If you had a witch character and you decided that Baba Yaga was your patron:
What theme would you pick? Deception, Trickery, Transformation, Shadow?
What sort of in game fluff would you add to your character to reflect Baba Yaga's patronage?
If you're looking for dragons as villains, maybe look toward the AP that's coming AFTER Jade Regent. And yes, that's the first AP #10 hint I believe I've given out. And since it's still months early to be properly hinting about AP #10... it's still subject to being proven inaccurate in 5 months or so...
It can be a dragon that's disguised as a human so no one knows it's a dragon. And it rides a dragon![/tired idea]
On a serious note, please don't. Once was funny. Twice gets old.
Creative Director
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If you had a witch character and you decided that Baba Yaga was your patron:
What theme would you pick? Deception, Trickery, Transformation, Shadow?
What sort of in game fluff would you add to your character to reflect Baba Yaga's patronage?
Trickery.
And then I'd build the character to sort of be a clone of Iggwilv.
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Creative Director
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Any tips on how to coerce my players into playing Pathfinder instead of 4e? I've been trying and I have all the paizo pathfinder products now.
Show them all the cool books we publish! Let them look through some adventure paths you don't plan on running; let them check out your rulebooks, and then invite to run them on a short adventure. Show them the game in action.
That said, just as 4th edition isn't the RPG for everyone, neither is Pathfinder. I've actually had my own gaming group of a decade's worth of tradition get fractured a bit myself, with some of the players who preferred 4th edition bowing out of the Pathfinder games. Fortunately, I've found twice as many NEW players to take the place of the missing players... but that still doesn't make the loss of some quality time with old friends less depressing.
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Creative Director
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Any tips on how to coerce my players into playing Pathfinder instead of 4e? I've been trying and I have all the paizo pathfinder products now.Run a Pathfinder Society scenario as a one-shot, to see if that gets their interest?
Actually... this is a semi-tricky subject. It'll work well if your players enjoy one-shots and like the way organized play adventures work, but if they're not into org-play style adventures you might be better off running a module instead, or even starting an Adventure Path.
You know your players better than any of us do, though, so you know what type of game suits them best.
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By devouring the ones who do not bother posting regularly.Dear Mighty King of the Theropoda,
After reading the requests of your supplicants for weeks and weeks on end, how do you retain the self control necessary to keep from devouring us all with your considerable dentition?
Hmm... I've always preferred quality over quantity, but since I have no desire to get devoured, I shall start to chime in more often.
As for Goblins of Golarion, I too love the obolong-headed little green monsters, though I'm surprised though that they are getting their own sourcebook. I thought they had a nice treatment in Classic Monsters Revisited, but I guess a full sourcebook, perhaps with goblin PC options, would be a nice edition to my library.
Dear JJ
I have been a customer of this company since the Dungeon and Dragon days and you guys have been a great and supportive company the entire time
I have a family emergency my wife has stage four cancer and I could really use Paizos networking ability to help out
Im not asking for any money from Paizo just put this webpage out where many people can see it (twitter facebook blogs webpages) and anyone who wants to donate can donate
http://www.giveforward.com/forkyla.
Thanks you in this time of need
Dear JJ
I have been a customer of this company since the Dungeon and Dragon days and you guys have been a great and supportive company the entire time
I have a family emergency my wife has stage four cancer and I could really use Paizos networking ability to help out
Im not asking for any money from Paizo just put this webpage out where many people can see it (twitter facebook blogs webpages) and anyone who wants to donate can donatehttp://www.giveforward.com/forkyla.
Thanks you in this time of need
Donated n posted via FB
James,
Any chance we could see a Kobolds of Golarion book?
Mighty Jacobs,
What is your personal opinion of my new feats?
As a player and GM, not so much as a creative director. Well, maybe a little of that too.
Dear James,
What is the little critter in the cage above Karzoug on the GMG cover?
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Creative Director
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As for Goblins of Golarion, I too love the obolong-headed little green monsters, though I'm surprised though that they are getting their own sourcebook. I thought they had a nice treatment in Classic Monsters Revisited, but I guess a full sourcebook, perhaps with goblin PC options, would be a nice edition to my library.
Don't be surprised at all. Our take on goblins has been one of the great success stories of what we're doing. I dare say that the popularity of the goblins in Pathinder #1 was a SIGNIFICANT part of why we're still in business today; having something be that popular right out of the gate is not only a huge boost to the company's prestige and perceived value among customers, but it's also a HUGE boost to employee morale and helped to spur us on to do even more amazing things in the years to come.
Paizo owes a lot to those goblins.
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Creative Director
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Mighty Jacobs,
What is your personal opinion of my new feats?
As a player and GM, not so much as a creative director. Well, maybe a little of that too.
I am not all that able to divorce my opinions as player, GM, and creative director, so if you as for them, you get the whole shebang.
They're interesting feats, but I think that they're probably too good and too complex.
Too good because having to pick and choose which feats you pick is part of the balancing mechanic—not everyone can have every feat, after all. They're not spells.
Too complex because suddenly you have to be familiar with EVERY tactical feat in the game. That's too many options, and that can create what I call "option paralysis," where a player is faced with too many choices and slows the game down by trying to pick which options are best. You see this pop up now and then with spellcasters who have a wide range of spells to choose from (clerics, wizards, druids, etc.).
Furthermore... it dilutes character concepts, in my opinion, to allow these types of feats. They're so good that no one won't take them, since they effectively grant access to ALL tactical feats. And that means that everyone who uses tactical feats ends up more or less the same. You can't build a reputation as "the guy who flanks really good" or "the guy who knows how to work with others to form a shield wall" if you're switching around. It's more valuable to me to have more stability among player character and NPC abilities—too much freedom of choice, in other words, makes things too generic.
One really great way to test if a new feat or spell or magic item or whatever is too good or not good enough is to compare it to simliar feats. If your new rule bit is something you'd NEVER pick, it's not good enough. If your new rule bit is something that you'd ALWAYS pick, it's too good. If you have to really think hard about it, it's probably just right.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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A quasit.Dear James,
What is the little critter in the cage above Karzoug on the GMG cover?
When I was younger and started playing, I always thought it was called a quaist, and it was well over 10 years before I realised it was spelled differently. Do you think that is a common error, or am I odd like that?
I made a chocolate cake today and it all fell apart when turning it out of the pans. Now I have a bunch of cake-crumbs the size of my fist that I've glued together with frosting into a semblance of a cake-shape. Is this still a suitable cake? Do you want some?
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Creative Director
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When I was younger and started playing, I always thought it was called a quaist, and it was well over 10 years before I realised it was spelled differently. Do you think that is a common error, or am I odd like that?A quasit.Dear James,
What is the little critter in the cage above Karzoug on the GMG cover?
I've never heard of that error before. You must be odd. I'd rank it up there with me thinking the word "stench" was spelled "snetch," or that the word "ogre" was pronounced "AUG-ree" many many years ago.
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Creative Director
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I made a chocolate cake today and it all fell apart when turning it out of the pans. Now I have a bunch of cake-crumbs the size of my fist that I've glued together with frosting into a semblance of a cake-shape. Is this still a suitable cake? Do you want some?
The more frosting one puts on a cake, the less appealing it becomes to me. So I'd say you're on the right track! :-)
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Creative Director
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If this has been asked before, I apologize, I just wanted to know if the Bestiary II was in some way an Homage to the old Fiend Folio? I was noticing how many critters were in both books.
Not intentionally. There's also a fair amount of creatures from the old Monster Manual 2 in there as well. More a result of us picking up more monsters from the Tome of Horrors for inclusion than anything else.
What is your favorite monster that didn't make the cut for Bestiary 1 or 2?
I noticed that there are a number of monsters appearing in the Bestiary 2 that can be traced to the works of HP Lovecraft, and I assume that this is Paizo making good on their promise to include beasts from "contemporary mythology." So far, I've been very pleased with how themes of horror have been handled in Pathfinder. Such elements seem to work best when placed into a standard setting. Every time I've seen a horror-oriented campaign (Ravenloft or Call of Cthullu, for example), players quickly become jaded (you've said yourself that a little Lovecraft goes a long way), and that's why I was also a little concerned about the repleteness of such monsters in Bestiary 2. Was this simply the direction taken for this particular bestiary, or can we expect to see more monsters of similar venues in future supplements?
Also, why does chaos = lizards?
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Creative Director
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I noticed that there are a number of monsters appearing in the Bestiary 2 that can be traced to the works of HP Lovecraft, and I assume that this is Paizo making good on their promise to include beasts from "contemporary mythology." So far, I've been very pleased with how themes of horror have been handled in Pathfinder. Such elements seem to work best when placed into a standard setting. Every time I've seen a horror-oriented campaign (Ravenloft or Call of Cthullu, for example), players quickly become jaded (you've said yourself that a little Lovecraft goes a long way), and that's why I was also a little concerned about the repleteness of such monsters in Bestiary 2. Was this simply the direction taken for this particular bestiary, or can we expect to see more monsters of similar venues in future supplements?
It's partially because we're trying to include monsters from contemporary mythology... but more because Lovecraft is my favorite author ever of all time forever. The inclusion of Lovecraftian monsters in D&D's 1st edition Deities & Demigods was my first introduction to Lovecraft, and had that book NOT had Lovecraftian monsters in it... who knows when I would have discovered my favorite author? And since Lovecraft's creations are in the public domain and are more popular than ever, including stuff from his writing is a no-brainer for me.
There will be more monsters from "contemporary mythology" in future bestiaries, in any event. Some from Lovecraft, some from other writers. Other writers whose monsters have appeared in bestiaries include H. G. Welles, Lewis Carroll, and Frank Belknap Long. Lovecraft's been the MOST represented since he made up so many critters.
Also, why does chaos = lizards?
Interesting question. Examples?
Before examples are cited, here's two possible explanations:
1) Lizards are similar in appearance to dinosaurs, and dinosaurs are prehistoric, and before history there was no law, and therefore the world was more chaotic. Therefore, lizards = chaotic.
2) My alignment preference in the game skews VERY heavily toward chaos, be that elves and azatas or demons and Lovecraftian goodies. I also very much like lizards. I may have been subconsciously assigning chaotic alignments to lizard creatures as a result, in an attempt to make sure that lizard monsters get the best alignment possible.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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James:
I am introducing 3 new players to Pathfinder who have never played D&D before. I also have 3 experienced players in the same group. The party consists of a barbarian, sorcerer, witch, rogue, paladin, and druid. The scene is an airship crash in the middle of a forest (setting is Eberron).
I want to have some kind of encounter at the crash site, either bandits looking to raid the crash, monsters flocking to the scene of carnage, or something of the like. What encounter do you recommend for a party of 6 1st-level characters in this scenario that will provide the new players with a relatively easy introduction to the rules without making the more experienced players feel bored?
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Creative Director
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James:
I am introducing 3 new players to Pathfinder who have never played D&D before. I also have 3 experienced players in the same group. The party consists of a barbarian, sorcerer, witch, rogue, paladin, and druid. The scene is an airship crash in the middle of a forest (setting is Eberron).
I want to have some kind of encounter at the crash site, either bandits looking to raid the crash, monsters flocking to the scene of carnage, or something of the like. What encounter do you recommend for a party of 6 1st-level characters in this scenario that will provide the new players with a relatively easy introduction to the rules without making the more experienced players feel bored?
I would first say you might want to check out Dungeon #136's adventure "Tensions Rising," which is all about a crashed airship. It's for 4th level characters, it's for 3.5 D&D, and its plot is about the PCs going to FIND a crashed airship, but at the very least the maps in the adventure might work for your plot as a sort of reverse "escape from the crash" adventure.
Beyond that, I'd go with giving the PCs a map of the crashed airship and tell them that they're in hostile territory, have them make some Knowledge checks and then tell them a little about the type of hostiles they can expect would soon be coming to investigate and invade, and then give them an hour or so in-game to prepare their crashed ship's defenses and turn it into a sort of "Night of the Living Dead" siege type encounter. This gives you a chance for the more experienced players to tackle an unusual problem and to teach the new guys how best to prepare for the coming fight, and the large playing area lets you have multiple attacks that you can use as needed to entertain both groups.
What is your favorite monster that didn't make the cut for Bestiary 1 or 2?Can I nominate an entire category of monster? AKA: CR 21–CR 25 unique demons (nascent demon lords).
Only if when you do stat them up we can see some unique qlippoth lords (and protean lords and devils, etc) with them.
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Creative Director
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Only if when you do stat them up we can see some unique qlippoth lords (and protean lords and devils, etc) with them.What is your favorite monster that didn't make the cut for Bestiary 1 or 2?Can I nominate an entire category of monster? AKA: CR 21–CR 25 unique demons (nascent demon lords).
Qlippoth lords are a shoe in.
Stats for other powerful outsiders... probably. But I'm nowhere NEAR as interested in those chumps as I am my precious CE outsiders.
If one were to secure permission from the Burroughs estate, what are the chances of seeing a mugwump in a Pathfinder Bestiary (hardcover or AP bestiary)?
Why would you need the permission of the Burroughs estate to stat up Republicans who supported Grover Cleveland over James Blaine?
How are thing coming on the Post-apocalyptic game, and what can I do to help?
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Creative Director
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How are thing coming on the Post-apocalyptic game, and what can I do to help?
I haven't worked on "Unspeakable Futures" for over half a year. The campaign I was going to run got scrapped because I didn't have enough time to build adventures for it. And ever since, I've had other freelance projects that took precedence over me working on "Unspeakable Futures."
As for what you can do to help? Alas, right now... not much. It's pretty much in Limbo, waiting for two things:
1) My free time to work on it again, and/or
2) It being put on some sort of publishing schedule or being purchased by someone.
At this point, I'm not interested in selling it to anyone but Paizo to publish, frankly, and Paizo's not in a position yet where publishing an extensive new RPG is a good idea.
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What did Vic Wertz do to warrant a street named in his honor? Why aren't the others on your staff so honored?
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Creative Director
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What did Vic Wertz do to warrant a street named in his honor? Why aren't the others on your staff so honored?
Downtown Seattle has a James Street.
Just sayin'.
