Creative Director
|
How come the Iconics in the NPC Codex don't have any archetypes? I've always figured Seoni would make a perfect Tattooed Sorceress, especially when the art in the book even uses her and shows her skink kinda fading into (or out of) her skin.
We've certainly built a few archetypes that have been inspired by our iconics... but the iconics themselves are, well... ICONIC. That means that they're baselines. They're the primary and alpha versions of their classes. Giving them archetypes drifts them away from being what they're intended to be—incarnations of each class as the class exists in the Core Rulebook (or whatever book it was introduced in), unblemished by tinkerings.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Androids:
- how noticeable is the "faint metallic sheen to their eyes"?
- some people assume they will not eat or sleep, but I don't see anything saying that in the Android race description, what is the canon interpretation in Golarion?
- they can reproduce with humans or with other androids without the use of magic?Edit: wait for James 1 word reply with some trepidation. :-)
Noticeable enough to expose them as androids if you beat an android's Disguise check. And if an android isn't trying to disguise itself, as noticeable as the color of anyone's eyes.
They eat and sleep. They're humanoids, after all, and unless some rule specifically says otherwise, humanoids eat, drink, and sleep.
That's a good question! I would say no, unless they had some sort of special augmentation that we haven't yet talked about in print.
And ha! The one-word replies are what folks get for asking questions while I'm down in Point Arena and increasingly getting into the idea of this whole vacation thing...
|
And ha! The one-word replies are what folks get for asking questions while I'm down in Point Arena and increasingly getting into the idea of this whole vacation thing...
While I was typing I was sure to see the reply after the 26, but then I did see the replies you were making at the same time.
Go and enjoy your leisure time with the family! This is an order!
:-)
Happy festivities to James, all the Paizo crew and all the players.
God jul from Sweden, James (we do the big dinner and the opening of gifts on the 24th).
Has Paizo considered releasing flaws ( a la Unearthed Arcana)?Mythic characters have flaws. Not a-la Unearthed Arcana.
I'm not a big fan of flaws, since they tend to be kind of too crippling, too easy for power gamers to abuse, and too meta for my tastes.
What would say to optional flaws that don't add power to the character, but could eventually be worked around? For example, a character that is blind but eventually learns to fight while blind? He still can't read or see, and would probably still need Blind Fight to help. What do you think of that?
Will we ever get more infomation on Absalom?
We've certainly built a few archetypes that have been inspired by our iconics... but the iconics themselves are, well... ICONIC. That means that they're baselines. They're the primary and alpha versions of their classes. Giving them archetypes drifts them away from being what they're intended to be—incarnations of each class as the class exists in the Core Rulebook (or whatever book it was introduced in), unblemished by tinkerings.
Ahhhh, ok that makes perfect sense. Thanks !:)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Merry Christmas, James. I don't have any questions important enough to bother you with, so I'll send you well wishes and hope you enjoy time with family and relax. And play games.
I can't pull rank and make it an order, though. ;-)
Safe returns, sir.
|
Creative Director
|
What would say to optional flaws that don't add power to the character, but could eventually be worked around? For example, a character that is blind but eventually learns to fight while blind? He still can't read or see, and would probably still need Blind Fight to help. What do you think of that?Has Paizo considered releasing flaws ( a la Unearthed Arcana)?Mythic characters have flaws. Not a-la Unearthed Arcana.
I'm not a big fan of flaws, since they tend to be kind of too crippling, too easy for power gamers to abuse, and too meta for my tastes.
Oracles have an element of that. But beyond that, that's something best handled on a case by case basis for GMs to incorporate into their games. Advice on how to do that would be a cool topic for a book, though...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So this MMO called The Secret World went Free to Play last week (or so). I picked it up because I wanted to play an MMO that wasn't trying to kill a game I liked and I have to say, its pretty awesome. The first level drops you off in a New England town where the dead are rising at the beck and call of monsters from Norway. The entire atmosphere, from the visuals to the music, makes for an excellently creepy game.
Plus, plenty of Lovecraft references.
Sound like anything you might try and pick up?
|
|
James, you are away from your books so probably you can't help there, but you recall if somewhere in the Pathfinder books there is a explanation of how burrowing work?
I recall a descriptions saying that a burrowing creature is tunneling through the earth but it will not leave a hole behind as it is filled by the material it is displacing and because the tunnel collapse immediately as it is not shored or reinforced, but can't find any trace of that text.
Edit, found it in the D20PSFRD:
*Burrow (Ex)A creature with a burrow speed can tunnel through dirt, but not through rock unless the descriptive text says otherwise. Creatures cannot charge or run while burrowing. Most burrowing creatures do not leave behind tunnels other creatures can use (either because the material they tunnel through fills in behind them or because they do not actually dislocate any material when burrowing); see the individual creature descriptions for details.
Format: Burrow 30 ft.; Location: Speed.
*Note: Burrow details were not included in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook so the details were obtained from d20srd.org.
So the description of burrowing wasn't reproduced anywhere in Pathfinder?
A further question about burrowing:
a earth elemental has a burrowing speed of 20' and can burrow through "stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal" (from his earth gliding (EX), that is based on his burrowing speed). So it can burrow through a stone wall at a speed of 20'/round, grinding enough stone to allow it to pass through?
How much damage will that do to a wall?
Would you say Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) is a prime example of what a Mythic Monk should be like? (although he is anything but lawful)
|
Creative Director
|
So this MMO called The Secret World went Free to Play last week (or so). I picked it up because I wanted to play an MMO that wasn't trying to kill a game I liked and I have to say, its pretty awesome. The first level drops you off in a New England town where the dead are rising at the beck and call of monsters from Norway. The entire atmosphere, from the visuals to the music, makes for an excellently creepy game.
Plus, plenty of Lovecraft references.
Sound like anything you might try and pick up?
It sounds like a great game... been wanting to try it out for a while now, in fact, but last I checked it wasn't Mac compatible... grrrrr.
|
Creative Director
|
James, have you guys considered doing something along the lines of 3rd editions Book of Vile Darkness and Book of Exalted Deeds?
We often include mature topics in our books already, when appropriate. I don't think that gratuitous stuff in and of itself is a good subject for an entire book, but topics like evil and the like sure are.
Merry Christmas,
So what did you get this Christmas?
|
Creative Director
|
So the description of burrowing wasn't reproduced anywhere in Pathfinder?
A further question about burrowing:
a earth elemental has a burrowing speed of 20' and can burrow through "stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal" (from his earth gliding (EX), that is based on his burrowing speed). So it can burrow through a stone wall at a speed of 20'/round, grinding enough stone to allow it to pass through?
How much damage will that do to a wall?
That bit of information did get left out of Pathfinder. Burrowing is really undersupported by rules in the game. Every other movement type has a skill associated with it (Fly, Swim, Acrobatics, Climb)... maybe there needs to be a Burrow skill.
When an earth elemental burrows, it uses its earth glide ability and that doesn't damage what it passes through at all. It just swims through earth and stone like a fish swims in water... doesn't leave a hole or damage the earth at all.
|
Creative Director
|
Would you say Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) is a prime example of what a Mythic Monk should be like? (although he is anything but lawful)
Nah... good examples of mythic monks would be all the kung fu heroes in the super over-the-top kung fu movies. Sun Wukong is more than mythic, being a deity and all.
Would you say Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) is a prime example of what a Mythic Monk should be like? (although he is anything but lawful)Nah... good examples of mythic monks would be all the kung fu heroes in the super over-the-top kung fu movies. Sun Wukong is more than mythic, being a deity and all.
Well, he didn't start out that way. Just a powerful anomalous monkey (being born from a boulder-egg and all) who attained Taoist-monk immortality, then started annoying the Celestial Bureaucracy... it was only at the end of Journey to the West that he'd calmed down enough to be made a Bodhisattva.
Ah, yeah, I forgot Sun Wukong was in the list of Pathfinder deities. I was referring to the original story.
Merry Chirstmas, James. I have some presents for you, by which I mean questions (and a comment).
What did the art order for Sorshen say?I can't remember the details—wrote it years ago for Inner Sea Magic. Probably something like "This is a beautiful human woman with long dark hair and sexy robes; she carries a glaive with two blades at one end." But the artist misinterpreted the "two blades" part and made it into a double weapon instead of a double-bladed glaive, alas.
You really need to crack the whip if artists can't follow basic instructions. Also, Sorshen's sexy robes cover up her figure rather than enhance it. Shelyn's robes have the same problem, while Seoni's are tailored correctly.
1. Regarding too many good-aligned NPCs in Forgotten Realms, what's your take on this explanation? (Short version: it was to stifle munchkins.)
2. If flying enemies stay out of melee range then (obviously) melee characters are rendered useless. But if flying enemies (with ranged attacks) stay low to the ground then they're being stupid. What's your solution?
3. When designing a dungeon, how do you determined how rooms are placed in relation to each other (e.g., which room the kitchen goes next to)?
4. Except for regaining spells and such, the rules don't say anything about what happens if a character goes without sleep. What does happen?
8. About how long did the Gray Maiden's brainwashing take?
9. How high up are the ceilings in Castle Korvosa?
10. Korvosans "admire ostentatious displays of wealth, power, or knowledge" (Guide to Korvosa, p.4), but at what point will they say "Okay, this is too scary for me!"?
Let me know if any of them would be better answered when you get back from vacation.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Jacobs. Hope this holiday finds you and your family in Point Arena healthy and happy.
Will we ever learn more about the contents and doctrine of the Prophecies of Kalistrade such as specific tenets, regulations, and practices?
Additionally, will information likely be revealed about Kalistrade him/herself? Who was he/she and what, if anything, was Kalistrade reacting to in suggesting such a vastly different mindset and lifestyle?
Merry Christmas mate, hope everything's going well for you!
Belated merry Christmas Mr. Jacobs! Thanks for taking our questions!
Frohe Weihnachten from Germany, James
how is the weather in northern California around Christmas? is there snow?
did you have a Company christmas party?
I just recently read Artifacts and Legends, and I saw an allusion to Durvin Gest's fiendish paramour. Is there a story behind this? Who was Durvin Gest's demonic lady friend, and why would a Pathfinder hit it off with a fiend? And a secondary, tangential question, what sort of person was Gest?
You can learn a bit more here.
|
Creative Director
|
Merry Chirstmas, James. I have some presents for you, by which I mean questions (and a comment).
What did the art order for Sorshen say?I can't remember the details—wrote it years ago for Inner Sea Magic. Probably something like "This is a beautiful human woman with long dark hair and sexy robes; she carries a glaive with two blades at one end." But the artist misinterpreted the "two blades" part and made it into a double weapon instead of a double-bladed glaive, alas.You really need to crack the whip if artists can't follow basic instructions. Also, Sorshen's sexy robes cover up her figure rather than enhance it. Shelyn's robes have the same problem, while Seoni's are tailored correctly.
1. Regarding too many good-aligned NPCs in Forgotten Realms, what's your take on this explanation? (Short version: it was to stifle munchkins.)
2. If flying enemies stay out of melee range then (obviously) melee characters are rendered useless. But if flying enemies (with ranged attacks) stay low to the ground then they're being stupid. What's your solution?
3. When designing a dungeon, how do you determined how rooms are placed in relation to each other (e.g., which room the kitchen goes next to)?
4. Except for regaining spells and such, the rules don't say anything about what happens if a character goes without sleep. What does happen?
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
8. About how long did the Gray Maiden's brainwashing take?
9. How high up are the ceilings in Castle Korvosa?
10. Korvosans "admire ostentatious displays of wealth, power, or knowledge" (Guide to Korvosa, p.4), but at what point will they say "Okay, this is too scary for me!"?
Let me know if any of them would be better answered when you get back from vacation.
Trust me... there's plenty of whip cracking on artists (and authors) who mess up. The majority of the errors on both the art and the word side don't get into print.
1) Shrug; works for the Forgotten Realms... but it's not for Golarion. Different worlds.
2) The fly skill is intended to equalize things a little, but the solution is that if you have a group who can't do much against flying foes is to simply not use flying foes, or to use flying foes in areas where there is some terrain disadvantages such as low ceilings or poor visibility to even things up a little. Intentionally setting up an encounter where the party can't win is bad gameplay, no mater HOW realistic the encounter is.
3) One part logic, one part archetectural/drafting training, one part copying what previous maps did, and one part artistry (what looks good on the map).
4) A character who goes without sleep should become fatigued; that's what happens in real life, after all.
5) Because they didn't. People have made far more stupid errors in the real world. And because in 3.5, we had to make those sacrifices to story logic because the game rules were too constrictive to storylines like that.
6) If we did stats for the poison, our ability to hand-wave elements for story requirements erodes. No stats needed for the poison since it doesn't come into play in the game itself against the PCs.
7) That depends on how that plays out in any one person's Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign, and how much the PCs learn about it and on what they do with that knowledge.
8) If we don't cover that in Pathfinder #62's Gray Maiden article... I'd say a few months, probably.
9) That varies by room, but as a general rule, I assume ceiling heights in any RPG dungeon are about 10 feet, or maybe 20 feet in big rooms.
10) That'd vary on a per-person basis... but considering the nature of the Acadamae, it's a pretty high tolerance level on average.
6)
|
Creative Director
|
Will we ever learn more about the contents and doctrine of the Prophecies of Kalistrade such as specific tenets, regulations, and practices?
Additionally, will information likely be revealed about Kalistrade him/herself? Who was he/she and what, if anything, was Kalistrade reacting to in suggesting such a vastly different mindset and lifestyle?
Some day, yes. Not anything soon planned for it though.
|
Creative Director
|
I just recently read Artifacts and Legends, and I saw an allusion to Durvin Gest's fiendish paramour. Is there a story behind this? Who was Durvin Gest's demonic lady friend, and why would a Pathfinder hit it off with a fiend? And a secondary, tangential question, what sort of person was Gest?
Durvin Gest is one of Erik Mona's NPCs, so he'd be the one to ask there. As for why a Pathfinder would hit it off with a fiend... because love strikes when it strikes. The Pathfinders themselves aren't all that anti-fiend, in any case... they're Neutral.
|
Creative Director
|
Frohe Weihnachten from Germany, James
how is the weather in northern California around Christmas? is there snow?
did you have a Company christmas party?
Normally, the weather around Northern California varies quite widely—California is a HUGE region, after all. Where I'm at right now on the northern coast, it's usually a mix of rain and sun around Christmas. Snow here is VERY rare. This year, the rain has been VERY strong though; there's a fair amount of flooding throughout the northern state. My parents live on top of a mountain so flooding isn't much of a concern there... but road closures did turn what's normally a 15 hour drive into a 20 hour drive that got split over 2 days... and had one key river (the Garcia river) flooded, I would have been able to get within walking distance of Point Arena but not be able to drive to it, and would have had to take a 4 or maybe 5 hour drive to swing around the key flooded road to approach from the next closest direction.
And yup! We did indeed have a company party.
James,
Hope your holidays went well!
Is there any plans on doing a druid archetype, more on the lines of like the urban druid, that gives up Wild Shape for the ability to change into more humanoid (monstrous humanoid, giant, etc) forms using A Thousand Faces type line?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James,
1) If the aboleth are an agnostic species (they acknowledge the gods, but refute them), and the Azlanti were their slaves/servants, why were the Azlanti allowed to worship gods? Would their culture not have been shaped to see such perceptions as foolish or improper?
2) If religion was not an Aboleth design for the Azlanti, why was it not snuffed out sooner?
3) Is there any possibility that the Aboleth destroyed Azlant because they foresaw the ascension of an Azlant-born deity? (and how silly did they feel when they inadvertently brought about his ascension?)
4) Do Aboleth possess genetic memory (which is a great idea, to your credit) as was described in Lords of Madness ?
5) Will we be seeing more types of Aboleth now that the Veiled Master is out of the bag?
6) Aboleth adventure path please! (You could even theme the chapter titles after Lovecraft works, like The Shadow out of Azlant) :D
4) After the mythic rules, what are the chances of seeing some sort of "Mythic Golarion" campaign book that expands on some of the mythic personalities in the world and opportunities for mythic adventures?
4) There will be PLENTY of Mythic books for Golarion.
Hmmm. I'm still on the fence about the whole Mythic thing (at least as of the playtest) and was considering suspending the appropriate subscription line just long enough to skip it (thanks, Customer Service, for making that option possible, BTW) but given the above statement I worry that this may cause me problems.
The upcoming "...Righteous" AP I'm not too worried about; I plan to continue my AP sub uninterrupted even if I don't play most of them. But if future rulebooks/companions/etc. are going to start incorporating Mythic rules, then
(1) to what extent will those elements be presented as optional/sidebar?, and;
(2) will books incorporating Mythic rules be clearly identified as such?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
From Lucent:
Aboleth adventure path please! (You could even theme the chapter titles after Lovecraft works, like The Shadow out of Azlant) :D
I second this!
Are you a miniatures person? That is to say, is the acquiring and painting of miniatures a part of the hobby that appeals to you?
What are your favorite miniatures? Least favorite?
It sounds like a great game... been wanting to try it out for a while now, in fact, but last I checked it wasn't Mac compatible... grrrrr.So this MMO called The Secret World went Free to Play last week (or so). I picked it up because I wanted to play an MMO that wasn't trying to kill a game I liked and I have to say, its pretty awesome. The first level drops you off in a New England town where the dead are rising at the beck and call of monsters from Norway. The entire atmosphere, from the visuals to the music, makes for an excellently creepy game.
Plus, plenty of Lovecraft references.
Sound like anything you might try and pick up?
Ewww... yeah MMOs are the one remaining place where Macs still have that "software" issue... Um I forget the name, but do you have one of those Windows emulators? If you don't, you might look into it. Secret World is quite worth it.
To get an idea of the kind of stuff that goes on in the game itself you can play this web-based game based on the end of the world and preparing to survive it (and if you ever do end up playing the actual game, completing this web-game will get you cool swag in the actual MMO, just save the CD-keys you get when you complete each chapter)
www.themorninglight.org That's the website of an in game organization, which is something Secret World did... there are TONS of real world websites they created that you must in game use real-world Google to do research to solve quests.
What's a cool place in Golarion that most players there don't know about but should?
What's a cool place in Golarion that most players there don't know about but should?
I think Molthune has a lot of potential (extremely rigid but not evil, monstrous humanoids accepted in the military, complex politics both within and with Nirmathas, lots of uncharted wilderness) but very little time in the spotlight.
2. What would Sorshen do with all those imps infesting Korvosa?
3. Would Sorshen want anything like the Ministry of Truth to control Korvosa through institutionalized propaganda (monuments, books, the removal of such when against her goals, etc.)?
4. Given that it was decadent and (presumably) chaotic evil, how did Xin-Eurythnia's manage to function?
5. How much did runelords, particularly Sorshen, use genie wishes?
6. Who would Sorshen get along with better, efreet or marids?
7. I occasionally read about an NPC being charmed or dominated so long that the spell's no longer needed. About how long would that take?
8. When bardic performance requires an audible component, could that be as simple as talking or does it require singing or a musical instrument.
9. If bards are arcane spellcasters then where do their healing spells come from? Come to think of it, where do their spells come from in general if not through study, innate power, or divine grace?
"A character who goes without sleep should become fatigued; that's what happens in real life, after all."
10. In that case, doesn't that mean that androids needn't sleep since they're immune to fatigue? Yes, they'd still need to rest to regain spells but they can stay awake and rest, can't they?
|
|
2) The fly skill is intended to equalize things a little, but the solution is that if you have a group who can't do much against flying foes is to simply not use flying foes, or to use flying foes in areas where there is some terrain disadvantages such as low ceilings or poor visibility to even things up a little. Intentionally setting up an encounter where the party can't win is bad gameplay, no mater HOW realistic the encounter is.
2. If flying enemies stay out of melee range then (obviously) melee characters are rendered useless. But if flying enemies (with ranged attacks) stay low to the ground then they're being stupid. What's your solution?
I agree that intentionally setting up an encounter that the group can't win is bad gameplay, at the same time I don't see why people should be rewarded for purposely crippling themselves.
I don't see how a "obviously) melee character" that become "useless" if the enemy is flying can exist. Every class has the ability of using some missile weapons, carrying them don't encumber you too much and they came hand in plenty of situations.The character will lose effectiveness and you should take that in account when designing the encounter, but he will be hardly useless unless the player has totally disregarded the idea of giving him any ranged capability.
In your experience, you have encountered players that really become useless in a ranged fight?
Do you feel that becoming less efficient is the same thing as becoming useless?
I have a paladin that is useless in a ranged fight with one exception.
He has taken the Iomedaean Sword Oath. His only ranged option (since we are up to our eyebrows in the Abyss at the moment, it's not a bad option) is Alignment Channel (Evil).
I'm not complaining. It's been a little frustrating a few times, but the flavor of the feat felt right for the character. If the GM puts us up against flying foes, that's just intelligent design on his part. And my character is very effective in melee, so ranged foes give others a chance to shine.
I do wish, having spent the feat for the Oath and restricting my options, that there was a way to improve on the benefits of the feat - work my way up to taking Greater Weapon Focus, for example. To make this a question, how would you adjudicate such a request, James?