Creative Director
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James! Got my PDF copy of Horror Realms, and before questions- You guys rule, I love it, the Aboleth Corruption is especially delightful. Review incoming*. But first:
1. Which sections of the book were you the primary author for?
2.
Spoiler:That's both neat and unexpected- whose idea was it?The Hive in Uskwood?
1) I wrote the introduction about pattern killers. I also developed the book, and some parts of it needed extensive enough rewrites that that, combined with the intro, was enough to convince me to add my name on the author list.
2) I added the hive elements during development to replace some similar but not-hive elements, if I recall correctly. The Hive wasn't something that was available to the freelancers as a concept during the writing, and since one of the whole points of Horror Realms was to establish where on Golarion content from Horror Adventures pops up, that seemed like the best place to hive things up.
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Creative Director
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Hello James
1. How many domains had Peacock Spirit?
2. Was Xanderghul higher in mythic tiers than 5th tier?
3. What was elves reaction on the matter of an azlanti exile settling in the Emerald Spire?
4. And after that, how they reacted when azlanti forces came to take down this exile?
5. Can the pool in the center of Runeforge be fooled in to not reacting to a Runelords comeback?
6. If a Runelord got stuck by some accident in transition between Golarion and his hideout plan (sort of one part here, one part there), awake and fully counscious, would his finally reversing the process and coming back trigger the pool in Runeforge? Considering he was partially still in Golarion and awake.
1) Since the Peacock Spirit might not even be a deity and might not even have had clerics... I'm not gonna say what domains he/she/it granted or even whether or not he/she/it was something CAPABLE of granting domains. Someday I'll say more.
2) Unrevealed.
3) If they even noticed, they would have been cautious and worried but not antagonistic, and since the Emerald Spire stuff stayed relatively self-contained, they were mostly okay with it.
4) Same. (Part of the problem is that the Emerald Spire content got "tacked on" to Golarion's lore as a result of development needs for Goblinworks' Pathfinder Online game, and in some ways the content there never really synced up well with established lore... )
5) I suppose, but it'd be tricky.
6) Unrevealed, since it didn't' happen. If you wanted this to happen in your Golarion... feel free to have it enable whatever storyline you want, of course!
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Creative Director
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If a person was wearing a lamellar cuirass over a suit of chainmail, would that be considered four-mirror armor or half-plate?
That's not really something that the game cares to get into the minutiae of tracking. I'd say pick the heavier version of armor... or even better, use the piecemeal armor system.
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Creative Director
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What is your favorite kind of evil laugh?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever designed?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever faced as a player, for both the character and yourself?
Vincent Price.
Probably Xhamen-Dor, I guess.
Lately? The revenant from Mummy's Mask 2... YIKES. All time? Dunno.
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Creative Director
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To piggyback on this, Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever faced in a video game?What is your favorite kind of evil laugh?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever designed?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever faced as a player, for both the character and yourself?
I was gonna say Orenstein and Smough, but that's not accurate—they're the most FRUSTRATING villains I've faced in a video game.
Most terrifying? That's a tough choice, but probably... the alien from Alien Isolation.
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To piggyback on this, Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever faced in a video game?What is your favorite kind of evil laugh?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever designed?
Who/what is the most terrifying villain that you've ever faced as a player, for both the character and yourself?
I was gonna say Orenstein and Smough, but that's not accurate—they're the most FRUSTRATING villains I've faced in a video game.
Most terrifying? That's a tough choice, but probably... the alien from Alien Isolation.
Hehehe, I knew you were gonna mention those two :3
James, thanks for answers!
And here is another set of questions on the topic that bothers me now:
1. How "common knowledge" was Undercommon language on the surface before Second Darkness AP?
1.a. Was, and is it more widespread in places where contact with Darklands is more often?
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Creative Director
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James, thanks for answers!
And here is another set of questions on the topic that bothers me now:
1. How "common knowledge" was Undercommon language on the surface before Second Darkness AP?
1.a. Was, and is it more widespread in places where contact with Darklands is more often?
1) Relatively common.
2) Yes; in regions where there's more contact with the Darklands, the primary trade tongue of the Darklands is more common.
Mr Jacobs, I would like a clarification on something you said in 2012, especially December 16, about the spell Blood Money.
Back then the question was:
Hello Mr. Jacobs.
I’m trying to figure out the Blood Money spell and I would appreciate your help.
This is what I’ve found out so far:
-Blood Money let’s you create valuable material components for a spell at the cost of 1d6 damage and variable Str-damage.
-Provided you’ve taken enough Str-damage, you can transform your blood into a necessary valuable material component, for a spell cast in the same round as the Blood Money spell.
-If you cast a spell with a casting time of 1 minute or more, for the entirety of that casting time you are considered to be ‘casting a spell as a full round action’.
-The material component in question transforms back into blood, if it has not been used as a material component before the end of the round.
-Material components are destroyed in the casting process.
[...]
Question 1: When Blood Money says you can create components for a spell cast in the same round, does that mean the casting must be completed in that same round?
[...][...]
When you cast blood money, you do so with a swift action. You create the needed components, and must then IMMEDIATELY (in the same round) cast the spell you want to use those components with. You don't need to finish casting the spell in the same round, though; once you start casting the spell, the components (and the prepared spell itself) are committed and used.
Does that imply that it would be correct under the rules to do the following?
* Take 1 point of Strength damage with Blood Money and
* start Masterwork Transformation the same round.
* Target of said spell is a combat staff (cost: 0 GP + 300 GP material components)
This would be done with the expressed goal to gain an item worth 300 GP that sells for 150 GP with just the expense of one night of rest and a trip to collet a sturdy staff in the woods.
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Creative Director
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Mr Jacobs, I would like a clarification on something you said in 2012, especially December 16, about the spell Blood Money.
Back then the question was:
Hello Mr. Jacobs.
I’m trying to figure out the Blood Money spell and I would appreciate your help.
This is what I’ve found out so far:
-Blood Money let’s you create valuable material components for a spell at the cost of 1d6 damage and variable Str-damage.
-Provided you’ve taken enough Str-damage, you can transform your blood into a necessary valuable material component, for a spell cast in the same round as the Blood Money spell.
-If you cast a spell with a casting time of 1 minute or more, for the entirety of that casting time you are considered to be ‘casting a spell as a full round action’.
-The material component in question transforms back into blood, if it has not been used as a material component before the end of the round.
-Material components are destroyed in the casting process.
[...]
Question 1: When Blood Money says you can create components for a spell cast in the same round, does that mean the casting must be completed in that same round?
[...][...]
When you cast blood money, you do so with a swift action. You create the needed components, and must then IMMEDIATELY (in the same round) cast the spell you want to use those components with. You don't need to finish casting the spell in the same round, though; once you start casting the spell, the components (and the prepared spell itself) are committed and used.Does that imply that it would be correct under the rules to do the following?
* Take 1 point of Strength damage with Blood Money and
* start Masterwork Transformation the same round.
* Target of said spell is a combat staff (cost: 0 GP + 300 GP material components)This would be done with the expressed goal to gain an item worth 300 GP that sells...
You could indeed do this, although it's not really in the spirit of either spell as written, and I would not begrudge any GM banning one or both of those spells from their game in order to keep things focused on adventuring rather than get distracted by "I just want to make money."
Blood money is a very flavorful and interesting spell with themes that fit very well into Thassilon, but due to the way our rules work in placing so much value on gp and gear, in hindsight I think that perhaps it shouldn't be allowed to create expensive material components for spells with permanent effects. The intent is for you to use your blood to cast spells that use expensive components, not to use your blood to get rich.
In my game, I'd say that blood money doesn't work to create a masterwork component for a weapon, because that isn't a classic spell component in the same way that diamond dust is.
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Why was the Unchained Monk created in such a way that the class could not use any of the archetypes for it previously? Was it simply the case of not wanting to put forth the time and effort to do so?
Unchained Rogue was a straight upgrade that was able to make use of the of all the archetypes previously created for the Rogue.
Also, why no Unchained Fighter? Of any class, one can make the argument that the Fighter was in the greatest need to be Unchained... As too the Cleric if one were to get right down to it.
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Why was the Unchained Monk created in such a way that the class could not use any of the archetypes for it previously? Was it simply the case of not wanting to put forth the time and effort to do so?
Or is it because the new Unchained Monk is completely customizable which would make it nigh impossible to make it work with many archetypes?
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Or is it because the new Unchained Monk is completely customizable which would make it nigh impossible to make it work with many archetypes?
Very much not nigh impossible, Everyman Gaming was able to convert each the monk archetypes without issue using a very intuitive system to be compatible with the Unchained Monk... Apart from a couple notable exceptions, such as the Qinggong Monk as it would baked into the Unchained Monk as a whole.
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Or is it because the new Unchained Monk is completely customizable which would make it nigh impossible to make it work with many archetypes?Very much not nigh impossible, Everyman Gaming was able to convert each the monk archetypes without issue using a very intuitive system to be compatible with the Unchained Monk... Apart from a couple notable exceptions, such as the Qinggong Monk as it would baked into the Unchained Monk as a whole.
Or is it because other companies had already done it?
According to my friend who gets to read my copies of Strange Aeons until he's done running it for our group, Volume 3 has the elves of Kyonin presented as being isolationist and distinctly prejudiced against half-elves (something about their use of some kind of ship being perceived as "even worse" than a human doing the same?)
Was this a deliberate choice or an editorial slip-up?
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Creative Director
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Why was the Unchained Monk created in such a way that the class could not use any of the archetypes for it previously? Was it simply the case of not wanting to put forth the time and effort to do so?
Unchained Rogue was a straight upgrade that was able to make use of the of all the archetypes previously created for the Rogue.
Also, why no Unchained Fighter? Of any class, one can make the argument that the Fighter was in the greatest need to be Unchained... As too the Cleric if one were to get right down to it.
The whole point of Unchained was that it was experimental and optional content. Part of being experimental and optional is also being not necessarily instantly compatible with the rest of the game; some assembly required, sort of, for your GM. The book's also intended to inspire GMs to tinker with their own games, so if a GM, say, uses the Unchained Monk, he/she can absolutely adjust things so that monk works fine with archetypes.
The unchained classes were not all approached with the same goals and plots, so that's why the rogue works differently as regards archetype "compatibility" than the monk.
There was no unchained fighter for several reasons:
1) No need; the fighter actually works quite well as-is.
2) No room; the book had only page count for a limited number of unchained classes.
3) No desire; part of Unchained's goals was to "Unchain" the design team and let them do things they wanted to tinker with and no one on the design team had any particular interests in tinkering with the fighter (mostly because of #1 above, I believe).
Obviously you (and others) have different opinions, but we made the decisions, not you. Even if those decisions were in large part informed by customer feedback, for example:
Monk: We did an unchained monk because folks wanted a more offensive build rather than a defesnive build of the class.
Rogue: We did an unchained rogue because of relatively universal complaints by customers that the current rogue was underpowered.
Barbarian: We did an unchained barbarian to simplify how it plays in game so that you don't have to rebuild your character each time you rage.
Summoner: We did an unchained summoner to bring it in line with expectations for the flavor of Golarion, but mostly to correct the fact that what got into print the first time around was too powerful and overly complex and it needed to be de-powered to bring it in line with other classes.
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Creative Director
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Or is it because the new Unchained Monk is completely customizable which would make it nigh impossible to make it work with many archetypes?Very much not nigh impossible, Everyman Gaming was able to convert each the monk archetypes without issue using a very intuitive system to be compatible with the Unchained Monk... Apart from a couple notable exceptions, such as the Qinggong Monk as it would baked into the Unchained Monk as a whole.
Keep it to questions for me, please.
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Creative Director
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Or is it because other companies had already done it?Or is it because the new Unchained Monk is completely customizable which would make it nigh impossible to make it work with many archetypes?Very much not nigh impossible, Everyman Gaming was able to convert each the monk archetypes without issue using a very intuitive system to be compatible with the Unchained Monk... Apart from a couple notable exceptions, such as the Qinggong Monk as it would baked into the Unchained Monk as a whole.
I answered this above. Please be patient and wait for my answers and don't get snarky. My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.
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Creative Director
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According to my friend who gets to read my copies of Strange Aeons until he's done running it for our group, Volume 3 has the elves of Kyonin presented as being isolationist and distinctly prejudiced against half-elves (something about their use of some kind of ship being perceived as "even worse" than a human doing the same?)
Was this a deliberate choice or an editorial slip-up?
I was not involved with developing Strange Aeons, so if this is indeed the case, then I guess my concerns about not aping Forgotten Realms/Tolkein/cliches as far as elf isolationisim hasn't been spread through the department here at Paizo, and that might be the last straw and I might just give up and give in and throw my hands up in the air in frustration and maybe just play videogames instead.
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that might be the last straw and I might just give up and give in and throw my hands up in the air in frustration and maybe just play videogames instead.
Please don't. That would be a sad day for Pathfinder. Apologies for the snark above - it is unfortunate but sometimes having a bad day translates badly in some of my posts. Once in a while, I take a step back and have a decent amount of beer to gain perspective. Sometimes while gaming (but not to the point of being disruptive - I hate when people derail a game while roaring drunk)
What's your favorite beer?
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I was not involved with developing Strange Aeons, so if this is indeed the case, then I guess my concerns about not aping Forgotten Realms/Tolkein/cliches as far as elf isolationisim hasn't been spread through the department here at Paizo, and that might be the last straw and I might just give up and give in and throw my hands up in the air in frustration and maybe just play videogames instead.
What can we, as customers do to stop that? (In a positive way).
I obviously think paizo are terrific all-round, but you personally are a massive, positive influence on the way I think about RPGs (and you've written all but one of my favourite first level adventures).
I don't want to encourage you to keep doing stuff you don't enjoy, of course, but I think it would be a terrible loss to the gaming community were you to move on to other things.
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Hoping this is a temporary "I'm just gonna play video games for a while" thing rather than any sort of permanent life choice, James.
Definitely getting major stress vibes from you at the moment, and just want you to know that there's people out here who want you to be happy, think your work is amazing, and just wish you the best.
See you on the flip-side.
My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.
Would it help to sneak past this deadly razor thin "patience" (What is the CR of this?) as a lvl 14 Ninja? On my sheet are (of course) the Ninja Class Feature Light Step and to make sure I do my best, I will use the Ninja Tricks Fast Stealth, Vanishing Step + Invisible Blade and Unbound Steps with a total sneak bonus of 14(ranks)+3(class)+7(dex 24)+40(invisible) for a total of +64. I might toss in Ghost Steps if said being only can be fooled by 'phasing out' halfway.
A follow-up to this: Is the following a grapple attempt or does it succeed automatically? I plan an unarmed (maybe better armed with a pillow for 0d0 that disallows any precision damage?) sneak-attack on a Creative Director (What are the CR and ACs of one again?) to pounce and hug him to show him some love for putting up with us.
And, a follow-up upon to that: Would additional people joining to aid in such a 'grapple' have to grapple the CD too or do they succeed automatically?
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Wow James
I'm sorry to see that you are so frustrated and your patience has been worn so thin.
First I'd like to say that I think you do an amazing job, and this thread is one of the things that makes Paizo stand above other companies. Having a direct line to one of the creators is wonderful.
I hope that you feel better soon, and I am sorry that it is a fact in this world that it takes so long to build something positive up, and so little to tear it down.
What can we (the community) do to help?
How long has it been since you had a vacation?
What do you do to recharge your batteries?
What was your favorite role-playing moment in your most recent game?
Cheers
I also have a Rise of the Runelords related question, that I hope you are up to answering:
How quickly will Lamashtu turn off Nualia's spells and divine powers?
Thanks to a priestess of Desna, she was spurred to throw her lot in with the heroes as they descended into Mokmurian's library. Nualia is there to get Lyrie Akenja out of the library but along the way the PCs' heroism has truly started some doubt in her mind about her wicked ways. As they couldn't get into the library, she helped the heroes slay Mokmurian to gain the key.
Some struggles later Nualia just dealt the killing blow against one of Lamia clerics of Lamashtu, who are Mokmurians allies. We ended our session there, and afterwards I wondered if the slaying of a fellow Lamashtu worshiper would anger Lamashtu and make her stop granting spells and powers to Nualia?
Cheers
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Creative Director
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I was not involved with developing Strange Aeons, so if this is indeed the case, then I guess my concerns about not aping Forgotten Realms/Tolkein/cliches as far as elf isolationisim hasn't been spread through the department here at Paizo, and that might be the last straw and I might just give up and give in and throw my hands up in the air in frustration and maybe just play videogames instead.What can we, as customers do to stop that? (In a positive way).
I can't think of a thing. It's pretty much 100% an internal issue.
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Creative Director
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My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.Would it help to sneak past this deadly razor thin "patience" (What is the CR of this?) as a lvl 14 Ninja? On my sheet are (of course) the Ninja Class Feature Light Step and to make sure I do my best, I will use the Ninja Tricks Fast Stealth, Vanishing Step + Invisible Blade and Unbound Steps with a total sneak bonus of 14(ranks)+3(class)+7(dex 24)+40(invisible) for a total of +64. I might toss in Ghost Steps if said being only can be fooled by 'phasing out' halfway.
A follow-up to this: Is the following a grapple attempt or does it succeed automatically? I plan an unarmed (maybe better armed with a pillow for 0d0 that disallows any precision damage?) sneak-attack on a Creative Director (What are the CR and ACs of one again?) to pounce and hug him to show him some love for putting up with us.
And, a follow-up upon to that: Would additional people joining to aid in such a 'grapple' have to grapple the CD too or do they succeed automatically?
No.
Dunno. I'm kinda not really interested in the rules of the game at this point. If this came up in a game I was running RIGHT NOW I'd decide in favor 100% and arbitrarily what makes for a more dramatic and interesting story.
Same as above.
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Creative Director
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Wow James
I'm sorry to see that you are so frustrated and your patience has been worn so thin.
First I'd like to say that I think you do an amazing job, and this thread is one of the things that makes Paizo stand above other companies. Having a direct line to one of the creators is wonderful.
I hope that you feel better soon, and I am sorry that it is a fact in this world that it takes so long to build something positive up, and so little to tear it down.What can we (the community) do to help?
How long has it been since you had a vacation?
What do you do to recharge your batteries?
What was your favorite role-playing moment in your most recent game?
Cheers
Thanks for the kind words.
The PRIMARY thing the community can do to help is to simply STOP posting hateful or baiting or snarky or cruel comments, but the type of personality that enjoys doing that isn't going to stop because that's part of who they are, so frankly... I don't think there's anything the community can do to help the more I think about it.
Last significant time off was a week or so at the end of June to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. And I go home to visit them pretty much every Christmas for a week or two. But as for going on a vacation-vacation somewhere that I've never been to relax? Pretty much never. Vacations are kinda depressing to a certain extent in theory, but what do I know having never really taken one, I guess?
To recharge the batteries traditionally I've spent time away from what drains them, but they recharge slower and slower the older I get.
Favorite role-playing moment recently was when Amanda found Stewart.
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Creative Director
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I also have a Rise of the Runelords related question, that I hope you are up to answering:
Spoiler:How quickly will Lamashtu turn off Nualia's spells and divine powers?Thanks to a priestess of Desna, she was spurred to throw her lot in with the heroes as they descended into Mokmurian's library. Nualia is there to get Lyrie Akenja out of the library but along the way the PCs' heroism has truly started some doubt in her mind about her wicked ways. As they couldn't get into the library, she helped the heroes slay Mokmurian to gain the key.
Some struggles later Nualia just dealt the killing blow against one of Lamia clerics of Lamashtu, who are Mokmurians allies. We ended our session there, and afterwards I wondered if the slaying of a fellow Lamashtu worshiper would anger Lamashtu and make her stop granting spells and powers to Nualia?
Cheers
As quickly as you want the story to have it happen. This type of game-play element isn't bound by rules. It's bound by the flow of the narrative.
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What's your favorite beer?Blue moon... mostly because it doesnt' taste like beer.
Well if you ask me, the problem is that Blue Moon actually tastes like beer, while most American beers ... all the Buds and Millers and Coors ... are like ... making sweet love in a canoe ... you know how the joke goes.
AND THE QUESTION IS:
Since you like Blue Moon, which is a Witbier, do you like Weizenbier as well? The only 'Merican weizens I can think of off the top of my head are Live Oak and Drunk Monk. Globally, I think Paulaner is the most famous one.
My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.Would it help to sneak past this deadly razor thin "patience" (What is the CR of this?) as a lvl 14 Ninja? On my sheet are (of course) the Ninja Class Feature Light Step and to make sure I do my best, I will use the Ninja Tricks Fast Stealth, Vanishing Step + Invisible Blade and Unbound Steps with a total sneak bonus of 14(ranks)+3(class)+7(dex 24)+40(invisible) for a total of +64. I might toss in Ghost Steps if said being only can be fooled by 'phasing out' halfway.
A follow-up to this: Is the following a grapple attempt or does it succeed automatically? I plan an unarmed (maybe better armed with a pillow for 0d0 that disallows any precision damage?) sneak-attack on a Creative Director (What are the CR and ACs of one again?) to pounce and hug him to show him some love for putting up with us.
And, a follow-up upon to that: Would additional people joining to aid in such a 'grapple' have to grapple the CD too or do they succeed automatically?
No.
Dunno. I'm kinda not really interested in the rules of the game at this point. If this came up in a game I was running RIGHT NOW I'd decide in favor 100% and arbitrarily what makes for a more dramatic and interesting story.
Same as above.
Ahw... But... But... I believe this Creative Director needs some Love. I love your works (even if I get them only in translation and some long time later because of translation to German), especially your forword of Kingmaker. So... stay with us? Please? Pretty please?
And not a question to you but the other gamers like me: Would you show James some love for his hard work to keep this game best?
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Creative Director
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What's your favorite beer?Blue moon... mostly because it doesnt' taste like beer.Well if you ask me, the problem is that Blue Moon actually tastes like beer, while most American beers ... all the Buds and Millers and Coors ... are like ... making sweet love in a canoe ... you know how the joke goes.
AND THE QUESTION IS:
Since you like Blue Moon, which is a Witbier, do you like Weizenbier as well? The only 'Merican weizens I can think of off the top of my head are Live Oak and Drunk Monk. Globally, I think Paulaner is the most famous one.
I think that the whole "American beer is gross" argument is empty steam. Pretty much ALL beer is gross as far as I'm concerned. I've no idea what a weizenbier is.
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I think that the whole "American beer is gross" argument is empty steam. Pretty much ALL beer is gross as far as I'm concerned. I've no idea what a weizenbier is.What's your favorite beer?Blue moon... mostly because it doesnt' taste like beer.Well if you ask me, the problem is that Blue Moon actually tastes like beer, while most American beers ... all the Buds and Millers and Coors ... are like ... making sweet love in a canoe ... you know how the joke goes.
AND THE QUESTION IS:
Since you like Blue Moon, which is a Witbier, do you like Weizenbier as well? The only 'Merican weizens I can think of off the top of my head are Live Oak and Drunk Monk. Globally, I think Paulaner is the most famous one.
Have you ever had Smirnoff Ice?
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Creative Director
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Is Shimmy your only kitty?Yup!^w^
What does she like to do?
Cat stuff: Sleep, meow, chase the red dot, meow more, eat food, poop, do cute things, purr, sleep on my lap or chest or head or whatever like 10 minntues before I have to get up and thus makes me late because I don't wanna disturb her.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever had Smirnoff Ice?I think that the whole "American beer is gross" argument is empty steam. Pretty much ALL beer is gross as far as I'm concerned. I've no idea what a weizenbier is.What's your favorite beer?Blue moon... mostly because it doesnt' taste like beer.Well if you ask me, the problem is that Blue Moon actually tastes like beer, while most American beers ... all the Buds and Millers and Coors ... are like ... making sweet love in a canoe ... you know how the joke goes.
AND THE QUESTION IS:
Since you like Blue Moon, which is a Witbier, do you like Weizenbier as well? The only 'Merican weizens I can think of off the top of my head are Live Oak and Drunk Monk. Globally, I think Paulaner is the most famous one.
Nope.
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Cat stuff: Sleep, meow, chase the red dot, meow more, eat food, poop, do cute things, purr, sleep on my lap or chest or head or whatever like 10 minntues before I have to get up and thus makes me late because I don't wanna disturb her.Is Shimmy your only kitty?Yup!^w^
What does she like to do?
Hmm, my cat too likes to do those things. They want us to stay...
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Nope.Have you ever had Smirnoff Ice?I think that the whole "American beer is gross" argument is empty steam. Pretty much ALL beer is gross as far as I'm concerned. I've no idea what a weizenbier is.What's your favorite beer?Blue moon... mostly because it doesnt' taste like beer.Well if you ask me, the problem is that Blue Moon actually tastes like beer, while most American beers ... all the Buds and Millers and Coors ... are like ... making sweet love in a canoe ... you know how the joke goes.
AND THE QUESTION IS:
Since you like Blue Moon, which is a Witbier, do you like Weizenbier as well? The only 'Merican weizens I can think of off the top of my head are Live Oak and Drunk Monk. Globally, I think Paulaner is the most famous one.
I like it, especially the green apple flavor, don't know if the they have a raspberry flavor.
Hello James,
I was wondering if you'd maybe ruminate on the nature of divine magic versus arcane magic, specifically in concern to healing magic. "Back in the day", so to speak, healing was almost strictly the purview of divine spellcasters, while arcane had no such luck (with the exception of bards being a strange odd-man out sort of case). As the game's developed and classes have been added, more and more arcane classes have found the ability to heal, such as the witch, an arcanist with the white mage archetype, and even wizards and sorcerers utilizing infernal healing.
I suppose if I had to phrase things as a question, it would be, "What is the in-world justification a wizard might give to a 'common man' as to why he cannot cure his wounds, but the cleric in the temple down the street can, as well as that funny fellow who performs in the bar?".
I ask this because I'm planning on switching my group to the Spheres of Power magic system (I won't assume you know anything about it). Long story short, it makes magic much more customizable and thematic while bringing high end spellcasters more in line with their equivalent level martials in terms of raw combat power. However, the archetypes presented to convert wizards, clerics, etc into 'Sphere casters' don't put any restriction on what spheres a class may choose. Thus, a Wizard can choose the 'Life' sphere and start handing out cures, restorations, etc.
There's a lot more to it than that, but it mostly comes down to "Should I allow Wizards to heal?".
Of course I understand I should do whatever feels best for my own home group, but I'd love to hear whatever opinion you might have on this subject, being that Golarion is a world I really enjoy and respect, and I know you had a massive hand in forging it.
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Creative Director
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Hello James,
I was wondering if you'd maybe ruminate on the nature of divine magic versus arcane magic, specifically in concern to healing magic. "Back in the day", so to speak, healing was almost strictly the purview of divine spellcasters, while arcane had no such luck (with the exception of bards being a strange odd-man out sort of case). As the game's developed and classes have been added, more and more arcane classes have found the ability to heal, such as the witch, an arcanist with the white mage archetype, and even wizards and sorcerers utilizing infernal healing.
I suppose if I had to phrase things as a question, it would be, "What is the in-world justification a wizard might give to a 'common man' as to why he cannot cure his wounds, but the cleric in the temple down the street can, as well as that funny fellow who performs in the bar?".
I ask this because I'm planning on switching my group to the Spheres of Power magic system (I won't assume you know anything about it). Long story short, it makes magic much more customizable and thematic while bringing high end spellcasters more in line with their equivalent level martials in terms of raw combat power. However, the archetypes presented to convert wizards, clerics, etc into 'Sphere casters' don't put any restriction on what spheres a class may choose. Thus, a Wizard can choose the 'Life' sphere and start handing out cures, restorations, etc.
There's a lot more to it than that, but it mostly comes down to "Should I allow Wizards to heal?".
Of course I understand I should do whatever feels best for my own home group, but I'd love to hear whatever opinion you might have on this subject, being that Golarion is a world I really enjoy and respect, and I know you had a massive hand in forging it.
All magic is magic, be it psychic, divine, or arcane. Psychic magic comes from the self and is inborn. Divine magic is rewarded through faith. Arcane magic is the result of study. Why some spellcasters can do some things others can't is the nature of magic.
You shouldn't allow wizards to heal unless you want to basically have only one spellcasting class. That's a bit hyperbolic, yes, but the idea is that different types of magic and themes of spells work well with different classes. If you want only one spellcasting class, then fine, let them cast all forms of magic. But the point is that variety and diversity is good in all things, if only because what you value in the game may not be what your players today or tomorrow value.
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So I'm interested in trying out Automatic Bonus Progression from Unchained, especially since I keep hearing so many jokes about +1 whatever items from my players or seeing them prefer statboosting items to more flavorful ones, but its kinda too late for my RotR campaign since I started it as vanilla so players have already invested a lot of gold in items. However, next time I run AP, do you think its not plausible to switch to Automatic Bonus Progression for AP?
I mean, recommendations for it say that you should cut average wealth by level in half ._.; I kinda get feeling that even if I remove all plus whatever and statboosting items(and reduce costs of items with bonuses in addition other effects) it wouldn't come close to half wealth... I doubt even halving money treasure amount would help, but I guess I could be wrong.. Anyway, yeah, is it something I should only try out in homebrew campaign?
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Creative Director
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So I'm interested in trying out Automatic Bonus Progression from Unchained, especially since I keep hearing so many jokes about +1 whatever items from my players or seeing them prefer statboosting items to more flavorful ones, but its kinda too late for my RotR campaign since I started it as vanilla so players have already invested a lot of gold in items. However, next time I run AP, do you think its not plausible to switch to Automatic Bonus Progression for AP?
I mean, recommendations for it say that you should cut average wealth by level in half ._.; I kinda get feeling that even if I remove all plus whatever and statboosting items(and reduce costs of items with bonuses in addition other effects) it wouldn't come close to half wealth... I doubt even halving money treasure amount would help, but I guess I could be wrong.. Anyway, yeah, is it something I should only try out in homebrew campaign?
Have no idea, to be honest. I've not read the Automatic Bonus Progression you talk about.
As for wealth recommendations, my take is that once you've Gamemastered a campaign or two, you know what your wealth levels are comfortable at and how your table handles them. That's the best metric by which to determine what wealth you should hand out.
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Creative Director
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Hey there, everyone! This post is partially for me (so I can keep track of the last place the thread was at when I last looked at it) and partially a PSA to let folks know that I'm going to be stepping away from this thread for various reasons mostly to do with my own mental health.
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*hugs the Directorsaur*
Okay, you take care of yourself James. Your health is more important than this thread.
I'm extremely grateful you've had this thread for as long as you have, and for answering mine and everyone else's questions. And I'm also grateful for everything you do as the Creative Director of Paizo. So thank you.
*hugs again*
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Sometimes it helps just to get away/take a break from something that is no longer keeping you in a good place - if only for a while.
Wish you all the best!
Be kind to yourself, and hope that this break will help you.
Thank you for everything thus far.
Come back when you are ready!
*hugs*
--C.
Oh, dang. Well, here's wishing you well. Would fan content about Ashava help?
Again, thanks for the free lore!