be in trouble if the cleric can't get through your SR. That also happened to me once as a drow PC. And if you lower your SR because someone promised healing but then they cast inflict on you... yup! You were tricked.
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This is my first post, so I'm sorry if I managed to find some way to butcher it. Ha. Sorry if it has already been answered elsewhere, but I prefer to go directly to the source.
My question is about the Sodden Lands, specifically:
Can an Orb of Storms (or the Control Weather spell) be used to prevent (or at least lessen) the effects of the Eye of Abendego?
I'm not sure what we've said before in print about the Eye of Abendego and how it can be affected by control weather (either as a spell or from an item)... but it would apply equally. My gut tells me that these spells can't really do much to the Eye.
Spell resistance always applies against spells cast on you (as appropriate for the spell); this also applies to magic from spell trigger and spell activation items. Potions are neither, and therefore aren't blocked by spell resistance.But if you're unconscious and your cleric only has spells prepared, then yes, you might be in trouble if the cleric can't get through your SR. That also happened to me once as a drow PC. And if you lower your SR because someone promised healing but then they cast inflict on you... yup! You were tricked.
Alright, thanks! :)
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OH Great and Powerful James Jacobs. A devout follower beseeches you. In your wisdom you created the Dinosaur Cultist which is awesome. However, mere mortals could not possibly covert to Pathfinder without issues what you, in your omniscient greatness, created.
1. Yea, though it is known that the Dinosaur God on Earth is you, who is it on Golarion? If there is no equivalent, I shall brew one.
2. The Gift of the Saurian allows your followers to become mighty beasts of Gargantuan size. What are the Str, Dex, and other modifiers for such an apotheosis?
3. There is no capstone which Paizo has traditionally done for prestige classes and this prestige class, beloved of your heart, deserves one. Do you have any guidance O Carnivorous One?
Gonna anyway, but thanks for the expectation management heads up.I'm hoping HOPING that after next week, when the gen con crunch ends, I'll have more time to do things like not work, and actually enjoy my Netflix subscription again. The first thing I'll watch there is probably "The Frankenstein Theory," but Hemlock Grove will be viewed at some point.Don't bother with Hemlock Grove. Despite a pretty good cast, it's really terrible. I couldn't get through episode 3.
My wife and I started watching Hemlock Grove at the recommendation of Clinton Boomer. I wouldn't call it terrible, but it is rather slow-paced. I had an easier time getting into it than, say, American Horror Story, though (which I gave up on after a single episode). We're about 10 episodes into the series, and it is getting better... but the plot needs to pay off VERY strongly by the end of the season in order to bring me back for another season's worth of viewing. [EDIT: There's some horrifying, gut-wrenchingly sad and unexpected character deaths on the back half of the season, too, so clearly the writers are doing SOMETHING right.]