Ultimate Campaign: The Total Game Changer

Thursday, February 7, 2013

If you heard the trumpeting and roar of cheers last week, that was us, as we just sent our first hardcover of 2013, Ultimate Campaign, off to the printer. This is just the beginning of that book's long journey from the realm of electronic files into the real world, but now that it's out of our hands we can start sharing some of the secrets locked away within this guide to greater gaming.

So, without too many spoilers, here are ten tantalizing teasers about Ultimate Campaign to tide you over while it's printing.

10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!

9. There's a Table for That. How many siblings does your dwarf character have? What were your parents' professions? What has your alchemist character been up to before you started playing him? What is your relationship to your fellow adventurers? You'll know, because with the background generator, there are tables for all that and much, much, much more.

8. Build a Legend. The downtime system unlocks awesome new challenges for your character to take on between adventures, like creating a headquarters for your adventures, starting a tavern, or even building a castle. With downtime, use your wealth, influence, and magic to shape your game world like never before.

7. You're the Boss. Downtime isn't just about building structures; it's also about building groups. Once you've constructed a temple to your own glory, you're going to need sycophants to staff it. Cults, mercenary companies, thieves guilds, ships crews, and more are ready and awaiting your orders.

6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.

5. It's Going To Be Good To Be the King. Are you the heir to a lost dynasty, seeking to reclaim your throne? Of course you are! And now you can turn your quest into a benefit for your character with story feats, a new breed of feat that helps drive you toward a character objective and that gets even better once you achieve your goal.

4. Play Harry Potter. Or Arya Stark, or Aang the Last Airbender, or whomever your favorite young hero might be, with rules for playing young characters.

3. Theater of War. A dramatic system for running massive battles gives you a way to quantify your tales of battle. Lead skirmishes between war bands, decide the outcome of legendary battles, or even take your nation's knights toe to toe against the towering tarrasque!

2. On Your Honor. Honor points allow your valorous knight, your noble samurai, your rogue with a criminal code, or any other character with rigid guiding principles to gain benefits from their strict lifestyles. Choose a code to live by or create your own!

1. Kneel Before Me! The Kingdom Building rules popularized during the Kingmaker Adventure Path have been revised and expanded, allowing you to found a dynasty, build cities, and chart the course of your nation in more depth and with more control then ever before!

Look for more about Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign in the weeks leading up to its release this spring!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
1 to 50 of 246 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>

1 person marked this as a favorite.

WANT! THIS! NOW!

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Play young characters! When is this released again? Might need to subscribe.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Wow! I want this even more than I did before.

Dark Archive

10 - No. Not at my table.
9 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
8 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
7 - Yes. Interested/solid value.
6 - Well, OK.
5 - Yes. Interested/solid value.
4 - Hell yeah. Enthusiast/can't wait.
3 - Not really yes, but almost.
2 - Well, OK.
1 - Well, OK.

Overall, eagerly awaiting it.

Liberty's Edge

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Shut up and take my money!

Liberty's Edge

2 people marked this as a favorite.

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

Shades of 4th edition. Retraining is one of my favorite things from that edition and I'm super excited to see Paizos take on it. I don't know how many times a new book comes out with the perfect play option for a current PC and where left trying to figure out how we can fairly allow the PC to swap out abilities. This is a much needed option.

"4. Play Harry Potter. Or Arya Stark, or Ang the Last Air Bender, or whomever your favorite young hero might be, with rules for playing young characters."

Yes, so much YES!

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Whilst I have no real interest in playing young characters the rest of this looks really interesting. Colour me intrigued.

Shadow Lodge

5 people marked this as a favorite.

Rules for young characters? Finally!!!!


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Want.

Really want.

Really, really, REALLY want.

Mildly narked that my budgeting plan for this year won't let me get it until the end of May.

And then there's Mythic coming later on... damnit, Paizo! Why do you hate my bank balance so much?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Story feats?

Oh god no!

D:

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

No. Just no. People min/max enough already without allowing them to tailor low level characters without long term consequences.

Dark Archive

MEGA STOKED!


Oh yeah! As one of those who hangs around the Kingmaker thread, this is what we've been waiting for.

Sovereign Court

Thank you for making quality books! This book seems abundantly useful and yet very familiar. Thanks for staying so in-touch with what our games need. I can't wait for this to arrive! - Pax Veritas

Silver Crusade

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Artanthos wrote:

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

No. Just no. People min/max enough already without allowing them to tailor low level characters without long term consequences.

If those "consequences" are an unenjoyable character I think I'm okay with my player choosing some new skills & feats over rolling a new character and having to integrate a whole new character in the plot.

Scarab Sages

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Artanthos wrote:

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

No. Just no. People min/max enough already without allowing them to tailor low level characters without long term consequences.

If those "consequences" are an unenjoyable character I think I'm okay with my player choosing some new skills & feats over rolling a new character and having to integrate a whole new character in the plot.

Imagine taking first level as a Dervish of the Dawn bard. Take your second and third levels as magus*.

By fourth level you drop the level dip of bard for magus. Dervish Dance from level 1 plus full magus progression.

*may be done with other classes or even an alternate bard archetype.

Liberty's Edge

I'm looking foward to "Ultimate Campaign" and plan on using some of the ideas you have already highlighted ( although I adamantly refuse the re-make of cheesier characters ). I especially look forward to the expanded Kingmaker rules for building towns and cities, mass combat rules, charts to help players expand upon their character's personal histories, and young character options.

Scarab Sages

The kingmaker themed rules sound very interesting. I hope to be able to use them someday.


Story feats sound like they could be... something. Can't wait to see their execution.


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Artanthos wrote:

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

No. Just no. People min/max enough already without allowing them to tailor low level characters without long term consequences.

If those "consequences" are an unenjoyable character I think I'm okay with my player choosing some new skills & feats over rolling a new character and having to integrate a whole new character in the plot.

Yeah, I dont get the resistance to this as well. I allow the players to tweak their PC's feats and abilites up to a point because I feel that after a certain point in a character's progression you should kinda know what you want. The PC's in our groups Curse of the Crimson Throne Campaign are 8th level and I think the feat swapping has pretty much ended.

Granted there have been more than a few deaths which provides for new PC's but that's par for the course...


I haven't looked forward to a rules book as much as this one since the Gamemastery Guide. 9 out of 10 of those teasers sound terrific (we're too old and cranky to play kids again).


I was very curious about there being ways to stat up and play younger characters in this. I am very excited to see that you can. Thanks Paizo!


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
...or even take your nation's knights toe to toe against the towering tarrasque!

That's a very cost efficient knight retirement plan.


There's not enough money in the world to throw at my screen to properly relay how much I want this.


5 people marked this as a favorite.

No money now. Time for me to get my pumps and lipstick, and hit the streets to make some dough.

Sczarni

2 people marked this as a favorite.

The Young Characters thing is quite a surprise to me. Sounds pretty awesome!

I'm suddenly thinking about how fun an all-kids campaign could be.

Shadow Lodge

It will make it a lot easier for me to make my kid alchemist who uses candy for his elixirs, mutagens, and bombs!

Grand Lodge

I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

Silver Crusade

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

"10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!"

No. Just no. People min/max enough already without allowing them to tailor low level characters without long term consequences.

If those "consequences" are an unenjoyable character I think I'm okay with my player choosing some new skills & feats over rolling a new character and having to integrate a whole new character in the plot.

Imagine taking first level as a Dervish of the Dawn bard. Take your second and third levels as magus*.

By fourth level you drop the level dip of bard for magus. Dervish Dance from level 1 plus full magus progression.

*may be done with other classes or even an alternate bard archetype.

I'm not seeing a problem. If you swap out the Bard level you lose the bonus feat. At level one you don't have Spell Combat.

Sounds like someone wants to add Dex to damage, let them it's still not as damagetastic as a power attacking barbarian. I'm just not seeing why it's a big deal to change aspects of a character later on. If players are truly breaking a character concept then it's still a conversation between GM and players to find a good way forward.


Nifty.

...Damn I've been saying that a lot today.

But still.


Rules for young characters, Honor points, and story feats sounds interesting.

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I think it may finally be subscription time.


6 people marked this as a favorite.

Rules to play a little human boy + Synthesist = Shazam!


The NPC wrote:
Rules to play a little human boy + Synthesist = Shazam!

YES!!!!


Mike Silva wrote:
Shut up and take my money!

As soon as i read it i thought the exact same thing!

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.

Paizo knows their audience. :)


Mikaze wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.
Paizo knows their audience. :)

Is it wrong that I'm more excited about this than anything else in UCamp?


Just when I finally get up the willpower to cancel my subscriptions they pull me back in :P.

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

In for Seoni in a wedding dress!


Rubber Ducky guy wrote:


Is it wrong that I'm more excited about this than anything else in UCamp?

Ultimate Camp.

Don't use that abbreviation in the "homosexuality in Golarion" thread, whatever you do.


Mikaze wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.
Paizo knows their audience. :)

As soon as I seen number 6 I somehow knew you'd have a comment on it


Fanfreakingtastic! Enough said.


Raylos wrote:
In for Seoni in a wedding dress!

To late now, but yes! YES YES! She will be mine. All mine. My precious.

Silver Crusade

SwnyNerdgasm wrote:


Paizo knows their audience. :)
As soon as I seen number 6 I somehow knew you'd have a comment on it

All I'm saying is Paizo knows their audience!

And that if there's artwork of any character kicking Alain in the groin at the end of the book it would be the best thing ever.

I'm also really curious about those child-hero rules, to see how they're being approached. Got some adventure ideas that could use that in parts. :)

I have to admit I share Umbral Reaver's worry* about roleplaying elements being too quantified by rules, but I'm really curious about what those goal-oriented feats are and how they're meant to work.

*Moderated by these being optional rules of course.

I'm hoping there's some stuff for "magic-gearless" characters too. Some rules-variants that help non-Christmas Tree characters keep up with the rest of the party in a standard Adventure Path. Something that could make genuinely ascetic characters work alongside "traditional" characters. Gearless monks in particular.


Rubber Ducky guy wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.
Paizo knows their audience. :)
Is it wrong that I'm more excited about this than anything else in UCamp?

Alain happens to be my favourite iconic.

You all are bad people.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Mikaze wrote:
I'm hoping there's some stuff for "magic-gearless" characters too. Some rules-variants that help non-Christmas Tree characters keep up with the rest of the party in a standard Adventure Path. Something that could make genuinely ascetic characters work alongside "traditional" characters. Gearless monks in particular.

I suspect you're going to be disappointed on this point. I've seen multiple quotes specfically stressing that this book will deal with everything other than being in a dungeon, so probably won't get into this sort of stuff.


11 people marked this as a favorite.

Scenario 1:

Player: "I shall quest to claim the empty throne!"

GM: "Did you take the 'claim the empty throne feat'?"

Player: "Uh, no?"

GM: "Too bad. You can't be king without that feat."

Scenario 2:

Player: "I have the 'claim the empty throne feat'."

GM: "The story is taking a different turn."

Player: "But my feat says I get to claim the empty throne!"

GM: "Nah, politics are getting complicated and events have led to the abolition of the monarchy in favour of a parliament of wizards."

Wizard: "Booyah!"

GM: "Did you take the 'parliament member' feat?"

Wizard: "Damnit."


Well, I'm sur I'm already ninjaed but...

Shut up and take my money!

This is going to be the best game enhancing hardcover ever published in D20 rules.

Silver Crusade

9 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Umbral Reaver wrote:

Scenario 1:

Player: "I shall quest to claim the empty throne!"

GM: "Did you take the 'claim the empty throne feat'?"

Player: "Uh, no?"

GM: "Too bad. You can't be king without that feat."

Scenario 2:

Player: "I have the 'claim the empty throne feat'."

GM: "The story is taking a different turn."

Player: "But my feat says I get to claim the empty throne!"

GM: "Nah, politics are getting complicated and events have led to the abolition of the monarchy in favour of a parliament of wizards."

Wizard: "Booyah!"

GM: "Did you take the 'parliament member' feat?"

Wizard: "Damnit."

Scenario Three:

Player: "I'm thinking of taking the claim the empty throne feat, I think it suit's my character's arc, what do you think?"

GM: "The story isn't really headed in that direction, but would you be interested in the Kingslayer feat? The man who slays the monarchy might have a big say in the new government to come after."

Player: "Suits me fine, thanks ;)"

Otherwise Known as Player/GM communication

Just like if you're playing a ranger, talk to your GM about likely favored enemies.

Also these might be feats that you get for completing story points not for aiming towards them. So let's not limit ourselves prematurely.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

MUST HAVE!! I can finally make my 13-yr old Monk legitimately under the rules.

1 to 50 of 246 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Paizo Products / Product Discussion / Paizo Blog: Ultimate Campaign: The Total Game Changer All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.