Creative Director
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Mr. James Jacobs,
In your estimation would the epic feats, including the epic vestiges, for pact binders be acceptable options for a mythic binder to choose from for mythic feats and abilities?
Separate from the above question, since creating a capstone for each vestige is not something you or most GMs would want to do, would allowing one of the epic vestiges be the capstone be acceptable to you?
Dunno. I haven't thought much about epic feats or vestiges or binders at all in the past 10 years or so. If you want to build a mythic binder using the mythic rules, I would suggest building new options from scratch; use the epic rules stuff as inspiration if you want, though.
If I were creating a capstone for a custom-built Pathfinder compatible binder character, I'd just create the capstone for the vestige in question. No need to create all of them when you only need one.
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What do you think of the Chalice dungeons?Quite fun! But I never did really figure out how to use them, or what the different types of chalices and rituals do to change things.
From my understanding the different rituals and components make the chalices harder, while in return increasing the rewards you find in said chalices. For story reasons I highly recommend completing the Pthumeru line :3
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Hi James, have you seen The Witch?
I don't watch horror films, I am a fraidy cat at heart.
My friend who's job involves packing a gun and at times physically retraining people twice his body weight loves the genre and is rather jaded to most of these types of films saw a 12:50 am screening.
He was afraid to cross the parking lot alone after he saw the movie.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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James, what video game enemies do you find the most frustrating? Last night I learned Wes has issues with darknuts and wizzrobes in Zelda.
Mr. James Jacobs,
In your estimation would the epic feats, including the epic vestiges, for pact binders be acceptable options for a mythic binder to choose from for mythic feats and abilities?
Separate from the above question, since creating a capstone for each vestige is not something you or most GMs would want to do, would allowing one of the epic vestiges be the capstone be acceptable to you?
Dunno. I haven't thought much about epic feats or vestiges or binders at all in the past 10 years or so. If you want to build a mythic binder using the mythic rules, I would suggest building new options from scratch; use the epic rules stuff as inspiration if you want, though.
If I were creating a capstone for a custom-built Pathfinder compatible binder character, I'd just create the capstone for the vestige in question. No need to create all of them when you only need one.
I highly recommend anyone interested in binders for Pathfinder check out the Pact Magic Books. I got the original d20 versions when one of my players was a binder in my 1-20 campaign that started as 3.5 level 1, moved to Pathfinder Beta, and finished as Pathfinder level 20.
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Creative Director
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Hi James, have you seen The Witch?
I don't watch horror films, I am a fraidy cat at heart.
My friend who's job involves packing a gun and at times physically retraining people twice his body weight loves the genre and is rather jaded to most of these types of films saw a 12:50 am screening.
He was afraid to cross the parking lot alone after he saw the movie.
Just saw "The Witch" on Saturday, after having anticipated seeing the movie for many many many months.
I loved the movie, but the audience kind of ruined the experience for me. It's not a paint-by-numbers studio horror movie; it's not a mass-market horror movie. It's very much the type of horror movie I have always preferred—a slow burn movie that focuses more on building dread than doing shocks every 5 to 7 minutes.
Had one woman who made a shameful amount of noise eating her individually wrapped food items and smacking her lips and flappy tongue for the first half, and when she ran out of food halfway through or got full started rubbing lotion on her raspy skin for the 2nd half. And whenever someone got up to get an usher to deal with it, she noticed and quieted down, revealing that she knew exactly what she was doing and willfully took steps to ensure she could continue to be disruptive.
Had a man sitting behind me who obviously didn't like the movie loudly whispering commentary the whole time.
And had several people walk out on the movie. Those types are the types I vastly prefer; if you realize you don't like a movie, just leave. Don't hang around and complain and ruin the experience for others in the theater.
I normally go to see movies these days at a theater called iPic, which has tickets that are generally about $25 per person. But the viewing experience is SO MUCH BETTER. Paying that extra ten to twenty bucks is so worth it since it more or less ensures that everyone who's there to see the movie is there to see the movie and NOT be a chucklehead and ruin it.
But yeah, despite that, I loved the movie. If you do want to see the movie, I would recommend NOT seeing it in a multiplex theater though. See it in an art house venue or a premium venue or something that helps to weed out the trolls.
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So there's a rumor going around that BioWare may be interested in making a Dragon Age TACTICS game, sort of like XCOM or Fire Emblem, but set in Thedas alongside the main series. Would YOU play a game like this?
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Creative Director
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James, what video game enemies do you find the most frustrating? Last night I learned Wes has issues with darknuts and wizzrobes in Zelda.
The ones that require you to have developed skills that the rest of the game doesn't encourage you to develop. The final boss of the first Dead Space game is a great example; that game is AWESOME until you get to the last fight, in which if you haven't spent the game building up one specific set of weapons/skills, the fight is unplayable. I never finished the game as a result.
More recently, I hit this same roadblock with Mad Max, in which the game is a pretty repetitive but still fun open world game that lets you solve problems in the wasteland all sorts of ways. But then I got to a point in the story where everything pinched down to a single race, and the skills you need to win the race are not ones that the game engine handles well (and thus are not skills that you spend the rest of the game building up). And since you can't progress the story until you win this poorly designed race, it's basically a "stop playing now" situation. Very frustrating.
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Creative Director
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So there's a rumor going around that BioWare may be interested in making a Dragon Age TACTICS game, sort of like XCOM or Fire Emblem, alongside the main series. Would YOU play a game like this?
Probably not. I've played several of those games before, and in all cases save one (Fallout Tactics) I gave up about 25% into the game because the gameplay just got boring.
Just saw "The Witch" on Saturday, [A Bunch Of Stuff Which Closeley Mirrored My Own Saturday Experience, Right Down to Peanut Commentary Jerk and Individual Snack Lady]
In smaller towns, places without art house cinemas, how long do you think this awesome movie is going to last?
(I've been telling my local friends to see it fast, because it doesn't look long for the cinemas with people apparently expected some slasher shenanigans)
And more fun question, re: The Witch-
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Creative Director
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Just saw "The Witch" on Saturday, [A Bunch Of Stuff Which Closeley Mirrored My Own Saturday Experience, Right Down to Peanut Commentary Jerk and Individual Snack Lady]In smaller towns, places without art house cinemas, how long do you think this awesome movie is going to last?
(I've been telling my local friends to see it fast, because it doesn't look long for the cinemas with people apparently expected some slasher shenanigans)
And more fun question, re: The Witch- ** spoiler omitted **
It's hard to say. It's had an INCREDIBLY successful opening; it's the studio's largest ever theatrical release as far as I know, and that may well keep it in art house cinemas longer than normal. As for in smaller towns... if you're lucky enough to get the movie in your theater, I'd absolutely go see it. Just be prepared for the audience to not get it and to be disrespectful, I guess. I'm just hoping its success will convince the studio and others who normally do quality VOD movies to do more theatrical releases.
Mr. James Jacobs,
What would a mythic demigod Pact Binder look like to you? Now, of course mechanically I know what it would take, but I am wondering about the flavor and what not in your estimation.
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Creative Director
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Mr. James Jacobs,
What would a mythic demigod Pact Binder look like to you? Now, of course mechanically I know what it would take, but I am wondering about the flavor and what not in your estimation.
Dunno. Again, pact binders and that are all more or less things I've not thought about in years.
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Hey James,
1. For the origin of Kaiju, are they at all related to natural disaster like say does Agyra's origin have something to do with hurricanes? Maybe the first hurricane made it come into existence?
2. Are the Dark Folk on the Isle of Terror evil or do they not react to the negative energy of the island differently?
3. Was Aroden always lawful neutral or did his alignment change as he grew more distant from Golarion?
4. The Dominion of the Black seems like a huge galactic civilization. Are there other Galaxy/Universe expanding civilizations? If so are the Robots of Aballon and the planet Apostae a part of some of those other civilizations? (I don't expect names.)
5. Do the Mordant Spire elves know about Acavna's soul trying to make it to the bone yard and if so, would they want to help her soul escape and find peace?
6. How advanced in scientific terms would Androffa at it's prime have been compared to ancient Azlant at it's prime, Verces, and Eox. More, less or about the same?
7. I noticed that the Androffa language looks kind of like Thassilonian. Is that a coincidence?
8. I am going to be running Iron Gods, do you have any tips or advice you could give me?
9. Before I asked you if you had ever seen the show, How We Got To Now. But it kind of has a name that can make it easy to miss. Have you seen it? If not, that show doesn't have as much flash and is very informative and interesting.
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Creative Director
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Hey James,
1. For the origin of Kaiju, are they at all related to natural disaster like say does Agyra's origin have something to do with hurricanes? Maybe the first hurricane made it come into existence?
2. Are the Dark Folk on the Isle of Terror evil or do they not react to the negative energy of the island differently?
3. Was Aroden always lawful neutral or did his alignment change as he grew more distant from Golarion?
4. The Dominion of the Black seems like a huge galactic civilization. Are there other Galaxy/Universe expanding civilizations? If so are the Robots of Aballon and the planet Apostae a part of some of those other civilizations? (I don't expect names.)
5. Do the Mordant Spire elves know about Acavna's soul trying to make it to the bone yard and if so, would they want to help her soul escape and find peace?
6. How advanced in scientific terms would Androffa at it's prime have been compared to ancient Azlant at it's prime, Verces, and Eox. More, less or about the same?
7. I noticed that the Androffa language looks kind of like Thassilonian. Is that a coincidence?
8. I am going to be running Iron Gods, do you have any tips or advice you could give me?
9. Before I asked you if you had ever seen the show, How We Got To Now. But it kind of has a name that can make it easy to miss. Have you seen it? If not, that show doesn't have as much flash and is very informative and interesting.
1) They're not all related to natural disasters; some are related to artificial disasters. Most have at least SOME relation to a type of wide-ranging devastation though.
2) They're normal dark folk, pretty much; their alignments range as per normal for their kind.
3) Aroden was always lawful neutral. His alignment has pretty much nothing to do with why he grew more "distant" from Golarion; that's a natural result of increasing divine power.
4) There are other huge galactic civilizations out there, but we've not done much with them yet.
5) Some few might know this but overall I suspect they do not.
6) Much more scientific, if by "its prime" you mean "what it was at when it launched Divinity." At that point, it was FAR advanced beyond anything the Golarion system has ever reached technologically, or the Earth system, for that matter.
7) It is indeed a coincidence.
8) Read the player feedback and threads on the boards to get an idea of where other groups have had fun or problems. Go into it knowing that the campaign is split into 3 parts—the first two adventures are part 1, the 2nd two are part 2, and the 3rd two are part 3.
9) I haven't seen it. But I'll keep an eye out for it during channel surfing!
Do you have any regrets about making RPGs your career?
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Just saw "The Witch" on Saturday, after having anticipated seeing the movie for many many many months.Hi James, have you seen The Witch?
I don't watch horror films, I am a fraidy cat at heart.
My friend who's job involves packing a gun and at times physically retraining people twice his body weight loves the genre and is rather jaded to most of these types of films saw a 12:50 am screening.
He was afraid to cross the parking lot alone after he saw the movie.
I'm sorry you did not have the greatest experience at the movie.
I think my friend watched it at 12:50 am in part to avoid a crowded theater.
He was raving that it was the best genre film he had seen in awhile.
He said the lead actress had very unique face, and her possessed features he could look at indefinitely, in your opinion, which Pathfinder Iconic do you think she could play when she becomes older?
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Creative Director
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Oh oh oh I just found out from Seifter's thread that if you put a * in [] you get aDid you know this?
I did. There's a handy "How to format your text" button at the bottom of the page that also shows up just down below this window when you type a reply that's got all sorts of tips like that.
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Creative Director
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I'm sorry you did not have the greatest experience at the movie.
I think my friend watched it at 12:50 am in part to avoid a crowded theater.
He was raving that it was the best genre film he had seen in awhile.
He said the lead actress had very unique face, and her possessed features he could look at indefinitely, in your opinion, which Pathfinder Iconic do you think she could play when she becomes older?
It's a great horror movie, for certain, but it's hardly been "awhile" since the last great genre film. Just last year we had, for example, "It Follows," "We Are Still Here," and "Bone Tomahawk," all of which are on par with or perhaps better than "The Witch." There's a LOT of quality horror out there these days, but the majority of it is VOD or very limited release. When we get one in wide release, like last year's "It Follows" or this year's "The Witch" and it does well, it's certainly good for the genre.
And ALL of the actresses/actors in "The Witch" did an outstanding job. I don't know enough about that particular actress' range to really say what Iconic would best suit her, other than to note she's a great actress and would likely do a great job with any of them.
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Oh oh oh I just found out from Seifter's thread that if you put a * in [] you get aI did. There's a handy "How to format your text" button at the bottom of the page that also shows up just down below this window when you type a reply that's got all sorts of tips like that.Did you know this?
Ah, so it does. Makes more sense now that I know how it works :3
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Creative Director
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Hmm for a question.
Succubi level drain during acts of passion, so would it be too far of a stretch for a Succubus that enjoys combat and violence so much that they give their level drain whenever they attack and injure someone, since they derive so much pleasure from the act?
That's a different sort of ability, or at the very least something that'd have to be unlocked by a specialized feat or prestige class or the like.
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That's a different sort of ability, or at the very least something that'd have to be unlocked by a specialized feat or prestige class or the like.Hmm for a question.
Succubi level drain during acts of passion, so would it be too far of a stretch for a Succubus that enjoys combat and violence so much that they give their level drain whenever they attack and injure someone, since they derive so much pleasure from the act?
Mmm, Succubi Prestige Classes...
Speaking of, does the passion have to be between the Succubus and the victim or only come from Succubus? Say in the case of the Succubus trying to level drain someone not attracted to them? Granted it's not that hard for them to become something that subject would be attracted to but I figured I'd ask.
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Creative Director
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Mmm, Succubi Prestige Classes...
Speaking of, does the passion have to be between the Succubus and the victim or only come from Succubus? Say in the case of the Succubus trying to level drain someone not attracted to them? Granted it's not that hard for them to become something that subject would be attracted to but I figured I'd ask.
It technically just needs to be passion from the succubus; she can drain levels from anyone she kisses or whatever, regardless of their attraction to her.
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It technically just needs to be passion from the succubus; she can drain levels from anyone she kisses or whatever, regardless of their attraction to her.Mmm, Succubi Prestige Classes...
Speaking of, does the passion have to be between the Succubus and the victim or only come from Succubus? Say in the case of the Succubus trying to level drain someone not attracted to them? Granted it's not that hard for them to become something that subject would be attracted to but I figured I'd ask.
Okies, kinda figured but was curious, wondering if the ability relied on even the faintest of attraction in the depths of the subject's mind.
Which deities' followers would be most likely to run a flophouse/soup kitchen-style charity for a city's down-and-out? I know Sarenrae is compassionate, but she doesn't seem quite pacifist enough for a Dorothy Day type. Is there a deity that's less crusading that you could suggest?
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Creative Director
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Which deities' followers would be most likely to run a flophouse/soup kitchen-style charity for a city's down-and-out? I know Sarenrae is compassionate, but she doesn't seem quite pacifist enough for a Dorothy Day type. Is there a deity that's less crusading that you could suggest?
Sarenrae's chruch would absolutely run something like this. The representation of her faith as being warmongers is something of an error we've been working to correct ever since it was unfortunately focused on in that light with the Qadira and Taldor books back in the day.
A couple times I attempted to make a campaign where PC death was a norm. My general goal was to give the impression that each player was a member of a squad, and each encounter was meant to be a key battle in a siege of a large fortress. Each time a PC died, they were replaced with another member of the squad, and each squad was intended to be designed by the player to be a similarly trained group of soldiers. My hope was to be able to include major sacrifices and danger as a part of the campaign, and I created the rewards in such a way the expect 1 death per encounter and reward the party with extra reinforcements if they excelled at any particular encounter. Now as can be expected, I am not a professional dev/writer in the slightest and while the high level goal of 'have campaign where PC death happens and the players are not punished' seemed to work out (somehow), it wiped all manners of character traits from the players since they were... well... on a rotating lineup. Since then I had a few ideas on how to correct this, but have never actually run it. I was wondering if you've had any experience in creating or playing in scenarios where PC death is expected to occur on a somewhat regular basis? Did they ever work or did they always feel overly punitive to the players and detract from the overall fun of the game?
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Creative Director
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A couple times I attempted to make a campaign where PC death was a norm. My general goal was to give the impression that each player was a member of a squad, and each encounter was meant to be a key battle in a siege of a large fortress. Each time a PC died, they were replaced with another member of the squad, and each squad was intended to be designed by the player to be a similarly trained group of soldiers. My hope was to be able to include major sacrifices and danger as a part of the campaign, and I created the rewards in such a way the expect 1 death per encounter and reward the party with extra reinforcements if they excelled at any particular encounter. Now as can be expected, I am not a professional dev/writer in the slightest and while the high level goal of 'have campaign where PC death happens and the players are not punished' seemed to work out (somehow), it wiped all manners of character traits from the players since they were... well... on a rotating lineup. Since then I had a few ideas on how to correct this, but have never actually run it. I was wondering if you've had any experience in creating or playing in scenarios where PC death is expected to occur on a somewhat regular basis? Did they ever work or did they always feel overly punitive to the players and detract from the overall fun of the game?
I've never run a game like this, and I don't really think this type of game is a great option for a system like Pathfinder where so much of the focus is on the advancement and development of a single character, both in terms of statistics and in terms of personal story. Furthermore, players get attached to their characters—they're surrogates, after all, and it's easy to identify with them and think of them as alter egos. Making characters unique and memorable and special is one of the biggest draws of ANY role-playing game. And a story where you'll be very likely to lose that character is not one that works well with Pathfinder or most RPGs.
A game like Call of Cthulhu works in this way, but not because the PCs are disposable. Instead of games where you're seeking to build up your character, the focus of a CoC game is the unraveling of a mystery—it's much more story based and roleplaying based than the increase your stats model of most RPGs. But even then, there's an element of growing your character's story and abilities.
I HAVE played in a game where PC death was expected—a game inspired by the Dark Souls video games. Here, if you die, you are automatically restored to life at a previous bonfire your group has meditated at. Each game session was only an hour long, so if you died, you only missed out on a relatively short amount of play, since at the start of a new session (or if timing worked, in the middle of one) you could be restored to life to try, try again... but it should be noted that even in this scenario, you were still playing the same character.
The model of replacing your character often simply doesn't work well with the implied game that Pathfinder has been designed to support, in my opinion.
I came to a very similar conclusion the more I thought about it as well, but I figured I'd see if you had any different experience. The alternate concept I was considering to help mitigate the issue had an awkward abstraction that took place once a combat encounter started. The idea was that once again you are a member of a similarly trained squad, and as fate decrees (ok, as the narrative decrees) each PC is the last surviving member of their squad. As a result, any time a PC was killed in combat, the idea is that the character killed in combat was in fact one of their squadmates, and that outside of combat they were using the personality and character traits that they've been developing throughout the campaign. That does make a bit of a weird disconnect between combat and RP sections and I never ended up trying it out. Part of the reason I never ended up trying it out was because we ended up playing Warhammer Fantasy RPG (1st ed) for a bit and that filled my need for a game that in some ways encourages glorious deaths in combat. That being said... this Dark Souls inspired game you played has me very interested.
On another note, have you been following the new revision of Delta Green? I Kickstarted it a while back and am looking forward to running a few games of it next time I take a break from GMing Iron Gods. Once my players are done clearing the Valley of the Brain Collectors a little change of scenery might be fun... *laughs maniacally*
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Creative Director
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On another note, have you been following the new revision of Delta Green? I Kickstarted it a while back and am looking forward to running a few games of it next time I take a break from GMing Iron Gods. Once my players are done clearing the Valley of the Brain Collectors a little change of scenery might be fun... *laughs maniacally*
I've slightly been following it. I've been a huge fan of Delta Green traditionally... but something about the Kickstarter kinda put me off. Can't remember what... might have been the art style. I'll certainly check it out when it's out though.
Yeah, I ended up kickstarting it since a friend of mine ran a scenario for my local game group using the, for lack of a better term, beta rules. I was quite impressed with how they were able to streamline the combat system enough to keep the focus on the narrative without completely skimming over any inevitable combat situations that might occur, being soldiers and all.
So apparently they are making a horror movie taking The Ring and The Grudge and putting them together. Sadako vs. Kayako it's called. How do you feel about that?
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Creative Director
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Sorry to bring up a source of dread for you, but with Paizocon right around the corner I was wondering if there would be anything I can do to give you a morale bonus during the convention to make it easier on you.
Be excellent.
That goes for everyone here. The more I see folks arguing about things and getting abusive or downright hateful, the more nervous I get about conventions. If you see someone behaving poorly on the boards, flag it and move on. Do not directly engage them, because that just gives them fuel and runs a very real risk of you adding to the problem you were trying to solve.
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Creative Director
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So apparently they are making a horror movie taking The Ring and The Grudge and putting them together. Sadako vs. Kayako it's called. How do you feel about that?
Wary. The vast majority of these matchup horror movies (and they've been making them for DECADES... check out things like Abbot & Costello vs. the Wolfman, for example!) are blatant cash grabs that don't respect the source material. But now and then they can be fun as well. Freddy Vs. Jason was pretty amusing, for example. Whether or not I go see Sadako vs. Kayako depends in large part on what else is going on that weekend for me—it's not a movie I'll go out of my way to see in theaters but if there's nothing going on otherwise and I'm bored, I might. Reviews will swing me in either direction.
say a gnome becomes an intelligent undead, like a lich, would she still be concerned about bleaching at that point?
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Creative Director
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James, how do you think the Twitch game day went? Do you think that the paizo twitch channel will become a regular thing?
I think it went very well, and I believe it is indeed intended to become a regular thing. Not an EVERY DAY thing though. I don't think. Hmmm. More of an Erik or a Wes question.
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James, how do you think the Twitch game day went? Do you think that the paizo twitch channel will become a regular thing?I think it went very well, and I believe it is indeed intended to become a regular thing. Not an EVERY DAY thing though. I don't think. Hmmm. More of an Erik or a Wes question.
Well I'll go ask them a few question about it, but since I'm here, would you consider running a weekly game on twitch? Maybe bi-weekly?
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James, how do you think the Twitch game day went? Do you think that the paizo twitch channel will become a regular thing?I think it went very well, and I believe it is indeed intended to become a regular thing. Not an EVERY DAY thing though. I don't think. Hmmm. More of an Erik or a Wes question.
Not a question, but I wanted to say I got to watch most of the game you ran, and if that's representative of what we could expect from a regular game on OfficialPaizo, then I can't wait to see more! :)
There aren't arranged marriages in Kyonin, and a lot of them end amicably after some time when both partners decide to move on. Polygamy is frowned upon for the most part. These answers might change if I check Elves of Golarion and see different words there.James,
How would you describe elven marriage customs around the Kyonin area?
Are arranged marriages a thing among the aristocracy?Is Polygamy accepted or frowned upon?
How Is polygamy and polyamory viewed apron in the rest of golarion? Do different countries view it differently? If there are cultures who do practice it which ones are they? How does shalyn and her faithful feel about it?
James,
In all of the APs and Modules I've had the privilege and pleasure to browse through, I don't think I've ever seen an NPC statted up as an adept. The adept NPC class always seemed strange to me, whcih seemed to fill the niche of a rural, small community mystic or occultist. Now with the ability to choose from cleric, druid, oracle, shaman, and witch to represent that sort of character, I don't imagine I'll ever be seeing an adept in print either.
What are your opinions on the adept's place in the game? Is it an old NPC class that at this point needs to go? Or do you still see value in it?
Also, I'd love some insight on the situation with a shaman's spirits versus their worship of a deity. As a divine class, is it expected that a shaman does not pay homage to a deity? Would this anger the spirits they serve? Or could a shaman's respect or reverence of a deity be what grants them access to their spirits? What exactly are the 'spirits' as shaman know them?
As always, thanks so much for any answers you provide!
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Given the Aldori Swordlords are sort of modeled off samurai, would it be reasonable to assume that, while the Aldori dueling sword is their primary and iconic weapon, the average Swordlord would know at least the fundamentals of other forms of combat, such as horsemanship and archery, much like how samurai would practice with spears, naginata, bows and rifles in addition to the katana?