100+ ways Pathfinder is not scientific


Homebrew and House Rules

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1) If a rust monster attacks a gold brick, it turns to gold dust. Rust Monsters use a supernatural ability, not real rust.
2) Falling damage should go up geometricly. A 10 foot drop does 1D6 damage. A 20 foot drop does 1D6 * 1D6 or 1-36 damage in excessive realism.


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3) Magic is not real.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

4.)There are massive flying reptiles capable of human speech, breathing fire (or lightning, or acid, or freezing cold wind that somehow deals lethal rather than nonlethal damage), and are capable of flight even though their skeletal structure is solid. Oh, and they can cast magic, too.

Shadow Lodge

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Wouldn't it be easier to list the limited number of ways it IS scientifically accurate? :P


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

It's more entertaining this way. Also:

5.) Giant Insects.


6. Undead


7. Characters act on things that happen up to 6 seconds in the future.


8. that i can be a savage who can effectively punch a whole through a two foot stone wall with NO MAGICAL SUPPORT!!!

Verdant Wheel

9. no big bang. proof that gods created the earth. prayers are answered. dinosaur and man coexist. psionic monkeys.


10) Convection Schmonvection

Dark Archive

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11) A pegasus can fly without the need of a 100 ft wingspan.
12) Crafting things is based on how much they are sold for rather than on, um... how they are crafted.

Dark Archive

Goth Guru wrote:
2) Falling damage should go up geometricly. A 10 foot drop does 1D6 damage. A 20 foot drop does 1D6 * 1D6 or 1-36 damage in excessive realism.

Since damage, or rather, loss of hit points, doesn't actually represent actual structural damage or injury, falling damage can be pretty much anything and remain "realistic".


Burgomeister of Troll Town wrote:
3) Magic is not real.

.

This is what I thought of right of the bat, as well. I think it wraps it up perfectly.

But you could also say, 13) It is a fantasy.


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14) Entire universe laid out on a five foot grid.


Falling damage tends to be lethal at around 45 feet fallen. Given that this means somewhere around 15-20 points of damage, I am not sure the low ends of falling damage are too far off the mark.

15) Fire damage of 1d6 / round.


16) Being injured does actually affect a person's physical and sometimes mental performance before the point of passing out.


17) All Humans are ~6 feet tall, and ~5 feet wide.

18) Certain action, such as talking, dropping items, falling prone, etc. take literally no time.


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19) Submersing your arm entirely in lava is less damaging(2d6)then an orc hitting you with a stick (1d10 +4 even without class levels.)


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20. all senses improve with age till death

Silver Crusade

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Burgomeister of Troll Town wrote:
3) Magic is not real.

uh. . .

Ever read this theory? According to it's many worlds interpretation, there are an infinite number of possibilities or "worlds." Thus all fiction is true. So, it's more accurate to say:

3). Magic is not real in my experience.


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21) Pathfinder is a simulation. When you open the box, you roll percentiles. 1-50 the cat is alive. The cat does not even exist till you roll it up for the encounter.


22) Grease Spell is not flammable
23) Fireballs are square shaped (works with number 14)

Liberty's Edge

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24) Creatures that are not of the same species (and even different branches of the animal kingdom) can interbreed and create viable offspring.
25) There a about a million-zillion sapient races co-existing on the same planet.


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Goth Guru wrote:
2) Falling damage should go up geometricly. A 10 foot drop does 1D6 damage. A 20 foot drop does 1D6 * 1D6 or 1-36 damage in excessive realism.

Actually, this is incorrect. Sure, gravity is constantly accelerating you as you fall, but as you gain velocity it takes you less time to travel through each 10' increment so for each 10' you fall you have less time to accelerate before hitting the next 10' increment. (Wow that sounds confusing)

In any case, the formula for calculating your velocity after falling a given distance is:

v = square root of (2 * acceleration * distance)

(assuming 0 initial velocity and ignoring wind resistance)
If we punch in 32 feet per second squared for gravity (messy imperial units, I know) and adjust to mph, we can arrive at the following approximate velocities for distance fallen:

10' 17mph
20' 24mph
30' 30mph
40' 35mph
50' 39mph
60' 42mph
70' 46mph
80' 49mph
90' 52mph
100' 55mph
110' 57mph
120' 60mph
130' 62mph
140' 65mph
150' 67mph
160' 69mph
170' 71mph
180' 73mph
190' 75mph
200' 77mph

So, if we consider that fall damage is a factor of how fast you are going when you hit the ground, 1d6 per 10' is actually too much damage. If each 17mph increment represents 1d6 damage, then you shouldn't take 2d6 until 40', 3d6 until 90', 4d6 until 150' or 160', and you never reach 5d6 (85mph).

My god the things I do to avoid watching recorded CW shows with my wife!


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Burgomeister of Troll Town wrote:
3) Magic is not real.

Isn't that a bit of a cop-out to just throw that one out there off the bat? The thing is, men with scientific minds exist in pathfinder, and science is based on observation. One cannot simply say "Magic is not an observably real thing in the real world, ergo, a fantasy world is unscientific because it contains observably real magic." To a scientist in Golarion or any other setting with magic, it is real, and can be observed and quantified.

For one that makes more sense, I present:
26) The void of space deals cold damage, despite the lack of matter-based heat-convection required for that to be possible.


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The Oddity wrote:

So, if we consider that fall damage is a factor of how fast you are going when you hit the ground, 1d6 per 10' is actually too much damage. If each 17mph increment represents 1d6 damage, then you shouldn't take 2d6 until 40', 3d6 until 90', 4d6 until 150' or 160', and you never reach 5d6 (85mph).

My god the things I do to avoid watching recorded CW shows with my wife!

That's not quite right. Damage from a fall depends on two things:

1) Your kinetic energy

2) The time it takes you to stop. (But we can ignore this because we are looking at the same falling object at different speeds)

Kinetic energy is is proportional to the square of your velocity. Now lets look at your table:
(note: I am eliminating mass from the equation, so there are no units :))

10' 17mph -> 17^2 = 289
20' 24mph -> 24^2 = 576 = 288 * 2
30' 30mph -> 30^2 = 900 = 300 * 3
40' 35mph -> 35^2 = 1225 = 306 * 4
50' 39mph -> 39^2 = 2521 = 304 * 5
60' 42mph
70' 46mph
80' 49mph
90' 52mph
100' 55mph -> 55^2 = 3025 = 302 * 10
110' 57mph -> 57^2 = 3249 = 295 * 11
120' 60mph
130' 62mph
140' 65mph
150' 67mph
160' 69mph
170' 71mph
180' 73mph
190' 75mph -> 75^2 = 5625 = 296 * 19
200' 77mph -> 77^2 = 5926 = 296 * 20

So, 1d6 is about 300*M/2 joules where M is your mass. This is not actually realistic since heavier characters should take more damage, but since most PCs are medium sized the PF damage ranges are actually surprisingly correct :)

If you want to be more accurate, you should scale the damage according to the creature's weight.

Really, the problem PF has is that ants that fall 10 ft are instantly crushed.


27) Energy can be created

28) Cold is defined as an energy type of its own (as opposed to an absence of heat)

29) Many mammals and reptilians "evolved" into growing two extra limbs (or more)

30) Most ecological environments seem to be sustainable regardless how their wacky (and outlandishly large) inhabitants


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31] Your class matters more than your species in terms of what powers you get.

32] You cannot gain any experience from a day job (like being a smith) as an adventurer, but you can find a 5th level smith if needed who's never been on an adventure in his or her life.

33] You cannot have more ranks in a skill than your total number of Hit Dice even if you've been doing it for years and even if, for all purposes, you're 1st level because you've never adventured.

34] Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos can be very clearly defined and have not only moral but occasionally physical consequences (you can be warded against or directly harmed because of your alignment).

35] The periodic table would be so much nonsense.


You max out at falling speed at about 120 ft (essentially wind resistance equals acceleration. You don't fall any fast from an air plane than a 10 story building. So your tables should stop there.


I don't have a scientific mind. But, so far, the only thing magical that I have experienced in my life is mind-altering drugs.

[bubble bubble bubble]


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Indagare wrote:

31] Your class matters more than your species in terms of what powers you get.

32] You cannot gain any experience from a day job (like being a smith) as an adventurer, but you can find a 5th level smith if needed who's never been on an adventure in his or her life.

33] You cannot have more ranks in a skill than your total number of Hit Dice even if you've been doing it for years and even if, for all purposes, you're 1st level because you've never adventured.

34] Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos can be very clearly defined and have not only moral but occasionally physical consequences (you can be warded against or directly harmed because of your alignment).

35] The periodic table would be so much nonsense.

I just wanted to point out that there are other ways to earn XP points in Pathfinder other than killing stuff. :P


36) Acid is an energy type. Still.


Hmmm, I thought it was a mind-altering drug.

[bubble bubble bubble]


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monkey's can be summoned out of thin air!

Liberty's Edge

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Monkey Swarm!!! wrote:
monkey's can be summoned out of thin air!

Naw, they're summoned from the elemental plane of monkeys.


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Xuttah wrote:
Monkey Swarm!!! wrote:
monkey's can be summoned out of thin air!
Naw, they're summoned from the elemental plane of monkeys.

That place must be totally trashed.

Liberty's Edge

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Somehow, I imagine it as the shattered remains of a luxury hotel room...


Ashiel wrote:
I just wanted to point out that there are other ways to earn XP points in Pathfinder other than killing stuff. :P

I'm well aware of this. However, that still does not refute my point that I've yet to see anyone gain experience from what they do when they're not on an adventure.


37. Not only are there species unreasonaly similar to a planet with other natural laws, but there are indeed species from said planet, and to top that of, from across the entire evolutionary history of that planet.


38. You can move faster then light i.e. teleportation


39. You can die of old age even if you don't age anymore.

40. Every member of a species (besides the ageless ones) ages the same way, with the changes happening in a specific year.


41. A person with completely average physical capabilities, and no special training or abilities, can perform a running jump to achieve distances up to 20 feet and not fall over.


Indagare wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
I just wanted to point out that there are other ways to earn XP points in Pathfinder other than killing stuff. :P
I'm well aware of this. However, that still does not refute my point that I've yet to see anyone gain experience from what they do when they're not on an adventure.

One would assume that's because you typically are a PC and on an adventure? Just because we cannot see certain things doesn't mean they aren't there. Otherwise, we would all surely die due to utter lack of oxygen.


Since we're being very scientific, a d10 is not a platonic solid. o_O


Ashiel wrote:
One would assume that's because you typically are a PC and on an adventure? Just because we cannot see certain things doesn't mean they aren't there. Otherwise, we would all surely die due to utter lack of oxygen.

Point me to a rule which says PCs gain experience points between adventures - or that anyone can gain experience from being a tailor, smith, baker or whatever without also being an adventurer at some point.

Liberty's Edge

Social encounters often have CRs attached to them, as do skill checks. While not reverting you do as an npc class is worth xp, those encounters with a CR do, so you can level up without having a traditional adventure.


Indagare wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
One would assume that's because you typically are a PC and on an adventure? Just because we cannot see certain things doesn't mean they aren't there. Otherwise, we would all surely die due to utter lack of oxygen.
Point me to a rule which says PCs gain experience points between adventures - or that anyone can gain experience from being a tailor, smith, baker or whatever without also being an adventurer at some point.

NPCs don't need experience points, only a a DM to decide what level they are.


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darkwarriorkarg wrote:

22) Grease Spell is not flammable

in real life that spell is flammable?? :p


Ciaran Barnes wrote:
NPCs don't need experience points, only a a DM to decide what level they are.

Hence why I say it's unscientific. A scientific way of dealing with experience points would ensure that everyone would gain experience in a consistent way, rather than having it be randomly assigned without any explanation whatsoever.


Irbis wrote:

39. You can die of old age even if you don't age anymore.

40. Every member of a species (besides the ageless ones) ages the same way, with the changes happening in a specific year.

42. Except dragons, which get bigger and more powerful till they outgrow the game world. Dinosaurs all had a maximum adult size.

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