Dias Ex Machina's page

Is every game book we offer on sale? Yes, yes they are all on sale. Every core book. Every rule system we support. All of them.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2363/Dias-Ex-Machina-Games?term=Dias &filters=0_0_0_0_0_31817&test_epoch=0

All the love from Dias Ex Machina. :)

Happy New Year from Dias Ex Machina

As you are no doubt aware, RPGNow is celebrating its New Year’s Sale.

Because of a filter error with the site, only two DEM products were listed, and unfortunately, the site is unable to fix the issue.

So in order to make it up to everyone, we at DEM have dropped the prices manually. Where the normal New Year’s Sale is 25%, all DEM core books are now 30% off!

Like the normal sale, these price drops are only until the end of the week.

Now is your chance and thank you from Dias Ex Machina.

http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/2363/Dias-Ex-Machina-Games

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1894400580/amethyst-fantasy-and-technol ogy-collide

FOR BOTH NEW AND RETURNING AMETHYST PLAYERS!

What’s the objective?

It is the singular goal of bringing Amethyst into full-color and introducing it to new and returning players.The end result will have several manifestations, the first being the release of Amethyst-Factions, the next supplement, for both 4th Edition D&D and Pathfinder.The second is a color-reboot of the original sourcebooks. Amethyst Renaissance 2.0 will only be a color-update but Amethyst Compendium will be a complete 4th Edition reboot, including content from both Foundations and Evolution, errata updated.

What’s the goal?

We are looking for $8000, which is all reserved for the production of content, not for the development of the DEM label or to fund other ventures.This will be for digital products only.We’re not sending out USB keys and T-Shirts as those all take away from the money we want to use to produce more Amethyst content.Anyone receiving a PDF as part of a reward will be able to acquire the color premium POD of that same PDF at print cost.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?959-NeuroSpasta-Pathfinder-RPG-get s-a-Cyber-Tech-Upgrade!

Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)
Presentation: 3.75
- Design: 3.5 (Very solid design; great writing and presentation; typos and editing errors disappointing)
- Illustrations: 4.0 (Great cover art; cool interior illustrations throughout the book)
Content: 4.0
- Crunch: 4.0 (Massive crunch; cool character building content; great new rules for modern/scifi genres)
- Fluff: 4.0 (Amazing fluff; fascinating vision for a near future cyberpunk campaign)
Value: 4.5 (Spectacular price for the a ton of player and game master content! Very complete!)

If Dias Ex Machina’s Facebook page reaches 210 likes, the upcoming setting-only DLC for NeuroSpasta, “General Assembly” will be free to anyone who purchased either the 4th Edition or Pathfinder versions.

Our last pledge drive, Apex, was a huge success (even though that title has yet to be released), so we’re trying it again. Since General Assembly is a much smaller product than Apex, we’re keeping the goal lower. General Assembly is a setting expansion only, listing the various nations and organizations of the world and whether or not they survived into the future.

Expect General Assembly sometime this summer.

Chris here at DEM.

Because we had to order a second prototype of the 4E NeuroSpasta, the Pathfinder version of the game is being released in POD first.

Anyone who ordered the PDF will (hopefully) receive a coupon to order the POD at a discount (basically the same price if you ordered the combo...if not a few pennies less).

It looks pretty damned good.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/114369/NeuroSpasta---Pathfinder

Ultramodern4
[url]http://necrotikreviews.tumblr.com/post/40768335124/game-review-ultramodern4 [/url]

Amethyst: Renaissance
[url]http://necrotikreviews.tumblr.com/post/39262445095/game-reviews-amethyst-re naissance[/url]

Amethyst Foundations
[url]http://necrotikreviews.tumblr.com/post/32657611162/rpg-reviews-amethyst-fou ndations[/url]

Finally released!

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/114369/NeuroSpasta---Pathfinder

The Pathfinder version of NeuroSpasta is completed. It is 305 Pages.

Here's the rundown:

Four new races based on the blend of flesh and technology.

Fifteen new traits. Nine new core classes. Sixteen new prestige classes.

Over a hundred new feats.

Buy, modify, and control robots.

Hundreds of new weapons, armor, and gear.

Dozens of cybernetics from basic implants to total body replacements.

Purchase and build programs to help yourself or cripple enemies.

New adversaries including robots, cyborgs, and supercomputers.

Including the adventure, Dreams of Man.

Check the cover on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dias-Ex-Machina/416791821692560

DEM is offering a new product on their Paizo and RPGNow pages.

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8y9p?NeuroSpasta

NeuroSpasta

NeuroSpasta is a cyberpunk/transhumanist setting using 4th Edition rules, compatible with both Ultramodern4 and Amethyst. In this book, you’ll find…

Rules for hacking computers and even people with new powers, feats, and a new class.
Four new races based on the blend of flesh and technology.
Fifteen new lifepaths.
Rules for controlling and customizing robots.
Dozens of cybernetics from basic implants to total body replacements.
Computer programs to help yourself or cripple your enemies.
New adversaries including robots, cyborgs, and supercomputers.
An introductory adventure full of intrigue and explosions.
NOTE: Requires either Ultramodern4 or Amethyst (Ultramodern4 recommended).

Just so you all know, there IS a Pathfinder version of NeuroSpasta due in a few weeks. It will be considerably larger because it also includes an entire sci-fi conversion for Pathfinder which you can use for any non-fantasy game (where the 4E version requires Ultramodern4)

We've finally finished our monsters save for servers, which are less monsters and more challenges to quickly overcome.

We have four different types of monsters in NeuroSpasta. The first are aforementioned servers.

The second are generic boiler-plate opponents carried over from Ultramodern and adapted to Pathfinder. You can apply several templates to these generalized opponents to customize them to your encounter.

The third are normal creatures like cyborgs and drug-crazed pit fighters.

The fourth are robots, which are different than normal creatures because s players can purchase and remote control them. As such we wanted player to purchase a robot and have its effectiveness increase as the player level increased (only when they are being remote controlled; if on their own, they use their base stats. There are feats one can take to make a player control his/her robot better.

Here is one...if a player is controlling the robot, the character swaps his control bonus instead of the robot's.

N Medium Construct XP 3,200
Control Bonus +4, Max +8
Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0 [+7] (RA 10 [17])
Defense
AC 18 [22], touch 5 [9], flat-footed 18 [22]
Firewall 19 [23]
hp 74 (9d10+20)
Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +2
DR 5/—; Immune construct traits
Offense
Speed 35 ft.
Melee 2 crushing fists +14/+14 [+18/+18] (2d8+9 plus grab)
Statistics
Str 28, Dex 8, Con --, Int --, Wis 10, Cha 1
Base Atk +5 [+9]; CMB +14 [+18] (+18 [+22] grapple); CMD 23 [27]
Skills Perception +3 [+7]; Racial Modifiers +7 Perception
Languages none
Ecology
Treasure none
Special Qualities
Tremendous Strength (Ex): If the calgar hits an enemy that it is grappling, the enemy suffers an additional 1d6 damage.
Pressure Rush (Ex): As move action, the calgar can move 20 feet without provoking an opportunity attack.

As for other more traditional monsters...

HARM CR 13
N Huge construct XP 25,600
Init –1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +27 (RA 37)
Defense
AC 28, touch 8, flat-footed 28 (–1 Dex, +21 natural, –2 size)
hp 129 (18d10+30)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +6
Firewall 29
DR 10/--; Immune construct traits
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 piton legs +28 (2d10+16/19–20); see piton push
Ranged (range 200) electronic pulse rifle turret +20/+15/+10 (1d8+18/x3)
Special Attacks perimeter sweep
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks air mortar, artillery role, perimeter sweep
Statistics
Str 32, Dex 9, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha --
Base Atk +18; CMB +30; CMD 39
Languages Any
Ecology
Treasure none (weapons inbuilt)
Special Abilities
Air Mortar (Ex): As a full round action, HARM can make an air mortar attack with its electronic pulse rifle. Target a 30-foot radius area within 150 feet. Targets must make a DC 19 Reflex dave or take 3d10+10 damage (save half). Targets affected are knocked prone.
Artillery Role (Ex): If HARM hits with it's first electronic pulse rifle turret attack, it may make a second at its full BAB. The HARM can only use artillery role once per round.
Construct: As a vehicle, HARM is immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). It cannot be subjected to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain.
Deployment (Ex): HARM can activate or deactivate deployment as a move action. HARM cannot move or be moved until it deactivates deployment. Its AC increases to 31 but its Reflex drops to +0. HARM can no longer make piton leg or perimeter sweep attacks.
Fortified Platform (Ex): The HARM cannot be knocked prone or subject to forced movement.
Perimeter Sweep (Ex): As a full-round action, the HARM can make a single piton leg attack at its highest BAB to each enemy target within reach.
Piton Push (Ex): Targets hit by HARM's piton legs are pushed 15 feet (3 squares) and knocked prone.

We're still testing these things so any comments are welcome.

From now until Boxing Day (for those aware of that holiday) DEM is dropping the price of ALL their games.

Amethyst Renaissance: 6.99 (14.99)
Ultramodern4: 6.99 (13.99)
Amethyst Evolution: 4.99 (14.99)
Amethyst D20: 0.99 (20.00)

Please show your support and share the news.

http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=2363

Dias Ex Machina is looking for volunteers to help us make/convert monsters to Pathfinder. The monsters are modern / science-fiction themed. Volunteers would get credit and if one does enough, it may result in a free book.

In this thread, it's my goal to post details on the Pathfinder-compatible ¬cyberpunk rules being developed for DEM's upcoming NeuroSpasta game system. This is the initial stage, so there's still remains considerable work fine tuning the details.

First, an overview.

The goal of these rules is to create a hacking-rule subset familiar to players of Pathfinder. We don't want to create a whole new set of rules detached from what you know. In the setting, everyone has a direct neural access to the internet, implanted with a device called a SEED allowing memory recording, sensory stimulation, and the like. This has allowed a few rare hackers (like the PCs) to be able to crack these systems and attack the brains of normal people. These include standard combat-like afflictions as well as more role-playing related effects like memory alternation. For this reason, it was important that hacking be a non-map-based contest. Players and opponents need to be able to hack into a target in real time, break down a firewall, and inflict an effect in a window not much longer than a standard game turn; this while simultaneously acting in the real world (dodging or even attacking back) on a real map. As a result, digital monsters (servers) are not listed with speed or size (more on that later).

Going into the hacker class (the manipulator), we thought it prudent to split hacking into two categories. The first are hack talents, which are abilities written like spells. These are the ones people know most of, the ones doing damage, stunning opponents, hijacking electronics, that sort of thing. The second are programs. Anyone can use programs and the limit of how many you can have is dependent on your neural implant. Programs can be as simple as a constantly running firewall booster or an anti-viral program to a complicated multi-tier virus where you can implant hacking talents and send them into targets to activate when you want.

The other idea we wanted to entertain is in the application of hacker feats. Instead of having a hacking talent for a single target and a hacking talent for the same effect on multiple targets, you can select feats which allow you limited multi-target options on hacking talents a limited number of times a day. This way, a PC can adjust if he wants a more powerful one-on-one hacking master or someone able to hack everyone around at the same time, though not as effectively. Since hacking use similar rules as spells, you set a DC the opponent has to pass with a Fort or Will save, which we call the ProgDC. However, in order to activate a talent, you first need to breach their firewall…and this comes in the form of a traditional attack similar to one against AC, though wirelessly. Your implants offer a bonus and you roll against the opponent's firewall. Servers have multiple firewalls you would need to break in sequence. Since hackers need to crack firewalls before even using any hack talents, we made a lot of talents reusable in case the target saves.

What's GIA
GIA: Hack abilities and programs are listed with a range of "GIA", meaning it requires an opponent's GIA (Global Internet Address) to activate. When targeting fixed networks, you do not require range, only the GIA. Gaining a GIA takes no action and is assumed to have been done if the following situations occur:
--You are informed of the target's GIA directly from an information source.
--You gain line of sight on the target. Line of sight is limited to 100 feet (20 squares) unless using enhancements (binoculars, targeting scope, cybernetics, etc).
--You can see the target through telepresence and have a global position of the location you are looking at. The target cannot be more than 100 feet (20 squares) from the source of the camera. Your location is considered the same as the camera.
--The target answers as cybercell or traditional phone call and you know the exact global position of the transmission's destination (either by the location of the land line or by a phone trace).
Knowing a GIA does not mean you know the target's actual location even though knowing the target's actual location does give you the GIA. You can gain the GIA from a back-hack and not know the target's actual location.
Since servers don't move, these addresses seldom change. You must still know the physical location of the server to know its GIA. This can be established by checking a map or a building layout. Some server's locations (like an automatrix or echelon) are automatically known. Many corporate servers have their servers in hidden locations which must first be discovered.
If you gain the target's GIA, you can hack them. The moment a mobile target moves even one square (more than 5 feet), its GIA changes and you must re-establish it. If you have breached all your opponent's firewalls, then your connection to the target is established. You are considered to be in a dive. When you are diving, you cannot be severed from the target if the GIA changes. Attacking a target with an ability requiring a GIA does not provoke opportunity attacks.

HACKING
Hacking involves breaking through firewalls to directly attack computer networks, neural nets, cybernetics, or brains as well as attacking these systems after the firewalls have fallen. You must breach every firewall of the target (unless a server) before you can activate any non-firewall hack abilities (ones requiring a Will or Fort save). The moment you break a firewall, you are considered in a dive (see later). Hack attacks gain enhancement from cybernetic implants. You add your SEED's enhancement bonus to attack rolls against firewalls and to the save DCs versus Fortitude or Will. If you score a critical hit with a firewall attack, you gain a +4 bonus to your firewall attack against the same target until the end of your next turn as well as a bonus to all saving throw DCs you impose during the dive. You do not need to breach the firewalls of allies if applying positive effects.
Neural: The neural property has two functions. Firstly, it is the damage type of hack attacks. These ignore a target's damage resistance and can only be reduced via resist neural. Secondly, the neural attack reveals to the target that it is being hacked (meaning an enemy is currently diving into it). Without this property, the target is not aware the effect is coming from a hack (all hack abilities that inflict damage reveal their presence).

I'll post more when the class is more refined…

As the sales for Amethyst Renaissance come in, I started thinking about our upcoming espionage / cyberpunk setting, NeuroSpasta. Originally, it was designed for 4th Edition, but the book is mostly fluff and not much more would be required to develop a Pathfinder variation for simultaneous publication.

Being a newcomer to the community, I honestly don't know if this ground has been already covered. Has there been a cyberpunk game developed for Pathfinder? And if so, was it good? Not saying mine would be better, but I can try, and we have pretty pictures.

Dias Ex Machina.

Worth mentioning more than once:

Amethyst Renaissance, our Pathfinder Edition, will be released this Saturday (August 4th).

(fingers crossed)

This week marks the release of Amethyst Renaissance. It is the largest product DEM has produced since our original Amethyst D20 in 2008, nearly 400 pages, resulting mostly from oversized artwork and extended story segments. This new book is a remake of both the D20 Amethyst and our later Amethyst Foundations book, this time adapted for Paizo's Pathfinder. It doesn't expand the setting any further from these original books, but will set the groundwork for further expansions to be simultaneously released for multiple rule systems. We are looking for interested websites and critics to review this new book. Interested?

The questionnaire that DEM released several weeks ago proved quite successful and allowed us to implement several changes to our upcoming Pathfinder release, Amethyst: Renaissance. We're not completely finished, however, and I promised to release one of our anticipated science-fiction classes for review. Upon reconsideration, I decided to release two. A few of our classes do mimic Pathfinder core classes in many ways, but we've tried to implement a few ideas to encourage customization and individuality without making the result overly complicated. One of the classes here does reflect that level of complexity, while the other, I think, is more traditional. Any and all comments are welcome. These classes are at the beta phase of testing, so more changes may be in store.

You can download the classes here

http://www.diasexmachina.com/Pathfinder Open Questionnaire, Phase 2.doc

Thanks to everyone that emailed me, posted on Living Dive, posted here, or posted on our page at DiasExMachina.com. This is what we decided upon based upon your feedback (along with the recap of the original questions).

1. RACES
Our races, though following Pathfinder mostly, do deviate in one regard. Their ability adjustments are variable, a trend started with PHB3. Where elf or dwarf is fixed, in our setting players have the option where to take the penalty and where to accept the bonus.

Result: We'll make the bonus variable, but the penalty fixed.

2. SPECIAL ABILITIES
In an effort to make our race and class features easier to read, we decided to present them in bullet form, not unlike powers from 4th Edition. The same information is imparted, just in a way which we believe is easier.

Result: This was the big one, and received the most widely diverse opinions. I think what we'll do is return to original Pathfinder presentation but underline or bold the important elements to ensure players can get at the important bits.

3. LIFEPATH
Carried over from Foundations, Renaissance introduces lifepaths, which can affect your character in minor or major ways. These have no class prerequisites and with more than 40 of them, one should satisfy any player. But shouldn't they be archetypes? Archetypes modify classes (like Amethyst's class focus did in our 2008 book) while our lifepaths do more general changes and are not always tied to one class. Two lifepaths are workaround to select classes not permitted in the canon setting.

Result: Well, it appears relatively obvious that Lifepaths will be renamed Traits. However, our lifepa—err traits, are more powerful. So despite the default rule of allowing two traits, we'll suggest only one Amethyst trait, regardless if it's type. Characters can still select another trait from any other Pathfinder book, but only one from our list.

4. DUAL CLASSES
We have this idea of creating dual classes—basically some of our classes are broken into two complete sub-classes. Each sub-class shares identical hit dice, saves, skill ranks, class skills, and base attack bonus, meaning they only differ with class abilities. Because both sub-classes are listed as one class, selecting one as your favored class will equate to both being a favored class; you will gain favored class bonuses gaining a level in either class. For example, you could multiclass either front grounder or heavy grounder and still gain favored class bonuses, but not if you multiclass in front grounder and marshal. These classes are still considered separate for the purposes of class abilities (e.g.: A 4th level front grounder / 2nd level heavy grounder character is not a 6th level grounder, nor is he a 4th level heavy grounder).

Result: The big issue with this involves a slight confusion. Some people suggested that we combine the dual classes into one. This would not be a good idea considering the sizes of our individual classes. This is also why they wouldn't work as archetypes. Despite me believing the idea is sound, it's looking like we're going to drop dual-classes entirely.

5. POWER-LIKE ABILITIES
We know that some 3rd edition class abilities act like powers without looking like powers. If a character can do something unique each round, how is that different from an at-will power? As a result, we have offered certain classes abilities that, though balanced and written for 3.75, do resemble powers (this is related to point 2 above).

Result: Once again, this is the conflict between ease and tradition. Despite the benefits, it looks like class abilities will be adjusted to resemble Pathfinder.

6. MEDICAL EXPLOITS
In a moment of both genius and madness, we gave our medical operator a spell list. These are not spells, mind you, but are gained and operate just as a cleric would gain and use spells. They are presented as spells, but are actually extraordinary abilities he can use anytime given his exploit/spell list.

Result: Looks like the precedent of Alchemist places Medical Exploits firmly in our game. So they stay.

7. MONSTER LORE
Simply put, we've included our monster lore from Foundations. We don't have a problem with this.

Result: Looks like these stay.

8. MULTIPLE MONSTERS
The Pathfinder bestiary offers one orc. We included five different pagus at different challenge ratings and weapon loadouts. Even though it isn't hard to upgrade monsters in Pathfinder, we still wanted to remove the stress of designing different versions of the same creature.

Result: The first thing to state is that we do not have a page budget for monsters. We are either presenting you with 20 monsters with 20 stat-blocks or 20 monsters with 40 stat-blocks. We're not sacrificing monsters to present duplicate monsters. That appeared to be the only issue people brought up. Since you don't have to worry about that, it looks like these are in.

9. MINIONS
I love minions from 4th Edition. I think they're a little too much experience, but I really wanted to remain in Amethyst. So we made them by adding the special ability "Minion".

Result: Some people don't have experience with minions, but one thing they are not are lower challenge-rating monsters. With my experience with 3rd Edition, you can't use lower challenge rating monsters as minions because they cannot hit the players without rolling a natural 20. We'll be looking over these monsters to make ensure they are balanced before keeping them.

10. COMPLICATED CLASSES
Our classes offer a lot of customization, different abilities depending on your basic concept, and abilities trees similar to that in D20 Modern. Some of our playtesters have argued that we should attempt to make our classes similar to Pathfinder classes, borderline copies, altering the rules only when in regard to using firearms. I think that would taste of being unoriginal, but it would make the transition easier for those unaware of how D20 modern created their classes.

Result: One thing I need to stress is that Amethyst using Pathfinder rules is still Amethyst, so there will be some things that will simply feel different. I mean we have powered armor and railcannons….right on that issue alone, there's no way to make Amethyst play like Pathfinder. Having modern rules in Amethyst is mandatory since we have firearms, cars, and helicopters. People wanting Pathfinder with no alteration won't enjoy Amethyst, as it's being presented as a science/fantasy with modern rules (rules which can be used in homebrew games outside of Amethyst). Of course, you could use our races and lifepa—sorry—traits to create a party with all fantasy classes in Amethyst, never encountering technology…but it's still there, part of the setting. We have monsters which are firearm-wielding commandos. One's a giant robot. It's the nature of the setting.

One thing we don't want to do is just present our classes as archetypes, as it simply feels lazy on our part. So we won't be making our classes clones of Pathfinder classes. That being said, we may be…gulp…simplifying them.

Again...thanks for your input. It won't make everyone happy, but these decisions do reflect the consensus of comments received. We'll have the beta rules for Amethyst Renaissance available by next week. Playtesting is still open (though the time window is shrinking).

PATHFINDER OPEN QUESTIONNAIRE

For the past few months, we here at DEM have been developing an adaptation for Amethyst using the Pathfinder rule setting, called Renaissance. This adaptation is not an update of our original 2008 D20 book, rather a conversion of our 4th Edition Amethyst Foundations and its sequel, Evolution. However, recently, a few of our playtesters have questioned some of our design decisions regarding this update.

More than one tester has voiced a concern that our rules have a distinct "4th edition" feel to them. This is peculiar considering a humorous remark I made while being interviewed for the Gamers Haven podcast a few months ago. On it, I'd commented that our Amethyst Foundations had been accused of having a "3rd edition mentality" and that our Pathfinder book may be accused of having a "4th Edition mentality." Little did I know that those would be the exact comments offered by my playtesters. So instead of walking blindly or ignorantly into the final product, I've decided to present all of our production concepts here and ask you, the gamers, what you think.

What I discuss below are not final decisions; the rules are still in their "alpha" phase and are due for more work, but responses will help us customize the gaming experience to the people who would be actually buying it. We want to make the product you want…well, a product we both will want.

NOTE: I wrote this article and these questions before the announcement of 5th Edition D&D, where they basically ask the same thing. Once again, WOTC steals my thunder (chuckle).

1. RACES
Our races, though following Pathfinder mostly, do deviate in one regard. Their ability adjustments are variable, a trend started with PLAYER'S HANDBOOK 3. Where a normal elf or dwarf is fixed, in our setting players have the option of where to take the penalty and where to accept the bonus.

Example
CHAPARRANS
Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom; +2 Constitution or +2 Strength; -2 Constitution or -2 Charisma

Question: Is this too confusing and would players prefer fixed adjustments? Just so you know, Amethyst's canon setting has no outside races.

2. SPECIAL ABILITIES
In an effort to make our race and class features easier to read, we decided to present them in bullet form, not unlike powers from 4th Edition. The same information is imparted, just in a way which we believe is easier.

Example
Action: Swift
Attack of Opportunity: No
Requirement: You must be within 5 feet to a tree.
Uses per Day: As many as your Wisdom modifier.
Effect: You teleport up to 50 feet to another tree within range. You emerge within 5 feet of the targeted tree. The trees must be rooted in the Earth.

Question: Will readers react coldly to this unusual shift in presentation?

3. LIFEPATH
Carried over from Foundations, Renaissance introduces lifepaths, which can affect your character in minor or major ways. These have no class prerequisites and with more than 40 of them, should satisfy any player. But shouldn't they be archetypes? Archetypes modify classes (like Amethyst's class focus did in our 2008 book) while our lifepaths do more general changes and are not tied to one class. Two lifepaths are workaround to select classes not permitted in the canon setting.

Examples
BLOOD ROYAL
Natural Instinct: You gain a +1 bonus to any two Charisma- or Wisdom-based skills of your choice.
Aura of Admiration: You gain Diplomacy as a class skill and gain 1 rank in it.

DOPPELSHIDO
Double-Form: Select one one-handed melee weapon without the double or reach property. This is your selected weapon with Double-Form. If you wield your selected weapon with two hands, the weapon gains the double property. Both the primary and off-hand attacks inflict the same damage. You must be proficient with the chosen weapon. Your chosen weapon is the only type of weapon you can receive these bonuses from (you may purchase magical versions later, but the specific weapon type cannot change)

Question: With archetypes already established, should we shoehorn lifepaths into that, even considering that many lifepaths wouldn't work as archetypes and would need to be removed?

4. DUAL CLASSES
We have this idea of creating dual classes—basically some of our classes are broken into two complete sub-classes. Each sub-class shares identical hit dice, saves, skill ranks, class skills, and base attack bonus, meaning they only differ with class abilities. Because both sub-classes are listed as one class, selecting one as your favored class will equate to both being a favored class; you will gain favored class bonuses gaining a level in either class. For example, you could multiclass either front grounder or heavy grounder and still gain favored class bonuses, but not if you multiclass in front grounder and marshal. These classes are still considered separate for the purposes of class abilities (e.g.: A 4th level front grounder / 2nd level heavy grounder character is not a 6th level grounder, nor is he a 4th level heavy grounder)

Question: Would such a mild alteration be accepted? We could always remove the rule outright and keep these classes separate. We're just trying to be clever.

5. POWER-LIKE ABILITIES
We know that some 3rd edition class abilities act like powers without looking like powers. If a character can do something unique each round, how is that different from an at-will power? As a result, we've offered certain class abilities that, though balanced and written for 3.75, do resemble powers (this is related to point 2 above).

Example
Burst Fire: Starting at 2nd level, you can make a burst fire attack. As a full round-round action, you can apply the heavy auto property to a weapon you are wielding which has it and target all creatures in a 10 ft radius in weapon range. All attack rolls suffer a -2 penalty.
6th level: The area of effect increases to 15 ft radius.
11th level: The area of effect increases to 20 ft radius.
16th level: The area of effect increases to 25 ft radius.

Question: Would players accept this or should our classes not deviate from the accepted form?

6. MEDICAL EXPLOITS
In a moment of both genius and madness, we gave our medical operator class a spell list. These are not spells, mind you, but are gained and operate just as a cleric would gain and use spells. They are presented as spells, but are actually extraordinary abilities he can use at any time given his exploit/spell list.

Example
STANOZOLOL INJECTION
Level medic 1 Casting Time: 1 full-round action
Range: touch Target: one living creature
Duration: 1 hour
Effect: The target gains a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity (affecting attack bonuses, Reflex saves, Dexterity checks, etc). The target also receives a +10 ft bonus to speed.
Advancement: At 10th level, you can target up to 2 creatures, but each requires a full-round action.

Question: Is such a bizarre application of existing rules too weird to be accepted?

7. MONSTER LORE
Simply put, we've included our monster lore from Foundations. We don't have a problem with this.

Question: Do you?

8. MULTIPLE MONSTERS
The Pathfinder bestiary offers one orc. We included five different pagus at different challenge ratings and weapon loadouts. Even though it isn't hard to upgrade monsters in Pathfinder, we still wanted to remove the stress of designing different versions of the same creature.

Question: Should we bother?

9. MINIONS
I love minions from 4th Edition. I think they're a little too much experience, but I really wanted them to remain in Amethyst. So we made them by adding the special ability "Minion".

Minion: If the pagus strifebringer suffers more damage in a single hit as his hit dice, it is killed (8d6 = 8 damage or more in a single hit).
As a result, minions have reduced experience but do allow for larger battles. (One a side note, our puggs are actually weaker than kobolds if encountered alone; I thought that was funny).

Question: Should we include such an obvious homage to 4th Edition and is this unwise? Are you guys cool with it?

10. COMPLICATED CLASSES
Our classes offer a lot of customization, different abilities depending on your basic concept, and abilities trees similar to that in D20 Modern. Some of our playtesters have argued that we should attempt to make our classes similar to Pathfinder classes, borderline copies, altering the rules only when in regard to using firearms. I think that would taste of being unoriginal, but it would make the transition easier for those unaware of how D20 modern created their classes.
Question: Make the classes distinct or stay close to the mold of Pathfinder?

There you have it, ten questions. Answers may be posted here, on our facebook page, or at the forums at DiasExMachina.com

I started the Amethyst Pathfinder edition, dubbed Renaissance two weeks ago. It is still in the alpha phase, but progress has been extremely rapid. Not even two weeks into production and Renaissance is now passed 188 pages. Races, lifepaths, classes, skills, and feats are ALL done. After this, we got prestige classes, equipment, setting, and monsters. At this rate, first draft will be done by the end of November. It could come out before Ultramodern4 is this pace keeps up.

I am still hoping to maintain the freedom of character creation we had begun with the D20 Amethyst in 2008 and perfected with our recent Amethyst Evolution book. For now, I wanted to leak a few of our "alpha" phase classes. These are still being tested.

LAUDENIANS
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5’10” – 6’7”
Average Weight: 40-55 lbs.
Average Starting Age: 150 years
Estimated Life Expectancy: Unknown (10,000 years?)

Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom; +2 Intelligence or +2 Dexterity; -2 Constitution or -2 Strength
Size: Medium. As a Medium creature, you have no special bonuses or penalties due to your size.
Speed: 35 feet
Vision: Normal
Languages: Laudenian, one human language, and one additional fae language. If you have a high Intelligence score, you can choose any additional languages you want.
Racial Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Spellcraft

Adept User: You receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Emergence: You know where and when to be to strike the critical blow. You know where and when to be to strike the critical blow. When wielding a light melee weapon, you can use Wisdom in place of Strength as your primary melee attack/damage attribute. If you are wielding two weapons, both must be light weapons for this ability to apply.
Equilibrium: If you have 4 or more ranks in Acrobatics, you gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of +3, and a +7 dodge bonus to AC when taking total defense actions instead of +6.
Light Body: Reduce all fall distances by 10 feet (2 squares). If bull rushed, you are pushed back 10 feet; for every 5 by which the attack exceeds your CMD, you are pushed an additional 10 feet.
Special Ability -- Slide Waltz: Your body can move like water, swaying around an opponent with ease.
Ability Type: Extraordinary
Action: Swift
Attack of Opportunity: No
Uses Per Day: As many times as your Wisdom or Intelligence modifier.
Effect: Select one Medium or smaller creature within 5 feet (adjacent square). You can move to any location that is within 5 feet of the target (effectively any unoccupied square adjacent to the target).

NARROS
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 4’ – 4’9”
Average Weight: 195-395 lbs.
Average Starting Age: 75 years
Estimated Life Expectancy: 1,000 years

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution; +2 Charisma or +2 Wisdom; -2 Dexterity or -2 Intelligence
Size: Medium. As a Medium creature, you have no special bonuses or penalties due to your size.
Speed: 25 feet. Your speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.
Vision: Darkvision. You can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Languages: Narroni and one human language. If you have a high Intelligence score, you can choose any additional languages you want.
Racial Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Survival

Big Boned: You suffer s -3 penalty to all Swim checks.
Iron Roots: You have a +4 racial bonus to your CMD against a bull rush or trip. You are treated as a Large creature when dealing with wind effects.
Militaristic: You are proficient in any two melee weapons of your choice (even if techan).
Stone Blood: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Fort saves but suffer a -1 penalty to Ref saves. You also gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
Final Word: If you are reduced to 0 or less hit points, you do not fall unconscious until the end of your next turn (regardless of damage taken). On your next turn, you can take only a single standard action. If you use that action to attack the enemy that reduced you to 0 hit points or lower, you automatically hit (you still roll).

I will continue to update this thread if you guys want to know more about our progress and see more sneak peaks...

The Amethyst Pathfinder edition, known as Amethyst: Renaissance has officially opened its playtesting phase.

Interested parties will need join the forum and then message the administrator. They will gain access to the playtest forum where they will need to check up on occasion to find new and updated files as well as discuss the evolving rules.

Initially, we only have races, but classes and equipment will follow soon after.

www.diasexmachina.com

Thanks all...

Surely, you have all seen this one coming. At least now it's official. It also officially has a name. DEM is proud to announce that we will be adapting Amethyst to the Pathfinder game system, titled Amethyst Renaissance. This will be an adaptation of Foundations and the soon to be released Evolution books for 4th Edition, not an adaptation of DEM's 2008 D20 game. Remember, this is an expansion, not a shift. We still have at least three books coming for Amethyst 4th Edition. The cover is temporary.

http://www.diasexmachina.com/RenaissancePromoCover.jpg

Now, I am not saying this to accuse anything. I am only pointing it out cause I think its funny. Almost every review I have read for this Beta mentions the new change that Druids can gain Cleric Element Domains and how it is a new and interesting idea...wellllll....

"An elemental tuner chooses one domain from among the following: Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. Each domain gives the druid access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. The tuner also may replace his animal companion with a small elemental of the same type as his domain."
Amethyst, 3.5ED

Just tossing it out there. :)