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Hi James! Thanks for taking the time to answer questions in this thread. I've got a few for you:
1. How does one become/is recruited to become a Red Mantis Assassin?
2. Is there some sort of test to prove your worth/skills to become one?
3. Is there any reason for a priest of Achaekek not to trust the Red Mantis? Would it be possible for one to be an ennemy of the RMA?
4. What could force a RMA to leave the organization and joing the Pathfinder Society?
5. Why are the Merry Widows a splinter cult of Achaekek?
6. Can anybody be safely "released" from being a RMA?
7. If I understand correctly, the RMA were only a cult part of the church of Achaekek while their main temple was still in Rahadoum. Is it safe to assume that the RMA are now very powerful and in charge of the church itself? Are there any internal factions within the church that would oppose the control from the RMA?
8. Are there any planned products that will explore the RMA further?
Thanks in advance!
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It's mostly because of the design philosophy for Golarion that we try to avoid doing too much overarching elements that drift between regions, frankly. The world is built first and foremost to be a realm to run games in, and as such is built to be modular so that any realm any one GM doesn't like can be relatively easily excised. If we do a lot of work to develop interconnected elements between nations, that gets progressively less modular and makes the various nations and regions more co-dependant, which isn't what we really want. Had we built Golarion to be a shared universe for novels or games that folks can't expand upon on their own, that might have been different
I think that may be one reason why sometimes settings like Golarion, or Faerun, for example, frustrate me. It seems very patchwork. Every nation borrows from different aspects of literature and history to create very disparate cultures right next door to one another in a way that aggravates the literary scholar and amateur historian/linguist in me.
ARE there any games where the worldbuilding's not like that?
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James,
We know that if you give an NPC the wealth of a PC of the same level this gives them +1 CR. But what about giving them better than elite array stats (15 pt buy)? What if you gave them 25 pt buy? Would that also constitute a +1 CR?
I ask simply because some old school modules are being converted by myself, friends, and even people of the forum here, and there times where it's plainly obvious that some of the villains have better stats than even some PCs have, yet their CR doesn't acknowledge this stat gap.
Creative Director
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I'm lost in the woods and I hear wolves. There's what appears to be an abandoned house to the west and an abandoned mine to the east. What do?
West.
Open Door.
Go In.
Look.
Open Drawer.
Get Gun.
Leave.
East.
Look.
Shoot support beam.
Pick up silver nugget.
West.
Throw nugget at werewolf.
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Creative Director
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Hi James! Thanks for taking the time to answer questions in this thread. I've got a few for you:
1. How does one become/is recruited to become a Red Mantis Assassin?
2. Is there some sort of test to prove your worth/skills to become one?
3. Is there any reason for a priest of Achaekek not to trust the Red Mantis? Would it be possible for one to be an ennemy of the RMA?
4. What could force a RMA to leave the organization and joing the Pathfinder Society?
5. Why are the Merry Widows a splinter cult of Achaekek?
6. Can anybody be safely "released" from being a RMA?
7. If I understand correctly, the RMA were only a cult part of the church of Achaekek while their main temple was still in Rahadoum. Is it safe to assume that the RMA are now very powerful and in charge of the church itself? Are there any internal factions within the church that would oppose the control from the RMA?
8. Are there any planned products that will explore the RMA further?Thanks in advance!
1) By impressing them enough that they recruit you. We've said some about this in Cities of Golarion, the Faction Guide, the Inner Sea World Guide, Pathfinder #9, and elsewhere, but I don't remember all the details off the top of my head.
2) Yes.
3) No, because a priest of Achaekek is more or less a member of the Red Mantis, and vice versa.
4) Story elements that are compelling enough for a dangerous lifestyle change.
5) Ummm... they aren't. They worship Besmara.
6) Yes.
7) They started in Rahadoum, but were forced to flee once Rahadoum became too intolerant. Their main temple is now on Mediogalti Island. The assassins and the church are essentially the same thing.
8) They're one of the groups I have personal plans for, and they are big, and that means I don't really want anyone else working on them, and since I have several other projects, that means it'll be a while.
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It's mostly because of the design philosophy for Golarion that we try to avoid doing too much overarching elements that drift between regions, frankly. The world is built first and foremost to be a realm to run games in, and as such is built to be modular so that any realm any one GM doesn't like can be relatively easily excised. If we do a lot of work to develop interconnected elements between nations, that gets progressively less modular and makes the various nations and regions more co-dependant, which isn't what we really want. Had we built Golarion to be a shared universe for novels or games that folks can't expand upon on their own, that might have been differentI think that may be one reason why sometimes settings like Golarion, or Faerun, for example, frustrate me. It seems very patchwork. Every nation borrows from different aspects of literature and history to create very disparate cultures right next door to one another in a way that aggravates the literary scholar and amateur historian/linguist in me.
ARE there any games where the worldbuilding's not like that?
There are... but it's worth noting that they're not nearly as popular or as well known. Because they have such a narrow window, relatively, for any one person to find something therein that they really like.
If you're not a fan of mixing sci-fi and guns, you can still love Golarion or Greyhawk by simply ignoring Numeria or the Barrier Peaks. But if the entire setting is Numeria or the Barrier peaks, and you don't like mixing sci-fi and guns, there's no reason for you to like the setting.
Settings like you want may be more "realistic" but they're much more difficult to base a business model or a successful game world for mass consumption upon.
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I wonder if there might be fewer delays in shipping/customs if you guys used the printer in your building. =p
There's a printer and a day care, I think. And The south side of the building isn't ALL our warehouse... but it might be. Not sure. It might be closer to 85% Paizo for all I know.
There would be... but there would also be about 98% less product per year. The volume of product we print and the type of product we print is not something our neighbors can help with... we do use them now and then for quick and simple projects. Things like business cards or convention pamphlets or the like, I believe.
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James,
We know that if you give an NPC the wealth of a PC of the same level this gives them +1 CR. But what about giving them better than elite array stats (15 pt buy)? What if you gave them 25 pt buy? Would that also constitute a +1 CR?
I ask simply because some old school modules are being converted by myself, friends, and even people of the forum here, and there times where it's plainly obvious that some of the villains have better stats than even some PCs have, yet their CR doesn't acknowledge this stat gap.
The Advanced creature template gives a +4 bonus to all four stats AND a +2 bonus to natural armor... but all of that only increases CR by 1.
Ability score increases are not a HUGE impact on CR, in other words. The difference between 15 point buy and 25 point buy MIGHT result in an increase to CR, but I doubt it. It would depend entirely on how those increased stats change the monster's statistics.
Are there canonical names for the holy symbols of any of the core deities? I'm interested mainly on behalf of my Abadarian warpriest, since describing the "impratically large gold key with a city in relief carved into the head above some ambiguous runes" starts to sound inelegant after a while.
I don't recall reading a resolution to this yet, but have you figured out how you're going to get the "100" onto the spine of AP 100 that would satisfy your personal OCD?
Would stopping the APs at 96 and than starting over with AP vol. 2 #1 work?
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Creative Director
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Are there canonical names for the holy symbols of any of the core deities? I'm interested mainly on behalf of my Abadarian warpriest, since describing the "impratically large gold key with a city in relief carved into the head above some ambiguous runes" starts to sound inelegant after a while.
There are names for some of them. Abadar's symbol is of the key to the first vault, for example. But simply calling it Abadar's holy symbol or the holy key works fine.
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I don't recall reading a resolution to this yet, but have you figured out how you're going to get the "100" onto the spine of AP 100 that would satisfy your personal OCD?
Nope. That's more of an Art Team problem, though.
My guess is that we'll probably do something like switch over to vertically aligned numbers rather than horizontal ones starting with #97, though.
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I don't recall reading a resolution to this yet, but have you figured out how you're going to get the "100" onto the spine of AP 100 that would satisfy your personal OCD?Would stopping the APs at 96 and than starting over with AP vol. 2 #1 work?
Nope. Because AP Volume 2 is "The Skinsaw Murders." (We don't call them issues, since that's a magazine term, and these aren't magazines. A bit of pedantry that's not as important today as it was the day we switched from magazines to books, but it does actually still mean some stuff for industry and distribution and printing and costing reasons.)
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Does the diabolist's imp companion have any of the devil/lawful/evil/extraplanar subtypes?
If so, do they get any of the subtype traits? e.g. energy resistance/immunity, see in darkness, overcoming dr, etc.
Is their poison attack really supposed to be 1/round for 5 minutes? shouldn't that be more like 5 rounds? 5 minutes seems a bit excessive...
The diabolist's imp isn't the same as the imp from the Bestiary, just as a druid's wolf companion isn't the same as a wolf from the Bestiary.
The diabolist's imp does not gain the subtype traits and the like, and the poison works as indicated in the class description.
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It's mostly because of the design philosophy for Golarion that we try to avoid doing too much overarching elements that drift between regions, frankly. The world is built first and foremost to be a realm to run games in, and as such is built to be modular so that any realm any one GM doesn't like can be relatively easily excised. If we do a lot of work to develop interconnected elements between nations, that gets progressively less modular and makes the various nations and regions more co-dependant, which isn't what we really want. Had we built Golarion to be a shared universe for novels or games that folks can't expand upon on their own, that might have been differentI think that may be one reason why sometimes settings like Golarion, or Faerun, for example, frustrate me. It seems very patchwork. Every nation borrows from different aspects of literature and history to create very disparate cultures right next door to one another in a way that aggravates the literary scholar and amateur historian/linguist in me.
ARE there any games where the worldbuilding's not like that?
There are... but it's worth noting that they're not nearly as popular or as well known. Because they have such a narrow window, relatively, for any one person to find something therein that they really like.
If you're not a fan of mixing sci-fi and guns, you can still love Golarion or Greyhawk by simply ignoring Numeria or the Barrier Peaks. But if the entire setting is Numeria or the Barrier peaks, and you don't like mixing sci-fi and guns, there's no reason for you to like the setting.
Settings like you want may be more "realistic" but they're much more difficult to base a business model or a successful game world for mass consumption upon.
I suppose part of my problem is that I treat the game less as "a game" and more like "a vehicle for the inspiration and construction of narratives." I suppose part of me never grew out of the "I'm SO gonna write down my D&D campaign and make it into a novel!" phase. Like I bought the APs not to play them, but to write fanfics based on them. That's despicable, ennit?
Nope. Because AP Volume 2 is "The Skinsaw Murders." (We don't call them issues, since that's a magazine term, and these aren't magazines. A bit of pedantry that's not as important today as it was the day we switched from magazines to books, but it does actually still mean some stuff for industry and distribution and printing and costing reasons.)I don't recall reading a resolution to this yet, but have you figured out how you're going to get the "100" onto the spine of AP 100 that would satisfy your personal OCD?Would stopping the APs at 96 and than starting over with AP vol. 2 #1 work?
New Edition of the game that isn't named Pathfinder, problems solved for the next 8 years/16 AP?
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Hi James,
Of the Asura Ranas listed in Bestiary 3, are any of them supposed to be similar to the terrible asura of Hindu mythology, Vritra?
Listed:
- Andak the Dismembered
- Bohga the Treasurer
- Chugarra the Guru of Butchers
- Chupurvagasti, Lady of Poison Mist
- Gavidya the Numberless
- Hydim of the Eternal Fast
- Ioramvol with the Mouth Full of Boulders
- Maeha, Father of False Worlds
- Onamahli the Twice Pure
- Rahu the Sun Eater
- Rytara, Serpent of the Eastern Eye
- Taraksun, Awakener of Wrath
- Zurapadyn, the Beast Who Waits in Smoke
My guess is one of the last four (Rahu, Rytara, Taraksun, or Zurapadyn), with Rytara being the most likely. Is there any lore at all on any of them, in any products, etc.?
Thanks again. ;)
-will
I'm working on making my character for Wrath of the Righteous; part of his story is that he's a traveling Varisian sorcerer who is sent to Mendev by the Sleepless Detectives in order to investigate the accelerated expansion of the Worldwound.
One of the Sleepless Detective's prerequisites is the Alertness feat and possessing a familiar (such as from the Tattoo Familiar ability from the Varisia-themed Tattooed Mystic archetype) grants you Alertness feat "as long as your familiar is within arm's reach."
My question, however, is whether or not I have the Alertness feat when my familiar is merged into me via Tattooed Familiar and if I don't, will losing it cause me to lose my Sleepless Detective class features? My gut instinct says that I wouldn't lose the feat because the familiar is still within arm's reach, but as written I think its a valid interpretation. My GM is lenient and I'm certain that he'll allow it, but I was wondering your interpretation on the matter.
Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm's reach, the master gains the Alertness feat."
While in tattoo form it continues to grant its special familiar ability, but otherwise has no abilities and can take no actions except to transform from tattoo into creature. A familiar tattoo cannot be erased or dispelled.
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Creative Director
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I suppose part of my problem is that I treat the game less as "a game" and more like "a vehicle for the inspiration and construction of narratives." I suppose part of me never grew out of the "I'm SO gonna write down my D&D campaign and make it into a novel!" phase. Like I bought the APs not to play them, but to write fanfics based on them. That's despicable, ennit?
Not at all. I've long said that anyone who buys an AP or adventure and does nothing other than read it is getting their money's worth from the volume. Making an adventure enjoyable to simply read is one of the most important parts of my job, and one of the core goals of our books.
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New Edition of the game that isn't named Pathfinder, problems solved for the next 8 years/16 AP?Nope. Because AP Volume 2 is "The Skinsaw Murders." (We don't call them issues, since that's a magazine term, and these aren't magazines. A bit of pedantry that's not as important today as it was the day we switched from magazines to books, but it does actually still mean some stuff for industry and distribution and printing and costing reasons.)I don't recall reading a resolution to this yet, but have you figured out how you're going to get the "100" onto the spine of AP 100 that would satisfy your personal OCD?Would stopping the APs at 96 and than starting over with AP vol. 2 #1 work?
I don't understand what you're asking. Please rephrase & clarify the question.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
Of the Asura Ranas listed in Bestiary 3, are any of them supposed to be similar to the terrible asura of Hindu mythology, Vritra?
Listed:
- Andak the Dismembered
- Bohga the Treasurer
- Chugarra the Guru of Butchers
- Chupurvagasti, Lady of Poison Mist
- Gavidya the Numberless
- Hydim of the Eternal Fast
- Ioramvol with the Mouth Full of Boulders
- Maeha, Father of False Worlds
- Onamahli the Twice Pure
- Rahu the Sun Eater
- Rytara, Serpent of the Eastern Eye
- Taraksun, Awakener of Wrath
- Zurapadyn, the Beast Who Waits in SmokeMy guess is one of the last four (Rahu, Rytara, Taraksun, or Zurapadyn), with Rytara being the most likely. Is there any lore at all on any of them, in any products, etc.?
Thanks again. ;)
-will
There's no additional lore on these characters yet.
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Creative Director
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what do you mean you mean you don't like the author's writing style?what's wrong with it?what do you think about the wheel of time setting and booksHaven't read them. Mostly because I don't like the author's writing style.
I find his style unpleasant and dull to read.
Nor am I alone.
I find it interesting, for example, that the first link if you google "Robert Jordan writing style" is a page labeled, "Daily examples of horrible writing from Robert Jordan."
What ethnicity are the natives of Nidal? I know they predate the Age of Darkness but wasn't sure what ethnic group they fell under, since they don't seem to have their own.The region of Nidal was mostly settled (and only very lightly) by Shoanti and Varisians before the Age of Darkness. Today, the Shoanti are long gone, and the Varisians are a minority.
Does this mean that the Nidalese have become an ethnic group of their own? I just assumed that Nidal's ethnic make-up consisted mostly of Varisians when I read the Inner Sea World Guide entry and Nightglass.
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Does this mean that the Nidalese have become an ethnic group of their own? I just assumed that Nidal's ethnic make-up consisted mostly of Varisians when I read the Inner Sea World Guide entry and Nightglass.What ethnicity are the natives of Nidal? I know they predate the Age of Darkness but wasn't sure what ethnic group they fell under, since they don't seem to have their own.The region of Nidal was mostly settled (and only very lightly) by Shoanti and Varisians before the Age of Darkness. Today, the Shoanti are long gone, and the Varisians are a minority.
Not really. They're mostly Chelaxian, but with some Varisian blood in them here and there.
Not at all. I've long said that anyone who buys an AP or adventure and does nothing other than read it is getting their money's worth from the volume. Making an adventure enjoyable to simply read is one of the most important parts of my job, and one of the core goals of our books.
They certainly are enjoyable to read, and they're great for campaign design too, especially for people who really want to make their own campaign, but don't want to have to come up with completely unique ideas for every element of the campaign. "I'll use this dungeon from this AP, and this castle from this other AP, and ooh, this NPC from this old AP would fit in perfectly!"
Most especially though, I love just sitting down and imagining entire campaigns based on the 'concluding the adventure' summaries at the end.
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Yes, but how does one bring those ideas into reality in a way that's respectful to the original material? Fanfic's always seemed disrespectful to me, especially with such lurid things as original characters, shipping and such.
And how do you feel confident in playing the game when you know barely half the combat rules and thus have no clue how to fight tactically? I want to tell a story, not do algebra! And I fear I'll get punted from games because my inability to do algebra quickly slows the whole damn game down!
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Yes, but how does one bring those ideas into reality in a way that's respectful to the original material? Fanfic's always seemed disrespectful to me, especially with such lurid things as original characters, shipping and such.
And how do you feel confident in playing the game when you know barely half the combat rules and thus have no clue how to fight tactically? I want to tell a story, not do algebra! And I fear I'll get punted from games because my inability to do algebra quickly slows the whole damn game down!
There's absolutely nothing wrong with fan fic. I've seen lots of fan fiction that's better written than published books by supposedly professional authors.
The way to feel confident in playing the game is to start small with a group of friends you trust to help and be patient s you get better at the game. That said, being a GM DOES require you to be confident and quick thinking on your feet. It's certainly not for everyone.
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Was Norgorber's title "The Reaper of Reputation" inspired by the short story "The Repairer of Reputations" from The King in Yellow?
Absolutely and positively.
Other elements of him, particularly his razor stuff and a few parts of his Skinsaw persona, were inspired by Ramsey Campbell's excellent novel "The Face that Must Die."
Mr. James Jacobs,
I am aware that Calistria has a presence in Galt. I was wondering, in your opinion, how would a demigoddess whose portfolio includes retribution fair in Galt? Baring in mind she focuses on proportionate retribution not disproportionate.
On an unrelated note: Have you ever seen the movie All That Jazz?
Was Norgorber's title "The Reaper of Reputation" inspired by the short story "The Repairer of Reputations" from The King in Yellow?Absolutely and positively.
Other elements of him, particularly his razor stuff and a few parts of his Skinsaw persona, were inspired by Ramsey Campbell's excellent novel "The Face that Must Die."
Have you seen the live action Solomon Kane movie, James? this opening scene REALLY made me think of a live action encounter of Norgorber.
So, couple of Chaotic Neutral God questions;
I'm aware that elves are your favorite race(for reasons I can't possibly comprehend), and I've seen you say that one of your main intentions for the presentation of elves in Golarion is chaotic good over chaotic neutral. I find it strange, then, that the primary elven deity in Golarion is Calistria, Goddess of Lust and Revenge, while the traditionally chaotic neutral in name only elves of D&D worship Corellon, chaotic good god of art and music. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, as I loathe Corellon with a passion, but why go for a chaotic neutral goddess as opposed to simply making a very different but still chaotic good deity? I find it doubly striking given that Torag is essentially Moradin with the serial numbers filed off.
Oh, another Calistria related question; is Calistria's association with wasps at all a jab at Lolth, being that wasps are well known as predators of spiders?
Moving on; I've had the pdf for ages but I've only just today started looking through The Great Beyond: A Guide to the Multiverse. I find myself very intrigued by the description of Gorum's Domain, the inscription upon the stones surrounding it - “Thus the pledge is sealed, and thus you are accepted, forever with our thanks, come what may.” - and what relation this has, if any, with the Field of Broken Tyrants. Any light to be shed on this?
Does Mummy's Mask have 5 iconics? from looking at the cover art from books 1 and 2 I count 5 individuals. I don't know all the names but from book 1 I see the Paladin, Oracle and Wizard, and on book 2 there is the summoner, oracle and cleric
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** spoiler omitted **Or all of the "bad ends" happening at once.
James, I assume you're aware that there have been a couple of threads in the past on a hypothetical "post-apocalypse" Golarion where the PCs failed all the APs and the bad guy won. What do you think of the idea? I know you've said that you have your own preferences for how the APs play out (e.g. Ileosa wins CoCT?), but given the radical changes that a post-apoc Golarion would entail, have you followed the threads in the past, or do you have any thoughts on the concept?
I think that picking ONE of the Adventure Paths to have a bad end and doing an AP based on that is stronger. Having them ALL go bad is too much, especially since a new bad end comes along every 6 months. Your players can only adventure once at a time, after all.
But a campaign set in a Golarion where things go bad is a great idea; we talk about those possibilities in every "Continuing the Campaign" article, in fact.
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Mr. James Jacobs,
I am aware that Calistria has a presence in Galt. I was wondering, in your opinion, how would a demigoddess whose portfolio includes retribution fair in Galt? Baring in mind she focuses on proportionate retribution not disproportionate.
On an unrelated note: Have you ever seen the movie All That Jazz?
A deity of retribution would find a LOT of worshipers in Galt.
I have not see "All That Jazz."
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Would Aasimar be agood stand-in for a sphinx-blooded human? If so, should the type be changed? If no, what would be a good way to incorporate it?
Why make a stand in? Why not make a new race using the race builder to create a humanoid with sphinx blood?
I don't think aasimars are a good stand in, in any event... they're outsiders descended from angels and the like. Sphinxes are very different.