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James Jacobs wrote:
Run, Just Run wrote:
In a lawful evil party would a good lich Phylactery be the GraveKnight's armor, also the best player?
Generally, a lich's phylactery is some sort of small container, not a suit of armor... so no, graveknight armor's not a good choice. Furthermore... it's not a good choice because it's the graveknight's armor, and I can't imagine either a lich or a graveknight would want to share something like that.

Then what would you sugjest?


So three skymetals have been revealed.....are there going to be any otrhers going to be detailed in the next few books coming out?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
John Kretzer wrote:
So three skymetals have been revealed.....are there going to be any otrhers going to be detailed in the next few books coming out?

What was the 3rd one? I know of Adamantine and Djezet.

Scarab Sages

James,

Will you vote for me?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Jaçinto wrote:

My DM shifted my alignment from CN to CE for violently torturing and interrogating a prisoner. I fully accept this but then he said that if I don't prove I can play my new alignment, he will make my character an NPC. Is this how the game works or he is being a jerk?

Also is there any chance of Baelnorns making a return? You know, the non-evil lich defender of elves.

First of all, if your character violently tortures a prisoner, you should sort of be mentally prepared for your GM to take drastic action. Just as in real life, being an evil sadist in the game often has significant repercussions. In fact, in most games, I suspect that once your character becomes CE, the GM would just take over your PC there and then and make him an NPC. If you don't want to play a CE character, you shouldn't violently torture prisoners anymore, and you should seek atonement or other absolution for your heinous act. If you DO want to play a violent torturer, then keep playing the way you are and you should be fine. There's nothing at all in the rules that says that a GM can take control of a player's character, though—that's likely your GM just being incredibly frustrated at how you're playing your character. I might call it an overreaction on the GM's part, but I don't know how out of bounds and out of character your character went when he tortured a prisoner... it might not be an overreaction at all. Certainly if you want the option to keep torturing people whenever you want, you'll need to stick to the Chaotic Evil alignment, and if you can't handle that, you should absolutely look into playing a different type of character. And talk with your GM about what exactly he expects you to do when you're roleplaying an alignment. But my guess is that the GM is just completely frustrated with your actions in game; they were probably quite disruptive not only to the story, but to party cohesion and the overall enjoyment of other players at the table.

As for baelnorns... no. They are the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast, and we cannot use them in Pathfinder.

Furthermore, the idea of a "good" lich is not part of our design philosophy—with the exception of some ghosts, pretty much ALL undead in Pathfinder are evil, because that's kind of what it means to become undead—to embrace evil.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:

Do oni always have the subtype of what humaniod they are based on?

I would still like to see poisons that are made specifically against plants, vermin, and/or undead.

So will the Beastairy III have a familiar for Archons?

Cool new template(s) in the "Land of the linnorm kings" book.

Yes; oni always have a humanoid subtype.

We couldn't call them poisons, but some sort of new afflictions that affect plants and undead would be cool. Poison already affects vermin fine; no need for a new type of poison there. But specific afflictions that would target those types of monsters would need new names—they might have the same type of rules to make them work, but they'd have different names and different flavor.

Bestiary 3 will have an archon familiar, I believe. We'll be revealing that for sure (either yes or no) in several months.

That last one isn't a question...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Marshall Fundaburk wrote:

I just noticed the "typo" for Pathfinder's ooze lord. I actually called D&D's version Jubilex for years until I realized my mistake a few months ago = ). Do you think Juiblex and Ixinix were ever allies because of Ixinix's resemblance to a demonic black pudding?

Something tells me The Malgoth resembles Yamasoth in a way, only bigger and more horrible that leaks horrible ichor everywhere, haha. Do you agree?

So Bechard looks like a beached and rotting demonic whale, am I right?

Im case you were wondering why I'm so into appearances, I'm an artist and lately I've been drawing demons, so that's the reason behind all these dumb questions.

I'm actually not sure who Ixinix is. Is he a new addition to demonkind from 4th edition or something? Never heard of the name before... or if I did, it just didn't leave any lasting impression on me.

Yamasoth is VERY different from the Malgoth. Actually... now that I think about it... do you have issues #117, #118, and #119 of Dungeon magazine? Because there's a 3 part adventure in those three issues that were written by Greg Vaughan that are pretty much ALL ABOUT the Malgoth—that's the first place this guy showed up, in fact. If you're just going by its mention in the Fiendish Codex... you'll definitely want to track down those three issues of Dungeon because there's a LOT more info about the Malgoth in there... including a picture (he's basically a mass of shadowy mist with lots of silvery eyes in it and several long tentacles with claws at the end... at least, that's the shape it takes in the climax of this three-part adventure. Honestly, the last 50 or so print issues of Dungeon have an AWFUL lot of demon lore spread throughout them; Erik and I (the editors in chief for that magazine's final third of its print incarnation) used the magazine to do a lot of exploration of demons, and put them on the covers quite a lot.

BONUS TRIVIA: The cover to Dungeon #119 was the first cover I ever ordered for any RPG product. I'm pretty proud of it, although Wayne Reynolds is the one who actually deserves all the compliments for it! :-)

As for Bechard, what's in the Fiendish Codex is all there is, as far as I know.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

InVinoVeritas wrote:

Where in rural Northern California are you from?

Just a former Turlockian being curious.

I grew up in Point Arena. On the Mendocino coast about 3–4 hours north of San Francisco.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Run, Just Run wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Run, Just Run wrote:
In a lawful evil party would a good lich Phylactery be the GraveKnight's armor, also the best player?
Generally, a lich's phylactery is some sort of small container, not a suit of armor... so no, graveknight armor's not a good choice. Furthermore... it's not a good choice because it's the graveknight's armor, and I can't imagine either a lich or a graveknight would want to share something like that.
Then what would you sugjest?

Honestly? I would suggest not playing a lich at all—they're better as monsters than as PCs.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

John Kretzer wrote:
So three skymetals have been revealed.....are there going to be any otrhers going to be detailed in the next few books coming out?

All of the skymetals were revealed in Pathfinder #14 already. (Noqual was the third one, it was detailed in that volume's adventure.)

As for specific game rules for the remaining skymetals... some day we'll talk more about them. We don't really have plans for any more skymetal stuff for the rest of the year though.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
So three skymetals have been revealed.....are there going to be any otrhers going to be detailed in the next few books coming out?

All of the skymetals were revealed in Pathfinder #14 already. (Noqual was the third one, it was detailed in that volume's adventure.)

As for specific game rules for the remaining skymetals... some day we'll talk more about them. We don't really have plans for any more skymetal stuff for the rest of the year though.

So that leaves the door open to seeing more about skymetals next year then. ;)


James Jacobs wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
So three skymetals have been revealed.....are there going to be any otrhers going to be detailed in the next few books coming out?

All of the skymetals were revealed in Pathfinder #14 already. (Noqual was the third one, it was detailed in that volume's adventure.)

As for specific game rules for the remaining skymetals... some day we'll talk more about them. We don't really have plans for any more skymetal stuff for the rest of the year though.

Ok was just wondering. Thanks for the answear.


We have been discussing if a Medium-sized T-rex wielded a reach weapon and was using the Lunge (Combat) feat, which diagram below shows the squares that she could reach?

Reach + Lunge for a Medium Creature


James Jacobs wrote:


First of all, if your character violently tortures a prisoner, you should sort of be mentally prepared for your GM to take drastic action. Just as in real life, being an evil sadist in the game often has significant repercussions. In fact, in most games, I suspect that once your character becomes CE, the GM would just take over your PC there and then and make him an NPC. If you don't want to play a CE character, you shouldn't violently torture prisoners anymore, and you should seek atonement or other absolution for your heinous act. If you DO want to play a violent torturer, then keep playing the way you are and you should be fine. There's nothing at all in the rules that says that a GM can take control of a player's character, though—that's likely your GM just being incredibly frustrated at how you're playing your character. I might call it an overreaction on the GM's part, but I don't know how out of bounds and out of character your character went when he tortured a prisoner... it might not be an overreaction at all. Certainly if you want the option to keep torturing people whenever you want, you'll need to stick to the Chaotic Evil alignment, and if you can't handle that, you should absolutely look into playing a different type of character. And talk with your GM about what exactly he expects you to do when you're roleplaying an alignment. But my guess is that the GM is just completely frustrated with your actions in game; they were probably quite disruptive not only to the story, but to party cohesion and the overall enjoyment of other players at the table.

I make it a point to never disrupt the games for others. basically, my character was always in a bit of a foul mood, but one prisoner kept pushing his buttons and he snapped. At that point I say it is also the DM's fault because he kept essentially challenging my character's ego. Again I have no problem being shifted to evil and I accept consequences. We do have one person that started as CE, with the DM's approval and he does get disruptive sometimes. I'm more the machiovellian kind of evil right now and we ARE playing Kingmaker after all. What I was saying was, since my character is not always like that, shouldn't it be possible for him to gradually shift back to CN if he calms down and smartens up? To my DM, that's a no and you absolutely must play fully evil now like that one insanity. Once you go evil, there is no turning back.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

harmor wrote:

We have been discussing if a Medium-sized T-rex wielded a reach weapon and was using the Lunge (Combat) feat, which diagram below shows the squares that she could reach?

Reach + Lunge for a Medium Creature

Probably the second one, with the corners missing from the lunge area.

Although if it were a T-rex, I'd subtract 5 feet for its proportionally tiny (and thus proportionally tiny weapon) front arms. Assuming he found thumbs somewhere along the way so he could actually wield weapons in the first place.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jaçinto wrote:
asked about evil...

You absolutely SHOULD be able to repent for evil ways. That's a story element as old as stories, after all.

Should it be harder to repent from being evil and go back to good than it was to slide into evil? Yes. But it shouldn't be impossible.

Especially if you spring for the big bucks and an atonement spell.

Liberty's Edge

Hello James, does the Intensified Spell feat work on spells such as scorching ray and magic missile (i.e. allowing the caster to cast 6 or 7 magic missiles if she is of high enough level)?

Thank you and enjoy the weekend!

T.


James Jacobs wrote:
BONUS TRIVIA: The cover to Dungeon #119 was the first cover I ever ordered for any RPG product. I'm...

Ah ha. Thanks James. That cover remains not only my favourite WAR art but my favourite RPG character study, period.


James I have somewhat of a serious problem, and I seek your help in resolving it:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??


Monkeygod wrote:

James I have somewhat of a serious problem, and I seek your help in resolving it:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??

You should read all of them simultaneously that way you don't miss out on anything.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Tancred of Hauteville wrote:

Hello James, does the Intensified Spell feat work on spells such as scorching ray and magic missile (i.e. allowing the caster to cast 6 or 7 magic missiles if she is of high enough level)?

Nope.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Monkeygod wrote:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??

Go with your gut!


Did you ever have any homebrew races out of the Original Seven?

If I might ask the following questions about your thoughts on the status of some things in the Pathfinder manuals as things stand?

Was it tradition that kept the Drow as dark-skinned and red-eyed, or was it to keep 'brand recognition' with the race? Given their magical genesis, I can understand the colouration, also the dark skin allows them to easily blend in with the darkness of their 'native' environment. But if you had the chance to 'do over' would you change the physical description for the Dark Elves or leave them as they are?

Something myself and the other gamers in my group have noticed, given that the 'original' Core Classes are represented without any Half-Orcs or Half-Elves, was this due to wanting to push the different regional Humans or because half-races are 'extreme minority' races compared to the other races of Halfling, Human, Dwarf, Gnome and Elf?

Did you ever play any of the Everquest MMOs, and if so, did you like the concept of the three 'factions' and the inclusion of nominally 'monster' races (Ogres and Lizardmen and Trolls spring to mind immediately) appearing as balanced PC races or was the sheer number of playable races something that irked you or made you sweat bullets at trying to balance them in an open-nature game such as the Tabletop?

Am I lucky that my country's custom department doesn't allow live man-eating centipedes to be delivered via the mail?

And again, echoing the sentiments of other posters, thank you very much for answering our questions and engaging in our banter. It is greatly appreciated.


Are there any evil outsiders that are music themed in Pathfinder? Ones that use a perform skill or use evil music in some way...


James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??

Go with your gut!

Don't listen to the terrifying reptilian, go get Halflings of Golarion instead. It's got the greatest cover in all of the Pathfinder product lines.


Lem the Halfling wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??

Go with your gut!
Don't listen to the terrifying reptilian, go get Halflings of Golarion instead. It's got the greatest cover in all of the Pathfinder product lines.

Um, Lem my boy, I have it and read it already. In fact it was the first Companion I got when I subscribed. It was quite awesome, I might add. Halflings are a favorite race of mine :)


Monkeygod wrote:
Lem the Halfling wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Monkeygod wrote:

Currently I am roughly ten pages or so away from finishing the Inner Sea World Guide. I have several Pathfinder companions that I need to read, but I am not sure which one I should read first:

Humans of Golarion, Orcs of Golarion, Qadira, Faiths of Purity, or Faiths of Balance? I am leaning towards Qadira, as I have a PC from there, but I don't need to read it first.

What would you suggest??

Go with your gut!
Don't listen to the terrifying reptilian, go get Halflings of Golarion instead. It's got the greatest cover in all of the Pathfinder product lines.
Um, Lem my boy, I have it and read it already. In fact it was the first Companion I got when I subscribed. It was quite awesome, I might add. Halflings are a favorite race of mine :)

Yay!


I haven't seen anyone one else from Paizo comment on this, so help me James Jacob-i. You're my only hope.

Can I, as a level 13 Bard, emulate a Ring of Revelations to gain access to Weapon Mastery from the Battle Mystery?

Can I, as someone with no levels in Fighter, use Gloves of Dueling to get the +2 to hit and damage? What if I roll 25 on my UMD check, giving me an effective level of 5 for fighters?

What about a vest of the cockroach? Can I get the rogue talent Resiliency? Do I get the bonus feature for having effective levels of Rogue?

Sash of the War Champion? Do I effectively have 0 levels in Fighter, meaning if I put it on, I have 4 levels of fighter?

Argh, this is making me go looney.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Did you ever have any homebrew races out of the Original Seven?

I'm not sure I understand this question... Please rephrase.

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Was it tradition that kept the Drow as dark-skinned and red-eyed, or was it to keep 'brand recognition' with the race? Given their magical genesis, I can understand the colouration, also the dark skin allows them to easily blend in with the darkness of their 'native' environment. But if you had the chance to 'do over' would you change the physical description for the Dark Elves or leave them as they are?

Nope; I'd leave drow the way they are. They're among the most iconic bad guys of the game, after all; changing their appearance but keeping their name the same would be like making all dragons be covered with fur and giving them duck bills and mustaches, but still calling them dragons.

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Something myself and the other gamers in my group have noticed, given that the 'original' Core Classes are represented without any Half-Orcs or Half-Elves, was this due to wanting to push the different regional Humans or because half-races are 'extreme minority' races compared to the other races of Halfling, Human, Dwarf, Gnome and Elf?

Seltyiel was originally the "iconic multiclass" character, so there WERE half-elves among the first 12 iconics... but yeah. We deliberately wanted a majority of humans among the iconics, and because we wanted to showcase as many different human ethnicities as we could. And while half-orcs are a core race... they also look a lot like monsters, and that can confuse art when you're trying to show heroes fighting monsters.

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Did you ever play any of the Everquest MMOs, and if so, did you like the concept of the three 'factions' and the inclusion of nominally 'monster' races (Ogres and Lizardmen and Trolls spring to mind immediately) appearing as balanced PC races or was the sheer number of playable races something that irked you or made you sweat bullets at trying to balance them in an open-nature game such as the Tabletop?

I played Ultima Online when it first came out and ended up having a TERRIBLE experience thanks to PVP. I later played Asheron's Call when it came out, and it was just dull dull dull. That one-two punch pretty much cured me of MMOs for a while. I tried Warcraft eventually and LOVED it; then I tried Age of Conan and quite enjoyed the first 20 levels but then it super quickly got super boring. Warcraft, to date, remains the only MMO I've played that I've stuck with. I've never played Everquest at all. As for Warcraft, I've only ever played Alliance characters; I've started up a few Horde ones but couldn't get interested enough in them to play much past 10th level.

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Am I lucky that my country's custom department doesn't allow live man-eating centipedes to be delivered via the mail?

Who wouldn't be lucky in that way?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Oterisk wrote:
Are there any evil outsiders that are music themed in Pathfinder? Ones that use a perform skill or use evil music in some way...

None that pop in to mind.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Cheapy wrote:
Asked lots of questions...

The answer to all of those questions, assuming you're using the Use Magic Device to emulate class abilities, is yes. But you'd need to make the Use Magic Device check each and every time you try to activate the magic item's ability. Since Use Magic Device autofails on a natural 1, that means you'll have to roll all the time; no taking 10 or taking 20. And that can get old.

Silver Crusade

Speaking of half-orc representation in art, what are Imrijka's chances of making it into one of the AP teams soon? For what it's worth I wouldn't be confused seeing half-orc characters fighting monsters or human villains. I don't think many other younger gamers would either. :)

Asked about this in another topic, but I was curious what the official take on it was: If a good-aligned Juju Oracle creates good intelligent undead, what do those undead create if their spawning abilities are triggered?

Also, like a the others upthread, thanks for answering so many of these!


Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.

And hah, I played Alliance, then Horde, and stayed on the red-shirt team till the start of this year. Blizzard's moderators annoyed me with their ham-fisted tactics (involving one troll derping in a thread and getting every other poster getting banned for a full month in several incidents on the RP and Wyrmrest forums, and then being unable to actually talk to someone about the issue) and the whole "Oh hey, Horde is Evil now!" shtick they pulled out and proceeded to beat long-term Horde Role-players with.

Apart from those two complaints, loved WoW overall, but Blizzard just became too arrogant and back-handed for me to enjoy the game anymore ... bah. Dodge Rift if you are asked to play it, the concept is fun and the classes are great, but once everyone is high level the low-level zones are constantly invaded and destroyed by the NPC Rifts.

I get what you're saying about the Drow as well. For how many years have they been the 'chocolate-skinned white-haired red-eyed Demon Elves'? It's almost embedded in the average Gamer's mind that that is the visage of the Drow race as a whole.


Dear Mr. Jacobs,
out of curiosity regarding the Blindstone in Ardis; which Old God/Great Old One is the "Speaker in Storms" referring to?
And thanks for the fantastic Rule of Fear and Wake of the Watchers supplements!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Gern Blacktusk wrote:

and the whole "Oh hey, Horde is Evil now!" shtick they pulled out and proceeded to beat long-term Horde Role-players with.

Considering what the Alliance is up to in the Barrens, and is headed by a warmongering rager, and what one of thier former faction leaders has been up to lately, I'd say that both sides got beaten with that stick to some degree.

Dark Archive

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.

I think, correct me if I'm wrong James, he understood what you meant by "original seven", but didn't understand what you meant by "homebrew of them".


Jason Beardsley wrote:
Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.
I think, correct me if I'm wrong James, he understood what you meant by "original seven", but didn't understand what you meant by "homebrew of them".

*facepalm* You are correct. Dear god I become less and less capable of coherent english as time passes, and it's my primary language!

What I was trying to ask (third time is the charm, right?) is, James, in any of your 'homebrew' games, did you ever offer to your players a race outside of the 'usual' seven races, Dwarves Elves Gnomes Half-Elves Half-Orcs Halflings Humans?

On a different topic, is the Summoner's ability to summon only an Eidolon or their Summon Monster ability a method to reign in their power, or is the Summon Monster ability intended as a 'fallback' ability for the Summoner to rely upon in the highly likely case the Eidolon is either Banished mid-fight or slain outright?

Will we ever see some Errata for the Synthesist? I'm loving the concept of the Eidolon being a form of 'Supernatural Armor and Weapon' for the Synthesist Summoner, but as it is written now, too many of the Class Abilities are open to cheesing/nerfing.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Asked lots of questions...
The answer to all of those questions, assuming you're using the Use Magic Device to emulate class abilities, is yes. But you'd need to make the Use Magic Device check each and every time you try to activate the magic item's ability. Since Use Magic Device autofails on a natural 1, that means you'll have to roll all the time; no taking 10 or taking 20. And that can get old.
Cheapy wrote:


Sash of the War Champion? Do I effectively have 0 levels in Fighter, meaning if I put it on, I have 4 levels of fighter?

Assuming I am not using UMD, the sash (and the other items that add levels to some class ability) work or not?

i.e. I have no level as a fighter, using the Sash I get the armor training and bravery class features of a level 4 fighter?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Mikaze wrote:
Speaking of half-orc representation in art, what are Imrijka's chances of making it into one of the AP teams soon? For what it's worth I wouldn't be confused seeing half-orc characters fighting monsters or human villains. I don't think many other younger gamers would either. :)

We generally pick iconics to illustrate adventures who'll match that adventure's theme. If we ever do an AP where orcs or inquisitors are logical members of that theme, we'll use Imrijka.

Mikaze wrote:
Asked about this in another topic, but I was curious what the official take on it was: If a good-aligned Juju Oracle creates good intelligent undead, what do those undead create if their spawning abilities are triggered?

As far as Golarion and my personal games and my personal preferences go... a good aligned juju oracle can't create undead because (with the exception of certain rare ghosts) all undead are evil.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
I get what you're saying about the Drow as well. For how many years have they been the 'chocolate-skinned white-haired red-eyed Demon Elves'? It's almost embedded in the average Gamer's mind that that is the visage of the Drow race as a whole.

I would say that's embedded in the average gamer's mind because that's actaully what drow are, of course. Just as dragons are reptilian flying breath weapon users, and medusae turn you to stone. Drow have been what they are since their very first introduction into the game over 30 years ago in the third adventure in the "Against the Giants" series (barring some, in my opinion, missteps with how they work in Eberron).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Albus wrote:

Dear Mr. Jacobs,

out of curiosity regarding the Blindstone in Ardis; which Old God/Great Old One is the "Speaker in Storms" referring to?
And thanks for the fantastic Rule of Fear and Wake of the Watchers supplements!

Apart from developing "Harrowstone" and writing the Lovecraft-inspired stuff in part four... pretty much all the Paizo work on Carrion Crown is thanks to Rob and Wes.

And as for Blindstone in Ardis... that's a mystery we've not yet chosen to reveal.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Jason Beardsley wrote:
Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.
I think, correct me if I'm wrong James, he understood what you meant by "original seven", but didn't understand what you meant by "homebrew of them".

Yup.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Diego Rossi wrote:

Assuming I am not using UMD, the sash (and the other items that add levels to some class ability) work or not?

i.e. I have no level as a fighter, using the Sash I get the armor training and bravery class features of a level 4 fighter?

Nope; if an item adds effective power to a class ability, you more or less need that class ability for it to work.


James Jacobs wrote:

I'm actually not sure who Ixinix is. Is he a new addition to demonkind from 4th edition or something? Never heard of the name before... or if I did, it just didn't leave any lasting impression on me.

Yamasoth is VERY different from the Malgoth. Actually... now that I think about it... do you have issues #117, #118, and #119 of Dungeon magazine? Because there's a 3 part adventure in those three issues that were written by Greg Vaughan that are pretty much ALL ABOUT the Malgoth—that's the first place this guy showed up, in fact. If you're just going by its mention in the Fiendish Codex... you'll definitely want to track down those three issues of Dungeon because there's a LOT more info about the Malgoth in there... including a picture (he's basically a mass of shadowy mist with lots of silvery eyes in it and several long tentacles with claws at the end... at least, that's the shape it takes in the climax of this three-part adventure. Honestly, the last 50 or so print issues of Dungeon have an AWFUL lot of demon lore spread throughout them; Erik and I (the editors in chief for that magazine's final third of its print incarnation) used the magazine to do a lot of exploration of demons, and put them on the covers quite a lot.

BONUS TRIVIA: The cover to Dungeon #119 was the first cover I ever ordered for any RPG product. I'm...

Ixinix is the lord of blackwater, dead demon lord we've been talking about that helped banish The Malgoth. You said it was a giant sentient oil slick blob thing. I thought maybe he would've been allied with Juiblex before it died, since Ixinix kinda seems like a big demonic black pudding?

Those Dungeon magazines sound extremely cool. I'll have to go hunt them down. And hooray for bonus trivia!! haha

Did you like my demon ideas for Obox-ob, Pale Night, and Juiblex? One day I'm gonna write up my own Demonomicon articles for them in the style that you wrote yours. = ) The 4E Demonomicons hardly compare. I'd like your criticism on those demons.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
Asked about this in another topic, but I was curious what the official take on it was: If a good-aligned Juju Oracle creates good intelligent undead, what do those undead create if their spawning abilities are triggered?
As far as Golarion and my personal games and my personal preferences go... a good aligned juju oracle can't create undead because (with the exception of certain rare ghosts) all undead are evil.

Wait, really? :(

For Golarion, I thought the whole point of the Juju Oracle's Spirit Vessels mystery was to allow non-evil undead, since they're created through different methods with wendo spirits that remove the [evil] descriptor from the creation process used. Was there supposed to be an alignment restriction on this after all?

Its just that whenever someone wants to play a good necromancer type, Juju Oracle has been the popular suggestion recently.


Mikaze wrote:

For Golarion, I thought the whole point of the Juju Oracle's Spirit Vessels mystery was to allow non-evil undead, since they're created through different methods with wendo spirits that remove the [evil] descriptor from the creation process used. Was there supposed to be an alignment restriction on this after all?

Its just that whenever someone wants to play a good necromancer type, Juju Oracle has been the popular suggestion recently.

I may be mistaken, but the Juju Oracle actually can create a number of undead-like creatures. It is possible to create actual undead (dead juju zombies) - which should have the [evil] descriptor. But she can also create living and entranced zombies. These aren't true undead - in fact they are not even dead - it's just that they appear/behave similar to zombies. These would not need a [evil] descriptor; though in many cases I can find it hard to justify a good-aligned oracle to make such dominated creations.

Silver Crusade

LoreKeeper wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

For Golarion, I thought the whole point of the Juju Oracle's Spirit Vessels mystery was to allow non-evil undead, since they're created through different methods with wendo spirits that remove the [evil] descriptor from the creation process used. Was there supposed to be an alignment restriction on this after all?

Its just that whenever someone wants to play a good necromancer type, Juju Oracle has been the popular suggestion recently.

I may be mistaken, but the Juju Oracle actually can create a number of undead-like creatures. It is possible to create actual undead (dead juju zombies) - which should have the [evil] descriptor. But she can also create living and entranced zombies. These aren't true undead - in fact they are not even dead - it's just that they appear/behave similar to zombies. These would not need a [evil] descriptor; though in many cases I can find it hard to justify a good-aligned oracle to make such dominated creations.

Spirit Vessels actually explicitly mentions that it alters the use of animate dead and similar necromancy spells though, removing the evil descriptors, making mindless undead neutral, and thinking undead share your alignment through the use of wendo spirits.

But yeah, the "living" entranced zombie is hard to see being used by good characters. The undead animated by willing, benign spirits on the other hand...

I was initially just curious how spawning fit into that equation, if at all. Now I'm wondering if I was mistaken on the purpose of Spirit Vessels to begin with. It seemed like it had opened up some story possibilities that had earlier been shut down, like good mummy guardians watching over tombs and such.


Mikaze wrote:

Spirit Vessels actually explicitly mentions that it alters the use of animate dead and similar necromancy spells though, removing the evil descriptors, making mindless undead neutral, and thinking undead share your alignment through the use of wendo spirits.

But yeah, the "living" entranced zombie is hard to see being used by good characters. The undead animated by willing, benign spirits on the other hand...

I was initially just curious how spawning fit into that equation, if at all. Now I'm wondering if I was mistaken on the purpose of Spirit Vessels to begin with. It seemed like it had opened up some story possibilities that had earlier been shut down, like good mummy guardians watching over tombs and such.

hmmm... I guess it is somewhat plausible to have non-evil spirits that inhabit some vessel. But if the vessel happens to be a rotten corpse, then all the alignment-detection spells in the world are not likely to save you from the mob with the pitchforks.

However, I think it is perfectly reasonable to step outside the normal confines of animate dead and have a spirit vessel inhabit a puppet, or effigy, or some such (resulting in something that is a zombie in mostly all ways except for appearance). Not a "necromancer" in the traditional sense, but then again a "good" necromancer is not something in the traditional sense either.

Silver Crusade

LoreKeeper wrote:
hmmm... I guess it is somewhat plausible to have non-evil spirits that inhabit some vessel. But if the vessel happens to be a rotten corpse, then all the alignment-detection spells in the world are not likely to save you from the mob with the pitchforks.

But of course! :) I'd only see it being mostly accepted within certain cultures, like within the Mwangi Expanse.

Dark Archive

Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Jason Beardsley wrote:
Gern Blacktusk wrote:
Sorry James, I was referring to the 'Original Seven' in the terms of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halfling and Humans.
I think, correct me if I'm wrong James, he understood what you meant by "original seven", but didn't understand what you meant by "homebrew of them".

*facepalm* You are correct. Dear god I become less and less capable of coherent english as time passes, and it's my primary language!

What I was trying to ask (third time is the charm, right?) is, James, in any of your 'homebrew' games, did you ever offer to your players a race outside of the 'usual' seven races, Dwarves Elves Gnomes Half-Elves Half-Orcs Halflings Humans?

There you go, James =)

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