Well, I meant familiar creatures. The things that can become familiars.
James, the Pathfinder Savant's Esoteric Magic ability says the following:
At each class level beyond 1st, the Pathfinder Savant chooses a spell from any class’s spell list and thereafter treats it as if it were on the spell list of his base spellcasting classes; if his base class could not normally cast that spell, it is treated as 1 level higher.Since wizards already have Bestow Curse on their spell list, with this ability could a Wizard select Bestow Curse from the Cleric spell list and thereafter cast it as a 3rd level spell(like clerics do), instead of a 4th level spell(like wizards normally do)?If a wizards selects bestow curse from the cleric spell list with this ability, it's not from the wizard spell list; it's from the cleric spell list. That particular bestow curse would indeed be learned in this case as +1 higher than the cleric spell.
The reason for that is because there are spells that specialized classes gain that are lower level than normal—for example, if the wizard took confusion from the bard spell list, it'd still be a 4th level spell for the wizard even though it's a 3rd level spell for bards.
What about cases where the specialized class gets a spell much earlier than a +1 can compensate for? Of course I am going to point out the summoner's 6th level Monster Summoning VIII.
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Creative Director
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If a paladin decides to take a mount as his Divine Bond choice, where does the mount come from? Can (or must) he acquire a reqular steed and use it, or is it sent by his deity, manifested from the positive energy plane or something completly different?
And (okay, this might be more of a rules question) from how far away can the paladin summon his mount?
Where the mount comes from is up to the player and the GM, but the assumption is that it's acquired the same way as a druid companion—the paladin seeks out the right mount and that's that. The GM and player can certainly add to this flavor however they wish; the core rules are intentionally vague.
As for how far away the mount can be summoned? The rules say "a paladin may magically call her mount to her side." AKA: the mount has to appear in an adjacent square.
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Can Eldritch Heritage grant Wildblooded powers? If so, then any character with sufficient Charisma can have an animal companion at Lv3.
It can if your GM lets them. I wouldn't, because I think animal companions are better as class features, not things you get to shop out to anyone.
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James, the Pathfinder Savant's Esoteric Magic ability says the following:
At each class level beyond 1st, the Pathfinder Savant chooses a spell from any class’s spell list and thereafter treats it as if it were on the spell list of his base spellcasting classes; if his base class could not normally cast that spell, it is treated as 1 level higher.Since wizards already have Bestow Curse on their spell list, with this ability could a Wizard select Bestow Curse from the Cleric spell list and thereafter cast it as a 3rd level spell(like clerics do), instead of a 4th level spell(like wizards normally do)?If a wizards selects bestow curse from the cleric spell list with this ability, it's not from the wizard spell list; it's from the cleric spell list. That particular bestow curse would indeed be learned in this case as +1 higher than the cleric spell.
The reason for that is because there are spells that specialized classes gain that are lower level than normal—for example, if the wizard took confusion from the bard spell list, it'd still be a 4th level spell for the wizard even though it's a 3rd level spell for bards.
What about cases where the specialized class gets a spell much earlier than a +1 can compensate for? Of course I am going to point out the summoner's 6th level Monster Summoning VIII.
thanks
And of course I'll point out that the summoner's spell list has a lot of unfortunate elements in it and that I wish it had been heavily errataed so that certain spells don't break spell level assumptions... but that ship has, alas, sailed.
This question has gotten complex enough that it should head over to the rules forum in any case.
The paladin mount, I think he wanted to know how far away it can be summoned from.
James,
How would you describe elven marriage customs around the Kyonin area?
Are arranged marriages a thing among the aristocracy?
Is Polygamy accepted or frowned upon?
Have you kept up with E3 at all? Do you care about consoles? PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, or any combination?I've been watching E3 news now and then. I will be buying an Xbox One and a PS4, and at this point it looks like my console of choice might shift from Microsoft to Sony. What'll really make that call is the quality and type of games each system gets. Not interested in Nintendo; I bought a Wii and played it about 4 times before losing interest.
Will you preorder them, buy them at launch, or wait? Or are you waiting for more info before deciding?
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James,
How would you describe elven marriage customs around the Kyonin area?
Are arranged marriages a thing among the aristocracy?Is Polygamy accepted or frowned upon?
There aren't arranged marriages in Kyonin, and a lot of them end amicably after some time when both partners decide to move on. Polygamy is frowned upon for the most part. These answers might change if I check Elves of Golarion and see different words there.
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Creative Director
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Have you kept up with E3 at all? Do you care about consoles? PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, or any combination?I've been watching E3 news now and then. I will be buying an Xbox One and a PS4, and at this point it looks like my console of choice might shift from Microsoft to Sony. What'll really make that call is the quality and type of games each system gets. Not interested in Nintendo; I bought a Wii and played it about 4 times before losing interest.Will you preorder them, buy them at launch, or wait? Or are you waiting for more info before deciding?
Waiting a little more, but I'll probably preorder them.
Is there a spell that can give you a false alignment aura? Or is merely not giving off an aura with undetectable alignment the best you can do?
A few weeks ago, at my last campaign session, I told you about what happened when the players pulled cards from the Harrow Deck of Many Things. Are you prepared for round 2, in which my players swear to never draw cards from the neck again?
The party wizard (who was pumped after gaining a noble title and 15,000 gp in cash last week) was feeling lucky. He drew a card and got The Cyclone. Other players were helpless as an Elder Air Elemental beat him to a pulp and then carted his remains off to the Elemental Plane of Air.
Two players drew cards to try and help him. One player had his nonmagical boots transform into boots of speed the other one became cursed with lycanthropy (from the Sickness card, not the Bear card, so she's an afflicted lycanthrope that can only be cured via wish or miracle and doesn't even realize it yet).
My players were fed up, but they managed to convince an NPC to draw a card. He drew Marriage and his new Efreeti wife (whom I roleplay with a Dothraki accent) agreed to go to the Elemental Plane of Air to retrieve the Wizard's corpse with her at-will plane shift ability.
I gave the excuse that the Harrow Deck constitutes a marriage pact between two individuals and that the Efreeti loathed living in the Brass City for some unknown reason. What do you think? Should she be a stereotypical Lawful Evil Efreeti or should I break some stereotypes? Either way, I'm glad it was an NPC who drew the card, so I don't have to tolerate my PCs constantly asking for wishes!
James,
I've noticed that a few dms allow exploration of the material plane via astral projection (when the caster is himself also in the material plane), effectively using the spell as a mean to adventure without real risk of death.
In my games (I am the DM), this was never really an issue because most campaigns don't get to level 17th+.
Recently though, this question came up in session, because of the lesser astral projection spell (5th circle; ultimate magic).
I've always thought that this was not the intent of the rules (feels to me like it was meant for extraplanar exploration only), but since its a group spell and no one is really left out of the fun, I am having second thoughts.
What do you think about it? Would you allow the spell to be used in such manner? Are there other consequeces of allowing it that I am not considering?
Thank you!
1. I'm think of playing Academy of Secrets for one 15th level wizard, who's a pacifist. Any advice for a GM? For a player?
3. How much control does Korvosa have over the Academae?
4. In terms of a number range, about how many students attend the Academae at any one time? I'm guessing ~333 since that's the number of seats in the Ornelos Auditorium (p.29).
5. How would Academae students react to a new headmaster trying to clean up the place? How would the staff?
Does someone at Paizo just hate kobolds? Their stats are just so horrible, and it turned my absolute favorite DnD/Pathfinder race into something flimsier than a house of cards.
Seriously, it's like someone at Paizo just plain despised the little dragon hobbits, and made them suck so much that no one would want to play them.
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Creative Director
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Is there a spell that can give you a false alignment aura? Or is merely not giving off an aura with undetectable alignment the best you can do?
There are a few, but the one that comes first to mind is misdirection.
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Creative Director
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A few weeks ago, at my last campaign session, I told you about what happened when the players pulled cards from the Harrow Deck of Many Things. Are you prepared for round 2, in which my players swear to never draw cards from the neck again?
The party wizard (who was pumped after gaining a noble title and 15,000 gp in cash last week) was feeling lucky. He drew a card and got The Cyclone. Other players were helpless as an Elder Air Elemental beat him to a pulp and then carted his remains off to the Elemental Plane of Air.
Two players drew cards to try and help him. One player had his nonmagical boots transform into boots of speed the other one became cursed with lycanthropy (from the Sickness card, not the Bear card, so she's an afflicted lycanthrope that can only be cured via wish or miracle and doesn't even realize it yet).
My players were fed up, but they managed to convince an NPC to draw a card. He drew Marriage and his new Efreeti wife (whom I roleplay with a Dothraki accent) agreed to go to the Elemental Plane of Air to retrieve the Wizard's corpse with her at-will plane shift ability.
I gave the excuse that the Harrow Deck constitutes a marriage pact between two individuals and that the Efreeti loathed living in the Brass City for some unknown reason. What do you think? Should she be a stereotypical Lawful Evil Efreeti or should I break some stereotypes? Either way, I'm glad it was an NPC who drew the card, so I don't have to tolerate my PCs constantly asking for wishes!
Good times!
Break the stereotype! Also, if you let the wizard come back as a result, that's good for your game.
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Creative Director
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James,
I've noticed that a few dms allow exploration of the material plane via astral projection (when the caster is himself also in the material plane), effectively using the spell as a mean to adventure without real risk of death.
In my games (I am the DM), this was never really an issue because most campaigns don't get to level 17th+.
Recently though, this question came up in session, because of the lesser astral projection spell (5th circle; ultimate magic).
I've always thought that this was not the intent of the rules (feels to me like it was meant for extraplanar exploration only), but since its a group spell and no one is really left out of the fun, I am having second thoughts.
What do you think about it? Would you allow the spell to be used in such manner? Are there other consequeces of allowing it that I am not considering?
Thank you!
This is a legitimate use of the spell, assuming you start on another plane (since if you cast the spell on the Material Plane and come back to that plane, the spell ends and you return to your body). The fact that you have to cast the spell on another plane to do this means that the PCs should find somewhere safe to stash their bodies, which is in and of itself an adventure.
I argued that lesser astral projection should NOT be put into the game because astral projection is VERY POWERFUL and should be limited to 9th level, but the design team overruled me, obviously. At least they set it up so that you can't leave the astral plane, so the exploration of other planes isn't possible in this way with the lesser spell!
There are some certain dangers with astral projection exploration:
1) Astrally projecting people can be ended via dispel magic and antimagic and other things. And a LOT of high level monsters can dispel magic.
2) The silver cord can be cut; this is instant death (no save) and the threat of it, even if it is never used, should be one that astrally projecting characters know about; the longer you are projecting, the better the chance the cord is cut or destroyed.
3) Your bodies back on the starting plane are helpless; all sorts of things can happen to them.
4) The caster is in control; if something happens to the caster during the astral travel, his companions become stranded and can't move, and may well be stranded on the Astral Plane forever.
5) Dying while in an astral body doesn't kill you... but still hits you with permanent negative levels and is still traumatic.
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1. I'm think of playing Academy of Secrets for one 15th level wizard, who's a pacifist. Any advice for a GM? For a player?
** spoiler omitted **
3. How much control does Korvosa have over the Academae?
4. In terms of a number range, about how many students attend the Academae at any one time? I'm guessing ~333 since that's the number of seats in the Ornelos Auditorium (p.29).
5. How would Academae students react to a new headmaster trying to clean up the place? How would the staff?
1) Pacifist characters don't fit well into a game that's all about killing monsters in my experience. And Academy of Secrets, as with all our adventures, assumes there will be plenty of combat. I predict frustration.
2)
Suppose 1) the Crown of Fangs happened to some other chump and Ileosa's just a royal brat and 2) she's there to witness devils causing havoc in Academy of Secrets and doesn't teleport away. Would she be likely to strip Toff of his position as headmaster and give it to a PC as a publicity stunt?
1) Not an adventure path I'd have been interested in creating. 2) She would be unlikely to award the position to a PC regardless of her situation.
3) Not total control. As long as the Academae doesn't break laws or otherwise cause too much civic danger, the city has other concerns. Once the events of Crimson Throne pick up the pace, EVERYTHING in the city is subject to those events, and the Academae is no more or no less impacted by those events than other major institutions in the city.
4) Yeah, about 300.
5) That's all up to you, since those elements could form the foundation of any number of different storylines and plots, depending on your preference.
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Does someone at Paizo just hate kobolds? Their stats are just so horrible, and it turned my absolute favorite DnD/Pathfinder race into something flimsier than a house of cards.
Seriously, it's like someone at Paizo just plain despised the little dragon hobbits, and made them suck so much that no one would want to play them.
Kobolds are DESIGNED to be weak. We don't hate them at all. Note that we just recently put out (or will be putting out) a 32 page book all about them.
When you make a new character, that character is 1st level. That character is not very powerful, and most of the monsters in the game are tougher than you. But you still need to have monsters that you can fairly use against 1st level PCs as foes. Some of those should be slightly more powerful, some equal, and some less powerful.
Just as you can do an adventure where the PCs fight a bunch of ogres but it's balanced because the PCs are 6th level and can fight several ogres at a time, you need those options for 1st level characters, and that's where kobolds come in.
They are NOT MEANT to be player character races. They are meant to be monsters. Specifically, they are meant to be monsters that a 1st level party can fight multiples of all at once. And that means they need to be really really weak when it comes to stats.
You can make a kobold as powerful as you want, of course, by adding class levels, templates, mythic tiers, or whatever. But the baseline kobold is what it is on purpose—because the game needs weak foes for low level characters to fight multiples of.
If we wanted them to be a player race, we would have designed them to be equal in power to the core races. We do not want that. They are meant to be monsters.
If you're running a game with different expectations than the core game, your best bet is to use the Advanced Player's Guide and give your version of kobolds a few extra race powers that brings their RP total up to 10 or so. But keep in mind that you're using the kobold in a way other than we intended.
Does someone at Paizo just hate kobolds? Their stats are just so horrible, and it turned my absolute favorite DnD/Pathfinder race into something flimsier than a house of cards.
Seriously, it's like someone at Paizo just plain despised the little dragon hobbits, and made them suck so much that no one would want to play them.
...
If you're running a game with different expectations than the core game, your best bet is to use the Advanced Player's Guide and give your version of kobolds a few extra race powers that brings their RP total up to 10 or so. But keep in mind that you're using the kobold in a way other than we intended.
Might I recommend checking out Shadowsfall: Guide to Umbral Kobolds. These kobolds were designed to be balanced against the core book races and are perfectly viable options for kobold-loving players (such as myself). So awesome, it earned a 5-STAR rating from Endzeitgeist.
[/shameless plug]
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If we wanted them to be a player race, we would have designed them to be equal in power to the core races. We do not want that. They are meant to be monsters.
Sorry for the rather focused quote, but I have to ask about this part. If Kobolds aren't meant to be a player race and Paizo doesn't want them to be used as a player race, then why is Paizo releasing a "Player Companion" book on Kobolds? Releasing Kobolds of Golarion kind of tells people "Yes, we do want you to play Kobolds!" and "Yes, these are now a valid player race!"
Though, I guess the book will probably just explain that they'll probably fit better in a party with goblins than with the standard races.
A few weeks ago, at my last campaign session, I told you about what happened when the players pulled cards from the Harrow Deck of Many Things. Are you prepared for round 2, in which my players swear to never draw cards from the neck again?
The party wizard (who was pumped after gaining a noble title and 15,000 gp in cash last week) was feeling lucky. He drew a card and got The Cyclone. Other players were helpless as an Elder Air Elemental beat him to a pulp and then carted his remains off to the Elemental Plane of Air.
Two players drew cards to try and help him. One player had his nonmagical boots transform into boots of speed the other one became cursed with lycanthropy (from the Sickness card, not the Bear card, so she's an afflicted lycanthrope that can only be cured via wish or miracle and doesn't even realize it yet).
My players were fed up, but they managed to convince an NPC to draw a card. He drew Marriage and his new Efreeti wife (whom I roleplay with a Dothraki accent) agreed to go to the Elemental Plane of Air to retrieve the Wizard's corpse with her at-will plane shift ability.
I gave the excuse that the Harrow Deck constitutes a marriage pact between two individuals and that the Efreeti loathed living in the Brass City for some unknown reason. What do you think? Should she be a stereotypical Lawful Evil Efreeti or should I break some stereotypes? Either way, I'm glad it was an NPC who drew the card, so I don't have to tolerate my PCs constantly asking for wishes!
Good times!
Break the stereotype! Also, if you let the wizard come back as a result, that's good for your game.
I offered him the chance to come back from the dead; I flat-out said that the NPC will ask his new bride to use one of her daily wishes to bring him back if he wanted. His response was:
"I think its good for the game in all for people to stay dead sometimes. I don't really want [my Wizard] to come back to life."
Never gotten a response from a player quite like this (have you?), but now I am sad because I painted a really nice Reaper Miniature model for this character! T_T
Though, I guess the book will probably just explain that they'll probably fit better in a party with goblins than with the standard races.
Actually, goblins got a power up from 3.5, making them equal with the core book races. Their Dex went from +2 to +4. Kobolds, however, didn't see any change (3.5 vs PFRPG)
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Creative Director
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If we wanted them to be a player race, we would have designed them to be equal in power to the core races. We do not want that. They are meant to be monsters.Sorry for the rather focused quote, but I have to ask about this part. If Kobolds aren't meant to be a player race and Paizo doesn't want them to be used as a player race, then why is Paizo releasing a "Player Companion" book on Kobolds? Releasing Kobolds of Golarion kind of tells people "Yes, we do want you to play Kobolds!" and "Yes, these are now a valid player race!"
Though, I guess the book will probably just explain that they'll probably fit better in a party with goblins than with the standard races.
Mostly for the same reason we did the same thing for goblins a while back—because it's the right sized book for it, and because that's the right place to expand rules for a zero HD race that can be used by GMs or players alike to make characters. Goblins are less powerful than core races, and they got a whole book. Tieflings and aasimars are more powerful, and they got a whole book.
The Player Companion lines are expansions to the rules, and as such, they're the exact right place to expand on things like kobolds, giving GMs and players alike more information about them.
Frankly, I kind of wish we HADN'T done a goblins and a kobolds book for these, because I don't think goblins or kobolds are appropriate choices for PCs... but I don't get to make all the choices here at Paizo.
There WILL be options for kobold characers in this book, in any event, that help to bolster the fact that they're inherently less powerful characters...
...but frankly, isn't the fact that kobolds are scrappy underpowered creatures one of the things that fundamentally appeals? The fact that they're underdogs is a big part of their personality, and making them on equal footing to other races removes the core part of that. Making them less interesting.
Goblins are less powerful than core races
Actually they are more powerful than humans, halflings and half orcs. Goblins are a 10 RP race while humans and halflings are 9 and half orcs are an 8. Goblins are on par with elves, half-elves and gnomes.
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Goblins are less powerful than core racesActually they are more powerful than humans, halflings and half orcs. Goblins are a 10 RP race while humans and halflings are 9 and half orcs are an 8. Goblins are on par with elves, half-elves and gnomes.
Fair enough... although there's a certain amount of overinflation of the goblin's RP totals, I think... they're not as versatile as core races. But whatever.
"Pacifist characters don't fit well into a game that's all about killing monsters in my experience. And Academy of Secrets, as with all our adventures, assumes there will be plenty of combat."
1. What would suggest to make it work?
2. Pacifism or not, what advice do you have for the module in general?
"Not an adventure path I'd have been interested in creating."
8. Oh, and how does the legal system in Korvosa work? By that I mean what's the process of courts handling cases and such?
Ok, I'm going to totally break down and ask for a small Mythic reveal type thing...I'm sorry I know it hasn't released yet but I'm just so darned excited to receive it.
Are there any Mythic creatures like Odin and his mount Sleipnir?
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"Pacifist characters don't fit well into a game that's all about killing monsters in my experience. And Academy of Secrets, as with all our adventures, assumes there will be plenty of combat."
1. What would suggest to make it work?
2. Pacifism or not, what advice do you have for the module in general?
"Not an adventure path I'd have been interested in creating."
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
As you can see above... putting lots of spoiler tags in your questions makes them something of a pain for me to reply to in a fast and efficient manner... if you feel the need to spoiler elements... just use one spoiler tag for the whole thing.
1) I would suggest to the player to not play a pacifist. That's not the type of game I like running.
2) Not without re-reading the module, which I haven't looked at for years.
4) She'd leave his fate up to the Academae, probably; or up to other folks in the city. Before Crimson Throne starts, her ambitions are not all that enormous.
5) You expand upon the adventure significantly to build a "play characters who investigate goings-on in the school," and prepare it to last for many levels, so that Lortchact can be the big bad end guy.
6) Depends if you want him to stick around. At this point, you're telling your own story, and taking things in directions you want. I haven't put much thought into the "after the adventure" at all, to be honest... and I'd probably say that after the adventure, if he lives, he'd end up killing himself or something like that. Get him off screen so that things can increasingly focus on Lorthact.
7) Again... up to you and the stories you want to tell.
Sorry if some of my questions above seem like I'm dodging things. Because that's kind of what I'm doing. I don't want to outline an entire adventure path here in the fourms, because I don't have time to do so... and that's essentially what you're asking. It's probably better to ask these questions over on the Crimson Throne or modules boards so that other GMs who've played them can offer their advice, perhaps.
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Ok, I'm going to totally break down and ask for a small Mythic reveal type thing...I'm sorry I know it hasn't released yet but I'm just so darned excited to receive it.
Are there any Mythic creatures like Odin and his mount Sleipnir?
Sleipnir is not mythic. It's already been published, in fact: check page 248 of Bestiary 3.
Mythic Adventures is not a place for us to stat up gods like Odin, in any event.
Ooo! Thanks!
Aside from Cadrilkasta, will you be releasing any more Big Fricking Dragon miniatures?
If we wanted them to be a player race, we would have designed them to be equal in power to the core races. We do not want that. They are meant to be monsters.Sorry for the rather focused quote, but I have to ask about this part. If Kobolds aren't meant to be a player race and Paizo doesn't want them to be used as a player race, then why is Paizo releasing a "Player Companion" book on Kobolds? Releasing Kobolds of Golarion kind of tells people "Yes, we do want you to play Kobolds!" and "Yes, these are now a valid player race!"
Though, I guess the book will probably just explain that they'll probably fit better in a party with goblins than with the standard races.
Mostly for the same reason we did the same thing for goblins a while back—because it's the right sized book for it, and because that's the right place to expand rules for a zero HD race that can be used by GMs or players alike to make characters. Goblins are less powerful than core races, and they got a whole book. Tieflings and aasimars are more powerful, and they got a whole book.
The Player Companion lines are expansions to the rules, and as such, they're the exact right place to expand on things like kobolds, giving GMs and players alike more information about them.
Frankly, I kind of wish we HADN'T done a goblins and a kobolds book for these, because I don't think goblins or kobolds are appropriate choices for PCs... but I don't get to make all the choices here at Paizo.
There WILL be options for kobold characers in this book, in any event, that help to bolster the fact that they're inherently less powerful characters...
...but frankly, isn't the fact that kobolds are scrappy underpowered creatures one of the things that fundamentally appeals? The fact that they're underdogs is a big part of their personality, and making them on equal footing to other races removes the core part of that. Making them less interesting.
Why do you think the bolded part? If you ask me, that's the mentality of someone from the 2nd edition era, before the Complete Book of Humanoids came out, an outdated state of mind invalid in our day and time of multi-racial campaigns. Also, to those who consider the baseline stats of a kobold to be a problem for them, ask the DM if you can roll stats instead of using point-buy. You get a better chance at decent stats with the former.
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Short question on the Cloud Castle of the Storm King major artifact. It belonged to a "legendary tyrant" known as the Storm King, and the Balor Lord Khorramzadeh in the Worldwound is known as the Storm King. Is there "some sort" of connection between the two? Are these two individuals one and the same? Or is it simply a coincidence that they have the same title?
No connection; this is just parallel design. Khorramzadeh has no cloud castles.
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Why do you think the bolded part? If you ask me, that's the mentality of someone from the 2nd edition era, before the Complete Book of Humanoids came out, an outdated state of mind invalid in our day and time of multi-racial campaigns. Also, to those who consider the baseline stats of a kobold to be a problem for them, ask the DM if you can roll stats instead of using point-buy. You get a better chance at decent stats with the former.
Because I'm something of a traditionalist when it comes to fantasy and prefer to have the players play human or near-human characters. It's more like the mentality of someone from the 1st edition era... or the mentality of someone who enjoys humanocentric fantasy fiction like Game of Thrones, Conan, Lord of the Rings, and so on.
Looking at how popular Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings are these days, I wouldn't say it's an "outdated" state of mind at all, and I'm trying not to be insulted by the idea.
Though you wouldn't go and say humanocentric is automatically better than non-humanocentric, right?
You're free to prefer the former, but that's subjective. Some people insist that it is objectively better, which is not true.
And don't get me wrong, I like Lord of the Rings. I also liked the Earthsea series back in the day, and that was humanocentric IIRC.
PS. I apologize if I came off as insulting. Then again, I have been insulted in the past for my preferences (both as player and DM), which wasn't exactly fair either.
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Though you wouldn't go and say humanocentric is automatically better than non-humanocentric, right?
You're free to prefer the former, but that's subjective. Some people insist that it is objectively better, which is not true.
And don't get me wrong, I like Lord of the Rings. I also liked the Earthsea series back in the day, and that was humanocentric IIRC.
PS. I apologize if I came off as insulting. Then again, I have been insulted in the past for my preferences (both as player and DM), which wasn't exactly fair either.
I wouldn't say that humanocentric is automatically better for you, but I would say it's automatically better for me.
And in fact, I do think it's objectively better, because being a human, I am more interested in relating to human or near-human characters in fiction who react to fantastic and outlandish developments and storylines. Having a humanocentric theme to a story allows the story to feel more fantastic, since you have a common baseline to share with the humans in the story.
Stories that aren't humanocetric are fundamentally less interesting to me.
I do realize and understand that this isn't the preference for everyone... but at the same time I'm the Creative Director of Paizo, and part of my job is to make those types of decisions for Golarion. That does therefore result in a campaign setting that isn't for everyone... but that's also fine. Pathfinder itself is a versatile enough system that folks can customize it however they want.
You do know that while you say they are objectively better, it's still just your opinion and thus merely a subjective claim in the end?
Again, I'm not denying you having a differing preference. What I do not accept is you claiming my preference is inferior to yours.
Did you mean that with this post of yours, or something else? Because right now, you're coming off as something of an elitist.
Also, I'm pretty sure some day you'll come across a non-humanocentric work that is better than a humanocentric one. It can happen.
Obviously IANJJ, but I believe his point is that, since all players are human, it is easier to roleplay as a human (or near-human) than as something fundamentally different (be it a dragon, goblin, kobold, or whatever), because we automatically understand something about them. That is the "objective" element. We can certainly try to put ourselves in the mindset of other races, but it is far easier, more intuitive, to play in a humans centric fashion.
And, as James says, since he's Creative Director, he gets to make that call. If you want to play something sufficiently far removed from humanity that you have little realistic chance of understanding the race on a psychological basis, that's up to you and your GM.
Funding Unspeakable Futures isn't a problem. I'm pretty sure I could get enough money to fund it by doing a Kickstarter for it. And I'm relatively sure I could even get Paizo to fund it if I really pushed hard.
The issue with Unspeakable Futures is that preparing it is a BIG DEAL; I've got about 90,000 words written for it, but that's only about half the total content I'd need to generate to make it be the product I want it to be. It's currently missing all the new monsters, all of the world content, and chunks of gameplay rules for the environment, all of which I simply ad-hoced or did impromptu during my games. And that doesn't even touch the editing, development, layout, art, printing, and all that—much of which I would also be involved with, since it's my own project and not something I'm doing for Paizo.
At this time, I do not have the time in my schedule to take on that level of responsibility. I probably WON'T until I either cut off all of the freelance work I'm doing for Paizo, or just up and move on to another job. At this point, neither of those options are really on the table in my mind, and so my work on Unspeakable Futures is limited to fits and starts where I can snatch free time and the creative energy to do so.
This would be why the material components were a ludicrous amount of fundage AND a time machine. Borrowing *A* James Jacobs to work on an Unspeakable Futures release shouldn't cause paradox, if we keep you from meeting yourself...
I can understand both side of the argument, I am human but I have little to no faith in humanity, and something I wish I was something else... hence why I want to play things not fully human (like lycanthrope), but we might more be exceptions than the rule.
But James also make a good point, it can be hard to empathize with non-human, he'll it is hard even with other humans.
Aside from Cadrilkasta, will you be releasing any more Big Fricking Dragon miniatures?I'm sure we will.
Would these include Fafnheir, Daralathyxl, and Astarathian? They definitely fall under the Big Fricking Dragon label.