Creative Director
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This makes me wonder. If you obtained the license for DnD stuff, would you be Creative Director for all of it, or would you be the Creative Director for just Golarion?Me? No. This time 7 years ago I would have absolutely said yes. But having put this much work into Pathifnder, I'm too fond and proud of it to cast it aside to "buy D&D" and go forward with that. And I respect D&D too much to want to try to turn it into a "Pathfinder game" if that makes any sense.
Ok, rephrase, if D&D went up for sale, would you, James Jacobs, like to see Paizo acquire it?
I would assume I'd be the Creative Director for all of it, since that's what I am currently—I'm not just in charge of Golarion's creative direction.
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Creative Director
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1. What's the chance of us seeing a serious version of St. Nicholas the Giver?
2. I like the idea of St Nicholas being a mythic human, a good aligned Earth human, similar to Baba Yaga in terms of build. I can also see him as an empyreal lord. Which do you think would work beat in the Inner Sea?
1) Very slim.
2) I suppose I'd make him into a mythic human or some sort of fey.
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Creative Director
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James, are their any plans to do an official Paizo Pathfinder Thief-Acrobat character class, or should we use the LPJ version or simply use the Acrobat Archetype to fill that Unearthed Arcana niche? I'm perfectly fine using either of the two I mentioned. Since you guys did a great Cavalier, and of course Barbarian (I love Amiri). I call these the D&D cartoon classes.
No plans.
Does Golarion have a Santa Claus?Nope.
Does it have a Christmas/Saturnalia-like festivity, though? (Midwinter, giving of gifts, big dinner with family and/or acquaintances).
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James, one of my players found out Golarion has printing presses and is interested in buying one. The single page press has already been priced in the Adventurer's Army, but there doesn't seem to be an official price for a movable type press. What do you think the suitable amount of GP needed to buy one would be?
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Creative Director
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James, one of my players found out Golarion has printing presses and is interested in buying one. The single page press has already been priced in the Adventurer's Army, but there doesn't seem to be an official price for a movable type press. What do you think the suitable amount of GP needed to buy one would be?
I'd probably peg it at 1,500 gp. Mabye even 2,000 gp or 2,500 gp. It should be significant, since it's a complex machine. (I picked 1,500 gp as a baseline because that's what a suit of full plate costs, which is also a complex thing that changes society.)
Have you ever DMed an aquatic adventure?
Do you use Merfolk in any homebrew games?
As a race, how do you feel about Merfolk?
Do you mix dinosaurs with merfolk, you know, monster encounters?
So I sort of did something tonight that caught my GM for a loop and now I'm trying to figure out how to prevent myself from getting killed. Could you take a look at my situation and lend me some Knowledge (System Mastery) checks?
In the campaign that I play in, we sort of just threw a wrench into my GM's plans. We've been under the thumb of a major Pirate Lord for most of our settlement's history (almost a year). Specifically, he finds ways to bleed us of our money so we can't rise up against him. He sent one of his top captains, a rakshasa, to visit us. I figured out the rakshasa's game quickly and I gave the order for our kingdom leaders (all badass PCs / cohorts) to assassinate him, which we did.
Now, if we just announce that we killed this rakshasa, there's a small chance that the Pirate Lord will admire our stones, but more likely he'll drive his full fleet of 100 ships into our port and massacre all of us (and our innocent townsfolk) on the spot because we're too risky to keep around. We don't have the monetary or military strength to stand up to him, so my character being the tricky kitsune that he is came up with a plane where he would impersonate the captain so we could gain strength right under the Pirate Lord's nose. The Pirate King is very hands-off in terms of his captains, so I might be able to essentially cover for our settlement so we can build our strength to the point where we could try and pull a coup. The captain that we killed as at least 28,000 gp in liquid wealth that is how ours, so I was planning on investing that wealth in magic items that would let me play the part of a rakshasa better.
The problem? Virtually ALL of the magical spells and effects that I've found won't let you transform into an outsider. Even a native one. Disguise self says that you can't change creature types via the disguise and alter self is specifically humanoids only. And even if I could find a magical way to do this, as far as I can find there's nothing that'll thwart a simple casting of true seeing, meaning one easily-accessible 4th level spell could ruin my ruse. What do you think?
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Creative Director
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Magic Dinosaur, I ask for guidance!
1. Antimagic field does not affect artifacts or deities. Does it affect a) supernatural abilities gained from mythic tiers, b) Legendary Items or c) demi-gods like demon lords?
2. What class/mythic path combo was Aroden before he ascended to a full deity?
3. Before he became a 5 domain deity, how did Aroden fight? What sort of spells (if any), feats and path abilities were favourites of his?
4. Even if you never reveal it, do you actually know how Aroden died?
5. What did Shelyn use as a weapon before she got her brother's weapon?
6. Zon-Kuthon was promised a treasure from the first vault by Abadar if he stayed in the plane of shadow until the sun left the sky. What did he pick come the age of darkness?
7. Baba Yaga, Cthulhu, Deskari and the Oliphaunt of Jandelay have a four way fight. Who wins and in what order are the losers taken out of the fight?
8. Will Hastur and Bokrug join Cthulhu in Bestiary 4? These are the only public domain Old Ones in your universe as Mhar and Xhamen Dor are paizo property.
1) a) Yes. b) Not if they have become artifacts. c) No.
2) Aroden was a wizard in life. We haven't revealed what mythic path he took, or indeed if he even TOOK a mythic path.
3) He favored melee fighting, in fact, and preferred to fight with a sword and shield, using magic to bolster his combat or for ranged attacks.
4) I do.
5) Unrevealed.
6) Unrevealed.
7) Hmmmm... Deskari is hands-down the weakest of the four, and Cthulhu is the hardest to actually kill. In a few months you'll have stats for all four, though, so you'll be able to run the numbers then! :D
8) We haven't revealed what other Great Old Ones will be in Bestiary 4 yet... but that's some pretty solid detective work.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever DMed an aquatic adventure?
Do you use Merfolk in any homebrew games?
As a race, how do you feel about Merfolk?
Do you mix dinosaurs with merfolk, you know, monster encounters?
Yes.
Not all that extensively.
They're cool, and I like the spin we've put on them a lot.
Haven't yet.
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Creative Director
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So I sort of did something tonight that caught my GM for a loop and now I'm trying to figure out how to prevent myself from getting killed. Could you take a look at my situation and lend me some Knowledge (System Mastery) checks?
** spoiler omitted **...
True seeing isn't a 4th level spell, and it costs money on top of that. But if you're paranoid about true seeing looking through a disguise, don't use magic. Use a physical Disguise, bolstering your Disguise check via other methods. Or perhaps use a mind controlled minion?
True seeing isn't a 4th level spell, and it costs money on top of that. But if you're paranoid about true seeing looking through a disguise, don't use magic. Use a physical Disguise, bolstering your Disguise check via other methods. Or perhaps use a mind controlled minion?So I sort of did something tonight that caught my GM for a loop and now I'm trying to figure out how to prevent myself from getting killed. Could you take a look at my situation and lend me some Knowledge (System Mastery) checks?
** spoiler omitted **...
Oh ... oh my. You're absolutely right. I have no idea why I thought it was a 4th level spell! And I could spend that gold on a bunch of items that give me competence bonuses and/or insight bonuses on Disguise checks instead, maybe get a headband of vast intellect that grants me ranks in Disguise too while I'm at it. I could get so good at mundane Disguises that no one could ever tell the difference!
You, sir, are a brilliant man-dinosaur-Director.
Are you a fan of time travel in stories? If so, what are some of our favorite time travel stories? How do you feel about Groundhog Day?
Have you ever DMed an aquatic adventure?
Do you use Merfolk in any homebrew games?
As a race, how do you feel about Merfolk?
Do you mix dinosaurs with merfolk, you know, monster encounters?
Yes.
Not all that extensively.
They're cool, and I like the spin we've put on them a lot.
Haven't yet.
I think I've missed something. What spin and what sourcebook?
I am not James, but I suspect Raiders of the Fever Sea (AP #56), and the fiction for Legacy of Fire (#23 in particular) would be the best sources for stuff on Golarion merfolk.
Ah HA! I recently found the playable races in the Inner Sea Bestiary. Thought you could hid them from me did you? I have but ONE question concerning them!
... Will any of them, especially the Androids, ever be legal for PFS play?!
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Creative Director
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By that logic, would a character who took divine source and got people to worship him be immune to anti-magic field like a demi-god. Remember, if he picks it three times he has just as many domains as a demon lord, horse man, archdevil or celestial lord.Magic Dinosaur, I ask for guidance!
1. Antimagic field does not affect artifacts or deities. Does it affect a) supernatural abilities gained from mythic tiers, b) Legendary Items or c) demi-gods like demon lords?
1) a) Yes. b) Not if they have become artifacts. c) No.
I would say no.
But frankly? This pretty much turned into a question for the rules boards for a FAQ, since I am pretty sure this isn't a corner case anyone thought of when they were considering how mythic characters interact with antimagic.
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Creative Director
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Are you a fan of time travel in stories? If so, what are some of our favorite time travel stories? How do you feel about Groundhog Day?
I love time travel stories.
Groundhog Day is okay.
My favorite Time Travel stories include:
The Shadow Out of Time
The Time Machine
A Gun for a Dinosaur
A Sound of Thunder
Hyperion Cantos
11/22/63
My favorite Time Travel movies include:
Primer
Back to the Future
Looper
12 Monkeys
The Terminator
Terminator 2
Timecrimes
Time Bandits
Army of Darkness
Source Code
Frequency
Star Trek IV
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Creative Director
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I think I've missed something. What spin and what sourcebook?Have you ever DMed an aquatic adventure?
Do you use Merfolk in any homebrew games?
As a race, how do you feel about Merfolk?
Do you mix dinosaurs with merfolk, you know, monster encounters?
Yes.
Not all that extensively.
They're cool, and I like the spin we've put on them a lot.
Haven't yet.
It's not something we've done a lot with yet... but basically, merfolk are similar to gillmen in that they've got links to strange and sinister masters.
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Creative Director
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Ah HA! I recently found the playable races in the Inner Sea Bestiary. Thought you could hid them from me did you? I have but ONE question concerning them!
... Will any of them, especially the Androids, ever be legal for PFS play?!
That's a question for the PFS team... but I doubt it.
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Yes... but kinda like movies... no WELL DONE character should ever overstay its welcome.Do you ever feel there's such a thing as too much detail in a character?
And on an unrelated note, which overarching AP villain do you feel is the weakest in terms of characterization?
I mean more in terms of backstory. One thing I keep running into when I make characters are criticisms to the tune of "There's NO WAY a 1st level character could have done all the stuff that happened in your backstory." or "That's WAY too convoluted a backstory to justify your race/class combination. Just play something else that's got a simpler background fits with the story better." or "Do you want to play a Shoanti/Tiefling/Dhampir/Changeling or do you want to play a paladin/Iomedean/inquisitor? You're trying to do too many things/tie together too many different narrative threads with this character concept. Keep it simple, stupid!"
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Creative Director
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I mean more in terms of backstory. One thing I keep running into when I make characters are criticisms to the tune of "There's NO WAY a 1st level character could have done all the stuff that happened in your backstory." or "That's WAY too convoluted a backstory to justify your race/class combination. Just play something else that's got a simpler background fits with the story better." or "Do you want to play a Shoanti/Tiefling/Dhampir/Changeling or do you want to play a paladin/Iomedean/inquisitor? You're trying to do too many things/tie together too many different narrative threads with this character concept. Keep it simple, stupid!"Yes... but kinda like movies... no WELL DONE character should ever overstay its welcome.Do you ever feel there's such a thing as too much detail in a character?
And on an unrelated note, which overarching AP villain do you feel is the weakest in terms of characterization?
Ah; yeah, there's times when the backstory can get in the way of the rules expectations.
To a certain extent we wrestled with that for our iconics, but we elected to play a bit fast and loose since their backstories could just as easily be what they accomplished during their lower levels—remember that these iconics aren't just iconic 1st level characters. They're iconic 20th level ones too, and everythin in between.
When making other NPCs or new PCs, yeah, it's good to keep the list of their previous accomplishments limited in scope. And for a PC in particular, this lets you build the bulk of her personality in actual game play... which is better anyway!
[How to impersonate a specific Rakshasa pirate captain?]...Or perhaps use a mind controlled minion?
This is great. Grab another Rakshasa, either in league with you or tricked or Dominated/etc and have THEM use a mundane disguise at relatively low DC to impersonate the other Rakshasa captain.
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And what about in terms of narrative? My most recent criticism in this regard was "Okay, so your character's a half-elf...whose mother was a Shoanti...who got ditched by her elven lover...that moved to Korvosa...and then she died...and your half-elf-half-Shoanti got taken by a drug dealer...who beat him near to death...which gave him a vision of Sarenrae...which inspired him to become a paladin...that somehow tries to balance Shoanti and Korvosan upbringings into one narrative mess of a character? That's WAY TOO complicated to justify the character. If he's going to embrace his Shoanti heritage, don't have him be a paladin of Sarenrae, have him be a barbarian or ranger. If he's going to be a Knight in Shining Armor type, don't try to connect him to the Shoanti. You can't have your cake and eat it, and you can't try to cover ALL the AP's narrative bases with a single character."
IANJJ, but, it sounds like someone need to find a new group, IMHO.
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This is great. Grab another Rakshasa, either in league with you or tricked or Dominated/etc and have THEM use a mundane disguise at relatively low DC to impersonate the other Rakshasa captain.[How to impersonate a specific Rakshasa pirate captain?]...Or perhaps use a mind controlled minion?
Right.
This reminds me of the recipe for Tarrasque stew...!
Umm for those of you questioning whether you could bring back Aroden with a simple True Ressurection, I have a logic question for you. Iomedae was the divine servant of Aroden she was a deity at the time of his death, and know what Iomedae stands for do you not think if she could bring him back she wouldn't? Do you not think that if Iomedae knew what happened to Aroden she would stay idle about it? James am I making any sort of logical sense?
What you're saying is that Iomedae likely tried rezzing him herself, and the fact that a god's effort didn't work bodes ill for mortals attempting the same?
Pretty much if Iomedae was in position to attempt a ressurection and couldn't how would a mortal be able to do it.
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And what about in terms of narrative? My most recent criticism in this regard was "Okay, so your character's a half-elf...whose mother was a Shoanti...who got ditched by her elven lover...that moved to Korvosa...and then she died...and your half-elf-half-Shoanti got taken by a drug dealer...who beat him near to death...which gave him a vision of Sarenrae...which inspired him to become a paladin...that somehow tries to balance Shoanti and Korvosan upbringings into one narrative mess of a character? That's WAY TOO complicated to justify the character. If he's going to embrace his Shoanti heritage, don't have him be a paladin of Sarenrae, have him be a barbarian or ranger. If he's going to be a Knight in Shining Armor type, don't try to connect him to the Shoanti. You can't have your cake and eat it, and you can't try to cover ALL the AP's narrative bases with a single character."
As someone that has wrestled with two different heritages in real life, you can, in fact, have your cake and eat it too. I don't see anything wrong with the paladin wanting to learn more about his Shoanti culture, though still playing up the awkwardness of meeting other Shoanti and the feelings of not quite being "Shoanti" enough for them. I think it's perfect.
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Creative Director
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And what about in terms of narrative? My most recent criticism in this regard was "Okay, so your character's a half-elf...whose mother was a Shoanti...who got ditched by her elven lover...that moved to Korvosa...and then she died...and your half-elf-half-Shoanti got taken by a drug dealer...who beat him near to death...which gave him a vision of Sarenrae...which inspired him to become a paladin...that somehow tries to balance Shoanti and Korvosan upbringings into one narrative mess of a character? That's WAY TOO complicated to justify the character. If he's going to embrace his Shoanti heritage, don't have him be a paladin of Sarenrae, have him be a barbarian or ranger. If he's going to be a Knight in Shining Armor type, don't try to connect him to the Shoanti. You can't have your cake and eat it, and you can't try to cover ALL the AP's narrative bases with a single character."
This is starting to drift into a matter of personal taste. What may be one person's brief background summary could well be another's overly complicated essay.
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Creative Director
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Umm for those of you questioning whether you could bring back Aroden with a simple True Ressurection, I have a logic question for you. Iomedae was the divine servant of Aroden she was a deity at the time of his death, and know what Iomedae stands for do you not think if she could bring him back she wouldn't? Do you not think that if Iomedae knew what happened to Aroden she would stay idle about it? James am I making any sort of logical sense?
Attributing logic to the machinations of the divine is a good way to get yourself in trouble.
What is the Whispering Tyrant's favorite flavor of Ice Cream?
Same question for the Runelords, Nex and Geb?
Is it true that any of these individuals can be "bribed" with said ice cream?
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And what about in terms of narrative? My most recent criticism in this regard was "Okay, so your character's a half-elf...whose mother was a Shoanti...who got ditched by her elven lover...that moved to Korvosa...and then she died...and your half-elf-half-Shoanti got taken by a drug dealer...who beat him near to death...which gave him a vision of Sarenrae...which inspired him to become a paladin...that somehow tries to balance Shoanti and Korvosan upbringings into one narrative mess of a character? That's WAY TOO complicated to justify the character. If he's going to embrace his Shoanti heritage, don't have him be a paladin of Sarenrae, have him be a barbarian or ranger. If he's going to be a Knight in Shining Armor type, don't try to connect him to the Shoanti. You can't have your cake and eat it, and you can't try to cover ALL the AP's narrative bases with a single character."This is starting to drift into a matter of personal taste. What may be one person's brief background summary could well be another's overly complicated essay.
I just don't want to write like a hack. That's my deepest fear of all time, writing anything, even if it's just a character background, only for it to be dismissed as "hack-work." I know that it's a game, it's for fun and all, but a better written character surely has a better chance of being accepted into a game or a play-by-post, right?
What kind of spells were in Aroden's spellbook?
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Creative Director
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I just don't want to write like a hack. That's my deepest fear of all time, writing anything, even if it's just a character background, only for it to be dismissed as "hack-work." I know that it's a game, it's for fun and all, but a better written character surely has a better chance of being accepted into a game or a play-by-post, right?
The best way to get better at writing is to write. And to supplement that by reading a lot.
I apoligize if this has been asked already my brain got a little runny around page 350 or so.
Do you have a rough timeline for Paizo Game Space and it's release?
If so when might it be released?
Also what is your favorite thing about said product/service?
I'm starting a Varisian PbP Campaign inspired equally by RotRL and Shattered Star, would you like to join?