Isn't there any Bunnies/Hares/Rabbits in Golarion?
Thank you for answering my questions way back James! To clarify, the Wil-O-Gho-Yuk (in the book at least) is described as a small mouse like creature from the arctic with huge incisors. If it spots a hole in someone's clothes, it runs out from where it's hiding and climbs in. Then it proceeds to burrow into the victim and eat them from the inside out, but thanks to the numbing spit in possesses, most won't realize what is happening until it's too late. Anyway, some questions!
1. Is there a design or flavor reason why Adlets (from Bestiary 3) are humanoids with a subtype rather than Monstrous Humanoids?
2. Which countries in Tian Xia did you work on the most?
3. Which jungle is deadlier, the Mwangi Expanse or Valashmai?
4. Have Cayden Cailean and Sun Wukong ever gone on a crazy drinking night together?
5. Are there any "______ Revisited" books that you are specifically looking forward to being written someday?
6. How much do the elves of Jinin know about the drow?
7. Which of the Inner Sea Countries has the spiciest cuisine? And is there a country that is generally considered to have the worst cuisine?
8. Any particularly famous chefs on Golarion? And if so, where might they be?
9. Are there times of the year you enjoy playing certain adventures more than usual? Like a desert adventure in the summer? For example, my group is in "The Hungry Storm" right now, and lets just say the recent weather has been appropriate for the game's atmosphere.
Thanks again for doing what you do!
Read the spoiler after you've watched it to see why.
The entire time I watched it, I couldn't think of anything except for Great Old Ones pouring molten aluminium into subway stations.
Am I crazy?
That makes me sad, because I want to to play Rise of the Runelords with my friends, and we have no GM. I was hoping I could moderate and roll up a character, but now I don't know what to do about that.I wouldn't run a GM PC. I've done it before and it is very unrewarding and frustrating and annoying.How would one run an effective GMPC?
That is, without being overbearing or a Marty Stu.
Our GM has run GMPCs in the past. The key is to play a fairly bland, not-presicient character, like a melee or support class. In combat, you should be doing stuff where your GM knowledge isn't useful, like bardic performances, letting the players request spontaneous spells, or standing around and dishing out a full attack. Out of combat, you should be mainly carrying stuff and using non-social skills. Do not scout ahead or role-play as the DMPC much. The key is to be there mostly as a mechanical boost, and not to take the spotlight. For example, our GM is running a support bard who spends most of the time spamming Lullaby and Unwitting Ally or using Bardic Performances.
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Would it be possible for a paladin to be crazy and remain Lawful Good?Depends on the type of insanity, but in most cases the insane paladin's acts would likely lead him to do something evil or chaotic that'd push him over the edge.
I have a paladin whose mother is an addict to a strong hallucinogen and as a result he has been medically dependent on the drug since birth. His archetype got rid of his poison resistance/immunity. He is lots of fun to role play as in PFS, even if he firmly believes that he's in the Taldan army, (the Society let him join solely due to the pleading of his now sober mother and due to his profound aptitude in buffing others.) The drug is pure fluff, no mechanical effects beyond rationalizing his 7 wisdom, and no ranks in perception or sense motive.
Qurstion: What is the name for the Golarion equivalent of LSD?
I think it's flayleaf.
Wow, timing.
Anyway, is it possible to run a Lawful Good character in Skull and Shackles?
Creative Director
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Can you share any information (even unofficial) on the Monad?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?
Nope, since nothing more than what's in Bestiary 2 exists. It's a VERY obscure deity, and I only mentioned it since we don't currently really have any other deity that matches the type of character you're looking for. UNLESS... you wanted the character to worship a qlippoth lord. That would definitely qualify as a deity eager to wipe out sin, since that's what the qlippoth want. Once sin is wiped out, no more demons are being made, and they can take over the Abyss again. Of course... their version of wiping out sin is to kill every free-willed creature...
Ummmm... yeah, there are plenty. Why would you think otherwise?Isn't there any Bunnies/Hares/Rabbits in Golarion?
No stat block?
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Ummmm... yeah, there are plenty. Why would you think otherwise?Isn't there any Bunnies/Hares/Rabbits in Golarion?
No stat block?
They made it into the Inner Sea Bestiary.
Edit: They're also (briefly) in Ultimate Euipment.
Read the spoiler after you've watched it to see why.
** spoiler omitted **
Here's a bigger one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFg21x2sj-M
Ant mound down in south America. They had to use a couple concrete mixer trucks.
Ummmm... yeah, there are plenty. Why would you think otherwise?Isn't there any Bunnies/Hares/Rabbits in Golarion?
No stat block?
They made it into the Inner Sea Bestiary.
Edit: They're also (briefly) in Ultimate Euipment.
And they're a familiar option in the Animal Archive.
Nope, since nothing more than what's in Bestiary 2 exists. It's a VERY obscure deity, and I only mentioned it since we don't currently really have any other deity that matches the type of character you're looking for. UNLESS... you wanted the character to worship a qlippoth lord. That would definitely qualify as a deity eager to wipe out sin, since that's what the qlippoth want. Once sin is wiped out, no more demons are being made, and they can take over the Abyss again. Of course... their version of wiping out sin is to kill every free-willed creature...Can you share any information (even unofficial) on the Monad?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?
Nah, qlippoth don't fit. The Operative from Serenity is Lawful Evil* so serving Chaotic Evil gods doesn't really fit. I guess he'll just have worship the 'idea' of absence of sin, or something.
The guy is willing to murder children, and admits he is a monster and what he does is evil. He's also highly disciplined and seems to follow a code of honor of some sort.
I am sure it's been asked before, but I am not able to find clarification, so I am hoping you can help me (is for a recurring villain NPC that I need to know. I can of course house rule things, but I like to know the RAW/RAI before I decide on house rules, and this seems more of a story question than a rules question, since otherwise the actual dice rolls etc are clear) In the case of an afflicted lycanthrope, when they become aware of their condition what exactly happens in Pathfinder? As I understand it they no longer forget what happens and are able to shapeshift as long s they can make their Con check and is harder to shift back to human under a full moon. Is this correct, or do they still end up forced into wolf form under a full moon and forget everything they do while in wolf form?
James,
Reading through the Bestiary 4 (the first bestiary I've personally owned), I noticed that a lot of care was taken to be world-neutral in the descriptive text, which involved a lot of dodging proper nouns (which wasn't that distracting) but also using "Purgatory" instead of "The Boneyard." Has this been done in the previous bestiaries and I just didn't notice since I didn't read them cover to cover, or were you intentionally being more careful on this one? Or is it just that the monsters in this book have closer flavor ties to Golarion than most of the ones in previous books so it stands out more?
Which ones are more likely to take up meditation as a hobby, Asura or Rakshasa?
James,
Something just occurred to me while trying to come up with an Investigator build. Activating a style is a swift action, Kirin Style requires a swift action Knowledge check to gain any benefits from the style, and Kirin Strike requires it's own swift action to add the damage. Is this really suppose to require three separate swift actions (one to activate your style, one to make the knowledge check, and one to finally add the damage)? It seems a bit much...
Mr. James Jacobs,
Assuming one is going through the events of Second Darkness. Would Elias Tammerhawk, crime boss and head of the cypher lodge, be interested in confirmation of the existence of the drow and as much information about them as could be extracted from Depora Azrinae along with samples? If so would he be willing to pay in demonic implants and knowledge of obscure rituals?
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Creative Director
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Thank you for answering my questions way back James! To clarify, the Wil-O-Gho-Yuk (in the book at least) is described as a small mouse like creature from the arctic with huge incisors. If it spots a hole in someone's clothes, it runs out from where it's hiding and climbs in. Then it proceeds to burrow into the victim and eat them from the inside out, but thanks to the numbing spit in possesses, most won't realize what is happening until it's too late. Anyway, some questions!
1. Is there a design or flavor reason why Adlets (from Bestiary 3) are humanoids with a subtype rather than Monstrous Humanoids?
2. Which countries in Tian Xia did you work on the most?
3. Which jungle is deadlier, the Mwangi Expanse or Valashmai?
4. Have Cayden Cailean and Sun Wukong ever gone on a crazy drinking night together?
5. Are there any "______ Revisited" books that you are specifically looking forward to being written someday?
6. How much do the elves of Jinin know about the drow?
7. Which of the Inner Sea Countries has the spiciest cuisine? And is there a country that is generally considered to have the worst cuisine?
8. Any particularly famous chefs on Golarion? And if so, where might they be?
9. Are there times of the year you enjoy playing certain adventures more than usual? Like a desert adventure in the summer? For example, my group is in "The Hungry Storm" right now, and lets just say the recent weather has been appropriate for the game's atmosphere.Thanks again for doing what you do!
1) Yup; mostly because we wanted to push the boundaries of the humanoid type at high CR without making them giants, but also because we wanted a high CR humanoid that wasn't too big and that wasn't appropriate as a PC race.
2) I worked on most of them about equally, although Minkai probably the most of all since that featured so heavily in Jade Regent. I did a LOT of extra writing and revision work for all of the nations in the Gazetteer though.
3) Valashmai, no contest. Valashmai is intended to be one of the most dangerous parts of Golarion, with a lot of mythic-appropriate challenges in it. There are certainly parts that can challenge non-mythic high-level PCs, of course, and even a few places for mid or low level... but it's got kaiju on the wandering monster list there... more or less! :D
4) Probably.
5) Prehistoric Beasts Revisited and Sea Monsters Revisited are two of the pet projects I'd love to write some day. I toyed with the idea of a Mythos Monsters Revisited in my head, but I'd rather write that book in a different way than in the Revisited format... there's too much more than just monsters there to talk about.
6) Not much at all.
7) I'd say Jalmeray has the spiciest. As for "worst"? That'd be more a matter of opinion... but Druma probably has the most bland, since delicious food would be seen as an excess.
8) There are certainly famous chefs. None we've canonized yet, but you can bet that the larger cities certainly have several each.
9) Hmmmm... nah, not really. All times are good times for gaming! :D
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Creative Director
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Would it be possible for a paladin to be crazy and remain Lawful Good?Depends on the type of insanity, but in most cases the insane paladin's acts would likely lead him to do something evil or chaotic that'd push him over the edge.I have a paladin whose mother is an addict to a strong hallucinogen and as a result he has been medically dependent on the drug since birth. His archetype got rid of his poison resistance/immunity. He is lots of fun to role play as in PFS, even if he firmly believes that he's in the Taldan army, (the Society let him join solely due to the pleading of his now sober mother and due to his profound aptitude in buffing others.) The drug is pure fluff, no mechanical effects beyond rationalizing his 7 wisdom, and no ranks in perception or sense motive.
Qurstion: What is the name for the Golarion equivalent of LSD?
There isn't really one... LSD is kinda anachronistic, to be honest. There are certainly other hallucinogenic drugs; mostly more naturally occurring ones though, like basidirond spores.
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Creative Director
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Master Tyrannosaur,
my girlfriend just showed me this music video, and it screams to me Nidal in a game. Thoughts? And show Wes as well if you get the chance,I think he may like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8kvrYuQHOo
Maybe Ustalav. Too filled with hope and kindness for Nidal.
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Creative Director
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Ummmm... yeah, there are plenty. Why would you think otherwise?Isn't there any Bunnies/Hares/Rabbits in Golarion?
No stat block?
Correct, because they're harmless and have no real combat value. If we WERE to stat them up, they'd be as a familiar, I suppose, and we haven't had the space to do so although that does kind of surprise me we haven't yet statted them somewhere. You could fake them pretty easily by using housecat stats, I guess, with no attacks.
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Creative Director
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Nah, qlippoth don't fit. The Operative from Serenity is Lawful Evil* so serving Chaotic Evil gods doesn't really fit. I guess he'll just have worship the 'idea' of absence of sin, or something.
Nah, qlippoth don't fit. The Operative from Serenity is Lawful Evil* so serving Chaotic Evil gods doesn't really fit. I guess he'll just have worship the 'idea' of absence of sin, or something.
** spoiler omitted **
Worshiping a devil works pretty good, I suppose, although the devil would be manipulating the character beyond his knowledge. I see the Operative more as lawful neutral, in any event.
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Creative Director
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I am sure it's been asked before, but I am not able to find clarification, so I am hoping you can help me (is for a recurring villain NPC that I need to know. I can of course house rule things, but I like to know the RAW/RAI before I decide on house rules, and this seems more of a story question than a rules question, since otherwise the actual dice rolls etc are clear) In the case of an afflicted lycanthrope, when they become aware of their condition what exactly happens in Pathfinder? As I understand it they no longer forget what happens and are able to shapeshift as long s they can make their Con check and is harder to shift back to human under a full moon. Is this correct, or do they still end up forced into wolf form under a full moon and forget everything they do while in wolf form?
When an afflicted lycanthrope becomes aware of the condition, what happens then is up to the GM in the case of an NPC of course. In the case of a PC... I'd say that the GM controls the PC when he's in hybrid or animal form, unless you're willing to let the PC control it and thus turn what should be a curse into a boon.
Whether or not they start remembering is left to you.
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Creative Director
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James,
Reading through the Bestiary 4 (the first bestiary I've personally owned), I noticed that a lot of care was taken to be world-neutral in the descriptive text, which involved a lot of dodging proper nouns (which wasn't that distracting) but also using "Purgatory" instead of "The Boneyard." Has this been done in the previous bestiaries and I just didn't notice since I didn't read them cover to cover, or were you intentionally being more careful on this one? Or is it just that the monsters in this book have closer flavor ties to Golarion than most of the ones in previous books so it stands out more?
That's something we've done in ALL our rulebooks. It's easier for us to keep the world neutral content going, so that we don't have to explain more that you can't use Golarion flavor as part of the OGL, but also so that we don't scare off customers who view published campaigns as a reason to not buy a product because they home-brew their settings or use a different published setting. (That's a take on gaming I've never understood, frankly... in my homebrew, I shamelessly took inspiration or maps or even full content from Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Mystara, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Kara-tur, and more.)
Furthermore, by avoiding world content, we help ourselves to keeping monsters to the one-page only format.
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Creative Director
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James,
Something just occurred to me while trying to come up with an Investigator build. Activating a style is a swift action, Kirin Style requires a swift action Knowledge check to gain any benefits from the style, and Kirin Strike requires it's own swift action to add the damage. Is this really suppose to require three separate swift actions (one to activate your style, one to make the knowledge check, and one to finally add the damage)? It seems a bit much...
I've not yet looked at the investigator at all, nor am I really all that involved in the playtest and processing its feedback. This is the exact kind of comment you absolutely should post in the investigator's feedback thread, since finding weird or unexpected interactions with existing rules is one of the main reasons why we do public playtests in the first place. The designers don't read this thread really, though, so any feedback you post here won't be seen by them.
Whether or not it is really supposed to require three separate swift actions is something they should be asked, not me... but I agree that seems a bit much, since you can only do 1 swift a round...
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Creative Director
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Mr. James Jacobs,
Assuming one is going through the events of Second Darkness. Would Elias Tammerhawk, crime boss and head of the cypher lodge, be interested in confirmation of the existence of the drow and as much information about them as could be extracted from Depora Azrinae along with samples? If so would he be willing to pay in demonic implants and knowledge of obscure rituals?
I suspect he would. He DEFINITELY would if that makes sense for your game, of course! He would probably require regular payments of more and more information about the drow, of course, which gives PCs working for him a nice reason to keep playing the AP.
James,
Something just occurred to me while trying to come up with an Investigator build. Activating a style is a swift action, Kirin Style requires a swift action Knowledge check to gain any benefits from the style, and Kirin Strike requires it's own swift action to add the damage. Is this really suppose to require three separate swift actions (one to activate your style, one to make the knowledge check, and one to finally add the damage)? It seems a bit much...
I've not yet looked at the investigator at all, nor am I really all that involved in the playtest and processing its feedback. This is the exact kind of comment you absolutely should post in the investigator's feedback thread, since finding weird or unexpected interactions with existing rules is one of the main reasons why we do public playtests in the first place. The designers don't read this thread really, though, so any feedback you post here won't be seen by them.
Whether or not it is really supposed to require three separate swift actions is something they should be asked, not me... but I agree that seems a bit much, since you can only do 1 swift a round...
Well, that I was looking at it for an Investigator build was just coincidental. The combat styles are already published and work this way regardless of the class with which you take them, so this swift action economy with Kirin Style affects everyone. Sorry if the Investigator comment was misleading.
Double hackbuts, how do they work?
This double-length rifle uses a pair of trunnions to mount its barrel into a swiveling mechanism fastened to a lightweight, two-wheeled carriage. It takes a full-round action to set up the carriage. The carriage has a hind leg, allowing the wielder to wheel the device about and immediately prop it for stability during combat. Unlike other two-handed firearms, you must fire the double hackbut while it is mounted, or else firing it imparts a –4 penalty on attack rolls and the recoil knocks the wielder prone. A Large or larger creature can fire a double hackbut one size smaller than it is without its mounting as a normal two-handed weapon and without the danger of being knocked prone, but takes the normal penalty for firing an inappropriately sized weapon.
This section is all kinds of unclear. When does one have to take a full round action to set it up? Is it just once and then never again? At the start of combat? After any movement at all?
I would be inclined to say after any movement, both for balance reasons, and because of the mention of movement in the entry, but it uses two different terms (set up vs prop up) and includes the word immediately, which hardly seems compatible with full round actions. Without clarification, this seems like a reasonable house rule, and quite possibly the intent, but not necessarily RAW.
On the other hand, one could just as easily argue that the full-round action must be taken in preparation for combat. This is based on the assumption that one cannot wheel the thing around through even remotely rough terrain, and therefore the gun is simply carried until it must be deployed. This makes more sense with the immediate prop up section, but requires unsupported assumptions, and still does less to balance out the total superiority of the hackbut. Absent a mention of terrain or movement rules, this one is hard to justify. What is there to stop a player from declaring that his character never removes the gun from the cart?
And that brings us to the "set it and forget it" interpretation. This version says that the prop up statement is really just there for flavor, as it contains no actual rules. Consequently, the only way the full-round action will ever come up in combat is if the character gets ambushed at the gunshop within six seconds of buying the double hackbut. Once that full-round action is taken, it might as well be a musket. In fact, it would be entirely consistent with this interpretation for flying creatures to wield double hackbuts without penalty, so long as they have carts dangling from them. Unfortunately, strictly speaking, this looks to be the way the rules are written.
As if the cart issue wasn't enough, there is also the capacity issue. The chart says the double hackbut has a capacity of 2, which is highly suspect. Without even bringing in real world examples, we can find evidence that this is an error.
First, the entry describes the the hackbut as double-length, and makes no mention of a second barrel. Second, the hackbut's nearest equivalent is the musket, which has a double barreled variant. The only meaningful difference between the single and double barreled versions is the misfire chance. The hackbut has the misfire chance of the single barreled musket, not the double barreled.
Honestly, my hunch is that it is a simple editing mistake, that someone saw the word double and changed the capacity to 2.
When combined with superior range (a fact which is tremendously important given the benefits firearms gain in the first range increment) double damage, low misfire, and potentially no drawbacks from the cart depending on interpretation, the capacity is the cheesy icing on the cake. Without some clarification or a house ruling, there is absolutely no reason for a character with the gold and carrying capacity to use any other gun.
I have seen so many discussions on this issue, but I've never found anything from anyone at paizo, official or unofficial. Can we please get some kind of response about this?
(For the record, I have been running a gun heavy campaign for over a year and a half. I house ruled the capacity of the hackbut down to one, and declared that the full round action was required after any movement, including a 5 ft step. Consequently, the party uses hackbuts primarily for ambushes, ship to ship combat, defensive positions, and other situations where movement is unlikely. It becomes a specialized weapon, which is powerful, but situational. My 2 cents: These rules work well)
Yes.Wow, timing.
Anyway, is it possible to run a Lawful Good character in Skull and Shackles?
How exactly? I can't imagine STAYING LG as a pirate.
Actually, it's hard to imagine any pirate being Lawful.
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Creative Director
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Double hackbuts, how do they work?...
Rules questions need to be asked in the rules forums, preferably in association with the product the rule comes from, so that folks can hit a FAQ on them so that the designers can see them and can prioritize them for clarifications. Also... try to frame your questions in a clear and concise manner.
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Creative Director
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Yes.Wow, timing.
Anyway, is it possible to run a Lawful Good character in Skull and Shackles?
How exactly? I can't imagine STAYING LG as a pirate.
Actually, it's hard to imagine any pirate being Lawful.
It's not easy, but it requires an understanding between the players and the GM, and perhaps as importantly, between the players and the other players.
There's plenty of threads over on the Skull & Shackles forum about folks doing this. Even threads about all paladin parties in the AP. I'd suggest going to check those threads out for "how exactly."
so... should i take my question about kirin style to the rules forum (since it's about already published material and not specific to investigators)? because that's kind of a ridiculous action economy and should probably be errata'd or something. also, thanks!
Hi James, I've a question regarding Pazuzu. Can he make some kind of swarm attack with his exhaled locust swarms? I suppose he can but the only thing in his stats is the defensive use of them. thanks.
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Creative Director
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Hi James, I've a question regarding Pazuzu. Can he make some kind of swarm attack with his exhaled locust swarms? I suppose he can but the only thing in his stats is the defensive use of them. thanks.
His swarm breath only creates the aura of locusts around him and only does what that ability says. If he wants to create a swarm that attacks, he uses swarm master to direct existing swarms or just uses a wish to conjure/create one.
Would it be possible to flavor a Lawful Neutral, quadrupedal eidolon into a car or something?
Inevitable eidolons just seem to beg for vehicular use.
Trying to keep a long story short,
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Creative Director
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Would it be possible to flavor a Lawful Neutral, quadrupedal eidolon into a car or something?
Inevitable eidolons just seem to beg for vehicular use.
If you're comfortable with the vehicle rules, and if you're comfortable with having a completely non-standard eidolon, I suppose.
I'm not comfortable with either, so in my games or in official Golarion, no.