Creative Director
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3) While I do have favorites and least-favorites... again, I'm not going to say which ones they are because there's not much more demoralizing to a freelance writer than the guy who hired you/Creative Director of the company saying that the thing you wrote was his least favorite. Not cool.Hi James, of course it is very reasonable that you do not wish to make a ranking of your favorite APs.
However, even without mentioning any products by name, I would be really interested in knowing what are the general criteria that make an AP your favourite: is it the plotline? the writing style? the NPCs? the commercial success? the level of innovation that you could put into it?
What are - let's say - your top three criteria?
My top three would be: the storyline, the NPCs, and the artwork. Maps would come in at number four. Beyond that it starts all being equally important to me. Commercial/critical success is actually pretty low on my scale of determining what ones I like the most... although commercial/critical success is one of the HIGHEST factors I look at when plotting out new Adventure Paths.
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This may seem like a odd/obvious question and answer, but if a werewolf character is level 4 and takes a +1 str at level 4 for his ability bonus, does that +1 apply in hybrid and animal forms too, or only if it brings his human str higher than his animal str?
That only applies to his human form. If the +1 (or later boosts) bring his human form's score above the animal's score, then that new value replaces the animal/hybrid score.
Wow... that's a hard one to answer. Haunts are probably my favorite new mechanic for the game
Don't you feel the Haunt mechanics unfairly favour parties with clerics? I feel like Haunts are very difficult to play.
For example, I believe you wrote Brinewall Legacy. There are several haunts in the dungeon which cause fear in otherwise non-combat areas. These are virtually useless, and when I GM'd that book, they felt completely useless.
So the voting population has chosen The Enigma Vaults as your dungeon level for Thornkeep (which I'm excited about, as that one was my vote).
Are you surprised by the outcome? Excited at the opportunity to expand upon the proposal? Bummed that you had to come up with 5 great ideas and only flesh out 1?
James: Why would the +1 ability score increase that occurs every 4 class levels only apply to a human form creature? Any creature with class levels (humanoid or not) gains a +1 every 4 class levels does it not?
Note: I am not trying to contradict you I am just trying to understand if there is a mechanic I am missing.
- Gauss
Joseph Wilson, where do I see the vote tally?
- Gauss
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I don't know what you're talking about, but there is nothing "less traditional" about the noble dodo bird serving as a familiar!Why are there no squirrel familiars?Same reason there are no echidna familiars, or no trout familiars, or no shrew familiars...
...because we've not invented one yet. If we're going to give a list of any number of animal familiars, there'll be some that get left off the list. The ones that get left off are generally the ones that are animals that have no real mythological history as being a familiar—once we've got the cats and ravens and snakes and bats and all those covered, we start moving on to other less obvious and less traditional familiars, but not all that quickly.
Correct. At this point, we have pretty much covered all the traditional familiar choices, and going forward when we introduce more familiars, we'll be picking weird bold new choices... like dodos and isopods.
What is more likely to determine whether or not we do a familiar in the future is how much the particular animal appeals to us at Paizo (and how often that animal is requested here on the boards). To date, things like dodos and isopods stand a couple orders of magnitudes higher on our "ooh, that'd make a great and fun familiar" list than the squirrel.
1 vote for the Platypus here...
Wow... that's a hard one to answer. Haunts are probably my favorite new mechanic for the gameDon't you feel the Haunt mechanics unfairly favour parties with clerics? I feel like Haunts are very difficult to play.
For example, I believe you wrote Brinewall Legacy. There are several haunts in the dungeon which cause fear in otherwise non-combat areas. These are virtually useless, and when I GM'd that book, they felt completely useless.
On the contrary, I really loved GMing the haunts in Brinewall.
And actually, I played with them a bit. My players did have a cleric among them, but he only took out one of them with positive energy, and it was the lesser one upstairs. By the time they got to the main one leading to the vaults, they had taken out Kikonu. Now, while the haunt says it is destroyed if Kikonu dies, I thought that was a lost opportunity to interact with a really cool scene. So, instead I still had them face the haunt, but I gave than an opportunity to interact with it, making a diplomacy check to try and put it to rest, assuring it that the soldiers deaths had been avenged. Ended up working out really great.
Joseph Wilson, where do I see the vote tally?
- Gauss
What is your opinion on gnomes?
gnomes are to dwarf/halfling
as
half elf is to human/elf.
^_^
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Creative Director
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Wow... that's a hard one to answer. Haunts are probably my favorite new mechanic for the gameDon't you feel the Haunt mechanics unfairly favour parties with clerics? I feel like Haunts are very difficult to play.
For example, I believe you wrote Brinewall Legacy. There are several haunts in the dungeon which cause fear in otherwise non-combat areas. These are virtually useless, and when I GM'd that book, they felt completely useless.
They unfairly favor parties with clerics less than traps unfairly favor parties with rogues.
At least there's paladins and oracles and rangers and inquisitors and even bards capable of dealing with haunts by casting cure wounds spells. If you get hit with a trap and a thief's not in the party to disarm it... you're kinda screwed.
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Creative Director
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| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So the voting population has chosen The Enigma Vaults as your dungeon level for Thornkeep (which I'm excited about, as that one was my vote).
Are you surprised by the outcome? Excited at the opportunity to expand upon the proposal? Bummed that you had to come up with 5 great ideas and only flesh out 1?
Not really. The Enigma Vaults is all about other planets and thinly veiled Lovecraftian stuff. Both things that folks seem to want more of these days. I was pretty sure the winner was either gonna be that one or the clockwork dungeon one (another element folks are eager for more of).
And as it turns out... if I really want to flesh out the other 4, I know a publishing company I can pitch them to real easy. :P
The second option is to form a close bond with an animal companion. A ranger who selects an animal companion can choose from the list on this page. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the ranger on his adventures as appropriate for its kind. A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses.
A beast master forms a close bond with an animal companion. This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability except that the Ranger’s effective druid level is equal to his Ranger level – 3. The Ranger gains a +2 bonus on wild empathy and Handle Animal checks made regarding his animal companion. Unlike a normal Ranger, a beast master’s choice of animal companion is not limited to a subset of all possibile animal companion choices—he may choose freely among all animal companion choices, just as a druid can.The beast master may have more than one animal companion, but he must divide up his effective druid level between his companions to determine the abilities of each companion. For example, a beast master with an effective druid level of 4 can have one 4th-level companion, two 2nd-level companions, or one 1st-level and one 3rd-level companion. Each time a beast master’s effective druid level increases, he must decide how to allocate the increase among his animal companions (including the option of adding a new 1st-level companion). Once an effective druid level is allocated to a particular companion, it cannot be redistributed while that companion is in the Ranger’s service (he must release a companion or wait until a companion dies to allocate its levels to another companion). The share spells animal companion ability does not give the Ranger the ability to cast a single spell so that it affects all of his animal companions.
This ability replaces hunter’s bond.
Does the beastmaster animal companion also get the the bonus from favored enemies and favored terrains?
Maybe later in the year. For now, I'd rather let the adventure stand or fail on its own merits or flaws.
Understood :)
For the records, while I don't exactly consider it stellar (it's nowhere near things like Burnt Offerings), I think it's a pretty fun (very) short adventure, undeserving of the flak it receives from some of the reviewers.
Of course, that's my personal opinion...
Don't you feel the Haunt mechanics unfairly favour parties with clerics?
My Oracle of Life would like to have a word with you...
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James: Why would the +1 ability score increase that occurs every 4 class levels only apply to a human form creature? Any creature with class levels (humanoid or not) gains a +1 every 4 class levels does it not?
Note: I am not trying to contradict you I am just trying to understand if there is a mechanic I am missing.
- Gauss
Because the humanoid form is the base creature. The animal form is a template and not really it's own thing. The humanoid form is the "true" form of the character, and thus the one to which the ability mod applies. The animal and hybrid forms, not being the "base" creature, are actually just big piles of template modifiers you add to the base creature.
AKA: A lycanthrope isn't 3 creatures. It's one creature. So it only gets level bonuses to stats once.
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OH! And what James Sutter did with dire corbies in Misfit Monsters was brilliant.You're gonna make Rob sad.
I do that lots.
But did I do that on purpose? Or did I honestly forget who wrote what and accidentally attribute Sutter's talent to Rob?
The end result, alas, is the same.
Sorry, Rob! Your dire corbies are THE BOMB.
I would sure let them have those bonuses.Does the beastmaster animal companion also get the the bonus from favored enemies and favored terrains?
I am of the same opinion. :)
Do you think that touch spells (melee or ranged) could be changed to an appropriate saving throw instead of an attack roll ? That would remove the touch AC system, and some characters/monsters would have a better chance to avoid or diminish the effect of these spells (negates the effect or half, or partial). On a lot of creatures it can come quiclky to the point that the caster must roll a natural 1 for the creature to escape the spell.
That would still impact on incorporeal creatures, but some changes could be made there too.
IANJ, but...
Do you think that touch spells (melee or ranged) could be changed to an appropriate saving throw instead of an attack roll?
Ah, but there are already a plethora of spells that allow a save after you succeded in your attack roll.
And as for the damage dealing touch spells (like Scorching Ray and its cousins)... would you also allow tougher monsters a save vs the damage the fighter inflicts? After all, on a lot of creatures, the fighter must roll a natural 1 for his target to escape the roll...
Ah, but there are already a plethora of spells that allow a save after you succeded in your attack roll.And as for the damage dealing touch spells (like [/i]Scorching Ray[/i] and its cousins)... would you also allow tougher monsters a save vs the damage the fighter inflicts? After all, on a lot of creatures, the fighter must roll a natural 1 for his target to escape the roll...
That's the point. Why is there an attack roll and a save, except to nerf the spell ? Why finger of death has only a save while slay living or disintegrate have an attack roll and a save ? I can't see the logic.
Nerfing ray of enfeeblement by reducing the duration and adding a save make this spell a joke IMO. Compare it with touch of idiocy: no save, long duration, and caster can lose his highest level spells and more. It just doesn't scale with levels.My point is to have a more unified magic system. You save against spells, you make an attack roll with a weapon. You get rid of a stat, it gets simpler, and you also lose a paragraph in the rules.
Also, it's one less roll to made.
Of course not, that just doesn't make sense and it's ridiculous. The normal AC, and the touch AC are not the same except for a very few creatures. You have a save for half damage on fireball, why can't it be the same with scorching ray ? Of course you'll need to rewrite some spells or balance them differently.
That's just my thoughts to make the game evolve. And some things can't please everyone, we already know that.
But I'm waiting to hear Mr James Jacobs here, it's the ask James Jacobs thread. ^^
Dear James Jacobs,
Why is every instance of the word ki italicized?
Are good aligned outsiders more likely to remember their mortal lives? Or is it a universally rare phenomenon?
Are good aligned outsiders more likely to remember their mortal lives? Or is it a universally rare phenomenon?
Interesting question. I'll extend it by asking if there are any outsiders in particular that are likely to retain a measure of their mortal personality or memories. Alternatively, are there any particular planes of habitation in the afterlife where residents are more likely to remember their mortal lives?
Can one enhance a dwarven thrower? How much does it cost?
So the racial archetypes in the advanced race guide? are those limited to particular races? Or are they open to all races? Because some archetypes seem racially bound (like the half orc rogue skulking slayer) and some seem like they could apply to anyone (like the drow cleric).
Typically, only members of the section’s
race can take the listed archetype, bloodline, or order,
though such options rarely interact with the racial traits
or alternate racial traits of that race. An archetype usually
features a thematic link to the race, granting it class
features that complement the abilities and the background
of the race. Because adventurers are often societal outliers,
sometimes these archetypes feature a theme that is the
exception to the norm for racial tendencies.
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Creative Director
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Do you think that touch spells (melee or ranged) could be changed to an appropriate saving throw instead of an attack roll ? That would remove the touch AC system, and some characters/monsters would have a better chance to avoid or diminish the effect of these spells (negates the effect or half, or partial). On a lot of creatures it can come quiclky to the point that the caster must roll a natural 1 for the creature to escape the spell.
That would still impact on incorporeal creatures, but some changes could be made there too.
They could... but I like the touch attack system (even if I think it's been a bit overused now with the gunslinger). Plus, keeping touch/ray spells use attack rolls instead of saving throws allows for more interesting spell diversity.
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Creative Director
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Ah, but there are already a plethora of spells that allow a save after you succeded in your attack roll.And as for the damage dealing touch spells (like [/i]Scorching Ray[/i] and its cousins)... would you also allow tougher monsters a save vs the damage the fighter inflicts? After all, on a lot of creatures, the fighter must roll a natural 1 for his target to escape the roll...
That's the point. Why is there an attack roll and a save, except to nerf the spell ? Why finger of death has only a save while slay living or disintegrate have an attack roll and a save ? I can't see the logic.
Nerfing ray of enfeeblement by reducing the duration and adding a save make this spell a joke IMO. Compare it with touch of idiocy: no save, long duration, and caster can lose his highest level spells and more. It just doesn't scale with levels.My point is to have a more unified magic system. You save against spells, you make an attack roll with a weapon. You get rid of a stat, it gets simpler, and you also lose a paragraph in the rules.
Also, it's one less roll to made.Of course not, that just doesn't make sense and it's ridiculous. The normal AC, and the touch AC are not the same except for a very few creatures. You have a save for half damage on fireball, why can't it be the same with scorching ray ? Of course you'll need to rewrite some spells or balance them differently.
That's just my thoughts to make the game evolve. And some things can't please everyone, we already know that.
But I'm waiting to hear Mr James Jacobs here, it's the ask James Jacobs thread. ^^
Again... it makes spells diverse and different. If every spell were built according to specific design rules that forced the same mechanics for every remotely similar spell... there'd be a lot fewer spells. And I like there being a lot of spells. Having the ability to have saves, attacks, and combinations of the both helps us fiddle with spell power levels as well in very tiny ways that gives us a lot more creative freedom when designing spells.
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Dear James Jacobs,
Why is every instance of the word ki italicized?
Because that's how WotC did it, and it's one of those things that for whatever reason stuck to Pathfinder when we converted from 3.5.
I'd be fine with unatilicizing it in future editions, frankly. Because it's silly—it's not a spell or magic item.
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Creative Director
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Are good aligned outsiders more likely to remember their mortal lives? Or is it a universally rare phenomenon?Interesting question. I'll extend it by asking if there are any outsiders in particular that are likely to retain a measure of their mortal personality or memories. Alternatively, are there any particular planes of habitation in the afterlife where residents are more likely to remember their mortal lives?
Nope.
And nope.
Those who recall their mortal lives are rare, unique individuals who generally go on to become really important and powerful and notable characters, though.
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Creative Director
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So the racial archetypes in the advanced race guide? are those limited to particular races? Or are they open to all races? Because some archetypes seem racially bound (like the half orc rogue skulking slayer) and some seem like they could apply to anyone (like the drow cleric).
That's up to your GM. The intent is that all racial archetypes are limited to the race to which they're assigned... that's why they're called "racial archetypes" and not just "archetypes." Sure, some might work well for other races... but establishing a specific race's identity and theme and personality by limiting racial archetypes to those races is an important way to keep them all separate and validate in game reason why they're separate races at all in the first place.
In the context of a campaign setting, you can use world flavor and society stuff to further secure a race's position in the world. But in a rules hardcover like the Advanced Race Guide, which is meant to be world-neutral, that's not an option. And therefore, it's even more important in the context of that book to not allow much cross-polination between those archetypes.
Maybe I'm a rules racist though.
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Creative Director
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| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So the racial archetypes in the advanced race guide? are those limited to particular races? Or are they open to all races? Because some archetypes seem racially bound (like the half orc rogue skulking slayer) and some seem like they could apply to anyone (like the drow cleric).Typically, only members of the section’s
race can take the listed archetype, bloodline, or order,
though such options rarely interact with the racial traits
or alternate racial traits of that race. An archetype usually
features a thematic link to the race, granting it class
features that complement the abilities and the background
of the race. Because adventurers are often societal outliers,
sometimes these archetypes feature a theme that is the
exception to the norm for racial tendencies.
Oops! Looks like you accidentally posted something here that should have gone to the "Ask Cheapy Anything" thread!
(ha! :-P)
Can one enhance a dwarven thrower? How much does it cost?Same as enhancing whatever else is in the same category as whatever a "dwarven thrower" is.
A dwarven thrower is a specific magic weapon (CRB p472). I'd also like to know the answer to this. I've often wondered if there are any guidelines for pricing enhanced versions of specific weapons, since it's not clear whether their non-standard properties add a flat increase to the price, or one that makes further enhancement more expensive the way bonuses and bonus-equivalent enhancements do.
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A dwarven thrower is a specific magic weapon (CRB p472). I'd also like to know the answer to this. I've often wondered if there are any guidelines for pricing enhanced versions of specific weapons, since it's not clear whether their non-standard properties add a flat increase to the price, or one that makes further enhancement more expensive the way bonuses and bonus-equivalent enhancements do.Can one enhance a dwarven thrower? How much does it cost?Same as enhancing whatever else is in the same category as whatever a "dwarven thrower" is.
Ah... right. Didn't trigger in my mind as a magic weapon because you didn't italicize it in the first bit.
In any event... ALL specific magic weapons can be enhanced. Or changed to different weapons. You could have a bolas dwarven thrower if you wanted. As for how to add additional properties... one way is to reverse engineer what the weapon cost, subtract out the additional cost for its non-standard abilities, enhance it, then add that previously-subtracted cost back in. Alternatively, you could reverse engineer the weapon to estimate how much of an effective enhancement bonus the extra stuff is worth.
However you do it, the final step should be to submit it to the GM for approval for pricing and all that. And if you're the GM, once you get the improved weapon's new price, compare it to similar prices for other weapons—if you're having a hard time deciding which weapon is the best buy for the gold, then your price is about right.
James: Why would the +1 ability score increase that occurs every 4 class levels only apply to a human form creature? Any creature with class levels (humanoid or not) gains a +1 every 4 class levels does it not?
Note: I am not trying to contradict you I am just trying to understand if there is a mechanic I am missing.
- Gauss
Because the humanoid form is the base creature. The animal form is a template and not really it's own thing. The humanoid form is the "true" form of the character, and thus the one to which the ability mod applies. The animal and hybrid forms, not being the "base" creature, are actually just big piles of template modifiers you add to the base creature.
AKA: A lycanthrope isn't 3 creatures. It's one creature. So it only gets level bonuses to stats once.
Ahhh, I think I understand the disconnect.
In my way of thinking:
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am then infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2strength (making it an 18).
The way you are responding (my current interpretation):
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2 strength (making it an 18. I do NOT add the +1 from my level 4 bonus a second time. (Which is of course, correct.)
The way I thought you had responded (my former interpretation):
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2 strength to the orignal 15 (not 16) and thus result in a 17 strength. I do not get an 18 strength. (This is what didn't make sense to me).
Am I correct in your position?
- Gauss
Dear James Jacobs,
Why is every instance of the word ki italicized?
Because that's how WotC did it, and it's one of those things that for whatever reason stuck to Pathfinder when we converted from 3.5.
I'd be fine with unatilicizing it in future editions, frankly. Because it's silly—it's not a spell or magic item.
Is it because it's a word from a foreign language? I seem to remember a stylistic rule to that effect.
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Creative Director
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James: Why would the +1 ability score increase that occurs every 4 class levels only apply to a human form creature? Any creature with class levels (humanoid or not) gains a +1 every 4 class levels does it not?
Note: I am not trying to contradict you I am just trying to understand if there is a mechanic I am missing.
- Gauss
Because the humanoid form is the base creature. The animal form is a template and not really it's own thing. The humanoid form is the "true" form of the character, and thus the one to which the ability mod applies. The animal and hybrid forms, not being the "base" creature, are actually just big piles of template modifiers you add to the base creature.
AKA: A lycanthrope isn't 3 creatures. It's one creature. So it only gets level bonuses to stats once.
Ahhh, I think I understand the disconnect.
In my way of thinking:
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am then infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2strength (making it an 18).The way you are responding (my current interpretation):
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2 strength (making it an 18. I do NOT add the +1 from my level 4 bonus a second time. (Which is of course, correct.)The way I thought you had responded (my former interpretation):
I have a strength of 15. At level 4 I add a +1 to strength. It is now a 16.
I am infected by Lycanthropy and when in hybrid form I add +2 strength to the orignal 15 (not 16) and thus result in a 17 strength. I do not get an 18 strength. (This is what didn't make sense to me).Am I correct in your position?
- Gauss
If you're a werewolf... your starting Strength score in hybrid form is equal to your base score (in your case, a 16 due to the +1 Strength) or the base animal score (in this case, 13), whichever is higher. In your case the base creature score is higher, so in hybrid and wolf form your initial Strength is 16. THEN you get your +2 bonus, which gives you a final score of 18.
In this example, the wolf's Str score of 13 never even enters the picture.
James, thanks. For some reason I thought you had indicated that the +1 from level advancement did not apply in any way to the hybrid form.
- Gauss
Stormcloaks or Imperial Legion?
They unfairly favor parties with clerics less than traps unfairly favor parties with rogues.
At least there's paladins and oracles and rangers and inquisitors and even bards capable of dealing with haunts by casting cure wounds spells. If you get hit with a trap and a thief's not in the party to disarm it... you're kinda screwed.
I don't really wanna argue, as I'm sure you have better things to do, but I just wanted to point out that, with the exception of magical traps (and certain rogue talents which make finding traps easier), every class in the game has access to both Perception and Disable Device. And a minimum of 2 skill points/level base.
FireclawDrake, rogues also get a bonus to detecting and disarming traps that put them significantly ahead of most other classes who try to do the same thing.
- Gauss