Creative Director
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Is it possible to get a final answer and clarification of the Paladin capstone ability Holy Champion?
Holy Champion (Su): At 20th level, a paladin becomes a conduit for the power of her god. Her DR increases to 10/evil. Whenever she uses smite evil and successfully strikes an evil outsider, the outsider is also subject to a banishment, using her paladin level as the caster level (her weapon and holy symbol automatically count as objects that the subject hates). After the banishment effect and the damage from the attack is resolved, the smite immediately ends. In addition, whenever she channels positive energy or uses lay on hands to heal a creature, she heals the maximum possible amount.
After reading TONS of people asking for a clarification and FAQ of the issue, no one from Paizo has given a response. It is rather frustrating to have the culmination of an almost 2 year game result in a character that is now worse at fighting demons than he was a level ago due to the way that the smite effect is now worded for Holy Champion.
As written the Holy Champion ability forces you to attempt a banishment upon an outsider and whether or not the banishment is successful, the smite ends after 1 single successful melee attack. Was that intended??
Or was it intended to read "After a successful banishment effect and the damage from the attack is resolved, the smite immediately ends. (italics and bold are my edit)
Thanks James!
This is the EXACT kind of question that needs to be answered by the rules team over in the FAQ or the rules threads. I can give you my answer, but having done so before, I've noted that doing so tends to confuse things all the more when you get folks who don't think that an answer provided by anyone other than Jason Bulmahn is legit.
MY TAKE
The smite should only end if the banishment is successful OR the paladin should be able to choose to activate a banishment or not in which case it's the activation that essentially ends the smite. I prefer the 2nd one, since banishment is an instant battle ender; it's pretty powerful. By focusing their smite power in one single swing, the paladin is effectively putting all her eggs in one proverbial basket and if she fails to banish, that gathered smite energy is wasted.
My advice: Pick which of the two options above work better for you and use it in your campaign.
If that doesn't do it and you essentially want errata... you're going to have to wait, I'm afraid, or post the question to the rules threads and FAQ it again.
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Creative Director
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This makes me wonder just how powerful Saventh was that she was able to basically solo a full god... something beyond CR 30. There has to be more to it than just getting a lucky crit with a vopral artifact sword (which I'm assuming she had). Could she have been as powerful as someone like Baba-Yaga?
Savith was a mythic hero, it's true. But she also had some powerful magic on her side and the support of the empire of Azlant to a certain extent. Things were simply MORE back then... and the accomplishments of the ancients are intended to be larger than life.
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Creative Director
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1) So, what would you do with a pet Tarrasque that would obey your commands and not eat you? Or at least, top three goals you'd shoot for?
2) How would a faithful cleric potentially react to being able to grant spells themselves? Would it trouble them that they might be infringing on the territory of the gods, would they just view it as making them a better servant of their god, view themselves as being like a higher level bureaucrat who is granted power that they are trusted with managing and giving to others, something else? Though I guess that depends a whole lot on the cleric and the god they serve...
3) How would a god generally feel about a cleric of theirs that became a demigod and could grant spells to others? Would it alter their relationship at all?
1) Ride it around. Use it to right wrongs. Brag.
2) Depends on the cleric. Some might see it as proof that they're a new god and should be worshiped. Some might view it as simply having become a new tool in their god's collection and that the spells the cleric grants are in turn powered by the god. Some wouldn't take this option at all, believing that power is only something their god should have. Etc.
3) Depends on the god. Some gods might be jealous and smite the cleric. Most would realize that having a cleric who still worships you now be able to be worshiped and grant spells is a huge boon.
Quick question. Witch- Ability Focus is a legal feat for the Slumber hex? Are hexes special abilities and can Pc's use monster feats like that?
How's the diet coming?
I have myself a group of PCs who are *very* interested in the Starstone and its infamous test. There's, understandably, no official treatment of the test, so I feel I may need to design my own version of it (the story's scope is prepared for their possible success).
I don't want to make a dumb, straightforward series of combat encounters. Any unofficial wisdom or vague suggestions you can give for making it epic in feel and true to the lore? :)
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Creative Director
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Quick question. Witch- Ability Focus is a legal feat for the Slumber hex? Are hexes special abilities and can Pc's use monster feats like that?
How's the diet coming?
It's a legal feat, yes, but you can't pick "Abilty Focus (hex)." You have to pick a SPECIFIC hex, so "Ability Focus (slumber hex)" is what you're looking for.
The diet is now on pause, since while I'm at Gen Con I won't be able to fully control the times and kinds of foods I'll be eating. I'll be going back on the diet one I'm back from Gen Con, but in the meantime I've lost about 90–95 pounds. Hopefully Gen Con won't end up putting much more back on me...
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Creative Director
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I have myself a group of PCs who are *very* interested in the Starstone and its infamous test. There's, understandably, no official treatment of the test, so I feel I may need to design my own version of it (the story's scope is prepared for their possible success).
I don't want to make a dumb, straightforward series of combat encounters. Any unofficial wisdom or vague suggestions you can give for making it epic in feel and true to the lore? :)
There are some notes on the Starstone coming soon in "Mythic Realms," and a "Test of the Starstone" adventure is kind of a no-brainer that, some day, I suspect we'll publish.
Until that unspecified date in the future, though, I'm not ready to talk about what kinds of things might be going on in there. There's some stuff, like I said, coming soon in "Mythic Realms," and the Mythic Adventures book itself will have lots more world-neutral advice.
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1) I don't have Mythic Adventures, but do they actually get conscious control over what abilities they manifest? Or would it be more like, someone who was opposed to it, rather than not selecting it, simply wouldn't have it manifest? Or would it depend a lot on the source of the mythic power, the character, the DM, and the player? Obviously the player has that freedom, but that's different than the character themselves having that choice...
2) What would you do if you were just riding around your tarrasque and Godzilla suddenly popped up out of the ocean to fight it? Flee? Fight? Take videos and upload to Youtube? Die from overdose of glee?
3) What tenets do you think a paladin of Kurgess would try to uphold? Fair play? Sportsmanship? Or is Kurgess not the kind of god that tends to have paladins?
Edit: @Pandora's: I'm not James Jacobs, but you may be happy to know that an upcoming product will actually be going over the Starstone...
1) No worries. No one but us in-house at Paizo have Mythic Adventures yet! :-) If by "they" you mean "the player characters," yes, what sorts of mythic abilities they gain are 100% up to the players. It's no different than building a core character, really. And of course, just as in the core game the GM can say something like "You can't play sorcerers, and if you play clerics you must worship Iomedae or Erastil, and if you play fighters you can't use two-handed weapons" or whatever else might be an in-world limitation, a GM can impose whatever sorts of restrictions he wants on mythic character build options.
2) Make friends!
3) Paladins of Kurgess would be very much into things like tournaments and jousting and competitions and the like.
Quick question. Witch- Ability Focus is a legal feat for the Slumber hex? Are hexes special abilities and can Pc's use monster feats like that?
How's the diet coming?
It's a legal feat, yes, but you can't pick "Abilty Focus (hex)." You have to pick a SPECIFIC hex, so "Ability Focus (slumber hex)" is what you're looking for.
The diet is now on pause, since while I'm at Gen Con I won't be able to fully control the times and kinds of foods I'll be eating. I'll be going back on the diet one I'm back from Gen Con, but in the meantime I've lost about 90–95 pounds. Hopefully Gen Con won't end up putting much more back on me...
Thanks.
Wow!
I am going back on my low-carb high protein diet (aka steak & salad diet) to lose 10 pounds. I lost 50# once on it (and kept 40 off, and am going back after those 10)- but 90! Congrats.
Yeah, it’s hard when at place/event like Gencon. I am going to Disney in a month, and I know I’ll just have to go on a modified version for 3 days.
Don't sweat a small gain when going off. Just try and keep it to under 10#.
I was wondering as guts from berserk was using his 'dragonslayer' hunk of iron mostly killing magical creatures of abyss, undead, & apostles (basically low level demons in pathfinder terms) his 'sword' was slowly gaining an aura from the uses which made him have a magical enchantment the hard way. Is their anyway to possibly mimic a mechanic of more weapon uses against magical/fey/abyssis,etc foes begin to slowly upgrade itself? I'm asking about a living campaign type game though not really for quick adventures.
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I was wondering as guts from berserk was using his 'dragonslayer' hunk of iron mostly killing magical creatures of abyss, undead, & apostles (basically low level demons in pathfinder terms) his 'sword' was slowly gaining an aura from the uses which made him have a magical enchantment the hard way. Is their anyway to possibly mimic a mechanic of more weapon uses against magical/fey/abyssis,etc foes begin to slowly upgrade itself? I'm asking about a living campaign type game though not really for quick adventures.
There's something going on with how you phrased your question... likely with its syntax or sentence construction combined with what I'm guessing are references to the manga Berserk (with which I'm not all that familiar) that confuses me.
But I think what you're basically asking is:
"Can one make a weapon that upgrades itself as a campaign goes on?"
The answer is yes. We've done stuff like this before—there's a weapon in Legacy of Fire that does this, and there'll be one in Wrath of the Righteous that does the same. Furthermore, there's a mechanic in Mythic Adventures that lets you upgrade a weapon as you become more mythic.
I was using in story references to guts sword & how it had magical enchantment after the in story years of use. Sorry if that was confusing I thought you were familiar with title.
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Creative Director
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There was a weapon in Kingmaker that functioned in a similar fashion to what you're describing (though only over the course of the final episode of the AP).
Yup. We may have done something similar a few more times as well. Weapons that grow more powerful as you accomplish deeds over the course of an adventure is a thing I've done in my homebrew games for years... decades, even. I've been including similar things in our Adventure Paths quite often. The weapons from Runeforge in Rise of the Runelords are similar as well, now that I think of it.
Is an Amulet of Mighty Fist a valid target for abilities that enhance weapons, such as the Magus' Arcane Pool, the Paladin's Divine Bond, or the Bard's (Arcane Duelist archetype) Bladethirst? I would assume not because the Amulet is a wondrous item, but I'm just looking for clarification as I can see why people might think it should be allowed.
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Is an Amulet of Mighty Fist a valid target for abilities that enhance weapons, such as the Magus' Arcane Pool, the Paladin's Divine Bond, or the Bard's (Arcane Duelist archetype) Bladethirst? I would assume not because the Amulet is a wondrous item, but I'm just looking for clarification as I can see why people might think it should be allowed.
Nope. It's not a weapon. The user's natural attacks and unarmed strikes are the weapon.
Is an Amulet of Mighty Fist a valid target for abilities that enhance weapons, such as the Magus' Arcane Pool, the Paladin's Divine Bond, or the Bard's (Arcane Duelist archetype) Bladethirst? I would assume not because the Amulet is a wondrous item, but I'm just looking for clarification as I can see why people might think it should be allowed.Nope. It's not a weapon. The user's natural attacks and unarmed strikes are the weapon.
So in other words, your interpretation is that you don't need to use the amulet as a middle man to augment your unarmed strikes with abilities like these, correct?
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James Jacobs, I have an incredibly important question! This question has been burning in my mind for months now, I can barely concentrate on my my paladin training! My tutor says that I'm digging a ditch into darkness with my very un-paladin like thoughts. You are my only hope for returning to the purity of Sarenrae's light!
Does cheese taste orange?
So in other words, your interpretation is that you don't need to use the amulet as a middle man to augment your unarmed strikes with abilities like these, correct?Is an Amulet of Mighty Fist a valid target for abilities that enhance weapons, such as the Magus' Arcane Pool, the Paladin's Divine Bond, or the Bard's (Arcane Duelist archetype) Bladethirst? I would assume not because the Amulet is a wondrous item, but I'm just looking for clarification as I can see why people might think it should be allowed.Nope. It's not a weapon. The user's natural attacks and unarmed strikes are the weapon.
You always could use those abilities on unarmed strikes. I was just in a discussion with a friend on whether or not it's possible to stack those abilities on an Amulet of Mighty Fists so it would apply to all the natural attacks instead of just one.
Hey James,
1.) can good religions in golorion have evil or corrupt priests and followers?
2.) like wise could evil religions have good followers? ie I am thinking could their be good asmodean followers in Cheliax for example.
-vyshan
If a sorcerer with a bloodline that grants claws (like draconic, or abyssal) took the Improved Natural Attack (Claws) feat and then polymorphed into a creature with claws, does the feat still apply? Or does it only apply to the bloodline claws?
Might be getting a few more questions from me, we're working on some villains for a friends campaign. Thanks for the help!
I prefer prepared--spontaneous casters are really just prepared casters who are forced to prepare the same spells every day, and I feel like if I learn something about a particular spell combination, then with a wizard I can improve the next day, while with a sorcerer it doesn't matter what I learn.
I disagree with this, and the reason why is one of the main reasons I prefer spontaneous casters: Spontaneous casters don't have to know in advance how many times a day they need to use each of the spells they know, and don't run as much into the situation where they have a spell prepared that day that turns out to be completely useless.
Captain Planet vs Treerazer?Treerazer.
Note: I did not ask for clarification as to what sort of conflict you imagined the two were having, because Treerazer wins all conflicts against Captain Planet.
Captain planet wins the "having a mullet" contest. But then, I suppose winning that contest is losing, in its own way.
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Creative Director
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So in other words, your interpretation is that you don't need to use the amulet as a middle man to augment your unarmed strikes with abilities like these, correct?Is an Amulet of Mighty Fist a valid target for abilities that enhance weapons, such as the Magus' Arcane Pool, the Paladin's Divine Bond, or the Bard's (Arcane Duelist archetype) Bladethirst? I would assume not because the Amulet is a wondrous item, but I'm just looking for clarification as I can see why people might think it should be allowed.Nope. It's not a weapon. The user's natural attacks and unarmed strikes are the weapon.
Nope. My interpretation is that those things can't enhance unarmed strikes or natural weapons.
Not every option needs or should be applicable to every situation.
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Creative Director
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James Jacobs, I have an incredibly important question! This question has been burning in my mind for months now, I can barely concentrate on my my paladin training! My tutor says that I'm digging a ditch into darkness with my very un-paladin like thoughts. You are my only hope for returning to the purity of Sarenrae's light!
Does cheese taste orange?
If it does, then it's not really cheese. It's chemicals.
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
1.) can good religions in golorion have evil or corrupt priests and followers?
2.) like wise could evil religions have good followers? ie I am thinking could their be good asmodean followers in Cheliax for example.
-vyshan
1) Not if they expect to keep their spells or the support of their church. You can be corrupt without being evil, though. And so you can have a corrupt priest in a good church. And you can have an evil divine spellcaster pretending to be a member of a good church, but that evil divine spellcaster would need to worship an evil deity.
2) Same. But in reverse.
The game has absolute evils and absolute goods, unlike the real world. It's one of the game's strengths, in my opinion. And it does mean that if you're a legitimate follower of a deity that's good, you're not evil. And vice-versa.
You can still have stories where a corrupt priest uses a church for his own nefarious secret deeds; that priest just needs to worship an evil deity in secret. And you can still have a cultist who has a change of heart and becomes good, but with that change of heart should come a change of religion.
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Creative Director
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If a sorcerer with a bloodline that grants claws (like draconic, or abyssal) took the Improved Natural Attack (Claws) feat and then polymorphed into a creature with claws, does the feat still apply? Or does it only apply to the bloodline claws?
Might be getting a few more questions from me, we're working on some villains for a friends campaign. Thanks for the help!
Up to your GM, but I'd say it only applies to the bloodline claws, since the feat enhances those but not something that isn't yet there.
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Creative Director
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I prefer prepared--spontaneous casters are really just prepared casters who are forced to prepare the same spells every day, and I feel like if I learn something about a particular spell combination, then with a wizard I can improve the next day, while with a sorcerer it doesn't matter what I learn.
I disagree with this, and the reason why is one of the main reasons I prefer spontaneous casters: Spontaneous casters don't have to know in advance how many times a day they need to use each of the spells they know, and don't run as much into the situation where they have a spell prepared that day that turns out to be completely useless.
And that's why the game has both to choose from, because it's a game for every one, not just one person.
In Golarion do Sea Hags yell get off my shore to pirates?
There was a weapon in Kingmaker that functioned in a similar fashion to what you're describing (though only over the course of the final episode of the AP).Yup. We may have done something similar a few more times as well. Weapons that grow more powerful as you accomplish deeds over the course of an adventure is a thing I've done in my homebrew games for years... decades, even. I've been including similar things in our Adventure Paths quite often. The weapons from Runeforge in Rise of the Runelords are similar as well, now that I think of it.
OH! OH! OH! i got one: Suishen, from Jade Regent
I've been a fan of Paizo since before Pathfinder and now with the advent of Mythic Adventures, I was hoping you could provide some advice. The second and third adventure paths that Paizo printed (Age of Worms and Savage Tide are great, but I think I am going to be more of a fan of the Mythic system than the "Epic System" Could you provide some advice where you would place the "Mythic Tier" advancements in these adventure paths to balance the fact that characters would top out at 20th level?
Personally? My desire for a swashbuckler class is pretty well documented on these boards.
As is mine, only that I don't have the creative power that you do. :p
Man, I hope your take on the Swashbuckler will be awesome (meaning: no sneak attack, please). I did one myself, but nobody let's me play it, because it's not official. Hurry up! :D
First off... I assume you know about the Guide to Korvosa? It's got 64 pages of details on the city, including LOTS of alternate schools and guilds and the like.There are certainly more guilds than what's listed in Inner Sea Magic; those lists were just samples. Feel free to put any more guilds you want into your Golarion. There are certainly several excellent candidates in Varisia, particularly in Galduria, Magnimar, Riddleport, and Korvosa.Would you be willing to name one or two in Korvosa and their specialty? If not the latter, then would it be reasonable to assume that the Acadamae's focus on conjuration would influence guilds in Korvosa as a whole?
Even if it's just something that appeared in your homebrew somewhere - I don't mind if it's not strictly canon-in-a-published-book, just something that fits as a basis to work from.
And it's awesome. One of the best city guides paizo has put out, in my opinion.
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I forgot if you said you still play WoW or not but regardless what are your thoughts on Oondasta ? It's a Loa empowered Devilsaur armed with tesla cannons that serves as an outside raid boss (I.e. 40 man group is recommended)
Good Morning, James;
Is there an appropriate spot in the forums for suggestions for a swashbuckler base class?
I'm currently playing a Lawful Good Cleric of Kelemvor in a Forgotten Realms Pathfinder game. We just hit level 10 and finished a significant story arch and the consensus is that the group is emotionally drained and just suffered the loss of our Fighter. We have a significant amount of downtime before we start the next story so my Cleric is going through a slight crisis of faith.
How do you think Kelemvor would feel about his Clerics spreading so much death? About raising fallen team mates?
Would this differ for Pharasma?
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The game has absolute evils and absolute goods, unlike the real world. It's one of the game's strengths, in my opinion.
Hey James,
why do you think that having absolute goods and evils is one of the game's strengths?
Personally I have mixed feelings about it, and I have also tested playing without alignments (although it is a lot of work, since the concept is embedded into so many powers and spells, which makes sense given the premises), so I would be interested in hearing more about your point of view.
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Creative Director
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OH! OH! OH! i got one: Suishen, from Jade RegentThere was a weapon in Kingmaker that functioned in a similar fashion to what you're describing (though only over the course of the final episode of the AP).Yup. We may have done something similar a few more times as well. Weapons that grow more powerful as you accomplish deeds over the course of an adventure is a thing I've done in my homebrew games for years... decades, even. I've been including similar things in our Adventure Paths quite often. The weapons from Runeforge in Rise of the Runelords are similar as well, now that I think of it.
Yup! In fact, Suishen was a specific lift from a game I ran in college; a player had the weapon and it charged up by absorbing increasingly powerful elementals as he leveled up.
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Creative Director
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I've been a fan of Paizo since before Pathfinder and now with the advent of Mythic Adventures, I was hoping you could provide some advice. The second and third adventure paths that Paizo printed (Age of Worms and Savage Tide are great, but I think I am going to be more of a fan of the Mythic system than the "Epic System" Could you provide some advice where you would place the "Mythic Tier" advancements in these adventure paths to balance the fact that characters would top out at 20th level?
Wow.
That's a pretty big job, frankly, since over the course of an adventure path where you go from tier 0 all the way up to tier 10 you have to set out 29 trials and 1 ascension. That's 30 events closely tied into the adventure, spread out over the course of 12 parts. And since it's been over half a decade sine I've looked at these Adventure Paths in detail... I'd basically have to re-read them all to offer the advice you're asking for.
So I'm not gonna. Sorry, just don't have time to do so. This would be a GREAT thing to ask elsewhere on the boards once Mythic Adventures is out, though, since other players of those older Adventure Paths will have some great suggestions!
NOTE: Those APs aren't really all that designed for mythic; they're designed for 1st to 20th level play. So if you make them mythic, you'll have to do a lot of work to power up the APs as you go!
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Personally? My desire for a swashbuckler class is pretty well documented on these boards.As is mine, only that I don't have the creative power that you do. :p
Man, I hope your take on the Swashbuckler will be awesome (meaning: no sneak attack, please). I did one myself, but nobody let's me play it, because it's not official. Hurry up! :D
Honestly... if I were to do one, I wouldn't be surprised to find out you hated it. Our tastes in what makes the game fun seem to clash more often than not, I've learned.
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I forgot if you said you still play WoW or not but regardless what are your thoughts on Oondasta ? It's a Loa empowered Devilsaur armed with tesla cannons that serves as an outside raid boss (I.e. 40 man group is recommended)
I'm still subscribed to WoW but I haven't played it regularly of late. I just recently hit the new level cap last month. Still haven't gone to Dinosaur Island.
The Oondasta looks pretty cool, though!
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Also sorry for my absence, trying to catch up on all ze forums here :3
As for a question, Ng the Hooded... How the bloody $&@# do you pronounce Ng ?
No worries!
To pronouce "Ng" just say any word that ends in "ing," like fighting or kicking or kissing or licking. Then leave off all the letters but those last three—the "ing" part.
That's how.
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Creative Director
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The game has absolute evils and absolute goods, unlike the real world. It's one of the game's strengths, in my opinion. And it does mean that if you're a legitimate follower of a deity that's good, you're not evil. And vice-verse.
You can still have stories where a corrupt priest uses a church for his own nefarious secret deeds; that priest just needs to worship an evil deity in secret. And you can still have a cultist who has a change of heart and becomes good, but with that change of heart should come a change of religion.
That seems to be what is the major difference between Golarion and Eberron, aside from the latter's mystech. In Eberron, the gods it seems really don't police their clergy at all, so you can have a corrupt, evil, priest at the helm of a good church, leading it astray and still receiving powers from the gods he professes to worship.
In my opinion, this allows for more subtle plot lines than in standard worlds like Golarion and the Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk where such individuals would wind up being rather obvious from their lack of spellpower.
You can still have more subtle plot lines. Remember... not every worshiper of a deity is a cleric. An oracle or a ranger or an inquisitor can all retain their power wile serving as a corrupt member of a church they're posing as. As can any class. There's a LOT of options out there for NPCs who can pretend to be good guys.
And in fact, there are evil CLERICS who specialize in this. Check out Sifkesh, for example. She's the demon lord of hopeless despair, heresy, and suicide, and her followers are all about infiltrating good guy religions and corrupting them. Pazuzu is into that as well.