Creative Director
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You mentioned that shalelu and merisiel are the same age, but how old is Merisiel then?
And in regards to everyone asking about marriages, did I just start something?
Same age as Shalelu. Ha! More seriously... I don't know what their ages are off the top of my head. Age is one of those things that I just don't find that important to track in-game, beyond the young/adult/middle age/old/venerable categories. Shalelu and Merisiel are both adults.
And nah... questions like those have been a part of this thread forever.
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Spoiler:1) What's the climate of Cauldron and stuff? I'm not sure where it should be set.2) Considering that beholders don't exist on Golarion, what should Vhalantru be replaced with?
3) Since demodands have a completely different role in Golarion's universe, originating in the Abyss and conquering it for their thanatotic titan overlords rather than jailors of a prison plane, how do the Cagewrights and their plans change?
4) Should mythic be used? Considering the AP has the PCs claiming an Abyssal layer and killing its master, plus preventing what would essentially be like the Worldwound from happening, it seems like there's a lot of parallels with stuff that happens in Wrath of the Righteous.
2) Don't change him at all. Leave him as-is, and that'll surprise your party all the more. The only reason beholders aren't in Pathfinder is because they weren't included in the OGL. There's nothing about beholders that makes them not appropriate for a Pathfinder game. In fact, I used beholders in my Sands of the Scorpion God game. No, I won't share the stats I built! ;)
3) Again... don't change it at all. Let them still do what they're doing in the AP. They can still be jailers.
4) I would not advise using Mythic. Although there are certainly elements in Shackled City that work well with Mythic, in my experience today, it causes more problems than it solves. If you and your players are comfortable with it, and you are eager for the challenge of both creating a game that will challenge mythic players AND with the idea that you WON'T be able to challenge them... go for it. If I were running it, I wouldn't touch Mythic. The AP wasn't built with mythic in mind.
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Answers:1) Sub-Tropical. Cauldron would fit in PERFECTLY in the Shackles, probably best on the mainland. 2) Don't change him at all. Leave him as-is, and that'll surprise your party all the more. The only reason beholders aren't in Pathfinder is because they weren't included in the OGL. There's nothing about beholders that makes them not appropriate for a Pathfinder game. In fact, I used beholders in my Sands of the Scorpion God game. No, I won't share the stats I built! ;)3) Again... don't change it at all. Let them still do what they're doing in the AP. They can still be jailers.
4) I would not advise using Mythic. Although there are certainly elements in Shackled City that work well with Mythic, in my experience today, it causes more problems than it solves. If you and your players are comfortable with it, and you are eager for the challenge of both creating a game that will challenge mythic players AND with the idea that you WON'T be able to challenge them... go for it. If I were running it, I wouldn't touch Mythic. The AP wasn't built with mythic in mind.
2) Wouldn't he need basic tweaks to work in Pathfinder rules anyway? And how do I explain a beholder in-universe? Like, a Golarion character going "What the hell IS that thing?!" since they wouldn't know what beholders look like as there's nothing in Golarion lore to account for beholders.
3) Yeah, they can be jailers, but Carceri doesn't exist on Pathfinder, so where would the planned "planar junction" lead to? The Abyss? Abaddon? I'm trying to figure out how best to place the plot into Golarion, and it feels like if I use the demodands without taking the new demodand lore into account, the villains of the AP will be out of sync with the canon.
4) Point taken. So what would that mean for Adimarchus, since the regular rules make him considerably weaker than demon princes like Deskari or Baphomet? Do I just handwave it as "he's lost so much power from being imprisoned for so long that non-mythic characters can take him?" That kinda feels like a copout from where I'm sitting.
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Will those wedding ceremonies be detailed in Romance of the Inner Sea? ^_^That's one of many things that could be in such a book, yes. And if there's a stronger call for such a book from the customers... that can only help get it put on a schedule.
What would be some other stuff you'd like to put in a Culture/Romance of the Inner Sea book?
We got: weddings, funerals, holidays, festivals (*cough*Swallowtail*cough*), cuisine, fashion, reasons (petty and not) for starting blood feuds, I can go on...
Ooo and feats/archetypes for helping out when you get into combat with your lover by your side, yes please and thank you!
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Hey James,
How do you handle the "forked metal rod attuned to the plane of travel" component requirement for the Planeshift spell?
Do you assume all spell component pouches have multiple rods? Or should a character have to specifically acquire one of these rods.
I ask because
If his pouch already had a tuning-rod for golarion, then it'll be quite easy to retreat and sell items, etc. Which also makes exploring Runeforge less challenging.
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Spoiler:1) Okay, so would Cauldron be a relic of Ghol-Gan? The Serpentfolk? I'm not sure. 2) Wouldn't he need basic tweaks to work in Pathfinder rules anyway? And how do I explain a beholder in-universe? Like, a Golarion character going "What the hell IS that thing?!" since they wouldn't know what beholders look like as there's nothing in Golarion lore to account for beholders.3) Yeah, they can be jailers, but Carceri doesn't exist on Pathfinder, so where would the planned "planar junction" lead to? The Abyss? Abaddon? I'm trying to figure out how best to place the plot into Golarion, and it feels like if I use the demodands without taking the new demodand lore into account, the villains of the AP will be out of sync with the canon.
4) Point taken. So what would that mean for Adimarchus, since the regular rules make him considerably weaker than demon princes like Deskari or Baphomet? Do I just handwave it as "he's lost so much power from being imprisoned for so long that non-mythic characters can take him?" That kinda feels like a copout from where I'm sitting.
2) Yes... you'd need to stat him up. And how you explain it is the same way you explain any monster you use for the 1st time in your group. Just tell the players that beholders are a very rare and thought-to-be-extinct monster from the Darklands/Dark Tapestry/deep jungle/Thassilon/Azlant/wherever.
3) Anywhere you want. And in fact, the Great Beyond is big. EASILY big enough to fit Carceri. If you wanna replace the demodands with qlippoth, though, you could instead have it be Rovagug's Dead Vault, I suppose.
4) Present Adimarchus not as a demon lord but as a nascent demon lord. That lets you stat him up in the CR 21–25 range, while simultaneously explaining why not more folks know about him.
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Will those wedding ceremonies be detailed in Romance of the Inner Sea? ^_^That's one of many things that could be in such a book, yes. And if there's a stronger call for such a book from the customers... that can only help get it put on a schedule.What would be some other stuff you'd like to put in a Culture/Romance of the Inner Sea book?
We got: weddings, funerals, holidays, festivals (*cough*Swallowtail*cough*), cuisine, fashion, reasons (petty and not) for starting blood feuds, I can go on...
Ooo and feats/archetypes for helping out when you get into combat with your lover by your side, yes please and thank you!
All of those are appropriate topics, as is sex. That's the elephant in the room, of course, and I suspect one of the big reasons folks are hesitant to go forward with the book.
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
How do you handle the "forked metal rod attuned to the plane of travel" component requirement for the Planeshift spell?Do you assume all spell component pouches have multiple rods? Or should a character have to specifically acquire one of these rods.
I ask because ** spoiler omitted **
For the typical planes, it's a non-issue. The tuning fork doesn't have a gp cost, and therefore it's assumed to be in a spell-component pouch. If it's for a more obscure plane, then I generally make the spellcaster track it down. This might mean some downtime skill checks, or in the case of SUPER obscure planes, like Runeforge, impossible to find without going on adventures as tough as those on the plane itself. That's the whole POINT of exploring those unexplored planes. Once a PC does so, I might let him/her fashion tuning forks for the plane though.
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All of those are appropriate topics, as is sex. That's the elephant in the room, of course, and I suspect one of the big reasons folks are hesitant to go forward with the book.Will those wedding ceremonies be detailed in Romance of the Inner Sea? ^_^That's one of many things that could be in such a book, yes. And if there's a stronger call for such a book from the customers... that can only help get it put on a schedule.What would be some other stuff you'd like to put in a Culture/Romance of the Inner Sea book?
We got: weddings, funerals, holidays, festivals (*cough*Swallowtail*cough*), cuisine, fashion, reasons (petty and not) for starting blood feuds, I can go on...
Ooo and feats/archetypes for helping out when you get into combat with your lover by your side, yes please and thank you!
A 'Cultures of the Inner Sea' book would probably be easier to get published but could still contain all (or nearly all) of the information here. It could easily go over ceremonies, festivals, courtship traditions, etc, without having to touch upon sex. To be honest, sex also doesn't change much regardless of which culture you are apart of, though some cultures are more experimental than others.
Unless people are looking for something like the mechanics of sex, and sex themed spells, feats and archetypes a la Book of Erotic Fantasy, then I think many would be satisfied with a 'Cultures of the Inner Sea'.
One could even do the various cultures as a part of a series. For example, a book all about Chelish, ceremonies, traditions, courtships etc, and even how they've changed since the rise of House Thrune (old Chelish traditions vs new Chelish traditions). Then a book on the various traditions of the Varisians, and a book on Shoanti practices, etc, etc.
A little series like that would, in my opinion, be quite fascinating to read, especially the Chelish one as it could show how different Chelish traditions were during Ardoen's influence, and how much they changed after the rise of House Thrune.
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Let's keep this thread to questions. And furthermore, this is not the right place to put requests for a "Romance of the Inner Sea" type book... since I've been pushing for a book like this for years. I'm hardly the one who needs convincing about this book here at Paizo.
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If customer feedback throws Paizo for a loop, like a certain type of product turns out more popular than you expected, what sort of timeline would be involved in readjusting publication plans? I'm understanding that you have product schedules pretty well planned out.
Like, if the Technology Guide had been super-popular enough to warrant an additional publication of some kind, say TG Volume 2 for simplicity's sake, how fast could you fit something like that in your plans? How quickly does customers' voting with their dollar affect your publication plans?
If Distant Shores Gazetteer sells through the roof, would we still have to wait 2-3 years before you could deliver some additional product in the same vein?
1)What type(aether, air, earth, fire, water) of kineticist is the iconic kineticist?
2)Which of the new classes from the Occult Adventures interest you most?
3)Will there still be monsters in the Occult Adventures book or has that been moved to the Occult Bestiary?
4)How many character classes for pathfinder would you think would the max number you would want to see?
5)What movies have you seen lately?
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What other good outsiders serve Shelyn besides agathions and azatas?
Can anyone submit a pathfinder story to be featured in an adventure path?
How do you usually come up with what we will be the next ap?
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Creative Director
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If customer feedback throws Paizo for a loop, like a certain type of product turns out more popular than you expected, what sort of timeline would be involved in readjusting publication plans? I'm understanding that you have product schedules pretty well planned out.
Like, if the Technology Guide had been super-popular enough to warrant an additional publication of some kind, say TG Volume 2 for simplicity's sake, how fast could you fit something like that in your plans? How quickly does customers' voting with their dollar affect your publication plans?
If Distant Shores Gazetteer sells through the roof, would we still have to wait 2-3 years before you could deliver some additional product in the same vein?
The quickest we could probably act to put something out in this time frame would be about 9 months, I suspect, and that would probably still cause a lot of ripples and problems behind the scenes so it'd have to be something unprecedented.
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The quickest we could probably act to put something out in this time frame would be about 9 months, I suspect, and that would probably still cause a lot of ripples and problems behind the scenes so it'd have to be something unprecedented.
What's the quickest you have acted to change plans due to customer feedback/unexpected sales in the past? You know, on that scale of an entirely new product that you didn't have many/any plans for beforehand? Or has that never happened?
I know you don't release any absolute sales numbers, but can you say anything about what products had the most actual sales in comparison to expected sales?
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Creative Director
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What other good outsiders serve Shelyn besides agathions and azatas?
Can anyone submit a pathfinder story to be featured in an adventure path?
How do you usually come up with what we will be the next ap?
Angels, moreso even than azatas, but less so than agathions.
No.
Usually it's either myself or Rob, depending on which AP in question is being worked on, who comes up with the plot for an AP, and then both of us plus Adam Daigle, Wes Schneider, and a few others work out the broad details, but then it's back to myself or Rob to write out the whole 20,000 word outline. An AP is very much something that benefits from having one person's vision and NOT a committee.
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Creative Director
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1)What type(aether, air, earth, fire, water) of kineticist is the iconic kineticist?
2)Which of the new classes from the Occult Adventures interest you most?
3)Will there still be monsters in the Occult Adventures book or has that been moved to the Occult Bestiary?
4)How many character classes for pathfinder would you think would the max number you would want to see?
5)What movies have you seen lately?
1) You'll need to wait until the book's out or we put up that character's Meet the Iconics blog.
2) Probably the medium.
3) There's no monsters in Occult Adventures. That's a big part of why we're doing Occult Bestiary.
4) Personally? We're way past that number for my own preference, but classes sell books, so we'll see.
5) Fury Road. All other movies are meaningless.
Which occult adventures Iconic is your favorite so far?
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If by American Lion you mean mountain lion, then I gotta go with that. Otherwise, sabretooth!Tell me, oh cat loving dinosaur...
American Lion, or Sabretooth tiger?
The American Lion is an extinct ancestor to the Jaguar, about 25% larger than the modern day African lion. Went extinct with the rest of the megafauna.
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Creative Director
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The American Lion is an extinct ancestor to the Jaguar, about 25% larger than the modern day African lion. Went extinct with the rest of the megafauna.If by American Lion you mean mountain lion, then I gotta go with that. Otherwise, sabretooth!Tell me, oh cat loving dinosaur...
American Lion, or Sabretooth tiger?
Lame lion that is! Sabertooth all the way in that event.
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Who is writing the Iblydos chapter of the Distant Shores book?
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What are the Kellid Barbarians' opinions on androids? Especially in Starfall?
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Do you like charau-ka to look like chimpanzees like in their Ecology article, or like baboons in the ISWG? Or both?
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What are the Kellid Barbarians' opinions on androids? Especially in Starfall?
On a good day, mistrust and suspicion. The typical opinion, alas, is one of fear and violence; Kellids see androids as part of the problem facing Numeria and tend to get violent with them on average.
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Creative Director
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Until the next movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World comes out, I presume?
5) Fury Road. All other movies are meaningless.
I'm 99.999999% certain that Jurassic World will not be able to touch Fury Road. The trailers for Jurassic World actually make me nervous and worry that it's gonna be the first movie in that franchise I won't enjoy. AKA: it's not the CGI that impressed me the most in Jurassic Park.
Put another way: I like Fury Road more than Jurassic Park, and I can't envision a world where Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park. I could be wrong. I'd be DELIGHTED to be wrong. But there's just too much in the Jurassic World trailer that reeks of pale imitation.
Wait, let's not just gloss over this: you liked Jurrasic Park 2 and 3?
Really?
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I wanted to ask more about the treatment of androids in Numeria. Do they have full civil rights, as much as such a formal concept exists or lack thereof? Can you kill them with impunity, or would the law protect them? What sort of a real world analogy would give me the right idea for how they're being treated? Are there lynch mobs? "We don't serve androids" signs in taverns? Would the local militia harass them out of town? Mixed marriages being spat on? Does an android have to fear being dragged out of his home at night, tied to a cross and beaten?
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Wait, let's not just gloss over this: you liked Jurrasic Park 2 and 3?
Really?
Yes. Really. They weren't nearly as good as Jurassic Park (which is in my top 20 movies, MAYBE the top 10 depending on the day), but they're fine and entertaining movies on their own with fun dinosaur action and plenty of impressive practical effects... something it appears that Jurassic World won't have.
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Since androids have been a thing of discussion lately, any thoughts on Ex Machina?Until the next movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World comes out, I presume?
5) Fury Road. All other movies are meaningless.
I'm 99.999999% certain that Jurassic World will not be able to touch Fury Road. The trailers for Jurassic World actually make me nervous and worry that it's gonna be the first movie in that franchise I won't enjoy. AKA: it's not the CGI that impressed me the most in Jurassic Park.
Put another way: I like Fury Road more than Jurassic Park, and I can't envision a world where Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park. I could be wrong. I'd be DELIGHTED to be wrong. But there's just too much in the Jurassic World trailer that reeks of pale imitation.
None yet; haven't seen it but I want to.
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Creative Director
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I wanted to ask more about the treatment of androids in Numeria. Do they have full civil rights, as much as such a formal concept exists or lack thereof? Can you kill them with impunity, or would the law protect them? What sort of a real world analogy would give me the right idea for how they're being treated? Are there lynch mobs? "We don't serve androids" signs in taverns? Would the local militia harass them out of town? Mixed marriages being spat on? Does an android have to fear being dragged out of his home at night, tied to a cross and beaten?
Depends on the city. In Iadenveigh, an android would likely be lynched or run out of town. In Starfall, they'd be enslaved and experimented on by the Technic League—killing them would get you in trouble in the same way breaking civic property gets you in trouble in other towns. In Chesed, they're likely ignored but would still need to worry about League agents or sympathizers abducting them for shipment to Starfall. In Hajoth Hakados, they actually have an android district, I believe.
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James, how to you pronounce 'jyoti' and 'sceaduinar'?
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Depends on the city. In Iadenveigh, an android would likely be lynched or run out of town. In Starfall, they'd be enslaved and experimented on by the Technic League—killing them would get you in trouble in the same way breaking civic property gets you in trouble in other towns. In Chesed, they're likely ignored but would still need to worry about League agents or sympathizers abducting them for shipment to Starfall. In Hajoth Hakados, they actually have an android district, I believe.
My group is currently in Iadenveigh at the moment, one of them being an Android Techslinger, however my understanding was that while they hate them, they are still a Lawful Good community and wouldn't form a lynch mob at the first sign of an Android. I don't mean to dispute you, I usually defer to your judgement however my understanding from reading the material and how I've done it is that no one in town will really talk to or serve the Android or members of their party. As such, the shopkeeps and what not have pretty much closed their doors to the party and the council only begrudgingly puts up them because they
How does that sort of behavior line up with a Lawful Good community?
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So...in Starfall, for example, it would be perfectly legal for the League to enslave them? Or would the city police be compelled to rescue them?
There's a LOT More info in the Numeria book and Iron Gods, particularly Part 5 as far as Starfall is concerned. In Starfall, the "city police" are more or less the Technic League, and they treat androids as their property in the same way they treat ALL technology as their property. If anyone is going to rescue an android in Starfall, it more or less has to be the PCs (or a group of similar heroes).
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Depends on the city. In Iadenveigh, an android would likely be lynched or run out of town. In Starfall, they'd be enslaved and experimented on by the Technic League—killing them would get you in trouble in the same way breaking civic property gets you in trouble in other towns. In Chesed, they're likely ignored but would still need to worry about League agents or sympathizers abducting them for shipment to Starfall. In Hajoth Hakados, they actually have an android district, I believe.My group is currently in Iadenveigh at the moment, one of them being an Android Techslinger, however my understanding was that while they hate them, they are still a Lawful Good community and wouldn't form a lynch mob at the first sign of an Android. I don't mean to dispute you, I usually defer to your judgement however my understanding from reading the material and how I've done it is that no one in town will really talk to or serve the Android or members of their party. As such, the shopkeeps and what not have pretty much closed their doors to the party and the council only begrudgingly puts up them because they ** spoiler omitted **.
How does that sort of behavior line up with a Lawful Good community?
Lynch mob isn't the right phrase, but they wouldn't treat an android all that friendly in Iadenveigh. The town has difficulty dealing with technology due to fear, and androids would not be welcome in town. They wouldn't execute them on sight without a trial, but would probably do their best to make them want to leave. Fear makes even lawful good people behave poorly.
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So, in Starfall, the Technic League hold the legislative, judicial and executive power, and androids are effectively without civil rights, legally considered to be property and not people, much like slavery South?
Would the android district in Hajoth Hakados be comparable to elven alienages in Dragon Age, essentially ghettos/slums where they can barely subsist and humans can drop by at any time to beat them up and rape them with impunity?
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Creative Director
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So, in Starfall, the Technic League hold the legislative, judicial and executive power, and androids are effectively without civil rights, legally considered to be property and not people, much like slavery South?
Would the android district in Hajoth Hakados be comparable to elven alienages in Dragon Age, essentially ghettos/slums where they can barely subsist and humans can drop by at any time to beat them up and rape them with impunity?
The android district in Hajoth Hakados is somewhat comparable to the alienages, yes.
As for Starfall, androids have NO rights really. They're things, according to the Technic League. Treated the same way they treat any other piece of technology—as their right and legacy to take apart, examine, explore, and utilize to further their own nefarious goals. Androids are not slaves in Starfall as much as they are experimental stock.