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Has your party made it any further into Xarwin Manor since the time you wrote the "Behind the Scenes" page for that Adventure?
No. The pandemic killed the campaign off when I realized I don't enjoy running games on Virtual Table Tops, so the PCs are left in limbo in a different dungeon in town they got distracted by while they were waiting to go back to the manor.
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Hi James!
I'm running Iron Gods and was thinking of spicing up the on-foot trip between
Would you say that there's too few civilization to have well established paths outside of the 1 crusader road and Chesed to Starfall maybe? Or would the nomadic Kellids have formulated some routes similar to Varisians?
Thanks!
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Hi James!
I'm running Iron Gods and was thinking of spicing up the on-foot trip between ** spoiler omitted **. I've read all I can into Numeria, but couldn't quite find out how traveling and trade routes would work there. Obviously Numeria is quite dangerous. Crusaders do travel through to Mendev, so there's a way 1 road may be more established. However, few rivers run directly through to fully guide trade and roads.
Would you say that there's too few civilization to have well established paths outside of the 1 crusader road and Chesed to Starfall maybe? Or would the nomadic Kellids have formulated some routes similar to Varisians?
Thanks!
Most of the trade through the region is via river. We, unfortunately, haven't really done much work at all at indicating on our maps where roads run, so feel free to add those as you see fit.
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Hi James,
What's Areelu Vorlesh's personality like? I know she was half succubus and, er, may be a bit more than half now - so does she go in for politeness and charm when dealing with her (very rare) equals? Or more sneering condescension? Does she actually hate mortal kind?
She's more evil and manipulative and condescending in my mind. Not a nice person. The Owlcat game gives her a somewhat different spin, but that spin will vary depending on how you play the game in the same way a GM will adjust a character in a table top game they run, but that game's a great place to find more inspiring Areelu content.
Personally I think that humanizing deities, including leaning in to faults and quirks and even things that some folks might not be comfortable with is a HUGE benefit for the game, and I absolutely would answer these questions in private or in the context of a game I was running, but I've learned that these sorts of answers—particularly in answering minor elements about the deities (a topic I am VERY heavily invested in and eager to explore more), since it seems like those answers tend to ruffle feathers more often than not. Maybe someone else on staff will be able to answer these questions publicly, but it's not something I'm comfortable doing at this time, given the way some people can use anything said online for their own agendas at my expense.
Good points.
a (potentially) funny, alternate take might be: "the gods need to learn how to unwind once in a while."
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Thanks! I'll look into that.
As a follow-up, what was her relationship with Deskari like? Did she wind up doing a lot of groveling or was it something of an equal partnership?
It was closer to a partnership near the end, but not a healthy one, with both of them thinking they were the one in charge and the key player.
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A couple of devilish questions!
First, how do you think the 'man on the street' would view devils? Are fiendish servitors something that's kept behind closed doors, or are devils being used brazenly by those who dare to enter into fiendish contracts?
Second, if a devil dies on the mortal plain, does it suffer it's final death, or is it more likely to be banished back to hell for a possible return? Does it vary by the devil?
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A couple of devilish questions!
First, how do you think the 'man on the street' would view devils? Are fiendish servitors something that's kept behind closed doors, or are devils being used brazenly by those who dare to enter into fiendish contracts?
Second, if a devil dies on the mortal plain, does it suffer it's final death, or is it more likely to be banished back to hell for a possible return? Does it vary by the devil?
First: As scary monsters that want to trick you into being tortured forever. They're not something you'd see often (unless you're in certain parts of Cheliax) as one of the commonfolk, but everyone for sure knows about them... and most folks would be afraid of them.
Second: The concept of a devil, or any other-planar creature just being banished back to its home plane when it's killed on the Material Plane is strictly a D&D thing. It's not a thing in Pathfinder. A devil (or demon or angel or whatever) who is killed is killed regardless of where they're at. Note that summoned creatures are not actually "real" creatures—when their summon effect ends they cease being in the same way they cease being when slain... they don't go back to anywhere because they don't come from anywhere. This strictly applies to things summoned, of course, not things you conjure up via other non-summoning effects. Some creatures DO have a thing where if they die off their home plane they come back to life elsewhere, but when that's the case, it's spelled out specifically as an ability in their stat block. The Denizen of Leng comes to mind here as an example.
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Hey James,
Question about high level creatures in general: how do they deal with spam calls? That is to say, does Ragathiel have an answering service, just decline sending spells from mid level wizards, or actually take the time to answer all such calls with personal messages?
Deities aren't like us. They can multitask as many things as they want i that regard.
In Pathfinder, a dullahan is an undead. But in D&D, a dullahan is a fey. Why did Paizo classify it as an undead? Was it an undead in D&D 3.5?
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In Pathfinder, a dullahan is an undead. But in D&D, a dullahan is a fey. Why did Paizo classify it as an undead? Was it an undead in D&D 3.5?
It was never in 3.5, as far as I know. We made it undead because we wanted to lean in to the classic tropes of the headless horseman, and something without a head feels more undead than alive.
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A related question: do well known mortals like Tar-Baphon, Sorshen, or even Queen Galfrey have to take precautions regarding bored wizards, trolls (the figurative internet variety, not the monster) or fans in other countries sending to them all the time?
No. The concept of being spammed by toxic fans is not really a part of the setting.
In Pathfinder, a dullahan is an undead. But in D&D, a dullahan is a fey. Why did Paizo classify it as an undead? Was it an undead in D&D 3.5?It was never in 3.5, as far as I know. We made it undead because we wanted to lean in to the classic tropes of the headless horseman, and something without a head feels more undead than alive.
Is that so? The dullahan didn't appear in previous D&D editions, and Pathfinder First Edition is the first rule that it made an appearance?
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Is that so? The dullahan didn't appear in previous D&D editions, and Pathfinder First Edition is the first rule that it made an appearance?In Pathfinder, a dullahan is an undead. But in D&D, a dullahan is a fey. Why did Paizo classify it as an undead? Was it an undead in D&D 3.5?It was never in 3.5, as far as I know. We made it undead because we wanted to lean in to the classic tropes of the headless horseman, and something without a head feels more undead than alive.
It's a thing from real world mythology that's inspired writers far longer than either of those games have been around. I wouldn't be surprised to find out something like this inspired something in D&D, but I could be wrong.
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Both.Do the gods have a memetic component? That is to say, if perception of art were to refocus towards portraits [say, over landscapes] and literature [say, over music], would Shelyn then have a greater focus on those two things? Or would Shelyn refocusing on those things over other arts cause (through her followers following suit) perception of art in turn to refocus on portraits? Both/neither?
Rephrasing a little for clarity, because my thought tracks tend to diverge from others' thought tracks: if perception of a god or their domain by said god's followers were to shift slightly, would the god themself shift a little to accommodate that, provided they didn't outright reject the shift (or lack thereof, like Nocticula rejecting Chaotic Evil followers post-ascension)?
EDIT: I'm only asking about if there is a component at all, not how intense it is beyond 0 or not-0.
So, if a god wants to rebrand so to speak, how much pushback from their followers/priests would they need to worry about? Just as examples, if Iomedae were for some reason to choose to refocus on the interpretation that one book on the Ascended called her, the Prime Commander vs Shelyn rebranding as a variant lust goddess (since she has the Passion domain, I'm guessing "you weren't already?") vs what Nocticula went through ascending and abandoning the CE alignment. I'm assuming that it scales (not necessarily in a linear fashion) with all of how much/far, how many followers, and how traditional they are?
JJ:
Will more Magical Item Set Bonuses come out? Interesting option would be for Sarenrae's magical items since there are a ton to choose from and could easily make a 5-set bonus out of it.
If you have reclaimed the Dawnflower's Kiss and reunited it with it's scabbard, would anything interesting happen?
Can specific/artifact magic items be upgraded past their initial values using the same rules for enchanting weaponry and armor? I.e., Increasing a Catskin Leather to +5 (Is a +1 Shadow Leather armor).
If so, does it increase the acting value? I.e., the +1 shadow leather goes to +2. Or does it increase the armor itself, I.e. Catskin Leather +1?
Will we ever get to see additional specific magic or mundane bullets?
How much can you curl with those tiny Rex arms of yours?
Why is there no Colossal 3-headed T-Rex of Doom roaming in Golarion?
Is he your Grandpa?
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So, if a god wants to rebrand so to speak, how much pushback from their followers/priests would they need to worry about? Just as examples, if Iomedae were for some reason to choose to refocus on the interpretation that one book on the Ascended called her, the Prime Commander vs Shelyn rebranding as a variant lust goddess (since she has the Passion domain, I'm guessing "you weren't already?") vs what Nocticula went through ascending and abandoning the CE alignment. I'm assuming that it scales (not necessarily in a linear fashion) with all of how much/far, how many followers, and how traditional they are?
A lot. Gods don't need followers to exist, but they DO need them to have any real impact on mortal societies, so if they "fire" their current faith, they'll run the risk of all those worshipers turning to an enemy or rival, and then they'll have to start over from scratch. It'd be something we'd end up tailoring specifically for story purposes. You see some of that with Nocticula, and with Arazni as well.
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JJ:
Will more Magical Item Set Bonuses come out? Interesting option would be for Sarenrae's magical items since there are a ton to choose from and could easily make a 5-set bonus out of it.
If you have reclaimed the Dawnflower's Kiss and reunited it with it's scabbard, would anything interesting happen?
Can specific/artifact magic items be upgraded past their initial values using the same rules for enchanting weaponry and armor? I.e., Increasing a Catskin Leather to +5 (Is a +1 Shadow Leather armor).
If so, does it increase the acting value? I.e., the +1 shadow leather goes to +2. Or does it increase the armor itself, I.e. Catskin Leather +1?
Will we ever get to see additional specific magic or mundane bullets?
How much can you curl with those tiny Rex arms of yours?
Why is there no Colossal 3-headed T-Rex of Doom roaming in Golarion?
Is he your Grandpa?
Please don't do long lists of questions like this. The way the forums here work make it awkward to answer long question lists. For example:
Dunno.
Might be an interesting story beat.
In 2nd edition, those bonuses are runes and you can swap them out and change them. In 1st edition it was awkward and unappealing and frustrating how that worked, which is why we changed it in 2nd edition.
Again, in 2nd edition, it increases by the value of the rune. In 1st edition it's awkward and complicated; you kinda have to rebuild the item from scratch to figure its price out.
Dunno.
According to a quick google search, 500 pounds.
Just because we haven't written something down doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Nah.
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How goes Elden Ring?
I hit the endgame bosses so decided to make a new character to re-explore everything :3
I just finished the final boss fight and got the credits this morning. Ended up around level 190 or so, with about as many hours. Loved it! It's one of my favorite games I think. I went back to playing Horizon Forbidden West, which is also great, but I didn't start a new game plus in Elden Ring yet. There's still a few super-tough optional bosses I wanna try to take out, and I dunno if I'll start a new game plus or just wait for DLC.
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When I first heard about Ravenmoor, I thought the village is full of the Elder Mythos elements because it seemed to resemble Innsmouth in many ways. But after reading Feast of Ravenmoor I found out that the village has nothing to do with the Elder Mythos at all. Why did you made Ravenmoor worship Ghlaunder instead of Cthulhu or other Mythos gods? Perhaps it was just my minunderstanding and Ravenmoor was not related to, or inspired by the Elder Mythos from the start?
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In Age of Ashes, Jonivar states the Anima Invocation requires the souls of willing participants and that's why the ritual won't work. Theoretically, what would happen if, instead of convincing Mengkare to not to the ritual, the population was informed of the true nature of the ritual and convinced to become willing? (With the unwilling expelled/spared.)
The population seems quite culty, and if you look at real world examples of isolated communities like Jim Jones...large populations can become convinced...
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Nice! I’m in the latter camp as well, gonna pick up Wonderlands while I wait for the DLC.
Favourite boss fight?
Hmmmm... tough choice. Elden beast and the Fire Giant and Starsmashovercharge what's-his-name in the desert were the three that gave me a lot of trouble but I managed to defeat them and felt great about it, so they were frustrating but rewarding. LOTS of great fights in the game, in fact... but for just the design and the shock value and the reward and the visuals, I think my favorite is Rykard, the God-Devouring Serpent.
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When I first heard about Ravenmoor, I thought the village is full of the Elder Mythos elements because it seemed to resemble Innsmouth in many ways. But after reading Feast of Ravenmoor I found out that the village has nothing to do with the Elder Mythos at all. Why did you made Ravenmoor worship Ghlaunder instead of Cthulhu or other Mythos gods? Perhaps it was just my minunderstanding and Ravenmoor was not related to, or inspired by the Elder Mythos from the start?
Ravenmoor and Ghlaunder are inspired by Lovecraft and the mythos. More "Dunwich Horror" than "Shadow over Innsmouth," but the reason I didn't use a Lovecraft name is because I wanted to do my own thing, inspired by Lovecraft and other writers (particularly my love of folk horror movies like "The Wicker Man"), and also my fear of parasites and my experience growing up in rural settlements.
It can be fun expanding ideas others have done, but it's even more fun taking inspiration and doing your own thing.
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In Age of Ashes, Jonivar states the Anima Invocation requires the souls of willing participants and that's why the ritual won't work. Theoretically, what would happen if, instead of convincing Mengkare to not to the ritual, the population was informed of the true nature of the ritual and convinced to become willing? (With the unwilling expelled/spared.)
The population seems quite culty, and if you look at real world examples of isolated communities like Jim Jones...large populations can become convinced...
That's up to the GM. It'd probably work, I guess, but that's a story beat I find to be depressing and frustrating and unsatisfying, to say the least of it being pretty gross to publish something where the right answer is "just sit back and let the cult leader sacrifice his followers." The point of the story was "You don't have to sacrifice your followers or people to do a job.
It feels like the evil ending of the campaign, honestly. Which can work if that's what your group's doing, but it absolutely wasn't the story I wanted to tell.
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When I first heard about Ravenmoor, I thought the village is full of the Elder Mythos elements because it seemed to resemble Innsmouth in many ways. But after reading Feast of Ravenmoor I found out that the village has nothing to do with the Elder Mythos at all. Why did you made Ravenmoor worship Ghlaunder instead of Cthulhu or other Mythos gods? Perhaps it was just my minunderstanding and Ravenmoor was not related to, or inspired by the Elder Mythos from the start?Ravenmoor and Ghlaunder are inspired by Lovecraft and the mythos. More "Dunwich Horror" than "Shadow over Innsmouth," but the reason I didn't use a Lovecraft name is because I wanted to do my own thing, inspired by Lovecraft and other writers (particularly my love of folk horror movies like "The Wicker Man"), and also my fear of parasites and my experience growing up in rural settlements.
It can be fun expanding ideas others have done, but it's even more fun taking inspiration and doing your own thing.
Was that so? Actually I suspected that Paizo didn't make Ravenmoor a Mythos-worshiping village because it was very reluctant to incorporate the Lovecraftian elements into Pathfinder at first. But if you deliberately excluded the Lovecraftian elements from Feast of Ravenmoor to do your own thing, then even if Paizo incorporated the Lovecraftian elements much sooner than it did in the real world, you would still have made Feast of Ravenmoor as a Ghlaunder AP, instead of a Cthulhu one?
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Was that so? Actually I suspected that Paizo didn't make Ravenmoor a Mythos-worshiping village because it was very reluctant to incorporate the Lovecraftian elements into Pathfinder at first. But if you deliberately excluded the Lovecraftian elements from Feast of Ravenmoor to do your own thing, then even if Paizo incorporated the Lovecraftian elements much sooner than it did in the real world, you would still have made Feast of Ravenmoor as a Ghlaunder AP, instead of a Cthulhu one?
Feast of Ravenmoor was based on a short story of the same name and much the same plot (except starring the tax collector, not an adventuring party) that I wrote a few decades ago. I was originally going to write the adventure but couldn't fit it into the schedule—fortunately Brandon knew exactly where to go with the plot! :-)
Paizo is far from reluctant to include by-the-name Lovecraftian elements; we've been doing that since the very first Adventure Path pretty much.
Not everything that's cosmic horror or rural horror needs to have Lovecraft's proper nouns in it. He helped create those genres, and to a certain extent his work inspires and influences a lot of those stories today, but there's more to the genre than name dropping Mythos deities. There's STILL Lovecraft-influenced elements in there, even though they're not name drops. You'll see that influence in literally hundreds, if not thousands of horror and science fiction stories. I could and have even argued that there's Lovecraftian influences in the movie/novel "2001."
If I'd done it today, I wouldn't change it at all, other than maybe to be the one to write the adventure myself.
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There are ten types of the orb of the dragonkind. Do primal dragons, imperial dragons, and outer dragons have their own orbs of dragonkind as well?
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There are ten types of the orb of the dragonkind. Do primal dragons, imperial dragons, and outer dragons have their own orbs of dragonkind as well?
The orbs of dragonkind were invented for 1st edition AD&D, back in a time when the game only had those ten types of dragon in the game.
My preference is to retain that legacy, and say that there are only those ten orbs of dragonkind in Pathfinder, rather than have to worry about revising the artifacts' history whenever we decide to introduce a new category of dragon. I believe we might have said otherwise here and there in print, but to me, the orbs of dragonkind work best when they're focused on just being those 10—both to keep from having to constantly expand them, but more importantly, to anchor them to their original source as something we get to use only because of the OGL.
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If a human adventurer cast dragon form to become a red dragon, or if he cast mind swap to snatch the body of a red dragon, would he be dominated by the orb of red dragonkind?
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If a human adventurer cast dragon form to become a red dragon, or if he cast mind swap to snatch the body of a red dragon, would he be dominated by the orb of red dragonkind?
That's such a specific corner case that the result would need to be adjudicated by the GM as to what best fits the story... but keep in mind that the orbs are artifacts, and so they shouldn't be used as examples of how to make general rulings for things like this.
Was that so? Actually I suspected that Paizo didn't make Ravenmoor a Mythos-worshiping village because it was very reluctant to incorporate the Lovecraftian elements into Pathfinder at first. But if you deliberately excluded the Lovecraftian elements from Feast of Ravenmoor to do your own thing, then even if Paizo incorporated the Lovecraftian elements much sooner than it did in the real world, you would still have made Feast of Ravenmoor as a Ghlaunder AP, instead of a Cthulhu one?Feast of Ravenmoor was based on a short story of the same name and much the same plot (except starring the tax collector, not an adventuring party) that I wrote a few decades ago. I was originally going to write the adventure but couldn't fit it into the schedule—fortunately Brandon knew exactly where to go with the plot! :-)
Paizo is far from reluctant to include by-the-name Lovecraftian elements; we've been doing that since the very first Adventure Path pretty much.
Not everything that's cosmic horror or rural horror needs to have Lovecraft's proper nouns in it. He helped create those genres, and to a certain extent his work inspires and influences a lot of those stories today, but there's more to the genre than name dropping Mythos deities. There's STILL Lovecraft-influenced elements in there, even though they're not name drops. You'll see that influence in literally hundreds, if not thousands of horror and science fiction stories. I could and have even argued that there's Lovecraftian influences in the movie/novel "2001."
If I'd done it today, I wouldn't change it at all, other than maybe to be the one to write the adventure myself.
But I remember you said that Paizo hesitated to include Lovecraftian monsters into Pathfinder at first. That was why Paizo created skum, who are very like deep ones but an entirely different race, and put them in Wake of the Watcher. Deep ones were introduced to Pathfinder only when Bestiary 5 was published. Am I missing something?
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But I remember you said that Paizo hesitated to include Lovecraftian monsters into Pathfinder at first. That was why Paizo created skum, who are very like deep ones but an entirely different race, and put them in Wake of the Watcher. Deep ones were introduced to Pathfinder only when Bestiary 5 was published. Am I missing...
"Feast of Ravenmoor" came out many many many years after our initial hesitation about including Lovecrraft in the setting. The first timid footsteps we made there were in Rise of the Runelords (where we introduced the denizens of Leng into the setting in volume 6, and had introduced the hounds of Tindalos a few volumes earlier from Lovecraft contemporary Frank Belknap Long) and a bit later in Curse of the Crimson Throne (where we brought in gugs of volume 5 of that campaign).
When I mentioned being hesitant, I speak more about including Lovecraft creations in more significant ways—at one point, I was pushing for Nyarlathotep and/or Yog-Sothoth to be in the core 20 deities. Other folks pushed back for various reasons, but then when Starfinder came about, at no actual urging from me, Nyarlathotep became one of the core deities there.
By the time we published "Feast of Ravenmoor," we were already doing a LOT with Lovecraftian elements, so that initial hesitation was far in the past. Again, "Feast of Ravenmoor" was based on a short story I wrote back in the very early 90s, which had some inspiration from the rural horror elements in Lovecraft (but just as much in Stephen King—there's more "Children of the Corn" in the story than there is "Dunwich Horror"), but contained characters and monsters of my own creation. I wanted to preserve that in the adventure version. Changing Ghlaunder into, say, Cthulhu, was never part of that plan.
As for the skum—we didn't create them. They were created ages ago for D&D, and were brought into 3rd edition, and were one fo the hundreds of monsters we inherited from the OGL via the Monster Manual being open content. We rebuilt a lot of their lore and flavor, along with the aboleths, but they were still invented long before Paizo was ever a thing.
Back in THAT day, Lovecraft's works were in a much hazier place regarding copyright, and TSR had already had a clash with that with the inclusion of Lovecraftian elements in AD&D's first edition Deities & Demigods. As a result of that, they were much more cagey and canny about including Lovecraft-inspired things in the game. Skum are a good example of that, where they essentially took the deep ones and re-named them. There's always a LOT of Lovecrfaft in the game alrready (mind flayers, ghasts, evil books like the Demonomicon, etc.). Not all of it is actual copy-paste names.
I see. Then, if Paizo compiles the six Carrion Crown books into a single hardcover volume now using Pathfinder Second Edition, would you have the skum replaced with deep ones? Or perhaps if Carrion Crown was created after the publication of Bestiary 5, would you have put deep ones into Wake of the Watcher instead of skum without hesitation?
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I see. Then, if Paizo compiles the six Carrion Crown books into a single hardcover volume now using Pathfinder Second Edition, would you have the skum replaced with deep ones? Or perhaps if Carrion Crown was created after the publication of Bestiary 5, would you have put deep ones into Wake of the Watcher instead of skum without hesitation?
Maybe. Who knows. I didn't develop Carrion Crown. Had I done so I probably would have introduced deep ones in that volume rather than having to wait for Bestiary 5.
Hm. What was the impetus, lore-wise, for including Nyarlathotep as a core deity in Starfinder, given he was not one in Pathfinder?
With the new Lost Omens: The Impossible Lands now announced, I want to ask - do you have a favorite corner of that particular region? It's one of the most unique bits of Golarion.
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With the new Lost Omens: The Impossible Lands now announced, I want to ask - do you have a favorite corner of that particular region? It's one of the most unique bits of Golarion.
I don't out my favorites among Paizo stuff these days, because it always seems to come across as either egotistical (if I nominate something I created) or favoritism (if not).
I'm more interested in finding out what parts people who read these products love and are excited about—aka reading reviews and feedback.
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Hm. What was the impetus, lore-wise, for including Nyarlathotep as a core deity in Starfinder, given he was not one in Pathfinder?
I have no real idea. I wasn't part of that decision process. That said, I like to think it was informed by the Starfinder team seeing how popular and successful our inclusion of Lovecraft things in Pathfinder was and wanting to build upon those successes.
I think including Nyarlathotep in the core 20 of Starfinder is a great move, in any event. I've long viewed him as a patron of "Humans making choices that end up causing humanity pain and suffering."
Why did Nyarlathotep become one of the core 20 deities in Starfinder and why did you push for Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth to be in the core 20 deities in Pathfinder? I ask this because I have always thought that Chulhu and Hastur are much more famous than Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth in the real world. Was it because you or other folks at Paizo like Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth more than Cthulhu and Hastur?
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Why did Nyarlathotep become one of the core 20 deities in Starfinder and why did you push for Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth to be in the core 20 deities in Pathfinder? I ask this because I have always thought that Chulhu and Hastur are much more famous than Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth in the real world. Was it because you or other folks at Paizo like Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth more than Cthulhu and Hastur?
Cthulhu is the most recognizable of Lovecraft's creations, but he's also actually on Earth, so transposing him to another planet is weird and tricky. He's also just a Great Old One, not an actual God, so his reach and impact are less from a metaphysical sense. Hastur is a lot of fun, especially because he's one that predates Lovecreaft and has a HUGE range of different possible interpretations—which is why he ended up being one of the main parts of Strange Aeons.
Again, I'm not on the Starfinder team so I can't answer why he was chosen to be a core deity there.
The reason I pushed for him was because of all Lovecraft's creations, Nyarlathotep is the most "human" of them all. He's the one who actually interacts with humanity, playing the role of a tempter or a tormentor or corrupter. He's more active than most, and has personality traits we humans can identify with. He's the most "approachable and understandable" of the mythos deities, but also has many different forms, so we would have been able to introduce new versions of him we invented for Pathfinder while still being able to cash in on the nostalgia of his name. AKA: He's the most versatile of them all.
Yog-Sothoth was a contender as well because he represents time and space—as such he's EVERYWHERE, not just trapped dreaming in a tomb on a distant planet (like Cthulhu). And furthermore, since he's so much beyond human morality and concern, it's possible to set up non-evil (but likely not good) worshipers of him—Yog-Sothoth would be a deity that we could design character options for PCs, not just NPCs, since we assume most players play non-evil characters. But also, Lovecraft himself viewed Yog-Sothoth as the central axis of his mythos—he referred to his connected stories not as the "Cthulhu Mythos" (that term came after his death), but as "Yog Sothothery." So by focusing on Yog-Sothoth as an important deity in our setting, that's me nodding toward the creator's preference for him being important.
Were you involved in the conversion of Abomination Vaults to D&D 5E? What about the decision to publish the conversion?