I have been meaning to ask something and I suppose this would be the place to ask.
Why is Absalom named Absalom?
Does it have any relation to biblical references and the supposed death of 'he who created it'?
There are indeed "Fighter Only" feats. It says so in the feats when they are. Such as in Weapon Specialization, which lists "fighter level 4th" as one of the feat's requirements.Combat Feats, do you need Fighter levels to take them or not?
I think we can save James from answering this one...
You only need Fighter levels to take a feat if the feat says it requires Fighter levels.
Also: "Any feat designated as a combat feat can be selected by fighters and gunslingers as a bonus feat. Characters of other classes can take these feats as long as they meet the prerequisites."
I am asking if there are "Fighter Only" Feat or if it is a misunderstanding?
K, thanks.
Archetypes always take precedence over the standards. In this case, the Archetype takes precedence over your bloodline, and thus you can pick the actual 9th level power as your archetype allows.James,
Is it possible to create a Crossblooded Sorcerer with one or two Wildblooded Bloodlines?
Why would you want to? To give your poor GM a heart attack or a nosebleed?
In any case, since both of those are archetypes... you can if what the archetype replaces from the base class doesn't overlap. In this case, you probably could combine the two, since a wildblooded archetype changes the bloodline itself, and the crossblooded archetype doesn't do much that actually affects its bloodlines apart from the fact that it combines two of them.
But I have to wonder if this isn't the Pathfinder equivalent of ordering a chocolate fudge sunday and then topping it with candy bars, jelly beans, chocolate chips, gumdrops, skittles, maple syrup, circus peanuts, and powdered sugar. Just because you CAN do a thing doesn't mean you SHOULD. :-)
In my case, I wanted to do this 'cos I wanted to play an empyreal sorcerer with a familiar to keep him company (he's a PFS character, so I wanted him to have a constant companion even as he bounced between different groups of Pathfinders for different missions. I'm doing this by cross-blooding the empyreal and arcane bloodlines.
What would I need to do at level 9?
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
This bloodline power replaces wings of heaven."
Is my 9th level bloodline power replaced with Sacred Cistern in all circumstances, or am I free to pick the arcane bloodline's 9th level power?
Thanks James. However, I'm getting a little confused now. Isn't the empyreal bloodline a wildblooded archetype of the celestial bloodline? Or are the wildblooded bloodlines not considered archetypes for the purpose of taking other archetypes?
What's your all time favorite gaming experience?
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Thanks James. However, I'm getting a little confused now. Isn't the empyreal bloodline a wildblooded archetype of the celestial bloodline? Or are the wildblooded bloodlines not considered archetypes for the purpose of taking other archetypes?
And confusion is what happens when you start overlapping so many alternate rules.
In this case, frankly, the best choice might be to just do one of the two archetypes and not try mashing them together.
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I have been meaning to ask something and I suppose this would be the place to ask.
Why is Absalom named Absalom?
Does it have any relation to biblical references and the supposed death of 'he who created it'?
Erik's the one who named it. I believe he chose that name because he wanted the name to not only "feel right" but to evoke a strong religious response. The city is, after all, the place where three of the world's deities were created, and at its heart is a stone that can turn people into gods. As a result, it's pretty important to ALL religions in the region.
And Absalom being the '3rd' son of David and the line eventually giving rise to 'out savior' and Absalom himself being trapped by a tree and 'killed' by soldiers who were ordered to do so....seems very biblical to me.
Thank you J. Jacobs
James,
If you've ever considered it, how do you like to explain the fact that most medium creatures are taller than 5 feet, and yet only occupy a 5 foot cube? Is a 5' cube more like an 8' cube, and it's just called 5' for easier math? Are vertical units on a different scale when a battle map is used (this makes fireball an ellipsoid shape in 3D, but this might be considered a good compromise)? Or take the MST3K mantra, as adapted for gaming? Though that last one is a bit of an easy way out, as sometimes it's an entertaining thing to puzzle out: can one sufficiently explain this idiosyncrasy of the 5' battle map?
Thanks!
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James,
If you've ever considered it, how do you like to explain the fact that most medium creatures are taller than 5 feet, and yet only occupy a 5 foot cube? Is a 5' cube more like an 8' cube, and it's just called 5' for easier math? Are vertical units on a different scale when a battle map is used (this makes fireball an ellipsoid shape in 3D, but this might be considered a good compromise)? Or take the MST3K mantra, as adapted for gaming? Though that last one is a bit of an easy way out, as sometimes it's an entertaining thing to puzzle out: can one sufficiently explain this idiosyncrasy of the 5' battle map?
Thanks!
Many creatures extend out of their space, either up (in the case of many Medium creatures) or out (in the case of things like purple worms or dire sharks).
It's one of the sacrifices that verisimilitude has to make in order to make a simpler tactical game when it comes to combat.
My take: Your "space" is the core of you, while your "reach" is the area into which you reach, but don't wholly occupy.
A belt of incredible dexterity has this line:
"Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the belt is worn."
Does this mean that after wearing the belt for more than 24 hours, the bonus counts as a permanent bonus? Could a character with 11 dex wearing a belt of incredible dexterity +2 qualify for feats that require a dex of 13? Would he lose the benefit of the feat if he were to take off the headband?
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A belt of incredible dexterity has this line:
"Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the belt is worn."Does this mean that after wearing the belt for more than 24 hours, the bonus counts as a permanent bonus? Could a character with 11 dex wearing a belt of incredible dexterity +2 qualify for feats that require a dex of 13? Would he lose the benefit of the feat if he were to take off the headband?
As long as you wear it, yes, it counts as a permanent enhancement bonus and you would indeed qualify for feats and the like. If you take the item off, you'd lose access those feats until you put the item back on.
If you could have a ball pit in your house, would you?
[Edit] So... yeah, this is now going to show up in my games.
Pit of Infinite Happiness
Aura faint universal; CL 1st
Slot -; Price 200 gp; Weight varies
This pit varies in size, up to a 10x10x10 ft pit, but it contains hundreds if not thousands of brightly colored, 2 - 3 inch diameter, hollow balls made of a very light, but solid material. The balls can be easily crushed by just a few pounds of pressure, but when crushed, the pit of infinite happiness simply conjures a new one. The pit is used for entertaining children of any race, but many adults find enjoyment in the pit as well. The pit of infinite happiness is self-cleaning so no one will be catching any germs that could be lingering on the balls.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Items, prestidigitation Cost 100 gp
Seriously, I love these things, I will have one of these in my house one day, and I don't care how childish it is. Now, we all know Prestidigitation has 1,001 uses, but per the description for the spell, only 8 are listed. Now, a Constant Effect 0-level spell is 1,000 gp (1/2 * 1 * 2,000) but since you're only getting a quarter of the listed uses (conjuring small items and cleaning) I figure a similar price deduction should be allowed.
Prestidigitation: (1/2 * 1 * 2,000) / 4 = 200 gp
A veiled illusionist learns to apply tactile, olfactory etc. sensations to their disguise self effects. Can such an illusionist use this ability to fool themselves as well into experiencing the illusionary identity rather than the truth? Such as a spellcaster who is disfigured, or a ghoul or some other unsavoury thing, but has difficulties accepting this? Or someone obsessed with some standard of beauty they do not ordinarily possess?
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A veiled illusionist learns to apply tactile, olfactory etc. sensations to their disguise self effects. Can such an illusionist use this ability to fool themselves as well into experiencing the illusionary identity rather than the truth? Such as a spellcaster who is disfigured, or a ghoul or some other unsavoury thing, but has difficulties accepting this? Or someone obsessed with some standard of beauty they do not ordinarily possess?
Maybe not actually "fool themselves," but you can always voluntarily decide to fail a saving throw, such as that granted by disguise self.
Which of the mythos gods are active in golarion? You say 10 but I have only counted 7.
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Which of the mythos gods are active in golarion? You say 10 but I have only counted 7.
The full list appears in Pathfinder #46, and is as follows:
Azathoth
Bokrug
Cthulhu
Hastur
Mhar
Nyarlathotep
Shub-Niggurath
Xhamen-Dor
Yog-Sothoth
So... we're both wrong. It's 9, not 10 or 7.
Would you view this as a valid contingency spell?
When an enemy targets me with a full round attack that consists of more than two attacks or an attack that will require a save or a spell or spell-like ability of 5th level or higher, a Resilient Sphere spell immediately goes off around myself in a 5 foot diameter usually blocking the targeted ability.
Questions about Incorporal creatures:
1) Do they still need to Breath, Eat, Drink, Sleep?
1) If their creature type says they do, yup.
So, if a Human was blessed/cursed with Incorporalness, s/he would still need to eat and drink, how would s/he do that if s/he can't interact with food?
So, if a Human was blessed/cursed with Incorporalness, s/he would still need to eat and drink, how would s/he do that if s/he can't interact with food?Questions about Incorporal creatures:
1) Do they still need to Breath, Eat, Drink, Sleep?
1) If their creature type says they do, yup.
Incorporeal food, duh :P
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Would you view this as a valid contingency spell?
When an enemy targets me with a full round attack that consists of more than two attacks or an attack that will require a save or a spell or spell-like ability of 5th level or higher, a Resilient Sphere spell immediately goes off around myself in a 5 foot diameter usually blocking the targeted ability.
It's a bit complex, and the "usually blocking" is a fair amount of assumption. Especially since if the sphere blocks the targeted ability, then it couldn't have affected you in the first place and therefore wouldn't have activated the sphere.
Furthermore... once you're in a sphere, you're stuck there until it runs out or the enemy, who's still out there, can break through, or at the very least sets up a nice tactical welcome for you when the spell ends.
I'd not recommend this as a contingency. Even before I go to the book to make sure that it's a legal spell option in the first place.
Would you view this as a valid contingency spell?
When an enemy targets me with a full round attack that consists of more than two attacks or an attack that will require a save or a spell or spell-like ability of 5th level or higher, a Resilient Sphere spell immediately goes off around myself in a 5 foot diameter usually blocking the targeted ability.
It's a bit complex, and the "usually blocking" is a fair amount of assumption. Especially since if the sphere blocks the targeted ability, then it couldn't have affected you in the first place and therefore wouldn't have activated the sphere.
Furthermore... once you're in a sphere, you're stuck there until it runs out or the enemy, who's still out there, can break through, or at the very least sets up a nice tactical welcome for you when the spell ends.
I'd not recommend this as a contingency. Even before I go to the book to make sure that it's a legal spell option in the first place.
The spell he wants to be using is Emergency Force Shield.
James,
what do you do when you DM a game and some one wants to play super strange characters in city settings.
like when some one decides they want to play a drow summoner with a edilon that looks like an eight legged dragon.
when they walk through the streets of Kalsgard or Magnamar or some relatively small town like sand point.... does it have any effect in YOUR game or do you just hand wave that away for the sake of getting on with the game.
Which of the mythos gods are active in golarion? You say 10 but I have only counted 7.The full list appears in Pathfinder #46, and is as follows:
Azathoth
Bokrug
Cthulhu
Hastur
Mhar
Nyarlathotep
Shub-Niggurath
Xhamen-Dor
Yog-SothothSo... we're both wrong. It's 9, not 10 or 7.
Question: Isn't Tychilarius part of the group (and, thus, making a list of 10 mythos gods active/semi-active in Golarion)??
Just wondering...
-- C.
Hey James!
I have a question concerning the seven Runelords:
Which of the Runelords could you see as having had alliances with one another?
The answer needn't be the official canon answer (if you'd rather not reveal it - if any - or paint yourself into a corner...). It's more hypothetical.
And although the most likely answer is that they probably would've allied with different members at different times/ in different situations, I'm looking for the most common alliances that would've occurred between the Runelords.
Please and thank you.
-- C.
James
1. How long has Portenus Gaskelinni owned Leftovers in the East Shore of Korvosa? Don't guess you could pin it down to an exact year if you know, huh? (Trying to incorporate him into some backstory.)
2. What have you heard around the office, if anything, about Monte Cook's Numenera? I'm not asking about specifics, more along the lines of tone, ease of play, etc... (Wasn't that Kickstarter an amazing thing to watch?!?)
3. Do you have an estimate on when additional bases for the Pawns will be available?
Also, want to say THANKS! for taking the time to answer these questions. You've said you enjoy it, but it is still a very classy thing to do.
In the words of Sean Reynolds (without the sarcasm usually attached to his FB posts) Stay Classy, James! Stay Classy!
you can always voluntarily decide to fail a saving throw, such as that granted by disguise self.
Does this not contradict your earlier statement in this thread that casters don't get a save against their own illusions?
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Question: Isn't Tychilarius part of the group (and, thus, making a list of 10 mythos gods active/semi-active in Golarion)??
Just wondering...
-- C.
Tychilarius is a strange creature from the Dark Tapestry... but it's not part of the mythos or one of the Great Old Ones/Outer Gods. It's something else that we've not revealed more info about yet... but suffice to say, there's more in the Dark Tapestry than Lovecraft stuff.
(That said... we might end up grandfathering Tychilarius into the Golarion elder mythos in the end... for now though he's not officially part of it.)
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James,
what do you do when you DM a game and some one wants to play super strange characters in city settings.
like when some one decides they want to play a drow summoner with a edilon that looks like an eight legged dragon.
when they walk through the streets of Kalsgard or Magnamar or some relatively small town like sand point.... does it have any effect in YOUR game or do you just hand wave that away for the sake of getting on with the game.
I don't let them. If I'm running an urban campaign, I'll generally ask the players to play characters that fit that campaign's themes. That goes for ANY campaign.
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Hey James!
I have a question concerning the seven Runelords:
Which of the Runelords could you see as having had alliances with one another?The answer needn't be the official canon answer (if you'd rather not reveal it - if any - or paint yourself into a corner...). It's more hypothetical.
And although the most likely answer is that they probably would've allied with different members at different times/ in different situations, I'm looking for the most common alliances that would've occurred between the Runelords.
Please and thank you.
-- C.
Alliances between runelords shifted and changed as the runelords themselves changed. Further details on the runelords and their alliances may (or may not... not sure how much room we'll have for each one) be part of the runelord article in Pathfinder #66.
That said, I know that Karzoug and Alaznist were NOT allied. ;-)
In any case, we're still sorting the exact details out, and they're not yet ready for the public.
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you can always voluntarily decide to fail a saving throw, such as that granted by disguise self.Does this not contradict your earlier statement in this thread that casters don't get a save against their own illusions?
Nope. Note that I don't say "you don't get a save" in that earlier post, only that you always know your illusions are illusions. You basically "auto-save" for these and thus don't need to roll a saving throw. You can if you want, and you can choose to fail it as well.
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James
1. How long has Portenus Gaskelinni owned Leftovers in the East Shore of Korvosa? Don't guess you could pin it down to an exact year if you know, huh? (Trying to incorporate him into some backstory.)
2. What have you heard around the office, if anything, about Monte Cook's Numenera? I'm not asking about specifics, more along the lines of tone, ease of play, etc... (Wasn't that Kickstarter an amazing thing to watch?!?)
3. Do you have an estimate on when additional bases for the Pawns will be available?
Also, want to say THANKS! for taking the time to answer these questions. You've said you enjoy it, but it is still a very classy thing to do.
In the words of Sean Reynolds (without the sarcasm usually attached to his FB posts) Stay Classy, James! Stay Classy!
1) I cannot pin it down to an exact year, because I'm not sure off the top of my head who that is; I'd have to look it up in "Guide to Korvosa," and if it doesn't say in the text, then we haven't said at all.
2) Plenty. Several of us (including me) are backing it, and Erik Mona's been in a few playtests. Don't wanna say much more, though, since it's not our game and I don't want to make presumptions on what Monte does and doesn't want revealed.
3) Nope.
And you're welcome! :-)
Are there any books yet other than The Inner Sea World Guide (and Inner Sea Primer) that give information about the Mana Wastes and Alkenstar? If not, approximately where on the list does Mana Wastes fall in upcoming area books, don't necessarily need specific time frame, just like top of list, middle of list, end of list?
Thanks! I really like Alkenstar and the whole Dead Magic with roaming wild magic storms thing, so I think Mana Wastes is near the top of my list of books I want to see. :)
Then another note... I'm a bit confused about the Hellknights... If they serve LAW (and to a certain degree, Asmodeus) and fight against CHAOS... why do they need to fight a devil? Why not fight a demon, since that's what they hate? How does defeating a lawful being prove you have what it takes to fight chaos?
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James a few weeks back I asked a rules question in this thread. Since then the number of rules questions has increased 3-4 fold. Is it all my fault?
Do mites on Golarion ever live with or amongst hives of giant sized vermin?
Besides drow, does any other core or ARG race have a noble or more advance variant on Golarion?
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Thanks! I really like Alkenstar and the whole Dead Magic with roaming wild magic storms thing, so I think Mana Wastes is near the top of my list of books I want to see. :)
Then another note... I'm a bit confused about the Hellknights... If they serve LAW (and to a certain degree, Asmodeus) and fight against CHAOS... why do they need to fight a devil? Why not fight a demon, since that's what they hate? How does defeating a lawful being prove you have what it takes to fight chaos?
They fight devils because that proves they're tougher than hell and its devils.
The whole "devils vs. demons" thing is more a D&D/Blood War construct than something that's in Golarion.
Defeating a lawful being when you're lawful proves that you're tougher and should be the one in charge. Just being lawful or sharing an alignment with someone doesn't mean you're automatically allies and buddies.
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James a few weeks back I asked a rules question in this thread. Since then the number of rules questions has increased 3-4 fold. Is it all my fault?
Do mites on Golarion ever live with or amongst hives of giant sized vermin?
Besides drow, does any other core or ARG race have a noble or more advance variant on Golarion?
Maybe.
Yes.
Nope. Not yet, at least. And I'd rather keep it that way to keep drow as an unusual and unique exception to the rule.
Thanks! I really like Alkenstar and the whole Dead Magic with roaming wild magic storms thing, so I think Mana Wastes is near the top of my list of books I want to see. :)
Then another note... I'm a bit confused about the Hellknights... If they serve LAW (and to a certain degree, Asmodeus) and fight against CHAOS... why do they need to fight a devil? Why not fight a demon, since that's what they hate? How does defeating a lawful being prove you have what it takes to fight chaos?
They fight devils because that proves they're tougher than hell and its devils.
The whole "devils vs. demons" thing is more a D&D/Blood War construct than something that's in Golarion.
Defeating a lawful being when you're lawful proves that you're tougher and should be the one in charge. Just being lawful or sharing an alignment with someone doesn't mean you're automatically allies and buddies.
Ahhh ok and yeah i knew they weren't at war, just it was the fighting the devil thing that confused me. I guess i'm thinking more "Lawful Good" there in that like a Paladin having to defeat an angel wouldn't make sense at all, but for "evil" the "prove you are better" thing does make sense :)
I've made a number of characters with the statue spell who would cast it as a long-term buff and when it wasn't their turn they would turn into a statue as a free action in order to gain the benefit of 8 hardness (which wreaks havoc against energy damage, among other things)--kind of like the opposite the twins from Matrix Reloaded (whereas they would become insubstantial, I would become extremely dense and hard to hurt).
My question is this: What exactly are your stats when you are a subject to a statue spell? What's your AC? Can you still make Reflex saves? What if someone cast shatter on you? Do you count as an object? It doesn't say you are petrified like flesh to stone does. Completely different language, in fact.
In short, how does this spell effect interact with a myriad of other game mechanics? The spell is extremely vague on the matter.
Personally, I like to think that you get the hardness with few to no drawbacks. It is a 7th-level spell after all. Why would it make you helpless?
EDIT: Also, does your statue form have to look like a statue of yourself? For example, in a garden of feminine statues, could my male caster use this spell to look like the existing statuary?
Besides drow, does any other core or ARG race have a noble or more advance variant on Golarion?
Nope. Not yet, at least. And I'd rather keep it that way to keep drow as an unusual and unique exception to the rule.
The ifrit, arguably, have the efreet, and beyond that the noble efreet.
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I've made a number of characters with the statue spell who would cast it as a long-term buff and when it wasn't their turn they would turn into a statue as a free action in order to gain the benefit of 8 hardness (which wreaks havoc against energy damage, among other things)--kind of like the opposite the twins from Matrix Reloaded (whereas they would become insubstantial, I would become extremely dense and hard to hurt).
My question is this: What exactly are your stats when you are a subject to a statue spell? What's your AC? Can you still make Reflex saves? What if someone cast shatter on you? Do you count as an object? It doesn't say you are petrified like flesh to stone does. Completely different language, in fact.
In short, how does this spell effect interact with a myriad of other game mechanics? The spell is extremely vague on the matter.
Personally, I like to think that you get the hardness with few to no drawbacks. It is a 7th-level spell after all. Why would it make you helpless?
EDIT: Also, does your statue form have to look like a statue of yourself? For example, in a garden of feminine statues, could my male caster use this spell to look like the existing statuary?
Your stats while in statue form are unchanged.
Although exact rules aren't stated, common sense is that as a statue, you're motionless (when you move, you're treated normally and aren't a statue), and as such you're more or less treated as an inanimate object when it comes to attack rolls—you effectively have a Dexterity of 0 (and thus a –5 penalty to AC), but since you're not an object I wouldn't append the additional –2 penalty to you as detailed on page 173. You'd keep the rest of your modifiers to AC except any modifiers from dodge or other motion-required stuff. You'd also still get to make Reflex saves, although modified by your new Dexterity. It's pretty easy to hit a statue, in other words.
Shatter is pretty simple—you take damage as if you were a crystalline creature.
You do not actually count as an object.
And yes, the statue form looks like yourself. You'd want to use a polymorph effect to look like a different statue.
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Besides drow, does any other core or ARG race have a noble or more advance variant on Golarion?Nope. Not yet, at least. And I'd rather keep it that way to keep drow as an unusual and unique exception to the rule.The ifrit, arguably, have the efreet, and beyond that the noble efreet.
The relationship between an ifrit and an efreet is more akin to the relationship between a tiefling and a demon, though. It's not in the same ballpark as drow/drow noble.
I will repost since you apparently missed it.
Questions about Incorporal creatures:
1) Do they still need to Breath, Eat, Drink, Sleep?
1) If their creature type says they do, yup.
1) So, if a Human was blessed/cursed with Incorporalness, s/he would still need to eat and drink, how would s/he do that if s/he can't interact with food?
2) Feel free to tell me if I am getting/sounding too weird.