Contributor
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Hi James,
What sort of CR range would you expect the Malebranche to be?
Gah! Sorry, James. Didn't realise you'd already answered this one 176 pages ago. My search-fu failed me. I die.
No worries! It's a long thread, and I certainly didn't remember answering the question.
The CR range of the Malebranche isn't something we've nailed down, so it's something that can change as the needs of the game change... did my most recent answer line up with the one I gave 176 pages ago?
You had previously suggested that they would probably be in the CR 21-25 range.
Folks eager to see more about Shamira, including art and stats, will not be disappointed (I hope!) by Wrath of the Righteous, Part 4.
Thank you!
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hey james...i am largely ignorant of mythos lore...i am currently creating a deity that the culture that created the crashed ship in numeria might have worshipped...i am debating whether to make that deity an old god/great old one or not...
1) i read the article in the carrion crown ap that talks about them and saw they were split pretty evenly between CN and CE...is it possible to have one be CG?
2) is it possible or likely that one would exist that was actively working against the other old gods/great old ones or at least not working towards the destruction of mortal life?
3) i saw that in some instances multiple aspects of a single old god were worshiped differently...could a CG religion based on the worship of Yog-Sothoth exist?...could worshipers continue to be CG if they were granted spells?...even if they didn't realize that is who they were actually praying to?
sort've related:
4) do androids age?...if so what are their average lifespans akin to?...humans?...elves?
5) since androids cannot receive morale bonuses would it be overly game-breaking to change the inquisitor's stern gaze class feature from a morale bonus to a sacred bonus?
thanks again for taking the time to answer all our random queries!
Have you ever used mazes in your game? I'm creating a trap that involves a lesser version of the Maze spell (custom spell) and I began wondering if you've ever dealt with them.
1)Will the Empyreal Lords in the Bestiary 4 be one kind of celestial or a mix of 2-3 different kinds?
2)We have a detect poison spell but why not a detect disease spell?
3)Are there any good aligned creatures from the plane of shadows?
4)Will creatures from the positive energy plane mostly be neutral aligned or will they have any/every alignment?
5)Will we ever see a bard archetype that focuses on art instead of music? stuff like painting, sculpting, drawing that can be used in interesting ways like paintings as pocket dimensions, animating paper, stone, ceramics, creating a wall of paint, etc..
6)Will the Bestiary 4 have any new Lamia or Hags?
7)Will we ever see rules for game mechanic effects on/for characters based on there zodiac(pathfinder or standard) birth sign?
8)Do our subscriptions ship before or during Gen Con?
9)Will any other products be revealed at Gen Con other then the second AP and second hardcover book of next year?
10)Will the races in the Bestiary 4 have there race point value listed anywhere in the book?
I have a question about high CR monsters with class levels. While reading through the Worldwound book, it seems fairly common for High CR demons to also have class levels. I was wondering if there is a de facto level cap for such monsters. For instance in theory you could have a Marilith Fighter 20, and since Fighter is a "key" role, the levels stack with CR. This Marilith would be CR 37, well above the CR cap of 30. Is there an unwritten design rule that no monster can have class levels bringing it's CR above 25 unless it's Mythic? Is it the idea that a monster this powerful would be either snuffed out by demigods/gods as a threat before they get that strong or that a monster this strong would have ascended to demi-godhood before reaching this level?
Creative Director
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What IS the general opinion of most nations about the Pathfinder Society? It seems the more I read of them (especially from the Pathfinder Society unlikable or is it just me? thread) the less awesome they seem to be, utilizing unethical methods and hoarding the info and artifacts for themselves, becoming so bad there's actually a special interest group among them dedicated to steering the Society towards good ends (The Silver Crusade) and one dedicated to advocating for Pathfinder agents treated callously by the Decemvirate (The Shadow Lodge). And their treatment of Eando Kline and his warnings speaks VERY badly of them.
Simply put, it seems like most info we've received on the Pathfinder Society makes them seem more like egotistical jerks, more like Belloc than Indy. More like Heinrich Schliemann than Howard Carter. That they're not concerned with the study and analysis of ancient history, but more with the treasures and magic they left behind, and instead of sharing it with the world, only care about bragging about it to their colleagues.
There isn't a general opinion. Cheliax, for example, all but outlaws the Pathfinders from openly operating in their borders, while in places like Sargava they're VERY welcome. It really does vary.
The thing to remember about the Pathfinders is that overall, they're a NEUTRAL organization. While they're not out to do evil unto the world... they're not driven by their core goals to do good either. In hindsight, if we'd wanted to make them more likable... we probably should have made them neutral good, but frankly, I think that having them be neutral makes them more interesting.
We HAVE made many attempts to make them more likable. In fact, all of Shattered Star is about this—the Pathfinders are VERY supportive of the PCs in this Adventure Path, up to and including giving them free treasure to aid them in their quest and such.
But in the end... all that we write is not going to help if GMs out there don't follow up on it. The players who form their opinions of the Pathfinder Society will be using how their GMs portray them for the most part... so if you want your players to like them, it's largely your job to make that happen. You know PRECISELY what sorts of NPC antics endear or annoy your players to them, and if you want the Pathfinders to be liked by your players, make sure you don't do anything that they hate.
In fact, if you're worried, it's not a bad idea to ask the players before your game begins, "What is it that makes an NPC likable or dislikable to you?" and use that information to inform how you present Pathfinders in play. This is also a good time to tell the players "I'm presenting the Pathfinders in a way you might not be used to" if they're all pre-filled with anti Pathfinder sentiment.
But yes... the initial goal was to have the Pathfinders represent Indianna Jones and the Aspis Consortium to represent Belloc.
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Creative Director
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James,
Why are Shinigami (in the Bestiary 3) neither Kami nor Psychopomps?
Same reason hellcats aren't devils, bebiliths aren't demons, and axiomites aren't inevitables.
Having some creatures that are outside of the expected norms for an established planar race but are NOT members of that planar race allows for greater variety. It lets you tell a story, if you so wish, using those elements without dragging in an entire planar race.
It's all about giving the GM options.
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Creative Director
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If you can change your "arcane mark" every time you cast the spell (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&page=495?Ask-James-Jacobs-ALL-your-Q uestions-Here#24729), can you essentially just use it to write 6 characters at a time (yay for infinite cantrips!) while maintaining a "signature" for signing stuff?
While it's pretty slow compared to a pen/pencil, it has the durability of an engraving, and is probably much quicker than that.
In a related question : Is Arcane Mark any more popular or have alternate usage patterns (like actually being the caster's name) in cultures with logographic alphabets (where a "character" goes farther)?
And for that matter, what exactly IS a character when dealing with logographs. 五 (five), 十 (ten) and 口 (mouth) are clearly separate characters, but all are used as primitives (components) in other, separate, characters: would 古 (old) be a single "character"? Would 吾 (One of MANY personal pronouns) be? (yes, I know the language in question doesn't exist in PF's world, but it's just an example)
I suppose so... but I think that's kinda against the purpose of the spell's intent. It's supposed to double as your character's magical signature. If you change your signature in the real world every time you use it, it ceases being a signature, and loses value as a result. Same goes for arcane marks.
It's absolutely not the intent of the spell that it should give you a magic way to write, and the idea that it CAN be used that would be all I need in my homebrew games to state that the spell can't be changed from your personal arcane mark... or that if you DO want to change it, you need to do spell research and spend money to essentially research and learn a brand new version of the spell.
It's basically a "maker's mark" for arcane spellcasters. That's all its' really intended to be.
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Creative Director
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You had previously suggested that they would probably be in the CR 21-25 range.Hi James,
What sort of CR range would you expect the Malebranche to be?
Gah! Sorry, James. Didn't realise you'd already answered this one 176 pages ago. My search-fu failed me. I die.
No worries! It's a long thread, and I certainly didn't remember answering the question.
The CR range of the Malebranche isn't something we've nailed down, so it's something that can change as the needs of the game change... did my most recent answer line up with the one I gave 176 pages ago?
At this point, since that's the range for infernal dukes, I'd probably stat them up in the CR 18–22 range. They're on average less powerful than infernal dukes, after all.
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Creative Director
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hey james...i am largely ignorant of mythos lore...i am currently creating a deity that the culture that created the crashed ship in numeria might have worshipped...i am debating whether to make that deity an old god/great old one or not...
1) i read the article in the carrion crown ap that talks about them and saw they were split pretty evenly between CN and CE...is it possible to have one be CG?
2) is it possible or likely that one would exist that was actively working against the other old gods/great old ones or at least not working towards the destruction of mortal life?
3) i saw that in some instances multiple aspects of a single old god were worshiped differently...could a CG religion based on the worship of Yog-Sothoth exist?...could worshipers continue to be CG if they were granted spells?...even if they didn't realize that is who they were actually praying to?
sort've related:
4) do androids age?...if so what are their average lifespans akin to?...humans?...elves?
5) since androids cannot receive morale bonuses would it be overly game-breaking to change the inquisitor's stern gaze class feature from a morale bonus to a sacred bonus?
thanks again for taking the time to answer all our random queries!
1) Nope. The mythos creatures aren't good guys. And even those who are chaotic neutral only VERY VERY VERY rarely have worshipers who are chaotic good... and those who ARE chaotic good are heretics and loners and fringers from the faith.
2) They aren't so much working toward the destruction of mortal life as a primary goal—that's more of a side effect of their goals. Think of an ant nest in a field, doing it's thing. One day, humans come along and decide to turn that field into a used car lot. They pave it over, landscape it, build buildings, and go to work. They might not even notice the ant nest as their immense machines destroy it. If they DO notice it, they would be unlikely to care or even slow down... they certainly wouldn't "pave around" the nest and work to keep it safe, because hey... they're just ants. To the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods... humans would be the ants BEST CASE SCENARIO, and more likely, humans would be the tinier bugs and blots of residue that the ants eat. Now... there can certainly be competing companies fighting against each other for the right to build their own used car lot on that field, but neither of those companies would notice or care about the ants. The ants are hosed either way.
3) You could be a chaotic good worshiper of Yog-Sothoth and gain spells... but again, you would exist outside of the faith and be considered a heretic and a loner and an outcast. I'd require a player in my game to give me a VERY good reason why he's a good-aligned cleric of Yog-Sothoth before I gave permission to him to do such.
4) Yes; their lifespans are equal to humans, the creatures they were built to function like. This includes aging.
5) Nope, but I wouldn't make the change. The fact that there are some things an android can't take advantage of is more than balanced out by the fact that there's a lot more bad stuff that they're now more resistant to. Inventing a new feat or something like "Emotion Programming" or the like that removes an android's resistance to morale effects would work though.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever used mazes in your game? I'm creating a trap that involves a lesser version of the Maze spell (custom spell) and I began wondering if you've ever dealt with them.
I have... and I honestly can't really think of any time that using a maze in a game has really enhanced game play more than it's frustrated it. They're really difficult to translate into a tabletop experience without grinding game play to a halt.
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Creative Director
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| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
1)Will the Empyreal Lords in the Bestiary 4 be one kind of celestial or a mix of 2-3 different kinds?
2)We have a detect poison spell but why not a detect disease spell?
3)Are there any good aligned creatures from the plane of shadows?
4)Will creatures from the positive energy plane mostly be neutral aligned or will they have any/every alignment?
5)Will we ever see a bard archetype that focuses on art instead of music? stuff like painting, sculpting, drawing that can be used in interesting ways like paintings as pocket dimensions, animating paper, stone, ceramics, creating a wall of paint, etc..
6)Will the Bestiary 4 have any new Lamia or Hags?
7)Will we ever see rules for game mechanic effects on/for characters based on there zodiac(pathfinder or standard) birth sign?
8)Do our subscriptions ship before or during Gen Con?
9)Will any other products be revealed at Gen Con other then the second AP and second hardcover book of next year?
10)Will the races in the Bestiary 4 have there race point value listed anywhere in the book?
1) A mix.
2) I believe that we introduced a detect disease spell in a later book... but disease has always been a much less prevalent affliction than poison, and is generally not used in the same devious way.
3) Yes.
4) Primarily neutral, but any alignment is possible.
5) Art isn't really a performance—it's a craft, and while the idea of a bard that focuses more on "bardic craft" than "bardic performance" is interesting... I don't believe there are plans to explore that anytime soon.
6) Yes.
7) Very likely.
8) Dunno; that's a customer service question.
9) Yes.
10) No; because that info has already been covered for the zero HD races in Bestiary 4 in other locations.
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Creative Director
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1) How do adaro, cecaelia, ceratiodi, locathahs, and merfolk get along, if at all? I figure sahuagin hate them all equally...
2) Do the syrinx in Arcadia know about the strix in Cheliax?
3) What's the general view of the inhabitants Absalom towards Taldor? Romanticized, backwater lost in the memories of their lost grandeur, something else?
1) Depends on the situation, but you can use their alignments as a guide. The closer they are, the more they get along, and vice-versa. We've not done much about the aquatic races yet, but we talked a little about them throughout Skull & Shackles.
2) Some of them surely do.
3) I suspect that the general view is that the people of Absalom view Taldor as a backwater lost in the memories of their lost grandeur.
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Creative Director
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I have a question about high CR monsters with class levels. While reading through the Worldwound book, it seems fairly common for High CR demons to also have class levels. I was wondering if there is a de facto level cap for such monsters. For instance in theory you could have a Marilith Fighter 20, and since Fighter is a "key" role, the levels stack with CR. This Marilith would be CR 37, well above the CR cap of 30. Is there an unwritten design rule that no monster can have class levels bringing it's CR above 25 unless it's Mythic? Is it the idea that a monster this powerful would be either snuffed out by demigods/gods as a threat before they get that strong or that a monster this strong would have ascended to demi-godhood before reaching this level?
There's a "soft cap" for monsters like this, and that's that they should never have more class levels than would put them over CR 30. That means that a marilith, which is CR 17, can have at most 13 levels of fighter. You could certainly stat out a 20th level fighter marilith, but we won't ever do something like that in print. At least... not without doing some new expansion of the rules that allows us to go beyond CR 30, and I don't think we're gonna be doing that.
James,
Why are Shinigami (in the Bestiary 3) neither Kami nor Psychopomps?
Same reason hellcats aren't devils, bebiliths aren't demons, and axiomites aren't inevitables.
Having some creatures that are outside of the expected norms for an established planar race but are NOT members of that planar race allows for greater variety. It lets you tell a story, if you so wish, using those elements without dragging in an entire planar race.
It's all about giving the GM options.
Fair enough. It just seems particularly odd to me since they still have Kami in their names, like the Jinushigami, Shikigami, Toshigami, and actually all the other ones that end in -jin or -shin too. They don't fit in as well with the psychopomps, I guess, aside from the literal sense that that's their job.
How can a Cheetah be CR2 while a Krenshar is CR 1?
The Krenshar is even more intelligent and has a dangerous special ability at its side?
Hey james jacob,
how do the various churches of the deities view the empreyal lords? are the viewed as archangels of the good gods or saints? Some of the various lords look like they would be just that in relation to the various gods.
-vyshan
Eew... gross. Nasty candies.Yar!
Do you know of "Smarties"?
If so, "When you eat your smarties, do you eat the red ones last?"
(reference songs: 1980's, 1988, 1991, and 1994)
~P
I think he’s talking about the UK version of M&Ms. Better chocolate and the shells actually have a small flavor to them, as opposed to the US Smarties which are tart sugar pills.
Now yes, it’s quite possible you don’t like the M&M kind, but not a lot of Americans know about them.
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What IS the general opinion of most nations about the Pathfinder Society? It seems the more I read of them (especially from the Pathfinder Society unlikable or is it just me? thread) the less awesome they seem to be, utilizing unethical methods and hoarding the info and artifacts for themselves, becoming so bad there's actually a special interest group among them dedicated to steering the Society towards good ends (The Silver Crusade) and one dedicated to advocating for Pathfinder agents treated callously by the Decemvirate (The Shadow Lodge). And their treatment of Eando Kline and his warnings speaks VERY badly of them.
Simply put, it seems like most info we've received on the Pathfinder Society makes them seem more like egotistical jerks, more like Belloc than Indy. More like Heinrich Schliemann than Howard Carter. That they're not concerned with the study and analysis of ancient history, but more with the treasures and magic they left behind, and instead of sharing it with the world, only care about bragging about it to their colleagues.
There isn't a general opinion. Cheliax, for example, all but outlaws the Pathfinders from openly operating in their borders, while in places like Sargava they're VERY welcome. It really does vary.
The thing to remember about the Pathfinders is that overall, they're a NEUTRAL organization. While they're not out to do evil unto the world... they're not driven by their core goals to do good either. In hindsight, if we'd wanted to make them more likable... we probably should have made them neutral good, but frankly, I think that having them be neutral makes them more interesting.
We HAVE made many attempts to make them more likable. In fact, all of Shattered Star is about this—the Pathfinders are VERY supportive of the PCs in this Adventure Path, up to and including giving them free treasure to aid them in their quest and such.
But in the end... all that we write is not going to help if GMs out there don't follow up on...
I see. Granted, I view things the same way. The Aspis Consortium is definitely far worse than the Pathfinders, but honestly a lot of it seems like every the Pathfinders become involved in an AP, they tend to cause trouble:
Council of Thieves: The Pathfinders brought the artifact that caused the Shadow monsters to Westcrown, and their actions in the AP was part of what triggers the unrest that the AP centers on.
Serpent's Skull: While the Pathfinders are one of the better groups to ally with in this AP (Sargava's government is racist, the Aspis are money-grubbing looters, the Red Mantis are assassins and the Shackles Pirates are...well...pirates), but the presence of Eando Kline and a reminder that the Pathfinders were unwilling to act one what Kline reveals was a very real and pressing threat, doesn't speak well of them.
Shattered Star: Yes, the Pathfinder Society is great to the PCs and provides leads and loot, but I doubt the people of Magnimar are happy with the fact that the artifact they dug up caused a tsunami that almost destroyed their city. I'm surprised that there wasn't a bit at the end about the Pathfinders being thrown out of Magnimar for that little stunt.
Also, their theft and loss of the Thorncrown of Iomedae is another black mark on their record. And others are saying that a lot of the Organized Play missions involve the Pathfinders using flimsy pretenses to get somewhere and take an artifact, heedless of the chaos the mission causes.
Plus there's the fact that the stuff in their lodges and their Chronicles aren't available to the general public. This hoarding seems antithetical to the Indiana Jones mentality.
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Creative Director
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How can a Cheetah be CR2 while a Krenshar is CR 1?
The Krenshar is even more intelligent and has a dangerous special ability at its side?
CR doesn't really care about intelligence, really. If it did, then the tarrasque wouldn't be CR 25.
It's more a measure of the raw stats of the monster's hp, AC, damage, and so forth. All of those are higher for the cheetah than they are for the krenshar.
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Creative Director
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Hey james jacob,
how do the various churches of the deities view the empreyal lords? are the viewed as archangels of the good gods or saints? Some of the various lords look like they would be just that in relation to the various gods.
-vyshan
They're viewed as demigods. Sometimes as allied demigods, sometimes as enemy demigods, sometimes as just other demigods.
Do the fey know of the great old ones & how was first world affected by them?
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Creative Director
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Do the fey know of the great old ones & how was first world affected by them?
They do know of the Great Old Ones, and the interaction between them and the First World is relatively unexplored... although the Aklo language is VERY associated with both, so there's SOMETHING going on there we're not quite ready to reveal more details about...
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Is there anyway to make your opponent helpless by using bare hands and then use coup de grace? Think of a tough guy from a movie, pins his target and puts his knife on opponent's neck. If the target moves, he uses coup de grace and kills him. Is it possible by using RAW?
Pinned condition says no. Helpless condition is a little bit confusing. It says "A helpless character is paralyzed, 'held', bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy." Does pinning mean 'holding'?
O_O So I guess a feykin pc could worship Great Old Ones & be plausible or just a pc from a place of fey communities but not a fey itself? :)
Have you ever used mazes in your game? I'm creating a trap that involves a lesser version of the Maze spell (custom spell) and I began wondering if you've ever dealt with them.I have... and I honestly can't really think of any time that using a maze in a game has really enhanced game play more than it's frustrated it. They're really difficult to translate into a tabletop experience without grinding game play to a halt.
I'm planning to use a trap that uses a lower level version of Maze (round 5th or 6th) that displaces the trapped PCs. Each gets randomly placed in 1 of 4 fairly easy and small mazes. They can attempt the Intelligence check to break free and if they fail, the can attempt to solve it by physically moving. Meanwhile, when the trap triggers, some mooks are alerted and come to investigate.
I'm going to keep your response in mind though, I don't want to grind the game to a halt, but I wanted to mix up a new trap that is relatively harmless, but interesting at the same time.
My family is watching some tattoo show downstairs, and a guy had a tattoo of cthulhu that turned bad. The guy that is supposed to cover it, proceeded to call the cthulhu "Ca-too-loo" a handful of times. I winced with every reiteration of the name.
I wonder if he'll understand what he did to cause the punishment coming to him?
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Creative Director
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Hi Mr. Jacobs.
Question: Multiattack Feat + Grab + Feed + Pull?Creature (canopy creeper) has 4 (independent) vine range attacks (grab/feed/pull).
Round 1:
creeper uses its 4 vines to attack 4 different foes (-2 to each attack b/c of multiattack feat) and hits and succeeded in its grapple as a free action (grab). Can it use its Feed (EX) special ability in the same round to all 4 foes?Round 2:
creeper gains the grapple condition (-4AC, etc. for ALL tendrils since I assume the penalties are not cumulative/vine). Can it maintain the grapple on all 4 foes as 1 standard action??!!??!?If so, then the creeper maintains the grapple (and use the Feed ability again), or pins, or use its pull ability (free CM check with a successful attack). Am I confused??!??!
Basically, after Round 1 the creeper maintains grapple, Feed, and then Pull each round with each vine. Is this correct?
Or is this all wrong and the creeper only attacks 1 foe with all 4 vines?
As always....thanks!!!
First off... multiattack does nothing but make your secondary attacks have a better attack roll, so including it in this question is needless complication.
Now... the grab ability allows a monster to make a grapple check as a free action when it hits with an attack that has that ability... so EVERY TIME the canopy creeper hits with a vine attack, it gets to make a grapple check on the target.
The grab ability does NOT allow a monster to maintain a grapple for free; that action is still a standard action. In most cases, it's better for a grab monster to simply release its grabbed foe at the start of its turn and attack again to trigger its grab attacks. It's a weird side effect of how the rules work.
Now, if the monster wants instead to maintain its grapple because it has abilities that only trigger when it makes a grapple check to maintain a grapple... the grab ability no longer matters there. It just makes a single grapple check as a standard action, and then if that works, then the abilities that trigger under that condition take effect.
It can't maintain grapples on 4 different foes at once. It can only maintain a grapple on one foe at a time since that action is a standard action.
Anyway... it's a confusing question, made a bit more confusing since the feed ability isn't defined handily. Hope my response helped, but if not, might be a good question to take to the rules forum for a FAQ.
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Creative Director
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Is there anyway to make your opponent helpless by using bare hands and then use coup de grace? Think of a tough guy from a movie, pins his target and puts his knife on opponent's neck. If the target moves, he uses coup de grace and kills him. Is it possible by using RAW?
Pinned condition says no. Helpless condition is a little bit confusing. It says "A helpless character is paralyzed, 'held', bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy." Does pinning mean 'holding'?
I'm not sure it's possible using the RAW, but the rules DO let you do it anyway.
The easiest way to do this is to simply use unarmed strike and let that be the weapon you use to administer the coup de grace; since that's non-lethal, a success would only knock the foe out rather than kill. If you want to kill, you'd grapple and then use lethal damage as part of a sustained grapple to coup de grace instead.
They occupy a lower tier than infernal dukes and nascent demon lords—I'd say that most of them are probably CR 17–CR 22, with variations possible beyond that range.Hi James,
What sort of CR range would you expect the Malebranche to be?
Gah! Sorry, James. Didn't realise you'd already answered this one 176 pages ago. My search-fu failed me. I die.
No worries! It's a long thread, and I certainly didn't remember answering the question.
The CR range of the Malebranche isn't something we've nailed down, so it's something that can change as the needs of the game change... did my most recent answer line up with the one I gave 176 pages ago?
Whore Queens CR 26–30, while the Malebranche are probably 21–25.
Phew that was a lot of copy paste.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
In previous replies to questions on Sorshen if she broke free, you've mentioned that her plans would be very wide-ranging, on a scale of Golarion as a whole. Sorshen is the second strongest Runelord, but there's also Krune (and Zutha references in Shattered Star). Assuming Runelords of that calibre were freed, which may well be the case for some GMs if the Pathfinders fail to stop Krune, would their plans be similarly wide-ranging?
After all, Krune is "only" a 17th level Conjurer. While that is absolutely not something to sneer at, there seem to be characters out there who could probably foil his plans if he tried butting heads with them. I can't see him risking the Worldwound, freeing/trying to use Tar-Baphon (CR27 Evil Is Not A Toy), risking Fafnheir up in the Linnorm Kingdoms (who he might have known back in Thassilon's heyday), or tangling with Baba Yaga or the other Mythic (or higher level, like potentially Artokus Kirran) threats to plans he might have.
Would his plans be on a smaller scale than Sorshen out of necessity? Would they be influenced by the whole Sloth/inaction aspect?
Likewise, how would Sorshen deal with things like what I've mentioned, such as Baba Yaga, Artokus or Tar-Baphon? Avoid them outright? Try to get the better of them? Baba Yaga probably outpaces the Runelord by a good two or three CR points.
If multiple runelords were freed, that's actually kind of a best-case scenario for Varisia and beyond, since the runelords would have to deal with each other before setting their larger plans into motion. That would likely give a group of heroes time to build up their strength to do something about it before it got out of hand.
As for what happens if the PCs fail to stop Krune... first of all, that's not really something we're concerned with. Due to the nature of the PFS program, we assume that he's stopped. His story line ends with his defeat. There is no alternate storyline we'll be devoting any energy to covering what he'll do if he isn't stopped. And if we DO do something in the future with all the runelords... we'll likely step into that with the assumption that both Karzoug and Krune are pre-defeated. Maybe. Depends what story we want to tell.
But all other things being equal, Krune would likely not have a huge impact on the world, or even on Golarion. He's slothful, after all. He'd not do much at all to draw attention to himself, I suspect... at least, not on a huge scale like Sorshen or Xanderghul would.
Of course, if you want to have Krune be a bigger menace in your game, he shouldn't be slothful. He should be as troublemaking as you want him to be!
As for how Sorshen would deal with other big bads... she'd avoid them like how they avoid each other. If we did a plot where ANY of the big bads of the Inner Sea started trying to take the entire region over... that'd first of all be against the philosophy we've got for the region so it'd be against the flow of what we've done... but at that point we'd have to look at EVERY region and determine how each one reacts. It'd be super complicated, and frankly, I don't think it'd be worth it. Golarion is designed as a collection of DOZENS of campaign settings, and mixing them together can make some unpleasant combinations.
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O_O So I guess a feykin pc could worship Great Old Ones & be plausible or just a pc from a place of fey communities but not a fey itself? :)
Sure!
There's actually a LOT of Lovecraftian fiction that could be interpreted as having stuff to do with fey type elements. A lot of his Dream Cycle stuff has a strong fantasy/whimsical/fae element to them, what with talking cats and all. And there's PLENTY of other authors who inspired Lovecraft who themselves wrote some pretty creepy fae/little people/classic fantasy in that genre. Particularly writers like Algernon Blackwood (check out his masterpiece "The Willows"), or Arthur Machen (who was the one who invented Aklo in "The White People").
Hi James,
In previous replies to questions on Sorshen if she broke free, you've mentioned that her plans would be very wide-ranging, on a scale of Golarion as a whole. Sorshen is the second strongest Runelord, but there's also Krune (and Zutha references in Shattered Star). Assuming Runelords of that calibre were freed, which may well be the case for some GMs if the Pathfinders fail to stop Krune, would their plans be similarly wide-ranging?
After all, Krune is "only" a 17th level Conjurer. While that is absolutely not something to sneer at, there seem to be characters out there who could probably foil his plans if he tried butting heads with them. I can't see him risking the Worldwound, freeing/trying to use Tar-Baphon (CR27 Evil Is Not A Toy), risking Fafnheir up in the Linnorm Kingdoms (who he might have known back in Thassilon's heyday), or tangling with Baba Yaga or the other Mythic (or higher level, like potentially Artokus Kirran) threats to plans he might have.
Would his plans be on a smaller scale than Sorshen out of necessity? Would they be influenced by the whole Sloth/inaction aspect?
Likewise, how would Sorshen deal with things like what I've mentioned, such as Baba Yaga, Artokus or Tar-Baphon? Avoid them outright? Try to get the better of them? Baba Yaga probably outpaces the Runelord by a good two or three CR points.
If multiple runelords were freed, that's actually kind of a best-case scenario for Varisia and beyond, since the runelords would have to deal with each other before setting their larger plans into motion. That would likely give a group of heroes time to build up their strength to do something about it before it got out of hand.
As for what happens if the PCs fail to stop Krune... first of all, that's not really something we're concerned with. Due to the nature of the PFS program, we assume that he's stopped. His story line ends with his defeat. There is no alternate storyline we'll be devoting any energy to covering what he'll do if he...
Not only that, but the fallout from each of the reactions to such a big bad. If one countries most powerful members were slain by the baddie in an attempt to stop them, another might march in and take over, which might cause reactions from other countries to reinforce once friendly borders, weakening other borders, or they may be able to pull forces from the once hostile borders to focus on other targets. So many actions and reactions and consequences for to tell one story.
Reserve that for new editions of Pathfinder. :P
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My family is watching some tattoo show downstairs, and a guy had a tattoo of cthulhu that turned bad. The guy that is supposed to cover it, proceeded to call the cthulhu "Ca-too-loo" a handful of times. I winced with every reiteration of the name.
I wonder if he'll understand what he did to cause the punishment coming to him?
HA! Awesome.
I'm torn... seeing Cthulhu stuff show up on mainstream shows is cool, even if folks don't know how to say it.
Heck... Lovecraft himself wrote how to pronounce it, and it's not the way folks tend to pronounce it today anyway.
It's not a word human lips and mouths and throats are meant to be able to pronounce anyway.
Have you seen the south park episode where Cartman rides around on Cthulhu? Did you like it?
Thinking about a house rule that allows all Mithral light and one-handed melee weapons to be compatible with Weapon Finesse.
What are your thoughts on this house rule?
hi james
do you like the forgotten realms and if so are you going to check out the new sundering module....
i was also wondering do you know if the new mythic adventures hardcover will be shipping before gencon
thanks
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Have you seen the south park episode where Cartman rides around on Cthulhu? Did you like it?
Didn't see it, but I've heard lots about it. I'm not all that big a fan of South Park. I'll watch it if I'm at a party or something and someone puts it on the TV, but I won't seek it out to watch at home. There's better stuff to watch.
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Thinking about a house rule that allows all Mithral light and one-handed melee weapons to be compatible with Weapon Finesse.
What are your thoughts on this house rule?
Mithral is already good enough. I wouldn't do this. Instead, I'd consider inventing a new feat that lets someone apply Weapon Finesse to a one-handed melee weapon of their choice. We did as much with Dervish Dance. There's no reason there can't be lots more feats invented like that. But I'd rather make going beyond the core assumptions for what can be Weapon Finessed harder to do rather than merely spending a few thousand gold points.