Creative Director
|
Before my question I wanted to say thanks for this thread and your willingness to participate in it. Things such as this are part of the reason I think this company is so good.
So, question.
Are there any rules or guidelines around that you know of that deal with cleansing shrines, temples, etc. I'm running Rise of the Runelords and we've come to the part where
** spoiler omitted **There is a paladin and a cleric in the party and they are both very interested in destroying the shrine, or desecrating it, or something so that any unholy powers it might have are destroyed.
Any thoughts on how to run something like that?
The simplest way to handle it is to just say that it takes a few days for folks to dust the place out, clean it up, and all that... once all the monsters and traps and hazards and stuff are dealt with, of course.
All of the bad guy religion stuff needs to be removed and replaced. That can cost as much as the PCs want to spend, frankly. More money won't grant game benefits, but will give roleplaying bragging rights.
And then, spells like hallow and consecrate can cleanse the bad mojo from the place.
You can also have the PCs take leadership and install a cleric cohort as the caretaker of the place.
|
Creative Director
|
Can you have a magic item that produces an antimagic field around yourself? Such as an amulet? Or would it suppress itself?
That would basically just be a "spell in a can" type magic item—an item that does nothing but produce a single spell effect when commanded.
Looking at antimagic field, the spell, we see that it's a 6th level wizard spell that lasts 10 minutes/level.
Applying the estimated magic item cost rules from page 550 of the Core Rulebook, we see that an item that does nothing but shed a constant antimagic field would start out costing:
Spell level 6th x caster level 11th x 2,000 x 1.5 (spell duration 10 min/level)...
6 x 11 x 2,000 x 1.5 = 198,000 gp
And that assumes the item is a ring or an amulet or something that takes up a magic item slot; if it was just a rock you could carry in your pocket, that cost doubles to 396,000 gp.
And then you have to work with your GM to make sure that it's all okay.
In my opinion, an object that radiates constant antimagic is fundamentally game breaking. Especially when you give it to a rogue or a fighter or a barbarian or a monk or a cavalier, or to a monster that has lots of powerful extraordinary abilities. And as such, I would either never allow the item or I would make it an artifact. Either way, not something PCs could ever make.
|
Creative Director
|
Dear James Jacobs,
I've been looking around d20pfsrd, and I've seen that the Personification of Fury and the Steward of the Skein have 19 HD. Why? I thought all the heralds were suposed to have 18 HD or less, to allow the clerics of their deities to call them with greater planar ally.
Yours sincerely,
Amaranthine Witch
Heralds should have 18 HD, so that they can indeed be conjured by greater planar ally. That's the entire point of heralds.
That those two got 19 HD was an error. And alas, it's not a super simple one to fix, since lowering a HD changes a lot, but still. Error.
Complex Fix: Rebuild these as 18 HD monsters.
Easy Fix: Give them this special quality: "Planar Ally: Although this herald has 19 Hit Dice, it can still be called by greater planar ally."
I'll remind the folks who develop monsters of this so that we don't do it again in the future.
And as for all adventuring groups having a cleric (or healer)... what's so weird about that? Sounds like common sense to me... in the same way that all armies have medics and all platoons have people trained in first aid.
Weirdness comes in the scale of it. Tactical squads like a SWAT team are trained in first aid, but they're not doctors - likewise firemen that rescue people and fight fires are trained in first aid, but they're not doctors. In the army there isn't one medic for every four people.
Naturally having divine arts on your side is a great boon to a party, and its just common sense to cover all your bets. And in Pathfinder the options for alternate sources of healing are quite numerous so strictly a cleric/healer is not required at all in the first place.
But look at it from another angle; if we take the wounds/vigor system (and cut away non-lethal damage) - then the complexity of the two systems: HP(with non-lethal damage) vs wounds/vigor is pretty much the same. Conceptually the "new" model is like saying all damage is non-lethal except for this special set of hitpoints that we shall call "wounds".
Though I agree, house-ruling greater resting-life-gain would pretty much result in the same net effect.
Which skill do you use to know which way is North underground?
Is it Survival or Knowledge (Dungeoneering)? Or not possible?
NOTE: We didn't have a Compass. We discussed this already here but didn't come up with a resolution.
That Zon-kuthon didn't get justice (wrap your enemy in chains and make them feel your pain and vice-versa? Duh!) or that Irori ended up with only 2 inquisitions (neither of which was Illumination, and one of which was allowed to every deity) kind of irked me as well, in addition to the above. And that there are no Mysteries linked to Shelyn or Calistria.. Hmm. Anyway, none of that is a question, or accusation, or anything, and so, requires no response. Meh.See my previous response.
I wish I'd been made aware that there was some stealth world flavor creeping into Ultimate Magic, but I wasn't, and so I wasn't able to provide advice on that section.
Hmm.. while I like an actually agree somewhat with your wanting to keep Golarion out of core books, how about in that case, even just as a web blog, when a new book comes out post some Golarion info for the new stuff like that? Cause as a player who plays in Golarion, I want the info, but as a long time player of 3.x that didn't play Greyhawk, all the Greyhawk info in all the books was a waste of space.
Would Unktehila (evil reptilian water spirits from native american myths,based on dinosaurs/marine reptiles) be a possibility of Arcadian monsters?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dear James Jacobs,
I've been looking around d20pfsrd, and I've seen that the Personification of Fury and the Steward of the Skein have 19 HD. Why? I thought all the heralds were suposed to have 18 HD or less, to allow the clerics of their deities to call them with greater planar ally.
Yours sincerely,
Amaranthine WitchHeralds should have 18 HD, so that they can indeed be conjured by greater planar ally. That's the entire point of heralds.
That those two got 19 HD was an error. And alas, it's not a super simple one to fix, since lowering a HD changes a lot, but still. Error.
Complex Fix: Rebuild these as 18 HD monsters.
Easy Fix: Give them this special quality: "Planar Ally: Although this herald has 19 Hit Dice, it can still be called by greater planar ally."I'll remind the folks who develop monsters of this so that we don't do it again in the future.
is the Tarrasque not Rovagug's herald?
|
Creative Director
|
Which skill do you use to know which way is North underground?
Is it Survival or Knowledge (Dungeoneering)? Or not possible?
NOTE: We didn't have a Compass. We discussed this already here but didn't come up with a resolution.
It's Survival. That skill already covers locating north; just because you're underground shouldn't change the skill (although at the GM's option, it could and probably SHOULD raise the DC).
|
Creative Director
|
Hmm.. while I like an actually agree somewhat with your wanting to keep Golarion out of core books, how about in that case, even just as a web blog, when a new book comes out post some Golarion info for the new stuff like that? Cause as a player who plays in Golarion, I want the info, but as a long time player of 3.x that didn't play Greyhawk, all the Greyhawk info in all the books was a waste of space.
I'll think about it... but no guarantees.
|
Creative Director
|
is the Tarrasque not Rovagug's herald?Dear James Jacobs,
I've been looking around d20pfsrd, and I've seen that the Personification of Fury and the Steward of the Skein have 19 HD. Why? I thought all the heralds were suposed to have 18 HD or less, to allow the clerics of their deities to call them with greater planar ally.
Yours sincerely,
Amaranthine WitchHeralds should have 18 HD, so that they can indeed be conjured by greater planar ally. That's the entire point of heralds.
That those two got 19 HD was an error. And alas, it's not a super simple one to fix, since lowering a HD changes a lot, but still. Error.
Complex Fix: Rebuild these as 18 HD monsters.
Easy Fix: Give them this special quality: "Planar Ally: Although this herald has 19 Hit Dice, it can still be called by greater planar ally."I'll remind the folks who develop monsters of this so that we don't do it again in the future.
Yes, but that's an exception to the rule that heralds should have 18 HD and be outsiders you can summon with greater planar ally.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
is the Tarrasque not Rovagug's herald?
Are you making the case that PCs should be able to call a Terrasque?
You crazy.
James, was The Human Centipede on your mind when you wrote a certain part of The Brinewall Legacy?
<shudder>
James, was The Human Centipede on your mind when you wrote a certain part of The Brinewall Legacy?
<shudder>
Ick.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Where do sable's live on golarion?
If they do not exist on golarion what is the sable company named after?
|
Creative Director
|
James, was The Human Centipede on your mind when you wrote a certain part of The Brinewall Legacy?
<shudder>
Perhaps. Although I see enough super hard-core violent gory horror movies that any number of them, such as Frontier(s) or Audition or Martyrs or whatever are equally responsible.
|
Creative Director
|
James Jacobs I noticed you are making a native american based land so I would like to put some ideas out. First of all trickster coyote (you can choose if he is a divine herald or a god, as it depends on the myth), next theirs raven gaurdian of the people, a powerful creature of quasi-god like powers but not quite a god, sort of promethus but less powerful. Big turtle, the carrier of the world. Obviously theirs the thunderbird. Gichi-anami'e-bizhiw(the underwater panther) Your welcome for the tips, if you only choose one choose trickster coyote for me. ThanksSorry I forgot the words, will you use these native american mythological creatures in a bestiary? i meant to ask it as a question, but I talked and did not think about how I frazed it.
We put Native American monsters into our bestiaries from time to time. The thunderbird and the wendigo are obvious entries. There'll be more in the future, for sure—Native American myth has long intrigued and fascinated me.
As for developing Arcadia, we don't have many plans in the near future to do much more with it... we're pretty focused on developing Tian Xia right now.
|
Strike that. Whenever Jason Bulmahn threatens a critical hit when he's the GM, he rolls to confirm the critical hit using a d20 carved from the remorseless heart of a space-borne stone of ill fortune (it's a d20 carved from a meteorite). That die rolls unusually high. I suspect it's either because it's not properly balanced to be random and skews toward the high end of things, or because it's under the dire influence of something just beyond a sane mind's ability to grasp. In either way, it feels like he's cheating.
Sorry, I'm way behind on this thread, and catching up. But man, that die. THAT DIE. It's even more aggrivating that he keeps it in a liiiitle tiny bag around his neck, and puts it back in the bag after every roll. ARGH!
|
Creative Director
|
Strike that. Whenever Jason Bulmahn threatens a critical hit when he's the GM, he rolls to confirm the critical hit using a d20 carved from the remorseless heart of a space-borne stone of ill fortune (it's a d20 carved from a meteorite). That die rolls unusually high. I suspect it's either because it's not properly balanced to be random and skews toward the high end of things, or because it's under the dire influence of something just beyond a sane mind's ability to grasp. In either way, it feels like he's cheating.Sorry, I'm way behind on this thread, and catching up. But man, that die. THAT DIE. It's even more aggrivating that he keeps it in a liiiitle tiny bag around his neck, and puts it back in the bag after every roll. ARGH!
Or that he kisses it before he rolls it. Kinda creepy.
|
Jacobs,
In another Thread you said that in your Houserules you allow the Cleric spell, Heal to be a "Cure" spell, so that a Cleric can cast it spontaneously.
After thinking about it I've decided I'm going to do that as well and a player just asked me if his Cleric, with the Healing Domain, would be able to Empower his Heal spell since it's now a "Cure" spell.
My gut tells me "no" because I just want it to be something he can switch out another 6th level spell with.
How do you do it?
What have been your experiences, positive or negative, with it?
(And anybody else, cuz we're all equal at playtesting?)
THANKS!
Hay James, with the release of Ultimate Combat I got to thinking about fighting styles of the Inner Sea and was wondering if you could give me a small list of known styles from the inner Sea and Tian Xia. was thinking of home brewing some theme appropriate ones for Golarion.
Thank you for your time.
|
Creative Director
|
Jacobs,
In another Thread you said that in your Houserules you allow the Cleric spell, Heal to be a "Cure" spell, so that a Cleric can cast it spontaneously.
After thinking about it I've decided I'm going to do that as well and a player just asked me if his Cleric, with the Healing Domain, would be able to Empower his Heal spell since it's now a "Cure" spell.
My gut tells me "no" because I just want it to be something he can switch out another 6th level spell with.
How do you do it?
What have been your experiences, positive or negative, with it?
(And anybody else, cuz we're all equal at playtesting?)THANKS!
Nope; you misread that post or I screwed up my post. Not sure which.
I change the name of breath of life to cure deadly wounds so that it can be cast spontaneously. I do not change the name of heal since it does a LOT more than cure damage.
|
Creative Director
|
Hay James, with the release of Ultimate Combat I got to thinking about fighting styles of the Inner Sea and was wondering if you could give me a small list of known styles from the inner Sea and Tian Xia. was thinking of home brewing some theme appropriate ones for Golarion.
Thank you for your time.
I can't. Such a list hasn't been built yet, mostly because I haven't had the chance to look at the fighting styles in Ultimate Combat yet.
This list of Tian Xia fighting styles WILL be printed in an upcoming Tian Xia themed product though.
Hay James, with the release of Ultimate Combat I got to thinking about fighting styles of the Inner Sea and was wondering if you could give me a small list of known styles from the inner Sea and Tian Xia. was thinking of home brewing some theme appropriate ones for Golarion.
Thank you for your time.I can't. Such a list hasn't been built yet, mostly because I haven't had the chance to look at the fighting styles in Ultimate Combat yet.
This list of Tian Xia fighting styles WILL be printed in an upcoming Tian Xia themed product though.
Oh, That's cool and exciting. I'll keep my eyes pealed for the upcoming product. Is said product going to be revealed at Gencon?
Thanks for the reply I'll work with what's out their and maybe come up with my own I'm sure I can find some references to fighting styles of the Inner Sea in some of the products that are out their.
What is your single favorite illustration from any Pathfinder Bestiary? Why?
|
Creative Director
|
Oh, That's cool and exciting. I'll keep my eyes pealed for the upcoming product. Is said product going to be revealed at Gencon?
Thanks for the reply I'll work with what's out their and maybe come up with my own I'm sure I can find some references to fighting styles of the Inner Sea in some of the products that are out their.
We've already mentioned the Dragon Empires Gazetteer, but there'll be more info at Gen Con.
|
Creative Director
|
What is your single favorite illustration from any Pathfinder Bestiary? Why?
I don't have a single favorite one that comes immediately to mind, actually. I actually have more that come to mind as illustrations that I'm not fond of, since there's like only about 5 of those spread out between the two Bestiaries, whereas the picture that's got the "best illustration" award for me is probably a 200-way tie or something like that.
And no, I'm not gonna list those 5 illos I don't like, because I don't want to hurt feelings or anything like that.
Is there going to be a PC:Inner Sea Fighting Style book to go along with the PC:Inner Sea Magic book?
James,
Is it possible to create a Crossblooded Sorcerer with one or two Wildblooded Bloodlines?
|
|
Before my question I wanted to say thanks for this thread and your willingness to participate in it. Things such as this are part of the reason I think this company is so good.
So, question.
Are there any rules or guidelines around that you know of that deal with cleansing shrines, temples, etc. I'm running Rise of the Runelords and we've come to the part where
** spoiler omitted **There is a paladin and a cleric in the party and they are both very interested in destroying the shrine, or desecrating it, or something so that any unholy powers it might have are destroyed.
Any thoughts on how to run something like that?
Ooh! Ooh! I know! My players
is the Tarrasque not Rovagug's herald?Are you making the case that PCs should be able to call a Terrasque?
There's a fine line between crazy and genius.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
James,
Is it possible to create a Crossblooded Sorcerer with one or two Wildblooded Bloodlines?
Why would you want to? To give your poor GM a heart attack or a nosebleed?
In any case, since both of those are archetypes... you can if what the archetype replaces from the base class doesn't overlap. In this case, you probably could combine the two, since a wildblooded archetype changes the bloodline itself, and the crossblooded archetype doesn't do much that actually affects its bloodlines apart from the fact that it combines two of them.
But I have to wonder if this isn't the Pathfinder equivalent of ordering a chocolate fudge sunday and then topping it with candy bars, jelly beans, chocolate chips, gumdrops, skittles, maple syrup, circus peanuts, and powdered sugar. Just because you CAN do a thing doesn't mean you SHOULD. :-)
|
Creative Director
|
Oh, and a question. I've been trying to make an adventure based in Ravenmoor (in Varisia, on the Lampblack River) for one player. I started out thinking there was a hidden war between some sort of Black Tapestry entity's mind-controlled slaves and a devil-worshipping cult, and it morphed more into Zon-Kuthon-worshipping cult and a group of Asmodeans looking for the same artefact. At night, they dig (at different sites, of course). The player character would probably end up being recruited by one cult (unknowingly), then find out about their erstwhile allies from the other cult. The problem is that I'm not sure where to go with it. I'm sort of thinking of rewriting it.
You might want to check out Feast of Ravenmoor when it comes out in a month, then... it gives quite a different kind of adventure set in the town. At the very least, you can use the map in the adventure for your own adventure.
Is there some product (and the Pathfinder Wiki) that has information about Ravenmoor? Or do you know what was intended by the short blurbs in The Hook Mountain Massacre, Fortress of the Stone Giants, and A History of Ashes (Sutter, Baur, Boyd, Kortes, and McArtor)?
See above.
I actually invented Ravenmoor well over a decade ago—it was the location of a short story I wrote. That short story ended up being the "set up" for this adventure... I knew I wanted this adventure to be published when we were building the very first Pathifnder AP, and so I made sure to put Ravenmoor into Varisia. It just took me 4 years to get around to the adventure... and even then, I ended up hiring Brandon Hodge to write it instead of doing so myself.
Thank you for consistently responding to all our (sometimes pointless yet entertaining) questions. Would you care to input on my post on Lycanthrope spells? I greatly value your input as a GM, aswell as a developer.
|
|
See above.
I actually invented Ravenmoor well over a decade ago—it was the location of a short story I wrote. That short story ended up being the "set up" for this adventure... I knew I wanted this adventure to be published when we were building the very first Pathifnder AP, and so I made sure to put Ravenmoor into Varisia. It just took me 4 years to get around to the adventure... and even then, I ended up hiring Brandon Hodge to write it instead of doing so myself.
Yeah, I thought those (the aforementioned blurbs) might be hints at a future product. And yes, I saw a few hits about Ravenmoor on a Google search, but I foolishly ignored them and went to the wiki.
I've been interested in Ravenmoor for a while now. Thanks for the information.
|
Dear James Jacobs,
I am writing today because I have just read something and I simply *must* ask you about it. I believe you have specified that the first, as in "The Motion Picture", Star Trek movie is your third favorite of all Start Trek film.
I am going to suppress my desire to say all sorts of things and simply ask; why is that your third favorite of *all* Star Trek films?
|
Creative Director
|
Thank you for consistently responding to all our (sometimes pointless yet entertaining) questions. Would you care to input on my post on Lycanthrope spells? I greatly value your input as a GM, aswell as a developer.
I'm not all that familiar with "bite of the weretiger"... was that a spell in a later 3.5 book? In any event... my take on spells like that would be that it'd be better to just call it "bite of the tiger" since that's what the weretiger's doing in the first place.
As for why we made lycanthropes weaker... that wasn't really a conscious decision as far as I know. We DID consciously try to make the lycanthrope template simpler and easier to apply though. Lycanthropes are, at the end of it all, people with class levels though, so making them more powerful is just a few class levels away.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dear James Jacobs,
I am writing today because I have just read something and I simply *must* ask you about it. I believe you have specified that the first, as in "The Motion Picture", Star Trek movie is your third favorite of all Start Trek film.
I am going to suppress my desire to say all sorts of things and simply ask; why is that your third favorite of *all* Star Trek films?
Because it has a sense of wonder to it, and because it has a neat sort of almost Lovecraftian element to it with the crew encountering a powerful otherworldly prescence, and because it was mostly absent of the later movies' abandonment of cool science fiction elements for stuff I'm less interested in.
James Jacobs,
I wanted to tell you what a neat idea I think the romance and caravan options are in the Jade Regent adventure path. I enjoyed them in Dragon Age 1 (which broke my heart - Why, Alistair, why?)and 2 (Go go Fenris!), and I'm sure my players will when I include them in our games. The caravan rules are great for the nomadic Varisians too.
Now, as for questions... I'm currently running a Rise of the Runelords campaign, and one of the PCs (a CG Male elf raised by Varisians, and a Dreamspun-bloodline sorcerer and eventual Spherewalker of Desna) has expressed interest in pursuing Orik Vancaskerkin romantically.
First, are there any insights into Orik's personality you'd be willing to share? Does gender matter much to him (The romance rules seem to indicate that most NPCs are assumed to be bisexual)? Aside from this, I could see Orik as a bit hesitant, as his previous relationships seem to have caused trouble. Thoughts?
Lastly, do you know of any models or actors that bear a resemblance to Orik? Alternatively, maybe just his hair/eye color and ethnicity (I'm guessing Chelaxian?).
Thanks for any tips you can give!
|
|
Because it has a sense of wonder to it, and because it has a neat sort of almost Lovecraftian element to it with the crew encountering a powerful otherworldly prescence, and because it was mostly absent of the later movies' abandonment of cool science fiction elements for stuff I'm less interested in.Dear James Jacobs,
I am writing today because I have just read something and I simply *must* ask you about it. I believe you have specified that the first, as in "The Motion Picture", Star Trek movie is your third favorite of all Start Trek film.
I am going to suppress my desire to say all sorts of things and simply ask; why is that your third favorite of *all* Star Trek films?
No dammit, no! I demand a less reasonable and far easier to deride train of thought. How dare you respond to my question with this sort of insight! I....er....uh...
Actually thanks a lot. I never thought about it like that before. :-)
Wow. You must check this out. Kind of Yetisburg, actually.
Anyway, too bad I don't live near there anymore.