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Who was Niltak?
A mist-shrouded canyon found in the Red Mountains of north-eastern Varisia. No one knows what the origins of the rift....
In my Varisia Sandbox the PCs are likely going to explore the Red Mountains (which for me is just the singe, "Red Mountain") and will thus 'discover' The Rift of Niltak in a few sessions' time.
Can't Wait!
Now, with the help of previously published Varisa lore, I have mapped out the vast gorge with detailed encounters, and even designed an open-ended background, loosely explaining its bizarre & monstrous flora, fauna, giant vermin and an insanity-causing Artifact (from a long, long ago war/gambit involving Lamashtu, Mazmezz, and even Barbatos of Hell!) that infuses the entire canyon with eldritch energy.
But I don't know from where the name NILTAK comes.
So, Jacobs -- WELCOME back to the Thread! I'm happy you've returned!
And I'm wondering if there is any design history on The Rift of Niltak and specifically who he was, that I can use for further inspiration and weave into my own design -- or if it's just a name with nothing in the background and I ought just create it from scratch.
Thanks!
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And I'm wondering if there is any design history on The Rift of Niltak and specifically who he was, that I can use for further inspiration and weave into my own design -- or if it's just a name with nothing in the background and I ought just create it from scratch.
Thanks!
I don't belive we've published much more about the Rift of Niltak, but it is indeed a region I exported out of my homebrew setting. Its original inspiration was the Wormcrawl Fissure from Greyhawk—I wanted a region in my setting that had a creepy, monster-filled "Grand Canyon." I don't have my Baria files here at work so I can't reference them to remind myself if I had any other lore from my setting about who or what Niltak was... I have vague proto-memories that Niltak was something like a dragon worm that walks though, which would mesh well with the inspiration.
Of course, many many years after I invented the Rift of Niltak (but years before I included it in Varisia) I got the chance to write "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure" for Age of Wyrms, so feel free to look at that adventure for inspiration, I suppose?
Welcome back James! I hope you will have a good time in thread now.
My Malevolence group has mostly finished the adventure, we will have a short epilogue session next week or so. Everyone had a lot of fun with memorable moments, I'd say.
Before jumping into the next Pathfinder adventure I want to have a few sessions playing something else. Outside of a Starfinder one-shot I don't have any plans yet and am curious:
What are some non-Pathfinder TTRPGs that you enjoy? I am guessing Call of Cthulhu too.
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Welcome back James! I hope you will have a good time in thread now.
My Malevolence group has mostly finished the adventure, we will have a short epilogue session next week or so. Everyone had a lot of fun with memorable moments, I'd say.
Before jumping into the next Pathfinder adventure I want to have a few sessions playing something else. Outside of a Starfinder one-shot I don't have any plans yet and am curious:
What are some non-Pathfinder TTRPGs that you enjoy? I am guessing Call of Cthulhu too.
Yay; glad you enjoyed the haunted house!
Call of Cthulhu is probably my FAVORITE RPG in fact. At the very least, it's on equal footing to Pathfinder.
I've played a lot of other RPGs over the years—the most notable of which is D&D, be it the BECMI version, 1st edition AD&D, 2nd edition AD&D, or 3rd edition AD&D, all of which I played obsessively. I tried 4th edition once and did not like it and never tried it again. I played 5th edition a few times and liked it better than 4th, but not as much as any previous edition and not as much as Pathfinder.
Starfinder is fun too—was playing in Dead Suns but that campaign kinda crashed when the pandemic hit, alas.
I don't get much time to game lately, alas, in part due to the pandemic (I really don't enjoy VTT play), but historically I've also played a fair amount of Battletech/Mechwarrior, Shadowrun, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Alternity, and a lot of shorter indie games. My favorite current indie game would be Dread... but I played one that a fellow employee designed recently that's a LOT of fun. Not sure how much I should say about that though since I don't know what their plans are for it.
And finally, there's Unspeakable Futrues, which is my d20 based post-apocalyptic game that I've been working on for decades. A fair amount of this game's contents have crept into Pathfinder/Starfinder (the gunslinger class and all this stuff in the Technology Guide for the most part), but there's a lot more that hasn't. I keep thinking that I should go back and update Unspeakable Futures to either 2nd Edition Pathifnder or its own new system, but haven't really started work on that yet. Kind of waiting until I get out from under the creative rain-shadow that is Kingmaker before I attach myself to a big project like Unspeakable Futures.
No Traveller?
Recently I heard that Jason Bulmahn is working on a whole new campaign setting called Eventide. Will this be the second official campaign setting for Pathfinder Second Edition? When will it be published? I really wish to see it as soon as possible!
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Recently I heard that Jason Bulmahn is working on a whole new campaign setting called Eventide. Will this be the second official campaign setting for Pathfinder Second Edition? When will it be published? I really wish to see it as soon as possible!
Not that I'm aware of. I haven't heard about Eventide myself. Turns out spending over 2 years in a work from home environment means you don't really talk to your coworkers. You'd have to ask Jason about Eventide, but as far as I know it's not a new campaign setting. I'd like to assume that I would be involved if management decides to make a new campaign setting, since I was a big part of setting up Golarion, and my work on the Technology Guide and Iron Gods is what helped convince management to take a shot at Starfinder... but it's a different world today so who knows.
James, have you ever tried Thousand year old vampire? It’s quite interesting. Single player RPG where you are a vampire. Events happen (based on choices you make) and you can only retain so many experiences that define who you are. As time goes on, you have to make decisions about what memories you forget and what memories continue to define who you are. Ultimately, you weave a story around your memories choices. It’s really quite interesting and has incredible nuance. Worth checking out if you haven’t heard about it.
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James, have you ever tried Thousand year old vampire? It’s quite interesting. Single player RPG where you are a vampire. Events happen (based on choices you make) and you can only retain so many experiences that define who you are. As time goes on, you have to make decisions about what memories you forget and what memories continue to define who you are. Ultimately, you weave a story around your memories choices. It’s really quite interesting and has incredible nuance. Worth checking out if you haven’t heard about it.
Nope; it sounds familiar though, but haven't played it. I've been pretty cut off from a lot of games lately as a result of the pandemic and having fewer folks around to play games with overall.
In Pathfinder Second Edition, we can see a drastic change in the art for kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, storm giants, and perhaps bugbears (and while I like most changes, I think ogres' new arts are very terrible) in Bestiary. Is there any other monsters you remember whose art is changed drastically in Second Edition?
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In Pathfinder Second Edition, we can see a drastic change in the art for kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, storm giants, and perhaps bugbears (and while I like most changes, I think ogres' new arts are very terrible) in Bestiary. Is there any other monsters you remember whose art is changed drastically in Second Edition?
The art for ogres in the first printing of the 2nd edition Bestiary was a mis-step. We are sticking with the original look for them (you'll see the more on-model art in the battle cards and pawns I believe).
We did adjustments to a LOT of the monsters though. One of my favorites is the new shadow.
In Pathfinder Second Edition, we can see a drastic change in the art for kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, storm giants, and perhaps bugbears (and while I like most changes, I think ogres' new arts are very terrible) in Bestiary. Is there any other monsters you remember whose art is changed drastically in Second Edition?The art for ogres in the first printing of the 2nd edition Bestiary was a mis-step. We are sticking with the original look for them (you'll see the more on-model art in the battle cards and pawns I believe).
We did adjustments to a LOT of the monsters though. One of my favorites is the new shadow.
I found out that, while Second Edition Core Rulebook's second printing has been published long ago, Second Edition Bestiary still does not have a second printing. Will this book have the second printing eventually? I really wish to see the correct art for ogres in Bestiary.
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I found out that, while Second Edition Core Rulebook's second printing has been published long ago, Second Edition Bestiary still does not have a second printing. Will this book have the second printing eventually? I really wish to see the correct art for ogres in Bestiary.In Pathfinder Second Edition, we can see a drastic change in the art for kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, storm giants, and perhaps bugbears (and while I like most changes, I think ogres' new arts are very terrible) in Bestiary. Is there any other monsters you remember whose art is changed drastically in Second Edition?The art for ogres in the first printing of the 2nd edition Bestiary was a mis-step. We are sticking with the original look for them (you'll see the more on-model art in the battle cards and pawns I believe).
We did adjustments to a LOT of the monsters though. One of my favorites is the new shadow.
Eventually yes, but whether or not we remember to swap out the ogre art (or have the time or resources to do so) isn't up to me.
So, I was on the wikis, etc lately and saw the rumor that Shamira's actually the child of a high-profile deity. Got me thinking, so here's the related question:
Not counting stories in which a player character is related to a deity, do any of the major deities (core 20 / Gods of the Inner Sea) have a high-profile child that is not themself regarded as a (nascent) divinity? At this time, I'm specifically asking the existence of ones we've seen, but who haven't been confirmed as significant in that way, but not what their identities are.
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So, I was on the wikis, etc lately and saw the rumor that Shamira's actually the child of a high-profile deity. Got me thinking, so here's the related question:
Not counting stories in which a player character is related to a deity, do any of the major deities (core 20 / Gods of the Inner Sea) have a high-profile child that is not themself regarded as a (nascent) divinity? At this time, I'm specifically asking the existence of ones we've seen, but who haven't been confirmed as significant in that way, but not what their identities are.
Not high profile. When we built the core 20, they were built out of a combination of deities drawn from my homebrew setting (Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gorum, Norgorber, Pharasma, Rovagug, Sarenrae, Urgathoa, and Zon-Kuthon), a few brought in from real world mythology (Asmodeus and Lamashtu), and then we created the rest to fill out the core group with two primary goals:
1) To make sure every alignment had at least 2 choices, and...
2) To make sure every class had at least 2 choices that made sense, even if that class wasn't normally faith-themed.
The resulting pantheon was something of a hodge-podge, and then as we went in to detail them more, we focused on articles about the deity and their faith, with a strong focus on the worshipers and faith and not so much the deity or their domain. As a result, we got well into the edition before we even started giving names to the places our deities lived (in several cases, this would take us nearly to the end of the edition in Planar Adventures to address), and information about their friends and family was even lower on the to-do list. It's happened here and there, but not yet in any sort of way that brought those characters into "high profile."
The resulting pantheon was something of a hodge-podge, and then as we went in to detail them more, we focused on articles about the deity and their faith, with a strong focus on the worshipers and faith and not so much the deity or their domain. As a result, we got well into the edition before we even started giving names to the places our deities lived (in several cases, this would take us nearly to the end of the edition in Planar Adventures to address), and information about their friends and family was even lower on the to-do list. It's happened here and there, but not yet in any sort of way that brought those characters into "high profile."
What general sort of questions into their families and friends would be unlikely to get refused ("unrevealed", "undecided", or variants thereof where you're not allowed to go into further detail?) Or is that category too broad for any answer to this question to be useful?
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The resulting pantheon was something of a hodge-podge, and then as we went in to detail them more, we focused on articles about the deity and their faith, with a strong focus on the worshipers and faith and not so much the deity or their domain. As a result, we got well into the edition before we even started giving names to the places our deities lived (in several cases, this would take us nearly to the end of the edition in Planar Adventures to address), and information about their friends and family was even lower on the to-do list. It's happened here and there, but not yet in any sort of way that brought those characters into "high profile."What general sort of questions into their families and friends would be unlikely to get refused ("unrevealed", "undecided", or variants thereof where you're not allowed to go into further detail?) Or is that category too broad for any answer to this question to be useful?
Way too broad of a category here, and beyond that, this thread's not the right place to create new canon. Or even really for me to do irreverent jokey answers. We may have more to say about the families and friends of the gods eventually, especially if that's the sort of things folks ask us for—no need to ask here though since that sort of thing is something I'd love to do, and is why I spent as much time as I did about the gods and their homes in Planar Adventures as I did in the first place. But... spending words on this sort of information can be a hard sell to management when books about actual player options or game tend to sell better, and books that focus on deities and their lives tend to trigger "We can't just do a book just for clerics" sort of knee-jerk reaction.
and books that focus on deities and their lives tend to trigger "We can't just do a book just for clerics" sort of knee-jerk reaction.
I'm suddenly curious about the LAY followers. The religious non-divine characters, and how people interact with the divine casters. Like in Shelyn's temples, if Bards treated the same as full Clerics, how to address a priest of the faith, how the farmers and craftsmen and merchants interact with their flocks, how player characters who are AMONG said flocks should regard priests of their faith, etc... But I can't think of a good way to ask about that so:
Question is: Is there a favorite church hierarchy that you have that's has a canon format? (As in, I recall reading somewhere that Sarenrae's churches are organized like families, while Iomedae's temples are organized more rigidly as by a commanding sword-knight and up to a dozen subordinates)
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Question is: Is there a favorite church hierarchy that you have that's has a canon format? (As in, I recall reading somewhere that Sarenrae's churches are organized like families, while Iomedae's temples are organized more rigidly as by a commanding sword-knight and up to a dozen subordinates)
Norgorber's four semi-competing but semi-allied hierarchy is my favorite I think.
Just wondering: for APs and Modules, have you or others at Paizo ever tried minimum-kill runs? That is, as few sentient deaths by PC hands as possible?
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Do you have a favorite empyreal lord?
I found out that, in the Pathfinder Wiki website, there are both Magnimar city guard and Magnimar city watch articles. What's the difference between the Magnimar city guard and the Magnimar city watch? Can I assume that the city guard is the army and the city watch is the police?
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Just wondering: for APs and Modules, have you or others at Paizo ever tried minimum-kill runs? That is, as few sentient deaths by PC hands as possible?
Not really, other than sometimes the adventure's about diplomacy or trickery or stealth or what not because fighting isn't appropriate.
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I found out that, in the Pathfinder Wiki website, there are both Magnimar city guard and Magnimar city watch articles. What's the difference between the Magnimar city guard and the Magnimar city watch? Can I assume that the city guard is the army and the city watch is the police?
It's better to go to print sources than the wiki. Check out the Magnimar book. Off the top of my head, the difference is that some folks use "guard" and "watch" as synonyms I guess. AKA: It's no difference. Just didn't use the same words to talk about the same thing. Like saying your pet is a cat and your pet is a feline. Doesn't mean you have two different pets, just two different words for the same thing.
Magnimar seems like a commercial and maritime power, just like real world Venice. So can I assume that, Magnimar's navy is bigger and more powerful than Magnimar's army?
Starfinder is based on Pathfinder. So after the publication of Pathfinder Second Edition, I have always anticipated that Starfinder RPG will be updated into Starfinder Second Edition based on Pathfinder Second Edition in no time. But I haven't heard such an announcement from Paizo yet. Will there be no Starfinder Second Edition, ever?
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Starfinder is based on Pathfinder. So after the publication of Pathfinder Second Edition, I have always anticipated that Starfinder RPG will be updated into Starfinder Second Edition based on Pathfinder Second Edition in no time. But I haven't heard such an announcement from Paizo yet. Will there be no Starfinder Second Edition, ever?
Should there be? If folks are interested, let us know, particularly in the Starfinder threads, not here. I only talk about things we have announced or are out, not things we haven't announced or will never announce or never do.
Speaking of the Deities, which ones have "geek'ish" interests?
- Books? in general (they don't seem the kind) or specific (seemingly OoC).
- Toys/Plushies/Dolls?
- Sweets/Candies?
- etc?
- which are more open about it and which are more closeted?
Also, welcome back!
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Speaking of the Deities, which ones have "geek'ish" interests?
- Books? in general (they don't seem the kind) or specific (seemingly OoC).
- Toys/Plushies/Dolls?
- Sweets/Candies?
- etc?- which are more open about it and which are more closeted?
Also, welcome back!
Not really answering whimsical questions like this for now, sorry. I have a hard time anticipating what might or might not annoy people when it comes to non-serious questions about the deities.
In D&D and Pathfinder First Edition, Dexterity determines when you act in combat, your reflex defense, several good physical skills, accuracy with ranged weapons, and light-armor-high-dex tends to give better defenses than heavy-armor-low-dex. In addition it can be made to determine your accuracy for melee weapons as well. What about in Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder? Do you think the problem mentioned above is properly fixed in these two rules?
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In D&D and Pathfinder First Edition, Dexterity determines when you act in combat, your reflex defense, several good physical skills, accuracy with ranged weapons, and light-armor-high-dex tends to give better defenses than heavy-armor-low-dex. In addition it can be made to determine your accuracy for melee weapons as well. What about in Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder? Do you think the problem mentioned above is properly fixed in these two rules?
I'm not sure what you see as the problem. Is it that Dexterity is too good compared to other ability scores? or is it that you're annoyed that a person who doesn't wear armor can be harder to hit than someone wearing full plate?
If the former, then yes, I think Pathfinder 2nd adjusted that pretty well. If the latter, I don't see that as a problem at all, since armor, to me, is something you wear if you aren't able to dodge or use magic, but I do think that 2nd edition Pathifnder evened those fields so that if you're a character who goes all in on armor or all in on dodging that you'll end up with comparable Armor Classes—it doesn't punish you for preferring one type of defensive choice over the other.
I'm not as familiar with Starfinder's rules so it's not my place to say there one way or another.
Not really answering whimsical questions like this for now, sorry. I have a hard time anticipating what might or might not annoy people when it comes to non-serious questions about the deities.Speaking of the Deities, which ones have "geek'ish" interests?
- Books? in general (they don't seem the kind) or specific (seemingly OoC).
- Toys/Plushies/Dolls?
- Sweets/Candies?
- etc?- which are more open about it and which are more closeted?
Also, welcome back!
I see this as personality traits (and quirks). Granted, it might "humanize" them too much.
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Ye think that ancient lost people who built Storm Tower from jade regent are probably saumen-kar? Kinda wondering how many potential candidates there are for potential civilizations to build weird stuff in crown of the world
I outlined and assigned the authors for Jade Regent, but I didn't develop it so I'm mot super up to date on topics like the Storm Tower. I've long felt like the Storm Tower and the Nameless Spires had connections to the elder things, since the original inspiration for the region was "At the Mountains of Madness." Alternate builders could be mi-go or grioths or even agents of the Dominion of the Black. SOMETHING from outer space. But it's not only my call so what really gets expanded there is going to depend on whatever developer next tackles that region, be it myself or someone else.
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I see this as personality traits (and quirks). Granted, it might "humanize" them too much.Not really answering whimsical questions like this for now, sorry. I have a hard time anticipating what might or might not annoy people when it comes to non-serious questions about the deities.Speaking of the Deities, which ones have "geek'ish" interests?
- Books? in general (they don't seem the kind) or specific (seemingly OoC).
- Toys/Plushies/Dolls?
- Sweets/Candies?
- etc?- which are more open about it and which are more closeted?
Also, welcome back!
Personally I think that humanizing deities, including leaning in to faults and quirks and even things that some folks might not be comfortable with is a HUGE benefit for the game, and I absolutely would answer these questions in private or in the context of a game I was running, but I've learned that these sorts of answers—particularly in answering minor elements about the deities (a topic I am VERY heavily invested in and eager to explore more), since it seems like those answers tend to ruffle feathers more often than not. Maybe someone else on staff will be able to answer these questions publicly, but it's not something I'm comfortable doing at this time, given the way some people can use anything said online for their own agendas at my expense.
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Speaking of the Deities, which ones have "geek'ish" interests?
- Books? in general (they don't seem the kind) or specific (seemingly OoC).
- Toys/Plushies/Dolls?
- Sweets/Candies?
- etc?- which are more open about it and which are more closeted?
Also, welcome back!
OK after a very productive chat, I'm sorted and can answer! Here's my take on the three core deities most into these topics:
Books: Nethys, Norgorber, and Shelyn
Toys/Plushies/Dolls: Cayden, Desna, Shelyn
Sweets/Candies: Erastil, Desna, Shelyn
Hello James,
hope you're doing well.
I am curious what you inspires you to write/while writing. Is it mostly your life experiences, other writing you enjoy (books, movies), or maybe non-narrative media too, like music?
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Hello James,
hope you're doing well.I am curious what you inspires you to write/while writing. Is it mostly your life experiences, other writing you enjoy (books, movies), or maybe non-narrative media too, like music?
The thing that inspires me most to write is experiencing stories—be they stories I read, movies/shows I watch, games I play, or stories told me by other people, and so on. My own life experiences factor in as well, but those are more of a baseline, since I've lived with those all my life—I draw upon them as a foundation but actual inspiration to me comes from outside of my own life.
Non-narrative media doesn't really inspire me to write at all, but it can certainly help to put me into a writing mood—music I'm familiar with that isn't distracting is a great thing to have on in the background while I write since it can help set a mood and also block out minor background sounds.
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Do the gods have a memetic component? That is to say, if perception of art were to refocus towards portraits [say, over landscapes] and literature [say, over music], would Shelyn then have a greater focus on those two things? Or would Shelyn refocusing on those things over other arts cause (through her followers following suit) perception of art in turn to refocus on portraits? Both/neither?
Rephrasing a little for clarity, because my thought tracks tend to diverge from others' thought tracks: if perception of a god or their domain by said god's followers were to shift slightly, would the god themself shift a little to accommodate that, provided they didn't outright reject the shift (or lack thereof, like Nocticula rejecting Chaotic Evil followers post-ascension)?
EDIT: I'm only asking about if there is a component at all, not how intense it is beyond 0 or not-0.
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Do the gods have a memetic component? That is to say, if perception of art were to refocus towards portraits [say, over landscapes] and literature [say, over music], would Shelyn then have a greater focus on those two things? Or would Shelyn refocusing on those things over other arts cause (through her followers following suit) perception of art in turn to refocus on portraits? Both/neither?
Rephrasing a little for clarity, because my thought tracks tend to diverge from others' thought tracks: if perception of a god or their domain by said god's followers were to shift slightly, would the god themself shift a little to accommodate that, provided they didn't outright reject the shift (or lack thereof, like Nocticula rejecting Chaotic Evil followers post-ascension)?
EDIT: I'm only asking about if there is a component at all, not how intense it is beyond 0 or not-0.
Both.
Magnimar, City of Monuments told us that Magnimar's land force (the Magnimar city watch) have 400 men. But the book didn't give me any clue regarding the city's navy. So I have to ask you. How big is the Magnimarian navy? Roughly how many ships and men does it have?
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Magnimar, City of Monuments told us that Magnimar's land force (the Magnimar city watch) have 400 men. But the book didn't give me any clue regarding the city's navy. So I have to ask you. How big is the Magnimarian navy? Roughly how many ships and men does it have?
Bigger probably. Since we don't have rules or a game or guidelines for how big an army or navy or anything is for anything on Golarion, though, I'm hesitant to give numbers, because they'd be just things I plucked out of the air as guesses that would very likely not sync up with any rules we might or might never do for mass combat stuff. And as creative director, I don't have the luxury of that sort of thing, because folks will take my answer as canon and then cause conflict and frustration among gamers—be they customers or my fellow employees.
There's nothing in the game that requires knowledge of the exact size of Magnimar's navy. If you're doing a game where that's important, then you should for sure do research and make the call that's best for your game, though.