So, for my current group, I'm setting up an organization of bad guys that focus largely on developing weaponry and super soldiers of a magical nature. So far, they've built a rather impressive Cannon golem, and they are now going to turn a barbarian king into an Air Elemental Bloodrager. so, two questions.
Would an organization like this conceivably exist in Golarion, or do you find them somewhat anachronistic (being a pseudo-scientific weapon's manufacturer, after all)?
You've mentioned that you can artificially create a sorcerer, but can the same be done for Bloodragers?
Dear Magnanimous Tyrant Lizard King,
What advice would you give to a GM struggling to keep his players from exploiting the 15 minute work day? We've run through an Adventure Path (Rise of the Runelords) and a few of the Modules and my players have fallen into a monotonous cycle.
1) Kick down the door
2) Kill everything
3) Teleport away
4) Rest, Profit, and Repeat
My gaming group consists of intelligent and highly rules competent players who enjoy "scry and die" type tactics. What can I do to discourage this kind of play, as I find it tedious after a while? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Mr. James Jacobs,
How likely is Calistria to try and seduce her divine and demidivine nay sayers?
Creative Director
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So, for my current group, I'm setting up an organization of bad guys that focus largely on developing weaponry and super soldiers of a magical nature. So far, they've built a rather impressive Cannon golem, and they are now going to turn a barbarian king into an Air Elemental Bloodrager. so, two questions.
Would an organization like this conceivably exist in Golarion, or do you find them somewhat anachronistic (being a pseudo-scientific weapon's manufacturer, after all)?
You've mentioned that you can artificially create a sorcerer, but can the same be done for Bloodragers?
An organization like this already almost exists—what you're describing is pretty close to the Technic League of Numeria. Of course,they focus on technology and magic, not just magic. A purely magic version of a group like this would most likely be found in Nex, I think, especially if they were in the west where they could do their thing without the proximity of the larger cities.
And with the right storyline, I could actually see the artifical creation of ANY class.
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Dear Magnanimous Tyrant Lizard King,
What advice would you give to a GM struggling to keep his players from exploiting the 15 minute work day? We've run through an Adventure Path (Rise of the Runelords) and a few of the Modules and my players have fallen into a monotonous cycle.
1) Kick down the door
2) Kill everything
3) Teleport away
4) Rest, Profit, and RepeatMy gaming group consists of intelligent and highly rules competent players who enjoy "scry and die" type tactics. What can I do to discourage this kind of play, as I find it tedious after a while? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
The best way to handle it is to talk to your players and explain to them that the style of game they're playing isn't fun for you, and to try to work out an agreement.
Another good way to handle it is to build adventures that aren't dungeon crawls... or if they ARE dungeon crawls, are set in areas where each encounter is meant to be something to really test the PCs. Rather than 1 room, have the denizens of several rooms react to the PCs.
If you want to keep the classic dungeon crawl feel, two other solutions are timers and effects that block teleportation.
If the PCs have only a short time to accomplish a goal, they can't teleport back and rest after every encounter; they have to do as many as possible of the encounters before retreating. This is my favorite of the two methods.
As for defeating teleportaiton, you can do this with stuff like teleport trap (from ISWG), or with forbiddance or dimensional lock. A less obvious way is to put the dungeon in a demiplane; you can't really teleport across planes unless you use plane shift, and if you make the demiplane obscure and small enough, you can simply say "you can't find the tuning fork for this plane so you can't plane shift into it." In that case, players can still plane shift out... but they'll have to renavigate chunks of the dungeon each time they return, and you can have these areas swiftly repopulate.
As for the "Scry and die" tactic... in my games, that just does not work. And you can justify it in game with the rules, by pointing out that scyring allows you to observe a creature, not a location, and that you can't discern enough info about the creature's location in order to teleport to it. The point of teleport and scry isn't to enable scry and die tactics anyway.
If none of that appeals, change your adventure style from dungeon crawls to other types of adventures that rely more on big set-piece encounters. And start letting the bad guys use the same tactics the PCs are abusing.
OR Wrap up the current campaign and start a new one and use the slow XP track.
I'll have to look into the Windswept Wastes. The reason I asked is I am looking for a spot on Golarion to do some Kingdom building other then the River Kingdoms. Any other places you would suggest?
So, apparently it's been snowing in Egypt. (And I haven't found any signs that photo is a fake. Yet.)
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Creative Director
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I'll have to look into the Windswept Wastes. The reason I asked is I am looking for a spot on Golarion to do some Kingdom building other then the River Kingdoms. Any other places you would suggest?
If you keep it relatively small-scale, anywhere works. Varisia is still mostly frontier but also has a LOT of info to pull from, so that'd be a good choice. Perhaps an even better choice is on an island off the coast of Cheliax?
Who could you consider a True Final Boss for each (compatible) adventure path?Spoilers. By "True Final Boss" I would say the one that appears in the adventure path and who the adventure path is about. It's not someone who is a background character, expected ally, or someone we "set aside" for GMs to use as a bad guy to expand the campaign.
So...
** spoiler omitted **
I'm reasonably sure Voyd there was looking for things to throw in to extend each AP past the end of the last book that wouldn't come out of left field, like-
... For purposes of homebrewing a 7th book to each AP. Personally though, those are the only two examples I can think of that wouldn't just feel like some kind of "Sorry, our princess is in another castle" moment where you spend all this effort to defeat what turns out to just be a powerful lackey of the real villain... and if you're going to insist on doing that, just make up a new lackey, slot them in in place of the proper big bad, then stick the current big bad (with some improvements) in your homebrew final area.
Actual question time- Briefly glancing at that list, I'm kind of disappointed to see that the final battle of Jade Regent didn't kick off a trend. When I actually ran it it didn't go over too well since the PCs lucked into a couple tricks and an angle of approach that made that fight a depressingly quick cake walk for them but generally speaking...
Any chance we'll see more APs go for that sort of final confrontation in the future?
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I'm reasonably sure Voyd there was looking for things to throw in to extend each AP past the end of the last book that wouldn't come out of left field...
Fair enough... but if that's the case, he should have asked that instead of asking something that sounded more like "Who is the REAL boss of the AP?" which sounds kinda insulting in that it implies we don't build APs with the goal of really telling a complete story.
Actual question time- Briefly glancing at that list, I'm kind of disappointed to see that the final battle of Jade Regent didn't kick off a trend. When I actually ran it it didn't go over too well since the PCs lucked into a couple tricks and an angle of approach that made that fight a depressingly quick cake walk for them but generally speaking...
Spoiler:I really love the concept of having a whole party of NPCs present for the final battle like that. True, it's a little stressful to run (especially with all the tactical contingencies JR baked in), but it catches players nicely off guard, it allows for some proper villain banter that isn't just a big evil monologue, and it's easier to ramp things up for bigger groups when you don't have a single target who's already beefed up towards the limits of the system.Any chance we'll see more APs go for that sort of final confrontation in the future?
There's a chance, yes. That kind of end fight presents problems, though in that...
I'm reasonably sure Voyd there was looking for things to throw in to extend each AP past the end of the last book that wouldn't come out of left field...Fair enough... but if that's the case, he should have asked that instead of asking something that sounded more like "Who is the REAL boss of the AP?" which sounds kinda insulting in that it implies we don't build APs with the goal of really telling a complete story.
Actual question time- Briefly glancing at that list, I'm kind of disappointed to see that the final battle of Jade Regent didn't kick off a trend. When I actually ran it it didn't go over too well since the PCs lucked into a couple tricks and an angle of approach that made that fight a depressingly quick cake walk for them but generally speaking...
** spoiler omitted **
Any chance we'll see more APs go for that sort of final confrontation in the future?
There's a chance, yes. That kind of end fight presents problems, though in that...
** spoiler omitted **
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James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
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Creative Director
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James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
Get your GM's permission and anything goes.
Frankly, I think that RP equal to a spell level is too simplified. Some spells are better than others, and should cost more.
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
Get your GM's permission and anything goes.
Frankly, I think that RP equal to a spell level is too simplified. Some spells are better than others, and should cost more.
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
Out of curiosity, have you personally contributed to any of the 0 HD races that we currently see in the game? Its always fun to try and track your Gargantuan foot print!
I'll have to look into the Windswept Wastes. The reason I asked is I am looking for a spot on Golarion to do some Kingdom building other then the River Kingdoms. Any other places you would suggest?If you keep it relatively small-scale, anywhere works. Varisia is still mostly frontier but also has a LOT of info to pull from, so that'd be a good choice. Perhaps an even better choice is on an island off the coast of Cheliax?
I'd thought of Varisia, the PC's creating the 4th city-state and maybe even engulfing the other three. And an island off Cheliax is a great idea but why is it a better choice?
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
Because of this, I was somewhat surprised to see the Kasatha, Wyvaran and especially Trox Officially as 0 HD races in the Bestiary 4 rather than 0 HD approximations of races with racial hit dice, like the ARG approximations of the ogre and centaur and stuff.
How would you feel about a variation of the system where there are no races with 0 HD, and all current 0 HD races just had 1 HD?
What person, or persons, on Golarion best exemplify the following song titles:
Forever Young - Alphaville
I've Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
I'm Bad - Michael Jackson
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman (from Toy Story)
We Are the Champions! - Queen
It's Raining Men! - The Weather Girls
Bonus Question!
What happened to Balazar's Meet the Iconics backstory? I remember you said it got written, but it hasn't been put up on the blog yet.
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Creative Director
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Out of curiosity, have you personally contributed to any of the 0 HD races that we currently see in the game? Its always fun to try and track your Gargantuan foot print!James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
Get your GM's permission and anything goes.
Frankly, I think that RP equal to a spell level is too simplified. Some spells are better than others, and should cost more.
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
The only one I designed from the ground up was the android, but I had a LOT of input on the tengu and the samsaran, and a fair amount more on the other Dragon Empires races, and a good amount on all the Bestiary ones.
Oh... and I guess I can count the Pathfinder version of the goblin in that group too.
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Creative Director
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I'd thought of Varisia, the PC's creating the 4th city-state and maybe even engulfing the other three. And an island off Cheliax is a great idea but why is it a better choice?I'll have to look into the Windswept Wastes. The reason I asked is I am looking for a spot on Golarion to do some Kingdom building other then the River Kingdoms. Any other places you would suggest?If you keep it relatively small-scale, anywhere works. Varisia is still mostly frontier but also has a LOT of info to pull from, so that'd be a good choice. Perhaps an even better choice is on an island off the coast of Cheliax?
Islands are good choices because they have fixed obvious boundaries so you can really focus on a specific area.
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Creative Director
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Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.Because of this, I was somewhat surprised to see the Kasatha, Wyvaran and especially Trox Officially as 0 HD races in the Bestiary 4 rather than 0 HD approximations of races with racial hit dice, like the ARG approximations of the ogre and centaur and stuff.
How would you feel about a variation of the system where there are no races with 0 HD, and all current 0 HD races just had 1 HD?
Those races were specifically invented to test the boundaries and edges of the race builder. They work well as monster races, though; the Trox in particular needed some CR adjustments though.
I think the game works fine as it stands, though, as regards the 0 HD races. Especially since I personally prefer playing human or near-human races anyway.
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Creative Director
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What person, or persons, on Golarion best exemplify the following song titles:
Forever Young - Alphaville
I've Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
I'm Bad - Michael Jackson
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman (from Toy Story)
We Are the Champions! - Queen
It's Raining Men! - The Weather GirlsBonus Question!
What happened to Balazar's Meet the Iconics backstory? I remember you said it got written, but it hasn't been put up on the blog yet.
As for the music questions... I dunno. I'd say Lem for all of them, I guess?
And Balazar's blog post is in the queue. There's been a lot of mayhem lately getting blog posts sorted out, and I've been poking the thing with a stick a few times. It's ready to go. It just needs someone to let it out. My understanding is that it'll DEFINITELY be out by the end of the year. Maybe even on a very special day before the end of the year!
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A question on Arueshalae as it relates to a hypothetical situation, since I'm wondering how you think she would likely react (and it has relevance to something that's come up recently for my own group in a different campaign).
In WotR, she can become a useful ally to the PCs. Would she agree, if she trusted them enough, to give them her True Name? (And if a PC wanted to actually try and learn it with the Binding Outsiders rules, how high would you peg the DC? She's 14 HD, so that's a base DC 24, and I was thinking an extra +10 on top for the rarity of a redeemed succubus with mythic tiers.)
While normally this sort of thing could be modeled with the True Name discovery, if she gave it to a character who isn't a wizard, how would you rule that character's ability to call on her for aid?
Her giving someone her true name would be a greater display of trust than pretty much anything else she could give to anyone. She'd be unlikely to hand that information out except to ONE person whom she trusted and loved with all her heart, frankly. Make the PC work for that knowledge!
True name stuff is a really unexplored area of design in Pathfinder, frankly... I think that there's a LOT that can be done to expand it beyond the relatively brief rules we did for it in Ultimate Magic.
One easy way to expand it is to say that someone who speaks her true name (or any true name) can basically do so to gate that outsider to their location.
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1. What's your opinion on the Silent Hill series?
2. How does a demiplane that operates in a similar manner to Silent Hill sound? (If you don't know how it works, I can elaborate)
1) Haven't played any of the Silent Hill games. The themes and story look cool, but I'm not a huge fan of how the earlier games' cameras were difficult to deal with. (Assuming they were anything like the gameplay of Dino Crisis...).
2) Sounds like a cool place to have an adventure... but also sounds like there's some parts of the Abyss that are already there!
Regarding #2, there's actually a place in Nirvana that operates on a similar premise. :D
What person, or persons, on Golarion best exemplify the following song titles:
Forever Young - Alphaville
I've Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
I'm Bad - Michael Jackson
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman (from Toy Story)
We Are the Champions! - Queen
It's Raining Men! - The Weather GirlsBonus Question!
What happened to Balazar's Meet the Iconics backstory? I remember you said it got written, but it hasn't been put up on the blog yet.
As for the music questions... I dunno. I'd say Lem for all of them, I guess?
And Balazar's blog post is in the queue. There's been a lot of mayhem lately getting blog posts sorted out, and I've been poking the thing with a stick a few times. It's ready to go. It just needs someone to let it out. My understanding is that it'll DEFINITELY be out by the end of the year. Maybe even on a very special day before the end of the year!
What I meant, was, what character would be the most associated with each song title.
For instance, Ileosa might best fit 'Forever Young' however, so too might Razmir.
It could be anyone, be it NPCs, to Iconics, even one of the Gods.
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I'm Too Sexy - Right Said FredI have an image in my head of Valeros dancing on top of a table to this song while drunk. And taking off his clothes.
The image won't go away.
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Creative Director
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Her giving someone her true name would be a greater display of trust than pretty much anything else she could give to anyone. She'd be unlikely to hand that information out except to ONE person whom she trusted and loved with all her heart, frankly. Make the PC work for that knowledge!Hmm. So you'd say that the standard rules/guidelines for a PC researching true names are unlikely to apply in a case like hers, then?
(Not that I would object if they were, since a DC 34 check isn't all that hard to reach for a 12th level character or so.)
True name stuff is a really unexplored area of design in Pathfinder, frankly... I think that there's a LOT that can be done to expand it beyond the relatively brief rules we did for it in Ultimate Magic.Is it something you're hoping/planning/arguing-with-others to get more done with it? Or just a "something you'd like but don't have space or plans for in the next couple of years" thing? Because I'd be very happy to see more of the whole conjuring/binding/true name concepts of magic implemented.
One easy way to expand it is to say that someone who speaks her true name (or any true name) can basically do so to gate that outsider to their location.That's an interesting way to do it, to be sure. Especially if the gate doesn't actually hold any compulsion over them to obey... a PC would need to be very cautious about saying the true name of a creature not kindly disposed towards them.
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said FredI have an image in my head of Valeros dancing on top of a table to this song while drunk. And taking off his clothes.
The image won't go away.
Depends. I admit I'm not all that familiar at all with the Ultimate Magic true name rules. As I said, there's some neat ground to cover there, but I think that what's in that book suffered for not being able to talk about specific world content and specific outsiders.
I do know that traditionally, true names are about the most personal you can get. She wouldn't just give that up for just anyone.
Hey James, I'm attempting to recreate the Operative from the Serenity movie, and his 'life-goal' of sorts is to "create a world without sin". What God best represents that goal?
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James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
Get your GM's permission and anything goes.
Frankly, I think that RP equal to a spell level is too simplified. Some spells are better than others, and should cost more.
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
I'm the GM in question, unfortunately so the permission's already given. The race is the Fey'ri from Forgotten Realms. It's a +2 LA race, unless you take certain abilities which make it a +3. So I thought I'd break it down pointwise, but the ARG doesn't have a way to determine costs on spell-like abilities such as Enervation.
As for the music questions... I dunno. I'd say Lem for all of them, I guess?What person, or persons, on Golarion best exemplify the following song titles:
Forever Young - Alphaville
I've Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
I'm Bad - Michael Jackson
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman (from Toy Story)
We Are the Champions! - Queen
It's Raining Men! - The Weather GirlsBonus Question!
What happened to Balazar's Meet the Iconics backstory? I remember you said it got written, but it hasn't been put up on the blog yet.
Except for the Queen song - that peace of boring bombasm is all Alain's.
And I prefer the original versions of You've Got a Friend in Me (Carole King) and I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton) to the covers.
Was the summoner's eidolon inspired by anything specific?
Also, what would you think of a Lawful Neutral summoner having a mechanical (read: inevitable) eidolon?
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How would a Shoanti of the Sklar-Quah (Sun Clan) view Sarenrae if he/she worshiped her? Would he/she view Sarenrae as the greatest of sun spirits or perhaps the ONLY spirit of the sun? It says in Birthplace of Legends that Shoanti do acknowledge her, along with Pharasma and Gorum at the very least, and somehow incorporate them into their totemic belief system. I know that the Sklar-Quah venerate a "Father Sun." Do they make Sarenrae masculine? Or perhaps take a gender-neutral view, saying something like "The sun is mother and father to us all, the source of all life" or something? I'm trying to write up a Shoanti paladin of her, and I'm looking to figure out how best to reconcile the two belief systems (Sarenrae and her paladin code/Shoanti totemism).
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I'm the GM in question, unfortunately so the permission's already given. The race is the Fey'ri from Forgotten Realms. It's a +2 LA race, unless you take certain abilities which make it a +3. So I thought I'd break it down pointwise, but the ARG doesn't have a way to determine costs on spell-like abilities such as Enervation.James,
Question regarding creating your own race. In the Advanced Races Guide it tells you that you can choose any 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level spell which can be used 1/day, and it costs as many RP as the level itself. However, it specifically states that it has to be a spell that can't attack or do damage to a creature. What about spells that do deal damage? Like enervation or fireball? There's a few races from the old school books that do those. How many points would those be? Double? 1.5? +2 RP?
Get your GM's permission and anything goes.
Frankly, I think that RP equal to a spell level is too simplified. Some spells are better than others, and should cost more.
Also frankly... the more RP you stack on something, the less appropriate it is that it should be a zero HD race in the first place.
The Fey'ri are a cool race, but yeah... enervation is a bit beyond what we generally would allow for a zero HD race, especially since it's an auto kill at that level. My suggestion: build the race without enervation, and then give them enervation once they hit 7th level.
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With the new playtest rules, I said that I'd play on expying my Warcraft main character in the form of a Elven Huntress with the Dusk Elf alternate racial package.
After checking I've found out that this package is not allowed in Pathfinder Society. After checking the package of traits, darkvision, arcane focus, dreamspeaker, silent hunter, the only actual part of this package that's not allowed is the the Darkvision.
Is there a particular reason this is? Do Dusk Elves simply not exist in Golarion or are they forbidden for the same reason that Drow are?
Dusk elves don't exist on Golarion, correct.
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Was the summoner's eidolon inspired by anything specific?
Also, what would you think of a Lawful Neutral summoner having a mechanical (read: inevitable) eidolon?
The iconic summoner's eidolon? We basically asked Wayne to "paint a monster with a rune on it." That's what he came up with.
A lawful neutral summoner with an inevitable eidolon would be fine.
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How would a Shoanti of the Sklar-Quah (Sun Clan) view Sarenrae if he/she worshiped her? Would he/she view Sarenrae as the greatest of sun spirits or perhaps the ONLY spirit of the sun? It says in Birthplace of Legends that Shoanti do acknowledge her, along with Pharasma and Gorum at the very least, and somehow incorporate them into their totemic belief system. I know that the Sklar-Quah venerate a "Father Sun." Do they make Sarenrae masculine? Or perhaps take a gender-neutral view, saying something like "The sun is mother and father to us all, the source of all life" or something? I'm trying to write up a Shoanti paladin of her, and I'm looking to figure out how best to reconcile the two belief systems (Sarenrae and her paladin code/Shoanti totemism).
He'd view Sarenrae as a deity; that's part of what comes with worshiping a deity. There ARE Shoanti who worship gods instead of spirits. Those who worship gods like Sarenrae see them as deities who exist in a world of spirits, basically, but their beliefs are pretty compatible with other worshipers of Sarenrae. They do not view her as masculine at all; she's a female goddess.
Particularly in the case of a paladin though, that Shoanti will be pretty offset and not a traditional part of his clan. Paladin's not a great flavor choice for them unless you're playing a Shoanti who grew up or has become part of civilization; there are plenty of those as well, such as Belor Hemlock of Sandpoint.
Hey James, I'm attempting to recreate the Operative from the Serenity movie, and his 'life-goal' of sorts is to "create a world without sin". What God best represents that goal?Maybe the Monad? The ruler of the aeons?
What book is the Monad in? I can't find any info on it.
What I meant was, was the idea of the eidolon mechanic based on anything?
Also, I'm very tempted to make a LN summoner whose eidolon is a car.
Part of the reasons for playing fantasy games is the chance/opportunity to someone/something else; Wizard, Paladin, Elf, Gnome... Oddly enough, in PnP, support for non-human and/or Evil PCs is kinda rare, despite their popularity in Video Games (and some other mediums). What is it due to?
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What book is the Monad in? I can't find any info on it.Hey James, I'm attempting to recreate the Operative from the Serenity movie, and his 'life-goal' of sorts is to "create a world without sin". What God best represents that goal?Maybe the Monad? The ruler of the aeons?
It's only very briefly mentioned in the intro to the aeons in Bestiary 2. It's not been developed more in Golarion.
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What I meant was, was the idea of the eidolon mechanic based on anything?
Also, I'm very tempted to make a LN summoner whose eidolon is a car.
The eidolon mechanic was based very loosely on the druid animal companion mechanic, but then developed into a much more robust system that allows a lot more customization beyond the druid model.
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Part of the reasons for playing fantasy games is the chance/opportunity to someone/something else; Wizard, Paladin, Elf, Gnome... Oddly enough, in PnP, support for non-human and/or Evil PCs is kinda rare, despite their popularity in Video Games (and some other mediums). What is it due to?
If by "non-human" you mean "non-humanoid," I disagree. There are PLENTY of tabletop RPGs that allow you to play non-humanoid characters. The situation is that the tabletop RPG industry is a tiny TINY fraction of the size of the video game industry, and so beyond a few games, most of the tabletop games are actually relatively obscure and hard to find. Especially when you factor into things the simple truth that you need a group to play a tabletop game... you only need yourself to play a video game, which makes it easier for video games to find customers.
As for why there's little support for evil PCs... that's the same answer, compounded and complicated by the fact that, likely due to the tabletop industry's lesser public support and history of controversy surrounding the game, publishers and players of these games tend to be really pretty gunshy and timid when it comes to producing games where you play evil characters. Certainly the general consensus is that games sell more if they seem to let you play good guys... and there is a LOT of evidence to support that. And when you're publishing in a narrow, niche hobby like tabletop RPGs, it's really difficult and in many cases impossible to self-narrow your customer base to publish material that an already relatively small section of customers want to buy in the first place.
I do hope some day to do an evil Adventure Path, and we have published some material in our book lines for evil characters. We'll continue to do so, but not more than we support good characters unless there's an unexpected and unprecedented shift in society's and our customer base's opinions on edgier material.
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How would a Shoanti of the Sklar-Quah (Sun Clan) view Sarenrae if he/she worshiped her? Would he/she view Sarenrae as the greatest of sun spirits or perhaps the ONLY spirit of the sun? It says in Birthplace of Legends that Shoanti do acknowledge her, along with Pharasma and Gorum at the very least, and somehow incorporate them into their totemic belief system. I know that the Sklar-Quah venerate a "Father Sun." Do they make Sarenrae masculine? Or perhaps take a gender-neutral view, saying something like "The sun is mother and father to us all, the source of all life" or something? I'm trying to write up a Shoanti paladin of her, and I'm looking to figure out how best to reconcile the two belief systems (Sarenrae and her paladin code/Shoanti totemism).He'd view Sarenrae as a deity; that's part of what comes with worshiping a deity. There ARE Shoanti who worship gods instead of spirits. Those who worship gods like Sarenrae see them as deities who exist in a world of spirits, basically, but their beliefs are pretty compatible with other worshipers of Sarenrae. They do not view her as masculine at all; she's a female goddess.
Particularly in the case of a paladin though, that Shoanti will be pretty offset and not a traditional part of his clan. Paladin's not a great flavor choice for them unless you're playing a Shoanti who grew up or has become part of civilization; there are plenty of those as well, such as Belor Hemlock of Sandpoint.
That's actually EXACTLY how I wanted to play him, as someone whose mother was Sklar-Quah, and taught him about his heritage, but who lived and raised him in Korvosa (she adventured with his non-Shoanti dad, and settled down after their affair resulted in her pregnancy). So he'd basically be an orthodox Sarenite then? I'm looking for ways he can straddle the line between the civilized world of Korvosa, that he grew up in, and the Shoanti world his mother told him of as a child, act as a bridge between those two very different worlds.
It's only very briefly mentioned in the intro to the aeons in Bestiary 2. It's not been developed more in Golarion.What book is the Monad in? I can't find any info on it.Hey James, I'm attempting to recreate the Operative from the Serenity movie, and his 'life-goal' of sorts is to "create a world without sin". What God best represents that goal?Maybe the Monad? The ruler of the aeons?
Can you share any information (even unofficial) on the Monad?