Creative Director
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I asked because it was related to the (how do humans and dragons have sex with each other) questionare dragons reptiles or mammals in pathfinderhow do humans and dragons have sex with each otherWithout polymorph magic? Very carefully.Dragons are not animals, and therefore they aren't technically reptiles OR mammals.
Reptile comes closer than mammal though.
Once creatures that are supernatural enter the equation, the rules of real-world biology matter less and less.
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Hello James!
Any suggestions on a first Ramsey Campbell anthology of short fiction to start with? I'm in mood for some Mythos reading. :)
Thanks!
Not all of his stuff is Mythos related. In fact, the vast majority is NOT mythos related.
That said... the best book to get these days for an introduction to his mythos writing would be...
There's fancier hardcover editions of it, and super rare expensive old versions of it if ya want! My hardcover's sitting on the bookshelf by my bed... and it strikes me I should read it now! Well... later. I'm at work and out of reach of the book right now.
Fair enough! Thank you! I'll pick it up.
Follow up question. I love short stories, and I see he's written some anthologies. What's the best to pick up as well?
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Creative Director
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Hello James!
Any suggestions on a first Ramsey Campbell anthology of short fiction to start with? I'm in mood for some Mythos reading. :)
Thanks!
Not all of his stuff is Mythos related. In fact, the vast majority is NOT mythos related.
That said... the best book to get these days for an introduction to his mythos writing would be...
There's fancier hardcover editions of it, and super rare expensive old versions of it if ya want! My hardcover's sitting on the bookshelf by my bed... and it strikes me I should read it now! Well... later. I'm at work and out of reach of the book right now.
Fair enough! Thank you! I'll pick it up.
Follow up question. I love short stories, and I see he's written some anthologies. What's the best to pick up as well?
My favorite of his anthologies is Alone With the Horrors, originally published by Arkham House. It's a great cross-section of his writing—not all of it (but some of it) being Lovecraftian.
Does anyone in the office drink tea?Absolutely. There are a few VERY SERIOUS tea drinkers here, but Pierce is probably the king of tea.
I drink tea too. So does Jessica, and Erik, and Jeff, and Lisa, and Wes, and so on. I'd say the majority of Paizo's employees drink tea at least casually, and probably 1/3 are serious about it.
How serious are we talking?
If there's a paizo tea ceremony and I would love to hear more....
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Creative Director
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Does anyone in the office drink tea?Absolutely. There are a few VERY SERIOUS tea drinkers here, but Pierce is probably the king of tea.
I drink tea too. So does Jessica, and Erik, and Jeff, and Lisa, and Wes, and so on. I'd say the majority of Paizo's employees drink tea at least casually, and probably 1/3 are serious about it.
How serious are we talking?
If there's a paizo tea ceremony and I would love to hear more....
In Pierce's case... I'd say as serious as tea gets.
In Jessica's case... serious enough that I would not advocate taking her tea from her or even joking about it. Merely MENTIONING the idea in this post puts me at great risk. In fact, I should probably...
James,
what are Humour/Abomination/Mineral and Thaumaturgic dragonsOld ideas that we decided don't fit into the way we wanted to develop dragons for Golarion. They're not going to be explored in the future.
Where did these originally come from? I do find the idea of Choleric/Phlegmatic/Melancholic/Sanguine dragons interesting, and I'm curious what abomination dragons would be. Mineral seems... done, though.
Unrelatedly, Are you familiar with the story of Der Freischütz/The Marksman? I had an idea related to it that I wanted to ask if you thought would be cool, but I don't want to assume you'd know what I'm talking about.
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Creative Director
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James,
what are Humour/Abomination/Mineral and Thaumaturgic dragonsOld ideas that we decided don't fit into the way we wanted to develop dragons for Golarion. They're not going to be explored in the future.Where did these originally come from? I do find the idea of Choleric/Phlegmatic/Melancholic/Sanguine dragons interesting, and I'm curious what abomination dragons would be. Mineral seems... done, though.
Unrelatedly, Are you familiar with the story of Der Freischütz/The Marksman? I had an idea related to it that I wanted to ask if you thought would be cool, but I don't want to assume you'd know what I'm talking about.
They were mentioned in Pathfinder #4's article about dragons, during a time when we were really trying hard to set our own takes for a lot of things. In some cases, like with the goblins and ogres, it worked well. In others, as with dragons, well... sometimes tradition is just better.
I'm not familiar with it. Where's it from?
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The Freischütz is a Germanic folklore story that was made into an Opera. The folkloric origin is about a hunter who, through a pact with a demon/the devil (in the Opera, the entity is given the name Samiel, though I'm not entirely sure how far back that goes), obtained seven magic bullets. Six of these would hit exactly what the hunter wanted without fail, but the seventh would instead hit what the devil chose. I thought that a set of the bullets (Freikugeln) might be a cool artifact to use in a game with a Gunslinger.
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Creative Director
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So Dark Souls 2 was released today, what is your schedule for the rest of the week?
I've got the strategy guide at home and the black armor edition sitting in the passenger seat of my car right now... but alas... my schedule for the rest of the week is dominated by getting Pathfinder stuff done in time for Gen Con.
You folks better LOVE part 5 of Mummy's Mask and ALL of Iron Gods, is all I'm saying!
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So Dark Souls 2 was released today, what is your schedule for the rest of the week?I've got the strategy guide at home and the black armor edition sitting in the passenger seat of my car right now... but alas... my schedule for the rest of the week is dominated by getting Pathfinder stuff done in time for Gen Con.
You folks better LOVE part 5 of Mummy's Mask and ALL of Iron Gods, is all I'm saying!
Hmmm Gencon or Dark Souls 2.
Gencon.Dark Souls 2.
Gencon.
Dark Souls 2.
Hmmmm...
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Does anyone in the office drink tea?Absolutely. There are a few VERY SERIOUS tea drinkers here, but Pierce is probably the king of tea.
I drink tea too. So does Jessica, and Erik, and Jeff, and Lisa, and Wes, and so on. I'd say the majority of Paizo's employees drink tea at least casually, and probably 1/3 are serious about it.
How serious are we talking?
If there's a paizo tea ceremony and I would love to hear more....
In Pierce's case... I'd say as serious as tea gets.
In Jessica's case... serious enough that I would not advocate taking her tea from her or even joking about it. Merely MENTIONING the idea in this post puts me at great risk. In fact, I should probably...
You get to live for now, but only because you put me onto True Detective.
Which I watch.
WITH TEA.
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Creative Director
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The Freischütz is a Germanic folklore story that was made into an Opera. The folkloric origin is about a hunter who, through a pact with a demon/the devil (in the Opera, the entity is given the name Samiel, though I'm not entirely sure how far back that goes), obtained seven magic bullets. Six of these would hit exactly what the hunter wanted without fail, but the seventh would instead hit what the devil chose. I thought that a set of the bullets (Freikugeln) might be a cool artifact to use in a game with a Gunslinger.
Oooh; that is indeed a cool idea for a Gunslinger.
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I have an idea!
Make an oracle have the curse of insanity
Pretty much just pick an affect of insanity and that is your curse.
How about an artifact that completely messes around with everything.
Changing monsters,PCs,dungeons,quests,time and space
Every time you press it you can mess yourself up. Because asmodeus is the owner of this box. You could end up turning the party into gnomish fighters and all of the oppents in balors. Or turning the entire dungeon into a open field and everyone gets mythic status.
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Creative Director
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Does anyone in the office drink tea?Absolutely. There are a few VERY SERIOUS tea drinkers here, but Pierce is probably the king of tea.
I drink tea too. So does Jessica, and Erik, and Jeff, and Lisa, and Wes, and so on. I'd say the majority of Paizo's employees drink tea at least casually, and probably 1/3 are serious about it.
How serious are we talking?
If there's a paizo tea ceremony and I would love to hear more....
In Pierce's case... I'd say as serious as tea gets.
In Jessica's case... serious enough that I would not advocate taking her tea from her or even joking about it. Merely MENTIONING the idea in this post puts me at great risk. In fact, I should probably...
You get to live for now, but only because you put me onto True Detective.
Which I watch.
WITH TEA.
Whew.
On that note...
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Is Korvosa's house Zenderholm of Chelish descent or Taldan? I think I remember reading somewhere that some noble families in Cheliax, despite their loyalty to the nation, have origins in Taldor, and Zenderholm's coat of arms does feature the crown symbol uniquely associated with Taldor. Or am I reading too much into the symbol?Chelish.
But all of Cheliax is, in the end, pretty much from Taldor. So there certainly is some legacy going all the way back to Taldor there.
Huh. Cool. My half-Shoanti-half-Chelaxian paladiny guy is starting to take shape in my mind!
Now that Wrath of the Righteous is over, I'm so happy! It was almost like you guys wrote it for me! It's the most metal AP I've ever seen! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
And to round things out with a somewhat awkward question. There are a number of races that can't interbreed with each other, but what if someone used transmutation spells to temporarily turn the male partner in a relationship to the same race as the female partner and they attempt to conceive while the spell is in effect? Could that result in a pregnancy where the resulting child is the same race as the mother, as the parents were the same race when the child was concieved, but still biologically related to the father? Or would the genetics simply not connect or become disrupted when the spell ends and the male partner becomes their original race again?
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
A pregnancy that results during a polymorph functions normally... but if you're pregnant and polymorph into something else, I'd say that ends the pregnancy.
An otyugh who polymorphs into a human and then gets a human woman pregnant would sire a human child, in other words. That child might be an excellent candidate for a sorcerer with the aberrant bloodline, but the child would still be a human.
Just as I suspected! That's a relief. I was specifically referring to polymorphing the dad into the mother's race, so the mother doesn't polymorph while pregnant and stuff.
I noticed something that stands out for me regarding Iomedae's relationship to Sarkoris. I'd been wondering about the sequences regarding PCs who've a god in their family tree and wondering how Iomedae could count since she's a god more prominent with the foreign crusaders, but then it hit me. As one of the big 20, Iomedae would have been known in Sarkoris already. Since the Sarkorians owed Aroden big-time for driving out Deskari when he first showed up there, and this was long after the events of the Shining Crusade, the Sarkorians would have been aware of Iomedae as a goddess between then and the opening of the Worldwound, the only difference being that she was Aroden's servant and not the Inheritor of his church. So...how would Sarkorians view and interpret Iomedae, especially in light of her pseudo-role as the goddess that leads the charge to save and protect what's left of their home? I have an idea for a Sarkorian paladin brewing in my head and I'm wondering how he'd reconcile venerating Iomedae with his culture's druidic roots as the founders of the Green Faith.
You folks better LOVE part 5 of Mummy's Mask and ALL of Iron Gods, is all I'm saying!
Yes. Yes we will love them!!
Do you know if you'll run an Unspeakable Futures game this coming Paizocon, yet?
Hi James!
1) What three movies would your recommend someone watch to get inspiration for a Mwangi-based campaign?
2) What real-world place would you say has the closest similarity to the climate, animal and plant life of the River Kingdoms?
James,
a winter witch (prestige class) with the winter patron receives wall of ice as her 4th level patron spell, but hyperboreal patronage allows her to learn wall of ice as a 3r level spell.
Question: does the witch in question immediately knows how to cast wall of ice as a 3rd level spell (rather than a 4th level spell) upon receiving hyperboreal patronage class feature?
Would Desna approve of Jefferson Airplane's song White Rabbit?
You have already addressed this once before back in November but I was wondering if you would be willing to give a more detailed opinion. I realize this is an opinion, and your word is not necessarily law, but I hold it in high regard whenever I run across an issue like this.
Undetectable:(Legendary Weapon Ability) This grants its bonded user the ability to become utterly undetectable while invisible. While invisible and in physical contact with this item, the bonded creature can't be detected or scryed by any method.
As a DM I strive to play as RAW as possible to both avoid conflict and to give players a chance to make informed decisions. I hate using rule 0. I will, but not before I exhaust all other options.
I think it is fair to say this stops spells like True Seeing, See Invis, etc. What about extraordinary abilities, like Scent, Blindsense, Blindsight, etc?
I made a post in the Rules Section also but as I said your opinion holds great weight in my mind.
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Creative Director
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So...how would Sarkorians view and interpret Iomedae, especially in light of her pseudo-role as the goddess that leads the charge to save and protect what's left of their home? I have an idea for a Sarkorian paladin brewing in my head and I'm wondering how he'd reconcile venerating Iomedae with his culture's druidic roots as the founders of the Green Faith.
For the most part, they are pro-Iomedae, although religion in Sarkoris was really scattershot with a lot of different local beliefs, so their reaction to ANY faith is gonna be different depending on where you are.
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Creative Director
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You folks better LOVE part 5 of Mummy's Mask and ALL of Iron Gods, is all I'm saying!
Yes. Yes we will love them!!
Do you know if you'll run an Unspeakable Futures game this coming Paizocon, yet?
I do know. And no, this year I'm not running an Unspeakable Futures game. I don't have the time to prep one this year.
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Creative Director
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Hi James!
1) What three movies would your recommend someone watch to get inspiration for a Mwangi-based campaign?
2) What real-world place would you say has the closest similarity to the climate, animal and plant life of the River Kingdoms?
1) King Kong (either the original or the Peter Jackson remake); Aguirre, the Wrath of God, and The Ghost and the Darkness, perhaps?
2) There's not a good option there, but I suppose New Zealand is the closest.
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Creative Director
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If you could what 1 question would you ask:
1. H. P. Lovecraft
2. Bram Stoker:
3. August Derleth
4. Michael Crichton
5. Gary Gygax
Wow.... TOUGH QUESTION!!!
1) H. P. Lovcraft: What stories out there did you ghost write but didn't take any credit for?
2) Bram Stoker: Dunno... haven't actually read enough of his work to know what I don't know.
3) August Derleth: Can I have your permission to include some of your mythos content in Golarion?
4) Michael Crichton: Dunno... Can you autograph my copy of Jurassic Park?
5) Gary Gygax: Can you tell me all about Castle Greyhawk?
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Creative Director
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I know you're a fan of Mac Gaming so this might be of interest.
The Star Trek Online Mac Beta has ended. The Mac client is now live.
These are the requirements:
Mac Minimum System Requirements:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB+
Hard Disk: 10GB Free Disk Space
Graphic Display: Intel HD3000 / Nvidia 9600M / AMD HD2600 with 256MB+ VRAM
Network: Broadband Internet Connection Required
Interesting. But my MMO time is about to be eaten alive by Elder Scrolls.
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Creative Director
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James,
a winter witch (prestige class) with the winter patron receives wall of ice as her 4th level patron spell, but hyperboreal patronage allows her to learn wall of ice as a 3r level spell.
Question: does the witch in question immediately knows how to cast wall of ice as a 3rd level spell (rather than a 4th level spell) upon receiving hyperboreal patronage class feature?
Hmm I suppose so.
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Creative Director
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1)Will the Inner Sea Gods Hardcover talk about difference between Agathions that serve Sarenrae and Agathions that serve Shelyn?
2)Are there Agathions and Inevitables that serve Iomedae
3)Are there Agathions and angels and Azata that serve Calistria
1) I don't believe so.
2) Not really.
3) No Agathions, but a few (not a lot) azatas.
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Creative Director
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You have already addressed this once before back in November but I was wondering if you would be willing to give a more detailed opinion. I realize this is an opinion, and your word is not necessarily law, but I hold it in high regard whenever I run across an issue like this.
Undetectable:(Legendary Weapon Ability) This grants its bonded user the ability to become utterly undetectable while invisible. While invisible and in physical contact with this item, the bonded creature can't be detected or scryed by any method.
As a DM I strive to play as RAW as possible to both avoid conflict and to give players a chance to make informed decisions. I hate using rule 0. I will, but not before I exhaust all other options.
I think it is fair to say this stops spells like True Seeing, See Invis, etc. What about extraordinary abilities, like Scent, Blindsense, Blindsight, etc?
I made a post in the Rules Section also but as I said your opinion holds great weight in my mind.
I don't really have much more to say about this than I did before. My main advice is to relax a little about using rule 0, frankly. You don't have to keep things you change secret from the players; when you use rule zero, let them know what you're changing and if the change ends up not working out, don't be afraid to change again or change it back.
I really REALLY would rather have GMs be more comfortable with rule 0 than anything else, frankly, since that helps gameplay move forward more smoothly than any errata process, no matter how perfect, could ever do.
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If you could what 1 question would you ask:
1. H. P. Lovecraft
2. Bram Stoker:
3. August Derleth
4. Michael Crichton
5. Gary Gygax
Wow.... TOUGH QUESTION!!!
1) H. P. Lovcraft: What stories out there did you ghost write but didn't take any credit for?
2) Bram Stoker: Dunno... haven't actually read enough of his work to know what I don't know.
3) August Derleth: Can I have your permission to include some of your mythos content in Golarion?
4) Michael Crichton: Dunno... Can you autograph my copy of Jurassic Park?
5) Gary Gygax: Can you tell me all about Castle Greyhawk?
Huzzah!
Speaking of ghostwriter Lovecraft S. T. Joshi put out a two part collection of his ghostwritings, The Crawling Chaos and Others and The Medusa's Coil and Others. They're on Amazon.
What does the word Archon (the celestials) mean?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon
Moreover, where did the name "Azata" come from? I looked it up and all I could find as a moth genus and the Arizona Athletic Trainer's Association.
Oh, and here's a big question: Hell makes a lot of sense as a Lawful Evil plane. It has one dictator sitting at the top of a vast hierarchy, from the Archdevils down to the Infernal Dukes, and to the Pit Fiends to standard devils. It is an ordered, regimented, and structured plane.
But why doesn't Heaven have a single ruler? Iomedae's only been there for a little while, Erastil isn't quite leader material, and Torag is mainly in charge of the dwarves. I suppose it wouldn't be symmetrical with Hell, where there's one "Archoneus" ruling all of Heaven with 7 Archarchons in charge of each slope of the mountain. But Heaven seems to have a defined lack of organization.
Hmm...now I'm wondering what an Archon equivalent of Asmodeus would be like. The closest thing I can imagine is Mitra from Way of the Wicked.
What does the word Archon (the celestials) mean?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon
Moreover, where did the name "Azata" come from? I looked it up and all I could find as a moth genus and the Arizona Athletic Trainer's Association.
Not James, but I think it's derived from the Avestan (i.e. an ancient Iranian language) "Yazata," which is the name for a group of celestial beings in Zoroastrian mythology.
D&D Next's Lead Designer talked about the Bard class in their next edition this week. One of the most interesting notes was that the Bard was upgraded to a full spellcasting class: they basically turned it into the beguiler of D&D Next. What are your thoughts on this?
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Creative Director
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1)Arshea being a angel does he have any Agathion and Archon or Azata servants?
2)Does Arshea have any non celestial outsider servants?
3)What would a Cathedral or Temple of Arshea be or look like?
4)How would the Clergy of Arshea dress and act?
1) Not really; angels generally have angel minions and so on.
2) I suspect so.
3) Beyond what we've said in Chronicles of the Righteous, which I've not yet had a chance to read or study, I can't say.
4) See #3 above.