Professor Petros Lorrimer
This man is the thread that connects all of the PCs. Every one of them knows him in one way or another, and since Player's Guide tends to gloss over him, I figure it might benefit players to know a bit more about (my interpretation of) him.
Petros Lorrimer was a respected scholar, theurgist, and opponent of evil. A rather pragmatic man, his studies into the grey areas of the arcane caused no small amount of controversy among his peers, but his insisted he only pursued such knowledge to better understand how to combat those who would employ it. He was regarded as a brilliant mind nonetheless, and even his staunchest critics had to admit that he never quite crossed the line. Though he had a reputation as a professor at Lepidstadt University, he grew increasingly curmudgeonly in his later years, concerning himself more with research than with teaching, and spent a great deal of time in the field.
Posting and Combat
I would ask that everyone try to post once per day, though once every two days is alright if there's nothing going on relevant to your character (I will try to ensure that this is not the case). If something comes up and this will be an issue, please let me know. After three days without any heads up, we will consider finding a replacement. After a week, that is all but guaranteed.
Combat is going to get a little old-school here. Due to the nature of PbPs, we will resolving a round only AFTER everyone has declared their actions, and re-rolling initiative every round. Each round, simply post your action along with an initiative roll, and then I will post a summary of that round. If your declared action becomes impossible, I will re-direct your action if an obvious course presents itself (you wanted to attack a skeleton, but it's dead by the time your turn comes up, so you attack a different adjacent skeleton instead), but otherwise we will do a partial resolution, and then we will give you 16 hours to take a different action.
House Rules
Speaks for itself, so lets get to it. I've been meaning to write these down, but haven't gotten around to it yet, so it may update occasionally.
Experience Points:
I tend to do away with experience points when running APs because doing so allows the party to progress at a pace they enjoy while making sure they are at a level that keeps the adventure appropriately challenging. Instead, PCs will level up at specific benchmarks in the game - usually after certain major encounters. Without XP functioning as a reward, players who distinguish themselves will find themselves awarded in other ways - generally with small changes to the plot arc that turns the spotlight towards them or minor magic items tailored to suit their character.
Weapon Finesse and Finessable Weapons:
Weapons to which the Weapon Finesse would apply by RAW now have the "Finessable" quality, which allows a proficient user to use their dexterity modifier in place of their strength modifier for attack rolls. The Weapon Finesse feat now allows a character to use HALF of their dexterity modifier, rounded down, for damage rolls IN PLACE OF their strength modifier. This is the modifier used for ALL Finessable weapons, even those that would otherwise recieve 1.5 Strength to damage. Of course, you are still free to use your Strength score if you wish, in which case any standard bonuses would apply.
Improved Unarmed Strike:
Also raises the base damage of your Unarmed Strikes by one die step (1d4 for medium creatures, 1d3 for small). This does not stack with any other increases to die size, except those granted from a change in size. I should also mention I am working on options to make unarmed combat a more viable options for fighters and barbarians, but these are not yet complete. Let me know if you're interested and we can test it, but otherwise we won't bother for now.
The Athletics Skill:
This skill folds all the applications of Climb and Swim into a single skill. Furthermore, skill checks related to jumping are moved from Acrobatics to this skill. The "Athletics" feat is removed from the game. Class features based on jumping that worked off of ranks in Acrobatics now work off of ranks in Athletics. Athletics is based upon Strength, and is affected by Armor Check Penalty. It is a class skill for Barbarians, Druids, Fighters, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Cavaliers, Inquisitors, and Magi. For prestige classes, they always have Athletics as a class skill if they have both Climb and Swim as a class skill. If they have only one of these as a class skill, they may gain Athletics at GM discretion. If a class is granted Climb or Swim as a class skill via a class feature (Like a Sorcerer Bloodline or a an Oracle Mystery), they might gain Athletics as a class skill, but it is more likely they will gain a bonus equal to 1/2 level on Athletics checks made for the relevant action.
Light Shields:
A hand wielding a light shield is not considered occupied for the purposes of casting a spell with a somatic component.
Deities, Favored Weapons, and Bonus Feats:
I have a revised list of favored weapons for the 20 major deities of Pathfinder. In he case that a deity does not grant proficiency in a martial or exotic weapon, clerics of those deities receive a bonus feat or altered class feature of comparable power, as detailed below. A select few deities offer variant benefits to Inquisitors.
Abadar: Crossbow. Clerics and Inquisitors of Abadar are proficient with all types of crossbows. Inquisitors of Abadar gain Point Blank Shot as a bonus feat.
Asmodeus: Flail
Calistria: Short Sword. This is a sacred weapon that symbolizes the stinger of a wasp.
Cayden Cailien: Rapier
Desna: Starknife
Erastil: Longbow. Clerics of Erastil are proficient with all bows. Inquisitors of Erastil gain Point Blank Shot as a bonus feat.
Gorum: Greatsword
Gozreh: Trident
Iomedae: Longsword
Irori: Unarmed Strike. Clerics gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, and are proficient with Monk weapons instead of the standard Cleric weapons. Inquisitors gain the same proficiencies in place of their proficiency with simple weapons, but retain their proficiency with bows.
Lamashtu: Kukri. This weapon is representative a beast's claw.
Nethys: Quarterstaff. Clerics and Inquisitors of Nethys receive Combat Casting as a bonus feat.
Norgorbor: War Razor
Pharasma: Dagger. Clerics of and Inquisitors Pharasma receive Improved Initiative as a bonus feat, their connection to prophecy sometimes granting them last-minute insights before danger strikes.
Rovagug: Earth Breaker. This weapon is revered for its ability to destroy both people and objects with ease.
Saranrae: Scimitar
Shelyn: Glaive
Torag: Warhammer
Urgathoa: Scythe
Zon-Kuthon: Spiked Chain
Trip 20s:
In the event that you roll a natural 20 on a critical confirmation roll (a 20 only, not another threat) the attack may result in instant death. Roll to hit a third time, and should you succeed, you deal critical damage as normal and the attack is treated as a coup de grace. Creatures immune to coup de graces are immune in this instance as well.
Called Shots:
We will be employing the rules for Called Shots in Ultimate Combat on a probationary basis. I am eager to see how these play out, but if they become problematic or cumbersome in the game, we may remove them from use.
Firearms:
The basic Firearms from Ultimate Combat exist in the game, but are exceedingly rare in Ustalav. The Advanced Firearms, such as rifles, shotguns, and revolvers, do not exist. As in RAW, the Gunsmithing feat is required to create or repair Firearms.
Humans and Languages:
If you are a human, you must select one of the major human ethnicity for you character. Taldane is the common language of the game, and in addition to this language, you receive the racial language of your ethnicity. If you are a Chelaxian or a Taldan, you receive one bonus human language of your choice.
Coinage
Simply for the sake of verisimilitude, I have taken the liberty of naming the coinage of Ustalav, and will use these terms to refer to money in-game. Their names are...
CP Pennies or Pence
SP Formally referred to as Sterlings, but usually referred to as Bits
GP Crowns
PP Sovereigns
