The World Is Square's page

In September of 2012, my brother and I released a blog post discussing the issue of feat taxes in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Although the post was intended to be a one-off thought experiment based on our experiences building characters for organized play, it gained an inexplicable amount of traction online.

In response to the continued interest expressed by the Pathfinder community, we’ve decided to publish an updated and expanded version of our feat tree. This document, titled The Elephant in the Room after the original blog post, includes a reimagined version of the entire feat section found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.

We’re publishing the revised rules on the Hearth & Blade website, as our (in progress) campaign setting was largely inspired by these feat tax rules - albeit adjusted for the P6 rule set. The document provides a good idea of what our upcoming core rulebook will look like when it is finished.

More than anything, however, we hope that this document continues to spur interesting and lively discussion of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, just as the original blog post did.

I'm going to send a PM for feedback too, but I'll just post my monster up here too. I had it up on my blog prior to the contest anyways, so the cat is already out of the bag.

Accursed Sentinel

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

Excited to see how things shake down! And just for the record, I am a Hellephant fan through-and-through.

I've re-posted the lineage guide to include descriptions. They were on the wiki before, but it is much nicer to have them all in one place!

Yavmir Lineages | Hibou and Jotunn

@Ascalaphus
Thanks for the feedback! I'm a big fan of the climb/glide combo as well. In my mind, I visualize groups of Hibou climbing up trees and gliding down upon their foes. Its nice flavour, and less powerful than outright flight.

Jotunn don't have reach, and I'm very leery about giving it to them. I think it may be a bit overpowering for PC class to have that kind of range. I think be able to wield oversized weapons should be enough.

I am hand-waving the +2 Con restriction to Tolann for flavour purposes. Also, Kit Lyu may be a touch OP but swimming doesn't really come up that often from my experience.

The lineage packages are somewhat muted by the fact that we're eliminating normal traits picked at level one, and disallowing alternative racial traits. Humans will still likely come out a bit more powerful than they before, but I wouldn't say any more than an Aasimar or Tiefling.

@JoeJ
Very good points! I was reading something similar in the Kobold World Building Guide. Although clerics will pick a primary god to worship, respecting all gods is going to be heavily encouraged. I imagine something similar to the Greek myths: where people may favour one god, but will pray to any individual god based on their current needs (good crops, fair sailing, etc...).

@Indagare
Perun will play a role in the world, but perhaps more interesting are the factions that were formed in his wake. There is a group of fanatics bent on reclaiming and utilizing the power of flame that was lost when Perun severed his ties with Yavmir. The cult is ruled by a Fire Eidolon named Gorod, who grants his followers powerful magicks in exchange for their absolute loyalty. There are rumours, however, that Gorod's unsavory methods have created a new generation of Blackened Ones: mindless abominations who constantly assail the kingdoms of Tol and Khor.

@Drejk
I will consider that. I'm actually unsure why we named them Jotunn in the first place. I think it may have been a filler name that just sorta stuck.

My brother and I have always been interested in world building, and a few years back we began toying with the idea of a campaign setting steeped in Slavic folklore. The project started as a conversation, grew into random fragments of documentation, and is now being aggregated into a Wiki as we start to refine our ideas.

The working title for project is the (rather unimaginative) World of Ruin, but the name of the world itself is Yavmir. Our ultimate goal is to create a fully fleshed out Pathfinder campaign setting based upon Slavic mythology; a type of folklore that interests both of us greatly, and which doesn't seem to get its fair share of the spotlight. At the moment the project is very much incomplete - somewhat of an "alpha build" with very few Pathfinder-specific rules integrated - but there is still enough information present for people to get a grasp on the world, and even run a relatively small campaign.

The Wiki is a bit scattered at the moment, but here are a few good jumping in points if you are interested in checking it out.

World Map
A map of Yavmir in its current state, including most major cities and locations.

Abridged History
A brief record of past events, including an outline of the three ages, and the origins of the gods, races, and conflicts that shaped the world.

The Complete Wiki
Take a look at all of the content that has been created so far; including a pantheon of gods, a roster of races, and an ever-growing bestiary.

We've been working on this project on-and-off for a long while and decided that now would be a good time to get some outside feedback. Comments, criticism, and questions are all welcome!

I'll post in this thread whenever any major updates are added to the Wiki. We generally add at least one or two new Wiki entries a week, and my current obsession is researching and creating new monsters (which I also post on my blog) to help flesh out the bestiary. All content is protected under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike, so feel free to share and adapt the materials with accordance to the license.

Huzzah! Double the Venture Captains!

Welcome Glen! It's great to have a "left-tenant" in the nation's capital. We've had a big boom in Ontario organized play lately, and your assistance is much appreciated.

I've been thinking of making a wizard that was really good at dispelling enemy enchantments, while still capable with other wizardly pursuits. I like the flavour of the Magaambyan Arcanist prestige class, so I designed an Abjurer that switches over to Arcanist after level 5. This gives him access to some druid spells, a few bonuses to good descriptor spells, spontaneous casting, and another bonus to dispel magic. Druid spells allow him to become even more supportive to allies (curing, restoration, etc...), which I think synergies well with the build.

I would love some feedback on this (keeping in mind that this is for Pathfinder Society). Let me know what you think!

Race: Elf

Class: Abjurer (5) Magaambyan Arcanist (7)
Stat Spread: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8

Traits: Gifted Adept (+1 caster level to dispel magic), Reactionary (+2 Initiative)

Racial Abilities:

• Elven Immunities(immune to magic sleep effects and gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects)
  
• Elven Magic (+2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft skill checks made to identify the properties of magic items)
  
• Fleet-Footed (Run as a bonus feat and a +2 racial bonus on initiative checks.)
  
• Low-Light Vision (see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light)
  

• FEAT: Scholar (+2/+4 bonus on two knowledge skills)
  
• FEAT: Spell Focus: Abjuration
  
• EX: Resistance (5 resistance to a single energy type)
  
• SU: Protective Ward (+1 AC to nearby allies for INT rounds, 1+INT times a day)
  
• Arcane Bond or Familiar
  

Abjurer (3)

• FEAT: Spell Mastery (prepare spells without a spellbook)
  

Abjurer (5)

• FEAT: Extend Spell (+1 spell level to make a spell last twice as long) OR Varisian Tattoo (+1 abjuration caster level, resistance 3/day)
  
• FEAT: Spell Specialization (dispel magic)
  
• SU: Protective Ward (+2 AC to nearby allies for INT rounds, 1+INT times a day)
  

• EX: Aura of Good (see detect good; equal to class level.)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• FEAT: Spell Penetration (+2 on spell checks to overcome a foe's spell resistance)
  
• EX: Superior Spell Mastery (change the spells involved with the Spell Mastery Feat)
  
• SU: Virtuous Spells (+1 caster level to spells with the good descriptor)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• EX: Intoned Recollection (take one minute to put any spell in a spell slot that was left empty at the beginning of the day)
  
• SU: Lasting Goodness (spells with the good descriptor have their durations extended by a number of rounds equal to class level)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• FEAT: Selective Spell (exclude INT number of targets from an AoE spell)
  
• EX: Spontaneous Spell Mastery (once per day, lose a prepared spell to cast a spell of the same spell level or lower which she has mastered with the Spell Mastery feat)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• SP: Blessed Warding (constant Protection From Evil on self)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• FEAT: Destructive Dispel (sicken or stun targets of your dispel magic)
  
• SP: Immediate Spell Mastery (once per day, cast any spell mastered with the feat, even if no prepared that day)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)
  

• SU: Righteous Contravention (+2 bonus on checks to overcome the spell resistance of evil creatures or evil objects, and on checks to dispel spells cast by evil creatures, spells with the evil descriptor, or evil magic items.)
  
• SU: Halcyon Magic (add a single druid spell, at least levels lower than you can currently cast, to your spell list)