Have you been playing Battlefield: Barrens (WoW Patch 5.3) at all? If so, what do you think?
Creative Director
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The Pathfinder Society Field Guide has a little thing about the "Restful Pathfinder's Lounge" with the following information:
- Members-only club.
- Petal District of Absalom.
- Started decades ago.
- Founded by Pathfinders so they could have time to rest and relax without a Venture-Captain happening by to say they aren't busy enough.Are there no Venture-Captains on the membership list, then? It seems that even if there weren't when it was founded, eventually there'd be Pathfinders promoted to the position who might be members, so it suddenly isn't beyond the reach of the higher-up members of the organisation.
As a related question to this, what's the turnover on Venture-Captain status? Would you say there's an average to how fast the organisation moves in terms of promotions and the like?
No further info about that as far as I know, unless some info exists from PFS.
Turnover on Venture-Captain isn't that fast. They're pretty loyal and committed.
"[You keep the location of the rebel base secret] By not being important enough to be followed."
1. How does a famous actor not get followed by fans?
"As for your question... the encounter itself talks about how to get to the alcoves hidden behind the mirror. Failing the save is the "easiest" way, but you can smash them down, deactivate them as described"
2. Where was the deactivation described? I only saw failing a save, smashing a mirror, or dispelling it.
3. Regarding combining moment of prescience and contact other plane, is the ability check for the latter spell an opposed ability check?
4. Will moment of prescience affect another's saving throw or (as I'm assuming) just my own?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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1) Can a ring of sustenance feed a creature that feeds on blood, souls, or other exotic foods?
2) Can a creature under the effect of gaseous form move through sand?
3) Using the kingdom building rules, Brinewall Castle only takes up 1 lot, would you adjust the size to encompass 4 lots as the listed castle size in UCa or leave it as 1?
4) How was the size of the lots determined when you designed the initial kingdom building rules back in the Kingmaker AP? (just looking for some design insight)
1) Does Calistria predate elves? I saw she was listed in Gods & Magic as part of the throwdown with Rovagug, which would indicate she's been around for a long, long time.
2) Did Golarion exist before Rovagug was sealed there? I've alwas sbeen under the impression that Golarion was formed to be Rovagug's prison, but then I read something somewhere about Rovagug being fought on the surface of the world. So a little confused there.
I know Gorum cares little for things outside of war, but are there any gods he gets along with? What about gods he detests?
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James, if the remaining runelords (or just one of the mythic ones) were to wake up, what non-PC forces would put up the strongest opposition to them?
Who would try to ally with the runelords?
How likely would it be that the runelords end up winning?
Assuming the runelords all wake up at around the same time, would they work together to restore their empire, or would they try to finish each other off first?
If the runelords try to kill each other first, which one do you think would be most likely to come out on top?
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so how does Sarenrae interact with Abadar and Erastil and Calistria
Abadar) They respect each other's power, but not so much each other's philosophy. Sarenrae sees Abadar as too mercenary and uncaring for the people, while Abadar sees Sarenrae as too much of a risk taker and too impulsive and emotional. They're not really all that friendly, but they're not at war. Their paladins get along not so well with each other.
Erastil) Sarenrae and Erastil are not friends. Sarenrae is too outgoing, forgiving, and inclusive; she's too "liberal" for Erastil. And Erastil is too stuck in tradition and has old-fashioned values that Sarenrae finds to be at times insulting or even misogynistic. Both of them agree that defending good is important, and they're often willing to overlook their differences in order to work together, but their alliances are never long lasting.
Calistria) Sarenrae is deeply concerned about Calistria, and worries she's skirting the edge of darkness. She wants to redeem her; to get her to be chaotic good and to abandon her obsession with revenge and be more of a patron of elves. For her part, Calistria thinks Sarenrae's eagerness to redeem is a weakness and will get her in trouble. The two see the other as critically flawed, but with potential if they could just get over the flaw.
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Creative Director
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"[You keep the location of the rebel base secret] By not being important enough to be followed."
1. How does a famous actor not get followed by fans?
"As for your question... the encounter itself talks about how to get to the alcoves hidden behind the mirror. Failing the save is the "easiest" way, but you can smash them down, deactivate them as described"
2. Where was the deactivation described? I only saw failing a save, smashing a mirror, or dispelling it.
3. Regarding combining moment of prescience and contact other plane, is the ability check for the latter spell an opposed ability check?
4. Will moment of prescience affect another's saving throw or (as I'm assuming) just my own?
1) By using disguises or illusions, or by being actively dislikable. Frankly... the entire "you belong to a secret rebel society" element of Council of Thieves ended up not being nearly as big a deal in the grand scheme of the AP as we'd initially intended, so if the PCs end up being more like allies of the rebels rather than actual members, and as such don't have a need to go to the secret base that often, that won't kill the AP. Alternately... the secret base should be secret; hidden behind a facade. The actor's stalkers might know the actor goes to a certain tavern all the time, but might not know that when they go through the "members only" door that the PC is actually going "downstairs" to the hidden rebel base.
2) Dispelling a mirror = deactivating a mirror. Same thing.
3) Nope; it's not.
4) Just your own.
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Creative Director
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Turnover on Venture-Captain isn't that fast. They're pretty loyal and committed.What about Venture-Captain death/dismemberment/mental-breaks and so on? Or is the change to their role towards overseer and organiser something that means they don't get out into the thick of things as often, reducing the risk of an untimely demise?
Also, a side-question on Mythic Saves (from the playtest, if that ability made it through into the final book; if not, then just the playtest one) interaction with the Orbs of Dragonkind (from Artifacts & Legends). The Orbs state that whatever saves the user has are overwritten by the Orb and cannot be modified by any means short of depriving the character of the Orb. First, does this mean that the saves no longer benefit from the Mythic Saves ability where even if you fail a save you take the lesser effect if it doesn't come from a mythic source? Second, does this "unable to influence" thing also affect other artifacts the bearer might possess, such as the Sihedron? (Which provides a +2 insight bonus to Reflex saves.) I'm wondering how far the "overwriting" of the Orb goes.
Venture-Captains get killed in the line of duty less often than field agents, since they spend more time at their "desk job" than out adventuring.
Questions about Mythic Adventures need to wait until the hardcover book is out.
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Creative Director
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1) Can a ring of sustenance feed a creature that feeds on blood, souls, or other exotic foods?
2) Can a creature under the effect of gaseous form move through sand?
3) Using the kingdom building rules, Brinewall Castle only takes up 1 lot, would you adjust the size to encompass 4 lots as the listed castle size in UCa or leave it as 1?
4) How was the size of the lots determined when you designed the initial kingdom building rules back in the Kingmaker AP? (just looking for some design insight)
1) It can, but it doesn't grant any extra powers the creature might gain for feeding on those exotic foods. And note that many blood and soul eaters are outsiders or undead—they don't need to eat anyway, so a ring of sustenance won't really help them.
2) No.
3) I would keep the actual adventure map of Brinewall Castle and it's kingdom building charts separate. I would use the kingdom building charts/lots to track kingdom stuff ONLY, and use the actual map for everything else. The grid on which you place your buildings is not an actual map of the city as much as an abstract representation usable for various kingdom management stuff.
4) Mostly ad-hoc. We actually almost didn't put in relative sizes at all, and I kind of wish we hadn't, since the grid itself isn't intended to be an accurate map of every kingdom that shows every street and every house, but more of an abstract representation.
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I know Gorum cares little for things outside of war, but are there any gods he gets along with? What about gods he detests?
He is not a big fan of Sarenrae at all, and thinks Abadar is a chump. He's pretty anti-Asmodeus and anti-Erastil as well. He gets along pretty well with Cayden Cailean, but they're like friends who can't stand each other after long and spend more time angry at each other. He appreciates Rovagug's destructive nature, but isn't an ally; he views him as competition if anything. Gorum doesn't really have a lot of friends. He doesn't think he needs them.
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Did you miss my questions earlier here, are you still thinking about them, or is your silence telling me I'm abusing your willingness to answer random questions with too any questions?
...also, am I a bad person if your comment about Cayden Cailean and Gorum makes me want to know if Cayden and Gorum have ever had a screaming argument that ended in angry sex?
I probably missed them; that happens. What were your questions?
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Creative Director
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It occurs to me that statements like these are gold for those who live to munchkinise with their magic items. Have you seen this much in games that you run?If a character survives on a ring of sustenance, do they still need to go to the bathroom? Or just a #1 or #2?Nope; they no longer have to poop or pee. And the ring itself maintains the health of the digestive tract so that it doesn't atrophy while you wear the ring.
Nope; generally, the ring of sustenance is an item PCs wear if they find one on an NPC or in treasure and don't have their ring slots filled already, but it's rarely an item I see PCs seek out and buy.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Nope; generally, the ring of sustenance is an item PCs wear if they find one on an NPC or in treasure and don't have their ring slots filled already, but it's rarely an item I see PCs seek out and buy.It occurs to me that statements like these are gold for those who live to munchkinise with their magic items. Have you seen this much in games that you run?If a character survives on a ring of sustenance, do they still need to go to the bathroom? Or just a #1 or #2?Nope; they no longer have to poop or pee. And the ring itself maintains the health of the digestive tract so that it doesn't atrophy while you wear the ring.
Yeah, I wanted to see if I could use the ring to keep a vampire locked into a coffin for a real long time...
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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4 Questions3) I would keep the actual adventure map of Brinewall Castle and it's kingdom building charts separate. I would use the kingdom building charts/lots to track kingdom stuff ONLY, and use the actual map for everything else. The grid on which you place your buildings is not an actual map of the city as much as an abstract representation usable for various kingdom management stuff.
4) Mostly ad-hoc. We actually almost didn't put in relative sizes at all, and I kind of wish we hadn't, since the grid itself isn't intended to be an accurate map of every kingdom that shows every street and every house, but more of an abstract representation.
Once again, thanks for the answers James. I like the kingdom building rules as presented, because they are quick and easy without getting too detailed. I normally create a basic city map and let the players directly place the cutouts of buildings down, creating their own unique cities. I only use the grid to track number of districts needed.
Who came up with the slurk? The beast that kobolds tend to ride.
Because they're awesome. The slurk that is. But also the guy who came up with it.
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Creative Director
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So you haven't yet been to the No-Fly Island of Really Big Dinosaurs, then, have you? it's off the North coast of Pandaria.Have you been playing Battlefield: Barrens (WoW Patch 5.3) at all? If so, what do you think?I've pretty much lost interest in WoW these days. Haven't played in months. I still haven't hit the new level cap either. I'm like 2 levels away.
I haven't.
The one thing that Blizzard could do to make me get back into the game for sure, though, would be to allow night elves to gain red raptor mounts.
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Creative Director
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1) What are some of your favorite aberrations out there, and why?
2) Speaking of the First World, which is your favorite of the Eldest, and why?
3) Asura ranas, kyton demagogues, rakshasa immortals, and other such; are these groups on par with the other outsider demigods like the archdevils, demon lords, eldest, elemental lords, empyreal lords, and horsemen? And has there been any details on particular ones beyond a list of names in the Bestiaries thus far? I'm definitely curious!
4) Samsarans, how does their reincarnation function? It says that the children of samsarans are not samsarans themselves, does this mean they get born to random parents? Are they born to human races only, or only statistically more likely to do so? Are they born knowing what they are, or do they slowly become aware of it? Is there a geographic component, since they seem to mostly be in Tian Xia, or could one hypothetically be reincarnated anywhere on Golarion...or off it? And presuming they are born to random parents, how are they likely to react? And is their previous incarnation also previously either a human or samsaran, or could it be any creature who managed to become 'enlightened', even a giant or a centaur or something like that? Is Tsukiyo involved in directing this reincarnation, or does it happen naturally and he's just their patron?
5) Any favorite constructs out there? If so, which ones and why?
6) What groups on Golarion do you think would be most likely to evolve some method of space travel that doesn't rely on a 9th level spell, both via capability and via motivation? Magitech spacecraft for preference, but anything would be fine. If such a method existed, do you think other groups would try to emulate it?
7) Demiplanes, if you're out on the Astral or Ethereal Planes and wandering around, can you just stumble across them, or are they kept separate despite being 'attached' to them? Are there any existing methods to locate demiplanes? If a demiplane created by a create demiplane spell is made permanent, does it last indefinitely, or would they eventually fade? I ask mostly because I can't help but think that if they do last indefinitely, even though spellcasters with the ability and motivation to make them must be relatively rare, over the aeons you'd think you'd have a bunch piling up...
8) Have you had players use the rules for researching spells to research new spells often? What are some of the more interesting custom spells you've had players come up with to research, if any?
9) What do you think of the idea of a party of various dinosaur lycanthropes fighting moroi vampire lizardmen in the Mwangi?
10) You said earlier if there was a Garund book like Dragon Empires Gazetteer for Tian Xia, catfolk would almost certainly be in it. Speaking of Arcadia, are there any existing non-core player races that you think would almost certainly be featured? I doubt you'd answer if I asked about new ones, though.
1) Aboleths, because they have cool powers that no other monsters have plus a hefty dose of Lovecraftian flavor. Intellect devourers since they have cool powers no other monsters have and are freaky looking.
2) Green Mother. I tend to like the evil ones.
3) Yes. They're all demigods, and we've not done much more with them yet.
4) This is something that's fueled entire threads, and deserves a lot more space and time than I have now to answer, but in brief, they know what they are but their past lives are not much more than hazy memories, like dreams. Some day I hope to have a chance to say more about them.
5) Fossil golems. Because it has tyrannosaurus skulls for hands.
6) Technic league.
7) You can stumble across some of them, but not all of them. Demiplanes aren't always attached to the Astral or Ethereal. The methods to locate them are the same as locating anything else—exploration, divination magic, research in old books and libraries, asking around, etc. A demiplane, once created, is permanent until destroyed unless the method of its creation specifically says it isn't permanent.
8) Yes, I've done spell research as a PC myself, and have had players do the same. Over the course of 3+ decades, I can't really remember favorites, really; many of them are in print in D&D or Pathfinder books though.
9) Could be good, could be corny. Depends on the writer's skill.
10) Yes, but I'm not NEARLY ready to reveal anything about that yet.
James,
Your history with RPGs is a lengthy one. I seem to remember your first published adventure being at a very early age. Having personally started playing RPGs with AD&D 2nd ed. I was wondering what designing adventures and other content for that edition of the game was like. I wrote stuff for my players back then, but mostly I used monsters off the rack as it were and I still don't know if I fully get some of the DMG tables regarding design. How was designing things for older incarnations of the game that lead to Pathfinder different from designing for Pathfinder?
I recently acquired the Inner Sea Bestiary and am super intrigued by a few of the monsters. While I'll probably ask a variation later when I get to some other monsters, could you go into process of the creation of Nightripper? He is such an intriguing villain and I really wish I ran a game that was high enough level to feature him, but I'll have to content myself with finding out everything I can about him.
Question about making magic items. If I'm making a magic item for a Large or bigger creature, does it cost more because it is bigger?
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Creative Director
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It's not red, but doesn't a raptor mount drop off one of the bosses in Zul'Gurub?So you haven't yet been to the No-Fly Island of Really Big Dinosaurs, then, have you? it's off the North coast of Pandaria.Have you been playing Battlefield: Barrens (WoW Patch 5.3) at all? If so, what do you think?I've pretty much lost interest in WoW these days. Haven't played in months. I still haven't hit the new level cap either. I'm like 2 levels away.
I haven't.
The one thing that Blizzard could do to make me get back into the game for sure, though, would be to allow night elves to gain red raptor mounts.
That mount is red, I believe... and I've spent MANY MANY hours farming for that raptor. I eventually got the tiger from the tiger boss, but the raptor boss never dropped the mount. And as far as I know, that whole instance got taken out of the game for a while; it's back in now, I believe, but no longer easilly farmable. I could be wrong...
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Creative Director
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James,
Your history with RPGs is a lengthy one. I seem to remember your first published adventure being at a very early age. Having personally started playing RPGs with AD&D 2nd ed. I was wondering what designing adventures and other content for that edition of the game was like. I wrote stuff for my players back then, but mostly I used monsters off the rack as it were and I still don't know if I fully get some of the DMG tables regarding design. How was designing things for older incarnations of the game that lead to Pathfinder different from designing for Pathfinder?
Yup; first publication was in Dungeon #12 back in the summer of 1988 when I was 16 years old. That one was actually for 1st edition AD&D, but it was a solo adventure so it was kinda weird anyway. Designing for 1st and 2nd edition was more or less identical, in any event. It was a LOT easier designing for those editions, since the rules were a lot less complex and, more importantly, stat blocks were a lot less complex. A stat block back in those days could take up less space than my reply to this question did.
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Creative Director
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I recently acquired the Inner Sea Bestiary and am super intrigued by a few of the monsters. While I'll probably ask a variation later when I get to some other monsters, could you go into process of the creation of Nightripper? He is such an intriguing villain and I really wish I ran a game that was high enough level to feature him, but I'll have to content myself with finding out everything I can about him.
I actually created Nightripper about 25 years ago. He was the main bad guy of part 5 of a 7 part adventure series I wrote. The version in Inner Sea Bestiary is a LOT more detailed than the original, of course, who wasn't much more than s spooky ninja with Freddy Kruger's hand. He was first introduced to Pathfinder in Lords of Chaos, the 2nd Book of the Damned. There's a little bit more information about him in that book. At this point, though, those two books is all there is in print about him.
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Creative Director
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Could intellect devourers take over android bodies?
If so, how would they typically find the experience compared to natural flesh bodies?
Yes. Again, remember that androids are humanoids. Although they have a unique method of creation, they're still humanoids and living creatures and thus can be affected by pretty much all the things that affect living humanoids... with the exception of the specific things listed in their stats that they're immune to. Intellect devourer body theft is not on that list.
An intellect devourer would likely NOT enjoy the experience though, since android bodies are imperfect in processing and handling emotions; most of that is mental, but it's at least partially physical. It's like the difference between good food and gourmet food; if you're a connoisseur, you'll notice the quality lacking. And most all intellect devourers are connoisseurs.
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Creative Director
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Question about making magic items. If I'm making a magic item for a Large or bigger creature, does it cost more because it is bigger?
The base item costs more as appropriate if it's a weapon or armor, but the magic part doesn't cost more at all. And if it's a ring or a hat or a pair of gloves or an ivory goat, it costs the same.
(Sarenrae is afraid of Pharasma whoa) what about Abadar and Erastil and CalistriaThey're afraid of Pharasma too.
Is Rovagug afraid of Pharasma?
Or really of anything?
And (this is an interesting point for the campaign I'm currently running) are the Horsemen afraid of Pharasma?
Re-posting, since it looks like this was missed:
1) Does Calistria predate elves? I saw she was listed in Gods & Magic as part of the throwdown with Rovagug, which would indicate she's been around for a long, long time.
2) Did Golarion exist before Rovagug was sealed there? I've alwas sbeen under the impression that Golarion was formed to be Rovagug's prison, but then I read something somewhere about Rovagug being fought on the surface of the world. So a little confused there.
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Are the Gheden from Dragon #313 OGL ?There was only ever one article in Dragon that was open content, and while I don't remember what it was... it wasn't a monster article. While I don't remember what the Gheden were... nope; they're not open.
Drat, oh well.
Gheden were, by the way, what happened due to a Necromancer's tinkering, botched resurrections, or when a heavily pregnant woman got turned into a zombie, the offspring would be a Gheden, in case you were wondering about them.
As always many thankies for the responses to all these questions :3
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Hi James !
I'm sorta new to these boards (been more of a lurker than anythings else), but I got an issue that I can't resolve.
I don't know if it is the right place to ask such a question but in anycase it's worth a shot ? Your thread says ALL QUESTIONS after all !
So here is the problem :
I've seen on the boards (can't trace back where) stated that special material HP/inch is simply taken into account for objects other than weapons/armor. For weapons/armor you use stats provided in the Table Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points. Hardness seemed more of a consensus. You have an adamantium sword ? Hardness 20. Alchemical silver sword ? Hardness 8.
Adamantium is noted as giving the property : Objects made of adamantium have 1/3 more hit points (multiple references). But adamantium objects can only be objects that are made of iron first (a sword for example).
Iron has 30hp/inch. Adamantium 40hp/inch. In my sense there is the 1/3 more HP.
But my question arises as this :
Therefore shouldn't we calculated the HP of an alchemical silver sword as 1/3 of it's steel counterpart ? Thus giving a longsword with hardness 8 and 1 hp (rounddown) ? Therefore having a sword that is less resistant than an axe ?
Also on a related note. Does the enhancement bonus provided by mastercrafting a weapon (or armor) apply to its hardness and hit points ?
Thanks in advance for any help and sorry for the wall of text !
(Sarenrae is afraid of Pharasma whoa) what about Abadar and Erastil and CalistriaThey're afraid of Pharasma too.
Let's make this easy: which gods are NOT afraid of her, at least a little bit?
Also, if you want a neat hunter experience like from WoW with pets and all, you should play a ranger in Guild Wars 2. They have a stupidly large number of potential pets they can discover and use, plus the ability to swap between one of two critters in combat with both their above ground and in the water set of pets. Also, the rest of the game is pretty cool too.
If a dragon for some reason wielded a sword would its bite do 1.5xStr or .5x Str.
Now apply the same concept to a Dragon Disciple, would anything change.
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Creative Director
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(Sarenrae is afraid of Pharasma whoa) what about Abadar and Erastil and CalistriaThey're afraid of Pharasma too.Is Rovagug afraid of Pharasma?
Or really of anything?
And (this is an interesting point for the campaign I'm currently running) are the Horsemen afraid of Pharasma?
Rovagug's not all that afraid of anything... although he's kinda afraid of Sarenrae, since he sees her as the one who imprisoned him for so long. That's more like superhate than fear though.
The Horsemen are not all that capable of fearing; they do respect Pharasma and loathe her and work against her but never one-on-one, since they know she'd smash them all at once if she had to.
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Creative Director
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What are the chances of seeing a celestials revisited book looking at iconic good aligned outsiders?
Somewhere between 0% and, say 51%, inclusive. Depends on how folks react to Demons Revisited, for one thing, and how much of a call for Celestials Revisited there is. But Demons Revisited also exists because it was a perfect tie in to the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, and because I wanted to write it. At this time, there's no plans for a celestial-heavy AP and no one at Paizo is champing at the bit to write such a book, so those chances are more toward the 0% side of things for now.