Creative Director
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1)Will the Advance Class Guide have any new Oracle curse?
2)Will we ever see a feat that grants extra skill points?
3)Will ever see an option to loose some class features to gain extra skill points/class skills? Example would be a 1st level sorcerer loosing her 1st level bloodline power and bloodline arcana to gain 4+int skill points and a couple of class skills of her choosing.
4)Will we ever feats for sorcerers that are based on there bloodlines? examples would be to grant darkvision, low-light vision, skill/save bonuses with creatures related to there bloodline, increased uses/power for there 3+cha/day abilities, spell powers, increased resistances, additional immunities, etc..
5)What are your top 5 favorite regions in the Inner Sea?
1) Not that I know of. Not really the point of the book.
2) Doubtful, but maybe. That's kinda something we avoid; we prefer to do feats that grant bonuses to specific skills. Granting extra skill ranks isn't the point of the feat system.
3) That'd be something you'd probably see pop up in the archetype system... but even then, unlikely. I'd rather be in a place where folks want more skill ranks than in a place where folks have leftover skill ranks. It's better to be hungry for more skill ranks than stuffed on them and let leftovers go to waste.
4) That, again, is more a role of archetypes, but maybe some day.
5) Varisia, Mediogalti Isle, Kyonin, the Darklands, Ustalav.
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Creative Director
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I was reading the city of strangers book and got to the part about the Tallow Boys and it said there leader is a NPC named Elias Sayer who started working as a male prostitute before he hit "puberty"!!.(even throw it is Kaer Maga)
so okay i have to ask is there a universal age of consent on Golarion or does it depend on the culture of the area?
Just like the real world, the age of consent depends entirely on the region.
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Creative Director
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1)If cybernetics will be treated like magic items/equipment then how would someone start with them at level one(especially a Vercite)?
2)Have you seen the show, Penny Dreadful? If so what do you think?
3)Did you have any favorite TV shows when you were growing up? If so what were they?
1) Unless the GM allows you to start at 1st level with a lot of extra gold, then you can't. If we do an entirely different game in the future where cybernetics are a feature from the start (such as they are in Shadowrun) we'll adopt a different philosophy for that game, but in Pathfinder, cybernetics are exceptional and powerful items, in the same way something like a belt of giant strength is. Note that Vercites are not core classes. Not every 0 HD race is appropriate as a PC.
2) I've seen the 1st episode. Liked it, but I've not yet had a chance to see more of them. I will someday soon!
3) Absolutely. Some of those that come to mind... Captain Cosmic, Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, Chiller Diller, Creature Features, Benny Hill, the D&D cartoon, the Godzilla cartoon, Space 1999, the A-Team, Knight Rider, and In Search Of...
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Creative Director
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Is there any connection between the Xorns and Xiomorns?
They're both from the Plane of Earth. I would suspect that the xiomorns used xorns as minions or something like that, but there's still a LOT left to explore about them. What I was able to do in Emerald Spire was just a tiny little scratching of the surface.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
how are you today?
I have few questions for you today regarding Azlant
i) Where paladins more or less common back then?
ii) Are there any classes that were unheard of in Azlant?
iii) What was the Empire's alignment? I suspect LN.Thanks in advance and have a nice weekend!
Doin' great! Kicking back in Point Arena for a few days.
i) Less common.
ii) Yes. Not sure what ones, but there were certainly some that rose to prominence AFTER Earthfall. That list would skew heavily away from the Core classes though.
iii) We haven't nailed it down, and there was probably multiple alignments here and there (just as Thassilon had different alignments), but overall LN is probably the most common.
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Creative Director
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1)Iomedae being the most resent mortal to become a god is she more sympathetic to mortal hardship then other gods?
2)you said Pharasma is the most powerful of the gods does that include the Outer Gods as will?
3)If Gorum where to attack Nyarlathotep who would win?
1) I see her as LESS sympathetic, than most, because she's more of a "tough love" goddess.
2) Maybe.
3) Nyarlathotep, of course!
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Creative Director
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1)Do the gods ever look down and think why are my worshipers being so stupid?
2)do the good gods ever ignore there worshipers prayers?
3)would you ever do a angels Revisited book(would you even want to)?
1) I would think that'd be pretty rare, but I'm sure it happens. The Outer Gods, of course, don't even care at all about their worshipers, so logically speaking there should be some gods out there somewhere who actively dislike or are annoyed by their worshipers.
2) I suspect so... and I suspect that there'd be no way for a mortal to know.
3) Personally? Not interested in writing it. But there's absolutely enough there for a book or several.
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Creative Director
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Hey James I noticed you have not been active here since Thursday.
I hope everything is okay.
HA! Was waiting for this!
I'm on vacation right now. I spent Thursday driving south, and then Friday and Saturday with my family celebrating my niece graduating from High School. Today through Tuesday are all about taking it easy in Point Arena. Wednesday and Thursday are the drive back north, via way of places like Willow Creek and Voodoo Donuts.
I'll be answering questions here and there for the next few days as the interest strikes me though! As evidenced by this and the posts I did before and after! :-P
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
How badly will you flog Tels and Rysky for going hog-wild all over your perfectly organized super thread?
I don't flog anyone. Everyone is awesome! Love the world!!!!
THAT SAID...
The more folks clutter this thread with shenanigans, the more likely it'll be that I'll miss actual questions since I'll be skimming through the thread faster...
So in the interest of respecting your fellow posters' questions... folks should limit those shenanigans! Thanks!
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
I earned the Oread Boon from GMing at PAX East. I started to use it, filled it out, and ran an Oread for two sessions...Then I turned the character into a half-orc barbarian.
In short I have an unused racial boon that has my number on it. I know that it will pass muster locally but I may want to trade it to somebody for a different racial boon. What can I do to solve this?
Thanks.
My guess is that the boon is wasted.
You'll need to talk to Mike Brock if you want to give it away or whatever. I have no idea.
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Creative Director
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Maybe this has been asked before but do you ever look back at the history of this thread? And if you do is it awe or horror that you feel?
I generally do not. The thread is giant, after all, and I probably spend enough time on it already just keeping up with the current questions!
Awe, lots.
Horror, none.
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Creative Director
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James,
What do you think the chances are of Desna employing Celestial Mothmen for random meddling?
Close to zero. I doubt there's enough celestial mothmen out there to matter. Desna's not super into redemption (that's more of a Sarenrae thing), but she DOES do it now and then (see Wrath of the Righteous)... but when she does, it's a REALLY unusual situation.
Mothmen are still gaining awareness in the game, though, and they need to mature more as monsters and as bad guys before I'm interested in diversifying them by throwing a redeemed mothman into the mix.
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Creative Director
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James, for something like the Cats of Ulthar from HPL (and later encountered by Randolph Carter), are there any Pathfinder creatures that would be like them? Awakened or otherwise templated housecats, dweomercats, non-good Silvanshee agathions, pards, something else?
Also, how long would a pard live, or an awakened housecat, in your opinion?
Further, is there any way (wish spells and experimentation, perhaps) to make the effects of an Awaken spell breed true, to create a stable colony of intelligent animals?
The cats of Ulthar are just cats that are intelligent... and that means they can take class levels. Awaken is the obvious way to have these things exist, but you can just as easily as the GM just say that cats from the Dreamlands have intelligence scores. They'd otherwise be regular housecats, since that's what they are in the stories.
An awakened housecat would live as long as a normal cat would, but would have much fewer deaths by accident or misadventure and would more often live to old age.
Pards? Dunno. I'd say the same length as a normal cat, or maybe much less due to their metabolisims.
There's plenty of ways to make Awaken breed true; that's were lots of magical beasts come from, I suspect. Wish, miracle, magical experimentation, infusion with supernatural energies... whatever makes for a cool story will work.
Hey James I noticed you have not been active here since Thursday.
I hope everything is okay.
HA! Was waiting for this!
I'm on vacation right now. I spent Thursday driving south, and then Friday and Saturday with my family celebrating my niece graduating from High School. Today through Tuesday are all about taking it easy in Point Arena. Wednesday and Thursday are the drive back north, via way of places like Willow Creek and Voodoo Donuts.
I'll be answering questions here and there for the next few days as the interest strikes me though! As evidenced by this and the posts I did before and after! :-P
Does your niece play Pathfinder?
How widespread is Pathfinder amongst your family?
James Jacobs!
I have a big pimple on my forehead that I can't seem to get rid of. Should I go to work wearing a bag tomorrow, or buy a wig?
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It's hard for me to take a compliment that starts with "I was pleasantly surprised..." without assuming that you were expecting it to be terrible, of course... which makes me wonder what we've done to engender that expectation...Sorry if that's what I implied. I was looking forward to Occult Mysteries, but I thought it was going to cover territory that had already been hinted at in previous books, but in more detail (Veiled Masters, Dominion of the Black, Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, etc.), but then you went even further and created completely new stuff that took me completely by surprise, like the Knights of the Ioun Star and the Way of the Kirin, both of whom are incredibly awesome! "Pleasantly surprised" in this case was more along the lines, of "my expectations of good content were surpassed. It's not just good, it's GREAT!"
Do you think it's possible to pile TOO much symbolism or tropes onto an individual character?
It's absolutely possible to pile too much ANYTHING on an individual character.
And thanks for the clarifications! ;-)
How much would you say is too much? Like "This character's Shoanti Totem is X, the Harrow Card connected to him is Y, the symbol on his armor represents Z and this ties in with backstory element D, personality trait 7 and I've got no bloody clue!" How do you streamline a character so that the sorts of symbols and narrative ideas you attach to them don't become cluttered?
Is there any connection between the Xorns and Xiomorns?They're both from the Plane of Earth. I would suspect that the xiomorns used xorns as minions or something like that, but there's still a LOT left to explore about them. What I was able to do in Emerald Spire was just a tiny little scratching of the surface.
Just curious since the names are so similar. Now get back to enjoying your well earned vacation.
James,
What do you think the chances are of Desna employing Celestial Mothmen for random meddling?
Close to zero. I doubt there's enough celestial mothmen out there to matter. Desna's not super into redemption (that's more of a Sarenrae thing), but she DOES do it now and then (see Wrath of the Righteous)... but when she does, it's a REALLY unusual situation.
Mothmen are still gaining awareness in the game, though, and they need to mature more as monsters and as bad guys before I'm interested in diversifying them by throwing a redeemed mothman into the mix.
I only asked because they're Chaotic Neutral instead of Evil, so it wouldn't have to be a dramatic redemption and they're only one point off from Desna's alignment (and for all that they're called mothmen, their wings are pretty colorful so they're kind of butterfly-like). That said, I suppose a god using something like a mothman to interfere indirectly would be somewhat distorting the purposes of both mothmen and divine intervention.
Do you think that mothmen should be used more, either as villains or as mysterious complicating factors in adventures?
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If the monk wants the feats themselves (perhaps to qualify for other feats, or because the monk wants the extra stuff those...Dear James Jacobs:
True or false? Monks of the empty hand take a -4 penalty to attacks when wielding improvised weapons.
The monk of the empty hand treats improvised weapons as if she were proficient in them, and can wield normal weapons as improvised weapons. This effectively has the same end effect as the Catch Off-Guard feat, but isn't a feat and thus doesn't use up a feat slot since it's a variant class ability. Thus, they do not take a nonproficient penalty when using improvised weapons. The text is not as clear as it could have been, I guess, but hopefully common sense can step in to bolster that if someone doesn't read this post?
(We COULD have simply said, "The monk of the empty hand gains "Catch Off-Guard" as a bonus feat, I guess, but that would have lost the flavor bit about how they often wield normal weapons as improvised weapons.)
Sorry for necroing such an old post, but can I confirm that what you said the the quoted post still holds true?
I'm asking, cos this popped up in a game and we are trying to understand which part of the archetype's text allows monk of the empty hand to "treats improvised weapons as if she were proficient in them".
Won't they need to still spent their lv 1 bonus monk feat to obtain Catch off guard or throw anything?Since the proficiency section says:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks of the empty hand are proficient with the shuriken only. A monk of the empty hand treats normal weapons as improvised weapons with the following equivalencies (substituting all of their statistics for the listed weapon): a light weapon functions as a light hammer, a one-handed weapon functions as a club, and a two-handed weapon functions as a quarterstaff. This replaces the normal monk weapon proficiencies.
I think I need to clarify my question:
Can a Monk of the empty hand use improvised weapons without the -4 penalty, without the use of any feats?
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Your previous post in 2011 states the the archetype "treats improvised weapons as if she were proficient in them". I'm having trouble understanding your post.
The reason being, I just can't seem to find anything in the archetype's description that says a Monk of the Empty hand gets proficiency in improvised weapons. The archetype's text seems to say only proficiently in shuriken and the ability to treat normal weapons as improvised weapons?
*Looking at the archetype as written, the intent of the archetype seems to expect the character to pick up Catch off guard or throw anything via bonus feats, IF the character wants to overcome the -4 penalty for using an improvised weapon.
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Are there any of the big 20 deities or other major gods that are not originally from your homebrew? Or that in bring them over to pathfinder/Golarion, they have been changed significantly? And if so, how much was changed?
Dear James Jacobs:
can you make the great and all knowing Razmir a "official" god as I am starting to get tired of people questioning the true faith. I believe that out of all the people that has or will become a god he deserves it the most being omnipotent and compassionate. if this is not enough to persuade you here are a few more reasons to consider him.
1. outstanding taste in fashion, masks are all the rage now days.
2. he doesn't summon people to his realm/ plane of existence to torture them with bad music.
3. is vastly more interesting than other LE gods.
4. is currently only a lvl 19 wizard
5. due to limited word count you forgot to put his name on the CRB
6. he has unscrambled eggs.. without magic
7. top notch health care plan and inventive medicine
sincerely Razmiran priest 1
p.s. Razmir for 4715
Hey James I hope you are still enjoying your vacation.
So when you are away from the boards for a time...do you dread the amount of questions that will be piled up in this thread?
Are some of nyarlathotep's avatars low enough in power level to be statted? Specifically I was wondering about the Bloody Tongue.
Are there any plans to expand on any of the other gods? For example, Apsu doesn't have any boons or obedience listed. What would be your recommendations for people wanting to play with Deific Obediences on gods that currently don't have support?
After reflecting on the general state of the forums, the Internet, and the world in general, I was wondering...
Why can't we all just get along?
Hey James,
I saw this at the mall today and I thought of you :)
[TV Announcer Voice]
Hey do you like riffing bad films? Do you enjoy comedy? did you hate 1998's Godzilla?
Then come see Rifftrax Live, Godzilla! In select theaters nationwide on August 14th!
[/TV Announcer Voice]
Are you interested in seeing this?
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Creative Director
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Hey James I noticed you have not been active here since Thursday.
I hope everything is okay.
HA! Was waiting for this!
I'm on vacation right now. I spent Thursday driving south, and then Friday and Saturday with my family celebrating my niece graduating from High School. Today through Tuesday are all about taking it easy in Point Arena. Wednesday and Thursday are the drive back north, via way of places like Willow Creek and Voodoo Donuts.
I'll be answering questions here and there for the next few days as the interest strikes me though! As evidenced by this and the posts I did before and after! :-P
Does your niece play Pathfinder?
How widespread is Pathfinder amongst your family?
She does not. No one else in my immediate family currently plays tabletop RPGs of any flavor.
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Creative Director
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How much would you say is too much? Like "This character's Shoanti Totem is X, the Harrow Card connected to him is Y, the symbol on his armor represents Z and this ties in with backstory element D, personality trait 7 and I've got no bloody clue!" How do you streamline a character so that the sorts of symbols and narrative ideas you attach to them don't become cluttered?It's hard for me to take a compliment that starts with "I was pleasantly surprised..." without assuming that you were expecting it to be terrible, of course... which makes me wonder what we've done to engender that expectation...Sorry if that's what I implied. I was looking forward to Occult Mysteries, but I thought it was going to cover territory that had already been hinted at in previous books, but in more detail (Veiled Masters, Dominion of the Black, Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, etc.), but then you went even further and created completely new stuff that took me completely by surprise, like the Knights of the Ioun Star and the Way of the Kirin, both of whom are incredibly awesome! "Pleasantly surprised" in this case was more along the lines, of "my expectations of good content were surpassed. It's not just good, it's GREAT!"
Do you think it's possible to pile TOO much symbolism or tropes onto an individual character?
It's absolutely possible to pile too much ANYTHING on an individual character.
And thanks for the clarifications! ;-)
By practicing the art of storytelling, both by writing a lot and by reading a lot and by watching a lot and by playing a lot.
Have you ever pondered including something just for the sake of your own sense of humor?
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Creative Director
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James,
What do you think the chances are of Desna employing Celestial Mothmen for random meddling?
Close to zero. I doubt there's enough celestial mothmen out there to matter. Desna's not super into redemption (that's more of a Sarenrae thing), but she DOES do it now and then (see Wrath of the Righteous)... but when she does, it's a REALLY unusual situation.
Mothmen are still gaining awareness in the game, though, and they need to mature more as monsters and as bad guys before I'm interested in diversifying them by throwing a redeemed mothman into the mix.
I only asked because they're Chaotic Neutral instead of Evil, so it wouldn't have to be a dramatic redemption and they're only one point off from Desna's alignment (and for all that they're called mothmen, their wings are pretty colorful so they're kind of butterfly-like). That said, I suppose a god using something like a mothman to interfere indirectly would be somewhat distorting the purposes of both mothmen and divine intervention.
Do you think that mothmen should be used more, either as villains or as mysterious complicating factors in adventures?
Yes. I use them relatively often in my games. They're great!
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Creative Director
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What are your feelings towards this sign?
I approve. WELL worth the 5 minutes it took to load on my parents prehistoric wireless internet. ;-)
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Creative Director
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I think I need to clarify my question:
Can a Monk of the empty hand use improvised weapons without the -4 penalty, without the use of any feats?
-
Your previous post in 2011 states the the archetype "treats improvised weapons as if she were proficient in them". I'm having trouble understanding your post.The reason being, I just can't seem to find anything in the archetype's description that says a Monk of the Empty hand gets proficiency in improvised weapons. The archetype's text seems to say only proficiently in shuriken and the ability to treat normal weapons as improvised weapons?
*Looking at the archetype as written, the intent of the archetype seems to expect the character to pick up Catch off guard or throw anything via bonus feats, IF the character wants to overcome the -4 penalty for using an improvised weapon.
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Are there any of the big 20 deities or other major gods that are not originally from your homebrew? Or that in bring them over to pathfinder/Golarion, they have been changed significantly? And if so, how much was changed?
Sounds to me like you're looking for an answer phrased more like what you might get posting the question over to the rules forums then, or that you're overthinking or overcomplicating the rules.
My homebrew didn't have a "core 20" deity list. That was something we came up for specifically for Golarion.
In some cases, the gods didn't change much at all (Desna, Zon-Kuthon, Sarenrae). In others, they changed relatively significantly (Rovagug went from being the god of the underworld and spiders and nightmares to what he is today). Some just changed their names (Turthonir became Pharasma). And some were entirely replaced (My setting has 3 deities of magic; Lydia for white magic, Proteus for gray magic, and Bolag for black magic, whereas Golarion has just Nethys.). There's a LOT more to go on there for the gods... far more than I can talk about in a post here. I've written thousands and thousands of words about them over the decades.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs:
can you make the great and all knowing Razmir a "official" god as I am starting to get tired of people questioning the true faith. I believe that out of all the people that has or will become a god he deserves it the most being omnipotent and compassionate. if this is not enough to persuade you here are a few more reasons to consider him.
1. outstanding taste in fashion, masks are all the rage now days.
2. he doesn't summon people to his realm/ plane of existence to torture them with bad music.
3. is vastly more interesting than other LE gods.
4. is currently only a lvl 19 wizard
5. due to limited word count you forgot to put his name on the CRB
6. he has unscrambled eggs.. without magic
7. top notch health care plan and inventive medicine
sincerely Razmiran priest 1
p.s. Razmir for 4715
Heh... nope. The whole point of Raz is that he's a fake.
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Creative Director
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Hey James I hope you are still enjoying your vacation.
So when you are away from the boards for a time...do you dread the amount of questions that will be piled up in this thread?
Nah, because I can pop on the internet in between trips to the ocean and hunts for lizards and naps and keep up with the thread. Don't dread it nearly as much as the actual work that's backing up... but hopefully, the vacation does its job and lets me get to a point where I don't dread it!
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Creative Director
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Are some of nyarlathotep's avatars low enough in power level to be statted? Specifically I was wondering about the Bloody Tongue.
Absolutely... although a lot of the avatars gamers are familiar with aren't ones we can stat up, since they were invented for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. We'd have to get special permission and a license to stat them up... which isn't impossible. We've done this before, with things like the dark young of Shub-Niggurath, but we can't make those rules open content... so we kinda shy away from doing that too much. We could certainly make up new avatars for him, but that's kinda missing the point as well. There's not as much nostalgic weight to that type of creation.
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Creative Director
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Are there any plans to expand on any of the other gods? For example, Apsu doesn't have any boons or obedience listed. What would be your recommendations for people wanting to play with Deific Obediences on gods that currently don't have support?
Absolutely; we'll still do deity articles in Pathfinder APs, and in there will include obediences and the like. At the rate of 4 per year. We might do other books that get more out faster... but no plans to do so there yet. So, it'll be a long journey but we'll get there.
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By practicing the art of storytelling, both by writing a lot and by reading a lot and by watching a lot and by playing a lot.How much would you say is too much? Like "This character's Shoanti Totem is X, the Harrow Card connected to him is Y, the symbol on his armor represents Z and this ties in with backstory element D, personality trait 7 and I've got no bloody clue!" How do you streamline a character so that the sorts of symbols and narrative ideas you attach to them don't become cluttered?It's hard for me to take a compliment that starts with "I was pleasantly surprised..." without assuming that you were expecting it to be terrible, of course... which makes me wonder what we've done to engender that expectation...Sorry if that's what I implied. I was looking forward to Occult Mysteries, but I thought it was going to cover territory that had already been hinted at in previous books, but in more detail (Veiled Masters, Dominion of the Black, Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, etc.), but then you went even further and created completely new stuff that took me completely by surprise, like the Knights of the Ioun Star and the Way of the Kirin, both of whom are incredibly awesome! "Pleasantly surprised" in this case was more along the lines, of "my expectations of good content were surpassed. It's not just good, it's GREAT!"
Do you think it's possible to pile TOO much symbolism or tropes onto an individual character?
It's absolutely possible to pile too much ANYTHING on an individual character.
And thanks for the clarifications! ;-)
I am doing that, but I feel like I overdo it every time.
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Creative Director
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[TV Announcer Voice]
Hey do you like riffing bad films? Do you enjoy comedy? did you hate 1998's Godzilla?Then come see Rifftrax Live, Godzilla! In select theaters nationwide on August 14th!
[/TV Announcer Voice]Are you interested in seeing this?
Absolutely. It's pretty much the ONLY way that I can ever imagine watching any of that wretched movie again.
The Howler in the Dark was originally published by Derleth but functioned as the basis for Chaosium's God of the Bloody Tongue. That being said I have no idea of the copyright status of it.
Kostchtchie's artwork shows him wearing a cage as a sort of necklace.
Is anyone in particular supposed to be in that cage?
I have my own ideas on it, but curious as to whether there's a canon explanation.
Contributor
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Are some of nyarlathotep's avatars low enough in power level to be statted? Specifically I was wondering about the Bloody Tongue.Absolutely... although a lot of the avatars gamers are familiar with aren't ones we can stat up, since they were invented for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. We'd have to get special permission and a license to stat them up... which isn't impossible. We've done this before, with things like the dark young of Shub-Niggurath, but we can't make those rules open content... so we kinda shy away from doing that too much. We could certainly make up new avatars for him, but that's kinda missing the point as well. There's not as much nostalgic weight to that type of creation.
Wouldn't he have some unique avatars specific to Golarion?