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Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
What is going to be your favorite tale to tell after this years PaizoCon James?

Wes unleashing the horror and world-ending devastation of Shaq upon an unsuspecting delve.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

John Kretzer wrote:
So how did your Unspeakable Futures game go?

Quite well! It's always tough to squeeze in all the various elements of that game into one 5 hour session, but I think this one did the trick. The atom gun made a key appearance!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cojonuda wrote:

James,

Hi. Thanks for all your help!!!

When a wooden floor or ship's deck is on fire, the damage is 2d6/round on a failed safe.

1) The damage is always 2d6 regardless if 1 square or 20 squares caught fire?

2) Is this damage cumulative (spreading fire on a deck or floor)? Lets say first round 1 fire arrow ignited the wooden floor and next round 10 fire arrows ignited another section of the floor (10 new squares). Is it still 2d6 for all squares on fire?

Many thanks.

1) Always 2d6, regardless of size.

2) Still 2d6.


James Jacobs wrote:
Blackstorm wrote:
James, do you think you'll ever come in italy for lucca comics and games?
Perhaps! We generally send a few folks there. We'll see who gets to go next time!

Remind whoever is sent to watch out for nobles possessed by a filthy-tongued condottieri fore-father.


Being scried is rediculously easy to detect and/or avoid. Is this the role play intention? In other words is scry not ment to be used offensively but more of a method of keeping tabs on ones minions and allies?

If its a spell to be used with allies why is there no component to make it easier? (It takes an hour to cast, does not last long, there is no way for the target to determine who is casting it on him before chosing to resist or not.)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

emacleric wrote:

Hi James Jacobs!

I have a question about the supplement "Devine Favor: The Oracle". Do you support these rules? In particular, I like Grottesque curse for my new character. Do you support this curse?

Thank you

That's a third party product—it's not directly supported by us. I've not read it either, and so I don't have any additional input. But if it works for you, then by all means! Grotesque it up!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Cojonuda wrote:

On Council of Thieves (#30)The Twice-Damned Prince, a Bag of Holding can be used to put out fires. A Type-I extinguish 3x3 square area which translates roughly to 36 buckets of water (using AP #30 "conversions") = 72 gallons of water.

How long does it take to fill a BoH-I with water (36 buckets)? Filling a single bucket is a move action.

Also, how does water retrieving works? It is not a solid object. Is it a move, standard, full round action.

Thanks Jacobs.

PS: I checked the Twice-Damned Prince (GM Reference) forum with no luck.

I'd say that, depending on how you fill it, filling up a bag of holding with water is probably a full-round action if you hold it under a waterfall, or scoop it all up out of a pool, or simply open it underwater and swoop it through the water like you're catching butterflies in a net. Filling it with smaller amounts like a bucket at a time would take a lot longer.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cerberus Seven wrote:

Heya James, hope you had a good 4th of July and Paizocon. Questions:

1) That garden that's in the positive energy plane, the one that the Jyoti guard so viciously, I think it was stated in The Great Beyond that the flowers in it are for mortals who ascended to godhood. I'm curious: are the flowers ONLY for mortals, or would there be some for the likes of beings that started out as neither divine nor mortal? For example, Sarenrae, Lamashtu, Dagon, etc.

2a) Has it ever been stated in any of the published books or AP parts just what the Cipher-Gates along the coast of Varisia are for?
2b) Or how old they are?
2c) Or whether the runelords had much to do with them?

3a) What does Mhar look like? Most interested in just how large it is, as I keep imagining it as similar to the Cloverfield monster, but a LOT bigger. It sounds like it's supposed to be bigger than the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, but I may be reading too much into that. Measurements in units of Godzillometers earn bonus points.
3b) Should Mhar awaken, what sorts of little beasties would it summon or have riding around on it / inside it?
3c) Was Mhar in any way an homage to Lavos, from Chrono Trigger?
3d) When did the Denizens of Leng first become aware it was sleeping down there?
3e) I think the only Great Old One / Outer God that was described in Pathfinder material as in any way not very intelligent or mindless was Azathoth. Are there any others in the multi-verse that might be similarly powerful but mentally dim / completely dark?

1) Sarenrae and Lamashtu and their like were not mortals who ascended, and so they'd not have flowers to represent them. NOTE: There are more ascended mortals-to-gods in existence than just on Golarion!

2a) There's only one Cyphergate anywhere, and it's in Riddleport. It's original purpose is mostly revealed in the Second Darkness Adventure Path.

Spoiler:
It is a vast window through which, when it's activated, one can look through time into other ages and eras/

2b) The Cyphergate is well over 10,000 years old—it was built early in Thassilon, which fell 10,000 or so years ago but was founded a few thousand years further back than that.

2c) Yup. It was built by giants under runelord orders, and a runelord helped make it magic.

3a) Mhar is one of the several Great Old Ones described in Pathfinder #46's article about the Cults of the Dark Tapestry. It says: "Mhar's shape is unknown, for it technically has y et to enter existence. In images created by its cult, the Great Old One is generally depicted as a volcano-shaped leviathan, its caldera surrounded by immense molten fangs and its slopes bearing forests of crystalline limbs."

3b) Earth and fire elementals, anything associated with crystals and lava, and other strange outlandish monsters.

3c) Nope.

3d) A long, long time ago. Over 10,000 years ago, during the height of Karzoug's rule over the region.

3e) Azathoth is the only one who's mindless. Other ones may be completely alien to our way of thinking, but they do indeed think.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Karse wrote:

Wyroot (special material from Advanced Race Guide)

I guess the wording is a bit strange in an attempt to not making it too strong for Magus to have unlimited source of arcana pool or Monk/Ninja infinite Ki Pool, to keep the game balance. Magus could use a weapon and lower it critical up to 15-20 I believe, making it easy to make critical with Accurate Strike (Arcana that resolve all melee attacks into melee touch attacks)

I would like to know what is the intent or how it suppose to work this special material.

The weapons made of Wyroot never do any kind of damage or they dont do damage just on critical hits?

What is considered a melee weapon with a wooden haft?

Wyroot questions should be directed to the rules forums—this material was invented for the rulebooks but hasn't yet really been introduced into Golarion, and as such I've not really done much thought about it at all.

A melee weapon with a wooden haft would generally include all axes, picks, and polearms, along with maces and morning stars for the most part. Tridents and spears too.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

blue_the_wolf wrote:

Being scried is rediculously easy to detect and/or avoid. Is this the role play intention? In other words is scry not ment to be used offensively but more of a method of keeping tabs on ones minions and allies?

If its a spell to be used with allies why is there no component to make it easier? (It takes an hour to cast, does not last long, there is no way for the target to determine who is casting it on him before chosing to resist or not.)

Yes. We don't want scrying to be a fool-proof way to spy on targets, since that negates the value or use of actually sending spies (or PCs) behind enemy lines to do those kinds of missions. Scrying isn't intended to be something for skullduggery as much as it is just blatant observation.

Being able to observe things from super far distances is a potentially story-breaking element, and by making it expensive and long to cast, we minimize those elements.


How was your post Paizocon answering marathon?


James Jacobs wrote:
JMD031 wrote:
Can you give some cryptic hints as to what you had for breakfast today?

I can do better than that!

1) Skinny vanilla latte
2) Gouda/Bacon/Egg breakfast sandwich
3) Orange juice
4) Pancakes, although I barely made my way halfway through those before I gave up on them.

But I wanted a cryptic hint. :(

Dark Archive

Close Quarter Thrower and Point Blank Master both negate the AoO for ranged attacks while being threatened. CQT is used for thrown weapons, and PBM is for ranged weapons.

Slings and Halfling sling staffs are listed as thrown weapons in the Fighter's weapon training class ability.

Which feat should be used, or are both feats valid options?

Grand Lodge

so now that pazio con is over will we get the mod that was run there call "We Be Goblins: Crash and Burn"

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Belle Mythix wrote:

How was your post Paizocon answering marathon?

Not bad!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

JMD031 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
JMD031 wrote:
Can you give some cryptic hints as to what you had for breakfast today?

I can do better than that!

1) Skinny vanilla latte
2) Gouda/Bacon/Egg breakfast sandwich
3) Orange juice
4) Pancakes, although I barely made my way halfway through those before I gave up on them.

But I wanted a cryptic hint. :(

OH! Sorry. Here ya go:

Drink buzz/Eat/Drink sweet/Eat full

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Quintin DeLur wrote:

Close Quarter Thrower and Point Blank Master both negate the AoO for ranged attacks while being threatened. CQT is used for thrown weapons, and PBM is for ranged weapons.

Slings and Halfling sling staffs are listed as thrown weapons in the Fighter's weapon training class ability.

Which feat should be used, or are both feats valid options?

Since they're listed as thrown weapons, go with Close Quarter Thrower.

The Exchange

James Jacobs wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
So how did your Unspeakable Futures game go?
Quite well! It's always tough to squeeze in all the various elements of that game into one 5 hour session, but I think this one did the trick. The atom gun made a key appearance!

This has my vote. I was lucky enough to be in that delve! haha. Great memory from the best Paizo Con yet.


Hey James, lets say that you let ur players reach the biggest city(metropolis)in ur adventure at level 12, how hard would it be to find a Potion of Stoneskin made by a Summoner(the only class that can make it)? Would you make it nearly impossible to get? or just has easy has any level 3 potion in the market?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Jose Suarez 916 wrote:
Hey James, lets say that you let ur players reach the biggest city(metropolis)in ur adventure at level 12, how hard would it be to find a Potion of Stoneskin made by a Summoner(the only class that can make it)? Would you make it nearly impossible to get? or just has easy has any level 3 potion in the market?

Please spell out "your" instead of "ur." Makes it hard to read when you do that.

I don't allow summoners in my game, for a few reasons. One of those is that their spell list breaks rules I prefer not to be broken.


A couple of questions (also, I hope PaizoCon went well for you in all areas!), some following on from my Runelord and Thassilon questns and some new ones:

1) You mentioned that the Weapons of Rule slipped into evil from the influence of the Runelords. Could the influence of a non-evil user drag them back towards Neutral or even into Good, over time? Or would you say that the centuries of Runelord usage are too much for any one person to break?

2) Could exceptionally powerful magic, like Wish or Miracle, do the trick? Even Mythic-variants of those spells, if they're getting a Mythic boost?

3) Xanderghul's is a lucerne hammer. Was there a particular reason you decided on a hammer to represent him and his Weapon?

4) And now for something completely different... Reincarnate. If you have somebody cast it and reincarnate you into a human, can your ethnicity change, do you think, such as from Taldan/Chelaxian to Garundi?

5) Does a non-human have a randomised choice of ethnicities to reincarnate into as well?

6) What would be your reaction to the potential for a reincarnation turning the subject into an Azlanti human? Possible if slim, just as much as any other (as in, doing up a second supplementary table to determine ethnicity), or outright impossible?

7) Could a wish or miracle be used to forcibly return a reincarnated individual to their original form? Or do they have the option to reject it and "accept" their new body in some fashion?


Alleran wrote:
4) And now for something completely different... Reincarnate. If you have somebody cast it and reincarnate you into a human, can your ethnicity change, do you think, such as from Taldan/Chelaxian to Garundi?

IANJ and don't presume to answer for official Golarion canon, but I'll point out that, if you chose to do something like this in your game, the randomized Race and Ethnicity table in the front cover of Quests and Campaigns is perfect for it. Don't believe Azlanti's on there, though.

EDIT: Actually, now that I look at it, a roll of 99-100 results in "visible traces of Azlanti blood and at least one other (roll again)."

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alleran wrote:

1) You mentioned that the Weapons of Rule slipped into evil from the influence of the Runelords. Could the influence of a non-evil user drag them back towards Neutral or even into Good, over time? Or would you say that the centuries of Runelord usage are too much for any one person to break?

2) Could exceptionally powerful magic, like Wish or Miracle, do the trick? Even Mythic-variants of those spells, if they're getting a Mythic boost?

3) Xanderghul's is a lucerne hammer. Was there a particular reason you decided on a hammer to represent him and his Weapon?

4) And now for something completely different... Reincarnate. If you have somebody cast it and reincarnate you into a human, can your ethnicity change, do you think, such as from Taldan/Chelaxian to Garundi?

5) Does a non-human have a randomised choice of ethnicities to reincarnate into as well?

6) What would be your reaction to the potential for a reincarnation turning the subject into an Azlanti human? Possible if slim, just as much as any other (as in, doing up a second supplementary table to determine ethnicity), or outright impossible?

7) Could a wish or miracle be used to forcibly return a reincarnated individual to their original form? Or do they have the option to reject it and "accept" their new body in some fashion?

1) Sure! In fact, the redemption of evil weapons/magic items is one of the themes in Wrath of the Righteous, so there's something coming up that'll have some rules for this type of thing.

2) Yup. Wouldn't take a mythic wish either.

3) Nostalgia, and because my character Chuko from Jason's old Eberron game wielded one, so I wanted to have one of them be in there.

4) Sure!

5) Sure!

6) I would say not possible, under the theory that reincarnate creates a body drawn from the region's living societies. By the same extension, casting the spell in the Inner Sea region wouldn't normally let you come back as a wayang, and casting it in Tian Xia wouldn't normally let you come back as a gnome.

7) Sure!

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

So...how did the lucerne hammer get its name on Golarion if there isn't a Lucerne for them to be named after like the real-world ones, which are named after where they were found in Switzerland?


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James Jacobs wrote:


They'd probably be laughed out of town.

Remember, the primary reason we said "prophecy is dead" is that we find the whole "Prophesied hero" story element to be too tired and cliche to do much with of interest. And on top of that, players are already pretty good about doing what the GM doesn't expect—prophecy simply doesn't work well at all in a tabletop RPG.

And, I am getting rather tired of it in Fantasy Fiction (which I read a LOT of). If there is a Prophecy it always is true (even if misunderstood). Just once, I'd like to read a book where a crone utters a creepy prophecy , and have it not come true, whereupon someone asks "Hey, but that Prophecy..." and someone else say "Oh her? Yeah, she's always muttering on like that, and never been right yet."


Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
So...how did the lucerne hammer get its name on Golarion if there isn't a Lucerne for them to be named after like the real-world ones, which are named after where they were found in Switzerland?

You know, someone asked my DM about something like that in his home-brew and he said "Oh well, the actual term is N'tark-flarg" but everything is translated into English, of course! ;-)


Just to follow up for clarification on the last question, do you mean that yes, the reincarnated character can be forcibly returned to their old form against their will, or yes, they can choose to accept their new form so miracle or wish won't return them to their old form?

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
What is going to be your favorite tale to tell after this years PaizoCon James?
Wes unleashing the horror and world-ending devastation of Shaq upon an unsuspecting delve.

Is this tale going to get its own thread? :D

Also, super-excited about Mummy's Mask!(and also still Wrath of the Righteous, just can't read that one!)


I appologize if this has been asked before or if it's some source material out there I missed or haven't gotten to yet. I was curious about how White Witches age. From the artwork of the high ranking ones that rule the country they appear to be youthful even if one would think many of them are old by human standards. Elvanna is well over a hundred years and I would think it likely that most of the others are quite old also.

Is that an effect of Baba Yaga's magic, a magical property of being a White Witch, an illusion they put up, powerful spells they cast on themselves, because they aren't technically human, or something else?

If there is some effect that keeps them from aging how many people does it affect, just the queen, the queen and her close relatives, or all White Witches?


I had a question about Kaoling in Tian Xia, is there supposed to be a non-Goblinoid/Human peasant class or other residents, after it was conquered by the Hobgoblins? It doesn't seem like there is any Human language associated with it, unlike the Oni's domain, but I'm not sure what the Hobgoblins are really doing with it, or why they would want to conquer it (or keep it) if not for exacting feudal tribute and cheap labor. What ethnicity/language would it's former/current residents have spoken, it was supposed to have comprised several kingdoms of Lung Wa previously, but I'm not sure what ethnicitys/races...???


Hey James of all the 22 Classes (including alternate) which of them you do not allow in your campaigns and why?


James when the cavalier charges(on top of his mount), can the mount attack has part of the charge attack has well?


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I was discussing some Golarion cosmology with a friend, and wound up with some questions I'd throw your way...

1) Do souls themselves have a leaning towards a particular alignment when they are first produced? My personal interpretation was that everyone gets a soul that doesn't inherently have a particular bias towards an alignment, perhaps equal representation for either, but it develops one during an individual's life based on the instincts of their body, the culture they grow up in, the experiences they go through, and perhaps even via supernatural taint (like tieflings and dhampir might have some evil tendencies due to having a physical body with enough aligned planar substance in it to influence the development of that body, same with aasimar, etc.), but he said he thought that souls did have an inherent bias towards alignments and thus went to appropriate races for the most part. Thoughts or comments there?

2) I seem to recall that souls are somewhat mysterious to even the gods, a secret tied to the positive energy plane, though I'm sure some gods (and other entities) have performed many experiments in regards to them...is this accurate? And which gods (and other entities) would you say know the most about souls, if it is?

3) Did the gods set up the system where souls become petitioners, or is that an inherent part of the soul's 'life cycle' as it were, unless something purposefully messes with it?

4) Rakshasas seem to form naturally under the right circumstances, why is it that they all seem to believe in a caste system, then, if they don't have the same origins? Are new rakshasas instructed or indoctrinated by older rakshasas who teach them their place as they understand it due to some sort of evolved rakshasa philosophy? Or is it more spiritual than that? Or something else altogether? At least, I'm presuming rakshasas form all over if the conditions are met, as opposed to all being Vudrans for some reason, though if that's an incorrect assumption, please let me know?

5) Relatedly, does a newly formed rakshasa immediately hijack an unborn child's development, or is that something that happens after it dies as a rakshasa?

6) How do rakshasas and samsarans view each other?

7) For outsiders, it says that "An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane", and that "Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature — its soul and body form one unit". Do qlippoths and proteans have souls, then? I would have presumed that they predated the existence of souled life, as well as likely the Plane of Positive Energy itself...or are what qlippoths and proteans are the original form of what souls were prior to their current state of existence? Proto-souls or ur-souls, as it were, before all this mortal rubbish came into existence and souls were divorced from planar material?

8) Or...are they? F. Wesley Schneider said that a lot of souls actually wind up being absorbed into the plane they are destined to go to afterwards in one way or another. Are souls actually made up of the building stuff of the planes, temporarily housed in mortal shells? Or do planes just convert them into planar material in some capacity (likely aided by the alignment similarities of the souls being processed)?

9) Are all souls, when they first exit the Plane of Positive Energy, equal, or are some inherently more potent than others, or do they all start out the same and grow in potency as the mortal becomes more powerful (or, at least I presume that's why detect chaos/evil/good/law only works on people of a certain level)?

10) The tale of Asmodeus and Ihys in Princes of Darkness (though of course that tale is likely twisted and distorted) makes me think of the gods as massive conglomerations of souls that absorbed many other souls before they had a chance to ever be a distinct identity, as well as to a lesser extent some of the other outsiders (Saranrae before her ascension, etc.)...would that be accurate? And would speculations that the Starstone absorbed all the souls of everyone who died when it struck that have since been regurgitated into blank slates that can empower the soul of a mortal to become that of a god be a potential explanation you would view as plausible, though not necessarily canonically true?

And yes, I'm sure the answer to a lot of these are just going to be "Ain't sayin'!"


Glutton wrote:
of late I've been playing an Orc Antipaladin in a side game once a month and I have noticed a disturbing trend. In supplement books that are not hardcover, there are almost no antipaladin spells.

FYI, next Deep Magic stretch goal: Doom Magic of the Anti-Paladins.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
So...how did the lucerne hammer get its name on Golarion if there isn't a Lucerne for them to be named after like the real-world ones, which are named after where they were found in Switzerland?

If we ever stat them up in print, we'll probably adjust the name. Or maybe not. The weapon's not really hammer, after all, so it's already kinda weirdly named.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alleran wrote:
Just to follow up for clarification on the last question, do you mean that yes, the reincarnated character can be forcibly returned to their old form against their will, or yes, they can choose to accept their new form so miracle or wish won't return them to their old form?

Any time an effect forces something to happen to a PC against their will, they should get a saving throw, first off. Even if the effect is fueled by a wish or miracle.

But forcing someone out of a reincarnated form back into their original isn't all that different than polymorph any object.

Yes, that's something a wish or a miracle could do, and yes, the PC gets a saving throw to resist it. They can choose to auto-fail that save if they want.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Drock11 wrote:

I appologize if this has been asked before or if it's some source material out there I missed or haven't gotten to yet. I was curious about how White Witches age. From the artwork of the high ranking ones that rule the country they appear to be youthful even if one would think many of them are old by human standards. Elvanna is well over a hundred years and I would think it likely that most of the others are quite old also.

Is that an effect of Baba Yaga's magic, a magical property of being a White Witch, an illusion they put up, powerful spells they cast on themselves, because they aren't technically human, or something else?

If there is some effect that keeps them from aging how many people does it affect, just the queen, the queen and her close relatives, or all White Witches?

We've got an entire Adventure Path about that. Short answer: Magic keeps them looking young. Even shorter answer: This is a Rob Question.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Karse wrote:
Hey James of all the 22 Classes (including alternate) which of them you do not allow in your campaigns and why?

All of them except for summoners. I don't allow summoners because:

Spoiler:

1) I don't like how the eidolon mechanic lets players usurp the GM's control over what types of creatures can exist in the world the GM is running.

2) I don't like how the summoner takes so long for his turn to resolve in combat—eidolons are so much more complex than animal companions that they are harder to run.

3) I don't like how the summoner doesn't really have any ties to the existing multiverse of Golarion.

4) I don't like how the summoner gets access to numerous spells at lower spell level than those spells should be made available at.

5) I don't like how complicated the class is—it's really tough for anyone to get right and far too open to rules abuse (intentionally or accidentally).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jose Suarez 916 wrote:
James when the cavalier charges(on top of his mount), can the mount attack has part of the charge attack has well?

I would allow this in my game... but since mounted combat is a part of the game that's got a fair amount of weird rules interactions and easily misunderstood or awkwardly presented rules, I'm gonna say that you should probably ask this question on the rules forums.

I just have a nagging suspicion that even the amount I've said in response to this question is gonna cause teeth gnashing.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Luthorne wrote:

I was discussing some Golarion cosmology with a friend, and wound up with some questions I'd throw your way...

Spoiler:

1) Do souls themselves have a leaning towards a particular alignment when they are first produced? My personal interpretation was that everyone gets a soul that doesn't inherently have a particular bias towards an alignment, perhaps equal representation for either, but it develops one during an individual's life based on the instincts of their body, the culture they grow up in, the experiences they go through, and perhaps even via supernatural taint (like tieflings and dhampir might have some evil tendencies due to having a physical body with enough aligned planar substance in it to influence the development of that body, same with aasimar, etc.), but he said he thought that souls did have an inherent bias towards alignments and thus went to appropriate races for the most part. Thoughts or comments there?

2) I seem to recall that souls are somewhat mysterious to even the gods, a secret tied to the positive energy plane, though I'm sure some gods (and other entities) have performed many experiments in regards to them...is this accurate? And which gods (and other entities) would you say know the most about souls, if it is?

3) Did the gods set up the system where souls become petitioners, or is that an inherent part of the soul's 'life cycle' as it were, unless something purposefully messes with it?

4) Rakshasas seem to form naturally under the right circumstances, why is it that they all seem to believe in a caste system, then, if they don't have the same origins? Are new rakshasas instructed or indoctrinated by older rakshasas who teach them their place as they understand it due to some sort of evolved rakshasa philosophy? Or is it more spiritual than that? Or something else altogether? At least, I'm presuming rakshasas form all over if the conditions are met, as opposed to all being Vudrans for some reason, though if that's an incorrect assumption, please let me know?

5) Relatedly, does a newly formed rakshasa immediately hijack an unborn child's development, or is that something that happens after it dies as a rakshasa?

6) How do rakshasas and samsarans view each other?

7) For outsiders, it says that "An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane", and that "Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature — its soul and body form one unit". Do qlippoths and proteans have souls, then? I would have presumed that they predated the existence of souled life, as well as likely the Plane of Positive Energy itself...or are what qlippoths and proteans are the original form of what souls were prior to their current state of existence? Proto-souls or ur-souls, as it were, before all this mortal rubbish came into existence and souls were divorced from planar material?

8) Or...are they? F. Wesley Schneider said that a lot of souls actually wind up being absorbed into the plane they are destined to go to afterwards in one way or another. Are souls actually made up of the building stuff of the planes, temporarily housed in mortal shells? Or do planes just convert them into planar material in some capacity (likely aided by the alignment similarities of the souls being processed)?

9) Are all souls, when they first exit the Plane of Positive Energy, equal, or are some inherently more potent than others, or do they all start out the same and grow in potency as the mortal becomes more powerful (or, at least I presume that's why detect chaos/evil/good/law only works on people of a certain level)?

10) The tale of Asmodeus and Ihys in Princes of Darkness (though of course that tale is likely twisted and distorted) makes me think of the gods as massive conglomerations of souls that absorbed many other souls before they had a chance to ever be a distinct identity, as well as to a lesser extent some of the other outsiders (Saranrae before her ascension, etc.)...would that be accurate? And would speculations that the Starstone absorbed all the souls of everyone who died when it struck that have since been regurgitated into blank slates that can empower the soul of a mortal to become that of a god be a potential explanation you would view as plausible, though not necessarily canonically true?

And yes, I'm sure the answer to a lot of these are just going to be "Ain't sayin'!"

Holy wall of text!

When you have this many questions, and when each question is a mini-wall of text of its own, please either trim your questions down or post each one as separate posts. When I answer these threads, I like to be able to reference the question in the same text window I'm answering in—i can read the question and type the answer at the same time in this case. When you make such giant posts... it takes me a lot longer to reply since I have to scroll back and forth.

1) Souls do not have predetermined alignments.

2) All sorts of creatures, from mortals up to gods, have performed investigations and experiments on souls, but they are indeed mysterious. By design.

3) Unrevealed.

4) We've talked a bit more about rakshasas in Pathfinder #9, but they're lawful outsiders and as such tend to naturally self-organize into a hierarchy type setup.

5) Unrevealed, as far as I know.

6) They do not like each other. Samsarans are usually good, after all, and rakshasas are pretty much always evil.

7) All outsiders have this dual nature, with body and soul being one. That includes qlippoth and proteans. Nothing living predates the existence of souls. Plenty predates the existence of mortal life, though.

8) Planes convert them into planar material in this case. Usually after this soul energy has done its whole "Born/live/die as a mortal, get judged, become a petitioner, become an outsider, die as an outsider" cycle. In a way, you can think of the whole "life cycle" of a soul as preparation for the creation of outer planar material, I suppose.

9) Some are more powerful than others, although there's not really any mechanic to measure that power. A soul that ends up being a 1st level commoner and dies and then becomes a petitioner that never ascends to an outsider is MUCH weaker than one that ends up being a mighty hero or villain.

10) Unrevealed. A LOT of the "what are souls" questions you're asking are things that underlie the fundamental philosophies of how things exist in the multiverse, and I'd rather not pin down that stuff with a lot of definitions since once you define something, you limit its uses in a story.


James Jacobs wrote:
Jose Suarez 916 wrote:
James when the cavalier charges(on top of his mount), can the mount attack has part of the charge attack has well?

I would allow this in my game... but since mounted combat is a part of the game that's got a fair amount of weird rules interactions and easily misunderstood or awkwardly presented rules, I'm gonna say that you should probably ask this question on the rules forums.

I just have a nagging suspicion that even the amount I've said in response to this question is gonna cause teeth gnashing.

So, Sean actually had a post about that sort of thing, in relation to, of course, AM BARBARIAN. In the post, he said that it was the mount that was charging, which means that the mount has to make an attack on a mounted charge. Unless the GM allows the whole silliness around charging and not attacking.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cheapy wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Jose Suarez 916 wrote:
James when the cavalier charges(on top of his mount), can the mount attack has part of the charge attack has well?

I would allow this in my game... but since mounted combat is a part of the game that's got a fair amount of weird rules interactions and easily misunderstood or awkwardly presented rules, I'm gonna say that you should probably ask this question on the rules forums.

I just have a nagging suspicion that even the amount I've said in response to this question is gonna cause teeth gnashing.

So, Sean actually had a post about that sort of thing, in relation to, of course, AM BARBARIAN. In the post, he said that it was the mount that was charging, which means that the mount has to make an attack on a mounted charge. Unless the GM allows the whole silliness around charging and not attacking.

The whole point of a charge is that you move and attack. If you don't move and attack, that's not a charge. It's two moves.


Yea, and that's sort of why I think it's silly for the mount to be the one charging, as opposed to the rider charging and using the mount to move :)

Jose, the post is here.

I'm not sure if I saw your response last night, but are there lightning elementals in the Osirion desert? Or is it all just fire elementals? I seem to recall someone saying there weren't any water or ice elementals.

Silver Crusade

Hi James!

I recently picked up Lovecraft for the first time, after enthusiastic recommendation from my fellow-players while we got squashed in "Carrion Hill." I've read "The Call of Cthulu" and "The Dunwich Horror." What should I read next?

Thanks!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cheapy wrote:

Yea, and that's sort of why I think it's silly for the mount to be the one charging, as opposed to the rider charging and using the mount to move :)

Jose, the post is here.

I'm not sure if I saw your response last night, but are there lightning elementals in the Osirion desert? Or is it all just fire elementals? I seem to recall someone saying there weren't any water or ice elementals.

There's all sorts of elementals in the Osirion desert. Including water elementals in some of the oasises. Ice elementals are probably the only ones not there... and even then, a magical frozen area could have them.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Joe M. wrote:

Hi James!

I recently picked up Lovecraft for the first time, after enthusiastic recommendation from my fellow-players while we got squashed in "Carrion Hill." I've read "The Call of Cthulu" and "The Dunwich Horror." What should I read next?

Thanks!

Yay!

Beyond those two stories, my top 10 would probably be:

At the Mountains of Madness
The Colour Out of Space
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Haunter of the Dark
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Shadow out of Time
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
Dreams in the Witch House


DrDeth wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:


They'd probably be laughed out of town.

Remember, the primary reason we said "prophecy is dead" is that we find the whole "Prophesied hero" story element to be too tired and cliche to do much with of interest. And on top of that, players are already pretty good about doing what the GM doesn't expect—prophecy simply doesn't work well at all in a tabletop RPG.

And, I am getting rather tired of it in Fantasy Fiction (which I read a LOT of). If there is a Prophecy it always is true (even if misunderstood). Just once, I'd like to read a book where a crone utters a creepy prophecy , and have it not come true, whereupon someone asks "Hey, but that Prophecy..." and someone else say "Oh her? Yeah, she's always muttering on like that, and never been right yet."

Read "Darkness Weaves" by Karl Edward Wagner.

For that matter, read ANYTHING by Karl Edward Wagner.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ah, sorry. I guess I just got a little too excited with my furious speculation. Have some simpler questions.

1) Do you think elves would get annoyed at the existence of malenti sahuagin?

2) Do you think that the dwarves abandoning many of their holdings underground allowed the first drow to expand into the sudden power void, or are those events unrelated?

3) What are your three favorite empyreal lords, and why?

4) I can't help but notice dwarves have a ton of racial weapons, while other races have almost none. Off the cuff, what kind of exotic weapons would you envision to be elven? Some kind of bow? Something else?

5) Do you think a child who wandered into the First World could survive to reach adulthood? Even if they were an elf?

6) Why do elves take so long to reach adulthood anyways?

7) Why are elves so much longer lived than any of the other core races?

8) Of the elven deities, which is your favorite, and why?

9) What demon would you be most tempted to use as the progenitor/component in the creation of a half-fiend tyrannosaurus, and how would you try to reflect that demonic aspect in its appearance and behavior?

10) Does Asmodeus drink his tea with his pinky extended like a gentleman?

The Exchange

Hey there!

If you could have consul while designing the plot of "Wrath of the righteous" from any author, who would that be?

for example, had I asked about Carrion Crown an answer could be "I would have liked Lovecraft to help me design the plot of Carrion Crown". So who is it for Wrath of the Righteous? I guess this is a little like asking where does your inspiration come from when designing the plot of this AP.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Luthorne wrote:

Ah, sorry. I guess I just got a little too excited with my furious speculation. Have some simpler questions.

1) Do you think elves would get annoyed at the existence of malenti sahuagin?

2) Do you think that the dwarves abandoning many of their holdings underground allowed the first drow to expand into the sudden power void, or are those events unrelated?

3) What are your three favorite empyreal lords, and why?

4) I can't help but notice dwarves have a ton of racial weapons, while other races have almost none. Off the cuff, what kind of exotic weapons would you envision to be elven? Some kind of bow? Something else?

5) Do you think a child who wandered into the First World could survive to reach adulthood? Even if they were an elf?

6) Why do elves take so long to reach adulthood anyways?

7) Why are elves so much longer lived than any of the other core races?

8) Of the elven deities, which is your favorite, and why?

9) What demon would you be most tempted to use as the progenitor/component in the creation of a half-fiend tyrannosaurus, and how would you try to reflect that demonic aspect in its appearance and behavior?

10) Does Asmodeus drink his tea with his pinky extended like a gentleman?

1) Probably.

2) Unrelated. The power void left by the dwarves was more or less filled by duergar.

3) Ashava, because I invented her and she personifies what it's like to be a Varisian living on the Lost Coast.
Black Butterfly, because she's so closely tied to Desna.
Pulura, because she's gothy and morose and tied in to Sarkoris/the Worldwound.

4) Elven weapons should rely on Dex to hit. Ranged weapons or Weapon Finessable weapons.

5) Yes.

6) Because that's the way it's always been, since Tolkien. Tolkien likely had his own reasons, but they're copyrighted and we can't use them. My take—it's just one of the ways they're so different than humans. They have stronger lives, and therefore live longer. I also think they're pretty much in their late adolescence for most of their early lives—aka, they don't stay babies or toddlers or young children for all that long.

7) Tradition, really. And because of Tolkien's influence.

8) Calistria, because she's got a cool combo of danger and whimsy and sexuality.

9) A balor, because the concept of a burning T-rex who can bite of heads is... strong.

10) Nope.

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