Creative Director
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Does it amuse, bemuse, inspire or a little bit terrify you that you are an internet influencer who can mention a list of authors and send someone off to buy their books? :)
Inspire, mostly. Love being able to spread the word of authors I've enjoyed reading. Although it does make me think I should figure out how to monetize that power...
While most Outer Gods and Great Old Ones are aberrations, some are not(Bokrug and Xhamen-Dor come to mind). I'm curious. Are there any Outer Gods or Great Old Ones that can be classified as oozes?
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Creative Director
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Hey james, have you read sandman comics? If so, what do you think about them?
Not only have I read them (except the last story arc, which I missed out on and never went back to check out), but I've adored them—one of the best comics ever.
And fun Jacobs trivia time! I worked in a tiny way on volume 20—that was my introduction to the comic, and is the reason Death is my favorite character.
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Creative Director
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While most Outer Gods and Great Old Ones are aberrations, some are not(Bokrug and Xhamen-Dor come to mind). I'm curious. Are there any Outer Gods or Great Old Ones that can be classified as oozes?
Not under the 2nd edition definition for ooze, no. There are plenty that are shapeless and blobby and ooze-like but they'd be categorized as aberrations, since the 2nd edition definition for ooze is very specifically denoting a creature with simple anatomy and low mental scores.
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While most Outer Gods and Great Old Ones are aberrations, some are not(Bokrug and Xhamen-Dor come to mind). I'm curious. Are there any Outer Gods or Great Old Ones that can be classified as oozes?Not under the 2nd edition definition for ooze, no. There are plenty that are shapeless and blobby and ooze-like but they'd be categorized as aberrations, since the 2nd edition definition for ooze is very specifically denoting a creature with simple anatomy and low mental scores.
So if updated the Mezlan would be Aberrations, not Oozes?
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Creative Director
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It is one of the best comics in history,no doubt about it. Is there any influence of it in pathfinder? If not, have you ever thought in introducing any of it?
Absolutely. The Endless played a minor role in inspiring the Eldest of the First World (up to having similar "E" names), but an even stronger influence is that there are some elements of Dream in Desna (up to and including being "D" words with the same number of letters) and a few elements of Delirium, and even STRONGER elements of Death in Pharasma (more so in her incarnation as Turthonir in my homebrew game, in which she very much looked the same as Death but with blue skin).
Plus also the whole nature of the comic has infused my imagination so much that it's part of why I write the way I do, along with growing up reading all sorts of horror stuff from Sandman to Lovecraft to King to Barker and so on.
While most Outer Gods and Great Old Ones are aberrations, some are not(Bokrug and Xhamen-Dor come to mind). I'm curious. Are there any Outer Gods or Great Old Ones that can be classified as oozes?Not under the 2nd edition definition for ooze, no. There are plenty that are shapeless and blobby and ooze-like but they'd be categorized as aberrations, since the 2nd edition definition for ooze is very specifically denoting a creature with simple anatomy and low mental scores.
Which Outer Gods and Great Old Ones would have been classified as oozes if you had chance to stat them up in First Edition? Which are the first names that come to your mind?
Sorry, are you saying that Abhoth, formless spawn and shoggoths aren't oozes? I really don't see the point of a ooze type if they're not.
The side bar to the ooze entry on p.255 of the Bestiary says Shoggoths are oozes. Yet the Shoggoth entry on p. 293 lists them as aberrations. What happened?
The same side bar on ozzes, p.255 of the Bestiary says Blights are oozes. Blights were more intelligent in PF1 than Shoggoths. Is the side wrong or will Blights now have lower mental stats than Shoggoths?
If you could have stated up Daoloth, The Render of the Veils, in PF1, which type would it have been?
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Creative Director
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Which Outer Gods and Great Old Ones would have been classified as oozes if you had chance to stat them up in First Edition? Which are the first names that come to your mind?
Abhoth and Ubbo-Sathla, I guess. Both of whom are Clark Ashton Smith's creations, and as such aren't in public domain yet, so if we did anything with them, we'd have to either arrange with his estate or work with Chaosium, who holds the RPG license for this stuff.
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Creative Director
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Sorry, are you saying that Abhoth, formless spawn and shoggoths aren't oozes? I really don't see the point of a ooze type if they're not.
Shoggoths are abberations in 2nd edition. Wasn't my first choice either; I pushed for shoggoths to remain oozes but the design team overruled me, and I was just happy that they let shoggoths stay in the game without me having to put up a huge fight. ;-P
The "point" of the ooze trait is to group mindless blob monsters apart from thinking blob monsters. And remember, monster traits are MUCH less load-bearing to the rules anyway than monster types ever were, so it's not really a big deal. The shoggoth works the same as it did in 1st edition.
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Creative Director
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The side bar to the ooze entry on p.255 of the Bestiary says Shoggoths are oozes. Yet the Shoggoth entry on p. 293 lists them as aberrations. What happened?
I developed and wrote that sidebar when the shoggoth was an ooze. The design team switched it to aberration during late editing after the book was laid out, but no one noticed the word "ooze" still lived in the sidebar on page 255. We probably should just cut or replace the entire second half of that sidebar, since oozes, as per the design team's decision, are not intelligent.
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Creative Director
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The same side bar on ozzes, p.255 of the Bestiary says Blights are oozes. Blights were more intelligent in PF1 than Shoggoths. Is the side wrong or will Blights now have lower mental stats than Shoggoths?
Same thing. Blights would be aberrations in 2nd edition. And the sidebar on page 255 is an error now but that wasn't an error when it was written.
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Creative Director
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Cool to hear that! I have a question on other topic . Do alternative timelines exist in pathfinder? What i mean by this is if there exists parallel universes with alternative escenarios, similar to the many worlds theory (ex: a universe where the earthfall never happened). Or there only exists one timeline wich is unchangeble?
They have to. Otherwise only one table on the planet could ever play an adventure path. Every group is in their own timeline.
As for the idea of a timeline where parallel worlds exist but events play out different, sure... but that's not something I'm interested in exploring, because that sounds an awful lot like starting over from scratch with a new campaign setting.
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Creative Director
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Does the order of the Nail hellknights oppose even the "civilized, but close-to-nature" people, like Ekujae elves? Will their codex of honor require one of them to bring Ekujae under Cheliax model of living (stone cities, strong hierarchy, etc)?
Probably. Hellknights are nothing if not intolerant of others who aren't Hellknights. They're also not intended to be good guys overall. They are, for the most part, kinda jerks to non-Hellknights on a group scale. Individual Hellkinights might have less restrictive opinions, but the groups themselves? Not so much. If you want an organization who isn't intolerant and is open to accepting diversity of lifestyles... you're better off going for a non Lawful Neutral based mercenary group that's all about taking Hell as an inspiration.
I dislike the Second Edition definition for ooze. How about you? Is there a possibility that the design team would change the definition for ooze in the second printing?
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Hey james, have you read sandman comics? If so, what do you think about them?Not only have I read them (except the last story arc, which I missed out on and never went back to check out), but I've adored them—one of the best comics ever.
And fun Jacobs trivia time! I worked in a tiny way on volume 20—that was my introduction to the comic, and is the reason Death is my favorite character.
** spoiler omitted **
Do you think Gaiman knows? (Would you like him to?)
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Creative Director
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I dislike the Second Edition definition for ooze. How about you? Is there a possibility that the design team would change the definition for ooze in the second printing?
It doesn't change anything about how those monsters work, so it doesn't bother me. It's not going to change.
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Creative Director
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Do you think Gaiman knows? (Would you like him to?)Hey james, have you read sandman comics? If so, what do you think about them?Not only have I read them (except the last story arc, which I missed out on and never went back to check out), but I've adored them—one of the best comics ever.
And fun Jacobs trivia time! I worked in a tiny way on volume 20—that was my introduction to the comic, and is the reason Death is my favorite character.
** spoiler omitted **
I'm sure he doesn't know, and I feel no need to change that.
Other than Asmodeus, did non-good gods participate in the fight against Rovagug? Particularly, did Achaekek, the Speakers in the Depths, Groetus, Zon-Kuthon, the Bound Prince, Ghlaunder, Lamashtu, Pazuzu, Nocticula and Socothbenoth fight Rovagug as well? Or did they simply sit idly by and do nothing?
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Creative Director
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Other than Asmodeus, did non-good gods participate in the fight against Rovagug? Particularly, did Achaekek, the Speakers in the Depths, Groetus, Zon-Kuthon, the Bound Prince, Ghlaunder, Lamashtu, Pazuzu, Nocticula and Socothbenoth fight Rovagug as well? Or did they simply sit idly by and do nothing?
None of those did, and in fact Zon-Kuthon didn't even exist at the time.
The web fiction lists all the deities who took part and survived, and doesn't mention the ones who did and were slain and were thence forgotten.
Did demon lords like Lamashtu, Pazuzu, Nocticula, Socothbenoth, Deskari and Baphomet exist before the imprisonment of Rovagug?
Have you seen Underwater?
I was rather pleasantly surprised by it...
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Creative Director
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Have you seen Underwater?
I was rather pleasantly surprised by it...
I did indeed see it. It's a great movie. A shame that it's doing so awful at the box office, especially since that'll send an unfortunate message to Disney and likely prevent them from doing other big budget horror movies in the future. But frankly, I'm okay with pretty much every other studio taking the reins on doing horror and not relying on Disney to play along. As long as Disney stops buying up other studios, of course... the thing that worries me is a future where all movie studios are owned by Disney... bleh.
Alghollthu words are so hard to pronounce. I wish to ask you the correct pronunciation of several words since you wrote the aboleth chapter of Lords of Madness. How do you pronounce Bolothamogg, Holashner, Piscaethces, Shothotugg, Y'chak(the five Elder Evils), uobilyth, Orluthian, Dupapn, Mavad'Nidhuned, Nevek'Dithasig, Sochsna, Torop'Jethixur, Urdol, Iltharshub, Yolinithili, Zlorthishen?
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Creative Director
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Alghollthu words are so hard to pronounce. I wish to ask you the correct pronunciation of several words since you wrote the aboleth chapter of Lords of Madness. How do you pronounce Bolothamogg, Holashner, Piscaethces, Shothotugg, Y'chak(the five Elder Evils), uobilyth, Orluthian, Dupapn, Mavad'Nidhuned, Nevek'Dithasig, Sochsna, Torop'Jethixur, Urdol, Iltharshub, Yolinithili, Zlorthishen?
The whole point of these words is that they're hard for humans to pronounce. There is no "correct" pronunciation for a human mouth for these words. You just get as close as you can.
Also, those are Aboleth words, not alghollthu words. :-P
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While trying to think of a name for an elf PC I'm making, I noticed on the fan wiki (link here) there are apparently no elves with names beginning with the letter 'B'.
Is it true that elves rarely have such names? If not, can you give examples of "elfy" names starting with the letter 'B'?
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Creative Director
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While trying to think of a name for an elf PC I'm making, I noticed on the fan wiki (link here) there are apparently no elves with names beginning with the letter 'B'.
Is it true that elves rarely have such names? If not, can you give examples of "elfy" names starting with the letter 'B'?
Elf names can begin with the letter B. The fact that none show up on the wiki is not an indication of a rule.
Can you elaborate as to how much correlation there is in Golarion between being a divine caster and formally being part of a priesthood? At least in your own opinion?
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Creative Director
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Can you elaborate as to how much correlation there is in Golarion between being a divine caster and formally being part of a priesthood? At least in your own opinion?
Usually, if you're a divine caster, you're part of a priesthood, but not always. You can be a cleric of a religion that doesn't take part in the organized part of your religion.
If you're part of a priesthood, you don't have to be a divine caster. There are plenty of monks in Irori's church, plenty of wizards in Nethys's church, plenty of rogues in Norgorber's church, and plenty of bards in Shelyn's church, for example.
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Thanks!
One more question, since I asked my GM and we puzzled over it for a few minutes and she suggested asking here; what do verbal spell components (at least within the setting) actually consist of? Mystic chanting? Shorter but still magicky-sounding specific incarnations, ie Avada Kedavra? Whatever-personally-feels-magic-to-the-caster, whether that's just shouting "FIREBALL!", or thematic nursery rhymes, or number sequences, or etc?
What was the thought process behind the usability of witch hexes? Many of them state something along lines of, "a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours." To my knowledge, they are the only class feature or ability with that wording. Why the distinction from the usual "once per day" limitations?
Hey, James!
I'm a longtime fan of Pathfinder and have been playing since the original release of Rise of the Runelords. I've absolutely adored the setting and have frequently thought of ways to make it pop even more to life whenever I've played with my friends and family.
I'm currently looking to become something akin to a mild community content creator, to more or less give back to and enhance the game I've loved to play for such a long time. As such I have a couple of fan projects aimed at improving 1st edition Pathfinder in fan-canon way.
The projects I'm working on include 3 separate ideas meant to work as an addition to the Golarion setting:
- To produce additional maps for existing locations in the Pathfinder Universe, such as the unmapped town locations in Sandpoint
- To add a more full and detailed entry and 1E boons to the many minor deities of the setting.
- To create a line of modular tokens able to be mixed and matched to represent a greater variety of characters on a digital space or (potentially) on the physical tabletop.
I'm wanting to run a patreon for these to accept donations, but release the first two projects for free
I've looked into the OGL and from what I understand I need express permission to do this. However, some parts of the Community Use Policy suggest otherwise, that I don't need express permission. I'm unclear on it as I'm unsure whether releasing the project for free while asking for donations counts as commercial or non-commercial.
Do you have any advice for me in regards to seeing my passion through? Can you point me in the direction of who I should contact in regards to obtaining license permission to make these projects if I do, infact need that?
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Creative Director
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Thanks!
One more question, since I asked my GM and we puzzled over it for a few minutes and she suggested asking here; what do verbal spell components (at least within the setting) actually consist of? Mystic chanting? Shorter but still magicky-sounding specific incarnations, ie Avada Kedavra? Whatever-personally-feels-magic-to-the-caster, whether that's just shouting "FIREBALL!", or thematic nursery rhymes, or number sequences, or etc?
Verbal components vary, depending on the caster. A wizard might say magic words. A cleric might pray. A bard might sing. An oracle might speak in a language no one understands. A druid might his and growl. A witch might speak in creepy rhymes. But you can feel free to adjust as you feel is appropriate for the character.
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What was the thought process behind the usability of witch hexes? Many of them state something along lines of, "a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours." To my knowledge, they are the only class feature or ability with that wording. Why the distinction from the usual "once per day" limitations?
I wasn't involved in their creation so I can't say for sure; you'd need to ask the design team for the exact details. My guess is that they wanted witches to have a unique thing that they can do all the time so that they feel like they're always being witches rather than just a weirdly flavored wizard, and that by limiting the use to once per creature they can craft effects that are constantly useful each encounter without being overpowered if spammed onto the same target.