James,
Is there a connection between Queen Galfrey of Mendev and the home of the time lords, planet Gallifrey?
-vyshan
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The popularity of the Hell Pizza Chain in New Zealand would seem to support this interpretation...Are you somehow implying that pizza is evil ?so does this mean that italian food is the devil's food?
3) Cheliax.
After looking at that site I can safely say nope, nothing evil about that :3
Creative Director
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James,
Is there a connection between Queen Galfrey of Mendev and the home of the time lords, planet Gallifrey?
-vyshan
Are time lords from Dr. Who?
If so, the connection would be that Erik Mona, a huge Dr. Who fan, may have consciously or subconsciously used Galfrey's name as an intentional or unintentional easter egg.
James, I know of many sets of rules for mental disorders in D20. I own the Pathfinder Gamemaster's Guide, Urban Arcana, and Heroes of Horror, all of which have such systems (Urban Arcana and Heroes of Horror might use the same system, though. I don't remember.). I also have a borrowed copy of Call of Cthulhu, which I haven't looked at yet, but I guess probably has such a system. Which system do you think is best for handling bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and alcoholism?
Tar-Baphon is of equal power level to the most powerful runelords. Not sure if he's higher CR than Xanderghul or Sorshen or lower, but he's close.
Now that Mythic Adventures is out and Tar-Baphon's been statted out at CR 26, how is he in relation to Xanderghul and Sorshen?
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Creative Director
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James, I know of many sets of rules for mental disorders in D20. I own the Pathfinder Gamemaster's Guide, Urban Arcana, and Heroes of Horror, all of which have such systems (Urban Arcana and Heroes of Horror might use the same system, though. I don't remember.). I also have a borrowed copy of Call of Cthulhu, which I haven't looked at yet, but I guess probably has such a system. Which system do you think is best for handling bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and alcoholism?
There is no one "BEST" system for all games, because all games are different. I quite like the system we have in Pathfinder... since I was the one who designed those rules for madness. Treating these things like other afflictions like poison and disease makes sesne (and has the handy side effect of being infinitely expandable with new forms of madness)... but in a game like Call of Cthulhu where sanity is as ubiquitous as hit points, a more robust, more fully-integrated system works better.
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Creative Director
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Quick story:
** spoiler omitted **
Any chance we'll get your clarification regarding the bodyguard feat moved to the APG FAQ or PFS Rules area? Or even better, an errata/rewrite of the feat wording to make it more clear?
For about a year now, I've been seeing questions (including from me) on a monthly basis about whether or not the feat requires the player to meet conditions for both Aid Another and an AoO, but it seems evident from your post that it doesn't require either of those. Simply have to be next to the bloke. Sadly, being in the Off Topic area, it's often overlooked and I've had GMs...
Both situations actually worked out the way it should ALWAYS work out: the GM gets to make the call. EVEN IN PATHFINDER SOCIETY PLAY. Whether or not the GM makes the "right" call can certainly be open to debate, and in something like PFS, there's more regulations in play, but in the end, the right call is the one the GM makes so that play can continue rather than turn into a rules conflict.
No amount of my posting "clarifications" here will convince your second GM to change his mind, because some GMs simply don't regard the posts of anyone other than Jason as "legitimate." Which is fine... but that's going to mean that they're going to go longer before they get resolutions to their questions, because Jason is but one man, and he has a lot more to do other than make rulings on relatively small corner cases. By only looking to one person as a source for clarifications, a GM is artificially narrowing his chances of getting swift resolutions to questions and artificially inflating the time it'll take before he's satisfied with an answer. ESPECIALLY if he limits his "approved sources" to someone who isn't as active on these boards.
Currently, the best route to getting a Jason-approved (or design team approved... that only increases the number of people to 3 though...) is to post the question over on the rules forums and hit the FAQ button.
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Creative Director
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Tar-Baphon is of equal power level to the most powerful runelords. Not sure if he's higher CR than Xanderghul or Sorshen or lower, but he's close.Now that Mythic Adventures is out and Tar-Baphon's been statted out at CR 26, how is he in relation to Xanderghul and Sorshen?
He's relatively comparable to them. Until I stat up Sorshen or Xhanderghul, though, their CRs remain nebulous.
Right now, I'd probably tag Sorshen at CR 26 and Xanderghul at CR 28, but those can fluctuate and WILL fluctuate as my decision on HOW to use their stats sets in stone in some day in the distatnt future.
Tar-Baphon is of equal power level to the most powerful runelords. Not sure if he's higher CR than Xanderghul or Sorshen or lower, but he's close.Now that Mythic Adventures is out and Tar-Baphon's been statted out at CR 26, how is he in relation to Xanderghul and Sorshen?He's relatively comparable to them. Until I stat up Sorshen or Xhanderghul, though, their CRs remain nebulous.
Right now, I'd probably tag Sorshen at CR 26 and Xanderghul at CR 28, but those can fluctuate and WILL fluctuate as my decision on HOW to use their stats sets in stone in some day in the distatnt future.
Would someone planning to stat up either of those Runelords for their own game do well to look at Baba Yaga's stat block?
Dear Grandmother has a number of gleefully arbitrary abilities that make her significantly more dangerous and durable. (My personal favorite being her very improved familiar.)
Would it be fairly safe to assume that, similarly, Sorshen and Xanderghul have additional abilities that are above and beyond what would come strictly from their mythic tiers?
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He's relatively comparable to them. Until I stat up Sorshen or Xhanderghul, though, their CRs remain nebulous.
Right now, I'd probably tag Sorshen at CR 26 and Xanderghul at CR 28, but those can fluctuate and WILL fluctuate as my decision on HOW to use their stats sets in stone in some day in the distatnt future.
How would Tar-Baphon and the Runelords react to each other? Seeing as how they are all still technically 'around'. They come from very different eras though. I'm curious for...reasons.
James,
A question about bardic performance. Do the Tea Ceremony ability of the Geisha, and the Careful Teamwork ability of the Detective, once activated, count as "bardic perfomance(s) in effect?" Both abilities require spending some number of rounds in continuous performance, after which they apply a long-duration bonus that does not expend additional rounds.
If they do count as "in effect" or maintained for the entire duration, they could be used to enable spells like Saving Finale and Allegro If they do not count, they would allow the performing bard to other performance without ending the first effect, and would not end when the bard is disabled. Each interpretation seems reasonable, but not wholly intuitive.
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Creative Director
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Tar-Baphon is of equal power level to the most powerful runelords. Not sure if he's higher CR than Xanderghul or Sorshen or lower, but he's close.Now that Mythic Adventures is out and Tar-Baphon's been statted out at CR 26, how is he in relation to Xanderghul and Sorshen?He's relatively comparable to them. Until I stat up Sorshen or Xhanderghul, though, their CRs remain nebulous.
Right now, I'd probably tag Sorshen at CR 26 and Xanderghul at CR 28, but those can fluctuate and WILL fluctuate as my decision on HOW to use their stats sets in stone in some day in the distatnt future.
Would someone planning to stat up either of those Runelords for their own game do well to look at Baba Yaga's stat block?
Dear Grandmother has a number of gleefully arbitrary abilities that make her significantly more dangerous and durable. (My personal favorite being her very improved familiar.)
Would it be fairly safe to assume that, similarly, Sorshen and Xanderghul have additional abilities that are above and beyond what would come strictly from their mythic tiers?
Nah... the best place to start if you're statting up your own Runelord is to look at the two we HAVE statted up: Karzoug and Krune. Baba Yaga is more powerful than Sorshen or Xanderghul.
Xanderghul and Sorshen certainly both have mythic tiers. Xanderghul has Archmage tiers. Sorshen has Trickster tiers.
A 20th level wizard/10 tier characer is CR 24 just right there. Both Xanderghul and Sorshen certainly also have the same +2 CR bump Karzoug has (their stats are built using 25 point buy, and have gear equal to a 20th level PC). That bump would makea 20/10 NPC a CR 26 foe.
Which would explain Sorshen's CR all on its own. Xanderghul has +2 CR more of stuff... perhaps he's got a template or something else. And Sorshen might not be tier 10... she might just be tier 8 or tier 6 with her OWN templates.
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Creative Director
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How would Tar-Baphon and the Runelords react to each other? Seeing as how they are all still technically 'around'. They come from very different eras though. I'm curious for...reasons.He's relatively comparable to them. Until I stat up Sorshen or Xhanderghul, though, their CRs remain nebulous.
Right now, I'd probably tag Sorshen at CR 26 and Xanderghul at CR 28, but those can fluctuate and WILL fluctuate as my decision on HOW to use their stats sets in stone in some day in the distatnt future.
They would most likely be bitter and violent competitors.
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Creative Director
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James,
A question about bardic performance. Do the Tea Ceremony ability of the Geisha, and the Careful Teamwork ability of the Detective, once activated, count as "bardic perfomance(s) in effect?" Both abilities require spending some number of rounds in continuous performance, after which they apply a long-duration bonus that does not expend additional rounds.
If they do count as "in effect" or maintained for the entire duration, they could be used to enable spells like Saving Finale and Allegro If they do not count, they would allow the performing bard to other performance without ending the first effect, and would not end when the bard is disabled. Each interpretation seems reasonable, but not wholly intuitive.
The long term duration bonuses granted should not expend additional rounds... because if they did, they'd never get fully used, and at that point having long-term durations is illogical.
They thus do NOT allow the enabling of spells like Saving Finale. Those spells can only be cast if you spent a use of bardic performance that round.
Why?
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Question on "Hungry Are The Dead":
Thanks for the swift answer, James. I take it then that the Detective can at least stack Careful Teamwork with other, normally maintained performances once the requisite three rounds are spent.
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Creative Director
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Thanks for the swift answer, James. I take it then that the Detective can at least stack Careful Teamwork with other, normally maintained performances once the requisite three rounds are spent.
That's the kind of thing that vexes me. When someone asks question #1, then assumes my answer to what they asked in question #1 means that the answer to unasked and not-even-implied question #56 has been answered by well.
I'm not familiar with the Detective or Careful Teamwork; the deeper into the rulebooks you dig, the less the chance is that I've even HEARD of the option. My focus is not on the rulebook line (with the exception of the monster books, that is)... but on our other lines.
Which is another way of saying "That's why I keep asking folks with rulebook questions to ask them in the rulebook forums... that way they can be FAQed but they are then asked in a forum where the others reading them, be they Paizo employees or knowledgeable gamers or both, have a better chance of seeing the question and providing better answers.
Is it true that Cosmos old mustache is now animated and living in the walls of the paizo office, making mysterious scratching noises?
I hear you like cats. Did you know that up here, in Alaska, one of out little towns elected "Stubbs the cat" as the mayor? The people of Talkeetna didn't particularly like either candidate.
Thanks for the swift answer, James. I take it then that the Detective can at least stack Careful Teamwork with other, normally maintained performances once the requisite three rounds are spent.That's the kind of thing that vexes me. When someone asks question #1, then assumes my answer to what they asked in question #1 means that the answer to unasked and not-even-implied question #56 has been answered by well.
I'm not familiar with the Detective or Careful Teamwork; the deeper into the rulebooks you dig, the less the chance is that I've even HEARD of the option. My focus is not on the rulebook line (with the exception of the monster books, that is)... but on our other lines.
Which is another way of saying "That's why I keep asking folks with rulebook questions to ask them in the rulebook forums... that way they can be FAQed but they are then asked in a forum where the others reading them, be they Paizo employees or knowledgeable gamers or both, have a better chance of seeing the question and providing better answers.
Based solely on the size of this thread, I could certainly imagine a frustrating volume of misquotes and misinterpretations.
That post of mine was, I'll admit, a poorly disguised dig for clarification. I have posted and searched in Rules Questions, and seen about an equal number of replies taking either side. If this were a home game I'd just ask my GM, but since I've started a PFS character with the Detective archetype, I've been trying to get as clear an answer as possible before he enters 2nd level, past the point of free retraining. Thanks again for the quick reply, even if you don't prefer to handle rules questions.
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Creative Director
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Hi. I'm thinking of playing a Fey Founding cleric worshipper of the Eldest known as The Lost Prince.
However, I can't seem to find any more info on him other then the short description in the Inner Sea World Guide.
Is there another source for information? Or maybe from an upcoming product?
We talk a little more about the Eldest in Pathfinder #36's article about the First World, but that's pretty much it.
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Creative Director
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Based solely on the size of this thread, I could certainly imagine a frustrating volume of misquotes and misinterpretations.That post of mine was, I'll admit, a poorly disguised dig for clarification. I have posted and searched in Rules Questions, and seen about an equal number of replies taking either side. If this were a home game I'd just ask my GM, but since I've started a PFS character with the Detective archetype, I've been trying to get as clear an answer as possible before he enters 2nd level, past the point of free retraining. Thanks again for the quick reply, even if you don't prefer to handle rules questions.
I've given this advice before but it's important:
PFS is not a home game. It is, by its very nature, more restrictive in what you can and cannot do in the game. A necessary feature of the nature of its existence. You can't craft items, for example.
One way these restrictions manifest is that the further from what's in the Core Rulebook you get... the more spells and archetypes and feats and options you add in from other books... the more important the role of the GM as an arbiter and rules adjudicator grows. It's because the GM can make rulings and decisions that the game works at all in the first place, frankly.
There is, alas, a perception that a GM in PFS can't make rulings on their own; that there's a lot of pressure for the PFS GM to rule EXACTLY RIGHT so that anyone and everyone in any game anywhere will have the same experience, and thus things will all be fair and balanced.
No two people are identically good at any task though, and as a result, I think that a lot of GMs are too timid in making rulings for PFS, and a lot of players are too confrontational and demanding and antagonistic to LET the GMs make those rulings. That's purely my own take on it, of course... but that's certainly how I see things from this side of things.
In a perfect world, PFS GMs would be able to and would be comfortable making their rulings, and in the case of a bad ruling, the system would allow for a character to recover from such... but the players would also be MUCH more forgiving and less demanding that every experience be perfection.
Anyway, to come back to my initial advice: The more distant your character choices grow from the core, the more likely it is that you'll stumble across a combination of spells/feats/abilities/whatever that your PFS GM won't feel comfortable making a table ruling at, and thus the more likely it will be that you'll get frustrated.
I'm not saying don't use non-core stuff. I'm merely saying be prepared if you build a character that uses new rules that you or the GM or anyone else might not be 100% comfortable using yet or that might not yet be 100% "field tested" and completely error-free... be prepared for long waits for resolutions if you're not willing to just roll with the bumps when they come.
Have you ever heard of Spectrum Games? More specifically their Lovecraft game Macabre Tales? It is a one-on-one RPG that uses dominoes instead of dice. It's really cool!
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We talk a little more about the Eldest in Pathfinder #36's article about the First World, but that's pretty much it.Hi. I'm thinking of playing a Fey Founding cleric worshipper of the Eldest known as The Lost Prince.
However, I can't seem to find any more info on him other then the short description in the Inner Sea World Guide.
Is there another source for information? Or maybe from an upcoming product?
No revisit on the Eldest/Fey any time soon?
Something like the Chronicle of the Righteous or Books of the Damned?
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Have you listened to Welcome to Night Vale at all?
If you haven't, it's like community radio for a weird Lovecraftian town. It seems like something you would enjoy.
Dear James Jacobs,
I have a question about inner sea ethnicity and phenotype.
Currently, all described ethnicities in the Inner Sea World Guide are said to have dark hair and dark eyes with the singular exception of the Ulfen (with blond/red hair and blue eyes.) The baseline inner sea inhabitant as described seems overwhelmingly likely to be brown haired with brown eyes.
Does this imply that if a PC were to be described as blond haired, it would follow that they are almost certainly an Ulfen? Or is a broad range of phenotypes possible in the other ethnicities, such that it would be patently unremarkable to find a blond Taldan or a blue eyed Chelaxian?
Thanks for clarification. I have a player who is having a hard time finding the right ethnicity to describe a character who is "Northern European" in conception without channeling a Nordic vibe.
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Have you listened to Welcome to Night Vale at all?
If you haven't, it's like community radio for a weird Lovecraftian town. It seems like something you would enjoy.
Just as long as he doesn't walk into the dog park, though...
Have you listened to Welcome to Night Vale at all?
If you haven't, it's like community radio for a weird Lovecraftian town. It seems like something you would enjoy.
Just as long as he doesn't walk into the dog park, though...
Its forbidden anyway, so he should be fine.
Where can I find the most info on the religious system of Sarkoris?
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IANJ, but the most comprehensive discussion of Sarkoris' religious system is in Lost Kingdoms.
In addition, I have a question.
James, you mentioned previously that you thought the worst possible group that could come to control Golarion is Rahadoum. How would you deal with a player who wants to play a Rahadoumi character because he "likes the defiance of it?" I just don't think a Rahadoumi atheist fits very well with Rise of the Runelords, which is the campaign I'm trying to run.
How rare are the Koblak Bugbears (from Classic Monsters Revisited) on Golarion?
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Xanderghul and Sorshen certainly both have mythic tiers. Xanderghul has Archmage tiers. Sorshen has Trickster tiers.
That's an interesting choice for Sorshen, I would think that trickster would be a sub-optimal choice for her (although it might fit thematically). Would I be right to assume she took Dual Path to pick up some of the more useful archmage abilities?
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James, I know of many sets of rules for mental disorders in D20. I own the Pathfinder Gamemaster's Guide, Urban Arcana, and Heroes of Horror, all of which have such systems (Urban Arcana and Heroes of Horror might use the same system, though. I don't remember.). I also have a borrowed copy of Call of Cthulhu, which I haven't looked at yet, but I guess probably has such a system. Which system do you think is best for handling bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and alcoholism?There is no one "BEST" system for all games, because all games are different. I quite like the system we have in Pathfinder... since I was the one who designed those rules for madness. Treating these things like other afflictions like poison and disease makes sesne (and has the handy side effect of being infinitely expandable with new forms of madness)... but in a game like Call of Cthulhu where sanity is as ubiquitous as hit points, a more robust, more fully-integrated system works better.
Dear Mr. Jacobs,
Since a separate thread recently placed the godhead upon you, does this make you the god of madness?
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Creative Director
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We talk a little more about the Eldest in Pathfinder #36's article about the First World, but that's pretty much it.Hi. I'm thinking of playing a Fey Founding cleric worshipper of the Eldest known as The Lost Prince.
However, I can't seem to find any more info on him other then the short description in the Inner Sea World Guide.
Is there another source for information? Or maybe from an upcoming product?
No revisit on the Eldest/Fey any time soon?
Something like the Chronicle of the Righteous or Books of the Damned?
Nothing has been announced, and we generally don't announce plans for things before the product is announced.
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Creative Director
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Have you listened to Welcome to Night Vale at all?
If you haven't, it's like community radio for a weird Lovecraftian town. It seems like something you would enjoy.
Have not; I'll check it out when I get a chance.