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Q: What is the best response to “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
Before you discount the question please understand that this is the basic form of a question posed by a bully to entrap a target into giving an answer that makes the target look/feel bad. Your opinion/guidance is greatly appreciated.
Creative Director
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As another, unrelated question (well, mostly, since it was stumbling across the "Preserve Organs" discovery I mentioned above that got me thinking about critical hits and immortality), the Sun Orchid Elixir and the new Thuvian Alchemist class. As its capstone ability it gains an "imperfect" version of the sun orchid elixir that grants the user eternal youth.
Is it just me, or does that not seem very imperfect? The regular elixir only reverts you to the prime of your youth, after which you need to keep on drinking it as you get older again. The Thuvian Alchemist capstone might be limited to the character, but it gives it to you permanently. No need to rely on successive doses of the stuff.
Additionally, given that the capstone is an imperfect version of the sun orchid elixir, would you be willing to say whether or not it's likely any NPCs in Golarion have reached that point? If might only be "imperfect" but it's still a whole lot closer than anybody else seems likely to get to the sun orchid elixir, so I could see such an individual as hunted by all sorts of interested parties seeking to know how they did it in the hopes of building on that to develop a copy of the true formula. Or the government of Thuvia wanting to "have words with" anybody who figured it out, because they might be getting dangerously close to upsetting their means of income.
A bit like the "Cataclysm Mage" in Eberron, where it's stated that nobody alive has the capstone (saving it for PCs to gain because of the in-world ramifications - I could certainly see something similar from the Thuvian Alchemist PrC in Golarion).
That does indeed seem like a design error to me. I would change the capstone so that the "imperfect version" of the elixir results in a one-time only dose that works ONLY once, but otherwise functions like a regular sun orchid elixir.
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Creative Director
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Yes.
Somewhat related - you said that Pharasma was the oldest deity in the setting. Does that include demigod levei powers like the Qlippoth and Protean Lords?She's older than Azathoth? Huh. Neat.
How much older is she than Azathoth?
Was she the first deity, or is anything older than her simply dead and forgotten now?
Those are great questions for us mortals to boggle over, aren't they?
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Creative Director
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Q: What is the best response to “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
Before you discount the question please understand that this is the basic form of a question posed by a bully to entrap a target into giving an answer that makes the target look/feel bad. Your opinion/guidance is greatly appreciated.
To not respond at all.
Second best: Answer with a question like "Have you stopped being an annoying (insert profanity of your choice here)?"
Third best: Throw chili powder in the person's face.
NOTE: Don't throw chili powder in anyone's face.
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Having all 21 iconics (and soon to be all 31 iconics) gather together is not something I'd wish on any comic artist.
Although the image of all 31 of them charging some hapless Big Bad reminds me of that awesome cover of Dungeon with all eleven of the 'Dungeon iconics' attacking Demogorgon...
Were those 'Dungeon iconics' (the tiefling barbarian, etc.) ever statted up?
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Creative Director
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Having all 21 iconics (and soon to be all 31 iconics) gather together is not something I'd wish on any comic artist.Although the image of all 31 of them charging some hapless Big Bad reminds me of that awesome cover of Dungeon with all eleven of the 'Dungeon iconics' attacking Demogorgon...
Turns out I'm more comfortable asking an artist I know can handle something like that because he's the one who INVENTED those characters and thus KNOWS he knows how to draw them, especially when it's a once in a lifetime event like, say, the last issue of my favorite magazine that I pretty much wanted to be the editor in chief of since the day I first heard about it in Dragon Magazine #111 back in the late 80s.
Having all 21 iconics (and soon to be all 31 iconics) gather together is not something I'd wish on any comic artist.
Maybe you could ask George Perez to do it?
He loves crowd scenes. (And I would totally buy several copies!) :D
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Here I said stuffIf you want the players to find secret stuff, you should put hints and clues in that they should look where the secret is. If you only want them to find a secret if they're observant, then let the dice fall where they may.
If you want to change things around to match your setup and play style and all that, that's the right call.
Well, I like the idea of the dice falling where they may, however unless I misunderstand how perception works it's possible that the dice might never even get rolled. I'm not sure if they would be intrigued enough by the room even to ask for a perception roll. Then again I could be totally wrong.
Since even the evil deities and demigods love Shelyn, albiet in their own abhorrent ways, how would the Four Horsemen show her affection?
Is there somewhere I can read about Nocticula in depth like the Baphomet article in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth or the coming Deskari article in City of Locusts? I have Book of the Damned 2: Lords of Chaos but I want to know more!
Nocticula just seems like such an interesting Demon Lord and I want to learn more about her.
So, I'm trying to make a kobold Wrath of the Righteous character whose fluff involves descent from a magma dragon (he's not going to be mechanically different from a red kobold).
His whole characterization schtick is a combative character, constantly telling his companions to dare to be badass.
What class would work best for this purpose? I'm kinda torn between bard and cavalier.
Pretty much every fiend has Greater Teleport. Does that mean that a lowly Dretch can teleport into the king's bedroom at 3am in the morning, perform a Mortal Kombat fatality on him, and teleport away unscathed?
How exactly does someone prevent them from teleporting everywhere and killing everything?
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Creative Director
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Having all 21 iconics (and soon to be all 31 iconics) gather together is not something I'd wish on any comic artist.Maybe you could ask George Perez to do it?
He loves crowd scenes. (And I would totally buy several copies!) :D
I'm pretty sure he's busy.
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Creative Director
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Well, I like the idea of the dice falling where they may, however unless I misunderstand how perception works it's possible that the dice might never even get rolled. I'm not sure if they would be intrigued enough by the room even to ask for a perception roll. Then again I could be totally wrong.Here I said stuffIf you want the players to find secret stuff, you should put hints and clues in that they should look where the secret is. If you only want them to find a secret if they're observant, then let the dice fall where they may.
If you want to change things around to match your setup and play style and all that, that's the right call.
Correct, which is why if you have something the party HAS to find... you shouldn't put it behind a secret door or otherwise hide it behind a Perception check.
Alternately, one trick I do when I want the PCs to find something is have them all make Perception checks even if they don't ask for one and then let whoever rolls highest on that check be the one to find the clue.
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Creative Director
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Is there somewhere I can read about Nocticula in depth like the Baphomet article in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth or the coming Deskari article in City of Locusts? I have Book of the Damned 2: Lords of Chaos but I want to know more!
Nocticula just seems like such an interesting Demon Lord and I want to learn more about her.
At this point, Book of the Damned 2 and The Midnight Isles are the places to go. She doesn't yet have her own deity article.
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Creative Director
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So, I'm trying to make a kobold Wrath of the Righteous character whose fluff involves descent from a magma dragon (he's not going to be mechanically different from a red kobold).
His whole characterization schtick is a combative character, constantly telling his companions to dare to be badass.
What class would work best for this purpose? I'm kinda torn between bard and cavalier.
Any class can work for that purpose. And in fact, one that doesn't immediately come to mind as one whose mechanics obviously support that character are, in my opinion, the more interesting choices.
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Creative Director
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Pretty much every fiend has Greater Teleport. Does that mean that a lowly Dretch can teleport into the king's bedroom at 3am in the morning, perform a Mortal Kombat fatality on him, and teleport away unscathed?
How exactly does someone prevent them from teleporting everywhere and killing everything?
First of all... dretches are among the few demons who CAN'T teleport.
And what's preventing the higher level ones from doing that is that they don't want to waste their time, don't have a reason to do that, can't get to him because they're bound or on another plane, or have better things to do.
But if a fiend who can teleport wants to do that and is able to do so, he probably could indeed do so, although that's kind of a wasted opportunity to wreak more havoc. They're more interested in spreading their evil in more fiendish ways if left to their own devices, and the cultivation of hope just so they can crush that hope is important to their methodology.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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James, why was there barely any mention of the "shaven-headed dwarf monks of the Ouat caste" (Dwarves of Golarion) in the People of the Sands? I was really looking forward to more info on them and was disappointed they were mentioned only once before the 2 feats in the Pahmet dwarf section.
Correct, which is why if you have something the party HAS to find... you shouldn't put it behind a secret door or otherwise hide it behind a Perception check.
Alternately, one trick I do when I want the PCs to find something is have them all make Perception checks even if they don't ask for one and then let whoever rolls highest on that check be the one to find the clue.
You sneaky devil. Why didn't I think of that.
Hey James,
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Is there anything about you that people are surprised to learn?
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Q: What is the best response to “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
Before you discount the question please understand that this is the basic form of a question posed by a bully to entrap a target into giving an answer that makes the target look/feel bad. Your opinion/guidance is greatly appreciated.
To not respond at all.
Second best: Answer with a question like "Have you stopped being an annoying (insert profanity of your choice here)?"
Third best: Throw chili powder in the person's face.
NOTE: Don't throw chili powder in anyone's face.
I've used, "i wasn't aware you were about to become my wife." its stopped the question before when asked in person, but i've worked as a bouncer so...yeah, not a universal approach.
Can you select the Extra Path Ability (Mythic Adventures) multiple times, or can you only select it once?
I just got my first Mythic Tier and I was looking through the things possible and I realized, my character doesn't have many 'Mythic' feats to select from (his feats are different than the Mythic ones available). I could select non-Mythic Feats, but I when I saw Extra Path Ability, I thought it would be awesome to spend Mythic Feats to take some of the oddball or situational abilities, like Display of (ability score). Extra Path Ability, however, doesn't have the text saying, "You can select this feat multiple times". The Extra Mythic Feat universal path ability does have text allowing for it to be taken multiple times.
Hey James, hope you're doing well. Question:
1) Do you know if it's possible for a 3PP to publish a campaign setting that is on a different world than Golarion but uses the same model of the planes that you guys have developed with the same Demon Lords, Empyreal Lords, the Boneyard, etc.? What would be the difficulties in doing so? I'm just curious, I have no plans to do so...at least for now :)
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Creative Director
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James, why was there barely any mention of the "shaven-headed dwarf monks of the Ouat caste" (Dwarves of Golarion) in the People of the Sands? I was really looking forward to more info on them and was disappointed they were mentioned only once before the 2 feats in the Pahmet dwarf section.
Because there's not enough room to cover every topic, and so we have to often choose which topics we want to focus more on in cases like that.
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Creative Director
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Two questions.
If Pharasma is the oldest deity in the setting would that somewhat confirm that the origin story at the beginning of Book of the Damned Vol 1. isn't entirely true?
While they of course would know they get more powerful as they age do true dragons have concepts of age categories and recognize them or is it just a metagame concept? Do dragons classify themselves as things like "adult", "old", or "ancient", and if they do would they get irritated if somebody called them the wrong thing like a person calling and ancient dragon only old?
Sure would seem to, hmm? Did you really believe Asmodeus was telling the whole truth?
True dragons do indeed understand age categories, but whether or not they get irritated if someone calls them the wrong age category is a personal choice each dragon gets to make.
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Creative Director
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Can you select the Extra Path Ability (Mythic Adventures) multiple times, or can you only select it once?
I just got my first Mythic Tier and I was looking through the things possible and I realized, my character doesn't have many 'Mythic' feats to select from (his feats are different than the Mythic ones available). I could select non-Mythic Feats, but I when I saw Extra Path Ability, I thought it would be awesome to spend Mythic Feats to take some of the oddball or situational abilities, like Display of (ability score). Extra Path Ability, however, doesn't have the text saying, "You can select this feat multiple times". The Extra Mythic Feat universal path ability does have text allowing for it to be taken multiple times.
You can only pick a path ability once unless it specifically says you can break that rule.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, hope you're doing well. Question:
1) Do you know if it's possible for a 3PP to publish a campaign setting that is on a different world than Golarion but uses the same model of the planes that you guys have developed with the same Demon Lords, Empyreal Lords, the Boneyard, etc.? What would be the difficulties in doing so? I'm just curious, I have no plans to do so...at least for now :)
Nope. The Great Beyond, the Boneyard, and all the demigod flavor is product identity. Some of that stuff is from mythology, but the exact interpretation we use for, say, Lamashtu or Asmodeus isn't open content. You'd have to make your own version of Lamashtu, and something like the Boneyard or Sifkesh which are entirely made-up names by us would be things a 3rd party publisher couldn't use at all.
Which is, of course, why WE don't use the D&D names like Outlands or Mechanus or Graz'zt.
You can only pick a path ability once unless it specifically says you can break that rule.Can you select the Extra Path Ability (Mythic Adventures) multiple times, or can you only select it once?
I just got my first Mythic Tier and I was looking through the things possible and I realized, my character doesn't have many 'Mythic' feats to select from (his feats are different than the Mythic ones available). I could select non-Mythic Feats, but I when I saw Extra Path Ability, I thought it would be awesome to spend Mythic Feats to take some of the oddball or situational abilities, like Display of (ability score). Extra Path Ability, however, doesn't have the text saying, "You can select this feat multiple times". The Extra Mythic Feat universal path ability does have text allowing for it to be taken multiple times.
Extra Path Ability is a Mythic Feat, which is why I asked. There is the Universal Path Ability, Extra Mythic Feat, which has the language that you can selected once for every 2 Mythic Tiers you have.
I may just have to ask my GM, but I was looking for any insight on why it might have been excluded from being selected twice, where as gaining an extra feat is not so excluded.
So, given my reading of the text in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, I'd be willing to bet cash money that the following scenario wasn't close to your(meaning paizo's creative team more than you specifically) intention given that the possibility isn't even remotely hinted at, but given that I have an overwhelming bias in favor of devils rather than demons, I'd like to run this by you and get your thoughts;
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Creative Director
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So, given my reading of the text in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, I'd be willing to bet cash money that the following scenario wasn't close to your(meaning paizo's creative team more than you specifically) intention given that the possibility isn't even remotely hinted at, but given that I have an overwhelming bias in favor of devils rather than demons, I'd like to run this by you and get your thoughts;
** spoiler omitted **
Not all that much a fan.
Hey James,
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Is there anything about you that people are surprised to learn?
Yes.
And probably.
Details?
Hey, James Jacobs!
1) Where did your inspiration for Desna come from?
2) I was fond of the depiction of Desna being nude but tastefully covered with swirling, airy shawls like way back in Pathfinder #2. It reminded me of depictions of ancient real world divinities and saints. She is also mentioned as wearing a billowing gown, however. What is your personal preference for her depictions, and which is she more likely to sport in future art?
3) What would you say is one of the most common ways people learn about and start worshiping demon lords in Golarion, considering their heretical nature? (visions, forbidden tomes, word of mouth, etc)
4) If a witch wanted to create a book similar to the Demonomicon of Iggwilv or the Book of the Damned (though obviously much less powerful) that contained flavorful lore and a few appropriate spells, what rules would you recommend they use? The rules and cost for writing spells in a spellbook like for a wizard, the Scribe Scroll feat for each spell in the book, or something else?
5) Would you be interested in doing something along the lines of an updated or revised Elves of Golarion or book on Kyonin? Hopefully fleshing out the elves of Golarion and their various ethnicities, and getting rid of some old tropes that don't seem to fit Golarion elves (arrogance, racial prejudice, bad relations with dwarves, being the 'dying elder' race, etc).
Thank you for taking the time to answer these!
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Creative Director
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Hey, James Jacobs!
1) Where did your inspiration for Desna come from?
2) I was fond of the depiction of Desna being nude but tastefully covered with swirling, airy shawls like way back in Pathfinder #2. It reminded me of depictions of ancient real world divinities and saints. She is also mentioned as wearing a billowing gown, however. What is your personal preference for her depictions, and which is she more likely to sport in future art?
3) What would you say is one of the most common ways people learn about and start worshiping demon lords in Golarion, considering their heretical nature? (visions, forbidden tomes, word of mouth, etc)
4) If a witch wanted to create a book similar to the Demonomicon of Iggwilv or the Book of the Damned (though obviously much less powerful) that contained flavorful lore and a few appropriate spells, what rules would you recommend they use? The rules and cost for writing spells in a spellbook like for a wizard, the Scribe Scroll feat for each spell in the book, or something else?
5) Would you be interested in doing something along the lines of an updated or revised Elves of Golarion or book on Kyonin? Hopefully fleshing out the elves of Golarion and their various ethnicities, and getting rid of some old tropes that don't seem to fit Golarion elves (arrogance, racial prejudice, bad relations with dwarves, being the 'dying elder' race, etc).
Thank you for taking the time to answer these!
1) Desna didn't come from any one place. A few of the Greyhawk deities, particularly Celestian and Fharlanghn, were partially responsible for the basic idea of a god of space and travel, but the rest? All over. In fact, of all the deities in the setting, she's probably the one whose personality and take on reality I like to think most closely matches my own.
2) My preference is that she wears stardust and smoke and butterflies and dreams—more or less how we've illustrated her so far.
3) I wouldn't say demons are heretical in nature—those who worship demon lords are devout and sincere in their worship. They're not heretics at all. As for where they learn about them... some folks might learn of them by spooky stories, or by forbidden tomes, or by being indoctrinated by cultists, or anything else. There's not just one vector there.
4) Craft Wondrous Item would be the best bet.
5) Yes. But what I'm interested in doing is quite a bit more expansive and enormous than what I can actually do, alas.
How many flags can a flag bearer have on their spears?
Speaking of product identity, Orcus is one of the most popular D&d Demon Lords. He's featured in a lot of settings and has been cast as the villain of a lot of adventures, like Dead Gods in Planescape. His name and description are in Book of the Damned II: Lords of Chaos, but so far he hasn't really been a big part of Pathfinder lore.
Did you guys choose to downplay Orcus, or is this just more WoTC copyright bullcrap?
I've been seeing a lot of art questions lately, and it made me curious about this:
1. Has Paizo ever considered utilizing any of the classic TSR artistic talent? (Elmore, Caldwell, Easley, etc.)
2. If not, any particular reason?
I'm playing through Oblivion and was wondering if you remember the Daedra Lords real well. Did you have a favorite one?
Did you have a favorite quest for one in one of the Elder Scrolls games?
I have it narrowed down to the 4 that I feel fit your brand of evil...
Where do you think would be the best place to get a Sihedron tattooed on?Depends on the person.
Does Sorshen have a Sihedron tramp stamp? :P