Creative Director
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So, the change shape ability normally restricts succubi to taking humanoid forms. Can a succubus do this naturally? Or do they need an elixir/girdle/whatever?
Big fan of that art (and the decision to publish it), by the way.
Thank you! ^_^
A succubus could assume a male form whenever she wants. As can anyone who can alter self or polymorph or whatever. But she'd need some other effect to assume the form of an incubus or the like.
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Creative Director
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A question on using the Ring of Revelation which dovetails with your unofficial sidebar ruling on using Use Magic Device to trick the ring---
I have an Oracle of Flame in my game who is employing Use Magic Device on his Ring of Revelation to Emulate a Class Feature and trick it into letting him access a revelation from the Lore Mystery (specifically "Sidestep Secret"; adds his Cha mod instead of Dex mod to AC/Reflex saves...in combination with a high base Charisma, a Headband of Alluring Charisma, and Celestial Armor with its Max Dex mod of +8, his AC goes through the roof).
Is this a legal use of the Use Magic Device skill on the Ring? On the surface it seems as though it probably is, but I'd appreciate any feedback, even unofficial.
Seems to get pretty complex. And if you get a situation where the AC goes ballistic and through the roof... my advice would be to not allow it. This ring does something that breaks a lot of the assumptions of how the class works, and it's not a ring that designers keep in specific mind when building new oracle stuff, so it's kinda sketchy. Up to you... but I'd say no it's not legal, in my games.
A succubus could assume a male form whenever she wants. As can anyone who can alter self or polymorph or whatever. But she'd need some other effect to assume the form of an incubus or the like.So, the change shape ability normally restricts succubi to taking humanoid forms. Can a succubus do this naturally? Or do they need an elixir/girdle/whatever?
Big fan of that art (and the decision to publish it), by the way.
Thank you! ^_^
Presumably that particular succubus in the image that Kalindlara linked to is trying to entice someone who likes men more than (or instead of) women?
Could a succubus transform itself into a humanoid that combined features from more than one race, or more than one gender, if that happened to tweak a particular target's lust most effectively?
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Creative Director
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A succubus could assume a male form whenever she wants. As can anyone who can alter self or polymorph or whatever. But she'd need some other effect to assume the form of an incubus or the like.So, the change shape ability normally restricts succubi to taking humanoid forms. Can a succubus do this naturally? Or do they need an elixir/girdle/whatever?
Big fan of that art (and the decision to publish it), by the way.
Thank you! ^_^
Presumably that particular succubus in the image that Kalindlara linked to is trying to entice someone who likes men more than (or instead of) women?
Could a succubus transform itself into a humanoid that combined features from more than one race, or more than one gender, if that happened to tweak a particular target's lust most effectively?
Yes. You can't seduce those who prefer men if you are a woman, and succubi are equipped with options to take care of that as needed.
Change shape allows the succubus to push her new appearance as far as the GM will let her.
What are the sacred colors for the Osirian deities? You have the sacred colors for Wadjet listed so I was curious to see what the others are.
And which Osirian deity do you think is the coolest and why (you cannot pick Seth! He's evil! That's goes the same for Apep!)?
When you you designed Mummy's Mask, did you do a lot of research into Ancient Egyptian culture and history?
Which of the geniekin is your favorite and why?
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Creative Director
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What would happen if a true Neutral Oracle(who did not worship a god) but who believed mortals are superior to outsiders and believed outsider should serve mortals, were to cast a Planar Ally spell?.
1)What type of outsider do you think would come?
2)What do you think the personality of this outsider would be like?
1) The GM would get to make the call. If I were the GM... I'd STRONGLY consider having NOTHING answer the spell though.
2) Self-loathing, if one bothered to show at all.
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Creative Director
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What are the sacred colors for the Osirian deities? You have the sacred colors for Wadjet listed so I was curious to see what the others are.
And which Osirian deity do you think is the coolest and why (you cannot pick Seth! He's evil! That's goes the same for Apep!)?
When you you designed Mummy's Mask, did you do a lot of research into Ancient Egyptian culture and history?
Which of the geniekin is your favorite and why?
Dunno; haven't put a moment's thought into their sacred colors. And since they're based on real world myths, I'm not just gonna make them up off the top of my head.
Bast is the best.
I had very little to do with Mummy's Mask. Rob McCreary was the developer for that one.
I've never really been all that into the geniekin. Undines are probably my favorite, since they combine my favorite element (water, aka the Ocean) with ability mods that work well for clerics or bards or rogues, my favorite classes.
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Creative Director
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Hi James, would you have any conceptual problems with a magus that uses a 2 handed weapon as long as its class abilities were balanced?
Yeah. I really prefer magi to be one handed weapon and one handed spellcasters. There IS a "staff magus" that crept into print, but that's an exception to the rule as far as I'm concerned.
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Creative Director
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How big of a hand did you have in the Inner Sea Monster Codex? If it was a large one, which monsters did you have the biggest partaking in? Which monsters from there were your favorites?
Kudos for the ogrekin, by the way. The stories and art (OH GODS THE ART) was quite...intriguing.
I was pretty much not involved in that book at all, other than being the original creator of the urdefhan several years ago. Those, as a result, are my favorites. I'm pretty proud of them.
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Hi James, would you have any conceptual problems with a magus that uses a 2 handed weapon as long as its class abilities were balanced?Yeah. I really prefer magi to be one handed weapon and one handed spellcasters. There IS a "staff magus" that crept into print, but that's an exception to the rule as far as I'm concerned.
Not to mention staff magi get Quarterstaff Master as a bonus feat at first level, showing a clear intention for them to use their staves one-handed in conjunction with Spell Combat.
What kinds of trees do you find the most beautiful?
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Creative Director
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Hi James, would you have any conceptual problems with a magus that uses a 2 handed weapon as long as its class abilities were balanced?Yeah. I really prefer magi to be one handed weapon and one handed spellcasters. There IS a "staff magus" that crept into print, but that's an exception to the rule as far as I'm concerned.Not to mention staff magi get Quarterstaff Master as a bonus feat at first level, showing a clear intention for them to use their staves one-handed in conjunction with Spell Combat.
What kinds of trees do you find the most beautiful?
Redwoods. No contest.
And also, I'd prefer folks to keep this thread to questions for me. The "answer other folk's questions and then justify it by putting in a question for me" is bending the rules!!!! :P
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Creative Director
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Hi JJ, got a couple questions regarding the Grab(ex) ability.
** spoiler omitted **
1.) When opting to use the -20 option, you must decide when you hit with the initial Grab(ex) attack and remain with that option throughout the grapple, correct? ie. You can't switch to and from a regular grapple to the -20 on later rounds.
2.) When you select the -20 option, you do not gain the grappled condition, but your target does. Does this mean you do not have to 'maintain' the grapple on your next turn, and the creature will continue to be grappled? Or does this simply mean avoid the penalties of the grappled condition (You can take OAs, no -2 to attacks, no -4 Dex... etc) and nothing else?
3.) Grab (ex) damage paragraph. Does this damage take place regardless of whether you choose the regular Grab(ex) grapple or -20 option? The use of the word 'hold' in the -20 option and damage paragraph immediately after is throwing me for a loop here, I can't tell if these are referring to each other or not.
1) You can switch to the -20 option whenever you want.
2) You still have to maintain the grapple.
3) The only thing the –20 option does is free up the rest of you to do other things. Grapple rules work the same regardless.
Hello
I have a request for additional details on a couple of applications of this game mechanic:
1) When the grab/grapple is first initiated if the grabber/grappler succeeds on the grapple check but did not take the -20 penalty, does the grabber/grappler have the grappled condition?
2) Is the switch "whenever you want" a) a free action that can be taking out of turn b) a free action that can only be taken on turn c) a part of the on turn standard action to check to maintain the grapple or d) something else?
3) If the answer to 2) is something other than c), is a check to maintain the grapple required as part of the switch?
1) Yes.
2) No, the decision to take the –20 must be made as you're rolling a grapple check. Once you grapple, you can't switch that. You have to make a NEW grapple at –20 to do so.
3) If you grapple a foe normally, then want to take the –20 penalty to only use your limb, then yes, you make a grapple check to maintain the grapple the next time you'd normally do so and take the –20 then.
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Hi James, would you have any conceptual problems with a magus that uses a 2 handed weapon as long as its class abilities were balanced?Yeah. I really prefer magi to be one handed weapon and one handed spellcasters. There IS a "staff magus" that crept into print, but that's an exception to the rule as far as I'm concerned.Not to mention staff magi get Quarterstaff Master as a bonus feat at first level, showing a clear intention for them to use their staves one-handed in conjunction with Spell Combat.
What kinds of trees do you find the most beautiful?
Redwoods. No contest.
And also, I'd prefer folks to keep this thread to questions for me. The "answer other folk's questions and then justify it by putting in a question for me" is bending the rules!!!! :P
Aw, but I thought I was clarifying! :P
Despite the presence of driders, drow on Golarion don't have any special bond with spiders, is that right?
Does that mean we could make PCs who have giant spider buddies that are actually good guys?
Are you familiar with The Burning Wheel? You can play as actual giant spiders in it!
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Creative Director
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Despite the presence of driders, drow on Golarion don't have any special bond with spiders, is that right?Does that mean we could make PCs who have giant spider buddies that are actually good guys?
Are you familiar with The Burning Wheel? You can play as actual giant spiders in it!
Golarion's drow do not have any particular special bond with spiders, no; that was a deliberate choice to distance them from D&D's drow. The demon Mazzmezz is in there to provide GMs who DO enjoy that link a spider demon to use in place of Lolth, of course, so there are THOSE drow, at least, that are spidery.
You can make PCs who have giant spider buddies that are good guys in D&D too. The drow/spider association does nothing to prevent that at all.
Not familiar with it.
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Creative Director
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James, In Lord of Runes it talks about some sort of upheaval in the political structure of Korovosa. Could you comment on was is going on in Korovosa.
I haven't actually read Lord of Runes, but I believe that's a reference to the events surrounding Curse of the Crimson Throne, without spoiling TOO much about that adventure path.
James,
Did you see the finale for Game of Thrones? Without giving anything away, what did you think if you have...
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Creative Director
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James, how do the lower classes in Cheliax view their nobles and their queen? I interested in the feelings of the common people of Cheliax out side of Kintargo.
We'll be covering a LOT of this over the coming year in the next two Adventure Paths. You'll need to wait until Hell's Vengeance to hear more about outside of Kintargo. Overall, the lower classes fear their noble and queen, but fear what would happen if they WEREN'T in charge even more.
So... uh... that Fallout 4 showcase...
Thoughts?
I'll be putting in for time off for the month of November.So... uh... that Fallout 4 showcase...
Thoughts?
Pip-boy Edition?
Hi JJ, got a couple questions regarding the Grab(ex) ability.1) You can switch to the -20 option whenever you want.
2) You still have to maintain the grapple.
3) The only thing the –20 option does is free up the rest of you to do other things. Grapple rules work the same regardless.
Hello
I have a request for additional details on a couple of applications of this game mechanic:
1) When the grab/grapple is first initiated if the grabber/grappler succeeds on the grapple check but did not take the -20 penalty, does the grabber/grappler have the grappled condition?
2) Is the switch "whenever you want" a) a free action that can be taking out of turn b) a free action that can only be taken on turn c) a part of the on turn standard action to check to maintain the grapple or d) something else?
3) If the answer to 2) is something other than c), is a check to maintain the grapple required as part of the switch?1) Yes.
2) No, the decision to take the –20 must be made as you're rolling a grapple check. Once you grapple, you can't switch that. You have to make a NEW grapple at –20 to do so.
3) If you grapple a foe normally, then want to take the –20 penalty to only use your limb, then yes, you make a grapple check to maintain the grapple the next time you'd normally do so and take the –20 then.
So if you have a critter that can grab multiple times, such as a giant octopus, would it need a separate standard action to maintain a grapple against each grabbed creature (and therefore only realistically be able to actively grapple one creature at a time), or can it maintain all of its active grapples simultaneously with a single standard action?
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Creative Director
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So if you have a critter that can grab multiple times, such as a giant octopus, would it need a separate standard action to maintain a grapple against each grabbed creature (and therefore only realistically be able to actively grapple one creature at a time), or can it maintain all of its active grapples simultaneously with a single standard action?
Most grabby monsters have the grab ability. That lets them make grapple checks as part of their action if they hit a foe. If an octopus wanted to, it could make the –20 grapple check as part of its free grab action on 8 different foes and maintain them all... but at –20, that might be tricky or tough for the typical giant octopus.
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Looks like you've listed 18 languages. That means he'd need an intelligence of like 36 to know them all. Obviously, this is another case of Pathfinder modeling game play rather than the real world.
If he was secretly a Tengu, that would explain both the amazing number of languages and that nose...
Anywho, question time!
If you could go back, would you have the negative material/energy plane be at least mildly evil-aligned, since it seems that channeling negative energy is generally limited to non-good/evil, and negative-energy nurtured creatures (usually undead) are almost always evil and corrupt?
If so, would you also have the positive plane be good-aligned, or just leave it unaligned (since obviously not all living creatures nurtured by positive energy are 'always good' or 'pure / not corrupt')?
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Creative Director
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If you could go back, would you have the negative material/energy plane be at least mildly evil-aligned, since it seems that channeling negative energy is generally limited to non-good/evil, and negative-energy nurtured creatures (usually undead) are almost always evil and corrupt?
If so, would you also have the positive plane be good-aligned, or just leave it unaligned (since obviously not all living creatures nurtured by positive energy are 'always good' or 'pure / not corrupt')?
Nope. I prefer the evil/good aligned stuff to be associated with the outer planes, and the energy planes are not outer planes.
Is there/will there be expanded 'favored class' material for non-core races in the future, such as Tengu, Kitsune, etc?
ie, instead of one skill/hit point, bonuses to various class abilities?
Huh. Based off something you posted elsewhere...
1) If Pharasma already knows when someone's destined to become undead, what does she do with the soul when it arrives in the Boneyard?
2) Is there some sort of "Future Undead" waiting room in the Boneyard somewhere?
3) How good are psychopomps at tracking future undead to their actual undead selves?
That's just kind of a "Huh, Pharasma is not a benevolent diety" moment.
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Creative Director
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Is there/will there be expanded 'favored class' material for non-core races in the future, such as Tengu, Kitsune, etc?
ie, instead of one skill/hit point, bonuses to various class abilities?
Maybe some day. That's a game design region I'm generally not involved in at all though so I can't say for sure.
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Creative Director
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Huh. Based off something you posted elsewhere...
1) If Pharasma already knows when someone's destined to become undead, what does she do with the soul when it arrives in the Boneyard?
2) Is there some sort of "Future Undead" waiting room in the Boneyard somewhere?
3) How good are psychopomps at tracking future undead to their actual undead selves?
That's just kind of a "Huh, Pharasma is not a benevolent diety" moment.
1) She judges it when it's time for it to go on. Remember, she's as much a goddess of fate as she is death, and if it's a soul's fate to become undead, she's doing her job by not judging it at once.
2) No.
3) Good but not infallible.
She is not. She's neutral. She's as good as she is evil.
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Creative Director
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What, do you think, was the likeliest location of a real or historical Camelot? Cadbury? Viroconium (modern-day Wroxeter)? Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester)? Carleon on Usk?
No idea at all. I'm aware of Camelot of course and have read a fair amount of the original tales back in college 20 some years ago... but I've never been into it enough to have thought about it's "likeliest location."
Huh. Based off something you posted elsewhere...
1) If Pharasma already knows when someone's destined to become undead, what does she do with the soul when it arrives in the Boneyard?
2) Is there some sort of "Future Undead" waiting room in the Boneyard somewhere?
3) How good are psychopomps at tracking future undead to their actual undead selves?
That's just kind of a "Huh, Pharasma is not a benevolent diety" moment.
1) She judges it when it's time for it to go on. Remember, she's as much a goddess of fate as she is death, and if it's a soul's fate to become undead, she's doing her job by not judging it at once.
2) No.
3) Good but not infallible.
She is not. She's neutral. She's as good as she is evil.
Which types of undead actually have to face Pharasma's judgement?
Liches hide their souls in a little box. Mindless undead don't have souls at all. Ghosts and most incorporeal undead are spirits that explicitly never moved on to the afterlife.
Do the souls of 'naturally' occurring spawn (of things like vampires and ghouls) go to the Boneyard's waiting room in the 1d4 rounds/days before they arise as undead?
Is there a difference between pulling a soul 'out of line' via create undead and raise dead (other than willingness)?
Actually, do vampires and ghouls even have souls?
After watching the Xbox Showcase at E3 and the demonstration of the HoloLens...
How hard do you think it would be to make a HoloLens app for Pathfinder's virtual tabletop?
Just think about it, being able to have a 3d rendering of a Pathfinder game, anywhere you want to play it. Even possibly be able to take on the perspective of your mini on the battlefield to immerse yourself in the experience even more so than our imaginations already do.
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Creative Director
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Which types of undead actually have to face Pharasma's judgement?Liches hide their souls in a little box. Mindless undead don't have souls at all. Ghosts and most incorporeal undead are spirits that explicitly never moved on to the afterlife.
Do the souls of 'naturally' occurring spawn (of things like vampires and ghouls) go to the Boneyard's waiting room in the 1d4 rounds/days before they arise as undead?
Is there a difference between pulling a soul 'out of line' via create undead and raise dead (other than willingness)?
Actually, do vampires and ghouls even have souls?
No undead has to "face" Pharasma's judgment, really. When undead exist, their souls are taken out of the "line" before they're judged, basically. That's the main reason Pharasma is so anti-undead. She allows it (she HAS to) since it's part of that soul's fate, but she doesn't have to like it.
A lich does an end run; when a lich is created, it's soul never actually enters the soulstream and never actually goes to the Boneyard. At least, not until the lich is finally for real destroyed.
Ghosts and most incorporeal undead who are created upon death are the same. Same with spawn; when you die and spawn into an undead, your soul immediately becomes corrupted and bound to your new undead existence; it never goes into the soulstream.
The difference between create undead and raise dead is that create undead is evil and raise dead is unaligned. To Pharasma, both are part of that soul's fate so they're equally allowed, but since create undead doesn't give the soul a choice, it's the more disruptive and more hated of the two.
Vampires and ghouls have souls; corrupted souls, like all undead, that do not really still function as functional souls due to the undeath.
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Creative Director
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After watching the Xbox Showcase at E3 and the demonstration of the HoloLens...
How hard do you think it would be to make a HoloLens app for Pathfinder's virtual tabletop?
Just think about it, being able to have a 3d rendering of a Pathfinder game, anywhere you want to play it. Even possibly be able to take on the perspective of your mini on the battlefield to immerse yourself in the experience even more so than our imaginations already do.
I don't know what HoloLens is, but I can guess. For me? It'd be impossible to make the app. And since I have zero App-Creation skills or knowledge, I have no idea whatsoever how possible it might be for another to make. I assume somewhere between impossible (me) and completely possible, though.