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And what bits?
why?
and how do they work out?
I am using elements since quite some (a grace/health+vitality/wounds variant, the magical healing option, the "taking a breather" action) others I introduced more recently (cleric/paladin disciplines related to undead turning, healing/damaging touches, etc instead of the standard PFRPG energy channelling), and I'm currently considering changing the whole spell progression levels to the 1-20 listing instead of the 1-9 standard, to better fit the class caster magic rating from UA which I'd like to use.
The kicking of the HPs system and related magical healing option is due to me being very tired of such a catch-it-all value (for the same reason I use the DR option with some other bits thrown in instead of a flat AC value). The whole criticals system is reworked a bit for balance: crits are not multiplied but the old value goes straight to bonus damage.
It works quite good: criticals are very scary, and large damage dealing creatures have a nice boost in performance. The toughness feat is now extra yummy, and characters without good armor tend to stay out of chaotic melee, supporting from afar or going for the flank/specific target.
Characters and creatures are more vulnerable, but as there are class based bonus to defense and parry/dodge active defense maneuvers, the whole combat scene is not exeedingly lethal, just more tactical and potentially scary.
As this changes three critically important elements of the game (hit points and healing, defense system, damage dealing), it's also quite complex to introduce, as it takes on a lot of stuff from basic rules and spells to basic equipment to magical items bonuses/properties.
The "taking a breather" action is nice for more tactical options and very easy to introduce.
Cleric/paladin disciplines are concepts that I liked a lot since the beginning, as class features that improve by spending resources as the character goes up in level and only if the player wants that.
I also did not like the energy channelling rules 100% - while a nice improvement over 3.5 rules, they were not really my taste.
Disciplines work out fine both in regards to the aforementioned healing system and also in terms of ease of use and character flavor. Very nice.
Not really difficult to introduce - just come up with a small subsystem of class improvements available to the two classes (and maybe for rangers/druids too), not different from the availability of rogue talents or barbarian rage powers in PFRPG.
The spell progression changes are related to the changes I'd like to make to the magic system: I'm tired of the reduced flexibility of the vancian slot system, I don't like spell points, I positively hate skill based or encounter-based systems. So I've come up with my very own super-hybrid system, taking bits from Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, the options from UA.
A rather large undertaking as I'll need to rework a lot of spells...
Right now I'm planning on using the grace/health system with slight modifications, and I've offered my players the paladin and ranger disciplines. Since I haven't gotten the game started yet, no feedback to report.
crits are not multiplied but the old value goes straight to bonus damage.
I am curious but do not follow. Explain?
Right now I'm planning on using the grace/health system with slight modifications, and I've offered my players the paladin and ranger disciplines. Since I haven't gotten the game started yet, no feedback to report.
crits are not multiplied but the old value goes straight to bonus damage.I am curious but do not follow. Explain?
A-yup.
A longsword threathens crits on 19-20, and on a confirmed crit deals 1d8+2 base damage to Health points (the old x2 multiplier).
Any extra damage (strenght bonus, enhancement bonus, sneak attack, magical properties such as flaming, extras from feats such as power attack or weapon specialization) is calculated as normal, but is subtracted first from Grace points, and from Health points only if Grace is already zeroed.
So, a 4th level fighter with a +1 longsword, weapon specialization and strenght 17 critting on a 2 points power attack (the PFRPG version of it) deals 1d8+2 points to the adversary's Health points and 10 points (1+2+3+4) to the adversary's Grace points.
If the adversary has armor for 3 points of DR, this value is applied both to the damage dealt to Grace ([1d8+2] -3) and to Grace ([10] -3).
