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Oooh, that's a fun reverse spoiler game: What monsters AREN'T in Bestiary 4. Here's five:Jackalopes
Trolls
Nisps
Swaithes
Almost nothing from Borges's Book of Imaginary BeingsOh, and one of these things might be a lie.
well one of those things is on my list of creatures to regularly bug Adam about, and another is oddly missing from that list ^_~
What are Nisps and Swaithes?
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What IS the general opinion of most nations about the Pathfinder Society? It seems the more I read of them (especially from the Pathfinder Society unlikable or is it just me? thread) the less awesome they seem to be, utilizing unethical methods and hoarding the info and artifacts for themselves, becoming so bad there's actually a special interest group among them dedicated to steering the Society towards good ends (The Silver Crusade) and one dedicated to advocating for Pathfinder agents treated callously by the Decemvirate (The Shadow Lodge). And their treatment of Eando Kline and his warnings speaks VERY badly of them.
Simply put, it seems like most info we've received on the Pathfinder Society makes them seem more like egotistical jerks, more like Belloc than Indy. More like Heinrich Schliemann than Howard Carter. That they're not concerned with the study and analysis of ancient history, but more with the treasures and magic they left behind, and instead of sharing it with the world, only care about bragging about it to their colleagues.
Almost nothing from Borges's Book of Imaginary Beings
Hoping that's the lie. Awesome book.
But about 80% of that book's creatures is already in Bestiary 1,2 or 3 and some others are in AP bestiaries. There are really only 15 (or so) creatures left that still need to appear in a bestiary. :-)
Last night I forgot about the Eater of the Dead that is also in the book of imaginary beings... I know the creature as the Egyptian Ammit, half croc, lion and hippo. I like that one too.
As to why I think the Echeneis (a magical Remora fish) deserves to be in a bestiary.
Remora, in Latin, means ‘delay’ or ‘hindrance’. This is the
strict meaning of the word which was figuratively applied to
the Echeneis, a genus of sucking fishes credited with the
power of holding a ship fast by clinging to it. The Remora is
a fish of an ashen hue; on the top of its head it has a cartilaginous
disc with which it creates a vacuum that enables
it to cling to other underwater creatures. Here is Pliny’s acclamation
of its powers (IX, ):
There is a quite small fish that frequents rocks, called
the sucking-fish. This is believed to make ships go more
slowly by sticking to their hulls, from which it has received
its name; and for this reason it also has an evil
reputation for supplying a love-charm and for acting as a
spell to hinder litigation in the courts, which accusations
it counterbalances only by its laudable property of stopping
fluxes of the womb in pregnant women and holding back the offspring till the time of birth. It is not included
however among articles of diet. It is thought by some to
have feet, but Aristotle denies this, adding that its limbs
resemble wings.
(Pliny then goes on to describe the murex, a variety of
purple fish also credited with bringing ships under full sail to
a standstill: ‘.it is a foot long and four inches wide, and
hinders ships, and moreover . . . when preserved in salt it has
the power of drawing out gold that has fallen into the deepest
wells when it is brought near them.’)
It is remarkable how from the idea of delaying ships the
Remora came to be associated with delays in lawsuits and
later with delayed births. Elsewhere, Pliny tells that a
Remora decided the fate of the Roman Empire in the Battle
of Actium, detaining the galley in which Mark Antony was
reviewing his fleet, and that another Remora stopped Caligula’s
ship despite the efforts of its four hundred oarsmen.
‘Winds blow and storms rage,’ exclaims Pliny, ‘but the
Remora overmasters their fury and holds ships fast, achieving
what the heaviest of anchors and the thickest of hawsers
could never achieve.’
‘The mightiest power does not always prevail. A ship may
be detained by a small remora,’ repeats the fine Spanish
writer Diego de Saavedra Fajardo in his Political Emblems
The Remora/Echeneis would be cool to have around as Magical beast with powers to slow time or even magnetic powers over wood and iron alike.
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What are Nisps and Swaithes?
I'm jumping ahead here because I really want to see Dragon78's head explode. :)
So check this out man. If you EVER need a monster name, it turns out that Denham Tracts probably has you covered. Check out the page on them and Denham's infamous list of spirits and faeries. We've name dropped quite a few creatures off this list and fully stated up even more. It's one of my go-to mines for new monster ideas that straddle that line between mythological and totally open territory.
Check it out! And totally let me know which ones you think sound coolest!
What are Nisps and Swaithes?I'm jumping ahead here because I really want to see Dragon78's head explode. :)
So check this out man. If you EVER need a monster name, it turns out that Denham Tracts probably has you covered. Check out the page on them and Denham's infamous list of spirits and faeries. We've name dropped quite a few creatures off this list and fully stated up even more. It's one of my go-to mines for new monster ideas that straddle that line between mythological and totally open territory.
Check it out! And totally let me know which ones you think sound coolest!
Well i'm not dragon, but here goes:
Are you referring to the List of Spirits and Faeries in that wiki link?
These are my favorites that are still missing and I really want to see done in pathfinder: Bloody Bones, Shellycoats, Fetch and Cluricaun.
I'm sure you know about this list already, but this is also a very good list to go to for "go-to mines for new monster ideas that straddle that line between mythological and totally open territory" stuff:
heya wes, can you tell me more about empyeral lords and how they relate to various deities and their churches?
Is it possible for some of them to be worshiped right along side the deity and talked about as being say like an great archangel of them?
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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Wes,
In the inevitable Distant Worlds AP (it's only a matter of when, not if, I figure) would you like to see the different chapters aim for unique themes? A pulp sword/planet style chapter on Akiton, a hard sci-fi "morality of thinking machines" story set on Aballon, etc. Of course the crown jewel would be a sci-fi/horror chapter set around the dead world of Eox. I'm envisioning a Dead Space/Virus/The Thing vibe. Maybe something like the players caught in the middle of a conflict between the Dominion of the Black and the liches of Eox.
I'm not sure where the question went in there, I've gone and distracted myself.
But I'd like that injected directly into my veins, regardless.
1. In addition to not being confined to gender, would it be safe to say that Arshea isn't confined to humanoid morphology either?
2. Under what condition would an Arshea-worshipper find it reasonable to build a palace?
3. What adventure paths would be best-suited for an Arshea-worshipper? Which ones would be least-suited?
4. Since Arshea doesn't have a realm, where do his worshippers go when they die? What about mystery cultists using they Sacred Haven power?
5. Would Arshea be out-of-place in Kingmaker (say, as the main religion of a kingdom)? I ask because I Arshea feels Central Asian to me while Kingmaker seems Germanic, what with all the hirsute country bumpkins asking the ruler to kill animals for them.
6. Since you want to see if anyone can stump you with monsters, are you familiar with the following?
• Daidarabotchi
• Hakutaku/Bai Ze
• J izou Statue
• Kasa-oboke
• Menreiki
• Satori
• Shikeisen
• Tsuchinoko
• Tsukumogami
• Yama
• Yamabiko
• Yatagaratsu/Jinwu/Samjok-o
Play stump the monster guru huh?
Wesley, do you know about this book?
I have it and it's full of folkloric monsters from South America, Africa, and other parts of the world that don't really get coverage. Each presented in a short story format (okay some of the stories are not great, but hey...the author isn't a horror writer by trade).
Some of these would make great additions to the game
EDITED to change url name
Hey, Wes! I recently listened to your Horror in RPGs panel from PaizoCon and it inspired me to start a new tradition: I want to run the scariest one-shot scenario I can manage for my friends every October. Just something fun for Halloween. The ideas shared in that panel were fantastic, but I wanted to ask your advice on a horror module to use. It'll have to be PF (or at least easily convertible to PF) because it's the only system my friends and I know. I'm willing to go all out with music, setting, props, etc. Suggestions?
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Borges? I wonder what a Pathfinderized A Bao A Qu would be like...
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So I recall hearing something about you being an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. Is this true? If so I have some questions...if not, ignore me! :P
1) Who is your favorite character?
2) What is your favorite episode?
3) What do you think of Legend of Korra if you watched it?
4) What do you think of the movie if you've seen it?
5) Do you think benders/bending can be modeled well with the D20 system?
Thanks for your time! :)
Why were the first two Psychopomps' names changed from Yanakeion to Nosoi and Amzranei to Vanth?
Mr. Schneider,
This committee recently questioned one Adam Daigle concerning an action known as "Ponygate." He denies all involvement but evidence and witness testimony points to you being the ringleader of this operation. Will you tell us what went on during this incident? And I remind you that you are under oath, sir.
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5) Do you think benders/bending can be modeled well with the D20 system?
Thanks for your time! :)
Tangent.
The music for Legend of Korra alone is enough to make me want to create an Avatar RPG so I can have battles set to jazzy combat themes.
do you roll your abilities for your characters or use the point buy system? just curious
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As the Empyreal Lord Smiad (he's an archon and exhorts his followers to be honorable and slay evil dragons while aiding good ones) doesn't have a holy symbol in the books (he's one of the lesser ones in the back of Chronicle of the Righteous, and as a result doesn't have a full-page writeup), what, in your mind, would be a good holy symbol for his faithful to use? What would be a good obedience for his cultists to practice?
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what, in your mind, would be a good holy symbol for his faithful to use? What would be a good obedience for his cultists to practice?
I am not Wes, obviously, but I found that Empyreal Lord intriguing and went with a greatsword, point down, with a scaly design down the fuller, a dragons outstretched wings as the guard (also pointing down) and the head as the pommel. The lowest ranked non-spellcasting devotees would have bronze on the fuller-design, guard-wings and pommel-head, the mid ranks (adepts, etc.) use silver and the paladins and full clerics gold.
For an obedience, following with the tendency of good dragons in Golarion to 'tarnish' with the weight of the evils they must face, a devotee would spend time exposing themselves to damaging elemental forces (generally just building a bonfire, and suffering the effects of a very hot environment (1d4 nonlethal damage and fatigue until that nonlethal damage recovers, which, even for a 1st level character, should happen within 40 minutes, at worst, and fit well within the 1 hour normal obedience time), but also exposure to very cold environment, or, for rare and unusual access options, bathing in a mild solution of acid or being exposed to a weak and painful electrical current, for the exact same effects (1d4 nonlethal + temporary fatigue). The process is seen as burning away whatever iniquities one has been exposed to and rarifying and purifying and making stronger what remains. The simplest option for a boon to come with that would be a +4 save vs. breath weapons, but a more focused one might be a +2 bonus to saving throws against whichever sort of 'energy' you used for the trial, so that someone who exposed himself to very hot conditions would get a +2 vs. fire, and someone who performed his obedience in very cold conditions would get a +2 vs. cold. (A lower bonus, since 'fire' attacks are more common than 'breath weapons,' and there's a built in customization option of being able to be more resistant to cold when storming the Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and more resistant to fire when entering the Hall of the Fire Giant King.)
But that's just off the top of my head. Wes (or whomever thought up Smiad, perhaps Amber?) might have way cooler ideas!
Hey Wes.
Since you've put a lot into developing devils & Hell in Pathfinder (such that you're probably the "devil-guy at Paizo" - in as much as James is the "demon-guy at Paizo"), I was wondering whether or not you've seen these?:
So, will we be learning more on any consorts to the Pathfinder Archdevils? Do they all even have consorts? I'm pretty sure there was mention of Dispater having one (of a few?)...
Carry on!
--C.
yeah Dispater really gets around:) the Dennis Reynolds of Devils:) but does he use the D.E.N.N.I.S. system of seduction i wonder?
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Did Seryzilian get hit by a gender-changing curse between the two incarnations (Dragons Unleashed vs. Dragons Revisited)?
Don't know that I'd call it a curse, but her gender sure did change. But if you take a look at her stats and story between the two versions, you'll see that's probably the least of the differences.
If there's going to be a dragon in my nation, it's going to be presented MY way. };)
Apologies if this has been asked already but I haven't found anything official on this. Anyways, what are the tenets of Vildeis? Specifically relating to romantic relationships as well as the whole leaving ones family as mentioned in Chronicles. Thanks much appreciated! :)
Vildeis is the empyreal lord from CotR that you're actually going to get more about soon! So we haven't said anything further about her worship in print thus far, but that will be changing soon.
For now, think of her worshipers of self-afflicted holy lepers, champions of good who show their faith upon their skin and who value signs of their devotion above that skin or any mortal idea of beauty. They are forsworn to their goddess and have stepped away from the bonds and morays of mortal life, answering a higher calling. Look up details on flagellation and self mortification and instead of going a creepy route with that, think on how lawful good characters might reconcile making those part of their worship.
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Apologies if this has been asked already but I haven't found anything official on this. Anyways, what are the tenets of Vildeis? Specifically relating to romantic relationships as well as the whole leaving ones family as mentioned in Chronicles. Thanks much appreciated! :)Vildeis is the empyreal lord from CotR that you're actually going to get more about soon! So we haven't said anything further about her worship in print thus far, but that will be changing soon.
For now, think of her worshipers of self-afflicted holy lepers, champions of good who show their faith upon their skin and who value signs of their devotion above that skin or any mortal idea of beauty. They are forsworn to their goddess and have stepped away from the bonds and morays of mortal life, answering a higher calling. Look up details on flagellation and self mortification and instead of going a creepy route with that, think on how lawful good characters might reconcile making those part of their worship.
Maybe like an Oradin, using the Life Link revelation and Lay On Hands with a Life Oracle/Paladin multiclass to take the hits for your allies and keep your own health topped off.
"I bear your wounds so that you do not have to!"
That'd be so cool!
So...don't wanna sound like a broken record but...what would you say would be an appropriate holy symbol and obedience for Smiad, the Pitiless Dragonslayer?
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Apologies if this has been asked already but I haven't found anything official on this. Anyways, what are the tenets of Vildeis? Specifically relating to romantic relationships as well as the whole leaving ones family as mentioned in Chronicles. Thanks much appreciated! :)Vildeis is the empyreal lord from CotR that you're actually going to get more about soon! So we haven't said anything further about her worship in print thus far, but that will be changing soon.
For now, think of her worshipers of self-afflicted holy lepers, champions of good who show their faith upon their skin and who value signs of their devotion above that skin or any mortal idea of beauty. They are forsworn to their goddess and have stepped away from the bonds and morays of mortal life, answering a higher calling. Look up details on flagellation and self mortification and instead of going a creepy route with that, think on how lawful good characters might reconcile making those part of their worship.
Thanks Wes. So I take it they don't date much? Heheh. It sounds like any serious relationship between two people is right out for them.
Can't wait to hear more on Vildeis. :)
Apologies if this has been asked already but I haven't found anything official on this. Anyways, what are the tenets of Vildeis? Specifically relating to romantic relationships as well as the whole leaving ones family as mentioned in Chronicles. Thanks much appreciated! :)Vildeis is the empyreal lord from CotR that you're actually going to get more about soon! So we haven't said anything further about her worship in print thus far, but that will be changing soon.
For now, think of her worshipers of self-afflicted holy lepers, champions of good who show their faith upon their skin and who value signs of their devotion above that skin or any mortal idea of beauty. They are forsworn to their goddess and have stepped away from the bonds and morays of mortal life, answering a higher calling. Look up details on flagellation and self mortification and instead of going a creepy route with that, think on how lawful good characters might reconcile making those part of their worship.
Thanks Wes. So I take it they don't date much? Heheh. It sounds like any serious relationship between two people is right out for them.
Can't wait to hear more on Vildeis. :)
On second thought you actually fully answered my question. Note to self go to bed earlier.
Maybe like an Oradin, using the Life Link revelation and Lay On Hands with a Life Oracle/Paladin multiclass to take the hits for your allies and keep your own health topped off.
"I bear your wounds so that you do not have to!"
That'd be so cool!
Go Oracle (Life Mystery) / Paladin (Hospitaler of the Shining Light) / Holy Vindicator.
You drop your Paladin spellcasting for an extra use of Lay on Hands and a neat-if-weak morale bonus burst of Holy Light. Most importantly, you divorce the Paladin's Channel Energy from Lay on Hands, so you have separate pools of energy. Also, unlike Life Mystery's channel energy, you get 3 + Cha uses per day. (Life Mystery's is 1 + Cha) Downside is that you will effectively be 5 levels behind a Cleric in your channeling.
If you go Holy Vindicator, however, you can use the class to advance your Oracle spellcasting and your Paladin Channel Energy. Ultimately speaking, you end up with a better BAB than an Oracle, better spellcasting than a Paladin, and tons of supernatural healing abilities. Quite a number of the burdens of Multiclassing can be eased by Magic Items; the phylactery of positive channeling can be used to bump your Channel Energy dice by +2d6, which basically increases your effective cleric level for Channel Energy by +4 (you're at a -1 penalty instead of -5). In addition, taking the Bracers of the Merciful Knight increases your Paladin level when determining the uses per day and healing effects of Lay on Hands, plus I believe they give you the Diseased mercy for free as well.
Looking at abilities, you should be picking Safe Curing, Life Link, and Enhanced Curing as your revelations. Those are the most useful to your build because they require little (usually no) scaling from oracle levels. Feats should include Holy Vindicator's prerequisites, plus Extra Revelation as needed and Ultimate Mercy. I can't stress how awesome it is to have a feat that frquently bumps up your Lay on Hands healing.
I don't know if that character build matches Vildeis well or not (I just ordered my copy of CotR, so I'll leave it to Wes), but its one that's been floating around my head a lot lately as a build I'd certainly want to try.
I was wondering about grafts and kytons.
Phew! Okay, lots to take in here...
Kytons seem the types to be involved with grafts, they certainly use them on themselves, but they are outsiders who seem uniquely adapted for such tasks of body modification as applies to themselves and other such entities. Do you think it would be reasonable in general to assume that many of them are still capable of performing grafts on other forms of life?
I'd say it depends on the type. There are creatures like the interlocutor and termagant that would be all about this. I'd think that even the basic kyton has some skill in this regard. Some of the more specialized ones, like the ostarius or sancristan or augur, though, maybe not so much. I typically give new kytons several ranks in the Heal skill, specifically with this in mind.
And, in general, if someone went to a kyton to replace a lost limb, do you think a kyton would do so if offered something they wanted, or would the kyton generally be more inclined to simply abscond with the fool and turn him into a tortuous rhapsody of pain and suffering beyond human comprehension? Or more of the first but attempting to manipulate them into willingly becoming their living art project?
Kytons are bargainers, to a point. They usually won't just steal or kidnap, though, there might be times where they do take a might makes right mentality. If the person is coming to them with a need and something they might want, like information, the kytons will probably bargain.
But you probably don't even REALLY want to go to a kyton for help. I could easily see them making a deal with you where they give you some awesome graft, but not full control over it, or only lease/loan it to you for a limited period. They have an entirely different perspective on flesh and blood and ownership of such things than most mortals do, so they might easily phrase a deal in such a way that puts a mortal at a disadvantage (or sets them up for some future torment) that he doesn't even realize.
If you're looking for more ideas on how kytons might twist this sort of thing, check out my write-up on the ostarius in Pathfinder AP #64, which has a whole page of kyton rhetoric. It might help if you're headed down this route.
Of course, there aren't really grafts in Pathfinder at the moment...
This is mostly true, but Book of the Damned vol 2 has some fun stuff on demonic implants. You could pretty easily use that as a foundation for a bunch of cool kyton stuff.
...but it's interesting to think about perhaps a character serving a kyton or kidnapping people for a kyton in exchange for getting grafted arm, or perhaps a group of characters all serving a kyton, all with their own reason to desire that kyton's abilities, perhaps to save a child or loved one, perhaps to replace a lost eye or limb, perhaps simply because they want to be more powerful, perhaps making a few alterations...or with the right group, could even be the premise for an RP, the players becoming less and less human with every graft as they descend into madness...not for every group, but might be fun.
Totally! Even if someone can't offer a kyton much upfront, many kytons are far more intelligent than most humans and can probably come up with a way to turn even a pawn to their advantage. This seems like a very kyton way of thinking, you're on the right track with this sort of thing.
Similarly, given their penchant for self-modification, do you think if you had a group of multiple kytons as an encounter, it would be sensible to make a few alterations to each stat block, perhaps varying the natural weapons involved, natural armor, little tweaks like that, despite them ostensibly being the same monster?
Again: Totally! That's difficult to convey when you're working with one baseline statblock, but the more you want to mix things up, this the case of these guys, the more the better!
I apologise for the poor choice of words. Curse or blessing, or something in between, I just noticed the change and was wondering how it came to be.Did Seryzilian get hit by a gender-changing curse between the two incarnations (Dragons Unleashed vs. Dragons Revisited)?Don't know that I'd call it a curse, but her gender sure did change. But if you take a look at her stats and story between the two versions, you'll see that's probably the least of the differences.
If there's going to be a dragon in my nation, it's going to be presented MY way. };)
I'm not seriously giving you crap about this! Nooo worries! ;)
But yeah, was totally self indulgent about this. Since I feel like a game edition change gives us some leeway in making canonical changes, I indulged a fair bit here. :)
So.
How did your Bastardhall game go at the PaizoCon this year?
;)
Hi wes. I probably asked you about this before, but there's been a flurry of similar requests recently so I thought I'd ask again in the hope momentum was building..
Any chance for a devils revisited in a year or two? Is spare time really that important?
Of course, there aren't really grafts in Pathfinder at the moment...This is mostly true, but Book of the Damned vol 2 has some fun stuff on demonic implants. You could pretty easily use that as a foundation for a bunch of cool kyton stuff.
I got inordinately interested in this a while back and might direct you towards additionally checking out '#30 Fleshgrafts' from Rite Publishing and 'The Mad Doctor's Formulary' from Legendary Games. That, and maybe listen to some Genitorturers records.
GTA 5 approaches. Thoughts?
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That or the cord should be much much cheaper.I'd imagine that many transgendered people within the Cult would still probably prefer the girdle over the cord, if only because the "cursed" magic item doesn't require you to wear it after it has changed your gender.
And because you asked for meaty, here's something that I think would be right up the cult of Arshea's alley:
I think most would prefer the elixir over either - it's an instant one-and-done, not vulnerable to disjunction, remove curse or other similar magic. :)
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Since we have obediences for Demon and Empyreal Lords and the core Deities in the upcoming Gods of the Inner Sea, what would you put as Obediences for the Archedevils? If not all of them what about Dispater?
With this guy. Also is there any way we will see obediences for the 8 in print some time in the future?
1) Do you have any future plans for the Devil in Gray?
2) Do you have any tips for building a haunted castle super dungeon? :)
Mr. F. Wesley Schneider,
This was written on the "Ask James Jacobs" Thread. Do you have an answer to this question?
Why are all the violent Empyreal Lords Archons? Why no combat heavy Azatas ?You'd have to ask Amber and Wes. My guess? Archons, being lawful, are more intolerant and thus more prone to aggression, whereas the azatas are chaotic and a lot more easy-going.