Actually, while we're on the topic of pschopomps, are there powerful unique psychopomps that are on par with demon lords and such? If so, can they grant spells to clerics like empyreal and demon lords do? That former would be really cool, but the latter would be kinda weird, given that it wouldn't seem likely given that they are so closely tied to an existing religion, and in a servitor role.
IIAJJ....
but a list of Psychopomp Ushers is listed in Inner Sea Bestiary and I think Bestiary 4...
James,
There are like 700 million messages in this thread. How do you find the time to write back to all of us and get all of your other stuff done?
So, given my reading of the text in Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, I'd be willing to bet cash money that the following scenario wasn't close to your(meaning paizo's creative team more than you specifically) intention given that the possibility isn't even remotely hinted at, but given that I have an overwhelming bias in favor of devils rather than demons, I'd like to run this by you and get your thoughts;
** spoiler omitted **
Not all that much a fan.
** spoiler omitted **
Well I suppose you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that particular matter.
Anyway, unrelated questions;
Gorum's opinion of and relationship with(if any) Nocticula? Her opinion of him?
Same questions, substituting Pharasma for Gorum.
Nocticula's stated reason for aiding the pc's in The Midnight Isles is to garner favor with the "deities of good and law that they serve"; being that only one of the four serves a god matching that description, is that still strong enough motivation for her to help, or would you recommend I come up with something else?
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Hey, I was looking into Deities that a Fetchling who lives near the Crown of the World might worship.
The character is a NG Beastmaster Ranger w/ Animal Companion, probably a Roc/Vulture moving on to a Giant Wooly Rhino/Mammoth,
who has travelled or is travelling amidst the various northernly regions, from the Ulfen Lands to Kellid regions to the Crown itself.
They know Aklo and Sylvan, and have a 'stealth paranormal and humanoid savvy hunter' vibe.
I was mostly curious about Uskyeria, Torc, and Pulura, although if there's anything else relevant I'm interested.What would be the major differences between them, both personally and the cultural connotations for their followers?
Pulura seemed to have confirmed major deity status amongst the Sarkorians, any differences for them vis-a-vis popularity in other northern peoples?
(Ulfen, Kellid, Iobarian, Varki, Erutaki, Tian-La...)
What is their presence on other Planes, Shadow specifically? Would Uskyeria be associated with dreaming and/or the First World?
I assume all have Druidic followers, but is there any special difference in that area?
Any neutral deity (be it LN, N, CN, NG, or NE) will have druid worshipers, and those druids would skew their faith and beliefs from "raw nature" to nature influenced by their deity's themes.
As for the deities you mention... beyond Chronicle of the Righteous, we haven't actually said a lot about them, and aren't really planning to explore them more in the future, so that leaves a lot of the answers to the questions you ask open for interpretation for your game.
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Did Cayden Cailean worship a deity when he was mortal? If so, who?
He was more of a pantheist; he worshiped several deities and offered prayer to them as the situation warranted... but not with a lot of regularity or devotion. He was kinda fond of Calistria though...
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Sorta rules question, or "how do you play" question:
Do you allow Linguistics Checks to understand/communicate in VERBAL (non-written) archaic/derivative forms of a language?
The rules only mention written, but I don't know why verbal should be excluded.
If somebody knew Gnome, could they communicate in Sylvan or Aklo by making such Checks?
Would knowing BOTH Aklo and Sylvan give further bonuses to communicating in Gnome, supposedly derivative of both?Also, why have Gnomish be a separate language, and Gnomes automatically speak both it and Sylvan?
I guess it's their own "secret language", but it still feels a bit weird, IMHO.
Nope. If you want to communicate verbally with someone whose language you don't know, I generally have you use Bluff and have the target use Sense Motive to figure out what you're trying to convey.
Gnome is a separate language because gnomes are a separate race.
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James, at the risk of sounding tactless, I have to ask - as Creative Director, have you ever been accused of "playing favorites" with certain content or pushing one idea over a more popular idea because you personally think it's cool?
I suppose so... but that's also the whole reason I got the job. Part of what I'm paid to do is to push ideas because I think it's cool. Paizo pays me because they trust me to know what ideas for Golarion are better than others.
That said, I absolutely do listen to others on their ideas, and do my best to keep in mind that the game isn't just for me but for everyone, and that means that some of the elements of the world that I'm not fond of absolutely do need to still be part of the world. In those cases, I feel I'm still pretty good at being able to tell the good ideas apart from the bad ones, though.
What form do Desna's petitioners take? More specifically, the ones that actually dwell in her star-realm at Cynosure?
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James,
I was reading one of your posts in another thread where you said "As GMs, we should embrace those as opportunities to get in and do some rules and world design of our own."
I whole heartedly agree but this kind of raises a question for me. As someone who has three new players at his game table how do I create house rules and not make them think this is a norm? Obviously I should explain to them that I'm making a ruling on an issue and that others might rule it differently but beyond that what do you suggest? Do you feel you should stray away from house rules when there are new players just learning the rules?
Frankly... I think that having new players realize from the start that the GM is empowered to tinker with the rules is good for the game. Players who look to the GM as the source of rules resolutions rather than coming to think of the rules in every book as being writ in stone are better for the game.
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Someone raised the issue of Psychopomp-gods above, so I'm curious...
1) I know that they haven't been revealed yet, but is it plausible that Pharasma's worshipers would worship her and the lesser psychopomp divinities as a pantheon?
2) What is Magrim and Pharasma's relationship?
3) Do Pharasma's Psychompomps actively wage war on undead?
4) Do Pharasma and Orcus have any rivalry, or is he completely beneath her notice?
5) What is the closest thing Pharasma's church has to a paladin?
6) So what kind of "contracts" are Kolyaruts charged with enforcing, anyway? Is it the kind of thing where someone goes back on a deal they struck with a Contract Devil who says, "All right, tin man. Here's the guy who thought he could trick me. You know what to do!"
7) Will we see the mysterious Inevitables getting any major coverage any time soon?
8) Oh, one last question! Does Lymnieris have paladins? And what do they do, just...kill rapists all day?
1) Some might, I suppose.
2) Dunno. The stock answer for any deity's relationship with Pharasma is that they respect and fear her.
3) No. That's the job of mortals. Who often recruit psychopomps to aid them in such goals.
4) She rivals all deities and demigods who deal with undeath. Orcus is not beneath her notice at all.
5) A cleric with Heavy Armor proficiency.
6) It's kinda left open so that GMs can have more freedom with stories involving them.
7) Probably not.
8) All lawful good deities and demigods have paladins.
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Actually, while we're on the topic of pschopomps, are there powerful unique psychopomps that are on par with demon lords and such? If so, can they grant spells to clerics like empyreal and demon lords do? That former would be really cool, but the latter would be kinda weird, given that it wouldn't seem likely given that they are so closely tied to an existing religion, and in a servitor role.
Yes; those are the Psychopomp Ushers. They can grant spells and are distinct personalities. We've not explored them much at all yet.
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Hypothetical.
Your first born child is 2 years old and you come home from work to find your child has stripped out of his/her diaper and smeared poop on the wall while his/her caregiver is using the bathroom.
What is your reaction?
Make sure the kid's sorted and okay, clean the poop, then find out why the caregiver let my kid run amok like that.
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I'd love to do a Taldor AP... but so would Rob, and we have opposite opinions as to who the "good guys" are in that nation...Would you elaborate on that? Not just who you and he thinks the good guys are but also why.I think that the good guys in Taldor are NOT the ones currently in charge. I think that a Taldor AP would be about revolution and the new blood breathing new life into Taldor and joining the Inner Sea Region as a more accepting nation and making peace with Qadira, but being opposed the whole way by the current regime who is unable to let go of the past.
Rob prefers to see the current regime as the good guys who should rise once again from their current low point to reclaim and rebuild their glory days.
Both are viable plots. Just not at the same time.
This reminds me of Babylon 5 and the Centauri Republic, and just which viewpoint was the more valid - reclaiming the glory days and going back to the stars, or remaining as they are, accepting change and making/maintaining peace with their mortal enemies the Narns. I think an AP exploring those differences and pros/cons could be quite interesting, though only for a group that enjoys the political elements, perhaps.
Did you ever watch Babylon 5, or was it not the sort of thing that interested you?
I watched about 2/3 of the first season and one or two episodes of later seasons. I didn't like the show. I know, I know... "It gets better after season 1!" but that's not the point. To me, if your show doesn't work from season 1, then you're doing it wrong and there's other shows that I'd rather spend my time watching.
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Do deities care how there clerics use there spells if it is not against there Alignment or Dogma and which deities care less about what there clerics do with there magic(such as does Sarenrae care if her clerics are Createing Demiplanes for themselves)
( does Shelyn or Desna or Iomedae care if there clerics are using Planar Ally spells for sexual favors)
(does Abadar or Iomedae care if there clerics are using a powerful Miracles to turn a savage land into a land of civilization)
Deities don't care how clerics use spells unless the spells are used in a way that makes the cleric's alignment shift away enough for the cleric to become an ex-cleric. When a cleric becomes an ex-cleric, that's basically the cleric's deity saying "You're FIRED" and taking away their powers.
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1)How long will the Chelaxian leadership of Sargava last if the Mwangi native population rebel against there racist and oppressive rulership
2)will we ever learn more about Walkena and the Metropolis of Mzali
(is Walkena a demigod)
1) Until we decide to change the nation's core themes, which isn't gonna happen anytime soon.
2) Yes. (wait and see)
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1)Do you ever regret creating the divine source mythic power
2)what can a mythic wish do that a wish cant do
1) I didn't create that mythic power, but no, I don't regret it. It's the one power that I specifically asked to be included in the book, in fact, because that's what allows us to do stories about clerics who worship small weird obscure non-powerful (relatively) gods.
2) Whatever the GM decides.
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Hi James,
Hope your recovery is continuing to be well.
I have a couple of questions regarding Wrath:
1. Was crafting the adventures more challenging for gauging assumed power level by the addition of Mythic Tiers?
2. Based on your experience, would the "average" power level party be able to defeat Baphomet in the penultimate adventure?
Thanks!
1) INCREDIBLY more challenging, particularly since there was very little guidance or playtest feedback available for me for how to build adventures. The bulk of the playtest stuff focused on player characters.
2) Dunno. I hope 17th level tier 8, though!
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Did Cayden Cailean worship a deity when he was mortal? If so, who?He was more of a pantheist; he worshiped several deities and offered prayer to them as the situation warranted... but not with a lot of regularity or devotion. He was kinda fond of Calistria though...
"Gorum! I have never prayed to you before. I'm not all that good at words. No one, save perhaps you, will remember who fought here today, why we fought, or which side even lived. All that matters is that we five stood against evil. You are conflict, Gorum...so grant me this. Grant me victory! And if you do not listen, THEN TO HELL WITH YOU!!!"
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"Are you there, Calistria? It's me, Cayden..."
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Did Cayden Cailean worship a deity when he was mortal? If so, who?He was more of a pantheist; he worshiped several deities and offered prayer to them as the situation warranted... but not with a lot of regularity or devotion. He was kinda fond of Calistria though..."Gorum! I have never prayed to you before. I'm not all that good at words. No one, save perhaps you, will remember who fought here today, why we fought, or which side even lived. All that matters is that we five stood against evil. You are conflict, Gorum...so grant me this. Grant me victory! And if you do not listen, THEN TO HELL WITH YOU!!!"
You seemed to have mixed up Cayden with Conan.
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I know, I know... "It gets better after season 1!" but that's not the point. To me, if your show doesn't work from season 1, then you're doing it wrong and there's other shows that I'd rather spend my time watching.
[Avoiding the strong temptation to phrase the following in a tone of internet-snark. :-P]
You said upthread that you're watching Agents of SHIELD. What about that show do you think has "worked from the beginning," to keep you watching, and what would you like to see the show do to improve?
Did Cayden Cailean worship a deity when he was mortal? If so, who?He was more of a pantheist; he worshiped several deities and offered prayer to them as the situation warranted... but not with a lot of regularity or devotion. He was kinda fond of Calistria though..."Gorum! I have never prayed to you before. I'm not all that good at words. No one, save perhaps you, will remember who fought here today, why we fought, or which side even lived. All that matters is that we five stood against evil. You are conflict, Gorum...so grant me this. Grant me victory! And if you do not listen, THEN TO HELL WITH YOU!!!"
You seemed to have mixed up Cayden with Conan.
That depends entirely on whether or not Cayden ever got drunk and punched out a camel.
8) All lawful good deities and demigods have paladins.
But I mean, what distinguishes Lymnieris' paladins from the other deities?
By the way, will there be anything revealed about Neshen and Kroina?
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why is it hard for me to see Lissala as evil (she just doesn't seem that bad compared to Zon-Kuthon and Norgorber or Urgathoa)
I don't know. Probably because for many years we talked in vague hints about her without revealing much details (like her actual alignment) and folks read into those hints a lot of things that weren't true.
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Was there a reason why morlocks were built without more connections to their repair and machinery maintaining background?Yup. Pathfinder's morlocks are a fantasy setting version of them inspired by the science-fiction version of them.
Care to elaborate on that? Like do they work to maintain magical devices that they have lost the ability to truly understand or something to that effect or are they something more akin to just regressed humans now little above animals?
Also what CR would you put Izyagna at?
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Gorum's opinion of and relationship with(if any) Nocticula? Her opinion of him?
Same questions, substituting Pharasma for Gorum.
Spoiler:I'm asking because I'm starting a Wrath of the Righteous game and of my four players, one's playing a chaotic neutral fighter who worships Gorum and another a true neutral cleric of Pharasma; the other two are both lawful good, but one's an atheist, with the last playing a paladin of Iomedae.
Nocticula's stated reason for aiding the pc's in The Midnight Isles is to garner favor with the "deities of good and law that they serve"; being that only one of the four serves a god matching that description, is that still strong enough motivation for her to help, or would you recommend I come up with something else?
Gorum doesn't really have much of an opinion or relationship with her at all. She sees him as a loud and violent oaf who might some day have his uses in manipulation. For the most part, their interests and areas of concern are divergent enough that they don't interact much at all, but not so oppositional that they hate each other.
The fact that the PCs are helping the Mendevian crusade and thus, among other things, bolstering the agenda of Iomedae's church and goals is what Nocticula's "aiding the PCs and the gods of good and law they serve" is all about. Gaining the favor of deities like Gorum and Pharasma can't hurt, though.
And you can certainly keep Nocticula's actual goals and reasons mysterious, because that's the way gods and goddesses work.
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What form do Desna's petitioners take? More specifically, the ones that actually dwell in her star-realm at Cynosure?
Chaotic Good petitioners are the "chosen," (see page 209 of Bestiary 2), and appear as idealized versions of their mortal bodies.
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Wouldn't that poor schmuck Selim, the involuntary inquisitor from "Death's Heretic" fill the bill? He may not have the heavy armor, but it does seem that he's Pharasma's sole canon inquisitor.Someone raised the issue of Psychopomp-gods above, so I'm curious...
5) What is the closest thing Pharasma's church has to a paladin?
5) A cleric with Heavy Armor proficiency.
Honestly... nothing fits the bill. What makes paladins paladins is the lawful and the good. Something no proper worshiper of Pharasma is interested in.
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Why is your iconic then Merisel, and not Lem?james what's your favorite class to play (mine is the cleric)Bard.
Merisiel is my favorite iconic, but she's not "MY" ioconic. I like her the best because of all the art, she looks the coolest, and because I've invested the most work in building her backstory.
I don't really think of the iconics as "class members" as much as I think of them as personalities.
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Are you saying a character with 20 class levels and 10 mythic Tiers is not powerful1)Do you ever regret creating the divine source mythic power
2)what can a mythic wish do that a wish cant do
1) I didn't create that mythic power, but no, I don't regret it. It's the one power that I specifically asked to be included in the book, in fact, because that's what allows us to do stories about clerics who worship small weird obscure non-powerful (relatively) gods.
2) Whatever the GM decides.
Nope. If I'm saying anything there, it's that a GM is still more powerful than a 20/10 character.
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can you use powerful Miracles to turn a savage land into a land of civilization(would it work)
All miracles are powerful, first of all.
And yes... the whole point of miracle (and wish) is to allow story elements that break rules or have big game-changing results. They're "imagination powered possibility engines" if you will.
How many it would take is left to the GM to decide.
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I know, I know... "It gets better after season 1!" but that's not the point. To me, if your show doesn't work from season 1, then you're doing it wrong and there's other shows that I'd rather spend my time watching.[Avoiding the strong temptation to phrase the following in a tone of internet-snark. :-P]
You said upthread that you're watching Agents of SHIELD. What about that show do you think has "worked from the beginning," to keep you watching, and what would you like to see the show do to improve?
I'm not sure anything has worked from the beginning. I've watched the first 5 or 6 episodes, but have stopped watching; those subsequent episodes are building up on my Tivo and waiting for me to either watch them or delete them. I've not yet made that decision, partially because I do enjoy the opportunity to watch multiple episodes in a row.
I think that the dialogue on Agents of SHIELD is MUCH more interesting than the dialogue for Babylon 5, though... and I think that the character of Agent Coulson is certainly strong enough to anchor a whole show.
What I'm hoping the show does to improve is to get more into the wild, over-the-top storylines that SHIELD should be involved with. Which it sounds like they're doing... just at a slower pace than most folks are comfortable with.
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8) All lawful good deities and demigods have paladins.
But I mean, what distinguishes Lymnieris' paladins from the other deities?
By the way, will there be anything revealed about Neshen and Kroina?
Dunno. I'd have to actually read about Lymneris, if there's anything to read about him/her/it. I'm not familiar enough with the subject to say off the top of my head, but basically, Lymneris paladins are different from others in that they take Lymneris's areas of concern as their core faith elements. Looking that up, I'd say that paladins of Lymneris would be a LOT more accepting and open about sexuality and sex than the typical paladin. Which actually makes it a pretty difficult paladinhood to talk about in our products until we decide it's okay to talk frankly about those subjects without causing backlash from readers who would freak out about the inclusion of sex in an RPG.
As for Neshen and Kroina... no plans as far as I know for anything more about them anytime soon.
Got any suggestions on prestige classes for an alchemist that focuses on the smoke-based discoveries such as stink bomb, poison bomb, plague bomb, etc?