What are your top 5 choices for a gestalt campaign? What themes would you aim for with the character?
Creative Director
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I apoligize if this has been asked already my brain got a little runny around page 350 or so.
Do you have a rough timeline for Paizo Game Space and it's release?
If so when might it be released?
Also what is your favorite thing about said product/service?I'm starting a Varisian PbP Campaign inspired equally by RotRL and Shattered Star, would you like to join?
You'll have to ask Gary and the tech team about Paizo Game Space; I'm not really all that involved at all with it and don't know what its schedule is. My favorite part about it? It's free!
And thanks for the invite, but I'm pretty full up on games at the moment.
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What kind of spells were in Aroden's spellbook?All of them.Including third-party spells? :)
EDIT: I'm guessing he also had ways of treating non-wizard spells as part of his spell list...
To be honest, his spellbook likely contains all the core spells plus a LOT of others, including a bunch that we haven't published yet. If his spellbooks WERE recovered, that's basically a blank check for you, the GM, to introduce any spell you want. Same goes for pretty much any big-time wizard, such as a runelord or the like.
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hmm okay then what musical instruments would you associate with:
1. Lamashtu ?
2. Nocticulia ?
3. Gorum ?
4. Desna ?
5. Pharasma ?
6. Cosmo ?
7. Shelyn ?
1) Shrieking slave choirs.
2) Violin.
3) Giant drums.
4) Theremin.
5) Pipe organ.
6) Mustache.
7) Pretty much all of them.
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I just don't want to write like a hack. That's my deepest fear of all time, writing anything, even if it's just a character background, only for it to be dismissed as "hack-work." I know that it's a game, it's for fun and all, but a better written character surely has a better chance of being accepted into a game or a play-by-post, right?The best way to get better at writing is to write. And to supplement that by reading a lot.
What if the writing sucks, though? How does one KNOW if their writing sucks? I always have this constant abiding fear that I'll "Mary-Sue" a character in their background, and that'll be so off-putting to GMs that they won't let me join their game.
James,
How does Desna feel about Mothmen? Does she ever have a use for them? How about Urgathoa? I know they have Moth in their name, but I've always thought they more resembled butterflies (and Desna's herald and its lesser magical beast versions resemble a specific kind of moth), and their alignment is closer to Desna than Urgathoa. Or are they more of a Pharasma thing with the fate thing?
Also, I guess a comment: It's always struck me as kind of weird how there are deities in the Inner Sea that are concerned with planet- or planar-level events and concerns that are not worshipped in Tian Xia, and possibly not outside of the inner sea at all (Sarenrae, Rovagug, and Asmodeus ping me the most there). I suppose the Pit of Gormuz is further away, but the fact that that all happened seems like it would have been noticed. It also bugs me a little that Aroden, as a god of Humanity, seems to have had a pretty spatially narrow perspective on what kind of humanity he was the god of, but I suppose given his origins a more narrow perspective is more reasonable that the three I mentioned previously. Do you have any input that might help me understand this?
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Also how do Succubi feel about being summoned to be a muse or a model for art? Would the summoning ritual to do so be any different?
Depends on the succubus, but most would be quite pleased and delighted. They'd still probably kill the artist after the modeling session was done, and hey, that means that the work of art becomes worth more. Bonus!
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Also how do Succubi feel about being summoned to be a muse or a model for art? Would the summoning ritual to do so be any different?Depends on the succubus, but most would be quite pleased and delighted. They'd still probably kill the artist after the modeling session was done, and hey, that means that the work of art becomes worth more. Bonus!
Hhmm good to know.
Has Nocticula ever posed for any works of art?
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Creative Director
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What if the writing sucks, though? How does one KNOW if their writing sucks? I always have this constant abiding fear that I'll "Mary-Sue" a character in their background, and that'll be so off-putting to GMs that they won't let me join their game.I just don't want to write like a hack. That's my deepest fear of all time, writing anything, even if it's just a character background, only for it to be dismissed as "hack-work." I know that it's a game, it's for fun and all, but a better written character surely has a better chance of being accepted into a game or a play-by-post, right?The best way to get better at writing is to write. And to supplement that by reading a lot.
This is sounding like it's moving beyond a mere character background... but if the writing sucks, then you just work harder and write more and learn from mistakes. Seek advice from other writers you know, or friends whose opinions you value. Or take writing courses or join a writing workshop or the like.
Writing doesn't get better if you don't make mistakes to learn from.
If you're looking for a very good and very informative book about how to be a better writer, I'd actually recommend Stephen King's book "On Writing." It's one of the best books on the craft I've read.
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James,
How does Desna feel about Mothmen? Does she ever have a use for them? How about Urgathoa? I know they have Moth in their name, but I've always thought they more resembled butterflies (and Desna's herald and its lesser magical beast versions resemble a specific kind of moth), and their alignment is closer to Desna than Urgathoa. Or are they more of a Pharasma thing with the fate thing?
Also, I guess a comment: It's always struck me as kind of weird how there are deities in the Inner Sea that are concerned with planet- or planar-level events and concerns that are not worshipped in Tian Xia, and possibly not outside of the inner sea at all (Sarenrae, Rovagug, and Asmodeus ping me the most there). I suppose the Pit of Gormuz is further away, but the fact that that all happened seems like it would have been noticed. It also bugs me a little that Aroden, as a god of Humanity, seems to have had a pretty spatially narrow perspective on what kind of humanity he was the god of, but I suppose given his origins a more narrow perspective is more reasonable that the three I mentioned previously. Do you have any input that might help me understand this?
Desna is not a mothman fan, as they're pretty much the opposite of what she stands for.
As for the gods and their influence... Golarion is a big place. It's supposed to be. Having different deities have different focuses in different places is part of how we tried to get that across. There's multiple gods of any one particular thing, in other words.
Hello, James Jacobs!
I was thinking up possible origins for Shelyn's holy symbol, and was curious if you might have any thoughts on the subject.
The theory I came up with is that it could be actual animal - likely native to Taldor, as that is Shelyn's ethnicity of origin. A bird that may be popular as pets or kept by priests. There could also be greater, celestial versions that appear on Nirvana, where Shelyn resides, that could be summoned by her priests - perhaps with the same stats as a celestial eagle or giant eagle.
1) Do you think such a bird is a likely possibility?
2) What would be your personal take on where Shelyn's symbol stems from in Golarion?
3) What musical instruments would you say are traditional in Taldor?
4) Where would you say Greek and Roman styles of dress (tunics, togas, sandals, chitons, chlamys, etc) originate from in Golarion? The tunic seems fairy widespread. I could see ancient Taldor or Cheliax. Perhaps that style stems from the ancient Azlanti?
5) Concerning the Roman / Greek style of dress above, where could you see such outfits still being popular (either in everyday dress, among the high-born, or worn for rituals)?
1. What parts of Avistan have aqueducts?
2. Unique monsters that're used in adventure paths tend to be covered in those specific APs. Would that mean that a unique monster covered in a bestiary is much less likely to to be in an AP?
3. If the Abyss is so vast (you gave the analogy of a 1-mile ball of dirt surrounding a peach, that representing the rest of the multiverse) then why hasn't it taken over already?
4. By far the most disturbing think about the Pathfinder setting are all the ways that non-evil people get sent to the lower planes (succubus, cacodaemon, sacrifice to Moloch, etc). Will rescuing them be addressed?
5. Also, is there any way to save any innocents who're turned into fiends?
6. Even if fiends aren't prudes themselves, why wouldn't they encourage prudery for the sake of spreading evil? And yes, I know they want lots of live babies to turn into into damned souls, it is possible to have a society that encourages lots of kids while being anti-erotica.
7. Why would an inquisitor want to join the Pathfinder society. "Explore ruins" and "kill God's specific enemies" don't usually go together.
8. How do Calistrians feel about other non-evil sex-themes deities?
9. You have two deities of freedom, one NG and another CG. How would their interpretations of freedom differ?
10. How do cults of Nocticula and Socothbenoth differ?
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Creative Director
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Hello, James Jacobs!
I was thinking up possible origins for Shelyn's holy symbol, and was curious if you might have any thoughts on the subject.
The theory I came up with is that it could be actual animal - likely native to Taldor, as that is Shelyn's ethnicity of origin. A bird that may be popular as pets or kept by priests. There could also be greater, celestial versions that appear on Nirvana, where Shelyn resides, that could be summoned by her priests - perhaps with the same stats as a celestial eagle or giant eagle.
1) Do you think such a bird is a likely possibility?
2) What would be your personal take on where Shelyn's symbol stems from in Golarion?
3) What musical instruments would you say are traditional in Taldor?
4) Where would you say Greek and Roman styles of dress (tunics, togas, sandals, chitons, chlamys, etc) originate from in Golarion? The tunic seems fairy widespread. I could see ancient Taldor or Cheliax. Perhaps that style stems from the ancient Azlanti?
5) Concerning the Roman / Greek style of dress above, where could you see such outfits still being popular (either in everyday dress, among the high-born, or worn for rituals)?
1) Yes; see below.
2) Desna's symbol is very much a variant of an exotic bird that was common in an ancient time but is now no longer part of the world.
3) Taldor has a strong tradition of music—pretty much anything you saw in medieval or even early renaissance Europe wouldn't be out of place.
4) Azlanti, most likely, since that's akin to Atlantis, which in theory informed Greece and Rome, yeah? Also: Iblydos.
5) Sure; parts of Cheliax and Taldor might be into togas and the like, but for the most part they're archaic and don't see much play outside of costume balls and performance art.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how brutal a DM are you comfortable with?
To elaborate, a DM of degree 1 is probably never gonna throw a monster above your CR at you, while 10 is the classic Tomb of Horrors style Killer DM.
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1. What parts of Avistan have aqueducts?
2. Unique monsters that're used in adventure paths tend to be covered in those specific APs. Would that mean that a unique monster covered in a bestiary is much less likely to to be in an AP?
3. If the Abyss is so vast (you gave the analogy of a 1-mile ball of dirt surrounding a peach, that representing the rest of the multiverse) then why hasn't it taken over already?
4. By far the most disturbing think about the Pathfinder setting are all the ways that non-evil people get sent to the lower planes (succubus, cacodaemon, sacrifice to Moloch, etc). Will rescuing them be addressed?
5. Also, is there any way to save any innocents who're turned into fiends?
6. Even if fiends aren't prudes themselves, why wouldn't they encourage prudery for the sake of spreading evil? And yes, I know they want lots of live babies to turn into into damned souls, it is possible to have a society that encourages lots of kids while being anti-erotica.
7. Why would an inquisitor want to join the Pathfinder society. "Explore ruins" and "kill God's specific enemies" don't usually go together.
8. How do Calistrians feel about other non-evil sex-themes deities?
9. You have two deities of freedom, one NG and another CG. How would their interpretations of freedom differ?
10. How do cults of Nocticula and Socothbenoth differ?
1) Taldor for sure. And there's likely more spread throughout any and all of the regions Taldor once occupied to a certain extent. Likely more in northeastern Garund as well. They're not really a "limited to only one part of the world" architectural feature.
2) Yes, because unique monsters tend to be very tied to Golarion, and stripping them of that lore to put them in a world-neutral hardcover Bestiary isn't ideal.
3) Because it's nowhere near as vast as the rest of reality added together, and because they don't WANT to take over, and because it's mostly empty.
4) That's what adventurers are for. A LOT of what we detail falls into that category—providing the heroes of your game heroic things to do.
5) Innocents don't turn into fiends. Innocents are also far less common than one might think.
6) You can't say "all fiends do this" really. Hyperbole isn't useful when dealing with an entire category of existence. Too much variation is possible. Some fiends would certainly encourage prudery, but so far that's not something we've explored as far as I know... since frankly, prudery doesn't feel all that evil to me. Just silly.
7) You can be an inquisitor for a nation or an organization. You don't have to be an inquisitor of a god. Fox Mulder of the X-Files might be thought of as an inquisitor of conspiracies, for example. A pathfinder inquisitor could certainly be a pathfinder and worship a deity, but could also be something akin to a detective or bounty hunter or the like.
8) Calistrians are worshipers of lust, among other things. They're pretty open and accepting of most sexual themes as a result.
9) That depends entirely on what they are deities of. Alignments are the result of a creature or god's personality and interests and actions and philosophy, not the causes of them. They're reflections, not sources.
10) In the same way succubi and incubi differ. Nocticula tends to favor subtlety and manipulation and seduction, whereas Socothbenoth prefers blatant acts and brutality and rape.
So, I ran a dungeon today that I was rather fond of how it turned out. I'm curious what you, as the grand lord of Golarion (as it was in the Shackles), think of it.
It was an underwater dungeon (originally built by aboleths, but long abandoned), that was taken over by Sahuagin worshipers of Dagon. The leaders were alchemists that would capture folks and experiment on them in the name of their lord.
Is this cool? Y/N
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Calistria's always bothered me. She's described as the head of the elven pantheon, but she doesn't seem to exemplify elven culture. It's very difficult to imagine the wise, melancholy and nature-loving race primarily worshiping a kinky dominatrix goddess. I don't know, maybe it's because my vision of elves comes primarily from Tolkien and Fantasy Flight's Midnight campaign setting, but if Calistria is the elven deity with the largest population of worshipers, shouldn't elven culture be a lot more amoral and nymphomaniacal? Instead of graceful tree cities, shouldn't their architecture be more reminiscent of erotic sculpture, for example?
I don't get it.
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Creative Director
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Calistria's always bothered me. She's described as the head of the elven pantheon, but she doesn't seem to exemplify elven culture. It's very difficult to imagine the wise, melancholy and nature-loving race primarily worshiping a kinky dominatrix goddess. I don't know, maybe it's because my vision of elves comes primarily from Tolkien and Fantasy Flight's Midnight campaign setting, but if Calistria is the elven deity with the largest population of worshipers, shouldn't elven culture be a lot more amoral and nymphomaniacal? Instead of graceful tree cities, shouldn't their architecture be more reminiscent of erotic sculpture, for example?
I don't get it.
Where's she described as the head of the elven pantheon?
That's not entirely accurate. She's the most POPULAR elven deity among all the core races, but that's not the same as saying she's the leader of the pantheon.
That said, we deliberately made a LOT of choices in designing Pathfinder and Golarion to distance our elves from Tolkein, and thus from D&D.
And remember... Calistria isn't ONLY a goddess of lust. She's as much a goddess of trickery and of revenge.
And beyond that, there are certainly more deities than her. A lot of elves worship Desna as well as the other elven deities, but overall elves aren't an overwhelmingly religious race. Religion doesn't shape every facet of elven society.
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So, I ran a dungeon today that I was rather fond of how it turned out. I'm curious what you, as the grand lord of Golarion (as it was in the Shackles), think of it.
It was an underwater dungeon (originally built by aboleths, but long abandoned), that was taken over by Sahuagin worshipers of Dagon. The leaders were alchemists that would capture folks and experiment on them in the name of their lord.
Is this cool? Y/N
Sounds good to me!
Although I would have had the sahuagin be heretical skum instead, since that way they can be returning to old ruins by their old masters, but would be bringing to those old ruins a new faith their old masters would never have approved of.
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Calistria's always bothered me. She's described as the head of the elven pantheon, but she doesn't seem to exemplify elven culture. It's very difficult to imagine the wise, melancholy and nature-loving race primarily worshiping a kinky dominatrix goddess. I don't know, maybe it's because my vision of elves comes primarily from Tolkien and Fantasy Flight's Midnight campaign setting, but if Calistria is the elven deity with the largest population of worshipers, shouldn't elven culture be a lot more amoral and nymphomaniacal? Instead of graceful tree cities, shouldn't their architecture be more reminiscent of erotic sculpture, for example?
I don't get it.
Where's she described as the head of the elven pantheon?
That's not entirely accurate. She's the most POPULAR elven deity among all the core races, but that's not the same as saying she's the leader of the pantheon.
That said, we deliberately made a LOT of choices in designing Pathfinder and Golarion to distance our elves from Tolkein, and thus from D&D.
And remember... Calistria isn't ONLY a goddess of lust. She's as much a goddess of trickery and of revenge.
And beyond that, there are certainly more deities than her. A lot of elves worship Desna as well as the other elven deities, but overall elves aren't an overwhelmingly religious race. Religion doesn't shape every facet of elven society.
Faiths and Pantheons, Page 21.
"An asterisk after a deity's name indicates that he or she is the head of the pantheon."
And Calistria is the member of the pantheon with the asterisk.
You can't say "all fiends do this" really. Hyperbole isn't useful when dealing with an entire category of existence. Too much variation is possible. Some fiends would certainly encourage prudery, but so far that's not something we've explored as far as I know... since frankly, prudery doesn't feel all that evil to me. Just silly.
Well of course I don't mean all fiends, though looking at my question's wording I can see how you'd make that assumption.
Still, how can you say that prudishness isn't evil when it can become utterly stifling once it reaches critical mass? You have to remember when D&D couldn't even mention the word "demon" without prudes coming down on them hard. You mean to tell me that's merely silly?
Let's make the question more general. What fiends would be most likely to encourage misguided moral outrage?
On another topic, is there an aqueduct system connected to Magnimar?
"A pathfinder inquisitor could certainly be a pathfinder and worship a deity, but could also be something akin to a detective or bounty hunter or the like."
Interesting to know, but why would a deity-worshiping inquisitor become a pathfinder?
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Creative Director
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Are you familliar with Continuum which can be said to be the only true time travel roleplaying game on the market? Although to be fair, the Dr. Who game from Cubicle 7, comes somewhat close.
Nope.
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Creative Director
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Calistria's always bothered me. She's described as the head of the elven pantheon, but she doesn't seem to exemplify elven culture. It's very difficult to imagine the wise, melancholy and nature-loving race primarily worshiping a kinky dominatrix goddess. I don't know, maybe it's because my vision of elves comes primarily from Tolkien and Fantasy Flight's Midnight campaign setting, but if Calistria is the elven deity with the largest population of worshipers, shouldn't elven culture be a lot more amoral and nymphomaniacal? Instead of graceful tree cities, shouldn't their architecture be more reminiscent of erotic sculpture, for example?
I don't get it.
Where's she described as the head of the elven pantheon?
That's not entirely accurate. She's the most POPULAR elven deity among all the core races, but that's not the same as saying she's the leader of the pantheon.
That said, we deliberately made a LOT of choices in designing Pathfinder and Golarion to distance our elves from Tolkein, and thus from D&D.
And remember... Calistria isn't ONLY a goddess of lust. She's as much a goddess of trickery and of revenge.
And beyond that, there are certainly more deities than her. A lot of elves worship Desna as well as the other elven deities, but overall elves aren't an overwhelmingly religious race. Religion doesn't shape every facet of elven society.
Faiths and Pantheons, Page 21.
"An asterisk after a deity's name indicates that he or she is the head of the pantheon."
And Calistria is the member of the pantheon with the asterisk.
That's an error then. It should probably say "An asterisk after a deity's name indicates that he or she is the most widely worshiped of the pantheon across all races."
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Creative Director
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You can't say "all fiends do this" really. Hyperbole isn't useful when dealing with an entire category of existence. Too much variation is possible. Some fiends would certainly encourage prudery, but so far that's not something we've explored as far as I know... since frankly, prudery doesn't feel all that evil to me. Just silly.Well of course I don't mean all fiends, though looking at my question's wording I can see how you'd make that assumption.
Still, how can you say that prudishness isn't evil when it can become utterly stifling once it reaches critical mass? You have to remember when D&D couldn't even mention the word "demon" without prudes coming down on them hard. You mean to tell me that's merely silly?
Let's make the question more general. What fiends would be most likely to encourage misguided moral outrage?
On another topic, is there an aqueduct system connected to Magnimar?
"A pathfinder inquisitor could certainly be a pathfinder and worship a deity, but could also be something akin to a detective or bounty hunter or the like."
Interesting to know, but why would a deity-worshiping inquisitor become a pathfinder?
I've answered this in various ways of "None come to mind" it seems a lot of different ways and a lot of different times. It's simply not something that we have explored yet, nor do we necessarily have plans to anytime soon; sorry.
Magnimar has no aqueducts.
A deity-worshiping inquisitor would become a pathfinder for the same reasons ANYONE does—because they want to find ancient treasures and support the Pathfinders' ethos and goals. Worshiping a deity doesn't mean that's all you can do.
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IANJJ but I have a few ideas as to why a deity worshiping inquisitor might join the Pathfinders:
Archaeology: History is in Irori's portfolio, so inquisitors dedicated to him might lend their fists to the society to uncover ancient knowledge to better perfect themselves and society.
Magic: An inquisitor of Nethys may have similar interests, but more for discovering ancient magical artifacts or spells, whether for increasing their own personal magical power or spreading these forgotten magics to the world.
Exploration: Inquisitors dedicated to Desna have an easy way to see far-flung places at little personal expense when travelling on the Pathfinder's silver piece. Plus, they get to hear all sorts of cool stories about places they might otherwise never get a chance to see.
Proselytization: Your inquisitor may ally with the Pathfinders hoping to spread their faith, whether in the organization itself or to the indigenous peoples in places the Society sends you to investigate.
Hunting: Many faiths have enemies, and since the Pathfinders, due to their meddling, often find themselves at odds with the same enemies, joining them can put you on the fast track to hot spots of enemy activity. Demon-hunters for example, might take advantage of the resources of the Lodge in Mendev to better prepare them for expeditions into the Worldwound.
Honestly, pick a reason for a cleric to join the Pathfinders, and you've got a reason for an inquisitor to do the same.
What is your favourite bird species?
Also, you missed my earlier question, silly T-Rex.
It's not something we've done a lot with yet... but basically, merfolk are similar to gillmen in that they've got links to strange and sinister masters.I think I've missed something. What spin and what sourcebook?Have you ever DMed an aquatic adventure?
Do you use Merfolk in any homebrew games?
As a race, how do you feel about Merfolk?
Do you mix dinosaurs with merfolk, you know, monster encounters?
Yes.
Not all that extensively.
They're cool, and I like the spin we've put on them a lot.
Haven't yet.
That seems to be the case with most things coming from golarion's oceans. Some more obviously than others. Atleast if it's humanoid or monstrous humanoid.
Nocticula posing for arts make senses, it can boost her Ego/Self-esteem/popularity/etc...
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Creative Director
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Reposting because it got overlooked or your ignoring me :3
Has Nocticula ever posed for any works of art?
yes.
She's posed, not that I'm ignoring you.
Are those works of art often thought to be particularly heinous, in the sense that followers of other deities would want them destroyed for their depictions (Nocticula's brand rather than, say, Calistria's or perhaps even Shelyn's), demonic attributes, the particular scene, or similar? Or are there "mild" examples as well as "extreme" ones?
(I'm reminded of I think Dragotha's treasure hoard back in Age of Worms, which included a group of pictures depicting several good-aligned gods in various poses of humiliation, torture and the like. The artwork was I believe described as of excellent quality as well as worth a lot of money, but any follower of those deities and possibly other good-aligned characters should immediately want them destroyed on the grounds of the subject matter.)
Also, what sort of people have summoned Nocticula towards this end (posing for artwork)? As a demon lord, it doesn't seem as though she would necessarily be easy to call up short of her taking a personal interest in the artist. Does she have anything against succubi or similar temporarily taking on her form instead of coming herself?
As with all art... it runs the gamut. Some of the works of art of Nocticula depict her in her role as an assassin and aren't all that sexualized. A few depict her as a prim and proper lady of the court, or even as a virginal bride; these aren't sexualized but those in the know realize they're satirical or even blasphemous. The majority of the artwork presenting her, though, IS quite erotic and sexually charged, so don't expect us to publish many illustrations of these paintings and sculptures!
Summoning a demon lord so they can pose for your artwork is something that a mythic character or villain could do! She also might make appearances to her worshipers so as to be a muse for their artists. And of course, she sometimes replaces other mortal models so she can model in their place for her own nefarious purposes.
She has no problem with others taking on her form; that only spreads her mystery, and makes folks worry about how she can be in so many places at the same time.
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James two questions:
1. What top 3 baddie groups have you been itching to throw at us in fuure APs?
2. Where in the would do players have the highest chance of finding a working airship, even if a prototype?
1) I'm not gonna say, since those top 3 baddie groups will be appearing soon enough in future APs.
2) Alkenstar.