Creative Director
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How do you handle the Paladin's Detect Evil ability?
At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell. A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.I see three potential interpretations to it...
1) As a single ability, requiring a move action to use.
2) As 2 separate abilities... The normal Standard action Detect Evil replete with all of the concentration time for info gathering, or the "quick" method for single target detection.
-Or-
3)Standard action to use Detect Evil, followed by a move action during its duration to gain fast info on a single opponent. Hedging out info on all others in the area of effect.P.S.
And thank you for your previous reply to my previous question, though it started to create more questions in my head related to the subject.
The paladin's detect evil ability is activated as a move action, allowing her to determine if a single item or individual in 60 feet is evil, with no need to concentrate for 3 rounds to determining aura strength.
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James, how much with dragons is nature and how much is nurture? Say an ethically-gray PC slays a dragon with eggs and the eggs hatch, would there be a chance that these dragons could be raised to be a different alignment? Given the examples of Mengkare and other types, it seems dragons are a lot more individualistic than in previous versions, and thus their alignments aren't purely based on their instincts..I'd say that dragons are probably 75% nature, 25% nurture. They're pretty predisposed toward their alignments. But not nearly so as outsiders, which is more like 99.999999% nature, 0.000001% nurture.
Well, that's too bad. Baby dragons are adorable!
What was Golarion's latest actual war?
The paladin's detect evil ability is activated as a move action, allowing her to determine if a single item or individual in 60 feet is evil, with no need to concentrate for 3 rounds to determining aura strength.
You rock!
Many thanks.
*slithers back into lurker mode*
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Creative Director
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Do you prefer time travel stories where the timeline actually gets changed, or it turns out that he time traveller was just part of the original timeline all along? Or have you come to just hate them all in general? :)We know that prophecy got unreliable around the time of Aroden's death. How reliable was it before then? Was it somewhat better than what Golarion has now, never failing, or somewhere in between? Could history be altered back when prophecy was reliable if somebody had knowledge of it and went out of there way to change what prophecy stated was going to happen?It was as reliable as you see it being in all the cliched fantasy stories where cliched prophecies do their thing.
And that's the real reason we "killed prophecy" in Golarion. It was the least favorite/most-hated fantasy cliche among those of us who were designing the world.
On top of that, PCs are notorious for breaking GM plot lines. AKA Prophecies. The arrival of PCs in our would is REALLY what broke prophecy.
I prefer time travel stories that are well written and entertaining and thought provoking. In fact, I quite love time travel as a story element in stories. My top ten favorite time travel stories are:
1) The Shadow Out of Time
2) The Time Machine (story)
3) The Terminator
4) A Sound of Thunder (story, NOT movie!!!)
5) 11/22/63
6) Primer
7) Terminator 2
8) Timecrimes
9) Twelve Monkeys
10) Primeval
I'm sure I'm forgetting one or ten that's awesome.
Time Travel CAN be an excellent element in a tabletop RPG... but it works best if the whole POINT of the RPG is time travel. Time Travel is tough to do in an RPG in the same way something like a huge planet hopping element is tough, like, say, a Star Trek RPG. Since you're jumping from world to world so often, your campaign setting gets shallow and random and hard to come to love.
Hey James, a couple of random questions.
1) What is the percentage of Nocticula's whorshipers are heretical like Ayavah from Magnimar?
2) What kinds of books would you like to see for the PF RPG hard cover line?
3) What are the chances of us seeing a spawn of Rovagug that is not a giant monster but a more subtle agent of destruction and madness?
4) Will hereseys of the gods faith be covered in the Inner Sea Gods book? Any chance we see that in another book?
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Creative Director
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Time Travel CAN be an excellent element in a tabletop RPG... but it works best if the whole POINT of the RPG is time travel. Time Travel is tough to do in an RPG in the same way something like a huge planet hopping element is tough, like, say, a Star Trek RPG. Since you're jumping from world to world so often, your campaign setting gets shallow and random and hard to come to love.Have you seen AetherCo's Continuum? produced by the folks who were behind Yamara. Time Travel or "spanning" as they put it IS the central core of the game as opposed to being the means to bookend an adventure. There's even a system for Time Combat. It also takes a very refreshing look at the idea of what kind of society you have where every individual has the power of time travel.
I've heard of it but that's about it.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, a couple of random questions.
1) What is the percentage of Nocticula's whorshipers are heretical like Ayavah from Magnimar?
2) What kinds of books would you like to see for the PF RPG hard cover line?
3) What are the chances of us seeing a spawn of Rovagug that is not a giant monster but a more subtle agent of destruction and madness?
4) Will hereseys of the gods faith be covered in the Inner Sea Gods book? Any chance we see that in another book?
1) Quite a bit less than 1% of the whole.
2) The kind that will probably end up getting made eventually so I'm not gonna spoil the surprise. That said... I pretty much think that most of our 64 page Campaign Setting books could stand to be expanded to hardcover length.
3) Zero. That's not what a spawn of Rovagug is. They're giant monsters. That's the whole point. There are certainly more subtle agents of Rovagug, but they're not in the "spawn of Rovagug" category.
4) I believe some heresy stuff might be mentioned... but no more so than you've seen mentioned in the Pathfinder AP articles. It's an interesting topic for a future book though.
Tian Xia Questions! (Sorry; recently bought some Jade Regent stuff.)
1) How close is the relationship between kitsune and kami? I noticed that under the Forest of Spirits, the kitsune are the only PC race listed as living there.
2) Are relationships between kitsune and kami such as Miyaro's (PF #54) common?
3) Do people from Tian Xia worship Kami Lords, who have been described as demigods, or is it mostly limited to the respect and honor relationship that we've seen thus far?
4) Do spirits (like those detailed in the Forest of Spirits) exist anywhere else on Golarion? Is the spirit mechanic (aka 'creature-like haunts') something we'll ever see anywhere else again?
5) Most info on the Kami claim that they haven't proliferated very far yet but they seek to eventually cover most of Golarion. How are kami created?
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Creative Director
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Tian Xia Questions! (Sorry; recently bought some Jade Regent stuff.)
1) How close is the relationship between kitsune and kami? I noticed that under the Forest of Spirits, the kitsune are the only PC race listed as living there.
2) Are relationships between kitsune and kami such as Miyaro's (PF #54) common?
3) Do people from Tian Xia worship Kami Lords, who have been described as demigods, or is it mostly limited to the respect and honor relationship that we've seen thus far?
4) Do spirits (like those detailed in the Forest of Spirits) exist anywhere else on Golarion? Is the spirit mechanic (aka 'creature-like haunts') something we'll ever see anywhere else again?
5) Most info on the Kami claim that they haven't proliferated very far yet but they seek to eventually cover most of Golarion. How are kami created?
1) Not all that close, but they do live in similar regions.
2) Nope. But that's mostly because relationships between mortals and kami aren't all that common, not due to any kitsune thing.
3) Some do, but it's not all that common at all.
4) They could exist elsewhere, but are unlikely to do so since the spiritual theme and vibrations of Tian Xia are more conducive to their manifestation than elsewhere in the world. We'll do more spirits when and if we do an adventure that makes sense to include them.
5) They manifest from raw Material Plane planar energies where said energies are plentiful enough. I think. We may have gone into it in more detail in the Kami article in Jade Regent.
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Creative Director
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While I though some similar things, and I think it's a nice touch as a statement of gaming I was asking more as of how prophecy worked on Golarion before the Age of Lost Omens as a matter of Golarion canon and what their success rate were.
As a side question to all of this how did the loss of prophecy effect Pharasma considering it was part of her domain? It would have had been an even bigger event for her than other beings in the setting. Was it something she had a hand in coming about or was she a victim of it like all the rest? Did she know prophecy was going to go out? Does she even still know the future like she did before or is even she flying blind?
The way prophecy worked in Golarion before was the same way it worked in all fantasy worlds. There aren't "missing rules" for prophecies, if that's what you're looking for. They're basically just kinda lazy story elements to railroad the story on one path, and that kind of writing crutch is not one we're all that fond of at Paizo.
The faithful of Pharasma were indeed hit hard by the failure of prophecy, and a number of her worshipers lost their faith and/or went mad at the time. The church has mostly recovered now though. Check out part 4 of "Shattered Star" for a specific example of what happened when one specific powerful cleric of Pharasma went a bit crazy due to this event, though.
As for Pharasma, of course she knew what was coming. She didn't warn her faithful because that's not how the gods roll; it's a test of character and faith, PARTICULARLY for worshipers of a goddess of prophecy. Pharasma doesn't codle her faithful, and they wouldn't have it any other way.
Whether or not Pharasma knows more about what's coming... we won't and haven't really said, but I suspect she does. And no... she's not gonna share what she knows! :-P
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Whether or not Pharasma knows more about what's coming... we won't and haven't really said, but I suspect she does. And no... she's not gonna share what she knows! :-P
Is it kind of like this?
"Pharasma knows what comes after Prophecy fails, but she doesn't share what she knows A) because she wants to test her faithful and B) as goddess of prophecy, if she did share what she knew it would be regarded as prophecy and therefore doomed to fail."
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Time Travel
Have you heard of Steins;Gate?
The plot is all about time travel and attempting to control it.
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Hello sir!
I am currently GMing WotR and there is something that intrigues me with planar cities. I have a easier time with Alushinyrra since it's an open ground but I fail to grab the concept behind others like Blackburgh in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth. I mean, what do demons have to do when living in a city? They don't need a place to sleep or eat and I can't imagine demons like dretches (for example) owning a house, going to the local tavern and stuff like that. The way I see it, the only reason a demon would own a place in a city would be to have a safe place and somewhere to hide their belongings. But with demons (well, most of them) having greater teleport, it still causes problem.
What is your vision of a demonic city? Or any evil-outsider city for that matter?
Also, thanks a lot for answering all these questions, this must really be a pain sometimes. I really like getting to know the person behind all those great games and giving a ear like you do to all the feedbacsk from players is worthy of praise. Tip of my hat to you sir!
P.S. English is not my maternal language so I hope i was clear enough. Feel free to tell me if I explained myself incorrectly.
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James, we know that most Archdevils were once Angels (I think Geryon and Barbatos are the exception). My question is, are there any Demon Lord that were once celestials? (besides Nocticula, that may or may not be one)
Oh! Oh! That instantly makes me want to know, are there any celestials who were once fiends?!?!? That seems like it could make for an interesting story if it's at all possible. Could we ever see something like that integrated into the plot of an adventure?
Ragathiel is the son of Dispater, an archdevil, and a neutral fire demigodess.
2) The kind that will probably end up getting made eventually so I'm not gonna spoil the surprise. That said... I pretty much think that most of our 64 page Campaign Setting books could stand to be expanded to hardcover length.
dominate monster: do it.... doooo iiiit....
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Creative Director
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Hi James!
What do you think of these?
My favorite is the kitty bookshelf. :)
All are awesome. WANT.
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Creative Director
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If Ameiko dies, then Amaya could well take on that role, sure. But being born "out of wedlock" is indeed enough to make her claim shaky, at least as far as the seals and traditions are concerned. As a half-sister, she doesn't have as "full" an imperial bloodline as Ameiko.Thanks for clarifying. Further queries:
1) If Amaya's bloodline is only half, the Jade Regent would have a claim strong enough to override hers, then, by perverting/bypassing the divine mandate? Because it seems like the god Shizuru and/or the Jade Throne and/or the Seals would exhaust all possible options - of which she is one, albeit shaky - before letting the Regent take over in full.
2) If that did happen, would the Seal have to invest her before she could be a claimant (e.g. in a sequel "make right what once went wrong" campaign if the players fail JR), or does she have just enough to make a contest claim to Takahiro anyway?
3) Why do the seals concern themselves with wedlock and so on?
3a) What happens then if one of the Amatatsu descendants had never married but did still have children? Would all the children have a reduced claim?
1) Correct. The gods do exhaust the options... but they have to play by the rules, and the oni know it.
2) It would have to invest her, yes. In the same way it works on the PCs.
3) Because they do. They're tied to that tradition lock, stock, and barrel. It's the way things work.
3a) Yes. There would have had to have been some seals coming in to charge things up and the like and it would have been awkward and controversial.
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Creative Director
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Whether or not Pharasma knows more about what's coming... we won't and haven't really said, but I suspect she does. And no... she's not gonna share what she knows! :-PIs it kind of like this?
"Pharasma knows what comes after Prophecy fails, but she doesn't share what she knows A) because she wants to test her faithful and B) as goddess of prophecy, if she did share what she knew it would be regarded as prophecy and therefore doomed to fail."
Could be. Who are we to understand the gods?
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Creative Director
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Time TravelHave you heard of Steins;Gate?
The plot is all about time travel and attempting to control it.
I haven't.
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Creative Director
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Hello sir!
I am currently GMing WotR and there is something that intrigues me with planar cities. I have a easier time with Alushinyrra since it's an open ground but I fail to grab the concept behind others like Blackburgh in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth. I mean, what do demons have to do when living in a city? They don't need a place to sleep or eat and I can't imagine demons like dretches (for example) owning a house, going to the local tavern and stuff like that. The way I see it, the only reason a demon would own a place in a city would be to have a safe place and somewhere to hide their belongings. But with demons (well, most of them) having greater teleport, it still causes problem.
What is your vision of a demonic city? Or any evil-outsider city for that matter?
Also, thanks a lot for answering all these questions, this must really be a pain sometimes. I really like getting to know the person behind all those great games and giving a ear like you do to all the feedbacsk from players is worthy of praise. Tip of my hat to you sir!
P.S. English is not my maternal language so I hope i was clear enough. Feel free to tell me if I explained myself incorrectly.
Demons live in cities because they can. Because it pleases them. Because it gives them something to mock mortal society with. Because it gives them a place to torment mortals. Because it gives them a place that mortal allies would find familiar and would feel more comfortable meeting with demons (and perhaps would get put off guard). Because they come from mortal souls and enjoy the environs.
My vision of a demonic city or any evil outsider city is driven by the ruler and region. The cities in Wrath of the Righteous are all pretty much my vision, as are all the ones detailed in Lords of Chaos.
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Creative Director
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James, we know that most Archdevils were once Angels (I think Geryon and Barbatos are the exception). My question is, are there any Demon Lord that were once celestials? (besides Nocticula, that may or may not be one)Oh! Oh! That instantly makes me want to know, are there any celestials who were once fiends?!?!? That seems like it could make for an interesting story if it's at all possible. Could we ever see something like that integrated into the plot of an adventure?
It could indeed make an interesting story. We'll see.
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Creative Director
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2) The kind that will probably end up getting made eventually so I'm not gonna spoil the surprise. That said... I pretty much think that most of our 64 page Campaign Setting books could stand to be expanded to hardcover length.dominate monster: do it.... doooo iiiit....
Gonna take more than that. SOmething like a few dozen clone spells, mythic time stops, and some wishes and miracles.
Gonna take more than that. SOmething like a few dozen clone spells, mythic time stops, and some wishes and miracles.
Watch it. Earth may give rise to its first lich proving Pathfinder is how reality really is. Don't tempt me!
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Creative Director
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In that case, if Amaya (or any other scion) was invested after the Jade Regent managed to claim the position of Emperor, would he lose his position now that there is a claim in place? Or would he then be considered a legitimate ruler at that point and the scion wouldn't have a claim to the throne unless they could take it from Takahiro by force?1) Correct. The gods do exhaust the options... but they have to play by the rules, and the oni know it.
2) It would have to invest her, yes. In the same way it works on the PCs.
He'd be in charge. Don't let him be in charge!
1) What is the percentage of Nocticula's whorshipers are heretical like Ayavah from Magnimar?1) Quite a bit less than 1% of the whole.
A follow up question.
Would you say Nocticula has more non-evil whorshippers than the other Demon Lords?
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Creative Director
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I've always wondered, do centaurs have like, two sets of internal organs? or are all the organs just kinda stuffed in the horse part?
Could you give me like a full rundown of just how centaur anatomy works and how it functions? do they have multiple sets of each organ? is the smaller human one redundant or does it need both? How does their digestive system work, a two stomach set-up? Just how do these things work biologically?
Good question! I'd say no, just longer organs than normal.
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Creative Director
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1) What is the percentage of Nocticula's whorshipers are heretical like Ayavah from Magnimar?1) Quite a bit less than 1% of the whole.
A follow up question.
Would you say Nocticula has more non-evil whorshippers than the other Demon Lords?
Currently in print in canon, yes, that's certainly the case. But a few others like Haagenti and Abraxas might have more.
1) James how rare were universalist wizards in:
a) Thassilon in general?
b) Within Xin's court?
2) I am making my own version of Runelord Alaznist for my campaign, and I caught myself wondering if your last statement about her power level still holds true.
Alaznist is the third mythic runelord, although whether or not she had actual mythic tiers or had templates that increased her well above CR 20 is not yet revealed.
3)
Thank you very much for your time.
James, my girlfriend is starting an Oracle of Pharasma, and we wonder about the resurrection thing: should she be against resurrection because her faith? Consider that she is a Samsaran, so she believe in reincarnation and past life and such. What do you think?
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Creative Director
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Would bringing him down at that point and putting a scion on the throne restore the divine mandate and "lock out" any non-scions for the future? Or would Takahiro's heirs (if any survive) have a claim as well now that they've had a parent on the throne?He'd be in charge. Don't let him be in charge!In that case, if Amaya (or any other scion) was invested after the Jade Regent managed to claim the position of Emperor, would he lose his position now that there is a claim in place? Or would he then be considered a legitimate ruler at that point and the scion wouldn't have a claim to the throne unless they could take it from Takahiro by force?1) Correct. The gods do exhaust the options... but they have to play by the rules, and the oni know it.
2) It would have to invest her, yes. In the same way it works on the PCs.
Yes, it would require a pretty significant "reset." It should be harder to remove him once he's officially ruling, otherwise the whole point of the Adventure Path is blunted.
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Creative Director
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1) James how rare were universalist wizards in:
a) Thassilon in general?
b) Within Xin's court?
2) I am making my own version of Runelord Alaznist for my campaign, and I caught myself wondering if your last statement about her power level still holds true.
Alaznist is the third mythic runelord, although whether or not she had actual mythic tiers or had templates that increased her well above CR 20 is not yet revealed.3) ** spoiler omitted **
Thank you very much for your time.
1) Universalist wizards were increasingly rare as Thassilon went on; by the end, they were mostly regulated to the role of eccentric and curiosity and underground rebels. At the start, they were more common, and would have had a presence in Xin's court as a sort of "neutral government force" that doesn't necessarily cleave to one of the seven nations of Thassilon over any one other.
2) Still true; still not revealed. Kinda keeping that a secret for now.
3)
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Creative Director
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James, my girlfriend is starting an Oracle of Pharasma, and we wonder about the resurrection thing: should she be against resurrection because her faith? Consider that she is a Samsaran, so she believe in reincarnation and past life and such. What do you think?
Pharasma isn't against resurrection at all. When someone's brought back to life, that is in a way her giving permission for that to happen. When someone doesn't come back to life, either because of the player deciding to not come back or whatever, that's her deciding it's not allowed. In this case, when a player of a dead PC makes the decision on whether or not they want to come back to life when resurrected, they're roleplaying Pharasma's choice for their own character.
And as for Samsarans... that's how they work. They die, their souls go to Pharasma, she judges them, those souls go back to the Material Plane to be reincarnated as a samsaran. Same as other reincarnation effects, save that the soul almost always comes back as a samsaran.
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Creative Director
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James, you've previously voiced your love for the movie Alien, but what do you think of the other movies in the franchise? (Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, AvP, AvP:Requiem and Prometheus (hope I'm not forgetting anything))
I'm gonna give them letter grades:
Alien: A+
Aliens: A
Alien 3: C
Alien Resurrection: C, until the end, and then F
AvP: D+
AvP Requiem: C
Prometheus: A– (Could have been an A+ with very few and simple adjustments to the story)
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James, you've previously voiced your love for the movie Alien, but what do you think of the other movies in the franchise? (Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, AvP, AvP:Requiem and Prometheus (hope I'm not forgetting anything))I'm gonna give them letter grades:
Prometheus: A– (Could have been an A+ with very few and simple adjustments to the story)
Really, I would have given Prometheus C+ at best, it had some pretty serious plot problems, although the deleted scenes did make some of the movie more understandable, it was still on pretty thin ice scientifically (the writers obviously didn't know how carbon dating actually works) and plot wise (f.ex what was the point of the Vickers character and revealing her parentage, and then not using it in any way. Also why would Weyland have to conceal his presence and "fake his death"?) Also, the archaeological findings that led them to the planet would never work in real life, there simply isn't enough information to be able to find the correct stars, especially with stellar drift over tens of thousands of years, the stars would look different in our time.
From what I've heard it was really Ridley Scott who just wanted to direct an ancient aliens movie based on some book, and just ended up shoehorning the plot into the Aliens franchise.
Could you please elaborate on what changes you think the movie needs to reach that A+ rating?
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Modifiers from ability scores aren't actually bonuses, strictly speaking. If they are, they're untyped bonuses—which means they stack with all other bonuses except themselves. Thus, if you have multiple things that say "Add your Dex modifier to this roll," you only get to add your Dex modifier once.
So, to answer the actual question:
1) Nope; it's not a typed bonus. It stacks with all other modifiers, but can't stack with itself.
2) If you have Fury's Fall and Weapon Finesse, you've basically got two feats with overlapping effects. You don't get to add your Dexterity modifier more than once to CMB if it's already been included due to any other effect. SO! If you have Weapon Finesse... you'll only want to look at taking Fury's Fall if you're expecting to be using weapons you can't modifier via Weapon Finess...
I have a similar question, at least in the view of some. I have a Paladin character who has Divine Grace class feature and the Irrepressible trait from Quests & Campaigns, which states that "You can use your Charisma modifier in place of your Wisdom modifier when attempting Will saving throws against charm and compulsion effects."
I see them as not overlapping in the same way, with Irrepressible substituting one stat (Cha) for another (Wis), and Divine Grace is a (positive only) bonus to all saves based on Cha.
The Divine Grace class feature also says "a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws", while it could just say "a paladin adds her Charisma modifier to all saving throws". My brain parses that as implying that it is equal to, but not the same as, the Charisma bonus.
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Creative Director
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James, you've previously voiced your love for the movie Alien, but what do you think of the other movies in the franchise? (Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, AvP, AvP:Requiem and Prometheus (hope I'm not forgetting anything))I'm gonna give them letter grades:
Prometheus: A– (Could have been an A+ with very few and simple adjustments to the story)
Really, I would have given Prometheus C+ at best, it had some pretty serious plot problems, although the deleted scenes did make some of the movie more understandable, it was still on pretty thin ice scientifically (the writers obviously didn't know how carbon dating actually works) and plot wise (f.ex what was the point of the Vickers character and revealing her parentage, and then not using it in any way. Also why would Weyland have to conceal his presence and "fake his death"?) Also, the archaeological findings that led them to the planet would never work in real life, there simply isn't enough information to be able to find the correct stars, especially with stellar drift over tens of thousands of years, the stars would look different in our time.
From what I've heard it was really Ridley Scott who just wanted to direct an ancient aliens movie based on some book, and just ended up shoehorning the plot into the Aliens franchise.
Could you please elaborate on what changes you think the movie needs to reach that A+ rating?
I'm obviously not in the "OMG PROMETHEUS WAS TERRIBLE!" camp that seems to be so popular on the internet, but I do think that it had some flaws that kept it from being a great movie. And frankly, I probably would give it a B+ when it comes down to it... I bumped it's grade up to an A– mostly because of blowback against the haters. :-P
From what I can tell, the main problem with the story was the combination of cold feet at making it a true prequel to Alien and a lot of (if not all of) Damon Lindelof's additions to the story.
My top seven fixes to improve it to an A+ would have been (but not limited to):
2) Actually make the planet they land on into LV-426.
3) Reinstate most, if not all, of the cut scenes, particularly the two action scenes that were missing, but also more of the character building stuff.
4) Rework the final crash so it wasn't so silly in the "Just run to the right to avoid it landing on you" situation.
5) Fix minor character flaws that have characters making stupid decisions just to push forward the plot—in particular, their eagerness to take off helmets or to cuddle with creepy alien snakes.
6) Be more specific about why a surgery robot in a woman's escape module wasn't calibrated to do female surgeries. (This would have been a GREAT way to foreshadow the fact that the chair wasn't there for Vickers but was in fact there for her father—which I think was the initial point, but it kinda got lost.)
7) Don't be so shy about incorporating the classic alien design into the movie.
The reason I like the movie isn't because of its script... it's IN SPITE of its script, frankly. Pretty much the entirity of the rest of the movie, the acting, directing, score, effects, design, etc. are GREAT. And the fact that all of that came together in that rarest of rarities—a big-budget horror movie—is something that I value too much to let one flaw (the writing) bring it all down.
It does, on the other hand, point out just how vastly important the writing is. Something that Hollywood and a lot of other industries seem eager to forget.