Coledar's page

Please cancel my Adventure Path subscription.

I've been collecting the Adventure Path since the beginning, but my group's extremely irregular meeting schedule has forced me to shelve them all. Kingmaker has sparked my interest in running a PF game for my group, but I also love the "grand majesty" concept they were going for with the RotRL path.

I was thinking of combining the two adventure paths, allowing me to update and use RotRL with PF rules and meld it into Kingmaker. The original idea behind all of this was brought on by the different Runelords and their possible solutions to the end of Thassilon. The basic idea would revolve around a new area of land reappearing on Golarion. This new area of land is in Varisia and is the ancient land of Cyrusian (the domain of pride). To escape the pending disaster, the Runelord of Pride (master illusionist) Xanderghul used epic level illusion magic to warp reality around his realm and make it a demiplane for a few thousand years. All the living inhabitants of his realm were used as fuel for this massive spell, so besides the Runelord and his direct servants, the area would be deserted. Any monsters or creatures encountered would either be recent migrants, undead, or constructs (the last two being immune to the spell cast).

The Kingmaker part would be the PCs going to this new land with a group of settlers and trying to make a kingdom there. The RotRL part would be the rebirth of Xanderghul and his attempts to reassert dominance over Golarion.

It's still in its infancy, I'm looking for feedback or potential problems with this idea. I'm fine with the amount of conversion involved, I used to make my own campaign worlds and could never find one that I liked enough to use(until PF). Let me know what you think please.

I have been reading everyone's comments on the new fighter and have some ideas that I would like to add / modify from those previously mentioned.

Weapon Training - Some have noted that giving bonuses to hit and damage don't equate to the uber powers of Wizards and Clerics at higher levels. They are entirely right. I would suggest special abilities reserved entirely for Fighters based on their choice of Weapon Training group. These abilities would "stack" an additional or more powerful ability for each choice added for a particular group.

Example: A Fighter who chooses to specialize in the "Hammer" group could get the following abilities:

5th level: +1 attack / +1 damage Ability: Foot Smash: The Fighter smashes an opponent's foot / pseudopod / various means of locomotion causing it discomfort and pain (target reduced to 1/2 movement for 1d4 rounds) Limited to 1 use / round.

9th level: +1 attack / +1 damage Ability: Crushing Blow: The Fighter delivers a crushing blow to opponent's armor / shield arm / naturally armored hide causing a temporary reduction in AC (target denied AC bonus of either shield, armor, or natural armor for 1d4 rounds) Limited to 1 use / round. [In this case I would make the Fighter's Crushing Blow focus on the LEAST EFFECTIVE of the target's armor bonuses. Ex. Fighting an Orc in Leather Armor and wielding a shield, you would damage the shield first, then next round the armor.]

Note: this is meant to demonstrate a combination of possible results, the hammer strikes the shield with such force that the opponent's arm is deadened or the hammer strikes the armor with such force that the opponent has the breath (if it breathes) knocked out it.

13th level: +1 attack / +1 damage Ability: Counterattack: The Fighter is able to counterattack against any secondary or primary attack delivered against himself / herself in the encounter on their action. If the attack is successful, the secondary or primary attack is unusable for 1d4 rounds). Limited to 1 use / round.

Note: This is limited to natural attacks and attacks with weapons. This is not specifically Sundering when applied to weapons, but I guess it could be improved if Sundering is much more powerful. Difference is this doesn't apply to just weapons.

17th level: +1 to attack / +1 damage Ability: Improved Counterattack: As Counterattack above, but extended to Special Attacks and Abilities. Limited to 1 use / round. Any Special Attack or ability that is limited to a number of times per day or per encounter that is disrupted by this ability is not considered "spent" or wasted.

Example: The Fighter sees the dragon breath fire over the party and later sees it's neck swell as it prepares to do so again..."Not again!" the Fighter smacks the dragon in the mouth or throat disrupting it's action.

20th level: Weapon Mastery: Expand the critical chance as shown. Ability: Hammer Mastery: The Fighter is able to use any combination of their abilities gained through Weapon Training with the Hammer group for multiple attacks. Example: Fighter can use Improved Counterattack on a dragon's breath weapon, Counterattack on one of it's claw attacks, and Smash it's foot in the same round with multiple attacks.

Well that's my first attempt to come up with something. I tried to make everything seem natural to the type of weapon.

I know that the abilities mentioned will look strange to some of you and you will say "Ah, but how do I know what the dragon is going to do? Why should I attack his breath weapon and render it inert for 1 round if it's not going to use it that round anyway?" I counter with the following advice / justification: You don't, but you can make sure it's not going to in the next round by tagging it with Improved Counterattack."

There are limits to the system, one being that the Fighter has to endure the attack in the encounter before they can Counterattack or Improved Counterattack against it. Them's the breaks in my mind, you're a tank, you get hit in the head for a living. I also wanted to give a reason for monsters to pay attention to the tank. Sure the wizard can cook you with Fireballs, but that crazy guy in the front with a hammer can mash your toes and tail, break your teeth, and generally make life miserable while the wizard is cooking you. So it's kind of a toss-up who's going to get the focus of a monster's attention.

Let me know what you all think, I didn't want to spend time on any other groups if everyone thought this was crap.

Coledar

Okay, I've dealt with balance issues in almost every game I've DMed, most of them ending well before the uber abilities of Wizards and Clerics destabilized the world.

I understand the issue, spell-casting classes are more varied and powerful than any other class from about 11th level on.

The question becomes how to address this? There are different ways to do so. Some suggest we bump up the non spell-casters to be in line. I don't think this would work. I agree that balance is a serious issue, but if you bump up Fighters and Rogues too much, you ruin the flavor of the game and make it into "Super Sword Fighters" and like an MMORPG.

So I started looking through my RPG materials for a solution and I think I've come up with a two-front solution. I believe that giving Fighters and Rogues more abilities that make sense for them is a start. Give them more variety and choice.

Example: Each Weapon Group and Armor Group that is chosen for Weapon Training or Armor Training should grant some benefit besides the +1 bonus. Something that is uniquely a Fighter ability because it is a weapon or armor being used in an exceptional way.

The second front of the solution is to slightly depower Wizard and Cleric abilities. Leave their number of spells per day the same. But go back, way back, to the early days of D&D when some spells could be used in a more ritualized way and add longer cast-times and more restrictions on material cost for spells.

Ex: Disintegrate is a powerful weapon. It should be something that is developed as a last line of defense or ultimate weapon for a Wizard, not something they can do three or four times a day. I suggest a very expensive (level-equivalent) material component for each use of spells like this. If the material component strikes some as too much, perhaps a HP or EXP investment to reflect the personal energy invested in powerful spell casting. (Everyone should remember that famous gold-skinned, hourglass-irised magic-user who wrecked his health for the sake of magical power)

I think all sixth - ninth level spells should have some kind of restriction attached to them. Either a ritualized part, expensive spell component, or HP / EXP investment to cast. It doesn't depower Wizards and Clerics too much, IMO.

If you combine this with the Pathfinder version of Fighters and Rogues, you are a lot closer to a balance of classes. Let me know what you all think,

Coledar