Creative Director
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That's perhaps part of the problem. Although they don't have alignment requirements, there are some implications on how those orders work that would suggest alignments. And frankly, I don't see the Order of the Cockatrice fitting well with any good alignment. And since the orders are to a certain extent "personality templates," picking the same order as Alain is gonna, in my mind at least, mean you're similar anyway. Maybe a different order's a good idea?One thing I really like about Cavalier orders is that they don't have alignments slapped onto them. When you think about classic Knight Orders from fantasy, yeah, they all have some traits and ideas in common but they most certainly don't have the same personalities. (i.e. your Arthurs from your Lancelots from your Gidwins.) So to that end, I've always personally considered the personality aspects of the various orders to be flavor text of what's typical rather than what's required.
That viewpoint might come from me being a 3.5 Child, where no one among my friends wanted to play a Lawful Good character because everyone at my game table (myself included at the time) thought that the only way to play a Lawful Good character was listed in the Paladin's Code of Conduct section. I knew a lot of people who thought if you weren't acting like a paladin, you weren't Lawful Good. So yeah, my various gamer groups and I tend to be open to interpretation with in-depth codes of conduct and edicts. If you want to see my interpretation of the edict, its in the spoilers below. If you don't, that's fine! I still appreciate your help and insight in designing my follower. :)
** spoiler omitted **...
Cavaliers don't have required alignments... but certain acts encouraged by certain flavorful class themes, such as orders, work best with specific alignments. If an order says "You do everything you can to defend the king and country and uphold its laws when the bad guys break them," you're gonna be lawful.
At least in games I run.
How it works in your games I can't say since I'm not your GM... she/he is the one you should be discussing this situation with at this point.
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James,
Have you seen Cabin in the Woods? (I'm assuming so)
How interested would you be in seeing an adventure that builds on the same premise, but based around the tropes of classic tabletop gaming. The four "archetypes" from the movie being the classic Fighter, Thief, Wizard and Cleric serving as sacrifices in some Gygaxian trap-filled dungeon designed to keep something like an Old God sleeping.
Of course a "dungeon" of their own making, where they choose the "plot hook" much like the relics in the eponymous cabin's basement.
I have. Great movie.
It's also a meta-movie, and as such, that's a category of genre that is REALLY easy to mess up. I'm not too keen on doing a meta-adventure like this, because not only would it be easy to mess up from an author/development side, it'd be easy to mess up from the GM side.
A story like this needs VERY tight creative control, in my opinion, and since a game's perception is 100% in the hands of the GM, that's not something we have in this particular industry.
Furthermore, the story only works once if the heroes survive, which is kind of unfortunate.
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James, why do you think GMs and publishers tend to ignore the less than average looking NPCs?
The question seems a little poorly worded to me...
Are you asking:
1) Why don't game publishers publish more average NPC stat blocks rather than focusing on outlandish characters?
or
2) Why don't game publishers publish more art of plain or even ugly characters?
My answer to 1 above is that space is limited in adventures, and focusing on the important parts of an adventure means that the "plain NPCs" get pushed to the sidelines. NPC Codex and GMG Guide are there to help in this case if you don't want to stat up cheesemakers and farmers.
My answer to 2 above is that artists are generally more interested in illustrating things that are attractive to them, and in my experience, most artists will illustrate beautiful/handsome characters unless specifically directed otherwise. Furthermore, the practice of capturing the human body in art is as old as art itself, and art reflects the values of the society that produces it.
I think that Paizo's done a fairly good job at including artwork of plain or even ugly characters. Can we do better? Absolutely. But keep in mind that like my answer to #1 above, our products are about EXCEPTIONAL characters, not the plain ones who lurk in the backgrounds of adventures and don't become key characters in plots. We WANT our characters to look exceptional... but that can mean exceptionally beautiful or exceptionally ugly. Which one is which depends on the eye of the beholder... and since one of those eyes is the artist creating the illustration, that particular set of eyes is going to be far more influential over the look than any other.
If you're asking about an unknown #3... please rephrase the question, I guess.
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Hi James,
Assuming for a moment that Ileosa 'wins' during Curse of the Crimson Throne, would you say her actions at the culmination of that AP have (or could have) granted her Mythic status? If so, how many Mythic Tiers would she have achieved and which Mythic Path would she follow?
Whee!
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One of the primary inspirations for him was Chow Yun Fat's character in "Curse of the Golden Flower." Which has always colored my interpretation of him.I thought as much. Thanks for the confirmation.
Weird question: What do you imagine Karzoug to sound like? I always imagine him as sounding like Jeremy Irons or Tim Curry.
I must watch this movie now! Thank you!
James are you going to rock our socks with IRON GODS?That's the plan. So make sure you're wearing socks next Gen-Con.
But what if we're not wearing socks? Does our epidermal layer get knocked off or do we loose both of out feet?
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Hi James,
Assuming for a moment that Ileosa 'wins' during Curse of the Crimson Throne, would you say her actions at the culmination of that AP have (or could have) granted her Mythic status? If so, how many Mythic Tiers would she have achieved and which Mythic Path would she follow?
Whee!
It's possible, but I wouldn't say so. Mythic isn't something that needs to happen all the time.
James, after finally getting to read my Mythic Adventures book (which I love by the way!) I have a feeling that there were some ideas or gaps left in it to allow Paizo to bring in a Mythic Adventures 2 (or Ultimate Mythic Adventures or some such) to the masses.
Was this something you all thought of or am I completely off base?
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James, after finally getting to read my Mythic Adventures book (which I love by the way!) I have a feeling that there were some ideas or gaps left in it to allow Paizo to bring in a Mythic Adventures 2 (or Ultimate Mythic Adventures or some such) to the masses.
Was this something you all thought of or am I completely off base?
With the exception of the Bestiaries, we're not fond of doing numbered sequels to books.
That said, Mythic Adventures ABSOLUTELY opens a new realm of design space for all sorts of stuff, and you can expect us to dip into that realm now and then. This month, for example, we've got Mythic Realms and Mythic Origins both coming out.
Can you give us any examples that hit the cutting room floor in Mythic Adventures?
Do you have any plans for the Titans in the next few years?
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Creative Director
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Can you give us any examples that hit the cutting room floor in Mythic Adventures?
Nope, since I wasn't involved in the writing or development of the book, with the exception of providing feedback for the playtest and a development pass on the adventure.
The stuff that hit the cutting room floor from that isn't worth talking about, since I'd rather not "resurrect" things we cut because they just didn't fit the vision or were just not up to par.
For wrath of the rightious the campaign trait stolen fury says you gain a + 2 trait bonus to combat manuver checks vs demons. We were having an argument if it was both cmb and cmd or just one. What do you think?
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Hey,
So I recently finished reading "Legacies", the second book in the Repairman Jack cycle by F. Paul Wilson. I learned about the author following your blog, and over the past few months read The Tomb, The Keep, and Legacies (thank god for Kindle). First I want to thank you for publishing that blog post - it certainly helped me reach a new author who I'm growing to like quite a bit.
Second, a question about your opinions of Legacies:
So, this book was a total shock to me, in that it had no supernatural elements at all! Never before have I seen a series of books where the amount of supernatural powers involved was lowered in the second part. Throughout the book I kept waiting for "it" to happen - and the entire mystery surrounding the house and Alicia's traumatic childhood in it ensured that it *seemed* like there was something supernatural about the story. When it was finally made obvious that it was "just" a revolutionary scientific discovery, I was really confused.
I'm quite happy to be surprised, and I guess this book did a good job of shaking my assumptions and messing up my expectations. Now, in future books, I'll never know that something supernatural is going on until I have strict proof of it, because obviously "normal" thriller-type stories are possible for this character.
Do you think that was the intention? to keep the reader guessing throughout the rest of the series? What in general are your thoughts of suddenly telling a 100% supernatural free story in a series that seemed to be about monsters, by an author who's all about the scary stuff?
Also, another question if you don't mind: would you recommend finishing the entire Repairman cycle before I continue with the Adversary cycle? as I understand parts of the Adversary cycle happen in the "future" compared to Jack's lifetime, and I do want to avoid potential spoilers...
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Creative Director
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Hey,
So I recently finished reading "Legacies", the second book in the Repairman Jack cycle by F. Paul Wilson. I learned about the author following your blog, and over the past few months read The Tomb, The Keep, and Legacies (thank god for Kindle). First I want to thank you for publishing that blog post - it certainly helped me reach a new author who I'm growing to like quite a bit.
Second, a question about your opinions of Legacies:
** spoiler omitted **
Also, another question if you don't mind: would you recommend finishing the entire Repairman cycle before I continue with the Adversary cycle? as I understand parts of the Adversary cycle happen in the "future" compared to Jack's lifetime, and I do want to avoid potential spoilers...
The whole Repairman Jack cycle has a pretty cool "ramping up" of the supernatural stuff. Early on, it's pretty slight, but still there, but by the end it's ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Remember, "The Tomb" was written many years before Legacies, and as such it kinda jump starts things a bit as far as how blatant the supernatural elements are.
BUT! Glad you're enjoying the books. I love them; the last, "Nightworld" is one of my all-time favorite books.
Read the revised Nightworld last. I read them all as they were published, and that works fine... but if you read them in chronological order as listed in the backs of most of his books, that works too!
1) The Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology is my absolute favorite. Second favorite is The Mothman Prophecies. Third favorite might just be The Beast of Boggy Creek.
2) I've done custom curses often... none come to mind at the moment though. I did put in a girdle of giant strength in a game once that was all frilly and pink and no one wanted to wear it. HA! Oh! I put a HUGE number of cursed items with weird curses on them in a room in Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk; a room where Zagig was keeping a museum of cursed items. Heh.
Have you read On The Track Of Unknown Animals by Heuvelmans?
I think I had something from that dungeon, it was a headband of int+6 but you couldn't cast spells. My Warblade thought it was just the thing!
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Have you read On The Track Of Unknown Animals by Heuvelmans?
I think I had something from that dungeon, it was a headband of int+6 but you couldn't cast spells. My Warblade thought it was just the thing!
I have not.
And yeah... the headband was fun.
Heh... got a copy here... area I24: Museum of Mayhem and Malice... the cursed items and the notes found next to them were...
2) Bag of devouring ("Not to Be Opened under Any Circumstances")
3) Crystal hypnosis ball ("WARNING: Do Not Observe.")
4) Headband of Int +6 that prevents spellcasting while worn ("What's the Point?")
5) periapt of foul rotting ("PERIL")
6) vacuous grimoire ("Do Not Read This")
7) belt of giant Strength +4 made of pink lace that constantly emits scandalous moaning sounds and ridiculous grunts when worn, negating Move Silently checks and penalizing all Charisma checks by –6 ("Has Its Uses")
8) berserking sword ("Not to Be Used Among Friends")
9) cursed backbiter spear ("Not to Be Trusted")
So... not a lot of actually unique cursed items so much as just plain old classic cursed items, but with funny warning notes.
What's the design thought behind including unique magic weapons like Tempest and Suishen in APs? I've never been in a group where the DM basically handing one PC an artifact while the rest of the group gets standard treasure wouldn't eventually lead to hard feelings, but it seems contrived to have sets of four to six minor artifacts just lying around waiting for the party to find them. How would you handle it as a DM if the rest of the group felt the treasure distribution was unfair?
hey james,
1.)What type accent would a cheliaxian have? this goes for all the main ethnicities of golarion would have?
2.) what do you think of Savage Worlds?
3.) what realm would be the closet to ancient greece, I am thinking of Thuvia but would like to hear your thoughts
4.) since you are doing another player companion that deals with Osirion, which had one in the past. What are the chances of getting a new Cheliax, Taldor, Andorian and Qadira player companion?
5.) related, what is the possibilities of getting a Cheliax, Talador, Andoran, and Qadira campaign setting book?
-vyshan
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Creative Director
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hey james,
1.)What type accent would a cheliaxian have? this goes for all the main ethnicities of golarion would have?
2.) what do you think of Savage Worlds?
3.) what realm would be the closet to ancient greece, I am thinking of Thuvia but would like to hear your thoughts
4.) since you are doing another player companion that deals with Osirion, which had one in the past. What are the chances of getting a new Cheliax, Taldor, Andorian and Qadira player companion?
5.) related, what is the possibilities of getting a Cheliax, Talador, Andoran, and Qadira campaign setting book?
-vyshan
1) We actually had to figure this out for our upcoming audio dramas from Big Finish. I believe Chelaxian sounds British... but I don't remember for sure, and I'm not really interested in guessing/remembering at this point when I'm at home and don't have the list handy.
2) The RPG? I've played it once. It was fun!
3) Iblydos, of the southwestern coast of Casmaron, is our Greece analogue. We haven't done much in print about it yet.
4) Said chances increase exponentially if we do an Adventure Path set in one of them.
5) Same as 4 above.
Hey James one of the ideas in Mythic Adventure that appeals to me is using a vehicle as your legendary ite. I am have vision of my character from Skulls & Shackles sailing around on a Legendary pirate ship.
The thing though is most of the powers don't make sense for a ship...are we going to see this list expanded?
What abilities would you pick for your legendary pirate ship?
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Thanks for Wrath of the Righteous (so far so amazing) and Mythic Adventures!
My question that I've been meaning to ask for ages and I keep forgetting:
Do the Animal Lords (specifically the Cat Lord and Mouse Lord from Tome of Horrors, et al) reside anywhere in Golarion? If so any clues as to where, why, or a tidbit on their doings?
The Cat Lord has always been a major D&D touchstone for me (along with Graz'zt), and I'd love to know he's part of Golarion canon.
Thanks as always!
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Creative Director
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What's the design thought behind including unique magic weapons like Tempest and Suishen in APs? I've never been in a group where the DM basically handing one PC an artifact while the rest of the group gets standard treasure wouldn't eventually lead to hard feelings, but it seems contrived to have sets of four to six minor artifacts just lying around waiting for the party to find them. How would you handle it as a DM if the rest of the group felt the treasure distribution was unfair?
The design thought is that many stories include magical weapons that are themselves characters. Including such a character in an Adventure Path is tricky, since the way the game works, players "upgrade" their weapons pretty frequently, so if we want to have a weapon that has a good chance of sticking with the campaign from start to end, we need to include methods by which it increases in power.
This DOES require a group of a certain maturity level, of course, because jealousy between players can wreck such a plot. In developing an AP where a weapon like this plays a role, I have to assume the bulk of the groups are able to handle this situation.
If the group felt the treasure situation was unfair, though, I'd do my best to include treasure finds that skew heavily toward the other PCs, hoping that would solve itself. But by keeping a key weapon's power on par with what would normally be carried at that level, you can avoid that to a certain extent.
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Hey James one of the ideas in Mythic Adventure that appeals to me is using a vehicle as your legendary ite. I am have vision of my character from Skulls & Shackles sailing around on a Legendary pirate ship.
The thing though is most of the powers don't make sense for a ship...are we going to see this list expanded?
What abilities would you pick for your legendary pirate ship?
That is a very complicated question that ties into a very complex set of rules (vehicle rules) that I'm not that familiar with, and as such I don't really have any suggestions at this point. The only one that comes to mind is some sort of spiritual presence or intelligence that lives on the ship and helps out.
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Thanks for Wrath of the Righteous (so far so amazing) and Mythic Adventures!
My question that I've been meaning to ask for ages and I keep forgetting:
Do the Animal Lords (specifically the Cat Lord and Mouse Lord from Tome of Horrors, et al) reside anywhere in Golarion? If so any clues as to where, why, or a tidbit on their doings?
The Cat Lord has always been a major D&D touchstone for me (along with Graz'zt), and I'd love to know he's part of Golarion canon.
Thanks as always!
The animal lords do exist. We statted them up in Bestiary 3, but haven't yet used them in an adventure, and as such they don't yet have an official part in Golarion canon.
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The animal lords do exist. We statted them up in Bestiary 3, but haven't yet used them in an adventure, and as such they don't yet have an official part in Golarion canon.Thanks for Wrath of the Righteous (so far so amazing) and Mythic Adventures!
My question that I've been meaning to ask for ages and I keep forgetting:
Do the Animal Lords (specifically the Cat Lord and Mouse Lord from Tome of Horrors, et al) reside anywhere in Golarion? If so any clues as to where, why, or a tidbit on their doings?
The Cat Lord has always been a major D&D touchstone for me (along with Graz'zt), and I'd love to know he's part of Golarion canon.
Thanks as always!
Fantastic news. I knew they were in B3 but as its not Golarion specific I was always sorta hoping. Cheers! How odd that such a little thing would cause me to grin like a fool.
4) Said chances increase exponentially if we do an Adventure Path set in one of them.5) Same as 4 above.
Well there was the Cheliax AP but no book about Cheliax, beyond the player companion. So is Cheliax, still possible to have another AP there?
Also when would we learn more about Vudra and Casmaron?
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4) Said chances increase exponentially if we do an Adventure Path set in one of them.5) Same as 4 above.
Well there was the Cheliax AP but no book about Cheliax, beyond the player companion. So is Cheliax, still possible to have another AP there?
Also when would we learn more about Vudra and Casmaron?
We've started 5 APs so far in Varisia, of which 3 played out entirely in Varisia.
I think Cheliax can hold plenty of APs.
Vudra and Casmaron are a while off, but we might do more here and there... for example, the 3rd Reign of Winter adventure takes place in Casmaron...
can you use Summon Monster spells for sex-related thingsYes, assuming your group and GM and fellow players are okay with sexual content in the game. Otherwise, you should avoid it.
Hmm... given the fact that the Summon Monster spells have a woefully short duration (about 6 seconds per level, IIRC), they aren't exactly what I'd recommend for these activities, though...
Hello, James Jacobs!
Thank you for answering my previous questions! Here are a few more. :)
1) What do you think of the character Fenris in Dragon Age II?
1a) What would you say his alignment is?
2) What city in Golarion is most similar to Kirkwall from Dragon Age II? Maybe Riddleport?
3) Where in Golarion is spaghetti (or pasta in general!) popular?
In your opinion, would it be possible to have an AP not taking place in the present age of Golarion but during past periods (like, for example, Thassilon or when Aroden was still alive) ?
Are you involved/being consulted in the design of the swashbuckler for the Advanced Class Guide? Mostly curious because I have faith in the designers that are probably officially responsible.
What race will your first Paizo-official swashbuckler probably be?
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Creative Director
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Hello, James Jacobs!
Thank you for answering my previous questions! Here are a few more. :)
1) What do you think of the character Fenris in Dragon Age II?
1a) What would you say his alignment is?
2) What city in Golarion is most similar to Kirkwall from Dragon Age II? Maybe Riddleport?
3) Where in Golarion is spaghetti (or pasta in general!) popular?
1) Never really ran with him, so I never really got into his character at all.
1a) Dunno.
2) Riddleport's too scuzzy, really, and doesn't have enough of an overbearing force of law present. I'd probably nominate Magnimar, honestly, since there's a lot of different factions vying for political control AND the town has a monolithic feel to it.
3) Cheliax.
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In your opinion, would it be possible to have an AP not taking place in the present age of Golarion but during past periods (like, for example, Thassilon or when Aroden was still alive) ?
It's certainly possible, but it'd require us to support it with a lot of new products in the same way we needed to bring in support from every other line to do Jade Regent. Further... unlike any other AP, these events WOULD have to be implemented into the world's canon, which is awkward and difficult since the way any one AP plays out is so variable.
It's a lot, if not more, work than doing an AP that takes place significantly on another continent, and I'm more interested in doing the latter if I'm doing that much work than doing something set in the past.
SO... Possible, but unlikely, since I don't have a strong interest in it.
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Creative Director
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Is your starting point going to be with the giant isopod stats found in AP 55?
2) Ha! The Bay is delightful... especially when you realize how much of the movie is actually NOT made up! Isopods are freaky. Chances of isopod problems showing up in stats soon is better than slim.
That would certainly make sense.
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Creative Director
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Presumably however it would be A Cat Lord and not Gygax's Rexfelis which the player is talking about, unless Paizo got a license to that unique character somehow.The animal lords do exist. We statted them up in Bestiary 3, but haven't yet used them in an adventure, and as such they don't yet have an official part in Golarion canon.Thanks for Wrath of the Righteous (so far so amazing) and Mythic Adventures!
My question that I've been meaning to ask for ages and I keep forgetting:
Do the Animal Lords (specifically the Cat Lord and Mouse Lord from Tome of Horrors, et al) reside anywhere in Golarion? If so any clues as to where, why, or a tidbit on their doings?
The Cat Lord has always been a major D&D touchstone for me (along with Graz'zt), and I'd love to know he's part of Golarion canon.
Thanks as always!
It absolutely is not. If only because our cat lord is a woman.
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Creative Director
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Are you involved/being consulted in the design of the swashbuckler for the Advanced Class Guide? Mostly curious because I have faith in the designers that are probably officially responsible.
What race will your first Paizo-official swashbuckler probably be?
So far, I've been consulted in the swashbuckler's design, yes. I'm not writing it nor am I developing it, but I'll sure as hell be providing playtest feedback!
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Hello, James Jacobs!
Thank you for answering my previous questions! Here are a few more. :)
1) What do you think of the character Fenris in Dragon Age II?
1a) What would you say his alignment is?
2) What city in Golarion is most similar to Kirkwall from Dragon Age II? Maybe Riddleport?
3) Where in Golarion is spaghetti (or pasta in general!) popular?
1) Never really ran with him, so I never really got into his character at all.
1a) Dunno.
2) Riddleport's too scuzzy, really, and doesn't have enough of an overbearing force of law present. I'd probably nominate Magnimar, honestly, since there's a lot of different factions vying for political control AND the town has a monolithic feel to it.
3) Cheliax.
so does this mean that italian food is the devil's food?
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so does this mean that italian food is the devil's food?Hello, James Jacobs!
Thank you for answering my previous questions! Here are a few more. :)
1) What do you think of the character Fenris in Dragon Age II?
1a) What would you say his alignment is?
2) What city in Golarion is most similar to Kirkwall from Dragon Age II? Maybe Riddleport?
3) Where in Golarion is spaghetti (or pasta in general!) popular?
1) Never really ran with him, so I never really got into his character at all.
1a) Dunno.
2) Riddleport's too scuzzy, really, and doesn't have enough of an overbearing force of law present. I'd probably nominate Magnimar, honestly, since there's a lot of different factions vying for political control AND the town has a monolithic feel to it.
3) Cheliax.
Are you somehow implying that pizza is evil ?
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so does this mean that italian food is the devil's food?
Absolutely not. There's far more to Cheliax than devils. The whole diabolisim element, remember, has only really been a big deal for the past 70 to 80 years. Cheliax, and all of its pasta, are MUCH MUCH older than 70 to 80 years.
Are you somehow implying that pizza is evil ?so does this mean that italian food is the devil's food?
3) Cheliax.
The popularity of the Hell Pizza Chain in New Zealand would seem to support this interpretation...
