Dice in a barrel's page

Some prestige classes were especially ridiculous (Frenzied berserker comes to mind), others were merely overpowered (Fist of Raziel for example). Expanded equipment tended to have this disease too.

I used to think that Epic and Psionics didn't fit well with the "standard" D&D format, but as pathfinder is essentially a vast toolbox, specifically designed to be as adaptable as possible, it would be a missed opportunity to not publish something like that, even though I (and perhaps others) would not use these rules.
-Think how the advanced firearm rules allow someone to make a Pathfinder: Napoleonic or Wild West setting; most people won't want something like this, but some might, so here are the rules.

To be honest, violence, especially hand-to-hand should be shocking and frightning, to present it as harmless, bloodless fun would be wrong. If the players balk at hearing how their sword plows bloodily through another orc, explain to them that it's natural for people to be sickened by violence, and that's likely what their characters feel too. As long as you're not revelling in violence, I can't see a realistic description as "sick", just proper storytelling.

Runelords is very well put together, and has a much more traditional and classic feel than any of the others so far, so I say go with that.

Alternatively, go Kingmaker for its ease of pace and open-endedness.

Firearms need to be switched from exotic to martial. A flintlock is a fairly advanced firearm and thus much easier to use than say, a handgunne or some other primitive firearm. It is readily obvious the weapons are being exported on a regular basis to the Inner Sea area and should make them common enough. The price is already prohibitive enough without forcing a feat to be burned at the same time. Firearms came into vogue due to the fact they are simple to use and train a person to become proficent with,in addition they take no strength to operate. A bow is far more difficult to master and I think it is feasible to put the firearm on equal footing with the other ranged weapons.

This is Glorian, not The Forgotten Realms. Firearms are present and up until now very advanced. I like that the single shot musket and pistol are where we are topping out tech wise, but believe it is for this very reason they should be moved to martial status.

I agree, while an early firearm is somewhat complex to load, an idiot can do it provided he has a diagram to look at. Shooting itself is quite straightforward (though the things were darned inaccurate).

I agree with the general theme that IK was a good setting, but the rules somewhat hit and miss, better as a wargame.

A lot of questions need to be answered in a fan conversion tho, eg:
-Should characters be allowed greatcoats for a small AC bonus and no penalty?
-Should different types of humans (Caspian, Khadorian) gain additional bonuses+penalties?
-Should warcaster be a basic or prestige class?
-How to balance the magi-tech items
etc.
To be honest, I think that the release of the gunslinger class may herald new ideas along the steampunk/pulp style of play.
Perhaps amateur gunslinger feats could be made better, simple guns not require an EXWP feat, while newer, more powerful firearms are gunslinger only without an extra feat.

I think that if firearms don't have some bonus against armour it breaks the suspension of disbelief somewhat, and chips away at the rationale for including them at all. Maybe not attack touch, but they should certainly get something.

This sort of thing needs to be looked at, and why would other classes need an exotic WP? Guns were popular for their ease of use

gbonehead wrote:

Thundershot wrote:

As for the gunfighter, I personally feel the "grit" overcomplicates things by tacking on another system that uses points. Why not just give them normal class abilities instead of something that relies in the player trying to get "points" other than xp?

+1

Especially given that over in RPG Superstar-land they're dinging everyone who submits an item that requires "additional recordkeeping."

/me introduces the left hand to the right hand :)

I agree.

The whole grit points seemed odd to me as well. I think we need fewer classes with this kind of points mechanic, not more. In the case of this class, it feels really "gimmicky". Normal class abilities is the better way to go in my opinion as well.

The basic flavour of the class is very wild west, which is certainly deliberate; but weird if you consider that everyone dies with a single shot in the spaghetti western films, and guns just do more damage than a bow and are better against armour up close. Also, why do guns exist when the same sort of thing is already available to rich people as wands of magic missiles etc.

DeathQuaker wrote:

I'm going to be crazy and respond to the original post.

Woot, thanks ;)

DeathQuaker wrote:

While samurai historically used katana and wakizashi as a matter of station, I disagree with the proposal that only samurai should be proficient, for the following reasons:

Anybody can be proficient, provided they spend the exotic proficiency feat, but only a Samurai should be expected to know how to use one from the get go.

I agree it's mostly a cultural restriction, but then there are not many classes named after actual historical figures.

DeathQuaker wrote:

- Ninja should be proficient because I imagine mechanically speaking, in the abstraction of Pathfinder, wakizashi stats could also be used to represent a ninjato or similar blades often associated with ninjas in popular narratives.

I agree that mechanically speaking they will be very similar, but a Ninjato has a straight blade while a Wakisashi has a curved one.

To be honest, I agree with the feeling that a katana should just be a thematic bastard sword/great sword; if new rules get developed for every cultural weapon, instead of a "Great Sword" we'll have Claymores, Zweihanders, No-dachi, etc. all minor variations on the same thing, weapon rules should be general, not so specific.

Historically though, Ninja did not use katana, they were too expensive, required access to specific blacksmiths, were easily traceable, etc. The Ninja-to idea may be a myth, but it seems likely to academics that Ninja used whatever weapons they could conceal easily. Why would a ninja use a two-handed weapon when he may need his free hand?

Its probably my L5R influence, but I don't see most samurai being mounted.

OTOH, the new cavalier orders seem good and i can probably simulate Lion clan with Fighters and make very effective non-mounted samurai. And these guys are ideal Unicorn clan samurai.

As others have said here, for most of their history, Samurai functioned as mounted archers; but a tactical revolution took place during the sixteenth century, as more troops became available, infantry became much more dominant.