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James Jacobs wrote:
Earthbeard wrote:

I trust the day finds you in better spirits?

I’ve a question dilemma in regards to Jade Regent, specifically the Brinewall section?!

** spoiler omitted **

So far the day's pretty good, but that's mostly because I'm just starting it and still riding high on a lovely dinner with friends from the night before! :-)

As for your Brinewall question...

** spoiler omitted **...

Good to hear about the spirits and mood, hopefully the holiday weekend for you folks, was relaxing?

This is by far my favourite thread on the boards, always come back every few days to read you replies, and you've put me onto some kind film and music, I'd have put off otherwise.

Spoiler:
As for the Brinewall incident, we do use hero points as a daily resource, with only a slight reduction in the bonus provided to the dice, but the party had been hit with a black tentacles trap/spell, that almost killed a good portion of them (a little bad on my behalf, I failed to do the due diligence and assumed most would be able to avoid it, but that was not the case).

So I was feeling a little more charitable than I normally would be in the above scenario.Far too casual abuse of fireball has left no possible allies inside the keep.

Another alternative, could be some Derro who live deeper under the keep (it was there Black tentacles trap that they'd triggered), arrive and kidnap the unconscious party, prompting a desperate and hasty rescue attempt.

Thanks for answering :D

Liberty's Edge

James,

Spoiler:
Did the the humans from Androffa have knowledge of magic? Did the crew from the Divinity find other human civilizations?

Silver Crusade

Hey, sort of an odd question here:
Are their any cultures on Golarion that consume the flesh of their fallen enemies? I know that in the real world there have been cultures that have ritually done so to imbibe desirable aspects from the fallen or as a final insult (among many other reasons), and I was wondering if there are any cultures on Golarion that do so.


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Mr. James Jacobs,

Besides Shelyn, Bolka of the dwarves, and Hathor of Ancient Osirion, are there any love deities or demideities that an oracle who focuses on love could use to comprise his personal pantheon or possible develop a philosophy using the Godclaw as a model?

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

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Hello!

I've been doing some thinking about Cheliax lately, and I was wondering: how common is manumission in Cheliax? Is it difficult? Is it even legal?


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Welp, caught up now finally.

Sorry to hear of Paizo folk feeling unwelcome in their own forums. It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of it, and I hope that some of the more toxic offenders figure out that having a differing opinion doesn't automatically make the other person wrong.

On the topic of the reign of winter and wrath of the righteous, I found both well after release (I only started pathfinder relatively recently) and I bluntly found both to be bloody amazing.

Reign of Winter: First, I love incorporating old world mythos, and normally when someone suggests a "crossover" of RPG characters to a representation of earth, modern or historical makes me sigh and roll my eyes.

The story arc I found pertaining to the Iron Hag I found absolutely engaging. The transition to dealing with Rasputin and World War era Russian troops proved my dubious expectatiins wrong. I've used quite a lot of things from said adventures so far and even when not using the AP as an adventure, is a useful resource.

Wrath of the Righteous: I read a couple of the negative reviews. What I found after actually reading the AP was the question: what drugs were the reviewers on, so I can make sure I never use them? I found it dubious that the reviewers had read the AP until I started following their words and realizing that the twisted lens they use has little to do with reality, fantasy gaming and seemed to be a vehicle for attacking developers they don't agree with.

Wrath of the righteous is bluntly my favorite AP. I'm running a custom plot game, and im using a combination of using the AP as inspiration for a longer setup and then moving into the actual AP directly. My plans for wrath incorporate almost everything included because it is the type of campaign I enjoy running.

I'm sorry that your experiences were poor wuth certain reviews, and I think that the toxic gamers you reference need to blu tly pull their heads from their collective arses and understand that not everything is optimized the way they think it should, yes, big bad evil guys should make mistakes and the idea that deskarii would, in fact spend a century terrorizing Nd torturing crusaders because it us fun is quite bluntly more indicative of the proclivities of demons.

Bad guys who do things with perfect optimized efficiency aren't interesting, might as well use an unending wave of terminatirs if that's the case.

But as Wrath is my favorite AP, I can say that the reviews that were excessively negative deliberately mislead readers about the intent of theAP, took things out of context and unfairly presented what I took to be the poi t of the AP entirely in order to point a finger and say "Hah! You're bad!"

Wrath was awesome, and I'm sorry the experience for you and your writers was crapped upon by a few loud (censored).


Hi James

one of my players for hell's rebels has taken exotic weapon prof. sawtooth sabers. as part of her back story she said that her characters father who is a minor noble of kintargo was a target of the red mantis. the assassin they sent (her mother) got to know her target and they fell in love. she abandoned the assassins and to keep her child and lover safe she faked her own death, and has been secretly training her daughter (slayer) how to fight.

my questions are:
1: how would the red mantis react to such a betrayal?
2:would they send another assassin to finish the job?
3:would the continue to hunt her down?
4:if she killed the person who initially took the hit out and no one was left to complain that the job wasn't done would she be in the clear?


I have also learned that I should never try to type a long post on a tablet with a time limit. Hehehehe

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Tacticslion wrote:

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Even if you're not a U.S. citizen, have an awesome day!

Do you have any awesome plans, James? :D

I did! I went to get lunch with Wes and then played videogames at his place for an hour, but otherwise spent the day being lazy. Was delightful!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Desril wrote:

Hey James, what countries might have something like a big gladiatorial arena?

I don't mean like the Serpent's Run in Magnimar, where contestants go to win glory, I mean the sort of thing where slaves are forced to fight monsters for their survival and the amusement of the audience.

I know there's the Battlebliss in the Midnight Isles, but would Cheliax have something like that? Nidal? The Holds of Belkzen? Irrisen?

The regions have canonical big battle arenas, off the top of my head, are Cheliax, Varisia, the River Kingdoms, Belkzen, Absalom, Katapesh, and Taldor. They'd not be out of place in a lot of other areas, of course!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
What'd be the cooler weapon for a tiefling monk in Cheliax, a seven-branched sword or a katana?

Both are equally unlikely and incongruous. Roll 1d2.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Desril wrote:
Outside of Part 4 of WotR, is there anywhere that The Midnight Isles might have more detailed writeups?

Nope. It was mentioned for the first time in Book of the Damned II, but that's about it. Part 4 of Wrath is the go-to place for it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Earthbeard wrote:
Good to hear about the spirits and mood, hopefully the holiday weekend for you folks, was relaxing?

Yup!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Paladinosaur wrote:

James,

[spoiler]Did the the humans from Androffa have knowledge of magic? Did the crew from the Divinity find other human civilizations?[/spoilers]

Absolutely, but it wasn't too common at the time Divinity launched. It was a LOT more common hundreds of years before and after though. The Divinity found only one other human civilization—the one on Golarion when they crashed.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Phylotus wrote:

Hey, sort of an odd question here:

Are their any cultures on Golarion that consume the flesh of their fallen enemies? I know that in the real world there have been cultures that have ritually done so to imbibe desirable aspects from the fallen or as a final insult (among many other reasons), and I was wondering if there are any cultures on Golarion that do so.

Two human ones come to mind; the kuru in the Shackles and the Kalva cannibals in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Beyond that, all of the orc and hobgoblin and gnoll and goblin and ogre and so on and so on monster races do this all the time.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
My favorites to read and write about are the chaotic gods, and the gods who are a little bit rebellious and/or buck tradition to do something different. The way we have a female sun deity, for example, or deities like Desna or Milani or Nocticula or Calistria who in certain ways are rebels against the status quo and aren't perfect and make mistakes but do their best to be true to their nature anyway.

So decidedly not Pharasma XD I suppose for me its the idea of a god who is to some degree above the petty squabbles of the rest of the gods that I enjoy in Pharasma. I do like Desna though I must say :P

Actually, a non-evil death deity is very much a deity that bucks tradition. So yes, Pharasma falls into that category.

I used this exact same notion for my homebrew back in 2001. Female Neutral Death deity as all the other campaign settings were evil death deities. Pharasma is from your homebrew but renamed isn't she?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

Besides Shelyn, Bolka of the dwarves, and Hathor of Ancient Osirion, are there any love deities or demideities that an oracle who focuses on love could use to comprise his personal pantheon or possible develop a philosophy using the Godclaw as a model?

Not really. Love's not a big thing for hellknights.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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mechaPoet wrote:

Hello!

I've been doing some thinking about Cheliax lately, and I was wondering: how common is manumission in Cheliax? Is it difficult? Is it even legal?

It's not common, but it's legal and requires a fair amount of paperwork so it's not easy.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Mythraine wrote:
Pharasma is from your homebrew but renamed isn't she?

Correct, but she underwent quite a few other changes as well; she was more about memory and thought than fate in my homebrew, and was lawful neutral.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Alundrell wrote:

Hi James

one of my players for hell's rebels has taken exotic weapon prof. sawtooth sabers. as part of her back story she said that her characters father who is a minor noble of kintargo was a target of the red mantis. the assassin they sent (her mother) got to know her target and they fell in love. she abandoned the assassins and to keep her child and lover safe she faked her own death, and has been secretly training her daughter (slayer) how to fight.

my questions are:
1: how would the red mantis react to such a betrayal?
2:would they send another assassin to finish the job?
3:would the continue to hunt her down?
4:if she killed the person who initially took the hit out and no one was left to complain that the job wasn't done would she be in the clear?

1) Not well.

2) They would if they found out.

3) As long as the job was still standing, yes.

4) Yup; if she did that, she'd be in the clear unless she had to worry about personal off-the-books unsanctioned revenge.

Silver Crusade

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James Jacobs wrote:
Phylotus wrote:

Hey, sort of an odd question here:

Are their any cultures on Golarion that consume the flesh of their fallen enemies? I know that in the real world there have been cultures that have ritually done so to imbibe desirable aspects from the fallen or as a final insult (among many other reasons), and I was wondering if there are any cultures on Golarion that do so.
Two human ones come to mind; the kuru in the Shackles and the Kalva cannibals in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Beyond that, all of the orc and hobgoblin and gnoll and goblin and ogre and so on and so on monster races do this all the time.

Thanks a bunch for your response, I hadn't even thought about the Kuru! And I was unaware of the Kalva cannibals, I'll have to look them up. Thanks a bunch, I think I have enough to go off of here :-)


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James Jacobs wrote:
The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

Besides Shelyn, Bolka of the dwarves, and Hathor of Ancient Osirion, are there any love deities or demideities that an oracle who focuses on love could use to comprise his personal pantheon or possible develop a philosophy using the Godclaw as a model?

Not really. Love's not a big thing for hellknights.

I was thinking more along the lines of taking a group of similar deities and distilling their similarities to a philosophy. Like the Godclaw does with lawful religions, not actually forming a Hellknight order focusing on love.

OK, straight question no fluff: Are there any other love deities or demideities besides Shelyn, Bolka,and Hathor?


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James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
How often do PCs use poison in the games you've played? How effective was it?
Not that often. Poison is more effective the longer a character is "on-screen," along with most forms of ability damage/drain; it's very much meant to be a tool against PCs and not so much a tool FOR PCs really.

Because the slow damage from poison becomes moot alongside the usual ways enemies of PCs get killed, correct?

In what scenario would poison be useful for PCs? An intrigue-heavy campaign where hack & slay isn't often a viable option?


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Are the Moon Phases (Lunar Cycles) in Golarion the same length of time as Earths?

Radiant Oath

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
What'd be the cooler weapon for a tiefling monk in Cheliax, a seven-branched sword or a katana?
Both are equally unlikely and incongruous. Roll 1d2.

Out of curiosity, what weapon would you recommend for such a character?

Can eastern armors like the o-yoroi and do-maru be made using metal special materials like mithral or adamantine? Most special materials are some kind of metal or wood. As far as I know, there's no "lacquer" special material...


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1) If Cimri Staelish left Longacre, went to Kintargo, and joined the Chelish Citizen's Group, what role would she be assigned? Spy, assassin, or just a normal thug?

2) Would most of the Kintargo Dottari prior to Barzillai's governorship be Thrune loyalists; or did he discharge a whole bunch of them and appoint hardcore Thrunies?

3) On that note, who did Barzillai bring with him when he arrived in Kintargo?

4) Would it make sense for a Chelish army to be marching towards the Menador Gap via Egorian before the PCs go to destroy the fortress; to add a sense of urgency to it? Or would Barzillai/Abrogail not think the situation in Kintargo was bad enough to warrant calling in troops?

5) Why would people choose to join the Dottari/Citizen's Group and work for Barzillai/Cheliax? I want their responses to Bluff/Diplomacy to be plausible.

6) Are the Dottari and Chelish army the same thing? And if they aren't, how should I change the statistics to represent army soldiers?

7) Is it coincidental that the Bolton army from Battle of the Bastards reminded me of Cheliax?

spoiler:

8) If the Silver Ravens teleported to Glorious Reclamation-dominated Westcrown after liberating Kintargo, how would the GR respond to them? Cheering and high fives, or would they be asked to leave?

9) Who among Barzillai's inner circle know about his Genius Loci plan?

Grand Lodge

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James, what sort of food do trolls eat?


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Leading off the Cheliax questions, for the countries that have slavery, are there legal requirements for how slaves are treated and how they can be used? Or are they just property that can be (ab)used at the owner's whim with no legal repercussion?


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Are there groups that differentiate between debt slavery and discriminatory/'normal' slavery? Or just otherwise has different classes of slaves, some more respectable or more favorably viewed, or even possibly more likely to achieve freedom? Or are all slaves treated basically the same with regards to that place's normal treatment of slaves?


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Oncoming_Storm wrote:
James, what sort of food do trolls eat?

You asked that already. Less than a week ago.

Anyways, some questions for the great Theropod:

Ever met (even if just online) people that hated prepublished adventures? Not just ones they claim are badly written, I mean any published adventure? I remember seeing some people comment (Admittedly, years ago) that they figured any GM who ran prepublished adventures didn't even deserve to run a game. Admittedly, haven't heard this recently, but then I probably haven't been hanging around the areas they do.

Favourite thing to drink during a game? (I believe you've cut sugary drinks from your diet.)

Have you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table?


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1. I've always interpreted your title as "Creative Director [of Paizo Publishing]" but with the announcement of Starfinder it seems that it is actually "Creative Director [of Pathfinder]" and James Sutter is "Creative Director [of Starfinder]" Can you describe how the two Creative Directors will work together on direction of both properties?

2. As a follow-on to the above, and based on the responses I see you often posting here, it seems like your actual job function is "Creative Director [of Golarian]" in that you don't have direct control over the rules of the Pathfinder game (in fact you seem to disagree with many of those rules in regard to published products as they work in Golarian specifically). This does not seem like it will be the case with Starfinder since it appears James Sutter does/will have authority over both the rules and flavor of Starfinder. Can you elaborate on this distinction and if the same merging of Creative Director responsibilities will happen for Pathfinder as well?

3. Not a question: thanks for all the great work you and your team have produced over the years. The Adventure Paths are still far and away the best RPG products published today.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The NPC wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
The NPC wrote:

Mr. James Jacobs,

Besides Shelyn, Bolka of the dwarves, and Hathor of Ancient Osirion, are there any love deities or demideities that an oracle who focuses on love could use to comprise his personal pantheon or possible develop a philosophy using the Godclaw as a model?

Not really. Love's not a big thing for hellknights.

I was thinking more along the lines of taking a group of similar deities and distilling their similarities to a philosophy. Like the Godclaw does with lawful religions, not actually forming a Hellknight order focusing on love.

OK, straight question no fluff: Are there any other love deities or demideities besides Shelyn, Bolka,and Hathor?

Probably some empyreal lords. Check the giant table at the back of Inner Sea Gods for all the lists!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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AlgaeNymph wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
How often do PCs use poison in the games you've played? How effective was it?
Not that often. Poison is more effective the longer a character is "on-screen," along with most forms of ability damage/drain; it's very much meant to be a tool against PCs and not so much a tool FOR PCs really.

Because the slow damage from poison becomes moot alongside the usual ways enemies of PCs get killed, correct?

In what scenario would poison be useful for PCs? An intrigue-heavy campaign where hack & slay isn't often a viable option?

Yeah; poison and disease and curses and the like are more effective on characters who are "on screen" for long periods of time, and thus allow for the effects to play out over that time AND/OR require the use of resources to remove or fix. NPCs and monsters don't really need to worry so much about that, since they tend to get killed too quickly.

That said, there's ALL SORTS of scenarios where poison can help, depending on the type. Stealth missions, assassinations, hit and run, or even just using poison on a target to hamper a key stat. A poison that drains Intelligence, for example, could well cut a wizard off from some of his higher level spells, and a poison that does Strength applied to a character who's not a fighter can suddenly cause them to be encumbered (or if they're a fighter type, can lower their weapon damage, of course).

The game allows for all sorts of tactics. No one tactic is always the right one. Sometimes, poison is the best option.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Lindórievórea wrote:
Are the Moon Phases (Lunar Cycles) in Golarion the same length of time as Earths?

Absolutely. That makes it easy to deal with as far as things like tides and astronomical stuff is concerned.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
What'd be the cooler weapon for a tiefling monk in Cheliax, a seven-branched sword or a katana?
Both are equally unlikely and incongruous. Roll 1d2.

Out of curiosity, what weapon would you recommend for such a character?

Can eastern armors like the o-yoroi and do-maru be made using metal special materials like mithral or adamantine? Most special materials are some kind of metal or wood. As far as I know, there's no "lacquer" special material...

Go with katana because it looks cooler and the name fits easier on a character sheet since it has fewer letters.

If armor can be made of metal, then it can be made of exotic metal. If it's not, then no, it can't. Talk to your GM for house rules.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Axial wrote:

1) If Cimri Staelish left Longacre, went to Kintargo, and joined the Chelish Citizen's Group, what role would she be assigned? Spy, assassin, or just a normal thug?

2) Would most of the Kintargo Dottari prior to Barzillai's governorship be Thrune loyalists; or did he discharge a whole bunch of them and appoint hardcore Thrunies?

3) On that note, who did Barzillai bring with him when he arrived in Kintargo?

4) Would it make sense for a Chelish army to be marching towards the Menador Gap via Egorian before the PCs go to destroy the fortress; to add a sense of urgency to it? Or would Barzillai/Abrogail not think the situation in Kintargo was bad enough to warrant calling in troops?

5) Why would people choose to join the Dottari/Citizen's Group and work for Barzillai/Cheliax? I want their responses to Bluff/Diplomacy to be plausible.

6) Are the Dottari and Chelish army the same thing? And if they aren't, how should I change the statistics to represent army soldiers?

7) Is it coincidental that the Bolton army from Battle of the Bastards reminded me of Cheliax?

Spoiler:
8) If the Silver Ravens teleported to Glorious Reclamation-dominated Westcrown after liberating Kintargo, how would the GR respond to them? Cheering and high fives, or would they be asked to leave?

9) Who among Barzillai's inner circle know about his Genius Loci plan?

1) Dunno. I'm playing Hell's Vengeance, and haven't read the books so I don't know much at all about Cimri except for what details have been revealed during play.

2) Most of the Dottari prior to Barzillai are civic patriots first and Thrune loyalists second. He did indeed discharge several, but most of the low and middle rank Dottari are just "following orders." He DID replace the leaders.

3) Not many. Tiarise and Nox and Vanesses, but not many more than that.

4) No. The Chelish army is dealing with the Glorious Reclamation throughout the rest of the nation. Kintargo's situation is small potatos to Abrogail, compared to the possibility of losing control of regions and cities she actually values and likes.

5) Folks would join the Dottari out of civic pride and a desire to uphold the law; same reason someone would become a cop. Folks join the Citizen's Group because they're hardline Thrunies and want Kintargo to change; same reason someone would join a radical militia group. I'm not sure what having Bluff/Diplomacy has anything to do with it.

6) Nope. Dottari are analogous to police. Chelish army is analogous to an army. In a perfect world, each Dottari is a similar but different unique build, whereas army forces are all mostly identical, but in fact, you can probably interchange Dottari and army soldiers without the players ever noticing.

7) Yup; coincidence. Considering we did all this Chelaix stuff LONG before a few weeks ago and anyone at Paizo got to see "Battle of the Bastards."

Spoiler:
8) They'd probably not mix well, and would demand the Silver Ravens lay down their arms and fall into line as good citizens. Whether or not the Silver Ravens would submit to being ruled by one Lawful group exchanged for another is up to them (AKA up to your PCs).

9) Tiarise, Aluceda, and Corinstian had suspicions, but no one knows his actual plans.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Oncoming_Storm wrote:
James, what sort of food do trolls eat?

Live screaming intelligent victims. Preferably in front of said living victims' captive and observant loved ones.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Desril wrote:
Leading off the Cheliax questions, for the countries that have slavery, are there legal requirements for how slaves are treated and how they can be used? Or are they just property that can be (ab)used at the owner's whim with no legal repercussion?

Depends entirely on the nation. In Katapesh, yes there are laws and regulations. In drow cities, not so much. Look at the region's alignment and extrapolate from there.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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TheAlicornSage wrote:
Are there groups that differentiate between debt slavery and discriminatory/'normal' slavery? Or just otherwise has different classes of slaves, some more respectable or more favorably viewed, or even possibly more likely to achieve freedom? Or are all slaves treated basically the same with regards to that place's normal treatment of slaves?

There are in this world, so there are in Golarion. Again... look at the region's alignment and extrapolate from there. A lawful neutral slaver nation would treat their slaves well and have regulations to protect them, while a neutral evil one would treat them as disposable cattle for anyone to do what they will with them.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Trigger Loaded wrote:
Oncoming_Storm wrote:
James, what sort of food do trolls eat?

You asked that already. Less than a week ago.

Anyways, some questions for the great Theropod:

Ever met (even if just online) people that hated prepublished adventures? Not just ones they claim are badly written, I mean any published adventure? I remember seeing some people comment (Admittedly, years ago) that they figured any GM who ran prepublished adventures didn't even deserve to run a game. Admittedly, haven't heard this recently, but then I probably haven't been hanging around the areas they do.

Favourite thing to drink during a game? (I believe you've cut sugary drinks from your diet.)

Have you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table?

It's fine if someone asks a question more than once. Don't let it bother you, and don't use it as an opportunity to shame other posters, please. Not classy.

I've met plenty of people that profess to hate published adventures; I usually feel that their stance and opinion are fueled by arrogance and ignorance. Anyone who doesn't think they can learn how to do something better from someone who does that thing professionally or has done that thing for years is a fool.

Favorite thing to drink during a game is either coffee, cider, or water. Depends on my mood, the time of day, and whether or not I'm being calorie conscious.

I've read Knights of the Dinner Table; started reading it when it first got published in Dragon, and stopped when it wasn't. It's not really my sense of humor today.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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cibet44 wrote:

1. I've always interpreted your title as "Creative Director [of Paizo Publishing]" but with the announcement of Starfinder it seems that it is actually "Creative Director [of Pathfinder]" and James Sutter is "Creative Director [of Starfinder]" Can you describe how the two Creative Directors will work together on direction of both properties?

2. As a follow-on to the above, and based on the responses I see you often posting here, it seems like your actual job function is "Creative Director [of Golarian]" in that you don't have direct control over the rules of the Pathfinder game (in fact you seem to disagree with many of those rules in regard to published products as they work in Golarian specifically). This does not seem like it will be the case with Starfinder since it appears James Sutter does/will have authority over both the rules and flavor of Starfinder. Can you elaborate on this distinction and if the same merging of Creative Director responsibilities will happen for Pathfinder as well?

3. Not a question: thanks for all the great work you and your team have produced over the years. The Adventure Paths are still far and away the best RPG products published today.

1) Until the advent of Starfinder, I was the Creative Director of Paizo Publishing. Things change, and they're still settling out, and I'm honestly not sure how that works yet with Sutter and I working together. So far, we're pretty much not. I'm focused on doing pick-up work for the modules, campaign setting, and player companion lines right now.

2) My actual job function is even more complicated than "Creative Director of Golarion." I actually DO have some some control over the rules of the game; I just don't take up a public persona about them since it's not my job and doing so confuses the public because like everyone at your game table, not everyone at Pathfinder plays the game EXACTLY the same. By letting the rules team take care of the public facing rules discussions, we help to provide a more unified and stable baseline for "official" feedback, which is pretty important to a vocal subset of our customers. I can't elaborate more, because as mentioned above, it's still very much organically sorting itself out.

3) Thanks!

Grand Lodge

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James Jacobs wrote:
Trigger Loaded wrote:
Oncoming_Storm wrote:
James, what sort of food do trolls eat?

You asked that already. Less than a week ago.

Anyways, some questions for the great Theropod:

Ever met (even if just online) people that hated prepublished adventures? Not just ones they claim are badly written, I mean any published adventure? I remember seeing some people comment (Admittedly, years ago) that they figured any GM who ran prepublished adventures didn't even deserve to run a game. Admittedly, haven't heard this recently, but then I probably haven't been hanging around the areas they do.

Favourite thing to drink during a game? (I believe you've cut sugary drinks from your diet.)

Have you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table?

It's fine if someone asks a question more than once. Don't let it bother you, and don't use it as an opportunity to shame other posters, please. Not classy.

I've met plenty of people that profess to hate published adventures; I usually feel that their stance and opinion are fueled by arrogance and ignorance. Anyone who doesn't think they can learn how to do something better from someone who does that thing professionally or has done that thing for years is a fool.

Favorite thing to drink during a game is either coffee, cider, or water. Depends on my mood, the time of day, and whether or not I'm being calorie conscious.

I've read Knights of the Dinner Table; started reading it when it first got published in Dragon, and stopped when it wasn't. It's not really my sense of humor today.

Hi there, just chiming in as to why I asked twice. After asking I honestly couldn't find the reply to my original post. Not sure how it slipped by me in the first place.. I just assumed my post got lost in the flood of questions. Either way, thank you for answering both times.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Trigger Loaded wrote:
Oncoming_Storm wrote:
James, what sort of food do trolls eat?

You asked that already. Less than a week ago.

Anyways, some questions for the great Theropod:

Ever met (even if just online) people that hated prepublished adventures? Not just ones they claim are badly written, I mean any published adventure? I remember seeing some people comment (Admittedly, years ago) that they figured any GM who ran prepublished adventures didn't even deserve to run a game. Admittedly, haven't heard this recently, but then I probably haven't been hanging around the areas they do.

Favourite thing to drink during a game? (I believe you've cut sugary drinks from your diet.)

Have you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table?

It's fine if someone asks a question more than once. Don't let it bother you, and don't use it as an opportunity to shame other posters, please. Not classy.

I've met plenty of people that profess to hate published adventures; I usually feel that their stance and opinion are fueled by arrogance and ignorance. Anyone who doesn't think they can learn how to do something better from someone who does that thing professionally or has done that thing for years is a fool.

Favorite thing to drink during a game is either coffee, cider, or water. Depends on my mood, the time of day, and whether or not I'm being calorie conscious.

I've read Knights of the Dinner Table; started reading it when it first got published in Dragon, and stopped when it wasn't. It's not really my sense of humor today.

My group refused to play published anything up until a few years ago. I suppose at some point we must have played something and decided it was bad so everything else must be bad too, certainly I was both arrogant and ignorant.

I'm not sure what changed, but I ran a Ravenloft adventure in 2nd ed which was fun. Then we swapped to Pathfinder (about 5 years ago), about a year later I picked up Wrath of the Righteous which we're still having a blast with! In the meantime we've also had a Mummy's Mask game, only lasted a book, and an Iron Gods game start in its place, which is still going too.

Anyways, since then we've learned a lot from the adventures you guys have published and I think we certainly enjoy the game a lot more. Which brings me to my question. We've been playing Wrath of the Righteous and Iron Gods for years, and there is constantly new material that comes out. What does a group do when the scope of Adventure Paths for them is in years?

Also what's a good environment to refine adventure design, when the iteration loop is so long?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Ssyvan wrote:

We've been playing Wrath of the Righteous and Iron Gods for years, and there is constantly new material that comes out. What does a group do when the scope of Adventure Paths for them is in years?

Also what's a good environment to refine adventure design, when the iteration loop is so long?

When you have multiple choices of Adventure Paths to play, you get to pick and choose the one that you and your group like the best. It's the same advantage you have when you decide to watch a horror movie, for example—there are more out there than you'll probably be able to watch, which means you get to focus your energies on the ones you WANT to watch.

And I'm not sure what you mean by the second part of the question—a "good environment to refine adventure design"? Anywhere that's relaxing and conducive to you being able to concentrate on writing and design would be a good environment to work on revising adventures... If that's what you're asking about?

Grand Lodge

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So I got a few questions with the last couple being somewhat silly but I am genuinely curious about the answers to them so bare with me.

1. Where on Golarion could you by an airship like the ones mentioned in Ultimate Combat?

Now the silly questions.

2. If The Inner Sea World Guide were to end up in the Inner Sea, how much would it be worth in gold pieces to the right buyer? (Keep in mind that it does have the locations of certain mysterious places like Xin-Shalast on maps in the book.)

3.Out of all the books you guys have published, which one do you think would be worth the most in the Inner Sea and how much do you think it would be worth?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Therrux wrote:

So I got a few questions with the last couple being somewhat silly but I am genuinely curious about the answers to them so bare with me.

1. Where on Golarion could you by an airship like the ones mentioned in Ultimate Combat?

Now the silly questions.

2. If The Inner Sea World Guide were to end up in the Inner Sea, how much would it be worth in gold pieces to the right buyer? (Keep in mind that it does have the locations of certain mysterious places like Xin-Shalast on maps in the book.)

3.Out of all the books you guys have published, which one do you think would be worth the most in the Inner Sea and how much do you think it would be worth?

1) Nowhere, really. Airships are INCREDIBLY rare on Golarion, and those rare few that do exist are not for sale. There's some in Alkenstar, I believe, but that's more or less it. Golairon isn't really the setting where you'll see airships in the sky, and is a case where the rulebooks kind of divert from the implied setting.

2) It'd be either priceless (for those who believe/realize it's filled with secrets!) or, in most cases, relatively worthless unless folks want it as an art object, cause it sure is pretty!

3) The special edition of Rise of the Runelords in its fancy metal case is the biggest and heaviest, and therefore by the nature of how the game's economy works, is probably the most expensive since it'd have to be priced like some sort of bludgeoning weapon. :-P


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'd also like to chime in my thanks to you for your presence here and trying to make the internet a better place. Also for all of Hell's Rebels, as its my favorite adventure path.

Hmm... I suppose I question too.

Is there any further information on Golarion's tarrasque other than ISG? Or any details on Rovagug's other spawn?

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