Creative Director
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Spoiler:How'd all those tiefling NPCs the players have to fight get into the city? They couldn't all have come through from the Worldwound during the attack, after all.
None of them came through the Worldwound. They just more or less crossed the river. The adventure assumes...
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Creative Director
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Runelord question
Were any of the final Runelords(the ones in power when Thassilon fell) attached to someone? Did they have family? What about friends or particularly prized servants, that they perhaps counted among their friends?
Being bigshot end-game villains, I can see why these sorts of things might not be explained in any of the books, since humanizing the incredibly dangerous titan of sin-magic, might not lend itself to the proper mood, when telling stories about them. But were there any such people? Did Karzoug have a friend or advisor with whom he, when they were supposed to talk about affairs of state, would trail off in conversation about something entirely different? Did Sorchen have a favorite paramour, who she did not as regularly have intercourse with, as much as she pillow-talked? Did Xanderghul think much of anyone, except his own reflection?
Or were they just as history remembered them?
-Nearyn
Unrevealed, and not something I'm ready to delve into yet. For the most part though, no, they didn't have many friends or family. They had plenty of slaves and minions and henchpeople though.
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Creative Director
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Hi, James.
This has been bugging me sice I bought the Inner Sea World Guide a few years ago...
What was the design decision to name the pseudo-Viking area the "Lands of the Linnorm Kings?" I always thought it sounded a bit awkward.
(In my version of Golarion, the area is called "Ulfenland.")
Thanks!
Erik named it, so he'll have to say for sure... but my take? The reason was that we were naming 40+ regions, and making up nonsense words for all of them was getting boring, so we wanted to name some regions things that were immediately identifiable since they used real-world words.
I tend to shorten it to the Linnorm Lands.
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Are there any "____ Revisited" books that you would absolutely love to be made?Yes. Now that Mystery Monsters Revisited and Demons Revisited are done, there's a few more I'd like to see us do. Not time yet to reveal what they are though...
Cough Denizens of the Dark Tapestry Cough?
:)
Are there any "____ Revisited" books that you would absolutely love to be made?Yes. Now that Mystery Monsters Revisited and Demons Revisited are done, there's a few more I'd like to see us do. Not time yet to reveal what they are though...
*crosses fingers for Mythos Monsters Revisited*
EDIT: NINJA'D?!?!?!?!!?!? D:
(In order to pre-empt "That's a Wes question"-sort of answers to my Arshea questions I've linked to not only Arshea's wiki article but also Wes' answers on Arshea.)
1. Will Empyreal Lords have realm powers similar to those of demon lords?
2. Where do the followers of a wandering deity go when they die?
3. How does an evil Calistrian go about sex? Consent and CE don't seem to go together.
4. How do Calistria's followers feel about Arshea? How do Arshea's feel about Calistria?
5. You have two CG cultists, one of Calistria and one of Arshea. How do their sex lives differ?
6. Among Empyreal Lords, is Arshea at the high or low end of the CR spectrum?
7. How would the people around the Stolen Lands feel about Arshea? I ask because s/he doesn't have the area's backwoods-y aesthetic.
8. What sort of beings would an inquisitor of Arshea fight (besides sex-themed evil outsiders)? Where would she go looking for evil?
9. What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?
10. What places in Avistan are the most sexually stifled? Is Westcrown one of them?
Speaking of which, what are the odds of seeing Pathfinder Tales as a kindle version? I have a pretty limited space for physical books left, and currently I am feeling with with Pathfinder Tales books and Dresden Files novels, both of which are unavailable in Kindle. It would be a huge relief if I could more easily buy the Pathfinder Tales books (It would also mean I'd buy more of them!)
IANJJ, but the Dresden Files series is absolutely available on the Kindle. I have every one of the books on mine, and just finished a reread of the entire series. To start, here's the link to Storm Front for the Kindle.
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Creative Director
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(In order to pre-empt "That's a Wes question"-sort of answers to my Arshea questions I've linked to not only Arshea's wiki article but also Wes' answers on Arshea.)
1. Will Empyreal Lords have realm powers similar to those of demon lords?
2. Where do the followers of a wandering deity go when they die?
3. How does an evil Calistrian go about sex? Consent and CE don't seem to go together.
4. How do Calistria's followers feel about Arshea? How do Arshea's feel about Calistria?
5. You have two CG cultists, one of Calistria and one of Arshea. How do their sex lives differ?
6. Among Empyreal Lords, is Arshea at the high or low end of the CR spectrum?
7. How would the people around the Stolen Lands feel about Arshea? I ask because s/he doesn't have the area's backwoods-y aesthetic.
8. What sort of beings would an inquisitor of Arshea fight (besides sex-themed evil outsiders)? Where would she go looking for evil?
9. What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?
10. What places in Avistan are the most sexually stifled? Is Westcrown one of them?
1) Similar, yes. As will all demigods.
2) That's up to Pharasma, but the general rule is they'd go to their alignment-matched outer plane if no other option makes sense.
3) The vast majority of Calistrians are not evil, first off. Just because the rules say you can be within one step of a deity's alignment and still be a cleric does NOT mean that it's an even spread. I'd go as far as to say that less than 1% of a deity's clerics are anything other than the deity's alignment. And are you really trying to get me to list which types of characters are rapists? Not interested in that type of conversation. At all.
4) Dunno. I'm not familiar enough with Arshea to answer.
5) That's up to the cultists. AKA: They can differ all sorts of ways.
6) Dunno; see #4 above.
7) They probably don't know about her much at all. Likely less than I do, even!
8) Dunno; see #4 above.
9) None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive.
10) Westcrown is not one of them. Druma is probably the most stifled in that manner, I suppose.
Remind me which one were the shadowmen? Demons' Souls didn't ever really give names to things that weren't bosses in-game.If you were to recreate the Shadowmen of Demons' Souls in Pathfinder, would you use Fetchlings, Shadow Giants or something else?
And related to the first; if the answer of the previous question was "something else", which race would you use?
The only Shadowman in-game that is actually "alive" in any sense is the Old Hero, who is the boss of 4-2.
All the bones in Shrine of Storms, however, are those of dead Shadowmen and such. Worship of death, so yeah.
What kind of confused me would be the fact that the bones seem human-sized, while Old Hero is a giant in comparison.
So, what's your answer? You seemed to kind of miss on actually answering the question.
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Another demon-redemption question:
I'm aware of this topic being covered more in Demon's Heresy, but I was wondering if there's a certain "threshold" in demons after which redemption is untenable. For instance, a succubus or a hezrou might find a way to redemption, but more powerful ones like a marilith or balor wouldn't, being too entrenched in the abyssal power elite and its CE paradigm to consider being something different?
And would this be similar with other kinds of evil outsiders, that the more powerful or higher up in rank the outsider is, the lower its possibility of redemption?
James, are you glad have become the Paizo version of Dr. Phil on the messageboards?Weird.
Are you saying the question is weird, or that the fact that you have become the Paizo version of Dr. Phil is weird?
The vast majority of Calistrians are not evil, first off. Just because the rules say you can be within one step of a deity's alignment and still be a cleric does NOT mean that it's an even spread. I'd go as far as to say that less than 1% of a deity's clerics are anything other than the deity's alignment. And are you really trying to get me to list which types of characters are rapists? Not interested in that type of conversation. At all.
Whoa, take it easy there. I wasn't asking which ones're rapists; I know that Calistrians aren't, even the CE ones. I just wanted to know how one could be consenting and still be CE. I'm sorry I got you mad and put you off the rest of my questions.
The vast majority of Calistrians are not evil, first off. Just because the rules say you can be within one step of a deity's alignment and still be a cleric does NOT mean that it's an even spread. I'd go as far as to say that less than 1% of a deity's clerics are anything other than the deity's alignment. And are you really trying to get me to list which types of characters are rapists? Not interested in that type of conversation. At all.Whoa, take it easy there. I wasn't asking which ones're rapists; I know that Calistrians aren't, even the CE ones. I just wanted to know how one could be consenting and still be CE. I'm sorry I got you mad and put you off the rest of my questions.
They go all "Fatal Attraction" when jilted or imagine themselves being jilted....
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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James, I was reading up on various ways of constructing crossbows. So then I started wondering, are there preferred types of crossbows in different areas of the Inner Sea or around Golarion?
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Creative Director
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So, what's your answer? You seemed to kind of miss on actually answering the question.Remind me which one were the shadowmen? Demons' Souls didn't ever really give names to things that weren't bosses in-game.If you were to recreate the Shadowmen of Demons' Souls in Pathfinder, would you use Fetchlings, Shadow Giants or something else?
And related to the first; if the answer of the previous question was "something else", which race would you use?
The only Shadowman in-game that is actually "alive" in any sense is the Old Hero, who is the boss of 4-2.
All the bones in Shrine of Storms, however, are those of dead Shadowmen and such. Worship of death, so yeah.
What kind of confused me would be the fact that the bones seem human-sized, while Old Hero is a giant in comparison.
I didn't. I said I'd make all the monsters, including the shadowmen, up as brand new monsters.
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Creative Director
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Another demon-redemption question:
I'm aware of this topic being covered more in Demon's Heresy, but I was wondering if there's a certain "threshold" in demons after which redemption is untenable. For instance, a succubus or a hezrou might find a way to redemption, but more powerful ones like a marilith or balor wouldn't, being too entrenched in the abyssal power elite and its CE paradigm to consider being something different?
And would this be similar with other kinds of evil outsiders, that the more powerful or higher up in rank the outsider is, the lower its possibility of redemption?
There is no threshold. It's like math... a figure can approach zero infinitely without ever reaching zero. Power has nothing to do with whether or not a demon or angel can fall... after all, if Asmodeus is the result of a fallen angel and he's a deity... there's no reason why a demon can't take the reverse course.
It's not gonna happen much at all. And the fact that it's not yet happened in pretty much all of Golarion's history proves it. Doesn't mean it'll NEVER happen.
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Creative Director
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The vast majority of Calistrians are not evil, first off. Just because the rules say you can be within one step of a deity's alignment and still be a cleric does NOT mean that it's an even spread. I'd go as far as to say that less than 1% of a deity's clerics are anything other than the deity's alignment. And are you really trying to get me to list which types of characters are rapists? Not interested in that type of conversation. At all.Whoa, take it easy there. I wasn't asking which ones're rapists; I know that Calistrians aren't, even the CE ones. I just wanted to know how one could be consenting and still be CE. I'm sorry I got you mad and put you off the rest of my questions.
In my take, forcing nonconsensual sex pretty much makes you evil. So a Calistrian who does so would be evil.
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James,
Any books covering the weird technolgoical monsters like a Constructs book to tie in with Iron Gods?
What about Iron God class archtypes, will those be covered more in the AP or associated books?
A "People of" book would be fun.
We'll support the Iron Gods AP in the same ways we support all our APs—with additional books here and there. None of those have been officially announced yet, though, so I can't go into detail yet.
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Creative Director
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James, I was reading up on various ways of constructing crossbows. So then I started wondering, are there preferred types of crossbows in different areas of the Inner Sea or around Golarion?
Not being an expert on crossbows, I can't really say.
But remember... Golarion is not created as an alternate Earth, but as a place to game. Crossbows occupy a very specific niche in Pathfinder—they're the simple-to-use long range weapons. The simple version of a bow. As such... they're used wherever folks who don't have full martial weapon proficiency need to shoot things at a longer range than a sling can get.
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Creative Director
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James what kind of reward would you say a priest of Asmodeus would get if they managed to get hold of the Torc of Kostchtchie and then deliver it to Asmodeus?
That'd depend too much on the situation and the priest's power and favor in Asmodeus's eyes, but the reward should certainly be significant. Although not SUPER significant, since that's not something Asmodeus really wants as far as I know.
This is a Rise of the Runelords question.
James, I know this question may have been asked by people lots of times and surely there are some answers somewhere in the messageboards, but truly I couldn't find one that solved my problems. So as a novice GM, I am confused about what should I do with the last of the Black Arrows in the HMM part. Are they supposed to help the PC's and stick around them for the rest of part 3 (help them retaking the fort etc) or not? Is their help taken into account in the difficulty of the rest of HMM?They already have Shalelu.. I am confused..Thanks in advance!
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Creative Director
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This is a Rise of the Runelords question.
James, I know this question may have been asked by people lots of times and surely there are some answers somewhere in the messageboards, but truly I couldn't find one that solved my problems. So as a novice GM, I am confused about what should I do with the last of the Black Arrows in the HMM part. Are they supposed to help the PC's and stick around them for the rest of part 3 (help them retaking the fort etc) or not? Is their help taken into account in the difficulty of the rest of HMM?They already have Shalelu.. I am confused..Thanks in advance!
The assumption is that the three black arrows the PCs rescue at the start of that adventure do indeed accompany the PCs into the next part to help re-take Fort Rannick. Once that's done, the assumption is that any surviving black arrows stay behind and work to re-fortify and re-build the fort, allowing the PCs the luxury of heading back out to do more adventuring.
Whether or not Shalelu sticks with the PCs is up to you. If you think that the PCs are doing well on their own, she'll stay behind for a bit with the Black Arrows at the fort before returning to the Sandpoint region. If you think the PCs really need her help, though, she can stay with them. Up to you.
This is a Rise of the Runelords question.
James, I know this question may have been asked by people lots of times and surely there are some answers somewhere in the messageboards, but truly I couldn't find one that solved my problems. So as a novice GM, I am confused about what should I do with the last of the Black Arrows in the HMM part. Are they supposed to help the PC's and stick around them for the rest of part 3 (help them retaking the fort etc) or not? Is their help taken into account in the difficulty of the rest of HMM?They already have Shalelu.. I am confused..Thanks in advance!The assumption is that the three black arrows the PCs rescue at the start of that adventure do indeed accompany the PCs into the next part to help re-take Fort Rannick. Once that's done, the assumption is that any surviving black arrows stay behind and work to re-fortify and re-build the fort, allowing the PCs the luxury of heading back out to do more adventuring.
Whether or not Shalelu sticks with the PCs is up to you. If you think that the PCs are doing well on their own, she'll stay behind for a bit with the Black Arrows at the fort before returning to the Sandpoint region. If you think the PCs really need her help, though, she can stay with them. Up to you.
Thanks a lot for your help!
A huge fan of the country of Taldor, the Taldor: Echoes of Glory, and the entry in the 'Innersea World Guide' have only increased my love of the nation, its history and its people. (Especially Princess Eutropia's approach).
Are there modules/plans for more Taldan content?
I have an abyssal sorceress PC in my RotRL campaign. A part of her backstory (unbeknownst to her so far) involves a connection to Lamashtu. My current intention is to have Lamashtu decide that Karzoug represents a threat as his 'release' grows closer: and for the goddess, late in the campaign via subtle messages, to attempt to influence the sorceress to subdue the Runelord. This will involve offers of 'aid' that of course have great risks involved. I've modified the bloodline traits and some of the demonic encounters to foreshadow this.
My question: is there anywhere I can look, or do you have any guidance on the relationship between Karzoug and Lamashtu?
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That's really a shame, and quite frankly I blame the immediacy of the internet and messageboards (unfortunately including this one.)Do you think that today's generation of DMs are less likely to be willing to make their own decisions on running campaigns, especially AP's without some form of "official" sanction?Absolutely.
I'd also blame the way 3rd edition presented such a comprehensive set of rules. In previous editions of the game, much of the "can I do this?" element of the game was left to the GM to decide.
Don't get me wrong though. I think that the rules WotC came up with for 3rd edition are the best the game's had. And I think Pathfinder's version of those rules is even better. The depth to which the rules go in explaining how things work is a strength... but it's also a shackle when it comes to gameplay.
And yeah... the immediacy of the internet and the ease of obtaining information certainly augments and encourages the behavior.
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A huge fan of the country of Taldor, the Taldor: Echoes of Glory, and the entry in the 'Innersea World Guide' have only increased my love of the nation, its history and its people. (Especially Princess Eutropia's approach).
Are there modules/plans for more Taldan content?
Taldor's one of the central regions of our setting, so we'll never completely abandon it. "The Dragon's Demand" is the latest thing to be set in Taldor.
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Creative Director
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My question: is there anywhere I can look, or do you have any guidance on the relationship between Karzoug and Lamashtu?
Lamashtu's relationship with Karzoug is pretty much nothing—she knows of him, but never really did much to interact with him. Which pretty much leaves how that develops completely open for you! :-)
My question: is there anywhere I can look, or do you have any guidance on the relationship between Karzoug and Lamashtu?Lamashtu's relationship with Karzoug is pretty much nothing—she knows of him, but never really did much to interact with him. Which pretty much leaves how that develops completely open for you! :-)
Sounds good to me! It's going to get... morally conflicted in the extreme. When the going gets really tough it's hard to turn down aid, even if it's offered from the most dubious of sources.
9. What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?
9) None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive.
Sounds like Daemons wouldn't be into mortals procreating, then.
If a harrow deck of many things found its way into your possession, would you be willing to risk drawing a card?
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9. What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?
9) None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive.
Sounds like Daemons wouldn't be into mortals procreating, then.
If a harrow deck of many things found its way into your possession, would you be willing to risk drawing a card?
The irony being that Daemons have created a bunch of differant creatures.
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We'll support the Iron Gods AP in the same ways we support all our APs—with additional books here and there. None of those have been officially announced yet, though, so I can't go into detail yet.James,
Any books covering the weird technolgoical monsters like a Constructs book to tie in with Iron Gods?
What about Iron God class archtypes, will those be covered more in the AP or associated books?
A "People of" book would be fun.
It's going to be a painful year till next Paizo con...
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Creative Director
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9. What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?
9) None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive.
Sounds like Daemons wouldn't be into mortals procreating, then.
If a harrow deck of many things found its way into your possession, would you be willing to risk drawing a card?
Perhaps... although as long as mortals procreate, the daemons still have more to eat. Not all daemons are equally into the long-term goal.
Absolutely.
Me: "What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?"
You: "None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive."
I'll rephrase that: which outsiders want sex to be No Fun and for Procreation Only? Encouragement of prudery is what I'm getting at here.
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Me: "What sort of outsiders are against sexuality?"
You: "None pop to mind off the top of my head, although I suppose some exist... but since sex leads to life, and since life is what ultimately becomes outsiders... I'd say those who would be against sexuality would either be ignorant, deluded, or self-destructive."
I'll rephrase that: which outsiders want sex to be No Fun and for Procreation Only? Encouragement of prudery is what I'm getting at here.
None continue to pop into my head. It's not an aspect of outsiderness that I've done much with. Perhaps because I consider "prudery" to be mostly a mortal foible.
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Creative Director
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Quick Rise of the Runelords question: How knowledgeable should a character who studies Thassilon be in Rise of the Runelords? Would they be able to use Thassilonian schools, or would an amateur scholar and newbie wizard not have enough information to learn magic like that?
Rise of the Runelords assumes that Thassilon is not common knowledge, and that the big thing that starts to put Thassilon into the minds of the world are the discoveries the PCs make along the way, particularly the Therrasic Library and Xin-Shalast and Runeforge.
It wouldn't make sense, therefore, to let a PC use Thassilonian specialist magic in Rise of the Runelords.
So, let's say you have the necessary magic gusto to create your own demiplane. What would this demiplane be like?