WarColonel's page

I seem to have gone in the exact opposite way from everyone else on this thread and went old school for my idea.

Dr. Roderick A'Mac'Dowall
Race: Vanara - Monkey-like race from ARG
Class: Gunslinger (Musket Master), with a custom mental-enhancing archetype added to the class since we play w/o any major magic items

He's a scientist first and an adventurer second, who wishes to study (and venerate) mechanical life, believing science is the key to the universe, and can supplement or even surpass magic altogether. I even chose the Tree-Stranger alt racial trait just to make him seem more civilized.

It took a few days before anyone even realized the inspiration for the character, and I'm still disappointed my brothers didn't know Dr. Cornelius from Planet of the Apes.

Hi, I'm one of the players in this group and this is what I told yeti the other night. One of the crux of the issue was how the kitchen, for example, could be used to produce anything. my explanation was that we are specifying the kitchen was being used to supplement supplies for any troops we may acquire, and so was directly contributing to our organization. Because it is directly contributing to an organization that is in fact doing good for the community (ideally), there is no reason why its bonuses should not be contributing to anything we produce. it just makes sense that are paramilitary soldiers would be able to produce more of any kind of capital because they would be properly fed, cleaned, trained, and entertained, and would be able and inclined to work harder, perform acts of charity, maximize ability with minor jobs, and all around the better contributors to society. That directly equates influence, labor, and goods. everyday we would be able to come up with possible reasons for any good, telling them today refill the lauders, tomorrow help the poor, and the next day assist is road maintenance. we would be paying them for anything they do, but it is more efficient as we provide better perks for them.
The only room I admitted would be difficult to explain in the context of contributing to the organization were our personal quarters. Just about everything else either is directly supporting our paramilitary group or is being used in its most obvious role. just like in normal office buildings, a business would be inclined to create everything from a rec room, or kitchen, 2 private parking or just a park for employees to hangout, all of which is designed to increase productivity. Even research areas devoted to maximizing product placement can be equated on some level to magic research.

I have a blind-ish Oracle who worships our Goddess of Lore. To roleplay an augury I was casting, I described my actions along the lines of Chinese calligraphy and 'ink and wash' painting. It fit the theme of what I was going for and prompted the other players to ask me what I was miming with my hands.

A great way to find inspiration is in other literature. The Kingkiller Chronicles has the Heart of Stone, "a state of conscience where the "user" abdicates from all his beliefs and opinions, forgetting all his emotions and prejudices", and the Spinning Leaf, "a mental state where the user simply "goes with the flow", letting his mind free to wander wherever it wants, talking and doing things without thinking twice about it, just doing it, no thinking". These are instantly the opposites Lawful and Chaotic. In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, the main premise in meditation-oriented magic is that you must capture the five senses with your foci. In player terms, a LG cleric might use pure water for taste and homemade lye soap for smell, while a druid might prefer raw meat for taste and freshly snapped evergreen twigs for smell.

The key is for your player to get into the mindset of a believer and figure out the trappings he/she would associate with such a belief. History of the God/dess, portfolio, domains, and alignment are all equally important. One war God might requite minor blood-letting while another may prefer ritualistic cleaning of weapons.

I like it, and I could definitely see steal, grappling, and reposition as a part of the rogue's skill set. Grapple does promote the close and dirty fighting of the iconic thief.

An example of a rogue of this sort is Jason Bourne. His skill set up close would work well with this build.

Remember first, your players need space ships, even if they aren't going to fight. Planetary movement is extremely important in the SW Universe

Second, player Obligations and Motivations are a great starting point for your story, but one suggestion I have is to make them all interconnected. This way your players not only are trying to accomplish something but they will help each other out. If the bounty hunter is after one player, have him sent by the rival of another player's family Obligation, the family that has the needed medical supplies for a third player, all the while tied up in the politics of a Moff who has a grudge against a fourth player. This setup gives you all the antagonists for a campaign without requiring you to be shoe-horned into a specific story since you can do whatever you want for all of the details.

@ CapeCodRPGer -

SW: EotE runs really nicely! It's fast-paced and is a lot more flexible than most RPGs.

It should only take 20 minutes or so of actual play to start automatically sorting the symbols.

Yes, but the use of those symbols can be very difficult to puzzle out outside of combat. Advantages and Triumphs, even when you fail a roll, still will have skill-specific uses. And don't be afraid of the d6's. My group is constantly throwing out boost and setback ideas for both ourselves and enemies.

My group also went the full route of creating subordinates to fill in their roles while adventuring. We also re-skinned it as a 'Council of Equals', where the 'King' is more of a Prime Minister, a first among equals, and is the one who breaks ties, allowing a nominal leader while not making any PC more important than any other. It also gives me a block vote to keep the PCs from doing anything particularly outside the laws they set up, though I've never had to do that. Have GM-coltrolled NPCs in a position of power gives you:

1 - Easy way to introduce information or opinions into a PC's discussion w/o GM fiat.
2 - Someone to challenge the PCs socially if they start going a little too far outside the alignment of the kingdom.
3 - A great source of role-playing and side-quests.
4 - Someone to actually run the kingdom when they aren't there.

WarColonel wrote:

showzilla wrote:

-surges!!! basically, extraordinary abilities that function like spells, but don't stop working in an anti-magic feild, can't be dispelled, all the things you'd expect from somebody who is supposed to be superhuman without being magical. ex.: Ursine strength: gain a +4 to strength and a plus an additional +2 at your fourth "surger" level and every 4 levels there after for a +14 to strength at level 20. partially inspired by ToB

Speaking to your last point, Dreamscarred Press is doing an adaptation of 3.5's Book of the 9 Swords.

F*CKING A!!!!

so there might not be too much work..but...still. how does the rest sound?

Well, I've personally theory-crafted a bunch of feats into alt versions, specifically Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse, and saves, CMB/CMD alternate set-ups. I haven't implimented them in any games I run but it is pretty common to allow Weapon Finesse and/or Agile Maneuvers to be free feats.

-surges!!! basically, extraordinary abilities that function like spells, but don't stop working in an anti-magic feild, can't be dispelled, all the things you'd expect from somebody who is supposed to be superhuman without being magical. ex.: Ursine strength: gain a +4 to strength and a plus an additional +2 at your fourth "surger" level and every 4 levels there after for a +14 to strength at level 20. partially inspired by ToB

Speaking to your last point, Dreamscarred Press is doing an adaptation of 3.5's Book of the 9 Swords.

Ideas:

Base skill: Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Engineering, Nature, or the Planes)
Your intense study gives you an understanding of the natural layouts of the world.
Benefit: You may make a Knowledge check instead of a Stealth check when attempting to hide within certain environments. The knowledge check depends on your location:
Dungeoneering - underground locations
Engineering - urban locations (i.e. towns or cities)
Nature - any terrain defined as 'wilderness'
Planes - (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral
Plane, or the Ethereal Plane

Studying the Past
Base skill: Knowledge (History)
Poring through texts of ancient deeds has given you a unique insight into the world today.
Benefit: Whenever you are asked to make an Intelligence check you may substitute it with a Knowledge (History) check instead.

Doomed to Repeat
Base skill: Knowledge (History)
Military texts of past battles have given you insight to the most obvious of facts: beings rarely learn from past mistakes.
Benefit: You may activate this ability after successfully attacking an enemy for the first time in an encounter. As a free action, make a Knowledge (History) check equal to 10 + CR of the enemy. If you succeed gain a +2 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls against that enemy until the end of your next turn.

Learning from the Past
Base skill: Any knowledge
Your extensive knowledge allows you to learn from past mistakes.
Benefit: You may activate this ability after being subjected to a supernatural or extraordinary ability of an enemy. As a free action, make an appropriate Knowledge check equal to 10 + CR of the enemy. You learn the duration, approximate cool-down (the range of rounds if it is variable), and uses per day of the ability that targeted you, as well as a +2 competence bonus to AC and Saves against the next time you are subject to that ability this encounter.

As you can see, I like the idea of using Knowledge (any) against foes.

Kolo, I know you aren't a fan and I hate to tout 4th edition, but they do have a flurry of things available for adaptation. Specifically the Skill Powers from PHB 3, as well as the utility powers available to martial classes.

What is the Christmas tree effect?

The idea that every character has the 'Big 6' magic items: weapon, armor, dodge bonus, natural armor bonus, resist cloak, and stat booster's. When you cast detect magic on them, they 'light up' like a Christmas tree.

One thing to remember is that while this system goes a long way to 'fixing' the Christmas tree, players are still a little underpowered in accordance to wealth by level, though for some builds (especially fighter, monk, and twf ranger) this works out very well. It also means some builds, such as a buff wizard, loose relevance, or others, such as a tank fighter, can become amazingly robust. At level 20, a character can get +5 Armor AC, Shield AC, Dodge, and Natural, +20 over all, for only 16 of his 30 choices, and frees up 150k according to wealth by level.

we did all this because we got rid of all the 'Big 6', so now when you get a flaming short sword it is much more unique and doesn't get phased out after a few levels. It also gives us the ability to add in the more interesting magic items and skill boosters that no one seems to care about.

Can they be taken more then once for the same stat?

If so, it's kinda broken.

If not, it looks ok.

Most boons can be taken more than once, but they do have scaled versions. The Offensive and Defensive boons may be chosen more than once, but must be applied to a separate weapon or armor. All boons in a specific tree replace their pre-rek, so the boon for +5 to saves doesn't add to the +1 and +3, the Mighty boon doesn't add to Strong.

One way my group has done away with the Christmas tree effect is by using an inherent bonus system you have as you level up called boons. The reason for these bonuses it that players are expected to have bonuses from items as they level, otherwise they will start falling behind the curve. Here is our system, spoiled to prevent WALL OF TEXT syndrome:

Boons:
Boons are inherent bonuses taken by characters as they level up. A character may choose his first boon at 3rd level, and may choose one boon at each level there after. Starting at 9th level a character may pick 2 boons each level. Characters must meet the prerequisites for all boons they take. These rules introduce a new kind of bonus, a training bonus. This is representative of a character's practice in their arts, be they on the battlefield, in the training yard, or in a wizard's tower. For the purposes of stacking treat training bonuses the same as enhancement bonuses. For example, if a character had offensive training with longswords, and the spell magic weapon was cast on his weapon, the +1 to attack and damage from offensive training would not stack with the bonus from the spell, however it would stack with that bonus from the inspire courage bardic performance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------
Sidebar: Hey, those bonuses apply to multiple weapons! The offensive training boon can apply to more than one of the same kind of weapon at a time. This offers a bonus to two weapon fighting character, who under the normal rules have to spend additional money to enchant both weapons, or to natural/unarmed attackers who had to spend additional money as well. However during play testing it became abundantly clear that it was both overly complicated, and mostly unnecessary to apply such a penalty with boons. Two weapon fighting is already balanced against two handed fighting and archery by other means beside the expense at improving individual weapons, such as feat cost, and reduced weapon die size.
Natural weapons on the other hand are a concern. It is important to note that offensive training only applies to a single natural weapon type at a time, such as Offensive Training claws. Also, offensive training should never apply to more than two of the same kind of natural weapon at a time. If a creature or character has 4 claw attacks, he should have to take offensive training claw twice, once for each pair of claws.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------

I think if my current wizard dies permanently, I will try a Spellscar Oracle. Anyone ever used that archetype?

I'm running a Samsaran Spellscar Oracle. I swapped out Shards of the Past for Mystic Past Life and take the racial favored class. All said and done, racial and class abilities make my oracle very sturdy defensively, allowing me to focus on damage-dealing, debuffing, and healing.

This is a re-write to paragraph 2 that might better clarify the change you are proposing:

"When attacking an enemy with one of the conditions the rogue has chosen, the rogue may apply half her sneak attack damage (rounded down) to her damage rolls, even if her enemy otherwise retains his Dexterity bonus to AC, is not currently being flanked by the rogue, or has concealment relative to her. This damage counts as (and does not stack with) a regular sneak attack, such as for the purposes of applying strike talents (which add effects a rogue’s sneak attack - see Rogue Talents), and for the purposes of determining immunity (it is considered precision damage, as normal)."

I personally had to read it three times before I realized that it wasn't applying conditions. To be honest I really like it and see this as a way to allow the rogue to stand up in combat better. I also like the idea of substituting CMB for skills in specific cases. I would also note that a rogue would still gain a bonus to Steal, etc., from the feats he took.

A different take on the damage granted from successful maneuvers could be this:

Dextrous Piercing (EX): - when a rogue successfully uses the Dirty Trick, Disarm, Reposition, Steal, or Trip combat maneuvers against an enemy, he automatically deals precision damage equal to half his sneak attack damage (rounded down) to that foe.

Brawler's Bludgeoning (EX): - when a rogue successfully uses the Bull Rush, Drag, Grapple, Overrun, or Sunder combat maneuvers against an enemy, he automatically deals precision damage equal to half his sneak attack damage (rounded down) to that foe.

I am actually adding in a bunch of mythic monsters for books 3 to 6. I'm not going to be telling the players when they gain their first levels so I can specifically add in some extra meta-game mind-messing. Every once in a while they are going to be able to add d6 to rolls whenever they are really close to making an otherwise failure.

The basic mythic templates aren't much of a boost to a monster's CR, and I won't be counting them as mythic trials. But the next BBEG they are facing is Vordekai and he begs to get upgraded. It also helps that my party consists of 5-8 players, all of which are optimized, so handling CR +4 party level is not unusual for them.

We use the Talented Rogue and Fighter from Super Genius Games.
We almost always use something like what Evil Lincoln has developed to get rid of the x-mas tree effect.
We also usually add on additional class features, allowing each character to choose a generic archetype presented in Super Genius Guides products.

Have the party hire a few warriors, and keep them lower leveled. It will give you control over their wealth at low levels and make treasures move valua, allow you to kill the npcs to make the point the death happens, and build a level of iteraction based on want your party wants. If they ignore the npcs, no worse for ware. If they get invested into the characters you can fully flesh them out over the course of the game. If you make them simple and allow them to level behind the party you can still tailor them to protect the party w/o overshadowing them. Heck, the rogue and ranger may end up taking teamwork feats to promote this cooperation.

A starting point to use for a redesign could be the Words of Power alternative from Ultimate Magic. Their version of spell seeds can be very useful in conceptualizing a new magic system.

The key to a redesign is whether spells are being rewritten or if spellcasting itself is being redone. The biggest issue with spells I see is in the classes that have weak or no spells of their own. Fighters, paladins, rogues, monks will never be quite as powerful as full casters, both in raw ability and versatility.

That being said, folding spells that seem useless into class abili themselves is only going to increase caster power, thougabilitiesutely. A general change to spells may be the better option, with the decreasing in power of SoD spells and major buffs, the increasing of usefulness of utility spells, and folding spells together. Mass spells, cure/inflict, aid to bless to etc., can be better streamlined into single spells that scale by level or can be cast at higher levels. Metamagic, which can really alter spells, can also be folded in. Schools can be better defined in their roles, and spells with equivalent effects can be destroyed.

First, electricy was part off air Furies, so it was primarily for the advance users.

Metal is a harder to do, it is extremely combat oriented. Diehard comes to mind, as well as allowing players to make weapons or armor be treated as special materials. Static bonuses to hit are boring but thematic.

Woodcrafting is oriented on stealth, woodshape, and archery. Allowing woodcrafters the same ability to change the 'material' of bows and wooden armor would work.

Don't forget the less offensive aspects of the elements. Earth can calm beings, fire incites emotions, air can bend light for invisibility and silence, and water heals and senses emotions.

Having a series of perks, giving the player a choice as they level might work best. They could receive a basic bonus at first level and work from there.

Other ideas:
The ability to summon elementals, aka manifesting furies. Dog size or smaller. This could be as simple as familiers with elemental types or animal companions.
Make crafters susceptible to opposing elements, such a salt for aircrafting.
Most of the discrete crafting abilities require contact with the element, such as water tubs for healing. The only exception is that fire needs only to be present.

If I were making a blind oracle, I'd probably do something like the following:

Blind: You are completely blind, but gain Blind-Fight, Improved Blind-Fight, and Greater Blind-Fight as a bonus feats, even if you don't meet their normal prerequisites. You also gain the ability to attract a familiar, as per the arcane bond wizard class feature, using your oracle level as your effective wizard level. You can cast share senses (sight only) as an at-will spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your oracle level. At 1st level, this spell-like ability has a range of only 5 feet, and ends immediately if your familiar is outside this range. At 5th level, this range increases to close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 caster levels). At 10th level, it increases to medium range (100 ft. + 10 ft./caster level). At 15th level, it increases to long range (400 ft. + 40 ft./caster level).

This would work nearly perfectly, though I would only give Blind Fight,

WarColonel wrote:

The major component that I didn't see was the difference between standard and full-round. In this system, as rainzax states, partial progression situations can catch-up to full progression classes. But in reality a rogue only has +6/+1 BAB when making a full attack. I would stipulate they can only do this number-crunching when making a full attack, or creating a prescribed list of changes for 3/4 BAB, ...

Excellent points on both counts Colonel. Any allocation changes at the beginning of the attack mean that the attacker should be considered using the "Full Attack" option, even if they end up getting only one attack after the number shuffling.

I didn't look at the 3/4ths BAB chart as much as I was focus on full BAB and giving those characters options with what amounts to wasted BAB arrays (under the current system in PF).

I like what you did with the 3/4 arrays, it gives them some choice options without stepping on Full BAB characters.

Thanks. I was also thinking of a single tree with the one stipulation that your BAB cannot exceed you character level. This is for the issues that arrive with multiclassing:

6/1 or 4/3 or 7
7/2 or 5/4 or 8/1
8/3 or 6/5 or 9/2
9/4 or 7/6 or 10/3
10/5 or 8/7 12/3
11/6/1 or 9/9 or 6/6/6 or 13/5
12/7/2 or 11/10 or 7/7/7 or 14/7
13/8/3 or 12/12 or 8/8/8 or 15/9
14/9/4 or 14/13 or 9/9/9 or 16/11
15/10/5 or 15/15 or 10/10/10 or 17/13
16/11/6/1 or 16/16/2 or 12/11/11 or 18/15/1
17/12/7/2 or 17/17/4 or 13/13/12 or 19/16/3
18/13/8/3 or 18/18/6 or 14/14/14 or 20/17/5
19/14/9/4 or 19/19/8 or 16/15/15 or 20/18/8
20/15/10/5 or 20/20/10 or 17/17/16 or 20/19/11

Lots of versatility for lots of bookkeeping.

Without gaining the higher level spells this feat becomes nearly useless. Any class would gain at most 4 more spells per day/known at highest level. Depending on the level you take it, a character may actually gain only 1 over their whole build.

Conversly, gaining new spell levels would be very problematic at high levels, especially for a 3 or more class composition. An oracle 1/sorcerer 1/fighter 18 can take this feat twice and be as effective as an oracle 10/sorcerer 10/fighter 18 without severe MAD. Or a wizard 10/sorcerer 10 would be a wizard 15/sorcerer 15. Yes, they wouldn't have 9th level spells, but the sheer versatility, especially when you factor in metamagic, is frightening.

Why not go a little more hard science and have Polonium 210 in PF? Make it a 'star metal' and give it additional properties against living creatures w/o DR/polonium, such as a poison effect.

The major component that I didn't see was the difference between standard and full-round. In this system, as rainzax states, partial progression situations can catch-up to full progression classes. But in reality a rogue only has +6/+1 BAB when making a full attack. I would stipulate they can only do this number-crunching when making a full attack, or creating a prescribed list of changes for 3/4 BAB, starting at 8th something like:

Normal Alt.
6/1 6/1 or 4/3
6/1 7 or 4/3
7/2 8/1 or 5/4
8/3 9/2 or 6/5
9/4 10/3 or 7/6
9/4 11/2 or 7/6
10/5 12/3 or 8/7
11/6/1 13/5 or 9/9
12/7/2 14/7 or 11/10
12/7/2 15/6 or 11/10
13/8/3 16/8 or 12/12
14/9/4 17/10 or 14/13
15/10/5 18/12 or 15/15

This keeps the rogue 2 points behind the fighter at all times, or gives them nearly 3/4ths highest BAB with two attacks once they have three attacks.

Keeping the theme, here is full bab, which has a separate progression:

6/1 4/3 none
7/2 5/4 none
8/3 6/5 none
9/4 7/6 none
10/5 8/7 none
11/6/1 9/9 6/6/6
12/7/2 11/10 7/7/7
13/8/3 12/12 8/8/8
14/9/4 14/13 9/9/9
15/10/5 15/15 10/10/10
16/11/6/1 16/16/2 12/11/11
17/12/7/2 17/17/4 13/13/12
18/13/8/3 18/18/6 14/14/14
19/14/9/4 19/19/8 16/15/15
20/15/10/5 20/20/10 17/17/16

Feats associated with my system:

The Counter feats are along the lines of the Critical feats. The way I envision these feats means that a dedicated anti-mage can invest heavily, reducing their all-around versatility while making them a true detriment to casters.

I also use the Spellcraft skill for pre-reks because I view it as the fundamental knowledge of how magic works.

My newest iteration of Countering, with rainzax's idea adapted into it:

I am a firm believer in the caster being penalized for failure in countering, hence my addition of action loss, save penalties, and flat-footed . I also defined the range of countering, since I allwo the use of 'target: personal' spells to be used as counters. Otherwise, my reasoning for this system is here:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l99c?Counterspell-Rewrite-Combat-Maneuver

maybe it could be either a Readied or Immediate action: if the former, it is done with a bonus to the roll (or flat); if the latter, it is done flat (or with a penalty).

for example, from Chapter 9: Magic (changes in blue)
** spoiler omitted **...

This is the adaptation I needed to complete my own rewrite of countering. Thanks :).

Though on second thought, I like Twigs newest version. I would just apply it to feint attempts as well.

My group has recently been working on our own CE fix, this is what I have so far. First Power Attack and CE gain the line:

- For any Improved ____ maneuver feat this feat is a prerequisite for, you only provoke an AoO on a failure when performing that maneuver.

This means a Trip monkey will try disarming a bit more often.

Combat Expertise is a defensive feat, and I took that to heart when designing it. I also wanted to incorporate intelligence into the mix, so CE got this added to it:

- A player fighting defensively reduces the attack penalty by their intelligence modifier (minimum 0). They also receive a Dodge bonus equal to their intelligence modifier to their AC and CMD against attacks of opportunity caused by maneuvers.

The second line is the one that I really liked, since it provides protection when you fail a maneuver as well as when someone has Greater BR, Drag, Trip, etc.

I still think the start of Blood Rites best explains the series:

The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.

One of my groups will be playtesting this.

Kolo, do you not give out wealth? Or do you do it and let them spend it on non-big 6 items?

The Big 6 do not exist except for Ring of Deflection. In our specific game, we get sorta-level appropriate wealth, but the game is specifically designed to cause us to reinvest our wealth in a town.

Ok, I've been hearing that term for a while now... what is the "Christmas Tree Effect" ???

The idea that when someone targets a player with detect magic, they 'light up' like a Christmas tree due to the amount of magical gear.

Interesting side effect:

This system looks like it increases the power of buffing spells. Normally, you have to check to see if the buff spell stacks with the magical gear. Often it does not (Magic Weapon spell and magic weapons, Keen Edge and keen weapon, etc)

*It's worth noting that this is a pain, and my impression is that many players and GMs miss these details often*

If all of these are training bonuses, that goes away, and casting spells on your allies is a more powerful option. It's also much simpler.

How does this work in actual play?

It actually has an unusual effect. Buffers now have to spend more on 'standard spells' like Bull's X and Magic Weapon, and getting fully buffed takes longer. They can allocate more resources to doing this properly, meaning less fireballs available.

On the flip side, a well-prepared character, especially martial PCs, can be amazingly powerful, not game breaking but definite upper-tier characters in terms of numerical advantage. The main reason it is not OP is the curve of training bonuses is slightly behind straight magical-gear usage.

In terms of animal companions/familiars I would say you would have to divert your distinctions to EITHER yourself or your animal companion, and that goes for eidolons, dragon mounts and other pets as well, anything that comes with your class.

I also think that 1 distinction per level has to be modified as you go up in level. I thin 1 per level from 3-8, 2 per level from 9 to 14 and 3 per level from 15 to 20.

36 available choices may make it very easy to max out a little too much. Spell-casters, arcane in particular, may have too much of an edge. Wizards and Sorcerers won't normally be taking Offensive or Defensive training, instead focusing on Magical Training. 5 point difference. They also won't be looking into investing in 3+ stats, more likely 3 on the outside (dex, con, and primary casting). Warrior-types will need Str and/or Dex, Con, and, depending on the build, one or more of the mental.

Some ideas for new option trees:
+1/3/5 for overcoming SR
+5/10/15 or +3/6/9 for skill bonuses

I have 4 things I would consider here.

1. Are these going to cost the same as equivalent magical bonuses?

2. Magical Bonuses didn't require a level. Why do these?

3. What are you going to do about the fact that most martial characters start needing magic items by about level 5 to beat out the increasing amount of DR/Magic?

4. How much time does the training need in order for you to get the effects? i.e. will you need weeks or months out of adventures in order to gain these abilities? How do you propose to combine this with games where the plot moves forward whether characters do or not?

Edit: on a 5th note, characters are also usually limited by "slots" on what they can or cannot use. With this you are essentially increasing the number of slots that they have. What do you plan to do to compensate should you put more bonuses in here?

1 - Not that close, as per Kolo's initial design.

2 - As Cheapy said, magical weapons and armor do have an implied level, while other items have a caster-level, which gives you a basic guideline for about which level it is appropriate. And character wealth should always be a factor.

3 - A easy solution is a bonus similar to a monk's unarmed attack, where a certain bonus overcomes certain DRs.

4 - They become available like feats, spells, and class abilities, at leveling up.

5 - Since the majority of magic items that can take up these free slots are not nearly as powerful as the alternative (look at the 3.5 Healing Belt vs. +6 Strength Belt), you are giving players the opportunity to use the rest of the magic items, not just the Standard Player's Equipment.

Now a player can actually use a Belt of Dwarven Kind, Cloak of the Manta Ray, Bracelet of Friends, and Phylactery of Faithfulness and still have survivability.

As a player in Kolo's game, Heroic Distinctions coupled with archetypes has been working well in our game. Currently I'm playing a Rogue(scout) + Youxia. It is basically a ninja but even better than the basic class. I'm even able to 'play' front-line tank, though not for long. Some healing, AC boosts, and a smattering of special skill abilities really compliment my rogue, making it a great hit-and-run character.

One of our recent magical items really lit up one player's eyes. He's an archer. He got a quiver.
...
When is the last time a player got excited over a magic quiver?

The problem is at higher levels, where the bonuses should likely be coming more ofter. Two per level around 12-14 and 3 per level at 18 would bring the total to 28-30 choices, instead of 18. It would really bring in the difference in normal wealth vs. Hero Dis.

Edit:
At level 20, a fighter could have:
+5 Weapon (5 points)
+5 Armor (5 points)
+5 Shield (5 points)
+6 Str/Dex/Con (9 points)
+5 Saves (3 points)
+5 Nat. Armor (3 Points)
At 30 choices. This seems like it is in line with the Big 5 out of 6. Not a bad set-up.

End of Chapter 5 having annexed Pitax, 10 years' game time.

My group's kingdom has roughly the following numbers:

Size: 245 hexes (4 completely undeveloped)
Cities: 11 (after razing Fort Drelev to the ground rather than let Pitax sack it) - also does not count the minor spots on the map that are "RAW" cities in Pitax.
* Total of 80 fully developed city districts, 38 of them in Pitax.

Economy ~+1700 w/o ruling council
Loyalty ~+1800 w/o ruling council
Stability ~+1600 w/o ruling council

Estimated monthly income: 1,400 BP

It is probable a good this your moving on to book 6. :)

Maybe you all can help me make a decision. :) I'm converting to Pathfinder from 3.5, so I'm trying to slowly replace my shelf full of 3.5 books with Pathfinder books. I both play and GM. So far, I have the Core Rulebook and the AP book The Haunting of Harrowstone.

If I want to focus on playing, what should I get next? I'm thinking the Advanced Player's Guide.

If I want to focus on GM'ing, what should I get next? I'm thinking either the Boxed Set (for the battle mat and pawns) or the Inner Sea World Guide.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

The APG should be your next purchase. It offers a great expansion for the core classes and a bunch of new classes. But don't forget about GM tools, like the Bestiaries or GM Guide. My favorite has been Bestiary 2; just enough familiar monsters with the added benefit of your players not knowing what to expect.

If you are planning on going fully Pathfinder, the Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic books are very PC friendly while giving GMs the option of beefing up enemies and alternate systems.

In a weird turn of events, I have done this almost exactly, except

*the things he wrote*

I would love this until the end of time. My group until recently has been on hiatus and we just finished book 2. I've been playing up Pitax and Fey as opponents to their kingdom, but Brevoy has been almost forgotten. I'd like to have them to travel to Brevoy for a tourney to impress upon them the importance of walking the line.

I
Don't
Like
Fey

Any and all fey must die. The pure variety of them at all CRs means that it is easy to mistake one for another, you always need anti-magic handy, the bulk of them have the ability to negate the magical abilities of PCs appropriate to their level.
And they all seem to fly.
In fact, aside from their 'innocent nature' (even the evil ones can be portrayed that way) they have no redeeming qualities.
Unless I'm using them against the party.

I want tier systems something like this:
Scared - Tier 1, as shaken; tier 2, as frightened; tier 3, as panicked; tier 4, as cowering.
Blinded - Tier 1, as dazzled; tier 2, enemies have concealment; tier 3, as blind
Fatigued - Tier 1, -1 to checks, 10 minutes rest resets; tier 2, as fatigued; tier 3, as exhausted; tier 4, unconscious.

Some conditions, like deaf, don't need tiers, but many could benefit from it. It would make spells such as Flare more useful, and generally keep the number of different conditions to keep track of down.

+1. This actually inspired me to actually divvy up the conditions and create a quick-reference for the table.

Example (with spoilers): There is a fight in RRR where the paprty has to fight a Will-O-Whisp. They are level 5, and there are 5 of them. Instead of as-written, I had 2 W-o-W (CR 6 each) that would leave at half hp, and 2 Lurkers-in-Light from Beast. 2 (CR 5 each). The two complemented perfectly. I'd figure this was a ECL 8 for my party, a difficult fight, exactly what I wanted. By the end, one W-o-W left at a handful of HP, the other 3 were dead, and 1 party member was at 0 STR exactly (L-o-L have a nice poison). This was precisely what I wanted, and was an encounter I built on the fly, so I guess I got lucky.

I run a game with 9 players, on a rotating schedule. Not everyone shows up all the time, but I usually have 4-7 players. I stopped giving out experience and treasure in Kingmaker. Our magic economy works as such: if you have the buildings that can produce it, you can get items, limited in nature, appropriate as you progress. At the beginning of the second AP I let the PCs get decked out in magic equipment, and it is only near the end they are starting to loose some of their effectiveness. They also cannot sell magic items through the kingdom. It keeps them from building too fast, reduces the disparity for those that cannot come often, as well as eliminates the need to track GP. I also use monster treasures to give out the sorely needed equipment, as well as the flavorful fun items.

But the harder thing to track is exp. Since I never know who is showing up till about 48 hours before hand, my encounters are always changing on the fly. This I can deal with. I always factor in monsters that I can increase the quantity of to make the fights balanced how I like. It did, in the first AP, get really hard to know when players should level up, so since the Stag Lord I just eye-ball what level they should be and at the end of a session tell them if they level up. It also makes it easier, since a great many of our encounters are role-playing, and those are notoriously hard to give exp. for.

All said and done, the biggest thing a GM has to do for this game is raise the ECL of ALL fights. Otherwise any 'random' fight on a hex is too easy. The PCs usually end up having a 15 round work day, and that will barely deplete their resources in the long run. It ends up being explore-fight-roleplay-camp every day. Not a challenge. Placing 'imposed' time restraints is a good way to keep your party from doing this.

For a party of 4-5 PCs, I use a CR one level higher as a daily fight. 6-7 I go two higher. For 8-9, I go at least three, sometimes four. And this is just for 'daily' fights. If there is a series of short fights (like various cave encounters), you usually don't need to go this high.

And the last piece of advice: quantity over quality. A high CR monster can challenge the whole party, but they have a severe advantage because of the number of actions the party gets as a whole. a CR 6 with one monster vs. a CR 6 with 6 monsters are two very different challenges.

Actually, Laurefindel, the point that Dark Sasha is trying to get across is that the words 'giant' and 'dwarf' were first used as the names of races of beings. They were, receptively, abnormally large and small by comparison to the average human. Eventually, the words evolved from their original premiss, as proper names, to common terms used to describe the scale of one item in relation to another.

Halfling is originally a term used by the Scots to denote an adolescent, someone between a child and an adult. Tolkien used the term himself when describing his hobbits, and for legal reason that term cannot be used by a publisher.

Ravenbow wrote:

And my favorite fix... don't give junk magic the players do not need.

See thats the issue. The items aren't junk, they just arent the big six. I remember my friend having a blast with a cloak of the bat for several levels, but after several failed saves that cost him dearly, he gave it up for a cloak of resistance. Personally I cannot wait until after this weekend, my last session of my current campaign is saturday. After that I throw the whole wealth system out the window and start anew.

Speaking of which, you have to resend your character-creation guide-lines again. I cannot for the life of me find it.

And you need to give out some junk items every once in a while. If every item a PC gets is what they want/need in the party, they get spoiled. Spoiled PCs are no fun to run games for, and their power level can get way out of proportion. Not every item need be useful. Fun can be as big a factor.