JJ, there's an interesting thread over in General discussions:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2py7t&page=last?Why-is-there-death-in-pathf inderIt brings up a side question however- what sort of levels are normal people in Golarion? I mean, I guess the NPC codex has examples like a 6th level commoner shopkeeper, but is he an extreme or normal example?
What % are adventuring classes?
How about spellcasters, including the Adept?
This is covered on page 253 of the Inner Sea World Guide. The vast majority are levels 1-5. Most of a nation's movers and shakers and notables are levels 6–10 (very few NPC classes here, and most of those multiclass into PC classes). Levels 11–15 are quite rare; only a handful of these folks are in most nations and they're specially trained or famous NPCs. Characters of 16th-20th level should be exceptionally rare, appearing pretty much only as part of a specific campaign.
Of course, these numbers skew strangely for adventures, since we need higher level foes for higher level PCs. But adventures are an exception to the general guidelines.
As for percentages... I'm not gonna nail that down, since I prefer for the purposes of designing adventures and regions to have more freedom to change those percentages as needed. There's more non-spellcasters than spellcasters though... and there's FAR more non-adventurers than adventurers. Adepts are pretty uncommon, and are the least populous of the spellcasting classes with the exception of the summoner.
Hidden power/leaders/ace-up-a-sleeve, power "behind the throne", etc?
I'd really rather you didn't.Awwwwww :( :(, ima gona ask it in the rules question forums and ''FAQ IT''!!!!!!!James how much money a creative director like yourself can earn in a year?Congratulations! One of the first questions asked on the thread I'm not going to answer!
I was just joking, I would never do that :p.
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Nothing happened. Balazar is from Nex, and that's Erik's pet country, and so we all want Erik to write Balazar's entry, but Erik's one of the busiest people at Paizo, so it's taking a long, long time.You all seem to have your collections of pet countries. Is there a breakdown somewhere of which designer specializes in which areas?
Not in print.
Me: Varisia, Kyonin, Mediogalti, Abyss, various other parts of the world
Wes: Ustalav, Varisia, Hellknights, Hell
Sutter: Varisia, First World, Hermea, Kaer Maga
Jason: Razmiran
Erik: Nex, Geb
As examples.
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James,
About Carrion Crown 2 - Trial of the Beast, do you think this version of Frankenstein would be a great piece of inspirational material?
;)
Haven't seen it but Danny Boyle is brilliant, so...s
I wasn't involved in the design or development of that spell, but it absolutely soudns to me like not giving it to the bard was a blunder. I'd let bards in my game learn the spell.Hi! I have a question about a spell in the Advanced Race Guide.
"Ancestral Regression," which allows drow to magically disguise themselves and other drow as elves, is one of the drow racial spells. It's available to many spell-casting classes but not to bards. I was wondering whether this was an oversight or deliberate? It seems like an oversight to me: it seems like a theme-appropriate spell for bards, bards get similar spells like "Disguise Self", "Alter Self", and "Unknowable Alignment", and it seems a natural spell for drow spying on the surface world, and bards a natural class for drow spying on the surface world. Or am I missing something?
Maybe whomever designed the spell didn't like the concept of drow bards? That's not a particularly good argument, but it could be some justification.
Hi James,
Follow up to an earlier post(s)
1) By the "new ARG races" are you referring to the creatures like the Troxx, Wyvaran, etc?
2) Also, since the Fetchling entry references the Nihiloi, any chance of them getting in Bestiary 4?
3) While we are on the Shadow Plane, what would be the equivalent, at least in power level, to the Eldest of the First World? Do the Kyton Demagogues fill that niche? Something else? Or nothing really equivalent?
My strong reccomendation is that you do NOT see it in 3D. As with pretty much every single 3D movie I've seen, with the exception of Avatar, the 3D detracts from the movie. It makes it more difficult to watch. It makes the movie look all muddy and dark. And when you have a movie like Pacific Rim, where a lot of the scenes take place at night or in other dark areas, putting a pair of glasses on that make things even darker is laaaaame.Also, there's too much of ILM's overcomplication of special effects going on. It's not nearly as bad as in the Transformers movies, where it's almost impossible to figure out what's going on in the special effects sequences, but it's pretty hard to know what you're looking at in a lot of the fight scenes. And the 3D makes that even worse.
3D sucks.
!
Right- Avatar is the only film I can unhesitatingly suggest 3D in, and also it worked in How to Train your Dragon. But that's about it.
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Creative Director
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Maybe whomever designed the spell didn't like the concept of drow bards? That's not a particularly good argument, but it could be some justification.I wasn't involved in the design or development of that spell, but it absolutely soudns to me like not giving it to the bard was a blunder. I'd let bards in my game learn the spell.Hi! I have a question about a spell in the Advanced Race Guide.
"Ancestral Regression," which allows drow to magically disguise themselves and other drow as elves, is one of the drow racial spells. It's available to many spell-casting classes but not to bards. I was wondering whether this was an oversight or deliberate? It seems like an oversight to me: it seems like a theme-appropriate spell for bards, bards get similar spells like "Disguise Self", "Alter Self", and "Unknowable Alignment", and it seems a natural spell for drow spying on the surface world, and bards a natural class for drow spying on the surface world. Or am I missing something?
I'm 99.9999% sure that's not the reason. It's an oversight is all.
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Followup question. Does anyone specific have Nidal and/or Galt as a pet region?Not in print.
Me: Varisia, Kyonin, Mediogalti, Abyss, various other parts of the world
Wes: Ustalav, Varisia, Hellknights, Hell
Sutter: Varisia, First World, Hermea, Kaer Maga
Jason: Razmiran
Erik: Nex, GebAs examples.
Wes is fond of Nidal and Erik is fond of Galt, but they're not really pet nations.
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Hi James,
Follow up to an earlier post(s)
1) By the "new ARG races" are you referring to the creatures like the Troxx, Wyvaran, etc?
2) Also, since the Fetchling entry references the Nihiloi, any chance of them getting in Bestiary 4?
3) While we are on the Shadow Plane, what would be the equivalent, at least in power level, to the Eldest of the First World? Do the Kyton Demagogues fill that niche? Something else? Or nothing really equivalent?
1) Yes.
2) Nope.
3) Kyton Demagogues are certainly demigods and count; they're the best choice for the role.
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Creative Director
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Right- Avatar is the only film I can unhesitatingly suggest 3D in, and also it worked in How to Train your Dragon. But that's about it.
My strong reccomendation is that you do NOT see it in 3D. As with pretty much every single 3D movie I've seen, with the exception of Avatar, the 3D detracts from the movie. It makes it more difficult to watch. It makes the movie look all muddy and dark. And when you have a movie like Pacific Rim, where a lot of the scenes take place at night or in other dark areas, putting a pair of glasses on that make things even darker is laaaaame.Also, there's too much of ILM's overcomplication of special effects going on. It's not nearly as bad as in the Transformers movies, where it's almost impossible to figure out what's going on in the special effects sequences, but it's pretty hard to know what you're looking at in a lot of the fight scenes. And the 3D makes that even worse.
3D sucks.
!
Only other 2 movies I've seen that are actually well-done and enhanced by 3D were "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and "Hugo."
1)Well what are the odds of Androids, Lashunta, Triaxians, Syrinx, Ghorans, and Monkey Goblins getting into a hardcover bestiary one day?
2)What did you think of the movie "Hugo"?
3)Will information like home plane/realm, subdomains, and sacred animals be included for the Deities in the Inner sea Gods book?
4)What other movies have you seen lately?
5)What movies have you seen in the theatre this year?
6)Will we ever see all of Rovagug's spawn stated up and in the same book?
7)Will the Inner Sea Gods book have stats for monsters other then the Heralds?
8)Will any of the races from the Advanced Race Book or Dragon Empire book get new art in the Bestiary 4?
9)Do you have a favorite Kaiju from Pacific Rim?
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1)Well what are the odds of Androids, Lashunta, Triaxians, Syrinx, Ghorans, and Monkey Goblins getting into a hardcover bestiary one day?
2)What did you think of the movie "Hugo"?
3)Will information like home plane/realm, subdomains, and sacred animals be included for the Deities in the Inner sea Gods book?
4)What other movies have you seen lately?
5)What movies have you seen in the theatre this year?
6)Will we ever see all of Rovagug's spawn stated up and in the same book?
7)Will the Inner Sea Gods book have stats for monsters other then the Heralds?
8)Will any of the races from the Advanced Race Book or Dragon Empire book get new art in the Bestiary 4?
9)Do you have a favorite Kaiju from Pacific Rim?
1) Very slim, since those creatures were designed specifically for Golarion in mind, which is why they're in a Campaign Setting book and not a world-neutral book.
2) Loved it!
3) I hope so!
4) Just saw "Cloud Atlas" last night. BRILLIANT movie. Very good!
5) Quite a few. My favorite of the year so far has been Evil Dead. Alas, there's been an unusually large number of disappointments for me in theaters this year, betwen Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, and as much as it pains me to say, Pacific Rim.
6) In the same book? Probably not. All of their stats? We're pretty close already...
7) Yes.
8) Some of them, but not all.
9) While the movie was dark and then made even murkier by the dang 3D glasses, and I wasn't able to make out as much detail as I'd hoped... my favorite was probably the...
If you could change up to 5 things about Golarion, what would they be?
Maybe whomever designed the spell didn't like the concept of drow bards? That's not a particularly good argument, but it could be some justification.I'm 99.9999% sure that's not the reason. It's an oversight is all.
Thank you both for your replies - oversight makes sense. The spell can already be taken by 6 classes, so it's easy to see the writer deciding it was time to move on. I wanted an outside opinion because "drow agent in the surface world" is the concept of the PC I'm currently working on so I didn't trust myself to judge its balance, and according to the search function no one's talked about this before.
Re: the concept of drow bards, earlier in the flavor text for Drow in Adv. Race Guide it says "Female drow typically assume classes that lend themselves to leadership, such as bards and especially clerics." (p. 102, "Adventurers").
How do clergy of Iomedae feel about the remaining clergy of Aroden?
The few notes I've read imply they've absorbed the majority of Aroden's followers and holy sites, but how does the absorption come about? Do they just patiently wait until the followers of Aroden pass on and then move in? Is their cohabitation and collaboration for a time (I assumed this)? As they still have divine power, do they lend aid to their now powerless prequels?
In a simpler form... what is the relationship like between the newer group and it's predecessor?
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I have nothing against drow bards. In fact, that's one of my most favorite characters to play.
IIRC, there was a drow bard on the cover of the Dungeon with the end of the Savage Tide (in the group of 'Dungeon Iconics' facing off against Demogorgon). Was that 'iconic' one of yours?
Did that party ever get statted up anywhere? With a drow bard and a tiefling barbarian, they seem like pretty interesting folk!
James, why sometimes I find a FAQed topic with the flag "Answered in the FAQ", but I cannot find any FAQ about that topic? It happened several times, so I wonder what's the problem.
With the arrival of Kaiju in Bestiary 4 will any existing monsters retroactively be classified as Kaiju? (Case in point: the Tarrasque always struck me as DnD's/Pathfinder's Godzilla)
1. Have you ever imagined a what-if scenario where a powerful character from another fiction series was in Golarion for whatever reason and became the protagonist of an adventure path?
2. Does 4713 AR correspond exactly to 1918 CE?
3. I want to intimidate a group of goons so I turn their leader into a talking pastry head. How much of a bonus to Intimidate does this get me?
4. Does baleful polymorph include an enemy's equipment? i.e., will I lose treasure if I use it?
5. Would overland flight give a bonus to Stealth?
6. After defeating the Stag Lord, how much time does a PC have to fill leadership positions?
7. Are there other fae in the Stolen lands besides the ones in the random encounter tables?
8. How good a job would fae do as kingdom leaders? They have good stats but they generally don't seem like indoors-y day-job types.
9. Is it possible to have a mine/quarry in the same hex as one with a farm and a watchtower/fort? What about a sawmill with a watchtower/fort?
10. If a kingdom has its taxation set to 'none', where's it get the money for build points?
So, what do you think of a change to Knowledge (History) and (Local) where you add areas similarly to adding languages to/from Linguistics? So many points of Knowledge (Local) and you add new areas that you know about. The intent would would be making these sometimes vague skills more defined (and potentially combine the two skills).
And if you like this idea, what do you think is a good rate for adding new areas?
If a group of players active boots of speed on the first round...
How would a Slow spell affect them? The item last 10 rounds and they are not need to be consecutive.
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How do clergy of Iomedae feel about the remaining clergy of Aroden?
The few notes I've read imply they've absorbed the majority of Aroden's followers and holy sites, but how does the absorption come about? Do they just patiently wait until the followers of Aroden pass on and then move in? Is their cohabitation and collaboration for a time (I assumed this)? As they still have divine power, do they lend aid to their now powerless prequels?
In a simpler form... what is the relationship like between the newer group and it's predecessor?
There pretty much IS no remaining clergy of Aroden for Iomedae to feel anything about them but depression. His faith is pretty much gone. The faith of Iomedae regards the loss of the faith of Aroden as a sad thing, but they've pretty much moved on and now worship the goddess who's known as the Heritor.
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I have nothing against drow bards. In fact, that's one of my most favorite characters to play.IIRC, there was a drow bard on the cover of the Dungeon with the end of the Savage Tide (in the group of 'Dungeon Iconics' facing off against Demogorgon). Was that 'iconic' one of yours?
Did that party ever get statted up anywhere? With a drow bard and a tiefling barbarian, they seem like pretty interesting folk!
Nope; we chose a drow bard because they're cool, but at the time, none of the iconics were PCs. They were just creations of Wayne based on our pretty slim notes. I did end up using his design for the cleric of Wee Jas for my cleric in Erik's Age of Worms game, though, and Wes used the paladin for the same, but his paladin died on the first session so he didn't last. (Incidentally, that's why the paladin is illustrated as being killed or mortally wounded in so much art in the Age of Worms).
And the tiefling was a fighter, actually.
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With the arrival of Kaiju in Bestiary 4 will any existing monsters retroactively be classified as Kaiju? (Case in point: the Tarrasque always struck me as DnD's/Pathfinder's Godzilla)
Nope. Kaiju is a new classification of monster; they're more powerful than the Tarrasque, and live in the CR range of 26 to 30. They're bigger than the Tarrasque.
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If a group of players active boots of speed on the first round...
How would a Slow spell affect them? The item last 10 rounds and they are not need to be consecutive.
Slow would stop the effect. If you're a kind GM, it would basically just cancel the haste and turn the boots off. If you're a cruel GM, then it only suppresses the haste but keeps it running, and the PCs will need to turn the boots off manually if they don't want to waste them.
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So, what do you think of a change to Knowledge (History) and (Local) where you add areas similarly to adding languages to/from Linguistics? So many points of Knowledge (Local) and you add new areas that you know about. The intent would would be making these sometimes vague skills more defined (and potentially combine the two skills).
And if you like this idea, what do you think is a good rate for adding new areas?
Forgotten Realms did this, and I didn't like it. I much prefer those Knowledge skills representing not only what you know of an area, but also how good you are at quickly learning local and historic information about an area simply because you're good at it. Makes those things simpler and less cumbersome, and makes it a LOT easier to stat creatures with those skills up. You'll note we don't normally give Linguistics to monsters, and when we do, we tend not to give them max ranks. This is because having to list all those languages creates a lot of wasted space in the stat block.
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1. Have you ever imagined a what-if scenario where a powerful character from another fiction series was in Golarion for whatever reason and became the protagonist of an adventure path?
2. Does 4713 AR correspond exactly to 1918 CE?
3. I want to intimidate a group of goons so I turn their leader into a talking pastry head. How much of a bonus to Intimidate does this get me?
4. Does baleful polymorph include an enemy's equipment? i.e., will I lose treasure if I use it?
5. Would overland flight give a bonus to Stealth?
6. After defeating the Stag Lord, how much time does a PC have to fill leadership positions?
7. Are there other fae in the Stolen lands besides the ones in the random encounter tables?
8. How good a job would fae do as kingdom leaders? They have good stats but they generally don't seem like indoors-y day-job types.
9. Is it possible to have a mine/quarry in the same hex as one with a farm and a watchtower/fort? What about a sawmill with a watchtower/fort?
10. If a kingdom has its taxation set to 'none', where's it get the money for build points?
1) Nope.
2) Sure looks that way, doesn't it? :-)
3) That's up to your GM.
4) According to the rules for polymorph effects on pages 211–212 of the Core Rulebook, all your gear changes with you if you assume the form of an animal, so yes, I'd say that baleful polymorph affects all of the target's gear. If you want that stuff, you should kill the poor defenseless kitten you just created so that it reverts to its true form upon death.
5) No. Why would it?
6) That's up to the GM. I would recommend a few months at minimum, but if you want a faster paced game, a few days is better, or even less if you want the PCs to have to juggle leadership with adventuring. Alternately, you could let a few years pass before starting the next adventure.
7) Yes. And it's "fey" not "fae" in Pathfinder.
8) Depends on the individual. Some would do well, some would not, some would cause problems, some would be treacherous, some wouldn't be interested. Like anyone else.
9) In order to keep things simple, I'd say no. One thing per hex. You have plenty of hexes to choose from, and doing one per hex helps to make things feel more spread out.
10) Donations, adventuring, fees, fines, tolls, and more.
Damage from a Lance and/or Spirit Charge is an extra damage that is multiply, so if this works just like critical hits then....
Can a creature immune to critical or that has some % of Fortification can negate the Lance x2 (or x3 with Spirit Charge)?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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James,
Got a setting question for you:
Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels present different heritages for tieflings and aasimar. Are any of those heritages more or less common in some countries or regions than in others? And in particular, are there any specific aasimar heritages that are more likely than others to hail from Tian Xia?
Thanks!
You: "According to the rules for polymorph effects on pages 211–212 of the Core Rulebook, all your gear changes with you if you assume the form of an animal, so yes, I'd say that baleful polymorph affects all of the target's gear. If you want that stuff, you should kill the poor defenseless kitten you just created so that it reverts to its true form upon death."
1. Seriously? Don't you think that's punishing players who want their enemies alive?
2. Let me rephrase my question about overland flight. Would it give a bonus to Stealth since it lets you move without touching the ground?
Me: Is it possible to have a mine/quarry in the same hex as one with a farm and a watchtower/fort? What about a sawmill with a watchtower/fort?
You: In order to keep things simple, I'd say no. One thing per hex. You have plenty of hexes to choose from, and doing one per hex helps to make things feel more spread out.
3. What about terrain improvements "marked with an asterisk (*)?" According to those rules a farm can share a hex with a fort and vice-versa, and either one can share a hex with a quarry.
Me: "What's the best way to get you interested in a new setting? For example, I want you to check out Touhou. What would you want to see?"
You: "If it's a homebrew type setting, I generally prefer to actually avoid looking too much at them for legal reasons."
…
Touhou's not an RPG setting, it's a series of vertical shooters with a lot of fan work attached to it.
4. That said, what's the best way to get you interested in a non-RPG fictional series? What sort of characters or plots interest you most?
5. What adventure paths would be most suitable for diplomancer-type characters?
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Damage from a Lance and/or Spirit Charge is an extra damage that is multiply, so if this works just like critical hits then....
Can a creature immune to critical or that has some % of Fortification can negate the Lance x2 (or x3 with Spirit Charge)?
I would say yes. But that's a better question to ask over on the rules boards than here.
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Creative Director
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James,
Got a setting question for you:
Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels present different heritages for tieflings and aasimar. Are any of those heritages more or less common in some countries or regions than in others? And in particular, are there any specific aasimar heritages that are more likely than others to hail from Tian Xia?Thanks!
The heritages are indeed more or less common in certain regions. Demon-blooded tieflings are more common in the Worldwound or its adjoining nations, while div-blooded ones are more common in Thuvia, and so on.
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You: "According to the rules for polymorph effects on pages 211–212 of the Core Rulebook, all your gear changes with you if you assume the form of an animal, so yes, I'd say that baleful polymorph affects all of the target's gear. If you want that stuff, you should kill the poor defenseless kitten you just created so that it reverts to its true form upon death."
1. Seriously? Don't you think that's punishing players who want their enemies alive?
2. Let me rephrase my question about overland flight. Would it give a bonus to Stealth since it lets you move without touching the ground?
Me: Is it possible to have a mine/quarry in the same hex as one with a farm and a watchtower/fort? What about a sawmill with a watchtower/fort?
You: In order to keep things simple, I'd say no. One thing per hex. You have plenty of hexes to choose from, and doing one per hex helps to make things feel more spread out.
3. What about terrain improvements "marked with an asterisk (*)?" According to those rules a farm can share a hex with a fort and vice-versa, and either one can share a hex with a quarry.
Me: "What's the best way to get you interested in a new setting? For example, I want you to check out Touhou. What would you want to see?"
You: "If it's a homebrew type setting, I generally prefer to actually avoid looking too much at them for legal reasons."
…
Touhou's not an RPG setting, it's a series of vertical shooters with a lot of fan work attached to it.
4. That said, what's the best way to get you interested in a non-RPG fictional series? What sort of characters or plots interest you most?
5. What adventure paths would be most suitable for diplomancer-type characters?
1) Not at all or in the slightest. There are PLENTY of spell options you can use if you want to keep enemies alive. Even baleful polymorph, which you can dispel or break enchantment at a later point once you put the kitten into a cage or whatever.
2) Stealth is about more than just how much noise your feet make on the ground. You make other noises as you move as well; your equipment rustling/jangling, your breathing, etc. But Stealth is also about the other four senses. At the very least, someone flying in the air via magic is more attention-getting than the same person walking on the ground.
3) Then go with that ruling. I don't know every tiny little permutation on the rules.
Mystery Number) Touhou is a new setting to me. I've never heard of it until you mentioned it.
4) I'm the most interested in horror, and after that it's a tie between science fiction and fantasy. I also tend to seek out new entertainment by the author/creator, rather than the subject itself. Having an author/creator rave about someone else (example—Stephen King raving about Richard Matheson, or Lovecraft raving about Algernon Blackwood) is a great way to catch my interest. Makes it difficult for someone who's not one of the authors/creators I admire to get me to shift gears to check out something new, though, but saying something like "This author is like a mash-up of Dan Simmons and Ramsey Campbell" or the like would certainly get my attention.
5) We try to make every adventure path have elements where all sorts of characters can have a chance to shine. Each AP has sections (often MULTIPLE ones) where a diplomacy using character can shine as a result. To a certain extent, how effective these characters are depends on how the GM runs the adventure—a lot of GMs, it seems, tend to gloss over the power of diplomacy/roleplay as methods to solve encounters.
Oh man, someone brought Touhou into Pathfinder. We'll never retrieve James.
NEVER.
James,
I was surprised looking back at some older APs to find that Jade Regent was the first one to have a separate section in each volume for special items found in that AP. Was that something Paizo considered for a long time before implementing it? Was it coupled with an increase in the number of unique magical items in each AP?
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Could a hypothetical Shoanti character become a Paladin? Seems like, from what I've read, they'd view that as heretical, as most of the paladin gods were brought in by foreigners. Abadar, Sarenrae and Iomedae seem to have largely been introduced by Korvosans. Most of the more local gods that the Shoanti and Varisians share don't allow paladins, whether due to being Chaotic like Desna, or they're solidly Neutral like Pharasma. So...would a Shoanti paladin be viewed as some kind of culture traitor despite their honor and deeds?
Good evening James,
Once per day, a cavalier can challenge a foe to combat. As a swift action, the cavalier chooses one target within sight to challenge. The cavalier’s melee attacks deal extra damage whenever the attacks are made against the target of his challenge. This extra damage is equal to the cavalier’s level. The cavalier can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level.Challenging a foe requires much of the cavalier’s concentration. The cavalier takes a –2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge.
The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious or until the combat ends. Each cavalier’s challenge also includes another effect which is listed in the section describing the cavalier’s order.
At 1st level, whenever an honor guard issues a challenge, he can select one ally as his ward for the duration of the challenge. Whenever the honor guard is adjacent to his ward, he takes a –1 penalty to Armor Class, and the ward receives a +1 dodge bonus to AC.This modifies the challenge ability.
My doubt is:
In, your opinion, how does the sworn defense ability modify the cavalier's challenge class feature?
Does the cavalier take a cumulative -3 on AC while adjacent to an ally (granting said ally a +1 to AC)?
Or does he take a -1 penalty to AC while adjacent to his ward?
As usual I don't really need an official answer; I am only after your opinion on the matter.
1. Seriously? Don't you think that's punishing players who want their enemies alive?
Depending on your morality, using baleful polymorph to keep your opponents alive is one of the most heinous things you can do. In the best case scenario, you're completely realtering a creature's body and mind from the way the gods intended it to be and lowering their intelligence to that of a common beast. In the worst case scenario, the creature hasn't lost its mind and is forced to bare your presence as it remains powerless to your whims and desires.
I had a teenage sorcerer who specialized in Transmutation magic, and once upon a time he turned two troubled youths into puppies because A) he had never had a puppy of its own before and B) the Youths tried to kill him and he nearly killed one of them in the ensuing combat. He didn't think anything of robbing those boys of their humanity until he used a true seeing spell to investigate an illusion and saw his "puppies" for what they really were. Pathetic, naked little boys acting like dogs without so much as a hint of human intelligence. Pretty unsettling stuff.
If I wanted to create a construct similar to a Jaegar, what would you recommend as a starting point? Adamantine golem? Clockwork constructs? Some kind of elemental?
You could always use a Robot, but they don't have construction rules.