In my personal homebrew ruleset, I have dozens of cantrips that function the way cantrips were intended to be in 1st ed AD&D. Practice spells and practical everyday magic for roleplaying purposes (consequently, there's no catch-all prestidigitation spell and they're not at will the same way they are in PF/5e, but casters get a LOT more cantrip slots per day). Here's one I designed (adapted for PF use in terms of class spell lists)
Bathe
Abjuration
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Inq 0, Sha 0, Sor/Wiz 0, Sum 0, Wch 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Touch
Target: One willing creature of Large size or smaller, touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Bathe causes you or a willing target creature to enjoy similar benefits to a nice bath with warm, soapy water. The recipient of the spell must be nude to receive its full benefits; otherwise dirt and odors from clothing may simply reapply themselves to the body. Thus, by casting this spell, external body odors are eliminated from the recipient.
Bathe will not clean clothing (though the wash spell will), nor will it freshen breath or clean teeth. This spell does not actually use soap or water but simply removes the offending soils, excess oils, and odor causing substances as effectively as soap and water. The spell usually doesn't bother the targeted creature (as a cat might be bothered by a real bath).
Substances that will not readily wash off with warm, soapy water will also not be well-affected by bathe. Skunk spray, for example, will not be completely removed, but this spell may help, and several applications will begin to take its toll.
What a coincidence! I myself have been working on an Artificer conversion for Pathfinder, except I haven't been looking at the 3.5e Artificer class (yet). Instead I was making the artificer a hybrid class of alchemist and magus.
So instead of bombs, I gave my artificer the arcane pool and ability to enhance both weapons and armor.
And instead of mutagens, I had the idea to give the artificer talismans, which function like mutagens, but provide more of an abjuration effect rather than a transmutation effect. The class is almost done, just been having trouble figuring out effects for the talismans and one or more capstones for the class.
I'll have to come back to this topic after I get off of work.
No, you'd leave encounters alone, since the "standard" for character generation isn't point-buy at all. It's randomly determined by die rolls.
Also, CR of player characters is not really a factor that is covered because of the cooperative nature of the game.
In fact, the Advanced template used for monsters (which also increases the CR by +1) increases all of the creature's ability scores by 4 each (a total of +24 ability points). Far more than the difference between point-buy of 15 and 25 (which wouldn't even give +10 ability points in most cases).
In the computer game, mythic tiers are nothing like they are in tabletop. There are no surges or daily uses of mythic power. The companions you get only get a mythic ability every odd-numbered tier, and a mythic feat every even-numbered tier (there are no mythic paths for companions, but the general mythic abilities are more expansive overall). The main character gets a bunch of additional powers from a more thematic mythic path (i.e. Angel, Demon, Azata, etc.), but overall, nothing that would really inflate save or skill bonuses to the degree that I needed. The enemies in the game have stat-bloat issues.
For the most part though, the PC game is an excellent, fairly accurate representation of the tabletop game, give or take a couple of mechanics that are difficult to replicate on a computer game.
That said, my rules question did pertain toward the tabletop rules, since both the PC and tabletop version both follow the same affliction rules it seems.
However, the heal spell is an excellent workaround to that problem when it inevitably crops up again (kinda wish remove disease wasn't so pitiful though. I definitely prefer 3.5e's remove disease where "It just works.")
The quantity and mutation explanations help a fair bit, like how being exposed to multiple doses of a poison just ups the DC to resist instead of requiring you to keep track of multiple instances of the same poison, or having a poison distilled and concentrated. Though I'm guessing that means if an adventurer walks into town suffering from a high DC airborne disease contracted from a tough monster, the town is hosed, making the bubonic plague look like allergies.
So, I've noticed that there is kind of a BS mechanic with how diseases work, which doesn't make any sense what-so-ever.
Example: Filth fever in the Core Rulebook is listed as DC 12. An Otyugh can inflict filth fever with its attacks, but the DC is 14 because it's based on the Otyugh's HD and Con modifier. Why?
Where is the logic that a disease is harder to overcome just because some powerful creature infected with it attacked you? Does the disease magically become more virulent and dangerous when held by a powerful carrier? What if it was an Otyugh with 20 HD and Con of 30? Why would the DC for a disease jump from DC 12 to DC 30 just because it was transmitted by an attack from a big monster instead of a paper-cut in the sewer?
Does the randomly inflated DC of the disease only apply toward contraction, and not toward healing it with remove disease, lay on hands with a disease mercy, or the Heal skill?
(Background, I'm a bit salty because diseases are nigh impossible to remove in Wrath of the Righteous [PC game] because of a DC 30 disease infecting a level 10 party, requiring a nat 20 to successfully save against a "cure 3 consecutive saves" disease, and requiring a nat 20 to remove with remove disease, and this is on a very easy difficulty, on normal, it would be more like DC 36 or even higher)
Instead of establishing a DC range, I'd set a single value indicating relative skill level, probably in multiples of 5.
Like this:
DC 5: Pathetic (taking 10, you'd have to have some serious penalties to screw this up)
DC 10: Untrained (challenging if you're under stress, but when you can take your time and concentrate, it's not a big deal)
DC 15: Novice (reliably done by a person taking 10 if they have 1 rank, class skill, and at least +1 ability bonus; the skill level of many apprentices in a trade)
DC 20: Professional (throw in a couple levels of Expert and the Skill Focus feat)
DC 25: Expert
DC 30+: Master (the best of the best in their trade)
Playing the Serpent's Skull AP with some friends over Fantasy Grounds, and I'm playing a devout NG Catfolk swashbuckler with the Whirling Dervish archetype (worships Sarenrae, naturally), who acts as a mercenary in the Dawnflower's name, and donates extra payment that he negotiates from clients directly to good causes.
It's my first time using the swashbuckler class (despite playing 3.5e/PF for over a decade xD), so any sort of advice would be appreciated.
Ability Scores (racial modifiers already included)
Str 13, Dex 19, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18
Favored class bonus: Probably going with extra hit points most levels.
Current 1st-level skills: Acrobatics, Climb (took the alternate racial trait that grants a climb speed), Diplomacy, Escape Artist (to escape grapples more easily than my CMB would allow), Intimidate, and Perception.
Traits: Focused Disciple (to help with most Will saves), Mercenary, Blade of Mercy (no penalty to nonlethal damage with slashing weapons and +1 damage when doing so), Headstrong drawback
Feat Roadmap
1st: Combat Reflexes (to make the most use of Opportune Parry and Riposte)
3rd: Nimble Striker (Catfolk racial feat)
Swashbuckler 4: Weapon Focus (scimitar)
5th: Enforcer (free Intimidate with nonlethal damage)
7th: Lunge (affected by Nimble Striker, so no AC penalty)
Swashbuckler 8: Dazzling Display
9th: Shatter Defenses
11th: Signature Deed (Dance of Dawn)
Swashbuckler 12: Blind-Fight/Power Attack/Extra Panache (not sure with this slot. I read somewhere that Power Attack was bad for swashbucklers, but I don't see how)
13th: Critical Focus
15th: Staggering Critical
Swashbuckler 16: Tiring Critical
17th: Critical Mastery
19th: Exhausting Critical
General advice on how to operate in combat, feat selection, etc. are all welcome.
All these posts have been quite helpful in my considerations. Especially the mention of "Background Skills" from Unchained as a means of delineating which skills are off-limits for personal feats.
My goals were indeed intended to basically reduce feat taxes for stuff that is campaign specific, or allows characters to have feats related to their background/concept (i.e. a swamp druid having the Swamper feat) without giving up feats that are functional on a regular basis.
Ideally, I'd want this system to provide at worst, a minimal increase to the power potential, hence why I definitely excluded any combat feats right from the start. I'll definitely spend some time revising my lists, taking into account potential consequences for each potential candidate and whether it could be abused by a certain character class over others.
Naturally, which feats could be gained in the Personal feat slots is open to debate and re-balancing.
It would make sense to exclude skills that are ubiquitous to almost any adventure, like Perception.
And your point regarding item creation feats make sense, especially if the item creation process in a GM's game is straight-forward and doesn't require investments in a research library and arcane lab.
The list of feats will naturally have to be tweaked as needed, but the overall concept is something I discussed with fellow players and they seem to like, simply because of the sheer number of feats in the game that will never see play. A lot of them feel like a waste to take because they tend to be under-whelming or very situational (like most Story feats, or a lot of stuff from Ultimate Wilderness, like Arctic Adaptation, Desert Dweller, or Swamper).
I don't know if anyone has ever thought of this system, but I thought of an optional rule that makes certain never-used feats more attractive and a means of making a character more unique without sacrificing their viability, nor making them significantly more powerful (if at all).
Optional Rule: Personal Feats
There are many character classes and archetypes, characters of which who tend to end up taking the same feats, resulting in rather homogenous and cookie-cutter characters. For instance, most melee combatants will probably end up taking Power Attack, but how many characters are willing to have a feat like Self-Sufficient occupy one of their precious few feat slots?
With this system, characters receive a number of “personal” feat slots, which can only be used to acquire feats that are either extremely situational and thematic, or do not contribute to a character’s usefulness or power in combat. At 2nd-level and every four levels thereafter (6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th), characters receive one of these personal feats. In addition, characters can opt to take a personal feat in place of the ability score advancement they receive at each level divisible by four, and a character’s normal feat slots at every odd-numbered level can still be used to acquire personal feats.
By using this system, players will be able to make characters pertaining to a particular theme more easily, without having to give up the essentials of their particular role.
Goals of this system:
-Reduce feat taxes for niche and gimmicky character concepts.
-Make never-used feats more appealing for use in regular play.
Below is a list of personal feats, organized by their source (subject to revisions):
Feats from Other Sources
When determining what feats beyond those listed above can be taken as personal feats, consider the following guidelines:
Personal feats should usually involve at least one of the following:
• New skill applications.
• Substituting one skill or ability modifier for another.
• Skill bonuses
• Crafting
• Racial feats
• Feats whose benefits are extremely situational.
• Feats that grant minor spell-like abilities.
• Using the benefits of the feat have a significant drawback to them.
• Feats that make use of game mechanics not typical of most campaigns (hero points, siege weaponry, verbal duals, performance combat, etc.)
• Non-metamagic feats that improve the use of a specific utility spell or related utility spells.
Feats that should NOT be available as personal feats (unless they meet at least one of the above criteria) include:
• Combat feats (anything that a fighter could take as a bonus feat).
• Feats that improve a character’s spellcasting ability (but not those that improve the use of a specific utility spell).
• Feats that improve existing class features or grant additional class features (like rogue talents), but feats that grant limited use of class features from classes you don’t possess such as Amateur Investigator or Lay of the Land can be taken unless they meet any of the other criteria for feats that cannot be taken (such as being a Combat feat).
• Style or teamwork feats.
• Bonuses to hit points, AC, and saving throws, unless the use is extremely limited.
So one of my players is going to be playing as a ratfolk gunslinger (techslinger archetype).
However, one thing that became apparent today is that the only decent tech firearm in the whole first book is Medium-sized.
What options (if any) are there so the PC doesn't have to suffer the -2 size difference penalty?
I thought about a few options, but aren't totally sold on any of them, so I'm curious on other opinions/options.
1. Allow the PC to ignore the prerequisites for the Goblin Gunslinger feat, because why would only goblins be able to learn how to do that? It's not based on their physiology in any way. However, this would mean that the character would have to spend one of their few precious feat slots and not get Precise Shot until 5th. (They took Technologist for 1st, planning on Point Blank Shot for 3rd, then Precise Shot as their 4th-level bonus feat.
2. Throw in a couple of timeworn guns to replace other existing treasure.
3. Make it so the gun in question can resize to fit the wielder, since it's magical.
4. Just ignore the size-difference penalty for energy-based firearms; since the weapon is only a 1d6 for a Medium character.
"The warehouse itself is boarded up and appears to be abandoned, but succeeding at a DC 15 Perception check while investigating either of the doors indicated on the map reveals that the boarded-up appearance of the door is only a disguise—both doors are locked (Disable Device DC 30), but the boards nailed over each door don’t actually impede the doors’ use."
However, nowhere on the map are any specific doors "indicated." Which doors are the ones that are disguised? A relevant and important question considering it could adjust the tactics of those guarding the place should intruders show up.
Moreover, which crate is supposed to have the power relay? This isn't indicated on the map either.
I'd say you can't take 20 on Stealth simply because you can only take 20 if all of the following apply:
- You have plenty of time.
Nope (because the fourth doesn't apply)
- You are faced with no threats or distractions.
Yes.
- The skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure.
No, because the penalty for failure is being discovered. You also don't know whether you succeed on Stealth until they roll their Perception checks, so you can't try again because you don't have the feedback of previous failure. At least with Perception, if you look for something and don't find anything, you can try again because you failed to find anything.
- The skill has to have an associated amount of time in making the check, whether an action type or a duration expressed in rounds, minutes, hours, etc.
No. Taking 20 takes 20 times as long as making a single check would take, so the skill has to be one that has an associated time needed to make the check, but Stealth doesn't, since it's made as part of movement (or lack thereof if you're hiding) rather than taking a separate action, unless you're hiding after sniping, which is a move action, but that's irrelevant.
