So, let's say you have the necessary magic gusto to create your own demiplane. What would this demiplane be like?Dinosaurs would be involved. As would be redwood trees.
Will there be tourist fees?
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Will there be tourist fees?So, let's say you have the necessary magic gusto to create your own demiplane. What would this demiplane be like?Dinosaurs would be involved. As would be redwood trees.
Depends on a person-by-person basis, after I read over your lengthy application for a visit questionnaire.
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Sheesh, I feel like I'm constantly poking you or something. Sorry to keep pestering you like this. It's like whenever you answer a question, another one pops into my head.
Who's the best person on the boards to ask questions about Brevoy and the Aldori Swordlords?
Me.
And don't worry about asking too many questions. That's the whole point of this thread, after all!
Piggybacking Archpaladin Zousha's question:
1) How do Rostlands Aldori differ from Mivonese Aldori?
2) What's the relative military strength from the Swordlord Houses compared to the five Brevoy ones?
3) Related to the last question; how are Brevoy noble houses related to the Swordlords? I mean, are their members trained in Aldori styles?
James, have you heard about this game? http://www.eldritchgame.com/
Windows only, but you could use Boot camp.
James,
A question came up about what percent of the population of Golarion can cast spells. This post used some math from the Bestiary and the old DM's Guide. It came out to about 1.2% of NPCs can cast spells. Is that about right? I understand that it would vary from nation to nation, but I'm talking about the overall average.
James, maybe you can answer this burning question for me:
Why do all the harmless spell entries have (harmless) tagged under the spell resistance, given that Spell Resistance and harmless have virtually nothing to do with one another? Harmless spells do not bypass SR, after all.
Assuming you weren't shackled to any dietary restrictions, how quickly do you think you could eat an entire cheesecake?
Dear James, what was the best dungeon, and/or encounter that you have played?
(I'm sorry if this question has come up before.)
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Creative Director
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James, have you heard about this game? http://www.eldritchgame.com/
Windows only, but you could use Boot camp.
HA! Cute looking game!
Not all that interested in boot camp (last time I tried to do this I fried my hard drive and lost a lot of stuff... including a fair amount of archived information about my Homebrew setting which could have someday made it into a Golarion book... so yeah...), and I've got plenty of games to keep me entertained already...
...but looks fun!
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Piggybacking Archpaladin Zousha's question:
1) How do Rostlands Aldori differ from Mivonese Aldori?
2) What's the relative military strength from the Swordlord Houses compared to the five Brevoy ones?
3) Related to the last question; how are Brevoy noble houses related to the Swordlords? I mean, are their members trained in Aldori styles?
1) Rostland ones would be more traditional and less tolerant of outlanders or experimenting with new styles, whereas the Mivon ones would be.
2) The Swordlords have a much smaller standing military, but on a whole each of them is more highly trained on average than the other Brevic groups.
3) They're not; the Aldori styles are Aldori, not Brevic.
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James,
A question came up about what percent of the population of Golarion can cast spells. This post used some math from the Bestiary and the old DM's Guide. It came out to about 1.2% of NPCs can cast spells. Is that about right? I understand that it would vary from nation to nation, but I'm talking about the overall average.
I'm honestly not sure how this type of information can help folks to build stories... in fact, having a "this percentage of the world can cast spells" can probably do more harm than help, since that unnecessarily cramps storytelling. It's not a percentage I care to try to figure out, in any event. My guide there would be "Most folks can't cast spells, because most folks are commoners or experts or warriors."
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James, maybe you can answer this burning question for me:
Why do all the harmless spell entries have (harmless) tagged under the spell resistance, given that Spell Resistance and harmless have virtually nothing to do with one another? Harmless spells do not bypass SR, after all.
Because that lets you know which spells it's safe to voluntarily lower your SR for.
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James am I right in thinking that Varisia isn't an actual country per se, but more like a series of city states? or is there a government in complete control of Varisia?
Varisia is a frontier. A lot of it is untamed wilderness, and the civilized areas are controlled by free cities. It's the name of the region, but it's not a nation. Similar to how the River Kingdoms aren't a nation but a collection of nations.
There isn't a centralized government in Varisia though. Not yet, at least.
When will learn more about Apsu?
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Assuming you weren't shackled to any dietary restrictions, how quickly do you think you could eat an entire cheesecake?
1) I am indeed shackled by dietary restrictions.
2) I'm also shackled by personal taste restrictions. Cheesecake tastes nasty.
Those two in mind... I doubt I could eat an entire cheesecake before the vast majority of the cake spoils and turns to mold.
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Piggybacking Archpaladin Zousha's question:
1) How do Rostlands Aldori differ from Mivonese Aldori?
2) What's the relative military strength from the Swordlord Houses compared to the five Brevoy ones?
3) Related to the last question; how are Brevoy noble houses related to the Swordlords? I mean, are their members trained in Aldori styles?1) Rostland ones would be more traditional and less tolerant of outlanders or experimenting with new styles, whereas the Mivon ones would be.
2) The Swordlords have a much smaller standing military, but on a whole each of them is more highly trained on average than the other Brevic groups.
3) They're not; the Aldori styles are Aldori, not Brevic.
So...by that reasoning, a person born to one of those families, like a Khavortorov or Medvyed, wouldn't even be considered for admission into the Swordpact, is that correct?
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Dear James, what was the best dungeon, and/or encounter that you have played?
(I'm sorry if this question has come up before.)
I'm not gonna pick a favorite that was from the era where I was writing for the game first off... so this basically goes down as my favorites from 1981 to about 1999.
Favorite Dungeon: Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure. Had the most fun of any adventure overall running that for my friend Dean, much of it in the treehouse out behind my home.
Favorite Encounter: The underground marketplace encounter in Gates of Firestorm Peak.
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Creative Director
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Is this a good way to describe the ending of second story in Pathfinder Goblins #1?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUe5RtnWvOc
;)
Ha!
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So...by that reasoning, a person born to one of those families, like a Khavortorov or Medvyed, wouldn't even be considered for admission into the Swordpact, is that correct?Piggybacking Archpaladin Zousha's question:
1) How do Rostlands Aldori differ from Mivonese Aldori?
2) What's the relative military strength from the Swordlord Houses compared to the five Brevoy ones?
3) Related to the last question; how are Brevoy noble houses related to the Swordlords? I mean, are their members trained in Aldori styles?1) Rostland ones would be more traditional and less tolerant of outlanders or experimenting with new styles, whereas the Mivon ones would be.
2) The Swordlords have a much smaller standing military, but on a whole each of them is more highly trained on average than the other Brevic groups.
3) They're not; the Aldori styles are Aldori, not Brevic.
Generally no. But there can always be exceptions... and those exceptions are PERFECT for PCs or significant NPCs.
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Generally no. But there can always be exceptions... and those exceptions are PERFECT for PCs or significant NPCs.So...by that reasoning, a person born to one of those families, like a Khavortorov or Medvyed, wouldn't even be considered for admission into the Swordpact, is that correct?Piggybacking Archpaladin Zousha's question:
1) How do Rostlands Aldori differ from Mivonese Aldori?
2) What's the relative military strength from the Swordlord Houses compared to the five Brevoy ones?
3) Related to the last question; how are Brevoy noble houses related to the Swordlords? I mean, are their members trained in Aldori styles?1) Rostland ones would be more traditional and less tolerant of outlanders or experimenting with new styles, whereas the Mivon ones would be.
2) The Swordlords have a much smaller standing military, but on a whole each of them is more highly trained on average than the other Brevic groups.
3) They're not; the Aldori styles are Aldori, not Brevic.
Which is right up my alley! Now on to the question I wanted to ask with these in mind:
I believe I read somewhere that when a person becomes an Aldori Swordlord, he's supposed to give up his old family name and adopt Aldori as a last name, both a callback to their founder, the Sword Baron, changing his name from Sirian Frist to Sirian Aldori, and also symbolizing the old "blood is thicker than water" mentality (In its original Roman context, it meant that you had a stronger connection your fellow soldiers through shedding blood together, than to your own mother who birthed you, and the water she broke doing so. The meaning's been reversed in modern times due to "blood" becoming associated with family ties and "bloodlines."). Is this idea, that upon becoming a swordlord, you take the name Aldori, symbolizing that the other swordlords are now your real family, true?
And would this extend to a noble from a Brevic family that joined them, i.e. "You are no longer Alexei Medvyed, but Alexei Aldori!"? And what does that mean for said noble's coat of arms, or claims to land and titles?
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I believe I read somewhere that when a person becomes an Aldori Swordlord, he's supposed to give up his old family name and adopt Aldori as a last name, both a callback to their founder, the Sword Baron, changing his name from Sirian Frist to Sirian Aldori, and also symbolizing the old "blood is thicker than water" mentality (In its original Roman context, it meant that you had a stronger connection your fellow soldiers through shedding blood together, than to your own mother who birthed you, and the water she broke doing so. The meaning's been reversed in modern times due to "blood" becoming associated with family ties and "bloodlines."). Is this idea, that upon becoming a swordlord, you take the name Aldori, symbolizing that the other swordlords are now your real family, true?
And would this extend to a noble from a Brevic family that joined them, i.e. "You are no longer Alexei Medvyed, but Alexei Aldori!"? And what does that mean for said noble's coat of arms, or claims to land and titles?
This is a good example of how swordlords from Restov would differ from swordlords from other regions that essentially "stole" the techniques. Whether or not you are awarded (or indeed even WANT) the name Aldori depends on where you train and whether or not you're accepted... and then you can always just assume the name and deal with the real Aldoris coming after you to punish you if and when they find out.
But yes, originally, the idea was that you become part of a new family when you are trained in this fighting style. Time has moved on from that and diluted that ideal though.
When you become an official old-school in Restov swordlord, you essentially abandon your previous allegiances. It's all-in if you want to go for the super-traditional version of things.
Dear James Jacobs,
When will the aliens land upon Golarion, only to be whupped by the all-mighty Kaiju?
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I believe I read somewhere that when a person becomes an Aldori Swordlord, he's supposed to give up his old family name and adopt Aldori as a last name, both a callback to their founder, the Sword Baron, changing his name from Sirian Frist to Sirian Aldori, and also symbolizing the old "blood is thicker than water" mentality (In its original Roman context, it meant that you had a stronger connection your fellow soldiers through shedding blood together, than to your own mother who birthed you, and the water she broke doing so. The meaning's been reversed in modern times due to "blood" becoming associated with family ties and "bloodlines."). Is this idea, that upon becoming a swordlord, you take the name Aldori, symbolizing that the other swordlords are now your real family, true?
And would this extend to a noble from a Brevic family that joined them, i.e. "You are no longer Alexei Medvyed, but Alexei Aldori!"? And what does that mean for said noble's coat of arms, or claims to land and titles?
This is a good example of how swordlords from Restov would differ from swordlords from other regions that essentially "stole" the techniques. Whether or not you are awarded (or indeed even WANT) the name Aldori depends on where you train and whether or not you're accepted... and then you can always just assume the name and deal with the real Aldoris coming after you to punish you if and when they find out.
But yes, originally, the idea was that you become part of a new family when you are trained in this fighting style. Time has moved on from that and diluted that ideal though.
When you become an official old-school in Restov swordlord, you essentially abandon your previous allegiances. It's all-in if you want to go for the super-traditional version of things.
That clears up a lot! Thanks!
Because that lets you know which spells it's safe to voluntarily lower your SR for.James, maybe you can answer this burning question for me:
Why do all the harmless spell entries have (harmless) tagged under the spell resistance, given that Spell Resistance and harmless have virtually nothing to do with one another? Harmless spells do not bypass SR, after all.
Honestly I just found out today that SR even applies to these spells. Seriously. Been playing 3.5 since it came out, and... to my embarrassment (and I blame it wholly on these misleading tags!), it was pointed out today that SR still applies against things like healing spells.
Also, sentences like this under Cure Light Wounds really serve to confuse things:
An undead creature can apply Spell Resistance, and can attempt a Will save to take half damage.
It's a conspiracy to befuddle me I say!
James, Perfect Preparation (Ex), do you still have to copy spells down into a book to learn them first? Or can you just skip that step and read scroll and presto?
You have discovered the secret to preparing spells without having to refer to outside sources. You no longer need to prepare spells from a spellbook (if you're a magus or wizard) or a familiar (if you're a witch). You still must spend the normal amount of time preparing spells. You may keep or discard your spellbook or familiar.
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Creative Director
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James, Perfect Preparation (Ex), do you still have to copy spells down into a book to learn them first? Or can you just skip that step and read scroll and presto?
** spoiler omitted **
You still need to do the step where you copy the spell... but only the die rolls for success if any.
James,
Cool or Uncool: Adjusting the Aldori Swordlord archetype / prestige class to work with the katana.
Do either (or both) of the two Aldori factions accept non humans to their ranks? The fluff is mostly silent, but comes across feeling more human centric (and yes I know there's a half-elf Aldori NPC in Kingmaker.)
Abraxas or Vecna?
How does Torag feel about guns? Machinery in general?
You mentioned in another thread that that Brigh isn't really the deity of science. Is there is a deity of science?
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Creative Director
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How does Torag feel about guns? Machinery in general?
You mentioned in another thread that that Brigh isn't really the deity of science. Is there is a deity of science?
Torag is okay with guns and machines; they have their tactical uses, after all.
There is not a deity of science.
Yet.
Torag is okay with guns and machines; they have their tactical uses, after all.
There is not a deity of science.
Yet.
Ooh, exciting. I'm pretty sure I know what this means.
Another question. So, you have stated that the APs don't canonically occur and change the setting. Would you ever introduce a major event to change the setting or do you want to keep Golarion/Pathfinder at the state of canon it is at now?