Creative Director
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If you had to list the Runelords in order of most to least favorite, how would you rank them?
Are there plans for Xanderghul? I really like the Pride Runelord.
From least to most favorite:
Belimarius, Krune, Zutha, Xanderghul, Karzoug, Alaznist, Sorshen
And I've got plans for all of them.
If you had to list the Runelords in order of most to least favorite, how would you rank them?
Are there plans for Xanderghul? I really like the Pride Runelord.
From least to most favorite:
Belimarius, Krune, Zutha, Xanderghul, Karzoug, Alaznist, Sorshen
And I've got plans for all of them.
Alrighty then, we have been warned. Um, is this where we start quivering in our fur?
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Alrighty then, we have been warned. Um, is this where we start quivering in our fur?If you had to list the Runelords in order of most to least favorite, how would you rank them?
Are there plans for Xanderghul? I really like the Pride Runelord.
From least to most favorite:
Belimarius, Krune, Zutha, Xanderghul, Karzoug, Alaznist, Sorshen
And I've got plans for all of them.
RoTR 2 Woot!
As a new race featured in the Bestiary 4 (And seen in the Advanced Race Guide), where do the Wyrwood fit into on Golarion?
Can we expect to see them in official PF lore soon?
Same two questions in regards to the Kasatha, who are also friggin' awesome.
Currently the wyrwood do not fit into Golarion. They might live in another galaxy or plane or something, but at this point they don't have a place in Golarion.
Kasatha live on a planet far beyond Golarion's solar system. Unlike the wyrwood, which we have no real plans for... there WILL be something about the kasatha by this time next year.
Well then.. I guess someone needs to bring the Wyrwood to Golarion! :3
Kasatha.. ..this time next year..
IRON GODS?! o_o
I dont want to open old wounds, but what grade would you give elves, half-elves, gnomes, halflings, half-orcs and dwarves?If I'd give demons an A+ in the awesomeness category, then devils would probably get an A–.
And since this is the internet, now everyone will think I hate devils. (heavy sigh)
Elves A+
Half-elves A+
Gnomes B
Halflings A –
Half-orcs C+
Dwarves D
And even though you didn't ask:
Humans A+
Over at the Dwarf Fortress forums, D is for Dwarves, and its a good thing! :P
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As a new race featured in the Bestiary 4 (And seen in the Advanced Race Guide), where do the Wyrwood fit into on Golarion?
Can we expect to see them in official PF lore soon?
Same two questions in regards to the Kasatha, who are also friggin' awesome.
Currently the wyrwood do not fit into Golarion. They might live in another galaxy or plane or something, but at this point they don't have a place in Golarion.
Kasatha live on a planet far beyond Golarion's solar system. Unlike the wyrwood, which we have no real plans for... there WILL be something about the kasatha by this time next year.
Well then.. I guess someone needs to bring the Wyrwood to Golarion! :3
...this time next year..
IRON GODS?! o_o
Begin despairing :3
Ah sorry Rysky, I meant for the Kasatha with the Iron Gods part, not the Wyrwood. Will fix that!
As for the Wyrwood.. considering that the Elves use a substance known as Wyroot, which comes from the Wyrwood tree.. makes sense that the Elves might just have a connection with the little constructs.. perhaps they're on Castrovel?
Begin despairing :3As a new race featured in the Bestiary 4 (And seen in the Advanced Race Guide), where do the Wyrwood fit into on Golarion?
Can we expect to see them in official PF lore soon?
Same two questions in regards to the Kasatha, who are also friggin' awesome.
Currently the wyrwood do not fit into Golarion. They might live in another galaxy or plane or something, but at this point they don't have a place in Golarion.
Kasatha live on a planet far beyond Golarion's solar system. Unlike the wyrwood, which we have no real plans for... there WILL be something about the kasatha by this time next year.
Well then.. I guess someone needs to bring the Wyrwood to Golarion! :3
...this time next year..
IRON GODS?! o_o
He was paraphrasing James, specifically "there WILL be something about the kasatha by this time next year."
[Edit] Ninja'd!
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Ah sorry Rysky, I meant for the Kasatha with the Iron Gods part, not the Wyrwood. Will fix that!
As for the Wyrwood.. considering that the Elves use a substance known as Wyroot, which comes from the Wyrwood tree.. makes sense that the Elves might just have a connection with the little constructs.. perhaps they're on Castrovel?
lol np :3 I was just teasing ya
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James, with the release of the Mythic book and Bestiary 4 we have an XP chart up to CR 30 and gold per encounter chart. Will we ever see a chart for character wealth by level and XP to the next HD chart for above 20th level? If not, how can we figure that out?Apparently not. The charts for monsters does go up to CR 25 on page 294 of the Bestiary... but I was unable to convince the design team that we needed to expand that table to CR 30. I'm honestly still not completely sure why the decision to not extend the table was made.
For foes above CR 25... just go with your best guess and throw on a few artifacts. Should be rare enough that it won't come up too often.
As for PC/NPC wealth, the decision to not extend THAT table was because the design team feels that tiers shouldn't affect your wealth. Only class levels do. A 10th level character has 10th level wealth, despite how many mythic tiers he has.
Fair enough. I guess all monsters above CR 25 will have to gain templates and/or class levels.
What about character levels? How do we figure that out after 20th level?
Why is a vial of ink so expensive (8 gp!) in Pathfinder? I just did the math for it, and it's actually cheaper, using the Craft skill, to hire a level 1 expert to make the ink, than it is to buy the vial of ink.
A vial of ink is 8 gp, and 1/3 of that price (raw materials) costs 2 gp, 6 sp, 6 cp.
A level 1 expert can easily have a +9 into his skill, all but guaranteeing he makes a DC 15 craft check (assuming a vial of ink is a high-quality product, and since it costs 8 gp, this is a safe assumption).
Just assuming an average check of 19, we multiply the check x the DC and get 285 sp; the expert managed to make the vial this week. In fact, his result was so high, that he made it in only a few days. But we'll assume he worked slowly on it to get the maximum amount of money for it.
Total cost to pay a level 1 expert to make a vial of ink: 21 sp + 2 gp 6 sp 6 cp = 5 gp 7 sp 6 cp.
Kind of a dumb question, I know, but it just jumped out as me as odd that a vial of ink costs 8 gp. What makes this even odder is that some types of invisible ink are cheaper than a normal vial of ink at 2 gp, and a vial of fire ink (used to make temporary glowing tattoos) costs 1 gp, glowing ink costs 5 gp.
Why is it that special types of ink, ink that glows, or is invisible, is cheaper than regular ink?
Second Question! (also the real question).
I was looking for how much paint costs as one of my characters took Craft (paintings) as a skill. He's got a masterwork tool and canvas, but no paints. I looked through the item lists, and realized there wasn't any (also how I came across the over-priced Ink).
So the question is, what do you think a set of paints would cost?
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Player and I were discussing this tonight, and we kind of hit a snag as to what the answer should be. In Pathfinder, various monsters have the backstory that they are "worshipped as gods", such as peluda in Bestiary 4. How does one determine what kinds of domains their followers gets? Alignment makes it easy (evil, chaotic, lawful, etc), but what about other domains? The peluda is NE, so it still has Evil, but nothing else really stands out other than the fire breath weapon, so I suppose the Fire domain. Maybe War to represent its loathing of weaker beings? How does one figure this kind of thing out with such limited information? Just guess work that sounds reasonable? Or only allow clerics with archetypes that only have one domain?
Second question. Player was also wondering, what are the chances we'll see the Pathfinder 3.5 Campaign Setting class archetypes brought into the current Pathfinder world? Such as the cold resistant barbarian, the holy warrior cleric, and the hidden reserve sorcerer.
Player and I were discussing this tonight, and we kind of hit a snag as to what the answer should be. In Pathfinder, various monsters have the backstory that they are "worshipped as gods", such as peluda in Bestiary 4. How does one determine what kinds of domains their followers gets? Alignment makes it easy (evil, chaotic, lawful, etc), but what about other domains? The peluda is NE, so it still has Evil, but nothing else really stands out other than the fire breath weapon, so I suppose the Fire domain. Maybe War to represent its loathing of weaker beings? How does one figure this kind of thing out with such limited information? Just guess work that sounds reasonable? Or only allow clerics with archetypes that only have one domain?
Second question. Player was also wondering, what are the chances we'll see the Pathfinder 3.5 Campaign Setting class archetypes brought into the current Pathfinder world? Such as the cold resistant barbarian, the holy warrior cleric, and the hidden reserve sorcerer.
Scalykind. Would definitely have that one.. and they'll more likely have Strength over War, since they value strength.
Fire, Evil, Strength, and Scalykind in all likelyhood.
So Lawful characters, especially, Lawful Good, would turn evil doers and prisoners into the authorities when given the chance. I've been wrestling with what a Chaotic Good character would do. While not averse to turning people over to the authorities, it sort of undermines the nature of being Chaotic in the first place (and feeling above the law).
What other recourse does a Chaotic Good character have with evil, murderous, or other ne'er-do-well enemies (after being captured and taken prisoner, such as in a city) other than turn them in? Killing helpless individuals, those who've surrendered or goading them into attacking is not in line with anything a Good character would do. What type of actions would befit proper punishment without resorting to allying oneself with the restrictions of law and order?
Since you have commented on the Wyrwood and Kasatha,where do the following fit on Golarion/Distant Worlds/etc
1) Gathlain
2) Trox
3) Wyvaran
Besides Orcus and Demogorgon what are the other open content demon lords from AD&D and third edition that are considered canon to Golarion?
Additionally do all such demon lords have the same "hands off" policy that Orcus and Demogorgon have? (Baphomet being an obvious except)
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Besides Orcus and Demogorgon what are the other open content demon lords from AD&D and third edition that are considered canon to Golarion?
Additionally do all such demon lords have the same "hands off" policy that Orcus and Demogorgon have? (Baphomet being an obvious except)
Pazuzu is another one that I can think of.
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Player and I were discussing this tonight, and we kind of hit a snag as to what the answer should be. In Pathfinder, various monsters have the backstory that they are "worshipped as gods", such as peluda in Bestiary 4. How does one determine what kinds of domains their followers gets? Alignment makes it easy (evil, chaotic, lawful, etc), but what about other domains? The peluda is NE, so it still has Evil, but nothing else really stands out other than the fire breath weapon, so I suppose the Fire domain. Maybe War to represent its loathing of weaker beings? How does one figure this kind of thing out with such limited information? Just guess work that sounds reasonable? Or only allow clerics with archetypes that only have one domain?
Second question. Player was also wondering, what are the chances we'll see the Pathfinder 3.5 Campaign Setting class archetypes brought into the current Pathfinder world? Such as the cold resistant barbarian, the holy warrior cleric, and the hidden reserve sorcerer.
Scalykind. Would definitely have that one.. and they'll more likely have Strength over War, since they value strength.
Fire, Evil, Strength, and Scalykind in all likelyhood.
They wouldn't grant domains most likely... they are false gods and sometimes people/monsters in the various worlds in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that REAL gods can actually grant divine powers. For example, the people of Earth in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that we could gain divine powers through worship of Lamashtu or Asmodeus and so on and so forth. (Instead on Earth, we have abandoned/been abandoned by the various interplanetary gods of Desna/Asmodeus/Lamashtu [note: the Ascended such as Iomadae would likely never of even heard of the tiny little blue planet known as Earth]. The exact reason for this is unknown.)
I guess the best way to think about it is this: We the players know about Resurrection and the Cure for Lycanthropy and Divine Magic... but 95% of the world's population doesn't think like PCs... Goblins sometimes worship normal Barghests as gods even though they don't grant domains and Lizardfolk and Kobolds might worship Peluda or Dragons as gods even though, once again, they don't grant spells.
Now, if you believe N/PCs should be able to gain domains through worship of philosophies then the above list of Fire, Evil, Strength, and Scalykind for the Peluda is pretty good. Another option is giving them some Mythic Tiers (atleast 3 though I'd probably go with 5) and then giving them a domains list (not necessarily through the Divine Source power though)
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They wouldn't grant domains most likely... they are false gods and sometimes people/monsters in the various worlds in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that REAL gods can actually grant divine powers. For example, the people of Earth in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that we could gain divine powers through worship of Lamashtu or Asmodeus and so on and so forth. (Instead on Earth, we have abandoned/been abandoned by the various interplanetary gods of Desna/Asmodeus/Lamashtu [note: the Ascended such as Iomadae would likely never of even heard of the tiny little blue planet known as Earth]. The exact reason for this is unknown.)
I guess the best way to think about it is this: We the players know about Resurrection and the Cure for Lycanthropy and Divine...
Well, it's not that they don't grant domains. I get that. It's more that clerics believe in ideals, or believe that a god gives them power that they get it. So, the Peluda may not grant domains, but the lizardfolk or kobold cleric might believe that they're receiving the fire and power of evil from the "god" that they worship.
And if at all possible, I'd avoid Mythic tiers altogether. That's too much of a headache to deal with.
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Creative Director
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What would you do to make dwarves more interesting to you, if you had the opportunity? Or would you rather not have them on Golarion at all?
I quite love the take that Dragon Age had on dwarves—made them into a matriarchy with lots of political intrigue and made them SUPER foul-mouthed. We've got enough folks at Paizo who are fans of the classic D&D dwarf though that we kept them as is, pretty much.
And Golarion isn't just for me. It's for everyone. Part of being the Creative Director is being able to recognize that and doing your best to make sure that the world has lots of options and things to appeal to as many folks as possible.
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Creative Director
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Well then.. I guess someone needs to bring the Wyrwood to Golarion! :3As a new race featured in the Bestiary 4 (And seen in the Advanced Race Guide), where do the Wyrwood fit into on Golarion?
Can we expect to see them in official PF lore soon?
Same two questions in regards to the Kasatha, who are also friggin' awesome.
Currently the wyrwood do not fit into Golarion. They might live in another galaxy or plane or something, but at this point they don't have a place in Golarion.
Kasatha live on a planet far beyond Golarion's solar system. Unlike the wyrwood, which we have no real plans for... there WILL be something about the kasatha by this time next year.
No necessarily. Not everything we put in a Bestiary needs to live on Golarion.
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Creative Director
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Ah sorry Rysky, I meant for the Kasatha with the Iron Gods part, not the Wyrwood. Will fix that!
As for the Wyrwood.. considering that the Elves use a substance known as Wyroot, which comes from the Wyrwood tree.. makes sense that the Elves might just have a connection with the little constructs.. perhaps they're on Castrovel?
Unlikely.
I'm generally EXCEPTIONALLY HESITANT to just willy-nilly drop in a new race into an area we've talked about... it's one thing to have countless different monsters in the wilds or a dungeon to stretch credulity and verisimilitude... but once you start having new races pop up in civilized areas where they've not only never been seen in print before... but have never even been mentioned in the centuries or millennia of history we've established for that region... that starts to get a bit goofy to me. Wyrwoods suddenly showing up in Taldor, for example, when we've already said so much about Taldor and have details on its history stretching back for thousands of years without really even a HINT at the presence of a race like the wyrwood breaks the game immersion for me.
I'll certainly keep looking for ways to introduce the new races... but it's going to be a slow process that needs to feel organic and doesn't break verisimilitude. I found a way to do that with the kasathas (and indeed have been kinda planning that for a while, which is why I adjusted their flavor text in Bestiary 4 a bit to set them up from a far distant planet that rotates around a different star than Golarion's), but haven't yet for the wyrwoods. And it's going to end up being about a 1.5 to 2 year process to run its course to introduce the kasathas... and since I haven't even STARTED thinking about how to do the same for wyrwoods... well... don't expect much more on them anytime soon.
Sorry if that's disappointing... just trying to manage expectations.
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Creative Director
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James, with the release of the Mythic book and Bestiary 4 we have an XP chart up to CR 30 and gold per encounter chart. Will we ever see a chart for character wealth by level and XP to the next HD chart for above 20th level? If not, how can we figure that out?Apparently not. The charts for monsters does go up to CR 25 on page 294 of the Bestiary... but I was unable to convince the design team that we needed to expand that table to CR 30. I'm honestly still not completely sure why the decision to not extend the table was made.
For foes above CR 25... just go with your best guess and throw on a few artifacts. Should be rare enough that it won't come up too often.
As for PC/NPC wealth, the decision to not extend THAT table was because the design team feels that tiers shouldn't affect your wealth. Only class levels do. A 10th level character has 10th level wealth, despite how many mythic tiers he has.
Fair enough. I guess all monsters above CR 25 will have to gain templates and/or class levels.
What about character levels? How do we figure that out after 20th level?
No need. There is no 21st level.
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Creative Director
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Why is a vial of ink so expensive (8 gp!) in Pathfinder? I just did the math for it, and it's actually cheaper, using the Craft skill, to hire a level 1 expert to make the ink, than it is to buy the vial of ink.
** spoiler omitted **
Kind of a dumb question, I know, but it just jumped out as me as odd that a vial of ink costs 8 gp. What makes this even odder is that some types of invisible ink are cheaper than a normal vial of ink at 2 gp, and a vial of fire ink (used to make temporary glowing tattoos) costs 1 gp, glowing ink costs 5 gp.
Why is it that special types of ink, ink that glows, or is invisible, is cheaper than regular ink?
Second Question! (also the real question).
I was looking for how much paint costs as one of my characters took Craft (paintings) as a skill. He's got a masterwork tool and canvas, but no paints. I looked through the item lists, and realized there wasn't any (also how I came across the over-priced Ink).
So the question is, what do you think a set of paints would cost?
The short answer—because it was 8 gp in 3rd edition D&D and few enough/no people complained so it never really pinged on the design team as being overpriced.
Feel free to reduce the cost in your game if you want, but frankly, I think this is less a problem with the price of ink and more a problem with how the crafting rules work when you get to more (relatively) high priced gear.
SECOND ANSWER
I would assume paints are included in the masterwork craft tools, frankly. And I'd also open it up to using super rare and exotic paint made from rare pigments, which would be treated as art objects. (AKA: Priced however the GM wishes.)
A set of paints on their own, ranging the primary colors and a few extras? I'd probably peg that at 20 gp. Paint is tricky. Also expensive in the real world as well, since you need to buy so many different colors.
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Creative Director
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Player and I were discussing this tonight, and we kind of hit a snag as to what the answer should be. In Pathfinder, various monsters have the backstory that they are "worshipped as gods", such as peluda in Bestiary 4. How does one determine what kinds of domains their followers gets? Alignment makes it easy (evil, chaotic, lawful, etc), but what about other domains? The peluda is NE, so it still has Evil, but nothing else really stands out other than the fire breath weapon, so I suppose the Fire domain. Maybe War to represent its loathing of weaker beings? How does one figure this kind of thing out with such limited information? Just guess work that sounds reasonable? Or only allow clerics with archetypes that only have one domain?
Second question. Player was also wondering, what are the chances we'll see the Pathfinder 3.5 Campaign Setting class archetypes brought into the current Pathfinder world? Such as the cold resistant barbarian, the holy warrior cleric, and the hidden reserve sorcerer.
First... remember that ONLY CLERICS get domains. And FAR MORE THAN CLERICS can worship something. You can have a group of creatures worshiping, say, a peluda, and not have a single cleric in their group. They don't even have to have a divine spellcaster. But things like oracles are in the game (among other reasons) specifically for this case—to give a group who worships something as a god that's not a god a way to have a divine spellcaster spiritual leader.
Clerics are specifically meant to be the one class, pretty much, who does depend on what they're worshiping being a full on deity... but for other groups, there's plenty of other choices.
Mythic Adventures gives another solution—the divine source power (page 51) allows any tier 3 or higher mythc creature the ability to grant spells. In this case, the domians chosen are selected by the creator of the PC or NPC on an individual basis.
If I were you, I'd have those peluda worshipers be led by an oracle... or maybe even by a bard or witch who's just pretending to be a priest.
There weren't really "archetypes" in the 3.5 Pathfinder setting. In any event, we have no plans on bringing those forward into Pathfinder—the current archetypes in a lot of cases have used or replaced those in-game niches already.
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They wouldn't grant domains most likely... they are false gods and sometimes people/monsters in the various worlds in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that REAL gods can actually grant divine powers. For example, the people of Earth in the Pathfinder universe don't realize that we could gain divine powers through worship of Lamashtu or Asmodeus and so on and so forth. (Instead on Earth, we have abandoned/been abandoned by the various interplanetary gods of Desna/Asmodeus/Lamashtu [note: the Ascended such as Iomadae would likely never of even heard of the tiny little blue planet known as Earth]. The exact reason for this is unknown.)
I guess the best way to think about it is this: We the players know about Resurrection and the Cure for Lycanthropy and Divine...
Well, it's not that they don't grant domains. I get that. It's more that clerics believe in ideals, or believe that a god gives them power that they get it. So, the Peluda may not grant domains, but the lizardfolk or kobold cleric might believe that they're receiving the fire and power of evil from the "god" that they worship.
And if at all possible, I'd avoid Mythic tiers altogether. That's too much of a headache to deal with.
Which comes back to philosophies. In Pathfinder universe atleast, Philosophies DON'T grant domains, you need an actual God to get domains. Not even the Green Faith is an exception to this. IF there is going to be a priesthood that worships these supposed "gods", they would be Oracles by definition and not clerics and thus Mysteries would be the best way to represent this and not domains.
Now ONLY the Cleric requires a God to gain power in Pathfinder Universe. Any other divine character (Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Inquisitor, and Oracle) does not require the worship of a God (though many do). Some of these classes even allow the acquisition of a Domain. And thus, that allows THESE divine character to worship False Gods - just not actual Clerics.
Now if you allow Philosophies in your campaign to grant domains, then throw all of what I have said out. But within Canonical Pathfinder, You might have an Oracle with the Flames Mystery leading the worship of a Peluda or you might have a Druid with the Serpent or Saurian Shaman Archetype or maybe just the Fire Domain or something like that as the High Priest of said Peluda - you just wouldn't have a Cleric with the Scalykind domain or War Domain.
Question:Speaking of False Gods and Clerics. James, do you suppose it would be possible for a person to take Cleric levels before their Idol of Worship gained deific power, knowing full well that their Idol isn't yet a God or Demigod but in the belief that their Idol will soon become one? Of course said Cleric wouldn't have any real class features (my thought was maybe they could be told their Idol's Favored Weapon prior to ascension and MIGHT gain proficiency in that weapon as I have always understood that to be a matter of training).
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So Lawful characters, especially, Lawful Good, would turn evil doers and prisoners into the authorities when given the chance. I've been wrestling with what a Chaotic Good character would do. While not averse to turning people over to the authorities, it sort of undermines the nature of being Chaotic in the first place (and feeling above the law).
What other recourse does a Chaotic Good character have with evil, murderous, or other ne'er-do-well enemies (after being captured and taken prisoner, such as in a city) other than turn them in? Killing helpless individuals, those who've surrendered or goading them into attacking is not in line with anything a Good character would do. What type of actions would befit proper punishment without resorting to allying oneself with the restrictions of law and order?
First off... there's nothing that prevents a chaotic good character from going along with the "turn evildoers over to the authorities for trial". Chaotic does not mean "Must oppose government at all turns." Nor does it mean "break every law." Remember that "law" for a society and "lawful" for alignment are NOT interchangeable.
Things that come to mind for how a chaotic good character could handle an evil prisoner:
1) turn them over to face trial
2) try to redeem them
3) ransom them back to their kin
4) take justice into their own hands (resulting in imprisonment or execution)
They'd likely avoid torture and the like, but that's more an aspect of the good side of things than the chaos.
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Creative Director
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Since you have commented on the Wyrwood and Kasatha,where do the following fit on Golarion/Distant Worlds/etc
1) Gathlain
2) Trox
3) Wyvaran
Those don't have a current place in the world or the solar system yet either. Of the three, the order in which you listed them is in fact the order in which I'd see them fitting in over the next several years (I'd rank the wyrwood at 2.5). But for the most part, anything I've said in this thread about wyrwood applies equally to gathlains, troxes, and wyvarans.
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Besides Orcus and Demogorgon what are the other open content demon lords from AD&D and third edition that are considered canon to Golarion?
Additionally do all such demon lords have the same "hands off" policy that Orcus and Demogorgon have? (Baphomet being an obvious except)
Not that simple.
Orcus is open content, due to his appearance in the Tome of Horrors. We could use Orcus as he's always appeared in the game with no problem. We have, so far, chosen not to do much with Orcus out of respect for both Wizards of the Coast and for Necromancer Games, both of whom have used him a great deal to build their brands (he's on the cover of the 4th edition D&D Monster Manual and was the main bad guy of a significant older adventure series—the Bloodstone Pass adventures, and he's Necromancer's logo!). That also means that he's already got a LOT of stuff out there that's compatible with Pathfinder to a certain extent, and so if I'm going to spend time exploring a demon lord, I'd rather detail one who hasn't had that much time in the spotlight.
Demogorgon is not open content. At least... Demogorgon as a two-headed tentacled dinosaurian level-draining prince of demons is not open content. The name itself is, of course, from mythology, but it wasn't an actual mythological entity at the start. As far as I know, it was nothing more than a scary name a priest or monk made up in a book when he needed a scary name... and over the centuries other authors like Milton and Melville have run with the name to represent a nebulous scary force of evil. He didn't manifest in his D&D incarnation as a two-headed prince of demons until Gygax made all of that up, and that means that all of THAT is now Wizards of the Coast intellectual property. We could run with the name Demogorgon... but if we did anything more than that, we'd have to build a demon that was entirely different, and I'm too fond of him as he exists to want to change him. FURTHERMORE, he's a huge part of the Savage Tide AP, and as such I personally feel like I've said pretty much all I want to say about him, so on top of everything I've just said, the "Orcus is already detailed enough" element applies to Demogorgon as well.
Baphomet is, unlike Orcus (who was originally a place) and Demogorgon (who was originally just a word), a real-world mythological demonic figure with a large amount of legend and myth to him. The only element about Baphomet that we normally wouldn't be able to use would be his role as the god of minotaurs, but again, the Tome of Horrors has that in there in open content, so we CAN use that. But for Pathifnder, we're deliberately skewing him away from that role and focusing more on his actual real world mythological roots, from his appearance to his role as a leader of secretive Templar groups.
Fraz-Urb'luu is a demon lord in the Tome of Horrors that we could go with... but we' won't out of respect for the fact that he's an entirely made-up demon lord that has a STRONG tie to Greyhawk. Moving Fraz-Urb'luu out of Greyhawk vastly diminishes what's cool about him, in my opinion.
Pazuzu and Dagon both have enough real world and literary stuff about both of them that even if they weren't mentioned in the Tome of Horrors, we could still go with them pretty much as they've always been depicted in the game. Kostchtchie is less so.
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Creative Director
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Question:Speaking of False Gods and Clerics. James, do you suppose it would be possible for a person to take Cleric levels before their Idol of Worship gained deific power, knowing full well that their Idol isn't yet a God or Demigod but in the belief that their Idol will soon become one? Of course said Cleric wouldn't have any real class features (my thought was maybe they could be told their Idol's Favored Weapon prior to ascension and MIGHT gain proficiency in that weapon as I have always understood that to be a matter of training).
First... let's move the discussion about false gods and so on to another thread to keep this one clear for questions; thanks!
New questions about the topic are fine here, though.
A person taking cleric levels would generally NOT gain spells by worshiping a false god. There are cases ... VERY RARE CASES ... where a deity might take pity on a cleric worshiping a false god and could step in to provide spells... but those clerics should be few and far between, and should be supported by in-world flavor. Iomedae granting spells to a few stubborn/crazy Aroden worshipers is the only case of this I can think of being active in Golarion... and even then I really wish we'd made those worshipers oracles or something else entirely.
If someone worships something before it gains deific power... they don't get to choose what domains they get when the object of their worship ascends. That's chosen by the new demigod. Who will likely pick the right choices anyway, assuming he/she doesn't change personality drastically upon ascension. Cleric worshipers who've never had spells before would gain spellcasting and all of that at the point their god became real, in any event.
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Creative Director
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So, if you accept the premise that nature doesn't have a sense of humor, do platypuses become an argument for the existence of God? :)Platypuses get sillier the more science finds out about them.I'd like your opinion on this article on platypuses.
Is this creature endemic to Sarusan? What do you think?
I don't think nature has a sense of humor... but I do think nature is chaotic. And what's more chaotic than a duck-billed poisonous egg-laying mammal? A flesh eating one, I guess.
What outsider races have equivalents of nascent demon lords?
I know that daemons have harbingers, and devils have their infernal dukes, and then there's Yamasoth, but what else is there?
Also, will the various tribes and individuals described in Kobolds of Golarion ever appear in canon? Like, say, Tsazgatherax the Embermaw?
I'm trying to think how to phrase this... Without the Thassilonian Empire around, would it make sense for a PC or NPC to want to take a Runelord's mantle? Like is there any perk to being the Runelord of Greed after Karzoug has been killed?
Just curious about what you had running in the back of your mind for future APs in Greyhawk before the rug got pulled out.
Did you have a couple of story ideas you were bouncing around that you look back on and say, "Shame I didn't get to see that one go to print."
To clarify, these would be Greyhawk specific stories, not just a plotline you've since adapted (Or plan on adapting) to Golarian.
I don't think nature has a sense of humor... but I do think nature is chaotic. And what's more chaotic than a duck-billed poisonous egg-laying mammal? A flesh eating one, I guess.So, if you accept the premise that nature doesn't have a sense of humor, do platypuses become an argument for the existence of God? :)Platypuses get sillier the more science finds out about them.I'd like your opinion on this article on platypuses.
Is this creature endemic to Sarusan? What do you think?
Article about ancient carnivorous platypuses in Australia.
You underestimate the internet my good sir.
Thoughts on an option for witches to use Charisma as their casting stat, literally bartering with their patron / familiar, as it were?
Will more racial templates be added in the future? Specifically ones dealing with fey. I know I'm hoping that fey get the same treatment as the halfbreed and planetouched races & templates.Not sure. Not in the books I work on, really. That's more of a Patrick question, I guess. (I'm not even really sure what you're talking about with "racial template"...)
I think of Half-Celestial, Half-Fiend, Half-Dragon, and Fey Creature as racial templates.
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Creative Director
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What outsider races have equivalents of nascent demon lords?
I know that daemons have harbingers, and devils have their infernal dukes, and then there's Yamasoth, but what else is there?
Also, will the various tribes and individuals described in Kobolds of Golarion ever appear in canon? Like, say, Tsazgatherax the Embermaw?
Pretty much all of them.
And if something's appeared in Kobolds of Golarion, that means that they have, by virtue of appearing in Kobolds of Golarion, appeared in canon.
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Creative Director
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Mythic Adventures gives another solution—the divine source power (page 51) allows any tier 3 or higher mythc creature the ability to grant spells. In this case, the domians chosen are selected by the creator of the PC or NPC on an individual basis.Up to a point. The two domains you select when you first gain the power are hardwired to your alignment. so a mythic Paladin has to pick Law and Good. He can pick others if he picks the power again later.
Not sure that makes a difference to the topic at hand.
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Creative Director
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Just curious about what you had running in the back of your mind for future APs in Greyhawk before the rug got pulled out.
Did you have a couple of story ideas you were bouncing around that you look back on and say, "Shame I didn't get to see that one go to print."
To clarify, these would be Greyhawk specific stories, not just a plotline you've since adapted (Or plan on adapting) to Golarian.
Had we stuck with Dungeon, we had plans afoot for a "Genie War" Adventure Path that would take place in the western regions of Greyhawk and would have developed a lot of those regions in detail. That adventure path eventually got produced as "Legacy of Fire."
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Creative Director
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I think of Half-Celestial, Half-Fiend, Half-Dragon, and Fey Creature as racial templates.Will more racial templates be added in the future? Specifically ones dealing with fey. I know I'm hoping that fey get the same treatment as the halfbreed and planetouched races & templates.Not sure. Not in the books I work on, really. That's more of a Patrick question, I guess. (I'm not even really sure what you're talking about with "racial template"...)
Ah. Well then, yes. We add those all the time. They're intended to be monster options for the GM though. They're a bit powerful for use as PCs.
Does the Osirion Adventure Path has encounters/monsters from the Bestiary 4 in it? Or is it still to early for those?
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Creative Director
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Does the Osirion Adventure Path has encounters/monsters from the Bestiary 4 in it? Or is it still to early for those?
Monsters from Bestiary 4 start showing up as early as part 4 of Wrath of the Righteous.
So yeah... they're absolutely open territory for Mummy's Mask.