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Sovereign Court Senior Developer

snickersimba wrote:

why did james jacobs eat wes? I liked wes, he was a cool guy.

Please tell me you fed the dinosaur in the last month.

Wait, Jacobs ate Wes? Then WHO IS THAT SITTING IN JAMES'S OFFICE?!?!!

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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Alexander Augunas wrote:
Rob McCreary wrote:

You'll note that weighing the souls of the dead is not mentioned in Anubis's entry in Pathfinder #80, and neither is he a god of death. He's a god of burial, the dead, funeral rites, mummification, and tombs. It does say that he guides souls to Pharasma and defends the dead on their journeys to the Boneyard.

That's because Pharasma has long been established as the goddess of death in our campaign setting. So Anubis, in our campaign setting, has to work with the preexisting structure of Pharasma judging the dead.

In other words, there's necessarily a difference between the mythological Egyptian gods we know, and their presence in the Pathfinder campaign setting as Osirian gods.

That disappointing; that's an iconic aspect of Egyptian Mythology. That's like tossing away mjolnir because Gozreh is a deity of nature and storms.

Does the Pathfinder-Universe's version of Earth (as seen in Rasputin Must Die!) also do away with Anubis's role as weigher of souls, or did he "pick up" that association in traveling from Ancient Osirion to Ancient Egypt?

Converting real-world mythologies into game-world mythologies can be quite a challenge (though I love it!), not the least because these mythologies have thousands of years of growth and change, and you're trying to capture them at one point in time (i.e., how they appear in the game world). In just the case of the Egyptian gods, you have various different groups who were the "major gods" at different times: for example, the group of nine gods called the Ennead, the group of eight called the Ogdoad, and a single god, Aten, all served as the "major gods" of Ancient Egypt at different points in history. If you include aspects of one, you necessarily have to exclude aspects of the others. And then you still have to make sure they mesh with the existing Golarion pantheons. So like I said, it's a challenge.

Having said that, to respond to your actual question:

Officially, we haven't said what Earth-Anubis's role is, and probably never will, because Earth isn't our campaign world, Golarion is.

Unofficially, the story about the Osirian gods traveling to a distant world to deal with the Old Kingdom of Kemet (i.e., Old Kingdom Egypt) was a way of tying the Osirian gods back to their real-world Egyptian roots. These Osirian/Egyptian gods would then have influence over the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian history the way they did in our real-world Egypt. The Osirian Anubis is the Egyptian Anubis; but he was Osirian before he was Egyptian (and the timelines actually work out that way!), so that the weighing of souls was an aspect he "picked up" when he came to Egypt.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Rob McCreary wrote:
snickersimba wrote:

why did james jacobs eat wes? I liked wes, he was a cool guy.

Please tell me you fed the dinosaur in the last month.

Wait, Jacobs ate Wes? Then WHO IS THAT SITTING IN JAMES'S OFFICE?!?!!

I mean, WHO IS THAT SITTING IN WES'S OFFICE?!?!!


THE POD-PEOPLE IS HERE!!!

Or, well, there.

Liberty's Edge

That is the simalcrum wes produced in case you forgot to feed the T-rex.

Also, what do you think of my minor tweaks I made to the slayer class?

Slayers no longer get sneak attack at third level, they now get it at FIRST level

slayers no longer have to waste a talent to select a combat style, they get it at second level and this works like a ranger

Slayers are allowed to select any rogue talent in place of a slayer talent.

It just seems more fitting that way, is it overpowered? Underpowered? Too much?

I felt that the rogue class was never used and the ranger class was fun, but the slayer lacked enough from the ranger.

Contributor

Rob McCreary wrote:


Officially, we haven't said what Earth-Anubis's role is, and probably never will, because Earth isn't our campaign world, Golarion is.

Unofficially, the story about the Osirian gods traveling to a distant world to deal with the Old Kingdom of Kemet (i.e., Old Kingdom Egypt) was a way of tying the Osirian gods back to their real-world Egyptian roots. These Osirian/Egyptian gods would then have influence over the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian history the way they did in our real-world Egypt. The Osirian Anubis is the Egyptian Anubis; but he was Osirian before he was Egyptian (and the timelines actually work out that way!), so that the weighing of souls was an aspect he "picked up" when he came to Egypt.

But talking about Alternate Earths is FUN! Especially since James and you so wondrously set Pathfinder-Earth to be set at the EXACT SAME TIME as the vast majority of Lovecraft's stories.

Man, the 1920s really were roaring, weren't they?

On a completely different topic, do you play Pathfinder Society? Also, remind me, are you the player of the catfolk who ended up selling his soul to a demon to spare the party from a TPK in one of Jason's home games?


Rob McCreary wrote:
xavier c wrote:
1)Does the core 20 pantheon interact with the Osirian pantheon at all?

They do, but only when necessary, since the worship of the Osirian gods is so local, and considerably less widespread than it was in the past. For example, Pharasma is still goddess of death, so all Osirian souls still go through her. If a worshiper of Anubis, Osiris, or any other Osirian god dies, their soul is going to go before Pharasma and she's going to send them on to their god.

xavier c wrote:
2)where is Osiris's planar realm?
Unrevealed. The likeliest place would be Heaven, but he could have a realm on another Outer Plane that he shares with the rest of the Osirian gods.

2)Will James Jacobs said gods can have more then one planar realm. so maybe they all have more then one realm.


If you could add 20 greek gods to the setting which gods from the greek pantheon would you add?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alexander Augunas wrote:
On a completely different topic, do you play Pathfinder Society? Also, remind me, are you the player of the catfolk who ended up selling his soul to a demon to spare the party from a TPK in one of Jason's home games?

Nope!

That was Mark's character in one of MY games.

And you can read all about that demon in "Demons Revisited." In the glabrezu chapter.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Alexander Augunas wrote:
Rob McCreary wrote:


Officially, we haven't said what Earth-Anubis's role is, and probably never will, because Earth isn't our campaign world, Golarion is.

Unofficially, the story about the Osirian gods traveling to a distant world to deal with the Old Kingdom of Kemet (i.e., Old Kingdom Egypt) was a way of tying the Osirian gods back to their real-world Egyptian roots. These Osirian/Egyptian gods would then have influence over the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian history the way they did in our real-world Egypt. The Osirian Anubis is the Egyptian Anubis; but he was Osirian before he was Egyptian (and the timelines actually work out that way!), so that the weighing of souls was an aspect he "picked up" when he came to Egypt.

But talking about Alternate Earths is FUN! Especially since James and you so wondrously set Pathfinder-Earth to be set at the EXACT SAME TIME as the vast majority of Lovecraft's stories.

Man, the 1920s really were roaring, weren't they?

On a completely different topic, do you play Pathfinder Society? Also, remind me, are you the player of the catfolk who ended up selling his soul to a demon to spare the party from a TPK in one of Jason's home games?

I played PFS before starting at Paizo, but I haven't played it recently. And James already answered the follow-up question: no, that wasn't me.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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xavier c wrote:
If you could add 20 greek gods to the setting which gods from the greek pantheon would you add?

This is something that I would need to go back and research to get the right mix that would actually fit into the campaign setting, so there's no way I could possibly answer this. That being said, there would certainly be some obvious choices like Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and maybe Poseidon. Zeus would probably ave to go in there too, because he's Zeus. And I wouldn't mind fitting in a few of the lesser-known gods like Eris, Nemesis, Nike, Hypnos, Erebus and Nyx, Tyche, Hecate, and Selene.

That's just off the top of my head, though.

Liberty's Edge

Are we ever going to get more stuff on nex and geb and tar-baphon?

Also, is it me or is nex somewhat related to nethys? I am getting that vibe.

Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
On a completely different topic, do you play Pathfinder Society? Also, remind me, are you the player of the catfolk who ended up selling his soul to a demon to spare the party from a TPK in one of Jason's home games?

Nope!

That was Mark's character in one of MY games.

And you can read all about that demon in "Demons Revisited." In the glabrezu chapter.

Oops. I meant to type James and typed Jason instead. I guess I've got the design team on the brain what with all of Mark's tantalizing hints about a new FAQ that's supposed to go live today.

Sorry!


Greetings, mr McCreary
I was send here by the mighty dire Tyrannosaurus to seek your wisdom on the mummy lord template. my questions are:

1) does a mummy lord maintains his rejuvenate ability while outside his tomb?
2) if the mummy lord "respawn" in his tomb, even if this tomb is very far away from the place the creature was destroyed, it is akin to the lich rejuvenation process, that sees the undead regrow near the phylactery, while his equip remains in the place wehere the old body was left?
3) "tomb" is a confusing word. what if the mummy lord has a whole pyramid that is, technically is "tomb". There is a specific place a mummy lord should respawn in his tomb, like a sarchophagus, or can he appear anywhere?
4) can a mummy lord have more than one "tomb", and if so can he choose to respawn in with he prefer or it's forced to rejuvenate in the nearest/strongest?
5) What happen if, while the mummy lord is away, its tomb is either destroyed or consecrated to another being?

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Pnakotus Detsujin wrote:

Greetings, mr McCreary

I was send here by the mighty dire Tyrannosaurus to seek your wisdom on the mummy lord template. my questions are:

1) does a mummy lord maintains his rejuvenate ability while outside his tomb?
2) if the mummy lord "respawn" in his tomb, even if this tomb is very far away from the place the creature was destroyed, it is akin to the lich rejuvenation process, that sees the undead regrow near the phylactery, while his equip remains in the place wehere the old body was left?
3) "tomb" is a confusing word. what if the mummy lord has a whole pyramid that is, technically is "tomb". There is a specific place a mummy lord should respawn in his tomb, like a sarchophagus, or can he appear anywhere?
4) can a mummy lord have more than one "tomb", and if so can he choose to respawn in with he prefer or it's forced to rejuvenate in the nearest/strongest?
5) What happen if, while the mummy lord is away, its tomb is either destroyed or consecrated to another being?

These are some good questions!

1) Yes, a mummy lord can rejuvenate anywhere.
2) Yes, the equipment stays with the body. Which is a good reason for a mummy lord not to go too far from his tomb.
3) It would make the most sense for the mummy lord to rejuvenate in the spot wherever his body was laid to rest, regardless of how big his actual tomb is. So it would likely be in his sarcophagus, but technically he could probably rejuvenate anywhere inside his tomb.
4) No, a mummy lord can only have one tomb.
5) Even if the tomb is consecrated to someone/something else, it's still the mummy lord's tomb (it was built for him, he was buried there first, etc.) If the tomb is actually destroyed, then it's up to the GM what happens to the mummy lord during rejuvenation. Maybe he rejuvenates at the spot where the tomb was, or where the greatest concentration of materials from the tomb are now located.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

James told me you'd be better equipped to answer this question than he is:

Is Besmara basically Golarion's version of Davy Jones, or is there a Davy Jones separate from Besmara? I ask because I'm unsure when playing a character from the Shackles or something and I wanna say "there are secrets that sleep with ol' Davy Jones" if that conflicts with how you set up pirate lore on Golarion. If Besmara IS Davy Jones, then I'll have to think of another thing that secrets could sleep with that rhymes with "bones."

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

James told me you'd be better equipped to answer this question than he is:

Is Besmara basically Golarion's version of Davy Jones, or is there a Davy Jones separate from Besmara? I ask because I'm unsure when playing a character from the Shackles or something and I wanna say "there are secrets that sleep with ol' Davy Jones" if that conflicts with how you set up pirate lore on Golarion. If Besmara IS Davy Jones, then I'll have to think of another thing that secrets could sleep with that rhymes with "bones."

Besmara essentially does serve the same purpose on Golarion as Davy Jones does on Earth. That said, who "Davy Jones" actually refers to is unclear. If you wanted to keep Davy Jones, he could be sailor that serves aboard Kelpie's Wrath. He could even replace Kelpie's Wrath as Besmara's herald, if you wish.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Since the upcoming evil AP, Hell's Vengeance, is your AP, essentially, I have one question: you guys made it clear it won't undo the work done in the preceding Hell's Rebels, as it doesn't visit Kintargo or its environs, but WILL it undo the work possibly accomplished in Council of Thieves, as the grand finale is literally titled Hell Comes To Westcrown?

I'd rather not have my HV PC execute my CoT PC. :(

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Since the upcoming evil AP, Hell's Vengeance, is your AP, essentially, I have one question: you guys made it clear it won't undo the work done in the preceding Hell's Rebels, as it doesn't visit Kintargo or its environs, but WILL it undo the work possibly accomplished in Council of Thieves, as the grand finale is literally titled Hell Comes To Westcrown?

I'd rather not have my HV PC execute my CoT PC. :(

There's no way we can write/develop an AP that takes into account all possible endings for different groups who played Council of Thieves. In the case of Hell's Vengeance, we pretty much are assuming that the events of Council of Thieves already happened, and that Westcrown remains in the hands of Cheliax/Thrune. That being said, we're going to do our best to not have overlapping (major) characters in Westcrown between Council of Thieves and Hell's Vengeance, so it would still be possible to run Council of Thieves after Hell's Vengeance without too much trouble.

The plot of Hell's Vengeance is such that by the time the PCs get to Hell Comes to Westcrown, Westcrown is very different from what it was - whether it's the Westcrown at the start of CoT or a post-CoT Westcrown run by PCs. If you have PCs running Westcrown, you will likely have to make some significant changes to the campaign and adventure if you want to keep them in charge.

Scarab Sages

Hi Rob, James sent me over here from his thread because my questions were more up your alley:

My group is beginning a Mummy's Mask campaign next, with me running. I'm using the AP's storyline as the backbone for them being able to play more sandbox (ha!) style through a lot of the rest of Osirion. Idea is for it to run something akin to the old Bioware games, where there are quests and place to find scattered across the entire map. I've got a map drawn for the party to scale on one of those 2x3 poster grids (15 miles per square), with the terrain and cities, on which they can fill in detail as they explore. So I've been reading very intently through all of the materials on Osirion (and there are a lot, it's fantastic!)

Two questions about places:

1. What are the "Swells of Gozreh" north of the mouth of the Sphinx River? I can't find anything on them.

2. On the very very western edge of our map, the Cathedral of Claws makes an appearance. The only reference I can find to it says something along the lines of: it is a mystery even to Thuvians, not even Water lords go there. Is there any additional snippets of info for the place? I was thinking of using Frog God's Black Monastery module reskinned if only because Monastery and Cathedral are similar concepts.

Thanks!

Scarab Sages

Duiker wrote:

Hi Rob, James sent me over here from his thread because my questions were more up your alley:

My group is beginning a Mummy's Mask campaign next, with me running. I'm using the AP's storyline as the backbone for them being able to play more sandbox (ha!) style through a lot of the rest of Osirion. Idea is for it to run something akin to the old Bioware games, where there are quests and place to find scattered across the entire map. I've got a map drawn for the party to scale on one of those 2x3 poster grids (15 miles per square), with the terrain and cities, on which they can fill in detail as they explore. So I've been reading very intently through all of the materials on Osirion (and there are a lot, it's fantastic!)

Two questions about places:

1. What are the "Swells of Gozreh" north of the mouth of the Sphinx River? I can't find anything on them.

2. On the very very western edge of our map, the Cathedral of Claws makes an appearance. The only reference I can find to it says something along the lines of: it is a mystery even to Thuvians, not even Water lords go there. Is there any additional snippets of info for the place? I was thinking of using Frog God's Black Monastery module reskinned if only because Monastery and Cathedral are similar concepts.

Thanks!

And, I just ran across the Swells of Gozreh paragraph in Osirion: Legacy of Pharaohs. Still wondering about the Cathedral of Claws though!

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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Duiker wrote:

Hi Rob, James sent me over here from his thread because my questions were more up your alley:

My group is beginning a Mummy's Mask campaign next, with me running. I'm using the AP's storyline as the backbone for them being able to play more sandbox (ha!) style through a lot of the rest of Osirion. Idea is for it to run something akin to the old Bioware games, where there are quests and place to find scattered across the entire map. I've got a map drawn for the party to scale on one of those 2x3 poster grids (15 miles per square), with the terrain and cities, on which they can fill in detail as they explore. So I've been reading very intently through all of the materials on Osirion (and there are a lot, it's fantastic!)

Two questions about places:

1. What are the "Swells of Gozreh" north of the mouth of the Sphinx River? I can't find anything on them.

2. On the very very western edge of our map, the Cathedral of Claws makes an appearance. The only reference I can find to it says something along the lines of: it is a mystery even to Thuvians, not even Water lords go there. Is there any additional snippets of info for the place? I was thinking of using Frog God's Black Monastery module reskinned if only because Monastery and Cathedral are similar concepts.

Thanks!

Glad you found the info on the Swells of Gozreh. As for the Cathedral of Claws, there is very little information, as we have not detailed Thuvia much at all at this point. The only mention we've made of the Cathedral is in Seekers of Secrets, which describes it as "awe-inspiring" and that it stands at the foot of a mountain called Elzehan. That's it! So feel free to develop it however you wish for your campaign. Something like the Black Monastery would probably be good fit.

Scarab Sages

Rob McCreary wrote:
Duiker wrote:

Hi Rob, James sent me over here from his thread because my questions were more up your alley:

My group is beginning a Mummy's Mask campaign next, with me running. I'm using the AP's storyline as the backbone for them being able to play more sandbox (ha!) style through a lot of the rest of Osirion. Idea is for it to run something akin to the old Bioware games, where there are quests and place to find scattered across the entire map. I've got a map drawn for the party to scale on one of those 2x3 poster grids (15 miles per square), with the terrain and cities, on which they can fill in detail as they explore. So I've been reading very intently through all of the materials on Osirion (and there are a lot, it's fantastic!)

Two questions about places:

1. What are the "Swells of Gozreh" north of the mouth of the Sphinx River? I can't find anything on them.

2. On the very very western edge of our map, the Cathedral of Claws makes an appearance. The only reference I can find to it says something along the lines of: it is a mystery even to Thuvians, not even Water lords go there. Is there any additional snippets of info for the place? I was thinking of using Frog God's Black Monastery module reskinned if only because Monastery and Cathedral are similar concepts.

Thanks!

Glad you found the info on the Swells of Gozreh. As for the Cathedral of Claws, there is very little information, as we have not detailed Thuvia much at all at this point. The only mention we've made of the Cathedral is in Seekers of Secrets, which describes it as "awe-inspiring" and that it stands at the foot of a mountain called Elzehan. That's it! So feel free to develop it however you wish for your campaign. Something like the Black Monastery would probably be good fit.

Thanks Rob!

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I recently got the majority of Reign of Winter at last (Snows of Summer was out of stock, but it'll be shipped as soon as they get more), and I had a few questions regarding it:

Potentially Spoilerific Stuff!:
1. In the third book there seems to be a strong indication that Jadrenka might be redeemable, maybe even healing the rift between her and Marislova, but part of me feels that that's really not a good idea, as Jadrenka has been patently abusive during the relationship. The best thing for the victim in an abusive relationship is to be away from their abuser, and if a person realizes they've been abusive, no matter how much they want to heal their relationship, the best thing they can do is stay away from their partner to minimize the chance of hurting them. I'm just wondering how to handle this sort of thing in-game. Redemption's all well-and-good, but it seems like Jadrenka's would hinge on her relationship with Marislova, and there's no way to facillitate something like that without putting Marislova at risk again.

2. While "Failed Winter Witch Apprentice" is a campaign trait for Reign of Winter, is taking the actual Winter Witch prestige class appropriate in this campaign? While I don't think it'd necessarily let such PCs bypass challenges (namely by pulling rank on Irriseni NPCs), given that there's infighting amongst the Winter Witches and their Jadwiga kin. What happens if a Winter Witch PC is made the new ruler of Irrisen? Does that mean it becomes business as usual for Baba Yaga, as such a PC would be her kin and thus she's able to feed on her? Earlier I asked you about "Frozen" references in regards to such PCs facetiously. I'd like to sort of rephrase that more seriously: Even though Reign of Winter preceded Frozen's premier, do you think that a Winter Witch PC would invariably draw comparisons? I suppose the main thrust of the question is "Are Winter Witch PCs appropriate to this Adventure Path, or is it better for them to be firmly villains in it, much like how Second Darkness works better without Drow PCs?

3. As James has told me you're the one championing Iobaria for the most part, I ask you this: Is the teardrop-shaped kite shield associated with Iobarians the same way it's associated with Medieval Russia in real-world art?

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

1. I try not to hard code any one particular course of action into an adventure, believing that the PCs should overcome encounters in whatever way works best for them as much as possible. Regarding Jadrenka and Marislova, I think the adventure assumes that the PCs help Marislova escape Artrosa (with killing her in combat a viable second option). I don't really see much pointing toward bringing the two back together. That being said, a group could certainly work toward "redeeming" Jadrenka, though I think it would be far more difficult to convince Marislova to stay. After all, as you said, Jadrenka's actions certainly border on abuse at the very least. In the end, you should do whatever feels best for your campaign, and hopefully allow your players to take the actions they want. Redeeming Jadrenka and repairing her relationship with Marislova is one option, but by no means the only one.

2. I think a Winter Witch would be fine in this campaign - it's certainly the most thematic choice, if not the most optimized one (cold magic doesn't work so well against cold-resistant or immune creatures). There is actually not a whole lot of interaction with other jadwiga or winter witches in the campaign, so I don't think you have to worry about a PC "pulling rank." I would definitely recommend that such a character take the Failed Winter Witch Apprentice campaign trait, though. In fact, that's what it was designed for - a player who wants to play a winter witch, but not be part of the hierarchy of evil Irriseni winter witches.

Regarding comparisons with Frozen, they are probably inevitable, but if it's a character you want to play, I'd say go for it! If I were to ever play in Reign of Winter, there is a 99% chance that I'd play a winter witch myself!

3. I like to use historical references for my art orders, though I'm not sure the teardrop shield was specifically called out. I did look at at how the Kievan Rus were armed and armored, and I'm sure some of that crept into the art orders. But then again, Golarion has had over 10,000 years of history, so there's a big mix of styles all over the place. I wouldn't say that teardrop shields are specifically Iobarian, or that they're not found anywhere else on Golarion.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Thanks for the detailed response!

Potentially Moar Spoilers!:
1. What happens if a Winter Witch PC takes Irrisen's throne at the end? My impression was that the question of whether Baba Yaga came back at the end of their reign was largely due to the possibility that they're the first Irriseni ruler not of Baba Yaga's bloodline, so as to add to the suspense. If the PC who takes the throne IS a Winter Witch, however, aren't they related to Baba Yaga even if only distantly, thus guaranteeing that Baba Yaga could still steal their soul for power?

2. What happens to Anastasia if a Winter Witch PC takes the throne of Irrisen? The last two books strongly imply she's sort of the default choice for the throne assuming none of the PCs want it. If a PC takes the throne, however, she's essentially stuck on Golarion with no real purpose.


I guess the time has for me to became a villain and ask rules question here.
Long story short as it is right now me, my GM and other Paizonians here seem to think that rules are a bit unclear. We do not understand whether Oathbound paladins get extra spell slots (like cleric domain slots) or just get only extra spells added to available/known spells list.
Would you be so kind and shed divine light of knowledge upon noble paladins who have taken their oaths. :)


Hi,

I just got my hands on Occult Bestiary, and I'd like to try and design some of my own psychic monsters. I was wondering, are there any rules or guidelines for determining how much PE a monster has for its psychic magic ability?

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Thanks for the detailed response!

** spoiler omitted **

There's no good answer for these. These are all issues for once the campaign is over, and it's up to the GM to decide how address them for his or her campaign.

Personally, I wouldn't "penalize" a PC winter witch by having Baba Yaga come back, even if they are distantly related. The PCs just won the campaign - they should get to enjoy all the rewards of that.

As for Anastasia, the first answer applies. It's up to the GM.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

TheTheos wrote:

I guess the time has for me to became a villain and ask rules question here.

Long story short as it is right now me, my GM and other Paizonians here seem to think that rules are a bit unclear. We do not understand whether Oathbound paladins get extra spell slots (like cleric domain slots) or just get only extra spells added to available/known spells list.
Would you be so kind and shed divine light of knowledge upon noble paladins who have taken their oaths. :)

That's really a question for the design team. As a developer, I primarily work with adventures and campaign setting lines, and it's not really my place to answer core rules questions. Your best bet is to flag that question for an FAQ, and the design team will hopefully get to it eventually. Sorry I can't be of more help. :)

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Rob McCreary wrote:
Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Thanks for the detailed response!

** spoiler omitted **

There's no good answer for these. These are all issues for once the campaign is over, and it's up to the GM to decide how address them for his or her campaign.

Personally, I wouldn't "penalize" a PC winter witch by having Baba Yaga come back, even if they are distantly related. The PCs just won the campaign - they should get to enjoy all the rewards of that.

As for Anastasia, the first answer applies. It's up to the GM.

Thank you, Rob! :)

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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Filby Pott wrote:

Hi,

I just got my hands on Occult Bestiary, and I'd like to try and design some of my own psychic monsters. I was wondering, are there any rules or guidelines for determining how much PE a monster has for its psychic magic ability?

There is no hard and fast rule. A good guideline to start with is take the PE for its highest-level spell, and multiply that by 2.5 to get its maximum number of PE. Note that if a monster has a lot of psychic magic spells, you'll probably want to increase that number, but for monsters with only a few psychic spells, that's a good place to start.


Will there be dwarves to kick in Hell's Vengeance?

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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Tammy the Lich wrote:
Will there be dwarves to kick in Hell's Vengeance?

Yes. And puppies! (Although not a whole lot of either.) There are plenty of paladins, though.


Tammy approves.


Rob McCreary wrote:
Tammy the Lich wrote:
Will there be dwarves to kick in Hell's Vengeance?
Yes. And puppies! (Although not a whole lot of either.) There are plenty of paladins, though.

Tammy only needs one, she has her ways of making them linger. :-)

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

A potentially spoileriffic Hell's Vengeance question:
It states in the synopses of Hell's Vengeance that the PCs join House Thrune's most trusted agents, which requires them to sign an infernal contract to "bind themselves to Abrogail Thrune in body, mind, and soul" I believe is the specific wording. What happens if a PC feels that serving the Thrunes IS the right thing, their actual loyalty is to something else. If I'm correct, Hellknights have no masters but the Measure and the Chain (their code), and while they work WITH the Thrune aristocracy in enforcing THE LAW! their writeups often specifically stipulate that they don't work FOR them. They work for THE LAW! How does a Hellknight PC respond, then, when this bargain comes up? How does a cleric of an evil deity, whose soul already belongs to their god? It seems like it's necessary to advance the AP's plot, and I suspect Abrogail would kill any PC who refuses anyway, but it feels like it limits the options of PCs who might say "Sorry, I can't sell my soul. Someone/something else already has it."

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

These issues are very much addressed in the adventures themselves. I don't want to spoil later developments when only the first adventure has been released, but the goal is definitely to allow PCs of all evil stripes to serve House Thrune without making their characters unplayable.

Spoiler:
Regarding Hellknights specifically, most of the Hellknight orders do not work FOR House Thrune, but there is nothing that states individual Hellknights cannot do so, especially when something as big as a Glorious Reclamation-fueled uprising threatens all of Cheliax, including the Hellknights.

In short, be patient. When potential problems like these come up in the adventures, we do our best to provide guidance for GMs and players.


So James Jacobs said you'd be a better person to ask this question to:

Possible HV Spoilers:
What happens to the soul of a Thrune Bound Agent who's got Damnation feats from some non-Devil patron (such as one who's managed to get qlippoths to agree to using their soul as a catalyst in ending everything in exchange for temporal power, or a nihilist who pledged their soul to Ahriman through his div servants, or someone who damned themselves to daemonic influence in order to settle a debt an ancestor owed daemonkind, or something even rarer/weirder but equally vile?) Does it go to Asmodeus or does it return to their Patron, or does it get split?

Silver Crusade

HI Rob. I have found a problem with the Hell Knight Signifer. If you are a divine spell caster why are the feats arcane armor training and arcane armor mastery feats a prereq for the PRC?

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Why do you think some people continually argue against the validity of alignment as a system, usually along the lines of "Why should my GM penalize me for casting this particular spell, or using this poison, etc. to give us a tactical advantage against TRULY evil people like that crimelord/lich/demon?"

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Something else that crossed my mind: How would a Reign of Winter PC with the Failed Winter Witch Apprentice background survive their backstory? It seems to me like the Winter Witches are the type of sadists who'd prefer torturing and killing apprentices who disappoint them, rather than just kicking them out. And aren't they worried such failed apprentices would spread Winter Witch secrets to foreigners, especially enemies like the Linnorm Kings?

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Graeme Lewis wrote:

So James Jacobs said you'd be a better person to ask this question to:

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
Ultimately, it's up to individual GMs to make the call about what happens. That being said, I would probably rule that a PC who already has a Damnation feat would be unable to become a Thrune Bound Agent; Asmodeus is not going to enter into a contract with someone who has already promised their soul to someone/thing else. Likewise, a patron would not grant a Damnation feat to someone who is already a Thrune Bound Agent, because their souls is already spoken for.

Long story short, you've only got one soul to use as payment; once you spend it, you can't use it to pay for anything else, be that a Damnation feat or Thrune Bound Agent infernal boon.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Lou Diamond wrote:
HI Rob. I have found a problem with the Hell Knight Signifer. If you are a divine spell caster why are the feats arcane armor training and arcane armor mastery feats a prereq for the PRC?

They're not. The prerequisite is Arcane Armor Training or Warrior Priest. If you're an arcane caster, you need Arcane Armor Training. If you're a divine caster, you need Warrior Priest instead.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Why do you think some people continually argue against the validity of alignment as a system, usually along the lines of "Why should my GM penalize me for casting this particular spell, or using this poison, etc. to give us a tactical advantage against TRULY evil people like that crimelord/lich/demon?"

Alignment is tricky, and often brings out strong feelings in people. On the one hand, alignment has been part of the game since the very beginning, so it can be considered a "sacred cow." However, there are plenty of RPGs that don't have an alignment system at all, and are still playable. Not to mention that real life can't be divided into nine easily defined categories of morality. I think those are the reasons behind most people's arguments, but I also think it's an argument that no one can ever win.

Sovereign Court Senior Developer

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Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
Something else that crossed my mind: How would a Reign of Winter PC with the Failed Winter Witch Apprentice background survive their backstory? It seems to me like the Winter Witches are the type of sadists who'd prefer torturing and killing apprentices who disappoint them, rather than just kicking them out. And aren't they worried such failed apprentices would spread Winter Witch secrets to foreigners, especially enemies like the Linnorm Kings?

Remember that traits are for PCs only, and in the case of Failed Winter Witch Apprentice, for PCs in a Reign of Winter campaign only. That means that there are not scores of failed winter witch apprentices running around Golarion. The point of the trait is to allow a player to play a thematically appropriate character - in this case, a winter witch - in Reign of Winter without having to be evil or involved in the politics of Irrisen. It is up to those individual players to build on the trait's flavor to create a background for that character that makes sense.

Plenty of failed apprentices probably are tortured or killed outright, but PCs are always the exception - they're the heroes who fight to survive and hopefully, ultimately triumph. So a PC with the Failed Winter Witch Apprentice somehow managed to avoid that fate, and has the chance to now be a hero.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I asked James Jacobs this, but he said you'd be able to answer it better, since your work on Jade Regent was more in-depth than his...

Jade Regent SPOILERS!:
Assuming there are Frozen Shadow ninja that survive the wrath of the PCs and Ameiko, and that the PCs ultimately win when they arrive in Minkai proper, what do the remains of the ninja clan do after their masters in the Five Storms are beaten and they're left without orders? I ask because Frozen Shadow is now a new archetype for the Ninja class with the release of Inner Sea Intrigue, and I found myself thinking, "Hey, a Frozen Shadow survivor desperately looking for a purpose after the events of Jade Regent would be a PERFECT Reign of Winter PC!"

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I had another question, but I'm the most recent poster in this thread and I'm not sure what the forum's policy regarding "bumps" and "thread necromancy" is...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
I had another question, but I'm the most recent poster in this thread and I'm not sure what the forum's policy regarding "bumps" and "thread necromancy" is...

Rob's been on vacation since last Wednesday, so he's got a pretty good reason for not answering... ;-P

Feel free to drop more questions in and I'm SURE he'll be delighted to answer them once he comes back!

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I see. Thank you!

Mr. McCreary, how much leeway will players of Strange Aeons have in background writing, considering how important the PCs' amnesia is to the story? Obviously the PCs won't remember the circumstances that landed them in the asylum, but will EVERYTHING be gone, like their childhood, their training to become an adventurer etc?

It feels like there's two kinds of amnesia in these stories: The first is the kind used in The Witcher video games, where the amnesia doesn't erase EVERYTHING and the person still remembers things like their skills and raison d'etre, but not things related to the circumstances or trauma that triggered the amnesia, and the plot's more about how the amnesiac protagonist goes forward, memory recovery just filling in the blanks. The other kind is what we see in games like Planescape: Torment or the appropriately titled Amnesia series, where the protagonist has basically forgotten EVERYTHING and the plot is about piecing together clues to rediscover your identity, and the revelation of just who the protagonist is is as much a surprise to player as it is to character.

Where will Strange Aeons fall on this continuum? I have some preliminary ideas, but I'm hesitant to start building an actual character until I know just how much backstory I can write for a character, and how much the AP will essentially write for me...

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