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Hello James a couple of devil related questions for you.
1. I'm running a mythic campaign and I'd like to include a Malebranche. Would adding 8 mythic ranks to a horned devil be enough or should I make a unique devil.
2. I'm a big fan of devils so I was wondering will we see any infernal dukes and the like coming into print anytime soon.
3. I remember reading a person gets sent to the abyss, and if they where strong enough they can form as a demon without having to become a petitioner first. Does the same thing happen to dammed petitioner.
4. Does hell (or any other plane) use petitioner's in its wars.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Albatoonoe wrote:

So, I had an idea of a campaign involving a powerful, malevolent entity abducting the players (maybe others) into its own demiplane (the size of a country or so) to torment them and pit them against other abductees.

Do you have any tips on how to balance an ongoing story and sandbox-y gameplay?

Study published adventures that you've enjoyed playing or running and emulate the way they do things. Read lots of books and watch lots of movies/shows for inspiration. Don't be afraid to supplement your game with material pulled from other adventures... if the PCs decide at the last minute to visit a castle you didn't expect them to go to, grab an adventure with a castle in it and use the map at the very least if the encoutners themselves are too much or too little.

Is... *squints* is that Ravenloft?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

The Gula Path wrote:

Hello James a couple of devil related questions for you.

1. I'm running a mythic campaign and I'd like to include a Malebranche. Would adding 8 mythic ranks to a horned devil be enough or should I make a unique devil.
2. I'm a big fan of devils so I was wondering will we see any infernal dukes and the like coming into print anytime soon.
3. I remember reading a person gets sent to the abyss, and if they where strong enough they can form as a demon without having to become a petitioner first. Does the same thing happen to dammed petitioner.
4. Does hell (or any other plane) use petitioner's in its wars.

1) Malebranches should be unique devils in my opinion.

2) None planned anytime soon.

3) That can happen with ANY petitioner.

4) Not directly. Unless serving in war is Hell to a particular damned soul, I guess.


Thank you for your previous answers.

After reading demon revisited I had a few questions about the shadow demon (or more precisely, the half shadow demon template), and the possession powers. Since you were heavily involved in the book I thought you might be the best person to ask for.

Since the half-shadow demon gets magic jar as a spell like ability, does it mean he doesn't need a gem to possess someone? Where goes the person's soul then? And what happens to the half shadow demon's body?

If the half-shadow demon turns incorporeal, does it means like the Shadow Demon his body 'vanishes' as long as he possesses a victim?

Does being half-shadow demon is enough to take the improved possession feat, or does he must still take the demonic possession feat first? I ask because since the template already gives magic jar ability the latter seems a bit redundant.

Does magic jar works on mindless creatures like animals, constructs or oozes?

If not, then would it work on an awakened mindless creature or would it still fail?

Does magic jar/possession works against undead (both intelligent or not)?

If possession of undead or mindless creatures is possible, does the resulting host keeps immunity to mind affecting affects or does he becomes vulnerable to them?

Finally, is possession/magic jar considered a mind-affecting effect? Can creatures that resist mind-affecting effects (like the tarrasque) be taken over or not if the caster overcomes the spell resistance?


I have a couple questions, none of which are related to each other.

1. Is Mengkare evil? Because Hermea supposedly has an undercurrent of fear and charred corpses wash up on the shore and no gold dragon would do that.

2. What's with the Book of 1,000 Whispers?

3. Will there be anything more on the Shory? I find them a really fascinating empire and they have a lot of potential.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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VoidHerald wrote:

Thank you for your previous answers.

After reading demon revisited I had a few questions about the shadow demon (or more precisely, the half shadow demon template), and the possession powers. Since you were heavily involved in the book I thought you might be the best person to ask for.

Since the half-shadow demon gets magic jar as a spell like ability, does it mean he doesn't need a gem to possess someone? Where goes the person's soul then? And what happens to the half shadow demon's body?

If the half-shadow demon turns incorporeal, does it means like the Shadow Demon his body 'vanishes' as long as he possesses a victim?

Does being half-shadow demon is enough to take the improved possession feat, or does he must still take the demonic possession feat first? I ask because since the template already gives magic jar ability the latter seems a bit redundant.

Does magic jar works on mindless creatures like animals, constructs or oozes?

If not, then would it work on an awakened mindless creature or would it still fail?

Does magic jar/possession works against undead (both intelligent or not)?

If possession of undead or mindless creatures is possible, does the resulting host keeps immunity to mind affecting affects or does he becomes vulnerable to them?

Finally, is possession/magic jar considered a mind-affecting effect? Can creatures that resist mind-affecting effects (like the tarrasque) be taken over or not if the caster overcomes the spell resistance?

When you have magic jar as a spell-like ability and no body in the first place, no, you don't need a gem. The person's soul stays in their body but is shunted aside into limbo where it can only watch from within and can't do anything to stop what the demon is doing with the body. In the case of a half-shadow demon, its body merges with that of the host for the duration of the effect, turning to shadow as it flows into the victim.

Yes.

Up to the GM, but that should be fine; no need for the extra feat, reall.

Yes. Magic jar is not mind-affecting, but it DOES need to be a creature with a soul of its own. No undead and mostly no to constructs.

Nope; the possessing creature's mind is the one in there, not the mindless creature's.

Nope, it's not a mind-affecting effect.

THAT ALL SAID... magic jar is one of the more awkwardly written spells. It's really written with a specific set up in mind, and doesn't perfectly adapt to other creatures like demons or ghosts who want to possess targets in a more classic way. The game has never really had a good possession mechanic, and that's something we're addressing in the upcoming Occult Adventures hardcover.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Simeon wrote:

I have a couple questions, none of which are related to each other.

1. Is Mengkare evil? Because Hermea supposedly has an undercurrent of fear and charred corpses wash up on the shore and no gold dragon would do that.

2. What's with the Book of 1,000 Whispers?

3. Will there be anything more on the Shory? I find them a really fascinating empire and they have a lot of potential.

1) Mengkare's alignment is currently unrevealed. I know what I think his alignment is, and that is NOT the same as what James Sutter thinks it is. Sutter's the one who created Mengkare... but I'm the Creative Director, and if we DO ever do more with Mengkare, I suspect one of the two of us is going to be frustrated and disappointed. So for now, I'm not gonna say anything more... but I do agree that the current flavor for Hermea does not speak to a good-aligned leader... at all...

2) It's mysterious and creepy and esoteric and thought-provoking, that's what!

3) I assume you saw the article we did about them during Mummy's Mask? If not... there's a good place to go to check out more. We'll some day do more with them, but there are no plans to discuss at this moment.

Silver Crusade

I've read l lot of Pathfinder products, including most of what Paizo has put out, though I haven't gotten to play a lot of it. I was thinking reviewing the products and had some questions.

1. As Creative Director, do you ever look at the reviews?

2. Is there anything you look for in a review, anything that is particularly helpful or not helpful?

3. Obviously my perspective is as a purchaser, so usefulness to a GM, or to a player, and price value, and whether it was fun to read are on my list. Any major ways to look at a product that would be useful to you as well as the customers that you can think of?

4. I know both in-house and freelance content producers put in a lot of effort. Any tips for a reviewer who wants to be complete (not just reviewing products he likes, or only talking about the good points) but not scathing or nasty?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Yes. Magic jar is not mind-affecting, but it DOES need to be a creature with a soul of its own. No undead and mostly no to constructs.

Does that mean no to outsiders as well, given that their soul and body are one and the same?

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James, of the monstrous races, which ones practice ancestor worship? I recall that giants worshipped their ancestral spirits and was wondering if their are others.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ajaxis wrote:

I've read l lot of Pathfinder products, including most of what Paizo has put out, though I haven't gotten to play a lot of it. I was thinking reviewing the products and had some questions.

1. As Creative Director, do you ever look at the reviews?

2. Is there anything you look for in a review, anything that is particularly helpful or not helpful?

3. Obviously my perspective is as a purchaser, so usefulness to a GM, or to a player, and price value, and whether it was fun to read are on my list. Any major ways to look at a product that would be useful to you as well as the customers that you can think of?

4. I know both in-house and freelance content producers put in a lot of effort. Any tips for a reviewer who wants to be complete (not just reviewing products he likes, or only talking about the good points) but not scathing or nasty?

1) Yes. They, along with all other forms of feedback, help me to make decisions regarding future books and products.

2) I do enjoy reading complimentary reviews regardless of the content; for critical reviews, I much prefer when the reviewer posts actual constructive criticism rather than just basic complaints.

3) Whether it was fun to read or not. Whether it was fun to play or not. Whether it was pleasig to simply look at or not.

4) Remember that regardless of your feelings, whoever created the product put a LOT of work into making it happen. Take time to point out what you liked as well as what you didn't; it's just as helpful knowing what parts worked as parts that don't, and telling the creator that some parts DID work is more pleasing than constant complaints. And make sure your complaints are valid and well informed; I've seen plenty of reviews that complained about an adventure and could tell that what the reviewer was actually complaining about were changes and adjustments to the game made by their GM. Such a review is in fact a poor review to the reader's GM, but to one who hasn't read or played the adventure in person, there's no way to know that.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Yes. Magic jar is not mind-affecting, but it DOES need to be a creature with a soul of its own. No undead and mostly no to constructs.
Does that mean no to outsiders as well, given that their soul and body are one and the same?

That's a great example of how magic jar is poorly constructed, and the problems it causes by assuming the user and target are not outsiders. My preference is to play as if the outsider's soul and body were NOT the same when adjudicating the effects of magic jar, since outsiders are among those creatures who it makes most sense to actually possess things in the first place.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James, of the monstrous races, which ones practice ancestor worship? I recall that giants worshipped their ancestral spirits and was wondering if their are others.

Any could. I know that giants do, in particular stone giants, but not all of them do. This is more of a world-design decision than a monster-design one. I can't think of a particular "monster" that's been designed to ONLY worship their ancestors, but I'm sure they exist.

Scarab Sages

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If you could learn, in the Matrix fashion, to be fluent in 5 languages (historical or fictional) that you don't know, which would they be?

Where's the best place in Golarion to get waffles?

How many garden sheds to you have?

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James, of the monstrous races, which ones practice ancestor worship? I recall that giants worshipped their ancestral spirits and was wondering if their are others.
Any could. I know that giants do, in particular stone giants, but not all of them do. This is more of a world-design decision than a monster-design one. I can't think of a particular "monster" that's been designed to ONLY worship their ancestors, but I'm sure they exist.

I failed to get my point across. What about monstrous societies on Golarion (not other planets, planes, etc or areas not yet developed) with at least 25%+ members practicing some type of ancestor worship?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

If you could learn, in the Matrix fashion, to be fluent in 5 languages (historical or fictional) that you don't know, which would they be?

Where's the best place in Golarion to get waffles?

How many garden sheds to you have?

Japanese, French, Latin, Hebrew, and Russian.

Home.

Zero.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
James, of the monstrous races, which ones practice ancestor worship? I recall that giants worshipped their ancestral spirits and was wondering if their are others.
Any could. I know that giants do, in particular stone giants, but not all of them do. This is more of a world-design decision than a monster-design one. I can't think of a particular "monster" that's been designed to ONLY worship their ancestors, but I'm sure they exist.
I failed to get my point across. What about monstrous societies on Golarion (not other planets, planes, etc or areas not yet developed) with at least 25%+ members practicing some type of ancestor worship?

Hmmm... I guess the ones that come to mind at once would be perhaps stone giants and nagaji. There's a LOT of races out there though, and "which ones worship their ancestors" isn't the way I generally think about them, to be honest. So it's kinda tough to come up with them off the top of my head, which alone suggests that there's NOT many races where 25% or more are into ancestor worship, I suppose. Partially because I strongly prefer my cultures in the game to worship deities or pantheons. It's just more interesting to me.

Scarab Sages

I've come to like the Alchemist class, but one thing I've never liked is the Infusion Discovery, or rather, the need for it to exist rather than Alchemists being able to share their "potionettes" freely from the outset. Why the need for a Discovery?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I've come to like the Alchemist class, but one thing I've never liked is the Infusion Discovery, or rather, the need for it to exist rather than Alchemists being able to share their "potionettes" freely from the outset. Why the need for a Discovery?

One of the things I've always liked about the alchemist is how he's a "selfish caster." He doesn't buff allies; he does all his stuff on his own to help allies by making HIMSELF better. It's actually a kind of refreshing concept in my mind for a spellcaster. I kinda wish the Infusion stuff had been left out, frankly. There are PLENTY of spellcasters in the game who can share the magic already.

Scarab Sages

James Jacobs wrote:

One of the things I've always liked about the alchemist is how he's a "selfish caster." He doesn't buff allies; he does all his stuff on his own to help allies by making HIMSELF better. It's actually a kind of refreshing concept in my mind for a spellcaster. I kinda wish the Infusion stuff had been left out, frankly. There are PLENTY of spellcasters in the game who can share the magic already.

Yet in the Alchemist's case in particular, it makes no sense; I could see Witches, Sorcerers, Oracles, and Paladins doing what you're talking about for various reasons, but Alchemists don't pray, or draw on any internal or private power. They make little short-lived potions, they should be able to share them (then there's that perilous misuse of the word "selfish" that's going around...).

New question:

Anyone talk going on at Paizo about LE/CG alternate Paladins? I think we could use those.


James Jacobs wrote:
The Gula Path wrote:

Hello James a couple of devil related questions for you.

1. I'm running a mythic campaign and I'd like to include a Malebranche. Would adding 8 mythic ranks to a horned devil be enough or should I make a unique devil.
2. I'm a big fan of devils so I was wondering will we see any infernal dukes and the like coming into print anytime soon.
3. I remember reading a person gets sent to the abyss, and if they where strong enough they can form as a demon without having to become a petitioner first. Does the same thing happen to dammed petitioner.
4. Does hell (or any other plane) use petitioner's in its wars.

1) Malebranches should be unique devils in my opinion.

2) None planned anytime soon.

3) That can happen with ANY petitioner.

4) Not directly. Unless serving in war is Hell to a particular damned soul, I guess.

One last question on the Malebranche, in book of the dammed it says they sit bellow infernal dukes in the hierarchy of hell, does this mean there weaker in power as well or would a Malebranche be on a par with an infernal duke.

Is there any reason demon lords get more love then there devil counter parts. Right now I believe theirs 10? demon lords in print but no Arch Devils or Infernal Dukes.

The Exchange

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Hey James :)

Do you know the show Gravity Falls?
If you don't... I know you don't take recommendations from the internet (not an unwise decision) so I won't bother to actually recommend it. Well, other than saying that it is an immensely clever horror/science fiction/fantasy story that feels a lot like Falcon's Hollow meets Numeria. Has dinosaurs too.

If you know Gravity Falls, what was your favorite monster from there?

Golarion related question: how does warfare in Golarion look like? How much magic is used? are there mages and monsters functioning as artillery analogs? Are specially trained soldiers equipped with magic items? and will we ever see a large scale war in an AP?

Silver Crusade

Okies, it has been a week, can we have more Bloodborne updates from your end? :3

Also what about:

Favourite attire?

Favourite trick weapon and sidearm?

Favourite boss to fight?

Favourite boss design?

Favoutite area?

Also tangentially related but Dark Souls 2 Design Works just came out in Japanese on Amazon so hopefully the English version will be along shortly, just thought you'd be interested.


If someone were to break the curse on the city of golden death, what sort of ball park figure would you suggest for the gold within it?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Can you fill in any more tidbits of information on the goddess Sivanah, other than what's in ISG? Is she from your homebrew? I'm trying to find a god of information and secrets and Callistria and Norborger don't really seem to fit.

Or if you could try to explain from a different angle why Callistria has the knowledge domain? I do like her as a deity but that part of her is barely mentioned in her entire write up.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

One of the things I've always liked about the alchemist is how he's a "selfish caster." He doesn't buff allies; he does all his stuff on his own to help allies by making HIMSELF better. It's actually a kind of refreshing concept in my mind for a spellcaster. I kinda wish the Infusion stuff had been left out, frankly. There are PLENTY of spellcasters in the game who can share the magic already.

Yet in the Alchemist's case in particular, it makes no sense; I could see Witches, Sorcerers, Oracles, and Paladins doing what you're talking about for various reasons, but Alchemists don't pray, or draw on any internal or private power. They make little short-lived potions, they should be able to share them (then there's that perilous misuse of the word "selfish" that's going around...).

New question:

Anyone talk going on at Paizo about LE/CG alternate Paladins? I think we could use those.

I obviously disagree regarding the alchemist. In fact... short-lived potions you could argue would NOT work to share, since they need to be used quickly and time spent making more for friends is less time for you to use them yourself. In any event, the argument on who would work best as a self-cenetered caster is somewhat of a waste of time—that decision was made years ago, and while one could justify it being any number of classes... it's done.

No interest in LE/CG paladins here. The warpriest is the intended solution for people who want a martial spellcasting divine class.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The Gula Path wrote:

One last question on the Malebranche, in book of the dammed it says they sit bellow infernal dukes in the hierarchy of hell, does this mean there weaker in power as well or would a Malebranche be on a par with an infernal duke.

Is there any reason demon lords get more love then there devil counter parts. Right now I believe theirs 10? demon lords in print but no Arch Devils or Infernal Dukes.

I suspect that on average the Malebranche are less powerful than Infernal Dukes, but there COULD be variance on either side now and then.

The main reason there are more demon lords statted up than archdevils is because I'm the big demon fan and Wes is the big devil fan. I really quite enjoy statting up powerful monsters. Wes does not. I really enjoy the idea of having PCs actually fight demigods and demon lords. Wes does not. If you want stats for the archdevils, Wes is the one you need to sweetalk. He's the one who's the most passionate about Hell and devils, and while I've tried to convince him to help stat them up, I also want to respect his opinions on whether or not they should be statted up.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Lord Snow wrote:

Hey James :)

Do you know the show Gravity Falls?
If you don't... I know you don't take recommendations from the internet (not an unwise decision) so I won't bother to actually recommend it. Well, other than saying that it is an immensely clever horror/science fiction/fantasy story that feels a lot like Falcon's Hollow meets Numeria. Has dinosaurs too.

If you know Gravity Falls, what was your favorite monster from there?

Golarion related question: how does warfare in Golarion look like? How much magic is used? are there mages and monsters functioning as artillery analogs? Are specially trained soldiers equipped with magic items? and will we ever see a large scale war in an AP?

I've heard of Gravity Falls, but haven't watched it yet.

Warfare in Golarion looks different depending on where you are. In Molthune/Nirmathas, it's a LOT different looking than in the Worldwound. We've illustrated warfare scenes all over the place, so that's the best place to go to see how it looks. Magic IS involved, though, and there ARE specially trained soldiers with magic items... but until we build a robust set of mass combat rules (the narrative rules in Ultimate Campaign aren't robust enough), I strongly doubt we'll be doing a large scale war AP. What we've done in Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous is pretty much the limit of what the game can do.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:

Okies, it has been a week, can we have more Bloodborne updates from your end? :3

Also what about:

Favourite attire?

Favourite trick weapon and sidearm?

Favourite boss to fight?

Favourite boss design?

Favoutite area?

Also tangentially related but Dark Souls 2 Design Works just came out in Japanese on Amazon so hopefully the English version will be along shortly, just thought you'd be interested.

Just finished the game yesterday and tinkered a little with New Game +... but I need to not play that more and actually get some very late freelance work done.

Favorite Attire: The noble dress, because it's so incongruous, but I ended up using a mix of the black cleric garb and executioner garb most of the time, I guess.

Favorite trick weapon: threaded cane. Favorite sidearm: Double-barreled pistol.

Favorite Boss Fight: The One Reborn OR The Nightmare Lord (dude with the cage on his head)

Favorite Boss Design: Amygdala

Favorite Area: This is a tough call, but I guess the Nightmare Frontier OR the Forbidden Woods OR Cainhurst Castle OR the Cathedral Ward OR Central Yarnham OR... no... the whole game is my favorite.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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BLloyd607502 wrote:

If someone were to break the curse on the city of golden death, what sort of ball park figure would you suggest for the gold within it?

Decide what would be the upper limit of gold you'd want the PCs to have in your game, then increase that amount by 50%. AKA: It's so much gold that it will break your world's economy, so you should probably not do it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Seannoss wrote:

Can you fill in any more tidbits of information on the goddess Sivanah, other than what's in ISG? Is she from your homebrew? I'm trying to find a god of information and secrets and Callistria and Norborger don't really seem to fit.

Or if you could try to explain from a different angle why Callistria has the knowledge domain? I do like her as a deity but that part of her is barely mentioned in her entire write up.

Sivanah is indeed from my homebrew, but so far, all we've done for her is what's in ISG. Not ready to reveal any more about her yet...


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Seannoss wrote:

Can you fill in any more tidbits of information on the goddess Sivanah, other than what's in ISG? Is she from your homebrew? I'm trying to find a god of information and secrets and Callistria and Norborger don't really seem to fit.

Or if you could try to explain from a different angle why Callistria has the knowledge domain? I do like her as a deity but that part of her is barely mentioned in her entire write up.

Sivanah is indeed from my homebrew, but so far, all we've done for her is what's in ISG. Not ready to reveal any more about her yet...

Curses! Teasing answer...

How about the other hidden question? Do you have further insights on why Callistria has the knowledge domain? That aspect of her is barely mentioned in the ISG book.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

Okies, it has been a week, can we have more Bloodborne updates from your end? :3

Also what about:

Favourite attire?

Favourite trick weapon and sidearm?

Favourite boss to fight?

Favourite boss design?

Favoutite area?

Also tangentially related but Dark Souls 2 Design Works just came out in Japanese on Amazon so hopefully the English version will be along shortly, just thought you'd be interested.

Just finished the game yesterday and tinkered a little with New Game +... but I need to not play that more and actually get some very late freelance work done.

Favorite Attire: The noble dress, because it's so incongruous, but I ended up using a mix of the black cleric garb and executioner garb most of the time, I guess.

Favorite trick weapon: threaded cane. Favorite sidearm: Double-barreled pistol.

Favorite Boss Fight: The One Reborn OR The Nightmare Lord (dude with the cage on his head)

Favorite Boss Design: Amygdala

Favorite Area: This is a tough call, but I guess the Nightmare Frontier OR the Forbidden Woods OR Cainhurst Castle OR the Cathedral Ward OR Central Yarnham OR... no... the whole game is my favorite.

O.O

Yay, Congrats!

What ending did you get?


Hi James,
I was reading through Monster Codex and I came across the Vampire Savage. He has an ability called 'Undead Barbarian' that lets him rage and gain benefits from raging despite being undead. Do you know if this was supposed to be a unique ability for this specific stat block or is this a new rule regarding undead barbarians in general? I tried searching on the rules forms and in other books but cant seem to find any mention of it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Seannoss wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Seannoss wrote:

Can you fill in any more tidbits of information on the goddess Sivanah, other than what's in ISG? Is she from your homebrew? I'm trying to find a god of information and secrets and Callistria and Norborger don't really seem to fit.

Or if you could try to explain from a different angle why Callistria has the knowledge domain? I do like her as a deity but that part of her is barely mentioned in her entire write up.

Sivanah is indeed from my homebrew, but so far, all we've done for her is what's in ISG. Not ready to reveal any more about her yet...

Curses! Teasing answer...

How about the other hidden question? Do you have further insights on why Callistria has the knowledge domain? That aspect of her is barely mentioned in the ISG book.

She has the knowledge domain because it's easier to trick, seduce, or get revenge on someone if you're more well-informed than them and are informed enough to know about their blind spots, beliefs, kinks, weaknesses, desires, and hopes.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
If you want stats for the archdevils, Wes is the one you need to sweetalk. He's the one who's the most passionate about Hell and devils, and while I've tried to convince him to help stat them up, I also want to respect his opinions on whether or not they should be statted up.

Is he bribeable with cookies?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:

O.O

Yay, Congrats!

What ending did you get?

I got...

Spoiler:
The secret one! I ate all 3 umbilical cords and killed the secret boss!!!!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

LazarX wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
If you want stats for the archdevils, Wes is the one you need to sweetalk. He's the one who's the most passionate about Hell and devils, and while I've tried to convince him to help stat them up, I also want to respect his opinions on whether or not they should be statted up.
Is he bribeable with cookies?

Not really, no.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

OmegaGrey wrote:

Hi James,

I was reading through Monster Codex and I came across the Vampire Savage. He has an ability called 'Undead Barbarian' that lets him rage and gain benefits from raging despite being undead. Do you know if this was supposed to be a unique ability for this specific stat block or is this a new rule regarding undead barbarians in general? I tried searching on the rules forms and in other books but cant seem to find any mention of it.

That's a perfectly fine rule to add to undead barbarians, and in fact, we've kinda more or less been assuming that very rule on and off all along. It makes a lot of sense, and it enables some really cool monster design ideas, so if you're not comfortable just making those changes ad-hoc (which is what we've done in adventures), then absolutely take the "Undead Barbarian" rule from Monster Codex as-is for your game.


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James, a fantastic rakshasa caste system was implemented back in the early day of Pathfinder, in AP 9, if I recall correctly. Later, in the Bestiary 3, the system reappeared, along with different rakshasas. Basic rakshsa are born as adhura, and become darshaka or higher upon reaching adulthood.

What caste (or range of castes) would you put the different rakshasa (Raktavarna, Dandasuka, Marai, Tataka, Maharaja) in?

Castes
pagala (traitors)
goshta (food)
adhura (novices)
darshaka (servants)
paradeshi (rakshasa-kin)
hakima (lords)
samrata (lords of lords)


James Jacobs wrote:
OmegaGrey wrote:

Hi James,

I was reading through Monster Codex and I came across the Vampire Savage. He has an ability called 'Undead Barbarian' that lets him rage and gain benefits from raging despite being undead. Do you know if this was supposed to be a unique ability for this specific stat block or is this a new rule regarding undead barbarians in general? I tried searching on the rules forms and in other books but cant seem to find any mention of it.
That's a perfectly fine rule to add to undead barbarians, and in fact, we've kinda more or less been assuming that very rule on and off all along. It makes a lot of sense, and it enables some really cool monster design ideas, so if you're not comfortable just making those changes ad-hoc (which is what we've done in adventures), then absolutely take the "Undead Barbarian" rule from Monster Codex as-is for your game.

Thank you for your reply. I agree that it adds a lot of fun and interesting options for encounter design, and I had noticed you guys had included a raging Ghoul in an adventure before as well.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kain Darkwind wrote:

James, a fantastic rakshasa caste system was implemented back in the early day of Pathfinder, in AP 9, if I recall correctly. Later, in the Bestiary 3, the system reappeared, along with different rakshasas. Basic rakshsa are born as adhura, and become darshaka or higher upon reaching adulthood.

What caste (or range of castes) would you put the different rakshasa (Raktavarna, Dandasuka, Marai, Tataka, Maharaja) in?

Castes
pagala (traitors)
goshta (food)
adhura (novices)
darshaka (servants)
paradeshi (rakshasa-kin)
hakima (lords)
samrata (lords of lords)

Not sure. I'd have to remind myself about how the castes work, but would probably try to fit the new ones into the middle here and there rather than try to put them at the ends or beginnings.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

O.O

Yay, Congrats!

What ending did you get?

I got...

** spoiler omitted **

Sweet!

Spoiler:
I'm trying for that too... Arianna though... *whimpers*

What did you think of that ending?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

O.O

Yay, Congrats!

What ending did you get?

I got...

** spoiler omitted **

Sweet!

** spoiler omitted **

What did you think of that ending?

Creepy and kind of inscrutable, but disturbing.

Silver Crusade

Thank you for Chicken Familiars. I've been begging them for a long time now. Totally awesome. I made lots of squeeing when I saw that.

Also is there anything too weird to be made into a Pathfinder monster? Like the Shrime (creature with an eyeball up its ass... and no face. All it does is moon people) or the Karakasa-Obake (Umbrella ghost).

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.

When I saw Indominus, James, I thought of you.

Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Rysky wrote:

O.O

Yay, Congrats!

What ending did you get?

I got...

** spoiler omitted **

Sweet!

** spoiler omitted **

What did you think of that ending?

Creepy and kind of inscrutable, but disturbing.

Yeah, but compared to the other endings of the Souls games a little bit satisfying.

Did you fight Ebrietas? On her at the moment.


Do you have any theories on what is actually going on in Bloodborne, plot-wise? Probably should put a spoiler tag on the response.


Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

How many sessions do you usually have in your game between level ups? 2, 3, more? Do you use experience or just level up when the PCs meet some goal you've set?


What does Urgathoa think of Rakshashas?

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