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Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Yo! I'm Michael Sayre, Paizo developer and designer of various 3pp Pathfinder products like Akashic Mysteries by Dreamscarred Press, Classes of the Lost Spheres: The Zodiac by Lost Spheres Publishing, The Genius Guide to Bravery Feats by Rogue Genius Games, Ultimate Battle Lord by Amora Games, Spheres of Might by Drop Dead Studios, and a bunch of other stuff.

Do you have any questions about any of the projects I've worked on? Curious about what I do has a developer at Paizo or how I ended up here? Want recommendations on games I'm currently playing? Feel free to ask and I'm happy to answer!


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To start things off, I'll let it be a simple one: What is the velocity of an unladen swallow...?


Now that that's out of the way:

- what was your favorite project in Akashic Mysteries?
- what was your favorite project in Classes of the Lost Spheres: The Zodiac?
- what was your favorite project (a feat, one supposes, but I guess I don't know for sure - maybe you reeeaaaaally like layout design!) in The Genius Guide to Bravery Feats?
- what was your favorite project in Ultimate Battle?
- what was your favorite project in Spheres of Might?
- what is one other project you've worked on that you're proud of?


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Are you my mother?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Tacticslion wrote:
To start things off, I'll let it be a simple one: What is the velocity of an unladen swallow...?

African or European swallow?

Tacticslion wrote:

Now that that's out of the way:

- what was your favorite project in Akashic Mysteries?

My favorite part of Akashic Mysteries is probably the gamla. I really wanted camelfolk, and not only did I add them, I put the art on the cover. They also spurred me into coming up with the design paradigm of each akashic race getting multiple alternate racial trait packages that changed them into different animals, which I thought was a really fun idea.

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- what was your favorite project in Classes of the Lost Spheres: The Zodiac?

So, the whole handbook was actually a ton of fun to work on. Making an akashic summoner was something that had been on my mind for a long time (I had literally an entire notebook full of ideas by the time I started actually typing the class up), but I knew that I wanted it to be distinct beyond just using the akashic system. I have a kind of personal predilection for only wanting to work on things that fill an underserved niche, and I really need my classes to do things that aren't just "existing class X but with a different subsystem attached".

The solar path is probably my personal favorite addition to the game though; I've wanted a standalone way to build a fully akashic character who doesn't need veils and can really leverage the akashic feats without competing resources, and I love the solar zodiac for being able to do that.

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- what was your favorite project (a feat, one supposes, but I guess I don't know for sure - maybe you reeeaaaaally like layout design!) in The Genius Guide to Bravery Feats?

Fearsome Reputation. I was really excited about adding a mechanic that let the fighter add double his bravery bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate as a reflection of his deeds traveling before him. That was also back before the fighter had all the new toys added in the weapon and armor master's handbooks, so there weren't as many cool toys for expanding the fighter outside of the "hit stuff real hard" role back then.

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- what was your favorite project in Ultimate Battle?

The battle lord is still one of my favorite classes I've written, and I think I've got somewhere between 14 and 17 published classes at this point. I love martial leader characters and the battle lord does a really good job of leading from the front while bolstering a team.

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- what was your favorite project in Spheres of Might?

That's a really hard one, because I wrote a ton of material for Spheres of Might (and the follow-up Champions of the Spheres), and I'm really proud of a lot of it. If I had to pick just one thing though.... It's really a toss-up between the blacksmith and the scholar. Some days the blacksmith is my favorite because I love having a full BAB crafter and party buffer who does things in a very particular and (IMO) cool way. The scholar is this crazy Renaissance man, Leonardo Da Vinci with flashbang grenades class that I wrote with pretty much no other intention than beyond making something that hadn't already been done before, and I often get a kick out of looking at all the whacky playtest characters I made when I was testing and developing it.

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- what is one other project you've worked on that you're proud of?

I want to say The Luchador by Drop Dead Studios, because I'm playing one in our office game right now and it's super entertaining, as well as evoking a lot of great childhood memories.

I will say though, that Faiths of Golarion is a close runner up thanks to being both my first freelance project with Paizo and the first time I got to build out the canon of Golarion a bit through my article on Nivi Rhombodazzle. I came up in the industry by working for several different third-party publishers and building up a fair body of work that way, but I didn't get to start writing things into Golarion until after I started working full-time at Paizo as a developer.

Little Lost Bird wrote:
Are you my mother?

Afraid not my feathered friend. Pro tip though, you'll save yourself an entire children's book worth of erroneous leads if you start by questioning other birds first.


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Uh yeah, or you know other books with neglectful bird mothers.

I'm just saying, if you go to Florida, will you tell that b@+$$ I've been sitting on her eggs for weeks now.

Also, are these the BEST peanuts you have around here? Never mind, these will be fine, I guess.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Elephant in a Room wrote:


Also, are these the BEST peanuts you have around here? Never mind, these will be fine, I guess.

We're very aware of the sad state of the complimentary peanuts here on the Paizo forums. Unfortunately, while we fought hard for improvements, we ultimately had to compromise by accepting the exact same peanuts with extra salt. There's a silver lining though- the extra sodium will help if you happen to be traveling to a hot environment for the holidays.


I must ask: if you were a goblin, what kind of goblin would you be?

Also, what is something you really want to work on that you haven't had the chance to, yet, and why?
(Presupposing you feel comfortable discussing this topic. This question doesn't exist for our purposes, if you would rather not discuss it for some reason I'm to sick and/or stuffy-headed to figure at present.)


Elephant in a Room wrote:
I'm just saying, if you go to Florida, will you tell that b!%@@ I've been sitting on her eggs for weeks now.

I'll have you know that Florida birds are well taken care of in their dotage! We've lots of places they can just... stay!

(That may, in fact, be the problem. Also, have you considered contracting a gamla akashic summoner to teleport you both to Florida?)

Wait! This is ask Micahael Sayre anything! Uh... Micahael, have you considered contracting a gamla akashic summoner to teleport them both to Florida?


Oh! Also! What heritage is the name "Sayre" from?

I'm always curious when I run across a name-type that I don't immediately recognize!

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Tacticslion wrote:
I must ask: if you were a goblin, what kind of goblin would you be?

So, we're locking in and formalizing the goblin types for the new edition since they've been a little vague previously, but even with that being the case I think I'd still have to say "monkey goblin" because tails and tropical environments. I also have a sad monkey goblin vigilante pirate I built for a game that fell apart two sessions in who I've wanted to play for a while now, so that's probably an influencing factor.

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Also, what is something you really want to work on that you haven't had the chance to, yet, and why?
(Presupposing you feel comfortable discussing this topic. This question doesn't exist for our purposes, if you would rather not discuss it for some reason I'm to sick and/or stuffy-headed to figure at present.)

Hmmm..... That's a tricky one. I've had a lot of opportunities to do cool stuff and most of the answers I would have given 6 months ago are things that I've since gotten to do (many of which are in various stages of "haven't been announced yet" or "just released").

To talk about something I've been working on but don't feel is finished and genuinely hope to continue to work on, I'd say building the lore and presence of the Erutaki and Varki in Golarion. I have a strong affinity for them, being part Alaskan Native, a member of the Goldbelt Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, and having grown up in Alaska, so I really want to see them become more than the footnote they currently kind of are in Golarion. Pathfinder Society Scenario #10–03: Death on the Ice was the first adventure I outlined myself after joining Paizo as a developer, and Scott Young did an awesome job of helping build out the Erutaki culture and introducing the half-Ulfen, half-Varki ranger Svala Ice-Rider (who I hope to use more in future products and already have seeded some references to in Chronicle of Legends).

Tacticslion wrote:

Oh! Also! What heritage is the name "Sayre" from?

I'm always curious when I run across a name-type that I don't immediately recognize!

I'm told it's French and comes from an old family occupation of assaying iron. It's my dad's family surname and he adopted me after moving to Alaska and marrying my mom when I was 4, so I don't have a lot of information on it beyond that. I didn't really spend a lot of time with that side of the family beyond occasional summer vacations with my dad's parents and siblings for most of my life (it's hard to spend time with people who don't live in Alaska when you do live in Alaska) so I'm not as steeped in the lore of that side of my family as I might otherwise be.


Michael Sayre wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
I must ask: if you were a goblin, what kind of goblin would you be?
So, we're locking in and formalizing the goblin types for the new edition since they've been a little vague previously, but even with that being the case I think I'd still have to say "monkey goblin" because tails and tropical environments. I also have a sad monkey goblin vigilante pirate I built for a game that fell apart two sessions in who I've wanted to play for a while now, so that's probably an influencing factor.

OH MY WORD, A FELLOW MONKEY-GOBLIN LOVER, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS


Michael Sayre wrote:
Hmmm..... That's a tricky one. I've had a lot of opportunities to do cool stuff and most of the answers I would have given 6 months ago are things that I've since gotten to do (many of which are in various stages of "haven't been announced yet" or "just released").

Exciting!

Michael Sayre wrote:

To talk about something I've been working on but don't feel is finished and genuinely hope to continue to work on, I'd say building the lore and presence of the Erutaki and Varki in Golarion. I have a strong affinity for them, being part Alaskan Native, a member of the Goldbelt Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, and having grown up in Alaska, so I really want to see them become more than the footnote they currently kind of are in Golarion. Pathfinder Society Scenario #10–03: Death on the Ice was the first adventure I outlined myself after joining Paizo as a developer, and Scott Young did an awesome job of helping build out the Erutaki culture and introducing the half-Ulfen, half-Varki ranger Svala Ice-Rider (who I hope to use more in future products and already have seeded some references to in Chronicle of Legends).

Tacticslion wrote:


Oh! Also! What heritage is the name "Sayre" from?

I'm always curious when I run across a name-type that I don't immediately recognize!

I'm told it's French and comes from an old family occupation of assaying iron. It's my dad's family surname and he adopted me after moving to Alaska and marrying my mom when I was 4, so I don't have a lot of information on it beyond that. I didn't really spend a lot of time with that side of the family beyond occasional summer vacations with my dad's parents and siblings for most of my life (it's hard to spend time with people who don't live in Alaska when you do live in Alaska) so I'm not as steeped in the lore of that side of my family as I might otherwise be.

Cool!!

Michael Sayre wrote:
To talk about something I've been working on but don't feel is finished and genuinely hope to continue to work on, I'd say building the lore and presence of the Erutaki and Varki in Golarion. I have a strong affinity for them, being part Alaskan Native, a member of the Goldbelt Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, and having grown up in Alaska,

As someone who has never been to Alaska (though I've always wanted to) and has no particular ties there, all of this is stuff I'm actually really interested in learning more about!

What is a project you would like to do for Erutaki and Varki in Golarion?

I am desperately ignorant of Alaskan culture (for which I apologize), so would you mind telling me more about the Goldbelt Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, and having grown as a native of Alaska?

(I accept stories, anecdotes, philosophical musings, and music links to YouTube.)

I also have to be forgiveness for my ignorance, but does the Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation have anything to do with Never Alone?

(I found only a single reference in that article - the story-teller has Tlingit heritage - but, though it mentions the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, it does not mention the Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, so it seems unlikely, or "loose at best," to me... but, again, I'm an ignorant and interested nerd, so... I hope the question isn't rude!)

Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead

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What's your favorite monster that has never appeared in a D&D or Pathfinder or Stafinder book?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
What's your favorite monster that has never appeared in a D&D or Pathfinder or Stafinder book?

The kushtaka. In Tlingit lore, the kushtaka, or land otters, are insidious creatures that lure fishermen away from the safety of the quan so they could capture them. Someone stolen by the kushtaka would have their soul stolen, and eventually become one of the kushtaka themselves. One of the ways to recognize a person with the potential to be a shaman was for that individual to help a member of the quan who had their soul stolen but had not transformed to regain their soul and senses.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Tacticslion wrote:

As someone who has never been to Alaska (though I've always wanted to) and has no particular ties there, all of this is stuff I'm actually really interested in learning more about!

What is a project you would like to do for Erutaki and Varki in Golarion?

Remember this question and ask me again once we start announcing our 2nd edition product schedule.

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I also have to be forgiveness for my ignorance, but does the Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation have anything to do with Never Alone?

No. Never Alone tells a story that conveys the myths and culture of the Inuit and Athabascan peoples of Alaska, who are culturally and geographically much different than the more southern Tlingit and Haida cultures. Alaska is a humongous state, so if you were to lay it over the continental United States, the peoples and cultures whose stories are relayed through the game Never Alone would live in roughly the area stretching from Montana to Wisconsin, while the Tlingit and Haida would occupy the area around Georgia and Florida.

Coincidentally though, a family friend was part of the project to create Never Alone, and an early alpha of the game obliterated my desktop's OS requiring a complete reformat :P

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(I found only a single reference in that article - the story-teller has Tlingit heritage

This is probably a bit of cultural pride, but I have long been of the opinion that no one narrates a story like a practiced Tlingit storyteller. I used to sit riveted, listening to my grandpa tell stories for hours, and he always got tired of it before I did.

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- but, though it mentions the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, it does not mention the Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, so it seems unlikely, or "loose at best," to me... but, again, I'm an ignorant and interested nerd, so... I hope the question isn't rude!)

So, Alaska is kind of interesting. Back in the 60s the Alaska Native Claims Act, championed by the elders of many of the different tribes, quans, and other Alaskan Native groups, was passed. In it, the Alaskan Native people rejected the reservation act and instead claimed the right to organize their tribes into corporations, with ownership of various lands and other property rights, as well as the funding to create, invest in, and maintain various mutual funds and other revenue streams that belong to the corporation, and thus every tribe member since they're all shareholders. Cook Inlet Tribal Council is one such corporation, formed of several of the tribes whose ancestral homes are in or around the Cook Inlet region of Alaska. Goldbelt is the corporation formed around the primarily Tlingit and Haida peoples of Alaska's southeastern panhandle.

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I am desperately ignorant of Alaskan culture (for which I apologize), so would you mind telling me more about the Goldbelt Tlingit/Haida tribal corporation, and having grown as a native of Alaska?

(I accept stories, anecdotes, philosophical musings, and music links to YouTube.)

So, I will definitely throw some art and stories at you during a less busy time of year, but one neat resource for a quick overview of the Tlingit people is this website.


That is all awesome! W00t!


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Who are you?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Drejk wrote:
Who are you?

Did, did this not answer that question?

I am (amongst other things) one of the people who worked on Liber Influxus Communis, just like you!


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Unacceptable!

Who Are You?

Spoiler:
Basically it is a context-encrypted question about seeing Babylon 5...

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Drejk wrote:

Unacceptable!

Who Are You?

** spoiler omitted **

I have been appropriately educated. I was aware of Babylon 5 but I don't think I've ever actually watched a single episode. I'll try and rectify that.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Was it hard coming in as the newest member of the Org Play Development Team? What's been the biggest adjustment?

Hmm

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Hmm wrote:

Was it hard coming in as the newest member of the Org Play Development Team? What's been the biggest adjustment?

Hmm

Well, let's see. My first day of work involved the team and I brainstorming some ideas that would be used in the first part of season 10, discovering that Paizo was getting ready to launch a playtest for a new edition I'd need to learn the rules for, and then after lunch starting development on the 9–16 quest pack. I... haven't slept much since then, but I'm pretty sure that was the easiest day I've had since.

In all seriousness, it's a really intense job where everyone is careening along at breakneck speed, producing adventures we planned 6 months ago so that the ones due in another 6 months will be ready on time. Sprinkled in there are trips to conventions (my last one involved being diverted to an airport in the middle of nowhere due to a tropical storm threatening to be a hurricane), playtesting, amazing office games, endless waves of sanctioning, and a lot of general community involvement. It's super intense and I really can't imagine wanting to do anything else. It's amazing to have two people as smart and knowledgeable as John and Linda as coworkers, and Tonya is consistently an inspiration with her dedication and ludicrous amounts of energy.


So!

Did you ever play around with the old d20Modern (or -Past, or -Future supplements), Oriental Adventures, or Blue Rose (or, I suppose, True20) games back in the day?

If so, you wanna share anything about them?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Tacticslion wrote:

So!

Did you ever play around with the old d20Modern (or -Past, or -Future supplements), Oriental Adventures, or Blue Rose (or, I suppose, True20) games back in the day?

If so, you wanna share anything about them?

One of my all-time favorite campaigns was played in d20 Modern. It was set in the Dimond Center Mall up in Anchorage, Alaska where my wife and I used to work. I pulled copies of the mall directory as handouts for the players. Most of the mall exits were blocked by zombies pouring out of a crashed military cargo plane out in the parking lot and the players had to survive the initial onslaught and then find a safe exit from the mall. There was excitement, tragedy, an accidental murder in the Round Table Pizza, and a former rockstar turned B-list movie star named Flip Downey (a name inspired by a switch on the player's amplifier).

I haven't played any d20 Modern in a couple years now, but I've run a couple of those style of campaigns using different rules systems. I like Cypher System and the associated game systems (Numenera, The Strange, Gods of the Fall) a lot, and they're probably my second-most-played system right now after Pathfinder. I like that it's a fairly rules-lite system and players tend to really enjoy the character creation system of coming up with their character's build by completing a sentence about themselves (I'm a [blank] [blank] who [blanks]). Since my d20 Modern campaigns tended to be about 4 sessions long, Cypher System's fast character generation and simple rule set makes it really good for scratching that itch and letting everyone jump right in to playing without a lot of planning or character building.

Oriental Adventures I just used as a supplement for 3.5 and never really as a standalone campaign setting; my campaigns tend to be "big" with lots of movement, sailing ships, starjammers, and loads of exploration, so we've always kind of moved from one region of the world to another fairly quickly. Our first campaign in Golarion was also the first campaign where we more or less stayed in the same geographic region for the bulk of the campaign. (Note that "we" means "Myself and whoever was part of one of my groups at the time.")

Blue Rose I own one of the previous edition sets for, but I've never actually played a Blue Rose game. There's no particular reason I haven't played it despite owning it, it's just never been the flavor of gaming the majority of a given group was craving when we started a new campaign. The last time I thought about running a Blue Rose game my wife and a few other players were chomping at the bit for some Star Wars: Saga Edition and that ended up turning into a 2 year campaign.


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I am building a radiant and I was wondering what a good set of veils to shape at level 6 would be. I have a high Wisdom, high Dex build with low strength. I am focusing on party support, though I fully intend to have a companion veil shaped at all times. Character is good aligned as well.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Adam B. 135 wrote:
I am building a radiant and I was wondering what a good set of veils to shape at level 6 would be. I have a high Wisdom, high Dex build with low strength. I am focusing on party support, though I fully intend to have a companion veil shaped at all times. Character is good aligned as well.

The radiant, from City of 7 Seraphs is a buffer/healer akashic class, so like a lot of akashic classes, it's pretty flexible depending on exactly what you're wanting to do.

Since you're high DEX/WIS and want a companion veil always available, plus you're 6th level so you have a couple vivifications and Hands and Head binds.

You're early enough on that you probably won't have a ton of essence that you don't want to use for your vivifications, so Avatar of Light is probably your best choice for a companion veil; that'll give you a flying companion with a ranged attack who can help with healing up the party. If you need to buff it up you can by pouring essence into it, and you won't have to worry about keeping a bunch in there like you might with Hyandil's Flowered Regalia where you need fixed essence amounts to boost the number of shambling mounds you have available. The other really good option here is the Sparkling Alicorn veil, because having a celestial unicorn mount is never going to be a bad thing. The main question between the two is whether or not you're going to want a mount to increase your effective reach and mobility, or a smaller companion that can travel into tighter dungeons and won't make you as much of a target. I'd probably bounce back and forth between the two depending on the circumstances; if you're in more of an "exploration" area like a big forest or similar region, grab the Sparkling Alicorn, but if you're in cramped tunnels or a dungeon (or plan to be) shape Avatar of Light for the day. You'll get extra healing from both, so that box gets checked either way.

Since you've got a Hands bind, you'll definitely want to take advantage of that, and radiant has a couple good options. The main question is whether you want offense, healing, or something that splits the difference.
If you want a good offensive option, you probably want to grab the Banelight Vortices; they're the most effective damaging option on the radiant's veil list, and they'll give you a powerful weapon against undead, which the party often relies on divine casters for.
If you want more healing, Unicorn Feathering is a great option that will also give a minor bless effect to the target of your healing.
If you want to split the difference a bit, grab Aphos's Blooded Gauntlets. Aphos's Blooded Gauntlets will give you some buffing and debuffing capabilities, and you'll be able to generate healing for yourself by further debuffing enemies. These can pair up with your unwilling bond ability to make you a surprisingly nasty debuffer, and you'll be able to power through the worst effects if you have to use them to heal your allies.

You've got one more open slot available and no more binds coming in for the next three levels, so the last veil can be whatever you want. My recommendation depends a bit on what you pick with the other veils:

If you didn't take the Banelight Vortices or Avatar of Light, consider taking Duxandus's Icy Gaze. It gives you a damaging ranged attack that can also reduce an enemy's speed, making it easier for you to keep enemies off of you while you heal your allies.

If you didn't take a damaging veil and your party doesn't have someone who can cover AoE damage effectively, try Cloak of Thorns. This is an effective damage spray in a cone that you can ratchet up or down with essence as needed, and it can be handy if you find yourself getting swarmed.

If your party is well covered on the damage side of things but could use some more control effects, try Verdant Vambraces. They'll give you a pretty sizable control effect that can even tangle up flying creatures with some essence invested, which can be great for keeping the enemies off of you and making it easier for your teammates to mop up the mooks. Plus it has fun visuals :)

The last one I'd consider for your third veil is Spectacles of the Sheikh. Akashic characters tend to have a lot of versatility in what they can do from day to day, but not quite as many options as a core spellcaster once they've selected their veils for the day, so something like Spectacles of the Sheikh, which gives you detect magic, augury, and bonuses to Perception and Sense Motive (which you already have the stats for) can be a really good way to round out your character with some stuff that's more out-of-combat oriented but still very useful.


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While I havent tried the combo, you could heal the party using your HP via Martyrs Toga (between combats), and heal yourself with Aphos Blooded Gauntlets mid-combat. The Toga in this case won't need essence, which you will need and want for your other abilities.

I would shape the Toga with no essence, the Avatar and the Gauntlets with as much essence as I can, and leave some to invest in allies.


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Michael, what is your favorite food (as in Italian, Mexican, Chinese etc.), what is your favorite dish? and dessert?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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the xiao wrote:
Michael, what is your favorite food (as in Italian, Mexican, Chinese etc.), what is your favorite dish? and dessert?

It's really hard to pick a favorite. I grew up with a pretty diverse background (I'm Irish and Tlingit, all my aunties are Philippino, and I have Hispanic family on my dad's side) which meant I ate a lot of different kinds of food. If I had to pick, I'd probably say Mexican? My wife and I eat a lot of Mexican food. But my favorite dish is definitely macaroni and cheese, and for dessert German chocolate cake; I don't know if I could eat just one type of food.


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What RPG games have you played beyond d20? I noticed you mention Numenara and its derivatives but what about other games?

Have you published materials beyond Pathfinder?


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Can I steal your background for my next character? It sounds you have a rich influx of influences!

By the way, there are now 9 akashic base classes, 8 made by you. Is there ANY other akashic base class you want to publish? Basically, we have all roles covered by now, but... Do you think there exists a gap for another one?

One last question, is there going to be more support for the origi al 3 classes in Akashic Realms beyond veils and/or feats?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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Drejk wrote:

What RPG games have you played beyond d20? I noticed you mention Numenara and its derivatives but what about other games?

Have you published materials beyond Pathfinder?

Pretty much everything I've gotten published at this point has been for Pathfinder or Starfinder, though I've got a lot of homebrew for 5E and a few other systems that I might get around to finding a publisher for at some point.

I was really into the Anima: Beyond Fantasy for awhile. The rules were a smidge to convoluted for me to lock in a regular group, but I still use the setting from time to time. I've also played a lot of the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game, the Lone Wolf Adventure Game, Dreadfleet (wargaming rather than RPG, but we get some roleplaying in), Iron Kingdoms: The Undercity and its expansions...

Probably a few more that aren't leaping to mind. And a ludicrous number of RPG video games.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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the xiao wrote:

Can I steal your background for my next character? It sounds you have a rich influx of influences!

By the way, there are now 9 akashic base classes, 8 made by you. Is there ANY other akashic base class you want to publish? Basically, we have all roles covered by now, but... Do you think there exists a gap for another one?

One last question, is there going to be more support for the origi al 3 classes in Akashic Realms beyond veils and/or feats?

I think I'm actually at 7, with the daevic, eclipse, guru, nexus, radiant, vizier, and zodiac. I can't really take credit for the helmsman beyond laying the groundwork and setting up the base system that Matt Daley built off of.

I'm... not sure if there's a real gap for another one. That's not to say that I don't think someone could do it, just that the tools exist to make any akashic character I can think of right now, and I don't generally write something if I don't think it's necessary. That being said, I think there's still a ton of room to expand on the existing classes with new class paths, veils, constellations, etc. There's going to be some stuff coming out through Lost Spheres that I'm really excited about, including some new convergences for the nexus, some really exciting veil sets, and once we get to Akashic Realms: The Quiet Lands there's a whole new set of constellations that pretty significantly change the way zodiacs, particularly lunar zodiacs, play. I've thought about doing a Spheres of Might / akashic zodiac mashup, but I don't know that that requires a class; I think it could do very well with either just a solar zodiac buying in, or an archetype to blend in martial talents.

Basically, I'm sure there's territory that other people will see as being fertile ground for a new class, but for me personally I think the array of classes I have currently have tons of room to fill in to most of the niches this game has with archetypes, paths, and veil sets.

And yeah, I definitely see doing more support for the OG akashic classes, as long as I can find the time and opportunity. The Shanti guru philosophy, Knowledge daevic passion, and Scholar vizier path were some of my favorite parts of Co7S, and I'd like to do more. I've wanted to do a guru archetype and veilweaving set so they can be a proper akashic luchador for quite some time now, and there's several daevic passions I've had written for awhile and just haven't had the right product to squeeze them into. Vizier is an interesting class because, now that I have the Scholar path out there, there's not a whole lot the class can't do theme-wise. That one probably won't see as many class options or archetypes as the others, just because it doesn't need them as much; you can already be an impassable tank one day and Mega Man the next, and that was true even before the new options.


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Oh, saw your name on ArcForge and thought you did the helmsman.

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the xiao wrote:
Oh, saw your name on ArcForge and thought you did the helmsman.

So, there's a story there. To kind of cut to the heart of it, I originally wrote the first Arcforge draft for Dreamscarred, but they ran into some production issues and sold it back to me. At the time I wasn't entirely convinced that a new class was required; with archetypes like the reactor knight and the flexibility of the main classes (three at the time), it seemed like we could get by without a new class.

A couple years later when Arcforge had kind of been left fallow as I worked on other things, Matt reached out to me with some ideas, expansions, and a lot of energy, and so him and I teamed up to see if we couldn't do something with Arcforge. As we shopped new publishers, Matt thought anchoring the book with a new class would make it more appealing to other companies. I agreed, he added the helmsman building off the system I 'd written and the mechanics I put in place, and eventually it was picked up and published by Legendary.
This was actually the very first book I ever pitched, before Akashic Mysteries and even the Battlelord, and it had a pretty winding journey to finally being published. I strongly suspect that without Matt's interest and engagement, it very well might have died without seeing print. Instead we ended up with a pretty cool book, and I'm perfectly happy to have shared the credit with Matt, who is really the one responsible for carrying it over the finish line.


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Michael Sayre wrote:
Adam B. 135 wrote:
I am building a radiant and I was wondering what a good set of veils to shape at level 6 would be. I have a high Wisdom, high Dex build with low strength. I am focusing on party support, though I fully intend to have a companion veil shaped at all times. Character is good aligned as well.

The radiant, from City of 7 Seraphs is a buffer/healer akashic class, so like a lot of akashic classes, it's pretty flexible depending on exactly what you're wanting to do.

Since you're high DEX/WIS and want a companion veil always available, plus you're 6th level so you have a couple vivifications and Hands and Head binds....

Thank you for the detailed answer! You make an excellent point about companion veils. I will prepare notecards for multiple configurations of those companions.

I had completely forgotten about Spectacles of the Sheikh! That will be an excellent extra veil for levels to come past 6th. Glad to get another way to pump those skills besides items.

Silver Crusade

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Michael Sayre wrote:
But my favorite dish is definitely macaroni and cheese,

älplermagronen you say? :3

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Rysky wrote:
Michael Sayre wrote:
But my favorite dish is definitely macaroni and cheese,
älplermagronen you say? :3

Ooh...


Which Legend of Zelda game is the best, and why is it most definitely not Ocarina of Time?

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Tacticslion wrote:
Which Legend of Zelda game is the best, and why is it most definitely not Ocarina of Time?

That's a hard one. Honestly my top two are probably A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess (GameCube or Wii-U only, not the Wii version). Link to the Past because it's the one I played the most when I was really getting into video games, and Twilight Princess because I enjoyed the wolf minigames and darker tone.


Huzzah!

Tacticslion wrote:
Which Legend of Zelda game is the best, and why is it most definitely not Ocarina of Time?
Michael Sayre wrote:
That's a hard one. Honestly my top two are probably A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess (GameCube or Wii-U only, not the Wii version). Link to the Past because it's the one I played the most when I was really getting into video games, and Twilight Princess because I enjoyed the wolf minigames and darker tone.

Two excellent options!


Next one. Which Final Fantasy game is the best, and why is it most definitely Final Fantasy Tactics?


Tacticslion wrote:
Next one. Which Final Fantasy game is the best, and why is it most definitely Final Fantasy Tactics?

(I will generously allow you to choose something other than Final Fantasy Tactics, if I must.)

;P

:D

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Tacticslion wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
Next one. Which Final Fantasy game is the best, and why is it most definitely Final Fantasy Tactics?

(I will generously allow you to choose something other than Final Fantasy Tactics, if I must.)

;P

:D

Sorry, I've been getting over being sick and I hadn't gotten around to responding!

My favorite Final Fantasy games in order are: 4, 7, 6, Tactics, 9, 15, 10. I'm not a big fan of the MMOs, 12 loses points in my reckoning for making "girl in bunny costume" a race, and I don't know if 8 just hit me at the wrong point in my life or what, but I've never enjoyed it. Some of the others (1, 2, and 5) are enjoyable for me but not to the same degree as any of the ones in my top list.

Tactics would probably rank higher (I love SRPGs), but Shining Force and Shining Force II are some of my all-time favorite SRPGs, and when I want to play something old school I'll typically grab one of those instead.


Michael Sayre wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
Next one. Which Final Fantasy game is the best, and why is it most definitely Final Fantasy Tactics?

(I will generously allow you to choose something other than Final Fantasy Tactics, if I must.)

;P

:D

Sorry, I've been getting over being sick and I hadn't gotten around to responding!

My favorite Final Fantasy games in order are: 4, 7, 6, Tactics, 9, 15, 10. I'm not a big fan of the MMOs, 12 loses points in my reckoning for making "girl in bunny costume" a race, and I don't know if 8 just hit me at the wrong point in my life or what, but I've never enjoyed it. Some of the others (1, 2, and 5) are enjoyable for me but not to the same degree as any of the ones in my top list.

Tactics would probably rank higher (I love SRPGs), but Shining Force and Shining Force II are some of my all-time favorite SRPGs, and when I want to play something old school I'll typically grab one of those instead.

My dude, you never need apologize for getting sick or busy! That's just life, and I really, really do understand it!

Also, my second post wasn't meant to be pressure; I just thought it was funny. Sorry if it seemed pushy!

I'm sorry you're not feeling well! I hope you recover quickly! We're having similar struggles down here, too.

As for the FFs, that's a pretty good order.

It's wrong, of course, but pretty good! This is a joke.

For me, it's Tactics-and-6 at the top slot, <space reserved for finishing 9-and-12> in second slot, with 4-and-7 in third, then most of the rest in varying orders depending on which day, and whether or not I've played them (skipped the MMOs, 13, and 15; no time or money!).

I never really got into the Shining Force games. While they looked pretty neat, either my local Blockbuster(s) either didn't have them, didn't have them in stock, or they were perpetually rented (or stolen) by other customers. I played them a few times, but honestly remember very little (generally I only got them part of those "big rental" weekends where you could get several titles simultaneously for cheap; I did; that kind of muddied the field, though, especially in my memory these days).

Did you ever play the Ogre Battle games? Tactics Ogre? I think there's more than one, now, but I meant the one on the Play Station, that was, if I recall, a port from the SNES Super Famicom, of all things. Any other favored games or genres?

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Oh yeah, I'm familiar with Tactics Ogre! There's also a fun version of Saiyuki on Playstation; it's an SRPG with the classic Journey to the West characters (priest, pig, fish, monkey) plus a dragon princess, each of whom can transform into a huge, monstrous version of themselves for a limited time.
Parasite Eve was also a game I greatly enjoyed and used to replay every year or so. And Legend of Dragoon; for all its flaws I really enjoyed Legend of Dragoon.

I also love Chronotrigger and Secret of Mana. There's a game called Cosmic Star Heroine that's available on Steam and the Switch; it's an homage to Chronotrigger and other old school RPGs and it's a ton of fun.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I had Tactics Ogre on Gameboy (forget which). Loved the hell out of it, but had the same hangup with FFTactics. Never leave anyone behind!


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What is your favorite SRPG? What do you think of Darkest Dungeon? What was your favorite class in Anima BF?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

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the xiao wrote:
What is your favorite SRPG?

I think it has to be the original Shining Force. Not only was that the game that really defined fantasy for me, it did a lot of things I thought were really cool: it had strong female characters, lots of interesting and diverse characters and classes, and a story that (for its time) managed to be both classic and original.

Quote:
What do you think of Darkest Dungeon?

I was a bit late to the party on this one and right now it's competing for my time with Anthem, FF7 on Switch, and the new Chocobo Mystery Dungeon, but so far it's seemed really good.

Quote:
What was your favorite class in Anima BF?

I really enjoyed playing a warrior summoner.

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