Hey James, hope your holidays were good! Questions:
1) Have you heard of Julie d'Aubigny before?
2) If so, would you say she's a great example of a Chaotic Neutral individual?
2a) How would you stat her up for Pathfinder?
If not, you might enjoy reading about her. To pique your interest, she was a French woman who dueled men, sang opera, entered a convent to steal her love interest back, and more!
James, will more Kaiju come in Bestiary 5? How would you recommend statting down a Kaiju for parties not of mythic level? A certain Kaiju is thematically perfect, but I prefer not to run adventures over level 12.
Hi James!
Would you consider a monster entry that is Kaiju but is CR 8 or 10 viable? Something like a young or even just birthed? Maybe one that is a dwarf kaiju, on the run because of its size?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James I have a question for your pondering... about Aroden, and Arazni, and Iomedae.
We all know that Aroden's Church was grabby with the goddesses artifacts, taking them for their own use. I.E. The Bloodstones of Arazni and scraping up all the metal that melted off of Iomedae when she ascended after the Test of the Star Stone to forge into relics and artifacts for the Church of Aroden.
What artifacts and/or relics did the Church make from Iomedae's molten armor? Where are these now that Iomedae has inherited all that was Aroden's church?
Okay, I have to ask - is the owlbear a fantasy version of James Schmitz's spook, or is the very close resemblance just a coincidence? I've been trying to figure it out ever since I first read "Goblin Night", way back in the Paleolithic.
What's Nyarlathotep's stance on Rovagug?
I know that it is canon now that it is winter on Triaxus, but how far through it's orbit is Triaxus at this point?
Is it the relative end or beginning of the season?
Creative Director
|
Sorry not a wight a shadow CR 3 it is incorporeal so no angry mob is going to get it. Of course only int 6 so that makes sense.
As for a Wraith CR 5. They are also incorporeal and have Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 21. So a one of those could bring a Wraithpocalypse. They don't have any description about liking to hunt ruins and they hate the living. Not quite sure how to stop it if any of them actually tried.
Yeah; a shadow is definitely a lot tougher to kill... but it's still undead and still doesn't really have the drive to build an empire or become a plague. The "undead apocalypse" (most often seen in movies with zombies) is a VERY specific genre, and while there are plenty of undead in the game that could fill the role in something like this, it's a great idea for a campaign or long adventure, but it's not necessarily the automatic result of putting undead in your game.
|
Creative Director
|
James
This is something that has been nagging at me for a while but given the multitude of religious practices running around the Mwangi Expanse and the fact that some natives consider summoners akin to devil worship is it possible that anyone might have developed a similar practice to the Sarkosian God Callers centered around worshiping their eidolons?
Not really. That's a pretty unique type of religion that developed in Sarkoris, and having it pop up on other continents devalues that uniqueness in my opinion.
|
Creative Director
|
As a question, I was browsing through the Jade Regent AP and half-idly making a list of the various relationship boosts that can be obtained for the NPCs. I noticed that in the final adventure, Empty Throne, there don't seem to be any notable relationship increases for anybody. Am I just figuratively blind and missing it, or was that intended in a "we expect that any relationship should be well-established by this point" sense?
If so, do you have any suggestions on what sort of things would provide a relationship score increase? If all four (six with Kelda and Ulf, I suppose) is too complex, then just Ameiko and Shalelu (might be easier since they're both NPCs of your creation, unless I miss my guess?) would be more than enough for the moment. Getting Ameiko onto the Jade Throne as the new empress, for example?
By the end of the campaign, yeah... the expectation is that the relationships have matured to the point that they're going to be what they're going to be.
I don't have any suggestions for how to add to that, honestly; I wasn't involved in the Jade Regent AP beyond outlining it and writing the 1st adventure. As such, I've not even read any of the others and can't really provide off-the-cuff suggestions for you; that's more of a Rob question.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
1) Can you give some details about the Rift of Repose? Are there any of those fossilized demon lord corpses on Golarion?
2) Could there have been a prior demon queen of lust before Nocticula, whom she defeated and replaced? Or are most of the demon lords the originators of their "offices" (or substitute any appropriate demon lord / area of concern instead of Nocticula, same question)
1) The Rift of Repose is sort of an "elephant's graveyard" on the Abyss for dead demon lords... with the EXCEPTION of those slain by Nocticula, who become islands in her realm instead of going to the Rift. There have been as of yet no discoveries of dead demon lord remains outside of those two locations... if they ARE discovered, we'd be most likely to present that as a pretty significant element in an adventure.
2) Some demon lords inherited their positions and "offices" after prior demon lords moved on or died or whatever. Nocticula is not one of them; she's one of the first demon lords.
|
Creative Director
|
Since the edit lock is in play on my post above, I have a question or three on certain information found within Mythic Realms that I've been pondering over while reading through it again.
You've previously stated that gods in Golarion don't need faith/worship to survive, and what they do gain is unrevealed. In the section on Star Towers, this bit of information shows up:
Spoiler:"Though the Star Towers were conceived as stitches to close Golarion's wound, Dou-Bral wove intricate magics into each one, equipping them to channel devotional energy and manipulate it to cut Rovagug off from his followers outside the Dead Vault."
"With each tower lost, the chains isolating Rovagug's divine influence from his mortal followers weakens, and today the Rough Beast's cult is as strong as ever on Golarion."1) Is this a reference to gods gaining some sort of power or influence from worship? The very fact that it's described as "energy" would seem to imply that it's a quantitative force that can be put to some sort of use by the one receiving it.
2) Do the Star Towers solely "capture" the faith-power/devotional energy aimed at Rovagug and redirect it elsewhere? Or do they (possibly also) draw on worship from other gods as well and direct that into maintaining his prison and/or keeping Golarion whole?
3) Does this manipulation of worship, as it seems to imply, actually have the ability to cut a god off from worship entirely, in sufficient quantity? Because it sounds like that the Star Towers are literally designed to cut the proverbial cord that exists between a god and their followers.
4) Now that Dou-Bral is Zon-Kuthon, has his reason for watching over the Towers changed? Or is it still essentially the same? (Basically, I'm wondering if he might now seek to put them to some other use.)
5) The Star Tower near Galt and the area around it has begun falling into the Shadow Plane. Once it goes all the way, will that Star Tower still be able to do its job of sealing away Rovagug from the Shadow Plane? Or will the bindings weaken further?
5a) If Zon-Kuthon still intends to maintain the Star Towers, might he look at keeping that particular Tower from falling into the Shadow Plane? If it does go and weaken the bindings, it would give the lie to his "still maintaining watch to this day" on the Towers.
6) What is it about descending a Star Tower into the Darklands below that grants the moment of ascension to a character? Is it merely fighting through the guardians? Or does the act of traveling through it imbue the traveler with a mantle of power even without becoming a curate?
1) Nope. It's talking about diminishing the power of Rovagug's worshipers. Even if he was COMPLETELY cut off, so that he couldn't hear their prayers and couldn't grant them spells... he'd be undiminished in his own power.
2) The Star Towers merely blocked the connection between Rovagug and his faithful. They don't capture or redirect it, nor do they draw on worship of other gods.
3) That's exactly what the Star Towers did. Dou-Bral put them in place, but he wasn't the only architect of that—there were a LOT of deities working together to make it all happen.
4) He's pretty much abandoned them. He's an entirely different deity now, and he has different goals.
5) The Star Towers have pretty much already failed long ago. They can't fail "more." Rovagug's connection to his clerics has been plenty strong for thousands of years already, and the Star Towers are now more or less regulated to "high-powered adventure sites." If that tower near Galt goes all the way, it won't really change much at all as regards Rovagug. In essence, it's at a point of diminishing returns now.
5a) He does not. He might have an interest in the towers... perhaps to reclaim some of the energies in there or share them with his faithful... but what exactly his plans or interest in them is isn't really something we've talked much about yet.
6) Depends on the Star Tower and the adventure. We left it vague so you can personalize it for your party as the GM. The basic idea is that it's HARD. The PCs will be faced with a lot of tough fights as they work their way down.
|
Creative Director
|
Without committing yourself and etching it in Golarion canon... could we expect a halfling population in Vudra similar to the average in Inner Sea nations? How about throughout Casmaron?
I doubt it. Halflings are pretty "Eurocentric" in my opinion, and that means they fit best in Avistan and the Inner Sea region.
|
Creative Director
|
When using polymorph any object to polymorph a Pebble into a creature such as a human do you get to choose the appearance,alignment,personality,religon and skills of the creature
Appearance yes. But only the basic appearance.
Alignment and personality probably not (depends on the GM's whim—I wouldn't let you pick them as your GM).
Religion and skills, no. The new human (AKA the GM) gets to pick those.
|
Creative Director
|
James, have you seen Hellboy 2: The Golden Army?
I love the way that the evil elf prince, Nuada, fights with his spear. It's such a cool acrobatic style. I've wanted to create a character that fights in a similar way, but that style seems like it favors dexterity far, far more than strength. Obviously, you can't use Weapon Finesse, or even swashbuckler finesse, with a spear, so do you have a suggestion for simulating Prince Nuada's spear fighting style?
I have seen it. Great movie.
I don't have a suggestion for making a character with that style, other than working with your GM to build an archetype to do so. We might get around to doing something like that some day.
|
Creative Director
|
This might be an oddball question for you, James, but it's after 1 AM and my mind's racing so I had to put these thoughts in text.
Have you ever seen the Trailblazer book by BadAxe Games? Friend of mine just introduced me to it. Said I should try convince any and all DMs I know to use it instead of 3.5. Yeah, that's not happening. The DMs I know are too stubborn to adjust the games. Anyways, I noticed something tonight after looking over various 3.5 bard builds that I might take in a later game that I'm not running (I run the PF games in the group). The Sublime Chord is a great PrC for the bard, but only for the first couple of levels. The other eight suck, except for the fact that you get 9th level spells by the time you're done. That being said, the Trailblazer version of the bard allows you to get up to 8th level spells, and lists off what they are.
So my question is, why has no one in the Pathfinder world done up a bard with 8th or 9th level spells like this? Whether as an archetype or as a PrC. You'd think someone would have done one by now, or even thought about it in passing. Has it just not come up? Are bards that disliked or considered too powerful already?
I've heard of Trailblazer but have never looked at it.
Bards are not intended to be full spellcasters. Their spellcasting tops out at 6th level, and in return for not getting 7th–9th level spells, they gain more hit points, better combat options, more skills, and more powers than do full spellcasters.
If you want a "bard" that can do full spellcasting, my suggestion is to play an enchanter, a sorcerer who focuses on combat and illusion/enchantment, or my BEST suggestion would be to play a cleric of a bard-like deity like Desna or Cayden Cailean or Calistria or Shelyn.
|
Creative Director
|
Greetings Mighty Theropoda,
After Sarenrae, who would you say are the seven most notable, influential and powerful angels in Golarion?
How does Sarenrae view the worshipers of these seven?
On the flip side of the coin, if you were allowed to have incorporated Malcanthet in Golarion, how would you 'fit her in' among the other demon lords, the females in particular? Would she overshadow many of them?
How close would she be to power compared to Lamashtu?
I'm not sure off the top of my head, but they'd be among the angel empyreal lords we've detailed.
She approves of those worshipers, since more good guys is a good thing.
Malcanthet would have replaced Nocticula, and would have ended up being handled in pretty much the exact same way we've handled Nocticula. No major change at all, apart from the fact that Nocticula wouldn't have been a part of the setting (or if she were... she'd be downgraded to a role akin to Shamira's).
|
Creative Director
|
James what was Cheliax like before it became hell's playground?
It's not Hell's playground, first of all. If anything, it's Thrune's playground, and that's a different thing than Hell.
It was a lot more like Taldor but without the decay and decadence. It was a pretty lawful nation, very aggressive and expansionistic, not wholly evil but not really good. Imagine a nation-sized Korvosa and that's pretty close to how Cheliax was like before the Age of Lost Omens.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
** spoiler omitted **Spoiler:For real? Because there's this: "Baphomet shrieks again, but then his form shrinks away and vanishes as he chooses instead to flee from Nocticula’s presence." In any case, if Baphomet didn't get away, then I presume this is a pretty dynamite isle-making kill for Nocticula? So Baphomet resurrects in his realm but with a bit of his essence left behind? Talk about phantom limb pain. Man, Nocticula is the worst, by which I mean the best.
Yup. For real.
In order for Nocticula to turn Baphomet into an island, she'd need to kill him permanently. She'd need to follow up her first kill by traveling to his realm and attacking him there... and even for Nocticula, that's a tricky and somewhat risky move. She doesn't need to kill him, in any event, since she knows the PCs are gonna mess with his stuff. His final fate is described more in "Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth."
|
Creative Director
|
What is the current population of Absalom? is it still around 300,000 as per the booklet published 5 years ago, or have there been significant changes?
No changes. According to the Inner Sea World Guide, which is our baseline current snapshot of the region, the population is 303,900. I wouldn't expect that to change any time soon.
|
Creative Director
|
Hey James, hope your holidays were good! Questions:
1) Have you heard of Julie d'Aubigny before?
2) If so, would you say she's a great example of a Chaotic Neutral individual?
2a) How would you stat her up for Pathfinder?
If not, you might enjoy reading about her. To pique your interest, she was a French woman who dueled men, sang opera, entered a convent to steal her love interest back, and more!
1) Yes.
2) Perhaps. Mapping real-world people to alignments is weird and tricky and only causes internet arguments though.
2a) As a bard. MAYBE as a swashbuckler, but only then if I felt that giving her spellcasting was too weird.
Without committing yourself and etching it in Golarion canon... could we expect a halfling population in Vudra similar to the average in Inner Sea nations? How about throughout Casmaron?I doubt it. Halflings are pretty "Eurocentric" in my opinion, and that means they fit best in Avistan and the Inner Sea region.
Now that surprised me... I wonder what race(s) fill that void that the absence of a core race leaves? Vishkanya and nagaji? Greater numbers native outsiders (plumekith aasimar and beastblood tieflings)? Or something(s) yet unrevealed?
[subliminal] Casmaron gazetteer. Vudra AP. [/subliminal]
|
Creative Director
|
James, will more Kaiju come in Bestiary 5? How would you recommend statting down a Kaiju for parties not of mythic level? A certain Kaiju is thematically perfect, but I prefer not to run adventures over level 12.
The right question you're trying to ask would be:
"Will there be a Bestairy 5?"
My answer to that would be: "We haven't announced Bestiary 5 yet."
If you don't want to use mythic rules, but you still want to use Kaiju... I'd say use the spawn of Rovagug like the Tarrasque and go from there.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James I have a question for your pondering... about Aroden, and Arazni, and Iomedae.
We all know that Aroden's Church was grabby with the goddesses artifacts, taking them for their own use. I.E. The Bloodstones of Arazni and scraping up all the metal that melted off of Iomedae when she ascended after the Test of the Star Stone to forge into relics and artifacts for the Church of Aroden.
What artifacts and/or relics did the Church make from Iomedae's molten armor? Where are these now that Iomedae has inherited all that was Aroden's church?
Unrevealed at this point.
|
Creative Director
|
I could be wrong but I think I remember it stated in places where the destruction brought about by Earthfall was much more than the aboleths had planned, and they also ended up hurting themselves because of it. Since it has come to light that the intervention of people, mainly the Azlanti moon goddess Acavna shielding Golarion with the moon, diverted a large amount of destruction from what would have happened does that mean the aboleths had no comprehension of the destruction they were bringing if the toned down version of Earthfall was still much more damaging than they were expecting? Was it a case of the aboleths that had a hand in Earthfall not caring or were they messing with forces they had no comprehension of and where beyond their abilities?
Did the aboleths have outside help in causing Earthfall?
Unrevealed.
We'll say more about the aboleths and Earthfall some day... I've got plans for how to reveal more info there... but it's WAY too early to say anything definite.
|
Creative Director
|
Okay, I have to ask - is the owlbear a fantasy version of James Schmitz's spook, or is the very close resemblance just a coincidence? I've been trying to figure it out ever since I first read "Goblin Night", way back in the Paleolithic.
As far as I know, the owlbear was based on a plastic toy from Japan; the same set also inspired the bulette and the rust monster.
|
Creative Director
|
Why does Rahadoum ban the religion of good deities whats so bad about Sarenrae's(a goddess of Redemption/the sun and Healing) or Shelyn's ( a goddess of love/art and Beauty) religion.Everyone who lives there can't feel this way or think Religion is wrong or evil or negative.
My opinion? Because the rulers of Rahadoum are narrow-minded and frightened of faith of ANY type.
|
Creative Director
|
I know that it is canon now that it is winter on Triaxus, but how far through it's orbit is Triaxus at this point?
Is it the relative end or beginning of the season?
Unrevealed... but far enough away that it's gonna be a long time before the season changes. Longer, I suspect, than you or I will be alive.
Dear Director James Jacobs,
What are your thoughts on unions?
If your union stance is a positive one, would you be interested in being an honorary member of the Golarion Union of Murderhoboes for the Betterment of Others?
What is the general perception of unions in Golarion?
How long until the Chellish government begins hunting the other union reps. and I down?
Sincerely yours,
~Jaspar "Shank Him Louis" Kahrdboordebachs~
your local GUMBO representative
|
Creative Director
|
Did your huntress quest by the dragon graveyard in Northrend? And did you also visit it's other temporal incarnations?Is their anywhere on Golarion that serves as basically a mass graveyard that Dragons go to?No.
We DID publish an adventure many years ago that was about this exact thing, but that adventure ended up having a lot of problems with it. On top of that, it was published in a narrow window where we were tinkering with non-world-specific modules.
In any event, there are no mass dragon graveyards on Golarion. That presupposes a MUCH more united spiritual or social organization than we have for our dragons, who are much more individual in those aspects.
A little. I never did much of the raids in Northrend at all, but I certainly did spend some time messing around in the graveyard area.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Without committing yourself and etching it in Golarion canon... could we expect a halfling population in Vudra similar to the average in Inner Sea nations? How about throughout Casmaron?I doubt it. Halflings are pretty "Eurocentric" in my opinion, and that means they fit best in Avistan and the Inner Sea region.Now that surprised me... I wonder what race(s) fill that void that the absence of a core race leaves? Vishkanya and nagaji? Greater numbers native outsiders (plumekith aasimar and beastblood tieflings)? Or something(s) yet unrevealed?
[subliminal] Casmaron gazetteer. Vudra AP. [/subliminal]
If we did a Casmaron world book, the core races would likely be:
Human
Vishkanya
Vanara
Samsaran
????
????
The question marks being brand new races inspired from Persian, Greek, Russian, Indian, or similar mythologies. Haven't really done any thought at all into that at all yet though, but I suspect we'd go for Greek and Persian mythologies since Indian mythologies are covered quite well with the ones above.
|
Creative Director
|
Dear Director James Jacobs,
What are your thoughts on unions?
If your union stance is a positive one, would you be interested in being an honorary member of the Golarion Union of Murderhoboes for the Betterment of Others?
What is the general perception of unions in Golarion?
How long until the Chellish government begins hunting the other union reps. and I down?Sincerely yours,
~Jaspar "Shank Him Louis" Kahrdboordebachs~
your local GUMBO representative
My real world thoughts? They're a good thing but super prone to corruption, which is a bad thing.
My in-game thoughts? They're REALLY great elements for stories, due to their propensity for corruption.
|
Creative Director
|
Posted in Iron Gods AP forum, but thought you might see it here first...was curious if we will get to learn to become technomancers either via an archtype or another way in future Iron Gods AP or companion book. Would like to know more about it & what can be made/powers granted by it. Thanks!
Saw it there first.
|
Creative Director
|
James,
do you think that a group of hobgoblins could be part of a mainly human militaristic nation?
Yes... if that human nation were lawful evil.
There's not really a good choice for such a nation on Golarion at this point. MAYBE Cheliax... although we've said so much about Cheliax now that it'd be almost a retcon to include significant numbers of hobgoblins in there, and I'd rather not do that.
James, will more Kaiju come in Bestiary 5? How would you recommend statting down a Kaiju for parties not of mythic level? A certain Kaiju is thematically perfect, but I prefer not to run adventures over level 12.The right question you're trying to ask would be:
"Will there be a Bestairy 5?"
Is there some sort of doubt?
If we did a Casmaron world book, the core races would likely be:
Human
Vishkanya
Vanara
Samsaran
????
????
Grr. Want this book!
How about Nagaji? I realize they're already present in Tian-Xia, but given the Naga/RW Naga - Hindu/Indian connection, I'd think they'd be a good fit there as well.
(Although I realize you're not necessarily going for a one-to-one correspondence in analogues.)
Nope. A CR 8 or 10 "Kaiju" would dilute the name and do harm to the concept. Pass.Hi James!
Would you consider a monster entry that is Kaiju but is CR 8 or 10 viable? Something like a young or even just birthed? Maybe one that is a dwarf kaiju, on the run because of its size?
Thanks!
|
Creative Director
|
Is there some sort of doubt?James, will more Kaiju come in Bestiary 5? How would you recommend statting down a Kaiju for parties not of mythic level? A certain Kaiju is thematically perfect, but I prefer not to run adventures over level 12.The right question you're trying to ask would be:
"Will there be a Bestairy 5?"
A lot can happen in the years between now and then. Remember that we've already established a precedent, with the NPC Codex, of NOT doing a Bestiary every year.
Basically, I'm trying to manage expectations. And part of that is to neither confirm nor deny that Bestiary 5 is going to some day happen.
That said... now that Kaiju exist, there's a VERY STRONG possibility we'll stat up more in the future, be it in another Bestiary or elsewhere. In fact, we've done this already, in Mythic Realms.
I have, at this time, no new Kaiju promises to make though.
|
Creative Director
|
If we did a Casmaron world book, the core races would likely be:
Human
Vishkanya
Vanara
Samsaran
????
????Grr. Want this book!
How about Nagaji? I realize they're already present in Tian-Xia, but given the Naga/RW Naga - Hindu/Indian connection, I'd think they'd be a good fit there as well.
(Although I realize you're not necessarily going for a one-to-one correspondence in analogues.)
I want there to be a fair amount of difference between the core races of each continent, and Samsarans seem more in line with Casmaron than Nagaji. If we DO go with Nagaji, then Samsarans get kicked out of Casmaron. And I personally prefer Samsarans... so take that as you will.