Fuzzy Feet and Voles to Meet

Friday, April 13, 2018

Overlooked and disrespected, halflings and gnomes get by in their own way. Human society's misguided expectations don't mean much when you know who you are and what you're about. Let's take a look at the ancestry entries for these folks!

You might also want to take a gander at the Big Beards and Pointy Ears blog to see how dwarves and elves work if you're a fan of ancestries that are entirely too tall and entirely too stuffy.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Halflings

Living among taller folk gives halflings a good bit of perspective and plenty of opportunities to make new friends—plenty of opportunities of all kinds, really. Keep your eyes open and your heart brave, and you can accomplish anything!

Both halflings and gnomes get 8 Hit Points from their respective ancestries, are Small, and have a speed of 20 feet. A halfling speaks Common and Halfling. Halflings have nimble fingers, giving them an ability boost to Dexterity, and are jovial, getting another ability boost in Charisma. They also get one free ability boost to put in any score. Now, there's nothing wrong with how you're made, but halflings do get an ability flaw to Strength. Seems like a better deal, though. Goblins are a bit stronger, but they're not so wise, and good sense is a good trade. (You can read more about goblins here!)

We've mentioned ability boosts and flaws a few times now, so let's go into more detail about how those work! At 1st level, your ability scores all start at 10. Your ancestry then gives you ability boosts, each of which increases the score by 2. Most ancestries get three ability boosts, two of which have to go into specific scores. The remaining free ability boost can go into any score except the two set ones. Most ancestries also get a flaw, which decreases a designated score by 2. You can put your free ability boost in the same score as your flaw if you want to get back to 10. In later parts of character creation, you'll get more ability boosts, which we'll cover in later blogs! (And if you want to roll your ability scores randomly, we have an option for that in the playtest so you can see how that might work, though we prefer for characters used in the playtest to be generated in the standard way.)

Now, where was I? Halflings, right!

At 1st level and as they level up, halflings can pick up halfling ancestry feats that take advantage of their size, their gumption, and their fabled luck. Distracting Shadows lets them sneak around by using larger creatures as cover. They might also pick up Plucky to overcome fear and other detriments to their emotions. They can take Titan Slinger to get a bonus to damage when using their slings against Large or larger creatures. This bonus increases on critical hits, even before being doubled! Additionally, the sling is now a more formidable weapon than in Pathfinder First Edition—we've both increased its damage and done away with the difference in damage die size between Small and Medium creatures. A halfling with a sling can be pretty dangerous!

One feat we know will be popular is Lucky Halfling, which lets you reroll one skill check or saving throw you fail or critically fail once each day. Rules in the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook list traits that apply to feats, often indicating special rules. This one has the fortune trait, which appears on all sorts of things that involve rerolls and manipulating dice in your favor. You can benefit from fortune only once on a given roll, and misfortune can cancel it out.

As mentioned in the blog post about dwarves and elves, ancestry entries suggest some backgrounds you might choose that are common for those of your ancestry. Halflings are often entertainers, acrobats, or street urchins. Many come from hard lives as criminals or laborers.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Gnomes

What's THAT?!

A gnome's life is a constant barrage of the curious, the compelling, the cacophonous, the colorful, and the chaotic. There's always something new to discover. There... kind of has to be. See, gnomes who don't take in enough novel experiences are stricken by the Bleaching—their colorful hair turns white as their minds fall into despair. So let's not do that. Let's explore!

Now, when you're exploring, it's good to be durable because who knows what you might encounter. It helps that gnomes are tough and charming, with ability boosts to Constitution and Charisma, plus their one free ability boost to any other score. Gnomes have a flaw in Strength. Who needs it? Magic's better. And alchemical bombs. Those look fun. Gnomes can speak Common, Gnome, and Sylvan, but might want to study up on some other languages too. They can also see in low light—all the better for exploring into the dusk.

Gnomes came from the First World, the realm of the fey, long ago. Their ancestry feats can reflect this, like Fey Fellowship, which makes a gnome more charismatic when dealing with fey, or First World Magic, which gives the gnome a cantrip spell chosen from a wide number of options (including dancing lights, prestidigitation, and tanglefoot, to name a few).

Discerning Smell lets a gnome truly appreciate peculiar food and drink, or sniff out that invisible orc who's caked in the clay from a particular mountain pass, hasn't bathed in roughly 8 years, and recently ate a live bird. (A swallow, fittingly.) And, of course, you can choose Animal Speaker so you can talk to all your favorite burrowing animals!

A gnome's younger years will no doubt be weird, so they could have any kind of background—even a path they abandoned early on. A gnome might be an entertainer, a merchant, a nomad, an animal whisperer, a barkeep, or a farmhand.

How do these two ancestries stack up? (About 6 feet high, I'd say.) What sort of halfling or gnome characters do you look forward to playing?

Logan Bonner
Designer

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Tags: Pathfinder Playtest Wayne Reynolds
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Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber

Interesting start for stat generation. Waiting the full info on what else gives boosts during character creation. I kind of feel we didn't learn much, but then I don't play either of these races much. I was much more excited about the elven ancestry.

It's nice to see small characters getting normal damage.


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Why is these fellows' big head looking more natural than the infamous halfling one from 5E's PH?

Anyway, more good will for the small races!


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So all smallies get a bonus to Cha but no bump to WIS or INT... Wish that were a little different. Glad to see halflings keep their luck and got a boost to the ol sling. So gobos get extra STR and speed...What do gnomes and halflings get to match those goodies?

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

All three small races get bonuses to Charisma?

That seems redundant.


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oooooooooh, my favorite core Ancestry, Gnomes. Nothing is more fun than a Gnome!


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I'm glad they don't have to begin with a flaw to strength; it's now a player's choice.


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Went from all small races getting a negative to Strength to all getting bonuses to Charisma. I would like to hear the thoughts of the designers behind what ability scores are chosen for each race.


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The ancestry feats are interesting certainly, but I think might be difficult to appreciate without knowing just what the races look like 'out of the box' as it were...

Also, will your average Small character be able to carry her own Waterskin/Rope/Tent, etc or will they still sometimes need big people to help with that?

Dark Archive

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Also seems kind of weird that both halflings and Gnomes get the exact same hp since gnomes have always been presented as more...sturdy I guess?


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Quote:
Additionally, the sling is now a more formidable weapon than in Pathfinder First Edition—we've both increased its damage and done away with the difference in damage die size between Small and Medium creatures. A halfling with a sling can be pretty dangerous!

Very nice!

Quote:
tanglefoot cantrip

Looking forward to seeing this one!

Quote:
Fey Fellowship, which makes a gnome more charismatic when dealing with fey

For these types of super-situational feats, can you at least balance it by giving a whopping huge bonus? Otherwise we get something like Dragonheart: you get a bonus to saves against one specific type of creature... and by that way, that bonus is +1. Enjoy. (Has anyone ever actually taken that feat??)

Liberty's Edge

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Personally, I'd vote for Halflings to have 25 foot speed but only 6 HP. Aside from that looks good to me. :)

And my theories about how Ability scores are determined (ie: you get bonuses at each step of character creation) seem to be more or less correct. That's great since I really like that basic idea.

Contributor

So clearly Logan's planning on optimizing his entertainer background, what with all of the sly jokes in this blog. XD

Silver Crusade

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Character creation is ABCs: Ancestry, Background, Class. Backgrounds are confirmed to adjust ability scores. Maybe Class and then one or two floating boosts? I don't really know what to expect here

In other news, guess we're going to have a ~lot~ of Small-sized Sorcerers.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Gnomes, Can't wait to speak to my small animal friends, also glad to hear about the removal of the different damage sizes

Silver Crusade

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Also!, this is interesting.

Blog wrote:
Most ancestries get three ability boosts

Liberty's Edge

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Joe M. wrote:
Character creation is ABCs: Ancestry, Background, Class. Backgrounds are confirmed to adjust ability scores. Maybe Class and then one or two floating boosts? I don't really know what to expect here

My theory is another three bonuses (and no penalty) from Background, one of them floating, and then something like another +4 to one stat from Class and two floating bonuses from that.

Something like that anyway.

Joe M. wrote:
In other news, guess we're going to have a ~lot~ of Small-sized Sorcerers.

Not necessarily. Anyone without a penalty to it can have +Cha now and Cha bonuses are useful to everyone now that Resonance is a thing.

Joe M. wrote:

Also!, this is interesting.

Blog wrote:
Most ancestries get three ability boosts

They also say that only most get a penalty. My bet is Human, Half Elf and Half Orc get two floating +2s and no penalty.


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Joe M. wrote:

Also!, this is interesting.

Blog wrote:
Most ancestries get three ability boosts

Humans probably get two boosts with no flaws. (We all know humans are flawless!!!!)


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Upping small character's damage dice to the same as medium character's is decent.

So, is the ability boost/flaw mechanic going to replace point buy completely? Because right now it seems very restrictive in comparison. I generally prefer rolling ability scores, but it's better suited for games where everyone play at an actual table, and point buy has been a decent compromise for online games for us.

scary harpy wrote:
I'm glad they don't have to begin with a flaw to strength; it's now a player's choice.

Negating a flaw with a boost is not the same as not starting with a flaw.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Doing away with Small sized damage dice for weapons is a game changer. Thank you for this.

Liberty's Edge

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LuZeke wrote:

Upping small character's damage dice to the same as medium character's is decent.

So, is the ability boost/flaw mechanic going to replace point buy completely? Because right now it seems very restrictive in comparison. I generally prefer rolling ability scores, but it's better suited for games where everyone play at an actual table, and point buy has been a decent compromise for online games for us.

It's not all that restrictive if there are floating bonuses at all three stages. That lets you get to 16 in a stat that gets no bonus at all from any of Ancestry, Background, and Class.

Really, I think in practice it'll be just as flexible and a lot more intuitive.


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Thank you for getting rid of the damage distinction between Medium and Small! I still hope for a damage change at bigger and smaller sizes, but this at least helps ensure that Small characters can be effective front line combatants. I thought you might go this way based on Starfinder.

Thank for you improving the sling! That has been a sore spot of "carried from edition to edition without ever being looked at."

Okay, so ability boosts. They said ability boosts will work the same at character creation as when you get them every 5 levels. And they just explicitly said they are +2, no quibbling caveats. So I think we can assume they no longer work like Starfinder, where ability boosts above 16 are reduced from 2 to 1... it's just always going to be +2 every time you get a boost. I like this, it's easier to remember and helps make up for the missing Big Six.

That Gnome +Cha though. Why? A, we don't need all three small races to look so similar in their stat spread. B, gnomes are horrifyingly obnoxious hateable creatures (ESPECIALLY if this terrible "Bleaching" BS is going to be rammed down our throats) and shouldn't get +Cha. Stick with +Con +Int please. Give them the ability score bonus (Int) that reflects the shifty conniving wretches they actually are.

I like most of the feats. The gnome cantrip one seems weak granting only a single cantrip, so I hope they really beefed up the cantrips to be very good. Or maybe it's a feat that scales, giving you more cantrips as you level up or increase a proficiency rank? I'd be okay with that. Animal Speaker seems like another one that is okay at low levels but doesn't scale at high levels, so hopefully there is an aspect of it that IS safely level independent - such as giving you proficiency in whatever skill absorbed Handle Animal.

Advantage and Disadvantage Fortune and Misfortune, eh? I'm okay with that, it was a good idea in 5E and it will be a good idea here. At least, as long as you don't make 5E's mistake of relying on it in place of actual numerical bonuses.

I'm going to reiterate that language coming from your blood is weird and dumb. It always has been and it will continue to be here if you don't change it. The languages you start with should come from WHERE you grew up, not what SPECIES you are.

I still am not happy with 20/25/30 being the speed spread instead of 25/30/35, and will keep beating that drum.

Overall though I like the look of this.

EDIT: And of course, as I use the handle Fuzzypaws I appreciate the article title. ;3

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Kevin Mack wrote:
Also seems kind of weird that both halflings and Gnomes get the exact same hp since gnomes have always been presented as more...sturdy I guess?

the Gnomish Con bonus will account for this more than an extra 2 hp over your career that boosting the initial Ancestral hp would give you.


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Hmm. More pieces to the puzzle, more ideas that I'm not sure I like, and a few I do such as removing small sized damage. Gonna be a long few months.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

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I want to know more about weapons doing the same damage for Small and Medium characters. Do weapons still scale damage up and down for other size categories though?


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I really like that Gnome art. Well done Mr. Reynolds!

As for the blog, it's nice. I've made my issues with the whole Ancestry feat stuff known elsewhere.

The only strange thing here is that all the Small races get +Cha, instead of diversifying a bit. Heck, Goblins and Halflings are +Dex/+Cha! That seems a bit redundant, to be honest.

But other than that, this looks ok, so yay!


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DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

All three small races get bonuses to Charisma?

That seems redundant.

Dwarves are still small.


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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I'm still in favor of halflings getting Wis for their tenacious spirit and gnomes getting intelligence for their keen minds. All small races getting Charisma seems bland


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Lucas Yew wrote:

Why is these fellows' big head looking more natural than the infamous halfling one from 5E's PH?

Wayne Reynolds is a better artist. :3


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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Xenocrat wrote:
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

All three small races get bonuses to Charisma?

That seems redundant.

Dwarves are still small.

since when?


These are looking great!

Since being a slave is a part of the history (and current events!) of halflings, will we see a slave or escaped slave background?


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Intradasting... Very intradasting. If I'm getting this right, the way the stat lines are calculated could be quick and easy, while still allowing for a very wide variety of builds within the same Race/Class combo. It could also become a boring process of cutting out cookies with a few button presses, while funneling people into only picking certain options over others. It will likely fall somewhere in between there, and we'll only be able to tell where once we've really sunk our teeth into the little chew toy and shook it around.

Now, to answer the question posed at the end. I'm actually thinking that if I get a chance to play (rather than GM) during the playtest, I'll be going with a Gnome Alchemist from Varisia who's either not doing a particularly good job at staving off the bleaching, or has already gone past it, should that be available as a feat at CharGen. Both are kind of fun. One is adventuring to stir a weary heart, to find contrast in the grey, because to struggle is to avoid death. The other would want to see the world to fill an idle mind, to see the colors of tomorrow, and because to struggle is to truly live.


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Fuzzypaws wrote:
gnomes are horrifyingly obnoxious hateable creatures (ESPECIALLY if this terrible "Bleaching" BS is going to be rammed down our throats) and shouldn't get +Cha. Stick with +Con +Int please. Give them the ability score bonus (Int) that reflects the shifty conniving wretches they actually are.

You... you've never met a gnome, have you? "Shifty" and "conniving" are definitely not words that apply to most gnomes. If anything, gnomes are probably forthright to a fault, just because they are so interested in doing their own thing they don't particularly care what you think about it.

Of all the ancestries I think +Cha is most fitting for a gnome, as they are the most self-defined and genuine of any ancestry.


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bookrat wrote:

These are looking great!

Since being a slave is a part of the history (and current events!) of halflings, will we see a slave or escaped slave background?

I'm willin to bet all my silver smerduks that there'll be a "Slave" background of some kind. It makes sense not just for Halflings but also for lots of Half-Orcs and Goblins.


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1) Small/Medium weapon die unified. Really this sounds like things have changed from "S/M are different sizes, with some shared features (reach/space)" to "S/M are the same size, with some differences". I'm not sure if they shouldn't just collapse difference completely at this point. Main differentiator I can think of (based on P1E and announced changes) is Smalls can't become Large easily while Mediums can. That seems like it's still do-able without formal Size category, but with "Slight Frame" etc quality which applies the special rules desired. That leaves Size Category as a more clearly defined functional element, and opens door to Small and Large being mirror equivalents which they are (counter-intuitively) far from being (currently).

2) The blog tone is just un-necessarily cutesy. And for what? There doesn't seem like any fundamental change to these races. Nobody needs or wants to read a Preview Blog to learn "OMG I can play Frodo!" "OMG I can play Rainbow Sprite!". The people reading it are doing so because they're interested in rules developments. OK, maybe there isn't enough crunch there re: these races, and maybe you're working on some heavy developments re: Playtest rules themselves and/or next Rules Preview. Just mentioning this in hope future Blog Previews deliver the goods.

3) All 3 small races getting CHA bonus. I'm normally of school that if the glove fits the hand, then why not? AKA if it makes sense then don't try to go against it just for crunch variety. I would support penalty to STR for all 3 Smalls on that grounds, that is really the sort of thing that tends to be baked into system conventions, which is all within realms of physical metrics after all, unlike CHA. But in this case, it does seem un-necessary and confusing. Halflings do seem CHA inclined, no problem. Gnomes seem like they could go WIS or CHA (WIS for Nature based SLAs?), but I will concede CHA as not horrible choice. That leaves Goblins.

I guess the question I am led to is, why do Goblins need to have a mental stat bonus baked in at all? I really don't see why they need to. They could have penalty to WIS and bonus to DEX and CON, and who would be surprised? Look, debate on Core Race aside, Paizo seems to recognize Goblins' exceptional nature, otherwise they wouldn't be hyping them. In that exceptional nature, I don't see their mental prowess in ANY realm being presented as better or on-par with normal races. It's just not. Small, wiry, hardy buggers that confound normals with their insane destruction? Yes, that is a Goblin. But even within their own dynamics they seem to have disfunctional communities who do not present large-scale leaders as even other CE tendency races do. So why +CHA? Because that's the only mental stat Paizo felt they could boost. Except they don't really HAVE TO boost ANY mental stat if it just isn't appropriate to.

Given the "CHA boost to all 3 Smalls" is grating on people, I think withdrawing it from Goblin is a good thing to do. Honestly I am strongly in favor of that even if Gnomes lose +CHA in favor or +WIS, i.e. there is no longer a "all Small +CHA" problem. If fitting Goblins into mold of "Core Race balance" means abandoning the exact exceptionality which is their claim to fame, who exactly is served by their inclusion? People who liked a Goblin which never existed until this point? Doesn't that conflict with the popularity of their existing/previous implementation?


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Kevin Mack wrote:
Also seems kind of weird that both halflings and Gnomes get the exact same hp since gnomes have always been presented as more...sturdy I guess?

That's what the CON bonus represents, though, isn't it?

Liberty's Edge

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TheFinish wrote:
bookrat wrote:

These are looking great!

Since being a slave is a part of the history (and current events!) of halflings, will we see a slave or escaped slave background?

I'm willin to bet all my silver smerduks that there'll be a "Slave" background of some kind. It makes sense not just for Halflings but also for lots of Half-Orcs and Goblins.

Modern RPG's have been trending away from touching on subjects like that in their core materials lately, though.


Gnomes and Halflings have generally been depicted with childlike proportions (particularly the oversized heads). In any case, I think both characters look quite nice!


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Stone Dog wrote:
I'm still in favor of halflings getting Wis for their tenacious spirit and gnomes getting intelligence for their keen minds. All small races getting Charisma seems bland

I'd go a different direction. Id remove the trash dwelling gobos CHA bonus and give it to INT. Makes sense they have to be clever to make their trash gizmos. I'd make their flaw STR and leave their fast speed. Give em a boost to DEX to show their quickness. For Gnomes id give them a bonus to WIS instead of CHA. Keep their CON and STR boost/flaw. Then halflings would keep CHA bonus rounding out the three smallies with three mental stats.


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RumpinRufus wrote:
Quote:
Fey Fellowship, which makes a gnome more charismatic when dealing with fey
For these types of super-situational feats, can you at least balance it by giving a whopping huge bonus? Otherwise we get something like Dragonheart: you get a bonus to saves against one specific type of creature... and by that way, that bonus is +1. Enjoy. (Has anyone ever actually taken that feat??)

My angle on this is similar but opposite at same time. Fey does not need be super-situational. IMHO Gnomes themself should be Fey. As with Wayang. As with the Type of Tian Xia Spirit-creatures I forget name of. Paizo has said they will take less-strict approach to Type abilities, so having actual Fey type for all of these shouldn't be a big problem IMHO. I just think this would be good for game, and makes things like Favored Enemy: Fey alot more relevant. IMHO they might as well collapse Gnome and Fey languages as well, but YMMV.


Some interesting sounding abilities especially for the halfling.


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Deadmanwalking wrote:

It's not all that restrictive if there are floating bonuses at all three stages. That lets you get to 16 in a stat that gets no bonus at all from any of Ancestry, Background, and Class.

Really, I think in practice it'll be just as flexible and a lot more intuitive.

But are those bonuses really floating at the other two stages other than race? And are their numbers predetermined? Are there ability flaws? If so, are those numbers predetermined?

Yeah, maybe it lets you get a 16 in whatever score, but what if you wanted to go down to 7 in one score for the benefit of another, or put down a mediocre or worse Charisma score for a sorcerer, but the character generation doesn't let you because it's sub-optimal?


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Stone Dog wrote:
I'm still in favor of halflings getting Wis for their tenacious spirit and gnomes getting intelligence for their keen minds. All small races getting Charisma seems bland

Seconded


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LuZeke wrote:
Deadmanwalking wrote:

It's not all that restrictive if there are floating bonuses at all three stages. That lets you get to 16 in a stat that gets no bonus at all from any of Ancestry, Background, and Class.

Really, I think in practice it'll be just as flexible and a lot more intuitive.

But are those bonuses really floating at the other two stages other than race? And are their numbers predetermined? Are there ability flaws? If so, are those numbers predetermined?

Yeah, maybe it lets you get a 16 in whatever score, but what if you wanted to go down to 7 in one score for the benefit of another, or put down a mediocre or worse Charisma score for a sorcerer, but the generation doesn't let you because it's sub-optimal?

I hate minmaxing ability scores, so what I've done in recent years is that if you drop one ability score by 4 or two ability scores by 2 you get a bonus feat instead of bonus ability points. That still gives some conceptual flexibility and would work well here, probably as a General Feat you can presumably apply as either a class, skill or ancestry feat.


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So basically everyone's stats start at 10, modified by race, then more then likely modified by class....and maybe a third thing?


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Quandary wrote:
RumpinRufus wrote:
Quote:
Fey Fellowship, which makes a gnome more charismatic when dealing with fey
For these types of super-situational feats, can you at least balance it by giving a whopping huge bonus? Otherwise we get something like Dragonheart: you get a bonus to saves against one specific type of creature... and by that way, that bonus is +1. Enjoy. (Has anyone ever actually taken that feat??)
My angle on this is similar but opposite at same time. Fey does not need be super-situational. IMHO Gnomes themself should be Fey. As with Wayang. As with the Tian Xia Spirit-creatures I forget name of. Paizo has said they will take less-strict approach to Type abilities, so having actual Fey type for all of these shouldn't be a big problem IMHO. I just think this would be good for game, and makes things like Favored Enemy: Fey alot more relevant. IMHO they might as well collapse Gnome and Fey languages as well, but YMMV.

Making gnomes fey is interesting, I could get behind that. They certainly retain a very strong connection with the First World.

Wayangs on the other hand are clearly not fey, they're connected to the Shadow Plane and don't have any canonical connection to the First World. (And besides, if you told me the feat is not so bad because it boosts your Cha checks vs wayangs, I'd ask you how many campaigns I'd need to run through before seeing my first wayang.)

Liberty's Edge

Dragon78 wrote:
So basically everyone's stats start at 10, modified by race, then more then likely modified by class....and maybe a third thing?

We already know that Background also modifies your ability scores.

Liberty's Edge

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LuZeke wrote:
But are those bonuses really floating at the other two stages other than race? And are their numbers predetermined? Are there ability flaws? If so, are those numbers predetermined?

We don't know, but given that they added a floating bonus to Ancestry, I'd be shocked if there weren't at least one at each other stage.

LuZeke wrote:
Yeah, maybe it lets you get a 16 in whatever score, but what if you wanted to go down to 7 in one score for the benefit of another, or put down a mediocre or worse Charisma score for a sorcerer, but the character generation doesn't let you because it's sub-optimal?

Buying down scores seems pretty much gone, I'll grant. I'm cool with that.

As for sub-par Sorcerer Charisma, the Class pretty much definitionally can't give more than a +4, which would make for a 14 total if you go with a race and background that don't add. I'm fine with that as the Cha minimum for Sorcerers.


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Quote:
Wayangs on the other hand are clearly not fey, they're connected to the Shadow Plane and don't have any canonical connection to the First World.

Wayang always felt like they were Gnomes that mutated when they moved to Shadow Plane, like Fetchlings are Humans that mutated when they moved to Shadow Plane. I admit that is my own take on things, but doesn't seem far removed from canon presentation, AFAIK only saying they moved from Shadow Plane to Tian Xia not much on before that. (?)

BTW, I back up people who think Halflings could use less racial HPs. Good amount of variation there, equal to low/high class HPs seems good. Another 6hp race seems normal by that metric, and why wouldn't it be Small?


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I have to say I agree with the others who say all Small races getting Charisma is... not exactly one we're into. Of course, I'm not sure that Goblins should get a +2 to Charisma in any event, but if they ARE going to, then yeah. We know that Halflings have greater strength of will seeing how they can persevere when others falter and have an increased tendency to prevail against fear... so having their Wisdom increased instead of Charisma seems a far better option.

Likewise... while I personally think that Goblins should get an Intelligence bonus instead of Charisma, why not go this route for the Gnome instead? Gnomes are inquisitive and curious, so show this through a bonus to Intelligence. Heck, they're known for illusions and the like, and Illusionist is a Wizard specialization... so it seems fairly intuitive to boost their Intelligence rather than Charisma.

It also makes sense since Gnomes are not exactly the calm quiet ones seeing they are constantly striving to find new sensations and interests to avoid the Bleaching. I don't think "zany" when I think "charismatic" so... definitely drop the Charisma for Intelligence.

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Small note, it seems quite clear now that traits that were given to all races initially will now be split up into Ancestry Feats. I have to wonder about that, but perhaps it's also to make other races less attractive and start on a more even playing field compared to humans.

Last thought: When we get to the half-blooded races, I'm starting to suspect we'll see them have a penalty to one stat, maybe one set stat, and two floating bonuses. Half-Orcs probably will have a Charisma penalty and a Constitution bonus. Half-Elves would probably have a Constitution penalty and a Dexterity bonus (though Intelligence would be interesting for them).

Given the lack of details on magic or resonance, I'm thinking we're probably going to see classes other than Wizard next... and probably not Cleric either, seeing they have magic of a sort as well. So... probably Monk then.

And while this is looking outside the purview of the Core Rulebook, I have to wonder if we might eventually get a wizard-fighter hybrid akin to the Ranger and Paladin... and I don't mean the Magus, but rather a class that only gets up to level 4 spells but is better skilled in fighting than the Magus would have been. I mean, we have the priestly warrior with the Paladin, and the druidic warrior with the Ranger. So why not a wizardly warrior?

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Xenocrat wrote:
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

All three small races get bonuses to Charisma?

That seems redundant.

Dwarves are still small.

Dwarves have always been medium and they didn’t indicate that changes in the dwarf/elf blog last week.

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