Creative Director
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Hey, Mr. Jacobs...
Why do Intellect Devourers suck so much, why are they unabashed (and not even useful) copies of another monster I can't mention here due to copyright issues (you know, the original aberrations with tentacle heads, the brain eating attack, a mysterious origin and slave society)? I mean, honestly, if the concept was so hackneyed that it could be FILLED BY THE ORIGINALS' PETS...why bother? Why not just toss the entire concept of that particular (and already extensively detailed) society and come up with something new?
Your comment is fundamentally broken and flawed. Intellect devourers are cool. If they don't do it for you, there's nothing stopping you from using mind flayers from your Monster Manual—converting them over to the Pathfinder Rules is pretty simple, and even if you don't convert them at all, they STILL work fine. Fine enough that your players won't notice, unless you're in the habit of sharing your GM notes with them before, during, or after the game, I guess.
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Creative Director
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could we get an equivalent, but pathfinderized/paizoriesed version of the skill tricks?
Skill tricks are clutter, in my opinion.
Doesn't mean we can't do something similar for Pathfinder some day, although the name would have to be different, the flavor would have to be different, and the mechanics would have to be different. Different in minor ways, perhaps, but still different.
Whether or not this would be a good idea to include in some rulebook is mostly a question that Jason would have to answer, since he's our lead designer. But I think they're clutter.
. That said... folks who have been following the Superstar contests for the last few years may have noticed a pattern there...Ah so there is a conspiracy!
Isn't there always?
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Creative Director
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No. No sarcasm at all, rather a legitimate question regarding the designers' ability to actually create...
...who's James?
Hi, I'm James.
And as for the snarky kind of comment about our ability to actually create... hmmm... if ONLY there was an entire line of products filled with brand new creations that I could draw upon to present to you examples! If only!
Well then, to offer up one single example, check out the seugathi from "Into the Darklands," since we're on the topic of underground-dwelling creepy monsters with mental attack powers. They're brand new creations for this game, and they could fill your role of "mind flayer" replacement quite easily if you want.
But there's another underlying element of your comment I want to touch upon briefly, and that's the implication that it's better to create something new than it is to take something someone else has created and utilize that. I think that way of thinking is dangerously flawed and unnecessarily egocentric and arrogant. One of the GREAT things about the OGL is that we get to play with a pretty fun toy-box of monsters. It's actually pretty fun to tell new stories using old, established monsters. And furthermore, the element of nostalgia and the fact that it's comfortable and elegant to create stories with existing pieces can't be ignored.
Really, if you don't think that using monsters that have been part of the game for decades is fun, then I think you're just playing a different game than the one I play. Or write for. Or help publish.
I try to keep a few conspiracies alive if only to give you all something to do. :)Isn't there always?. That said... folks who have been following the Superstar contests for the last few years may have noticed a pattern there...Ah so there is a conspiracy!
So, are you the one who's been sending me encrypted messages in the fortune cookies I get?
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Creative Director
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what do you think of the idea of a unit/school of blind archer monks, that have amazing acuracy even though their blind?
(shrug)
Sounds cool, I guess... but monks make better defensive dudes than offensive.
Also, those monks are not bards, rogues, clerics, or druids, so I can't get TOO excited by them.
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Right so would the following interest you more?
1)Battle Orchestra- a unit of bards with different instruments fighting battles, the leader is also the conductor
2)Battle Circus- a unit of rogues that fight dirt with lots of tricks, so called circus due to the amount of stunts they pull off
3)Last Hope- a unit of crazed flagellant clerics of strength and madness, their healing abilities means they’ve survived against impossible odds
4)The Tempests- a unit of druids with the weather domain, so called for their preference of fighting in storms
Hello again,
1) Have you seen the trailer for Your Highness?
2) Based on the aforementioned trailer, would you consider Natalie Portman to play Merisel?
3) How many GB of hard drive space have you devoted to dinosaur pics, videos, webpages, etc.?
4) Which dinosaur(s) do you feel are under-appreciated?
5) The dimetrodon isn't a dinosaur. Is it still awesome?
Thanks!
First of all, thanks to all you knumbskulls I have to go find the soundtrack to Flash Gordon now.
JJ, your middle name wouldn't happen to be Jonah would it?
Ok, more seriously now that I have my corny spiderman chuckle out of the way,
In the past, Eric Mona has occasionally stepped in and delivered some outstanding 1st-3rd level entry adventures. Will he ever have any free time to design any more and further, does he have a bias for the entry level material or has he ever thought about designing lvl 10-12 level stuff?
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Creative Director
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Right so would the following interest you more?
1)Battle Orchestra- a unit of bards with different instruments fighting battles, the leader is also the conductor
2)Battle Circus- a unit of rogues that fight dirt with lots of tricks, so called circus due to the amount of stunts they pull off
3)Last Hope- a unit of crazed flagellant clerics of strength and madness, their healing abilities means they’ve survived against impossible odds
4)The Tempests- a unit of druids with the weather domain, so called for their preference of fighting in storms
1) Kind of silly name makes it not as interesting.
2) Circus implies clowns. Pass.3) Not bad!
4) The name is too cutesy.
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Creative Director
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Hello again,
1) Have you seen the trailer for Your Highness?
2) Based on the aforementioned trailer, would you consider Natalie Portman to play Merisel?
3) How many GB of hard drive space have you devoted to dinosaur pics, videos, webpages, etc.?
4) Which dinosaur(s) do you feel are under-appreciated?
5) The dimetrodon isn't a dinosaur. Is it still awesome?
Thanks!
1) Yes; it looks HILARIOUS.
2) Yes. Indeed. Even before the aforementioned trailer, in fact.3) Not as much as one might think. With it easy to get to via the internet... local storage is not as key.
4) Deinonychus; Jurassic Park's velociraptors stole his glory.
5) It very much is still awesome. It's an honorary dinosaur!
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Creative Director
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James, I need a ruling about specific situation: Can grapple be maintained with 0 hp and not result in loosing 1 hp because of strenuous activity?
Maintaining a grapple is a standard action, so no. If you maintain a grapple, you take a point of damage; if that makes you fall unconscious, the dude you're grappling can just walk away. Or more likely, can stab you in the throat.
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Creative Director
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James,
I had asked about changes you would like to see made to the binder class and you answered that you would make changes to the vestiges. I should have been specific and asked what mechanical changes you would make, if any, to the class to bring it in line with Pathfinder classes.
SmiloDan posted his ideas for a conversion here. I think that the pact augmentations are too powerful.
Also, how would you suggest handling the number of vestiges that a first level binder knows? Would you give them access to all first and second level vestiges and make them seek out knowledge of higher ones or would you use another method.
Thanks
It's been YEARS since I've even looked at the binder class, so I can't really offer any concrete changes. But the BIGGEST change would be one of flavor; I'd go through the list of vestiges and pick a game world as a baseline and design the vestiges like I designed Golarion's gods... not as a slapdash mix of everything, but as something designed to all feel like it came from the same world while still retaining a lot of variety.
As for converting it to the Pathfinder rules... again... I can't say. The binder already does a good job at giving the class a HUGE amount of customization. I'd standardize its HD/BAB/Save progression to match a cleric, prolly, and then make sure it had no dead levels, but as for exact changes... dunno.
I'm a fan of giving the binder access to all his vestiges at first level and thereafter. It's more fun for the player to build his own character the way he wants, knowing all the options ahead of time, than it is to not know what kind of options the GM is hiding from him and have to forge through the levels blind. ALSO: I, as the GM, have enough going on already planning the campaign (which includes personalized quests and story elements and so on) that I'm not really all that interested in weird micromanagement of PC resources.
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Creative Director
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But... but it's BRIAN BLESSED!
Flash Gordon is a great example of a cheesy movie from the 80s that I actually quite dislike. It's TOO goofy for my tastes.
Was he the one who had wings that looked only 2% less lame than the flying contraption from Highlander 2?
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Creative Director
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First of all, thanks to all you knumbskulls I have to go find the soundtrack to Flash Gordon now.
JJ, your middle name wouldn't happen to be Jonah would it?
Ok, more seriously now that I have my corny spiderman chuckle out of the way,
In the past, Eric Mona has occasionally stepped in and delivered some outstanding 1st-3rd level entry adventures. Will he ever have any free time to design any more and further, does he have a bias for the entry level material or has he ever thought about designing lvl 10-12 level stuff?
Nope; my middle name is Allan. Although I usually tell people it's Aristotle just to mess with them; it's not so fun when I can't see their reaction to that though.
I really hope Erik will be able to write another adventure some day, but he's WAY too busy with Publisher stuff. He's got an open invitaiton to write any adventure any time for Pathfinder, though, and that includes all levels of the game.
He does prefer the low and mid level game, I believe, but he did just recently write a REALLY good Pathfinder Society scenario for 12th level characters earlier this year.
James, I need a ruling about specific situation: Can grapple be maintained with 0 hp and not result in loosing 1 hp because of strenuous activity?Maintaining a grapple is a standard action, so no. If you maintain a grapple, you take a point of damage; if that makes you fall unconscious, the dude you're grappling can just walk away. Or more likely, can stab you in the throat.
I have a follow up question. Is the grappling character considered to be maintaining the grapple as soon as the damage is taken, requiring him to let go immediately, or does the grapple still apply until the grappling character's turn in the initiative order at which point the grappler can chose to release the grapple and not take that point of damage?
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Was he the one who had wings that looked only 2% less lame than the flying contraption from Highlander 2?But... but it's BRIAN BLESSED!
Flash Gordon is a great example of a cheesy movie from the 80s that I actually quite dislike. It's TOO goofy for my tastes.
Yes, and only looks 5% less goofy then the Hawkman ones from Smallville.Sigh Michael Shanks could have been so good.
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James, when will this thread be updated?
Yes since there was a sad encounter with Zombies recently; or so I hear.
I am glad that at least liked the soundtrack to Flash Gordon... I can stop boycotting the thread now :-)
Brian Blessed he was the big guy with the wings looking slightly cooler than the rest of the movie.
I am glad that at least liked the soundtrack to Flash Gordon... I can stop boycotting the thread now :-)
Brian Blessed he was the big guy with the wings looking slightly cooler than the rest of the movie.
I'm a Blessed fan. He's great in early Blackadders as well.
I am glad that at least liked the soundtrack to Flash Gordon... I can stop boycotting the thread now :-)
Brian Blessed he was the big guy with the wings looking slightly cooler than the rest of the movie.
He is also the guy who wrecks - "Have I got news for you".
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You know, I tend to think of games as relatively intelligent people (at least the ones I know are)
Why is it then, that we get caught up in threads like the Wizards Vs. Melee ones?
It's like I'm watching a train wreck when they come along. I know its bad, but I can't stop getting involved. Then I invariably say something nasty and petty at some stage, which is not something I don't do in real life.
Why do threads like that make people act out of character?
Will there ever be true harmony in the online gaming community? (I think this should be a question for the next Miss Universe pageant.)
Hmmmm... if those questions are likely to cause more "issues" feel free to ignore them. I just needed to ask them.
Cheers
Answer to a question.
Thank you for clearing up our question.
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Creative Director
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You know, I tend to think of games as relatively intelligent people (at least the ones I know are)
Why is it then, that we get caught up in threads like the Wizards Vs. Melee ones?
It's like I'm watching a train wreck when they come along. I know its bad, but I can't stop getting involved. Then I invariably say something nasty and petty at some stage, which is not something I don't do in real life.
Why do threads like that make people act out of character?
Will there ever be true harmony in the online gaming community? (I think this should be a question for the next Miss Universe pageant.)
Hmmmm... if those questions are likely to cause more "issues" feel free to ignore them. I just needed to ask them.
Cheers
It's not intelligence that causes threads like Wizards vs. Melee; it's a combination of opinion, passion, and stubbornness, I think.
It's hardly out of character for intelligent people to argue stubbornly and endlessly. In fact, it's more IN character, I would say, than out of character.
Whether us gamers are all relatively intelligent is a topic for a different post, of course...
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Creative Director
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Does this annoy you, flatter you, don't care?
Don't care. Pathfinder's been the name of a novel for a LOT longer than that. It's also the name of a SUV. It's also the name of a movie that came out almost at the same time as our first Adventure Path launched.
Now, if Orson Scott Card released an RPG called Pathfinder... THAT would be a different story.
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It's not intelligence that causes threads like Wizards vs. Melee; it's a combination of opinion, passion, and stubbornness, I think.
It's hardly out of character for intelligent people to argue stubbornly and endlessly. In fact, it's more IN character, I would say, than out of character.
Whether us gamers are all relatively intelligent is a topic for a different post, of course...
I take your point, especially since I managed to put a double negative into one of my sentences in the question post that made it look like I was continually being rude to people. <sigh>
Question now I guess - You looking forward to Tron when it gets released?
Do you think it still has the potential to be a great movie in terms of dark sci fi even though Disney took hold of it? (The students in my year 8 class were laughng at my nerdy eagerness to watch a Disney movie.)
Cheers