If you were to become any runelord, which one would you be?
I would be Karzoug, because I'm not a fan of Enchantment or Illusion, Transmutation has many uses, plus who wouldn't want to be without money problems.
A quick and dirty question concerning Alchemists Mister JJ.
I am making a Samsaran Magus. I want to use Mystic Past Life to take spells from the Alchemist list. Is this allowed?
A kirby dance party for your time, suh.
<<(^.^) <(^.^)> (^.^)>>
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So, the following passage is found in Champions of Purity:
One of the many quandaries good-aligned characters face during their adventuring careers is what to do about the progeny of evil humanoids. For example, shortly into their adventures, an adventuring party encounters a group of goblins who have been raiding a village, leaving a swath of death and destruction in their wake. The PCs track them to some caves and kill them—but the dead goblins leave behind babies. What should the PCs do with those? Kill them? Leave them be? What is the best and most appropriate thing for a good character to do in this situation?
Just as there are varying good alignments, there are different solutions to this problem. One good character might believe the children are not inherently evil, that their behavior is learned, and round up the young ones to take them to a higher power like a church, a monastery, or an orphanage set up to deal with the issue of raising humanoid children. Alternatively, he might decide to raise them himself! This could be viewed as the most saintly thing to do. Another character might decide not to do anything, leaving the children to the whims of nature—either the children will survive in the wild on their own, or they will not. Lastly, a good character who believes the younglings can never overcome their innate evil might kill them all outright, viewing the action as good, just, and the most merciful option.
The bolded part concerns some people, as an endorsement of the death of what amount to children/genocide of monstrous races as a canonical Good act. Now, that doesn't strike me as what the author of that passage probably meant...but I can see where people get that idea and it seems an unfortunate and problematic attitude, and is being cited elsewhere on these forums as Paizo's 'official' take.
So...three questions:
1. Basically, what was the intent behind the bolded section? Just to give GMs some in-print support for whatever decision they make on the issue, or to present the issue but leave the answer to the readers, or what?
2. In your own games, would killing children, even of a monstrous race, generally be a Good act? To clarify I'm talking Goblin or Orc babies/children here, not something made of supernaturally pure Evil or anything like that.
3. While you obviously can't speak for the other people at Paizo do you think they'd generally regard this as a Good act in games they were GMing?
Dear James Jacobs,
So I have four questions about magic items:
1) In the weapons section it says "If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met." what does "the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met" mean?
2) How do you choose which mundane weapon to build upon with magical attributes? So, for example, let's say I rolled on the chart a +1 enhancement bonus and the flaming special ability, how do I know if it's a +1 flaming longsword or a +1 flaming battleaxe?
3) Do the prices from all the attributes of the weapon add up? Let's take the +1 flaming longsword for our example again, do I add 15 gp (from the longsword), 300 gp (from the masterwork quality), 2000 gp (from the +1 enhancement bonus), and 2000 gp (from the flaming special ability) to get a total of 4315 gp for a +1 flaming longsword?
4) When you get a caster level from the enhancement bonus and special ability, do you add the caster levels together, or take the highest one?
Thanks a ton!
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It's the person who gets offended that gets to decide if something is offensive, after all.
If I'm offended by that statement then you're in the wrong and owe me an apology?
I understand trying to avoid offending anyone but it seems like everything is offensive to somebody. Doesn't common sense come into play also?
[If I've offended anybody by this post I apologize in advance :-)]
1) Have you read any of Warren Ellis' other work?
1a) What did you think?2) Speaking of Hardboiled and Pulp, have you had the chance to start watching True Detectives yet?
2a) If so, what do you think?As always, cheers, and thanks for being so sporting.
1) I have not.
1a) So I can't answer this.2) True Detective? Yes.
2a) It's one of the best shows I've ever seen. In my top 5 best TV shows of all time, up with Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones.
Well, Planetary is as good a place to start as any with Warren Ellis' work. As for True Detective, a had an inkling (more like giant alarm bells) you'd like it. It's in my top 5 all-time list as well.
1) Actually, what are your top 5 favorite TV shows of all time? I know you've answered this before but with True Detective now out, your list must have changed.
2) I can't recall seeing this one ever asked, but maybe I missed it: Obviously there are certain Great Old Ones that are inappropriate to use on Golarion (either due to IP issues or the fact that they're too Earth-based, e.g. Ithaqua), however, I'm wondering if Xhamen-Dor isn't perhaps a nod to a certain Severn Valley Lake slug in the British Isles? A slug that also happened to arrive by meteor/comet and controls undead minions?
When do you think the first volume of the Iron Gods AP will appear on the website this month?
When will we be told what the AP is after Iron Gods?
IANJJ, but,
After the first Volume of Mummy Mask hit the street date.
At Paizocon.
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I want to play the newest adventure path! But I can't, because its for high leveled players. I wish you guys would at the very least post class/PC stuff/gamemaster tips in the PRD. In a smaller section maybe.
I understand why you did this but some people like to read along. I wish I had the option to. Eh well I can be surprised at things then. Best of luck james! Hope you don't end up like poe!
I want to play the newest adventure path! But I can't, because its for high leveled players.
inb4 What?
I want to play the newest adventure path! But I can't, because its for high leveled players. I wish you guys would at the very least post class/PC stuff/gamemaster tips in the PRD. In a smaller section maybe.
I understand why you did this but some people like to read along. I wish I had the option to. Eh well I can be surprised at things then. Best of luck james! Hope you don't end up like poe!
Did you mean Module? Adventure Paths begin at Level 1. As for the rest of your post, you may want to elaborate since it's a bit hard to follow (ex. you understand why they did this... did what?).
I was talking about mummies mask. :/ I am sorry for all the confusion. I was not familiar with the terms. I am starting my very first pathfinder game on the thirteenth
Adventure Path start at level one, but can (and often will) be hard for a group of newcomers to Pathfinder/ Tabletop RPG.
@Snickersimba: No apologies necessary and welcome to the game! I hope your first experience goes well.
Creative Director
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Nothing. Just me asking you questions. That is the point of the thread. I actually haven't had any questions about pazio other than whens the fourth adventure path back in stock for ACG? Also, what happens if a dhampir mates with a changeling?
Fourth adventure path for Advanced Class Guide? Not sure what you're asking there.
And a dhampir can mate with a changeling, but they can't get pregnant in that way.
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Creative Director
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When do you think the first volume of the Iron Gods AP will appear on the website this month?
When will we be told what the AP is after Iron Gods?
The first Iron Gods AP should be appearing on the website later, but I wouldn't say this month. Maybe. I don't really know the schedule there.
We'll announce the AP after Iron Gods at Paizocon in July.
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Creative Director
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If you were to become any runelord, which one would you be?
I would be Karzoug, because I'm not a fan of Enchantment or Illusion, Transmutation has many uses, plus who wouldn't want to be without money problems.
Hmmm. Probably Alaznist, since she's one of the more powerful, and because she gets to play with demons!
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Creative Director
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A quick and dirty question concerning Alchemists Mister JJ.
I am making a Samsaran Magus. I want to use Mystic Past Life to take spells from the Alchemist list. Is this allowed?
A kirby dance party for your time, suh.
<<(^.^) <(^.^)> (^.^)>>
Why wouldn't it be? In fact, Samsarans make a lot of sense to have powers linked to past lives.
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Creative Director
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| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
So, the following passage is found in Champions of Purity:
One of the many quandaries good-aligned characters face during their adventuring careers is what to do about the progeny of evil humanoids. For example, shortly into their adventures, an adventuring party encounters a group of goblins who have been raiding a village, leaving a swath of death and destruction in their wake. The PCs track them to some caves and kill them—but the dead goblins leave behind babies. What should the PCs do with those? Kill them? Leave them be? What is the best and most appropriate thing for a good character to do in this situation?
Just as there are varying good alignments, there are different solutions to this problem. One good character might believe the children are not inherently evil, that their behavior is learned, and round up the young ones to take them to a higher power like a church, a monastery, or an orphanage set up to deal with the issue of raising humanoid children. Alternatively, he might decide to raise them himself! This could be viewed as the most saintly thing to do. Another character might decide not to do anything, leaving the children to the whims of nature—either the children will survive in the wild on their own, or they will not. Lastly, a good character who believes the younglings can never overcome their innate evil might kill them all outright, viewing the action as good, just, and the most merciful option.
The bolded part concerns some people, as an endorsement of the death of what amount to children/genocide of monstrous races as a canonical Good act. Now, that doesn't strike me as what the author of that passage probably meant...but I can see where people get that idea and it seems an unfortunate and problematic attitude, and is being cited elsewhere on these forums as Paizo's 'official' take.
So...three questions:
1. Basically, what was the intent behind the bolded section? Just to give GMs some in-print support for whatever decision they make on the issue, or to present the issue but leave the answer to the readers, or what?
2. In your own games, would killing children, even of a monstrous race, generally be a Good act? To clarify I'm talking Goblin or Orc babies/children here, not something made of supernaturally pure Evil or anything like that.
3. While you obviously can't speak for the other people at Paizo do you think they'd generally regard this as a Good act in games they were GMing?
1) I would actually agree that the bolded part seems out of place in a book about good guys. If I were developing that book, I would not have included that section at all, and would have instead had the good guy put the "irredeemable children" into some sort of orphanage or the like geared toward minimizing their evils. Even that starts to feel non-good though, and since the idea that some children are born evil is a compelling story element (It works great for movies like "The Omen" after all), it SHOULD be a part of the setting. THAT'S what I suspect the bolded quote is talking about... and in cases where you're faced with a reincarnated devil or the like using a child's body as armor... killing that child may just be a necessary evil. And in fact, the devil doing so might just WANT good characters to take that step in order to make them loose their purity. It's not playing fair, but that's what evil's all about. But that should be pretty rare, and by putting it into a book aimed at players it makes it feel like it's more common than it should be.
2) Killing anything isn't a good act in my games. It's not necessarily evil though... ENJOYING the act of killing is. Killing itself is a neutral act; animals do it all the time and they're neutral. It's when you attach agendas to the act that it turns evil or whatever. But as for those orc babies? That brings to mind "True Detective" and its claim that bad men are important because they do things that the good men don't do but still need to be done.
3) As a general rule, I'd say that pretty much everyone at Paizo would qualify child killing as an evil act, with exceptions when it comes to situations where the child is something like a devil incarnate or the like, and even then that'd be a plot we shy away from in print. Pen and Paper tabletop gaming isn't really able to explore those much more mature storylines without backlash, alas.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
So I have four questions about magic items:
1) In the weapons section it says "If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met." what does "the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met" mean?
2) How do you choose which mundane weapon to build upon with magical attributes? So, for example, let's say I rolled on the chart a +1 enhancement bonus and the flaming special ability, how do I know if it's a +1 flaming longsword or a +1 flaming battleaxe?
3) Do the prices from all the attributes of the weapon add up? Let's take the +1 flaming longsword for our example again, do I add 15 gp (from the longsword), 300 gp (from the masterwork quality), 2000 gp (from the +1 enhancement bonus), and 2000 gp (from the flaming special ability) to get a total of 4315 gp for a +1 flaming longsword?
4) When you get a caster level from the enhancement bonus and special ability, do you add the caster levels together, or take the highest one?
Thanks a ton!
1) Every magic item has a caster level requirement. For a weapon with an enhancement bonus and a special quality... it has two of those. A +1 weapon requires CL 3rd, for example, while a +5 weapon requires CL 15th. A flaming burst weapon requires CL 12th. So, if you make a +1 flaming burst weapon, the weapon requires CL 12th to craft, even though it's only a +1 weapon. And a +5 flaming burst weapon requires CL 15th, even though the flaming burst element normally only requires CL 12th.
2) You can either pick the type of weapon you want, or you can roll randomly. The GameMaster's Guide has several handy charts for rolling random weapons. Ultimate Equipment does too, I believe.
3) The prices for the physical weapon all add up, and the prices for the enhancement bonuses and enhancement bonus equivalent abilities like flaming all add their bonuses together to determine the final cost. Thus... your +1 flaming longsword would cost: 315 for the masterwork weapon, and 8,000 gp for the +1 flaming (since that's a total of a +2 weapon), for 8,315 in all.
4) Take the highest one.
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Creative Director
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| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's the person who gets offended that gets to decide if something is offensive, after all.If I'm offended by that statement then you're in the wrong and owe me an apology?
I understand trying to avoid offending anyone but it seems like everything is offensive to somebody. Doesn't common sense come into play also?
[If I've offended anybody by this post I apologize in advance :-)]
If you're offended by that statement, then yes, I apologize to you. Common sense DOES come into play... but at both sides, because often, taking offense at something does not follow the rules of common sense. In those situations, it's best to offer an apology to the offended person—THAT's common sense AND common courtesy.
And yes, it is easy to offend on the internet. There's two reasons for this.
1) The lack of inflection and body language makes it really easy to misinterpret what's being typed, especially since it's human nature to jump to the worst conclusions about something.
2) Places like these boards are public. You might type messages in the privacy of your own home, but what you type is more public than if you go to a busy downtown and shout the message out loud so thousands of people can hear you. What you put on a board can reach across space AND time. It's possible to be offensive to someone in the distant future in this way because what you type today may not have the offensive connotations it has 100 years from now. That's obviously an extreme example, but it's legit. There's really no way to control what may or may not be offensive, so be mature about it when someone IS offended, offer an apology, and do your best to find out what it was you did to offend so you can remember that in the future and avoid it.
Why wouldn't it be? In fact, Samsarans make a lot of sense to have powers linked to past lives.A quick and dirty question concerning Alchemists Mister JJ.
I am making a Samsaran Magus. I want to use Mystic Past Life to take spells from the Alchemist list. Is this allowed?
A kirby dance party for your time, suh.
<<(^.^) <(^.^)> (^.^)>>
The question probably stems from the fact that Mystic Past Lives says this:
You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.
The question is likely whether or not the Alchemist's Formulae List counts as a spellcasting list for a spellcasting class or not.
Personally, my interpretation is going to have to be, "No." Alchemists aren't an arcane spellcasting class and the Formulae List isn't a Spell List.
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Creative Director
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Well, Planetary is as good a place to start as any with Warren Ellis' work. As for True Detective, a had an inkling (more like giant alarm bells) you'd like it. It's in my top 5 all-time list as well.
1) Actually, what are your top 5 favorite TV shows of all time? I know you've answered this before but with True Detective now out, your list must have changed.
2) I can't recall seeing this one ever asked, but maybe I missed it: Obviously there are certain Great Old Ones that are inappropriate to use on Golarion (either due to IP issues or the fact that they're too Earth-based, e.g. Ithaqua), however, I'm wondering if Xhamen-Dor isn't perhaps a nod to a certain Severn Valley Lake slug in the British Isles? A slug that also happened to arrive by meteor/comet and controls undead minions?
1) My top five shows are probably as follows:
Game of ThronesTrue Detective
Breaking Bad
American Horror Story
Surviviorman
Shows that COULD have been on that list but messed it up somehow would be Lost, X-Files, Six Feet Under, The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, Seinfeld, Sopranos, Carnivale, Deadwood, Rome, Homeland, Dexter, and Mythbusters. And depending on how True Detective ends in a few hours, Mythbusters might muscle it's way back onto the top 5!
2) Xhamen-Dor is a Great Old One I invented for a short story I wrote in High School and revised for a college creative writing class; a story called "Avatar." Xhamen-Dor is certainly influenced by Glaaki, and shares a lot of similarities with him, particularly in his current incarnation, but the original story had him more in the role of someone who possesses a single creature at a time to give that creature powers for fell purposes. That said, Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author... so it's no surprise that my writing is influenced by him.
Dear James Jacobs,
So I have four questions about magic items:
1) In the weapons section it says "If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met." what does "the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met" mean?
2) How do you choose which mundane weapon to build upon with magical attributes? So, for example, let's say I rolled on the chart a +1 enhancement bonus and the flaming special ability, how do I know if it's a +1 flaming longsword or a +1 flaming battleaxe?
3) Do the prices from all the attributes of the weapon add up? Let's take the +1 flaming longsword for our example again, do I add 15 gp (from the longsword), 300 gp (from the masterwork quality), 2000 gp (from the +1 enhancement bonus), and 2000 gp (from the flaming special ability) to get a total of 4315 gp for a +1 flaming longsword?
4) When you get a caster level from the enhancement bonus and special ability, do you add the caster levels together, or take the highest one?
Thanks a ton!
1) Every magic item has a caster level requirement. For a weapon with an enhancement bonus and a special quality... it has two of those. A +1 weapon requires CL 3rd, for example, while a +5 weapon requires CL 15th. A flaming burst weapon requires CL 12th. So, if you make a +1 flaming burst weapon, the weapon requires CL 12th to craft, even though it's only a +1 weapon. And a +5 flaming burst weapon requires CL 15th, even though the flaming burst element normally only requires CL 12th.
2) You can either pick the type of weapon you want, or you can roll randomly. The GameMaster's Guide has several handy charts for rolling random weapons. Ultimate Equipment does too, I believe.
3) The prices for the physical weapon all add up, and the prices for the enhancement bonuses and enhancement bonus equivalent abilities like flaming all add their bonuses together to determine the final cost. Thus... your +1 flaming longsword...
Sorry to bother you again, but what's a caster level requirement, I don't see any rules in the core rule book regarding it. Do you have to be that level to be able to create that item, and also, could you tell me where all these rules are because in the magic item creation section it only talks about material costs, time, and spells you have to know to be able to make it, it doesn't say anything about caster level requirement.
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Creative Director
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I want to play the newest adventure path! But I can't, because its for high leveled players. I wish you guys would at the very least post class/PC stuff/gamemaster tips in the PRD. In a smaller section maybe.
I understand why you did this but some people like to read along. I wish I had the option to. Eh well I can be surprised at things then. Best of luck james! Hope you don't end up like poe!
All our adventure paths start at 1st level, so there's not one that's for "high level players." Unless you're talking about how Wrath of the Righteous is for mythic characters?
We don't really have a good place at this time to publish metagame advice or the like. Gamemastery Guide has some of it, and there's bits of player advice in all of our Player Companions... and the adventure path player's guides have lots of advice on how to build an AP-appropriate character.
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Creative Director
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Why wouldn't it be? In fact, Samsarans make a lot of sense to have powers linked to past lives.A quick and dirty question concerning Alchemists Mister JJ.
I am making a Samsaran Magus. I want to use Mystic Past Life to take spells from the Alchemist list. Is this allowed?
A kirby dance party for your time, suh.
<<(^.^) <(^.^)> (^.^)>>
The question probably stems from the fact that Mystic Past Lives says this:
You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.The question is likely whether or not the Alchemist's Formulae List counts as a spellcasting list for a spellcasting class or not.
Personally, my interpretation is going to have to be, "No." Alchemists aren't an arcane spellcasting class and the Formulae List isn't a Spell List.
Oh... that's not what you asked.
Alchemist formulae lists do not count as spellcasting for spellcasting classes. They're seperate and unusual and unique. You're right, the correct answer is no.
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Creative Director
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Sorry to bother you again, but what's a caster level requirement, I don't see any rules in the core rule book regarding it. Do you have to be that level to be able to create that item, and also, could you tell me where all these rules are because in the magic item creation section it only talks about material costs, time, and spells you have to know to be able to make it, it doesn't say anything about caster level requirement.
No worries!
A caster level requirement isn't an actuall "requirement" per se. It's the level of the item and as such it sets the base DC to create the item. If you're lower level than that, you'll not only have a tougher check DC to hit, but more to the point, you're unlikely to be able to cast the spells required for the item, which means your DC goes up more.
So I bought Lands of Linnorm Kings a few weeks ago and one of the plot hooks that I thought was very interesting was the Valley of Birthing Death. Doubly since that most fantasy settings talk about progressing age, but never regressing it.
Have you guys already determined what the mystery in the valley is and will we ever learn about it?
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Is Korvosa's house Zenderholm of Chelish descent or Taldan? I think I remember reading somewhere that some noble families in Cheliax, despite their loyalty to the nation, have origins in Taldor, and Zenderholm's coat of arms does feature the crown symbol uniquely associated with Taldor. Or am I reading too much into the symbol?
Somehow someone who thinks of the entire Earth as a midday meal and could stand and take that meal while the entire armed forces of a world were doing their best to whale on him... I would argue that a 10 CR bump doesn't do it justice. Or someone who could erase an entire multiverse by emptying his blood on a scribed Pattern... At some point I think, we just go places where CR simply can't scale.Superheroes don't really match up well to the CR system in my opinion. I guess... I'd put Spiderman at CR 15, Magneto and Doctor Doom at CR 20, and Galactus at 30? Dunno.What CR ranges would you place Magneto, Doctor Doom, Spiderman, and Galactus at?
Pretentiousness aside, current Pathfinder isn't mean for CR 31+
Yep. Was just going to ask the same thing. After having just finished watching the True Detectives finale I know where I stand on the show as a whole, so now I'm curious, does it stay in your top 5? Obviously I get that this question may take a while before you can answer it depending on when you get a chance to watch it.
What did Mythbusters do wrong that had you remove it from your top 5?
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...What you put on a board can reach across space AND time. It's possible to be offensive to someone in the distant future in this way because what you type today may not have the offensive connotations it has 100 years from now. ...so be mature about it when someone IS offended, offer an apology, and do your best to find out what it was you did to offend so you can remember that in the future and avoid it.
Wow, James Jacobs - your wisdom transcends time and space. Good answer :-)
James, you mentioned on another thread that in Herald of the Ivory Labryinth, Baphomet's reactions if you destroy some keepsakes of his was cut due to lack of space.
Any chance you can post what was supposed to happen mechanically?
==Aelryinth
Easy now.As I just said, that was indeed a poorly written sentence, and we should have caught it and fixed it.
It's the person who gets offended that gets to decide if something is offensive, after all. Please don't try to call out folks like that.
I apologize, I understand you're a company in a very Liberal part of the country and have to deal with PR, while I'm just an anonymus citizen on the internet.
On the other hand, don't you feel focusing on PC can harm your product? I fear the day when I read one of your products and alignment for someone is listed as Lawful/Doubleungood.
I would understand if the person had turned from Ulfen to Mwangi, but I feel like winged beasties would have evil in their souls.
This is more of a Wes question, so I've asked him already, but I figured I could get your input as well.
I'm having an idea for an adventure, but I need a little insight into the mind of Asmodeus first. Would he ever be the kind to strike up a deal with Charon? Also, would Asmodeus ever be the kind to trick someone into signing a contract through deceit (e.g. artifact paper that looks like one contract but is actually a completely contract altogether)?
Hi-five to James and the other Paizo employees
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James,
I don't know if you can talk about this since it's product identity stuff, but aside from inability to use the exact names and the names and stats of the varieties introduced in later monster manuals or other books, have you at Paizo made any point of differentiating Agathions from Guardinals or Azatas from Eladrin? It's interesting to me since they share some of the same monsters, but not all of them (due to aforementioned product identity stuff).
The question came to mind mostly from when I was looking to see if there was a Bear Guardinal/Ursinal since there wasn't a Bear Agathion, and then realizing that since there was one, and it was from the Book of Exalted Deeds, there probably couldn't be. Then again, you made a Deer Agathion (Cervinal) even though there was a Deer Guardinal (Cervinal), just with significantly different stats. So could there be a later Bear Agathion, but with different name and abilities?