Creative Director
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How much of your time does posting on this thread take out of your day?
My guess, overall, is about 30 minutes or so. I generally post to the thread when I get to work, then periodically check in throughout the day a few times when I need a quick 3 to 5 minute break from doing other stuff... and then often post again at night before I go to bed (as I am right now).
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Creative Director
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James, whose idea was it to sneak partial origin stories for Amiri and Seelah into the newest PF comics? Pretty cool!
Erik's idea, I believe. The whole point of these origin stories is to start introducing other iconics. There'll be one more in each of the four to come.
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Creative Director
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Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.
No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
What is the most "MERICA!" thing you've ever seen in your life?
"Fiend" is easier and faster to type.
Fair enough. Thanks!
1. someone upthread asked about "the Rise of the Rune Lords update to PFS book". Which book is that?
2. Aeon or æon?
3. Either way, how is it pronounced?
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Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
I see. Does it have to be something that happened TO the ghost or can it be because of something the ghost DID? Like, say while they were alive they held someone prisoner and starved them to death, and when they died their spirit stuck around at the scene of the crime, keeping the spirit of its victim captive in death as it had in life?
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1. The Imperious sorcerer bloodline for humans corresponds to descent from ancient human empires. Which societies (and corresponding present-day peoples) in Golarion would you say are most likely to give rise to such scions?
2. If a (likely rare) lich wanted to experience mortal sensations like food, sex, drugs etc.; how would it go about it? Could a lich use polymorph magic to gain living senses and reactivities? Could it magic jar into a proxy living servant to use its body? What would be most thematic in your opinion?
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Creative Director
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Do you feel a wizard or alchemist who devoted their build to creating magic items or potions for the rest of the team is an applicable strategy? Essentially sacrificing almost all of their spell slots in order to create items, meaning in combat they don't do much but they provide their teammates with cheap items.
Yes, I do. I also feel that this type of character is not one that most players would like to play, since it regulates so much of their role to support and away from the limelight of being the "hero" who steps in to save the day in a direct and obvious way. It's the same reason that folks tend to look down on other support characters like bards or clerics, and when they DO play those types of characters, more often than not tend to grumble and grouse when they have to spend their actions in combat supporting the team rather than jumping in to "save the day."
The item crafting support spellcaster generally works best as a cohort, as a result.
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Creative Director
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1. someone upthread asked about "the Rise of the Rune Lords update to PFS book". Which book is that?
2. Aeon or æon?
3. Either way, how is it pronounced?
1) I have no idea. There might be a PFS chronicle for playing some of Runelords out there... I assume there is, but I'm not really up to speed on all the PFS stuff.
2) Aeon, since that uses letters in the english alphabet.
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Creative Director
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I see. Does it have to be something that happened TO the ghost or can it be because of something the ghost DID? Like, say while they were alive they held someone prisoner and starved them to death, and when they died their spirit stuck around at the scene of the crime, keeping the spirit of its victim captive in death as it had in life?Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
As a general rule, ghosts are the results of situations that spontaneously arise, and are generally NOT undead that form out of conscious plans or on purpose. Pretty much every other type of undead that's not a ghost forms this way, and so when you deliberately try to turn someone undead, they generally become one of the many existing types of undead creature, not a ghost. It's part of what sets ghosts apart from much of the other undead, and part of why ghosts are the undead most likely to not be evil.
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Creative Director
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1. The Imperious sorcerer bloodline for humans corresponds to descent from ancient human empires. Which societies (and corresponding present-day peoples) in Golarion would you say are most likely to give rise to such scions?
2. If a (likely rare) lich wanted to experience mortal sensations like food, sex, drugs etc.; how would it go about it? Could a lich use polymorph magic to gain living senses and reactivities? Could it magic jar into a proxy living servant to use its body? What would be most thematic in your opinion?
1) Any of the ancient societies that are gone today. Azlant, Thassilon, Jitska, Shory, Ancient Osirion, Ninshabur, Yixing, and so on would all work.
2) Alter self, or some similar polymorph effect, would certainly work, as would magic jar, or gentle repose if the lich kept casting it on his body. And in fact, some liches might be able to enjoy physical pleasures like that normally, depending on the exact methods of their transformation into lichdom.
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As a general rule, ghosts are the results of situations that spontaneously arise, and are generally NOT undead that form out of conscious plans or on purpose. Pretty much every other type of undead that's not a ghost forms this way, and so when you deliberately try to turn someone undead, they generally become one of the many existing types of undead creature, not a ghost. It's part of what sets ghosts apart from much of the other undead, and part of why ghosts are the undead most likely to not be evil.I see. Does it have to be something that happened TO the ghost or can it be because of something the ghost DID? Like, say while they were alive they held someone prisoner and starved them to death, and when they died their spirit stuck around at the scene of the crime, keeping the spirit of its victim captive in death as it had in life?Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
Are there any deliberately self-created undead types that are incorporeal and capable of possession, then? Or would a malevolent being of this type be better represented by a fiend?
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Creative Director
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Are there any deliberately self-created undead types that are incorporeal and capable of possession, then? Or would a malevolent being of this type be better represented by a fiend?As a general rule, ghosts are the results of situations that spontaneously arise, and are generally NOT undead that form out of conscious plans or on purpose. Pretty much every other type of undead that's not a ghost forms this way, and so when you deliberately try to turn someone undead, they generally become one of the many existing types of undead creature, not a ghost. It's part of what sets ghosts apart from much of the other undead, and part of why ghosts are the undead most likely to not be evil.I see. Does it have to be something that happened TO the ghost or can it be because of something the ghost DID? Like, say while they were alive they held someone prisoner and starved them to death, and when they died their spirit stuck around at the scene of the crime, keeping the spirit of its victim captive in death as it had in life?Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
The dybbuk comes to mind.
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The dybbuk comes to mind.Are there any deliberately self-created undead types that are incorporeal and capable of possession, then? Or would a malevolent being of this type be better represented by a fiend?As a general rule, ghosts are the results of situations that spontaneously arise, and are generally NOT undead that form out of conscious plans or on purpose. Pretty much every other type of undead that's not a ghost forms this way, and so when you deliberately try to turn someone undead, they generally become one of the many existing types of undead creature, not a ghost. It's part of what sets ghosts apart from much of the other undead, and part of why ghosts are the undead most likely to not be evil.I see. Does it have to be something that happened TO the ghost or can it be because of something the ghost DID? Like, say while they were alive they held someone prisoner and starved them to death, and when they died their spirit stuck around at the scene of the crime, keeping the spirit of its victim captive in death as it had in life?Are there ghosts who don't have an event or something "anchoring" them to the Material like an unsolved murder or site they're guarding? Like, they die, but they stick around and possess people to ride their bodies around and re-experience things they enjoyed in life, avoiding crossing over because they're just having too much fun living it up through their puppets until they're spent or something? I can imagine some Urgathoans doing something like this if they don't wanna give up some of the stuff that you can't really do as a rotten corpse like a lick or vampire.No. That's the whole point of what a ghost is. If there's no event to anchor them, they don't get anchored, and thus don't become ghosts.
Forgot about them. How do dybbuks typically form?
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Creative Director
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Is there a language you would recommend basing Androffan on? I'm about to start an Iron Gods campaign, and one of my players is going to play an android who may have originated from the Silver Mount. Based on some notes from previous souls, he's going to string together an Androffan name for himself.
There is not a language I would recommend basing it on. There's a sidebar about it on page 33 of "Fires of Creation," though, that says that, when spoken aloud, it sounds crisp,, clipped, and efficient. So that suggests a short name to me. One with hard consonant sounds.
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James,
Who's awesome? You're awesome!
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They generally form after a person dies of a great transgression or pitiful suicide, and thus lingers to try to fulfill an insane need or right some great failure.
Forgot about them. How do dybbuks typically form?
I see. Insane need definitely fits the villain forming in my mind, but I'm not sure how his transgression (starving his sister-in-law in order to "fix" her and then becoming a spirit so he can maintain his hold over her even after death, proceeding to body surf into anyone foolish enough to move into their old house so he can eat their souls in a similar manner, building a stable of spiritual victims he can lord over and torment as he pleases) would kill him to spark the transformation into a dybbuk, though.
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Creative Director
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James,
1) Are any of the Paizo staff NPC's like Kirin, Ostog, and Shensen expected to make an appearance in the Pathfinder comic series?
2) What sort of novel do you imagine you would use Shensen in if you had that option available to you?
3) Speaking of which, how goes Kirin's quest to pass the test of the starstone so he can destroy it?
1) At this point, I don't think any are scheduled to appear. Erik MIGHT have sneaked in an Ostog easter egg, but I'm not sure.
2) Shensen is actually going to play a pretty big role in Hell's Rebels... but beyond that, there are a few proto-ideas that I've been kicking around for her that I'm not yet ready to fully reveal, other than to note that the Skinsaw Cult and the Red Mantis would likely be involved.
3) It's pretty much stalled out. James left the campaign at the halfway point, and so my assumption is that Kirin is slumming along the ship trade routes slowly making his way toward Absalom. Whether or not he makes it... who can say?
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Creative Director
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So do you think it would be discouraged among the PbP recruitments on this thread? Do you think GMs would be more likely or less likely to select that kind of character?Do you feel a wizard or alchemist who devoted their build to creating magic items or potions for the rest of the team is an applicable strategy? Essentially sacrificing almost all of their spell slots in order to create items, meaning in combat they don't do much but they provide their teammates with cheap items.Yes, I do. I also feel that this type of character is not one that most players would like to play, since it regulates so much of their role to support and away from the limelight of being the "hero" who steps in to save the day in a direct and obvious way. It's the same reason that folks tend to look down on other support characters like bards or clerics, and when they DO play those types of characters, more often than not tend to grumble and grouse when they have to spend their actions in combat supporting the team rather than jumping in to "save the day."
The item crafting support spellcaster generally works best as a cohort, as a result.
I would think that'd depend entirely on the game and the GM. Every game, and every GM, is different.
how likely are you to use a Half-Fiend Dinosaur on an AP?
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Squeak?
Now that I got that bit of silliness out of my system on with my real question. Keep on the Boarderlands/Caves of Chaos was always my go to adventure for introducing new as in rookie players to D&D. I haven't looked too deeply into your module line yet. What low level module would you recommend for bringing in new inexperienced players into Pathfinder?
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Creative Director
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What are top five most common(I'm aware they are all rare, but still) half-dragon types? (I mean by types the non dragon half of the creature)Why would chromatic dragons create half-dragons since they look down non dragons?
Same about why would metallic dragons create half-dragons?
Are half-dragons created by wizard experiments with dragon blood more common than ones created by actual dragons?
Can wyverns and drakes be half-dragons?
Half dragons are not interesting enough to me to really be interested in there being "five most common types." There's none that stand out more than the others, in other words.
That's an individual choice per dragon. But also with magic in the world... there's a lot more ways to get a half dragon than via offspring.
The half dragon templet says it can be added to ANY living,corporeal creature. Wyverns and drakes are living and corproeal. So yes of course it can be applied to them. And in fact it's more interesting to me to see a half-dragon wyvern than a half-dragon humanoid of any race.
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Creative Director
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Now that I got that bit of silliness out of my system on with my real question. Keep on the Boarderlands/Caves of Chaos was always my go to adventure for introducing new as in rookie players to D&D. I haven't looked too deeply into your module line yet. What low level module would you recommend for bringing in new inexperienced players into Pathfinder?
The Beginner Box is the best way to introduce new players to the game, I think.
My favorite 1st level adventure we've published in the modules line is "The Dragon's Demand." It's a longer adventure, but it covers a LOT of the things that I feel make Pathfinder fun, from fighting iconic monsters to lots of fun roleplay opportunities.
Now that I got that bit of silliness out of my system on with my real question. Keep on the Boarderlands/Caves of Chaos was always my go to adventure for introducing new as in rookie players to D&D. I haven't looked too deeply into your module line yet. What low level module would you recommend for bringing in new inexperienced players into Pathfinder?The Beginner Box is the best way to introduce new players to the game, I think.
My favorite 1st level adventure we've published in the modules line is "The Dragon's Demand." It's a longer adventure, but it covers a LOT of the things that I feel make Pathfinder fun, from fighting iconic monsters to lots of fun roleplay opportunities.
Breaking the rules here because it's not a question. But I'm currently a player in a friends Dragon's Demand game and I'm loving it. And whlie it is a bit longer than what I was looking for it does have a lot of those elements that would make it great for a newbie. The answer was right in front of me all along. Thanks a million.
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Hello James,
I’m looking for some suggestions for the main antagonists for a dark lands based adventure, and I thought you might enjoy spinning up an idea or two. Here’s a bit of background, I’ll keep it brief and spoiler free.
So here's what I’m currently mulling around. To paraphrase; during a past session, the party located an ancient Thassilonian shrine to Lisalla. The shrine had been recently modified by a group of stone giants who had carved some new chambers, and interred the remains of their leader, a deceased stone giant wizard (transmuter). My party explored the shrine, solved the riddles, bypassed the traps, dealt with the tombs denizens, and reached the burial chamber. There they were suddenly plagued with a rare bout of common sense, and decided to leave well enough alone. Worried about possibly unleashing some new horror upon the unsuspecting world, they re-sealed the burial chamber, reset the traps and left, with the intention on returning someday, better prepared to face whatever's inside.
Now I’m looking to plan the adventure for their return. The party will be level 10 or so at that time. I'm leaning toward something burrowing/tunneling up from below, possibly to get at the giant’s remains, possibly to get at some magical "Macguffin" entombed with him. As all of this is located below a Shrine to Lisalla, antagonist(s) linked to the goddess would be fun. I’d get to explore some of her lore, delve into the darklands, and play in ancient Thassilion’s sandbox. I'm leaning toward Seguthai/Neothelid involvement as it would really appeal to the party's tastes and I do have the Gargantuan "Mashaaf, Great Old One" miniature from the Reaper Bones 2 Kick-stater i've been dying to use....
As you’re the resident expert in all things that slither in the dark, is there anything you would suggest?
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Creative Director
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Hello James,
I’m looking for some suggestions for the main antagonists for a dark lands based adventure, and I thought you might enjoy spinning up an idea or two. Here’s a bit of background, I’ll keep it brief and spoiler free.So here's what I’m currently mulling around. To paraphrase; during a past session, the party located an ancient Thassilonian shrine to Lisalla. The shrine had been recently modified by a group of stone giants who had carved some new chambers, and interred the remains of their leader, a deceased stone giant wizard (transmuter). My party explored the shrine, solved the riddles, bypassed the traps, dealt with the tombs denizens, and reached the burial chamber. There they were suddenly plagued with a rare bout of common sense, and decided to leave well enough alone. Worried about possibly unleashing some new horror upon the unsuspecting world, they re-sealed the burial chamber, reset the traps and left, with the intention on returning someday, better prepared to face whatever's inside.
Now I’m looking to plan the adventure for their return. The party will be level 10 or so at that time. I'm leaning toward something burrowing/tunneling up from below, possibly to get at the giant’s remains, possibly to get at some magical "Macguffin" entombed with him. As all of this is located below a Shrine to Lisalla, antagonist(s) linked to the goddess would be fun. I’d get to explore some of her lore, delve into the darklands, and play in ancient Thassilion’s sandbox. I'm leaning toward Seguthai/Neothelid involvement as it would really appeal to the party's tastes and I do have the Gargantuan "Mashaaf, Great Old One" miniature from the Reaper Bones 2 Kick-stater i've been dying to use....
As you’re the resident expert in all things that slither in the dark, is there anything you would suggest?
I generally try to avoid questions that delve into the "Help me design my adventure/campaign setting/character" since that's an endless rabbit hole AND for legal reasons (I'd rather not muddy the line between answering questions and helping create actual content that could in the future cause problems if I or Paizo ends up doing something similar to what gets discussed here).
If you're interested in doing something with Lissala, though, I suggest you check out Pathfinder Adventure Path #65. That has the added benefit of not only having her deity article, but an adventure that deals a little bit with Darklands themes that should help inspire you.
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Thanks James,
I totally understand, and appreciate the suggestion. I've been meaning to delve Shattered Star for a while, so I'll pick up #65 and check out the Lissala article. That, combined with a refresher read through of Into the Darklands, should generate plenty of ideas.
On another unrelated note, have you ever seen the movie Red Cliff (directed by John Woo), or read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the ancient Chinese novel on which its loosely based?
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Creative Director
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Thanks James,
I totally understand, and appreciate the suggestion. I've been meaning to delve Shattered Star for a while, so I'll pick up #65 and check out the Lissala article. That, combined with a refresher read through of Into the Darklands, should generate plenty of ideas.
On another unrelated note, have you ever seen the movie Red Cliff (directed by John Woo), or read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the ancient Chinese novel on which its loosely based?
I have indeed seen Red Cliff.
In pretty much every case, every single John Woo movie I've seen has underwhelmed me. Partially because his fans are so good at overselling his movies, and partially because I just think his overdirection detracts from the experience.
Red Cliff is the only one of his movies that escaped that reaction from me—I quite enjoyed it! And yes, I did indeed see the giant super-long cut of the movie.
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Are you a spellcaster, by the way? Should we start calling you Tyrannosaurus Hex?Nope.
I guess I jumped to conclusions. You like rogues more, right?
...ohcrapatrexwithSNEAKATTACK! D:
What does the telepathic voice of a pseudodragon sound like? For some reason I imagine them to sound like Sam Lavagnino (Catbug in Bravest Warriors).
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Hey James,
I sometimes see monsters with more than two arms (anywhere between 4 to 6), but I can't seem to find a ruleset or template for what kind of CR increase that would be. Do you guys have an in-house rule for +X CR for every two additional arms, or is there a template somewhere that I'm just not seeing?
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Creative Director
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Are you a spellcaster, by the way? Should we start calling you Tyrannosaurus Hex?Nope.I guess I jumped to conclusions. You like rogues more, right?
...ohcrapatrexwithSNEAKATTACK! D:
What does the telepathic voice of a pseudodragon sound like? For some reason I imagine them to sound like Sam Lavagnino (Catbug in Bravest Warriors).
Since it's composed of thought, it doesn't "sound" like anything.
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
I sometimes see monsters with more than two arms (anywhere between 4 to 6), but I can't seem to find a ruleset or template for what kind of CR increase that would be. Do you guys have an in-house rule for +X CR for every two additional arms, or is there a template somewhere that I'm just not seeing?
That's not how CR works at all.
CR looks at things like hit points, AC, attack bonuses, average damage, saving throws, and ability DCs and that's pretty much it.
The only one of those things that really gets impacted at all by multiple arms is average damage.
The more arms you give a creature, the more damage overall it does, so as a general rule, more arms = higher CR than an otherwise equal creature with less arms.
In the end, how much damage the creature does with all those arms should fit the rest of its expected stats. It doesn't in and of itself come with a "CR increase."
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Hey James,
I sometimes see monsters with more than two arms (anywhere between 4 to 6), but I can't seem to find a ruleset or template for what kind of CR increase that would be. Do you guys have an in-house rule for +X CR for every two additional arms, or is there a template somewhere that I'm just not seeing?
That's not how CR works at all.
CR looks at things like hit points, AC, attack bonuses, average damage, saving throws, and ability DCs and that's pretty much it.
The only one of those things that really gets impacted at all by multiple arms is average damage.
The more arms you give a creature, the more damage overall it does, so as a general rule, more arms = higher CR than an otherwise equal creature with less arms.
In the end, how much damage the creature does with all those arms should fit the rest of its expected stats. It doesn't in and of itself come with a "CR increase."
Hmm. I have to admit that I did not see that answer coming. That's good to know though. Puts the half-marilith variant fiend template into a different perspective too.
(Catbug in Bravest Warriors).
James, do you have a favorite day of the week?