I want to run my players through an introduction to the campaign setting and the new ruleset, but I notice that rise of the runelords is built for 3.5. Should I start with a different published adventure path? What is the ultimate introduction to pathfinder, in your eyes?
I'm not James Jacobs, but if you do go ahead and start RotRL here are some good resources:
Bestiary conversions from 3.5 to PFRPG
and a LOT of great community-created material here.
Carry on!
Not really. The difference in power level between 3.5 and Pathfinder isn't as immense as most folks think... especially when you factor in the XP progression rate—characters in 3.5 increase in level more quickly than do characters on the Medium XP track in Pathfinder. Individual player experience is a more important factor in most cases.Would you be worried that pathfinder characters would be over-powered for the campaign?Runelords may be 3.5, but as it was the first AP built for Golarion, it remains a pretty good way to introduce players to the world, since part of Runelords' goal was to ease new players into the world. It starts small and lets the PCs organically learn about one of the major bits of history in the world.
I'm working on a conversion of this myself, and my concern is getting the advancement to synch properly. I like the medium xp track because I thought 3.5 was a little too fast, but will the PC's level fast enough in Runelords using medium advancement? I'm not adverse to squishing a few PC's, but I don't want it to be because I did a poor job of converting the module.
Creative Director
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I asked a question before but either you could not answear it because it might spoil UC or you just missed it. So I'll rephase it.
There seems to be three kinda of classes Core, Base and alternative. My question is in regards to Alternative classes.
Are you guys going put archetypes out for alternative classes? Or can the Alt class take archtypes from what they are based on...(IE could samurai take cavalier archetypes)?
That'll be a question for Ultimate Combat to answer! :-P
I've recently said this, on this thread even, but Trollhunter really is a fantastic little flick. I loved the version I saw (Netherlands with Subtitles) though I am looking forward to seeing the domestic version to see if it is any different. I have heard it is being remade by Hollywood.
Splice was far more cerebral than I thought it would be. It definitely kept me guessing, and for any movie to do that takes some work.
Now a question.
James would you care to expound on your views of the Godzilla remake? I am not looking to attack your viewpoint or anything ignorant like that; just curious what you didn't like about it. I have seen it several times and thought it was a decent little 're-imagining"; to be fair though, it HAS been a few years...
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Creative Director
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James would you care to expound on your views of the Godzilla remake? I am not looking to attack your viewpoint or anything ignorant like that; just curious what you didn't like about it. I have seen it several times and thought it was a decent little 're-imagining"; to be fair though, it HAS been a few years...
If you're talking about the Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla... what I didn't like about it is pretty much everything. It might actually be my least favorite movie. I've only seen it once, but I came out of the theater wanting to punch people. The movie is just shot through with terrible choices and bad ideas.
1) Godzilla doesn't breathe fire. That's right there enough of a reason to hate the movie.
2) The acting is bad, particularly in the case of the woman who played the main female lead.
3) Had some stupid snide stuff where the movie makers were taking cheap shots at their critics—particularly in the form of "Mayor Ebert." Lame.
4) Moving the action to New York was nonsensical, especially considering they kept the monster's origins to the Pacific.
5) Godzilla's size kept changing randomly. In one shot, his eye is like 20 feet across, and in another he's got no problem moving through sewer tunnels.
6) The last quarter of the movie isn't a Godzilla movie at all—it's a remake of Jurassic Park, and a stupid one at that.
7) Godzilla doesn't knock down A Single Building. The buildings tower over him, in fact, which is lame. The US Military does more property damage than Godzilla does.
8) Godzilla's death scene, where he gets tangled in the cables of a suspension bridge and is killed by missiles is completely anticlimactic—the real Godzilla would have shrugged off those missiles (and indeed, this Godzilla DOES shrug off stuff like that during the movie when the plot wants her to), and would have just torn that bridge apart.
9) Godzilla was overall too small.
10) The impact of his size was randomly ignored; in one scene, his footsteps cause all the cars on the street to shake up and down, but in all other scenes they don't.
11) It doesn't use any of the classic Godzilla music from the previous movies at all.
12) I don't like the design of Godzilla, particularly his big "Popeye" chin.
13) They stole the ending from the 70's version of King Kong, in which the giant monster's heartbeat slowly winds down while tiny humans look on. Not only is it lame that they stole another movie's final scene, but they stole a final scene that is from a really bad remake that was STILL a better remake than this movie.
14) Having Godzilla be a mutant iguana is really pretty stupid and silly. The originals have either explained him as a mutant dinosaur, a physical personification of the horrors of war, or didn't bother explaining him at all—ALL better explanations than "mutant iguana."
15) The special effects were competently done for the most part, but were soulless. They had no artistry to them. They had no character to them. And I know that being CGI isn't an excuse—look at what WETA did with the digital effects in the Lord of the Rings movies, or the monster from "The Host," or the CGI creatures in any Guillarmo del Toro movie to see proof that CGI doesn't have to mean "soulless."
I could go on, but that's a good sampling of why I thought it was such a horrifically terrible movie.
If you're talking about the Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla... ...
Yup that's the one.
So...wow. Fair enough. For the most part I think I actually agree with every point you made, though I don't think I had ever actually thought of about 13 of them before. The breathing fire thing and the jurassic park vs madison square garden thing were always the big two on my list. Now that you have pointed those other things out, I am probably going to re-watch it with an eye towards them, and if I know me, I will hate it as well.
Thanks!
This has me jonesing for Super 8. It looks like it could be really neat, though I know almost nothing about it.
I saw Thor last week, definitely some good Jotunheim love there! And seriously, see Trollhunter as soon as you are able! ;)
Also, I cannot remember if I asked you already, but have you seen the trailer for Orcs! yet? That looks delicious.
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1. Can an Eidolon apply the 'Reach' evolution to a non-natural attack?
2. Can an Eidolon take the Improved Natural Armor evolution twice by the time the Summoner is level 6? If not, at what level may he take it a second time?
3. Do either of the previous answers change depending on RAW vs RAI?
4. When designing a monster (such as an Eidolon, lol) do they get the +3 skill bonus for investing in 'class' skills?
5. Favorite book ever?
6. Favorite comic book/ TPB?
7. Favorite movie?
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Creative Director
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This has me jonesing for Super 8. It looks like it could be really neat, though I know almost nothing about it.
I saw Thor last week, definitely some good Jotunheim love there! And seriously, see Trollhunter as soon as you are able! ;)
Also, I cannot remember if I asked you already, but have you seen the trailer for Orcs! yet? That looks delicious.
I was already super excited to see "Super 8" even before I read a list of the movies that the director, Abrams, cited as being the most influential to what "Super 8" was about—
Close Encounters of the Third KindJaws
John Carpenter's The Thing
Alien
Slumber Party massacre
Scanners
E. T.
I'll be seeing Trollhunter at midnight this Friday on the first day of the Seattle Independent Film Festival. Tickets are already purchased.
Haven't seen the trailer for Orcs yet.
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Creative Director
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1. Can an Eidolon apply the 'Reach' evolution to a non-natural attack?
2. Can an Eidolon take the Improved Natural Armor evolution twice by the time the Summoner is level 6? If not, at what level may he take it a second time?
3. Do either of the previous answers change depending on RAW vs RAI?
4. When designing a monster (such as an Eidolon, lol) do they get the +3 skill bonus for investing in 'class' skills?
5. Favorite book ever?
6. Favorite comic book/ TPB?
7. Favorite movie?
1) Yes.
2) He can take Improved Natural Armor at 1st level, then again at 5th level, then again at 10th level, and so on.3) No.
4) Yes.
5) "The Dunwich Horror and Others" (Pub. Arkham House)
6) Tie between the original "Turok: Son of Stone" and "Sandman." (not sure what you mean by "TPB" here)
7) Alien.
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What deity would you recommend to a Paladin dedicated to the ideal of "Justice" (a remake of an old Planescape Mercykiller of mine)? I'm looking at Abadar, but is there anyone else better suited, perhaps outside of the big 20?
Thanks
*EDIT* Less than five minutes to get a personal response from the Creative Director... Sure beats writing a letter to Dragon Magazine... :)
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Creative Director
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What deity would you recommend to a Paladin dedicated to the ideal of "Justice" (a remake of an old Planescape Mercykiller of mine). I'm looking at Abadar, but is there anyone else better suited, perhaps outside of the big 20?
Thanks
Abadar is the best choice for justice, since justice is a trope of civilization, and Abadar's all about civilization. He also won't let goodness cloud his vision.
I have a quick question to help settle a very minor disagreement between my DM and myself.
We are currently playing Shackled city and have just finished rescueing the poor little orphans after it took us several weeks of game time.
The argument arose when we went to get our reward and before we could go back down the stormblades swooped in and finished cleaning out everything that was left,granted it wasn't alot less than 500gp. but the point was I felt the DM robbed us of loot buy rushing us useing the prisoners as a hook and then not letting us go back for the last few copper.
Heres where you come in.
The DM made the statement "game designers don't expect the party to find every secret door and loot every chest of treasure, or to haul out valuable furniture to sell or keep for themselves"
You are the resident game designer I can email so I would like to ask you. When you design random dungeon X do you plan on the party finding every copper and hauling out all the loot or not?
My DM's justification was he felt that we as a 2nd-3rd level party simpley had enough in his opinion.
I disagree because missed loot is a scroll or potion that could be the diffrence between life or TPK.
This has nothing to do with who's right or wrong,my dm and I have been going round and round about this for many years I am simply intrested in what you as a desginer have to say.
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Creative Director
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I have a quick question to help settle a very minor disagreement between my DM and myself.
We are currently playing Shackled city and have just finished rescueing the poor little orphans after it took us several weeks of game time.
The argument arose when we went to get our reward and before we could go back down the stormblades swooped in and finished cleaning out everything that was left,granted it wasn't alot less than 500gp. but the point was I felt the DM robbed us of loot buy rushing us useing the prisoners as a hook and then not letting us go back for the last few copper.
Heres where you come in.
The DM made the statement "game designers don't expect the party to find every secret door and loot every chest of treasure, or to haul out valuable furniture to sell or keep for themselves"
You are the resident game designer I can email so I would like to ask you. When you design random dungeon X do you plan on the party finding every copper and hauling out all the loot or not?
My DM's justification was he felt that we as a 2nd-3rd level party simpley had enough in his opinion.
I disagree because missed loot is a scroll or potion that could be the diffrence between life or TPK.This has nothing to do with who's right or wrong,my dm and I have been going round and round about this for many years I am simply intrested in what you as a desginer have to say.
For a quick question, that's a pretty sizable messageboard post!
We actually DON'T expect the average party to find every secret door or loot every chest of treasure. (We also assume that a portion of treasure that IS recovered is sold at half price, broken/used, or even donated.) That's why we generally put a lot more treasure into each adventure than what the guidelines say each PC should probably have for each level.
But there's something else going on here as well—those Stormblades DID sneak in after you and took advantage of your hard work! You cleared out most of the dangerous stuff, then they swooped in when you weren't looking and grabbed a bunch of treasure that probably should have been your group's. And I bet now the Stormblades are living it up in some fancy tavern with all that loot!
Don't be mad at the GM, in other words. Be mad at those dastardly Stormblades! Those guys are JERKS! (In other words... the Stormblades are supposed to be your competitors, and one way they can compete against you is for treasure.)
In this case, there's two things going on. We don't expect a single average group to 100% loot dungeons, AND we deliberately included a rival adventuring group that does things like this on purpose. The Stormblades have a pretty important role to play in the adventure path, and I don't want to spoil it much for you... but at this point early in the adventure, being frustrated and annoyed at the Stormblades is where you should be.
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WOW. I am amazed at your quick response and really can't thank you enough.
Granted the answer wasn't what I was expecting but "oh well" the loud rooster sound you hear across country will be my DM crowing like a gargantuan rooster about how he was right and I'm a greedy ass (like it's a bad thing?)
As far as the stormblades, don't sweat them, we arn't. I as a humble cleric of Wee Jas am very proficent in my ladies favored weapon of a poison dagger as well as poison crafting after all it's all alchemy and no knowledge is ever wasted.
My group is haveing an amazing time with this AP and can't wait to see what happens next.
Thanks again for the answer.
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Creative Director
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I know this will be answered next month when the next book of Carrion Crown is released, but will Nyarlethotep remain true to his trickster ways? You know, like Loki but more clever and less emo, at least by Marvel's version of him. The Crawling Chaos is my favorite creature of the mythos so I am a bit anxious here.
Which physical version of Dagon will you be using? The gigantic Deep One (Skum) version, this version which I am having trouble describing http://www.armchairempire.com/images/action-figures/dagon.jpg , or some other historical variant?
Will Father Dagon have the Mother Hydra couterpart from some of the lovecraft stories if you are using the Lovecraft version?
Are there any powerful sunken cities in Golarian like R'lyeh or Y'ha-nthlei?
Why is Lovecraft's version of Dagon sometimes carrying a large pillar? I can't remember.
Out of all the Lovecraft movies made, which is your favorite and/or least favorite?
If I were to change how Nyarlathotep works, there'd be no point calling him/her/it Nyrlathotep, would there? AKA: Nyarlathotep's pretty much the same character he/she/it is in Lovecraft and in the COC RPG.
Dagon's already been covered; he's in the Abyss, detailed in "Lords of Chaos." He's basically a giant sea monster
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra are located on Earth, and as such they're not going to be playing much of a part of anything on Golarion.
Yes; there are a LOT of creepy sunken cities on Golarion. We've named a few, mostly aboleth cities. They're out there.
I'm not sure what you're referencing regarding Dagon carrying a large pillar, honestly... Was that something from the short story, "Dagon"?
The silent movie version of "Call of Cthulhu" is my favorite... although I'm lucky enough to live in Seattle, where the same folks are about to do their North American premiere of "Whisperer in the Darkness" so that could become my new favorite in a few weeks. I quite like "Re-Animator," "From Beyond," and "Dagon" by Stuart Gordon, and Dan O'Bannon's "The Resurrected" is pretty good too, but they're not perfect. My LEAST favorite? There's too many to choose from, but if I had to pick one that was actually a legitimate attempt to turn one of his stories into a movie, and not something that was just cashing in on his names (like the dreadful "Cthulhu Mansion"), and not an amateur movie or a short, I would probably say that "The Lurking Fear" was the worst.
Will we ever have a campaign arc where players get to interact peacefully with Dragons? Or will we be keeping to the 'big, powerful, not interested in your squishy little things' mindset?
I can fully see Metallic Dragons using Humanoid agents to further their own agendas, and definitely the Blue and Greens would be interested in creating a pyramid-scheme with themselves at the top, but is there any network of Dragons out there who work together, at least from a distance, to ensure they aren't hunted to extinction and/or maintain a healthy level of fear, respect and awe from the 'skinny two-legged rats'?
On the other hand, I would dearly love to see a wing of Chromatics sweep across the land, burning everything and looting what's left 'Just Because'.
On to a different topic, I've had a player complain that my 'end boss characters' are always Humanoids. I've always been a fan of 'Mortals are the greatest evil' mindset, being that most of the horrible things that happen in fantasy worlds are the result of somebody being greedy, cruel, sadistic or generally just a plain bastard. Sympathetic Tyrants, End-Justifies-The-Means types and just plain God-Complex sorts abound, and I'm a little worried that my 'twist' at the end is no longer quite so twisty. Any suggestions?
"What point in worshipping the Gods or obeying their Earthly Tools when they merely give us power to 'do it ourselves'. Damn them to the Nine Hells, give me a Work of Man that will lead to a brighter future through any means, than an Act of God that benefits only those fools who live on their knees!"
PCs then forced the issue, 'Boss' Shrugged, snapped his fingers and let four elite Horned Devils, all with Rings of Invisibility, jump into the fray and sat down to continue his meal. PCs eventually killed Devils, threatened the Boss with a beating if he didn't surrender, then were laughed at as the Boss asked which court in the world could possibly convict him, given he could bring the ruling classes of three different nations crashing down with just a few minutes of confession.
Thankfully at this time, the PCs were saved the dilemma by their Paladin allies wandering in, grabbing the Boss and saying that worked fine for them, they'd pull the corruption out, root and all, and told the PCs to come with them and help control the chaos. Fast-forward six months, the PCs and Paladins have taken control over the corrupt criminal empire, purged all the completely evil sorts and set to trying to stop the rioting, civil wars and the like that happened after the collapse of the three Nations' ruling systems and the exposure of all the criminal elements. They're a bit peeved about being cheated of giving this guy a severe beating, but given the Paladins are forcing him to tell the truth and have branded him with so many Marks of Justice the Boss is risking heart-failure just for thinking Evil thoughts and they are actually causing real change on the continent for the better, they're still feeling very Heroic.
We actually DON'T expect the average party to find every secret door or loot every chest of treasure. (We also assume that a portion of treasure that IS recovered is sold at half price, broken/used, or even donated.) That's why we generally put a lot more treasure into each adventure than what the guidelines say each PC should probably have for each level.
That explains a lot. My group is always trying to find every copper, and if we are not pressed for time we will take 20, even after clearing the dungeon.
PS:We always seem to have a lot of treasure.
For Dagon carrying a pillar, I am talking about things like this http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=90288 and this http://alexmasterson.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/dagon.jpg?w=450&h=600. I keep seeing Dagon carrying this thing and I have no idea what people are referencing. Was hoping you would know.
If you don't mind, I will keep asking you questions about Call of Cthulhu when I have them since I am a big fan but you clearly are more knowledgeable on the subject then I am.
I am sure you have covered some thing in other books, but most of these books are the ones my DM has directly told me not to read since I am a player because he is dreading spoilers for any games he may run. Otherwise I would have had a subscription.
Dagon's temple was the site of Samson's death in the Bible, brought about by his smashing the support pillars. Hence the many pillars of the Innsmouth temple, and the great monolith in the story Dagon. Tyson and Simon associated Dagon with pillars as cult symbols in their "Necronomicons."
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Creative Director
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For Dagon carrying a pillar, I am talking about things like this http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=90288 and this http://alexmasterson.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/dagon.jpg?w=450&h=600. I keep seeing Dagon carrying this thing and I have no idea what people are referencing. Was hoping you would know.
If you don't mind, I will keep asking you questions about Call of Cthulhu when I have them since I am a big fan but you clearly are more knowledgeable on the subject then I am.
I am sure you have covered some thing in other books, but most of these books are the ones my DM has directly told me not to read since I am a player because he is dreading spoilers for any games he may run. Otherwise I would have had a subscription.
Weird... never seen Dagon carrying that. It might be something to do with the real-world Dagon as a Phoenecian deity, perhaps?
Anyway... ask away!
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Creative Director
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Dagon's temple was the site of Samson's death in the Bible, brought about by his smashing the support pillars. Hence the many pillars of the Innsmouth temple, and the great monolith in the story Dagon. Tyson and Simon associated Dagon with pillars as cult symbols in their "Necronomicons."For Dagon carrying a pillar, I am talking about things like this http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=90288 and this http://alexmasterson.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/dagon.jpg?w=450&h=600. I keep seeing Dagon carrying this thing and I have no idea what people are referencing. Was hoping you would know.
If you don't mind, I will keep asking you questions about Call of Cthulhu when I have them since I am a big fan but you clearly are more knowledgeable on the subject then I am.
I am sure you have covered some thing in other books, but most of these books are the ones my DM has directly told me not to read since I am a player because he is dreading spoilers for any games he may run. Otherwise I would have had a subscription.
HA! I knew it! Thanks, Jeff!
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Creative Director
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Will we ever have a campaign arc where players get to interact peacefully with Dragons? Or will we be keeping to the 'big, powerful, not interested in your squishy little things' mindset?
I can fully see Metallic Dragons using Humanoid agents to further their own agendas, and definitely the Blue and Greens would be interested in creating a pyramid-scheme with themselves at the top, but is there any network of Dragons out there who work together, at least from a distance, to ensure they aren't hunted to extinction and/or maintain a healthy level of fear, respect and awe from the 'skinny two-legged rats'?
On the other hand, I would dearly love to see a wing of Chromatics sweep across the land, burning everything and looting what's left 'Just Because'.
On to a different topic, I've had a player complain that my 'end boss characters' are always Humanoids. I've always been a fan of 'Mortals are the greatest evil' mindset, being that most of the horrible things that happen in fantasy worlds are the result of somebody being greedy, cruel, sadistic or generally just a plain bastard. Sympathetic Tyrants, End-Justifies-The-Means types and just plain God-Complex sorts abound, and I'm a little worried that my 'twist' at the end is no longer quite so twisty. Any suggestions?
** spoiler omitted **...
We'll probably get an AP where the PCs get to peacefully interact with a dragon some day. Has to be the right AP and the right time, though.
Anyway, if a player complains that the end boss is always a humanoid... take that as a challenge. That's what I did when folks complained the opposite, and said that our AP end bosses were always outsiders and NEVER humanoids. The result of me challenging my rut using non-humanoid bosses was Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness.
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Creative Director
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1) Godzilla doesn't breathe fire. That's right there enough of a reason to hate the movie.This is a lie. There is a scene where Zilla breathes fire.
Nope... THAT'S the lie.
There's a scene where Gino ("Godzilla In Name Only") roars at someone when there's an exploding truck in front of his mouth, and his breath blows the fire outward.
Not the same as how Godzilla's breath functions in every single other Godzilla movie. It's certainly not "breathing fire." At best, it's akin to blowing out a candle.
Saying that he's breathing fire in that scene would be like making a superman movie where superman can't fly, but putting a scene in where he jumps off a flight of stairs to land on a trampoline 4 feet below and then when he bounces up, pretending that the second or so he's in the air he's flying.
If the intention of the movie makers WAS that this was to be the scene where Gino breathes fire... that'd be the next item on my list of things that suck about the movie.
Hi James--
Burnt Offerings mentions that the four families that founded Sandpoint worship Abadar, Sarenrae, Shelyn and Gozreh, but not which family worships which god. My guess is below--what do you think?
The Deverins: Shelyn
The Kaijitsus: Sarenrae
The Scarnettis: Abadar
The Valdemars: Gozreh
--Mike
1) Godzilla doesn't breathe fire. That's right there enough of a reason to hate the movie.This is a lie. There is a scene where Zilla breathes fire.
I always thought it was some type of atomic/nuclear ray.
Dear Mr. Jacobs,
how does one pronounce "Paueliel" (the big silver-barked trees with a rumored connection to fey) correctly?
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Creative Director
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Hi James--
Burnt Offerings mentions that the four families that founded Sandpoint worship Abadar, Sarenrae, Shelyn and Gozreh, but not which family worships which god. My guess is below--what do you think?
The Deverins: Shelyn
The Kaijitsus: Sarenrae
The Scarnettis: Abadar
The Valdemars: Gozreh--Mike
More like:
Deverins: Sarenrae
Kaijitsus: Shelyn
Scarnettis: Abadar
Valdemars: Gozreh
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Creative Director
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I always thought it was some type of atomic/nuclear ray.1) Godzilla doesn't breathe fire. That's right there enough of a reason to hate the movie.This is a lie. There is a scene where Zilla breathes fire.
Yup; it's basically nuclear fire.
Not hot breath blown over a burning taxi. Or whatever it was in that silly movie.
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Creative Director
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Hi James!
This question has also been asked here and here, but with no answer.
When wielded in melee, is a chakram considered a light weapon or one-handed weapon?
My apologies if this has been clarified elsewhere. Thanks!
My take; a chakram is essentially the same thing as a starknife, but without the stabby parts. And since a starknife is a light weapon, it makes sense that a chakram would be too.
Do you know when/if the backgrounds for Balazar (iconic summoner), Feija (iconic witch), and Imrijka (iconic Inquisitor) are likely to show up in the Paizo Blog?
Never even been to New York city.
you're not missing anything. :-)
You are a fount of wisdom and knowledge, as always. *tips hat*
James, what's your thought about the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat? I find its worthiness as a feat debatable, but I find that more to do with the choices of exotic weaponry to be lacking.
As a sidebar to this question, I was certain that kukris were an exotic weapon early in 3.0, but somewhere around the 3.5 switch, they became martial weapons. What are the determining factors that decide whether a weapon is simple, martial or exotic?
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Creative Director
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James, you have further earned my respect for being both a Lovecraft fan and Godzilla fan. Anyways, my question.
A friend was reading one of the Conan stories and he wants me to find out if the Book of Skelos is also part of the Cthulhu mythos. You know, since so many things shared worlds back then because of Lovecraft's writing circle. You know, like a shoggoth showing up in one of the old Conan stories in Weird Tales. So is The Book of Skelos in the Lovecraft universe or is it basically just their version of the Necronomicon? Similar powers, different world. Oh and one thing I have been telling my friends so they would stop saying these guys ripped each other off is just that Howard's and Lovecraft's world exist somewhat in the same canon universe. They are just different worlds, times, or dimensions. Just makes sense to me when Lovecraft and Howard shared monsters, lore, deities, and so on. Plus some of the monster were multi-dimensional due to the powers of Yog-Sothoth.
Having the Book of Skelos be linked to the Cthulhu Mythos is not only likely... it's probably an intentional link. Howard and Lovecraft borrowed a lot of inspiration and story plots from each other, after all, and knew each other pretty well via letters. In fact, Lovecraft ENCOURAGED other writers like Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, and others to use the names he came up with and to make up new ones. Lovecraft did the same, using names and stuff those authors created in his own writing. The end result makes these elements seem so much more compelling since it's not just one author building upon it but several.
And since many of those writers ended up being one of the primary inspirations for D&D in the first place, that's why I think Lovecraft's ideas fit so well into fantasy RPGs even if he wasn't as famous for his own fantasy stories as he was for his horror or sci-fi.
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Creative Director
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James, what's your thought about the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat? I find its worthiness as a feat debatable, but I find that more to do with the choices of exotic weaponry to be lacking.
As a sidebar to this question, I was certain that kukris were an exotic weapon early in 3.0, but somewhere around the 3.5 switch, they became martial weapons. What are the determining factors that decide whether a weapon is simple, martial or exotic?
Frankly? I think that we fell down in making exotic weapons worth it for the most part.
My take: Exotic weapons should be better than martial weapons of otherwise equal value, because it takes a feat to learn just one exotic weapon. I think we over-nerfed exotic weapons, and in my home games, I generally boost their effects up a little.