Selios, those might be WotC material now so he might not be able to give a super extensive answer on the topic.
I know, and I apologize again for that, but if James thinks he can answer this question, I will be glad.
James,
I have some complicated questions, so let's get started.
The first set of questions are about Life Bubble, so I'll include it first.
Life Bubble
School abjuration; Level cleric/oracle 5, druid 4, ranger 3, sorcerer/wizard 5
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (a bit of eggshell)
EFFECT
Range touch
Targets creatures touched, up to one/level
Duration 2 hours/level; see text
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
Paizo Peripheral
This content is from material published by Paizo Publishing, LLC, but is not part of the Pathfinder Core Rules.
DESCRIPTION
You surround the touched creatures with a constant and moveable 1-inch shell of tolerable living conditions. This shell enables the subjects to breathe freely, even underwater or in a vacuum, as well as making them immune to harmful gases and vapors, including inhaled diseases and poisons and spells like cloudkill and stinking cloud. In addition, the shell protects subjects from extremes of temperature (per endure elements) as well as extremes of pressure.
Life bubble does not provide protection from negative or positive energy (such as found on the Negative and Positive Energy planes), the ability to see in conditions of poor visibility (such as in smoke or fog), nor the ability to move or act normally in conditions that impede movement (such as underwater).
When you cast this spell it has a total duration of 2 hours per caster level. You can divide this duration up in any manner you wish, not necessarily equally, between up to 1 creature per caster level.
A stinky dwarf in the party has cast Life Bubble on himself and the GM has allowed him to Permanency it.
1a) The female PC's in the party want to know if the dwarf can still bathe or does water simply not touch him.
1b) Does the dwarf still smell bad? This is a question because Life Bubble filters out harmful gases and vapors, which are coming off the dwarf.
1c) Does Life Bubble defeat scent ability?
1d) Can someone under the effect of Life Bubble still stop and smell the roses? Are pollen and allergens and ummm... 'smell particles' filtered out?
The next set of questions are about Astral Projection, so I'll include it here.
Astral Projection
School necromancy; Level cleric/oracle 9, sorcerer/wizard 9, witch 9; Domain travel 9
CASTING
Casting Time 30 minutes
Components V, S, M (1,000 gp jacinth)
EFFECT
Range touch
Targets you plus one additional willing creature touched per two caster levels
Duration see text
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
DESCRIPTION
By freeing your spirit from your physical body, this spell allows you to project an astral body onto another plane altogether. You can bring the astral forms of other willing creatures with you, provided that these subjects are linked in a circle with you at the time of the casting. These fellow travelers are dependent upon you and must accompany you at all times. If something happens to you during the journey, your companions are stranded wherever you left them.
You project your astral self onto the Astral Plane, leaving your physical body behind on the Material Plane in a state of suspended animation. The spell projects an astral copy of you and all you wear or carry onto the Astral Plane. Since the Astral Plane touches upon other planes, you can travel astrally to any of these other planes as you will. To enter one, you leave the Astral Plane, forming a new physical body (and equipment) on the plane of existence you have chosen to enter.
While you are on the Astral Plane, your astral body is connected at all times to your physical body by an incorporeal silver cord. If the cord is broken, you are killed, astrally and physically. Luckily, very few things can destroy a silver cord. When a second body is formed on a different plane, the silver cord remains invisibly attached to the new body. If the second body or the astral form is slain, the cord simply returns to your body where it rests on the Material Plane, thereby reviving it from its state of suspended animation. This is a traumatic affair, however, and you gain two permanent negative levels if your second body or astral form is slain. Although astral projections are able to function on the Astral Plane, their actions affect only creatures existing on the Astral Plane; a physical body must be materialized on other planes.
You and your companions may travel through the Astral Plane indefinitely. Your bodies simply wait behind in a state of suspended animation until you choose to return your spirits to them. The spell lasts until you desire to end it, or until it is terminated by some outside means, such as dispel magic cast upon either the physical body or the astral form, the breaking of the silver cord, or the destruction of your body back on the Material Plane (which kills you).
When this spell ends, your astral body and all of its gear, vanishes.
The party has a wizard who can cast Astral Projection.
2a) Astral Projection says,"The spell projects an astral copy of you and all you wear or carry onto the Astral Plane." Does this mean that a wizard's satchel of potions and other consumables are now able to be used without expending them on the home plane? What about things like Wish scrolls?
2b) If a party hides their bodies and has Astral Projection cast on them and then returns to their home plane, does this mean that they can adventure and gain experience without fear of death? I mean, they have an 'Avatar' now that will wander around for them, collect gear, and level up, right?
2c) If the 'Avatar' is able to level up and the like, how does that effect the real body left in stasis? Does it get stronger during the time spent adventuring or does it suddenly beef up once the spirit returns?
2d) Does the 'Avatar' age? It looks like it has to eat and drink and sleep, so I'm assuming it does, but I'm not sure.
2e) Could an adventuring group use Astral Projection and then go on a long term plane hopping adventure across all the multiverse and never return to their bodies?
That's it for now! Sorry for the complicated questions.
~Tundra
James,
I think I heard it said that the alchemist class was your brainchild. As such, can you clear something up for me: should we pretty much consider an alchemist to be a caster class that just 'casts' differently? They can still use item creation feats / metamagic rods / etc? My basic take on it is that they trade out being able to defensive-cast to avoid AOs and needing to specialize to 'cast' on others for having always silent, uninterruptable spells. Frankly, with all the info I toss at our GM for our Carrion Crown game, I'm beginning to think I'm confusing him more than necessary with the sometimes odd intricacies of this (very cool!) base class.
Part of the issue, it seems, is how we've come to regard casters in general as delivering their spells. Wizards and such just manifest with magic or zap things with rays. Alchemists, by default, seem to require drinking the extract and, RAW, that limits this to being the only delivery method available. Seeing as how they've been given extracts like haste and communal spells, I've made an argument for such infusions as short-range aerosol dispensers and treating the Burst of Speed (or other swift / quickened) extracts as little dermal packs you can simply slap to apply an injection into your skin. Our GM is allowing some of this for now, but I sense he still feels this isn't how it's intended. Any of this sound unbalanced / unintended to you?
Also, if you were to make alchemist bombs unlimited use and reduce damage but otherwise keep them as is, how much would you reduce the damage by? Would their splash stay the same?
Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for your input!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James, I just noticed that both you and Jason Bulmahn are listed as authors in the Elder Evils book for 3.5.
That got me wondering: was there some shared inspiration between Atropus the undead moon and Groetus? It seems to me that there's some similarity there. If so, which came first? :)
On that note, which was your favorite of the Elder Evils?
Creative Director
|
Desna is too polarized to have a druidic following. There might some rare neutral good or chaotic neutral druids who worship her though.What are the most commonly worshipped Druid deities of Golarion, aside from Gozreh and Erastil?
Also, what would a Druid who worships Pharasma generally be like in terms of his/her outlook on nature?
Is there any place in the Pharasmin church for such individuals? None of the books have made mentions of such.
Erastil is generally not worshiped as a druid deity, if ever. He's Lawful Good. He's too polarized to appeal to druids.
The primary deity worshiped by druids is indeed Gozreh. After that, the Eldest of the First World have a fair number of druid worshipers. Shelyn has a few, as do Norgorber, Irori, and Gorum. Some of the evil ones worship the Elemental Lords. But a LOT of druids don't worship a deity at all; they instead follow the Green Faith.
A druid who worships Pharasma would be one that focuses on the old "circle of life" cliche, or perhaps one who focuses on rivers (since Pharasma has some minor river associations with her faith).
The church itself recognizes and respects the druids, and the druids recognize and respect the church, but the two don't often work together.
I thought Desna was one of the possible druidic deities (mostly for NG druids).
She being CG make her too polarized?Wait, doesn't that sort of contradict the entries in Faiths of Purity as well as Gods & Magic, both saying that Sarenrae and Desna both have more than "a rare few" druids following them? Yet Pharasma gets no mentions whatsoever of any druidic followings despite being not only True Neutral, but also a goddess who understands the cycle of life and has an element to her, since I can see her associated with both rivers and possibly winter given her sub-domain of Ice. In addition to all that, what about the Shades of Uskwood, which Set mentioned as well?
It does contradict it—I misspoke; Desna has more than "a rare few" druids after all. Sarenrae has a LOT more than Desna though. And Pharasma still has druids, but not a lot. The Shades of Uskwood are Neutral Evil druids detailed in the Inner Sea World Guide.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Asmodeus, Cayden Cailean, Iomedae and Zon-Kuthon don't seem as intuitive to me, but I find that sort of thing more of a creative character design challenge than a barrier to entry... :)
Asmodeus = Fire domain.
Or, in the form of a question:
James,
What do you think of a LN druid of Asmodeus with the fire domain, perhaps from the Barrowood in Cheliax, for a character in The Shattered Star AP?
Thanks.
I don't think much of a lawful neutral druid of Asmodeus at all. Asmodeus, in my view, is all about Hell, and there's not much nature or natural about hell. Leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Not as bitter as the idea of a paladin of Asmodeus, but almost.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hello James.
I have a question not related to Golarion if you don't mind.
It's about the Demonomicon of Graz'zt in Dragon magazine pdf and the Greyhawk timeline.
It is said that Athux is the son that Graz'zt had with Eclavdra.
I'm wondering when this happened.
According to the Shackled City adventure path, Athux triked Adimarchus 50 "years ago". If the campaign is set after 591CY, that means around 540-550CY. So Athux is at least older than that.
I thought that Eclavdra didn't have dealings with Graz'zt until after the events of Queen of the Spiders, which should occur around 580CY.I concluded that Eclavdra had dealings with Graz'rt well before the priestesses war in Ereilhei-Cinlu or the events of Against the Giants, am I right ?
Sorry for such a long question not related to Golarion, but I really enjoyed what you have done for the Greyhawk setting, so I was wondering.
The bit about Athux being the son of Graz'zt and Eclavdra was one of those little easter eggs I threw in there with the plan of building more off that in future D&D stuff... but that article ended up being the last thing I ever wrote for D&D, so it kinda went nowhere unless they picked it up for something in 4th edition.
It's been many many years since I've had my head space in that level of deep D&D/Greyhawk continuity, but I did have SOMETHING worked out for how it all matched up. A secret dalliance or something like that that Eclavdra did as a sneaky preparation for what she was up to in Against the Giants, with Graz'zt being her first bit of "drift" from Lolth, but I can't remember for sure, alas.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
If/when you do Arcadia and the other land masses of Golarion is the plan to do them the say way Tian Xia was covered? AP, players guide, Bestiary tie-in, and setting books?
That would be cool! I've certainly got an Arcadia AP in mind (and have had one in mind that would work for Arcadia for about 6 years now). Maybe not a giant Bestiary tie-in, since we've already kinda done that with Bestiary 3... but absolutely a 64 page "Arcadia Gazetteer."
|
Creative Director
|
If you were using the mythic rules for a one on one game of an AP, how many tiers should the pc start with. How would you spread the gaining of tiers? I wanna try doing second darkness as one on one.
If it were the first time I tried this, I'd start the PC at 1 tier. I'd then probably aim for having that PC gain a tier once or twice an adventure, playing it by ear to a certain extent but probably giving him 2 or 3 tiers by the time he hit level 3 to encourage survivability.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have some complicated questions, so let's get started.
The first set of questions are about Life Bubble, so I'll include it first.
Life Bubble:
A stinky dwarf in the party has cast Life Bubble on himself and the GM has allowed him to Permanency it.1a) The female PC's in the party want to know if the dwarf can still bathe or does water simply not touch him.
1b) Does the dwarf still smell bad? This is a question because Life Bubble filters out harmful gases and vapors, which are coming off the dwarf.
1c) Does Life Bubble defeat scent ability?
1d) Can someone under the effect of Life Bubble still stop and smell the roses? Are pollen and allergens and ummm... 'smell particles' filtered out?The next set of questions are about Astral Projection, so I'll include it here.
Astral Projection:
The party has a wizard who can cast Astral Projection.2a) Astral Projection says,"The spell projects an astral copy of you and all you wear or carry onto the Astral Plane." Does this mean that a wizard's satchel of potions and other consumables are now able to be used without expending them on the home plane? What about things like Wish scrolls?
2b) If a party hides their bodies and has Astral Projection cast on them and then returns to their home plane, does this mean that they can adventure and gain experience without fear of death? I mean, they have an 'Avatar' now that will wander around for them, collect gear, and level up, right?
2c) If the 'Avatar' is able to level up and the like, how does that effect the real body left in stasis? Does it get stronger during the time spent adventuring or does it suddenly beef up once the spirit returns?
2d) Does the 'Avatar' age? It looks like it has to eat and drink and sleep, so I'm assuming it does, but I'm not sure.
2e) Could an adventuring group use Astral Projection and then go on a long term plane hopping adventure across all the multiverse and never return to their bodies?
I don't mind complicated questions, really, except when they're really long and include spoilers it makes it a little onerous to hit a reply and keep the question visible to answer while I answer it is all. Multiple shorter questions is generally better.
1a) Water can still touch you if you force it against yourself on purpose, but would immediately wash away to be replaced by air as soon as you stop. You dry off instantly, pretty much, is how I'd run that.
1b) The dwarf still smells bad. If the dwarf was a creature with a scent-based aura, like a ghast, he would still exude the stench. The life bubble protects the dwarf from harmful gasses, but does not prevent the dwarf from exuding harmful gasses.
1c) No.
1d) Yes. You can still smell things, but the bad parts of scents don't hurt you.
2a) Yes; duplicate items are duplicated. Items like scrolls and wands are still linked to your physical body, and when you use them while astrally projecting, they're used up normally. Items destroyed while astrally projecting are lost or destroyed in real life. An item you simply lose while astrally projecting just vanishes once it's lost, but when you return to your real body, you have it again.
2b) No. What astral projection allows, more or less, is a "free get out of death" situation that also helps to protect your gear somewhat. While astrally projecting, you can adventure normally. Anything that happens to your astral self continues to affect your body when you wake up; that's what the silver cord does. It keeps you alive and anchored to your real body, but also allows things like damage and ability score drain and level loss and poison and all that to transfer to your physical body when you awaken. If your astral body is killed, you wake up but gain 2 negative levels, similar to if you had been resurrected (but in fact your death is just bypassed by having the "extra life" that your astral projection grants.
2c) The astral body (the "avatar") and the real body are the same character. If an astral body levels up, the real body does at the same time. The silver cord that connects the two keeps them in sync.
2d) Yes, it ages and has to eat and drink and sleep, and the body does at the same rate.
2e) Yes. Keep in mind that while astral projection gives you some great protection regarding death and the like... it also opens you up to four particularly troubling dangers:
1) Your silver cord can be harmed by a rare few attacks; if it's destroyed, you die immediately.
2) An astral body or an "avatar" can be dispelled. A dispel magic can end the spell in a heartbeat, essentially knocking you out of wherever you were and back into your real body.
3) Your real body is defenseless. A bad guy, or a fire, or a collapsing ceiling, or any number of other fates can kill it easy if it's not defended. That kills your astral body too.
4) If you're not the one who cast astral projection and the one who DID cast it dies or suffers one of the above fates, you're stranded wherever your astral body is and can't get back to your body.
|
Creative Director
|
James,
I think I heard it said that the alchemist class was your brainchild. As such, can you clear something up for me: should we pretty much consider an alchemist to be a caster class that just 'casts' differently? They can still use item creation feats / metamagic rods / etc? My basic take on it is that they trade out being able to defensive-cast to avoid AOs and needing to specialize to 'cast' on others for having always silent, uninterruptable spells. Frankly, with all the info I toss at our GM for our Carrion Crown game, I'm beginning to think I'm confusing him more than necessary with the sometimes odd intricacies of this (very cool!) base class.
Part of the issue, it seems, is how we've come to regard casters in general as delivering their spells. Wizards and such just manifest with magic or zap things with rays. Alchemists, by default, seem to require drinking the extract and, RAW, that limits this to being the only delivery method available. Seeing as how they've been given extracts like haste and communal spells, I've made an argument for such infusions as short-range aerosol dispensers and treating the Burst of Speed (or other swift / quickened) extracts as little dermal packs you can simply slap to apply an injection into your skin. Our GM is allowing some of this for now, but I sense he still feels this isn't how it's intended. Any of this sound unbalanced / unintended to you?
Also, if you were to make alchemist bombs unlimited use and reduce damage but otherwise keep them as is, how much would you reduce the damage by? Would their splash stay the same?
Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for your input!
The alchemist is a weird kind of variant spellcaster, but he doesn't actually cast spells; he mixes elixirs and uses them to activate his "spells." As such, methods that enhance spellcasting, such as metamagic (or metamagic rods) won't help an alchemist's extracts. They're more or less variant potions, not actual spells.
That said, you could ABSOLUTELY invent some sort of alchemist version of a metamagic rod; something like an alchemist lab of empowering or the like that would work the same as a metamagic rod of empowering but would need to be used when you prepare that extract for the day.
It's a relatively complicated and unusual class—that's why it's in the Advanced Player's Guide, after all. A GM who says yes to a request by a player to play an alchemist can't just say yes and move on... he really REALLY needs to read up on how the alchemist works and be ready to adjust things in his game as necessary.
One thing to remember with an alchemist is that they're really NOT about buffing the party, even though some of their extracts might make you think otherwise. You CAN build an alchemist with options that allow him to share his extracts, but it's not NEARLY as efficient as a spellcaster. When a wizard casts haste, he affects lots of targets. An alchemst does not; he only affects the person who drinks the haste extract—and that's almost ALWAYS limited to only the alchemist.
You can absolutely variate how you take an extract. You can drink them. You can inject them. They can be pills you swallow. They can certainly be little "dermal packs." The game rules don't care as long as it's a standard action to activate that provokes an attack of opportunity and still requires you to be able to take the extract into your system.
If I were to make alchemist bombs unlimited... well.. that's actually something I wish we'd done from the start, frankly.
Had we done so, I would limit the damage to 1d6 at 1st level, and then would increase the damage by +1d6 every 5 levels. Basically, cut the damage in half over the long run. And I would remove the fast bombs discovery entirely.
Think of the bomb as what it is—a weapon. A 1st level fighter with a sling deals 1d6 damage at 1st level. At 6th level, he gains a 2nd attack, and can do 2d6 damage in a round. And so on. By having the alchemist gain 1d6 every 5 levels, his base damage progression more or less matches that fighter—he gains the "extra damage potential" a little faster, but the tradeoff is that the fighter can upgrade to a bow or other weapon that does more than a base of 1d6 with a hit.
Being able to chuck a 1d6+intelligence mod damaging bomb each round that goes up to 2d6+Int and so on is still really pretty good, especially considering it's a splash weapon. Downgrading the bombs from how they currently work does lower the amount of damage an alchemist does with bombs, but that's a good thing—it not only makes the bombs less overwhelming and helps to make the alchemist's other attacks feel less marginal in comparison, but also lets the alchemist keep throwing bombs all day long.
|
Creative Director
|
James, I just noticed that both you and Jason Bulmahn are listed as authors in the Elder Evils book for 3.5.
That got me wondering: was there some shared inspiration between Atropus the undead moon and Groetus? It seems to me that there's some similarity there. If so, which came first? :)
I wrote the section on Sertorus, the obyrith lord. I had nothing to do with Atropus. I don't believe that Jason wrote that section either.
Groetus came first, though. He was part of my homebrew campaign world. I don't remember when exactly I invented him... but it was during 2nd edition AD&D, back in the mid 90's, I believe.
The idea of an "evil moon-sized god" is hardly a unique idea. I got the idea myself from a quite excellent Ramsey Campbell short story called "The Tugging," mixed a bit with inspiration from various pieces of artwork that make comparisons between skulls and moons.
|
Creative Director
|
On that note, which was your favorite of the Elder Evils?
Actually, I was really kind of annoyed at how WotC handled that book.
Back in Lords of Madness, I talked about the various aboleth "deities" and called THEM the Elder Evils. I'm pretty sure that before that article, the term "elder evil" had also been used for other things in D&D's history, like the Elder Elemental Eye, or some of the ancient evil monsters from the pre-dawn history in the Forgotten Realms.
But in the hardcover book, WotC abandoned all of that and went with a hodgepodge mix of bad guys who were all either brand new and invented for that book (most of them), or pulled in from other sources that had never before been categorized as "elder evils" at all (Kyuss and Zargon). It was, from a D&D history/tradition/canon viewpoint, pretty disrespectful and silly, I thought. Furthermore, the chapter on Kyuss kind of invalidated/clashed with the version of Kyuss that we had just spent a year building up with the Age of Worms Adventure Path in Dungeon Magazine, which really annoyed me.
I tried to convince them to change the contents of the book to focus on the actual traditional Elder Evils, but obviously that advice was ignored.
SO! I've kinda got some bitter memories about the book as a result.
My favorite bad guy from "Elder Evils" was Kyuss, with Zargon being second, since both of those bad guys are from the traditions of the game. They had weight and gravitas and lore and nostalgia behind them, which REALLY helped sell them as big-bad-world-ending-threats. The others, including the chapter I wrote, felt like they were tacked on to the concept, and the fact that I can't remember the names of the other elder evils kinda goes to show how not playing to your traditions and strengths is a bad thing. (Although... now that I think on it, wasn't Leviathan one of the Elder Evils? In that case, that's a good choice, I suppose...)
...Wait, doesn't that sort of contradict the entries in Faiths of Purity as well as Gods & Magic, both saying that Sarenrae and Desna both have more than "a rare few" druids following them? Yet Pharasma gets no mentions whatsoever of any druidic followings despite being not only True Neutral, but also a goddess who understands the cycle of life and has an element to her, since I can see her associated with both rivers and possibly winter given her sub-domain of Ice. In addition to all that, what about theDesna is too polarized to have a druidic following. There might some rare neutral good or chaotic neutral druids who worship her though.What are the most commonly worshipped Druid deities of Golarion, aside from Gozreh and Erastil?
Also, what would a Druid who worships Pharasma generally be like in terms of his/her outlook on nature?
Is there any place in the Pharasmin church for such individuals? None of the books have made mentions of such.
Erastil is generally not worshiped as a druid deity, if ever. He's Lawful Good. He's too polarized to appeal to druids.
The primary deity worshiped by druids is indeed Gozreh. After that, the Eldest of the First World have a fair number of druid worshipers. Shelyn has a few, as do Norgorber, Irori, and Gorum. Some of the evil ones worship the Elemental Lords. But a LOT of druids don't worship a deity at all; they instead follow the Green Faith.
A druid who worships Pharasma would be one that focuses on the old "circle of life" cliche, or perhaps one who focuses on rivers (since Pharasma has some minor river associations with her faith).
The church itself recognizes and respects the druids, and the druids recognize and respect the church, but the two don't often work together.
I thought Desna was one of the possible druidic deities (mostly for NG druids).
She being CG make her too polarized?
Can we get some bonus article or small blog entry on Druids of all kinds, then? Clerics got all the cool entries already.
(Although... now that I think on it, wasn't Leviathan one of the Elder Evils? In that case, that's a good choice, I suppose...)
He was. I thought he was one of the better ones, personally, along with Father Llymic, who had a pretty cool Far Realm infestation schtick, and Zargon. Didn't care much for that book's version of Kyuss myself, but haven't gotten to see the Age of Worms version as I was a player in that game and it stalled out after the first chapter. >_>
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Will we ever see anything about Aboleth "deities" in Golarion?
please be yes :>
The only way druids could fit with Asmodeus, IMO, is with the "urban druid" archetype (like with Abadar), with maybe a focus on "culling the herd", controlling population levels by weeding out the weak - very Social Darwinist, possibly using fire (ie, arson) as a means to that end.
Even then, though, it's quite a stretch. There are better archdevils for evil druids to worship:
Barbatos and Alocer (beasts)
Baalzebul, Graffiacane, and Kalma (vermin)
Crocell ("hidden waters")
Dispater and Malthus (cities)
Furcas (herbalism)
Geryon and Ardad Lili (snakes)
Libicocco (wind)
Moloch and Rubicante (fire)
Nergal (pestilence)
Sabnach (parasites)
Scarmiglione (poison)
Vois (swamps)
Will we ever see anything about Aboleth "deities" in Golarion?
I thought aboleths in Golarion are vehemently atheistic and reject all "higher powers".
I played my first 3.5 campaign a few years ago, along with brief failed Pathfinder and 4e campaigns. A few months ago I decided to try GMing a PbP game, and I've since picked up most of the Pathfinder hardcovers. I've been thinking about running a live campaign with friends, but it would probably have to be an AP so I can focus my creative abilities on the PbP. Other than Rise of the Runelords(which I'm currently a player in), which AP would you recommend? The players would be new to Pathfinder.
A recurring(if he survives the current combat, at least) NPC in the PbP I'm running is actually a cleric of Groetus. Since you mentioned Groetus being part of your homebrew just now, would you be willing to share any details on how you used him and his followers in your campaign?
Finally, I've been reading about the pre-generated adventure for the mythic playtest being too easy. Do you have any suggestions for making it more challenging?
Thanks for the feedback, James. Just a couple quick follow-ups.
As such, methods that enhance spellcasting, such as metamagic (or metamagic rods) won't help an alchemist's extracts. They're more or less variant potions, not actual spells.
Hmmm...so, without an actual spellcaster level, can we still take item creation feats? If so, would 'Scribe Scroll' instead be 'Notate Formulae' or something, which creates scripts only usable by Alchemists? Also, what about pearls of power, would those work with us? Our extracts ARE still magical (kinda) and we do prepare them.
That said, you could ABSOLUTELY invent some sort of alchemist version of a metamagic rod; something like an alchemist lab of empowering or the like that would work the same as a metamagic rod of empowering but would need to be used when you prepare that extract for the day.
So, how about if I researched and constructed a Craft(alchemy) item that put a Reach metamagic-like effect on a haste extract, does that sound doable? That's kind of what I've been doing up to this point.
When a wizard casts haste, he affects lots of targets. An alchemst does not; he only affects the person who drinks the haste extract—and that's almost ALWAYS limited to only the alchemist.
Okay then, how does that work for our ten communal extracts? We kinda divy up the dosage into various vials for everyone? More interesting question: do they all have to drink them simultaneously? Because if not, that's a neat trick for alchemists to be able to pull off.
Thanks again, I'll try to make this the last time I bug you about Alchemist stuff.
I don't think much of a lawful neutral druid of Asmodeus at all. Asmodeus, in my view, is all about Hell, and there's not much nature or natural about hell. Leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Not as bitter as the idea of a paladin of Asmodeus, but almost.Asmodeus, Cayden Cailean, Iomedae and Zon-Kuthon don't seem as intuitive to me, but I find that sort of thing more of a creative character design challenge than a barrier to entry... :)
Asmodeus = Fire domain.
Or, in the form of a question:
James,
What do you think of a LN druid of Asmodeus with the fire domain, perhaps from the Barrowood in Cheliax, for a character in The Shattered Star AP?
Thanks.
They would't be Paladins/Druids of Asmodeus, they would be Paladins/Druids of his deceitful alternate identity he made just for that kind of lulz.
Hey James,
1) Are there any demon lords who particularly enjoy drawing their followers from those with broken hearts due to failed romances?
2) Does Shamira's portfolio of 'lost dreams' include dreams of love that is now lost, or is it more like actual night-time dreams (in which case she may be at odds with Desna)?
3) What would you say are the top six demon lords most commonly worshiped by Golarion's surface elves?
If a creature with pounce charges as a standard action in the surprise round, would you rule that it gets a full attack?
James, I'm curious: you've stated sometimes in the past about the potential for races, like orcs, to have come about via evolution or experimentation or something. Any chance of a future AP delving into the ancient past and how a proto-race, mostly similar to the now ubiquitous humans, in Golarion's solar system branched out and diversified into elves, dwarves, orcs, halfings, etc?
If a creature with pounce charges as a standard action in the surprise round, would you rule that it gets a full attack?
A charge is a full-round action. Since the ambushers in a surprise round get to take just a standard (or a move) action while the ambushees take none, a charge wouldn't be possible.
Speaking of Arcadia, are there any particular Native American monsters you are itching to stat up? I know that Native American folklore tends to not get as much attention as other areas of the world, but there are some interesting creatures, beyond Sasquatch, Thunderbirds, and Wendigo.
I'd like to see a Raven Mocker myself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_mocker
If a creature with pounce charges as a standard action in the surprise round, would you rule that it gets a full attack?A charge is a full-round action. Since the ambushers in a surprise round get to take just a standard (or a move) action while the ambushees take none, a charge wouldn't be possible.
If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.
You can charge in the surprise round.
1)James what year did Aroden die?
2)What was the prophecy surrounding his return to golarion just before he died?
3)When Aroden died what effects were immediately apparent, did the sun eclipse, was there an earthquake. etc....?
4) Did the worldwound and the eye of Abendego immediately form upon his death? As in the same day or awhile thereafter
If a creature with pounce charges as a standard action in the surprise round, would you rule that it gets a full attack?A charge is a full-round action. Since the ambushers in a surprise round get to take just a standard (or a move) action while the ambushees take none, a charge wouldn't be possible.If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.You can charge in the surprise round.
What? I'm wrong? IMPOSSIBLE! *takes off and proceeds carpet bombing of all the evidence*
If you went to Hogwarts, and were to be placed in either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, which would you choose?Ravenclaw, because that name sounds more badass than Hufflepuff, and because my knowledge of Hogwards is vague enough that I don't actually know the difference between those two whatevertheyares.
Gryffendor = You're a brave, bad-ass hero.
Sylverine = You're a sneaky douche and probably evil.Ravenclaw = You're a brainiac and are neutral with good tendencies.
Hufflepuff = You took your first level in Adept instead of Wizard.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you went to Hogwarts, and were to be placed in either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, which would you choose?Ravenclaw, because that name sounds more badass than Hufflepuff, and because my knowledge of Hogwards is vague enough that I don't actually know the difference between those two whatevertheyares.Gryffendor = You're a brave, bad-ass hero.
Sylverine = You're a sneaky douche and probably evil.
Ravenclaw = You're a brainiac and are neutral with good tendencies.
Hufflepuff = You took your first level in Adept instead of Wizard.
|
Does Stinking Cloud's duration count the turn one leaves the cloud?
So for instance, let's say I fail my save on Stinking Cloud. On my turn, I leave the cloud, and roll a 1 on my d4. So the duration is supposed to be 1d4+1, so the duration should be 2.
Do I lose my Standard Action for the round I left, then the next round, and then afterwards I can start moving again? Or does the duration not start until next round (so I lose my next two consecutive standard actions, and then can start acting after those two turns have passed).
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Can we get some bonus article or small blog entry on Druids of all kinds, then? Clerics got all the cool entries already.
The contents of the blog posts are largely out of my hands these days, so I can't help much there, alas. I'll see what I can do otherwise though...
|
I was on the pathfinder wiki when I found a couple of section's I dont recall seeing anywhere else before (as well as a few that seem to contradict what was in the Shelyn Deity article. Is it Canon and if it is where can I find it?
Shelyn and Zon-Kuthon
When they first came into being, so very long ago, their mutual parent forced Zon-Kuthon to swear the Unbreakable Oath (better name pending) to the forces of Law. Zon-Kuthon swore that he would never harm Shelyn, nor would he stand by if others tried to harm her in his presence. In exchange for making the Unbreakable Oath, he received the glaive Whisperer of Souls (which Shelyn later stole from him… see below).
To this day, clerics of Zon-Kuthon not only don’t harm known clerics of Shelyn (doing so results in harsh punishments that don’t end with death) but sometimes actually try to protect such clerics if in danger (earning them rewards from their deity). For their part, clerics of Shelyn return the favor by looking the other way when they meet known clerics or cultists of Zon-Kuthon. (Except, of course, if the clerics or cultists are obviously harming innocents, defacing art, or otherwise being unforgivably bad in front of the clerics of Shelyn.) This arrangement might seem like a serious drawback for Zon-Kuthon, as other evil deities might take advantage of it to put him into uncomfortable positions. As it turns out, though, nobody ever really moves against Shelyn or her clergy.
And the other one
Whisperer of SoulsSo how does the goddess of beauty and love get a glaive as her favored weapon? Shelyn bears the glaive gifted to her half brother in exchange for him swearing the Unbreakable Oath. The weapon was crafted by the former god of smiths, who fell during the same murderous spree that claimed Shelyn’s mother. When he received it, the weapon corrupted Zon-Kuthon and convinced him to go to war against the other deities. It was during this war that Shelyn lost her mother and became goddess of love. When created, Whisperer of Souls was given the ability to absorb souls (hence its name) and once it absorbs 100 powerful souls (not just anybody’s soul will do) it will become a god in its own right and bring about an era of murder and death. When Zon-Kuthon received the weapon it held no souls. By the time Shelyn stole Whisperer of Souls it had almost all it needed. In the time since, Shelyn has been able to free most of those souls thanks to the help of Nethys and brave adventurers (a grand quest of goodness must be performed to release a soul). Much to the frustration of Whisperer of Souls, it can’t seem to corrupt Shelyn or influence her in any way (earning her the title "the Incorruptible"). Quite the opposite, in fact: when Shelyn first stole the weapon it was a nightmarish and hideous piece of craftsmanship, but in the millennia since, Shelyn has remade it into a beautiful piece of art. It still bears a few ugly bits here and there, but they become less pronounced with each soul she releases.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Will we ever see anything about Aboleth "deities" in Golarion?
** spoiler omitted **
Aboleths in Golarion are more or less atheists. They don't worship deities, and their inability to have faith in a deity is in fact part of the reason that humanity has survived their attempts to completely rule and/or destroy them.
The closest thing aboleths have to deities are the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. Which is, more or less, the same as how aboleths worked in "Lords of Madness," save that Paizo's not afraid of using names like "Yog Sothoth" or "Nyarlathotep" or "Azathoth" as part of the game setting.
|
Creative Director
|
I played my first 3.5 campaign a few years ago, along with brief failed Pathfinder and 4e campaigns. A few months ago I decided to try GMing a PbP game, and I've since picked up most of the Pathfinder hardcovers. I've been thinking about running a live campaign with friends, but it would probably have to be an AP so I can focus my creative abilities on the PbP. Other than Rise of the Runelords(which I'm currently a player in), which AP would you recommend? The players would be new to Pathfinder.
A recurring(if he survives the current combat, at least) NPC in the PbP I'm running is actually a cleric of Groetus. Since you mentioned Groetus being part of your homebrew just now, would you be willing to share any details on how you used him and his followers in your campaign?
Finally, I've been reading about the pre-generated adventure for the mythic playtest being too easy. Do you have any suggestions for making it more challenging?
Shattered Star is a pretty simple, classic Adventure Path. It doesn't add increasingly complex new options like piracy or caravans or kingdom building but at the same time really hearkens back to the core of the game.
There's a big article about Groetus coming up in Pathfinder #64, and that'll have a fair amount of stuff about Groetus in it.
Or you can check this post I did to my blog earlier in the year...
Part of the playtest is to determine just what IS a good challenge for mythic characters, and the feedback about how the sample adventure weighs in is what we need to determine the answers you seek. So... at this point, no, I don't have suggestions for how to make it more challenging—that's what the playtest is going to help us with.
Very relevant.If you went to Hogwarts, and were to be placed in either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, which would you choose?Ravenclaw, because that name sounds more badass than Hufflepuff, and because my knowledge of Hogwards is vague enough that I don't actually know the difference between those two whatevertheyares.Gryffendor = You're a brave, bad-ass hero.
Sylverine = You're a sneaky douche and probably evil.
Ravenclaw = You're a brainiac and are neutral with good tendencies.
Hufflepuff = You took your first level in Adept instead of Wizard.
It really makes you wish that J.K. Rowling played more with this cultural aspect of the students. Considering that the Sorting Hat basically casts some combination of detect alignment and detect thoughts when making its choice, you'd think that there would be a lot more prejudice at Hogwarts between the students if not the staff as well.
It would be like modern Middle Schools and High Schools sorting homerooms based on how many sports activities you played, what your grade point average was, how many friends you had, and how many discipline referrals you recieved.
|
Creative Director
|
Thanks for the feedback, James. Just a couple quick follow-ups.
As such, methods that enhance spellcasting, such as metamagic (or metamagic rods) won't help an alchemist's extracts. They're more or less variant potions, not actual spells.Hmmm...so, without an actual spellcaster level, can we still take item creation feats? If so, would 'Scribe Scroll' instead be 'Notate Formulae' or something, which creates scripts only usable by Alchemists? Also, what about pearls of power, would those work with us? Our extracts ARE still magical (kinda) and we do prepare them.
That said, you could ABSOLUTELY invent some sort of alchemist version of a metamagic rod; something like an alchemist lab of empowering or the like that would work the same as a metamagic rod of empowering but would need to be used when you prepare that extract for the day.So, how about if I researched and constructed a Craft(alchemy) item that put a Reach metamagic-like effect on a haste extract, does that sound doable? That's kind of what I've been doing up to this point.
When a wizard casts haste, he affects lots of targets. An alchemst does not; he only affects the person who drinks the haste extract—and that's almost ALWAYS limited to only the alchemist.Okay then, how does that work for our ten communal extracts? We kinda divy up the dosage into various vials for everyone? More interesting question: do they all have to drink them simultaneously? Because if not, that's a neat trick for alchemists to be able to pull off.
Thanks again, I'll try to make this the last time I bug you about Alchemist stuff.
An alchemist can't normally take item creation feats, no. Other than Brew Potion, of course. Pearls of power don't work for alchemists, since they don't actually cast spells.
A "reach like effect" on a haste extract sounds weird. Remember, for an extract to work, it has to somehow infuse the target. So unless the item had something like an extending hypodermic needle or a spray or something... I don't see how it'd work. Again... the alchemist isn't SUPPOSED to be a class that buffs his allies, any more than a wizard is supposed to be one that heals folks, or a rogue is one that's good about shapechanging into animals.
As for how communal formulae work with alchemists... turns out that bit is covered on page 210 of Ultimate Combat at the bottom of the 1st column of text. Without the infusion discovery, an alchemist simply cannot use a communal elixir.
|
Creative Director
|
Hey James,
1) Are there any demon lords who particularly enjoy drawing their followers from those with broken hearts due to failed romances?
2) Does Shamira's portfolio of 'lost dreams' include dreams of love that is now lost, or is it more like actual night-time dreams (in which case she may be at odds with Desna)?
3) What would you say are the top six demon lords most commonly worshiped by Golarion's surface elves?
1) Yes. Nocticula and Socothbenoth. The nascent demon lord Shamira is even MORE into that scene. Sifkesh, though, is the one who's the MOST into these types of followers.
2) Lost dreams means things that you wanted to achieve but never did. If you had a dream of growing up to be an astronaut, but when you grew up you didn't and got a career that you hate... THAT'S what Shamira's into. She's also into the lost loves. And it also has a literal meaning—dreams that have been stolen from a dreaming individual, or creatures who have lost the ability to dream.
3) Since the bulk of elves who really REALLY get into worshiping demon lords end up turning into drow (that's another way of saying elves almost never worship demon lords), that's kind of a tough question. I would probably say that list of six would be Lamashtu, Nocticula, Socothbenoth, Abraxas, Cyth-V'sug, and Haggenti.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James, I'm curious: you've stated sometimes in the past about the potential for races, like orcs, to have come about via evolution or experimentation or something. Any chance of a future AP delving into the ancient past and how a proto-race, mostly similar to the now ubiquitous humans, in Golarion's solar system branched out and diversified into elves, dwarves, orcs, halfings, etc?
There's certainly a chance. There's ABSOLUTELY a chance.
|
Creative Director
|
Speaking of Arcadia, are there any particular Native American monsters you are itching to stat up? I know that Native American folklore tends to not get as much attention as other areas of the world, but there are some interesting creatures, beyond Sasquatch, Thunderbirds, and Wendigo.
I'd like to see a Raven Mocker myself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_mocker
To the extent that I'm shocked and ashamed that we haven't done anything with Manitous yet.
Thanks for the response! Your Pathfinder #64 mention brings me to another issue I have. There is a *lot* to Golarion for someone getting into Pathfinder this late in the game. I own the Inner Sea World Guide, but I'm not sure where to go from here (other than Elves of Golarion, because elves are the best). Are there any other books you would consider key to getting a decent grasp on the setting?
Also, The Prophecies of Groetus is an awesome item I might need to steal (though not for many levels). I love knowledge skills, and one of my players is a plague bringer who probably wouldn't object to a bit of madness in exchange for higher int.
|
Creative Director
|
1)James what year did Aroden die?
2)What was the prophecy surrounding his return to golarion just before he died?
3)When Aroden died what effects were immediately apparent, did the sun eclipse, was there an earthquake. etc....?
4) Did the worldwound and the eye of Abendego immediately form upon his death? As in the same day or awhile thereafter
1) 4606 AR. As recorded on page 37 of the Inner Sea World Guide at the start of the Age of Lost Omens.
2) We've not revealed the exact prophecy, but the gist was that Aroden would return to Golarion, and would appear in the city of Westcrown at which point he would usher in a new golden age to the race of humanity.
3) Also covered in the Inner Sea World Guide. There were storms all across the world. The Eye of Abendego formed. The Worldwound opened. Madness spread through the priesthood of Pharasma. All more or less during the same week.
4) It all happened in the same week. Very close succession, but not simultaneous.
|
Creative Director
|
Does Stinking Cloud's duration count the turn one leaves the cloud?
So for instance, let's say I fail my save on Stinking Cloud. On my turn, I leave the cloud, and roll a 1 on my d4. So the duration is supposed to be 1d4+1, so the duration should be 2.
Do I lose my Standard Action for the round I left, then the next round, and then afterwards I can start moving again? Or does the duration not start until next round (so I lose my next two consecutive standard actions, and then can start acting after those two turns have passed).
The lingering effects of stinking cloud's 1d4+1 duration does NOT count the turn you leave the cloud, since that turn is still part of the spell's ongoing duration.
Regarding AP #44, trial of the beast, and AP #48, shadows of gallowspire
Nalthezzar from AP $48 was also said to be an alchemist lich. I don't have that one yet, but I take it that's another instance of "story comes first"? I do recall hearing that the AP was about a way to turn anyone into a lich, so that makes some sense.
Thanks! I've been wondering about those ones for awhile.