Worldscape Workbook—The Chainmail Bikini

Calling it now: Paladin.

I have been collecting the comics since issue #1 and at the beginning they weren't very acurate to the game.
They got better with the inclusion of the mini battle maps and recently the quality of the story matched the one of the RPG products.
And now we even get a new archetype of a martial character - how cool is that?

Pathfinder Worldscape #1 will be in stores on the 19th of october!

I've liked the comics thus far.

I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

I'm more than a little intrigued to see how Fantomah is going to get statted up.

Awesome, Erik. Looking forward to watching some of your thinking and creative process. This blog series is going to make at least one nerd very, very happy. :)

You should have just made the coin mail bikini a bracers of armor that takes up the body slot. I've seen several GMs take this approach in their home games when trying to homebrew bikinimail.

When this was announced I wasnt too thrilled about it. But seeing this type of thing gets me intruiged and Ive decided to keep my ongoing subscription. I loved loved Hollow Mountain. Have the artists been announced for the books?

You should have just made the coin mail bikini a bracers of armor that takes up the body slot. I've seen several GMs take this approach in their home games when trying to homebrew bikinimail.

While that would have worked if a player wanted to make a Red Sonja character it wouldn't have for the purposes of making the Red Sonja, since to my knowledge her armor isn't magical.

Also, dat one courtesan with the riding crop, oooooo...

When this was announced I wasnt too thrilled about it. But seeing this type of thing gets me intruiged and Ive decided to keep my ongoing subscription. I loved loved Hollow Mountain. Have the artists been announced for the books?

Jonathan Lau is named for issue #1 and #2 (16th november).

Hmmmm...the warriors taken to another world for some grand battle has been done many times. My favorite was for the miniatures game called "Heroscape". Best minis game ever, in my opinion. I still get sad about Hasbro/WotC killing that product line.
Heroscape is the only game that can lure me away from Pathfinder for a time.

Two little nit-picks about the above reasoning not to include that armor type:

1) Monk's would still be screwed, as their abilities are taken away when wearing ANY armor, regardless of stats inherent.

2) Wizards already have an amazing loophole: haramaki armor (Ultimate Equipment). That armor gives a +1 AC bonus, has no max dex penalty, no ACP, and no spell failure chance. It can be enchanted, and doesn't really require Light Armor Proficiency since no penalties for non-proficiency would be derived due to its stats.

EDIT: It's also cheaper than the above armor, and weighs less.

2) Wizards already have an amazing loophole: haramaki armor (Ultimate Equipment). That armor gives a +1 AC bonus, has no max dex penalty, no ACP, and no spell failure chance. It can be enchanted, and doesn't really require Light Armor Proficiency since no penalties would be derived due to its stats.

EDIT: It's also cheaper than the above armor, and weighs less.

Aaaaaaand now you've brought it to their attention :3

Strife2002 wrote:

2) Wizards already have an amazing loophole: haramaki armor (Ultimate Equipment). That armor gives a +1 AC bonus, has no max dex penalty, no ACP, and no spell failure chance. It can be enchanted, and doesn't really require Light Armor Proficiency since no penalties would be derived due to its stats.

EDIT: It's also cheaper than the above armor, and weighs less.

Aaaaaaand now you've brought it to their attention :3

Lol. Also, devs, you forgot to give us homework, and I think last week you mentioned something about a pop-quiz?

That is a fun idea, I like the mixing genres and stories thing, it is tried and tested in comics. Keen to read them.

And Erik says he's statting them up. Okay then...

Tarzan is some spell-less Ranger, unarmed fighting style, Cheeta is his maxed-out chimpanzee AC. He has ridiculous Wild Empathy, Trackless Stride, Speak With Animals. Favoured Enemy humans (not Jane though), brachiation speed 60'.

He's also prone to going crazy and has a mighty jungle call so maybe a dash of Barbarian with some noisy rage power.

You can add an armoured kilt to the Haramaki armour for an extra +1 AC.

It might slow you down if your character is not a dwarf.

Another solution I've seen where the character art depicts an inappropriately attired PC, but the player wants something more practical, is to spring for the cost of the glamered armor quality. Suddenly you've got your platemail or what have you but it now looks exactly like your character sketch. The cost makes it impractical at low levels, but with the flat cost, at higher levels, it's workable.

I've always assumed that the chainmail bikini is in fact glamered armour - proper armour made to look like a chainmail bikini.

My first thought when they said they were statting out Sonja, was a Slayer.
She's a warrior but she always seemed to rely more on her skill, speed and accuracy in combat.

Slayer or Brawler

Congrats on getting this going Erik! Red Sonja?!? you get to play with Red Sonja?!? Wow! :) :) :)

Next project: Conan and Merisiel team-up? :)

Shouldn't a chain mail bikini also have a plus to diplomacy skill check if the person could be attracted to you and a minus to opposing spell casters concentration checks?

Two little nit-picks about the above reasoning not to include that armor type:

1) Monk's would still be screwed, as their abilities are taken away when wearing ANY armor, regardless of stats inherent.

2) Wizards already have an amazing loophole: haramaki armor (Ultimate Equipment). That armor gives a +1 AC bonus, has no max dex penalty, no ACP, and no spell failure chance. It can be enchanted, and doesn't really require Light Armor Proficiency since no penalties for non-proficiency would be derived due to its stats.

EDIT: It's also cheaper than the above armor, and weighs less.

Silken ceremonial armor also says hi.

I've always assumed that the chainmail bikini is in fact glamered armour - proper armour made to look like a chainmail bikini.

I second this. Why can't she wear glamored armor?

Two little nit-picks about the above reasoning not to include that armor type:

1) Monk's would still be screwed, as their abilities are taken away when wearing ANY armor, regardless of stats inherent.

2) Wizards already have an amazing loophole: haramaki armor (Ultimate Equipment). That armor gives a +1 AC bonus, has no max dex penalty, no ACP, and no spell failure chance. It can be enchanted, and doesn't really require Light Armor Proficiency since no penalties for non-proficiency would be derived due to its stats.

EDIT: It's also cheaper than the above armor, and weighs less.

There was an earlier draft of decorative armor that specifically said it didn't count as wearing armor. After that failed, I made one of her archetype powers work so long as you didn't have an armor bonus (which decorative armor didn't provide), but the whole thing turned into a rabbit hole and I ended up going with a much simpler solution.

The haramaki definitely came up often in our discussion.

Another solution I've seen where the character art depicts an inappropriately attired PC, but the player wants something more practical, is to spring for the cost of the glamered armor quality. Suddenly you've got your platemail or what have you but it now looks exactly like your character sketch. The cost makes it impractical at low levels, but with the flat cost, at higher levels, it's workable.

I felt like that was a cop-out in this case. I can get away with giving Sonja bracers because she wears armbands, which is close enough. She doesn't wear invisible plate mail, so far as I've noticed. A lot of the rules I make for myself in how I go about this are, frankly, arbitrary, but trying to keep it close to the stuff the character actually has is a necessity for me.

Color me intrigued!

I'm more than a little intrigued to see how Fantomah is going to get statted up.

Fantomah? Is that the French pulp-era master criminal? Or am I thinking of Fantomas instead?

Red Sonja's Coin-Mail Bikini should definitely have the same statistics as a Haramaki. Just call it what you like in her stat block, and in the possessions area list it as follows:
Coin-Mail Bikini (as Mwk Haramaki). Boom-done.
If they didn't want wizards to ever be able to wear actual armor, they shouldn't have published armor they could wear in Ultimate Combat.

But an archetype requires a class, and what class is Red Sonja? Check back here next week, and I'll tell you!

You kinda let it slip before, with that EN World article that showed that she's a level 7 ranger.

That said, I'm quite hyped for this comic series; I just side-cart'd a preorder, and can't wait for it to arrive! I'm also very interested in these design diaries, as I always find these peaks behind the proverbial curtain fascinating.

In this case, I'm intrigued by the process that went into the coinmail (née chainmail) bikini armor, since insofar as I'm aware this is probably the most serious treatment that that particular trope has ever received in the tabletop RPG industry. It's a shame it's not going to be an actual armor that anyone can wear, though I agree that as written the above armor is little more than an excuse to get enhancement bonuses (even if haramaki armor does that already, as others have noted).

...but what I really want to know is, why does Sonja have a +1 shield bonus to her AC? Doesn't she typically fight with a two-handed style, rather than sword-and-shield?

YES! YES! YES! WE'RE GETTING A ARCHETYPE FOR RED SONYA? YES! FLIPPIN HAIRY GODS YES! THIS IS SO COOL! :D

Two-Weapon Defense would grant her a +1 shield bonus.

Are we also getting Pathfinder stats for Sonja? If so, YIPPE! :D

Are we also getting Pathfinder stats for Sonja? If so, YIPPE! :D

Yep.

MythicFox wrote:

I'm more than a little intrigued to see how Fantomah is going to get statted up.

Fantomah? Is that the French pulp-era master criminal? Or am I thinking of Fantomas instead?

Fantomah (with an h at the end) is one of the very first female superheroes. She later became a pretty stock jungle girl, but she started as basically a jungle Ghost Rider, whose face transformed into a skull.

So we're getting stats for Red Sonja as well as the Archetype she uses. I wonder, are we also getting stats for Conan, Tarzan, Jane Porter, John Carter, and Dejah Thoris? Also, will the Tarzan featured in this comic be the version from the latest movie (aka John Clayton III [aka Lord Greystoke]) or the one from the graphic novels?

Eric Hinkle wrote:

MythicFox wrote:

I'm more than a little intrigued to see how Fantomah is going to get statted up.

Fantomah? Is that the French pulp-era master criminal? Or am I thinking of Fantomas instead?

Fantomah (with an h at the end) is one of the very first female superheroes. She later became a pretty stock jungle girl, but she started as basically a jungle Ghost Rider, whose face transformed into a skull.

Erik actually had an article on his blog about her, which was enlightening. It also included links to three anthology comics that included Fantomah stories. You can get there by following this link.

So we're getting stats for Red Sonja as well as the Archetype she uses. I wonder, are we also getting stats for Conan, Tarzan (aka John Clayton III [aka Lord Greystoke]), Jane Porter, John Carter, and Dejah Thoris?

Magic 8-Ball indicates that if they appear in the story, signs are favorable for some sort of stats turning up.

Will the archetype and stats be free or do we have to pay for the comic to get them?

You will most likely have to pay, though the archetype might end up on one of the internet databases eventually.

Wow this is awesome and i´m really curious about what you made her class and that archetype!

Glamered doesn´t work for Red Sonja, as far as i remember she states at some point that she isn´t wearing armor on purpose, to defy people.

A lot of the rules I make for myself in how I go about this are, frankly, arbitrary, but trying to keep it close to the stuff the character actually has is a necessity for me.

Good call. It's probably inevitable (given the internet) that you'll miss something - but it's a laudable goal.

It's a subtle difference, but I think you want to avoid writing stories about "what Red Sonja would have been, if she'd been a pathfinder character".

Tell me you weren't a little bit tempted to try and work Ostog the Unslain in.

Two-Weapon Defense would grant her a +1 shield bonus.

Ah, good thinking! I bet that's what it is.

I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that the decorative armor wasn't excepted, but even more disappointed at the stats for the bikini. Back in 3.5 you had ceremonial armor. It was expensive (double the cost of masterwork armor), but you looked badass wearing just grieves and a single chain legging. When you wore it, you got half the armor bonus, it had +1 to the original Dex bonus, and it weighed half as much with half the ACP. For an example on who that was specifically designed for, check out Warduke. That was his baby, and he wore half-plate.

Then you have Piecemeal Armor from Ultimate Combat, and the torso section. There are a couple with +0 armor, but then there's the ones that are +1 that literally only cover the lower part of the belly. And they're dirt cheap with upwards of +10 Dex bonus.

This could have been played around with a bit. Maybe make decorative armor 1/4 the amount (rounded down) of the original armor, and used a chain shirt as the base for +1 AC. Have it be worth half the cost (50g) or quarter (25g), given it triple the Dex bonus (12), kept the speeds, no ACP, 5% ASF, and weighed 5 lbs.

That's my 2 copper.

Whatever you come up with in the end will work just fine, I'm sure, but a second go of it couldn't have hurt.

I don't think they're going to go out of their way to justify the chainmail bikini, let alone buff it up.

Tell me you weren't a little bit tempted to try and work Ostog the Unslain in.

More than tempted. He appears in the series in issue #3 (as a visual joke/cameo).

You really do have a dream job, don't you?

(And yes, that is jealousy - what of it?) :p

LOL.

Sort of.

Yesterday I spent the _entire day_ in Paizo's conference room in budget meetings, scheduling meetings, and job interviews for someone else's department.

Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.

That said, today I had a ton of fun creative meetings, not least of which being a 2-hour playtest of the phenomenal Starfinder starship battle rules, so yeah, some days I definitely have a dream job.

I wrote:

And yes, that is jealousy - what of it?

LOL.Sort of.

Yesterday I spent the _entire day_ in Paizo's conference room in budget meetings, scheduling meetings, and job interviews for someone else's department.

Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.

That said, today I had a ton of fun creative meetings, not least of which being a 2-hour playtest of the phenomenal Starfinder starship battle rules, so yeah, some days I definitely have a dream job.

Not helping, Erik....