How loose/restrictive are you with reskinning in your games?
James
the super dungeon campaing is only based on killing hack and slash inside the dungeon? or it has a great RP potential inside?
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Pretty sure he stated perfectly clearly that it was to do with the size of the copy in Book of Eli, not Braille bibles in general.
Of course, if, as we say in Sweden, you read his replies like fundamentalists read the Bible, you can get whatever answer you want.
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Re: Swedish proverb: It is indeed possible to use the Bible as a "proof text" to support just about any position you want by cherry-picking verses out of context.
James: There is an inherent tension in RPGs rules between being simulationist vs. being a collective storytelling experience. (Or, to use terminology that I find somewhat offensive, "crunch" vs. "fluff.") I lean on the side of storytelling, and if i think that the rules are getting in the way, I ignore them.
When I GM, I tend to put the emphasis on the story and giving the players a fun time over being a sticker for the rules. I've gone on record saying that I won't let an inconvenient dice roll get in the way of the story.
I love the Golarion campaign world. However, I'm starting to become concerned about rules creep in PFRPG. I find the proliferation of options to be oddly limiting, as codification of minutia can limit on-the-spot creativity. At my table, the most creative players are those least familiar with the rules.
Where do you stand on the simulation vs storytelling issue when you GM? Any suggestion on what a GM in my position should do?
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I can probably guess what this specific reason is from hints dropped in Mystery Monsters and Demons Revisited, but since I know you can't confirm or deny the guess, I'll just ask this: will there be another Varisia AP where we get to deal with this specific reason?There'll be something. Maybe not an AP. But maybe. Maybe something else. Not anytime soon.
Is it runelordy stuff?!?!?!
The runelords and all the ancient leavings are probably what makes Varisia my mostest favorite area of Galoran. Will we be seeing more runelords rising out of the ashes in future Modules, scenarios, or APs?
I am particularly interested in Sorshen and the sidebar you wrote for Crown of Fangs describing her hidey hole beneath Castle Korvosa. Will we ever see the catacombs of lust fully realized?
Hi James!
Hope you are well.
If you did decide to do an adventure path about a redemption of Nocticula, would you see it as natural to have it use the Mythic rules?
Loving Lords of Rust by the way.
Creative Director
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James
the super dungeon campaing is only based on killing hack and slash inside the dungeon? or it has a great RP potential inside?
A dungeon that's only killing stuff gets old. It NEEDS to have other types of encoutners, traps and puzzles and DEFINITELY role play potential in order to stay fresh. I only worked on the last level of Emerald Spire, but there's plenty of areas in that level for sure that work with roleplaying, and there are definitely more on the levels above.
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Creative Director
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James: There is an inherent tension in RPGs rules between being simulationist vs. being a collective storytelling experience. (Or, to use terminology that I find somewhat offensive, "crunch" vs. "fluff.") I lean on the side of storytelling, and if i think that the rules are getting in the way, I ignore them.
When I GM, I tend to put the emphasis on the story and giving the players a fun time over being a sticker for the rules. I've gone on record saying that I won't let an inconvenient dice roll get in the way of the story.
I love the Golarion campaign world. However, I'm starting to become concerned about rules creep in PFRPG. I find the proliferation of options to be oddly limiting, as codification of minutia can limit on-the-spot creativity. At my table, the most creative players are those least familiar with the rules.
Where do you stand on the simulation vs storytelling issue when you GM? Any suggestion on what a GM in my position should do?
I actually agree with you about rules creep, and by doing more books like "Occult Adventures" I hope we can help to fight that by tying our new book releases into specific themes so that a GM can more easily decide what books to use or what ones to avoid.
The way to handle it is to limit the amount of books you allow your players to access when building their characters. Then, you can dip into the other books at a rate YOU prefer as the game unfolds to introduce new items or spells or the like as treasures or rewards. You should have this chat with the players BEFORE the campaign begins, of course. But in the end, the only rules that are allowed in any one game should be the ones the GM allows, and that does NOT have to be "every book." It probably shouldn't be, in fact, since the GM needs time to read and absorb the newer rules to determine if they're right for the game.
Personally, I generally let my players use all the books, but don't worry too much about micromanaging their characters. And when/if they use a rule that I'm not familiar with, they need to be on the spot on how it works or I'll just hand wave the results to keep the story going.
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Creative Director
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I can probably guess what this specific reason is from hints dropped in Mystery Monsters and Demons Revisited, but since I know you can't confirm or deny the guess, I'll just ask this: will there be another Varisia AP where we get to deal with this specific reason?There'll be something. Maybe not an AP. But maybe. Maybe something else. Not anytime soon.Is it runelordy stuff?!?!?!
The runelords and all the ancient leavings are probably what makes Varisia my mostest favorite area of Galoran. Will we be seeing more runelords rising out of the ashes in future Modules, scenarios, or APs?
I am particularly interested in Sorshen and the sidebar you wrote for Crown of Fangs describing her hidey hole beneath Castle Korvosa. Will we ever see the catacombs of lust fully realized?
No comment at this time. Have patience, though.
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Creative Director
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Hi James!
Hope you are well.
If you did decide to do an adventure path about a redemption of Nocticula, would you see it as natural to have it use the Mythic rules?
Loving Lords of Rust by the way.
That depends entirely on the kind of story I'd want to tell. At this point, though, at the most it would dabble in the mythic rules. And might not go that far.
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Creative Director
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Wouldn't freeing Rovagug in any even to do Golarion as to what happened to the Moon in "Kill The Moon" where the latter makes like an egg, and hatches?What would happen to someone or some group if they succeeded at beginning to destroy the Star Towers in an attempt to free Rovagug from his prison? Would we see another alliance, even if it's a small one, of the Gods on their followers to try and stop them?It'd take a LOT more than that to free Rovagug. The Star Towers only real purpose was to prevent his faithful from receiving spells, and they've long since lost that ability. Today the Star Towers are spooky adventure sites and not much more. A plot to free Rovagug would certainly include those trying to free him seeking out Star Towers for hints and clues on how to do it, but the actual mechanic for freeing him would involve a LOT more than just wrecking these things.
That said...
It's not something really that we have plans to do, in any event... so feel free to handle it how you wish for your games if you want to go ahead with this plotline.
Maybe. Maybe not. Rovagug isn't LITERALLY in the center of the world. He's trapped in a demiplane accessible via the depths of Golarion. What might happen when he emerges could be anything... it'd really be something that would drive an entire campaign.
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Creative Director
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Are we ever going to see more stuff with Nex? By far my favorite person the setting, and his story really sounds like a PC wizard who levelled like a madman.
Nothing anytime soon. He's kind of Erik Mona's pet NPC, and Erik is one of the busiest (if not THE busiest) people at Paizo... him getting time to write is pretty uncommon, and I'm not really interested in letting someone OTHER than Erik work on Nex.
Hi James. Long time lurker first time asker here. Which method do you prefer for determining ability scores and why, point buy or rolling? I've been a roller myself since way back in the roll 3d6 for each stat what you roll is what you get days of 2nd edition but some of my players have been pushing for a point buy lately.
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Hi James. Long time lurker first time asker here. Which method do you prefer for determining ability scores and why, point buy or rolling? I've been a roller myself since way back in the roll 3d6 for each stat what you roll is what you get days of 2nd edition but some of my players have been pushing for a point buy lately.
I prefer rolling for PCs (4d6, drop lowest, arrange as you want), and 15 or 25 point buy for NPCs.
If you have competitive players, though, point buy is the only real option.
How loose/restrictive are you with reskinning in your games?As the GM, I do it all the time. Just last week I used a Large giant bat stat block for a Medium giant raven.
I don't really let players do much reskinning at all.
Any reason in particular?
They should be really good at representing the character concept they are meant to represent, but they shouldn't be restricted to that single concept, nor should they be the only ones that can bring that concept to life.
IMO, that encourages player creativity and character variety, which brings more life into the game (IMHO, the greatest strength of tabletop RPGs is the player's freedom of choice and limitless opportunity of character development)
e.g.: Ranger (class) is a really freaking good way to create and play a skilled warrior from the wilds (concept), but Rangers are not restricted to that (they can be role-played in a variety of ways. My favorite Gladiator build was a Ranger) and are not the only ones who can fulfill that concept (Hunters, Druids, Barbarians, Slayers, Inquisitors, etc all can do play the role of "skilled warrior from the wilds", although using different mechanics, which gives them different strengths and weaknesses)
After all, what's the difference (in game) between a Paladin of Iomedae and a LG Cleric/Inquisitor/Warpriest of Iomedae who strictly adheres to his goddess' code for paladins?
Of course, there are difference in what they can do, but with the addition of archetypes, even characters with levels in the same class can have completely different abilities (e.g.: normal Paladin and Stonelord Paladin), which means there is no (in-game) way to know if that guy is a LG Cleric or a Paladin with a different set of skills and powers.
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Creative Director
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How loose/restrictive are you with reskinning in your games?As the GM, I do it all the time. Just last week I used a Large giant bat stat block for a Medium giant raven.
I don't really let players do much reskinning at all.
Any reason in particular?
** spoiler omitted **
Two reasons:
1) Because I prefer players to have a balanced access to options as a general rule, and if I allow players to design/reskin their options, that balance goes out the window, since no two players are equally talented at game design.
2) Because I prefer players to play within the constraints of a world rather than play outside of those constraints, because I prefer player characters to be a part of the game world and thus utilize existing options to play established roles in that game world.
I think you and I are talking about different things, though.
When I hear the word "reskinning" I think of "use stat block A to stand in for something else." Such as using a swarm of centipedes to play the role in-game of a swarm of snakes.
There's not really a need for players to reskin, since reskinning is a time-saving device for someone who doesn't have the time to build a stat block from scratch. That's all a player has to do, so reskinning isn't an issue.
Have you ever blamed Cosmo for anything? If so, what? :)
By "reskinning", I didn't mean designing/modifying mechanics (for that, I use the term homebrew), I just meant roleplaying a mechanical choice in a different way (e.g.: using a Slayer to play an assassin, instead of using the Assassin PrC, or using a Hunter to play a druid, instead of playing the Druid class).
That doesn't affect game balance, since the mechanics are exactly the same. From a role-play perspective, it probably wouldn't affect the constraints of the world either, as the characters don't know what class levels are (e.g.: Characters might know a guy is really good at stabbing people and has all sorts of talents, but they don't know what is a Rogue and what is a Slayer. They can know a guy can use nature magic and has an animal friend following him around, but they don't know what is a Ranger and what is a Hunter... Especially considering the word "hunter" is so open-ended. Even a commoner who hunts ducks for dinner is a hunter).
Obs: I use capital letters when referring to character classes and lowercase letters when referring to the character concept (e.g.: "Hunter" is the class and "hunter" is someone who hunts).
Quick question on feats in Advanced Classes Guide,
The prerequisite for the feat Kick Up is written as,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatic, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st or swashbuckler† level 1st.
But the image used to illustrate it shows the Iconic Magus. Is it possible that the intent was for,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st, swashbuckler† level 1st or Acrobatic.
When I hear the word "reskinning" I think of "use stat block A to stand in for something else." Such as using a swarm of centipedes to play the role in-game of a swarm of snakes.
There's not really a need for players to reskin, since reskinning is a time-saving device for someone who doesn't have the time to build a stat block from scratch. That's all a player has to do, so reskinning isn't an issue.
Interesing how we all see things the same and yet different. I have allowed players to "reskin" weapons for example. They want a Korean Hwando, poof they can reskin a longsord. Same stats just different "skin". I never thought of that as impacting balance so much as supporting role playing within the rules as printed.
On another subject, Couple of questions:
When creating names for NPCs or Places do you try and play on real world names or make them up from scratch?
When creating an adventure, do you "play it out" in your mind to see how it might go or do you use others to test the encounter out or do you just have a feel for it enough to trust ho the encounter will work once published?
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Hi James,
So, lets say that Noticula goes ahead with her alignment change into a flavor of neutral or even good.
What happens to her followers? Do they loose their minds? Do they change alignment? Do they all just turn purple (or some other really strange effect) as a result of such a massive shift in a major cornerstone of their existence?
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Creative Director
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By "reskinning", I didn't mean designing/modifying mechanics (for that, I use the term homebrew), I just meant roleplaying a mechanical choice in a different way (e.g.: using a Slayer to play an assassin, instead of using the Assassin PrC, or using a Hunter to play a druid, instead of playing the Druid class).
That doesn't affect game balance, since the mechanics are exactly the same. From a role-play perspective, it probably wouldn't affect the constraints of the world either, as the characters don't know what class levels are (e.g.: Characters might know a guy is really good at stabbing people and has all sorts of talents, but they don't know what is a Rogue and what is a Slayer. They can know a guy can use nature magic and has an animal friend following him around, but they don't know what is a Ranger and what is a Hunter... Especially considering the word "hunter" is so open-ended. Even a commoner who hunts ducks for dinner is a hunter).
Obs: I use capital letters when referring to character classes and lowercase letters when referring to the character concept (e.g.: "Hunter" is the class and "hunter" is someone who hunts).
Oh! Huh. That's the first time I've ever heard the word "reskinning" used in that way, hence my confusion.
I allow that to happen, and in fact kind of encourage players to play characters that are characters first and stats second.
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Creative Director
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Quick question on feats in Advanced Classes Guide,
The prerequisite for the feat Kick Up is written as,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatic, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st or swashbuckler† level 1st.But the image used to illustrate it shows the Iconic Magus. Is it possible that the intent was for,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st, swashbuckler† level 1st or Acrobatic.
Art is ordered for the book months and months before the final text is set in stone. Chances are good that when the art as ordered, that feat was entirely different, or the person ordering the art only knew what the feat did. The rules as written are correct.
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Creative Director
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When creating names for NPCs or Places do you try and play on real world names or make them up from scratch?
When creating an adventure, do you "play it out" in your mind to see how it might go or do you use others to test the encounter out or do you just have a feel for it enough to trust ho the encounter will work once published?
A little bit of both, but I skew heavily toward making them up from scratch.
A little bit of both... but after writing and developing adventures for my day job for over a decade, I've gotten pretty good at the "playing it out" in my mind. For the most part.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
So, lets say that Noticula goes ahead with her alignment change into a flavor of neutral or even good.
What happens to her followers? Do they loose their minds? Do they change alignment? Do they all just turn purple (or some other really strange effect) as a result of such a massive shift in a major cornerstone of their existence?
All good questions that would be answered in the context of such an event occurring, and would need a LOT of thought put into it. I've put a little into it and essentially there'd be a massive schism in her church and her trying to re-establish her new faith would be a big part of what her official church would be up to; the ones she "abandoned" would have to find new deities, but would likely be quickly snatched up by whoever stepped in to take her place in the Midnight Isles.
James
I understand that opening a door would take enough effort for making it impossible for a character with no hands to open it but what about closing the door with no hands?
can you close a door with an intelligent character with legs but without hands? in this could I even use my mouth to close this door? (I have a bite attack so my mouth is a bit bigger than normal which I could even use to pull the handle of the door and close it).
What do you think?
So, based on my own viewing of these two movies, have you seen...
1) Lair of the White Worm
2) The Stuff
And if so, what do you think of the monsters within?
Art is ordered for the book months and months before the final text is set in stone. Chances are good that when the art as ordered, that feat was entirely different, or the person ordering the art only knew what the feat did. The rules as written are correct.Quick question on feats in Advanced Classes Guide,
The prerequisite for the feat Kick Up is written as,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatic, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st or swashbuckler† level 1st.But the image used to illustrate it shows the Iconic Magus. Is it possible that the intent was for,
Prerequisites: Dex 12, Acrobatics 1 rank; slayer† level 1st, swashbuckler† level 1st or Acrobatic.
Depending on how you interpret it, the art is true to Setiyel as well. Setiyel (the Iconic Magus) was actually the Iconic Multiclass Character before he was made the Iconic Magus, and he's portrayed as such in all art prior to Ultimate Magic. You could always assume that Setiyel is a multiclass slayer / wizard / eldritch knight in that depiction as a result.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Is there a place on Golarion that's similar to the Roman Empire at it's height? I get the impression that Taldor at least partially is inspired by Rome after contracting and becoming decadent, but wondered if there's an active empire that's still in expansion mode somewhere.
I was reading through the Lissala article in the fifth book of Shattered Star, and it mentions that her alignment is Lawful Evil and she was widely worshipped by the Azlanti and the Thassilonians. I was under the impression that these two civilizations, though exceptionally prideful and full of hubris, leaned to a more neutral style (pre-Xin's death in Thassilon's case). Particularly with Xin's exile from Azlant and his belief that the Azlanti should work together with other races to create an even greater empire, and the seven nations of Thassilon being based on the seven virtues before his fall, he seems almost noble in his goals. So why was a goddess who is Lawful Evil so central to their beliefs? Even her overall description, though harsh, feels more Lawful Neutral to me.
On a different note, how do you figure the treasure value for a creature with class levels. For example, would a stone giant (CR 8) fighter 4 be considered a level 12 for determining how much loot it's equipped with, or would it only be considered level 4?
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Hi James,
What do you think of a character that is effectively a meme?
Aka, he or she is effectively a transmissible personality/thought?
On a mechanical level, he or she basically takes over a (willing?) body and if that body dies, he/she just transmit her personality into another body.
Story wise, say there is a cabal of assassins, and the head is "always" the same person in different bodies.
Asking for story building advise for a NPC.
----
And a 2nd question,
Are any of the Major Inner Sea gods a widow or widower?
(I know at least one of the Empyreal lord, Falayna, is a widow. But are there any among the major gods?
Shizuru does not count, she was a widow.)
3) What happens to the souls of a deity's worshipers, if that deity dies/disappears/vanish? Do they get pick up by other deities? Or become freelance(?)
James, do you and the crew plan on recreating all sorcerer bloodlines(at least all the ones in the hardback books) for the bloodrager?
James,
I am little confused on what the following ability from bow nomad kasatha archetype (from people of the stars) does.
Could you try to help me figure this out, please?
Focused Fire (Ex): At 6th level, the bow nomad must
select the Manyshot feat as her 6th-level combat style feat.
In addition to the normal benefit of Manyshot, the bow
nomad can specify the bow in her off hands as the source of
the second arrow (precision damage and critical damage are
still only added once). The bow nomad takes no two-weapon
penalties when using this ability, but she cannot use it and
Two-Weapon Fighting in the same round. The nomad can
still choose to use Manyshot in the normal manner.
At nth and 16th level, the bow nomad can apply this
ability to each of her iterative attacks. This ability alters
the 6th-level combat style feat and replaces camouflage and
hide in plain sight.
Hi James,
I don't know if you have heard of these or not, but there are poster maps of walk throughs of classic dungeons from 1st Edition. They are pretty funny. I've ordered the one for Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and Isle of Dread. Here is the link if you are interested:
James,
I am little confused on what the following ability from bow nomad kasatha archetype (from people of the stars) does.
Could you try to help me figure this out, please?
Focused Fire (Ex): At 6th level, the bow nomad must
select the Manyshot feat as her 6th-level combat style feat.
In addition to the normal benefit of Manyshot, the bow
nomad can specify the bow in her off hands as the source of
the second arrow (precision damage and critical damage are
still only added once). The bow nomad takes no two-weapon
penalties when using this ability, but she cannot use it and
Two-Weapon Fighting in the same round. The nomad can
still choose to use Manyshot in the normal manner.
At nth and 16th level, the bow nomad can apply this
ability to each of her iterative attacks. This ability alters
the 6th-level combat style feat and replaces camouflage and
hide in plain sight.
Example: Bow 1 is a +1 bane evil outsiders bow. Bow 2 is a +1 Lawful Bow.
When using Manyshot, you can shoot the devils with most of the arrows using bow 1 and the CN salad with one of the shots using bow 2, whose Lawful ability is useless against the devils (as Bow 1's ability is useless against the slaad).
The standard Manyshot user, all the shots have to come from the same bow.
If your bows are identical, this special ability basically has no effect.
---Hopefully saving James some typing time.
==Aelryinth
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Creative Director
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James
I understand that opening a door would take enough effort for making it impossible for a character with no hands to open it but what about closing the door with no hands?
can you close a door with an intelligent character with legs but without hands? in this could I even use my mouth to close this door? (I have a bite attack so my mouth is a bit bigger than normal which I could even use to pull the handle of the door and close it).
What do you think?
Depends more on the nature of the door and the nature of the limbs/tools/body parts of the creature that is trying to close the door. There are, essentially, an infinite number of variables here. And as such, it's the exact type of question that really can only be answered by the GM at the time the door closing occurs.
I would make a decision on the spot based on common sense and the situation at the time, in other words, but there's no way to nail down an answer for all cases since there are simply too many variables at play. Are you a character with arms that end at the wrists? Are you a snake with no arms at all? Are you a sphere of light? Is the door a normal door? Is the doorknob one you have to grip and turn or is it just a curved handle? Is it latched? Locked? Stuck?
The GM needs to have the ability to make those calls based on those variables.
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Creative Director
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Is there a place on Golarion that's similar to the Roman Empire at it's height? I get the impression that Taldor at least partially is inspired by Rome after contracting and becoming decadent, but wondered if there's an active empire that's still in expansion mode somewhere.
Taldor and Cheliax, primarily during the height of both those nations. There's not really one that's still in "expansion mode" though. That's not really a "current events" theme for Golarion.